Digital Safety Reflection

      In my ED271 (Technology Application for Education) class, we were assigned a topic to present on that related to digital safety. My group and I got the topic of textual harassment and sexting. On the way to creating the presentation, we did a lot of research on the topic and learned things that would not even have known about if we didn't do the research. Did you know that if an adult were sexting someone under aged, they could get arrested and will forever have to register themselves as a sex offender? Did you also know that sending, receiving, and forwarding sexually suggestive photos is also considered sexting even though the pictures aren't yours? I didn't know that. So should we assume that everybody knows what the dangers are on the internet?
       The amazing thing when listening to the presentations about fair user practices and copyright issues, digital safety and privacy, cyber bullying, textual harassment and sexting, pharming and phishing, and digital wellness is that they all seem to connect to one another.  In the article "Student Safety in the Age of Facebook", Bosco says that "we are responsible to see that young people know how to use the tools of their culture in a responsible, safe, intelligent way." The dangers and the tips on how to avoid all the dangers on the internet that were presented seemed to be similar, which is great considering that if a student hears about one danger, they would take the same precautions as if they listened to all the presentations.
        If I were to teach my students ways of being safe on the internet, I would do it exactly like how my professor for this class, Dr. Jacqui Cyrus, did it. She assigned us into groups and had us search for the information ourselves. She didn't hand us the information on a silver platter. She made us work hard to look for the information which helped keep the information about the topics in our heads. I would assign my class the task to find the information and also present it in class so that the rest of the class would be informed of the other topics.
       I would not suggest any changes to this assignment. There are many other things we can inform students about when using the internet, but the topics we covered are sufficient enough to get students to think about how they should be using the internet. I also would not want to change it because assigning students to inform other students is a great teaching technique. According to the article "How Peer Teaching Improves Student Learning and 10 Ways to Encourage It ", students receive more time for individualized learning, direct interaction between students promotes active learning, peer teachers reinforce their own learning by instructing other, and students feel more comfortable and open when interacting with a peer. If there is a lesson that should be embedded into the minds of our students, it should be on how to keep themselves anywhere, even when they are at home on their computers.
      I believe that this assignment was necessary in this class. Technology is finding a way to progress and fast. It is also finding a way into our classrooms and into the hands of young people who don't really know the dangers of the internet. Since it is happening so fast and the dangers are just a send button away, I believe that it is crucial for students to learn about what we learned about. I would teach my students about the dangers of technology exactly how I learned in this class, by letting the students teach other students. Peer teaching is an effecting teaching strategy that would help students keep the information in mind.

References
-How Peer Teaching Improves Student Learning and 10 Ways To Encourage It - InformED. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2015, from http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/peer-teaching/
-Student Safety in the Age of Facebook -- THE Journal. (n.d). Retrieved December 16, 2015, from https://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/03/02/online-safety.aspx?Page=2

Why I Want to be a Teacher

Whether we know it or not, everyday we are learning. As children, we learn how to tie our shoes and eat. As teenagers, we learn how to drive a car and deal with heart  break  . As adults, we learn in college or even learn how to do a certain job. Learning never stops. However, who are we learning how to do all these tasks from? Every time someone is taught something value to them, they remember the   person who taught them. I want to become an elementary school teacher to be remembered. I am not talking about being remembered as being someone famous. I want to be remembered as a teacher who was passionate about teaching, making a difference, and wanting to watch my students grow and succeed.    

 I want to become a teacher because I am passionate about teaching. I never saw it before, but my friends pointed out that I love to teach. I point out problems right away and I try to fix it or to help someone fix it. I tend to correct grammar when it is used incorrectly. My friends hate it, but I like it. I want to become a teacher to teach young minds. I have an understanding that children are much more difficult to teach, because they sometimes lose focus. I want to be able to do activities with them to help them not only remember, but really learn and keep it with them. My teaching philosophy is that every student can learn. It is just up to me to find ways in which that student can learn from.     

 I look back at all the teachers that made a big impact on my life and they are mostly in elementary school. I once had a teacher that failed to care for my classmates and I. I had another teacher who was so caring and ensured that if not all, but most, of my classmates and I succeed in the lessons. I want to be that teacher because I want to watch my students succeed and be the positive role model when they look back at me. I can imagine that when I am up at the board teaching, I am educating future teachers, nurses, doctors, and other occupations. I want to ensure that I encourage them to keep doing their best and to strive for what they believe in. I want to be that teacher who continues to lift up students even when they are down.    

 I want to become a teacher so that my students would say that they want to come and stay in school. Going to school, I know that many students would not want to go because their teachers are boring or fail to recognize their absences. But I want to create a positive image for school. School has been a tough road for me, but I constantly remind myself that it is for my future. The most attention I give to a class are the classes that involve me too, not just the teacher lecturing. I can only imagine that when I see my old elementary school teacher or maybe in the future work beside them, they would be proud to see that they are a part of my success. As a future teacher, I want to know that feeling of not only making an impact on the life of someone in my family or around my circle of friend, but to a child who is in need of direction when it has not been made or clear yet.     

 When I was younger, I wanted to become a nurse, not because I thought about how much they got paid, but because they always make a difference and helped people. As I grew older, I realized that I want to be a nurse of the mind. Having teaching embedded  into my heart, it has become natural for me to want to educate, especially to elementary school students who need the attention of someone who wants them to learn. Encouraging a child to succeed in school is something I would want to do for a living. I want to be a teacher because I want to teach each and every one of my students something so valuable that they will remember that I was a little part of who they have become.