Back to school.... as a student

Well that was a swift change of pace!  In a mere 3 days I went from teaching a class to being a student in a class!  Boom... just like that.  I loved my time away student teaching, but man, did it ever identify things that I absolutely need to work on!  I'm very excited and thankful that I've got a full 4 months to continue to work on things before I head back to teach in another classroom.  I'll admit that I do miss my students though, of course :)

Back in the ICT world, we had the chance to hear a speaker in our class.  One speaker demonstrated how collaborative ICT projects could be complete relatively easily in a few short minutes.  Here's an image that I created based on his instructions....

This assignment took me maybe five minutes, which included downloading the app.  Its a great way to allow students to quickly see the fruits of their labours and also allows the teacher to have some insight into their students.  Happy photo editing!

ps.  the app I used to create the above image is called 'phonto', it was ridiculously easy to use and could prove to be lots of fun!

The Technological Dark Age

Hello Readers!

It's been a few weeks, but let's just say I've been a bit busy.  I've been working away during my student teaching placement here in Rural Manitoba  and I've been loving it.  The students, by and large, are engaged and excited learners and seem to be excited to be doing their class work.  Mostly.  But seriously, the students have mostly bought in to what I've been trying to teach them in their classes and have made me feel exceptionally welcome in their classroom.

During this placement, I've fully taken over the grade 9 English class.  My CT has even allowed me to come up with my own unit plan for my time here.  It's been quite a lot of work, but it has ultimately been extremely rewarding.  I've had to come up with daily lesson plans and have been responsible for all the assessment in the unit, with close supervision of course.  I'm really pleased with how everything has gone.  My only complaint is that I need more time!  But isn't this always the case?

I'm sure you're wondering how all this info applies to ICT in the classroom!!!  Well.  Here's the thing: mostly, it doesn't.  My school has zero smart boards, only 4 IPads (for 200 students), and no projectors affixed in any classrooms.  Thus, technology has not played a large role in what I've accomplished here.  I've had a few students use PowerPoint  (it was awful: their presentation was good, but, for some reason, they decided to set it up on a timer.... let's just say this was a better idea in theory...) but other than that, I haven't really used technology.  I've had to stick to more traditional types of presentations (*ahem* posters.  On paper.)  This hasn't been a problem at all, it's just rather disheartening for me because this is my semester for ICT and right now, I've got quite a few ideas would've liked to incorporate into the classroom.

It's been particularly frustrating in my grade 11 English class because I've been teaching essay writing.  I'd love to post up examples on the board quickly and easily, but I haven't been able to do so.  I'm not always able to access a projector, either, so typically we do notes on the board.  Again, I'm not complaining, but rather observing.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the students don't know any differently so they aren't at all disappointed with my lack of tech in the classroom. 

All in all, it's been amazing.  I'm so thankful for such a wonderful first experience.  Hopefully I'll easily adjust to time back to being a student in the classroom! 

Thanks for checking in!

Photo aterations

Hello once again!

Two posts in one week?!  I'm obviously on a roll.  Just kidding.

Photo editing has become somewhat of a hobby of mine in the past years.  I work primarily on a mac and have found that, particularly after traveling somewhere interesting, I really enjoy altering the photos to enhance what my camera captured.  We used a few photo sharing sites in classes, which I found helpful.  My personal fave was 'instacollage', which allows you to make collages of photos you've taken on your iphone.  I personally made a mashup of two delightful cookbooks I found at my gramma's house: The Joys of Jello and The Right Touch For Chicken Microwave Cooking. I'm hoping that the reason I choose to make a collage of these specific photos is obvious...

I've also done some thinking about the learning that we're doing in ICT.  We're in a foturnate space while we're taking a computer class specifically designed for educators, but it's gotten me thinking about the advances technology will make while I'm a classroom teacher.  I think it's important for me to realize and understand now, prior to the beginning of my career, that I'll have to continually be aware of software updates and prepared to implement these tools into my classroom.  Below is a photo of my trip to Peru that I was able to edit.

So, there it is.   Photo editing.  Its fun.  Check it out!

Curating!

Hello!

I'm a little late on the week three bandwagon, but we'll go ahead and blame my lack of entry on the worst cold ever.

We've been talking a whole lot about web tools recently in ICT, specifically curation tools for web-based projects, such as websites and blogs.  These different tools are terrifically useful, both in and out of the classroom.  We've been talking a whole lot in other classes about collaboration.  We've done a lot of group work and many curation sites allow for a similar collaboration.  Sites like Pinterest, Symbaloo, and Pearltrees allow people to share ideas, information, news, and practical advice with each other.  I've used Pinterest before and, fine, I'll admit that I love it (delicious recipes? Hello!!!), but i am genuinely thrilled to have a secondary use for a website I'm already familiar with. 

I'm excited to continue learning new tools and soon enough, I might be able to try some of these ideas out in a real-life classroom! 

Happy Curating!

Hello!

Well, we're headed right into week three of school.  It's kind of surreal-- I'm still adjusting to the fact that it's September and the summer is over.  Regardless, the work is piling up now, as per usual, and much of that work comes in the form of ICT!

I must confess... I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to online security.  I don't generally post photos of myself on instagram or facebook.  I don't typically post status updates.  So this whole having a blog thing is kind of wild for me.  BUT.  I do see the value and necessity of having a classroom website, which is our next class project.  I've chosen some background stuff, but it has been ages since i've actually made anything technological.  Let's all hope that with some hard work and determination, I can actually make a website.  And maybe, it can even be a functional one!

But, kidding aside, I absolutely see why it could be an extremely valuable asset in the class.  Class schedules, classroom rules, parental content, unit breakdowns, and assignment due dates can all be housed on a classroom website that could be easily updated and altered both by class and year, making all that content readily available for students and parents!  Think of all the trees we could save!  So.  Here's to making a website!  Wish me luck!

Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs

Hello once again!

For our adolescent psychology class we've been assigned to compose our own rubric.  It was suggested that we use "Blooms Taxonomy" in order to compose our rubrics.  I found a fantastic website that details many of the verbs we'll need to use, so I though I'd quickly pass this resource along to any interested teachers.  These verbs should (in theory:) ) help with the composition of words in rubrics that should assist students in assessing their strengths and weaknesses in any given assignment.  It should also enable students to fully understand what is being asked of them for each assignment.  I hope this link is useful!
Enjoy!!


Bloom's Taxonomy Link

What do you even say in a blog?

Hello!

I've had so many firsts in these last two weeks, why not add writing a blog?!

So,  as many of you know, I've just started my first full week of classes in the Faculty of Education.  Pretty exciting stuff!  But seriously, the week has felt a bit overwhelming: things have been moving at a quite quick pace because that is the nature of the faculty.  PLUS, prof's keep saying, "you'll need to know these things in five weeks when you're in front of a classroom".  Which is terrifying, because that means that in five extremely short weeks, I'll be out student teaching.  I'm just hoping, at this point, that I'll get enough planning in place before then to make it happen!

In conjunction to all the "five week" talk, we've had quite a lot of instruction regarding new technologies that we should be incorporating into our lessons.  It's exciting to know that there are not only new theories and philosophies regarding education, but there are also a myriad of technological tools that I need to start incorporating into my lesson plans.  There's lots to learn, but I'm hopeful that things will fall into place.  All in time, I'm sure.