Category: EDCI 336 Weekly Blog Posts! (Page 1 of 2)

When I was in elementary school, I never used coding so this is completely new to me. In high school, I remember a couple of my friends got pulled out of class to do a coding workshop where they played a game using Barbie; I always thought that was cool.

I think coding is a great thing to teach in schools. As the world becomes more technological, the more code is being used. If coding is being taught in elementary school, there are more chances that students will be interested in learning more about code and considering it as a future profession. Especially, if coding is taught to girls, we might have more women in STEM.

While exploring code during class time, I joined the Scratch JR. group. I was able to download the app on my iPad and create a little scene with different characters. It was very confusing at first. I did not understand what was going on and just kept on making random patterns for the character to follow. However, as I started exploring the app, I found examples that were much more sophisticated than mine. I looked at how they coded the journey of the character and figured out what some of the buttons meant.

With the emergence of online education arising because of the pandemic, distributed learning is more important than ever. Although all of my classes this semester are synchronous (all the participants are completing the activities at the same time) a lot of my friends are completing their lectures asynchronously (participants participate at different times in different locations). I have done both styles of learning, so I know there are pros and cons to each type; such as in asynchronous classes, the students can plan their class schedule around their work schedule instead of the opposite.

It is interesting to see how many different ways there are to meet now. It is almost impossible to avoid someone since there are so many different ways people can communicate. An example that comes to mind for me is that next year when classes are in-person, it will be harder to have snow days where school is cancelled since everyone will be able to log onto a zoom call and access the lecture from their homes.

Although I have mostly used zoom and MS Teams to schedule meetings this year, it is interesting to see all the options that are out there. Such as the Gathered Town, where you can get together with 20 friends and walk into someone to start a face-to-face conversation with them, just like in ‘real-life’.

Finally, we talked a bit about Pedagogy vs. Modality. Many people say that online classes are less engaging since they are online, however, that is untrue. It depends entirely on the pedagogy the teacher uses. For example, last year I fell asleep during a history class which was in-person; however, I was completely engaged within a different history class last semester. Depending on how the teacher teaches influences whether the class will be engaging.

Inclusion and exclusion is something I am worried about as a future teacher. Of course I want all of the students in my class to feel like they belong, but I do not know how to incorporate that sense of belonging. This is why Tracy Humphrey’s talk was so useful to me. It was nice to have her come in and speak to the class since she had first-hand experience as a mother in a situation where her son’s needs were not being met. It was also interesting since she is the founder of BCEDACCESS, which will be a helpful resource for when I am a teacher.

What was really beneficial was the process behind helping students and their parents advocate for themselves within a school district. As Tracy mentioned, the start of a complaint with the school is with the teacher, so it is important for us to follow the right steps and go the extra mile to have inclusive classrooms.

Some ways I can help parents and students with their advocacy:

• Writing down examples. By putting information down in writing, there is proof that a student’s needs are not being met. This will help them advocate since you can bring in real-life examples of when a situation occured.
• Follow-up. If a parent has concerns, don’t wait for the school to follow-up with the parent to ensure everything is going well. Have a conversation with the parents to make sure their child has everything they need and that their needs are being met.
• Collaborate with families. If the teacher has a relationship with a family, it becomes easier to talk to parents about what their children need and makes the teacher more approachable. Sometimes, the parents might not even know anything is wrong. This would be a much easier conversation to have if there was a relationship formed.

What really surprised me during this lecture was the statistic that 133 million girls are not attending school right now, this includes disabled girls in BC. When I think of girls not being able to attend school, I think of third-world countries where families may need the extra support from their daughters at home. I never thought that this would include girls within my own province. By creating a conversation on inclusive education, we are potentially opening the door for many more girls to go to school in the future, with classrooms ready to support them.

This week, Jeff Hopkins came and talked to our class about his school for inquiry learning (Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII)). Inquiry is something that I want to explore when I become a teacher, so I am grateful for the experience of hearing Jeff talk.

What I found especially interesting, was the tour of Jeff’s school:

I found this video interesting for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it was filmed using a special camera that allows the viewers to get a 360 view of the space. This was really interesting since I rarely see videos filmed this way. It really elavated the tour and gave me a sense of the space they have, which I normally wouldn’t get unless I was in-person.

I also found the spaces really interesting. The lab in paritcular, was designed like a unicersity lab where the students can follow along with the instructor. I found this interesting since I was able to relate this to the GRR model of learning. Although the experience is guided, the student still has a lot of independance within the activities. As Trevor Mackenzie said a couple weeks ago, students cannot just be thrown into inquiry. Instead they need to be taught and guided so they know how the process works.

I also noticed within the tour, there were lots of spots for students to collaborate with each other. Although it was limited, due to COVID, they still had spaces where students could go and work together on an assignment or go on a zoom call together. Part of learning is learning with and from other people you are with, I love how much collaboration this school has so people can inquire and rely on each other.

Although I wish we got an in-person tour, I am glad that I still got to see this 360 tour of the school. Once COVID is over, I would love to go into the school and experience it in person if I am able to. I love the dynamic and how they are learning through inquiry, which is something other schools are just starting to incorporate.

As for the screencast video, in the past, I created a video for my PE class where I had to present my lesson plan, so I am fairly familiar with the process of recording. I typically record mine over zoom, but would love to try it your way as well.