Dallas Thody

Time to be an internet sleuth!!

Cody Selanders appears to be an education professional when googled. There is a LinkedIn account of his from Douglas Park School. According to his LinkedIn, he is a full time U of R student in the faculty of Education. To further prove his educational prowess, there is also a staff directory from Douglas Park School, as well as a connection to the Joshua Tree Learning Center. The initial three images that show up of Cody on google consist of tye-dye, a big smile, and his hair in the wind. These give a sense of ease, as there does not appear to be anything hostile, rude, or unacceptable within the pictures. There is a Pinterest page with a single pin, a create your own dinosaur head craft. This gives a sense of whimsey and creativity! Continuing down, I found an article from the Carillion about Hula Hoops being therapeutic, with Cody front and center! It was a very fun to read article, and acted as further proof of what a unique educator Cody is, and what he can introduce into a classroom. I did not find any Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or any social media links. Based on what the internet can tell me, Cody would be a prime teaching candidate!

It was fun to research you Cody!!

– Dallas Thody

Hey all! It’s time for a catch up post!

During week 9, we discussed code and the different ways to introduce it in a fun classroom manner. Using the Hour of Code resource we discussed, I learned that it is a fun activity to do, and it definitely makes a person use their problem solving skills.

I chose to do the Minecraft version since I have used Minecraft for a few projects in the past, and since I have no experience coding I felt like using a style I am visually used to would make the learning experience more comfortable. It worked!!

The program starts off pretty easy, with the user only doing one basic movement.

The First Level!

After the second level, it got a bit more intricate with the amount of code it requires. On the 4th level, it actually starts you out with the first movements to help you out!!

The code was preset in for this one!

This actually helped quite a bit with how long the level took, as it set the groundwork to finish the level faster. This is a good inclusion since this website is made for educating, and by helping from the start it gives the student using it the push to keep it going.

Level 4 completed code

By the end of level 4, this is how long the code was. If there was the option to just “Repeat 3 Times” It could have taken 1/3 as much time to set it up. This is a good way to show students the long way to do something before introducing a shortcut, much like in math where we would show a larger equation before simplifying. It shows students the steps behind the shortcut in a way!

Like this!!

The start of level 5 introduces exactly what I was talking about. It gives the option for a repeat!! This coding game is actually implementing teaching by scaffolding! It’s really cool!!

oops

Accidental win!

Just like learning anything, mistakes are bound to happen. I went too fast and didn’t properly read the instructions. Can you see what went wrong here? When I clicked run, the character build walls until they ran into the wall and couldn’t build anymore! However, since I technically completed what was asked, it passed me anyways!

I did it!

The last 3 levels of this were pretty cool, and it definitely made me think!!! It felt like a chess match, where I could try it step by step by step, or try to solve it all in one go before pressing run. Overall it is definitely a resource I would use in the future!!

– Dallas Thody

Hey there!!

As you know, this week we discussed digital literacy, how to spot a troll, suspicious links, and fake news. When it comes time for me to teach, my ideal class would be grade 2. If I were to discuss digital literacy with my students, I feel like I would take the approach we did together in class and alter it. It would be a brain break activity, think Where’s Waldo, but instead, it’s “Which is Photoshopped?”. Approaching it this way allows the student to look out for what’s potentially fake on the internet while still engaging in a fun activity. Sitting children down and being like “SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY” is a surefire way for them to either become terrified of the internet or just lose their attention altogether. The style type I would use is similar to what we did in class, just directed towards the younger ages!

Connecting it to the curriculum was so much easier than I thought. Under the Health  subject, there is actually an entire outcome for community safety! While it is mainly physical safety based, I think it should include online as well, since kids are using tech earlier than ever, and online community safety is just as important to teach nowadays.

Thanks for reading!!

Hey there friends!

Welcome to week four’s blog post! This week’s prompt was focused on dealing with participation with technology in the classroom.

I think classroom participation now is honestly going to be much more challenging than before. With kids having phones much sooner than before, and a majority of classrooms having the option to use laptops in class, technology can be much more distracting than even when I was in high school. As my grandpa would word it, back in my day we had big, blocky computers in the computer room that were fairly easy for the teacher to monitor since they were all facing the center of the room. Even then,  we would still find a way to sneakily play Tetris or Solitaire. With many schools now having laptop carts, it can be much easier to hide the screen from the teachers since they can sit at their desks. It can become a distraction and cause participation to lessen. I feel when it comes down to it, it is up to the classroom teacher to have a set of rules when it comes to the technology in the classroom so that it is ensured the technology is helping the students, and not hindering them.

Until next time!!

~ Dallas ~

Hey Hey! It’s me again. considering this is my blog, that shouldn’t surprise you too much. This is my post about the technology in my life! Is it useful? For sure!! Is it a distraction? Even more so.

My cell phone is taking over my life!

What do you think is the first thing I do when I wake up? Do I relax for a bit, wake up naturally and gracefully, then begin my day? I’d be lying if I said yes. The very first thing I do when I wake up is look at my phone. I use it as an alarm clock, instead of having a physical alarm clock beside my bed. After that, I check the work chat for updates, and then somehow it’s 20 minutes later, and I’m scrolling Tiktok looking at recipes and parts of random tv shows. So from the time I open my eyes in the morning, screen time is started. I am not proud of this, don’t let the gentle tone of this post fool you! It is not a healthy habit, and I want to break it by getting an actual alarm clock!

But it is still very useful!!!!!

While the physical alarm clock is an easy fix to the morning screen time, I do admit that having everything I need right there on my phone is really handy. I am not organized. Plans? 9/10 times I forget. Birthdays? I forget my sisters birthday and it’s literally 2 days after mine. My lovely partner on the other hand is a scheduling wizard. To prevent me from driving her insane, we use an app called Timetree. This app is super handy, and it allows us to both have the same calendar on our individual phones, with appointments, bills, and scheduling in general right there. It has actually helped us keep organized quite a bit!! We can even colour code things so we (more accurately, me, myself and I) will not get confused. It’s great!!

Contradicting, right?

Whether or not I want to admit it, my phone is a crazy important part of my life. Pictures of my cats, vacations, and other memories are on it, not to mention the overflowing Meme folder! Important phone numbers that I would not remember are also on there! Not to age myself but if you’re familiar with The Little Rascals movie I would be the one asking for the number to 911.

There are obvious pros and cons to technology, but as long as it is regulated and used properly, it can be an amazing resource!!!

Thanks for reading this rambling!!

~ Dallas ~