Blog Post #4

While I made both a Pinterest and an Instagram account, I've been looking at Instagram more. I feel it has better material for me to look through and take advice from. There are many teachers who post strategies that they use in their classrooms, showing what works best with different students. Since kids now are growing up differently from the way I did, it's cool to see what works best for students, especially in the age bracket I'd be interested in teaching. These platforms can be very helpful in the future in the same way I'm using them now; the only difference is that I don't have a classroom to utilize the strategies in yet.

Growing up, I went to digitally rich schools. My K-8 had laptop carts for classes and laptops available to be rented out and brought home if needed. In my high school, there was even more technology introduced. While I wasn't in the academy myself, there was a Biomedical academy that had huge screens to mimic animals and skeletons to learn more about the body. They were interactive, so students were able to use them to pretend to perform surgeries and such. Outside of the academies, each classroom also had its own TV whiteboard screen to write notes or connect laptops to when presenting. I think this was a very supportive way of growing up because I was offered many opportunities that students just five years prior hadn't been given. It's definitely proven to be helpful regarding my college technology preparation because I haven't felt overwhelmed or confused by any of the technology that I've had to use. When I did dual enrollment through my community college, most of my classes were online and all of them used Canvas, so even there I've felt more at an advantage than some of my peers who have never seen it before.

There are so many software tools available to us now, I would definitely try to use a variety and prioritize what ones work best for my students. All students learn differently and at different paces, so a tool that helps one student might not necessarily help the rest of them. TED Talks have always been something that helps me comprehend topics better, so I'd be inclined to try using them in class. However, if I do end up teaching, I plan on teaching kindergarten, and TED Talks might not make a whole lot of sense to a group of five-year-olds. Instead, I might try using BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. I watched these a lot in elementary school, so I think it would be fun to bring them back into the next generation. It gives the students a calmer period of learning, allowing their minds to have a break while still taking in information. I could easily find some lessons on the alphabet or on counting, and BrainPOP not only provides a video, but also games and quizzes to encourage discussion. Those were always the type of lessons I loved at that age!