The training over the past couple weeks has been starting to pay off. I haven’t been as consistent with the training, which suggested a minimum of three times a day, but we are pretty happy with the most recent (albeit short) tune Cocoa shared with us. Check it out here:
It is clear that consistency and time is what is working against us so we will keep at it and hope that this gal will be in form for a second take on the weekend. Stay tuned!
Geographic mapping can be used in class to create maps, create history projects, explore the world and so much more.
Photo by Jan Vernarec on Unsplash
Project ideas for using Google maps could include:
Using My Maps in classroom
> cross-cultural project
> gold rush history project
> road trip journal
> historical timeline
Thanks to Keiro for a fantastic intro to stop motion animation and the first to of our education tech presentation.
A few good apps to great stop motion include
Stop Motion App that is free on Apple.
Animated on Photoshop > go to window > timeline > layers > select photo and select twinning
Can have more than 1 layer for movement
Stop motion can be fun to use to create math questions, literacy projects, uses important tech skills
Something to watch out for is camera shakes.
A few good resources to check out:
makerspaceforeducation.com
sites.google.com/site/waldportfolio
education.microsoft.com
Digital literacy is part of the BC curriculum
Possible idea to make a communications/digital family night at school to see what families are using, to provide resources and to share information.
crashcourse
YouTube videos that are good for fact checking, lateral reading, evaluating evidence.
mediasmarts.ca
Canadian content with lesson plans and information for all grade levels.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Every time I complain about our school day, Dad always says the same thing. Freddie98.
“You know kiddo, when I was a kid we didn’t have the same freedoms you have. Our memories were taken up with passwords. Passwords to write our thoughts, passwords to get our money, passwords to install and passwords to engage.”
“Gawd, Dad. You make it sound like that was all you did.”
“Not all we did, but nothing was ever just given to us. We signed up for everything. You’re lucky we just do it for you.”
“I still wish we had the choice, Dad,” I said.
“Freddie was such a good dog. If he was here he’d be smelling up that 3D tree you just printed.”
Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash
“Can you do that whistle you used to do to call him? You know, that super high-pitched one that freaks out the neighbours cat.” I asked.
My dad put his fingers to his mouth and blew. At that moment, Freddie came bounding into the room.
“What the…” my dad’s face confused.
“Surprise! It’s way easy to make you bring up Freddie,” I smiled. “Ms. Bricher got us to make VR for our inquiry project. It’s Freddie, Dad! Whaddyou think?”
“I think he’s incredible,” Dad said, bending down and giving Freddie a scratch and rustle on his neck.
“See, this is definitely not something that was around when Freddie was here.” Dad said pointing to the little mark on the side of his head that had the VR adapter.
“Got to go, Dad! Just wanted to give you Freddie to hang out with for the afternoon.” I switched my VR back to school mode and rejoined my other players who were rebuilding the streets of Venice after the latest flood.
“Nice to have you back, Jacob.” Ms. Bricher said. “Hope your dad liked the surprise.”
Cocoa is such a trooper! Little does she know she is the muse for my Education Tech Inquiry. Below are the four steps to get Cocoa to “Sing,” according to Babette Haggerty’s The Best Dog Tricks on the Planet: 106 Amazing Things Your Dog Can Do on Command.
And because who doesn’t want to hear a dog say, “I love you!”
This week we had guest lecturers Heidi James and five middle school students from Colquitz give us a tutorial on MinecraftEdu.
I was encouraged to learn about this game and see how it might be used in the classroom. Below are a few take-aways from Heidi and her experts.
Minecraft touches on many of the core competencies and can be cross-curricular. The game itself is highly social and can be played in team environments and with group objectives. The students who were helping us agreed that there is a social aspect to the game that brings out another side to a student that may not be present in a traditional classroom setting. Minecraft also involves:
As a newbie Minecrafter, I found the experience in the tutorial world to be engaging, though about 15 minutes into playing I did have a strong feeling of motion sickness that never really left me for the remainder of the session. I understand that playing the game on a smaller screen may help this feeling and it did indeed lessen when I went back on to a reduced screen size.
If I was to take this up in my classroom, I think I may use it through a core competency lens, and get students to be engaged and build on the collaboration aspects of the game before I would be confident to branch out into other curriculum areas.
It was inspiring to see a teacher so connected to her students and advocating for something that she finds to be an important educational tool. A nice note left by Heidi on her Twitter page after a week of visiting UVic Education students. A reminder of just how important connection and engagement with students is.
In case you’re interested in a Minecraft tutorial walkthrough, check out this Youtube vid…
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Jesse Miller, otherwise known as Mediated Reality, stopped by our class to chat about social media and professional responsibilities online.
Back in 2014, Jesse spoke on TedX about how we connect and engage with technology. To find out what Jesse is thinking today, visit his Twitter account @MediatedReality.
Jesse brought up the notion of 2020 as the time to focus on networked citizenship.
⇒ digital identity
⇒ digital rights
⇒ digital literacy
⇒ use of communication networks (social, professional, personal)
⇒ safety (networked connections)
⇒ security of self
“We shape our tools and thereafter they shape us.” ~John M. Culkin, Saturday Review, 1967
Check out more about “The Man Who Invented Media Literacy” here.
Our tools shape us by @bryanMMathers is licenced under CC-BY-ND
Know how schools and the school district work in handles communications – via text, email, etc. Understand the policies of school you’re employed by, ie. policy around classroom use of cellphones. Teaching kids about consequences of their online actions.
mediasmarts.ca
Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy. A great resource with Canadian themes and lesson plans for a variety of grades and digital/media topics.
Dr. Amy Orben
Amy’s research uses large-scale data to examine how digital technologies affect adolescent psychological well-being and mental health. She uses innovative and rigorous statistical methodology to shed new light on pressing questions debated in policy, parenting and mental health. She also campaigns for better communication of trends in data and the wider adoption of Open Science.
Looking for #dogs and #dogtrainers? Here are a few social media influencers out there in the #dogsofinstagram world. Twitter and Instagram have a lot of dog people offering advice, information and shared knowledge about how to care for your dog.
@VHSanimalrescue Victoria Humane Society is a community-based, registered charity where animals and their needs come first. VHS rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes animals.
@BC_SPCA BC SPCA is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting & enhancing quality of life for animals in B.C.
@zakgeorge Well-known relationships-based dog trainer.
@PetLifeGuru Developing healthy, happy, holistic dogs is our passion. Sharing the best dog nutrition, health, recipes & canine CBD tips.
@cesarmillan Dog-training guru and author with over a million followers on Twitter. Rehabilitates dogs and trains people. Known as the dog whisperer.
@ModernDogMag Modern Dog magazine – the best dog magazine ever!
And, in case you are wondering…Instagram’s most popular dog account belongs to a Pomeranian named @Jiffpom. Add yourself to his followers list that has tipped over the 9 million mark.
According to the Canadian Animal Health Institute, there are 8.2 million dogs in Canada, a close second place to that feline species who populate the land with 8.3 millions. “41% of [Canadian] households have at least one dog.” For the latest Canadian pet population numbers visit the Canadian Animal Health Institute.
What is it about the human-canine bond that has so many of us giving our four-legged-friends a seat at our table and branch on our family tree?
NPR posted a great interview about how dogs and humans became acquainted thousands of years ago. Listen to the interview here.
Interview Highlights:
On puppies
“There’s something about them that makes us friends with them. There are people who dislike dogs for sure. But dogs also have an uncanny ability … to walk in a room and pick out the one or two who seem to dislike dogs the most and make friends with them. It’s happened to me with some of my dogs on numerous occasions. I think there’s a deep — some people call it love, I call it a ‘deep empathy’ between these two species that resonates with each other in a way that makes them comprehensible to each other, even though they don’t speak the same language.”
On the cultural evolution of dogs
“This is one of the reasons why people like to speak of the dog as a separate species than the wolf, even though they’re so closely related. The dog lives with us in a way that wolves don’t. It is created by us in different ways.”
I may have taken on more than I can chew with training Cocoa to play dead. Perhaps, I should go with something a little easier…I am trusting there are amazing resources out there that will lead me down the right path to getting our loving pooch to try something new.
A friend lent me this book: The Best Dog Tricks on the Planet by Babette Haggerty. The book is filled with easy-to-follow dog tricks that go from simple to more complex as the page count rises. I was originally looking at getting Cocoa to ‘Play Dead’ but after looking through this book I think I will change it up to have Cocoa’s husky-wolf pack genes come out and get her to ‘Sing’.
According to this book, training a dog to sing should take an average of 7-10 days, if practiced three to five times a day.
All right, here we go!
Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén