Summary of attendance

I had the opportunity to join in on Monica Burns' webinar of "transform from Tech-sort-of to Tech-savvy." She explained how technology can transform teaching and learning, but that can sometimes be easier said than done. Monica explained four easy ways to make your classroom more tech-savvy. The first tip was to honor you students' curiosity. As a teacher, you want to find out what your students want to learn about and what their interests might be. The app Padlet, is a great tool to use to help kids share what they want to know, or their interests, all on a visual, interactive, app. This is a great app because it is more of a picture/visual tool that is better than having the students write sentences about their interests in a subject. The second tip was to create your own backchannel. This means you give your class ways to talk in real time, online. The app Today's Meet is a great app to do this tip, because it simulates a group chat, twitter, chat, or some kind of chat room. This can help teachers monitor participation, keep students accountable, and participate in something that the students will probably know how to do because they do so in their lives everyday. The third step is to turn students into movie-makers. You want to get your class CREATING. This allows you to look deeper than just content instruction. A great app is Spark Video because the students can share their creations/knowledge with a large span of audiences. Students can share with each other, the class, their parents, the school, etc. The bottom line is that they are creating instead of writing a paper. This encourages the students to express what they learn in different ways and this is super important. The last and final tip is to incorporate Virtual Reality into the classroom. This kind of scares me becuase I do not really enjoy VR. However, VR can be a great tool for students to share with one another and connect with an audience. Google cardboards can be purchased and this allows students to creat something and then share with everyone with VR. I am interested in using VR in the classroom so this was a good tip for me to learn about. This seminar was very helpful for me becuase it Monica explained how easy it is to be tech-savvy in your classroom.

Implicit bias is described as the stereotypes that arise in our mind even when we do not want them to. Implicit bias occur in the conscious mind where we process bits of information. The unconscious mind processes 99% more bits of information, which means 1% is left to process conscious thoughts. Bias that is left "untreated" can lead to a vicious cycle. When an individual builds on their specific bias it can lead to prejudice, discrimination, and violence. I found it very interesting that children as young as three years old can pick up on prejudices. The children can pick up on prejudices when the in vs. out group is modeled to them. People begin to form bias when they conform to society. The key to defeating bias and stereotypes is modeling, for younger children especially, working together in a  community. Children can begin to understand and begin to see that everyone has skills and contribute to society. As a future teacher this allows me to understand that children will pick up on anything and everything. I cannot be a teacher with prejudices because children will pick up on my modeling. In general one person should not be judged because of their race. As a student, even now, I know the importance of working together and acknowledging differences not judging them. Everyone is special and differences make our world go round in a sense. This webinar taught me the importance of being a community and not an individual who makes judgment based on stereotypes.

This webinar was online from 5-6pm. It was conducted by Monica Burns and Kids Discover. 

Monica Burns begins the seminar by discussing a “wonder mindset” and how it is so important in the classroom. She emphasizes that students need to be curious and asking questions; one way to foster this within the classroom is by modeling a think aloud, or sharing wonderings that you have. She discusses how it is crucial to give students space to explore their curiosity and questions. Monica specifically mentions the idea of a “wonder wall”; this idea was great! I definitely want to use this in my classroom. It could be something as simple as a poster on the wall where kids can sticky note their questions and wonders or even something more complex like a digital wall where they can post and upload. This webinar also moves into discussing reading on a digital medium. As educators, we have to guide and teach our students how to navigate texts online; and how to find their reading pathways. We want to emphasize how to stay focused on their selected texts and topics. This ties into researching and being able to find authentic, credible texts online. With information so accessible online, it is important to educate children on how to find the texts they need without getting off topic or lost. When students are able to navigate digital texts, they will be able to fulfill their wonders and questions more easily.Monica talks about how it is important to prompt questions in order to push students to talk about what they have read. Posing questions can get students talking, inferring, questioning, and understanding. This is where the “wonder mindset” ties in. By posing questions, you are urging students to think and wonder about their text. It is important to ask questions that will lead to a student successfully achieving a learning goal. She discusses that questions should be centered around the idea of assessing a students success in learning the material. Teachers also need to pose questions that push students in different directions and lead them to explore varying pathways. Finally, the webinar ends with something that was really crucial and impactful: traditional curriculum is not designed to foster curiosity. Traditional learning is fixed, finite, and linear, and does not honor student’s curiosity effectively; digital curriculum is really impacting this because its enabling students to chart their own path and explore their own learning.