AI Newsletter

 AI Newsletter

The AI generated information that we put into the newsletter was super helpful and actually followed the prompts it was given. It produced fun and exciting ways of delivering information about back to school and other services we had to offer! At times, the information did seem a bit overwhelming, and we had trouble narrowing down the information to fit it into a newsletter without getting rid of important information. Most of what was generated served as a good starting point, to which we then added/deleted information as needed. Either way, the more a person uses and familiarizes themselves with the program of ChatGPT, they are able to manipulate the prompt to where they get the exact information they would like rather than having to edit it further. 

This was definitely efficient, as it created all the written content we needed to include in a newsletter, but what made it difficult was the formatting of the actual newsletter, designing and making sure the information fit. Part of that struggle, I think, was due to the software we used, which was Canva. While Canva does offer super cute, creative, colorful designs, it can oftentimes be annoying to maneuver textboxes and information throughout the design. I definitely think that I could use this during the school semester when I’m in a rush to create a newsletter on top of many other things that keep us busy during the school year. This is a great way of using it for efficiency and time management, I think I’d just use a different software for the actual newsletter rather than Canva. 

Environmental Scan - Los Fresnos, Texas

Los Fresnos, Texas – Environmental Scan

Research is a major part of our lives, whether we may realize it or not, and our environmental surroundings also play a role in our research, our digital tools, and ultimately, our foundation of knowledge.

Los Fresnos, Texas, without a doubt, resides in an extremely unique area in our entire country. We live in an area next to Brownsville, whose motto is “On the border, by the sea.” This proximity to both the ocean and an entirely different country, provides us with 2 languages, both English and Spanish, and an overall culturally rich area. There is so much to offer here in the Rio Grande Valley and Los Fresnos. From the food to the music to the cost of living and job opportunities, the RGV is a gold mine of culture and comfort.

For most people who live in the RGV, the highest employers are “healthcare 16.5%, educational services 11.97%, and retail trade 11.46%,” based on the information from RGV Health Connect. However, there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of farming and ranching in many RGV towns, especially in Los Fresnos. Almost every subdivision has its little farmland or ranching acreage neighboring the homes. It never fails to be woken up with the sound of the watering airplane or the big tractors picking up wheat, fruits, vegetables, cotton, or whatever else may be planted. Part of the reason why farming and ranching is so successful here is because the sun is always shining, and the soil is very fertilized. Our proximity to the ocean provides high humidity, which is ideal for growing crops. Surrounding our beautiful crops and beach, we have a lot of public schools in each town, with Los Fresnos having 9 elementaries, 3 middle schools, and 1 9th and 10th grade academy, and 1 11th and 12th grade campus. Now, it’s not to say that we don’t have drawbacks to living in rural areas, as it may sometimes cause lack of internet reach or dead spots with no signal; however, our districts do their best to provide plenty of solutions for the lack of WIFI or signal – anything to help them submit their work and still receive a quality education. While these public schools are amazing options for students to attend and grow in, there are other options of magnet or charter schools such as IDEA Public Schools, Harmony Science Academy, and South Texas ISD. All of these choices that parents have in which to enroll their students keeps the districts in a competitive mode to be innovative and offer nothing but the best to the parents, students, and community. 

Given all of these characteristics of the city, according to Bandwidth Place, “In Los Fresnos, Texas, there are several options for broadband internet access, including fiber, cable, 5G home internet, satellite, and fixed wireless.” These various options allow for users to have a choice in how they want to access the internet based on their needs. Whether it be for school, their homes, a small business, or simply to watch Netflix, it’s good to know that the citizens of Los Fresnos are safe with options such as Spectrum, AT&T, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, and so on to choose from. To zone in specifically on the student and school broadband internet access, in 2020, during the COVID Pandemic, the Los Fresnos CISD sent out a survey in an effort to improve internet access, as everything was shifting to an online basis. This survey was “part of a Broadband Planning Process organized by the City of Brownsville [which neighbors Los Fresnos, TX] to bring better broadband to Los Fresnos and the surrounding areas.” The purpose of the survey for families was to “help determine the challenges confronted by residents who have poor or no internet access,” as mentioned in the LFCISD website.  

Focusing more on the actual findings of the school district in regards to internet use, according to the United States Census Bureau, about “89.8% of households [have] broadband internet subscriptions, percent, 2019-2023,” along with at least about “98.1% of households with a computer, percent, 2019-2023.” Thankfully, most students and households seem to have access to devices and the internet at home as well as in the classrooms. It’s safe to say that when students step out of their homes and into schools in the district, students have access to the internet, as well as their own personal device assigned to them for use during the school day. Most campuses in LFCISD have a 1 to 1 ratio of student to personal laptop or access to the internet. There are various lines of defense where something happens to their personal devices such as an IT technician or the school librarian. If the issue with their personal device cannot be fixed or troubleshot immediately, students are often either given a loaner for the assignments they have during the day or they are able to use a laptop from the COW (computer on wheels) or simply using the desktops available for use for the students in the computer labs. Regardless of the issue, there is a solution. Our students in the district are very blessed in the aspect that they never have to worry about missing out on learning or completing their assignments due to lack of internet access. 

Because most students and teachers have internet access and tech tools in the classroom, there has been a shift of using that technology in various ways in the classroom that supports learning, especially since COVID. There are almost infinite strategies and methods of learning that are supported through the use of technology in the classroom such as Google Classroom, Canvas, Padlet, etc. Projects, group work, presentations, and more are all now transformed through helpful websites and apps. Not only do students benefit from the access to the internet, but so do the teachers and the entire school staff. In professional developments, we are able to collaborate, create, analyze, evaluate, and manipulate information into assignments, and everything is facilitated with the new technology tools and access to the internet. 

References

Connect, R. H. (n.d.). RGV Health Connect. RGV Health Connect :: Demographics :: Region :: Rio Grande Valley :: Employment. https://www.rgvhealthconnect.org/demographicdata?id=281259&sectionId=939 

Families urged to complete survey to improve internet access. Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District. (2020, October 22). https://www.lfcisd.net/apps/news/article/1323210 

Top internet providers in Los Fresnos, TX. (n.d.-a). https://www.bandwidthplace.com/internet/texas/los-fresnos 

U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: Los Fresnos City, Texas. (n.d.-b). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/losfresnoscitytexas/PST045224 

 

Readings – Pedagogy before Technology

The fact that we had to read and watch various works to respond to this has helped give me a full perspective on the topic of technology in learning. I will admit that before reading and synthesizing all this information, I had a terrible view on technology in education. I focused on the negative ways in which teenagers use technology, rather than seeing it the way I do now: technology is neither good nor bad, it simply just is. While I read these works together, one after the other, I realized that I was viewing technology as a stain on our thinking, holding us back from achieving independence and freedom of thinking, and, as mentioned in the Mindset List, being told what to do and what to think before they even knew it themselves, rather than using technology to advance and create as suggested in the updated Bloom’s Taxonomy.

I feel grateful that we have these conversations about technology because as a classroom teacher, I often shared with my students how technology was so “bad” for them, and to be fair, most of them agreed with me. However, a lot of students also just heard me say that and looked at me as if to say “Ok Boomer,” because to them, it’s a fact of their life. It’s something that they are used to since they were born. They have seen it all throughout their lives. Technology is just a part of them. Of course, most students don’t use it for educational purposes, but they do use it to make their life easier, faster, simpler, more attainable. I think the biggest shift in my perspective of technology is that as an English teacher, technology can harm their thinking and writing skills, especially with AI tools like ChatGPT, but as a librarian, I am excited to shift my point of view into being more open to change and how technology can be used for learning.

I believe that a big factor into this old perspective of how technology harms learning is the lack of guidance on how to use it properly. Being exposed to carefully constructed websites to help in the positive process of learning through technology tools such as Educause’s Toolkit K-12 Blueprint and Kathy Schrock’s website was a huge game changer! Both of these websites were immediately bookmarked for future purposes. We can reframe this way of thinking and use of technology by simply having great mentors and guidance like the ones I mentioned. A lot of us that didn’t grow up with technology and are learning as we go need some sort of map and help on how to navigate them,especially in the classroom so that we can use it to our students’ advantage. However, it should be noted that I believe these technology tools should be used for learning, and aren’t really a foundation that we build upon. I still strongly believe that we need to do our own thinking on our own, but of course, it’d be great to use technology tools to help expand that knowledge, not use them as a foundation. The centering of the tools in the foundation may take away from the independence and critical thinking to the point where we rely on it for doing anything. I believe, either way, regardless of whether tech tools are seen as an aide or a foundation to learning, it all depends on the field of study one is in. As I mentioned in the paragraphs above, as a classroom teacher, I was opposed to technology use because some students use certain tools to do the thinking and writing for them, rather than as an aid.

However, in the library media specialist world, technology can be viewed as such an incredible tool. Whether it be for research, databases, accessing literacy, creation through printing and coding, etc. I believe that the use of it is absolutely essential, and we must learn all we can about it so that we can adapt with all its changes and help give our students an advantage of keeping up with all the technology tools and how to best use them. If we don’t change and adapt with the new tools, we will fall behind in our exposure to the future and won’t be able to give our students the right tools to assist them in learning. I want to make it one of my goals for the library community to share these ways of using technology tools for the better. Just as I was taught through these readings and guided with ideas, I want to do the same for the teachers on my campus so that we can all stop this narrative of how technology is only bad for our students, but rather help them use it to their full potential for better learning. 

References Churches, Andrew. (2008). Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. Common Sense Education. Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy [Video]. https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/blooms-digital-taxonomy Schrock, Kathy. 2025 February. Kathy Schrock’s guide to everything. https://www.kathyschrock.net/home The First Marist Mindset List is Released. Marist University. https://www.marist.edu/w/marist-news-the-first-marist-mindset-list-is-released Tools and Resources to Drive Your Technology Initiatives. K-12 Blueprint. https://www.k12blueprint.com/toolkits

 

Introduction About Me

 My name is Sophia Carmona, and I am currently navigating - flippin through the pages - of the library media specialist world. I am in my 7th year of teaching English, ranging from 7th grade Reading to 12th grade Dual Enrollment Composition 2. I am in my second to last semester of the Library Science Program, and I have learned a lot along the way! I am sharing a Padlet about me to share a bit more about who I am :) 

Padlet All About Me - Sophia Carmona