Summary of attendance

this was about using Flipgrid in a possibly new way. 

I participated in teaching tolerance, teaching digital literacy workshop. I learned how students have a difficult time deciding what is fake and what is real news. The workshop talked about children's illusion of comprehension,  the content the see and how it can lead to hate crimes, information inequality, increased vulnerability to conspiracy theories and vicious cycles of civic disengagement and ways as teachers we can combat it. It learned about media literacy, tools to recognize and decode bias, making thinking transparent and creating citizen editors. As a student I can use tools from this workshop to decide if it is fake or real news and the importance of media literacy. As a teacher I can teach students about media literacy. I also learned about how young students consume news and can help them understand there is fake and real news.

This webinar focused on promoting a useful educational tool that is progressing in the teaching world, known as Solutions U. The speaker discussed that the news can sway the image of the world and the problems of the world, to create a hopeless mindset for the nation but specifically the youth. The quote stated was, "Are your students aware of the world's possibilities?". Oftentimes students aren't exposed to how incredible our world truly is, and they need to be shown that when given information. Solutions U is a community of educators committed to supporting critical thinking and creativity needed to solve the world's problems through education. These educators are centered around journalism and how journalists have different viewpoints on the social problems that arise. The journalists look at the story and find solutions and possibilities for change. When visiting the Solutions U website, students have the ability to search for different topics. The main categories are as followed: agriculture & food, immigration & refugees, health, human rights, education, and energy & environment. If people (specifically students) are exposed to hopeful news stories that are explained in a way that is different than what they're used to hearing, they will believe it's plausible. The webinar emphasized that the hope is that teachers and students will utilize this resource while teaching and learning. 

I attended a Flipgrid Webinar called "The Student Voice Infused Classroom." It was about how flipgrid can help students tap into their own learning potential. It gives examples of how teachers can utilize the tool in their classroom. I am skeptical about using flipgrid in my classroom because I know in high school I hated to have to make a video of myself or hear my voice in an audio recording, but there are some pretty cool benefits to having students present their thinking that way. (Note: the free flipgrid account limits videos to 1:30)

This was an interesting webinar. It's a little under an hour long. It talked about the implicit biases people have in their classroom. Regardless if people are actively aware or not, everyone has biases. The webinar basically talked about how to confront those in the classroom. To be an effective teacher in the classroom who aims to diminish stereotypes in their classroom, the teacher must first confront his or her biases. You cannot walk into a classroom with preconceived notions about your students or particular groups of people. Teaching students not to hate each other for their differences is hard enough, but to have to teach those things while actually believing in them is even harder because if you cannot convince yourself to embrace those differences, why would anyone else let you convince them? The webinar just kind of identified different biases that exist in our world, and how it will be a long process to fight against them but it is worth the fight. 

I watched a lot of grids that teachers have created and used in their classrooms. I learned that there are so many ways to use flip grids in your classroom, whether it be to see what your students know, an exit ticket, showing what they did that day, what they are interested in, and just a fun way to learn about technology. I could see myself as a teacher using it in all of these ways. For this badge, I have created a grid on flip grid about creating an exit ticket in an upper elementary class after learning about long division. The students will post video solving the given problem with long division, this way I can watch how exactly they worked to solve it and if they know how to do long division.

The workshop was two of my close friends, Eman and Miranda, who are part of the NASA Mission to Planet Earth fellowship, leading designed lessons applicable to a broad age range. First, Miranda led a lesson revolving around Bernouli's Principle. She had us to fun hands-on activities to learn about the process. To teach about the topic and engage the audience, Nearpod was used. This was beneficial because she could tell who was involved, which is very applicable to a future classroom. Eman lead a lesson about discovering a new planet, in which students conduct observations and collaborate to discuss potential habitable planets. She utilized an app in which we (as students) created a presentation about the potential benefits of our observations on planets. Both of these lessons were well designed and can be applicable to a science class. Many resources were also provided at the workshop.

The first and most important thing I learned in this chat was that Americans are often quite guilty of being very egocentric. Many Americans, including myself, have a ridiculous view of not seeing the importance of learning other languages, but hypocritically expect immigrants to learn English when they come to the States. In this global education webinar conducted by Terry Smith, I learned about programs and projects where teachers from across the globe are paired up collaborate and share their classrooms with each other and the students. Not only does this connect students with the world outside of America, but it also gives the rest of the world insight into your classroom. I can see myself making a much bigger impact in student lives if somehow I can inspire more teachers, or if they inspire me. Connecting my future classrooms to the world does this in an amazing way. Terry Smith gave just a several examples of teachers around the globe (Australia, Taiwan, Great Britain, India and more!) and gave out their contact information for new teachers like me to connect with them. Moving forward, I definitely plan on engaging with these amazing educators and learning more on how I can better connect my students to the outside world so that they don’t develop the Americanized view of the world that I did. 

This webinar taught me a lot about what it means to allow your students the opportunity to speak up and express themselves. This is a value that many people take for granted and it is important to let each and every person in our lives feel comfortable and loved enough to feel as if they can say anything they feel and express who they are as people, what they believe in, and what they stand for. Taking this information into my future teaching career, I think it is important to remember that I am an advocate for each and every one of my students. 

I learned how to use Flipgrid in lessons. I learned different ways in which I can use Flipgrid to integrate technology into my lessons for K-2. As a future teacher, now I will be equipt to have my students connect with other students from around the world and show their learning online. On Flipgrid they are able to respond to others ideas and form their own.