Category: Weekly Reflections

This week in our class, we discussed the pros and cons of technology in our own study and in elementary classroom. I found it very helpful to here about how all my classmates use technology in moderation while getting work done. For example, some put their phones on do not disturb, leaving the phone in another room while studying, or turning off notifications. We also got to play around with Arduino Science Journal. I learned that the Arduino Science Journal is designed for fun and interactive science experiments. You can use it on your smartphone, tablet, or even pair it with an Arduino board for extra functionality. Think of it as a digital notebook that lets you gather data from the world around you using your device’s built-in sensors, such as light, sound, and acceleration.

I enjoyed learning about the helpful aspects and limitations of technology because now I feel more comfortable knowing appropriate ways to incorporate tech into my classroom. Specifially learning about ways of engagement, accessibilty and personalized learning strategies. I am excited to work with technology as I continue my learning as a student teacher.

This week, we had the opportunity to learn from Britnay, a guest speaker who shared many valuable insights on classroom management techniques. Her presentation covered key strategies like establishing routines, incorporating SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) check-ins, implementing soft starts, modeling behavior, fostering inquiry, and setting clear classroom rules and expectations. It was helpful to have all of these concepts clearly outlined and explained, especially since I’ve observed many of them in action during L2P and my own classes.

I enjoyed learning about soft starts and transitions, as these are techniques I haven’t encountered as much throughout my education. Ideas like using Play-Doh, kinetic sand, and musical tracing maps stood out to me as creative ways to ease students into the day. Britnay’s presentation also included lots of practical templates that I’m excited to try out, especially for developing an inquiry and strength-based approach in the classroom. I did a bit more research on soft starts, and found lots of other teachers posting their experiences and techniques with this. Check out this one from Jenna Kimber.

Having written resources is very helpful for me, I feel that it supports my learning and planning process very well. I like the idea of starting with broad goals and inquiries for the class, then breaking those down into specific, individualized goals for each student. This approach feels both intentional and supportive, and I’m excited to practice applying it in my own teaching.

This week in our class, we learned about coding and gaming in education, and got to play some games to practice coding on our own. I chose to play a coding version of flappy bird, called flappy code. In this game, we are given prompts and options for different actions to happen. For example, the prompt “when hitting an object,” I chose to select “end game.”

This is what you earn when you finish the coding game!

This is what the game setup looks like, suitable for grade 2+.

Because coding is becoming a large part of education, it makes me wonder if computation thinking can help learners become better problem solvers? As we discussed in class, certain games can help students develop skills such as problem solving, identifying patterns, and critical thinking. We can use resources such as Hour of Code , where there are suggested grade levels, as a tool to help students learn these skills in a fun and engaging way.

Along with this, gameplay can be used to as a tool to make traditionally less popular topics engaging for learners because they are actively engaged, learning through mistakes and intrigued by intrinsic motivation. Often times, people are more engaged in online games of visuals, the way they tell a story, and people are often motivated by rewards such as point systems and levels. Especially with websites like we used today, there is a vast amount of different games, and people can choose something that they are interested in, or personalized to them.

Taking all of this into consideration, gameplay is a great and engaging way to teach students, but could present some equity issues. Depending on school funding, technology may not be accessible. Along with this, many games may not resonate with certain beliefs or may be biased. For myself as a future educator, I will be useful for me to have this tool where students are able to create their own games, such as the one above.

Hello everyone! This week was a very informative week in regards to sketchnoting, canva and learning skills. We learned about TPACK (technological, pedagogical, and conent knowledge) and SAMR (subsitution, augmentation, modification, and redefination) and their similarities and differences. TPACK and SAMR are both frameworks used to evaluate tech integration in the classroom, but offer different approaches. SAMR categorizes tech capabilites into 4 levels, and TPACK offers a more interconnected approach. As for sketchnoting and canva, it was very interesting to see how they both have very different benefits, and possible shortcomings. For example, sketchnoting helps us remember what we are hearing as we write. The process of having to summarize in our brains as we write is believed to be helpful in recall. As for tech notes or canva, they are very aesthetically pleasing and is a way of writing notes, it could be a way of transription typing. Without the process of summarizing, it could be going straight from your ears to the keyboard. In class today, we had the opportunity to practice our sketchnoting, check out mine with a theme of elementary school!

As for canva, there is many great benefits for making projects, and as a future teacher, could be very helpful in making engaging lesson plans for students. We didn’t have time to make our own canvas in class, but it is definetly a tool I am excited to use going forward. In another class, we need to make an infographic tool to share in our L2P schools on a free inquiry topic of our choice. Thanks to todays class, I now feel inspired and ready to get creative on canva!

This week was dedicated to accessibility and being conscious of our diverse audience needs, specifically with our personal blog posts. The photos and videos above are included as they were practice on using accessibility tools. For example, the first photo includes alternitive text, and the video has subtitles for people who may be hard of hearing. Often times though, there are digital accessibility practices that are often missed or forgotten, even in my own practice. Things such as Alt text for images is often included, but not in a meaningful way. The text should be not only describing the literal image, but explaining its relevance and importance as well so all audience members can understand. Secondly, colour contrast. This was a learning curve for me as I had to make changes to my own blog. I had never thought of how colours that are similar make things more difficult to read, especially for the visually impaired, until I saw my own blog. In my case, I had too many vertical lines and pale colours which interfered with my work, but I made a change in hopes of being more accessible to all. There are several reasons that these practices are not very well-known. To list a few, there is a lack of education regarding accessibility. Many educators and creators were not trained to keep accessibility in mind, and it is not included in elementary or secondary curriculum. Especially in todays day in age, there is a keen interest in aesthetics over accessibility, and a misconception that it is complex. With the proper education and training though, we can see that this is not true. This is where I have had the majority of my learning this week, and I am excited to continue to learn about accessibility going forward!