Category: EDTC 300 (Page 2 of 2)

Technology and Teaching

May 28, 2020 / Sarah / 2 Comments

In Michael Wesch’s video An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube he talks quite a bit about how things are connected on the internet. How things kind of move through the many different cyber scenes (YouTube or websites) without too much trouble. One of the unique things about the internet, is that it is very easy for anyone to post something. As Wesch mentioned, his video went to number 1 without any expensive production. This is one of the nice things about the internet, that anyone can use it, however this can be used negatively just as much as it can be used positively. Unfortunately, because anyone can post anything, it means that it makes it quite easy to cyberbully and spread things that are just not true. It can also be used in a positive way, like sharing resources or raising awareness on a specific topic.

One thing we were talking about in class is posting about personal things on social media. Things like posting about someone’s death, a marriage proposal, or a pregnancy announcement. It becomes very important to know who your audience is and teach students what is appropriate to post and what is not, especially considering that kids are being exposed to social media at a younger and younger age.

I think because of the pandemic, teachers are going to rely on technology to be the main tool to teach in the future. It is also important to recognize that technology is not a substitution for teachers. As I was looking at twitter the other day, I saw a tweet by Nicholas Ferroni that said “This pandemic has proven that technology can’t replace teachers. Technology is a teaching tool, but not a teacher.” This tweet especially got me thinking about the fact that teachers do so much more than just teach the content and cannot just be replaced by any kind of technology. It also got me thinking about relying too much on technology in teaching. It seems like even when I was in high school if the technology didn’t work we couldn’t do anything. It’s honestly scary that we are getting to the point that we need the technology to teach, and when it’s gone we can’t do anything.

Learning Project: Drawing A Nose

May 28, 2020 / Sarah / 2 Comments

This was one of my first attempts. No shading and just using the circle as a guide.

So, this week, I decided to focus on drawing noses. The structure was pretty easy, I followed another RapidFire Art video. I really like the videos because the artist goes through a lot of details that are helpful to know. For example, they go through where to make the highlights, depending on where the light is coming from in your drawing and how to make different nose shapes. The one downside to these videos is that they are beyond my skill level, however I used some of the things I learned last week to help me.

This was my final attempt, with all the shading, and I went back to darken some of my lines after I was done shading.

I found from last week that it is more helpful for me to use the guidelines, however I found that it worked best if I just drew a circle and use that as my guide. I found that having the circle helped to guide where to have lighter shading. I also found it much easier to just do light shading on the bridge of the nose instead of drawing lines to guide the shading. Also, I used the shading technique from last week’s post, which was using q-tips to shade the parts that needed to be shaded instead of using a pencil. Since I am new to doing shading in my drawings, it was hard for me to do the shading with just a pencil and getting the right shade (it was always too light or too dark) and it was hard to blend and get a smooth result, which is why I used the q-tip technique. I also found it much easier to draw with a #2 pencil then to use a mechanical pencil that I used last week.

Also, if anyone has any drawing tips or tricks/resources that they would be willing to share that would be much appreciated.

Learning Project: Drawing Eyes

May 20, 2020 / Sarah / 1 Comment

So, this week I decided to focus on eyes. I watched two videos, the first video was from a YouTube channel called RapidFireArt, it super detailed and explained why they did each step, which was super helpful, however I found it to be past my skill level. I did use some of the techniques from the first video but found a second video from a YouTube channel called Farjana Drawing Academy that did it a simpler way and was more at my skill level. The biggest challenge was doing the shading and the eyelashes, the first video explained how to shade with just a mechanical pencil, however the second video explained how to do it with a q-tip, I found doing it with the q-tip was much easier to make it smooth, and the strokes much less visible.

Mixture of first and second video technique (my final product.

So, what I ended up liking the best was doing the main outline with construction lines, I found it was easier to control what the eye looked like (how much it slanted, the overall shape etc.) For the shading I used the q-tip method, I found it too difficult to just shade with a pencil, because I couldn’t get the strokes thick enough or close enough together to make it look natural. It was also difficult to shade/blend the places that needed to be blended while keeping the places that needed to be defined, defined. I found that the lines stayed more defined if I used a #2 pencil instead of a mechanical pencil. I’m overall happy with the way the last eye turned out, the only thing I would like to be a bit better was the eyelashes. I still have not mastered the technique for the eyelashes, but one thing I noticed was that I was putting too much pressure through each stroke, which made them too thick at the end where it should’ve been more of a point. Overall I am happy with the way they turned out.

My thoughts on Twitter

May 19, 2020 / Sarah / 2 Comments

Much to my surprise I actually enjoyed twitter, I am not a big social media person, but I do think it has its place. I think it can be good to connect with other teachers or future teachers, and it is also helpful to share resources. Despite the fact that I usually don’t care for social media, I actually really enjoyed Twitter, and it was good to connect with people on saskedchat. It was the first time I actually had a chance to connect with other teachers.

My experience with saskedchat was good, I liked that it was an ongoing conversation instead of posting something then walking away for a few hours then coming back. It was also good to see how other people are dealing with/handling certain situations such as teaching during the pandemic and dealing with stress. As I mentioned before this was the first time, I got the opportunity to connect with other teachers, so it was a good experience.

One thing that I thought about was using Twitter as a way to connect with parents so that parents can see what their kids are up to when they are at school. Using social media in the classroom can be great but it has to be used correctly, and for the right reasons so it can be a positive experience for all involved. For example, I wouldn’t use social media as an outlet to vent all my frustrations about my class/students/parents as this comes off as unprofessional, however I might share a student’s excellent work, or a project that we are working on in class.

Changes, Changes.

May 14, 2020 / Sarah / 0 Comments

I would like to start off by saying that I do not know what is going to happen in the future, but I will share what I think is going to happen this fall. I would love to believe that everything is going to go back to normal soon, however I don’t really think that will happen. For fall 2020 I think it is safe to say that it will be different then we have seen in past years. I don’t think that many schools will go back to full time, face to face classes, for the first year back anyway. They might have some face to face classes and supplement with some online classes, and online resources, or they might keep all the classes online. Another option we were talking about in class was that students would be taught in shifts. For example, having half days or having groups come on different days. I think the other thing that has to be factored in is when everyone goes back to work, the parents are going to have to figure out what the kids that aren’t old enough to stay home alone are going to do when they are at work. A good option might be to open schools but not mandatory for students to come in, and keep teaching the rest through online classes, which will have its own set of issues that will have to be worked out.

As for teaching and education in 2025, I think it will be different from what teaching and education used to be, but different doesn’t necessarily mean worse. Different just means different, educators might have to find a better, more effective way to teach online, and deal with whatever situation we are in in 2025. I think (and hope) that by 2025 we will be able to teach face to face to some degree. I would not be surprised if the max class sizes go down to minimize physical contact. At the very least I think there will be more awareness that we need to be careful so that this virus doesn’t get out of hand again. For me personally, I know that the thought of the virus will be in the back of my mind whenever I am with a large group of people, or when I’m out in public it will be in the back of my mind to keep my distance, and to wash your hands whenever I touch anything.

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely rest of your day.

I’m Drawing a Blank.

May 13, 2020 / Sarah / 7 Comments

Hello! This is the first post of my EDTC 300 learning project. The purpose of this project is to learn a skill through online resources and document the journey on this blog!

This is about where I am now in terms of skill. I drew this picture of Daffy Duck a while ago.

So, after much debate on what I should do for this project, I finally landed on drawing. Being the indecisive person I am, it took me days to decide on this topic. I have always wanted to learn how to draw and have picked it up from time to time. This project is the perfect excuse to finally learn how to draw. I have learned how to draw some cartoons off a picture, but I would love to learn how to draw faces, so that is what I am going to focus on. I will focus on one aspect a week (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) and if I have time I will try to tackle some other things as well, and post every week about what I learned, my progress, and what tools I have been using.

Hello and Welcome to my blog!

May 13, 2020 / Sarah / 0 Comments

As you probably already know, my name is Sarah Clark. I am going into my second year of education at the University of Regina. I am in the secondary program with a major in Math and a minor in Chemistry, however I am also interested in teaching Computer Science.

So, a little more about me is that I was born in Regina, but I lived in small towns in Alberta for most of my life. We didn’t stay anywhere too long, but we did live in one small town for about five years, and it was where I grew up the most, I remember it the most and it made the biggest impact on me. I was homeschooled until the end of grade nine, when we moved back to Regina. I finished high school in the city, at a public high school, which is where I decided to become a teacher. I am the youngest of eight children, four boys and four girls, and I have eight nieces and nephews.

The only time I have ever blogged, was for a class a few semesters ago, it wasn’t the best experience, but I am excited to explore it more, and share what I learn along the way. Even though I am reluctant to blog, I am interested to try it again and hopefully it will be a good outcome! Also, feel free to follow my twitter, to follow along with me on this journey.