Ms. Raser's Blog

What is Media Literacy? Image Source Media literacy is the ability to interpret messages in the media. There are several ways people have access to information through the media: radio, billboards, television, Internet, and social media. The average time a day a person spends with major media is 750 minutes (nearly 13 hours!) But how can we decide what information we see is the truth? By knowing how media is used to convey messages and knowing what to look for to spot fake news, we can decipher what is real. When I took the Easiest Quiz of All Time I was shocked to see how little I actually knew about what I thought were easy facts, quotes, or famous references. Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "the medium is the message." McLuhan believes that how people receive the message (the media that is used) almost becomes more important than the message itself. Essentially, if a person does not understand the medium, then they won't be able to understand the message.  Hobbs...

As the Internet continues to make advancements, classrooms have become more digital. These days, it is nearly impossible to teach without having some form of technology involved in students' daily lives. Because of this, kids have access to much more information as well as the possibility of having their data collected and stored. With this in mind, it is important for educators to keep our students safe in their online learning and know about the laws that are in place to protect the underage population of Internet users. A blog from the Prey Project outlines the laws that were put into place in order to protect children on the Internet. Image Source CIPA The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a federal law that was signed into effect in 2000 and updated in 2011. CIPA requires libraries and K-12 schools to use web filters and other measures to protect children. CIPA applies to all schools that receive E-rate funds. Throughout the school year, schools must provide a ...

Digital Tattoos Growing up I remember being told to "be careful what you put on the Internet, it's there forever" and I never thought much about what the saying actually meant. Now, as I think back on my Internet use and how I used social media, I wonder if I would have changed anything with what I know now.  I love the term "digital tattoo" because it has more of a permanent feeling than "digital footprint." In a recent post , I did a data mine on myself to see how much of a digital tattoo I have on the Internet. From this data mine, I was surprised by how much information I was able to find about myself in a matter of seconds. However, I am not super active on my social media accounts- I use them more as a viewer rather than an active participant. Because of this, I wanted to take time to check my privacy settings to see how much access others have to my accounts.  Privacy Check Image Source This week allowed me to take a deeper dive into the privacy...

Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) are agreements between the student and the district in order to help keep students safe online. This Kajeet article states that there are two main components to an AUP: protecting students from harmful content on the Internet and providing students with access to digital media that supports engaged learning. After reading the article, I learned that there are different elements that are included in an AUP. The three elements that stood out to me were (1) Acceptable Uses, (2) Unacceptable Uses, and (3) Violations/Sanctions. These elements will outline what is acceptable/unacceptable for students to use on devices and the consequences should they not follow the AUP. Image Source My school is 1:1 for student devices, each student has their own Chromebook. Because of this, I think it is important students know what is acceptable/unacceptable when they are using a school device. The AUP for my school district can be found in the Student Handbook . The AUP f...

I am someone who always agrees to the Terms of Service without actually reading or will click "Accept All Cookies." In reality, I have no idea what I am agreeing to or what "cookies" are, but the alternative is to click no and not be able to use the service. I am quick to always save my passwords and information to save me time, but how much information am I really giving away? Learning about how privacy data is stored and what we can do to protect our information is very important, especially in the world we live in today. It is nearly impossible not to have some sort of digital presence, whether it be through social media or simple Google searches.   Image Source An article from TIME explored the "privacy paradox" in the sense that people want to protect their information but willingly store data on the Internet. People won't share if they made a new friend or send a copy of our correspondences with the police, but they will update Facebook or save ...

Professional Leaning Network: Pinterest A Professional Learning Network (PLN) can support the growth of educators in different ways: social, affective, cognitive, and identify. After listening to the videos from Thinglink , I noticed that I use my PLNs socially and cognitively. Socially, I can use social media to connect and learn with other educators across the country. In a cognitive way, I am able to find new resources, tools, and teaching strategies that I can apply to my own teaching.  Pinterest is a platform that I have been using for as long as I can remember. I will often use Pinterest to find dinner or dessert ideas. I love how many options I can find with a simple search. When I was student teaching, I used Pinterest to find ideas about how to set up a classroom, writing craftivities, and bulletin board ideas. Now, after teaching for a few years, I am still using Pinterest to find ideas for crafts and projects, but I also find strategies for teaching phonics, comprehensi...