Genius Hour Update #5

Hello friends.

This is the final update before I post my final Ted Talk and come to the end of my journey.  All and all it's been fun.  I have learned a lot of different songs and I personally feel as though I have improved a lot.  I've included another video of myself playing so you can all get a little glimpse.  It might not seem like there is a huge difference in skill level but this song was a lot more difficult to learn and faster paced than the last one.  I'm pretty excited because the last one I posted I couldn't even play at full speed and this one I can play almost entirely from memory.  Like I said in my last post, the key thing I've taken away is not how to play one specific song but rather than I can always keep improving.  If I had to go back now I would adjust my initial goal for myself from learning to play one song to learning the fundamentals to continue my journey playing.  If I had just stuck to one song I don't think that would have really encapsulated my path to learning the ukulele as a whole and would have ended up as a really boring experience for me.  I'm glad that I changed my practices and although I didn't really reach my goal of being able to stand up and play one simple song, I'm much happier with the result of this passion project!  Hopefully you all enjoy my results as well and maybe it will inspire you to take up a project of your own!  Goodbye for now my little learners!

Genius Hour Update #4

AHHHHHHHHHH! Oh my goodness everyone, we're coming to the end of our Genius Hour journey! With only one week left until my deadline I am interested to finally see my result. I think what I have learned most over the course of my project is that mastering a musical instrument is an ongoing process. I have played a bunch of different songs and continued moving through levels but there is no real end in sight. I can continue challenging myself to learn new songs for the rest of my life which I think is the most exciting realization of this experience. What I am also really enjoying now that I have improved quite a bit is going back and playing songs that I struggled with in earlier levels and finding them easy. I wish I had done a before and after video comparing my first week to my last. Maybe someday I'll attempt to even write my own song but no promises that it will ever surface. My biggest step now is just continuing to practice my chosen song and attempt to master it! Stay tuned for the final result. Keep rocking MLLs!! OH and Happy Halloween!!!

Genius Hour Evaluation

Genius Hour Update #3

Hello old friends,

I feel that it has been too long since we've caught up.  I have been very busy the last few weeks with various teaching conferences and activities.  Last week we had a wonderful Ontario Teachers' Federation information session.  It was the first time all the Brock concurrent and consecutive students have been together in one room together and it was PACKED to say the least.  But back to the topic at hand, my role in the music community.  Ukulele is going well I think.  I think that if I were to keep practicing the same song over and over I would memorize them pretty easily however, I have learned that is not as much fun as moving up through the levels.  For the sake of the project I think on top of leveling up I am going to select one song to also review each time and then use that as my memorized song.  That way I'm still improving at actually learning the broader skill of ukulele but still meeting the goal that I had initially set for myself.  I actually think that to use more than one of the resources I have found, I'm going to pick a Youtube tutorial for my selected song.  Any requests? I was thinking "La Vie En Rose" by Louis Armstrong for all you How I Met Your Mother Fans.  If you are curious about my other artistic adventures pop over the GH Movie Trailer Page and check out my first attempt at playing around with iMovie, naturally my inner drama came out.  Also, I don't think I have mentioned before but I have also created an education twitter account.  The handle is @laurenndann12 so head over and give me a follow for some funny (hopefully) blurbs about my educational journey.  Until next time MLLs.  Keep learning.

Audioboom!

Screenshot from Audioboom.com, October 17, 2016.

The educational resource that I explored was Audioboom, which is a site for podcasts.  I have mixed reactions about this platform.  I do believe that podcasts are a unique way of getting different perspectives into the classroom and allow for students to hear people speak besides their own teacher.  There are plenty of interesting podcasts that discuss and what I enjoy is how the categories are so fast.  You can basically search for any topic or genre and there will be hundreds of podcasts related.  The issue that I found though was being able to narrow the topic further to look for specific themes or idea that you may be discussing in the classroom.  I think that you would really need to do some digging in order to find podcasts that fit with what you would like to discuss in class.  Further, I am not sure that I would allow my students to use this platform by themselves because I cannot find any filter to make sure the content is appropriate for their age level.  If there was a way to create a teacher lock for content I think it could be interesting to set the students loose and see what they are able to find.  I tried a few different searches which all produced really broad results.  To be fair, you can see from the image, my first search was just "ukulele" so the response was vast but i found it difficult to find key words that would narrow the search but still produce results.  For example, I also searched "Canadian Teacher Podcasts" and only 6 posts were found.  I think it would take some time to learn how to navigate the site and learn to sort through what is relevant.  Additionally, I did not realize that you cannot just start creating your own podcast, you actually have to apply to receive one so if that is your intention you might have a bit of a process!

Gamification

Gamification was a really unique and interesting way of learning.  Personally, I am very competitive so I really responded to the idea of being awarded by completing the work and turning the process into a game.  This is definitely a tool that I would use in my classroom, or components of gamification such as reward systems.  I think having this in the classroom is an interesting way of getting students invested in their work because it feels like they are actually getting something out of it.

Genius Hour Progress - Update #2

Hey y'all!

I hope your week has been spectacular! This week I practiced the ukulele three times but I have come to realize that I need to actually create a certain time or day that I practice to make sure that I am doing it.  It's weird to be doing this on top on regular school work because the main issue I am facing is that I am having trouble thinking of it as a priority and not just a random hobby.  Probably because before starting this project I only ever practiced sporadically when I felt like it (which was not very much).   I have included a video of myself playing as kind of a reference point of my skill level as of this moment.  I'm playing along to the song "Whisky in the Jar" on Yousician.  In the video I'm playing at around 70% speed of the actual song. The app is awesome in that it allows you to adjust the speed in order to practice at your skill level and get faster as you get more comfortable.  I'll try to post another video when I manage to play at full speed.  In addition to this issue, another that I am having trouble with is my main practicing outlet.  As I have mentioned, I found the app,  Yousician, which has been really helpful as a starting point for learning but I'm not certain it's the best way to maximize my practice time.  Since I have not updated to premium, because let's be honest...I'm broke, I am constantly being interrupted by adds. They pop up what feels like every minute and when I'm only getting half an hour free practice time, it feels like it is taking a big chunk out of my time.  Additionally, they are so distracting.  They really break the flow of my playing and it is making me want to smash my precious, blue ukulele.  As a result of this I am trying to find different resources on top of the app that allow me practice more.  I don't want to give up the app altogether because it is super cool but I need more.  There are a ton of YouTube tutorials for different songs but I am not sure I have reached a skill level to test that many of them out.  Plus it gives me no feed back if I am doing something wrong.  I wish that I had some ukulele genie in my life to grant me my wishes and just make me a ukulele god.  I'm going to start rubbing lamps.  Although, low-key I hope if I find a genie I'm not limited to strictly ukulele related wishes...

Screen Shot of my Yousician home page

To move away from the my musical pitfalls, we used a tool in class today that I'm kind of in love with.  It was called "Google Drawing" and it is basically what you would expect it to be.  I just never knew it existed and therefore I adore it now.  It's kind of like Paint but better because you can share what you are doing with other people and add it to any Google document you might be working on.  We listed to a story called "Not a Box" and then each created our own slide to add.  I think this is a great resource for teachers because it is a different medium for students to to visual art and share it with their peers!  Plus, it has the option for lots of people to be working on different slides so it can be super collaborative.  Check out the slideshow that we made!  I'm sure there are a ton of different ways to use it.  I may even just doodle in class... I mean whaaaat I am always 100% tuned in.  You guys (or likely just the teacher reading this and my mom) should totally try it out.  Mom you'd love it.  Until next time MLL!  Stay fresh.

Genius Hour Progress - Update #1

Hello my friends!

How's it going?  I'll take your silence to mean it was excellent.  How was mine you ask? Well, let me tell you!  This was the first official week with my genius hour project and I've come to realize I might need to practice more than twice a week to accomplish my goal of playing a song from memory on the ukulele.  I did follow my time line though which I am pretty proud of.  Actually, I went home this weekend to visit my parents and played a little bit for them.  For someone who grew up playing in music concerts and learning new songs, this was the ultimate throw back.  I have not performed for my family members since I was in grade.  I am aware that I am using the word "perform" very loosely here but it was still kind of satisfying having them sit and listen to me mess up playing "Eliza Jane" 4 times.  My mother did put in a song request of "Mandolin Wind" by Rod Stewart, which has a ukulele in it but I think I am a ways off from accompanying him on stage (but dream big MLLs!).  Anyway I have decided to tentatively follow my timeline and actually try to aim for at least 3 practices a week instead.  One of the downfalls of the resource that I mentioned last time, Yousician, is that it interrupts you with adds and only gives you 30 minutes of feedback for free unless you want to update.  That being said, one of the coolest parts of the app is that it can actually hear you playing and lets you know when you are off-key or playing to early/late.  It's a really good tool since that means you aren't drilling the song into your head when you're actually playing it wrong.  I'm going to attempt to video tape my next practice session and uploaded it so you guys can see the skill level that I'm at now and hopefully what I progress to!  I'm aiming for stardom here.  That little girl just won America's Got Talent singing and playing the ukulele so maybe I'll be next.  Always nice to have a solid backup in case teaching falls through am I right?  Anyway, until next time my little learners!

Genius Hour Project

Music Express (2016). Mahalo Dark
Blue Soprano Ukulele MR1.
Retrieved from
http://www.musicexpress.com.au/
mexpress/U30blue.html

Hello my little learners!!

Guess what?! I am going to be learning the ukulele! That's right, this week I begin my passion project a.k.a. my genius hour project!  For our technology class we are going to be exploring a passion and reflecting on our experience during the project.  Truth be told, I am cheating a little bit during this process.  I actually already own a ukulele and have spent a little time attempting to learn BUT I definitely still qualify as a beginner.  Because of this status I am going to be  documenting my progress over a matter of 8 weeks to see how well I can progress.  My goal is to be able to play an entire song from memory.  Recently, my father told me about an app that he found called Yousician that takes you through different steps in helping you develop your skills.  I am hoping that playing a minimum of two times per week, half an hour each will help me accomplish my goal.  On top of using this app, I am going to find more resources to help me learn sheet music for ukulele as well.  I grew up playing piano so I am hoping that this will give me an edge in my task. Interesting fact, the ukulele in the picture to the left is actually the exact one I own.  That lovely shade of blue is definitely going to add some flare.  I'll keep you updated on my progress!  Bye for now MLLs!

Copyright Licensing

Prior to this class the idea of copyrighting only seemed like a distant concept that only really applied to people in the music industry.  But boy, was I wrong.  I have learned, especially now that I am a Teacher Candidate, that we are not necessarily allowed to throw any old video up on the screen to show my students.  It in fact, needs to have this magical thing called "Creative Commons".  Basically this means that the creator has allowed distribution rights for their work.  It is split into six different licenses that dictate exactly what the author gives permission for such as sharing, non-commercial uses, or attribution.  I need to be aware of the distinction as well as help my students practice appropriate internet usage.  Resources such as the wiki page Copyright Friendly or Creative Commons Chaos can help students learn to navigate what is allowed to be shared or not.  Further, it is important to understand "Fair Dealing" as it dictates further what we as teachers are allowed to share with our students as educational resources.  As long as the purpose is for research, private study, criticism, review, news reporting, education, satire, or parody we are allowed to present copyrighted material.  This is very important in order to ensure that our resources for students are legal and usable!  It has definitely helped me think twice about the materials I am sharing!  Just check out these images.  

Slaughter, M. (1983).Children like Kim Hampton; 9; (left); and David Demers; 11; are plugging into computer camps with eletronic speed. Photograph.  Retrieved from http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-TSPA_0005893F&R=DC-TSPA_0005893F.

Brown, V. (December 28, 2011). Child's Play.  Photograph.  Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/vintuitive/6585812185/

Back At it Again with the New School Year

Hello loyal followers,

I hope you are ready for another whirlwind blog posting season because we're back bigger and better than ever.  Learning with Miss Lauren 2.0: Teachers College Edition.  Even if this blog doesn't give me a professional edge someday I hope some principals at least find me amusing.  But anyway down to the nitty gritty, I am super excited to be back this year!  Today marks my last first day of school EVER! Until I'm actually teaching and then I have a new first day every year but you get the idea.  I'm pumped to be participating in this tech class because 1. I love technology, and A. I love sharing it with people so finding new ways to get my students involved is awesome!  One of the really cool sites I learned about on my very first day was Answer Garden.  Which is basically a page you can type things you are interested in and see what an entire group writes and how many times each thing was written. FYI Bryan, I was the one who wrote cheese... because c'mon, it's cheese.

As this year progresses I am excited to continue to learn new resources as well as find ways to integrate media that I already love into my teaching practices! 

See you next time my little learners! (which is what I've decided to call you from this point on).

Mental Health in the Classroom

Whether we like to admit it or not, mental health has touched our lives.  Either someone we know or ourselves have been affected by mental health illness in one way or another.  And the really sad part is, we don’t like to admit it.  The stigma around mental illness is so strong that people would rather hide and hurt than reach out.  

Before grade 11 the word suicide had very little significance to me.  I knew what it was but I never imagined it could ever directly impact my life.  It was one of those things that you heard about happening in other places but not in your own school, not to people you knew.  Walking out of basketball practice on the night before the first day of the new school year will never leave my memory.  My teammate turned to us as whispered, “Josh committed suicide.”  I looked at the faces of the girls around me, shock and disbelief radiated through us all.  I saw tears hit a few of the girls faces but all I could do was stare.  Walking into school the next morning felt so alien to me.  I was surrounded by crying classmates and teachers attempting to console.  We were immediately called to the gym for an assembly to announce the tragic news, and offer up services that the school would be offering to any students who needed to talk.  

Two weeks later it happened again.  I walked into school to have a friend pull me aside and tell me that my friend, the boy who attended my first birthday party had committed suicide.  The school went into a spiral.  What was just one tragic event had turned into an epidemic.  Over the course of the next two years there would be 6 suicides between my school and neighbouring ones.  Even after watching the turmoil that was happening in the schools, how it tore everyone apart, and listening to the speeches asking people to reach out… no one did.  

Coming from a small town there was not a single person who was unaware of what had happened.  Someone was always connected by a parent, or a sibling, or a friend.  The entire community was is mourning over lives taken too young.  ‘Permanent solutions to end temporary problems’ my mother called them.  Schools were forced to address issues that had never been present before; suicide, depression, and mental health all became a main focus.  Every teacher was on the watch for ‘at-risk’ behaviour, and every student mourned the death of a peer.  From this point onward, our community would never be the same.

But what are we really doing to stop the epidemic? Small steps are being taken, sure, but is it enough?  Even widely popular awareness events such ‘Bell Lets Talk Day’  and ‘To Write Love on Her Arms’ are only once a year.  This is why mental health literacy is such an important concept to include in the classroom.  

Employing mental health literacy in the classroom teaches students how to promote and maintain good mental health as well as how to be there for others.  By teaching mental health literacy we will be able to reduce the stigma that surrounds this topic and show students that this is not something to be ashamed of, there are options and resources available.  Even starting small as teaching students to understand their own identity, recognize the impact of their actions, and learning how to be resilient, as the Ontario Curriculum now includes (2015).  

It is our job as teachers to create an environment which fosters positivity and empathy for others.  Guest lecturer, Dr. Mark Castrodale, discussed how mental health literacy is connected to so many other topics as well such as race, gender, and sexuality (M. Castrodale, Personal Communication, February 3, 2016).  It is also important to discuss mental health literacy in the context of other concepts as well.  We can’t look at someone and say “they committed suicide because they were mental ill” end of story, we need to do a better job understanding the reasons behind their actions.  We need to understand what were the reasons that caused all those young kids in my hometown to take their lives and improve those, not just use a band-aid solution on an underlying wound.  

The reason I chose to make this blog so personal is because I know that these experiences are going to greatly shape my life as a teacher.  As Drake, Reid and Kolohon (2014) note, teachers make meaning of their practice through their own personal experiences and beliefs.  In an effort to become a ‘reflective practitioner’ (Drake, et. al., 2014) I would like to use these stories to grow and guide my teaching practice so that the voices of my students do not go unheard. What my community experienced is not something that I would ever like to repeat and because of it mental health literacy will always be a big part of my classroom.  

Reference

Bell Canada (2014). Bell lets talk: Suffering in silence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tri5ZQaiM7M. (Video).

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Ontario Ministry of Education (2015).  The Ontario curriculum grades 1 to 8: Health and Physical Education.  https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/health.html

Critical Literacy

For this blog I wanted to reflect on a concept that we discussed in lecture and that would be critical literacy.  I feel that growing up the term “critical thinker” was something on rubrics that kind of just went over my head.  I did not know what it really encompassed or what actually made me a good critical thinker or not, it was just two words on my report card.  Discussing different literacies has really opened my eyes about how critical literacy is not just one part of a report card, it is actually an entire approach that changes the way both teachers and students look at curriculum, and just all information in general.  

The reason I wanted to discuss this is because I do not want students having the same experience I did and simply look at critical thinking as a box that needed to get checked off rather than actually understanding it’s importance.  Our world is constantly becoming more diverse so being able to understand not only the perspectives and opinions of people around you, but also having the ability to determine fact from fiction in the information that is being presented to us whether it be in textbooks or in the media.  Youths today are exposed to so many sources of information, television, magazines, social media, even Buzzfeed articles that decide they are the expert on telling us “what we really need to know.”  Critical literacy is so important to teach in these times because students need to be able to see the bias in different sources.  They need to understand the motivations authors may have for making certain truth claims instead of blindly soaking it up as fact.  

This educating can start at such a young age so that the time they are starting to grasp larger global concepts they already know how to question what is being presented to them.  The video below from Pear Tree Education Inc. (2013) shows some ways of how critical literacy can be tackled in the classrooms at young ages.  

Some of the methods of critical literacy that really stood out to me from lecture were ‘problem posing,’ ‘juxtaposing,’ and ‘making connections,’ (personal communication, Lane, February 3, 2016).  I was really interested in them because I believe they are practices that can be carried through all of a student’s educative journey, no matter the age, and into the rest of their lives. 

Problem posing is something that can come so natural in conversation so to me it seems like such an interesting tool to use in the classroom.  Playing devil’s advocate can be so fun so using it to encourage students to see both sides of a story, who the information is targeted at, is there other meanings, etc. can really help them build their ability to think critically and even help them become better and simply explaining their thought processes.  

Juxtaposing was a really interesting idea to me because it seems like something that can be built on so much over the years.  Books like “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” are fun ways to get students comparing perspectives that can eventually turn into companies news stories or articles on major issues!  Even tasks such as class debates could be effective as students learn about opposing sides and can even learn to argue a topic they might not necessarily side with and gain new knowledge.  

Finally, making connections was in my mind one of the most important strategies in learning critical literacy.  All teachers want their students to fully understand the concepts that are being taught not just have surface learning like memorization.  Having students be able to take the information they are receiving, look at it, and recognize how it can affect their lives or make some connection will really help them internalize the knowledge and hopefully help them become a life long learner.  To me that is the true goal of teaching.  

Making critical literacy practices common in the classroom will help them not only become better learners but better citizens as they will be able to reflect information and understand the perspectives of those around them.  So instead of just seeing a box to check off on the rubric, they see new ways to examine the world.  

21st Century Literacies

Blog round 2, here we go!  To kick things off my name is Lauren, my ideal pet would be a lilac coloured cat and I drink more milk than the average human being.  Remember when our introductions weren’t immediately our school year and major? I miss those days, and some day when we’re asking our students to introduce themselves they are going to be a lot more creative than we are in our introductions now, or at least I hope.  Because really, what self-respecting 9 year old is going to stand up and say “Hello, I am in grade 3.” No they’re going to get right down to business and tell you that their favourite dinosaur is a Majungasaurus.  

Ok anyway, back to the task at hand, 21st century literacies.  This is a phrase that I have heard over and over again for the past 4 years but I don’t think I’ve ever sat back and really though about what all this covers.  Mostly, because all of the different literacies were never really discussed as I was growing up.  It seemed to me that literacy meant books or occasionally media literacy.  It is only now that I am slowly becoming more and more familiar with how many different directions literacy could go, and how many I wish I knew more about! For instance financial literacy… because, I mean, taxes? What are those? 

The access we have to different literacy platforms is endless and it is our responsibility as future educators to make sure our students are, you guessed it, LITERATE! This doesn't just mean the can recite the words on a page anymore, it is so much more than that.  Digital literacy, global literacy, environmental literacy, moral literacy, and more!  Our world is not static, so why do people expect education to be as well? The more topics and literacies we are exposed to and teach students about the more they are going to learn and become well-rounded citizens? And isn’t that kind of our goal? To make the next generation even better than the last? 

I am very excited to continue through this course so that I can continue to build on the knowledge of 21st century literacies that I already have, and expand into topics that I haven't even thought of before.  The more we learn, the better teachers we are going to be when it is time to actually get our own classrooms.  We will be more competent and more open to the changing world around us.  And I think its safe to say that none of us want to be that teacher and the front of the class struggling to make a video full screen.  No, we want to be the ones familiar with new technologies and ideas making children excited to learn!  These thoughts are what motivate me in the course to learn more about 21st century literacies and practices and not have students yelling at me “no click the other button Miss Dann!”