EDTC 300 Blogs

This is my final blog post for EDTC 300.             Depending on who's reading this, you may or may not know me.  To one person, I might be some ghost you never knew was part of the class, and to another, I might be someone who was with you in a breakout group or a comment on one of your blog posts. I'm not an easily outspoken person so I've had hesitations about sharing my thoughts with larger groups, especially with a pool of highly intelligent and expressive peers. Nevertheless, one of the things I enjoyed about this course was hearing and seeing all the different experiences and voices of everyone. I probably left more comments saying I liked what I was seeing than giving real and useful advice. Some comments that I was able to find:      Most (if not all) of these were comments on other people's blog posts. In addition to reading the specific posts, my attention would wander to other things they have on their eProfiles (o...

       This learning project was an incredible opportunity to explore my creativity . It was also an outlet-- a way to express myself and my thoughts. It was an honor to spend some time each week rediscovering my passion for creative writing. Some people aren't so fortunate to find fulfillment in something they've learned to do. For me, writing poetry was more than a learning project, it was an extension of my taking care of myself. I think what stands out from other hobbies and interests I've pursued before is tech integration. For these 13 weeks, I used tech and digital resources to support my learning journey.       Researching different poetry forms was not a hard task. Thanks to Savannah Jackson at Jericho Writers , I was able to collect a list of forms to explore. Although the selection for each week was picked randomly, I never minded any of them. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the ones I was unfamiliar with. Some poetry forms were ...

 I can't believe that it's the end of the ride. It's been an amazing 13 weeks with everyone in EDTC 300. I'm so grateful for the memories I made and the lessons I learned. I couldn't have done it without you! Here's my summary of learning: https://youtu.be/0pX5KVYOXWU For the past thirteen weeks, I’ve been preparing and equipping myself with invaluable knowledge of digital literacy and of tools and resources to carry forward into my teaching. At the beginning of this semester, technology was an area that intimidated me. It is constantly changing, and as teachers, we will be challenged to adapt to the world around us and to the students who will later succeed us. That’s why I felt strongly inclined to learn about integrating technology in education, but there are so much more that I did not expect to learn. Whether it be coding, trying a new resource, or discussing sensitive topics, I felt myself being pushed out of my comfort zone into this intimidating space. A...

       My cooperating partner this fall put me on this new AI tool for educators called Eduaide . Before using this tool, I was familiar with Chatgpt. The difference between them is that Eduaide is shaped particularly for education and planning instructional materials while Chatgpt might not cover the perspective of education as effectively.       This AI tool is beneficial for educators who need ideas and new strategies to use for instruction and the classroom. Eduaide has over 100 different resource types to explore, and I've yet to explore myself. I've used the lesson seed before, and it works really well! Eduaide  A lesson seed Eduaide gave me recently. There's more to it, but that's all you get from me. Eduaide covers planning, information objects, independent practice, cooperative learning, gamification, and questions that teachers may need. This AI tool can assist with lesson and unit plans, assessment measures, engagement activities, ...

       My University of Regina transcript says that I'm on a fantastic journey to teaching middle years, which is around grades 6-9. This week's blog prompt poses an interesting concept for me: how do you teach digital literacy effectively so that students are able to recognize misinformation? I thought about the importance of digital literacy especially in middle years. I witnessed this fall how much tech or research is integrated into lessons. In fact, I was going to teach grade 7 and 8 students about government systems of various countries where they would group up and research specific information. I was advised not to allow students to fend for themselves and enter all these stranger sites through Google. Instead, I should direct students to Britannica School which is accessible through Clever. At the time, I agreed that students should stick to this trusted database to limit the possibility of them finding the wrong stuff.  However, exposure to the "wrong ...

     I did not know that Scratch was something that my younger brothers had worked with in school. They saw me coding (or attempting to) away on my 80-year-old Macbook and harangued me the entire time. I wondered, "What is the deal? Why is this something I had to do? Why is coding something THEY had to do?" As I persevered through the complexities of a seemingly simple coding program, I realized a couple things. 1. Trial and Error     You make many mistakes before you can see the fruits of your labor. I cannot count how many times my Sprite disappeared on me every time I fiddled with the backdrop and how long I spent trying to get it back before I had to completely reset everything. Thankfully, my brothers gave me tips and helped me to better understand coding.  Benefit : teach students that making mistakes is normal and there's nothing wrong with it; it's part of the natural process of creating something from something you've never used before. 2. Ke...

The lights are set up, and so are the Christmas decorations. I figured, "Why not write a poem for my favorite holiday?"  It worked out very well that my poetry form for this week is the " occasional ." Occasional Poetry      You can definitely guess what this particular poetry style entails. Poets.org  states, " An occasional poem is a poem written to document or provide commentary on an event. It is often intended to be read or performed publicly." (2023, n.p.). I remember analyzing one of these in my AP English class in grade 10. It was Alfred Lord Tennyson's " The Charge of the Light Brigade ." There are no specific guidelines for this poetry form other than marking an event. Why the festive mood?      I was talking to my mom recently about how I wished we could visit the Philippines now. See, we went home last summer, and it rained a lot. The ideal season to visit is during winter, especially around Christmas. They celebrate the holidays ...

 Well, well, well... Here's one of the most popular poetry forms... and one of the shortest.  I remember writing so many haiku in school. However, I don't actually remember how I wrote them. What are haikus? According to Grammarly , my partner this week,  "haiku are short, unrhymed poems that adhere to a specific three-line, seventeen-syllable format. The form originated in Japan, but today people across the globe read and write haiku in many different languages. Because of different languages’ unique syllabic and grammatical structures, haiku have slightly different formats from language to language." The seventeen-syllable format is first line=5, second line=7, and third line=5.  Did you know that 'haiku' was actually 'hokku' and part of collaboration poems called 'renga'?  Did you know that the plural form for haiku can be haiku and haikus? Just for fun, I watched this YouTube video, and it was very helpful.  I followed Ms. Drought's pro...

 I genuinely had no idea ekphrastic poetry was a thing. ' Ekphrasis ' is not something you usually hear.  Well, what is it? Ekphrasis  (ecphrasis) comes from the Greek word meaning 'description.' Basically, ekphrastic poems are vivid descriptions of artworks. These poems don't follow a structure or rhyme scheme. Actually, ekphrastic poems can be written in any other poetry style or found within a poem.   Ekphrastic poetry is not about form, rigidity, or structure, but the connection between poetry and art. I watched Johnny Savage's YouTube video on ekphrastic poetry , and he says, "It's not saying what you see, it's more like what is happening in the picture." Johnny also says, " Go anywhere you can see art: galleries, museums, universities... or go online! And try writing a poem in response to that moment you are looking at that picture ." I like art as much as I like poetry so this style sounded exciting.       I went on Google Arts...

      I remember John Keats' " Ode to a Nightingale " from poetry annotation in grade 10 AP English. It was one of my favorite poems from that class. It was with this poem (and Shakespeare's plays) that I found allusions interesting in poems. I thought they sometimes added a lot more depth than similes and metaphors.  If you couldn't tell by now, I looked into Ode poetry this week, and it started with  Ode - Poetry Foundation . After a few more sites, I surprisingly learned more about odes than I previously did in English class.  An ode is a short lyric poem that praises an individual, an idea, or an event. In ancient Greece, odes were originally accompanied by music—in fact, the word “ode” comes from the Greek word  aeidein , which means to sing or to chant. Odes are often ceremonial, and formal in tone. There are several different types of odes, but they are all highly structured and adhere to poetic forms. ( Masterclass , 2021). What's unique f...

  Cyber safety, huh.  There's one thing that comes to my mind about cyber safety in school, and it's a traumatizing story. 

 I found this week's poetry style enjoyable and frustrating to practice. 

       What stood out to me from  An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube  was Michael Wesh saying, "It's a celebration of new forms of community - types of community that we've never really seen before, global connections transcending space and time. It's a celebration of new and unimaginable possibilities" (4:58).      I don't know if it is hard to believe, but I rarely used tech before we moved to Canada. We honestly weren't fortunate enough, especially since our third-world country was not as advanced then as it is now. I only remember the DVDs, CDs, and developed photographs. My cousin and I were Michael Jackson fanatics, lazying around with the radio on, and then hours later, I was binging on classic Barbie movies. It was overwhelming to see so much technology in Canada. Before school, I would wait for the bus by watching "Bo on the Go!" and other shows on PBS Kids. I was gifted my first iPod when I was eight, and since then, I've re...

 Before I go and make this about me, here is a timeless poem that'll surely introduce you to this week's victor.  "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas

      So, this week was hectic . With all the deadlines and events I was partaking in, I knew I needed to organize myself better. I didn't realize how taxing this week's prompt was until I spent hours maneouvering through this video editing platform called Shotcut .  What is one way people can organize things or themselves?  Ironically, the lucky poem type for my learning project this week is the list . 

 I pulled out from the bag this week's chosen poetry form, and it was the Ballad (or Ballade).  Last week when I proposed my learning project, I think I failed to introduce it properly. Here is my redemption: I went on to search for different poem types and found 25 Different Types of Poem to Explore by Savannah Jackson. I wrote each of these on small papers and folded them haphazardly into this equally small bag. Like I did this week, I took one of these papers, and the poetry style written is the lucky one for the week.  I took this poetry form to a Google search and looked at its features. Did you know that a ballad poem traditionally consisted of quatrains with rhyming 'abcb'? It was originally a hit during the late medieval period and was designed to be sung and danced to. Ballad poems were intended to tell stories with musical accompaniment. I looked at many sites to learn about ballads like the following: Ballad by The Poetry Foundation Ballad by Poets.org Ballade...

     In one of my other courses this fall, I was challenged to a 24-hour "Unplugged" from technology. Regardless of my fighting spirit, I failed miserably. As soon as my eyes fell upon the phone in my hand, the tiny device lit up and consumed my hours.       I recall years when technology wasn't as prominent in my life; I remember the DVDs and CDs that brought my family together. It's incredible how much has changed. I had my first iPod when I was in grade 4. I played all the games that were trending: Temple Run, Flappy Bird, Piano Tiles, and more. Since receiving that first device, I had iPads, desktops, and laptops. I consider myself a good caretaker of my devices. I still use my Macbook Pro that I got for my 10th birthday.          As guilty pleasures, I like to watch videos on TikTok and YouTube, post pictures on VSCO, find inspiration from Pinterest, and read online on AO3. I used to obsess over social media like Sn...

  Hi, my name is Justine.  I am in third-year BEd Middle Years student at the UofR, en route to pre-internship this semester. A few fun facts about me: I speak three languages and a dialect, I am the eldest child, I love music and traveling, and I was enrolled in nursing before I transferred into education. I don't have pets, but that isn't a fun fact at all so I made sure not to add it to the list. I currently work as a DSW with Clare Parker Homes, a non-profit organization that provides support to people with disabilities. I am an advocate for love, kindness, and inclusion.  When it comes to educational technology, I already experienced and explored multiple forms as a student and as an education student. I remember using lots of digital platforms in elementary and secondary school such as Flipgrid, Bitstrips, iMovie, Zoom, and lots more. I also did a "Heure de Genie" learning project where we made blogs and uploaded YouTube videos in Grade 8. In my UofR courses, I ...

 Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings. - W.H. Auden Welcome to my first learning post.  In elementary school, a teacher taught us how to write identity haikus. I thought, 'This is kind of weird. How can I explain myself in so few words?' She'd explained the rules of haikus in detail, and I was lost even further. 'Now, I have to count the syllables and use nature in it too?' My teacher showed us a haiku she had written for herself, and I could not grasp how much of her identity she expressed in it until now. Her haiku included mostly images of the sun.  In high school, I enrolled in the Advanced Placement for English Language Arts-- a decision I am grateful I made. My teacher was the type students were scared of because her philosophies were strong, and she had strict teaching habits that made some students cry. On the first day, she prompted us to write diamante poems, about opposite topics composed of seven lines in the shape of a diamond. If you gue...