Inside the Mind of a History Teacher

 Understanding and accepting that technology will forever be a part of the classroom is the first step in becoming a tech savvy educator. It is so important for educators to be willing and able to adapt to the ever changing trends in education. Today, I'll be evaluating various research data on the impact that technology has on young people.  McCrindle Gen Z Statistics :  The data that stood out to me most from McCrindle was their article on the Age of Self-Learning . I believe a major struggle for many educators, especially longer tenured educators, has been around the use of technology in the classroom, and the role that social media plays in the lives of our students. As someone who has been using social media for the majority of my life, I agree with McCrindle's sentiment that social media outlets, such as TikTok, are not only an avenue for entertainment, but they are also an outlet for learning. Outside of school, I find myself spending a lot of my free time scrolli...

Quick Update Hey all! I can not believe that we are already more than halfway through the first quarter of the school year! The students are officially settled in and ready to go at the start of each class, and the content is flowing. I feel like these last couple of weeks have been a breakthrough for some of my less active classes. I have been seeing far more engagement and participation in some of the more introverted students in the classroom. We have been discussing the characteristics of complex civilizations in World History. The students have really been enjoying analyzing sources from ancient Mesopotamia. Active Learning As a history teacher I oftentimes find myself reflecting on how I can make my content more engaging for my students. History is a subject that is oftentimes considered tedious and boring by many students. As educators it is our jobs to ensure that our students are fully immersed and actively engaging in the content that we are trying to teach to them. I am alwa...

Visitors and Residents...?  Up until recently, I never really gave my technology usage a second thought. I have never mapped out the apps that I frequent most on a daily basis, nor have I really considered whether or not I have been using too much Peardeck in my classroom. I also truly never considered the role that I played in my technology usage. After reading through David White's blog post regarding his idea of "Visitors and Residents", my entire thought process revolving around technology usage and consumption has changed. I equate the concept of "Visitors and Residents" to how active or passive you are with your technology usage. For example, many people play a very active role on social media apps, such as Twitter/X, regularly tweeting and replying to other people. These people would be considered "Residents" of Twitter/X. However, there are some people, like myself, who have held a Twitter/X account for over a decade, yet have never published ...

 Let's face it. Gone are the days of chalkboards and overhead projector lectures. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about so much change in the world and has truly revolutionized the way that we look at education. Technology usage has become a stronghold in the classroom, and whether you like it or not, it is most definitely here to stay. One of the best changes, in my opinion, has been the usage of games for learning. So much of our students time has been filled with gaming since before the start of the pandemic, and it has only gotten worse as a result of the pandemic. Today, I am going to be showing you how I have implemented gaming into my classroom. Meet, "Gimkit".     Additional Gimkit related resources: What is Gimkit and How Can it be Used? Gimkit Tutorial US States Gimkit - Fantastic bell ringer for a Social Studies classroom Gimkit Blog

Hey there! Welcome back! Coming off of the pandemic and finally packing up my virtual classroom (hopefully for good!), I have found myself increasingly using technology in my classroom. Although I feel like the increase of technology usage in my classroom has been helpful, both to me and my students, I can't help but doubt my gut feeling sometimes. Source: giphy.com It was not until very recently that I discovered that frameworks for technology integration in the classroom actually exist! SAMR is one framework that I have spent some time looking into and implementing in my own instruction, in order to determine whether or not I am effectively using technology in my classroom. SAMR is an acronym that stands for "Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition". This acronym represents the levels to which educators are at in regards to technology implementation within the classroom.  Source: PowerSchool Level 1: Substitution. "Substitution"is the sta...