I can’t believe it’s already the end of the semester… and what a semester it has been! I can honestly say that this has been one of the biggest rollercoasters of my life— all crammed into a short three months! That being said, I also can’t recall ever experiencing this much personal growth in such a sort amount of time.
My experience in this EdTech course has given me so much confidence in myself and in what I can do with technology in education. What began as “the bane of my existence” quickly became one of the most useful, inspiring, and educational learning environments I have ever been a part of. I went from feeling incredibly anxious and overwhelmed by this course, to feeling empowered, motivated, and CURIOUS— all the outcomes we should be striving for with students. My digital literacy has been brought up to speed by lightyears— I’ve made movies, audioclips, worksheets, presentations, Twine stories, and countless other feats that seemed far-fetched at the outset of this course.
While I have certainly developed a useful arsenal of tech tools, I’ve also come to really appreciate the value in promoting open education resources. I now recognize just how fortunate we are to have access to all of the resources in this Open Ed forum, and see myself trying to promote OER in my own practice. I had made this blog private from the get-go of the semester because I was worried about sharing my thoughts on education with others, but I now feel empowered to create my own webpage or public blog where I can curate and share resources with other educators.
In terms of my free inquiry, I can honestly say that my Mindfulness & Meditation practice completely changed my semester. For the first time in my life, I have been able to stick to deadlines and actively deal with my stress and anxiety rather than letting it build up and consume me. I find myself engaging in mindful practices throughout my day without even thinking about it (ha!), and have noticed a major improvement in my ability to be present. Mindfulness has really become second nature to me now, and there is no denying that it has positively impacted my mental health, my concussion recovery, and my academic performance.
My progress in the Breethe app since the beginning of my Free Inquiry
Without a doubt, this course opened my eyes to the possibilities of technology and helped me work through my “tech anxiety”, and for that I am so very grateful. I know that I will be a better educator because of this experience, and I hope my future students will reap the benefits as well.
And now… the moment we’ve all been waiting for… the big reveal of mine and Elsabet’s EdTech Resource! Folks, we are pleased to present to you: Our Canva Canva!
From the moment we completed the Canva workshop with Rich McCue in our EDCI 787 course, Elsabet and I were hooked. Since then, we have each used Canva for countless assignments, presentations, and worksheets, so it seemed like the perfect topic for our EdTech Resource project!
Canva is a free digital design platform that allows users to create infographics, presentations, worksheets, business logos, and countless other resources. There is a Canva Pro option for $16.00/month (with a 30-day free trial) that gives users access to a wider variety of design templates and elements, but we have found that the standard version offers more than enough options to start creating more engaging and impactful resources.
The sheer abundance of templates that Canva offers makes it nearly impossible to create a dull project. Users can choose from a wide assortment of templates (pictured above) to suit their personal, business, marketing, or creative needs. Is creativity not your strong suit? Fear not! Canva’s pre-designed templates can make anyone look like a gifted artiste, and all you have to do is simply plug your information into existing templates. Not familiar with digital design? No problem! Canva is extremely user friendly, and even provides its own series of tutorial videos for beginners.
One of the biggest appeals of Canva for us as future educators though is its specialized Canva for Education platform.
This platform allows teachers to register themselves and their classes FOR FREE, enabling a more dynamic, creative, multimodal, and collaborative approach to learning. There is an abundance of Lesson Plan and Worksheet templates that teachers can adapt, as well as publicly shared resources from other educators. It also allows teachers to create Teams, where students can collaborate on a project and co-design their work in real-time.
Although Elsabet and I weren’t able to officially register on the platform (you need to be an employed/affiliated educator), we were able to take advantage of some of the templates made available. I made my first ever ELA worksheet using one of Canva’s templates, and I can’t even tell you how quick, painless, and satisfying it was! Check it out:
My very first ELA worksheet!
Needless to say, Canva has become an invaluable resource to us this semester, and will continue to be one of our go-to’s as we move into our education careers. Now go forth, and spread the Canva love!
This week we had the opportunity to speak with Jeff Hopkins of the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry, and I must say— I think I’m really starting to wrap my head around the idea of inquiry-based learning.
When we began talking about inquiry at the beginning of the semester and watched “Most Likely to Succeed”, I wasn’t too sure how I felt about the idea of “student-led” learning. It kind of seemed like one of those pedagogies that comes around every now and then, has a moment of hype, but ultimately doesn’t provide enough evidence of its efficacy. However, our discussion with Jeff Hopkins really built on our exploration of inquiry in this course, and has possibly made me a convert.
Going into this lecture, I had one major question: how do you make sure students are learning enough? And how do you make sure that they aren’t just sticking to what they know or are interested in? It is evident that our education system is rather outdated, and I’m aware that it certainly needs some sprucing up to better serve our students; but this kind of shift seemed rather monumental and potentially disastrous. Hearing Jeff explain the PSII approach though helped me realize just how beneficial inquiry can be for students. Rather than forcing hours upon hours of information on students, in environments that can be physically inaccessible and uninspiring, inquiry encourages students to buy into the learning process by engaging with their interests and social realities. If a student is given choice about what they can learn, they are more likely to invest their time and energy into the learning process.
I also thought it was interesting to think critically about WHY we value our current education system. We seem to think that having students memorize facts and regurgitate concepts is demonstrative of learning and growth. However, I will be the first to admit: I am one of the lucky few who can do really well on an exam one day, and then flush all that information out of my brain the next. Now how is that learning?
What I like about PSII’s approach is that it empowers students to take ownership of their education. What I had understood to be a wishy-washy, anything-goes approach is actually quite the opposite. By using self-evaluations and platforms like Trello, Jeff explained that their students are held accountable for their learning and are able to show their progress with their teachers. Through their Trello boards, students can brainstorm, plan, and execute tasks, with the collaboration and oversight of their instructors.
The more I listened to Jeff, the more I started to reflect on the aspects of our own EdTech course that I have come to value. Having the choice to explore whatever we want in the Free Inquiry has made me much more invested than I would have been with an assigned topic. Even after earning a Bachelor’s degree, I find that I’m learning how to ask better questions, and sift through research to find what’s most pertinent. So why not offer that kind of education to students in the public school system?
I’ve come a long way with my thoughts on implementing inquiry in my classroom. While at first it seemed far fetched, I now find myself drafting up ideas for how I might incorporate it in my own future English classes. With the right scaffolding, and the plenty of support for students, I really do think that inquiry can be an invaluable educational tool.
Seems like a simple concept, right? Well apparently not for me! I didn’t realize just how much tension and anxiety I was physically holding onto until I began practicing meditative breathing exercises.
Since coursework has been amping up even more (is it even possible?), I have been struggling to prioritize my mindfulness & meditation practices. I’m trying by best to find time to complete some of the more in-depth meditation activities, but it seems like I’m constantly trying to beat the clock with school. Therefore, I have been pleasantly surprised by how something as simple and non-time-consuming as practicing good breathing techniques can have a really positive effect on my mood and anxiety levels.
So what makes someone “good” at breathing? It’s all about— you guessed it— the mindfulness behind each breath. One of my favourite bookstore finds, “Practical Meditation for Beginners” by Benjamin W. Decker, begins by drawing attention to the importance of Zazen breath. Zazen is the Bhudist Zen practice of seated meditation, which largely revolves around awareness of breath.
When I start feeling anxious during the day, or when I’m trying to clear my thoughts before filing asleep, I will focus my attention on my inhales and exhales, feeling my lungs expand and contract. In doing these exercises, I’ve realized that I tend to hold a lot of breath in my chest, rather than allowing myself to take really full, deep, belly breaths. So now that I’m aware of this, I’m finding that these breathing techniques are helping me find calm and feel more energized.
There are tons of resources available to help you practice mindful breathing. The Breethe app has a variety of different instructor-led audio breathing practices that guide you through making intentional, deep inhales & exhales. There are also some great breathing technique videos on YouTube, like this one here:
As you can see, all it takes is a couple of minutes, and it really does make a difference. I’ve noticed that it has helped keep me grounded when things get stressful, as I have started employing these breathing techniques when I feel my anxiety ramping up. This will definitely be a useful tool as I complete the semester!
This week’s class on blended/distributed learning and modalities was a huge “Ah-ha!” moment for me. I quickly realized that this was the piece of the puzzle that was missing for me, so I’m so grateful for the time we took to really explore these approaches to education.
When I’ve thought about technology in education in the past, I’ve always come back to the same question: but how does it affect the student learning experience? How can staring at screens all day really benefit learning? The problem was, my answer has always been rooted in my own experience: I know that I learn best in face-to-face, physical environment scenarios. This has become especially true since suffering with my post-concussion syndrome, as I find that every extra minute spent on a screen only makes it harder for me to learn. However, I didn’t stop to think about how in-person learning might have equally negative consequences for people in different situations… a pretty embarrassing admission, to be honest. But that was the lens I needed to be shown to grasp and understand this important push in education right now.
Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash
While online learning is hard on me, it can allow others to have access to an education that they may not have been able to otherwise. So many factors impact a student’s ability to show up at school every day and access learning: abilities, illness, mental health barriers, family circumstances, socioeconomic status, and countless other factors can all make it very difficult for a student to physically make it to school. So in what world should we be telling those students that they have less of a right to an education than the rest of their peers?
I was especially intrigued and fascinated by the distinctions we made between “online learning”, modalities, blended learning, and multi-access. It was eye-opening to realize that although schools are currently touting “blended learning” in the pandemic, it shouldn’t just refer to physical classroom vs. online learning ratios. Instead of throwing some assignments online and calling it “blended”, schools should be striving to create multi-access learning environments for students. By creating learning environments that include elements of in-person, online, and independent asynchronous instruction, we can vastly increase the quality and equality of instruction. While I had never imagined taking such an approach before this class, I find myself thinking of ways that I can adopt this approach in my own high school classrooms.
One of the clear indicators to me of the benefits of the multi-access approach is our very own 336 course. The combination of synchronous online instruction, asynchronous instruction (via our pod meetings), and independent work has helped me get more out of a tech class than I think I would have otherwise! One of the benefits I’ve found is having direct channels of communication and collaboration with both our instructors and my peers. Although I was skeptical at first, Mattermost has proven to be such a useful tool for connecting not only our 336 class, but our entire cohort. My pod is able to chat in our private group, but then we’re also able to connect with the rest of our class in the group channels. I have started creating private channels on Mattermost myself in order to facilitate group projects and coordinate a couple socially-distanced meet-ups. It really has proven to be a useful platform for our cohort, so I can certainly see myself implementing it in the classroom! I’m also getting better acquainted with Trello, which allows me to coordinate and plan my work for the course, while also allowing my instructors to see what I’m up to. Again, my screen time limitations keep me from spending too much time on the platform, but that may be for the best— the innate list-maker in me would be spending far too much time on there!
The beginnings of my Trello tracking
If I was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged in previous weeks, this week’s lecture has me feeling educated, empowered, hopeful, and EXCITED. I’m so glad to be learning about how to make my approach to instruction more widely accessible, and can’t wait to start designing my very own multi-access learning environments!
To say things have been busy so far in the program would be a major understatement. At this point, it feels as if I’m constantly juggling a dozen assignments and Zoom meetings. Admittedly, my mental capacity and health haven’t been at their best, but I am trying to stick to my weekly mindfulness practices and meditation goals. Even though I’m rather stressed, I do find that these brief mindful moments in my day or week are helping me cope with this unusual semester. I had wanted to be waking up every morning at 6am to spend the first hour of my day on my mindfulness practice… but that lofty goal may have been a tad naive of me. Nonetheless, I am making time wherever I can to master what my Mindfulness Pocketbook calls “Beginner’s Mind”. This first phase in mindfulness practice is all about, well, being more mindful! From eating, to writing, to washing my hands, I’ve been practicing increasing my awareness during these seemingly mundane tasks. For example, one of my exercises this week was to eat a piece of food (count me in) with mindful intention from start to finish. Normally when I bite into an apple, I don’t think much of it; but to focus on the feeling of the apple touching my lips, to my teeth piercing the skin and sinking into the fruit, to the sensation of the acid on my tongue… it was a weird but definitely cool exercise! I’ve been incorporating these little micro-activities into my day or week when I think of them, so I’m hoping it starts to become more second-nature.
Photo by Katerina Jerabkova on Unsplash
Because my post-concussion syndrome has been flaring up pretty badly with all the increased screen time, I’m trying to limit my screen time as much as possible. I’m not using my meditation apps as often or actively during the day, but I have actually used them almost overnight to help me fall asleep. I’m really liking the voices and resources on the Breethe app, so I find I gravitate towards it the most. All I have to do is open the app, choose an audio sleep meditation, and then let it play as I close my eyes and drift off. Similar to the other exercises I’ve been doing, these night-time “talk downs” help you focus on specific sensations in your body, while also guiding you through processing and storing your thoughts from the day. Here’s hoping these mindful moments can help me with my concussion recovery, and get me through these next few weeks!
Who knew that my teaching degree would make a filmmaker our of me??? … Well, not really. But I am very proud to say that I have made my first short video since high school… and it was really fun! For my EDCI 352 class, our first assignment was to create a “Who Am I?” video, where we had a mere 90 seconds to tell our instructor and classmates a little bit about ourselves, what brought us to the teaching profession, and what we hope to get out of the program. See for yourself!
I’m no Scorsese, but I must admit that I am pretty proud of myself! As I said, I think the last video I made was for a project in high school, so creating this short video reminded me of just how fun and rewarding the process can be. It was especially eye-opening to see how our TechEd course made me much more aware throughout the process of what photos I used, how I shared them, and how to get proper consent. Because of our discussions around data storage, intellectual property, and consent, I opted to only use my own original photos and footage. I mostly used images of myself, but made sure to get permission from my partner to show a clip of me with my stepdaughter. I also reached out to my siblings to get consent to include some clips of my nephews, which I made sure didn’t show their faces or distinct locations. Security and privacy was certainly at the forefront of my mind while making this video, and I’m glad I now have the knowledge and tools to create and share my work safely.
I used the Voice Memos app on iOS to record my audio, and then uploaded it to iMovie to make the video. From there, it was pretty smooth sailing! Being mindful of copyright issues, I opted to use two of the free music samples provided in iMovie to liven up the video and match the tone. I overplayed the music on top of my audio, and voila! The next step was curating and uploading photos, and then creating transitions between frames. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this process, and was surprised at how easy it was to put the whole thing together.
Making the magic happen!
This project was a perfect reflection of our discussions about multimedia learning and the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition (SAMR) model. Having the opportunity to create something in a format other than written word was so refreshing: it allowed me to convey more than I possibly could have in a written essay, but it also made me much more engaged in the design process than I might have been otherwise. As a result, I think this will be an assignment that I bring into my own future classrooms to help build classroom culture with my students, while also empowering them to foster their digital literacy. Creating a video engages a vast array of modalities and literacies, so it seems like the perfect way to get students thinking about different ways that they can create, share, and learn.
While learning all these new EdTech skills has been rewarding, it certainly has been a lot to process in a short amount time. Thankfully, I’ve had my lovely little Learning Pod to help me through this. Having Els, Aaron, and Will to talk to every week and make sense of things together has been so helpful and comforting. When things get overwhelming, I find that our meet-ups always help me feel better at things. Whether we’re asking questions about our EdTech work, chatting about the program in general, or getting only SLIGHTLY side-tracked with our conversations, I’m finding our Tuesday meetings are quickly becoming a much-needed perk in my week. Having this little personal learning network to help us get through this program is already proving to be invaluable, and showing me just how important it will be to grow my PLN as I go forward in my career.
Well, I think that’s enough for this week. Until next time!
When I reflect back on my experiences as a student in English Language Arts classes, I have to admit— I was pretty lucky. Growing up, English was always one of my favourite classes: I loved reading, writing, storytelling, and everything in between, so it was a subject that I always looked forward to. However, it wasn’t until I set foot inside my Grade 10 English homeroom that my passion for English studies was truly sparked. While I had a host of great teachers prior to this, it was the method of instruction (and underpinning learning theories) that set my upper-year English classes apart.
Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash
Prior to high school, a good portion of my ELA instruction reflected the traditional Behaviourist theory of learning. Imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habit formation were at the root of instruction in my English classes for years. Positive reinforcement through praise, positive feedback, and good grades were what motivated my learning. While I certainly benefitted from these Behaviourist tactics to develop my foundational language skills, my high school English teachers employed more of a Cognitivist and Constructivist approach in the classroom. And that’s where the magic really happened.
Cognitivism sees learning as an active process, where learners themselves construct meaning and internalize knowledge. I had three different English teachers for grades 10-12, but they all shared a common approach: they weren’t going to teach us what to think, they wanted to teach us how to think. Each of these teachers would stand at the front of the class to deliver lessons, but they would engage the class in vibrant and thoughtful discussions. Rather than simply lecturing us with facts, they encouraged us to examine our existing schemas, take in new information, think and adapt our understanding for ourselves, and then formulate original arguments. They challenged my thinking in a way that I had never experienced, while still utilizing operant conditioning to offer positive reinforcement and encourage ongoing participation. These teachers guided our learning in a certain direction, but allowed us to create meaning for ourselves rather than simply giving us answers.
What made perhaps the most memorable impact on my ELA learning, however, were the ways in which my English teachers adopted a Constructivist (Social Learning) approach in the classroom:
In addition to studying traditional written texts, we also looked at contemporary movies, songs, graphic novels, and art as a means of connecting the lesson to students’ social realities. With certain group work assignments or independent study units, we were given the freedom to curate and create our own research topics, methods of presentation, media, and texts. I remember writing Beat poetry about needing to clean my room; curating a playlist to tell the story of my life; creating a music video to encapsulate the dangers of authoritarian government. The use of the Constructivist learning theory in the classroom gave me a sense of agency in my education, and allowed for the kind of creative and interactive learning that I enjoyed the most— and still remember.
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
While I still see myself incorporating several Cognitivist and Behavioural approaches to learning, I think Constructivism will be the dominant learning theory shaping my classrooms in the future. Constructivist classrooms are learner-centred, collaborative, and emphasize relationships and inquiry: all of which would enable students to engage meaningfully with the Core Competencies within the BC English Language Arts 9-12 Curriculum. Looking at BC’s Grade 9 ELA Curriculum in particular, I can see endless possibilities for utilizing Constructivist practices. Constructivism sees learning as social and interactive, where learners are encouraged to connect with their various social and cultural contexts to inform their development. This kind of situated practice aligns perfectly with one of the “Big Ideas” in the Grade 9 ELA curriculum: “Exploring stories and other texts helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to the world”. Allowing students to share their own interests, cultures, and social realities in multiliterate forms enhances their understandings of themselves, as well as their understandings of others.
BC’s Core Competencies
Another one of the Big Ideas for Grade 9 ELA emphasizes that “questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.” Notably, one of the greatest strengths I see in the Constructivist approach is the importance it places on fostering a questioning attitude. One way we could explore this Big Idea in a Grade 9 classroom is through a group inquiry activity. For example, I could divide the class into small groups and have them seek out a news article or video clip about any current event of their choosing. First, I would have the groups discuss the main argument of the news piece, and then see if they can identify any bias in its messaging. I would then challenge the groups to find another news article or video on the same issue, but from a different or opposing perspective: whether it be from a different news outlet, a different country, a different medium, etc. After repeating the same steps they did with the first news item, the students would then discuss the similarities and differences they see between the two. Did they prefer or agree with either of the news items? Why or why not? What kinds of bias did they find? What information was helpful to them? What did they still need to know? This line of questioning and reflection would help students grasp the Big Idea that “people understand text differently depending on their world views and perspectives”. Additionally, conducting this kind of inquiry-based research would allow students to develop Grade 9 Curricular Competencies, such as being able to “access information and ideas for diverse purposes and from a variety of sources and evaluate their relevance, accuracy, and reliability”; as well as, “synthesize ideas from a variety of sources to build understanding.”
A final step I could take in this particular lesson would be to have the students develop their own free inquiry project to illustrate the final Big Idea: “texts are socially, culturally, and historically constructed”. With proper scaffolding in place, students would generate their own questions, carry out their own research, and have the freedom to choose how they presented their findings (i.e. a story, song, graphic novel, monologue, etc.). This would allow for experiential learning, and hopefully minimize students’ Zone of Proximal Development. Furthermore, it would incorporate several Curricular Competencies, including: “Recognize how language constructs personal, social, and cultural identity;” “Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world;” and “Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways.”
While there are an abundance of ways I could go about exploring the BC English Language Arts 9-12 Curriculum in my classroom, my main goal is to create a space that allows students to safely question, collaborate, and create without fear of failure. If they can walk away from my classroom feeling as though what they have to think and say matters, then I’ll be happy.
Even though we are only a few weeks into the semester, things are already off to a hectic, busy start. As such, I think I have chosen the most perfect inquiry project to get me through these crazy and unusual times! When I’m not scrambling to keep up with coursework, I’ve been finding some time to go through my new Mindfulness & Meditation books. I have been trying to wake up early in the morning, make a coffee, and sit out on my balcony to read and write— even if just for a few minutes.
I have come to the conclusion that I cannot bring myself to write in these books— they’re just far too pretty, and I really do think I will use them again in the future or share them with others! I’ve only done a couple written reflections thus far, though. For the most part, I’ve been trying to read through them and get a better understanding of what comprises meditation and mindfulness practices. I think I will be using the Mindfulness pocketbook as my “guide” throughout this process. It is split up into 5 chapters )with several subsections) that each tackle a unique aspect of mindfulness practice. So I think I will focus on one chapter every two weeks, and complete activities that fall within those categories.
I’ve also been reading through my Meditation for Beginners guide, and have learned that meditation is not at ALL what I had thought. I had figured that I would just sit down, cross my legs, close my eyes, and try to not think about anything for ten minutes… turns out, that’s not quite it. I’ve learned that meditation is actually about allowing thoughts to come into your mind, acknowledging them, and then moving past them. Now I understand why it goes hand in hand with mindfulness! To help me out along the way, I’ve downloaded a few recommended mindfulness & meditation apps:
Calm, Breethe, Headspace, and Balance provide curated meditations for their users, along with several other tools. Each app is free to download, and will provide users with a limited set of tools. To unlock additional perks and tools, users have to pay a monthly or yearly subscription. However, Calm, Breethe, & Balance provide a free 30-day trial for new users (Headspace allows a free 14 day trial), so I’ll take advantage of that to get me started!
I’ve used Calm in the past for its sleep-aiding features, though I found that it didn’t have quite as many resources as I would have liked. It appears to have a decent selection for meditation though, so we’ll give it a shot! Breethe, Headspace, and Balance are all new to me, and each app has some unique progress-tracking features, so I’m excited to play around with them!
Well, I think that’s it for now! Here’s hoping I can really channel some mindfulness to get through this busy semester!
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