Presentation of Project

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Cabrini Blog Post #7

Digital citizenship is an emerging practice of applying proper protocols for usage with current internet accessible devices.  Unlike in previous generations, this generation has a seemingly endless supply of technology which is always at their fingertips, so ensuring proper safety and behavior when interacting with the digital population is important.  For this assignment, I read up on digital citizenship in school and I identified an article by Vicki Davis published in Edutopia about “What your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Citizenship.”  She simplified the concept of digital citizenship into nine “P’s.” The nine “P’s” are passwords, privacy, personal information, photographs, property, permission, protection, professionalism, and personal brand.  These are measures which when proactively aware, students can put themselves in the safest and best environment for utilizing the internet.  I always took it for granted with security on the internet, but just recently our high school started a course called digital forensics and law which is one of the first in the nation and in discussions with the teacher they cover digital footprints and how identities can be stolen.  It is a cutting edge curriculum and I think it is a very enlightening class for our students who choose to take the class.  Unfortunately, many students are not aware of their digital choices and their reputation is ruined before they even get a chance to make an impact.  All over the internet are pictures of minors drinking and participating in illegal activities.  No matter how many warnings we give them about colleges looking at this evidence or explaining how they never go away, teenagers are invincible.  It is scientifically proven that their brains are still developing and a lot of advanced social decisions are not made with proper judgment.  There are multiple examples of high school athletes losing scholarships over social media posts.  This behavior is not new behavior among teenagers, but rather the documented behavior on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or VSCO is more rampant than ever. 

I think as a school administrator it is important to make these students aware of their digital impression.  As an administrator I would make it a part of my yearly assembly routine.  In secondary schools there are major issues with cyber bullying and the drug and alcohol scene, but I think it should be noted that digital footprints and their digital profiles are just as important decisions to make.  Students need to see examples.  If these fears don’t impact someone close to them, they rarely have an impact.  I would suggest using social media to identify illicit behavior among students and to show how anyone can find that information and how colleges or recruiters could find the info too.  

Cabrini Blog Post #5

I have always been a big proponent of social media to promote items, especially school functions.  Mobile devices have become an extension of the body and being a high school teacher, 99% of our students have cell phones.  These students cannot go mere minutes without checking to see who is texting them, snapchatting them, or just looking through pictures on Instagram.  The change in results would be astounding if these students identified the true potential of these devices for educational good.  How does this translate to a school platform and communicating school concepts to the constituents?  Actually quite easily!  With all of these various social media platforms at our fingertips, it is easy to rapidly find information on a person, restaurant, event, etc.; schools should be no different.  There are a lot of concerns over extremely rare situations of teachers abusing their power and communicating with students through social media, so a lot of districts have strong restrictions on the social media platforms which can interact with the student population.  In my district, it is not permitted to have any communication with students through non-phone call communication.  It is an archaic plan but designed to prevent situations like those that arise on the news every so often about a teacher-student relationship. 

As an administrator, I would exploit the use of social media to promote the school happenings.  People want to see and hear about the good things occurring in our public schools.  Through the use of a few key people, a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can be established and events can be shared.  Many districts use Twitter to tweet out all of their sports scores, Facebook to share stories and pictures, YouTube to share longer composed videos, why not utilize this outreach ability to get to thousands of members of the community.  This must be heavily regulated however and one small mistake could leave a major blemish on the district.  It is all too often we hear about a celebrity posting something on Twitter before they had time to truly think about what they meant to say.  Before they had the chance take it down there were screenshots of the message and it is permanently linked to that individual.  As a school district, you are expected to be better than that, to be above that, and so only key individuals or one individual should have access to these platforms to post.  One of the other ends of the spectrum to address is individuals who wish to make their personal vendettas known.  Commenting anonymously on these platforms can be major trouble so limiting commenting is something that should be addressed. 

Social media is a very powerful tool and can be used to share information about upcoming events, school happenings, highlighting individual success, but it must also be done in a controlled manner.  There are issues with individuals and their pictures being posted and one poor decision when posting can ruin a reputation.  With great power comes great responsibility.  

Cabrini Blog Post #2

I have the unique opportunity to work with a colleague who is a huge proponent of the digital age learning culture.  This individual is constantly seeking new technologies to better connect his students to the curriculum.  Each approach to a new technological advancement is designed to fill a void in the student interpretation of the content.  The best part about this teacher’s approach is that he is always willing to share all of the unique findings with the other teachers.  He has introduced the department to Edmodo, educannon, Study Island, and TedEd.  It is remarkable how rapidly he identifies technologies that can be used within the classroom and his willingness to try.  The desire to improve student achievement through technological advances is not without mistakes and it is through these mistakes that we learn what works and what doesn’t work. 

The introduction to various web-based technologies is only one aspect of a true technological leader.  This individual also advocates for the necessary hardware to run the required programs.  A true technological leader would not just show all the technology, but show how it can be expanded to your classes and identify the required tools. 

I model myself after this individual in that I try to stay current with all the web 2.0 tools.  Unfortunately, there are more and more applications being designed each year and I struggle to keep up.  Unlike my peer I am not exactly comfortable with failure of an activity due to technology.  I am always willing to share new technologies when I know they are successful, but the audience is often non-responsive to these new approaches to education.  I look forward to collaborating with individuals who are open to sharing information about the new tools for education and advancing educator’s tools to improve student achievement. I found the following TED talk interesting about the future of data collected from all of the digital means around us and how that data could transform our society.  I believe the same mindset should be applied to education and that as a collaborative we can better reach students.   

Cabrini Blog Post #3

I decided to take a look at Kristen Swanson’s blog. Her blog is presented in a very intimidating fashion, it is just a grid or collective of various blog posts about a multitude of educational topics from teacher superpowers to choosing the right person to serve as a leader. I was initially intimidated by the amount of information presented but when I clicked on a couple of the posts, I saw that they were small and manageable snippets of information. I began to appreciate the format and it became very easy to explore. I don’t think it would be great if you wanted to present a series of posts because they would be lost in the mass grid system, but if you just want to survey different topics then it is ideal. Educational blogging and reflecting through blogging is very similar to note taking. The way you can take a piece of information, synthesize it and then repost it allows for better understanding and will serve as a reference to eventually go back to. If nobody reads your blog, you can benefit from knowing that you can always reflect back on the postings to review various educational scenarios or information.

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My name is James Maloney and I am an educator at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.  I currently teach AP Environmental and Biology, and I have been teaching since 2008.  My passions include traveling, hiking, photography, and all things nature. I am a strong believer in that every student has the capabilities to succeed and they should be given equal opportunity to those chances.