This week our cohort had the pleasure of virtually meeting Jessie Miller, a professional in the field of media literacy, social media education, digital trends and keeping a professional online presence. Our time with him was extremely informative as social media and the internet is such a fast paced part of our world. The presence of technology in the classroom is a big one as children are surrounded by phones, television, iPads and video games. The role of technology ranges with different ages which leads to difficulty with creating boundaries and rules for children. Teachers have a difficult task as they are the authority figure at school and creating expectations with technology may differ from their home life. Jessie shared some valuable lessons and perspectives on balancing technology in the world of teaching which I am grateful to have heard.

One topic that stood out to me was keeping a professional presence online as a teacher. Jessie showed us various examples of educators that made some poor choices online that led to some very serious consequences. While he talked about the extreme end of things, we also heard about some strategies and ideas to make sure our social media remains separate from our work life. Jessie talked about making personal accounts private, watching what you post and keeping boundaries with parents and students regarding social media and connecting outside of school. Sometimes parents want to connect outside of school when they find a teacher on instagram, Facebook or wherever that may be but this can cross the line between a professional relationship quickly. Jessie suggested setting boundaries at the start of the year and sticking to them to keep a professional standard. This was an important conversation to have as it is easy to to post photos without thinking about long term effects.

Jessie also talked to us about classroom management surrounding technology and phones in the classroom. This is something that varies from grade to grade as this would look very different in a grade 1 class compared to a grade 8 class. This got me thinking about how to manage rules with different classrooms. In grades where students may have their won cellular device, I feel that the devices should b kept away in a bag/locker during class time. It should be communicated with parents that if they need to reach their child it should be done by contacting the school or waiting till school is over to speak to the child. This does get complex as some family situations may need to contact their child concerning transportation or other important issues so these circumstances need to get taken into consideration.

Overall this presentation from Jessie was very informative, eye opening and thought provoking. I hope to continue learning about the online world and how it plays into a school and the role of a teacher.