For my first workout this week I took some advice from my #edtc400 mentor Caleb Lueck! At the start of the semester he recommended the YouTube channel HASfit. I scrolled through their channel and they have a whole bunch of beginner weight training videos and then also strength training videos for once you move past the beginner stages. After browsing around I decided to do the 15 Min Beginner Weight Training for Beginners Workout: Strength Training Dumbbell Workouts. My favorite part of the video was that they offered modified movements if you found some of the moves too difficult, I didn’t really find that I needed to use the modified movements except for the pushups. I can definitely see myself coming back to this channel. I think next time I would do a longer workout because surprisingly this one seemed too short.
Next, a little first lockdown throwback…
Since it has almost been a year since we went into our first lock down I figured I would do a little throwback workout. During the first lockdown the Chloe Ting workout channel was extremely popular, especially on TikTok. During first quarantine I did the 2 Weeks Shred Challenge with my mom and I think it was the first workout plan I’ve ever fully completed.
So, for my second workout I decided to do Cloe Ting’s Get Abs in 2 WEEKS video. I chose this one because I haven’t really done any ab specific workout yet during this learning project. I also really like this video because it is short but it will have your abs burning the whole time.
Trying something new…
I probably had a little too much fun making this weeks learning project videos on Animoto! The app was very easy to use and I was surprised how well it worked for documenting workouts. I didn’t think I would like having text instead of doing a voiceover but I was pleasantly surprised. However, I would like to hear some feedback from you guys! If you have viewed some of my other blog posts what do you like better? The voice over or the text? Or if you have a different type of video suggestion let me know in the comments!
Prior to last class and before watching the An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube video, when I thought about participatory culture my mind instantly went to newer forms of media such as TikTok or memes on Instagram. I didn’t think of YouTube at all but I was never big into the YouTube world and I guess I just didn’t see if as a place where people would recreate trends – or so I thought I thought.
However, as I was watching the video I got a whole wave of YouTube flashbacks from my childhood after the Charlie bit my finger video was brought up. Wesch brought up how “the Charlie bit my finger video was redone and remixed over 2,000 times” (14:12). My siblings and I found that video hilarious and we would watch all the remixes and recreations and quote it all the time. Then, I remembered how my siblings and I were also obsessed with thecomputernerd01 parody videos. I went back and listed to the “coke and sprite” Dynamite – Taio Cruz Parody for nostalgia sake and I somehow still know an embarrassing amount of lyrics. I feel like making parodies must have been a trend at one point because you could find so many. However, I think the fact that my siblings and I we were too young to actually join in on the participatory aspect of YouTube is why I kind of forgot about it and didn’t think of it as a big contributor to participatory culture – because it seems like YouTube now is just full of influencers.
I feel like participatory culture is really everywhere in the lives of youth now-a-days. I don’t know if I’m just getting old but it seems like the trends come and go way too fast for anyone to stay on top of them. When a sound becomes popular on TikTok I swear it will only be used for a week before there is a new major sound or trend.
I also have gotten myself onto fashion TikTok a couple times this year and even fashion trends move so quickly because everyone wants to different. So, once too many people catch onto the trend and everyone’s doing it, then it isn’t cool anymore so they find something else.
I think as educators it is very important to try and know what trends are happening in the lives of our students so that we can guide and support them and make sure students are participating in trends safely. Although Wesch stated that teens make up 25% of featured YouTube users and children make up 12% (13:17) these stats are from 2008. I think it is safe to say that these numbers would be drastically different today. Especially since we know that on average children today are 10.3 years old when they get their first smart phone and 11.4 when they sign up for their first social media account (Hildebrandt, 2021).
“Media is not content. Media are not just tools of communication. Media is mediating human relations“
Wesch (12:04)
In the video, Wesch describes how thinks of media as mediating human relationships because when media changes so do human relationships. This means that media has the ability to impact and change the education system. I think this has to potential to be a really positive thing. I always think about my first ever education class in university when the professors started by us “What is one thing that a time traveler from 100 years ago would be able to recognize in society” and the answer was classrooms.
Classroom in 1944 https://www.insider.com/old-school-vintage-classroom-photos-evolution-2018-5#1944-2
So, if the education system let’s media in I do think that it would create positive change. For example, I think it would make more space for educational technologies. I think the educational technologies that teachers use also sort of follow a participatory culture of some sort. Teachers are more inclined to use the educational tools that are the most popular at a given time. The when a new and better tool comes along then all the teachers jump to that one. It also allows for teachers to use the various forms of media students use in classrooms to enhance learning. I think about a very simple but extremely creative example Sarah Stroeder found and shared on twitter.
Another thing I thought about was how the education system has been viewed throughout history and how it changes (or more likely how people want it to change) to better meet social values. So, already I feel like media sort of plays a role especially since it offers a way for views to become widespread very quickly. You can have a PLN of people you have never met in real life because as Wesch describes media brings “new forms of community…global connections transcending space and time” (4:58). Teachers are using this to their advantage sharing and getting ideas with educators from all over. An example of this is the #saskedchat that connects educators from all over the province and beyond.
I was very busy this past week with papers and midterms, so the at-home type workout videos really came in handy because they are so quick and convenient. Thankfully, I didn’t even have to research for some good at-home videos because my classmates gave me so many good recommendations at the start of the semester!
First up…
For my first workout of the week I checked out the MadFit YouTube channel which Sydney Kawa recommended to me! I started off with the 10 MIN FULL UPPER BODY Workout and then decided that I would end with the 15 MIN TIKTOK DANCE PARTY WORKOUT (which I kind of ended up doing twice as you will see in my video). I actually really enjoyed both of these workouts! The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was that during the dance workout there were ALOT of ads. But they did give me time to catch my breath so maybe they were strategically placed throughout the video – IDK. However, the ads weren’t a deal breaker or anything and I can definitely see myself going back to this channel for workouts!
Up next…
For my second video of the week I decided that I would try out the Nike Training Club App that Trista Kennett recommended! It was very easy to set up the app, you just had to make an account and then it asked you about your current physical activity.
I initially tried to set up an actual workout plan and I decided to do “Gym Strong” because it seemed the most fitting for strength and it incorporated gym equipment.
But after I looked at the workouts in each plan I realized that each piece of gym equipment that was required (pull up bar, rowing machine, medicine ball) my apartment gym did not have. And I also realized that the “Gym Strong” plan was the hardest of all the plans, so I decided that I would start out by just doing a couple of the video workouts on the app.
The yoga video was a last minute addition because the Bi’s and Tri’s video didn’t have a great cool down and I remembered that last week Alexandra Crammond recommended yoga as something that could help recovery from strength training!
If you haven’t already, you can go check out my blog post that documents my experience using Anchor to create my podcast for this week!
I’ve always thought my friends and I should start a podcast because, you know, we are so funny. Now here I am learning the ropes of podcasts to share this weeks strength training update with you and learning how podcasts can be used as an educational tool!
As you heard in my podcast, I actually dragged my butt to my apartment gym! It felt strange to not include any visual aspects so enjoy this short video of me taking my temperature so that I could actually go into the gym and then the one morning the gym was empty when I got there so I took a gym tour video!
I was actually excited that the gym was empty when I got there because I thought I would be able to video some of my workout to include but at the end of the video someone walked in (you can see me look over at them right at the end of the video bahaha) so then it would have just been too awkward to video myself.
I was very excited for this weeks assignment because we have been learning about so many cool tools that I kept saying I would check out or try but then I never did but this project gives me a no-excuse-reason to try one out! In class, when Amanda was going over this assignment description and going over different tools I wasn’t too sure what tool I wanted to use. I was already making videos each week to document my workouts and I have used a couple screen casting tools before for projects.
Then, I found an article from The Cult of Pedagogy that discussed classroom jobs and how they can be beneficial in high school classrooms as well.
I am curious what everyone's experience with classroom jobs were growing up? I know for me, it was only a thing in elementary school. Because of this I never would have thought of the benefits for older classes. https://t.co/mFYqVyQyD6#edtc300#feedly
One of the classroom jobs high school students could “apply” for was podcaster. The job description went as follows:
“Produces a regular brief podcast on a topic of interest to students, using tools like Soundtrap or GarageBand to make it happen. To keep it manageable, Gibson recommends only having students do one podcast per month, and keeping each episode under 3 minutes”
Cult of Pedagogy
I thought this was such a cool classroom application of podcasts that it inspired me to learn a podcast tool for my blog this week. So, I started looking at the recommended podcast tools to see which one I should try. I quickly realized that I couldn’t use GarageBand that was recommended in the above article because on Katia’s list is says that it is a Mac only editing tool and I don’t have a Mac. So, based off the other tools Katia and Amanda recommended my other options were Zencastr or Anchor.
Thankfully, a few of my fellow classmates, Ian Mansfield and Janelle Boutin were on the ball and posted their blogs before I really got started with the tools (reading week has just been flying by) and they both recommended Anchor. So, I am glad that they did the hard work because it let me just jump straight to trying out Anchor!
When I first started playing around with Anchor I was using my laptop. So, the first step was making an account and verifying my email, then I was ready to get started with creating an episode!
The first thing I did was hit the “Let’s do this” button and just checked out what all the categories were for and did I recorded a little test audio to see how it sounded.
After doing that I decided that I wanted to switch to the app because I felt like the audio would be better from my phone than my laptop. The app was just as easy, if not easier, to use than the desktop version. I recorded my audio and then added in some interludes, one at the beginning and one at the end, and then I even played with adding some sound effects into the podcast episode too! Once you add audio, sounds affects, or interludes it is very easy to rearrange their sequence. You just have to press and hold the segment you want and then drag it to it’s new spot and then don’t forget to hit save otherwise it will just go back to the original order (I only made this mistake a couple of times before I realized there was a save button).
After I finished making the episode, I hit a minor roadblock when it came to actually posting it. I was trying to hit the publish button and it wasn’t working which I didn’t understand why. Then I realized I hadn’t actually set up the actual podcast to post the episode to. Setting up the podcast was very simple and straight forward as you will see in the pictures below.
Once I had the podcast set up I could finally post the episode that was saved in my drafts. That was as simple as hitting the publish button and giving the episode a name (and later realized you also are required to have a description for it to work).
I honestly felt so cool seeing my published podcast and I was very excited to go see it on Spotify because that’s when you know it’s the real deal. However, I guess I was too impatient because it originally did not work and I got an error message (please don’t judge the song I was last listening to).
However, a couple minutes later I got an email saying that it had officially been approved to be on Spotify!
Now, it might seems like I am leaving you hanging here but…… you can listen to my actual podcast episode here. I know I know, I could have just included it here but I personally felt more organized giving the weekly blog part and learning project parts their own posts!
Throughout high school, twitter was the one social media platform I never really got into. Everyone I knew my age that used twitter was on it for the memes because apparently memes got popular on twitter and then after they were dying out on twitter they would become popular on Instagram, which is generally where I would see them. So, I would also get mad fun of for being “late to the game” on the meme trends. But from what people talked about around twitter it seemed like there was no community guidelines at all and people really just posted whatever they pleased which steered me away from getting twitter. So, I was very shocked in my first year education classes when they suggested everyone make a teacher twitter account. I thought to myself “really?!? Twitter?!” but now here I am learning about all the beneficial uses for teachers to be on twitter – who would have thought.
The twitter I am currently using I did actually get in my senior year of high school specifically for when my school hosted the region 10 drama festival. At previous festivals, they had started a hashtag for everyone to post on throughout the festival and I wanted to incorporate that aspect into our festival. Of course, our festival was vine and meme themed so the whole hashtag is just drama memes we made. Then the hashtag didn’t even catch on with the other schools at the festival. However, if you scroll far enough back you’ll see some random posts about that!
Then, once I started university, I started to morph my account into a teacher account and I pretty much just used it to post about different university events that I attended, mostly professional development events and then a little bit about my ECS 100 field placement.
I got to spend my Saturday morning at my first ever PD day along side my ECS 100 classmate and friend @TamaraBartley4! I was very nervous going into the workshop but I learned so much. Thank you @LeeAirton for coming to the U of R and providing us with the amazing workshop! pic.twitter.com/t5ctei6wH1
Although I have had my twitter for a couple years, I am really just starting to figure out how to actually work it and use it consistently. I am also really starting to understand why it is so beneficial for teacher, there is literally a whole community of teachers on twitter supporting one another and sharing their ideas – which is honestly so cool. I am actually shocked that I have never heard of the #saskedchat before! You think that in my first year when they were mentioning that we should all have twitters that they would explain why we should, which could maybe include talking about the #saskedchat. I think the ability to have an online support system has really increased in importance over the past year, so I can see my use of twitter growing for this reason.
I really enjoyed the #saskedchat week! I was excited, overwhelmed, in awe, and stressed all at the same time! I made a TikTok that describes how I felt during the chat to a T (also yes I realize that I made a TikTok and then upload it to YouTube to embed onto my blog, I forgot that you could just embed TikToks). I feel like some of my classmates may relate as well!
It probably just felt like this because it was my first ever chat and first time using Tweetdeck so there was a lot going on! I think it was helpful that we did the #saskedchat as a class because a lot of us were in the same boat when it came to being newbies and also with some of our answers to the prompts. So, it didn’t feel like I was the odd one out in a chat filled with very experienced teachers that had such good answers to every single question.
I figured that I would start this blog off with a little recap/reflection from last week. First off, the workout I did last week didn’t seem terribly hard while I was doing the workout and I had actually questioned if I under estimated myself and maybe took it too easy but oh boy was I wrong. The day after my workout my muscles got progressively more stiff as the day went on and the second day after my workout my muscles were very stiff in the morning and then progressively got better throughout the day. I guess the website wasn’t lying when they said 48 hours recovery after each workout.
Also, as I mentioned in last weeks blog, this week I decided I would focus on trying out various work out videos. I was very excited to get going with this week because I got so many good suggestions for classmates to try out! However, there was too many to fit all in one week, I might have to extend this theme to next week or maybe I will just incorporate them in each week along with with my original plan.
Best Idea Ever!
After my first learning project post, I received a reply on my twitter post from a fellow classmate, Caelyn Hembroff, suggesting we do a virtual workout together sometime. So, we got in contact and I asked her what she had in mind as she suggested we do an online barre class together. Since this week my focus was on following video workout I figured it was the perfect fit to do this week!
What a great project! I’d be interested in doing a virtual workout together sometime if you’re up for it!
I had looked into barre classes before because I have heard that they are really good workouts but I have always been too chicken to actually sign up for a class and try it out. So, trying it out for the first time online seemed perfect because it is WAY less intimidating.
When it came down to picking a time and an actual class to do for our virtual workout it was actually fairly simple! We figured out when we were both free (and thankfully we have free time at the same time so it could work) and then Caelyn sent me a couple options that she figured would be good for someone just starting out and then I picked one. It was nice that we needed for the workout was hand held weights! I actually really enjoyed the class and the occasional thumbs up for support during the workout from Caelyn. The workout moves themselves were fairly simple but let me tell you that does not mean the were easy! When I tell you my legs were already SHAKING after the warm up, I am not even joking.
Up next…
For my next workout of the week I chose to do a workout through the Fitbit app. The workout was a 25 minute beginner upper body workout.
I think I would have enjoyed this workout more if I would have been able to follow along with the video on my laptop rather than on my phone because your phone screen is just too small. I also ran into the problem of not having the right sized weights to do this workout. I only have 2 pound weights and 10 pound weights which seemed to be too light or too heavy but that being said, even with the 2 pound weights, it was still a fairly good workout.
Last but not least…
I decided to finish this week off with an “off the bike” workout from Wheelhouse Live. I picked a video called “We all start somewhere” because throughout the video there was modifications for the exercises if you needed it. I really liked this workout because it incorporated all 5 of the beginner strength training exercises that I learned about last week!
Now that I have tried a video from some of the places I was originally thinking about, next week I hope to start trying some of the resources suggested to me because there are so many cool ones!
Am I stuck in my comfort zone? Or was it just really cold outside?
So, far I have actually enjoyed just doing the workouts from the comfort of my own room. I am not sure if this is because it is far less nerve racking than going to a gym or if I just really didn’t want to have to go outside because it was almost 50 below. Either way, this is strange for me because normally I am such a go out and do things type of person (if that makes any sort of sense). This is why I struggle with online learning because there is no going to class, studying at the library, or studying at coffee shops with friends – but this is besides the point. Just working out in my room is a good start but part of my goal for this project is to get comfortable and motivated in an actual gym setting. So, I am saying it right now that I WILL go to my apartments little gym next week.
Question Time
I typically listen to music while working out, but I have been wanting to try and get into podcasts. So, I was intrigued when this came up on my feedly. Does anyone second these podcasts or have any suggestions (ed related or not)? https://t.co/kFBJPMGYoZ#edtc300
My question for everyone is what do you listen to while you workout? Does anyone listen to podcasts while working out? I also posted this on twitter because I normally listen to music. I have been wanting to start listening to podcasts because I love the idea of them but I just can’t seem to get myself into them. I am not sure if I am just not listening to good ones or if maybe they just aren’t my cup of tea. Does anyone else feel like this or is it just me?
After last weeks post I was feeling very confident in my plan and I was ready to roll. However, after trying to do some more research for what exactly I should be doing these first couple weeks, with just handled weights and body weight, I quickly became bogged down with information. Not only did I have to look up half the terms some sites were using but every website seems to suggests similar but slightly different things and some just straight up contradict each other. I am also not really sure which sources will be giving me the most accurate information.
Like I mentioned last week, I managed to find my way onto fitness tik tok and this really did NOT help me try to figure out what is right and what is wrong. Also, normally I use tik tok for brain breaks but now every time I go on I just have to listen to contradicting information from people who probably aren’t even certified to be giving fitness advice (I think I need to find my way onto a different side of tik tok again).
So, long story short, I kind of gave up on trying to sort through website after website to find the best possible information and just realized I needed to simply pick one so that I can actually get started.
So, where did I end up finding my information you may ask…
I really liked how this website broke down strength training into 5 different maneuvers:
Hip-dominant (deadlifts, hinges, and swings)
Knee-dominant (squats and lunges)
Pushing movements (pushups, dips, and presses)
Pulling movements (rows and pull-ups)
Gait patterns, such as walking and running
Then, this was further broken down into simpler exercises for beginners to try which I liked.
Squats
Pushups
Planks
Deadlifts
Rows
However, what I didn’t like was that there were no videos or anything showing you how to do the exercises.
Sooooo…
I ended up searching and finding another website How to Get Stronger With 7 Simple Exercises | SELF that had the same 5 exercises (plus two extra) as the other website. BUT this one has little GIF’s to go along with each exercise which I really liked! So, I finally decided that this week I will stick to squats, pushups (scared for this one), planks (this one too), deadlifts, and rows. The second website suggests 6-12 reps, 3-5 sets, and 2-5 minutes of rest between each set.
Slight change of plans or should I say scenery…
Right now the little gym in my apartment building can only have a maximum of three people at one time. I must have the worst timing because every time I tries to go down there at the end of last week it was ALWAYS full. This past Friday I had to go back to my hometown to coach learn to skate so while I was there I stopped at my parents house a took some of their hand weights so that if my gym is always full, I can still do these workouts in my bedroom – which is happened for this weeks workout (yes, I only managed to make myself workout once this week, I will do better I swear. I am aiming for 2-3 times a week).
I think for next week I am going to try and find some workout videos to do rather than structuring my own because it was very confusing and I still don’t really know what I am doing. Plus, I feel like following a workout video will also help me figure out how to structure my own workouts later on. I remembered that my new Fitbit came with a free trial of Fitbit premium and there are a bunch of workouts on there I will have to check out for next week.
This week we were tasked with getting an RSS reader. This should have been a fairly simple task since Katia showed us exactly how to maneuver around the site and set up different feeds. However, I waited a couple days after class before I tried to set mine up and I somehow managed to forget everything Katia showed us and the zoom recording of our last class hadn’t been posted on UR courses yet. So, it took some playing around but it did eventually come back to me and I think I have it all figured out now.
To start following new sources, I searched a variety of things including: edtc, distance education, online-learning, early childhood education, elementary education, e-learning, education, and I also clicked on some of the suggestions that randomly popped up as well. With each of these searches I went through and pretty much just followed the ones that had the most amount of followers. Another thing that I was kind of looking for when following accounts was posts related to covid and the effect it has had on the education system. Then, I either added them to my #EDTC300 feed or my Elementary Education feed. I also added a Board so then I can scroll through my feeds and and add articles that I might want to post to twitter to that board.
Screenshot of my #EDTC300 Feed
One source that I found on Feedly was the Cult of Pedagogy . The account originally caught my eye because of the a podcast episode titled 6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2021 | Cult of Pedagogy which I saw when quickly glancing at the profile. I also noticed that the account had a lot of followers so I decided that I would also follow. Then, when I was on twitter, I saw that a fellow classmate, Laura Fiddler, had posted something about the Cult of Pedagogy’s Twitter account and there is plenty of good stuff posted on twitter as well!
Another Account that caught my interest is Mindshift KQED because their articles seem to be all about the impact the pandemic has had on the education system and how it has affected students. This is seen in articles such as:
I want to end off by asking if anyone has found any good Canadian sources to follow on Feedly? Also, if any of my fellow elementary educators out there found any good sources to follow, I would love to add them to my Elementary Ed feed (as you can see in the screenshot it is lacking)!
Since the pandemic started, university has moved online, and sports/intramurals have been cancelled my physical activity levels have seriously dropped. Everyday I just sit at my desk and do zoom classes, pre-recorded lectures, readings, and assignments. I am averaging anywhere between 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day which is far below my 10,000 step goal I used to easily achieve. I honestly never would have thought that I would miss walking to classes, even in forty below weather. To go along with this, my sleep schedule was also way out of wack because I would be up late every night trying to get as much done as possible and then in the mornings I would always sleep in because you know with asynchronous classes I don’t HAVE TO get up early to do them. So, I made my first ever new years resolution to be more active and I figured this class would be perfect to sort of force me to stay on track.
In the past, on the rare occasion I do go to the gym, I go with high expectations to try the machines but there is always other people in there so I chicken out and just end up doing cardio the whole time (which I like to tell myself is better than nothing). Of course, since my Tik Tok algorithm knows me so well I keep seeing videos about other people that have the same kind of gym anxiety.
So, I have created a plan to slowly ease myself into strength training:
Step 1: Start simple by learning various exercises with handheld weights in the comfort of the little gym in my apartment complex.
Step 2: Learn how to use the couple weight machines in my apartments little gym.
Step 3: Start actually using my Planet Fitness gym membership and begin learning the weight machines there.
Step 4: Learn how to effectively structure a workout using those machines so I can really look like what I am doing.
Step 5: This could quite possibly be the most nerve-racking step because it involves going to the scariest areas in planet fitness which is where the free weights and Smith machines are. However, my ultimate goal of strength training is pretty much learning how to use the Smith machine.
Normally, I would be a lot more comfortable working out with a friend because then you can kind of help guide each other but since we are in a pandemic, you aren’t allowed to buddy workout (or at least that’s what it says at Planet fitness) but I feel so awkward and lost by myself. But I am sure this will go away once I figure out all the machines and actually know what I am doing.
I also honestly like the idea of learning this from online sources because the idea of having like a personal trainer just also sounds scary. Since I seem to have found my way on to fitness Tik Tok lately, I have seen lots of accounts trying to help ease this gym anxiety by showing how to set up and properly use various machines. I even followed an account of a Planet Fitness employee showing their machines so I think that will be helpful. I also have Fitbit premium and they have a bunch of online workouts that I will have to go through and see if they will help at all. Other than that I think my main plan will be a lot of YouTube videos, googling questions and also searching for new apps that may help.
If anyone has any suggestions about good resources or some tips to help get me going, they would be greatly appreciated!
