Hour of Code

I found Hour of Code to be so fun and a great stepping stone into the world of coding. To start my journey on Hour of Code I was brought to the learn page where there were hundreds of different types of learning activities that were all designed for children. Well, doing a quick look through I found many learning activities that I knew my little sister would absolutely love. Having a wide range of topics is a great way to help get students engaged. Students will be more likely to want to give their full attention when they have the choice of what they are doing. 

I choose to learn some new coding skills with the T-rex Hour of Coding. This specific learning activity because it reminded me of the game that came up on Safari when there was no internet connection. The little game of theScreen Shot 2024-03-22 at 6.07.50 PMjumping over the cactus brought back members of my childhood. That being said I had a deeper meaning well I was doing the learning active. 

Now, lets get into the things I learned today. Well going through the active I go to make a loop to keep the t-rex moving and music playing. After I made the loop I had the chance to learn how to make the T-rex Jump when I pressed the space bar. Then I learned how to create a loop to randomly generate cactus that were obstacles for the T-rex to jump over. I then learned how to add nosies for when I collected coins, jumped and when the game ended. Within learning how to add noise I learned how to create a end to the game when he T-rex crashed into a cactus. The next step taught me how to create a loop that increased my score everytime I collected a coin. Then I got the chance to customize the colours of the game. 

Overall this experience was awesome and helped me gain some useful knowledge about coding. I found that the website was super user friendly and student friendly. I felt that the website was made for students. This type of website is important to have available for students who may have an interest or to help students find a interest.

Technology is something I use in my everyday life, for my entertainment, social life and most of my school work. To be completely honest I spend a lot of my day on my phone scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, VSCO and anything that brings a little joy. I spend most of my time on Snapchat, I would say it is my favourite app on my phone. I got Snapchat in 2015, it has been a big part of my life since. For the past nine years, Snapchat has been my go-to app every time I open my phone, heck it is usually already open when I unlock my phone. Over the past year I have started to slow down on my use of Snapchat, I turned off the notifications and try to avoid going on it throughout the day. I have been trying to put my phone down as a whole, I have been trying to read books instead of doom-scrolling or Snapchatting my life away.

My screentime from last week

I wish I could sit here and tell you all about the apps I use to stay organized and productive, but I am one of the least organized people out there. I would love it if anyone out there would give me some of their apps or tips, I just got an iPad and would love more helpful apps. I do have one app that I try to use to help me when I am doing an assignment which is called focused work. It is a helpful timer that gives me 25 minutes to work on my assignment and then 5 minutes of break time. The most of my organizing is putting the online sticky notes with all of my assignments and due dates on my Macbook desktop. I am still a little old school and like to use a notebook and just write down what I need to get done that day. 

My tech-related distractions have to be Snapchat and TikTok, I know I’m not the only one. I could Snapchat my life away, I Snapchat at any moment in the day and will get sucked in. I do spend too much time on TikTok but it is not quite enough to be able to do it in public. Podcasts also steal a lot of my time. I think podcasts are a little better than doom scrolling because I am usually doing something productive along with listening to my favourite podcast. As I mentioned above I have turned my notifications off on Snapchat so the temptation is less when I am doing something productive. I try to finish my task or a chunk of the task before I pick up my phone, for example when I am reading a book I try to finish a chapter before I look at my phone to answer my Snapchats. 

Hello and welcome to my online portfolio! My name is Jesa Colliness and I am currently in middle years education at the University of Regina. Throughtout this site i will be sharing my journey to become a teacher!