For this week’s blog post I am going to focus on the word connection. This is a word that has travelled leaps and bounds over the years. Its meaning has taken on a skin like a chameleon and transformed itself as technology and innovation took off. It’s meaning has expanded from something small and intimate, to something large and global. I do not mean this to sound negative, but similar to a lot of things in our world, this advancement comes with the good and the bad. As I try to place myself in a world without the ease of today, I think that connection would have been such an genuine and intimate experience. Connecting with a diverse group of people would have taken great effort and coordination. Pioneers couldn’t hit up their friends on Facebook, or tag them in a post on Twitter. Instead, they had to physically find themselves standing face-to-face with another human and coordinate the next time they would meet meticulously and precisely. I think of what family life would look like in this time as well, when there was no technology to interrupt genuine connectivity. Social skills and oral communication were constantly being developed and refined, and people were more likely to sit and process emotion, feeling, and thought. I also think of the school experience during this time. The connection between teacher and student. I was intrigued by this time period and found a teacher guide from the 1880’s about pioneer schools in Texas. Children were often taught in one-room school houses. It was stated that real teachers were a “prized possession” for the community. The rules during this time for both students and teachers were not humanitarian or moral, but teachers often had the same students for multiple years of their lives and it is hard for me to think that no connection was formed. If we could disconnect ourselves from the disciplinary and rigid structure of the school, what would that model look like now? By putting myself back in those times and thinking about connection from a general standpoint at that time, it makes me strive to create a place where genuine human connection exists in the classroom. The advancements made in technology have done wonders of good for society as a whole, but I think there is real benefit in creating balance. A balance where we connect with students around the world via Skype, but also allow ourselves to grow and be vulnerable inside a morning sharing circle. A balance where we post our class happenings on our Twitter, but also leave wall space open to celebrate the achievements of different students. "Balance is not something you find, it’s something you create.” - Jana Kingsford So create a culture that is both tight-knit and intimate, as well as global and connective. Doing this will not only benefit students, but will allow you to have more of an influence on your student’s lives as well, and is that not a main reason we all wanted to immerse ourselves into the teaching world in the first place? Check out my fellow Lakehead 9x9x25 bloggers:
Helen Dewaard - http://extending.hjdewaard.ca/category/9x9x25-blogging-challenge/ Steven Secord - http://teachingbythebay.ca
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I have learned a lot in my years of post-secondary about the importance of community, and for this week's blog post what a better way to transition from Thanksgiving weekend than talking about gathering. More specifically, gathering information, gathering resources, and gathering together. Gather InformationIf we are awake to the wide circle of reality around us, then its intelligence can join to ours in ways that reach far beyond what we can imagine from our point-wise awareness" - Arthur Zajonc The world provides us the opportunity to gather information on a daily basis, we simply need to act like sponges. Mindfulness and awareness are two key components to allowing ourselves to soak up this information. As teachers, it can be easy for us to slip into the leader mentality instead of the co-learner mindset. If we allow them to teach us, we can learn a lot from students and gather information about what they have learned, how they learn, and why they know what they know. Parker Palmer talks about letting the subject be the centre of our classroom in his powerful novel, The Courage to Teach. It takes the microphone away from the teacher and "the subject itself corrects us, resisting our false framings with the strength of its own identity, refusing to be reduced to our self-certain ways of naming its otherness" (Palmer, 2017, p. 108). We must be open and available to students and subjects in order to gather and soak up information. Be the sponge in a world full of hydrophobics. Gather ResourcesHere is where I get to tell all educators about an amazing platform that allows teachers to gather and share resources they can use across grade levels and curriculum subjects. This collaborative environment is called Cube for Teachers, and it allows you to save resources found on the web to folders of your choice. Cube is great for planning units, saving ideas for the future, and organizing resources into one place. There are many wonderful educators you can follow on Cube to see what they are sharing that may inspire future lessons of your own. Besides this community, be sure that you are continuing to gather resources to keep both yourself and your students inspired and excited to learn in a world that continues to change and grow. Gather Together
Check out my fellow Lakehead 9x9x25 bloggers:
Helen Dewaard - http://extending.hjdewaard.ca/category/9x9x25-blogging-challenge/ Steven Secord - http://teachingbythebay.ca First, a bit of an introduction
I think a big way we grow is by learning more about ourselves. To do this we must constantly be reflecting a light back on ourselves. Why did this upset me? Why did I respond in such a bitter way? Only by self-reflection do we create a pathway for change.
One of the things I have come to know about myself is that I desire structure. I thrive on routines, schedules, and plans. Therefore, to set myself up for success for this free flowing challenge, I decided I would grant myself that much desired structure. I am a graduate student this year and one of the opportunities granted to me along this pathway is to work with a professor at the Lakehead University Orillia campus. Not to brag, but this year I hit the jackpot and was assigned to work with two amazing women in the Faculty of Education, Frances Helyar and Helen Dewaard (who is also doing this challenge). My main task for these educators is to release a weekly podcast for the faculty, which I have set up to focus around a new word each week (see, structure). I thought this was the perfect opportunity to be able to write a blog post simultaneous to the podcast and incorporate the word of the week in a reflective way. So, here we are with the word dream. Dare to dream
Deadlines and commitments. This is what Dan Pallotta tells us are the very two things we need to achieve our dreams.
Pallotta suggests, "we are born to dream and we might die without ever having the chance." I know I have dreams, and I know you do too. We tend to look at what I am going to call our "safe gifts" are. You know the gifts we were born with that will land us a stable career, make us financially secure, and allow us to fit in with a respectable group of friends. But what about your dreams? The dreams that use your "risky gifts" and might not offer you all of the frills of a comfortable life. Why don't we pursue those? Well, my thought is that it boils down to two main reasons: fear and time.
What if you took the advice of Pallotta and made yourself a commitment with a deadline? What if you dared to follow your dreams?
Follow my fellow Lakehead 9x9x25 bloggers:
Helen Dewaard - http://extending.hjdewaard.ca/category/9x9x25-blogging-challenge/ Steven Secord - http://teachingbythebay.ca
With another weekend gone by brings a whole new season to life. Welcome fall, and with this season of harvest, I bring a fresh new blogging challenge to the lifeless pages of this space. The 9x9x25 blogging journey is for educators to be reflective and expressive about all things education, and you can read more about the origins here.
When I first read about this challenge, I thought it sounded rather intriguing, but I did not give myself permission to be apart of it. After all, this project is for educators, not someone like me who is in the full-swing of their Master's of Education. However, after continued reflection and thought, I realized that the only person stopping myself from participating is me. Last June I graduated with both a Bachelor's of Arts and Science, as well as a Bachelor of Education. Despite the fact that I do not have a traditional teaching job in a classroom, I am a teacher. I worked hard to get to where I am and I am not going to let the overanalysis of definitions pertaining to what it means to be an educator stop me from participating in something so COOL. Labels lead me down a rabbit hole of insecurity. I tend to view myself as having limiting beliefs, “those which constrain us in some way” and “just by believing them, we do not think, do or say the things that they inhibit” (Changing Minds, 2018). I never had a name for this discouraging voice until I learned about this term in a psychology class during undergrad. As Mullins (2009) describes in her powerful TED Talk about The Opportunity of Adversity, “to say something outloud brings it to existence.” Recognizing these beliefs about myself has been empowering, but for a long time I allowed my lack of confidence to sit back when all I really wanted was to do was dance with life.
Labels I have given myself over the years has held me back from seizing (or at least trying out) opportunities that have crossed my path. These labels have put a lid on me and cast a shadow to my power (Mullins, 2009). Allowing students to recognize, not judge, identify, not label, what is going on inside of them, gives them a sense of self and permits them “to bring forth what is within, to bring forward potential” (Mullins, 2009). Doors open for us at various stages of our lives. Even still, we tend to view the door as closed because we do not believe in ourselves. So, I challenge each one of you reading this to run through that door before you have the opportunity to let doubt seep in. Run. Seek. Thrive.
After all of this being said, I, an educator, am looking forward to engaging in conversation with many inspiring people over the duration of this challenge. There is still time to join, it begins October 1st, take the plunge, tango with teachers, learn more about yourself, and sign up here. I had the idea to do my video based on Bell Let’s Talk Day about a week before the date when I saw it promoted. I was scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media websites when I saw these promotions. Many people were involved without them directly knowing it. They were connected without being connected. My idea for my digital story began is evolve as a result as this day is near and dear to my heart. This experience made me feel a whole plethora of emotions. I felt inspired when I first thought of the idea, overwhelmed when I did not know what direction I wanted the story to go in, motivated when I started putting the pieces together, and proud when the finished product was complete, just to name a few. My apprehension diminished and my confidence grew as my picture for my digital story came together and I started to feel a clear sense of direction. My confidence, knowledge, and effectiveness grew as the process went on and I was able to really take time to dig deep into what I wanted to final product to look like and what the message was I wanted to send. This experience made me think about the role I want mental health and wellbeing to play in my future career whether that is in the classroom or another educational role. I also think it is extremely beneficial for students to have this experience of seeing a process all the way through until the end because for me it invoked such a proud and accomplished sense of ownership over my piece. I learned more about myself and grew through this process not only with using the media tools that I did, but also what I am passionate about. The vlogging style of filming worked best for me because I did not have a tripod and it also allowed me more freedom with my shots. The screencasting also worked for me because it had a powerful effect with my voiceover in the background. Finally, getting my peers involved worked well because it told the story that mental health does in fact affect everyone, not just me. Next time, I would probably change up the morning routine shots a bit, as I felt some of them were not as clean as I would have liked them. I would also be sure to record all of my voiceovers at the same time so that the audio volume stays consistent. I have formed the opinion that I wish I pushed myself more in my daily life to be creative and play around with not only digital storytelling, but media creation in general, because I am proud of the pieces I have created over the course of professional year. The experience of digital storytelling will affect my career path because it makes me passionate about learning more from Helen and about digital storytelling during my upcoming Masters of Education program. I will also be sure to include digital stories in the classroom if that is where I indeed end up. I have already used WeVideo two other times aside from in MDL4000, and I have grown quite fond of its features and user-friendly elements. Therefore, I will use this in future endevours. I also will be sure to use QuickTime for all future screencasting, as I was surprised at how easy and efficient it was to use. I believe that everyone has a story, and through the use of digital storytelling it allows us to share these stories in a unique, creative, and capturing way. For my Language Arts class I was assigned the task of creating a digital representation for the junior literature novel we had read and created a unit plan for. The digital representation pertained to the theme that most resonated with each individual. The theme that resonated with me the most throughout the novel, Crenshaw, was identity. Identity is a terribly hard concept to define, as it is the fact of being who or what a person is. A main reason this concept is especially challenging is because individuals can be defined in so many different ways. Identity, although not an obvious theme in the novel, stuck out to me. Jackson, the main character, struggles to find his identity in different areas in his life. Particularly, his place in the family, his position as a friend, and his role both with and without his imaginary friend, Crenshaw. Through this assignment, I attempted to tackle this multifaceted word and channel exactly what is means to me through the use of (many) images, music, and words. My process included a total of 879 photos, 3 songs, and countless hours of editing. The tools I recruited to complete this story included a MacBook, an iPad, an iPhone, a sketchbook, and markers. The program I used to put it all together was WeVideo, which enabled me to easily edit timing of photos, trim audio, and add transitions. The three songs I chose spoke to me in varying ways. My first song choice was inspired by my tradition of selecting a “word of the year” every January. This year I settled on the word “express,” because of my typically quiet and reserved self. I often refer to my thoughts like weeds that grow out of control and spiral downwards. Once I am in this thought spiral I find it extremely challenging getting out of it. I have great hope that over this new year I can continue to thrive and escape the insecurities that grip my mind through expression as I have an amazing support system who desire to step into these spirals and help pull me out. “Brave,” by Sara Bareilles communicates the importance of speaking out and feeling confident in voicing thoughts and opinions. The second song, “Free To Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli relates to my identity in Christ. For the longest time, I felt as though I was trying to fill a void inside with destructive behaviours and it was not until God came into my life that this void was filled. Just as Battistelli states, on God’s shoulders now I can see that I am free to be me. Finally, the third song, “Female” by Keith Urban, depicts my identity as a member of that gender in society. Although not all the words in the chorus correspond to my identity, together they build a complex portrait of a strong woman. I made the decision to construct my video in a stop-motion animation style because of the imperfect and fast-paced style of the technique. Even this style of filming allows for a metaphorical version of my identity to come out. I am someone who likes to keep going and growing in all aspects of my life. It is also reminiscent of my high school self because I would often make them as a hobby. I am partial to the way that stop-motion animation makes the static come to life. Overall, this assignment was particularly enjoyable to me and allowed me to both reflect on and confront who I am.
It's time friends. I've wanted to do a media make on SketchNoting since the class started, but kept putting it off. Why you ask? We've talked about the fears that come with posting media content for the public to feast on. Mine include:
Where to Start?
This lead me to discover Laura Wheeler, and her extremely helpful blog post about SketchNoting and how to begin the wonderful and creative journey, found here. I knew I wanted to SketchNote this particular article because it was divided beautifully into subcategories and provided a lot of room for creativity. The materials I acquired for this process included:
Before I reflect on my process, I want to make sure I mention my professor, Helen Dewaard, in both my interest and desire to try SketchNoting. During our fourth week together, she posted a SketchNote she had made on our class blog entitled, Tips to Integrate Media Literacy into the Classroom, which peaked my interest. When asked, she provided me with valuable information about SketchNoting and even brought in her sketchbooks for me to look at. Flipping through her creations ignited my excitement to try my own hand at the art.
Reflection
Outside of my comfort zone is where I find my most cherished moments, friendships, experiences, and accomplishments. Outside of my comfort zone is uncomfortably rewarding.
The second thing this process taught me is to work with what you have. I created this sketch at the library, and I knew I wanted to create a timelapse of it, so I had to get horribly, and awkwardly creative. After fumbling around (for what felt like forever), I innovated a stand for my iPhone to lay so I was able to record the process. This was obviously not my ideal filming scenario, but it forced me to think outside the box in order to make my vision work. This leads me to my final reflective piece, to let go of the desire to be perfect and just go for it. Before the pen hit the page, there were many questions swirling around my mind, "Where do I start?," "What should I put where?," "What colours should I use for each section?," only to name a few. For someone who likes things organized and orderly, this task seemed daunting. However, once I started, things simply fell into place, and the final creation surprised me. Just like life, SketchNoting is a journey, and you always seem to reach your destination, no matter how much planning, contemplating, and dwelling you do.
January is often a time for the new. New goals, new resolutions, new changes. I couldn’t agree more with Sue Dunlop who states on her blog, ‘’As I’ve mentioned in this space, I’m a terrible procrastinator and setting myself the challenge of choosing #oneword helps me focus.” That is why every year I choose one word to fuel those goals, resolutions, and changes. My word last year was thrive, and I was inspired by this quote:
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style. " - Maya Angelou
My thought behind this word was a desire to be intentional, not letting each day simply pass by, but rather taking hold of each day and making it my own. I feel as though I was able to fulfill this word through my experiences and opportunities I seized during the year. I saved up enough money to afford my first car, I secured a position as a server at a private golf course in Muskoka, and I worked tirelessly in my first placement as a Kindergarten student teacher.
Express through Words
After thriving through 2017, 2018 arrived and with it a new word to focus on. Similar to Aviva Dunsinger, after reflecting on last year’s word and memories, I landed on the word “express.” I chose the word express because of my typically quiet and reserved self. My thoughts are like weeds that grow out of control and I have a hard time getting out of a thought spiral once I am in it. I have great hope that over this new year I can continue to thrive and escape the insecurities that grip my mind through expression. I have been blessed with a support system like no other and I need to learn how to express my thoughts when they arise so they are able to help me out of these spirals. Often times I realize I could have avoided or solved numerous problems if I just had the courage to EXPRESS myself.
Express Through Teaching
I think expression is also important when it comes to my teaching career. I need to be able to express myself in a way that makes sense to students and helps them best learn. Through my next placement I will:
Express Through the Arts
I love art. I don’t do it enough. I don’t do it enough because I don’t think I am good enough. I love to draw, paint, doodle, and hand letter quotes and scripture. The problem is that I am a copy artist, meaning I have a hard time creating something that is not directly in front of me. We have discussed in MDL4000 before that we live in a convergence culture where everything is borrowed and built upon. It is terribly hard to be original in this world because chances are our ideas have already been thought of before. The internet is a participatory culture, if it was a sticky note. There would always be someone to take this sticky note, rework or reimagine the ideas on that sticky note and then place it back on the wall. Therefore, this year I will embrace my reworkings and reimaginings in regard to my art expression.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this year I am committed to express myself in words, in my teaching, and in my art.
What is your #onewordont of 2018? Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.” Trading cards are a fantastic tech tech tool that you can use both as a professional and a student. I decided to make mine for my professional learning statement but you could easily bring this tool into the classroom and have students make their own for a variety of purposes. As a teacher, you could even make a class game where you could trade cards with others, or be able to use these cards for different purposes such as a bathroom pass. The website that I created my trading card on even has lessons that incorporate trading cards into them. Trading Card Creator: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/trading-card-creator-30056.html There has been varying opinions on the use of Twitter in the classroom. Even within our own Media and Digital Literacy 4000 classroom space there have been both hesitations and approvals towards the 140-character idea-spreading social media website. The top uncertainty seemed to be associated with privacy and ensuring the student's safety, especially for the younger grades. How do we keep the privacy of students, while still allowing them to globally connect to lifelong learners around the world? Through this blog post I will be exploring that concept as well as the potential that Twitter has within the classroom walls. "Instead of walls, imagine your classroom filled with millions of experts in a variety of fields in any subject your students want to learn"
#3 - Daily Discovery Teachers can assign each student a day where they can create a tweet on the class Twitter at the end of the day about what they learned. This is good for younger grades as the teacher controls the Twitter account but the students still feel a sense of ownership over it. It also works on summarizing skills and allows for reflection on their own learning. #4 - Write Mini Reviews After reading a book, watching a movie, or reading an article, teachers could have students write short reviews. This allows them creativity, consolidation, and consideration about what they have seen, heard, or read. Students can link their tweet, add pictures, or video. What a fun and interactive way to allow students for example, to keep a portfolio of books they have read, and provides a reference to remind them what it was about. #5 - Communicate with Experts Each month as a class, brainstorm something you want to learn more about. Find an expert in that subject or career on Twitter and reach out to them. This is a great resource for the classroom and allows students a different viewpoint rather than just the teacher's. It also takes pressure off of the teacher as they can't know EVERYTHING. Flattening the walls of your classroom can be as simple as connecting with experts in different fields and adding to their personal learning networks.
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AuthorJust a university student blogging about her reflections, assignments, resources, and learning tidbits. Archives
October 2018
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