Uncategorized – Mrs. Puscus’ Classroom

Labyrinth – Navigating the Complexities of Online and Blended Learning

February 22, 2024 Christina Puscus Comments 2 comments

Thinking of your own context, what tools for online and blended learning seem most useful/relevant and why? If you currently teach in an online/remote/distance setting, how have you/might you bring these tools into your current context, and how has your experience been impacted by the online or distance format? OR If you do NOT teach in an online/remote/distance setting, how would you feel about teaching with these tools in an online or distance education class, and how would your current…

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Undermines? You Need to Calm Down.

February 3, 2024 Christina Puscus Comments 2 comments

Postman wrote: “…We now know that “Sesame Street” encourages children to love school only if school is like “Sesame Street.” Which is to say, we now know that “Sesame Street” undermines what the traditional idea of schooling represents.” In a blog post, unpack the implications of this quote, particularly the idea that Sesame Street undermines traditional schooling. What does Postman mean here, and how might we extend this idea to the broader effects of AV technologies in schools, from the…

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Everything has Changed – a history of ed. tech. and a lofty understanding of it

January 17, 2024 Christina Puscus Comments 0 Comment

Everything has Changed – what a dramatic way to kick off my ECI833 blog! Fortunately it’s just a nod to T. Swift and my attempt to title each of my weekly posts with one of her songs. Why Taylor? I don’t know. She has a lot of songs. Could I get AI to do this for me? Yes. Let’s see what it can come up with: “Blank Space in Education: Embracing the Tech Revolution” “Learning to the Rhythm of Change:…

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The Cost of Open (and Closed) Education

June 19, 2023 Christina Puscus Comments 5 comments

I thoroughly enjoyed our last class and chance to hear Alan Levine share a little bit about the topic of open education (full disclosure – I typed “Adam Levine” at first and thought… wait a minute…). Prior to hearing him talk about it, I didn’t really know how to define it. I knew very little about it. I suppose I could have taken a good guess at what it was, but it was definitely a weak definition prior to our…

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Grandmas to the rescue!

June 12, 2023 Christina Puscus Comments 0 Comment

I am so pleased to be updating my learning project posts with some positive progress! After the whole “sewing machine not sewing” fiasco, I asked my mother-in-law to take a look at the machine and see if it was threaded right and even able to function properly as it is quite old. Was it broken? Was it missing a part? My MIL suggested I try a new needle because perhaps the old ones were either too dull or didn’t fit the…

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Social media activism – a critique of my voice in online spaces

June 9, 2023 Christina Puscus Comments 3 comments

This week’s class focused on social media activism and we were given several opportunities to consider and voice our opinions on the topic. My initial thoughts going into the presentation were: I do not share much of anything online. I am much more of a consumer than a producer of social media content. Must I go out of my comfort zone to start promoting social justice in online spaces? Do I believe in fighting for social justice and equity? Of…

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TikTok about feeling old!

May 28, 2023 Christina Puscus Comments 1 comment

For my social media platform exploration choice, I chose TikTok. As someone who regularly uses Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, I figured this was the logical choice. It’s the one app in this category that I feel just “makes sense” for me to check out, plus it’s definitely the app of choice among my grade 7 students. Becoming familiar with a culture they are immersed in can’t hurt in building relationships and connections! The first step was creating an account. I…

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“Teacher, help! Who am I?”

June 14, 2022 Christina Puscus Comments 1 comment

Debate 7 – Educators and schools have a responsibility to help their students develop a digital footprint. (Just a quick heads up – I went a bit off the rails with this one into some borderline philosophical territory. Happy reading if you wish to continue (: ) [Quick nod to the debaters for topic 7. You did a masterful job!] It’s no question that technology and the internet have become central and integral to our lives. As stated in the…

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A blessing or a curse? Cell phones in today’s classrooms

June 11, 2022 Christina Puscus Comments 1 comment

Debate #6 – Cell phones should be banned in the classroom. This topic is an especially difficult one for me. In the pre-vote, I easily chose “disagree”, but upon reflection, there have been a number of times in my teaching career so far where I have said “OKAY CELL PHONES AWAY EVERYONE I DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM AT ALL FOR ANY REASON ANYMORE” or something along those lines. Granted, this usually happens in moments of erupting frustration around some…

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TikTok TikTok… Childhood is running out

June 8, 2022 Christina Puscus Comments 3 comments

This week’s debate (1 of 2): Social media is RUINING childhood. As pointed out during the debate a couple of times, ruining is certainly a strong word. It is also interesting thinking about childhood and the biases each new generation holds regarding what makes a “great childhood”; each age group seems to have had it better than the one that succeeded them for various reasons, one being the digitalization of society. A common outlook is viewing today’s children as missing…

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