I never expected to myself to take this course so early in my university years, but I am very grateful I have taken this class because it has gave me resources going into my pre-internship. My experience in this class has been wonderful. The amount of technology and resources used in this class has allowed me to grow my understanding of how important it can be to use technology in the classroom. For this class we were told at the beginning of the semester that we would have to create a blog post that outlined how we contributed to the learning and overall experiences of our classmates in EDTC 300. Although I knew this was going to be a tricking tasks for me, I started to put myself out there on other people’s blogs by commenting my thoughts. I tend to keep my thoughts and opinions to myself so that I can just listen, so this task was very hard at first but with lots of practice it got better. This pushed me out of my comfort zone which I have been doing a lot of during this class and in my 2nd year. I was a bit scared at first to write on other peoples blogs but I started with saying something I liked and then asking a question and finishing the comment off with another good thing about their post. Here is an example of a comment on Stevie's blog, you can find it here Here is another example from Celine's blog of comments, you can find it here Last example of commenting from Jordan's blog, but without a question, you can find it here As another way to collaborate with our classmates, we were asked to join Twitter and to post things about our experiences with the class and to retweet information that was given to us from our classmates. Twitter was also used to create a start for our Professional Learning Network. Although twitter was not new to me, it was still new territory for using it in a professional matter. I never knew what really went on in the Twitter world, but after participating in the Sasked chat, I knew there was more too it. In attempt to build my PLN I tried to tweet out about 4-5 resources a week, sometimes I failed due to other commitments happening. I also tried to share my classmates’ resource the same amount, this one was more of a success. For the most part my tweet were about resources that could be used in the classroom. Here are a view examples of my tweets. Also, on Twitter our task was to share resources that we thought would help us that our classmates posted and contribute to their learning on Twitter. I never really participated in twitter chats after Sasked chat because I never could find the right time to do so or I was busy around the house. I found myself at the beginning retweeting a lot of the same people’s tweets but after a while I started to expand who I was retweeting and even followed some accounts outside of the classroom and shared their resources. Take a look at what I retweeted this semester. For our last networking tool for this class we were asked to download slack, this is where lots of questions were asked and resources were shared privately. This space was new to me, but after getting it downloaded on my phone it was something that was very easy to use and replaced Urcourses. I definitely think this would be a great way to connect with parents during the school year. Although this was not something we had to participate in on a regular basis, I did answer a question once for a fellow classmate. Here is a screenshot of that. Overall, I have really enjoyed my time in EDCT 300. I can not wait to continue to work through Twitter and make my blog even better with the amazing resources I have found in this class. I look forward to building my PLN into something that I can be proud of, I still have a lot of growing to do with it, but I believe that with becoming a teacher our PLN’s will never stop growing. I look forward to using the tools and resources found in this class in my future classrooms. I hope everyone can stay connected through Twitter and continue to grow and develop from one another. Hope everyone has an amazing summer.
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This week our task was to try out coding and for me this was very different from what I have ever done before. I chose to use hour of code because it guided me in a more simpler way of creating my own game. I scrolled through all the games to chose from and decided to go with flappy bird because it looked the easiest for a beginner like me. The game started fairly easy with basic movements like getting the bird to jump and to be able to hear the flapping noise as I clicked the mouse. Although this was probably an easy start I still got stuck on some of the levels. Here is a video of me working through each level. Coding can be seen as a new type of language for some kids. Although I have never wanted to code before and still not so sure about it, I think it gives kids the opportunity to be creative in their own ways. With hour of code it gives students the option to go advanced or to keep it simple, which I think is a great aspect. To be honest though I do not think I will code again, it is just not something I have great passion for. For being used in the classroom I would allow my kids to explore coding maybe with another teacher or with the big buddy system. Learning to code is something that kids get interested in, but I do not think it should be something we have to teach in the classroom. Overall, this was a great experience and looking forward to seeing if any of my students enjoy coding and maybe could even teach me more about it.
Here is my Summary of Learning assignment. For this assignment I partnered with Morgan Bray. I hope you enjoy the video we have put together. Thanks for watching and be sure to let us know what you think! Following up with what we have discussed in class these past weeks, our digital literacy is one of the most important tools to have, especially in today’s world. The technology and social media platforms we use and see around us today are becoming more advanced then every. Having the ability to have technology at our fingertips can be dangerous in many ways. With having these privileges of being able to do research, get food or to shop online by just a push of a button comes with a lot of responsibility. With kids in today’s society becoming younger and younger going on social media it is important that they understand that there could be false information out there and to make sure that sources are credible that they are reading. For educators I think it is important to remind students about digital literacy so that they can have the knowledge to detect false news and show that the students can control what they are posting and seeing with responsibility. To be able to fully understand technology there is a lot of information that students will need to know. From the article “Digital Literacy and Composition” they talk about how digital literacies are constantly growing and influencing the process of reading, writing, research and interpretation of data, which allows for them to create knowledge within these varied disciplines. I think this was a great point to have because it shows that even if they learn about it in grade 8, by the time they are in grade 12 a lot will have probably changed. With the advancing of technology, it will also allow the students to practice their communication of complex topics that they may encounter in these varies subject areas. Students need to be able to communicate with teachers or friends what they are seeing on social media and be able to talk about it on their own social media platforms and with teaching them about digital literacies and the importance of it, they will be able to contribute to today’ society. There are also many ways that students can demonstrate their comprehension of digital literacies the article states a few from, presentations, blogs, reports, and discussion forum, and I am sure there could be many more options. The article ends on a note that is interesting to me because at the very end they comment that the students will learn that delivering inaccurate information can be dangerous, and like we talked about last week in class having a clean digital footprint is important to have which can connect to understanding digital literacy. There can be several ways to identify misinformation and the article “7 Types of Mis- and Disinformation” shows us own to identify it. They begin with sharing the 6 types of Misinformation. Starting with the first it is false connection, this can be through headlines, visuals or captions that don not support the content. A lot of the time articles will over exaggerate titles to get more reads or views but the information in the article has nothing to do with the title and this can lead to angry people who are mislead. The second is false context, this can be the stuff inside the article, so it is genuine content but is combines with false background information. Third is manipulated content, this is one information or images are changed to mislead the human eyes. Forth is parody, there is usually no intention to do any harm, but it can lead to fooling many people. Fifth is more misleading content, which is used to frame an issue or individual. And finally, is imposter content, this can be when people are impersonated, or information is mocked in a certain way. Overall, this article gave great insight to what to look for are the internet but lacked examples of what some of these issues could lead to and cause. I think this is a good starting point for students to start at but as they grow so does their digital literacies and they will need to be able to understand more full concepts. Now onto the teaching aspect of all this. How are we going to teach our students about digital literacy? There are many resources out there to help us approach this topic with our students in our weekly plans. In the Article “How do we teach students fake new?”, they state that fake news can spread rapidly through mainstream media sources and social networks. I could not agree more with this especially with today’s society, news spreads really fast through networks and I think students need to be aware of the causes of this because it could be potentially life changing. They also mention that fake news is meant to do harm, but it will only do harm if people share it and poke at it. This are all good reasons why we should be teaching students about their digital literacy, so that they can go forth and educate others as well. It is our job has teacher to help students prioritize their development in investigating techniques and becoming familiar with information verification websites, with this also comes with helping them understand that people have biases and they will post accordingly to their own biases, so the information can be very one sided. While teaching students about this it is important to remember the 5 C’s from the video “Helping Students Identify Fake News”. The 5-step process includes context, credibility, construction, corroboration and compare. It is important to remember all these steps because it can help students become critical thinkers so that they can approach the world around them with a healthy sense of skepticism to avoid being misled or scammed. All in all, teaching students the importance of digital literacy will be very effective for there future and they will gain an understanding of the responsibilities to the digital world that surrounds them.Our task this week was to find a partner in the class and cybersleuth them, and them do the same to us. With this assignment it was meant for us to find as much about the other person as possible by simply searching up their name. Along with this activity it made us think about our very own digital identity. My partner for this assignment was Morgan Bray, who is also another third-year education student at the University of Regina. During my search I was able to find many things about his life. Many social media platforms came up like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Has I kept searching for things about his life an interesting article came up on him “Saskatchewan boy designs Team Canada mask for the World Junior”, this was very interesting to me because to think I watched the World juniors in 2014 not knowing that a Saskatchewan boy made the goalies mask. With the social media platforms I was able to piece together more parts of his life, like his age, where he grew up, what high school he went to, where he has worked in the past and present, hobbies and interests and little parts about his family. Another thing that I had come across was a page created by him on Facebook, this page is called MOJO Designs and from the looks of it, he creates logos for companies and shares his work there and people are then able to contact him for logos as well. After about an hour of doing some digging, I would have to say that Morgan is well known for his accomplishments, this activity was eye opening and made us think about how we portray our lives on social media. Talking with Morgan after we found some research, we concluded how open and vulnerable our lives were online. Focusing now on the general idea of “digital identity”, there are many different aspect of this topic. After watching Monica Lewinsky’s TED talk, The Price of Shame, it drew my attention to how easy it is to hide behind a screen. We discussed in class that it is important to develop a digital identity that we can be true to ourselves, while also maintaining clean profile. Listening to the TED talk Monica said something that could not have been more true “You can go from a private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide in just one night”, this stood out to me because in high school so many rumors about people were spread over social media and going around the school the next day till everyone new about the rumor. This is where a lot of different perspectives and be seen in a person versus online. Many people can have different personalities off and on social media, this is where taking time to think about what we are posting all over the internet is really important because it could affect us in our future careers. . Another great thing mentioned in the TED talk was “we all deserve compassion”, this cannot be truer. Coming from a family full of teachers I have seen this growing up almost everyday with my parents helping students that may be struggling. As future educators I think it is important to realize that not everyone is going to have a picture perfect life, whether that be because of family situations or mental health issues, as teachers we must be there for those who may struggle and serve them with the compassion they deserve and be willing to listen to their stories and work with their needs. After watching this video I have concluded that it is always important to watch what we are posting on social media but to also be aware of those around us that may be struggling from cyberbullying given them the help they may need to get though it. I found this video that explains what a digital identity is. I thought it would be a great tool to have as future educators to show a group of students. I think it is important at a young age to start talking about how to leave a clean digital identity because kids these days become younger and younger when posting on social media, sometimes they already have an identity before they are even born. Although this video already talks about what we have discussed in class, it has a simpler way of explaining it so that students will be able to understand the importance of it. it reminds us that we should be creating something that we will be proud of for years to come and I think that is a great way to end the video. Wrapping my thoughts up, I think it is very important we educate future generation on the issues of cyberbullying and how important it is to create a positive digital identity.
Technology and social media can influence many world issues around the world. The responsibility as teachers becomes very important in the aspect because we have to be able to encourage students to share and collaborate on the issue, while also maintaining a professional environment. Approaching world issues in the classroom can be a touchy subject because of all the different values surrounding the school community but I think it is still important to touch the subject even if it is the basics so the students can become familiar with the issue. As a teacher it is our responsibility to model an active citizenship for our students, so that they can go out into society and be active citizens as well. With educated our students it allows them to grow and become more curious in world issues, which allows them to further develop an understanding of issues in society. Modeling anti-oppressive and active citizenship in digital spaces can have many benefits. Using social media to take action allows us to educate people outside of our school communities about social justice and allows us as teachers to build a firmer understanding of the social justice issues. It is also important to remember to educate ourselves before posting anything to social media to make sure that our facts are correct and using reliable sources. With reading about what we are posting before hand makes us more informed about the topic we are posting about and why we might be posting about it. it is also important to take time for yourself to reflect on your own values and beliefs, so that we can really grasp the knowledge we are learning about. There is always fear in posting about certain social justice issues on social media because I never want to be inaccurate or misinterpreted. As a person who comes from a place of privilege, I know that for people to hear me and my thoughts I must use this privilege to fight against injustices. However, there is always fear I will say or do the wrong thing. Fighting social justice on social media platforms is different everyday to, reading articles to petitions and watching YouTube videos of people mainly celebrities expressing their concerns. For the most part I take part on social media by sharing videos of other talking about issues because I feel as if videos can portray so much more and really show the emotion of the people who are fighting for what is right. With this I continue to educate myself on social justice issues and become more comfortable and open to take criticism and other opinions. Responding to posts towards injustices is important because it shows what ever it is matters to our communities. This video that as been going around social media shows that white privilege is in the world and that it can affect anyone including celebrities and that something needs to be done about it. When talking about social justice in the classroom I think its important to let the students know that it is okay to stay silent if they are uncomfortable but at the same time the need to know if they want to see a change they must break from that silence and use their voices and say what matters. The importance of speaking up is very important because if no one were to every speak up there would be no reason to question the terrible things we see in this world. Using words allows the stories and voices of the people to be heard and so that action can be made, but when we remain silent it only hurts our world more because it sends the message that social justice does not matter and will continue to be ignored. As shown in the video above of Twitch and Alisson testing their privilege, it is not only important for those who know they have many followers to show action but also for the lower classes to show that they care and are willing to fight for what is right even if they do not have any followers, one voice can change a lot. With all this being said as teachers it is very important for us to educate the youth on society’s social justice issues and become familiar with it ourselves as well so that we are able to make a change for our lives and our students lives.
This week our task was to find a different way of sharing our progress with one another. Although I still shared my work through a YouTube video I took different steps to get there this week. Coming up next week I will Learn numbers 21-30, more common phrases and everyday signs.In today’s society technology is advancing at a rapid speed every day. There are new games, new products, and new ways of connecting with people on the internet. Technology has allowed us to develop a new community, to where we have become addicted to our phones and computers. Through discussion in our class on May 21st, we found that we live in a society where people are active contributors to the online world. everyday we can find creations and ideas from new resources shared through social media. We live in a world where participatory culture is thriving. Photo Credit: Natalie Jacewicz, via The Blade I believe that during our education it is very important to remember that we also need to be aware of our online presence, so that it does not affect our future careers. Coming from a generation that has lived through the growth of technology has been eye opening because everyday something new is developed. It shows us that the internet is something that everyone can have easy access to worldwide. Having technology in the classroom is something that I look forward to because it will allow my students to express themselves in new ways and share their creativity with others. Technology has really changed and by the time we graduate I am sure there will be something new to try out in the technology world. creating a digital footprint for students and even educators is an important task, with this there is always going to be responsibility and room for growth. I have always had a Twitter account from 2015, but I had never used it or learnt how to use it properly. At the beginning of this course when I found out we would have to have a Twitter account I tried logging into my old one, but unfortunately, I had forgotten the username and password. With this my Twitter experience was little to none. Although I knew about Twitter because my entire family of teachers use it for their education, I never thought about it myself as a professional platform until now. "Social Media Tools" by jrhode is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Twitter in the classroom setting. When I think of using Twitter in a classroom, I think of high school kids using it in classes like history and law, etc. I think it could be used in a high school if the students were willing to put in the extra time of if it were made into some sort of assignment. Now using it in an elementary school would be harder with students because they have less access to technology and social media platforms due to age restrictions. But there are also many other ways to use technology in a school setting, for example, using it to connect with parents and guardians about upcoming school event, sharing pictures of the students working together, a way for parents to share field-trip pictures or activities with the teachers and allows teachers to share educational resources for students and parents to work on at home. Using Twitter in the classroom can have its benefits, but we have to make sure that everyone is using it with respect and not posting inappropriate stuff for everyone to see. There is a way around this to use a privacy setting but as teachers we can not control what everyone posts and shares with the school community. I believe by using inline resources it will allow students to participate in a world full of exciting and new resources and it can also help students learn the importance of online responsibility.
During these unknown times, our lives have taken quite a turn ever since COVID-19 came into the picture. Looking back in March when things started to get more serious, I never thought that so much would be taken away from us so fast. At the beginning it did not seem like a big deal to close a couple stores and schools down, so that we could kill the virus, but here we are almost 2 months later stuck in our houses and learning remotely. Many lives have been impacted from this lockdown: with the loss of jobs, I have lost 2 of my jobs due to the virus and the loss of building relationships with family and friends and even the joy of being in the classroom with the children all day and watching them grow their minds. Though many people have been impacted by this virus, they say that is could be the new “Normal” for a while. With going back in the fall to face-to-face teaching can lead to putting our students and teachers and high risk of spreading the virus because with the class sizes they are given there would be little to no room to properly show social distancing between the students and teachers. Building relationships with the students is very hard to achieve online so if we did not go back in the fall to in-person interactions then teachers would have to work that much harder to get to know their students, especially because they will be fresh batch of students. This may come as a great challenge, but there are so many great resources for teachers and students to engage in together.
Hello, my name is Hannah Magnusson! I am twenty years old and going into my third year of elementary education. I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher. I come from a household that is full of teachers form my parents to my sister. I have been a dancer and for the past 6 years I have had the opportunity to be a teacher at my dance studio. My favourite thing about teaching the kids at dance is that I get to see the excitement on their faces when they nail a step and accomplish a move they have been working on for weeks. The real rush of dance is competition season, when we get to show off our amazing routines to judges and perform for our friends and family. When it comes to using technology and blogging it allows us to gain understandings from other people viewpoints and learn new experiences in many different ways. I have used blogging for my ECS 100 and ECS 210 classes, but never gave them to much detail. I am constantly on social media plat forms like Twitter, but I never used them for educational purposes. With this class I am hoping it will challenge me to try and learn new things that could better my future teaching. I am also looking forward to building connections with new people this semester through this class.
A little more about me is that I love going exploring with my camera and capturing the beautiful world we live on. I will try to post some of my favourites at the end. I also love my dog, his name is Zuri, he is 4 years old and loves to take naps. |
Hannah MagnussonI hope to become an amazing teacher. And hopefully some day complete my Inclusive Education certificate. |