Butternut Squash Soup

As a continuation of my March break cooking, I decided to make one of my favourite meals, butternut squash soup!  This is a recipe I have made many times before, but have never made in a Crock-Pot. For this recipe I based it off of a recipe I found on the website running on real food but also added some of my own ingredients to it as well. The recipe was fairly simple, and the soup is actually really easy to make.

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks, approx. 8 cups once cubed (if it's more or less than that no problem, adjust amount of liquid so squash is just covered)

½ white onion, roughly chopped

5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped ( I only used two, as five seemed like a lot)

5 cups vegetable stock (or just enough to cover the squash)

salt and pepper, to taste

I also added:

* Cayenne pepper ( just a pinch)

* 1/2 a cup of whipping cream

* 2 apples (peeled)

One thing that the recipe does not mention is how hard it is to cut through a butternut squash.  Since I have made this dish before I have found that microwaving the squash really helps with this.  Poke the butternut squash with a fork all over before putting it in the microwave for about three minutes. Let it cool and then the skin is much easier to peel off, and the squash is much easier to cut through. This actually ends up saving you a lot of time.

Once my squash was peeled, I used a spoon to get rid of all of the seeds inside and then cut it into cubes. From there I cut up the onion and garlic and added the rest of the ingredients to the Crock-Pot.

I let the ingredients cook for about 2 hours on a low temperature. Once the butternut squash  was tender and started to fall apart then I used a hand blender to mix the ingredients together. As an addition I decided to break my rule a little and add half a cup of whipping cream in order to make the soup a little more rich. As well I added a few shakes of cayenne pepper in order to give the soup a little more flavor.

The soup ended up being delicious!  Although, it was a little spicy for me ( went a little too strong on the cayenne pepper).  My mom also loved it.  This was one of my favourite dishes to make as it is so easy, and butternut squash soup is the perfect comfort food!

March Break Cooking

So finally, we have reached March Break!  As classes are coming to an end and my second placement is starting soon, I feel like I have been incredibly busy.  I have not been cooking as much as I had hoped to, so I have taken march break as some cooking time! I am back at home and have been making a few crockpot meals for my mom and I.  Last weekend we had some pork chops in the fridge so I decided to try making slow cooker Dijon pork chops and potatoes.  The recipe seemed fairly easy and sounded delicious.

1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

¼ cup chicken broth

¼ cup whole grain Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

6 medium red potatoes, sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

6 boneless pork loin chops (about 1-inch thick)  - I used 3 instead of 4

1 tbs oil for browning

For this recipe I had only 3 pork chops instead of 3, so I originally was going to cut the sauce in half. Once I started doing this I felt like it was enough, so I decided to keep the full sauce amount.

After frying the pork chops (just to get them brown on each side) I added them to the Crock-Pot with the sliced potatoes and the rest of the ingredients for the sauce. I then set my timer for 4 hours and proceeded to have a well deserved nap.  Little did I know, I did not actually turn the crock pot on. Instead, I just turned it to the 'keep warm' setting.  It is very frustrating to wake up from a two hour nap only to realize that your food was not cooking that entire time.  Thankfully once i turned the Crock-Pot on, the food actually started to cook much quicker than I thought it would. So, instead of being done at 6pm the meal was finishing cooking at 7:30pm.

Although it looks pretty bland in the picture, the meal turned out delicious!  I broke my rule a little bit with the can of condensed mushroom soup, but overall this meal worked really well and was a hit with my mom too.  I would definitely make this meal again. it was quick and easy ( once I actually turned the Crock-Pot on) and tasted delicious!

Stay tuned for my next post when i make my one of my favourite meals - Butternut squash soup!!

Tech exploration

Throughout my tech class this morning, I had the opportunity to explore a variety of tech applications that I could use in a future classroom. We were able to use a jigsaw activity in order to explore as many tech applications as possible. I have always enjoyed the use of jigsaw strategies, as it is a great way to get through a ton of information, and it has the ability to keep students accountable for their own work and ensuring that they stay on task.

In my own future classroom, I could see myself using this strategy in a variety of subjects. In terms, of tech, I think its a great way to have students present information. For example, you could have students learn about an app that could help them present a topic (ex- Prezi, google slides, etc). From there they could research a topic, and use the app that they have learned about to present that topic. This would allow them to present the topic in a unique way, as well as introduce students to the variety of app that they can use to present information.

A lot of the tech app that we learned about today are something that I see as being incredibly beneficial to my future classroom. One app that stood out to me was the Socrative app. This application allows teachers to create quizzes, activities and games in order to enhance and monitor student learning. Additionally, this app allows teachers to monitory the progress and learning of their students, and see where they may be struggling when it comes to quizzes or educational games. I can see this being incredibly useful in a future classroom, as it is a great way to engage students as well as monitor their progress.

Overall, it is amazing to see how many apps are available for teacher and classrooms that could play an amazing role in student learning if utilized properly! I am so excited to begin to use these new tools in my practicum and future classrooms.

Banning Homework?

This week I was able to the read an article published by Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post titled "What happened when one school banned homework- and asked kids to read and play instead".  Right off the bat this article peaked my interest, as I have always questioned whether giving homework to students is truly beneficial to them. The article explained that one school in Vermont unanimously decided to try an experiment of not giving homework for the year, and instead encouraging children to read (alone or with parents), play outside, and eat dinner with their family. The principal of this school reported that all classrooms in his school followed this idea, and it was posted on the schools official website.

Six months in to the 'experiment' the principal noticed that this ended up being a large success. Students were not falling behind as much academically.  Although some parents were concerned about whether this was really preparing them for middle school and high school, teachers were noticing a difference in their students and most parents were on board with the project.

I absolutely love this idea of no homework, and having students read instead. I found that in my placement school the students who struggled with reading ended up struggling in every subject. being able to read is such a crucial skills for students to have. Even in math, they need to know how to read in order to accurately understand and complete word problems. Reading every night as opposed to doing other homework would be beneficial to ensure that students are working on their reading skills, and are moving forward in all other projects.

It's an interesting topic to think about, and I am sure everyone has their own side and opinion to this story. Ultimately, I feel that this could be a great idea to implement in a classroom, and would be interesting to see the outcome.

Honey Garlic Chicken Success

After a little cooking hiatus due to having a nasty cold (also probably laziness) I decided to make honey garlic chicken this past weekend. This recipe was actually a recipe created to follow the weight watchers program. As well, it actually followed my criteria of being more towards the healthy side, as well as not having any dairy in the recipe. The website for this recipe actually allows you to change the number of people you are cooking the recipe for, which was very helpful. 

For three people the recipe called for:

• 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp + 2tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/16  tsp red pepper flakes (which I ended up switching for an Asian spice mix I found)

The recipe actually was pretty easy and quick. The recipe called for a five minute prep time, and a four hour cooking time, on low. The recipe began with cubing the chicken, and then mixing the ingredients to create the sauce.

In all honesty, at first the sauce looked kind of gross, and I was a little scared to taste test it. Once it was added to the cubed chicken in the Crock-Pot, it looked a little bit more appetizing and more like the honey garlic chicken that I was picturing in my head. After mixing the chicken and the sauce in the slow cooker, it did look a little sad in terms of portion, but I think I also need to realize the Crock-Pot is quite large. This means that when I am cooking for just myself, or only three people, the portions are going to look off.

It looks liked a tiny amount, but it did end up feeding three people!  From there I continued to check on the chicken and stir it every 20-30 minutes. I noticed that the chicken actually seemed to be cooked within 2.5- 3 hours, on low.  This is the first time I have cooked a Crock-Pot meal and not lost my patience and did not end up turning the temperature from high to low.  YAY!
 The recipe ended up giving an option that if you wanted to create a crunchier chicken, that you could put the chicken in the over with the broiler on for five minutes once it was cooked, so I decided I would give this a try.

This ended up making the chicken crunchy on the outside, but moist on the inside. It ended up being delicious and I would highly recommend this recipe.  As I was waiting for this to finish cooking I was able to clean, do a quick workout, as well as make sides of steamed veggies with cheese sauce (breaking my rule a bit here).

Although the picture does not do the meal much justice, it turned out really good! I was super impressed and it is a fairly cheap meal that I would definitely make again!  My stomach was also much happier with this meal, and it also made me feel better that I has chosen a meal that was from a weight watchers website and utilized healthier options to create a delicious dish.

I am very excited and motivated to create the next dish!

Comprehensive Literacy

Over the past semester and a half, my language class has been looking at the components of a comprehensive literacy program, in order to bring one into our future classrooms. Based on this concept, I have made an info graphic using Picktochart.   Check it out!

The Comprehensive or balanced literacy program, is a way to ensure that our students are able to develop various literacy skills and habit that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. I chose to create my info graphic using the key foundations to this program, and reading top down. I chose only a few key words in order to ensure that the info graphic stayed interested and grabbed readers attention. At the top I started with the forms of participation. This program can be done using three main forms, individual, small group and whole class. This range of participation allows for students to work to meet their own needs, as well as allows them to develop communication and collaboration skills which are essential in learning and socializing. 

The next major section that I touched on was the gradual release of responsibility, and but this in linear left-to-right fashion in order to ensure that the reader understand the stages. I used arrows to show that each area leads into the next, as they are a way to scaffold up to the ultimate goal of having students work independently on their projects and assignments.

In the next section, I gave an example of what a 100 minute literacy block could look like.  This allows the reader to see how they could set up their own classroom. I think this gives a better visual to the idea of the comprehensive literacy classroom, while also showing the choice and variety that can be included in this classroom. Below this I gave a list of what each teacher choice, whole class lesson, and student choice would be in order for readers to better under the 100 minute schedule. The amount of choice involve in this shows just how engaging and interesting this program can be for students.

Finally, I ended my info graphic with the Ontario Curriculum.  I thought that this would be at the end of my info graphic because it is the base of the entire program. A balanced/comprehensive literacy classroom must be rooted in the Ontario curriculum expectations in order for it to succeed and meet ministry standard. These four strand of the curriculum are key for the program to succeed.

Five Artifacts

1) Ontario Language Arts Curriculum-  The idea of a balanced /comprehensive literacy program is rooted directly in the Ontario Language Arts Curriculum.  Each portion of this program is based around curriculum expectations. This is what makes up the knowledge that this program gives to students.

2) Nelson Literacy (http://www.nelsonliteracy.com/)-  One resource that I found very helpful while I was implementing a literacy unit in my own block was some Nelson Literacy texts. I found that they were a great starting point when I was thinking about how to go about a lesson, or what resources to use. I found that I did not follow their units, but I used a lot of the worksheets, articles and ideas that the books gave.  These can be a great resource to use to start looking at how you are going to structure your lessons, what questions to ask, and what resource to use!

3) http://www.k12reader.com/category/balanced-literacy/ - This website has a bunch of articles on the various sections of a balanced literacy program. These articles are great ways to get a better understanding on things like guided reading or word study, in order to better incorporate them into your own classroom.

4) http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/paying_attention_literacy.pdf - This website is an article launched by the ministry of Ontario. The article allows you to get a glimpse at some of the key principles for improving literacy for grades K-12.

5)http://www.hpedsb.on.ca/ec/services/cst/elementary/literacy/documents/ReadingComponentsofBalancedLiteracy.pdf  -  Finally, this website gives the reader an explanation of the reading components of balanced literacy.  The article explains what the student and teacher should be doing through the different reading components, and how to bring this into your classroom.

The Superbowl and Food Allergies

I realize I am a wee bit late writing this post, but better late than never, right?! With last Sunday being the superbowl, I ended up making two Crock-Pot dishes in one weekend. I figured that to go with the Superbowl theme, I would make a Buffalo Chicken Dip, which of course I found on Pinterest. The recipe actually seemed very simple.

2 chicken breasts or thighs

3 oz buffalo chicken sauce

4 oz cream cheese (half a container)

4 oz ranch or blue cheese dressing

1 stalk celery, chopped   ( I hate celery with quite a passion, so this was not included in my dip)

1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese   ( I also opted for no cheese, as this dip seemed cheesey enough!)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Now, as per my usual way of Crock-Pot cooking, I pretty much took the recipe and then did my own thing. I added the 4oz of cream cheese to my Crock-pot and was thoroughly disappointed with how little this amount was. I didn't take a photo, but it really was a sad amount.  With how big my chicken breasts were, and how hungry I was, this did not seem like reasonable amount, so I added another carton of cream cheese.  Since the recipe was already off, I just added the rest of the ingredients as I went, and just taste tested to see if it tasted alright.

Now once all this cream cheese had melted in with the other ingredients, I realized I had made a large amount of dip.  WAY more than was necessary. I figure that I could just keep the rest, and between myself, and my roommates we would end up finishing it.

The dip ended up not taking long at all to cook, which was perfect.  My boyfriend was still up, we had N'aan bread to dip, the game was on, everything was perfect! 

Now, take into account that this dip had about 10 oz of cream cheese, and who knows how much ranch dressing. I actually have a lactose sensitivity.  I like to pretend that I do not have this condition, because I truly believe cheese is one of the best foods on the planet.   I ate more of this dip than I really should have, which resulted in a night of an upset stomach, bloating, and completely regretting my decision.

When I started this project I had the goal of not only using my Crock-Pot, but also finding healthier meal options and saving money.  This meal did 1/3 of these things.  In no way was this dip healthy, and it clearly did not meet my own dietary needs. I also ended up having to throw the dip away, as I couldn't even look at it after how much it upset my stomach and brought on my lactose intolerance flare ups. This meant that I was wasting money as I didn't eat all of the ingredients that I bought for this dip. Although this is my own fault, as I know my dietary needs, it made me realize that I need to be choosing dishes that are healthier for me, as well as ACTUALLY FOLLOWING THE RECIPE.

I think this is the issue that I have been having the hardest time with, so my goal for the rest of this project is to try and choose healthier meals, and meals that cater to my own dietary needs. By not doing this so far, and not following recipes properly, I have just been losing money and hurting myself. I don't think I realized how much of a learning journey using a Crock-Pot would be, but I am glad that I am making mistakes that I can learn from for next time!

Tune in next week as I try to cook a meal that is cheap, healthy and WHERE I ACTUALLY FOLLOW THE RECIPE!

Stuffed Peppers

For my Genius Hour project this week, I actually ended up cooking two different dishes! The first dish I cooked was stuffed peppers. The recipe seemed simple enough, and I ended dup modifying it a little in order to make it a bit healthier, as well as use ingredients that I already had. This recipe called for

* 1 lb ground beef  (I substituted this for ground turkey)
*  5-6 Bell peppers (I ended up using 3)
* 1 cup of rice
* 1 cup black beans
* 1 cup corn
* 1 cup  red enchilada sauce   (I ended up not using this, as I wasn't sure where to find it)
* 3/4 of a cup of mixed cheese
* 1/2 a teaspoon of chili power
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin  (I ended up just getting taco seasoning instead)
Additional toppings that I added:
- Salsa, and sour cream (once finished)

The process itself was a little more time consuming than I thought, as I had to cook the rice (which I never considered), but overall it was fairly easy.  As I cooked the rice I cleaned out the peppers in order to add the rest of the ingredients.

The one challenge that I had with this recipe was that I don't have any concept of what one pound is.  I bought some ground turkey from the grocery store that is measured in kilograms. Looking back now, it would have been smart to maybe google how many Kgs a pound is, but of course I did not think of that at the time.  I decided I would just cook all of the ground turkey from the package. Once I cooked the turkey I realized that this is, in fact, quite a lot of meat,  and more than likely more meat than I actually needed for this recipe. Being the stubborn, and apparently illogical person that I am, I decided to just use all the meat.  I mean, why wouldn't it fit in those small medium sized peppers?

                     

Oddly enough, a full package of meat, combined with cheese, rice, beans and corn did not fit into three medium sized peppers.

So as you can see, I will be eating these leftovers for the next three days. Actually as I am posting this blog, I have already eaten the leftovers for two meals now, and I still have at least another meal of them leftover. That was not the only mistake I made when creating this dish. As I was mixing all the ingredients I actually forgot to add the taco seasoning. This meant that the dish had no seasoning besides salt and pepper. I did not actually realize this until about 10 mins before the pepper were done, as I saw the taco seasoning sitting unopened on the counter.

All-in-all the pepper actually turned out really good!  My boyfriend was up for the weekend, so he was my guinea pig who got to try the dish. Besides the lack of seasoning, I really enjoyed them, and I think this will be a dish I will make again in the future. It was relatively cheap to make, as well as easy. I also think the meat could be substituted for tofu in order to create a vegetarian dish that is also cheaper than using meat.

Stay tuned for my next blog, as I create a Buffalo Chicken Dip for the Super bowl!

Genius Hour & Educational Technology.

 As per usual, my tech class this week was filled with a variety of technological ideas that we could bring in and implement in our future classrooms. This week we looked at Plickers (one of my favourites), as well as google forms to create quizzes. If you have not had the opportunity to use Plickers I would highly suggest it.  It's a free app that you can get on your phone that allows your to do quizzes and polls in the class.  Each student gets a small piece of paper, and each side of the piece of paper has either A,B,C,D.  Each Plickers card looks different, and the letter are quite small, so it allows students to give their answers without their classmates knowing their answer. This is a great way to do a poll to see how students are feeling, a diagnostic test at the beginning of the unit, or even a formative test to see how students are doing in a unit and feeling about the content.

In terms of my Genius Hour project, I thin that it has been going really well. I have definitely been learning a lot in terms of cooking, Crock-Pots, and the fact that I apparently have zero patience when it comes to foods cooking times. Also- I am starting to think you really should not change the cooking temperature when ever you feel like it, as this probably affects the way the food cooks. I am zero patience, and a tendency to turn the Crock-Pot on to high when it is not cooking as fast as I want to. My new goal is to stop this, and work on my patience.

Overall, I think I am really starting to see how technology can be implemented in the classroom in so many ways. Coming into this class, I felt excited about learning these techniques, but a little uncomfortable as I felt like my own technology skills were sub-par at best. It has been so nice to see how easily these different apps and techniques can be implemented into a classroom. This had made me feel a lot more comfortable with educational technology, and a lot more motivated to use it in a classroom!

Utilizing Google Forms

This week in our tech class, we learned about how to use a google form in a classroom setting. We had the opportunity to read a book on Storyline, and create our own quiz based on the book we had read. This would be an awesome idea for a quick 'show what you know quiz' in the classroom. This could be used as formative assessment throughout a unit, in order to get to know where your students are at in their learning, and how you may need to change your instruction to accommodate them.  Check out the quiz I made, and feel free to give it a try!

Rootbeer pulled pork

This week, for my Crock-Pot Genius Hour project, I chose to make a Root beer pulled pork. As always, I found this recipe through Pinterest. Pulled pork is actually one of my favourite foods, so I had some very high hopes for this dish. The recipe seemed simple enough: pork shoulder, my favourite BBQ sauce, and a can of root beer. Going shopping for the items actually proved harder than I thought. Pork shoulder is kind of hidden in the grocery store, so it took me a while to find it and ensure that this is actually what I was suppose to use ( even as I was cooking I wasn't 100% sure that I bought the right thing). 

As I got to setting out all of my ingredients, I realized that the pork had some sort of  netting around it.  The recipe did not warn me about any netting. Do I leave it on? Do I cut it off?  This was a solid 5 minute debate between my roommate and I before we finally found an article on Google that suggested to take the netting off.  What would we do without Google?   From there I put the ingredients together and also added an Applewood smooked spice that I rubbed on the pork before putting it in the Crock-Pot, just to add a little more flavor. 

Ready for 4-6 hours of cooking!

Now, I decided to start this process at 5pm on a Tuesday.  Why I thought this would be a smart decision when I had ALL of Wednesday off is beyond me.  I followed the instructions in the recipe and put the pork on low to cook for 4-6 hours. If I have learned one thing from my two Crock-Pot meals so far, its that when it comes to food I have a very miniscule amount of patience. No patience is probably more accurate.

After about 3 hours, I decided to turn the temperature up to high. I have zero patience apparently, especially when I am just sitting around waiting for it to be done.  By about 10:45 pm the pork was FINALLY ready!  I was able to start pulling it apart.  Just a note to anyone who may be making pulled pork, the pulling part is actually quite hard! It was a great arm workout.  Once the pork was pulled apart I added my favourite BBQ sauce and left it in the fridge for the next day. Although, I managed to do quit a few taste tests as well.

The next day all of my room mates were home so that we could complete a math video assignment. This turned out to be a perfect time to have a big lunch together, and get them to try my pulled pork.  It ended up being a hit!  I would for sure make this recipe again, it was super easy. I think that I would start it in the morning, as oppose to at night, that way it can cook when I am at school and it will be ready when I get home.

Tune in for next week as I attempt to make slow cooker stuffed peppers!

Genius Hour; So Much Learning!

Although I have only made one recipe using a Crock-Pot, I feel like I have learned a lot from the process. One thing I have found really frustrating is actually the process of finding recipes through Pinterest.  Pinterest is amazing, and has so many cool ideas and recipes, but the links do not always work. I have found that a lot of the time I find a recipe that sound delicious and the picture looks delicious, but the link that should take you to the recipe does not work or it takes you to a different site, where there are 300 recipes and you have to scroll through it to find the recipe you want. I found that usually if I really want the recipe i can google it and find a recipe for it, but it's frustrating when I have been wanting to use Pinterest and it won't work properly.

Another thing that I have learned is that making up my own slow-cooker timing conversions probably is not ideal. With my pork tenderloin, I used a conversion chart in order to make my pork cook faster, as I did not have the patience to wait very long for my meal. The issue with this was that although the conversion chart may have worked, i decided part way through to switch the heat again. My pork ended up a little drier than i would have liked. I don't think I am proficient enough in using a  Crock-Pot, or even cooking really, to be able to make my own judgments as to how I could be cooking meals. Oh well, a learning opportunity!

In regards to my learning, my tech class this week we watched a Ted Talk by Sugata Mirta on The Child-Driven Education.  I found this video really inspiring and interesting to watch. He talks about how all children are capable of learning, as long as they are interested in what they are learning. This relates well to our own Genius Hour projects. I am interested in learning how to cook through a Crock-Pot. I am excited each week to create my new dishes, and this allows me to continue to learn and try new dishes. This works for all students, when a topic is made intriguing to them, they are going to want to learn, and as Mirta realized, they are also capable of teaching themselves.  I highly recommend checking out his Ted Talk.

\

Thanks for joining!

First Try at the Crock-Pot

This weekend I had the opportunity to go home and cook for my mom and boyfriend. I thought that this would be the perfect time to try my first Crock-Pot recipe, for an audience too! I spend the days leading up to Friday searching on Pinterest for a few recipes that I could give them the choice of. They both ended up deciding on a brown sugar balsamic glazed pork tenderloin.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, and let my mom know what ingredients I needed (saving $$ already!). The ingredients were pretty simple.
- salt
- pepper
- sage
- garlic
- water
- brown sugar
- corn starch
- balsamic vinegar
- soy sauce.

All my ingredients ready to go.

After my class on Friday, I made the trek home for the weekend to begin my cooking. Right away I saw an issue. The recipes calls for you to cook the pork tenderloin on low for 6-8 hours. The issue was that by the time I got home it was almost 2. I was did not want to wait until at least 8pm to eat. From there I decided to take a risk and look up some crockpot timing changes. Recipe Tips gave me a great conversion chart, where I found that I could change the timing from 6-8 hours on low to 3-4 hours on high. Hooray, less time before we can eat!

 The beginning of the recipe calls for you to mix all the dry and rub it on the pork tenderloin. From there you put 1/2 a cup of water in the Crock-Pot and add the pork tenderloin.  From there I had to let it cook for the next 2 hours before I could start & add the glaze.  The waiting begins...

 FINALLY, the two hours was up and I could start making the glaze. Surprisingly it was a lot easier than I thought. At this point I felt like the pork was cooking too quickly, so as I put the glaze on I turned the Crock-Pot back down to low, and let it cook for another 1.5 hours.  At this point I also realized that you can't just serve pork as a meal (DUH). So I last minute decided on rice as a side.

By 5:30pm, our dinner was finally ready! I was actually really nervous to have my mom and boyfriend taste it.

Overall, I got approval from everyone! The pork ended up being really good, and the glaze was addicting. It may have been a little more dry than I would have preferred, but not bad for my first try! I think my first try showed me how easy a recipe like this could be, and how it can actually save me time. As the pork was cooking I was able to do some cleaning, as well as work for my classes. This will be ideal over the semester, as I know I will have a lot of work. I can throw my meals in the crockpot and continue to do homework while my food cooks.

The finished product!

Stayed tuned next week as I take on Rootbeer Crock-Pot pulled pork!

Virtual Field Trips & Continued Learning

Field trips can be an amazing way for students to connect their in school learning to real-life situations. They can be extension of the classroom learning, and are a fun and engaging way for students to understand, become more interested in, and enhance their learning on various subjects. But, what happens if you cannot afford a field trip? The fantastic field trip you planned did not work out? Perhaps the field trip you want to give is just  too far away?  VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS.

What is Virtual Field Trip (VFT)?  A virtual field trip is a way for teachers to allow their students the experience of a field trip, without actually leaving the classroom.  These field trips can be done through online skyping with various place. For example, the science course that I took last semester had a virtual field trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, through skyping one of the staff members. We participated in a variety of activities, as well as had a discussion with the educator about the Royal Botanical Gardens, and how we could incorporate a field trip there, or a virtual one, in our future classrooms.  These types of field trips do not have to be conducted through skype. Genia Connell (2016) wrote a great article about the way she took her students on a virtual field trip to Plimoth Plantation. She explained how she got her students to determine their knowledge about the area, used Google Maps, as well as a variety of other tools to incorporate multiple strands of curriculum into their field trip, keep students engaged, with never leaving their classroom. She gives a great step-by-step guide as to how she implemented this field trip, as well as how she connected the variety of activities to the curriculum.  Virtual Field Trips are an amazing way in which teachers can give students the variety, fun and engaging aspects of a field trip, but in a way that is cost-effective, and can include ALL students.


My learning in this week did not just stop at Virtual Field Trips. In my tech class we also started discussing and creating our own Genius Hour Projects.  Genius Hour is a initiative that allows student to follow and develop their passions in the classroom, by giving them choice in what they are learning for a set amount of time (Kesler, 2013).  Students are given a set amount of time per day or per week to work on something that they are passion about. This may be learning to play and instrument, creating their own arcade, learning to bake, whatever they are interested at the time. For example, in out class this week, we got to chose our own Genius Hour projects. For myself, I am choosing to do mine on using new crock pot recipes. I have had a crock pot for a while now, and consistently pin new crockpot ideas to Pinterest, but have yet to actually try a recipe.  This project will allow me to try to recipes, learn how to utilize my crockpot, as well as hopefully same some time, money, and have lots of a yummy leftovers! I think Genius Hour is an exciting way for kids to continue to learn, but about things they are specifically passionate about.  Feel free to follow my own Genius Hour adventure on my blog, and through my connected pages. My first adventure is attempting to cook brown sugar balsamic glazed pork tenderloin. Wish me luck!

 Retrieved from http://brooklynactivemama.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/text-here-1-800x600.png

References
Connell, Genia. "Take Your Class on the First Thanksgiving Virtual Field Trip." Scholastic, 16 May 2016, https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/genia-connell/take-your-class-first-thanksgiving-virtual-field-trip/
Kesler, Chris. "What is Genius Hour." Genius Hour, 29 Mar. 2013, www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/

Copyright?

First of all, I would like to say welcome to my blog! I thought I would introduce myself before delving into my first blog post. My name is Lauren Smith (Miss Smith), and I am a Teacher Candidate at Brock University! One of the course I am taking is a Teaching & Learning with Technology class! I am very excited to be a part of this class, as I believe that technology can play a great role in student learning and engagement, especially since we live in such a technology based world. I am very excited to broaden my knowledge on technology in the classroom, in order to bring this to my future students!
One of the first ideas that we have talked about it copyrighting. Although we have been citing in papers since we were in high school, I think that this idea is still something I could use some help on, especially when it comes to copyrights in the classroom. Very naively, I never really considered how copyrights truly matter in the classroom, and this is something that as a future teacher I need to consider. The internet is a magical place filled with and enormous variety of resource, but those resources are not yours. Someone took the time to make the amazing resources, videos, pictures, and papers that you are using, and you need to give credit where it is due.  One thing that I learned from the articles we have reviewed for this class, is that in Canada teachers are able to copy any copyrighted material for an exam or a test, as long as it is not already commercially available . This seems very helpful, considering I need the help with creating tests, and the internet has some amazing educators who have already helped me out with this! Another thing that I never really considered was the use of YouTube videos in classrooms. During my practicum, YouTube videos (among other videos), were something that I loved to use and my class looked forward to. I don’t think that I ever really considered that these videos may have copyright issues that go along with them, and in order to bring them into a classroom this is something that I should be considering.

Ploughmann, L, 2011. At The Computer (image). Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/criminalintent/5403052781/

The main thing, when it comes to copyrights, that I believe we should be teaching students is that although these images, papers, and videos are easy to find, they are not our own. When any of us create art, videos, and papers, we work really hard on our work. Can you imagine someone took the art piece that you worked on for a whole week and claimed it as their own?! What if they put it on their website and did not make any mention of the fact that YOU created it?! I know for me, I would be pretty upset about this.  In my practicum, I noticed that for their final social studies/literacy project, I had a few groups of students use information word for word (copy and pasted) from the internet, and put it in their project as if it was their own paragraphs that they had created. As I was reading their projects it was very clear that these students had not written these paragraphs, and sure enough when I typed the first few sentences into Google, it was very apparent that they had just copy and pasted informational paragraphs from various websites into their own project. At first I was very frustrated by this. This is not actually the students work, so how could I even mark it? How did they not understand that this is not okay? That’s when I realized that they are in grade four. There internet is so easily accessible to them, with so much information, but they haven’t quite learned yet that although they found this information, and it is out in the public, it is not their own. I think it is incredibly important for students to learn from a young age about copyrights, especially when it comes to the internet. Students begin using the internet to find information at such as young age, that I think it is absolutely crucial that they learn from this young age the idea of copyrights, and how to properly use information they have found. This can only benefit them as they move through school and researching becomes more prominent in their education.

Available for reuse! Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Technology.jpg

Overall, copyrights are just another aspect of my journey into the teaching profession!
Thanks for joining!

Welcome!

Hey! My name is Lauren Smith. I am a teacher candidate at Brock University! This blog will be documenting my journey in the teacher education program, as well as a tech class I will be completing this semester.  If you'd like to learn some more about me feel free to follow my "About Me" page on Pinterest!

In my last tech class we created a Passion Heart Map. This allowed me to document some of my overall passions. As you can see below, I have many passions (most of them being food, and napping), oddly enough I did not add education. Weird, right? I think I was trying to think of my passions outside of education. I have been in the concurrent education program for 4.5 years now, so of course education is also a passion of mine! I am so excited to be able to get out into the 'real world' and into a classroom of my own, or teach in some sort of capacity!

One thing that I truly believe all people need (especially at 8am in the morning!), is a great pep talk. One video I have seen multiple times, and loved each time is the Kid President Pep talk video. One thing that I think I can lack at is Pep talks for myself. I love giving them to other people, but struggle with myself. So if you are like me and need a good Monday morning pep talk, here you go!



Overall, this blog will be a way to document my journey through my teacher education program, practicum, as well as my future endeavors. 
Thanks for joining me on my journey!