Tag Archives: school social workers

Organizing is a journey, not a destination – More ways to organize your #Social Work tech finds

Posted on August 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

ORGANIZE WITH PINTEREST

I am not the best in being highly organized, but with so much technology information, you have to use technology, to help you organize your technology finds. I’ve found some tools that are great in assisting with organizing your technology, sharing and displaying them. Many have heard about Pinterest, but as a tool for clinicians, Pinterest can serve many purposes. Pinterest is an online pin board that helps you collect and share things that are important and inspire you. So there are a lot of great articles out there on how to use Pinterest, but here I want to focus on how a clinician/social worker can use Pinterest.

TIPS ON USING PINTEREST FOR HELPING PROFESSIONS

Be creative with the name of your main board connecting it in some way to you, the professional.
Think about your overall goal. Are you pinning things to use in therapy, resources, certain subject matter, videos, etc..
Set up a Pinterest profile. This allows others to learn a little about you and your passion for your profession and hobbies. It also shows you’re a real person 🙂
Add the Pinterest bookmarklet to your browser so that you can easily pin from the web.
Browse others Pinterest boards to see what and how they are pinning before you create your boards.
Name your boards titles that will assist in organizing your finds.
Be an active part of the Pinterest community, if you like a pin, give it a like or repin it. Make sure when repinning that you check out the sites accuracy by going to the originating site linked on the pins page and make sure the site is authentic and not inappropriate.
If you don’t have time to check out a pins authenticity, use the like button so you can come back to that pin when you have time to review it.
Be your own creator. Don’t just pin from others board, take time and pull from your bookmarks you’ve saved on Diigo or Delicious, etc., and categorize them on one of your Pinterest boards. Remember the object is to get the word out about you and your profession and the more fresh and innovative you are the more others will be interested in you.

There’s plenty more I can say about using Pinterest for an organizing, promoting and sharing tool but as they say “actions speak louder than words,” so check out my Pinterest page and boards, affectionately called, Socialworkpad. What else could it be!

It’s Time To Step Up Your Game!

Posted on July 31, 2012 | 3 comments

Step Up Your Game!

Although this blog is written with school social workers in mind, the information can definitely be used by others that are in the helping professions. So I invite anyone to use the information how they see fit, within the confines of their working environment.

So now it’s time to address the title of this entry, “It’s time to step up your game!” That can be easily translated to be, it’s time to change the way you do things within your profession, in order to connect and ignite excitement to the familiar social emotional standards.

In June I had the pleasure of presenting a workshop to my fellow Chicago Public School Social Workers about integrating technology into their clinical practice. I had planned on starting from the basics and was prepared for many of my participants to be neophytes amid this topic. What I hadn’t planned on was my entire audience having very little knowledge of Web 2.0 and its vast benefits for social workers. Usually there is at least a couple of audience participants that have the same knowledge base as you and can offer additional advise, information or resources. But it appeared to be that I was an anomaly, and possessed exclusive information within my field. As one of my colleagues stated, “Where have I been, and how did all of this happen without my knowledge?” Well I definately don’t want to leave anyone behind! LOL

In July I gave another technology presentation to social workers at Jane Adams School of Social Work. I wrote in my bio that I was on a mission to educate and empower social workers to feel comfortable regarding integrating technology within their practice. We have to be change makers within our own profession and begin to realize the powerful potential of technology.

So I want to challenge my colleagues to think outside the box and step up your game! Take ownership of becoming the expert on teaching internet etiquette, social media do’s and don’ts, cyber bullying etc. These topics are the things we have been trained on and are good at. So take over and I ask the same question that was asked in a recent article http://www.edutopia.org/blog/facilitating-sel-skills-through-tech-joan-young

How can you use technology to connect, empower and build social and emotional learning skills in your students? This is your mission, if you will accept it, and believe me, its not impossible. 🙂

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Posted in My Thoughts

Tagged school social workers

The Bullying Academy

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Great resource for social workers

Hey everyone! Get a jump on this this web-based interactive program quickly this year, because it is free. Yes, free for this year because the program is grant funded for the 2011/2012 school year. The Bullying Academy is an interactive program complete with quiz mechanism designed to help students recognize the dangers associated with Bullying and Cyberbullying. This program is equip with lesson plans that are associated with the scavenger hunt sections. The scavenger hunt sections have short engaging video clips that enhance the learning objectives delivered within the lesson. The educators link gives instructors a chance to preview each of the grade level lessons prior to implementing the materials with classes. I have viewed each of the grade levels materials and videos and have found this program to be excellent in teaching about the perils of cyberbullying, sexting, social networking etiquette etc.. A very good tool for a school social workers.

Social workers can use this program within a group setting to address reasoning, judgement, social skills, and decision-making goals. With the addition of an extra computer monitor and a connector, you can project one computer onto the monitor screen to instruct a small group, or use a LCD projector to project the program on a larger white screen or wall within a session room. At an even more progressive school, the social worker may be able to reserve a small section in the computer lab for some time with their group. Whatever way the program is delivered, it will be beneficial and rewarding for the students and clinician. Check out the following link to learn more about the program: Bullying Academy

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Posted in Web 2.0 tools

Tagged school social workers, web 2.0

Margaret Moore-Taylor

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Organizing is a journey, not a destination – More ways to organize your #Social Work tech finds

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