Social Learning

During this class I felt that I contributed to the learning of others by sharing my own learning experiences on my blog, and I was even able to post at least three times every week! Any time I came across something that interested me and I wanted to learn more about I shared it on my blog.  Examples of these posts are Studentsand Social Media, Some Neat Ideas and No More Homework. In these posts I explored different aspects of using technology and how they could enhance not only my own teaching practice but my classmates as well.

I  posted about things that challenged my thinking or I struggled with in how I felt about the topic. A couple examples of these post are That's so … and Teachers Quitting! Should We Be Concerned?

And I also posted about great (well at least I thought they were great) ideas about different tools that I want to use in my classroom this fall such as Using Music To Create Awareness and Word A Day.

The  comments from my classmates on my blog posts have helped to further my learning as well as they helped to challenge me to think in new or different ways about what I had posted.

I hope that my classmates found these posts useful and I have contributed to their learning in some way as I know that I have learned a lot from these posts and exploring how and why the things I have posted about can be useful in the classroom.

I also tried to comment on several of my classmates’ blogs every week. (Unfortunately I did not keep a very detailed list of all of the blogs that I posted comments on every week L) I hope that I was able to contribute to the learning of others by asking questions and offering my own thoughts on what they had to say on their blogs. But this was also helpful for my own learning as my classmates were able to answer my questions to help me learn more about the particular topic of their blog post.

I have learned more from my classmates and guest speakers that we have had in the class than I had ever imagined. I loved being able to see the feed of all of the posts on the ECMP home page where I could daily scroll through and read everything that my classmates had to say about teaching and technology. I have gained so many great ideas and tools that to use that I don’t know where to begin because I just want to try everything.

One form of social media that I have been struggling with how to use in the most effective and professional manner is Twitter.  While I do not have all of the answers for how to use this tool in the best way for me, several post by my classmates have helped me through this struggle.  One post that I found very helpful was the Twitter Experiment by Swati

This has been a great class and I have loved the collaborative learning element through the blogs and the guest speakers. I feel that I have learned so much more by being able to read the blogs of my classmates and interact with them compared to having to sit in a classroom and listen to a professor lecture about the material.  Not only have I learned about how to use many different tools and forms of technology but, more importantly, I have learned how to best learn from it. I have learned so many things in this class that I am so excited to incorporate into my classroom this fall during my internship and in my own classroom in the future.

ECMP 355 Final Reflection!!!

Here is my Final Reflection  for ECMP 355! This reflection took me a long time to create as I struggle with how to make it.

 I originally thought about doing something like an RSA Animate, but I didn't really have the materials (like a whiteboard or chalkboard) where I could effectively create it. I then found a really neat website where I could make an animated cartoon. I started with this and really liked it until I found that it wouldn't let me do the things that I wanted, such as insert my own pictures and voice without buying the full version.

After playing around with several other ideas I decided that I would use the Adobe Premier Elements program that I already have on my computer to create my final reflection. Which turned out to be  a good things as I learned to do some new things with this program such as layering multiple photos and text in a single frame. (I had never experimented with more than two at once!). I enjoyed making this video and reflecting on my learning for this class and I hope that you enjoy it!

Teacher Humour

I came across this today and thought that everyone else would get a chuckle out of it too

http://pinterest.com/pin/207798970278143029/

"Don't let schooling interfere with your education."

The quote by Mark Twain that I chose to title this post never made sense to me when I was younger. I didn't understand how schooling and education could be two different things.
Now that I am just one year away from completing my Education degree I not only understand this quote, but ask myself "how can I change this and how can I be a teacher who allows students passion for learning to grow and flourish in my classroom?"

I saw this picture on a friends Facebook page and it has some very interesting points. After looking at/reading this I was left with the question "What can I do to change this?"  as I can see a lot of truth in each point listed.  Why is school the way it is and can it be changed, or better yet what would happen if it things were changed?

http://www.themindunleashed.org/2013/04/conscious-evolution-expanding-your-mind.html

Free Apps!

I found this great list of free apps today! There are many on here that I have never heard of before and I have only taken the time to check out a few of them so far, but it is a great resource and I thought that I would share it!

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http://www.slideshare.net/gtoews/free-apps-list

That's So...?

I saw this poster on Pinterest today and I think it would be great to have in the classroom! Not only does it raise awareness about Homophobic bullying but it challenges students to think about the implications of what they are saying and expand their vocabulary!


http://alisonrowan.com/36805/405546/work/thats-so-not-gay

Word of the Day!

While doing my TechTask on mobile learning I stumbled across a great app for my iPhone called Word A Day. There are several versions of this app, but I chose the free one. Each day the app gives you a new word and its definition. It also has an audio feature where it says the word for you so that you know the correct pronunciation and uses the word in a sentence as well. Today's word is uxorious, which means to be excessively devoted or submissive to ones wife.

While this is not something that I would ask my students to download I think that it is a great app! In my English class this fall I am going to use this app to have a word of the day written on the board. I am hoping that this will promote student inquiry and spark their curiosity with the different words as well as expand their vocabulary, and my own as well! Right now the only thing I am still unsure of is if it would be more beneficial to include a definition with my word of the day, or if the students will be curious and ambitious enough to find the definition on their own?

Tech Task 7: Mobiles For Learning

Nearly every students now has a cellphone and many of them are using them in the classroom (even when they are not supposed to be). According to a 2008 Stats Canada report  "Nearly three-quarters (74.3%) of Canadian households indicated they had a cellphones in 2008, up from (72.4%) in 2007." And I can only imagine that this number has continued to increase since 2008. So why not use this technology in a constructive way in the classroom? This is exactly what Liz Kolb suggests that we do!

For this Tech Task about mobile learning I decided to browse through Liz Kolb's blog From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning. There were so many great tools and ideas on how to use cell phones in the classroom that I sat and read through the many different posts on her blog for nearly an hour and still couldn't decide which technology intrigued me most as I found everything I read to be fascinating!

Eventually I clicked on the Resources tab at the top of her blog. This helped me to narrow down which tool that I wanted to choose to write about for my own blog as I found a list of all of the different tools and resources organized by their different functions on this page. I immediately bookmarked this page on my computer as I know I will be visiting it frequently in the future to gain new ideas and resources to integrate cell phones into my classroom.

After exploring many of these resource I finally decided that I would like to choose a resource called ExitTicket to write about and explore in greater detail. ExitTicket is an interactive student response system where students can answer questions and quizes on their cellphones, iPods, iPads, and computers. The program also collects and organizes the data so that you are able to see what all of your students are thinking and if they are understanding the desired concepts.

Here is a short video that can be found on the ExitTicket website that does a better job of explaining it that I  can.


I think that ExitTicket is a great tool for formative assessment as it allows you too see exactly where every student it at and who needs more help with a certain concept. It could be used as an exit slip at the end of class, a short quiz, or even a homework assignment.

The only issue I have with ExitTicket is student access to technology. While most students have a smart phone or an iPod or iPad, there will still be students who do not have this technology. One solution to this problem is that ExitTicket can also be accessed from a computer or laptop. But the problem that I have with this is if you are in the middle of class and just want to do a short survey on ExitTicket and if two or three of your students do not have the technology, is it worth it to bring in laptops or drag your students to a computer lab?

I guess the success that you would have using ExitTicket in your classroom would depend on the group of students that you have and the access to the different technologies needed to use this tool.

Wonky Blog!

My blog has decided to go all wonky on me today! The first post that I did todayworked just fine, but the next one that I tried to post, only 15 minutes or so later, went all crazy! I now have a background colour behind most of the text, and then text that you cannot see at the bottom of my post. I haven't changed any setting on my blog and I don't know how to fix this! Any ideas?

Tech Task 6: Storytelling/Story Making Part 2

For the second activity for this Tech Task I decided to try Five Card Flikr. Here you  choose five different pictures, each from a different set of pictures, and then create a story out of the pictures that you have chosen.

Here are two examples that I did

Five Card Story: Nature Walk

flickr photo credits: (1) bionicteaching (2) Serenae (3) bionicteaching (4) bionicteaching (5) bionicteaching

I love to take nature walks through the trees! Luckily I found a great pathway that will take me to all kinds of great places. On my walks I love to stop and enjoy the pretty flowers. Sometimes I pick some to take back to my mom. Giving her flowers helps to make her less mad at me for splashing in all of the puddles that I find along the way. I love to look at the stuff growing on the bark of the trees. I pretend that I am a scientist as I examine it. I also found some pretty cool leaves with spots on them on my walk today! Maybe I could pick some of those too and make bouquet out of them and my flowers!

Five Card Story: My Battlefield Tour

flickr photo credits: (1) Serenae (2) cogdogblog (3) Serenae (4) Serenae (5) dwtno

Today I went on a tour of some of the Battlefields in France. The first picture is of one of the tunnels at Vimy Ridge that was used by the soldiers. Our tour guide, Frank, was very knowledgeable and taught me a lot! After looking at the tunnels we went out to look at the battlefield! I got to see the area that was no-mans land. It is hilly and uneven still from all of the shells that hit the ground here. After touring Vimy Ridge we went to Juno beach were the Canadian army landed on D-Day during the Second World War. I feel like a have gained a whole library of knowledge from my tour!

I think that Five Card Flickr would be a great tool to use in an English classroom. It not only challenges students creatively, but it also prompts their writing in a fun and easy way without the students feeling the pressure of having to write a formal essay. It could be use as a daily or weekly challenge for the students to increase their creative writing and increase their comfort level with their writing. In my internship this fall I am going to be teaching grade 9 English and possible English A10 and I am very excited to try this out with my students. I hope they enjoy creating their own stories as much as I did!

Teachers Quitting! Should We Be Concerned?

I came across a link to an article on The Epoch Times on a friends Facebook page yesterday that I found concerning. The article, titled Overwhelmed Canadian Teacher Quitting in Droves caught my eye and once I had read the article I came to realize that it addressed many relevant concerned for both practicing teachers and pre-service teachers like me!

Pressure from parents, society, increasing workloads, stress, and issues with the government's educational policies are causing many teachers to leave to profession. Increasing workloads and expectations are also a major contributor to teachers leaving the profession.

While the article doesn't offer a solution to the problem it does raise many questions and concerns relevant to what lays ahead in my own teaching career.

Tech Task 6: Storytelling and Storymaking

Storytelling has always been something that interests me. As an avid reader I love to lose my self in a good story, where for a short time the characters in the book become my reality. Because of this passion I found Alan Levine's presentation in my ECMP 355 class extremely interesting and informative! He has shown me that there are so many more ways to tell stories and engage your students in storytelling than I had thought possible!

For the first part of this Tech Task I decided to check out DS 106 where I completed two different assignments.

The first assignment that I decided to try was Phake Tweets. With Phake Tweets you create a fake Twitter post from the voice of a famous person or historical figure.
Here are two that I created

I think that this is great tool to be used in the classroom. Many students are already familiar with Twitter and use it on a regular basis, so this is a great way to hook the students attention. It also asks the students to think from the point of view of someone else, in this case you could choose someone who is related to whatever you are doing in class. The best part is Phake Tweets could be used in any class! You could create tweets as a scientist, a mathematician, an author, artist, or historical figure.

 The opportunity for inquiry is also here as the students can be given little to no information about a person before hand and they could research the person they are tweeting as to know what they might Tweet about or what they might use as a Twitter handle. On the other hand Phake Tweets could be used as formative assessment throughout and/or towards the end of a unit to see what the student's understanding of a particular person or events.

The Phake Tweet page is also extremely easy to use and is user friendly. All you have to do is fill in the blanks on the page with username, realname, tweet, and the date of the fake tweet that you are making.
It can be a lot of fun for students and allows them to express their creativity! I will be teaching a History 30 class in the fall and I am currently thinking of ways that I can incorporate this tool into my planning for this class!



The second assignment on DS 106 that I tried out was called Vocal Instrumental Mashup. For this assignment you have to take the vocals from one song and put it together with the instrumental version of another song. I had a lot of fun trying this out and came up with a couple different song mash ups in the end.

While this tool is not as easy to use as Phake Tweets it provides an opportunity for students to think outside of the box and experiment with new technology in the classroom. A short tutorial would probably be enough for most students to understand and be able to use this tool and create their masterpieces!
I think this would be a great tool in an art class, but I am still trying to come up with ideas as to how it could be used in other classes because I know that many students will enjoy trying to create their own mash-ups.

Internship Excitement!

Last week I received my letter in the mail from the University! I am going to be interning in Craik with the high school Social Studies teacher! 

I am very excited to learn what classes I will be teaching so that I can start planning how to use all of the great tips and ideas I am learning in ECMP355 

Tech Task 5 Part 3: About Me

To help create my online identity I created an About Me page!
The only problem I had when created this page was deciding what apps to add to it. I added an app that linked to this blog, as well as my Google + account, but it was after that I ran into some difficulty.
I knew that I did not want to add an app for my Facebook as I use it as a personal page and have my security settings fairly high, so it would not be beneficial to have it linked to my About Me page.

Next I had to decide about my Twitter. I use my Twitter for a mix of both personal and professional and I am still having a hard time deciding what to do with it. My Twitter account has a large focus on music and following and interacting with different bands and musicians. While I don't post anything on my Twitter that would be deemed as "inappropriate" or something I wouldn't want my future students to see, I feel that it lacks professionalism.

I have debated about creating a second Twitter account (and I have created it, I just don't use it at the moment) to use for professional purposes. My only problem with creating a second account is taking the time to maintain it, and the question of whether or not it would be a true representation of me?

While I continue to struggle over how I want to use Twitter I have decided not to post an app for it on my About Me page. I hope that by continuing to read that blogs and hear the thoughts of my fellow ECMP 355 classmates I will be able to sort out my thoughts on Twitter and come to a decision on how I want to use it!

Tech Task #5 All About Me Part 2

What do I get when I Google myself?  Not a whole lot that has anything to do with me actually!

On the first page of the results that I find you can see both my Twitter and my Facebook. ( My twitter is actually just farther down on the page and didn't make it in this screen shot!) But the problem with my twitter is that my name is Courtney Lynn, I don't use my last name. So unless you know what (or rather who) you are looking for, you could overlook that link thinking it was not me!

But the problem here is that I don't really have much of an online identity! 

My Facebook is a personal page that I use, so I have my privacy settings pretty high and anyone who is not a friend of my cannot see a whole lot about me on here. 

If you're not my friend, the above picture shows you everything that you are able to see about me. The only pictures that you are able to view are my profile picture and my cover picture. 

The second thing that is problematic about my online identity as presented by Google is that amount of links that come up that are not actually me! 

The very first link that appears is a YouTube channel that is not mine! Neither is that the link to the Twitter,  account that you can see in the screenshot above where I have Googled myself.  If I were to have scrolled down farther on that page when I took the screen shot you would have also seen Myspace, Pinterest, and Soundcloud accounts that also do not belong to me.

After looking at the first page I was curious as to what else I could find about myself, so I decided to check out the second page of results. 

Here I found a few links that were actually about me such as Favstar Best Tweets (I have no idea how or why this exists, but when I clicked on it, it showed me several of my Tweets from the past few years). I also found a link to Pledge Music because of my recent pledge towards Bleeker Ridge's new album Four (P.S. Its a great album! :)) . 

But on this page I also found that someone named Courtney Bisson was a 2013 Phi Beta Kappa initiate as well as a Model of the Week ... Definitely not me! 

What I have learned from Googling myself is that my online identity is actually pretty boring and doesn't tell you a whole lot about me. 

I think part of the reason for this is that I often go by Courtney B, rather than by my full name online. Googling Courtney B will never find you anything about me by the way. 

I was also slightly concerned about the number of links that appeared that were not actually me. If someone were to Google me that did not know me in advance (perhaps a penitential future employer) how would they know which of these pages were me and which were not!?

The biggest thing that I took away from Googling myself is that I need to work to build my online identity, because right now it is pretty non-existent! 

No More Homework?

Many students HATE homework (My three younger siblings constant complaining about homework being a prime example of this). So, why not try to change things up and assign homework that students might actually enjoy and find interesting. 

I came across this chart with some alternatives to traditional homework that eliminates the need for students to take work home in some cases and in others suggests activities to engage students in their work at home in new ways. 

I will definitely be trying out some of these homework alternatives in my classroom!!

Source: http://kbkonnected.tumblr.com/post/11571986428/gjmueller-alternatives-to-traditional

Can Two Years Make A Difference in Life and Death?

So this post is a little off topic, but I saw a story on Fox News that really bothered me and I felt that I needed to share.

A 10 year old girl with cystic fibrosis is in desperate need of a lung transplant, but organ donor rules state that you must be 12 years old to be placed on the adult lung list. Because she is two years younger than the required age, she can only receive lungs after ALL of the adult candidates. Even adults with less serious conditions. You can read the full story here.

I personally think that this is a ridiculous rule. The life of a child is precious, and her life should not be determined by a matter of two years. I am not trying to say that the lives  adults who are on the donor list are not important, it is just so sad to think that this girl might not get the lungs she needs to live because she is only ten, not twelve. The teacher in me can't help but imagine what if something like this were to happen to one of my future students and it is because of this that I couldn't help but share this story.

So I did a little more digging into this story and found that the parents of the girl have started an online petition to have the rule changed. The petition can be viewed at Change.org

The Art of Teaching

I saw this quote today and I thought that my fellow pre-service teacher bloggers would enjoy it! :)

"I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artists and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit."
~John Steinbeck

Some Neat Ideas!

I am always looking for new ways to use technology in the classroom and get new ideas for lesson plans that I could possibly use during my internship this fall. In my search I came across a website called Teach Hub.

This website offers a ton of great resources and lessons, but there was one article in particular that I came across titled 12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in Your Classroom, Even for Technophobic Teachers
that I thought offered many useful tips and ideas.

This article has some great ideas to engage students with both the technology and the lesson. One example that I liked was having the students summarize by practice tweeting in 140 characters or less. And the best part is an activity like this could be used in any classroom or subject area!

Tech Task #4: Be A Better Blogger

After our ECMP 355 session with Sue Waters  last week I learned a few things about being a better blogger. The first was linking things within my posts to give credit to other people, or to direct my readers to other places!

I also learned that I still need to know more about what photos I can use and how to properly credit any photos that I do use on my blog.

From now on I plan to use this information as well as everything else that Sue had to share with our class to become a better blogger!

Tech Task #2 - Googliciousness Part 2 Google Calendar

I usually have several calendars on the go and now that  I have found Google Calender it would be a great way to keep my crazy life organized and it is stored online so I don't ever have to worry about the hard drive on my computer crashing.
But Google Calender so much more than being a handy calendar that cannot be lost to keep your life organized. One of the great features is the ability to sync the calendar with the calendar on your smart phone!keeping all of your important info in one place! It also allows  you to create more than one calender to keep different types of events and information separate, and then it also allows your to share these calenders with other people. You could share a particular calender with your students and their  parents to keep them up to date on their homework, tests, quizzes and any other important dates that they might need to know.
Google Calender could also be useful if you were coaching a sports team or leading an extra curricular activity where you needed to create a practice/ meeting  or game schedule that you needed to share with the students.
With the Google desktop software you can even have your calender appear right on your desktop.
Who knew that there was so much that you could do with a simple calender! I have only just begun to explore what Google has to offer and I have so much more to learn, but I do know that I am very excited to continue exploring the calender app and continuing to learn how to use even more of the Google Apps!!

A Little Inspiration

I stumbled across this on the internet and I thought I would share this with you.
Feel free to share your thoughts! :)

Edmodo

Edmodo is a website that is similar to Facebook and can be a great way to bring technology into the classroom! It allows teachers to connect with their students outside of the classroom. I explored this website for one of my education classes this year and I am very excited to be able to try it out in the classroom this fall during my internship.

With this website you can create groups for each class that you are teaching, keeping everything organized! With Edmodo you are able to post notes, alerts, quizzes, assignments and polls for your students.

I think this is a great way to connect with your students both in and out of the classroom. Students can also never say that they didn't know about an assignment or test as they can be reminded of this with an alert to the group! Also students are able to submit assignments directly through Edmodo.
Students can not only interact with their teacher on Edmodo, but also one another helping to promote the idea of a community of learners.

I am still fairly new to Edmodo, but I am excited to keep trying it out and learning new things. Hopefully my students in the fall will enjoy this as well!

Tech Task #2: Googlicisousness Part 1

Hey Everyone!
Here is my attempt at making a Google Form! So please fill out my form to let me get to know a few random facts about you! :)

Surprise, Surprise

As a future Social Studies teacher I find this song and video to be an interesting commentary on society.

Students and Social Media

How can we effectively use social media in our classrooms?

Famous Failures

Just some food for thought. After reading Calli's post "Not all students fit, but should they?" it reminded me of this. Just because you don't meet one person's ideal it doesn't mean that you cannot achieve great things.

Tech Task #1: Who Are You?

Hey everyone!
I wanted to try something a little bit different to introduce myself so I decided to create a video where I could play one of my favourite songs, tell you about myself, and show you some pictures.
Enjoy! :)

Using Music To Create Awareness

I am a strong believer that we can use music to spread awareness in the classrooms. Many songs, and their accompanying videos, present a strong message and give students something to think about.
One issue that I have found to be well represented in music is homophobic bullying. The following two videos are ones that I have found and I think that they have a very powerful message to be shared with music. I believe that using videos such as these can be a way to connect with students through a medium that they can relate with and, hopefully, allows the message that goes along with the video to leave a meaningful impact on the students.

Same Love - Macklemore

Same Love by Macklemore follows the life of a young male individual who battles with being homosexual. He explains the stereotypes that go along with being gay and what society expects from people. Macklemore's message in the song and video is for equality in the world and that we should be be accepting of people and who they are.

Rise Against – Make it Stop (Septembers Children)

Rise Against's video focuses on the effects of homosexual bullying. Tim Mcllrath, the lead vocalist, of Rise Against says "The song was written inspired of the teen suicides in the month of September 2010, who were bullied for being homosexual. It deals about how people are treated from homophobic bullying and feeling so tormented that they feel there's no place for them in the future and that killing themselves is a better option. It was written by my nephew, who wrote it about his best friend. His friend had killed himself a week before it was written."