Final Project

This is the final project video that we were required to create. I used PowToon, as mentioned in a previous blog post. I liked PowToon a lot but I had a few issues with the voice over part of the video. PowToon only allows you to add an audio file for the entire video rather than for each individual slide, so I had to take a lot of time to make sure that the voice over matched with the animations.

Other than that I really liked this tool.

Here is the video! Hope you enjoy it!




Thanks for watching!

Karlie

The Future

For this last tech task, we were asked to read the K-12 Horizon Report and comment on what we thought the future holds for education. There were two sections that I decided to focus on.

1. Increasing Use of Hybrid Learning Designs

This section talked about using a mixture of traditional classroom activities and technology to engage students. I think that a lot of teachers are going to start using the flipped classroom more and more. If you aren't familiar with the flipped classroom, it's basically when students watch the instructional part of a lesson at home and then class time can be used for extra help, group projects, and practice rather than instruction. I think that it is a cool idea but I think that I would only use it occasionally with a topic that is fairly simple to learn. There will be more and more times this will be used now that students are busier and miss class a lot due to extra-curricular activities. 

2. Rethinking How Schools Work

I found this section very interesting because we have talked about changing the way the school day is organized, particularly in high school, in other courses this year. The problem with high school right now is that it is hard to do cross curricular projects because math class is used for math, and physics class is used for physics. It doesn't matter that you are using a lot of the same concepts in both. I think that in the future, schools will start to combine courses that have a lot of similar concepts. This helps students see connections, and why what they are learning might be helpful to them later in life. 

The Continuum and EverFi Presentation

This week we had to solidify our thoughts about where we are currently on the continuum of whether or not teachers should be able to decide what technology tools they and their students should be allowed to use. 
With:
1 - very little control --> 5 - complete control
I was around a 4. I think it is important that teachers be treated as professionals and therefore be given control of what they do in the classroom, but I think that teachers need to be trained specifically in technology and digital citizenship so that they can model those skills for their students. 

This week we also had a quick presentation from Everfi. From what I understood, they have online courses that teachers can have their class work through. The courses center around online citizenship as well as STEM topics. On a side note, I just learned what STEM means! (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

One of the courses that I thought might be really interesting to have a look at and possibly use in the class is one that they hope to have out this summer called Math and Science of Hockey. I think that this would be very engaging to students who don't usually think that math is fun. It said that it was for 5-8 but I'm sure a lot of the topics would also be applicable to grade 9 or 10. 

Show and Tell - PowToon

PowToon is a video making tool that I am using to create my final project for our Internet for Educators class. So far, it is as simple as PowerPoint but way more exciting. It looks similar to PowerPoint as well. There are slides that you can move through.

Then you add text, images, animations and audio.

It is easy to choose how long your slides and animations last and when they come in. 

Last you export the file. I haven't done this yet, but I expect that I will be able to embed my video on my blog.

Here is a look at the full screen.

Stay tuned for my final blog post which will include my video. I haven't found any bugs yet, hopefully my video turns out okay!

Podcasts

So this tech task required us to listen to podcasts and share what we found. I'm not a huge fan of podcasts that are entirely audio because I am not an auditory learner at all! My mind tends to wander if I don't have something to look at and focus my attention on. This is why I was really excited when I came across this podcast. 

The Math Dude is a Podcast that comes with a Website that has a full transcript, as well as diagrams that follow along with what he is saying. I listened to the episode about FOILing and I really enjoyed it. He was really good at hooking students because he started out with a joke about aluminum foil in the microwave. It was pretty ridiculous, but days later, I still remember it and I'm sure if I have to actually use FOIL, I will be thinking about this podcast. 

I also liked how he explained why foiling actually works. When I learned this concept, I was given the "rule" but not the "why". It worked for me, but I know it would not work for every student. 

I'm not sure that I would use podcasts in my classroom on their own. If a student wanted to do one as a choice for an assignment I would definitely support that, but I don't think that I would make it a mandatory thing because I personally don't like them that much. 

Using Video in the Classroom

There are tons of jingles online to help students remember math concepts. In my experience, the more ridiculous the song, the more students like it and remember it. 

I recently came across this gem about the unit circle. I would definitely use it in a grade 12 pre-calc class after they have learned the unit circle to help them remember it. Also, if you tell them that you have an awesome video to show them after, the anticipation will make memorizing it way less boring! I would also use it in a calculus class because it is important for them to remember the unit circle as well. 

I love (love love!) the idea of getting students to create their own songs or jingles for remembering difficult concepts. I also like having students make a video of themselves explaining how to do a certain question because it helps you see what they are thinking and why they may be making certain mistakes. You can also see how deep their understanding of the concept is.

In one of my student teaching placements my cooperating teacher had the students make amazing race videos right before I got there were a few that turned out really well. 

In terms of sharing student videos on sites like youtube, I'm on the fence. I think that if I were to do that, I would make an account for my classroom and then I would put the videos up on it so that I can keep track of them. I would also give students a choice about whether they felt comfortable with sharing their video. If they didn't want to share it with the world, I would definitely insist that they share it with the class. 

Infographics

Here are two infographics that I found that I would think about posting in my classroom.

29 Ways to Stay Creative

Visualizing Pi

Here is an infographic that I created on Picktochart. As you may know, I am a coach of Special Olympics Softball. This weekend I participated in the LETR Brandon Special Olympics Polar Plunge so that is what I chose to make my infographic about. It was actually pretty fun to make and Picktochart has some great templates to get started with. I like the idea of having students make infographics because they should have more visuals than words and it makes students pick out the main ideas.