The Simple Teacher: from the Classroom to the Library

When I was a child, I discovered I loved looking at maps. The lines, dots, and place names all seemed to me full of possibility and wonder. Even today I have switched over from looking at atlases to Google Maps but the excitement is the same. Image source: Rawpixel.com This week I have taken time to map my digital space . Researcher David White has coined the terms "visitor" and "resident" to describe people on a continuum of digital usage. People often begin their digital journeys as a "visitor". White (2011) describe "visitors" as people that use the digital space to accomplish a particular task, and often fail to leave a trace of their presence on the web. This contrasts with "residents" who often go online "in order to connect with people and make a social presence" (White, 2011).  Image source: Digital Map created by Jason Hill. Icon size represents frequency of use. I had an opportunity to map my digital usage from a per...

Have you stopped to think about the current trends in educational technology, and how those trends fit into your classroom? In 2021 Diana Fingal wrote about the "Hottest Topics in EdTech in 2021". In this article she describes 9 trends that are taking over the digital classroom. These trends cover topics from Digital Citizenship to Creativity. This post will explore one of the digital technology trends, and offer a tool that educators can use to help their students. What is SEL? SEL stands for Social and Emotional Learning and is one of the hottest trends in education. SEL is often paired with cultural competence. Fingal (2021) describes this trend as helping students cope with trauma and anxiety. The past few years have taken a tremendous toll on many of us. Many have gotten sick and lost loved ones due to COVID or related complications. Studies have shown that students can be explicitly taught to process emotions and build resilience.  Valenzuela (2021) describes one of th...

How often do you stop to reflect on your teaching practice? This week I've had to think about my technology integration in the classroom. There a number of models that teachers can use to evaluate themselves with regards to technology use in the classroom. After exploring three of these models, I find the SAMR model to be best for me to evaluate myself as an educator. The SAMR model is an acronym that stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition and was created by educational researcher Ruben Puentedura in 2010 (Terada, 2020). This model is perfect for me as it is very easy to understand and to compare my teaching practice. It's important to focus not on what SAMR is, but instead on what it does. Walsh & Walsh (2015) states that "The SAMR model provides a technique for moving through degrees of technology adoption to find more meaningful uses of technology in teaching and move away from simply using edtech for tech's sake" ( 8 Examples ...

Welcome to my blog: from the Classroom to the Library! Image source: personal photo My name is Jason Hill and I serve as a sixth grade social studies teacher in south suburban Harvey, IL. I have been teaching sixth grade for the past five years. Prior to that I spent 9 years teaching fourth grade. I've also spent the last two years serving on the Teacher Advisory Board for the Chicago History Museum. I am very excited to be taking this class. After 14 years of teaching in the classroom I am striving to become a school librarian. Image source: https://giphy.com/explore/excited My path to becoming a teacher I did not always want to become a teacher. I studied history at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana with a minor in pre-Law. I had every intention of going into law school. I decided after graduation to join the Peace Corps and I spent that next two years working at a high school in Romania. I can truly say that experience changed my life. I came home for a year, a...