Ms. Raser's Blog

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...

About Me Hi everyone! My name is Abby Raser and I am currently in my last class at Dominican University in order to complete my Masters of Education. I recently received my English Second Language endorsement and continued courses to earn my masters with an emphasis in technology.  I graduate from Providence College in 2018 and am in my fifth year teaching, all of which have been with special education. I am in my fourth year at ACERO-Marquez, a charter school in Brighton Park. This year I am working with students both through inclusion using a co-teaching model and pull-out in a resource room. I work with students in kindergarten, second, third, and fourth grades.  Outside of the classroom I teach classes at Dance Gallery Chicago. I grew up on the southside of Chicago and am the youngest of three. In my free time I love reading, traveling, and trying new restaurants downtown. Social Media I mainly use social media as a way to stay in touch with family and friends who live out...

Over the past several weeks I have been creating and researching a proposal for a way to build a classroom library through the use of technology, specifically the website Epic. Through five steps I have been able to develop and begin using Epic in my classroom to ensure my students have access to books at their reading levels. Image Source Step 1: Brainstorming In order to begin the process I brainstormed a problem in my classroom and possible solutions, specifically through the use of technology. Looking through my classroom I noticed a limited selection of books for students to read when they come during our small group time, especially books at their level. My school has access to RAZ Kids through Learning A-Z and I know other teachers use Epic in their classes for independent reading time. I wanted to research more how I can use apps like these in order to give my students more access to reading materials. I specifically chose Epic because of their wide range of books and observing...

Over the past three weeks I have been working on a proposal as a Learning Specialist/Instructional Designer. During this time I have been brainstorming, assessing the needs, and researching how I can use technology in order to build my classroom library while working in a small group, resource setting. Image Source The Process Image Source For this proposal I have focused on how I can use Epic to help establish a classroom library through the use of technology. This is a tool that I have used in the past, but more as an independent resource for students to use during reading groups. I have enjoyed being able to research how I can use Epic to better support my students, both independently and through direct teaching.  The Challenges During this time I have not run into many challenges. I am fortunate to have the support of my instructional coach, who has also given me ideas of how to use the tool for instruction. One of the biggest challenges I have is remembering to update the libr...

Social Media and Mental Health In this day and age it is nearly impossible not to have some type of social media presence. Social connections are an important part of our lives' and social media makes it easy to stay in touch when you are too busy or live far away. But how much does social media effect our mental health? This week I looked into articles about how we can prioritize our mental health when it comes to digital and social media. Image Source          Social media doesn't, by itself, make teens unhappy or anxious This  article  reflected on a study of the effect social media has on teenagers. Research has sho wn that using social media and the amount 'screen time' has a negative effect on mental health. However, a new study shows that this alone does not harm mental health. Other factors (like bullying) combined with the use of social media can cause anxiety and unhappiness. The study asked questions to students in 9th grade and then se...

 Looking Back When I think back to 8 weeks ago at the start of the class, I remember being nervous, and a bit overwhelmed, with all the new technology and tools we were going to be using. In the classroom I used technology by having students log onto their Chromebooks and use one of the many apps our school has (Lexia, IXL, Epic, etc.). Personally, I am on social media to keep in touch with friends and family through Facebook and Instagram. There are accounts that I follow to get ideas for my own classroom and projects to use with my students. However, I acted as an observer rather than a participant. Image Source   Looking Ahead These past 8 weeks I have learned about, and used, many resources that I were unfamiliar to me. I also had the opportunity to dive deeper into resources (Nearpod) and tools (accessibility features on Chromebooks) that I knew about but did not use frequently. Twitter is one form of social media that I never used in the past- I just didn't see the appea...