Skip to main content

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Daniela Roman. My nickname is Dani. I am 27 years old. I have a daughter whose name is Angie, she is 20 months old. She just started soccer practice this month, you can see a picture of her popping bubbles here:

Image property of author

She gets more excited with the bubbles than playing with the soccer ball. 

I also have a chihuahua whose name is Romeo, he is three years old. Here is a picture of him graduating from his puppy class. We were very proud of him. He wasn't very impressed with his cap and diploma. 

Image property of author

This is my last class before I graduate with a Master of Arts in Education. I am very excited because I will be the first one in my family to graduate with a Masters Degree. I am a Bilingual Special Education Preschool teacher. This is my fifth year teaching. I teach at a CPS school on the northwest side of Chicago. The population of students I teach are all Latinx. My school has a large population of diverse learners, and this is the first year we will be hosting Special Olympics at our school. I am very excited, but also stressed because I am in charge of organizing the event, and it entails a lot of paperwork from many teachers and parents. But I know it will be worth it, seeing everyone play on the field. 

Here is my Facebook profile picture: 

Image property of author

I haven't changed my profile picture since 2022 because I have slowly started to post less on my social media accounts. I have become more private over the past couple of years. I am more conscious of the type of pictures I post and what's visible in the background because I don't want to put my family in any type of danger. I am also conscious as a teacher, of the profile pictures I have on my social media accounts in case any of my students' parents decide to look me up. I want them to see me as a professional inside and outside of the school setting. I also have my social media accounts set as private and only have people I know as "friends" and/or following me. 

I would like to know, who do you share information with on social media? Are you comfortable having your social media accounts set as public, or do you prefer to have them set as private, like I do? 

My relationship with social media has changed over the years. I remember having MySpace when I was in middle school. I remember uploading pictures on Snapchat every day of what I was doing. I remember going on Facebook Live at every celebration my family had. I have slowly stopped doing all of that. It can be due to maturity as well as being conscious that everything posted on line stays there forever. I like sharing big milestones every once in a while or I use social media to better connect with family members that live outside of the country. I still spend time on my social media accounts but I post less. I use social media to learn about something new, to network with other educators, and to learn about what's going on around the world. 

Labels:

Comments

  1. NMZumpanoMarch 14, 2024 at 12:53 PM

    Great to meet you, Dani. To answer your question, my accounts are set to public. I've done a lot with ed tech throughout the years and am as strong believer in the power of professional learning networks. For those reasons, I don't mind being 'found' online. I work hard to tell my story through my accounts and posts and not let someone else lead the narrative. That being said, it has ebbed and flowed during my career depending on who I was at the time. There is no correct answer with any of this- it has to be something you are comfortable with either way. Looking forward to learning with you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kira HydeMarch 14, 2024 at 6:34 PM

    Hi Dani! It was really fun to read about you and look forward to learning with you. I think you really highlighted one of my main concerns about social media. I love to share. I am very much an open book. It is also really fun to use social media. I do wonder if I am too caveliary about how much personal information I share. I want to be open and authentic, but I also worry about coming across as professional. This is also difficult because I really believe in speaking my mind about issues I am passionate about. I know that some of my opinions could potentially alienate me from job opportunities. So I am curious about exploring in this class where that line of authenticity and opening up too much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mary LeeMarch 14, 2024 at 7:45 PM

    Congrats on your last semester! All your hard work has paid off. I relate to your struggle with what to share on social media. I used to have a Facebook account, but my posts began to feel inauthentic. I was posting just for the sake of posting. I decided to stop using Facebook and have had a better relationship with social media ever since. Are there certain platforms that you do feel more comfortable posting on that doesn’t compromise your privacy? Thanks for sharing Dani!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Professional Learning Networks- Educational Facebook Groups

 Professional Learning Networks (PLN) This week I learned about and explored different Professional Learning Networks, PLNs. After viewing the videos Dr. Trust created about the many benefits PLNs have for teachers and students’ learning, I am excited to expand my own PLN. Out of the 4 growth areas Dr. Trust talked about in her videos (affective, social, cognitive, and identity), I identify with cognitive  the most. I am always looking online for new resources and tools to use in my classroom to enhance my students’ learning. Oftentimes I follow creators online (most of the time on Instagram and Pinterest), that are either preschool and/or SPED teachers and I save the activities and resources they’ve used in their classrooms, so I can reference them in the future when I’m teaching that activity or subject. I also like to use Instagram and/or Pinterest to test out new ideas, for inspiration, and to learn about new teaching strategies I can integrate in my classroom, because I a...
4 comments
Read more

Media Literacy

This week I learned about media literacy. After watching Professor Zumpano’s screencast , I learned that media literacy is our interaction with media and the messages we take away from it. It’s our ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages. I agree that it is important to teach students about media literacy from a young age because it is important for them to learn how to analyze what they see, read, and learn online. Students need to be aware that companies post advertisements for a reason, and that is to sell. Our students also need to be aware of how the media makers manipulate things and how they can make informed choices and learn how to differentiate between what's true and not true online. Image Source: Fulcrum: Media Literacy is Essential Education This week I also learned about Rheingold’s social media literacies and Renee Hobbs 5 competencies . Renee Hobbs 5 competencies are:  Access  Analyze Create Reflect Act  I think all of the 5 compet...
5 comments
Read more

Safety & Security, Phishing, and Acceptable Use Policy

This week I learned about Safety, Security, and Phishing. I also had an opportunity to review more in depth my school’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for technology. I learned about a Passphrase , which I hadn’t heard of before this week. Did you know you can add spaces to your passwords? I didn’t. After learning about what a passphrase is I plan to use them from now on, because they are more secure and it takes centuries for hackers to guess your password. I will also be sharing this knowledge with my colleagues and students’ parents, because my students are only 3 and 4 years old. The older students at my school can definitely benefit from learning this knowledge and it will hopefully encourage them to create more secure passwords on their technology devices by creating a passphrase.  Image Source: Screenshot of www.useapassphrase.com After reviewing my school’s AUP in English and Spanish, I think that it can definitely be improved. It is missing positive student friendly language....
1 comment
Read more