The History Teacher


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TalkingPoints

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Talking Points is a free communication tool allowing teachers to quickly message students' families throughout the day. The free application can be downloaded onto iPhone or Android phones (and managed through a computer). If someone does not have a smartphone, fear not! The teacher's communication is sent as a standard text message as well.  Its primary purpose is to give teachers a quick and direct way to connect with their students' family (assuming you have their mobile number). How is this any different than texting or emailing, you ask? This is where Talking Points stands apart from other apps I've used for family-school communication:  IT AUTOMATICALLY TRANSLATES THE TEACHER'S MESSAGE INTO THE FAMILY'S HOME LANGUAGE.  The individual who receives the message can then respond in the native language , send the message, and it will appear in the teacher's language of choice. As the education field continues to change, I feel tha...
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Are Today's Youth Really Digital Natives?

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What do you make of the (divergent) positions of Boyd and Prensky (per our discussion in class and/or per the article above?)  Where do you stand on the “digital native” terminology? Prensky and Boyd each make valid points in their respective articles regarding the youth and their use of digital media and technology, and I believe that the two complement each other with the notion that, as Boyd said, there needs to be more time invested in developing everyone's media literacy, especially the literacy of the youth. It is not simply the disparity between the "digital immigrants" and the "digital natives" anymore.  During our class discussion about Prensky's argument, we focused mainly on the differences between the "digital immigrant" and the "digital native," and while these differences are important to note, it cannot detract from the Boyd's argument that everybody  should be analyzing and verifying the images, texts...
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At the Center of Me...

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I remember entering undergrad, sure of why I wanted to become a teacher, but as time progressed and I became more experienced with teaching and pedagogy, I slowly began to lose sight of my initial beliefs about learning, teaching, and the world we are in. However, as I dove head first into developing my Pecha Kucha narrative, I unearthed those beliefs once again. My three core beliefs about learning, teaching, and the world: I believe learning is derived out of an individual's experiences that he or she can engage with topics being taught in class. I believe that learning happens when individuals feel safe in the environment they are in surrounded by people of diverse experiences and backgrounds because it is from diverse experiences that we can really learn. I believe true learning occurs when we are able to set aside our preconceived notions of a topic and learn from others.  I believe teaching occurs through open dialogue, that adults and children alike can teach one...
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