My Reflections in Digital Learning

I recently came across an article on Facebook about Illinois foster kids and how Illinois is receiving a $4.5 million grant to help foster children make the transition to living on their own.  This award was given by a national nonprofit organization called Youth Villages.  According to DCFS, statistics show that young people in foster care are more likely than others to be homeless, unemployed, or incarcerated as adults.  DCFS will be working with Cook County organizations UCA and Lawrence Hall and Hoyelton Youth and Family Services near St. Louis.  These agencies will use a life skills program to help young adults make the transition into adulthood. I guess I never really thought this would be something foster kids were in dire need of.  Although they are technically being taken care of in foster homes or homes for boys and girls, they do not always have that constant of a set of parents to always guide them.  This kids need an extra boost to make sur...

Reflect on your learning style. What sort of a Learner are you? Think about how you would react to Flipped Learning. Share what a struggle you may have adapting to a Flipped Learning experience. I am such an old school learner, I have no problem listening to a teacher lecture for a few hours and taking notes. I learn when I am actively listening and writing information down. For my brain, it is like I am processing it twice and I am more likely to remember the information. Usually in class, this is my preferred way of learning, I am not sure if it is very good or if I am just used to this method of teaching. I think it also stems from being shy and with this method, I generally do not have to participate and I can just sit there listening. I am also an independent learner so in theory, flipped learning would be ideal for me. Flipped learning is an interesting concept I have never really heard about. The idea of the student teaching themselves then coming to school the foll...

31 Days of STEM Halloween Stem Activities I recently came across an article for teachers on STEM activities to do during the Halloween season in school.  I loved these ideas, kids get to do something fun for the holiday, but it is also educational and they probably won't notice or think it's just another boring lesson.  This article listed 31 activities for every day of the month.  This might not be possible for all classrooms, but I think it would be a neat idea as a special Halloween treat once a week maybe.  I have already tested out a few of these with my soon to be three year old.  He is obsessed with Halloween and these were perfect. We definitely tried out the glow in the dark slime, he doesn't get the science part just yet, but he loved making something with me and playing with something he said was gross. Haha! We also tried out the screaming ghost balloon.  He loved this one, it was super fast to do and you only needed two supplies. Even ...

What are some of the positives and negatives about having technology in education? Technology is everywhere these days, I love and hate it!  I think it is great to be able to have so much knowledge at our fingertips at any moment.  On the flip side, it's weird to go out in public and see a crowd of people all staring at their phones and not one is engaging with the other.  Technology is definitely a huge advancement for us as teachers, but I often question how to balance that properly in the classroom.  As a mom, I can see the difference in kids already and my son is only two years old.  He is a whiz with an IPhone as well as his Kindle.  That is crazy to me, it's like they are born and already know how to use technology.  My husband is 32 and can barely use a computer (he really tries though, I have to give him credit).  I also feel like technology in the classroom kind of makes you more of a loner and less likely to make friends because you w...