We created ornaments with the laser cutter machine 🙂
For one of our last technology classes, we got the chance to visit the School District #5 Design Lab located at Kootenay Orchards Elementary School (basement), and to say it was amazing would be an understatement! It was filled with endless resources for teachers covering absolutely every subject, unit and grade. ALSO, the technology resources that Ryan showed us and what we got to “play” with were fascinating.
Our class got the chance to have an hour to look around and experience some of the technology resources they had available – I instantly went to the laser cutting machine! I feel when I become a teacher, I will be booking in to use this, as I feel you can do so many lessons based around it. Some examples being:
Art: they can draw out an image then have it printed onto a piece of wood and then paint it.Â
Math: learn about shapes, proportions. They can even can make their own manipulatives to use when they are doing math as well as make their own rulers.
Tech: make characters for stop motion videos.Â
Literacy: they can create a character, print it then write a descriptive sentence about it.Â
The opportunities are endless!Â
LASER CUTTING MACHINE IN ACTION
Some of the Available Resources at the Design Lab:
Models:
hey had a variety of models available ranging from real digestive system (cat) model to the human brain (fake).
Equipment:
There were many types of equipment available such as drums, snowshoes, skies, adventure backpacks etc.
Technology Equipment:
Apps – Minecraft, Science journal, Scratch Jr, Flip A Clip, etc. Other – Computers, iPads, Green screen, Geocaching trackers, Drones, Coding, Robotics equipment, Robots, etc.
In Class Resources:
Variety of books (chapter books, visual, massive books, Indigenous), math kits, science kits, history kits, movies, coding kits, experiments, activity kits.
A digital portfolio is a platform that allows you to keep track of everything you have accomplished right in the palm of your hand. In addition, SeeSaw is an online tool (desktop browser or App) that allows you to collect digitized artifacts of student’s work as well as create and store student’s individual portfolios.
How can digital portfolios be used in the classroom?
A digital portfolio can be used in the classroom in many ways.
Some examples being:Â
To keep in touch / keep parents in the loop with their child’s learning / progress.Â
Keeping track digitally with assessments (videos, pictures).Â
Getting students comfortable using technology – asking them to upload their own work to their individual profiles. Â
Keeps track of the student’s videos, pictures, drawings, voice recordings or documents.Â
Experience with SeeSaw:
Personally, when I was in school, we did not have the luxury of digital portfolios such as Seesaw, everything was in a hard copy (paper). However, since I have been working in the school system, I have seen more of these platforms but did not have the chance to dive in and see the ins and outs until our last tech class where we did get to learn all about it.
Using SeeSaw in my future classroom:
I will 100% be utilizing this app in my future classroom as I can see the many benefits of using it. This platform allows you to…
 – Connect with students and their parents in a matter of seconds.Â
– Allows for quick sharing (real time) of student’s progress / assignments.Â
– You control who sees what (no other people can see the students work besides the designated parent).Â
– Allows for formal and informal assessments. Â
-Free resource for teachers, parents and students.
– You have control over approving the comments, work the students send in as well as who gets to be a part of the “digital class portfolio”.Â
– Easy way to access students previous work when it comes to report cards / assessments (gets rid of the hassle of paper – hauling all the students work from school to home).Â
– You can have students explain their learning through video or voice recordings which you can refer to later on when needed.Â
I had an absolute blast playing around on Prodigy in our technology class, it took me into an unknown technology World that I was excited to learn about!
There are many benefits when it comes to using this resource in your classroom and as a teacher you have endless opportunities to alter the program to best suit your student’s needs! In addition, I feel this is a great resource for students, it makes learning Math and English fun, new and engaging.
The great features for TEACHERS:
You can track your student’s learning progress.Â
It is aligned to the curriculum.Â
You can assign certain levels / topics to best suit the individual student’s needs.Â
Students come off more engaged with math when it is paired with Technology.Â
It is a FREE resource in most school districts.
Easy to navigate.
Cool features for STUDENTS:
Being able to play with your friends / classmates.Â
You can complete daily tasks / earn points.Â
Answer math problems through “battles”.Â
You can “rescue” pets and collect them as your own. Â
You are learning either Math or English at the level that best suits you (controlled by teacher).Â
Easy to navigate throughout website.
Pros and cons of gamifying a subject like Math:Â
Pros:
Continuous engagement due to earning points, getting new pets, winning battles by answering the math problem correctly AND you get to unlock new parts of the map the more you play / win the battles.Â
They can play it at home and not just in a school setting.Â
The teacher can alter the grade level and apply it to the student’s account. Â
Teachers can track the student’s progress and see some areas they need to work on.Â
Allows students to trouble shoot technology.Â
Students gain problem solving skills.Â
Sparks growth mindset.
LASTLY, it is a great technology resource that allows students to further succeed in their learning in comparison to a normal “video game”.Â
Cons:
Students could get distracted with other websites due to it being on an open browser.Â
Sometimes technology is not always in our favour – running into login and loading issues. Â
Some students may not have access to technology outside of the classroom. Â
Only available for grades 1-8
They could become reliant on technology and find math outside this website “boring”.Â
Increased screentime which has a lot of negative effects, especially for youth. Â
An inside look into Prodigy
My Wizard
Students get to create their very own costume Wizards.
Question Examples
Here is an inside look into what the questions look like and the range of questions that can be asked.
As well as this website provides options where if a student is struggling they can click on the lightbulb and it will provide “tips” (top image shows an example of a tip)
Also, when the question pops up there is a lot of room for students to use the pen options to help “draw” out the question if that will help them successfully complete the question.
Both images screenshot from my Prodigy account.
World Map
The more students play, the more different parts of the map they unlock which allows them to explore new locations, unlock more pets and “battle” new opponents.
I will definitely be incorporating this website into my future classroom! 🙂
Scratch is a program where you can create visual programming in a fun and engaging way. This program is intended for students 8+ due to you having to have some previous knowledge as well as you have to be able to navigate through the may features on the platform. Scratch programming allows you to make games, stories, music and a list of other awesome animations.
I personally had a hard time understanding how coding worked on the website and it took me awhile to create my first coding animation. After a debatable amount of time, I finally understood how the program worked and I did end up having a good time playing around with it. I can see the benefits of coding and I could see it being useful in a classroom setting. The reasons I feel coding would be beneficial in the classroom is because:
Sparks imagination and creativity.
Helps students develop problem solving skills.
Introduces the students to another part of the ever-growing technological world.
Lastly, it is setting the students up for the real world – all jobs / schools have a heavy focus on technology.
I will definitely be using this website in my future classroom! 🙂
ScratchJr
ScratchJr is a coding program but is better suited for younger students and ones that are just getting their feet into the world of coding. The layout of scratchjr is very user friendly, is less complex when it comes to structuring movements in your animation and has a lot less options throughout the program.
Our group had an absolute blast creating a stop motion video using the App Zing Studio. Our three students worked extremely well as a team and had similar ideas on how they wanted to tell their stories through using their props. The students already had some experience with the App and were so excited to SHOW US how to navigate the ins and outs of it.
All in all, I am so happy I got the opportunity to experience working in Marysville Elementary School and understand what makes this school so unique. I will definitely be applying here in the future! 🙂
Myself and my group had a blast creating our first ever stop motion video. Going into this activity I was extremely nervous since I had zero experience with stop motion technology and was not expecting it would be as fun as it was. I can now confidently say that I will be able to successfully teach my future students how to use the stop motion technology and teach them the benefits of using technology in the classroom!
The FINAL PRODUCT!
The Journey Of The Bees
In the process of creating this master piece every single one of us had a role which I really liked due to everyone getting to contribute towards the final product. For example, we had three people moving the props around, one person taking the photos and we all contributed towards the sound effects. I feel that students will be tested on their creativity,teamwork skills as well as their ability to compromise, just like we were. I also hope that the students (in our in-situ and future classrooms) really see the benefits from the experience, and can see themselves using it in the future!
The TEAM behind “The Journey Of The Bees”!
My classmates and I
Adding Stop Motion Videos Into Classrooms…
I feel like I would love to use stop motion videos as projects or activities in my classroom due to the endless opportunities for what your students can create with it. The App that we used (Zing Studio 1.0) was extremely user friendly and I feel that students of all ages would be able to navigate through it quickly and have a blast creating their own stop motion videos.
In saying this, I do feel that we need to take into consideration that no class is perfect and no technology is perfect. As classrooms are a diverse community and sometimes technology works against, us we need to understand that there will be points of trial and error. But making sure all students feel welcomed and capable of using the technology presented to them is extremely important and is something I will take with me into all my future classrooms.
My other opinions of using stop motion videos in the classroom include:
DESCRIPTION:Myself and my year two cohort went to Gordon Terrace Elementary School on October 12th in the afternoon where we toured the school, library, and the makerspace for our Technology in-situ. During our time there we got to listen to the principle and librarian explain what the makerspace is used for, how it came about and what to expect from this room. We also got to ask questions about anything to do with teaching / technology, which was extremely helpful.
The main reason we were there was to team up with the grade 1 / 2 classes and show them / teach them about the website called Epic Books. We got an hour to play around on the website with the students and give them an inside look into the Get Epic world.
FEELINGS:The feelings I was feeling prior to the technology in-situ were excitement and nervousness, I felt these feelings because I was excited to be in a classroom setting and have the chance to teach young students about reading (online reading resources) and the nervousness feeling came from the unknown “how many students will I be working with?”, “what do I do if their computer does not work?”, “how to manage students with different preferences on books?”
After the technology in-situ my feelings changed from excitement and nervousness to accomplishment and happiness. My feelings changed because all my unknown questions were answered, and it went better than I expected due to my students being engaged and whiling to learn about GetEpic.com.
EVALUATION:
Good: There were many good, positive parts to the technology in-situ, some examples being:Â Â
Touring a new school, I have not worked in yet. Â
Getting to ask the principal and librarian questions about teaching as well as the technology that is used in their school and what it looks like in their everyday school lives. Â
Teaching real students about GetEpic.com and being able to apply what we have learnt to real life classrooms. Â
Having a group discussion after the in-situ with my classmates to debrief our experiences. Â
Bad: The good outweighed the bad by many, I would not even call some of the bad experiences “bad”, a better word would be “challenging”. The only challenge I was faced with was working with a student that was fully involved (touching the screen and keyboard keys, picking all the books to read and not sharing) and the other student who wanted to be fully involved but was too shy to say or act on anything. So, balancing this challenge in the moment was a bit difficult but I feel that in the end they both got a chance to read / look at a few books that interested them and no arguments happened between them either, which is always a good thing!
ANALYSE:I feel that this technology in-situ was a huge learning lesson for me in so many ways. Even though I have been an EA in all the grades and most of the schools (except Gordon Terrace) I feel that every time you walk into a new school you are faced with new challenges and new experiences. The experiences I had faced in this in-situ were extremely beneficial due to me learning how to think on the spot when it comes to technology, a few examples being how to make sure the students that are using the same computer are both engaged and enjoying the lesson and how to keep students engaged when you are waiting for the login / pages to load.
CONCLUSION:I feel that one thing I could have done differently in this in-situ was explain the website a little more in depth, such as pointing out the different age / reading levels, so they know what books to look for in the future when they login again to GetEpic.com. But I feel that I was listening and reading their body language and just got caught up in listening to the students read and finding books that caught their attention. So, I now know for next time to take the chance to point out some really great features that will benefit them in the future.
ACTION PLAN:If I had a similar opportunity like this in the future, I think that I would study the website a little more in depth before showing it to the students. I would also have a few books already picked out (a variety of different genres) so we could move straight into the reading portion instead of possibly taking up too much time trying to find a book that interests the students.
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/pile-of-books-159866/
Epic! Books is a website (and an app) that gives teachers, students and student’s parents access to millions of free books. There are all different types of genres, read alongs as well as audio books available! The books are also “labeled” with suggested age levels and reading levels which can help teachers, students and their parents choose the right books for them in an easy and quick way!
There are many different features throughout the website that can keep students engaged such as earning different kinds of badges throughout their reading journey on the website and giving them the chance to favourite the ones they like which allows easy access to them again later. Another great feature is that after every single book there is a small quiz which asks questions about the content in the story which I feel can help kids pay attention and fully engage in the book! (You are able to skip this option as well)
The benefits of integrating this website in your own classroom is endless, mainly, it allows students to have more variety in book options where they might not find something that interests them in the classroom or library, and it is a quick and easy way to locate some of their favourite books. Having students have full access to books that interest them is extremely important for their relationship with reading as well as it sparks creativity and curiosity.
Another great benefit for having access to this website as a teacher is the fact that you can track your students reading progress right from the website. For example it documents how long they read for, what books they have read and how many books they have read. This is an easy way to make sure your students are staying on track and that they are progressing throughout the year in their reading journey!
I feel that this website is a look into our future and I can already see the many benefits that can come from it!
Little side story…
I made this lovely two minute video visually showing and walking you through the in’s and out’s of getepic.com but as we all know technology can sometimes not work in our favour so I did not want to show you an unpolished video… so instead like you read above I just wrote about it. But here is a little screenshot of what the website looks like!
Screenshot of the tutorial I madeScreenshot I took of the website
Growing up in a generation where social media was becoming an everyday part of our lives, I learnt quite quickly the positive and negative sides to the internet World and the importance of Digital Citizenship. Having an older sister and very involved parents I was taught very important lessons about internet safety and the potential consequences that could happen. One major lesson I was taught is that nothing really gets “deleted” on the internet, what you say, or post is out there for the World to see, forever. I feel this lesson is extremely important for all ages, it can prevent serious consequences in the future, due to going against what digital citizenship stands for.
In my technology class we were introduced to a website called Common Sense Education and I extremely grateful for this introduction. This free resource has lessons and games to teach students about the internet World and digital citizenship and what it stands for! I will be using the free lessons provided in my future classroom to help me educate my students about digital citizenship and ways we can use the internet in a positive way. In addition, I will also be letting letting others I know so they can use this free resource in a way that benefits them.
I have had social media since I was about thirteen years old. Throughout these twelve years of using social media, I have added new ones to my list and have slowly weaned others out. Social media is constantly changing and as I get older, I tend to lean towards the ones that benefit me most, such as Facebook (keeping in touch with relatives), Instagram (sharing my personal life) and Pinterest (finding new crafts, recipes and life tips). With all the new apps coming out such as TikTok I find myself getting overwhelmed and feeling that I should be adventuring out and seeing what the new social media apps have to offer, but after discussing with my classmates I feel that I am not on my own with this fear. As a future teacher I feel it is important that we know we do not need to be on every single platform knowing the ins and outs of them, but knowing what ones provide us resources and can help benefit our professional profiles is something we should utilize.
I feel that I am comfortable with the social media platforms I am currently using, have a good understanding of the algorithms and am excited to adventure into the world of sharing my findings, experiences and ideas on a professional profile. Â
My professional Pinterest Account: @futureteachermstank
