Social Educational Ripples

How to create a safe, secure, and empowered Digital Universe in Schools!        As technology gradually becomes part of every learning experience at school, educational institutions are trying to adapt. Last week in Social Media class, I read the terms of agreement for YouTube , which I never have read and can infer that is a shared experience among most YouTube. The same goes for the school I work at’s Student Rights & Responsibilities (Remote Learning Edition). I overlooked our school policies regarding how students are guided to use technology and I was surprised when reviewing the lack of positive actions it reinforced while focusing almost exclusively on the negative and punitive consequences.  I am grateful for our school warning students against bullying and inciting hate but it should additionally outline the behavior expected by the students. The Student’s Rights reads, “Use of Cellular telephones or other information technology devices to harass, ...

Technology is king and algorithms is its army. For those who need a clear definition of algorithm,  Myles Bess who researches these issues stated it's, "f or online platforms, a set of instructions that decide what content you see, and in what order you see it" Source: CU Management ' To provide an example of the power of algorithms and high school students, my colleague took a survey of how many of his students would receive a Corona Virus vaccine and the results were astonishing. Three out of seventy sentences said they would get vaccinated. I asked my students where they came to believe vaccines were bad and the majority said, "social media." Mayday we have a problem and education has an answer.       I read three impactful sources to brainstorm ways to confront modern delusion. The first source,  SmarterEveryDay , is moderated by an experienced Youtuber, Destin and interviews Renne Diresta, a seasoned social media researcher. Destin's main focus is...

                      Teamwork is Dream Work! Growing in any field of study requires amazing Professional Learning Communities (PLN). Especially for educators, we need to broaden, strengthen and learn from others to improve our practice. Torrey Trust, an educational researcher, and professor broke down four domains: social, affective, cognitive, and identity. In tandem with breaking each point down and how they can develop healthy teaching practice, I will share how my results to the surveys I took about myself.  Image source: Thinglink screenshot When I saw the Tic-Tok/Bingo board presented in my Social Media class, I thought, what a fun way to do choose my educational destiny. As I browzed the different worm-holes of opportunities, I settled on the self-reflective surveys. I can't tell you how many times in a dept meeting, course team, and or professional development days, I have asked to do a self-reflective survey. My ...

Contact: Tsundheim1@my.dom.edu Cell: 847-722-5403  Who am I:   Hi, I'm Taylor or as my students refer me, Mr. Sundheim or Mr. Sun. I am a second-year 9th grade World Studies teacher at a Chicago Public School on the south-side. I am a proud and grateful graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Teaching of Social Sciences Program. You may not believe this but I am having the time of my life, learning how to engage the students in this new remote world.  I was prepared for the change in my previous life experience. Even though I was raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago and found myself practicing in remote jungles of Thailand; an austere form of Theravada Buddhism with the Ajahn Chah tradition.    Link to image I loved the jungle, walking barefoot to collect food every morning, living in a monastic collective that valued communal resources, and their elders. There was adversity: mosquitoes, hierarchy, snakes, culture clashes, yet all and all, ...