Digital Media Literacy - Final Project

Before you read this blog post, I was not able to publish it correctly. There are different fonts and spaces. It is not listening to my commands!

Yoga is a lifestyle!  It’s been around for six to eight thousand years, and consists of eight branches.  We usually practice only one branch of the eight, which are asanas (the poses). There is  abundant research that shows the numerous benefits of yoga. They include, but are not limited to, strength, flexibility, decreased anxiety and stress, improved posture, and better sleep.        

When I taught in New York City, every Friday, I would come home from school and sit in front of my TV in a vegetative state from my hectic week.  I decided, before going home, I would work out. At my gym, I started to take a stretch and strengthen class. The woman who taught it started to practice yoga and began to add yoga to the class.  After a while I was hooked, especially after 9/11. Like most of us in the metro New York area, we were devastated and felt helpless after the inconceivable horror. We all knew people who were murdered.  9/11 was on a Tuesday, and I took the class 3 days later. After the class, I felt a sense of hope, and knew the nation would eventually get through the terror and fear.

As I continued yoga, I felt taller and strong, and liked the way I looked and felt, so much so, in 2013, I became a 200 RYT (registered yoga teacher); I wanted others to experience what I did from this ancient practice.  Over the last five years, I have taught children, college students and adults. People who begin yoga usually find that no matter why they started, they begin to feel numerous benefits. They might start sleeping better, find themselves more relaxed during stressful situations, feel their posture improving, etc.  They begin to explore other aspects of this practice, which usually leads to the integration of yoga into their lifestyles.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley states, “We are preparing students for jobs that do not exist, using technologies that have not been invented in order to solve problems we cannot even imagine at this time.”  Ten years of innovation and progress now, would take about 100 years in the past. So, it makes sense that we, as educators, must prepare our students for an unknown future. Simon Sinek talks about people making decisions that are intuitive and driven by that “gut feeling.”  They are driven by what they believe about the world. I agree with Sinek, and it is my feeling that yoga could help students deal with a future that is unknown. Sinek also describes the

unknown future as exciting

These are a few possibilities of our unknown future:

• Some 70-80% of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years.There will be a lot of new jobs, but it is not clear if there will be enough new jobs in such a short time.  The average high school graduate will have 14 jobs by the time he/she is 30.
• Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years.  Uber is just a software tool. They don't own any cars, yet they are now the biggest taxi company in the world.  Airbnb is the biggest hotel company in the world, yet they don't own any properties.
• Around 2020, the complete auto industry will start to be disrupted.  Currently, 1.2 million people die each year in car accidents. With autonomous driving, that will drop to one accident in 10 million.  The car insurance business model will collapse without accidents.

Simon Sinek codified the way great leaders inspire by creating the Golden Circle that describes the what, how and why.  The “why” is what most are not sure of. Sinek even says making a profit is not a why, making profit is a result. I needed to think about my own “why” regarding why I get up each morning to do my job?  It had to be more than money. I wanted my students to achieve academically; I also wanted them to work collaboratively and have constantly tried to create a child-centered environment but that was the “how.”  I needed to key in on my “whys” and came up with three. I believe:

• children need to navigate through technology, innovation, and the true unknown by giving them a sense of self, no matter what is happening nationally or globally.
• children must develop a sense of compassion and kindness towards all beings and ego be replaced by a need for belonging and helping others.
• children need to revel in the idea that there are unlimited opportunities that are available to all of us.

With those three “whys,” I realized it was yoga, not in the physical practice, but in the ten yoga living principles that would assist me with my “whys.”  Were my students’ learning skills that would fulfill them throughout their lives, no matter what life had in store for them? My “why” was to introduce these yoga principles to give students a sense of self, compassion, kindness and an understanding of how their world could work for them.    

The ten living yoga principles, the Yamas and Niyamas, are the first two branches of the eight.  They are not ruled by academic achievement, politics or religions, and they can teach us how to become authentic and lead lives that are richer than we could ever imagine.  The Yamas are moral restraints that focus on our external lives, while the Niyamas focus on the internal and personal observances of our body, senses and mind.

Although these Yamas, our relationship to the external world, look rather simple (and they are), they are also thought provoking and complex.

The are first five are:

• Ahimsa (nonviolence) - the foundation of all yoga.  Ahimsa focuses, not only on the physical, but on the mind with its negative thoughts about oneself and others. 
• Satya (truthfulness) - Lying causes us to spend time and energy to fix the untruths we created, probably mostly in the name of being nice.  Is it is better to be real! Additionally, the media manipulates us to believe in principles and values that might not be truthful. How do we decipher what is the truth?  
• Asteya (nonstealing) - One probably doesn’t steal from family, friends or stores, but how many of us steal from others we are envious of?  When we try to steal what we wish we were, it takes away from the person with their strengths and individuality, but we also steal from ourselves.  We also steal from the earth as we deplete all her resources. 
• Bramacharya (nonexcess) - There is too much of a good thing.  What is the excess in your daily life?
• Aparigraha (nonhoarding) -  We live in a life of abundance.  Do we own our stuff, or does it own us?  Besides material items, what type of clutter is in our minds that no longer serve us?  

The Five Niyamas are our inner world and observances about ourselves.  They are:

• Saucha (purity) -  It includes taking care of our bodies, regarding hygiene, exercise and diet.  It also means purity of the mind and keeping kind thoughts towards others and ourselves.
• Santosha (contentment/gratitude) - We can experience contentment on vacation and weekends and when times are good.  Can we feel the same during work and difficult times? 
• Tapas (self-discipline) -   We need to feel pain or experience difficulty in order to grow.  Doing what we love takes time, love and discipline.
• Svadhyaya (self-study) - Reflecting on texts to understand different perspectives and trying new things will help solve the mystery of who we truly are.
• Ishvara Pranidhana (surrender) -  Surrender by decreasing ignorance and letting go of our egos,  Stilling the mind through mindfulness cultivates awareness.  

Incorporating these yoga principles into my classroom would help obtain the “whys” that I find essential to children’s growth.  Although when I think about it, they are already intertwined within the goals I have for my students and the respect I feel for them.  

Albert Einstein has the markings of true yoga.  Although he brought us into the atomic age, he was also a humanitarian who worked towards global peace.  In the  This I Believe archive, Einstein’s essay, “An Ideal Service to our Fellow Man,” is read aloud.  He wrote the mysterious is the most beautiful, and as a theoretical physicist, he spent his life in search of those mysteries with the theory of relativity and as a philosopher of science.  I have to disagree with Einstein’s statement (can I really write that). In yoga, beauty is not in the mysterious but in the everyday. See the sacred when driving to work, as we listen to our students, as we watch them play, as we look at a sunset on the beach.  However, I do agree when he writes, “Man’s ethical behavior  should by grounded effectively on compassion, nature and social bonds.  The glorification of powers needs to be replaced with the service of our fellow man.”  Yoga stresses that we exercise, so we can be healthy and become service to man.

 

It is not only my age but also my experience with technology that makes me a true digital immigrant.  However, over the seven digital media classes, I have found myself improving in numerous ways. I can easily add links into my posts, and have a much better conception of blogging (although, I blog with my students, this class will enhance my lessons and teaching).  I have learned about many apps through the work of others students in this class as they created tutorials. I believe I started as a techno-traditionalist and am ending the class as a much stronger and self-assured techno-traditionalist. I do not mind being a digital immigrant since Danah Boyd argues, whether in school or in informal settings, “youth need opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to engage with technology meaningfully and effectively.  Becoming literate in a networked age requires hard work, regardless of age.”

The way we teach students technology is constantly changing, especially since every year they seem to have more experience with it; however, many of my lessons are the same.  They still need to understand how to research a topic effectively; however, the internet is now an important part of that research. They still need grammar lessons, writing and reading lessons, etc.  The only difference is many of the lessons can incorporate technology from either the way I teach it to the students, or how they use technology as they complete activities they are responsible for. Most of the time, the core of what they are learning is similar to what I have been teaching for years.  As mentioned in class, technology is one of many tools we can use to meet the objectives of lessons; don’t use technology for the sake of using technology!

However, there are technology lessons I need to teach explicitly or necessary discussions to have regarding this topic.  We talk about what it means to be a digital citizen, how to think about who our audience is, and to realize that on a blog, it isn’t only a teacher and parent who sees the students’ writing; the public usually has access too, so they need to think about how they want to get their their thoughts across to the reader.  Additionally, there are always lessons on researching techniques, how to find viable sites for research, how to cite the work that we use, etc.

I have to disagree with Prensky.  Although I might not seem as savvy as my students, and I am definitely a digital immigrant, I am willing to learn about technology, like the majority of teachers.  Prensky is out of line when he states, “our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.”  There continues to be a commonality in language and culture between the two groups, and Prensky sees technology as its own entity, instead of the tool it was meant to be.

For my project, I created the website, Ms. Percoco and Her Peeps, although the site is under construction.  Creating a web is something I have wanted to do for years, and I finally had the time and help to do take on this endeavor.  Every year, I invite parents to volunteer in the classroom or present something that is important to them. Additionally, I communicate with parents via email or through Class Messenger.  Parents do not seem to want to participate as much in the fifth grade as in lower grades.

The brochure, Building Parent-Teacher Partnerships by the AFT states,  “Positive parent-school communications benefit parents. The manner in which schools communicate and interact with parents affects the extent and quality of parents' home involvement with their children's learning.    Adding a web site would assist in improving the teacher/parent relationship.            

 

There are a number of reasons for creating a teacher website.  Some are:

• They are a great way to communicate with parents.
• Nowadays, web pages are easy to create! If I can do it as a digital immigrant, anyone can!
• According to the NSPRA, parents want communication through websites and not through social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
• Cleanapple.com says, “It’s a gateway to engagement.”  As one gets into the habit of updating his/her site, they will continue to find more resources and and expand the borders of the classroom.

Additionally, students put greater effort into school when they know their parents and teacher are communicating on a daily basis.  When these arrangements are in place, a trusting, cooperative relationship will result. Since my students are digital natives (and smarter than me), I will ask them to brainstorm what they think I should have on my website. They often have the best ideas!

This website has a variety of pages to make it child and parent friendly.  It is my wish to have it updated daily (maybe weekly). I added my “why” I teach by creating a yoga page, along with a slides presentation to review a “kid friendly” version of the Yamas and Niyamas. Simon Sinek states that a goal should be to get people to believe what you believe.

I added an “about me” page to discuss who I am besides a teacher.  It is important for the students and parents to see me as a real person with my own interests, friends and family. It humanizes the person who can be revered by students and will help further establish the relationship between parents and teachers.    

On another webpage is a curriculum night page that contains a powerpoint of our upcoming year.  There is also a page for a calendar that will have school and class events on it and a homework page.  Parents will be able to check daily to see their child’s homework. I wonder if I place this on the web if students will need to write the homework.  It would save about10-15 minutes by not doing this. A concern is that they would not be prepared if they were required to write homework down in middle school.  

Although not on the my web site yet, I will have a link for forms.  I will place forms that students sometimes do not bring back, especially field trip forms.  I am going send them and get them back electronically to decrease papers in my class. This will be a great help for all involved: parents, teachers and students.     

Since there has been talk about Class Dojo in my school and in this class, I have decided to try it this year, instead of Class Messenger.  Class Dojo has more features. Students can interact with Class Dojo to communicate how and what they are doing in class with their parents.  They can also create their own portfolio. This app positively reinforces great behavior for parents and students to view. In addition, it can randomly arrange groups for activities, play music for quiet or working times.  Research on this app showed positive behavior in the class increased and office referrals and behavior modification plans decreased. After all children usually respond to praise by continuing to do their best, whether it be academic or social.  

My web page will increase communication and make protocols easier to manage.  I know I will never be a digital native, but I will attempt to make my students ready for middle school and for the 21st century through the use of technology and the Yamas and Niyamas.  Because of this class, I am also beginning to think about creating a unit of lessons based on these principles. After all, it is my “why.”

Namaste is the way yogis end their practice.  I call it the yogi’s golden rule, and let’s face it, it is really the only rule we need in the classroom and in life.  The breath in me honors the breath in you, or the light in me honors the light in you.

-Namaste