Edtc 400 final post!

Wow what a semester it has been. I have taken 4 classes during my pre-internship and manages to even keep up (mostly) with the two that were not put on hold for that time.

During this time I really enjoyed this class and doing all the things in it like the Debates. Everyone of them were interesting and made me really think about my position on each topic. My favorite one however was the debate between Emily and Brian. I love how the two of them had been debating different sides to two different topics and ended up making it so they both connected verywell. Great job you two. I also really like how we were able to teach and learn how we can help out students become good digital citizens through class instruction.

Another great thing this semester was we had the opportunity to Mentor the EDTC 300 class. This was a great opportunity for me to see how other people felt about digital technology from where i was last year. I also really enjoyed getting to see then progress through their learning projects. It is amazing what we can learn and teach ourselves through technology today.

The only regret i do have from the semester is that i did not take more time to comment on my mentees blogs. I was always reading then but i have a hard time trying to write to another student about work that i feel they are doing better than me at. I think all four of my edtc 300 mentes did an amazing job this semester and i would be proud to have them teach my kids the way they were able to teach themselves. So check out my mentee log

to see what i did comment on through the semester, as well as it will bring you to 4 amazing blogs that i highly recommend reading.

To unplug or not to unplug.

This was an interesting debate topic. When you first asked me i would have said YES please. Lets have even one day technology free. Are you ever like:

What would happen? Would it be quieter or more noisy because no one has their nose in a phone or computer. How much might my power bill go down for that time? Would my day have a little less stress in it? I do but then i think hmmm what would it actually mean to unplug? If we say from technology what is included in that? Just digital technology like tvs and cell phones, or would it also include other things such as Power for your lights and fridge?

I think that there is no need to unplug all things, but maybe we need to be more aware of what we are using and how we are using it. If we are on the TV for 3hrs a day, we may want to cut that down to an hr. Or we could turn our phones off when we are eating meals. I think all things are okay in moderations. We just must be aware of what we are doing and how much of it to help determine if technology is taking over our worlds.

What is technology really doing to our childrens childhood?

Now this is a big question. If i were to answer this before i have taken these EDTC classes, i would have said that I think it it is kind of ruining it. When I was a kid I got an 5-6 hours of TV a week, now this is lower than the average was at that time which was about 20 hours a week.  Now we see kids from 6-8 year olds are having screen time (for entertainment purposes) 6 hours a day.

I mean think about it, kids are sometimes even using more than one device at a time. My son for example, i have had to tell him to stop using a tablet when he is playing on the xbox. He then tells me he just needs to watch a youtube video to show him how to do something in his game. What ever happened to just figuring it out on your own? No wonder why kids are so bored of games now, they have all the answers and cheats on how to play it before they even do.

My childhood was very tech limited. I could not wait to get home from school so i could go to the park. Or even go play with my friends. My kids are like lets play together i’ll go on my tablet and you go on the computer we can play together. This confuses me to now end. However, in class a great point was brought up how can technology be ruining their childhood when it is their childhood? This really made me think hard. I had not thought about it in that way before. Our childhood is what we make it, what is the thing to do at the time. One may have said tv was ruining childhood in my day because there was none in another generations childhood. But who are we to say really?

Cree 100 final Project

Well another semester comes to an end. When I had to think about taking a second language class Cree was no the first one that came to mind. Everyone was talking about how beneficial taking French would be seeing as it it the official second language and all.

Well as i have gone through the education program i have come to realise how important the First Nations people and their cultures are to not only me but the community and country as a whole. In my teaching english as a second language class i learned a lot about identity and how language is a very important of that. I also have learned that the cree language along with many other First Nations languages are quickly dieing or have died. As a educator and a person who lives on treaty 4 land i need to do what i can to help restore the lost language and honour those who were here first. This is why i chose to take Cree and my language class. I can learn about the history, the language it self, and maybe even help someday to bring it back.

So check out my final cree project, i made a video describing myself and a bit of what i have learned this semester.

Our Summary of Learning

Webster and I made an epic book using StoryBird. See it below!

Equity in Education with technology!

There was a debate in our class and once again it was not an easy one to side with. Does technology help to create equity in the classroom? It was so hard for me to pick a side. I really believe that yes it can help to create the equity. However, how can it work when in a lot of the situations those who need it cant afford it? Look at this photo I found:

It is amazing to me that 75% of schools surveyed don’t have any way for their students to use any type of connectivity outside of school. How are these students supposed to be able to complete any homework that needs this? How will these students feel? I would feel left out and would not want to try because i know it would fail because i don’t have the resources i need.

I really like how COSN is working to help fight the digital divide. This site can help us with resources we can use to create the Tech-equity we look for in the schools.

There is so much divide, but there is something we can do if we work together. I am a huge believer in equity over equality, so we need to help those who need the technology the most get it not just those who have the money for it. Let’s put our heads and resources together to get this to those in need.

Two debate topics into one! Awesome.

In my EDTC class as we got ready for the big debate topic, the two debaters quickly realised that there was a miscommunication between them and they both prepared different debate topics!!!! At first I thought how on earth can this turn into a debate? But as i have learned so far, i just have to go with it!

The first topic prepare by Emily was: Public education has sold its soul to corporate interests in what amounts to a Faustian bargain (did we sell our educational soul) and she was on the pro side. Now I have to say i feel the same way sometimes, but not just about education. I think that so many of the big corporations take institutions such as public education and finds out what they may be looking for such as technology, and keep us wanting more. The technology they are supplying is not what it used to be, remember when a car would last what felt like forever! Now we are trading them in every 4 or five years. Sorry for the rant, anyway now since we have started to use the technology, we have to keep buying from the big businesses to upgrade, repair, and keep up to date. Schools could go bankrupt if we can’t control what they are buying and look at where they are buying from.

Brian’s topic was Openness and sharing in schools is unfair to our kids and he was on the con side. Boy did he argue some good points. He talked about how by students being able to become open in schools while using their technology really helps them to create a digital footprint t in an environment that is controlled and safe. Brian also talked about how this can be an outlet to help students speak out if they are shy. To me this makes so much sense and i agree with both. 

Now as i was listening to both of the debates i thought wow, even though they are arguing two different topics they really do connect with one another. All I could really think about by the time Brian was done was how are we supposed to be able to help our students to create openness in the classroom and good digital footprints without selling out to the big corporations, when it seems they are the ones who are able to provide us with the technology? I really agreed with Emily that we have to try and keep all the decision making locally so we have some control on who is getting the money, and how much they are getting. If we are leaving this up to people who are not even aware of our situation in the school, i don’t think they can really know about the real needs in our schools. This would help to save a lot of time and money i think. I really enjoyed this debate and did not want it to end, so great job to my classmates Emily and Brian you rocked it.

Youtube Video response blog. Indigenous language revitalization!

This video is an interesting one and made me really think about what it is to really own something. This is not something I really thought of growing up. I mean why would I, when i grew up in a white based culture, where everything is based on ownership. Your parents own your house, it is on a piece of land they ‘own’ and have to pay taxes for, we pay a water bill every month. However, as i have been going through university and thinking about all we are learning about first nations people and how they respect the land, and live with it I have thought about this concept.

I really enjoyed when April talks about how her conversation with her niece would have been different when she learned about this concept of no ownership of anything in the natural world. When she says she would have asked what she learned from the bug, and about their connection. To think about how she would start to see the world differently, she would be able to learn that everything in the natural world including us is connected in some way. Not only for Aprils niece, but for all of us, I think if more people started to think about the world not as possessions but as a place to live with we would not be facing some of the major problems of today.

I truly feel that our world would be a more beautiful place if we were not trying to force this new age look to it. By doing this we are destroying all we have good. Look at the deforestation numbers in the world. Since the beginning of agriculture we have lost almost 47% of all the trees on earth, all so someone can make some money? I think if we were to stop and listen and learn from our first nations people, we could start to bring back a world i am proud to live in.

Technology enhances learning in the classroom, or does it???

A few weeks ago I had a debate with a classmate of mine Webster Fox, we debated about weather technology enhances technology in the classroom or not. Now I was debating that it does not enhance learning. This was a hard debate for me because I started out thinking but technology is great how could i ever find a way to say its not. While doing all the research for my debate I started to realise that technology may not be as great as i thought. Now please don’t get me wrong I am still not convinced that it is all bad. I truly believe that if we use everything properly and teach our students how to be responsible it does have its benefits.

Here are a few things i feel that we need to remember when using our technology.

1. We have to be sure that the technology is accessible to ALL the students in the class. Technology can be expensive, and not all students will be able to afford their own, and we have to be sure that we are able to provide it to our students to use if they cant.
2. Technology is advancing so fast we will have to keep up with it. If we don’t our students could lose touch with the technology they need.
3. It can take time away from the curriculum if we are not using it in the proper way or we are always trying to teach the students how to use it.
4. It can cause a distraction to the students, they may want to use it for other purposes. This will cause us as teachers to be monitoring the students when they are using it.
5. Students may become dependent on it, and not be able to do basics such as use the library and math formulas on paper.

I think these are just a few things to think about when we are putting the technology in the classroom. However, there is so many positive uses for it. A few examples is keeping up to date with the news, connecting with other places around the world, and being able to help our students to build the digital citizenship skills.

Technology in the classroom, i will do my best but i am scared.

To be honest with you, i am taking these technology classes but i am still feeling very overwhelmed. Growing up i did not have a lot of experience in learning with or about technology. I find myself overwhelmed with how fast it moves and grows. However with that said i am looking forward to learn along the way and with my students.

I have been trying to do some research to help me understand some of the technology used in the classroom. One Article I found was really helpful as it talks about the easiest as well as useful technology in the classroom.

When it comes to using technology I have to try and remember it does not have to be the most fancy or complicated stuff

(besides we all know our profession really does not have the budget to provide this). So Why try to learn the most complicated stuff, when really we can introduce technology in the classroom with a lot less stress.

I have always thought when talking about technology in our classrooms it was all about the type of technology, like the ipads or smartboards. However, It is not only about the devices we use in our classroom, it’s about how we use technology. I really enjoyed reading about this on education world. This article gave me some insight about integrating technology can be as simple as looking at the weather online in the morning with your class. And here I thought it would be more difficult almost like building our own technology.