Emily's Notions

 Looking back on this week, I definitely wanted to review the tools that have been discussed in this class. At the beginning of this course I wanted to do anything and everything related to tools and badges. Now being almost halfway through the summer I realize that I cannot in fact do it all. It's important to note that there are a plethora of tools out there for users. How and if you use them depend on your needs. It's kinda like going to a grocery store and standing in the bread aisle. There's lots of different choices and sizes depending on your needs and tastes. Ultimately you're going to pick something that you want or try something new. The same goes with tools, you don't know if you're going to like it unless you try it.  Some of my favorite tools in this class so far Twitter- love being able to connect with other people and follow different twitter chats Symbaloo- definitely going to be using this with my students Padlet- also going to try this with my ...

If you couldn't tell from the title, I'm on a family road trip through the east side of the United States. Although this was partially inspired by my aunt's funeral that will be taking place this week, my family is using it as an opportunity to reconnect and visit some new places. We haven't taken a road trip together in forever and yet being squished in the backseat of the car with my siblings still feels the same, actually it feels more cramped since none of us are no longer small children. Being on this trip has made me aware of the different norms that occur, as well as the unexpected that arise (all the hotels were booked in Raleigh, my sister ate all the snacks, etc.) It is nice though to travel somewhere new and have that free and clear feeling.  I plan to update throughout this week with places we visited or restaurants we ate at (check out @thedailydunks for that). I've been following some different twitter chats about travel and state park tours, but if an...

 I was reading an article the other day about how parents of children feel that the internet is a completely environment than when they were kids. Personally I'd have to say that they're right. The internet has expanded and evolved into a giant. It is always changing and growing with the users that interact with it. In this day and age people can log on to their computers and search anything and everything, with instantaneous results. That type of instant gratification is unmatched, especially once it becomes part of your daily routine. Kids today are so used to immediately being able to find answers, and it isn't always a bad thing. With my students, I stress the importance of quality information over quantity, as well as using the internet for productivity. I also am required to discuss online safety and netiquette with them, which is definitely a huge thing especially since the majority of my students have social media apps such as tiktok, instagram, twitter, etc.  I oft...

 Has anyone noticed that when you're in a good mood everything is great, but when you're in a bad mood it's the end of the world no positivity in sight? Just me? Okay maybe I'm too dramatic for my own good but after keeping track of my mood for the past month I've noticed 2 things, 1. When you're good, you're great 2. When you're not good, you're not great Your mood is affected by so many things throughout the day and the majority of them are unpredictable. If you're like me and you want to always be in control, I've got some bad news for you. In my experience, in order to gain control of things, I've had to give up more of it that I'm comfortable with. I ended up reading this article from Forbes about positivity and productivity. Basically the main takeaway from this is that your productivity can be affected by how positive you are. The article gives some good tips on how to battle this. I've tried a few and they seem to work (t...

As the weeks pass in this class I continue to feel more and more engaged, as well as connected with my classmates, though we are not together. This type of classroom community is something I wish I could bring to my own students. Maybe with some practice and of course trial and error, I can do so. In all honesty I found myself to be struggling even harder this week to participate or even bring myself post on the blog. I've been experiencing so many changes in my life recently and it's quite literally exhausted me. It's strange that in this hectic time, I've found comfort in expressing myself on this platform, even when I initially don't feel like it. The tools we've covered have slowly but surely become a staple in my daily social media interactions. Never in my life would I have thought I would have been more than a lurker on most platforms, but here I am doing just that. 

Earlier this weekend I did something that I've been telling myself I'm going to do for the last year. I finally took a break and detoxed from social media and the internet. Thursday night I turned my phone on do not disturb (except for emergency calls from my favorited contacts of course) and I did absolutely nothing. It was such a free feeling that was first overwhelmed by FOMO (fear of missing out) and guilt (should I have been checking snapchat for the umpteenth time today???). As the weekend went on I felt better and better. The guilt subsided, my anxiety wasn't as high from constantly checking what everyone was doing, and I didn't feel that post screen time hangover/headache from being on my phone all day. I actually felt present in the moment. I went to orangetheory both days and didn't feel the need to post my pyramid. I also went to a minor league baseball game friday night with my friends I hadn't seen in forever. It was so fun to catch up over hotdogs ...

 Every time I write my reflections each week, I either feel like we haven't been in class for very long OR that we've all been together forever and have created a small learning pod of people we've never met. It's wild to me how much we've covered in such a short amount of time. It's even wilder how much I've connected with complete strangers. This just goes to show that classroom community and environment is a concept and not something that is bound by four walls. In my opinion the freedom of direction in this course has led to more genuine interactions and exploratory learning than I've ever experienced before. I feel as if I am collaborating with people I've known forever, and look forward to new updates on our twitter hashtag. This is something I wish more courses incorporated into their learning process, as it has made a world of difference in my engagement and understanding.

 Writing my paper this week has brought community norms to the forefront of my thoughts and it's been stuck there for days. Initially when I first started working on it one movie came to mind, the 2004 iconic Tina Fey classic, Mean Girls. Now I'm sure you're probably thinking "how in the world is she making that connection?" well it's actually pretty simple. If you've seen the movie once or twice (or at least 50 times like myself) you know that the story revolves around Lindsay Lohan's character moving from Africa to the suburbs of Illinois. It's here where she attends school for the first time, aside from being homeschooled, and meets a variety of different types of students that make up her high school. In my opinion Tina Fey did a great job creating all of the different communities and environments in the school. Ultimately though, this is like every other teen movie at the time where the new girl gets in with the popular students and is ultimat...

This past Sunday I participated in the #sunchat Twitter chat. This twitter chat focuses on hot topics in education, welcoming users who are both teachers and non teachers. The topic this week asked us all to reflect on this past school year, along with the trials and tribulations that accompanied it.  It's no secret that school this year was a challenge regardless of whether or not you were a parent/teacher/student/admin/etc. We were all in uncharted waters and the Skipper and Gilligan were no where to be found. This chat was a great way to wrap up the year and connect with other teachers who were in similar situations. When you're a teacher, it's easy to get caught up in what's going on in your own classroom, which can sometimes make you feel alone in these situations. Chats like these let you know that there's someone else out there with your situation, who will sympathize or have advice.  This was not my first twitter chat, nor will it be my last. This was the la...

 This week has been particularly interesting for me in forms of reflection. I found myself easily becoming stressed and withdrawing from things that previously brought me joy and entertainment. An example of this was interacting on twitter. Usually I enjoy commenting on the tweets of others and even planned to share some of my own tweets, however those stayed in my drafts. I was torn between trying to get everything done, test out all the tools, basically spreading myself too thin, or pull back a little this week and focus on the few things I could. Working with pinterest this week and reddit was a nice change, as it felt more therapeutic to pin things that would work "in a perfect world" or read on reddit about specific topics and communities that interested me. As always I'm still working towards putting myself out there and becoming more comfortable as the semester goes on.

 This week I participated in the Pinterest challenge and found it to be so fun. I began using Pinterest when I was in high school and it was growing in popularity. Originally I used the app to save my "pinterest projects" aka DIYs and recipes that I most likely would forget about. For this week's Pinterest challenge I mostly followed the themes from the class blog. The majority of my pins focused on teaching in the classroom, whether that be what I want my classroom to look like or types of instruction I want to incorporate. A few of the pins I included that do not follow my overall theme of teaching elementary students focus on baking or adult instruction. I included these with my board due to my interest in the subject. I always said to my parents that if I wasn't a teacher in some capacity, that I would be a baker. Who's to say I can't still do both?  Overall this was a great challenge. I've included a link to my vision board below. Keep in mind it'...

 How many times have you found yourself taking on more than you can handle? I can personally say that I usually take on way too much most of the time. Between my full time job as a teacher, my after school job nannying, running an Etsy store, and completing a masters degree I'm always busy. In the past year I've found myself becoming exhausted more easily. It's hard not to with all the things that seem to always need to get done throughout the day. Self care is something that has been emphasized recently and the typical response I receive when I acknowledge my stress to others is "Have you tried scheduling self care?" Excuse me while I roll my eyes into the back of my head repeatedly. While this comment is usually made in good faith, it can become annoying, especially if you're someone with a lack of free time. Below I've included some of the things I do to help myself when things get rough. This came from LOTS of trial and error and are things that help m...