Information & Communications Technology
Before becoming a teacher, I worked as an occupational health and safety analyst for a pipeline company, much of which involved information management and communication. I hope to increase my students' knowledge and skills in these areas for both their personal and professional development. I am passionate about managing and representing information, and collaborating in online environments. I regularly use social media to stay on top of developments in teaching strategies, IT, media, psychology, and anything else related to kids and education. I follow and contribute to a number of blogs about community, education, political, economic, spiritual, and personal issues. One of my goals is to learn how to code using Codecademy.
Hands-On Skills
I have used Smart boards, Google Apps for Education, D2L, TMS, and TeacherLogic during my practica. I use Diigo to manage digital resources, YouTube playlists to keep track of video resources, and other social media such as Google+ to gather and share information. I use various Google apps (Gmail, Calendar, Tasks, Drive, etc.), as well as Dropbox, to manage information from any device. I am adept with MS SharePoint and Redbooth (formerly TeamBox) for online collaboration and information management. I completed SharePoint Designer training from NewEra, and enjoy designing and building workflows. I am comfortable using many database systems and process modeling tools, such as MS Visio and ARIS. Through some coursework and independent study, I became familiar with Brainshark, Bubbl.us, Prezi, Camtasia, and other software that I could see myself using for future teaching and learning.
Philosophy
There are pros and cons associated with technology, which I go in to more details about here. My overarching philosophy as it relates to technology use personally and in the classroom is as follows:
Hands-On Skills
I have used Smart boards, Google Apps for Education, D2L, TMS, and TeacherLogic during my practica. I use Diigo to manage digital resources, YouTube playlists to keep track of video resources, and other social media such as Google+ to gather and share information. I use various Google apps (Gmail, Calendar, Tasks, Drive, etc.), as well as Dropbox, to manage information from any device. I am adept with MS SharePoint and Redbooth (formerly TeamBox) for online collaboration and information management. I completed SharePoint Designer training from NewEra, and enjoy designing and building workflows. I am comfortable using many database systems and process modeling tools, such as MS Visio and ARIS. Through some coursework and independent study, I became familiar with Brainshark, Bubbl.us, Prezi, Camtasia, and other software that I could see myself using for future teaching and learning.
Philosophy
There are pros and cons associated with technology, which I go in to more details about here. My overarching philosophy as it relates to technology use personally and in the classroom is as follows:
- Valuing wisdom over information
- Valuing resilience over convenience
- Valuing relationship over customization
- Valuing face-to-face interactions over texting
- Valuing community over anonymity
- Valuing focus over multi-tasking
- Valuing deep breathing over list-making
- Valuing critical thinking over mindless surfing
- Valuing creation over consumption
- Valuing being in the moment over being digitally connected
- Valuing rest over stress-pride
- Valuing free play over workaholism
- Valuing movement and time in nature
- Valuing moderation and autonomy to determine what that means
- Valuing the freedom to let go and just be