Menu
Blog
1. Technology should not just be substituted into the classroom. 2. There is a future career in coding, since there are not enough people pursuing it. 3. Incorporating games into the classroom will help students learn more actively. 4. Social Media is an excellent tool for educators to connect with one another, especially Twitter. 5. Just because children are growing up with technology does not mean they know how to use it
0 Comments
![]() This week's activity was to practice our skills in coding. The activity I chose was the "Flappy Game," and the challenge was to follow along with the instructional process to learn all of the aspects of the game, and then you were given an opportunity in the end to create your own game. When you finish the activity you are awarded a certificate to prove your involvement, and to show that you succeeded. I chose to modify the game into a Christmas theme. I changed the background scene to be a snowy rooftop, and I changed the bird character into Santa riding a sleigh. I changed the obstacles from pipes to chimneys as well. It was fun to have the freedom to build the game into something that interests me, and with this time of year (being about a month away from Christmas) it seemed fitting to change the game in that way. This activity was a fun way to play with a familiar game, as I remember having the "flappy bird" app on my phone when it was an available app on the iTunes App Store. Now that the game is no longer available to download, it was interesting to be able to remake something in a new light. This activity, or similar ones that are available on the One Hour of Code website, would be an interesting addition to the classroom. Students would be able to flex their creativity in a new light, as they build, modify, or edit a game or logo that they may already be familiar with. Coding would make an excellent addition to art classes, as it would move beyond the traditional art class assignments of painting, drawing, etc. Students would be given the opportunity to recreate or completely create their own contribution to the Internet. As they learn about the possibilities of technology through coding, students can be creating their own unique content. This young interest in coding can grow within students throughout their educational career, and mold them for a future career in the field of coding. As we learnt in the videos in class, there is a calling for more people to learn code as there are not enough people that are getting involved in that career. What comes to mind when you think of "feedback"?Constructive Criticism
Timely Feedback
4 Important Characteristics of Student Feedback#1: Specific:
#2: Actionable:
#3: Timely
Web 2.0... Instant Feedback OptionsThere are a variety of options to give your students instant feedback. Some of the examples that were discussed in class, and have been used in past classes were:
Peer Review"Nobody writes alone." There are a number of pros to Peer Reviewing. It is incredibly important for students to have someone else look over their work, to have a new perspective. Peers will be able to understand each other's work, as well as they will be able to help edit each other's work. By conducting Peer Reviews students are able to work together to better each other's writing, and to help each other see a different way of doing something. We created mind maps tonight on Mindomo, to display our Personal Learning Environment. We used websites, and platforms that we use in our personal and professional lives. ![]() After creating this mind map, I realized that a lot of the websites and apps I currently use can be interchangeably used between my professional and personal life. These platforms are flexible for their users to look at, and create content that interests them no matter the uses. Users are able to work through different platforms to get information, share information, and create new information. Many of these overlap, which make for users to flip between information as they collaborate with like-minded people. I looked through Tessa Heffernan's twitter page, to explore the Kindergarten teacher's perspective on the Reggio Inspired curriculum. Currently I work at a daycare that uses this method of learning from 8 month old infants, to 12 year old children.
Group 4: CreativityWhat does this topic mean to me as a technology enabled teacher?
As a group, we created an infographic to illustrate what Creativity means. We considered creativity to be something that will encourage students to explore on their own, and take chances with their assignments. We also thought that creativity would be an outlet for students to explore their emotions through creating things outside of essays and PowerPoints. We also thought that creativity would elevate stress as students are given the chance to express their knowledge in ways that may come easier to them. We watched two videos in class today. The first focusing on the benefits of technology in the classroom, and the second talking about the benefits of active learning. We were asked to take notes about what stood out to us from each video, and then we discussed them as a class after each video. These are the notes I made during the videos & class discussionThese videos relate the need to encourage students to learn in new ways, beyond the traditional methods that have been done for years. Sitting in rows and being lectured to does not work for all students - I can't imagine too many people that it would work for! We need to incorporate new ways to engage students, so they can be excited about the information they are learning about, rather than just sitting in a class trying to memorize what year Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. We can Google basic facts... give us something more challenging to learn, and try to make it more exciting!! ![]()
"Let's Talk about Professional Persona" is the article that I chose to read and respond to. The article talks about the new wave of a digital persona coming for all professionals. Teachers need to be aware of the persona they are promoting when they enter the digital world, whether it be for professional or personal reasons. They need to be mindful of the kind of person they want to present themselves to be, while monitoring their levels of safety and how much information they are spreading. After reading this article, I believe that a successful, professional's digital persona should only be conveying appropriate information. To maintain a certain level of privacy and safety, teachers should only share the kind of personal information online that they would be likely to share in the classroom. By treating the digital world as a large classroom, teachers will be able to convey a professional persona while being mindful of what they are sharing for the world to read/see. This will also help teachers who are trying to build a digital presence, to be mindful of what kind of information they are posting. To avoid posting too much personal information, or posting something too controversial, it is best for teachers to think of themselves as teachers even when they are online. Since the world is our classroom, we should act accordingly when creating an online presence. |
Jessica Reynolds4th year Con. Ed. Student at LakeheadU |