Category: Weekly Reflections

Reflecting on this week’s prompts of gaming within education and how these types of games are useful in teaching students through manipulatives of technology, I learned that games can be shown in all subject areas and even showcase as a way of learning new information…..but what about the cons of games as well.

Games are known to be fun and engaging activities that the majority of students at the elementary-high school level invest their personal time into. Some games are more informational than others and can be directly targeted for school-based use, such as “cool math games”, any kind of board games, or dice and card games that can be applicable for teaching students math in a more appealing way. I believe that incorporating games into lessons is important because it highlights the use of recall memory or pattern recognition. It can also be informational in the game we tried during class, the “Bad News” game that informed whoever was playing of fake news using big and popular titles such as the president of the United States, Joe Biden, or big corporations such as NASA. Of course, games can also be a bit dangerous in finding information that younger students should not have access to or those types of games that promote aggressive behaviour that a student could impersonate into their own behaviour that causes later problems.

There is also a discussion of the award system through those online games. Games can provide healthy competition amongst students, and with online games, the reward for winning is usually not a physical object and more so a colourful big letter picture expressing “WINNER” or “TOP SCORE” that generates the use of rewards in a more stable way I think just because every student can achieve a score or be a winner if challenging themselves, in which for teachers can be super helpful in motivating all students. This can also backfire and cause unnecessary competition or behavioural problems in students that could possibly result in doing games as a leeway to grab students’ attention and, therefore, not be as educational.

As games can be beneficial to learners in promoting informational websites or providing learning tools for different subject areas, teachers should be aware of how they are using games within the classroom and make sure there is a specific objective that connects to the learning aspect. Super fun playing all the games during class, and I felt like I gained a new perspective on gaming within the education system.

Welcome to week 8!

In regards to Tuesday’s lecture on social media privacy, consent, and internet safety, I feel as though I have learned so much in just a short amount of time.

Jesse, our guest speaker, was super informative about what the online world looks like for those who are in primary all the way up to high school – and most importantly, how to properly handle situations in addition to teaching students about good online role modelling. After the Q&A portion of the class, I was impressed with my fellow peer’s comments and questions about social media from a teacher’s point of view. Our generation is highly consumed in technology, and teachers are not just role models in their own classrooms anymore, but to a bigger and more public platform such as Tik Tok (very popular). I constantly see videos of teachers posting content about their classroom, students, and their “teaching life” so to speak, and how internet safety plays a huge role in that. I really thought about the concept of forever when Jesse was mentioning that anything can be traceable once posted to the internet, and that got me to analyze how and what I want to post on my social media accounts going forward. For example, who I am following on these platforms, who follows me, what pictures I have posted, and there is too much personal information on these platforms – important to recognize when in about years time when I am applying for teaching jobs. Jesse was fantastic in answering all our questions, and i was personally fascinated to how much as a society, we are growing in technology.

In addition to the online browser of what I saw when I typed in my name into my computer. A bundle of what appeared to be the same blonde women with glasses. Though there were different last names, the name Paige I find not to be a super common one, it was interesting to see how common it was for blonde women. Atlas, I also expressed my gratitude that no pictures of myself came up just because I like to have my accounts private to the majority extent. However, still trying to find this magazine, which I was in during middle school for my dance company at the time, which I remembered to be a funny picture that I would like to find now that I am much older.

I really enjoyed this week’s lecture and listening to Jesse’s presentation, which I will definitely take into account during my time in the classroom.

Welcome back to my blog for week 7!

I personally really enjoyed this particular week, even when I initially heard the word coding and math, which made me worrisome at first, it was surprisingly easy to create and super fun. Down below, I have included the link to my customized and well, coded (how cool!) flappy bird game and additionally my certificate. Despite absolutely hating the idea of having to code and use math as well, this activity really made it so much more than that, with the added benefit of becoming more knowledgeable of our technology and being interactive with the material that I would love to bring it into my classroom one day.

In regards to my views on coding and computation, for the targetted elementary grade level being grades 2-4, these types of coding games would be a perfect introduction to the very basic knowledge we have as a society about technology. With hands-on and self-directed activities like this, though the primary age will not be able to code their own game as I did, I believe doing this as a class activity would do them a world of good as there as many added benefits such as team-building, problem-solving, and a tremendous amount of creativity is embedded into using technology in a younger classroom. Students can learn at this age how significant technology is in our everyday lives, and for them in the games that they play online if any. It is important to educate students on a safe internet experience, thus with coding can be tricky but manageable in attempts to teach different subjects through coding and computation to enhance their learning growth and maybe even spark up interest in coding at younger ages that, of course, would be super beneficial in this society. As we are already aware of how fast technology is evolving in our world, using it to learn about math abstractions playfully can really make a difference in a student’s perception of how they view coding and math (likewise, my NEW perspective on coding and using math in technology after today’s class).

https://studio.code.org/c/1882536967

Reflecting on this week’s blog prompts, the SAMR theory of technology adoption framework and how sketch notes can help schools and teachers all around to implement a more engaging and meaningful way to use technology within the classroom.

Technology has only grown bigger as educational institutions are furthering away from the traditional use of learning and teaching in classroom environments. It should be viewed as a safe and resourceful tool for students, specifically in the elementary grade levels – of course, the effectiveness heavily relies on how each model is used. Regarding looking generically into each model, the overall benefit for students is that it can be modified to a more accessible introduction to technology recourses (commonly used ones such as any google affiliated software, youtube and online tools). This framework also supports modifications to those classroom environments that need more technology support for specific students. Technology is not about redefining how a student will learn and be equipped to it in the classroom, but how modifications and simple technology strategies that career to each student as well as have additional benefits create thus a more interactive and safely introduced technology usage in the classroom – this being the ultimate goal of using technology in elementary schools.

Concerning the use of sketchnotes in the classroom, using sketchnoting in the classroom can be an effective way to encourage learning and engagement among students, with the use of using sketchnotes to identify concepts in a more comprehensive way that students can adjust to their learning style, with the added benefit of fostering their creative outlook. For a grade two/three classroom, using sketchntoes can be a reflective tool to use when going over different concepts in math, science, socials or anything that has a “big idea” that students can expand on in their own imaginative way in showcasing what they took from the lesson or what still needs to be taught. Sketchntoes can be a resourceful student and teacher skill that increases student engagement with content and a great way to find an early start to how each student learns best (ex., with more words, more pictures, fewer words, bigger pictures, organized and spread out, technique wise) – there are endless possibilities to how each student can make their own sketchnote.

Here are my examples from this week’s use of Canva and my own interpretation of sketchnote!

Reflecting on this week’s blog prompt questions, some digital accessibility practices that I see that are often missed, that even myself miss, are closed captions on videos. Classrooms are starting to use so much more technology as a resource for students to use, which is amazing. However, closed captions videos are usually missed by those who are hearing impaired (like me) or visually impaired. Additionally, having closed captions cater to learning styles and multimedia introduction to how to be more accessible to those in society. Social media is also a huge part of our generation. Adding closed captions on any television show, tik tok, Instagram, and youtube significantly benefits those who wish to have it or need it.

The lack of these digital accessibility practices is sadly common due to the only 22% of people who have 1 or more disability challenges. Some disabilities go unnoticed if they are not presented by visual appearance. Society usually advocates for most people, not those who struggle with watching or hearing daily videos. Being accommodating and having these resources accessible to those who require them to be successful and get the most out of it. As our society is getting more involved in technology, I have been surprised by the occasional hearing-impaired implementations. For example, when I was on the ferry returning to Victoria from Vancouver for the weekend, I walked by a sign that read: “pair hearing aid to Bluetooth to hear announcements.” This type of accessibility for those who are hearing impaired is fantastic because of emergencies and hearing all the announcements. I enjoyed learning about this week’s learning objectives as it is needed for those with disabilities to be heard and have their accommodations supported to the most we can do for them.

Reflection Blogging Prompts

To start, reflecting on the question “Do we need to re-imagine education?” I believe that we need to re-imagine education as not such status quo of pass or fail, test after test, and where marks count more than the learning process. I believe education should be aimed towards a growth mindset where students don’t fear failure but strive to make mistakes as part of their learning. Having students be more hands-on and be involved in more project based assessments gears the future of education to more well-rounded pupils who feel more prepared for real world situations during and after graduation – which is in correlation to the movie we watched and High Tech high schools efforts in a new education system.

Another reflection I had that was regarding the future of teachers education was the use of the chat ChatGPT and my thoughts around it are its very resourceful in that it can create lesson plans and gather information or instructional sources to specific use within the classroom content, which for teachers can save time and effort in creating lesson plans also based from the curriculum but only concern is that it midly takes away own origninal or creative outlook or alterations on certain subjects such as Art – can vary in perspective. It also is a concern for the students in that using this much resourceful ideas from this website takes away from their own cognitive development and forming of own opinions which is important for a balanced society.

Finally, this ties into reflecting on the pros and cons of a lesson plan vs learning plan. Some cons about this depend of the format of the plan if its too the students needs vs the teachers wants in what they teach – some teachers that are unable to adapt to new classroom environments keep their traditional plans that may not work for most students. However, there are more pros such as having a written outline of work in a learning plan based of teacher, student and curriculum ideas that benefit all parties. Schools main objective is to have students learn material and develop skills needed for future but its how effective the plan is for it to be achieved by the students.

This is an image I chose from the ”unsplash” website that showcases a picture of the Eiffel Tower when it sparkles for 5 minutes every late evening.

What was the process of setting up a word press like for you?

The process was stressful at first but I had a lot of help from those around me and rich to help me succeed in my first class in technology. 🙂

How can blogging be used in teaching and learning?

Blogging can be used in teaching to monitor and track student progress as well as be more engaging with students in interacting with their blog posts over time. Overall helps both student teacher relationship success with how interactive they are with the material.