Presentations – Week 6

I hate that the video was so spot on. I knew what was coming and I told myself I was going to watch the entire 4-minute video without getting distracted. I am at the airport and in the 4 short minutes I was distracted by someone walking by my phone on the charger, an announcement about our SUPER delayed flight, and my moms obnoxiously loud text alert that I had to show her how to shut off. I could not make it 4 minutes without being distracted. As I sit down to write this, I know I am going to be incapable of completing this blog without distractions. I will have to go back to the week’s articles and once I leave my word doc and enter the land of tabs I will most likely have to check my email, the discord and whatever else I can do other than this blog post. I am going to try my best to not touch my phone. Here goes.

I first want to say this week’s presentation on presentations was truly helpful. I am guilty of relying too heavily on PowerPoint or Google Slides in my classroom. I am going to try to use at least two different programs to create my presentations in my classrooms before Christmas. I use presentations to keep myself organized so I do not get distracted and go off on tangents, despite my student’s best efforts. Sietz and Sinkinson talk about online presentations specifically their purpose to present content, create active and engaged learning in the classroom, and produce online learning materials. That is exactly what I use presentations for. I loved the comedic video shared by the presenters this week; I try very hard not to create presentations like comedian Don McMillan. I found his video on YouTube and realized that he was on America’s Got Talent earlier this year!

 

I really connected to Eva Svenson’s article on Google Classroom. About 4 years ago the Phys. Ed. department made it our professional development goal to use Google Classroom for our health and PE classes. I remember thinking “why do I have to do this, I have a Weebly”? Now I use Google Classroom every day, multiple times a day. As mentioned in the article Google Classroom is a powerhouse when it comes to communicating with my students and handing over responsibility to them. I set up my Google Classroom so my students can see what we do daily, so if a student were to miss class they just have to go to the date they missed and the material and any assignment will be posted with that date. It might be more work for me to upload everything daily, but it is so satisfying when a grade 12 kid who has skipped my class three days in a row asks “what did I miss” and I get to say “go look on Google Classroom”. Google Classroom allows me to get messages to the students which is valuable when the gym roof is leaking, and I need all my students to meet in my classroom last minute. There are so many features I love about Google Classroom, but the best one is students being able to turn in their assignments. I make it known that if students have missed or are unable to hand in their work in class, they can always just post a picture of the completed work and I will accept it on time. Svenson states that Google Classroom allows for teachers to have more accessibility, structure, clarity, and reduced stress. I could not agree more. This past week I was gone, and I was able to add my substitute teacher to my Google Classroom where she could manage the lessons exactly as I had them planned and scheduled. I can see *some* students have handed in their assignment and I am going to be able to pick up right where she left off without the awkward “I’m back, what did you do with the sub” day.

“Has the Internet created a world of ‘multitaskers’ who don’t accomplish as much as they could have without it”? Yes and no. I think it depends on the person. For myself I can set boundaries and be a “single-tasker” when I need to be. I was able to write this entire post without looking at my phone. (It is 10 feet away from me I must admit). I am a big list person. When I get to cross things off a list, I get excited and I feel accomplished. I thrive when I am multi-tasking and getting a lot of things done at once. However, I have lots of friends, especially teachers who say, “I don’t know where my prep went today”. I know where it went… They started looking for lessons on TPT, then got a Snapchat notification, then opened TikTok, saw a cool gadget, opened Amazon and then the bell rang. For myself, I do not find the internet to be a big distraction, but social media is a whole other story.

Tips for being productive on the internet.

• Turn off Netflix
• Put phone on the other side of the room
• Make a list and prioritize it
• Close unnecessary tabs
• Turn off push notifications (leave me alone Pinterest)
• Set a time window of productivity (1 hour of productivity = 10 minutes of free time)
• Do not get trapped watching Don McMillian comedy videos on YouTube