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Media Literacy

                                                    Source: KNILT We live in a world where we are bombarded with media messages from various sources including television shows, movies, advertisement in both print and digital form,  social media, and many more. Literacy is no longer limited to reading and writing. Members of today's society need to develop competencies that will allow them to access, analyze and reflect on the messages they are receiving. According to Rene Hobbs the  five competencies  are ACCESS, ANALYZE, CREATE, REFLECT, and ACT. Thus, educators must provide students with opportunities to practice and develop each and everyone of these competencies. Having competency in only a few of the five will put students at a disadvantage. For instance, being able to locate and identify relevant information is insufficient if they are unable to use critical thinking skills to analyze the message. Being able to decode messages is insufficient if they are unable to create thei
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CIPPA-COPPA

  Image Source: Independent School District                                                                                      Image Source: Termly The invention of the internet and development of social media led to the need for the government to create laws to protect children. Otherwise companies would be collecting student information and  selling that information without fear of a consequence. Children would also be in danger of exposure to inappropriate content or become the targets of predators. To combat these dangers the government created the CIPA/COPPA laws. CIPA protects students from online predation, inappropriate content, and child pornography.  CIPA  requires all school devices to have filters that will protect children from inappropriate content and monitor student online behavior.  COPPA  gives parents control over what information websites can collect form their kids.                                                  Image Source: SEO-Analyze These laws are helpfu

My Digital Tattoo

                                                               Image Source:  Ink Match   No, that is not my tattoo. I began this week by doing a research on myself and found a very limited digital presence. It is not surprising because as I went through high school and college, professors would always say, "your employer is not going hire you if you have visible tattoos" and "what you post online can come back and haunt you". All of this led to the believe that having a digital presence was bad. I would have benefited from a conversation revolving how to create a positive/professional online tattoo. Not until recently have I understood the benefits of having a digital tattoo.  This lack of digital presence led me to do an analysis of my digital tattoo created by the only social media platform I remain somewhat active in. Below is a table that displays the type and number of posts of my 25 most recent Facebook posts.  If you notice none of these posts involve pictur

Acceptable vs Unacceptable Use Policy for Technology

Recently, my students worked on a performance task where they had to investigate the interest rates offered by different banks. During the activity some students began mentioning that the webpage was not loading. Walking around I also noticed that they accepted all cookies without hesitation. These curiosities led to a conversation on why certain websites were not loading and whether it was good to automatically accept all cookies. This led to a conversation on internet safety and made me realize that they have had very little training on measures they can take to protect their identity.                                                      Image  Source: Pivotal It Blog The question then becomes who is responsible to teach students online safety? At the beginning of the school year all students receive a student handbook that contains all the rules and policies students must abide. Within the handbook on page 65 students are provided an AUP that reads more like a list of what not to do

Algorithms

  Image Source: Numerical Algorithms Group Have you noticed how TikTok and other social media platforms know exactly our likes, dislikes and mental state? How does it do it? Well, through an algorithm. An algorithm is as simple as a set of instructions, a math equation, or as complex as an efficient code that a computer uses to follow commands. Social media companies use that information to send us targeted media. The  Wall Street Journal  in 2022 investigated how TikTok tracks users interests. It created 100 bot accounts and assigned each bot different interest, which were not disclosed to the app. We would not be surprised if TikTok decided which videos to show on "for your page" by tracking likes, follows, and shares. Yet, the Wall Street Journal discovered that the algorithm only needs to know how long we spend watching a video and less than 40 minutes of total usage to know all of our interests and mental state. It is both amazing and scary that an application can learn

Personality tests: Their accuracy and validity

At my the last institute day I found interesting how the members of the math department interacted with each other. During one activity the presenter asked us to interact with someone we normally have very little contact with. As I looked around I noticed some teachers searched out people that worked at a different c ampus and had little contact with. There were others, including myself, that stayed in our comfort zone. This had me thinking about how our personality traits impact our participation in learning communities. This experience led me to take the following personality tests: 16 Personalities ,  Personality Type Indicator , and  Fivethirtyeight . Results All three personality test indicated that I am openminded, flexible, and have an adaptable approach to life. Even thought an introvert, when I get comfortable I make a good friend. The test suggest I am warm, friendly, caring, and able to pickup on unspoken feelings. After socializing with others I need alone time to recharge.

INTRODUCTION

  photo taken by author Hello, my name is Enrique Salgado. This is my 11th year teaching high school math and my 6th year teaching it in Spanish. Teaching math in Spanish was challenging at first. When it was first proposed to me I thought that it would be a simple transition as I am a native Spanish speaker. I was wrong. It took a lot of work and time to learn how to teach both language and math. At the same time I had to learn the academic math vocabulary in Spanish and the different math notations used in Latin America. The transition was made easier by creating a learning community with my students. I can proudly say that I learned a lot from my students. Now, I never want to teach a math class that is not bilingual. I am open to learning and experiencing new things. In this class I look forward to learning about the uses of social media and emerging technologies in the classroom from all my classmates.  My usage of social media is limited to Facebook. I used to be more active on