Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.
Entering this course, I had a lot of experience with technology or at least I thought I did. However, this course has encouraged me to examine and grow areas of my digital identity and create a professional online community that will encourage professional develop.
Through this course I have had 5 main areas of development.
-Digital Citzenship & Digital Identity
-Implementation of technology in the classroom
| Grade: Grade 2 Subject: Science – Animal Extinction |
| Content: This Science activity shows how endangered animals affect the food web. To start the class, I would explain endangered animals and extinct animals through a short class discussion. Then I would play a quick video Next each student would get a copy of the above handout. They will start by choosing one animal and placing an X over it. The students will then fill out a couple of the questions about the animal they choose. Next they will draw a picture of the animal they choose. Lastly, they will use resources to answer the “If your animal where to go extinct what would the effects be?” They will have a choice to use library books or laptop/tablets as there resource. |
| Outcomes and Indicators: AN2.1: Analyze the growth and development of familiar animals, including birds, fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, during their life cycles. Indicators for this outcome (B) (AN2.1)Use a variety of resources (e.g., Elder, naturalist, zookeeper, park warden, pet store, books, pictures, and videos) to find information about the life cycles of living things. (D) (AN2.1)Recognize the cyclic nature of Mother Earth expressed by the Medicine Wheel, including life cycles and seasonal behaviours of animals. (E) (AN2.1)Compare the length and stages of life cycles of familiar animals. (F) (AN2.1)Describe the characteristics common to each stage (e.g., birth, youth, adulthood, and old age) of the life cycle of familiar animals (e.g., dog, cat, beaver, frog, fish, bird, ant, wasp, and chicken). |
| Prerequisite Learning: Reading Skills (may need assistance)àPrinting and spelling skills (may need assistance)à Knowledge and understanding of extinct and endangered animalsà Basic drawing/coloring skills |
| Lesson Preparation: Equipment/Materials: -Task worksheet -YouTube video set up and ready to play -Pencil & Eraser – Coloring tools (crayons, markers, pencil crayons) -Informational animal books – Tablets or laptops Advanced Preparation: – Print of task worksheets -Prepare YouTube video – Prepare the lesson/ discussion on endangered and extinct species -Book laptops/ tablets |
| Presentation: Set: (20 mins): Introduce the topic & encourage discussion Briefly explain endangered and extinct animalsWatch YouTube video on endangered animalsOpen the floor to discussionAsk the kids if they know any endangered or extinct animalsDiscuss how and why animals become endangersTalk about what we can do to help the endangered animalsOpen the floor to questions Development: (30 mins): Time to fill in task worksheet Choose one animal from web diagram and X it Fill in all 3 questions about the X animalRead and interact with resources to do necessary research for questionsDraw and color the animal’s picture Closure: (10 mins): Time for class reflectShare with other students Reflect on “If your animal where to go extinct what would the effects be?” question |
Grade 3 – Living off the Land Lesson- English language Arts and Indigenous
Below I have attached a link to a document that shares 5 cross curriclar lessons plans that all relate to the major theme of living off the land and understanding indigenous perspectives. These lessons where created by fellow classmates, Christine Tholl, Elsie Kish, Karlee Andres, Paige Hubbard and myself. Please feel free to use them!
Cross-Curricular, Integrated Curricular Planning: Responsive to Aboriginal Perspectives
Grade 5- Climate Change Lesson- Science and English Language Arts
For the final week of my learning project I decided to take a different approach. For this week’s learning I focused on learning about baby sign. I wanted to know if it was common for people to use them and if they actually worked? I also decided that a research style learning this week would allow me to use some new resources like journals and articles that I haven’t really used throughout this learning project. I also wanted to learn a few of the signs but for the most part I wanted to learn how common the signs are and more about the baby sign as a whole.
For this weeks learning I used two main sources. I started off by using a resource that would help me become familiar with the different signs. The resource I used was How to Teach Baby 25 Key Words in Baby Sign Language. The format of this resource was super easy to follow and learn from. The different signs where labelled then described and also had a picture attached to demonstrate the sign. Once I had made myself familiar with a few of the signs I choose to move onto the research aspect of this weeks learning.
I started off the research aspect of this weeks learning by searching “How common is sign for babies”. From this search I found a really good website “Baby Sign Language: When, How and Why to Try It”. This website told me everything I need to know about sign language for babies like when to start teaching it, how to teach it and why to teach it. The website define baby sign by saying, “Baby sign language is an effective way to help your child communicate, allowing your non-verbal little one to express his needs before he knows how to use words.” It also noted teaching your child sign can help avoid a lot of frustration caused by trying to communicate which I think would be very helpful for myself this summer when I’m working at the daycare because I know how frustrating communication can be. I was surprised that the website suggested you can begin teaching sign between 8-9 months it seemed so young but I guess the sooner you can communicate the better. I was also surprised to learn that teaching you baby sign can actually help them start to verbally speak sooner because they become more excited to communicate.
Reflecting on this week of learning I am super glad I decided to take a different approach with this week. I definitely think teaching sign to babies does have lots of benefit and this is defiantly something I will keep in mind for when I have kids. This concludes the learning aspect of my learning project thanks for following along.
These week I was challenged to explore coding. I was originally just going to code a short scratch problem someone else created. However I wanted to challenge myself and be creative so I choose to do some coding of my own. I choose to use Code and the extension “dance party”. I choose dance party because I thought it would be easier to learn as a first time coder. I decided to challenge myself and not watch any how to videos and just learn through experience. It took me a few tries but once I got things figured out it was surprisingly easier then I thought.
Throughout this experience I had two main learnings. The first thing that I learned is it’s important to create and alter the set up function of the code before trying to add actions. On my first attempt I was so excited to get the characters doing actions that I skipped this step and it made it very confusing to add actions when I just had one animal in the centre was a setup. The second thing I learned is the best product will come from trial and error. The resource makes it super easy to add and delete things so don’t be afraid to test out different options then choose what you like best.
I would say my overall experience of coding was very good. In my future as an educator I would like to explore coding so I am able to use it to its full capacity in my classroom. I think coding has the potential to be a great classroom or virtual learning tool for students of all ages. The wide variety of variations for creating different codes would make it easy for a teacher to create an activity that accommodates many different levels of students. As a future educator I would defiantly like to incorporate coding into my classroom as a learning resource. If coding is something new too you I would defiantly recommend checking it out!
For week 5 of my ASL learning project I focused on the months of the year, the days of the week and a few weather characteritics. This week I tried to challenge myself and use unique resources to learn. In this process I was able to find a discover an entire new ASL learning community. I began my learning project for the week by creating a Tok Tok account. I know weird I’m a 19 year old without a Tik Tok account or at least I was. 😉 Once I downloaded the app I went to the search option and typed in ASL. I was completely astonished to see how many results I found. I started to scroll through the content and it seemed like I could almost learn any ASL I had very imagined thought Tik Tok. I had discovered a thriving ASL learning community in the most unexpected place. I decided to refine my search to a more specific topic and see the resources I could find. I managed to find one account that had a great learning video for the months of the year. I followed along with this video and watched it numerous times till I eventually caught on. I really liked this resource because the women verbally talked out the actions and demonstrated the signs clearly. The other main resource I used for this weeks learning was the YouTube Channel Learn How To Sign. I have used this channel in previous week but I seem to always come back to it. The women in the video does a lot of verbal explanation and she always describes and demonstrates each sign couple of times. I would 10/10 recommend this YouTube Channel to any ASL learners.
Reflecting back on this weeks learning experience I would defiantly consider this a win. I had the opportunity to discover a thriving ASL learning community which will definitely help me in my future learning ASL. I also learned not of content in a responsible time frame thanks to the great online resources I found. Next week I plan to review my learning this far and then create a plan to continue my learning. Thanks for following along on my ASL journey.
In todays world your digital identity plays a critical role in your identity as an individual on and off the internet. People create the identity they want others to see which is often the ideal moments of their life. The article Split Images discusses how people form a digital identity that often portrays a false image. The article says, “Everyone presents an edited version of life on social media. People share moments that reflect an ideal life, an ideal self.”. I feel like this is a really powerful quote because it is so so true. Social media allows people to control the way others see there lives. As we discussed in our EDTC 300 community its important to Crete a digital image for ourselves before someone else does. However people get so caught up in creating this image or digital identity that they can become consumed. The article also discussed how digital identities effect peoples overall view of themselves. People mostly post about the good things in their lives which makes comparing your life to the ideal life of another person very dangerous for a persons confidence and overall health.
This week I was challenged to cybersleuth a fellow classmate. I started the process by simply searching Karlee Andres into google. This lead me directly to her Facebook and to her Pinterest. Her Facebook was pretty open to me because we share a mutual friend. However I dint gather much from pintrest. All said and done I was actually expecting to find a lot more information about Karlee then I did. However after connecting back with her she examined that she has various other media accounts like instagram, twitter etc. So I concluded that these accounts aren’t under her full name so they don’t come up when I am searching for her. Overall I would say Karlee’s digital footprint is very private and what is public is super professional.
After cybersleuth Karlee I became interested in explore my digital identity. To my surprise I found that my digital identity was much more public then I had predicted. With this in mind I can’t help but think about how my digital identity will effect me as a future educator? Or how my future students will be effected by the digital identity they create? As a future educator I think it is critical to explore the role a digital identity will play in students lives. digital identities will not only effect how students view one and other but it can also have effects on how the students see themselves. It is critical to teach students ways to create a positive digital identity in order to set them up for success in the future. it is also important to educate students on the “ideal lives” people portray on their social media. It is important for myself and other educators to stay current on topics like digital identity so we can teach our students about this important concept.
For week 4 of my learning project I choose to focus on expanding my knowledge of the common words and phrases. This week learning went rather smoothly, and I feel like I developed a strong understanding for many different signs. I started this week learning off by search google looking for common sentences or words to learn when you’re learning a new language. From this search results I found a lot of helpful ideas of different sentences I could focus on learning this week in ASL. However, I also found that a lot of the suggestions pertain to travelling because most often when someone is learning a new language it is for tourist purposes which I found interesting. This brought me to thinking about how it would be to travel to a place where everyone communicating through ASL. This is honestly kind of a fascinating thought it was interesting to think about the different things in my life, but I read every day without actually knowing I’m reading. In a place where people only communicated through ASL what they have images of the hands doing the signs or symbols? What do you think?
After finding a variety of words and terms I wanted to learn I started looking for some resources to help me learn them. In my past weeks of the learning project I’ve had my best luck learning through videos, so I naturally turned to YouTube do you help me find videos explaining the ASL signs for each term I wanted to learn. Since I used a lot of different videos for this week’s learning, I’m not going to touch on every single one however I will share two YouTube channels I have found helpful for this week’s learning. The first channel I used is called Learn How to Sign. I think I may have use this channel for a resource a couple weeks back. However, I really like this channel, so I decided to use it again this week. I like this channel for a few main reasons. The first reason is the women organizes the different signs into categories so the video I used this week focused specifically on family which made it easy to find all the different terms I was looking for in one spot. The second reason I really like this channel is because the women is also vocal. Recently I found that lots of the ASL learning videos are silent which makes sense but for me it is harder to learn I like vocals while I’m learning. In these videos the women provide an explanation of the sign and then demonstrates it. Few times which really allows me to examine her hand movements. The second YouTube channel I used this week is called eHow. This channel provides very short videos with one sign per video which is handy when you are looking for one specific word. However, the man in these videos doesn’t really explain the different signs so it’s a bit more tricky to grasp. I would say both resources are great overall it depends what you need to have a preference on over another.
Reflecting on this week one of my main struggles was actually finding terms I should learn so carrying forward to next week I have decided to put my learning into categories to make it easier to learn. Next week I have decided I will focus on the 12 months, the days of the week and the weather. In as I have mainly relied on YouTube to produce videos for my learning resources. However, in this coming week I am challenging myself to you as a video resource found somewhere other than Youtube perhaps Tik-Tok or my ASL learning Facebook page that I have joined. Wish me luck as I search for new learning resources in the closing weeks of my learning project.
This week of my learning project I choose to focus on learning common words and simple phrases. I was actually surprised by how easy some of the terms were to learn. The main struggle I had this week was based around word order. In ASL when you sign you format the sentence in object, subject then verb OSV. I watched on video that described the difference between OSV and Signing as we see (SEE). The video really allowed me to understand the difference. In sign they tend to cut out certain words so saying “Sign I Learn” is shorter and easier to say in ASL then “I’m learning sign language”. From my experience with learning French in school I noticed that in the French language they also order the words differently then we do. Overall I would say that this weeks learning went much beyond just exploring the signs because I got to focus in on some of the structural aspects of ASL.
The first week of my learning project I heavily relied on apps as the main resource for my learning. Last week I used videos and a few images as my main resource for learning. This week I tired to find new types of resources to use for my learning. However I found the to be a struggle, since ASL is such a visual thing it is hard to learn it through text and even pictures at times. SO I ended up using a variety of websites and videos as my ASL teacher this week. The main website I used for my learning was Cudoo. Cudoo provided a text description of how to perform each sign and a video that demonstrated it. I liked that the website offered both a text and video explanation because it allowed me to practice my comprehension by reading the text and also my visual interpretation by viewing the video. The only downside to Cudoo was that it only covered 11 terms in total. After learning all the terms provided in Cudoo I decided to learn some other short sentences I found important by using YouTube videos. In this process I manged to find a YouTube channel that shows All demonstrations. The channel is called Sign Language Dictionary and it has various short videos that demonstrate how to perform different signs. There was a few main things I really liked about the sign language dictionary channel. First of I liked that it provided a break down of the sign and also used relations to make the signs easier to remember. Secondly I really liked that the idol where short and just covered one term because that made it easy to find the sign I was looking for a not waste a lot of time. Overall I would say my two resources this week were both very strong and I would definitely recommended both of them to anyone else learning ASL.
Concluding this week of the learning project and looking ahead at the coming weeks of learning I am starting to feel a bit stumped on new resource forms to try. That being said I decided to join a Facebook page called “American Sign Language for All”. I thought joining this page might help me find more resources to use for my learning in the coming weeks. going this group has also provided me with various insights and resources into the deaf and hard of hearing community which is a super amazing thing to be exposed to while learning ASL.
In week 4 of my learning project I am going to expand my learning and try to learn some larger sentences that will allow me to carry on a basic conversation in ASL. At this point I am not completely sure of the virtual resources I will be using next week but likely some videos and hopefully maybe another website. Thats all I have for today wish me luck on week 4 of learning!
Here is some bonus content of my learning. Between week 2 and week 3 I decided to add the learning of colours to my learning plan. I found learning the colours rather easy because I found one video called “Learning how to sign colours in ASL” that explained and demonstrated the signs clearly which made it easy to pick up on. Check out my learning in the video below.
I don’t consider myself to be very old but in my lifetime it’s crazy to think about how far technology has come. Social media effects our lives in so many ways from the relationships we form to the way we communicate with one and other. This new digital culture not only effects our personal aspects like relationships, confidence, ect. this digital culture has also influenced the ways we teach. However, has the digital culture effected the things we teach? We all know the digital world provides many obstacles for students. It’s important to think if we have adapted our teachings to give the students what they need to be successful through these obstacles.
In Michael Wesch presentation really highlights the important connection between media and human relationships. In An anthropological introduction to YouTube video Wesch discuss the unique connection between media and relationships. He discusses how the web allows people to link in ways that they have never linked in before. I think this new type of relationship is an important aspect of our world because the relationship we have in the digital world will affect our relationships in the real world. So, in short digital relationship have and continue to transform relationships. Later in Wesch presentation he says, “Media is not content”, “Media are not just tools of communication”, “Media mediate human relations” and, “When media changes human relations change”. When he said this it really got me thinking about media and how I use it. If you asked me the purpose of media, I would say to find info and communicate however its important to understand that media is much more. Media is the way we communicate and the way we build relationships. It’s important to understand that media is much more to use then we actually think.
As a future educator it’s important to adapt to the changing world. As we have seen in the last few years digital technology is defiantly part of the changing world. The rise of technology means weather I like it or not the digital world will play a role in my future classroom and future school. The digital world can be a great resource for learning and communication. However, it can also be a dangerous place for students as seen is The Sextortion of Amanda Todd video. I think as a future educator it is important to use technology in the classroom for many reasons. The first reason being, student like digital media and technology so uses resources students like for learning can improve the children’s overall interaction with the learning. Secondly, I think it is important to use technology in the classroom because you can take it as an opportunity to teach about the proper ways to use digital media and technology. Technology will play a role in our student lives so its important that we give them the proper advocacy and awareness to deal with the things they may run into on digital media. As educators our job is to educate so let’s give our kiddos all the info they need to make informed decisions in the digital world.
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