Welcome!
Welcome to my blog! If you don’t already know me my name is Mel and I am a teacher.
I teach Kindergarten -8th grade Spanish, 7th-grade Religion and I am the 7th-grade homeroom teacher. I teach at a small school in Burke, Va and have been teaching here for 8 years. I earned a BA in Spanish from Randolph-Macon College and am currently earning my Masters in Designing Digital Learning at George Mason University.
When I decided I was going to go back to school, I had to decide if I was going to keep on the Spanish track or try a different track. I have always had an interest in technology and have had the fortune of being surrounded by friends and family who are “tech savvy”. When I heard about the DDLS program I decided that was the best fit for me.
When I first started teaching I expected it to be exactly the same way I was taught, but when I walked into my classroom it was completely different. I had an ActivPanel and my students had computers. Clearly, it was not what I expected but I was eager to learn and incorporate technology into my classes.
As technology grows it needs to become a partner in education. Students today are living and breathing technology, and we as teachers need to find ways to integrate it into our classes effectively. If I have learned anything from DDLS it’s that technology should be a tool you use to enhance your lessons and not a box you can check off. When technology is used effectively in the classrooms students are engaged, excited and learning the global skills they will need to be successful in today's world.
Different social medias are all around us, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t check my Facebook, imagine our students who have an active online social life, they share posts, make videos and music for the world to see. While they are connecting to several forms of social media they are now also becoming the creators and sharing their creations with the world.
Through my technology journey, I will be reading Tom Standage’s Writing on the Wall: Social Media- The First Two Thousand Years. In it, I hope to understand Social media, specifically Podcasts and its role in education. For those who are unfamiliar with podcasts, they are digital audio files that usually comes in a series, almost like an amateur radio program. My knowledge on podcasts in the education world is limited, but I hope to learn and share my findings and experiences with you. By sharing with you I hope that we can build a community of practice where we can share our learning goals.
I teach Kindergarten -8th grade Spanish, 7th-grade Religion and I am the 7th-grade homeroom teacher. I teach at a small school in Burke, Va and have been teaching here for 8 years. I earned a BA in Spanish from Randolph-Macon College and am currently earning my Masters in Designing Digital Learning at George Mason University.
When I decided I was going to go back to school, I had to decide if I was going to keep on the Spanish track or try a different track. I have always had an interest in technology and have had the fortune of being surrounded by friends and family who are “tech savvy”. When I heard about the DDLS program I decided that was the best fit for me.
When I first started teaching I expected it to be exactly the same way I was taught, but when I walked into my classroom it was completely different. I had an ActivPanel and my students had computers. Clearly, it was not what I expected but I was eager to learn and incorporate technology into my classes.
As technology grows it needs to become a partner in education. Students today are living and breathing technology, and we as teachers need to find ways to integrate it into our classes effectively. If I have learned anything from DDLS it’s that technology should be a tool you use to enhance your lessons and not a box you can check off. When technology is used effectively in the classrooms students are engaged, excited and learning the global skills they will need to be successful in today's world.
Different social medias are all around us, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t check my Facebook, imagine our students who have an active online social life, they share posts, make videos and music for the world to see. While they are connecting to several forms of social media they are now also becoming the creators and sharing their creations with the world.
Through my technology journey, I will be reading Tom Standage’s Writing on the Wall: Social Media- The First Two Thousand Years. In it, I hope to understand Social media, specifically Podcasts and its role in education. For those who are unfamiliar with podcasts, they are digital audio files that usually comes in a series, almost like an amateur radio program. My knowledge on podcasts in the education world is limited, but I hope to learn and share my findings and experiences with you. By sharing with you I hope that we can build a community of practice where we can share our learning goals.
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