Educational Technologies

Today in Tech class we explored many new technological tools and resources that can be used and integrated in the classroom. We worked in jigsaw cooperative learning groups to be able to explore a large variety of resources, and highlight the ones with our groups that we really liked. I enjoyed this activity because we were able to explore resources on our own, share with our group what we liked, and then break off into separate groups where we highlighted the best resources that we found. Some resources that I found especially interesting were ToonDoo, Google Sites, Word Clouds, Coggle, Storybird, Padlet, Popplet and Easlly. Each of these resources are free, or have a good free component, which is something that I love! These tools are very versatile because they could be used by a teacher to aid in instruction or by students to demonstrate the learning and growth that they have experienced in the form of diagnostic, formative or summative tasks.

I have experimented with a few of these tools and have found that they would be great additions in my classroom. Today I created an infographic on Easlly (see below) about my Genius Hour project. I used a template that they provided on the website and then changed the information and organization of it to suit what I wanted to depict. The information I used for this infographic came from The World Federation of the Deaf, pages Sign Language and FAQ. Infographics are a great way for students to represent the work they have completed in a simplistic form, such as depicting information found through research. A teacher can also use an infographic to highlight main facts to the class about a topic, or introduce them to something in a quick, easy way.

The World Federation of the Deaf: https://wfdeaf.org/

I have also used Word Clouds to create a sample of how it could be used in the classroom. A teacher could use this to introduce words for a unit that students would need to know; for example, I based my Word Cloud around temperature, and made it in the shape of a cloud to relate it to weather. Students can also use Word Clouds to make a list of new words that they found the definition of through research, or compile new words they learned by the end of a unit. A neat idea would be to compile all the word clouds from each unit into a binder so the student has a quick reference of the words they learned! Printing large word clouds for each unit and hanging them around the room would also be a creative substitution for the traditional word wall!

On a different note, my Genius Hour research is still going well, and I will be coming out with another video of my progress soon! Time is running out to work on this as classes will be coming to a close in a few weeks. Next steps include creating two more progress videos, as well as beginning to work on my Genius Hour Ted-Style Talk...stay tuned!

Should we Teach Technology?

Today in Tech class, we were exploring articles on The Best of Ontario-Educators, what a great, relevant resource! The article that caught my eye was about The 4 Stages of Edtech Disruption. This seemed interesting to me because it made me think about something that I had not thought about before; scaffolding students with the use of technology in classrooms. I think that many teachers use technology without considering this aspect. Integrating technology in the classroom should be meaningful and purposeful. As the article states, scaffolding the use of technology allows students to eventually become independent with technology, which is very important in a now technology-based world.

This article also caught my eye because of the language it used; it talked about traditional classroom learning being 'disrupted' by technology. Disrupted has a negative connotation to me however in this article, they see technology disrupting traditional education as a good thing. The closer to stage four that students get, the more traditional learning is disrupted. This is because technology use is self-directed and the students can now learn on their own. This is a radial way of thinking compared to the education I experienced, however it is the direction in which education is headed. This type of learning fosters inquiry, student-centred learning, critical analysis, curiosity and self-directed learning. Many of these are already present on the current educational landscape, making the need to scaffold technology use even more prevalent. Furthermore, children are immersed in technology so early on in their lives, that it is important to take the time to educate them on the proper ways to go about using this technology.

Heick, T. (2014, December 5). 4 Stages: The Integration of Technological Learning [image]. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/technology/4-stages-the-integration-of-technology-in-learning/

My Technological Journey Continued

Another week, another awesome Tech class! This week we explored making PowToons. PowToon is another amazing tool on the Internet that can aid students in expressing their ideas. PowToons are also a treat tool for teachers to engage their students in what they are presenting. You can also use PowToon to enhance your flipped classroom, if that is something that you are experimenting with! Providing the information on PowToon for students to learn at home will really engage them, compared to a document with writing on it. I have had minimal difficulties with PowToon, most of them arose from no having enough experience using it! Now that I have used it a few times, I can correct my mistakes and hopefully use it with ease! Here is the PowToon that I made about Genius Hour:

We also had more time to work on Genius Hour this week (see my previous post about my Genius Hour topic). I learned that I definitely have a large task ahead of me. American Sign Language (ASL) is very different grammatically and syntactically from English, which I discovered is a hard mindset to get into after speaking English for my whole life. I have started to learn individual signs corresponding to English words (i.e. how to sign "dog" or "mother"). A question that arose from this weeks work is; should I re-evaluate my goals for my Genius Hour project? I think that I should focus more on words and basic sentences. I have picked up more words faster than I thought I would so I might need to adjust this now. I need to continue practicing signs that I have already learned so I do not forget them, and continue to learn more signs!

Talk to you soon! 

Copyright & The Classroom

Copyright is an increasingly relevant issue as technology continues to envelop our homes, schools and world. Children are on technology such as laptops, tables, iPads and computers from very young ages, and therefore exposed to the complicated world of copyright without necessarily knowing it. Consequently, many of these children do not have knowledge surrounding proper use of Internet material and the matters regarding copyright, leading to possible issues and poor internet etiquette. Similarly, many parents may not have this knowledge to share with their children. Therefore, as teachers, it is important to model proper copyright standards and educate our students.

Plougmann, L. (2011, January 20). At the computer [photograph]. 

Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2c3jYad

Teachers are responsible for educating themselves on copyright laws, such as reading and understanding documents like Copyright Matters! Documents such as these make it easy to learn about copyright laws and demonstrate proper practice in the classroom.

Based on what I learned from the readings, I feel that there are three very important aspects of copyright that I would want to teach my students. 

1 First, making them aware that there are copyright laws in place and that they cannot just take anything, anywhere, from the Internet. This is important because as I previously mentioned, coming into school, most students will not be aware of this facet of the internet. 

2 Secondly, I believe that teaching students what they can and cannot use, and how to properly cite what they use is important. Knowing where to find pictures and videos they can use, identifying the copyright symbols and interpreting what they mean is very important to this process.

3 Lastly, I think that it is important to provide them with resources to create their own pictures and media. This will allow them to work more freely, as well as involve the creative process to create something, instead of just finding and citing from the Internet. For example, in the picture below, instead of creating comic strips with images from the Internet, these students took pictures of themselves, uploaded them and inserted text bubbles. This is a very creative and safe way to create a comic strip; there are also many important skills that can also be learned from this process, for example, technological, teamwork and creative skills. 

Flickinger, B. (2012, January 4). student_pad_school-164 [photograph]. 

Retrieved from  http://bit.ly/2ccpe9f 

Welcome to Tech Class !

Today was the first class of Teaching & Learning with Technology in the Primary/Junior Classroom in the Faculty of Education. I am very excited for what this class has to offer because technology is a very present aspect of a 21st century classroom, and learning how to integrate it as a teacher is extremely important. 

We completed "QR Bingo" which was a really novel and fun activity for me because I have never used QR codes before. With this one little activity, my brain started exploding with possibilities of how I could use this in my own future classroom. Different types of assessment, getting to know each other activities, scavenger hunts, and many other ideas flooded my thoughts. I was so excited that on the first day, I already learned something that could be so substantial and engaging for my future students. 

We also explored Genius Hour where we saw an awesome project by Caine, who pursued his passion of building an Arcade: 

Mullick, N. (2012, April 9). Caine’s Arcade [video]. 

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U 

Genius hour is a great way to incorporate students interests, and potentially technology as well. Giving students the opportunity to explore what they are truly passionate about is a very eye opening experience.

Overall, I am very excited for this Technology class, I am ready to learn the multitudes of skills that can help me become an effective teacher!