Lauren's Education Blog – Page 3 – Prepare to be enraptured by my educational journey

February 25th

On February 26, 2020

At this point in my journey, I am definitely developing a newfound respect for musicians 🎼 !!

In my Musical Growth Plan, I wrote that I was going to use the strumming pattern Down-Down-Down-Down (D-D-D-D) for “You Are My Sunshine”, but with this pattern, the song doesn’t resemble the tune of “You Are My Sunshine” as much as I hoped it would, so yesterday — the first day I’ve been able to play since before reading break — I tried to challenge myself with a slightly harder strumming pattern (Down-Down-Up-Down). I tried this for quite a while, but couldn’t keep it up consistently throughout the entirety of the song. I practiced the chords on their own, then the strumming pattern on its own and then attempted to put the two together, but kept messing up. I am determined to keep working on this strumming pattern but I am realizing that trying to surpass my goal of the simple D-D-D-D pattern for this first video isn’t going to happen. As a compromise, I am going to practice this strumming pattern on my own outside of my Growth Plan.

I am a little nervous to film myself tomorrow, especially because I’ll be singing! And while I know this is a judgment-free space, I have never been a good singer nor have I ever been comfortable singing in front of other people. Beyond this, I am excited to move onto “Riptide” in the second half of this semester as I think it will be a refreshing change!

February 13th

by laurenbull

On February 25, 2020

In Music, Uncategorised

Second ukulele update here!

As I transitioned from practicing chords to playing an actual song, I experienced more difficulty than I was expecting to. Even with a song as simple as “You Are My Sunshine”, there are a lot of different components to put together – strumming patterns, timing, lyrics, and, of course, chords. Each of these is a fundamental part of what helps bring the song to life, but as much as I practice, I still have trouble piecing everything together.

The extra day of class time we had to play our instruments was incredibly helpful because it gave me another chance to seek my peers’ help and see how other people’s playing was going. I was able to chat with Alexa, who is also playing the ukulele and learning “You Are My Sunshine”, and she helped me find a new YouTube video. This was extremely beneficial because the new video has a girl I can play along with instead of just being taught the chords and then playing without a person to guide me.

I’m hoping to see some more improvement over the next couple of weeks; however, I am a little worried with reading break coming up. I don’t want to fall behind, but I am going home to Penticton and am not able to bring my instrument home with me. This means it will be about 10 days straight without practice.

Despite this, I am moving forward optimistic for the video I will be submitting for the first half of the semester.

Video Edit

by laurenbull

On February 13, 2020

In EdTech

Today we went through some of the basic editing tools in iMovie. I edited a short clip I took in grade 12 and came up with this as my final product!

In this 15 second video, I made a title, split the clip, added three transitions, used slow motion, and inserted a sound effect.

Thoughts On Peer Assessment

by laurenbull

On February 11, 2020

In EdTech

Peer assessment (while beneficial in many ways) can be a daunting experience for many people. It requires students to open up to their classmates and be vulnerable to others’ thoughts, judgments, critiques, and praise.

Personally, I don’t mind peer assessment if I am allowed to choose who is assessing me, but being paired with someone I may not be totally comfortable with, often makes me feel self-conscious and nervous. I know from conversations with my friends that this feeling is shared by others.

Before a teacher implements peer assessment, I think that they should have a conversation with the class about respect and consideration for others’ insecurities. Even a brief conversation surrounding this can help put people’s concerns at ease, evoke more constructive feedback, and create an environment that fosters positive communication and trust.

For this class, I feel that peer assessment can be very helpful since my peers can look over my work with fresh eyes, and even relate their own work to mine. This allows us to contrast and compare different ideas and approaches to writing and website design.

GOOGLE INNOVATORS

by laurenbull

On February 9, 2020

In EdTech Inquiry

History of Google

Founded in 1998
Created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin
- Sergey went to Stanford and Larry was considering attending in 1995
The two started creating in their dorm rooms → originally called “Backrub”

Our Inquiry

We intend to become certified Google Educators
As future teachers, we think it would be beneficial to be able to better navigate this technology and know ways to implement it in a classroom
We have seen many Google tools being used in schools and hope to be able to contribute our own knowledge in any class we may be placed in

Our Inspiration

Emma, a practicing teacher and one of our seminar leaders from last semester, is a google innovator and encouraged all of us to pursue this educational pathway

Google For Education: Teacher Center

This website provides us with the information that we need in order to train for becoming Google Educators Level 1.
The Fundamentals Training part of the website will prepare us with modules and lessons that will show us how to integrate google into our future classrooms. We will go more in-depth into this section in our next blog post
We can study for the test using sample questions

Potential Downfalls of Becoming Google Educators Level 1

We could have tunnel-vision and only use google suite apps. By doing this, we may not explore other helpful apps and technologies.

Week Three!

by laurenbull

On February 8, 2020

In Free Inquiry

SOOOO another week has gone by living a relatively vegetarian lifestyle… Of the past 7 days, I only ate meat once (and this was more by accident than anything)!

Out of habit, I ordered a chicken wrap from Mac’s one day when I had forgotten my lunch at home. Had I been thinking, I would have ordered a veggie wrap with hummus as the protein rather than chicken, but I fell into autopilot asking for the same order of chicken, spinach, onion and tomato that I always get on my wraps.

Even though that wrap was DELICIOUS, it’s a little frustrating knowing that that is the only meat I ate this week, and probably would have been just as satisfied with hummus.

When I went shopping for my groceries this week, I purposely didn’t buy any meat, so that I wouldn’t be tempted or feel compelled to cook with meat at home. This honestly worked really well because I made sure to buy other sources of protein and it pushed me to try a new recipe once again.

I made jackfruit ‘pulled pork’ and it was so good and so easy! The jackfruit comes in a can and all I did was cook it, add some BBQ sauce to it, and put it in a bun with coleslaw.

After the wrap experience, I discovered a challenge I hadn’t actually foreseen – eating meat out of habit, not just because I needed or was craving it. There are so many protein replacements nowadays, and ways that you can simulate meals that would normally require meat, that it is totally possible to follow a vegetarian diet. I am just going to have to be a little more conscious in the future.

iMOVIE

by laurenbull

On February 4, 2020

In EdTech

After a little group inquiry into iMovie, here’s what we found!

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iMovie Features

Make a trailer or movie
Choose themes
Add photos or video clips from your device
Rearrange clips
Can extend or shorten clips
Add voice over
Delete audio from clips
Add audio clips
Add transitions
Text and titles
Import music from Itunes (be aware of copyright)
Add audio clips from the application
Export to many places/ in many formats

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Examples Of iMovie Implemented In The Classroom

Book trailers (an alternative to book report projects
News Report (current events)
Interviews (ex: family or community)
Documenting experiences through clips they filmed during the experience (ex. Thoughts on a field trip)

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Benefits Of iMovie

Multimodal ways of sharing knowledge – videos, pictures, audio and words
Interesting to kids, spices up their lives !!
Teaches photography/ video skills
Allows students to document experiences, which, in turn, can help teachers see the world through their eyes
Students can work individually or collaboratively

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Drawbacks of iMovie

The trailer format doesn’t leave a ton of room for creativity in terms of videos editing, which means projects can be completed quickly but will be relatively formulaic
Students experiencing technical difficulties may get easily frustrated and unmotivated
Not all students enjoy performing/ acting and may feel uncomfortable showing their video trailers to their classmates

Initial Ukulele Impressions (February 1)

by laurenbull

On February 1, 2020

In Music

Here on February 1st, I’m documenting my first experiences with the ukulele!

I am super excited going into this, but I am already finding this instrument a little hard to figure out! When I first started, I hadn’t realized how out of tune my ukulele was, and honestly thought that the off-pitch sound was just me not playing the different chords properly. Thankfully, we spent some time in class learning how to tune properly, and I now have an app (GuitarTuna) that helps me double-check that each string is in its proper note.

The class collaboration time was such a beneficial time for addressing some of my concerns with the ukulele. Not only was it an opportunity for peer help and teacher guidance, but it reassured me that other people were (and still are) experiencing some of the same struggles I am.

Since the start of this semester, I have learned the chords C, C7, F, G, and Am. I still struggle a little getting my fingers into place quickly for G, but I know that with more practice it will happen more easily and smoothly. Alongside learning chords and tuning, I am practicing holding my ukulele in the proper position. I now understand the importance of curving my wrist around the neck of the ukulele to avoid tendonitis, as well as holding the ukulele in the crook of my elbow. Even this simple adjustment in my grip is going to take me some time to get used to since it feels quite unnatural to me.

I am super excited to start learning “You Are My Sunshine”, and I hope that with time, the different chords, strumming patterns, and proper holding position will become more second-nature to me. ☀️

Field Trip to PSII

by laurenbull

On February 1, 2020

In EdTech

This field trip was such a unique experience!

Learning about the inquiry-based educational system was both intriguing and enlightening. Although I still have a lot of questions about how the school fully functions, the Principal, Jeff Hopkin, did an amazing job sharing some of the school’s main goals, principles, and methods. He was so visibly passionate about the school and clearly believes in its ability to better children’s education.

I found it intriguing to see how affordably budgeted the school is, how personalized all the students could make their learning plans, as well as how the teachers’ role within the school differs from regular schools. Coming from a traditional public school background, I was intrigued by the approaches used here and the different standards they attributed to education.

One of the students working near our presentation shared her views on public school teaching and described how PSII had embraced her learning styles and adapted to her needs in ways that other schools never had. It was neat to hear firsthand how the school was benefitting its students; however, I still wonder how PSII ensures all of its pupils are on task, achieving their learning goals in a timely fashion, covering all of the curriculum competencies that BC’s Ministry of Education requires, as well as how students with diverse abilities and needs are accommodated in the school – seeing as there didn’t appear to be any extra teachers or student assistants.

All in all, I had a great time here and would love to further explore the notion of inquiry in education.

Week Two!

by laurenbull

On February 1, 2020

In Free Inquiry

So far so good😊

I made it through the week not eating meat four out of seven days, and it honestly happened without having to try. I did, however, have to make an effort to use tofu in at least one of my meals!

Before this last week, I had never cooked tofu, but it turned out to be a pretty unintimidating process. I began by pressing the tofu to get rid of the excess moisture, then cutting it into cubes, and eventually, marinating half of the cubed tofu in soy sauce. Once marinated, I cooked the tofu in a bit of oil and tossed it into my normal stir-fry mix of vegetables and rice. It was delicious, AND I honestly didn’t even miss the chicken that I normally incorporate in that meal. Even better was that I still had leftover tofu, so I decided to try out another recipe. This time I got a little more adventurous and decided to make tofu tacos. These consisted of tortillas, crumbled tofu, taco seasoning, salsa, cheese, and lettuce. Simple, but so good!

Here’s a quick photo of the stir-fry I made (my apologies for not taking a picture of the tacos, but I was so hungry by the time I’d finished cooking them that I didn’t bother).

I know it’s only the start, but I’d call this journey a success so far, and I’m looking forward to week two. I think I might attempt jackfruit ‘pulled pork’ as my new protein replacement this time.