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Tag: TECHED (Page 2 of 2)

Why I’m Switching Topics…

April 5, 2021 / / 0 Comments

As you have probably noticed, using French as an inquiry project was not working out. I was no longer engaged or excited to come up with new blog topics each week and this project became something I was dreading to do. To help with that, I decided to change my topic! My new topic is now elementary art projects!

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

I decided to choose this topic instead since I was having so much fun in my weekly art class. In art, we would get to complete a weekly art assignment for our art portolios. I have not completed an art assignment since I was in Grade eleven, so I am excited at the opportunity to start again.

In this inquiry, each week I am going to try and make a new art piece. I have found a whole bunch of artists and art teachers on different platforms that I will be able to take inspiration from. I have found different, websites, tiktoks, instagram posts, and youtube videos that show how to create different pieces of art.

Since I am making these all myself, I am also going to decide whether I would actually use them within my classroom and give some pros and cons to the different activities. This will just be from my experiences in classrooms and around students. I have never been on a practicum before, so I may decide that these activities are perfect in the future, when I get into a classroom.

I am so excited to share my journey with you and hope you are excited to follow along!

“And when things start to happen, don’t worry, don’t stew. Just go right along, you’ll start happening too!”

Dr. Suess

 

EdTech Inquiry

April 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments
A video recording of our presentation!

For our inquiry, Madeline and I decided to focus on learning about different educational platforms. As mentioned in the video, both of us had some prior experience using these platforms from when we were in high school; however, for me, I noticed that they are being used a lot more after I graduated. For this project, our question was: What are the pros and cons of Google Classrooms, Microsoft Teams, Edmodo, and FreshGrade?

Our relationship to education is that many of these sites are starting to be incorporated and used in classrooms, especially since the beginning of the Pandemic. Also, with the increase of technology in the classroom and with students, using these services might become inevitable, which is why we are researching them now.

Most of the pros, cons and risks of these platforms are listed within our video. However, one of the biggest pros that overlapped all of the services is that it connects students outside of school and allows for more diversity in assessments. Since many of these platforms are online and have chat features, they also allow students to connect with each other for projects or assignments. They can also connect with the teacher if students need help. As for different assessments, with technology, students can hand in assignments digitally allowing them to use voice recordings, videos, and presentations. Some common cons are the use of the internet and technology. Although it is somewhat obvious that these websites will need constant access to technology and the internet, some students might not have access to this outside of school. Finally, risks for all of these websites are privacy and who has access to the information.

The strategy I have learned from this assignment is to use technology however I can! It allows students, teachers, and parents to stay connected and engaged with what is happening in the classroom. I am really excited to try one of these systems within my classroom and ready to learn more through first-hand experience.

Week 4

March 8, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash

This week, we had Jesse Miller come to our class and talk to us about internet safety, especially in an employer or an employee’s eyes. When I was younger, I saw the repercussions of joining the digital space too early, when many of my friends had Facebook or Instagram in elementary school. Of course, I too eventually downloaded the apps and joined the social space, but I wish I had waited for a bit before joining. When you are that young (I joined Instagram in grade eight), you do not realize the repercussions of what you are posting. Although I never posted anything too scandalous, I followed many people from my school that have now ended up deleting their posts from when they were younger. I’m sure schools are more protective of students now and ensure to teach them the proper precautions before posting on the internet; most students are too young to understand why posting something might not be the best choice.

Although there is the opposite, the use of technology and the internet in the classroom can allow the classroom to flourish. When I was in school, students would often forget to do homework since they would not write it down in their planner. However, now students can connect with their class through websites such as Google Classrooms and Edmodo. Teachers are also able to keep parents in the loop since they can connect to the websites and check their child’s progress.

While the internet is a great new resource, it is also important for teachers to know the upheld privacy restrictions in their schools. For example, when I was in my Wednesday Visits last semester, a student whose parents decided not to have their student online. This became a problem when the annual Winter concert came around, and the music teacher was going to film the students for the parents to watch. In the end, the best solution for this problem was to have her sit out of the concert and help the teacher decorate the classroom with their art. This was really significant to me during my Wednesday visit since it outlined how important privacy is with technology. I will make sure to look out for these challenges when I become a teacher!

In the end, I am glad Jesse Miller came into our class to talk. I appreciated the reminder on internet safety, not only for me as a future teacher but now as well.

Week Three

February 3, 2021 / / 0 Comments

In class this week we learned about the Multimedia Learning Hypothesis. I found this interesting since I know about all the different types of learners (Visual, Kinesthetic, and Auditory). When presentations have both words and pictures together, it targets two different learners. This not only helps them individually, but since they work together they will get more examples of how things work. Dual coding was also mentioned in class, which means that two ways are used and coded successfully together. We also learned about different ways to edit photos, in particular, we looked at the viral Bernie Sanders meme. As you can see above, the photo I used to make my meme was a picture of my dog sitting on the couch. Although in class we went over how to use PowerPoint to edit photos; when I was in high school I took a photography class where my friend showed me different apps to use on an iPhone.

The app I use is called Picsart.  There is a premium and a free version, but the free version works quite well. This is the app I used to edit my picture from week two (the cat and the croissant) and my Bernie Sanders Meme. I have also included a few examples from when I was in high school below.

 

For my high school project on legislation.

I burnt my sandwich and added it to the meme.

 

Poster from my high school theatre group.

 

Although I did find it interesting that the SmartArt section in PowerPoint can make different charts. Whenever I am making a slideshow, I always try to do it manually and ensure everything is even; however, now that I know this it will be much simpler. After I learned how to make my own, I quickly went to show my friend, since she had a business presentation and needed to make a chart. I look forward to using this function in the future.

Finally, in class, we learned about the difference between Pixels and Vectors. I never knew there was a difference between the two formats and always assumed pictures came in the jpeg format. However, now that I know about Vectors, I see how they are useful. Vectors can expand endlessly, which is good if you need to blow up a picture (which I often do).

Week Two

February 3, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

This week we talked more about FIPPA and its role in the classroom. In particular, I remember talking about looking at our online footprint. This week, I decided to google my name and see what comes up. As you can see, none of the results came up with information on me. I think this is good since, from what I can tell, it would be harder for a manager, staff, or student to find unwanted information on my life. We also learned about FIPPA and teaching it to our students and I think that is so important because, when I was on my Wednesday visit, a lot of the students were talking about their TikTok accounts but they might not have known about the risk of having a public account.

We also learned about copyright and finding good resources for our classrooms. I learned that the creative commons license allows certain materials to be shared with the class, as long as we follow the rules. There are certain restrictions to ensure that teachers are not plagiarizing full books or research. We also learned about how everything that has been created has copyright. This is great since when I become a teacher, it will protect my resources from being stolen. Another thing is that anything from the internet can be shared with the class, they just cannot be distributed and copied. This is interesting since when I was in high school, I remember teachers taking worksheets and questions off the internet and distributing them to us. I am now wondering if that would have been acceptable under copyright.

I still have a lot to learn around copyright and privacy but I am slowly learning. I am still a little nervous about using resources in my own class, but hopefully throughout the next couple weeks I will be able to learn more about the different sections of copyright to be more confident in using it in the future.

Week One

January 17, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Week one was a standard first week. During class, we went over the syllabus and learned a little more about what types of technology we will learn and use. I believe this week I made about five different accounts, so I am definitely ready for the rest of the semester!

For the readings this week, we read about privacy and safety when using technology in classrooms. This was really interesting to me as I have always read the privacy waver at the beginning of school years, and this gave me an inside look as to why those forms get sent home. It was interesting to read the different articles on safety when using blog websites and FIPPA; however, there was a lot of technical talk in the articles. I am looking forward to Tuesday when the teacher will explain privacy in more detail.

Talking about privacy is important to me since I remember different students, including me, would get freaked out by the photo waiver at the beginning of the school year. By learning about privacy, I hope that I can explain the reasoning about those forms and where their pictures and information might be going so they do not get anxious having their photos online like me and my classmates did.

For the next class, we watched the documentary Most Likely to Succeed, directed by Greg Whitely. This movie was fascinating as it showed the growing impact of technology on schools and a look at different school systems and teaching styles. The documentary focussed on a high school called High Tech High. High Tech High is a Charter School that hires teachers on a yearly contract and allows them complete control over how they want to teach their classrooms. There is a lot of project work at the school rather than tests to help students learn more about soft skills such as communication and teamwork, rather than memorizing facts for a test. They are still gaining all the knowledge they need to graduate; however, students learn different skills to help them throughout life.

Personally, I like the teaching styles represented in the documentary. From my high school, not everyone went to university after getting their diploma. Some decided to take a gap year, and others decided to go straight into work. As they mentioned in the movie, university is not required to get a job and be successful anymore. If high school were to teach more soft skills, students would be more prepared if they would like to go to college or if they are done with school. By teaching soft skills, schools cater to all students while still teaching them the knowledge that can be used later in life. Not everything in the curriculum will be useful depending on the job you have in the future. For example, if I was going to be an author, I might not need geometry in my life. However, if you teach students how to apply math to taxes, rent, time, etc., it will be useful for all students in the future.

High Tech High also teaches students using projects instead of tests, which allows them to develop their passions and learn more about themselves.

Photo by Laurens Derks on Unsplash

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Hi there! My name is Lara and I am a second-year elementary education student at the University of Victoria! Come join me as I follow my passion for learning and developing new skills.

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