Tech and Mrs. Z's Classroom

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash I will admit that I was a "lurker" on Twitter for the last 8 weeks. I created my  Twitter account only for the purpose of the requirements of my course, Internet for Educators, but after using it for those 8 weeks, I am going to continue to use it. This blog post will take you through my Twitter experience and how I intend to use it as an educator. What is Twitter? Definition sourced from Twitter's help center "Twitter is a service for friends, family and coworkers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People post Tweets, which may contain photos, videos, links and text. These messages are posted to your profile, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search." My initial thoughts on Twitter My current Twitter profile isn't my first, but it certainly is the first time I have used Twitter as part of my Personal Learning Network (PLN). Check out this blog post of ...

Before the internet, networking and remaining connected with the world looked very different than today. Today, those who have access to the internet, whether it is in their homes, on their phones or one of the many "free" hotspots businesses offer, are constantly connected to some type of network. The networks we interact with are vast and intentionally or not, we learn from those networks. This blog post will look at Personal Learning Networks (PLN), Personal Learning Environments (PLE), the implications of the digital age for both teachers and students and changes caused by the pandemic.  What is a Personal Learning Network (PLN)? Wikipedia defines a PLN as "a learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment." The slideshow video (the video has no spoken words) below gives a deeper explanation of PLNs. PLN's are not a new concept, but rather have been enhanced and expanded by ...

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash I have been a fan of podcasts for many years. It started when I moved years ago and had a long, highway commute. Today, I have an even longer commute and reach for podcasts in any spare moment I find. I have learned and been entertained by podcasts; some podcasts are great and others are not so great. In the Vlog below, I share one of my personal development podcasts for teachers. Video Notes: Podcast definition sourced from The Podcast Host . The 10 Minute Teacher podcast on Spotify Weekly podcast topics: Monday -  Motivation   –  get motivated for the week ahead  Tuesday -   EdTech Tools   –  practical Edtech tools  Wednesday -   Wonderful Classrooms  –  meet teachers doing amazing things Thursday -   Thought Leaders  – hear from top researchers and authors to think about your teaching  Friday -   5-Idea Fridays  – 5 practical ideas teachers can use now Below is a...

Who doesn't like a good meme? A simple picture with some overlaid text that expresses social commentaries and opinions often for entertainment purposes. But what if you want more your image to communicate more words and for informational purposes rather than entertainment? That is where infographics come in.  What is an infographic? What not a better way to explain what an infographic is than an infographic itself.  Image sourced from Glean Can infographics be useful in the classroom? As a learner, I prefer visual aids to assist with my learning. I find that I am more engaged with the material and have an easier time understanding the content if I organize my notes into charts, diagrams or other graphic organizing. Although it is not the case for all learners, some students benefit from visual aids.  I believe that infographics can be useful in my classroom by providing visual aids for my students both during and after lessons.  Infographics are stronger visual aid b...

Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash As a pre-service teacher, the number of internet resources that are available is often overwhelming. Shifting through the resources takes so much time and when I think I finally found a good resource, the source either doesn't align with the MB curriculum or doesn't have relevant PD information. Although, there are good resources out there and not every one of my searches comes up empty. Over the last year, I have been able to grow my collection of internet resources both for classroom use and for professional use. In this blog post, I will be sharing a professional resource that I find very useful that also has resources for the classroom. Most of the internet resources I have found are websites and/or blogs that serve as larger collection of resources. I find that having one resource link that has many sources is less overwhelming. Often the collection type of resources is categorized by topic and allows me to navigate the resources easi...

Go ahead, google yourself, I will wait for you to come back to this tab.  Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash Welcome back! While you were gone, I also googled myself. If I google my maiden name, my online presence is very professional and positive. Academic awards, my Instagram and past school projects come up, in that order. All of the headlines that appear are things that I am proud to have as a part of my digital identity because even on my social media, there is nothing that I wouldn't want anyone to see. This isn't by accident, I have constructed and edited my digital identity over years of being on the internet.  What did your digital identity look like when you googled yourself? Were you proud or maybe shocked?  This blog post will take you through what the term digital identity is, conversations regarding the different views on digital identity such as  digital dualism and my thoughts on digital identity spread through the post.  What does "di...