A Little Birdy Told Me...

X (formerly Twitter) is one of the major social media websites in 2023. 

The Igbo proverb "It takes a village to raise a child," perfectly encapsulates the job of a teacher. Earth is, in itself, a much larger village and as its elders, we are expected to speak to each other and share knowledge to better help our students. Using X, we can keep connected to the world around us, picking up inspiration from other teachers to improve our practice.

The Calgary Board of Education still uses X, as well, to post updates and upcoming plans and being present on it makes for an easier way to keep up with the educational plans of the city. In my future practice, I intend to use X to share interesting resources that I've found and to pick up others from my peers and other teachers around the city and the world. 

To join me in the village: PsychEdElliks

Down the Tech Rabbit Hole

 

Technology is ever present in daily life, and even more so when you consider non-electrical technologies. Having been a student for most of my life (about 21 years in school), I have been present for the subtle shift in the appearance of classrooms. When I was in highschool-- the first time-- there was only one SMARTboard for the entire school. Granted, I was in Jamaica at the time, but from what I understand, there wasn't a board in every classroom just yet even in North America. That being said, I still have no real idea how to use a SMARTboard and most teachers I have encountered don't either. That is to say, they are able to use it to do exactly what they need it to and no more. It's amusing to see a teacher fumble over trying to do a new thing only for a team of six-year-olds to explain how to do the task as if they had designed the darned things. 

In my current first grade classroom, a SMARTboard is the only thing that is readily observable beyond the teacher's and my laptops. I have seen student laptops around the school, closer to the 5th and 6th grade wing, but I have not yet seen them used in my classroom, if they are at all going to be. The students are still just getting used to the idea of holding a mini whiteboard, so it may be a few weeks before machinery is brought into the fray. For its singualarity, however, the SMARTboard does get quite a bit of use, from showing videos to UFLI slides and it is used, more than the full-sized whiteboards, for displaying writing for the students.

I like having a visual up for me to point to as I stand and ramble at a classroom. When I was stationed at Haysboro in a grade 1 class, the students would always whine that I wasn't showing them the pictures on every page when I was reading a book. It broke my rhythm to keep turning the book around to make sure that every single person could see the image, but I was reading a picture book so it was important they saw the pictures! My solution was to take photos of each page and upload them to a slideshow beforehand. I will never top that idea as each student was placated being able to see the images and words as I was reading.

There is a balance to be reached between working digitally and working analog and, though it is not a question that can be answered easily, this year, I would like to explore and find MY blanace. My burning question would be how to make that distinction.  There is value in showing videos modelling desirable actions such as how to draw a bird, or how to mix colours, but should I do that for each lesson? Which lessons is it okay to not do that for?