Curation

Curation is absolutely new to me, but after some exploration of the topic, I am hooked!  I absolutely love searching for new ideas, strategies, activities, lessons, etc to use as a substitute and in my future classroom.   Additionally, I am constantly browsing the web for recipes, decorating/organizing tips, and things for my own kids to do.  Needless to say, with all this searching, my browser’s “favorites” list is quite extensive.  Between my laptop and my desktop at home, I cannot even imagine how many sites I have saved.  Of all of the sites I saved, I can honestly say that I revisit maybe about 10.  I do not even know what the rest of the sites are just by looking at the name, or why I saved them.  It is easier to just search the topic again than go through each of the items in my favorites. 

I am a big fan of Pinterest because of the fact that it keeps my information organized. I like the fact that I can open it up on my computer or phone and I see only the content that I have showed interest in previously.  Another great feature is the classifying “pins” into folders and the ability to add notes to the pins. This helps to easily identify saved sources in the future. I also like that I can choose to follow other people. This is a great way for teachers to share valuable resources with each other.  

After reading the course material for this week, I have just signed up for Diigo.  Not knowing much about any of these sources, I read some reviews from fellow educators as to which are the best tools for teachers. A couple of the sites that aided in my choice are educatorstechnology.com and elearningindustry.com. I found that Diigo is a highly valued educational tool by those who use it because it promotes active engagement, teamwork, and project-based learning. I will continue to explore this tool so I am prepared to utilize it in my future classroom.     

Where do you find the majority of your teaching resources?

I currently find the majority of my teaching resources on Pinterest and TeachersPayTeachers, as well as through searching on Google. Additionally, as I am substituting and bouncing around to different classrooms and content areas, I have the opportunity to observe and teach numerous lessons to every grade level from Pre-K through 6^th.  From these experiences, I have gathered a plethora of “do’s and don’ts” for my future classroom.    

Who do you look to for support and research for new ideas?

As a substitute, I do not have too much of an opportunity to incorporate my own ideas yet.  During my short-term assignments, I received much of my support from my co-teachers and grade level partners.  All of these teachers were very helpful in giving advice as well as sharing ideas. I do substitute in the same school daily, so I have a close relationship with just about all of the teachers.  This made it easy to transition from a substitute who was in a different classroom daily to their temporary grade level partner.  

What challenges do you face as you try to incorporate new ideas and research with your students?

My biggest challenge as of now is of course not having my own classroom.  In regards to my short-term assignments and the ESL program at which I currently instruct, my biggest challenge is the availability of resources.  While we do have interactive whiteboards in the classroom, during the school year, they often did not function properly.  During this summer program, the whiteboards and computers are not connected.  Our school just hired a new IT person and he is currently tough to track down to assist with the equipment right now.