Contributing to Others Learning
The end of the semester here which means it is time to reflect on how I helped fellow peers and classmates in EDTC 300 learn. This semester for me was a crazy busy one as I am in my third year so on top of five classes I had my pre-internship, as well as working as a lifeguard part time to help me afford essentials, and finally my personal life having its ups and downs. Therefore, it was time consuming to support my own learning and even more of a challenge to support others. Despite this I tried my best to be as supportive as possible.
Blogging
My blog is now filled with posts from my learnings throughout this semester. I may have been late to the party on some of the assigned blog posts but I always made sure to complete them and ask questions to potential readers to gain their thoughts on my opinion or have more insightful thinkings, conversations and such.
Throughout blogging this semester, there were two main focuses. One being my learning project and another being assigned blog posts from my EDTC 300 class. From my learning project posts, it supported fellow peers learning as if they ever wanted to try drawing on an IPad they would have some tips and tricks up their sleeve. As well, it possibly could have helped others with their learning projects as I was open and honest with sharing challenges and frustrations I had while working on my learning project. Therefore, the classmates that read my posts may have been able to relate and reflect and try how some of my strategies when I feel this way may work for them. The assigned blog posts supported others learning as I participated in every one, therefore, my classmates could engage and have deeper conversations on topics that were brought in class. Often I would share my own personal opinions or experiences with these topics which a lot can be learned from, as someone with a different opinion or experience might gain a different perspective after reading mine.
From prioritizing my learning I wasn’t able to visit as many other classmates blogs and reflect on their learnings. However, I was able to manage a couple where I would reflect on what the peer said in their post and might have asked a couple of questions to gain a better understanding. From another education class this semester I learned how effective questioning really can deepen a students understanding of a topic to get them thinking deeper about what they discussed, so when replying to others posts this is what I tried to do. I kept track of the posts I commented on, but when going back to find the list I kept, I could not find it after looking for 2 days. Unfortunately, I do not have example of different comments I made as I cannot find list where I kept track.
I was more present on Twitter than I was on commenting on others blog posts. Twitter is a great place to support learning if used that way, my learning was definitely supported from my fellow education peers as their were lots of ideas and resources shared around. I also shared resources I found on Twitter by retweeting things I saw as useful. I also would update Twitter with a link to my blog post every time I updated a new blog.
I also started to tweet some of my own lessons and resources that I was using in the classroom when I began in my pre-internship as seen below.
I also used Twitter to reply to others posts when they shared. I would share my thoughts on what they Tweeted which supported their learning as it was often positive feedback. For example, the one bellow under Emma’s tweet is sharing how I also love using children’s books to teach and that I liked the choices she had chose.
Class
I also supported others learning by attending class and being on time. Not only would I just show up for class but I would listen intently and participate in class discussions. I had a great time working and learning from all of you and being able to take this course! I hope you all have a relaxing Christmas break and I’ll maybe see you around campus next term. Good luck with all your future endeavours!