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.

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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!