Daily Archives: June 13, 2022

Practice Makes Perfect!

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I am feeling very accomplished with this learning project update! After learning the new skill of origami, and slowly increasing my level of difficulty each week, I decided to end off my learning project by creating an origami theme! For this theme I chose to do “under the sea”. Throughout this project I found myself really enjoying making little animals, so this week I took to pinterest and different apps to find tutorials on living things that are found within the ocean. I also chose this so that I could demonstrate my improvement (hopefully) by creating the crab that I attempted on week three but was not able to finish due to the level of difficulty.

Similar to other posts I have made, I really enjoyed this week’s learnings, but it took a lot of time and patience. Like think a lot, and then think more! Learning the skill of patience throughout this learning project has also benefited me greatly, as this is something that I do not always demonstrate within my everyday life. Therefore, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work on this each week!

Apps:

To begin my week, I began by searching the app store. To my surprise, after typing in “Origami”, I found many different apps! I chose to download five different ones to see if I could find tutorials that would help me with my theme. 

App #1: Origame.

Origame is a super cool app, but was something that I was absolutely not looking for. Watch the video below to find out why! 

App #2: Origami.

This app had a section titled “sea”, so I was very excited to explore different tutorials. I was sad to find out that even though the app was free to download, in order to access the tutorials, I had to pay money. Therefore, I did not end up using this app either. 

App #3: (korean writing?) This app had a ton of tutorials! I was so excited to try it out. When I finally chose a fish to create, I was unable to follow along as I ended up very confused with what I was supposed to do… The tutorials are pictures only and include no written description.

App #4: Origami. Similar to app #3, Pictures were used for instructions. One thing that was better than app #3 is that the pictures moved to show which direction to fold! I really like this app because of this, and also because it has the level of difficulty shown in the preview of the tutorial which I think is a great feature. Unfortunately, this app does not have any sea creature tutorials, so I chose to not use it this week.

App #5: HowToMakeOrigami

Finally I came across an app that was free of charge and had many different tutorials (including sea creatures!). I was excited to try out this app, so I invited my mom to make a dolphin with me! Together we followed the app step by step and the following is our results.

Back side

My mom and I both agreed that we would prefer to watch an actual person show how to make something. We also both agreed that videos are way easier to follow than photos. This app shows animated photos and has written descriptions to go along with it. At times my mom and I faced confusion and wished that we were able to slow down  the animated fold to figure out what we were doing. Although I used this for my learning project, I would not recommend this app to be used in the classroom as students would find themselves confused, just like I did. Because of my confusion, I was unable to complete the back side of my dolphin.

Pinterest:

Next, I took to pinterest to see what I could find. First I found a cute fish tutorial. After viewing, I decided to create! This tutorial was very fun to follow and my fish turned out great! I was surprised when I was finished because I thought that the fish would sit flat, but instead it was more 3D like which made this piece even better. I would highly recommend this video to anyone wanting to learn the skill of origami. One thing I would like to have done a little bit better on is ensuring that the folds are done in the correct place so that white paper is not showing. I will definitely be making this again!

After completing the fish, I found a tutorial on how to make a shark. I didn’t like the size of the dolphin I created with my mom, so I decided to use a smaller piece of paper for this. This was another excellent tutorial and I really enjoyed creating something of a smaller scale. However, I am not too sure if this looks like a shark…maybe because I made it small. I think it kind of looks like a baby fish. What do you think?

Right after completing the shark… I came across another dolphin, one that looked more realistic than the one I made using the app. So I attempted to create it. This was a challenging tutorial that I would say is for an intermediate level. I found that it took a lot of time to create, but it was well worth it in the end.

For my last pinterest creation, I decided to create a seahorse! This was very time consuming. In total I took about 1.5 hours to create this little guy. I was unable to make the head exactly like the tutorial, but I am still happy with the way it turned out. I would like to continue practising using this tutorial, and hopefully one day I will have it 100% mastered

Grand Finale:

This week I made it my mission to sit down and finally complete the crab tutorial from week three that I found on Instagram. WOWZA. Let me tell you, this was such a hard creation for me. But… I was finally able to complete it! After about 5 attempts and many frustrated hours, this week I was able to sit down and complete the tutorial from start to finish. I am so proud of myself! And I am proud of the fact that my origami practice is starting to show!

All one paper, with many many folds!

Review on Pinterest: Pinterest is an amazing tool for finding ideas! When searching “origami” I found hundereds of posts. I would definitely recommend using this tool when learning origami, and would say that this is just as great of a tool as YouTube! I like that you can easily pin things that you like and save for later, as well as make specific categories to save items under!

Video of an origami tutorial Created by myself:

This week I discovered that technology doesn’t always work out. I decided to take 1hour worth of videos using the tool “PhotoBooth” on my computer. This is a tool that is new to me, so I did a couple test runs to ensure that the video feature worked. The test runs included a recording of me just starring at the screen LOL! But I found the tool easy and straight forward to use, so I then began recording a tutorial that I wanted to post this week. During the folding process I checked on the tool to make sure that it was still recording. I clicked the “end recording” function when I was done.. then went to watch the video, only to realize that no footage was not actually taken… 🙁 I was so upset and frustrated!

I have taken this as a learning experience that using technology does not always go as planned. I am proud of myself for trying something new, and happy that my phone was still able to capture photos and videos of my creations that are included within this post.

Question: Have you ever used PhotoBooth to record videos? Have you run into this issue?

Tools Used this week:

  • Pinterest– to find tutorials, see above for information
  • Apps – to find tutorials, see above for information on each one
  • Instagram– see week 3 for a review on this platform
  • Iphone- to take pictures and screen record
  • YouTube– to upload screen recordings and crab results, see week 5 for a review on this platform
  • PhotoBooth– to record my own tutorials that did not end up saving to my computer 🙁

What I learned

  • practice makes perfect!
  • Apps for Origami are not the best
  • Pinterest provides awesome tutorials for Origami
  • Technology does not always work perfectly
  • Things that seem difficult get easier over time

Whats Real?

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Within this blog post, I am going to be discussing Digital Literacy. Some readers might be thinking, well… what exactly is digital literacy? According to the Ministry of Education (British Columbia), digital literacy is “The interest, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital technology and communication tools to access, manage, integrate, analyze and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, create and communicate with others”. Basically, it is the ability to analyze and use technology in an appropriate way. 

Have you ever seen something on the internet and thought, wow this is cool…I have never heard of this.. I should let others know. Damon Brown states that it is important that one completes a google search on something that seems outrageous before actually sharing things, as you could possibly be sharing something that is commonly known as FAKE NEWS. By completing a google search, you can look for other resources that support what you have learned. If other resources back up what you found, the more credible the thing may be. If you are unable to find other resources that look credible to back it up, chances are, what you have come across is in fact not real. 

Clare Wardle agrees with what Brown states and adds that our ecosystem is polluted. By accepting information that we read, without further investigation/insight, individuals are only “…adding to the noise and confusion”. The spread of Fake News makes it become more believable… which is frustrating and difficult to put an end to. 

To help individuals identify fake news, John Spencer has created the term “The five C’s of critical consumption”. His video is insightful for those confused on how to identify fake news… I know I was until watching his video. Please note that this list does not include everything, and is not perfect, but it’s an excellent place to start!

The 5 Cs:

  1. Context: look at the context… When was it written where does it come from?
  2. Credibility: are the sources cited? Is this a popular post?
  3. Construction: What are the biases, is there any propaganda? Is what’s stated opinions or facts?
  4. Corroboration: corroborate with other credible news sources. Ensure that the news can be found elsewhere.
  5. Compare: with other news. Gain a bigger picture on what is really happening.

News being online can definitely have its pros and cons. Technology allows all individuals to share news which in turn leaves us no longer under the gatekeeper of news (news was at one point only shared through 4 stations). But individuals need to take responsibility with their freedom. This can be done by ensuring that “…the flow of news does not become a flood. Leaving us less informed than when we took the plunge.”

The following is an excellent resource highlighting the 7 types of mis- and disinformation:

Fake News. Its complicated By Clare Wardle

According to the National Council of Teachers of English, ​​Active, successful participants in a global society must be able to:

  • Participate effectively and critically in a networked world;
  • Explore and engage critically, thoughtfully, and across a wide variety of inclusive texts and tools/modalities;
  • Consume, curate, and create actively across contexts;
  • Advocate for equitable access to and accessibility of texts, tools, and information;
  • Build and sustain intentional global and cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so as to pose and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought;
  • Promote culturally sustaining communication and recognize the bias and privilege present in the interactions;
  • Examine the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information;
  • Determine how and to what extent texts and tools amplify one’s own and others’ narratives as well as counter unproductive narratives;
  • Recognize and honor the multilingual literacy identities and culture experiences individuals bring to learning environments, and provide opportunities to promote, amplify, and encourage these differing variations of language (e.g., dialect, jargon, register).

So my question is, how can the above points be taught to students within the classroom? 

Taking a look at the English Language Arts Saskatchewan curriculum is a great place to start. When thinking about my own teachings, I would personally begin by implementing the section “Comprehend and Respond” for middle-highschool years. Within this, I would have students read different information using technology. They would then analyze the info, looking for credibility; how it was written, what type of language is used, who wrote the piece and what resources back up what is being said. I would then push students to think more critically, and discuss the rights, responsibilities, and ethical implications of the use and creation of information. 
Note: This is just an idea/starting point to teaching digital literacy using the Saskatchewan curriculum.