Kids in the Hall Workshop

Brock offered an optional professional development day called Kids in the Hall. There were rumours that this was arguably the most engaging PD offered all year. With such great reviews, I promptly signed up. One of the workshops that I chose to attend that day was The Grieving Child. I decided to attend this session because as a student, I myself dealt with issues at home and had a hard time separating them from my life at school. After growing since my struggles as a student and reflecting about them during my post-secondary education, I strive to be a compassionate and understanding teacher. I know that all students carry different baggage in their emotional backpacks, and it has been a personal goal of mine to be educated on assisting these students at school in order to optimize their education.  

The rumours were correct; the session was extremely beneficial to me as a teacher candidate. We were provided with many resources for our journeys as teachers and all the ‘backpacks’ we may see along the way. This session involved very little technology, but was naturally engaging based on the importance of the topic. I have learned from this session not only the information about grieving students, but also that technology is not always necessary for engaging students. Good conversation and opportunities for participation are useful tools for teachers in addition to the new technologies available.

Ebooks In The Classroom

I was recently introduced to the idea of "Ebooks". Basically, it is an opportunity to tell a story in a digital format. To explore this technological teaching strategy, I created my own Ebook using Sliderocket.

Through creating this Ebook, I have learned about the power of using pictures and a few words to tell a story. I would consider using this activity in the classroom for students to communicate a story to the class. It would be useful in a unit to stick with a theme, like the one I used for my Ebook; "Inspired". I would suggest that students add an audio track of them verbally narrating their Ebook, or it could be incorporated into an oral speech given in front of the class.

What a unique way to encourage students to tell stories!

Blogging In The Classroom

Creating a mock classroom blog has solidified my belief in incorporating technology into the classroom. By creating posts that relate to the Ontario Curriculum for a grade 8 class (my current placement grade), it has become clear how beneficial a classroom blog really is. I have learned that communicating to parents about the purpose of an activity can be easily accomplished through the use of a blog. It is a great way for students to actually show their parents what they are working on and the teacher can address the parents and explain why in the blog forum.

I plan to incorporate a classroom blog in my future practices as a teacher. Even in my current block, my associate teacher has been wanting to get a blog up and running but is unfamiliar with the process. We plan to take on the challenge of a creating and using the classroom blog together. What a great experience for both of us!

From my mock classroom blog, it has become clear that media literacy is the most obvious strand to address. By embedding videos and pictures, students can interpret and analyze from school or home, and develop their media literacy skills. Although I tended to stick with the Language curriculum for my mock blog, I can see the benefits of integrating science, music, and even mathematics.

This experience has motivated me to integrate technology as a teacher. I will keep you posted about my upcoming experience with an actual classroom blog!

There are many different blogs to choose from, such as EduBlog. Although for a particular website, this video shows the benefits of using blogs in general.

EDUBLOGS.ORG TO VIEW THIS VIDEO AND TO SIGN UP!

ECO-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS

For those that know me personally, I am a huge advocate for environmental literacy. It is my personal goal to assist staff and students at any school I find myself in to be more aware of how we can help our earth. For a class this year I created a mini guide to having a "Green" assembly. It includes various initatives to begin in your school, useful videos, and even resources to give you a hand.  I am in the process of turning this paper into a SlideRocket presentation that I will embed in this post when it is complete. If you would like the word document copy, message me on Twitter! @Miss_Graham

 Thanks to Steve Snodgrass for posting this picture on Flikr

Ontario College of Teachers - Professional Advisory

As I mentioned in my first blog, I was intimidated by all of the different social media sites and overwhelmed with the possibilities of using these sites as tools in the classroom. I am almost finished the technology course that introduced me to blogger, twitter, sliderocket, google+, pearltrees (the list goes on and on). I am now confident that integrating technology into the classroom has many benefits.

I am aware that educating students about social media and how to use it in a constructive way both in and outside of the classroom, is a relatable and valuable lesson. I think using technology in the classroom (for example, a classroom blog), is a unique way for students to share what they've learned. Not only will students be engaged, but also parents can be aware of classroom content.

Although there are many benefits to the integration of technology, I also am very aware of the potential for issues to arise. I recently watched a video that serves as a reminder about keeping the use of technology with your students professional in nature. I am confident that my education will allow me to use technology with my students in the most positive way possible.

For those who are interested, the video is below!

A special thanks to OCT for posting this video on youtube!

Project Based Learning

During this process of becoming a teacher, it has been important to me to reflect on my past as a student. The worst year ever for me as a student was in grade 5 when everyday my teacher put on the overhead projector and instructed us to copy pages and pages worth of social studies notes. Without any real teaching of the subject, we mindlessly copied information onto our pages. The worst part about this experience was that we were tested on the content. I did not do horribly in school that year however, because my memorization skills were quite good! Needless to say, I could not tell you what I learned that year... and at times I think “What a waste!”.

I watched a video on Project Based Learning ( PBL):

 What I really like about PBL is that it allows students to explore and understand content in a way similar to the real world. As adults in everyday life, and in many workplace environments, we are faced with challenges and projects.  Giving students projects to learn from rather than notes followed by a test is an excellent way for students to actually learn and demonstrate their understanding. An example from the video is students completing a group project about why and how people get sick. Not only did these students use critical thinking to ask questions, they collaborated with one another to create a presentation and a way to communicate what they came up with in the project. Critical thinking + collaboration + communication = PBL!

By reflecting on my days in elementary school, and thinking about my future as a teacher, it is clear to me that Project Based Learning will definitely play a large role in my classroom. Goodbye overhead projectors, endless notes, and sore hands!

Until next time...

To Quest or Not to Quest?

Throughout my education in the Concurrent program at Brock, I have been introduced to a lot of tools and resources. The first time I heard about Webquests, I was in my third year taking a course called "Children and Youth in the Digital Age". The professor was an advocate for Webquests, claiming that there are benefits of student exploration and the importance of diverse and technological learning tasks for students. I've never personally created one myself, but since that point have browsed quests online.

It was not until yesterday's discussion in my tech class that I looked at this tool from a new perspective. My instructor Zoe, (who will probably come up quite often in these blogs) had been wondering about the practical uses of Webquests. She posed a question to the world of Twitter... who uses standard Webquests in their classrooms? Responses varied, but most said they don't.

This caused me to create a very short list of pros and cons to using this tool. Take a look at what I came up with below:

Quest!	Don’t Quest!
-       Students enjoy the integration of technology in education, which can increase engagement with content -       At times, Webquests can have the same appeal as a game or challenge, which again (especially for boys according to research) will keep students engaged and on task while completing assignments	-      Webquests do not accommodate all learners/ learning styles -      They leave the exploring to students, which is a HUGE benefit, however, every student may not achieve the learning goals -       According to Zoe’s tweet, it is outdated... but what has replaced it?

* I would love to hear personal stories and experiences of educators using Webquests.
For now, I leave you with the question... to quest or not to quest?