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Before I wrap up my Free Inquiry posts with a reflection of learning over the semester, I wanted to share a post showing my progress. I have attached a youtube video, as you can see, to show what I focused on when learning ASL. I did not film every time I was practicing, but I had enough content to put together a bit of a montage. You will see that I am similar to a cat, as I love sitting on the floor and absorbing the sunny spots in my home.
Enjoy watching me learn!
Reflecting on the term. This weeks class was a focus on going back and reflecting on all that we have gone over throughout this semester. Using sketchnoting, we were given sticky notes to brainstorm how we would like to lay out our reflection, and then were to bring it to life afterwards. My take was to create a maze of the layout of our classes to show everything that we have learned. It is definitely busy, but I really like how it turned out. Looking at all the sketches, I am able to recall parts of the lesson. My design has the introduction of blog posts in the bottom right, to the discussion of the cell phone ban in classes in the top left, along with everything else we have learned in between.
This is a video on what sketchnoting is as a reference to what I have created.
I searched “ASL” on unsplash and this photograph popped up. It does not have anything to do with ASL, but it is stunning, so kudos to Piermario Eva.
Over the course of the last two and a bit months I did my best to contribute time to learn American Sign Language. Although that may seem like a good chunk of time to learn the beginnings of a new language, I felt like I struggled with the task when combined with other schooling, work, and making time for exercise and outside time. I have always wanted to learn ASL, thus I took this as a sign of an opportunity. I did my best; however, I definitely am not where I wanted to end up with my knowledge.
There are still positives to having this experience of learning. I have brought in a new language into snippets of my life; I also found out that there are others in my cohort that also know ASL, so at times, we are able to communicate little things to one another using sign.
The negatives of the experience can be categorized into two sectors. Number one is the issue of time. It was really difficult to dedicate practice time to learn aspects of a new language while also balancing all the factors in life. I knew that it was going to be difficult from the start, but I definitely bit off more than I could chew. Being in school, working, and still trying to be a functioning human being is difficult in itself sometimes, so it is just a balancing act. The second issue is exposure. Because I was doing this inquiry on my own, not in a class setting, I did not have anyone to communicate to, or practice with. No one in my household can sign, so I was left to practice on my own. A lot of learning a language is exposure. Having the ability to try and converse with others is a huge part of learning a language. I think that is what I would consider to be the biggest flop of this process.
Overall, I am really proud that I made the effort in trying to learn ASL because it is something that I have been so interested in doing for so long. I am sad that it did not go as planned, but I found some great resources in the mean time for trying to stay connected with the ASL community before I can make the time to take some in-person classes.
Learn How to Sign is a resource that has always helped me and will continuously help me throughout my learning. I really appreciate the speed of the content. I have included it in my final reflection because it is the one resource that I will continue to use.
This week focused on the implementation of the Phone Restriction in the new BC Ministry of Education guidelines. The use of phones varies from school to school and district to district; teachers may even decide to implement different standards on a classroom basis. The rise of phone use for the younger generation has gone from a recreational amount to an abuse of their time. Ultimately, students have a constant distraction in their pocket, and the Ministry of Education felt they needed to change that.
At the grade level of 4-7, students may or may not have their own device depending on their guardian’s choices. With that in mind, some students may be distracted from time to time by a notification coming through a device in their pocket. Although devices have a negative connotation with their use during school time, they can also be used as tools in their education development.
Engaging in online based games as a class such as Kahoot, Science Journal, and computer science online platforms can assist students in their learning journey. As pairs or individuals there are also online forums, such as Coolmathgames, that may also help with the understanding of topics that might seem tedious. Overall, going into teaching for myself, I do not think the strict banning of cellphones solves the issue in front of us, if anything, teachers need to build relationships with students that can navigate through tough conversations, such as appropriate phone use.
In terms utilizing Science Journal, I believe it may be a helpful tool for the age range that I would like to teach, especially if done as a class. Some of the activities might be too difficult to do individually or in pairs, meaning that there is a high chance of distraction while students have tablets and/or devices out.
Below is the activity that I worked through. I found this activity to be appropriate for the age range that I would like to teach, as a class or as individuals.
Education Technology Presentation
Our topic is how technology can aid ELL and FIRM learners for K-8. Our presentation will supply numerous resources that are grade specific tools to implement in your classroom.
Unsplash: note thanun
Technology and Classroom Management:
Having Brittany as the guest for the week to discuss classroom management was an overall insightful and helpful lecture. I really enjoyed hearing her speak about her class, and strategies that she uses firsthand with her students. Something that I will always focus on with my future students and the children that I work with is making sure that they have a sense of belonging, thus when it was brought up in the presentation, I very much see myself applying what was being presented.
Soft Starts and Transitions were great topics, especially when thinking about younger grades. Having students develop routine in a manner that they understand is extremely beneficial. From K-2 students are still getting the hang of how the school day works, so knowing that they are stepping into the classroom in the morning knowing that there will be a hands-on activity waiting for them is exciting. At transition times, having a song that is only played when it is time to move from one activity to another is so helpful for their grasp of what is going on around them.
Moving into routines and expectations. Making sure that the classroom expectations are made by the both the students and the teacher together is really important; that way there is not a poster on the wall that students are detached from because they had no say. When it comes to routines, having a day plan up on the board for students to refer back to. Even younger students are extremely attentive to what they are learning throughout the day.
As a whole I enjoyed gaining more knowledge and ideas on strategies that can be applied to the classroom. Thank you to Brittany!
Different examples of SEL check ins for students here!
This week we looked into coding in Education. I have done some basic coding at an elementary level for a previous course and found it really interesting. When attending McGill, and doing my practicum there, I was able to witness the dedication that the school system had to implement coding from grade 2 up. It seems to be that coding is a great, interactive, activity to gain problem-solving skills. Coding is interesting because, although it is math based, students can learn social studies and language arts through story-based coding.
Story-based coding is when students may follow along a story, choosing their own path with a given character. I think that if it is possible with funds and equipment, integrating coding into the curriculum for grades 3 to 5 would be very beneficial. That way students may build off of the basic skills of coding.
Using online based games in general is a great way to break up the command style learning within the classroom. I know that for myself, the website coolmathgames was something that I really looked forward to if we had computer lab time. When learning is fun, students forget that they are using their brain with a certain intention!
For the hands-on portion, I chose to do the Elsa and Anna coding game. It was quite long, but felt very rewarding when I got my certificate! I am a certified coder! I showed my achievement to my two housemates who are Computer Science majors.
This week I wanted to share one of my favourite families that pops up on my Instagram feed. I have been following Christina for probably a year or two and her content always brings a smile to my face. She has a son and a daughter. Her son is hearing, and her daughter is deaf, and has cochlear implants. Her content mainly consists of communicating with her children- sometimes without speech, only using ASL, and other times using both ASL and verbal language.
This video in particular is regarding her daughter’s communities that she is a part of. Christina points out that her daughter is a part of the Deaf community just as much as her other communities, and that she can show that she is proud to be within it by telling her teachers the next day.
Christina chooses to include comical content, but also videos that provide a lesson or a type of learning opportunity for her children and it is a really beautiful thing to watch.
You can find her Instagram profile here to check her out!
For my Free Inquiry post this week, I decided to approach the creation of content through an inclusive lens. I have attached a video of me providing an introduction of myself. I did not speak or mouth any of what I was saying because I wanted to speak purely through ASL- and ASL does not require verbal sounds. Having this approach, I understood that not everyone would be able to understand me, so I figured out how to put text into a video with no sound. I found this website: ClipChamp. You are able to sign up for free, no subscription. I used this to input text into my video, but you can also to all kinds of editing! I hope you enjoy my introduction. It was a lovely day outside, so I decided to film while also taking in some sunshine!
Image by: Industrial Designers Society of America
This week in class we dove into intentionality in the technology that we use in the classroom, and how we can modify it to make it better suited for our learners. We started by going over SAMR and TPACK.
SAMR is an acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition; where Substitution is using a direct substitute for a previous piece of technology with no functional change, Augmentation is the direct substitute with functional improvement, Modification implements significant redesign, and Redefinition is an entirely new task using technology. TPACK, on the other hand, stands for: Technology, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. TPACK overlaps its values, where SAMR is more defined and simply put. SAMR regards the enhancement of a task using technology and goes further with a transformation in technology.
SAMR theory is able to break down the function of a piece of technology to test if it is being used properly or if there are some potential adjustments that could assist its exposure to students. SAMR breaks down the purpose of the technology so that we, as teachers, understand the why? behind using it.
The next part of our lesson was on Sketchnoting. To sketchnote is to take notes, but with quick sketches instead of words. It is the practicality of jotting down ideas that spark memory, not a form of art. An example of sketchnoting is a mind map- connecting ideas visually. Other ways of using it could be learning another language, highlighting the key points in an article or essay, or gaining an understanding on new ways of learning. This led to our skills building portion of the class, where we had to practice what we were learning. Below, I have included my quick practice sketches, and some sketchnoting to help with learning vocabulary in Spanish.
Sketchnoting is a great tool for learners, however it certainly would not work for everyone. I, myself, would have a really hard time focusing on the lecture going on in front of me if I were to sketchnote my comprehension of the lesson. I would become wrapped up in making sure that the sketch is the perfect size or shape etc. For other students sketchnoting could be a great way of holding their understanding when listening to a lesson. It is a potential tool for grades where students are using more than worksheets to display their notetaking. Overall, this lesson was a beneficial, hands on take to understanding a lesson in multiple forms.
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