Author: nicolek (Page 8 of 9)

Before attending this education program, I had never heard the word e-portfolio let alone what an e-portfolio was all about. An e-portfolio is a tool that allows us as learners to collect and reflect on our work, showcase educational experience and achievements and it allows for a strong sense of ownership and personal responsibility. The resources that are collected over the years, will allow for the building of your resource library for your classroom. E-portfolios allow a person to look back at their work and understand the progress that was made towards an end goal and hopefully appreciate all of the learning that took place. Having this documentation of one’s progress, shows their achievements, learnings and allows for building upon concepts. The e-portfolio provides future employers an easy way to see you as an individual and as a learner all in one spot.

My personal e-portfolio has started to build on who I am as an educational learner. I was not sure how this platform would develop and why I would want to have it out there on the world wide web. I am a private person, so putting myself out there for others to read was a bit scary. Being able to revisit what I have posted, edit along the way and feeling proud, have made the use of the e-portfolio a bit easier. Upon completing this teaching program, I do believe that I will continue to use my e-portfolio as a place to “hang up” resources, talk about my classroom experiences, use it as part of my resume when applying for a job and build on reflecting. I would not be sharing this e-portfolio with students but I do see myself creating a different e-portfolio account that I would be able to use for posting about my classroom, assignments, projects and activities. Of course, this would all depend on the grade level, how tech savvy the students were and if everyone was able to have access. Technology can be a good tool to have, and my e-portfolio for this program will show me how I have grown as a student and a person.   

The digital world is something that we interact with multiple times a day. Being a teacher will mean that you are interacting more online when you are looking for resources, making/buying worksheets, keeping your e-portfolio up to date, emailing colleagues/parents, and keeping up on social media. With being online so much there is a strong need to be cautious of what you post and where you venture off to in cyber land.

Digital citizenship is the appropriate and responsible use of all digital devices. Teachers need to have this digital citizenship because they are dealing with the public daily. Interacting with students in class is one thing but then interacting with them online socially is not acceptable. Emails to parents need to be concise and allow for maybe a personal meeting at school should the issue not be resolved. As we learned in the BCTF workshop Professional Boundary Issues: Teacher/Student Relationships, teachers hold a position of trust with students and they will be held accountable if any of their actions are inappropriate. Always being professional in the classroom and online are important. As well as keeping copies of all forms of communication with students, parents and colleagues. We as teachers are here to be role models for our students and if we want our students to be good citizens of society, then we need to lead by example.

We as teachers need to behave professionally, appropriately, responsibly and safely when we are using digital technology. When there are boundaries set, these will allow for a safe relationship between the teacher, students and parents. We can be good digital citizens by not sharing passwords with students/parents/colleagues, leaving our work computer unattended/open, do not allow photos of ourselves to be posted with permission, do not take photos of our students and post them on our own social media pages, do not post images or information about yourself on social media that could be conflicting and do not share private information about students/parents/colleagues on your own social media pages.

We have to remember that nothing is truly private when it comes to the digital world. Once something is posted/sent it is out on the web for the whole world to see. By being good digital citizens, teachers can have successful careers. We work in public relations and have many more responsibilities than most people. Why not make digital citizenship something that can be incorporated into the classroom as lessons? These lessons would allow for students to start building on being good digital citizens themselves.  

Assessments are used all of the time in the classroom. Teachers can have assessments built into their lesson plans, an assignment/project or an end unit of understanding evaluation. Assessments are used to understand strengths and weaknesses of students learning.

Formative assessments can be used regularly during a lesson/unit of study to check for understanding. This would give the whole bird eye view of the picture on how the class is doing. Summative assessments are best used to evaluate the student’s mastery of what the unit was about and needs to be given after the unit has been completed.  Assessments need to integrate grading, learning and motivation.

The role of assessments is to improve a student’s learning. Assessments allow teachers to decide if they need to re-teach material or move forward. Assessments can show where students have difficulties in learning, can help diagnose disabilities, allow students and teachers to learn from their mistakes and allow for differentiate instruction. Assessments open up a window for teachers to look through showcasing the student’s learning. Teachers are able to see if there are any visible barriers and how they might be able to improve the teaching of the material. Being able to understand strengths and weaknesses of each student’s learning will allow the teacher to adjust the lesson and possibly incorporate material that every student would be able to understand and complete. Assessments should not be used as a negative tool for students, but a positive tool that shows what the student has learned, how well they learned and where they struggle. We, as teachers are here to help students. The more information we have about the students, the better we can prepare units for successful learning, understanding and completion. No child needs to feel like they can not do the work because they do not understand. Assessments are a positive tool in order to gain feedback on the students in your class and need to be used regularly in the classroom.