This week, Kristen came to our class and spoke about how Outdoor Ed and Technology can work together. This was very interesting for me to think about, because I often view them as opposites. I tend to reduce these topics to their extremes – either children are inside staring at screens or they are outside and have forgotten about technology. This was a good reminder that there are so many ways that the 2 can be paired! I also realized that I have used technology as a tool while appreciating the outdoors so many times without realizing it! I use mapping apps almost daily, I am constantly taking photos of the outdoors, and I regularly use search engines to research beautiful nature spots. I also love Outdoor Ed and I think that it is so important to merge these concepts. I find that doing so helps me be less intimidated by technology and its constant presence in ours and our future student’s lives. Knowing that I can teach my students that they can still use tech as tool while appreciating the outdoors makes me excited to teach during this time.
During this class, we also went on QR-code scavenger hunt around Finnerty Gardens. There were 6 QR-codes hidden throughout the gardens and we walked around in groups to find them. I had so much fun doing this – and I am so grateful for it. I really appreciated the chance to get out of the classroom and walk around outside. I love being outdoors but I often get so wrapped up with school and work that I forget how nice and calming it is. I also realized that on that same day last year I also went to Finnerty Gardens! What a coincidence!
This week we had guest speakers from BCEdAccess; Kaori Lau and Neesha Blauberg.
The presentation started with each of us being given either a yellow, blue, or green piece of paper. Then we were told that those of us with a yellow paper could stay for the whole presentation, those with a blue paper could only stay for half, and those with green would have to leave. For a moment I was stunned – because I had a green piece of paper! Of course, soon after they let us know that we would not actually have to leave. However, the goal of this was to make us think about how we felt in this situation – whether it was us or our friends who were asked to leave.
Overall, this presentation gave me a lot to think about. Kaori and Neesha reminded us that technology is a necessary tool for helping students in need of more support. They also let us know a few things we can do when using technology to create inclusive classrooms. They suggested that we normalize this use of technology, advocate for funding, and find training for parents and other teachers. This is a very important topic for us to be thinking about, and I will make sure that I continue learning about it as I continue going through school as well as start my career.
This week we talked about AI and how it relates to education. While it is scary (at least for me), it is here and there is no getting rid of it. I find it valuable to have these conversations because I like hearing what other future teachers have to say on this topic.
Early in this class we had a Menti brainstorm where we all supplied a few words that represent what we know about AI. I know that there are a lot of mixed feelings about AI out there – and this reflected that. Personally, I do think that it can be very helpful – however I recognize that there are many issues with it.
I think that my biggest takeaway from this class is the importance of celebrating human creativity. We should teach students to use AI in ways that are helpful and critical. However we must also place extra emphasis on the beautiful things that humans have created, are creating, and have the potential to create. We need to show our students that they are able to create amazing things themselves. Even though they can use AI to do creative work that does not mean that they should – nor that it can come close to doing what they are capable of.
This week our class talked about digital curation and then participated in an ‘EdCamp’.
Digital curation is extremely important for us as future teachers. We are given many helpful resources in our classes and by each other that will be helpful when we begin teaching. It is so important to make sure that we are saving them (and backing them up). During this class I thought about how I am doing with my own digital curation. I have downloaded a good amount of the resources to my computer (and I will be downloading more very soon). However, most of them are not backed up – meaning I could lose them if something happens to my computer. This was a good reminder to me to put everything in a google drive so that this does not happen.
After discussing digital curation, we moved into the EdCamp activity. For this, we all had a chance to write a topic that interested us on a piece of paper and then stick it on the wall. We then got to vote 3 times for our favourite discussion ideas. Once this was finished, 4 groups had the highest vote tallies and we were able to choose one of the 4 conversations to join (with the opportunity to switch if desired). I found this very enjoyable because it gave us so much freedom to just talk with each other about subjects we are passionate about. I would love to facilitate discussions like these with my own future students in the future.
In class this week we discussed how useful videos can be for learning – and took part in an editing lab.
Finding videos online (typically YouTube) has been one of my favourite study methods for years. I learn best when things are verbally explained to me (with supplementary visuals if possible) – and this is something I realized fairly early on. This means that I struggle a lot to understand material when I miss classes or even have to get up during a class. When I have to learn just by reading a textbook or other material – my understanding is not near where it can be when I hear it explained and broken down out loud. However, visuals help me solve this!
When I was in high school, I would find videos for everything. Even if I already understood the material, I would often still find videos to help me solidify it. Before nearly every test I would scour YouTube and other sources to find something to help. I watched Khan Academy, Crash Course, the Amoeba Sisters, and lots of other channels. When my Grade 12 English class studied Macbeth, I found a website with videos that restate the events in each scene by having people “interview” the different characters. During the Covid-19 pandemic I thrived in the classes that had videos with the teachers explaining different concepts. I loved being able to pause and rewatch them. Additionally, I still search for videos to help me with my University classes. Most recently, I had a midterm for EdPsych and I went and found YouTube videos that explained the different concepts to me.
Due to this and my experiences teaching different children – I know how helpful videos are for learning. I am very grateful to have had so much access to them – and to have realized how helpful they are for me early on. I know that when I start teaching I will find videos often and recommend this as a possible learning tool.
I really enjoyed having the chance to go onto iMovie and play around with its different features. Although I have used it before, I appreciated the extra practice and I ended up learning about features I wasn’t aware of previously (the greenscreen being a big one).
Going forward I will use this information to help my students learn. I am excited to create my own videos and show the ones I know to be helpful. They are such a valuable tool and I cannot wait to pass this knowledge on.
In class this week we talked about the importance of representing information visually – as well as various tools we can use to make this possible.
While listening to this presentation, it became even more clear to me how helpful visuals are when presenting information. We looked at an explanation of how a bicycle pump works – first without an image and then with one. The explanation without the image honestly made no sense to me – and the simple additional of the image was able to make the explanation click. This is such an important reminder that including visuals in lessons makes a huge difference. Additionally, without the image, I found it considerably more difficult to focus on what was being said. By adding visuals to our lessons (and putting in the time so that they are actually helpful), we can make our lessons more engaging and increase the collective understanding of what we would like to get across.
We also looked at several tools for creating visuals. I am accustomed to Canva – I use it for every project that involves graphics. We looked deeper into Powerpoint and how we can use it to create visuals (and learned that we will likely be able to ask our students to do this too!). This was helpful to learn – especially considering that many of us (including me) will likely be using Powerpoint to create lessons. It was very helpful to learn about how to use it even more effectively.
Going forward, I will put even more effort into creating visuals when teaching. I truly understand that they make all the difference. I am also excited to be able to use Powerpoint as a tool for this!
Note: I created the banner on my website during this class – using Powerpoint!
This week our class had Jesse Miller come in as a guest speaker. Jesse does presentations in schools all over BC about digital citizenship (he came to my elementary school when I was in grade 6!). He talked to us about technology and how quickly it is advancing. As he pointed out – most people were and continue to be unprepared for these growing changes. He described things I wasn’t aware of – such as the programming of self-driving cars being the subtle byproduct of internet security checks. Additionally, Jesse told us that it is our job to teach children to use media responsibly – with the 4Cs of Digital Literacy. These 4Cs are: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration.
This presentation was very informative and interesting to listen to. It is incredibly important for us as future educators to learn as much as we can about new technology – because it is such a prominent aspect of our and our future student’s lives. These new advancements, AI being a big one, are not going to go away. No matter how comfortable of uncomfortable we are with this – we still need to help prepare our students to go out into the world and use the internet in a responsible and beneficial way. Jesse’s lecture was informative – and a good reminder that there is so much to learn about the internet and technology.
During L2P last semester, my partner and I had the privilege of teaching a grade 8 class a lesson about ChatGPT and spotting AI. Without realizing it at the time, we did succeed in working in the 4Cs. We encouraged critical thinking by showing different ‘tweets’ and helping the students evaluate whether or not they were written by AI – and brought in a collaboration aspect by having them work together to help them assess. Additionally, creativity was harnessed through a worksheet we gave them where we prompted them to create different questions to ask ChatGPT. This also brought in communication because we then asked them to refine their questions and see how they could make their conversations with AI more effective.
Going forward, I would like to continue doing activities like this when I go into classrooms. I will refer back to the 4Cs – because I think that when they are combined the lesses reach peek productivity.
Last week we were asked to watch “Most Likely to Succeed” (2015) – a documentary that highlights an inquiry based high school (“High Tech High”). This school is located in the United States and, unlike traditional American high schools, encourages students to take control of their own learning with guidance from teachers. They place emphasis on stepping away from standardized testing, and instead allow their students to harness their passions and work creatively and collaboratively. The documentary showcases an end of term exhibition that this school had where the students presented their passion projects, and the processes of creating them, to their families and peers.
Additionally, this documentary displayed the effects of standardized testing, most notably the SAT, on students and parents. The Untied States centres their education system around standardized testing – and these tests are what allow students to get accepted into top colleges. Due to this system, students and their families place the importance of these tests above their own learning. The documentary shows that when asked whether they would rather learn important skills and harness their creativity and passions or get a good grade on a test – high school students choose the latter.
This documentary also highlights a conversation between a mother and a teacher at High Tech High where the mother states that although she loves the way this school runs she worries that it will not prepare her child to take the SAT and transition into a college. This system of standardized testing and the inflated importance of test scores is concerning – and the documentary questions whether or not it is properly preparing students to move into a world with growing technology that can take tests better than any human.
My Personal Thoughts:
This documentary made important critiques of our current school system. As I watched it, I found myself becoming frustrated with the way that schools place so much importance on tests. I think that the way this school encourages students to follow their passions is amazing – but I do not believe that it is properly preparing them for the system that they are in. The students who would choose getting a good grade on a test over furthering their own learning and passions make complete sense to me, and I was surprised to see that their teacher didn’t understand their answer. From an early age children are ingrained with the belief that grades are what matters – rather than learning for the sake of learning. It is so frustrating because I find it hard to believe that anyone involved in furthering this system would honestly agree that this is how it should be – yet this is the system that we are in. Although standardized testing isn’t as big in Canada, the same philosophy of ‘get good grades, go to a good college, have a good life’ still stands. When I was in high school good grades were what I cared about and I believe that this led me to miss out on things that I could have learned – but instead just memorized.
However, while I do not believe that this type of school works in our current society, I still believe that we can take ideas from it and bring them into schools. When I was in grade 7 I did a year long passion project – and it gave me the chance to learn about something I cared about alongside all of the memorizing and tests. I am glad to have watched this documentary because it has inspired me to incorporate passion projects into my own classroom one day. Giving students a venue to be creative and work together is extremely important and inquiry projects are a good way to do this. I am inspired and motivated to learn more about facilitating inquiry projects in elementary classrooms.
