Moving Forward

     Before taking this class, I will admit that I did not completely understand how important it was to educate my students on internet safety, digital citizenship, terms of service, and all of the other essential lessons that we have learned over the last 8 weeks. My first seven years of teaching took place in classrooms that were very far from being 1:1. While teaching in Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand we didn't have many resources---period. The schools that I taught at did not educate the teachers on the importance of internet safety and as such, I simply did not think about it. I did always challenge my students to take a break from using social media, but that was about it. We had no responsible use agreements and never had to discuss these topics in our classrooms. In 2019, when I moved home and started teaching in a 1:1 district, I was completely blindsided by how technology pervaded each moment of my students' days. I was quickly thrown into a 4th grade classroom after accepting a job late in the year. This meant that I had no "new teacher orientation week." Each day, I was introduced to a new app that my students needed to be successful in the classroom. I started the year after my students had been lectured on safe technology use. I was completely in the technological dark. My district seemed to focus more on keeping the iPads safe from yogurt spills than on keeping students safe from the information super highway that is the internet. I was so busy learning about the apps and policies myself, that I never had time to focus on the importance of teaching digital citizenship. 

   Despite being extremely discouraged by my last two years in a horrible district, I do think that I will end up in a classroom again one day.  After taking this course, I can honestly say that I am determined to weave digital literacy lessons into my classroom as much as possible. I will start the year by giving my students the tools that they need to be responsible digital citizens. This article and so many like it that we have read throughout this course, have shown me the importance of teaching the 9 elements of digital citizenship. 

Image Source: Schoology

    It is truly crazy to me how often my students were exposed to social media and technology tools each day without having a digital literacy curriculum in place. There were so many issues that arose in my classroom due to my students using the internet irresponsibly. This was especially apparent when my students were learning from home. 

Moving forward, I will take these action steps to ensure that my students are using the internet responsibly: 

       I will also make sure that my students are aware of how important it is to read the Terms of Service agreements of the apps that they are using. During this course, I was sad to learn that some apps that I have used in the classroom are currently unable to be used due to the new SOPPA law. Some teachers are having issues using Kahoot, which was adored by my students. It is important to keep these things in mind as I progress in my career.  I am truly thankful for all of the information that I learned during this class as it will make me a better educator moving forward. I believe that I have become a better digital citizen and as such, can educate my future students to do the same. Thank you! 

The Importance of Media Literacy

Media Literacy

  While I am happy to see that media literacy courses are now required in Illinois high schools, I think that we should start educating our students on this essential topic in the earliest possible grade. Students are being exposed to an increasing amount of media each day, and it is important that we as educators ensure that students know how to consume this media safely and effectively. According to the Media Literacy 101 video, media literacy refers to our interaction with media and the messages that we take away from it. Media Literacy is our ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on the media messages that we receive. If we can teach students how to be media literate at the earliest possible age, we are empowering them to be the most successful 21st century learners that they can be. 

   

Renee Hobbs' 5 Competencies

    Media literacy expert Renee Hobbs believes that there are five competencies that all students need to know in order to be successful media consumers. 

Image Source: Renee Hobb's Twitter

According to Hobbs: 

1. Access- Students must be able to find and share appropriate and relevant information using technology tools and media texts. Students must be able to effectively locate and identify relevant information depending on the task at hand. This is important when students are researching and can be facilitated using instructor created presentations or by reading books, articles, or websites. As educators, we must realize how important access to relevant and appropriate information is. We also need to become competent digital consumers ourselves before becoming successful digital media educators. I know that there have been numerous professional developments on this topic, but I do believe that there is a gap in knowledge when you compare older and younger teachers in the classroom today. 

2. Analyze-This involves, "using critical thinking to analyze message purpose, target audience, quality, veracity, credibility, point of view, and potential effects or consequences of messages." In my opinion, this is the most important skill that students can learn. This can help students determine which sources are credible, if they are consuming "fake news", and decide which perspectives are being portrayed by the text. Being able to analyze media is an essential skill to becoming a 21st century learner. 

3. Create- Students must be able to create content as a form of self expression and share it with the appropriate audience in digital media form. Students who are consuming media at the rate that they are currently doing so should be able to contribute to the digital world in some form and being capable content creators is a wonderful way to do so. Content creation is imperative to teach our students because many of them focus on the consumption aspect of things. As teachers, we need to encourage our students to create projects and share with others so that they can engage responsibly. The creation of digital media will also help students prepare for their futures. 

4. Reflect-This step is essential to ensuring that our students are responsible consumers of digital media. Students must be able to regularly reflect on the content that they are creating and consuming. "This skill of reflection helps our students become humane consumers and creators of digital and media content."

When I think of myself as a consumer of digital media, sometimes reflection includes taking a social media break. When I do not feel like I am engaging in a positive way, I take a break to reflect on why this is. I tend to encourage my students to do the same, although, it proves to be much more difficult for them. Sometimes, I give them extra credit for logging off and doing something outside or engaging with others outside of the technology realm. 

5. Act-This step involves using the digital platform to better the world. This means collaborating with global and local communities to help solve problems. This implies that students should not just use their media literacy to go on Facebook to complain, but to help solve bigger issues. Being an informed digital citizen can lead to helping solve issues collaboratively. Having access to the internet gives us insight into so much of the world and I hope that our students can see how privileged they are to have this tool. 

    While I feel that all of these competencies are extremely important, I believe that the ability to analyze information is the most crucial today. If a student can effectively analyze the media that they are taking in, they will be able to create, reflect, and act with more success. If a student is unable to analyze the media they are consuming, they are unlikely to be successful digital citizens as they won't be engaging responsibly. 

                                    Image Source: Renee Hobbs Medium

 The Medium is the Message

   Truthfully, I think that it could be argued that each of Renee Hobbs' five competencies could be applied to McLuhan's Medium is the Message philosophy depending on how you look at it. In my opinion, I think that Hobbs' Create competency intertwines with McLuhan's belief the most because a media creator would want to consider the medium that they are using in the creation of their message. For example, a video could be much more powerful than a longer text if the creator wanted to evoke a certain emotion in a shorter amount of time. Sometimes, a creator might choose to use a short witty Twitter post to gain quick attention, rather than writing an entire article. I do find this theory fascinating and will continue to think about it while consuming media on a daily basis. 

 

The Laws Protecting our Students

 COPA,CIPPA,and a little SOPPA

    As someone who was a teacher for 9+ years, I was ashamed at how little I actually knew about the details of the laws that support our students' online safety prior to this module. While I have always known that there were laws in place, I was definitely enlightened by all of this week's material on COPPA, CIPA, SOPPA, and beyond. There are so many dangers lurking on the internet, and as educators, it is important to review and discuss the laws that are keeping students safe. The internet can be a scary place and as this video puts it,"The internet has opened new doors to authentic learning, but the dangers for students are real." 

Image Source: Brenda's Thompson's Pintrest/Rezzly

    CIPA, or the Children's Internet Protection Act, was signed into law in 2000 (updated in 2011) and is regulated by the FCC. CIPA is designed to protect students from online predators, inappropriate content, and cyber bullying. CIPA mandates that all U.S. educational institutions that are receiving E-rate funding have policies in place to protect their students. This also means that all online activity regulated by the school or library must be monitored and that students must be educated on digital literacy. 

    COPPA, or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, was developed in 1998(updated in 2013), and is regulated by the FTC. COPPA aims to promote student safety by ensuring that parents(or grownups as I like to say)have full control over what information is collected about their child(ren). COPPA holds online websites and applications accountable for the privacy of users under the age of 13. Under COPPA, students are unable to submit information about themselves online without parental consent. Guardians should always be suspicious of applications and websites that do not ask for minimum age requirements. 

   After reading the material provided this week, I was also introduced to more details on SOPPA, or the Student Online Personal Protection Act, which became effective exclusively in Illinois on July 1, 2021. This helpful PDF details SOPPA and how it requires all public schools in Illinois to have signed agreements with operators that collect student data, both paid and unpaid. SOPPA also says that all public schools must "maintain reasonable security practices."  

Image Source: Online Safety Tips

Thoughts and Feelings

 Although I am not currently in the classroom, I do plan to be in the future and believe that our students' privacy is of the utmost importance. While I do think that the laws that are currently in place are extremely necessary to maintain student safety, I do worry that there are still ways for students to skirt around these regulations. Like I mentioned before, I felt rather uneducated about these laws before reading through this week's materials. I was teaching elementary school at a public school receiving E-rate funds for two years and was unaware of what an E-rate was before this week's reading. I have handed out several AUPs (or RUGs) to students to bring home, but I would not have been confident explaining them to guardians. I believe that it is extremely necessary to educate the teachers within a district about these laws for them to be the most effective. 

    CIPA is necessary, but as this video highlights, monitoring a student's personal device can be extremely tough. This is even true when it comes to district provided technology. One of the suggestions that was presented in the video was to create engaging lessons so that students are less likely to send inappropriate content on their phones. Imagine you have a classroom of 30 students. Can you truly monitor each student device effectively while trying to engage a large class? This puts an extreme amount of added stress on the classroom teacher. I think it is essential to have a strong district wide monitoring system in place to fully adhere to CIPA rules. 

    Even while being monitored, I have had students find a way to pull up extremely inappropriate content. In 1:1 environments where devices are provided, I have had students look up vulgar content when on their own WiFi codes at home and share with students in class. There is a lot of gray area here and I would love to read about more ways to address these concerns. After reading the case of Levy vs. Mahanoy, I was reminded of how many times my students discussed using Snapchat at home. This case begs the question: What content is off limits when posting on a personal device concerning an issue with school? I think that there will be many more cases like this that are a result of being in the CIPA gray area. 

    The researcher danah boyd believes that COPPA is encouraging kids to lie and thinks that the internet creates a space where "everyone is 14". I couldn't agree more with danah based both on my research and my own experience (I found this interesting NPR article where she discusses her research on online behavior. I think I'll have to read her book soon). There are several examples of students using websites and apps that are not age appropriate; a tragic one is mentioned here. I have had several under age students openly discussing the use of Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. Like this article mentions, many parents and guardians are often the ones who allow their students to access the online platforms. Last year before Youtube was forced to change its policies, my students were bombarded with inappropriate ads and were often allowed to click on videos with vulgar language while in school. Our content filter did not block Youtube because it was used for educational purposes, but this wreaked havoc in the classroom. 

    In this day in age, it is extremely important to protect our students from all of the dangers lurking online. CIPA, COPPA, and all of the other laws in place to protect our students are helpful, but other steps need to be taken to maintain online safety. Students' guardians need to be vigilant in protecting their kids by ensuring they are not using apps underage. Districts must educate teachers on the laws that are governing the schools. While teachers can do their best to monitor student devices while they are in school, guardians must take the reigns while at home. 

Social Media Audit

   Digital Tattoos, much like the ones on our skin, are extremely difficult to remove. The pictures, information, and comments that we make on social media are even more permanent than I previously thought. I thought that it would be appropriate to start by answering the question posed in Nicole's Video: Do you have any tattoos? I have three tattoos and in fact, posted each one to my Instagram account immediately after getting them. They are not very big, but each one represents a special memory that I had while living in Asia. Each one falls into the decoration/inspiration category and are constant reminders of how special my experiences were (cheesy, I know). The first tattoo was from the most magical experience that I have ever had; zip-lining to and staying three nights in different tree houses in the Laotian jungle (Check out The Gibbon Experience if you are keen on traveling to Asia. It was life changing). The next tattoo was paid for by one of my best friends who wanted to get matching tattoos to remember her first trip to Thailand by. The final tattoo was done in Saigon to commemorate what I thought would be my last week living there (I would end up going back for three more years after that tattoo was done). Phở is a way of life in Saigon and I ate it almost five days a week, sometimes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thai basil is said to better survive under the heat and pressure than regular basil and that resonated with me as living in Saigon was full of constant heat and pressure. At this current point, I am happy to report that I do not regret any of these tattoos, but of course, that is subject to change. 

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram

                                                                            

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram

  While luckily I can say that I don't regret my actual tattoos, I can't say the same about the tattoos that have been left on several of my social media accounts.This week, I decided to choose the Audit option as my adventure. I currently have Instagram, Snapchat,LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Like I have mentioned before, I chose to deactivate my Facebook page in 2020 due to it causing me much more harm than good. This video, while extreme, always reminds me of the toxicity of social media. I have always felt like we carefully curate our social media presence to highlight the positives while leaving out the negatives. I actually had a blog while I was living in Asia and one of the main purposes was to highlight that my life wasn't all beaches and fancy vacations. I would always get messages from my friends saying,"I'm so jealous, you're always at the beach." Which inspired me to start my blog, Vietnammed. I wrote it and posted it to Facebook often to share that in fact, my life was not just a beach. Here is a post highlighting that if you care to peruse: Misadventures After a Failed Attempt at Island Life).  

  In 2020, I felt like anything that I was posting was irrelevant to the chaos that was happening around the country. I often posted political posts, posts in support of teachers in the pandemic, and my support of the Black Lives Matter, Anti Asian Hate, and other movements happening around the country. Leading up to the 2020 election, I felt like Facebook was a mind field of political posts and found myself getting caught up in the mess. I also found myself feeling more isolated by seeing any positive posts. Teaching during the pandemic ripped my heart out and the toxic positivity that I was seeing on Facebook was suffocating. Although my account is usually deactivated, I will admit that reactivating Facebook for this course brought me some joy. It turns out that although I don't love Facebook for most things, it IS great for birthdays. I often use Facebook as a way to connect with friends on my birthday. I often post something like this:

Image Source: Blog Author's Facebook

    It just so happened that I had a birthday last week and selfishly, I loved having Facebook on that day. I often struggle with how to connect with my friends without
Facebook. It was a social crutch for so long and I often miss friends' birthdays, events, and life updates. Despite this, I think I will deactivate it soon and continue to check in periodically. It is impossible for me to delete Facebook because it houses so many of my photos and that is why I think it has a hold on so many people. 

    While I do have Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn accounts, I barely use them. I do check LinkedIn when I am hunting for jobs, but since I am currently not looking for a job, I don't find the need to go on. I also feel like LinkedIn is a bit awkward. I often get requests from people that I met once in college asking me to endorse their skills. How am I supposed to endorse people that I have only met once at a party. I suppose I could endorse their communication skills? I have never been much of a Twitter user either. I had one while I was in Vietnam but only posted three updates. When I was teaching in the states, I was forced to get a Twitter account for my classroom. I never used it and often found it feeling disingenuous. Once, after being very excited about a project my students created in the pandemic, I invited my principal to join our Zoom room. She posted about how proud she was about the project at the same time e-mailing me about a petty concern she had with one of the pictures that one of my students had used in a project. After that incident, I never checked our school Twitter. I only use Snapchat to keep in touch with one specific group of college friends, but otherwise, I go days without checking it. 

    My most used social media account is definitely Instagram. While I love looking through pictures, I also struggle with this app. I constantly delete Instagram, only to download it a day later. This is silly, but sometimes I will archive posts if they involve someone that I am having a conflict with. This seems crazy, but sometimes I just feel weird about having pictures up when I am struggling with a personal event. When I deleted Facebook, I went three months without Instagram, but eventually craved the connection and re-downloaded it. I feel like these breaks are necessary for my mental health, but I think I will continue to use Instagram as my main social media platform for now. During the pandemic, I came to terms with the fact that I was going to post my true feelings on Instagram sometimes, despite the like count. The hidden like option definitely helps with this. I have decreased the amount of posts that I actually make these days and am more of an observer. 

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram 

     I am definitely guilty of deleting posts that would be the equivalent of someone getting a tattoo with the wrong spelling. For example, as I was revisiting my old blog, I cringed at the photos that I had with a tiger. While traveling in northern Thailand for the first time, I was unaware of the terrible things that these tigers endure while in captivity. Obviously, tigers that are taking photos with humans are under a lot of stress and on several drugs to keep them calm. Now, I try to use my experience to teach others to avoid those places at all costs. So--if you see someone riding an elephant or posing with a tiger in their dating app profile--you can swipe left 😂.

    For now, I am just going to keep Instagram as my main form of social media. Who knows what other forms of social media will pop up in the next few years!? I will leave you with one of my favorite examples of "a bad digital tattoo" from my former Facebook self. Just look at the timing on both of those posts!

                                 Image source: Blog Author's Instagram

      One more quick note: Writing this has definitely made me worried for my former students and their posting habits. If this post was made by an 18-year-old me, imagine the posts that 10-year-olds think are appropriate to share. As this article notes, our brains are not fully developed until we are 25. I should not have had a Facebook at 18 and they surely should not have pages before that. I know that many apps have age limitations, but I know many of my students have skirted around the rules. My hope is that when they are old enough they will watch The Social Network, take internet privacy rules seriously, and listen to their grown-ups and teachers about the implications of digital tattoos. 

Gone Phishing

On the hook

    "Hello, I know this seems odd but I don't have access to my phone and I need you to e-mail me a $250 Amazon gift card before tomorrow. It is an emergency and I need this for my nephew!" 

    Befuddled, I reread this e-mail from my former boss(principal) at 7 P.M. while waiting in the busy airport on a Friday night. Why would she be sending this e-mail on a Friday? What emergency would require an Amazon gift card? Does Amazon have hospitals now?

    Back in 2019, I was a new teacher at the elementary school that I would eventually come to regret ever walking into. As a newbie, I was constantly nervous that I was doing something wrong and as such, always wanted to appease my boss. I was very cautious but also nervous that she was really in need of emergency Amazon bucks, so I sent her a text. About 10 minutes later, the entire school staff received a message that the e-mail had been a scam and not to reply. Duh, I thought...but I also wondered how often people fall for something like this. Just yesterday, I received this e-mail via my Dominican e-mail account: 

                                                      Image Source: Blog Author's email

    I am sure that some of you received this too. While I knew immediately that this was a scam because I've dealt with phishers before, I wonder how many folks jumped at this exciting opportunity. It sounds like a great deal! The e-mail even came from an account that had a picture attached and seemingly belonged to a faculty member or student. Expert phishers know how to reel you in.

                                                                     Image Source: Knowbe4

   

                                                         Image Source: Phishing Quiz (Blog Author's Results)

                                  (Looks like I still need a bit of phishing help) 

     Phishing Scams, Don't Take the Bait offers helpful suggestions on ways that schools can mitigate phishing risks. While one off e-mail security trainings are deemed ineffective, sending out e-mail reminders about phishing risks, connecting with users on a personal level, recognizing that mistakes happen, and constantly reevaluating current policies are helpful ways to ensure that schools stay scam resistant. I will say that the weekly e-mails that we received at my last school started out as helpful and then just felt incessant. However, I am grateful that I was able to gain insight into how to avoid phishing scams. While the AUP policy of my last school does not discuss phishing directly with students, I think it is important to discuss as students are even more vulnerable to these attacks. 

    

My Former District's AUP

    Since I am not currently in a classroom, I decided to take a look back on my previous school district's AUP. While they do include the AUP in their extensive portion of the handbook that addresses technology, their specific guidelines are called RUG, Responsible Use Guidelines.After reading the article, Acceptable or Responsible, I noticed that while District 100 did change their terminology to reflect Responsible Use Policy, they still created a long, vague document to outline their expectations.  Pages 31-36 of the online student handbook discusses many issues, including privacy, digital citizenship, device guidelines, and cyber bullying. While I was teaching in District 100, I remember sending the students home with a slip of paper that they needed to be signed and then that being the end of it. Of course, we had discussions about digital literacy and cyber bullying, but I truly do not think that my students understood the dangers that were present on their iPads. In my opinion, the district stressed keeping the devices in perfect condition over the digital safety of staff and students. 

    Our Zoom classrooms were hacked multiple times last year. Some of my fourth grade students started having separate Zoom meetings and inappropriate conversations during class time. Students would constantly enter Zoom meetings and type inappropriate messages under different names. On the first day of Zoom class, before students knew how to create their own names, my life was threatened by one of my students via chat (turns out, she was one of the most soft spoken and sweetest girls in class). She thought that she was anonymous and had no idea that our tech team could discover who the message came from (Honestly, I think it was a case of trying to see what she could get away with). On all of these occasions, there were little to no repercussions for these actions. It is imperative that administrators enforce the AUP (or RUG) guidelines in order to maintain internet safety. 

    While extensive, the language in my old district's AUP is vague and not at all relatable. I guarantee that if you sat down with students and read them this nearly 6 page long section of the handbook, they would be extremely confused. I don't think parents would have the capacity or patience to read it either. I would suggest that the district created an AUP that is much more digestible and easy to understand. I would recommend an info-graphic and a presentation by technology specialists. I also think it is extremely important to ensure that this presentation is available in all languages and that support is available in all languages present in the school community. 

    Often times, our administrators last year would tell staff, students, and parents to "see the handbook!" That isn't very accessible. I highly recommend a revamp to encourage safe internet and device usage throughout the district moving forward. 

   

Think Before you Click

 What is Online Privacy?

    Recently, it seems that my iPhone knows more about my wants and needs than any family member or friend of mine. Surely right now, my phone could tell you what I wanted for my upcoming birthday more than my mom, dad, or partner. Daily, I can be heard yelling, "How did you know that?" into the depths of my Instagram feed. I am constantly being reminded of the importance of online privacy and I always feel that it is being compromised, often shouting that I want to throw my phone into the nearest river. With that being said, I am guilty of signing many Terms of Service agreements without paying much attention, putting priority on convenience over my own privacy.

Photo source: Rob Cottingham Cartoons

 Why is this important today? 

    The privacy of the information that we share online is of the utmost importance today because well, this level of data gathering is unprecedented. The history of internet privacy is complex, but 2010 is when the internet was officially deemed, "complex and unpredictable" by the nation's top scientists. 

Image Source: Washington Post 

Illustrator: Harry Campbell

    Online privacy is all about the level of protection that one has while surfing the internet. Who has access to your information? How long do they retain it? What is it being used for? In episode one of The Privacy Paradox: What Your Phone Knows, Bruce Schneier, revered technologist and cryptographer, says," A few clicks and suddenly, we've given away a lot of rights invisibly." He also argues that we would resist carrying a government issued tracking device, but have no issue carrying our phones in our pockets. He likens the metadata being collected to having a private detective hired to spy on us. This metadata that we provide is incredibly valuable, personal surveillance data. This data is shared with the government, marketers, social media sites, and so much more.

The Importance of Privacy in my Learning Space

    I currently work as the Student Events Coordinator at Dominican University and was previously a teacher for nine years. Internet privacy is of the utmost importance to young learners and college students alike. I always think back to when I first had a Facebook. I was 18 and had little to no concept of what internet privacy was. Now, I (unfortunately) have access to 15 years of my every thought and picture of what I was doing when I was in college. I have always urged my students to be careful about what they post online. Social media is becoming popular for students at younger and younger ages. Can you imagine having access to social media at 9, 10, or 11? Students who post things online at this age are not using discretion with posting or with reading through the terms of service. This is extremely dangerous and many companies are taking advantage of this ignorance. Another thing that I tell my students is to cover their computer or iPad cameras. In this article, Christopher Soghoian discusses the importance of putting a piece of tape or Band-Aid over your device's camera. It is extremely easy for people to hack into computers and use the cameras to collect video footage. While some may think that this sounds like an episode of Black Mirror, this can happen often, especially to unsuspecting students. The next time that I have a classroom of my own, I will make sure to stress the importance of internet safety on day 1. 

Surprises, Knowledge Gained, and Changing Behavior

    I was very surprised to learn that it would take 76 hours a year for us to actually read through all of the user agreements that we are exposed to. This probably explains why I am guilty of never actually reading through them. I often fall into the trap that this Time article discusses; I am too lazy to read through everything and I assume that it won't actually hurt me in the long run. 

    After reading through many of these articles and listening to some podcasts, I am going to vow to make some simple changes that will help me maintain some semblance of internet privacy. First of all, before reading through these sources, I admit that I did not have a piece of tape over my camera. I am going to change that ASAP. I will also download a password manager stat. This also means that I will finally have to change most of my passwords from my old cats' names to something more complicated, but I know that it will be worth it in the long run. 

    I am thankful for access to these resources because I feel like once I am able to protect myself more online, I will be able to pass this knowledge down to my much more vulnerable students in the future. 

PLN-ty to learn

The Social Aspect

    PLNs, or Professional Learning Networks, are designed to help teachers compile insights, resources, and ideas from each other based on needs in their personal classrooms. After reading about PLNs this week, it is obvious that they allow for more choice in gathering learning materials than some traditional PDs. PLNs are an essential part of growing as an educator. 

    Before I even clicked on the short videos from the Thinglink this week, I knew that I would most likely identify with the social area of PLNs. I am an extremely outgoing person and often search beyond my school or classroom for support from other teachers, friends, and/or family. I also decided to take the Five Factor Test provided in the module and my results showed that I am 97% extroverted, so the fact that I lean more towards the social area of PLNs makes a lot of sense. While I identify the most with the social area of growth, I do identify with all of the other areas as well. 

Image Source: Psychologist World

      Being a social person during the pandemic took an extreme toll on me, especially while working from home and during hybrid. I really thrive when I am able to pop into my colleagues' classrooms to ask a quick question or bounce ideas off of them. When we were working from home, I created a staff Padlet so that we could highlight the positive things that we saw each other doing in our virtual classrooms. The staff morale was at an all time low and I think that some of this had to do with a lack of connection. Having connection with other teachers is crucial, whether it be on a lunchtime walk with a teaching team or meeting in the teacher's lounge for 10 quick minutes. It was difficult to walk down the empty hallways, past classrooms, unsure if the person you wanted to talk to was in a Zoom meeting or just staring with blank eyes at their computer screen. 

My PLN Experiences

  During the pandemic, a time when everyone felt isolated, PLNs were more important than ever. I was actually lucky enough to join a study that was being done by two professors in Pennsylvania. Every two weeks or so, teachers from all over the country met on Zoom to discuss the hardships we were experiencing during the pandemic. It was extremely cathartic and eye opening to hear what other teachers from around the country were going through during this unprecedented and stressful time. At the end of our meetings, I also participated in a virtual conference with this group to discuss our findings and also to share the letter that I wrote to my board of education during the pandemic. This PLN was enlightening and much needed for me and I am so happy that I was able to be a part of this study. 

For this week's PLN assignment, I joined a Facebook Group called the Teach Better Team. I wanted to challenge myself to get back on Facebook for this because after watching Tanya Menon's Video, I realized that I have been guilty of disconnecting. Tanya says, "When your psychological world is breaking down, the hardest thing to do is to try and reach out and build up your social world." This is exactly what I did during the pandemic. I deactivated my Facebook and disconnected from the thousands of friends that I had made through my travels over the years. 

Image Source: Facebook

Immediately after logging onto Facebook, I felt a sense of connection with my friends that I haven't had in a while. I checked into see how some of my friends were doing. I checked which birthdays that I had inevitably missed. When I was approved for the Teach Better Team group, I perused and watched a few videos and looked through the posts. What I love about this group is that many teachers are posting questions, materials to share, and videos chatting about different aspects of being in the classroom. I really enjoyed this info-graphic on Ramadan that was shared. They also have a podcast called Daily Drop In which promotes teacher connection and support. Being a part of a group like this during the pandemic would have really helped me and I regret not reaching out more while I was struggling in the classroom. Through this group, I learned that teachers thrive through connection, whether that be virtual or in person.  

I mentioned this in my first blog post, but at the very beginning of the pandemic, I started a Facebook group called Breath of Fresh Air, full of friends around the world, designed to help build community and boost morale during the insanity of 2020 and beyond. I checked in on the group to see how it was doing and to my surprise, people are still posting. I realized that creating a positive community via this group, despite not being on Facebook anymore, was my way of helping my community foster connection during a difficult time. 

A little about me....

 A little about me...

Photo credit: Blog Author

Hi new classmates! My name is Jess Daniels and I am excited to be taking this class to learn a bit more about how social media impacts student learning. I have definitely seen the pros and cons of social media use concerning  my students, especially when I was teaching middle school.  I apologize if you've heard this introductory story before, but here we go....

My 9ish year long teaching career has been full of ups and downs and started off in a pretty unusual fashion. When I was signing up for my student teaching placement at Illinois State University back in 2010, I saw the option to teach abroad for half of my practicum. Although at 22 I had never been on a plane, I jumped at the chance to move across the pond for three months to experience another country's educational system/culture. That sneaky travel bug is relentless, and after three months in England and a few months of subbing in the Chicagoland area, I moved across the world to Seoul, South Korea to start what would become a seven(ish) year teaching career in Asia. I stayed in Seoul for a year, teaching just about every subject imaginable, and then moved to Denver to be with my partner at the time. After a few months, I soon realized that I was not yet done with teaching in Asia (it's hard to give up the respect paid to teachers) and I went to an international school job fair at UNI in Iowa. I was ecstatic to receive a middle school social studies and language arts position in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam--which is where I stayed from 2013-2019 (with a few months teaching in Thailand peppered in). 

In August of 2019, I was reluctant to teach in an American classroom full time but eventually accepted a fourth grade position in a district that would turn out to be soul crushing. I worked at the same school for two years, 1 1/2 of those years being in the pandemic. My fears, and so much worse, were realized while I was working in this school and as such, I am taking the current year off of teaching and am unsure if I will ever be in the classroom full time again. I love my students and in fact, I just visited two of my kiddos from last year this past weekend, but I have no desire to be subjected to the lack of respect, pay, or terrible treatment that I (and many of my teacher friends) experience today. 

I currently work part time at Dominican and part time as a waitress. I am trying to carve out a path that allows me to maintain my mental health in a way that was simply not possible at my last job. My last school put me into a dual language position knowing that I was not yet qualified, so I started my ESL endorsement back in 2020 and will be done with my MAED in late June. I wanted to complete my Master's in case I ever find the right fit in terms of a school, but for now I am enjoying a much less stressful existence. 

Photo credit: Blog Author

Social Media 

Like most people, I have a very love hate relationship with social media. I can often be found deleting my Instagram one second and redownloading it the next. Since I lived abroad for so many years, I use Facebook messenger to connect with my friends around the world, but deactivated my Facebook in the midst of the pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic, I created a Facebook group called "Breath of Fresh Air," which was a page designated for posting pictures and videos that would cheer people up. It ended up being popular amongst my friends and their connections, but I ended up deactivating Facebook because during the pandemic, posting anything just seemed...strange to me? I felt guilty posting at times, guilty when I didn't post. So, I decided to eradicate that feeling all together. I still use Instagram but I set a timer and often try not to use it. 

When I was teaching in Saigon, I created a teacher Instagram account so that my students could keep in touch with me and/or check out cool projects from the day/week. I still have that account and will occasionally post to keep contact with my students. 

As a teacher and human, I am very invested in social justice and try to make my social media accounts reflective of that. I strive to be a teacher that creates safe spaces for my students, both in the classroom and online.