Technology in the Classroom: A Professional Blogfolio

“Who actually cares what I have to say?”  To be completely honest, this is what my initial reaction was when I heard the class requirements for ECMP 355.  Creating and maintaining a blog was something completely foreign to me! Regardless, it was my responsibility to create this page, play with the settings, and explore my writing style.

As the weeks passed I became more and more comfortable blogging and reading the blogs of others in the class.  I’m not sure what my expectations were as I was reading, but I was impressed with what people were sharing and writing in their blogs.  I found, like many people in this class, that I agreed with some and disagreed with others.  If I felt strongly about something I would express my opinion by adding a comment at the bottom of the page.  I especially enjoyed seeing the photo stories and videos that everyone had created and I often thanked people for sharing them with us.

Coming to the end of this course I would no longer cringe at the thought of having to express myself through blogging on the internet.  I felt moments of passion come through as I was excited to blog about cyber bullying and how it relates to Rick Lavoie’s “poker chip” analogy.  Also, when Barack Obama became the democratic nominee I couldn’t wait to write a quick post!

Just as I became excited about reading others’ work, I believe students could feel the same way.  I believe that students, regardless of their age, can benefit from blogging in the classroom.  Before this course I had heard about some brave teachers who were using this tool, but I was unfamiliar with how engaged the students could become.  The neat thing about blogging in school is, it can fit almost anywhere in our Saskatchewan Evergreen Curriculum!  Students can interact with other students from around the world and learn about different cultures.  They can create pod casts about a novel study to share with their classmates and give words of encouragement online.  Teachers could post their daily math assignments online and students could answer the questions and explain their reasoning through simple blog posts.  I plan to use blogging in my future classrooms because the possibilities are endless!   

Being the digital immigrant that I am, I feel I have grown immensely throughout this course.  I am more confident in my abilities and I believe I will be able to take many things that I have learned and apply them in my internship this fall.  Thank you, Alec, for being patient when we were having difficulties, giving us the opportunity to experience new forms of technology, and pushing us beyond our comfort levels!    

I was a little nervous when I heard we were expected to create a short video, but I soon realized it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be! I was, however, struggling to find something to make a video about. I finally decided to create the video about my job. I work with a great group of kids at a before and after school program (B & A). We often plan activities, games, and field trips, but these kids cannot, under any circumstances, entertain themselves for any length of time! I’m constantly hearing, “There’s NOTHING to do!” So here is my tribute video to the kids at the B & A. Let me know what you think!

There’s NOTHING to do

I just wanted to write a quick note because of something exciting that I saw today. I ventured home to Weyburn to meet my co-operating teacher for my internship this Fall and was lucky enough to see her class in action in the computer lab. The kids were researching various weather instruments and creating slideshows to use for presentations to their peers. Not only did they know exactly how to create slides, insert pictures and texts, etc, they were applying the same “rules” that we had talked about in class with Dean Shareski last week. They were working in pairs explaining to each other how “the background can’t get too messy or it’s hard to read” and which colours “are nicer to look at.” Even though the technical language wasn’t there, they understood the basic concepts that would help their presentations be visually appealing. At first I was shocked at how efficient these grade 4s were, but then I realized they have grown up with these kinds of things (digital natives?) In any case, kids’ capacity to learn, grown, and take control of their education continues to surprise me!

Once you’ve been mocked and tormented on the internet, you cannot get away from it. Moving to a new town and changing schools would not be helpful in the least. In our ECMP 355 class on June 2 we watched the “star wars kid” video and discussed what happened as a result of this cyberbullying case. Students in school found this video, put it on YouTube, and used the original footage to create new videos in various themes. This form of cyberbullying was incredibly painful for this student.

As we watched the video and discussed it in class I wondered how other students might react to this type of bullying. Some students may have been flattered to see the other video clips created with footage of themselves. Others, like this student, will be emotionally and psychologically scarred for life. As I thought about the different possible reactions that people might have, I related it to a video I watched of Rick Lavoie. His lecture was primarily about teaching students who have learning disabilities, but his analogy can be applied to everyone.

He explains that everyone is in possession of a certain amount of poker chips. Chips are given and taken away by the people we encounter each day including parents, teachers, peers, and even strangers. We are given chips through positive comments and encouraging words. Chips are taken away with harsh words and hurtful comments.

For example:

Waking up to your favourite meal being cooked in the kitchen = +10,000 chips

Your favourite pair of jeans has just come out of the dryer = +5,000

Hug and a kiss before you walk to the bus = +10,000 chips

Bus driver scowls as your the last person to board the bus = -5,000 chips

Your best friend greets you as you get to school = +2,000 chips

You realize you forgot your homework = -10,000 chips

You get the point… People that have more chips are more confident and take more risks as they know they can always gain more chips. People that have less chips are afraid to lose them and, therefore, attempt to keep the small amount of chips they have by remaining quiet and reserved.

Imagine how many chips the “star wars kid” lost by being a victim of cyberbullying. Millions of people around the world were stealing his chips by laughing and replaying the video footage of him and sending e-mails to their friends and family members. Each time this video is played this student has thousands of chips stolen from him. Can they ever be replaced?

People often fail to think critically about the things they view on the internet. This might be a way to begin to give him some chips back. How often to do we ask ourselves, “Where did this video come from?” “Who is in this video?” “Who created this video and for what purpose?” It’s often easier to watch and laugh than it is to question, but is it too much to ask?

To conclude, Rick Lavoie says our main goal as teachers should be to ensure that our students have more chips at the end of the day than they started with. Imagine how this video has changed this student’s life. Is there any way his teachers could have made a difference?

For this task we were asked to find a slideshow on www.slideshare.com and discuss why it is or isn’t a good example of a presentation. Our other option was to recreate a presentation that we have used in the past applying the new knowledge we have been given. I chose to comment on someone else’s presentation entitled “The Presentation Alphabet.”

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I thought the idea behind this quick slideshow was neat. As a future classroom teacher I appreciate the use of the alphabetized “rules” for creating an interesting and engaging presentation. Most, if not all, of the suggestions given were realistic and stated very simply. Each slide followed the same basic format with the letter, the suggestion using alliteration, and a creative illustration supporting the text. All of the fonts were easy to read and the arrangement of the text and illustrations were visually pleasing.  What I liked most about this presentation is its’ simplicity. It was nice to see how this powerpoint followed it’s own “rules!”

Barack Obama: “I will be the democratic nominee”

Even though our opinions do not matter in this election, we can still respect the fact that this man is making history! People from all over the world can listen to and appreciate his beautiful way with words and his powerful message.