My PLN & The Connected Student

When I was done creating my PLN, it came to my attention that I now have a few ways of connecting and sharing with others. Through the "Internet for Educators" course, I look forward to learning about more ways to connect and share, so I can build onto my PLN in the future. https://bubbl.us/

 

When I was done this part of the task, I realized that I am probably missing about 100 more ways that students connect that I don't know about. I will have to begin educating myself on the others, so I can be up to date with what all the students are using these days. If it can be a way to keep the students engaged, then why not take a look at what is out there and learn new ways to connect..

Alec Couras...Connect!, Connect!!, Connect!!!

On January 22nd, we had Dr. Alex Couros speak to our class about a variety of different topics. For the most part the presentation was about learning by connecting with people. He stresses that the box in front of us makes it a whole lot easier to communicate and share with today's society. Through this constant connection with complete strangers, we could grow as educators and people, as we learn from each other.
 
Dr. Couras pointed out early in his presentation that the average starting age of children using the Internet is 11 years old. As educators, we must show the children proper ways to us the Internet and how to connect and communicate with others properly. Also, similar to what Dean mentioned last week, he mentioned that their is an endless amount of opportunities to communicate out there, so we must embrace it and take advantage of the opportunities we have to become better teachers. *Connect as much as possible with different people because you never know what you can learn from them.
 
Dr. Couras seemed to be very knowledgeable throughout his discussion and gave us numerous ideas for us to think about for the future.
 
Anyways, I am beginning to enjoy blogging, it is neat to see what other students have to say about the guest speakers and their own thoughts towards the speakers ideas.
 
That is all for now...

Dean Shareski - Ed tech genius..

In my first class of Internet for Educators, I found out that we are going to have numerous guest speakers throughout the term. I think this is great, as I am a person who wants to learn as much as possible about teaching with technology.
 
The first speaker that we got to hear from was Dean Shareski. He seemed to have a ton of experience with Ed tech. Dean had some great points about how the net brings people together and sharing amongst educators is on the rise. Strangers are willing to help each other in order to try new resources that have worked well for other educators. Dean stressed that technology is always changing, and that's why sharing is key in order to keep each other up to date.

Also, he discussed that students within our classrooms should use technological devices (IPAD & smartboard) to help practise their literacy skills. I think their willingness to learn will be heightened by using these pieces of technology. I agree with this statement, as I couldn't imagine teaching without the use of technology. It is something that I see myself relying on greatly when it comes to teaching lessons.

I really enjoyed Dean's point of view on Ed Tech and I am looking forward to more speakers in the future.

Here we go...

This is my very first blog, and I am definitely excited to see other students thoughts about certain ideas when it comes to Internet for Educators. As future teachers I think we can benefit greatly from this class, as the internet and technology nowadays have an important role inside the classroom.

Well I guess I should introduce myself. I am originally from Souris, Manitoba, I have older brother named Jeff. My parents still live in Souris. When I was growing up, I played a ton of sports, especially hockey, baseball, and golf. I am actually obsessed with golf a little bit. When I graduated high school, I wanted to become a police officer like my father (retired RCMP officer), so I decided to go get a university degree before pursuing that goal. When I graduated from university, all those plans changed, as I began to realize that I love to work with kids. I took a job in Souris working as an EA, and worked with Life Skills students as well. I found it as an awesome experience. It was through this experience that I decided to get my butt back in school to become a teacher.
That's all I can tell you for now.

Hopefully I can post some interesting blogs for ya'll.