Affinity Groups
At the beginning of the quarter, I signed up for two affinity groups: Classroom 2.0 and Internet en el Aula. Classroom 2.0 granted me membership into their network within days while Internet en el Aula took about a week. Classroom 2.0 was more active in sending me email reminders about various events they were having on their site or conferences I might be interested in attending. There was a Librarian 2.013 world wide conference online which was very intriguing. Unfortunately, it was during my daughter's birthday weekend, so I missed it. Classroom 2.0 also had a lot of "Live" sessions in which one could interact with community members at the same time. Hopefully, once the quarter slows down (or comes to an end) I can 'attend' one and see what they have to offer. I really enjoyed receiving emails because once I opened them, I usually wandered off to their site to read various articles or posts. One post I read last week dealt with various ways teachers recover from a horrible day at school. It was entertaining yet inspiring reading this post. One came in handy while I was subbing in a kindergarten classroom last week on a rainy day. It was bad enough that my kindergartners did not have recess, but as I put away their art projects to take home, I did not realize one student was missing his pumpkin because he was absent the day it was made. He began crying and all the attention from the class was focused on him and how to make him feel better. It was difficult to regain their attention. Then I remembered one of the quotes I read from a post in Classroom 2.0 which said:
I try not to force it when class is going downhill. Chances are I will have to reteach the topic again tomorrow anyway because of how the class went. So instead of everyone being frustrated or me rolling my frustration to the next class, I change up the lesson.”
-Ms. Emerson
I then stopped my teaching. Let the class talk to him. Had everyone take a deep breath, stand up and get their bodies stretching for a few minutes, and started the lesson over. It went smoothly (as much as it could in a kinder class) there after.
RSS Feed & Twitter
Though the affinity group was great to look at, I truly enjoyed my RSS Feed and Twitter best. I liked that I kept receiving constant articles to look at at anytime from one place. They were more useful to me because I downloaded the apps on my phone and had access to them at anytime without much effort put into looking things up. Without the apps I may have forgotten to check in on them! Both Digg and Twitter gave me the opportunity to weed through various articles of interest and share those I enjoyed reading with others. I'm still trying to get the hang of Twitter since I'm not much of a poster but more of a reader. But I did re-tweet a few articles of interest dealing with autism and the holidays. One of the articles included tips on helping children avoid sensory overload during the hectic holiday seasons approaching. The tips varied from crowds to meals to travel and schedules. It was really helpful and I shared from of the tips with parents and colleagues.
Final Thought
These tools are very useful personally and professionally. They enable you to stay up to date with current events in the world of education. They enable you to think outside the box and see what other states or even countries are doing to better the educational field to fit the needs of the students we are here to serve. They enable you to stay united as an educational community which shares ideas, experiences, issues, resolutions, and much more. I will definitely keep these resources at the tip of my hand to make sure I continue growing professionally and personally.
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