Author: Carson Boyer

Making Bannock and Using iMovie to Document

Posted on by Carson Boyer

This week I’ve chosen to make Bannock. Bannock is a traditional food of many Indigenous cultures in North America including the Métis. I am a Métis person but I haven’t made Bannock that much. This could be for multiple reasons but the biggest reason for this is because my family members that came before me went “underground”. What I mean by this is they were forced to leave some of their traditional ways of being, in order to be accepted by Canadians. Things that are passed down through families like food are often no longer being taught anymore another example of this is Métis language that is known as “Michif”. I wanted to get the recipe for Bannock from a reputable source so I chose a website which represents that.

 

I chose to document my learning with iMovie. I movie was an extremely easy resource to use. I took videos on my phone, then went into the app and placed the videos in the order that I wanted. From here, I made it into a youtube video and uploaded it to the blog. This app also gives people the opportunity to make storyboards, and trailers. I found a great resource that helped me create my iMovie and it was a great help with creating this video.

Anyways here is how I made Bannock

 

Our Changed World

Posted on by Carson Boyer

I believe it is extremely hard to reflect on our changed world because of how quickly technology is changing and adapting. We are living in a time where everything is new and improving. I think of a phone for instance, if you have a phone that came out more than five years ago it is seen as an old piece of technology. The new technology isn’t seen as a luxury anymore and more of a need. I’m trying to think of someone who doesn’t have a phone, computer or television. Most people I know have all three of these technologies. This then pushes people to get involved in creating social media accounts, upload things on social media which can be recreational, or to help them in their careers. I have peers that created social media pages to help their business by using it as an advertisement to reach new potential customers and clients. Technology is also being used as a tool to help get jobs. An example of this is making an online portfolio for a teaching career that you will be able to use to help get employed as a teacher. When looking at how people are active in their participation in using social media for fun. You get to interact with more people than you could ever imagine by a touch of a button.

What does this mean for the future classrooms?
For future classrooms I believe one of the most important things is making sure that young students know safety online. Like I talked about in this blog already, you can interact with more people than you can imagine. It is important that students know the world that they are living in and how they can protect themselves. With that being said I think it is important for students to be better prepared with tools that can be used to help them during their time in school and help them outside of school. In order for us teachers to do this I believe we need to take advantage of different training opportunities when it comes to new technology. We need to stay up to date with the rapidly improving technologies and relay the information we learn to our students. I believe we should be preparing our students for life outside of school, and with how new technologies are becoming available it’s only in our students best interest that they should know how to utilize and use these new technologies.

What does it mean for schools in general
For schools I believe there needs to be more of an emphasis in being able to use these new technologies. I have already seen that utilizing tools such as google classroom to make the class more tech based has been beneficial to students. I think that if we bring in more options for teachers it can help students with different learning styles have success within the classroom. I think there will be more of a focus for schools to try to build more technology fluent students. This will help those going to get further education and students that decide to work after highschool graduation by giving them more tools to use.

How might we rethink the idea of schooling and education in our networked, participatory, and digital world?
I am of the idea that our schooling needs to buy into our networked, participatory, and digital world. I believe this because as we teach them they will pick up on how to be safe online. I am not saying whatsoever that students need their phones in class. I think phones are a distraction in the class and in the outside world. I think that in the health curriculum there needs to be more of an emphasis for healthy lifestyles and this includes screen time. With the world we are living in we can’t just turn a blind eye to what technology is used for and how it can impact people’s lives. Students will need these tools in the real world.

How can we balance the challenges of our new digital reality with the possibilities that it offers?
I believe it is important for schools to offer technologies that can be useful in the classroom. Students love the ability to use technology in their own learning and to demonstrate their own learning by using technology. As teachers we need clear expectations and rules about the use of technology for not only the students but also the parents of the students so they are up to date.

The Role of Technology

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Like any person I use websites, apps, and online platforms in my daily life. All three of these can be tools for academic purposes, but they can also be tools for leisure and social interaction. The websites I use most in my daily life are either websites for my time within the university setting to help out with assignments. One website that I found to be the most useful as a future teacher is the Saskatchewan Curriculum. It is very important to myself that I become familiar with the curriculum in order to be able to think of how to use it most effectively and efficiently for my benefit and my future students. In my time off I usually look at a lot of hockey articles and tools for building a better knowledge of the game. I enjoy looking at these websites because I love learning about new tools used to evaluate players (ex. advanced analytics), and other people’s opinions on the game. The apps and online platforms I use most in my daily life are apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and video streaming services. The apps I use on my phone aren’t used for academic purposes really at all. These apps are for entertainment, like watching funny videos or highlights or even films. I hope to broaden my knowledge of what apps could be useful for academic purposes. Online platforms are platforms that I use for social interaction, such as talking with friends from back home that I don’t get to see as often during my time in University. Obviously during the summer I get to see my close friends and family back home, but during the fall and winter it helps us stay connected with each other.

 

For  University it is very important to stay organized and productive throughout each semester. Some digital tools and apps that I rely on to stay organized and productive are on the iPhone such as their Calendar and the Reminders app. These tools help me stay up to date on when due dates of assignments are. These tools also help me set up my times that I would like to study or work on assignments. I find using the iPhone extremely productive because I (like many others) always have my iPhone on me so I don’t need to worry about forgetting what I wanted to do. I think it would be extremely beneficial for myself to expand my tool kit of tools that are available to help organize and stay productive.

 

With how common technological devices are there are many pros and cons for how easy it is to get your hand on some of them. One major flaw is how technology can reduce productivity. Some technologies that tend to take up my time and decrease my productivity are definitely my iPhone and Xbox. On my phone, social media can be really addicting and sometimes I can lose track of time. One strategy that I use is to turn off all notifications that come from these apps. If I can avoid looking at it in the first place it works for me, so I am sticking to it. For my Xbox I just don’t allow myself to play it till after supper. This gives me time throughout the day to get as much work done as possible. The xbox is really similar to the iPhone with the way that it can allow you to lose track of time. So instead of wasting time earlier in the day I get done my work and treat the Xbox like a reward instead.

 

Having a healthy relationship to technology is very important for myself to have success in University. I find balance between screen time for academic purposes and personal well-being by setting up times to do work and times to relax. I am a big believer in setting goals, so going into each week I try to make short term goals for that week, each month I set up an end of month goal. I find when I am working on something is a great way to make sure I buy in. I also try to reflect on how I did for each goal after the date. For myself, I find it extremely beneficial to allow myself to see the growth I’ve gone through. A strategy I’ve established to ensure a healthy relationship with technology is to try and stay active. It is easy to sit and scroll on social media but when I’m on the move that urge to go on social media takes a backseat.

Who am I?

Posted on by Carson Boyer

My name is Carson and I’m in my third year of education at the University of Regina. I grew up in Swift Current and often spent my time growing up playing sports such as hockey and lacrosse, or I was out at the Saskatchewan Landing where I was either fishing,  surfing, and sitting by the fire. I am a Métis student that is in SUNTEP and I have the hope to continue learning more about my culture and people.  I have one older brother named Logan who is a teacher in Swift Current and I have one older sister named Kaitlyn who works for Monette Farms.

My experiences with educational technology.

Throughout my journey as a student I used educational technology to help me with math and science during my time in high school when I wasn’t fully understanding a topic in class. I found this really beneficial because it allowed me to learn at my own pace and build more of an understanding of the topic. I appreciate the value that educational technology has to students because it can offer the students different ways of teaching which can allow the students to understand topics that wouldn’t be available in the classroom. I also can appreciate the value it can have for teachers by offering other ways of teaching topics.

My thoughts on blogging!

Before creating a blog I had very little insight into what a blog is. My first instinct was that a blog was a personal journal or an online platform to express a personal opinion. After doing research online I found a deeper understanding of what a blog is and what it could be used for. I found it very interesting how blogs could also be used to fulfill a business needs and to add to someone’s personal brand. This led to my next question: what’s the difference between a blog and a website because I found there were a lot of similarities. I found a big difference was a blog allows the reader and the creator to interact and have discourse between one another. I’m really excited to learn more about blogging and develop this skill during this class. I believe this will help me as a teacher because if I can find other teachers’ blogs it can give me really cool lesson ideas to incorporate into my own classroom to keep students engaged in their learning.

https://www.classvr.com/blog/use-of-technology-in-education-a-complete-guide/

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ⅔ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar (fine to substitute light)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2½ cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off (see note)
  • 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Ghirardelli

 

Why I chose to make Chocolate Chip Cookies

I chose to make Chocolate Chip Cookies because I want to bake again. I really enjoyed the last time I baked and figured why not. Cookies are also something that I could snack on here or there so it seemed like a good idea to me. To add to that, cookies and milk are one of the best combinations that I can think of. I decided on using this recipe because I like how there are pictures on every step. For someone like me that is new to baking it helped me to have a visual representation of the steps. I chose to make this at my grandma’s house because she had all the equipment needed.

 

What I learned

In a bowl combine both sugars with butter and mix it with an electric mixer. Mix at high speed (using a hand mixer) for three minutes. After this I added the vanilla extract and eggs and beat for two more minutes. After this add the baking soda and salt and mix till evenly combined. After this I added the flour and mixed on low speed till it looked like it did in the pictures on the recipe.Once it looked like the pictures I added the chocolate chips. The next part that I did was covering the bowl in plastic wrap and putting it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I showed up to my grandmas and preheated the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Next we made small balls out of the dough leaving a bit of space between every one of them. We let them bake for about 12 minutes then we took the cookies out. We repeated this step till we had no dough left. After this me and my grandma split the cookies and I took half of the cookies to Regina and shared them with my roommates. 

 

The results

I gotta say… These Cookies SMACKED. They were really good. I think the pictures helped me a lot. It made it easier for me to see that I was ready or not ready to move onto the next step. I let my roommates have some and they had nothing bad to say about the results so I can’t complain. Overall, having the pictures really helped my process, I still prefer videos but this was a definite win.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fish Tacos

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 4 walleye fillets
  • 16 Ritz crackers
  • ⅔ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. blackened seasoning
  • 2 cups shredded green cabbage
  • 3 tbsp. mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp. lime juice
  • Pinch of salt
  • ⅛ tsp. celery seed
  • Frying oil
  • Stack of taco-size flour tortillas
  • Sliced ripe avocado
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Pickled sliced jalapeños
  • Hot sauce or salsa

Why I chose to make Fish Tacos

I chose to make fish tacos because I already have a lot of walleye in the freezer that is ready to be eaten.  Walleye is one of my favourite things to eat and is super healthy. This is the main species of fish that I target when I fish because they are easy to fillet and have white meat. I caught these fish in the South Saskatchewan River near the Saskatchewan Landing and Duncairn Dam. The MeatEater website stood out to me because it is an outdoor lifestyle company. MeatEater has a show on Netflix that has six seasons that I found interesting to watch. Overall this website just stood out to me.

What I learned

In a bowl I combined coleslaw (instead of shredded cabbage) with mayo lime juice, salt and celery seed. I got coleslaw instead just because of personal preference. This was a pretty simple step to making fish tacos so I didn’t have any problems with it. The next step was to get crackers in a ziplock bag and crush it. I’ve never used crackers so this was definitely an interesting step. I’ve done this with chips so it wasn’t too big of a learning curve. I then added this to panko breadcrumbs and blackened seasoning. In another bowl I beat eggs and in a third bowl I had flour. The next part was to “In a frying pan, heat 1 inch of oil to 325°F. To bread the walleye, first lightly coat with flour, then dip in the egg wash, and finish in the Ritz mixture, gently pressing the coating into the meat.”. I usually deep fry my fish so this was a little bit different but still had the same idea. Other than that the process of what I know when cooking fish was similar. After both sides of the walleye was golden I had a plate with paper towel on it to put the fish on.The next step was to break the fish in small pieces and put on the tortillas with the rest of the ingredients then eat.

Results

Overall the fish tacos were good. I’m usually not a big fan of spicy foods but every once in a while it is okay. This recipe gave me a different fish batter that I could use. I still prefer the one I usually use but this is still good. I really like the website that I did get this recipe from. It is not only a place to get recipes but also order ingredients, equipment, etc. I think I’ll keep this website in my back pocket. I also am friends with a bunch of people that hunt and fish and will recommend this website to them.

Banana Bread

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (215g)

1 tsp baking soda (6g)

1 tsp salt (6g)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (3g)

3/4 cup brown/granulated sugar (150g)

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature (113g)

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas mashed (430g)

1 tsp vanilla (5ml)

 

Why I chose to make Banana Bread

I chose to make Banana Bread because I was missing my Grandma’s baked goods back home. Usually my Grandma Linda drops Banana Bread once every month. I have to admit, she makes Banana Bread better than anyone I know. So I was quite nervous to make it because I knew it wasn’t going to be as good as her Banana Bread. I chose to follow a recipe that I found on Youtube. I wanted to switch it up from making a meal to make something to snack on here and there. I also wanted to try out a video because I feel like the learning would feel more interactive than just reading the recipe and instructions like I have been doing. Lastly I haven’t baked in so long I figured why not give it a shot and see how it goes. 

 

Things that I Learned well making Banana Bread

I didn’t realize that the bananas you use are ripe and I didn’t have couple of ripe bananas laying around. I have to admit I wasn’t too big of a fan of touching the mushy bananas but it was to make banana bread so I couldn’t complain too much. I learned a cool trick to get the bananas ripe. It is to put the bananas on the baking sheet and to cook at 350 for 10-12 minutes. This will get the Bananas ready to make Banana Bread. This will be a useful trick to have anytime I want to make Banana Bread in the future. The first mistake I think I made was over-mixing the batter. I think this because when I tried eating the Banana Bread it was kind of tough. The person I was listening to was saying it should be soft and tender so next time I bake I will be more careful with my mixing. It wasn’t the biggest deal though because I still found the Banana Bread I made to be good to eat. One small thing I caught was the baking time between me and the person who was giving the instructions was a little bit off. It wasn’t the biggest problem though because I checked to see what the inside was like with a toothpick. My Grandma told me it shouldn’t be gooey on the inside so I just let the Banana Bread bake for a few more minutes. The next time I bake anything I will need to consider that the time needed for the products to bake may vary a few minutes so I just need to be a little bit more cautious. Lastly but not to big of a deal is I need to invest in an apron because wow.. baking can be messy at times.

 

Results

Like I explained above I think I over-mixed the batter which caused the result to not be as good as it probably should’ve been. With that being said it wasn’t like it was bad. I think the next time I make Banana Bread I will add chocolate chips like my Grandma does. I think that was one of the key ingredients I was missing. I really like using Youtube because I felt it offered me a more interactive way to learn how to make Banana Bread than a recipe would. I also think it was beneficial for myself to try Baking. It was my first time doing this since Foods in high school (A class in High School I took). Overall I think my Grandma would be proud of me for making this even though it’s not nearly as good as hers. Any suggestions on my next adventure?

Sloppy Joes

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
  • ¾ cup ketchup, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard, or to taste
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 6 hamburger buns, split

Directions

  1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir lean ground beef in the hot skillet until some of the fat starts to render, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and bell pepper; continue to cook until vegetables have softened and beef is cooked through, 3 to 5 more minutes.
  2. Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
  3. Divide meat mixture evenly among hamburger buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before

Like my last meal I decided to make something quick and easy so I chose Sloppy Joes! I’ve been studying for a midterm so I wanted to make something that doesn’t take too long to cook, so I would have as much time to study as possible. I also took the peppers out just because I’m not a big fan of it. Sloppy Joe’s are something that I grew up eating so I knew I would like it. I also made this because it is easy to have for leftovers. I also added a cheese slice to each sloppy joe I would make.

 

During

I started the skillet on medium heat like the directions told me to. From here, I stirred the ground beef well it was cooking until I saw some of the juices from the meat. From here I added the onion, but I didn’t add the peppers due to personal preference. I let the beef and onions cook until the vegetables softened and the meat browned. When the vegetables were softened and the meat was browned I started adding other ingredients like the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, garlic powder and the salt and pepper. After I did all of that I turned down the heat to low and I cooked for about 25 minutes, well stirring occasionally. From here it was ready to eat so I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

After eating this meal I’d say it turned out pretty good. Like the last meal it wasn’t anything special but it did the job. This meal was perfect for the time I had available with my studying, and I didn’t need to go to crazy to find the ingredients. Overall this is a meal that doesn’t take too much preparation but still is really good. I will say this, DO NOT WHERE A WHITE SHIRT WHEN EATING … this is a very messy meal. If you have any suggestions in what I should make next leave a comment below. Thanks!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

Posted on by Carson Boyer

Before

The first meal I decided to make for myself was spaghetti and meat sauce.  Like I explained in a previous post I wanted to start out nice and easy. I’m not a big fan of tomatoes or peppers so I took those ingredients out of the Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef.  I also made quite a bit so I would be able to have this meal for left overs, and to be able to freeze it for the future. This is a meal that is easy, and you can’t really go wrong with Spaghetti. I’ve never made a spaghetti sauce before so I was excited to add that into my own cookbook.

 

During

To begin I got all the ingredients ready on the table and started going to work. The first thing I did was start making the sauce. To do this I got the ground beef and broke it up and added the onion and garlic, I also added a bit of salt and pepper well it cooked on medium. I had to facetime my mom a few times to make sure I wasn’t messing up. As a colourblind person I struggled with seeing it turn brown. I also wasn’t exactly sure what the recipe was trying to say when it said “vegetables are tender” so I just assumed it meant when the vegetables are soft. Anyways, well I was waiting on the sauce to be done I stirred it around basically continuously because I did not want it to burn. The next step I took was putting the tomato sauce and tomato paste in a pan and started letting it cook. As I stirred I added the oregano, basil and salt. I let this cook for about 30 minutes and I stirred every now and then.

 

As all of this was going on I was also making the spaghetti which was pretty simple. I let the water start boiling then I added butter, salt and the spaghetti. Well that was cooking I gave it a few stirs. When it was ready I drained the water out and put a teaspoon of butter in. After this I made myself a plate and enjoyed.

 

After

Now that I have finished making this meal, I can say it went pretty well. This definitely isn’t the best spaghetti sauce I have had but it was still good. It was quite the experience to be able to do this for the first time. I’m glad I started with something simple to build up my confidence for the next meal. At this point I’m not too sure what to do, so if you have any suggestions please comment below your recommendations. The recipe I made is below.

 

 

Ingredients (Sauce)

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

Ingredients (Spaghetti)

Water

Spaghetti

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of butter

 

Directions for Sauce

  1. Gather all ingredients.
  2. Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until meat is browned and crumbly and vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain grease.
  3. Stir tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, and salt. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Serve hot and enjoy!

Directions for Spaghetti

  1. Boil water in pot. Well the water is boiling add butter, a pinch of salt, and spaghetti
  2. Turn water to medium heat (cook for 15-20 min). Stir occasionally.
  3. Drain pasta and add teaspoon of butter

What will I be learning

Posted on by Carson Boyer

What I’ll be Learning

For this project me and my classmates were assigned an assignment that is about learning a skill online that the person would like to know. It was a no brainer for me to choose cooking. Cooking is a very important part of life that all people need to know. For myself this is something that needed a lot of attention because my cooking skills are very limited. I figured there is no better time to start working on this now. Im very interested to see the ups and downs of skill develop and hopefully I will come away with a decent ability to cook for myself and others.

Where am I now

Like I stated previously, my cooking skills are pretty limited. I took Foods in high school so I have some knowledge, but in this class I picked some of the less important roles that were available. Outside of school I can make myself pretty simple meals but it won’t be anything you’d make for company. The one thing I really enjoy cooking is the walleye that I catch after I go fishing. That might sound alright but I do it a max of three times a summer, so there is a lot of room for improvement on my behalf. I have also made traditional Indigenous food like Bannock and Fry bread during my time in University. Overall,  when it comes down to it I can make myself a meal but it isn’t fancy by any means. I hope to improve that in this class.

Where I Plan to go

I plan to continue developing this skill by incorporating some Métis traditional foods. The first meals that I make for this class won’t be anything overly special, but as time goes on I hope to make the meals more and more challenging and time consuming. For this class I will be relying on online cookbooks, and youtube videos and other sources of media. I also might get my grandma to cook with me for one of the entries but it will be more focused on the online learning aspect. I’m really excited to find new recipes that I can make for myself for the rest of my life.