Category: EdTech Page 1 of 2

Once again we had to class with zoom! It was nice to see everyone again after all that’s been going on, even if it just is over video chat. In our class we used the video chat to go over various children’s and beginner programs for learning how to code. The one I worked on was the Coding with Frozen. I thought that this was really fun (1) because I love that movie and (2) it was really interesting to see how you could manipulate different patterns of code to produce multiple actions on a computer.

Here is a link to one of the patterns I made using code:

I really enjoyed this class wide zoom call today. It was a great way to get everyone together and engage in regular class discussion.  Zoom provides many tools to optimize productivity within an online meeting such as screen sharing for presentations, group text chat boxes and options for direct messaging for optimal communication, and options for participating allowing or disallowing audio or video. There are also fun options and tools to engage in such as reactions, hands up, multiple video viewing options to choose from, and information regarding participants.  This application can be used in many different settings and can be used for multiple different situations including business meetings or schools.

During our first experience using Zoom, we were able to explore many of these tools. As we needed to complete our Edtech inquiry presentations but couldn’t do so in school, we opted to complete them over Zoom. To do this, we implemented the screen sharing tool. With the screen sharing tool, the application allows you to choose which window or page open on your computer that you would like to share so you don’t have to share your whole desktop! During our presentation, Holly and I screen shared our Kahoot Presentation on google slides. We did this by selecting the green screen share button located in the menu bar at the bottom the screen and then choosing the Kahoot page and clicking the blue share button located in the bottom corner. The class was then able to see our slideshow and further was able to participate in our Kahoot game. The class was able to participate in our presentation and engage in our set game smoothly. They were even able to hear the music for the game!!!

Later on in our meeting, we used Zoom to work through an online activity that we otherwise would have worked on together as a class. We worked on creating non-linear stories online using a program called Twine. Due to Zoom, the class was able to work through this program together. Everyone was able to ask questions and receive help when necessary.

I really enjoyed participating in class via Zoom. It was really fun to see everyone again after we found out school was cancelled. It also allowed for good conversations to be held  and everyone seemed to have a good time. Yay for Zoom!

WHAT DO I KNOW?…  WHAT DO I WONDER?… WHAT DO I SEE?…

My inquiry that I chose for a grade 1 is about dreaming. I made a video of images of stars and questions because I am interested about how dreams work. 

• What do I see when I’m dreaming? Sometimes I see stars or pictures or memories. 
• What do I know? That you dream every night but only sometimes you remember them.
• What do I wonder? How do dreams work and why do only sometimes you remember them and what causes people to dream.

Kate and Holly xo

“What do you see? What do you Know? What do you wonder?” – RB

When I realized I wasn’t able to make this experience at Rebecca’s classroom, I was really upset. I was really looking forward to attending the talk as I am really interested in teaching the younger grades. I am especially interested in making learning enjoyable, meaningful, and memorable for my future students and I would love to find new ways to incorporate student inquiry and interests into their learning.

Thanks to the video provided, I was able to experience this opportunity! And it totally lived u to my expectations!I really love all of the quotes and insight to child inquiry that Rebecca had to offer.

Here are some notes, that I have taken from the video and slides!

Notes:

• Book: Inquiry Mindset – Trevor Mackenzie
• Educator Heart – find your values
  • Forever learning
  • Reflect on all new content and concepts
  • Inquiry based learning – research based on wonders – visualizing connections
  • Seamless Tech – used to further learning and for assessment purposes – stay grounded and connected – meaningful connection
  • Visible learning – portfolios
  • Learner interest – integrate into multiple different subjects – planning backwards
  • Relationships – high standards and clear expectations and guidelines
  • Connected learning
  • Love of learning
  • Celebration – celebrate learning – elevate what is happening in the classroom and invite others to come honour the learning that is occurring in class
• Practicum pep talk – you can’t be great at something you haven’t experienced yet
  • What am I wanting to get out of this?
• Inquiry
  • Ada Twist, Scientist – characters and people who are curious
  • I wonder – Annaka Harris
  • Plan unit or lesson with a question – What is an AB pattern?
  • Exploration and create definitions with kids
  • Release control
  • Building a toolkit to answer their own questions – open ended questions
  • Wonderwall – honor and provoke questions
  • Model taking risks
  • Tools to show what curiosity looks like
  • Planning Provocations – anything that will provoke curiosity or questions

  • “Everyone can be successful in inquiry“The most POWERFUL shift you can make in adopting INQUIRY into your practice is to begin learning a with a question” – TM

    

• Ways to honour questions
• Flexible seating
• Write the room – scavenger hunt around the room
• Tuesdays in the garden
• Showcasing learning for families

I really like the idea of the question set “What do you see? What do you Know? What do you wonder?”. I think that these question allow children to build upon their own previous knowledge and find themselves as learners as they begin to expand upon ideas and build their own questions and learning paths. I also loved the idea of Rebecca’s Teaching Heart. I like the format and how it allows you to look at your personal teaching philosophy in a new way and break it down even further to some specific things that fuel the way we want to teach and provoke engaged learning. Lastly, I really appreciated how honest and encouraging Rebecca was about the experience of practicums. She said “you can’t be great at something you haven’t experienced yet” which allowed me to feel better about not being perfect and just focusing on looking at the experience as a whole and deciding what I want to take from the overall experience.

I also enjoyed the set up of her classroom , how it allowed for differentiation, provided a flexible learning environment, and provided neutral and natural elements to provoke inquiry and allow for the growth of wonder and imagination.

Jesse Miller Internet Safety Presentation

I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation. It was very engaging, informative,  and fun to listen to.

Here are some notes below:

• good presentation – engaging
• internet safety
• open access to accounts and information
• critical thinking to answer questions and posts online.
• Everything on the internet as a product and byproduct.
• businesses analyzing photos – sell data to companies promote brands.
• ‘Not a robot’ questions – building artificial intelligence
• teaching technology intelligence leads to…
• giving up control

2020- Time to focus on networked citizenship

• digital identity
• digital rights
• digital literacy
  • necessary for today’s world
• use of communication networks – social, professional, personal
• safety – networked connections
• security of self
• It is important to build these skills and positive digital citizenship. All of these things are important to build for overall safety and security and respect online.
  

  You must be careful what you post online.

Should your child have a social media account?

• First Generation to graduate with a  different concept of a 24 hr day
  • can message
  • posts
  • follow everyone, every day, all-day
• Scientific American
  • panic over screen time is likely overstated
• “We shape our tools and thereafter, our tools shape us.”
  • John Culkin
• different modes of media
  • mail – texts
  • mail – emails
  • “We got mail!” – package
• personal and professional mix – Human being – grounds for problems

Discussion Topics

Social Media Businesses (Snapchat)

• save data for business in exchange for providing the service
• use data to invite investment groups in order to obtain a business model and make money and keep investors.
• sell data and information to keep up the service and business

Microphone Webcam

• Businesses listening to keep up  and promote advertisements, or promotions

Be sure to not post on third party media within the classroom

• posting of children or their names can be considered a privacy violation whether it is appropriate or not.
• #teacherlife
• #teacherproblems

Opportunities for success

• Address social media concerns with digital literacy conversations
• Open solution based constructive discussions with colleagues and administrators.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

(Notes from Jesse Miller Presentation and Powerpoint)

Video Editing

Here is a link to the Video I edited after our Video Editing Workshop!

Effects and Tools used

• Insert audio
• Trimming
• Insert transitions
• Titles
• Video cropping
• Video Filters
• Speed Adjustments

My Choreographic Piece ~ Part 1

(All participants have consented to posting of their name and face.)

Hello Casey, Holly, and Kate here! 

Today we wanted to share a bit about a new cool app teachers are using called Fresh Grade!

Keep reading to learn more about this awesome online resource and to discover our true thoughts on this app…

So what is Fresh Grade? First off, this app allows for students to watch their growth over their educational career from k-12 in the form of a digital portfolio/learning journal. If that isn’t cool enough, it also grants access to parents so they can comment and add post to their students profile. 

Some more sweet features are: 

Free for everyone to use (teachers, students and parents)

Create lesson plans and activities

Unlimited number of classes and subjects

Unlimited number of assignments and projects

Attach files (rubrics, links and examples)

Make online groups within your classes

Compatable with more than 100 apps

Unlimited storage

Useful to create and store formative, summative and interim assessments

Create custom assessments for each student

Embed google translate for international students to communicate with teachers and parents 

Send messages to parents private or in groups

There is a fresh grade blog! 

Online professional development and learning available for teachers

E-books and case studies available

There is an area where your whole school can go onto freshgrade and principals/admins can see (with privacy permission)

Some unfortunate cons…

If parents/guardians or students are not familiar with technology or they don’t have accessibility to a laptop or computer it would be difficult

If parents/guardians don’t feel comfortable having their students information online even though it is private and secure

If you still don’t know what is going on in this blog… here are two videos that hopefully sum up any questions you still might have about Fresh Grade!

Anyways, that’s all for today, hoped you enjoyed our surprise collab.

xo

Casey, Holly, and Kate

The visit to PSII school today open my mind to new learning possibilities and teaching opportunities but also gave me some new questions.  I am really fond of the idea of students having the chance to work on an develop knowledge in areas that they enjoy, are interested in, or wish to know more about. I feel that this gives them independance in their learning and may further allow them to a positive sense of mastery or competence in what they are working on.

I admired the space that the school had and the many opportunities and options it provided for the students. It gave different modes of spaces for each type of learner including a quiet space for learners that beleive that they don’t work well with noise and a large collaborative space with large wondpws that allowed students to chat, work together, and work on individual projects in a group setting. The school also provided multiple smaller rooms for small groups to work in together, alone, or in sessions which allowed for students to opt for a more individualized space for their learning if need be. The school also included a sort of multi- purpose space that provided a space for students to work on art projects, textiles, home economics, and wood/metalworks and promoted hands-on art projects and creative exploritory experimentation. I appreciate that the school really provided for their diverse learners and gave them the various spaces they need to succeed as individuals.

The school also allows students to develop their knowledge and understanding of different subjects through inquiry-based projects. They also allowed students to choose their own inquiries, generally create their own lesson plan, and work toward their own goals in their own way (with support and helpful guidance from a teacher). Students are able to choose how they complete different aspects of their inquiry including whether they work on it individually, collaboratively, or through a class-like session provided by a teacher. I appreciate that this opportunity for open choices and learning exists for these students so they my choose how they will best succeed. However, this exists at the high school level. I believe that this may be tricky to implement within an elementary school setting with students choosing when they work on specific tasks and with whom and how they do so. I think that younger students should still have the experience of working within a structure that allows constant access to teachers and encouraged collaborative group and classwork. Assignments and lessons should also still have some sort of structure to steer students in the right direction and understand how learning and understanding can be achieved so that later on they will be able to take on this individualized inquiry approach. Saying this, I do believe that elementary students should have the opportunity to exercise their autonomy and engage in inquiry-based projects, just in a slightly more structure way.

The school also uses an abundance of technology to help students keep track and up to date on their inquiries and learning. I think that this is helpful to many students to promote technological literacy and provide them with multiple modes of tools for their future endeavours. However, what happens when a student within this school learns to use the technology and platforms needed for the school and later on decides that these tools do to fit their personal learning style and they would rather use writing utencils and keep their work in hard copies? Could the school adapt to this?  Further, if a student comes to this school to gain a new learning structure, but dislikes a project approach, could they still engage in their inquiries using a different format?

I also like the fact that this school takes some of the tools used and saved mostly for children with exceptionalities and makes them available to all students. This would include the various learning spaces, the sensory room, the personalized learning plans, and the choice of how they would like to learn. This school allows all students to be equal and makes room to benefit all children in every way they can.

I really enjoyed this visit and I feel that I got my head turned to a new way of teaching and approaching student learning.

Photo #1: Photo by Hannah Rodrigo on Unsplash

Photo #2: Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

Photo #3: Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Photo by ShareGrid on Unsplash                     Photo by Elena de Soto on Unsplash

Notes From watching The Film:

• Intent and copyright creates a war over creative ideas
• Computers are connected throughout the world. One computer can send and share data to another and so on… to create one big sharing centre or machine (internet).
• Ideas and creations are considered intellectual properties that belong to artists or companies that should not be shared or reproduced.
• Fight for more ideas to enter the public domain so they can be protected and free to share with the world and expand further on ideas.
• The past tries to control the future
• Remixing and mashing up songs may cause moral dilemma as it depends on who’s song it is and how upset they are
• It is said that creativity is no being limited as it is based on other people’s stuff
• “Culture always builds on the past”
• Copyright was meant to encourage and promote original creativity rather than limit it.
• “Our future is becoming less free”
• Copyright material may be used as free speech to make an argument – ‘free use’
• Copyright has been manipulated for profit.
• Copyright locks up information and withholds it from the world. This includes much more information and ideas besides music including medical information, ideas, and cures. If information like this is withheld it can be seen as selfish.
• It is believed that humans work better collaboratively therefore sharing ideas and creativity would be very beneficial to the growth and development of everyday culture.

Link to the movie we watched in Class: www.nfb.ca/film/rip_a_remix_manifesto/

I believe that copyright is an important thing to consider when considering art, tools, and resources that can be found on the internet; however, I also believe that there should be a limit to the extent that it enforced. I think that people should be able to take inspiration from art and take something and make it their own so they have the opportunity to expand their own creativity and thinking without worrying about infringement as long as they make sure to credit the original artwork or idea and expand upon it enough to make it their own. I also think that it is important for artists to be able to have control of their original works and how it is distributed, but I think that some ideas such as art and music should be able to be shared and promoted inspiration for all people.

Further, for education, many resources and tools are not available to educators to redistribute or share in classrooms due to copyright. However, there are some tools that are free for educators to use known as Open Education Resources. These resources provide educators with ideas for classroom curriculum, tools, materials, and media and allow teachers to redistribute and rearrange materials for use in their classroom. Some OER websites we explored today include OER commons (OER Commons) and Curriki (https://curriki.org). I really enjoyed the Curriki website as it included many different resources for teachers and students and allowed users to share lesson plans and unit ideas. It also allowed us to search for material for specific grade levels and topics.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Photo by Irina Nalbandian on Unsplash             Photo by Rob Laughter on Unsplash

While watching the video ‘Most Likely to Succeed’, I saw many ideas and teaching strategies that may be beneficial and many that may not foster a student’s lifelong knowledge and learning. In this film, the students had the chance to learn through project-based lessons. The two classes discussed each attempted to study the same subject but learned through two completely different approaches. One teacher opted to have the children write and perform plays to showcase their learning, while the other chose to have the students partake in a woodwork and metalwork creation that would also be showcased. I enjoyed the aspect of students having the opportunity to dive deeper and have a more in-depth experience of the topics they were studying.  They also appeared to enjoy themselves and have more interest in what they were learning. However, I question the idea of having the students work for an entire term on one project and having the students undergo the teacher’s choice of project. I believe that this approach should allow the students to choose which project they take part in or make suggestions on what projects they would like like to do to study the topic. I also believe that the idea of the showcase or presentation that the students gave at the end may have overwhelmed some students. The idea of their work needing to be completed and ready to be displayed in the showcase was  very prominent and  a provided them with a constant feeling of pressure, much like that of a standardized test, that the education system is working towards eliminating