Thursday 31 October 2013
Thursday 24 October 2013
ECMP 355 Podcast - CFL Week 18 Predictions
Brady Aulie and I did a podcast for our ECMP 355 class. Using Apple software, we recorded our podcast with Garage Band, saved it to iTunes, and uploaded it on Sound Cloud.
If you are a CFL fan, or have feedback on how to best use podcasts for educational purposes, let me what you think.
If you are a CFL fan, or have feedback on how to best use podcasts for educational purposes, let me what you think.
Tuesday 22 October 2013
Malcolm Gladwell's Latest, and Analogies to Education
I saw this intriguing tweet from my former high school VP (now principal) from my days as a student:
After reading this article related to Gladwell's latest book, it made me think deeper in regards to his concept of the benefits of "being a big fish in a little pond."
Now, Gladwell's techniques certainly have their critics. However, I do like how this categorization for big pond/little pond can be considered in an education context.
In reply to the tweet above, I sent the following:
Specifically, my reference here to the little fish in the big pond is for students who attend schools in communities of low socio-economic status, where transiency tends to be higher.
I used to work as a Dream Broker for the first four years of the program at two different inner-city schools. Often, when high-achieving students who completed grade eight came to visit once they had entered high school, these students would struggle with this transition; grades would drop, as it seems the transition from elementary to high school was excessive. While the transition from elementary/middle school to high school can be difficult for many students across socio-economic lines, I think this transition is stereotypically more difficult for students who attend inner-city schools in impoverished neighbourhoods. Charter schools seem to be a notable exception.
A critique I have against this article is that, how does one know in the world of education if they will or will not be more successful as a little fish in a big pond? Acceptance of being a big fish in a little pond (e.g., highly intelligent/motivated student attending a post-secondary institution without a strong academic reputation), could be limiting for that student in areas of networking/connecting to others within their field. I think this point is true in both specific fields (e.g., an Engineering student at MIT), and for students that are undeclared (e.g., acceptance and attending an Ivy League school).
I suppose, to reference another Gladwell book, if a student is an "Outlier", it may be worth the risk to be a small fish in a big pond. In "Outliers: The Story of Success", Gladwell references how not just talent alone, but connections to others, along with luck, has a lot to do with one's success.
What do you think of Gladwell's big fish in a small pond vs. little fish in a big pond analogy in reference to education?
Read Gladwell’s latest? I wonder if current k-12 system is #bigpond? In HS focus on marks squashes growth+chgs lives? Validates the chgs?
— Dawn Kilmer (@dellenanne) October 20, 2013
After reading this article related to Gladwell's latest book, it made me think deeper in regards to his concept of the benefits of "being a big fish in a little pond."
Now, Gladwell's techniques certainly have their critics. However, I do like how this categorization for big pond/little pond can be considered in an education context.
In reply to the tweet above, I sent the following:
@dellenanne it seems transitions from elem to HS can be #bigpond particularly if elem school is in a community that is not asset rich
— Garett Mathiason (@GFMathiason) October 20, 2013
Specifically, my reference here to the little fish in the big pond is for students who attend schools in communities of low socio-economic status, where transiency tends to be higher.
I used to work as a Dream Broker for the first four years of the program at two different inner-city schools. Often, when high-achieving students who completed grade eight came to visit once they had entered high school, these students would struggle with this transition; grades would drop, as it seems the transition from elementary to high school was excessive. While the transition from elementary/middle school to high school can be difficult for many students across socio-economic lines, I think this transition is stereotypically more difficult for students who attend inner-city schools in impoverished neighbourhoods. Charter schools seem to be a notable exception.
A critique I have against this article is that, how does one know in the world of education if they will or will not be more successful as a little fish in a big pond? Acceptance of being a big fish in a little pond (e.g., highly intelligent/motivated student attending a post-secondary institution without a strong academic reputation), could be limiting for that student in areas of networking/connecting to others within their field. I think this point is true in both specific fields (e.g., an Engineering student at MIT), and for students that are undeclared (e.g., acceptance and attending an Ivy League school).
I suppose, to reference another Gladwell book, if a student is an "Outlier", it may be worth the risk to be a small fish in a big pond. In "Outliers: The Story of Success", Gladwell references how not just talent alone, but connections to others, along with luck, has a lot to do with one's success.
What do you think of Gladwell's big fish in a small pond vs. little fish in a big pond analogy in reference to education?
Sunday 13 October 2013
Making "The Door Scene" with iMovie
This past week in my ECMP 355 class, we recreated "The Door Scene" (p. 17) using iMovie.
iMovie is a fantastic tool that can be used as a summative project for learning for a number of different subject units. It is fun to learn how the different tools can be used to edit scenes into movie-esque quality.
For middle years students, it would be best to get students familiar with this technology first with a simple project such as "The Door Scene" (p. 17). Once familiar with some of the nuances of this program, students would be able to create fantastic projects that display their learning.
iMovie is a fantastic tool that can be used as a summative project for learning for a number of different subject units. It is fun to learn how the different tools can be used to edit scenes into movie-esque quality.
For middle years students, it would be best to get students familiar with this technology first with a simple project such as "The Door Scene" (p. 17). Once familiar with some of the nuances of this program, students would be able to create fantastic projects that display their learning.
Tuesday 1 October 2013
Solving my Personal Mystery of Pinterest as an Education Tool
Last year early my during internship, I heard my co-op teacher speak about ideas that she had and shared on Pinterest. I was curious, so I set up an account , however as you can see I did not initially understand how to use Pinterest, and how to get "Pins" to share with others.
Once an account is set up, in the top left hand corner there is a search bar, along with a drop down menu with a variety of categories, including education. Here, there seems to be infinite resources available, however because of how general the topic of 'education', searching a more specific search in within education is helpful.
For example, one area where I have observed teachers use ideas from Pinterest is for use is for classroom set-up. By typing in the search bar classroom, other searches are prompted, including classroom organizing. My search eventually became specific to classroom organizing middle school . From here, you will see a large variety of innovative ideas that can be used for classroom organization and set-up. From this page, I found the 'pin' at the end of this article that I would consider using in my classroom one day.
Pinterest is a form of social media, and as such, its power is in sharing ideas. I decided to 'pin' this on a board I titled: "Education ideas". It is also encouraged to follow other Pinterest users with similar interests. It is also possible to share pins through Twitter and Facebook.
I think Pinterest is a valuable tool for teachers, since it provides valuable visual images of ideas that teachers can use in their own practice. From what I hear, Pinterest can also be quite the procrastination tool, so be sure to utilize it for a specific purpose in planning as a teacher.
Once an account is set up, in the top left hand corner there is a search bar, along with a drop down menu with a variety of categories, including education. Here, there seems to be infinite resources available, however because of how general the topic of 'education', searching a more specific search in within education is helpful.
For example, one area where I have observed teachers use ideas from Pinterest is for use is for classroom set-up. By typing in the search bar classroom, other searches are prompted, including classroom organizing. My search eventually became specific to classroom organizing middle school . From here, you will see a large variety of innovative ideas that can be used for classroom organization and set-up. From this page, I found the 'pin' at the end of this article that I would consider using in my classroom one day.
Pinterest is a form of social media, and as such, its power is in sharing ideas. I decided to 'pin' this on a board I titled: "Education ideas". It is also encouraged to follow other Pinterest users with similar interests. It is also possible to share pins through Twitter and Facebook.
I think Pinterest is a valuable tool for teachers, since it provides valuable visual images of ideas that teachers can use in their own practice. From what I hear, Pinterest can also be quite the procrastination tool, so be sure to utilize it for a specific purpose in planning as a teacher.
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