Classroom Blogs

I have been following Kristen's blog: Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching. I also had the chance to comment on some of her student's post. One particularly interesting post regarding a science experiment that Kristen had the kids devise the parameter of, actually got a comment from STEVE SPANGLER! I believe Kristen had tagged him or tweeted him (as the experiment was inspired by him) and that is how he got the message. I am so impressed that he took the time to comment on student's, from small town Manitoba, blog post! Very impressive work.

Holy Crap on a Cracker

This is an unprofessional blog and I don't think it harms my credibility as a teacher for someone to see it. I'm not about misrepresenting myself- it's a manner of appropriateness. I think my 'goofiness' is what will make me a good teacher when all is said done. I'm just a big kid at heart. I don't take much too seriously, but I have never (?) been late handing in any assignment and always put others first. I work well under pressure; as it seems now, I maybe am only ABLE to work under pressure. The minute that I know I have 'time,' my motivation slips.

Exhibit A

Breezy's last assignment/test/paper, I began working on it Monday night, remembered that it wasn't due until 1:00 pm the next day and subsequently stopped working on it. When I have time, I agonize over little details too much. When I am pressed for time, I can easily see the path of least resistance. Tuesday morning I altered my organizational tactic and finished writing, with way more fluidity, my final assignment for that class. I will go out on a limb and say that I have probably done that with every university paper that I have ever written. For me, its as though the pressure of time allows me to see things more clearly.

Needless to say, I just finished my pecha kucha about 25 minutes ago. When it comes to technology, I have learned the lesson a few times in Mike's class, technology under pressure is not my cup of tea. It is riddled with cursing, aggressive typing and mouse-clicking, more profanity, and a substandard version of what I thought I was creating.

Nonetheless, I am absolutely GIDDY about ALMOST being done (one paper for Skinner to bang out yet- started it, realized it wasn't due until Friday, and stopped).

The era is drawing to an end.

Real World, I'm coming for you.

The End is Here! (Maple/Pecha Kucha)

We are winding down and the assignment list is slowly being checked off! Now that the end is very clearly in sight, I'm really seeing the value of the technological skills that I have learned in Mike's class. Even if I'm not a guru, at least now I know more about the full capacity of the internet and I know that it is necessary to keep up with the times. Without the push toward technology from this class, I would not even know where to begin scouring the internet.

I'm excited to do the pecha kucha. I really think it will be a good way to sum up the things that I have learned to do online and with technology and to address the issue of ever-advancing technology.

I'm also really excited about the Maple social network. I have already found value in the community and the groups that I have joined. I have been working on a group project for another class regarding EAL learners and the Maple social EAL group has been a fantastic sources of resources. And that's just one group! I like that it is primarily meant for Manitoba Teachers, but can still connect teachers and resources from all over the world!

Dying, just dying, to get in my own classroom!

Web-Based App

I'm not sure how many of you have checked out Lumosity, but I have an I, actually really like it. It has many different games and you can get a reasonable, but limited, profile for free. I have heard that the 'brain-training' it accomplishes may only be skill at that particular game/activity. I think it would be a good excuse reason to play games brain train in class. If I were in a one-to-one division, I would use the free version of the app for 5 minutes brain-training-breaks. Something to break up the class itself. 

There is a raindrop math game that I have used in the past to beef up my mental math skills before my summer job starts up (beverage cart- lots of adding and making change only in your head). It does work for improving mental math- no questions asked. 

To have success at the game you must successfully answer the math question that is in the raindrop before it hits the water. It starts slow with 1-3 raindrops slowly falling and as you continue to achieve success, it speeds up both in the rate of fall and number of drops. I saw major improvements in my own scores in a short period of time. It tells you your percentage correct without pressure (slow drops) and under pressure (lots of drops, quickly falling). This was good for my job as there is a sense of urgency surrounding my mental math abilities!

Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Using Online Videos in the Classroom

I LOVE using video in the classroom- probably, because I love to learn that way! Kids have been really responsive to certain videos that I have used.

I always make sure to give the kids a link or the title of the video (I usually use YouTube) so that they can check it out when they're studying. My grade nine science class responded really well with most of them making note of the titles and many telling me that they had used them.

The first video that I'm sharing is a TedEd video that I found on YouTube and used for the Genetics unit of grade nine science and it went over really well with the kids.

How Mendel's pea plants helped us understand genetics

With the same grade nine classes, we used video and song to learn the periodic table. As my CT had them write little quizzes (formative assessments) on the elements (straight memorization), we used videos similar to Sheldon's chemistry song except they went in order. We used videos that allowed us to memorize the elements in sequence, as the quizzes would be on elements 1-18 or 1-36. One of my students told that she annoyed her family all weekend by singing the periodic table song. All you need to do is type "Periodic Table Song" into the search engine and  thousands  lots of videos pop up.

I'm also a big fan of khan academy videos. I've recommended them to my tutoring students and to students who have missed classes, while I have been out student teaching. I really like having kids use the modules to catch up. It saves me time and makes the kid more self-sufficient. I always tell them to check out the video and then make sure they come and see me if they have any questions. One of my students missed the last day of content before a test and score over 80 (which was on par for him) by using the video to supplement his learning.

BIG fan of Khan Academy. You can sign up and use their website: Khan Academy. Or you can find many Khan Academy tutorials on YouTube.

Pod-Cast! Baby, Pod-Cast! Pod-Cast Babbbyyyy

So it turns out I have actually seen one of the episode of my chosen podcast- and I've been talking about in my blog and in my comments. I used iTunes and found a podcast that peaked my interest right away, BrainCraft from ScienceAlert Podcasts. As soon as I looked at the list of episode titles, I knew it was for me.

As I am an obsessed coach, I looked at the first podcast in the list regarding Brain Training and Sports Performance. I would like to somehow link it to my basketball coaching website, because I already have a large written section about The Science Behind Repetition and Visualization. The podcast describes the exact same function of using visualization for the purposes of sport performance, but in a much more visually appealing and easy-to-understand way.

Anyone know if/the best way that I can link a podcast episode to my personal webpage?

The episode I had seen before (I don't remember where, ironically enough,) was the #6 Is Technology Killing Your Memory? The episode addresses the notion that our memories are functioning to recall where to find information (based on efficiency) rather than memorizing the actual information itself. The easiest example is phone numbers. I used to have multiple phone numbers memorized as a kid, many of which I still remember, but, now, I don't even know my sister's new cell phone number. Or my dad's. Why would I? I don't have to. It is more efficient to find them in my contacts.

I also found The Upside of Social Media Narcissism really interesting. It addresses the issues of increasing levels of narcissism in the Y Generation and how it can be corrosive to society. However, it moves on to bring up such points as an increased self-awareness and increased self-esteem among the generation as well. It would appear to be that the right amount of narcissism is necessary for confidence. It's an  interesting watch that's for sure!

Edublogger: Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching

I started following Kristen's blog (Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching) right after she Skyped in with us. I always respected what she had to say and she is clearly a very motivated and resilient new teacher. I think that she has done an amazing job incorporating technology into her classes. She has had the kids design their own PLNs, they have a classroom blog, and more! All in a relatively low-tech division.

This particular post regarding PLNs might come in handy for some of us that our coming up to that tech task: http://misslwholebrainteaching.blogspot.ca/2014/02/classroom-blog-development-of-our-pln.html.

I benefited as a science teacher from a post she made about activities that she had used for Mitosis and Meiosis. Another recent post, for which I really commend her for, celebrate the 2 year anniversary of her blog. I can't express to you how many times I have started writing in a journal or something of the like and I never finish it. The last half always remains empty. I think it is incredible the Kristen had been able to maintain her blog and successfully integrate technology into her classroom- all as a first year teacher!

Great work Kristen! I look forward to reading more of your posts!