Teaching With Tech

Digital Story      Link to Digital Story Link to Research      For our last blog prior to starting practicum, we were expected to study any Canadian First Nation, Metis, or Inuit group, and create a digital story about them. Prior to creating the digital story, each section had the opportunity to tour 1 of 3 schools on the Tsuut'ina First Nation reserve here in SW Calgary. As a result, I decided to study more of their history, and complete a deep dive on this First Nation Group. Above I have attached links to both my digital story, and the research I did prior to making said story.     As teachers, it is important that we recognize surrounding First Nation groups. We can learn from them to make more meaningful classrooms where students are engaged in traditional ways of learning.      Thank you, and I hope you both enjoy, and learn from my digital story. References [Tsuut'ina Nation Logo]. (n.d.). Tsuut'ina Nation. Retrieved October...

Coding in the Classroom Link to Scratch Lesson Plan     For our fourth blog, we had the opportunity to use Scratch as a means of facilitating a lesson within the classroom. Scratch is a block-based coding program, that allows even the youngest of children (starting in kindergarten) to learn the basics of coding!     For my lesson plan, I based it around Alberta's grade 5 math curriculum, more specifically, "multiply[ing] up to 3-digit by 2-digit natural numbers using standard algorithms" (New Learn Alberta, n.d.). This lesson was intended to be a review, after students have learned the standard algorithms for 3-digit by 2-digit multiplication, and would take place toward the end of a week, in theory. The lesson has students briefly altered the pre-made code to better fit Alberta's grade 5 standards, and the steps to do said coding are outlined within my lesson plan!     Given my specific group of students in my practicum, I know that this lesson would ...

Apps 101: Prezi! Link to Prezi Link to Prezi Lesson Plan     Prezi is an incredible app that we can use in our future classrooms. It is focused around making visuals that can be used for multiple purposes.       The lesson plan link above was made by myself, and Chelsey Rains, and uses Prezi as a tool to make a character trait mind map! The lesson is meant to be facilitated in a 3rd grade classroom, and takes outcomes from both the English Language Arts curriculum, and the Information and Communication Technology Program of Studies. Specifically, the lesson was focused around "examin[ing] major characters in fictional texts" (New LearnAlberta, n.d.), and "process[ing] information from more than one source to retell what has been discovered" (Alberta Education, 2000-2003).     Our lesson was planned to be the first of a series of 2-3, following an "I do," "we do," "you do" approach. The part that we facilitated to our peers was the ...

Twitter as a Teacher Link to my Teacher Twitter!     Twitter is an incredible tool to both expand your teaching presence, and gain knowledge from others! Like many other forms of social media, Twitter has become a goldmine where educators around the globe have begun to share lesson ideas, teaching tips, classroom management techniques, and more. For this reason alone, Twitter can be a critical resource for new and existing educators to enrich their lessons with ideas they might not have thought of otherwise.     Similarly, I believe that Twitter, and other social media platforms, can be a great way to communicate with parents/guardians. In my previous field experiences, my mentor teachers have used platforms such as Instagram to make daily/weekly posts about what activities students did that week in the classroom. I believe this is a seamless way to keep guardians up to date about what their children are doing/learning. Although different from Instagram in terms of f...

Beginning of the Fall 2023 Semester      Given the time I began my personal educational journey (circa 2008), I understand that I am part of the generation of learners who progressed through school alongside the development of educational technology. Growing up, tech always played an integral role in my classrooms, whether that was through a SMART Board, Chromebooks, projectors, or more. I recall seeing a SMART Board for the first time in kindergarten and it being the "hot topic" of my school as it had only been a pilot in a handful of classrooms. Without understanding it's impact, I was lucky enough to find myself part of the pilot group. This "luck" grew into the "norm" as I progressed through school, and by the time I finished high school, however, tools such as SMART Boards no longer had the same appeal they once did as they have become mainstream and generally accessible in the world of evolving technology. Even now as a university student, and by...