#edci336chat

On Monday, March 2nd, at 11:30am (PST) I will be facilitating the first #edci336chat. The topic will be tweetiquette and Twitter in education. I created the image above to advertise the chat. I used this image, which I found throuh CC Search, as my starting point.

Yesterday evening I participated in the #BCEdChat about world events in the classroom. Through participating in Twitter chats, I have seen the following things that I would like to use for #edci336chat:

• Q1/A1 format,
• Tweetiquette tips, and
• Storify to curate the chat.

Today I tweeted to a few individuals who I have seen moderate on the #BCStuTeach and #BCEdChat Twitter chats to ask them for some tips.

Do you have any tips on tweetiquette or moderating Twitter chats?

Esse quam videri

Alma mater

I visited my alma mater, Esquimalt High School, today. It was wonderful to see some of my teachers (while some others are away on amazing adventures). I am proud of my roots in EHS's community of learners/leaders, and our culture of service and passion. Visiting as a student-teacher was a really amazing experience.

As I was leaving today, the word "nourish" was in my mind. I felt nourished - and not just because I ate lunch in the staff room. It was a more complete form of nourishment. Since alma means nourishing or kind in Latin, I am not the first to think this way about the nature of education!

Speaking of Latin, EHS's motto is Esse quam videri, which means "to be, rather than to seem." My teachers' authenticity has shaped who I am and how I live. They treated me as an equal, and encouraged me to go beyond what I thought I could do. They care so deeply for their students, for each other, and for the education profession. (Buzzwords and jargon aside: education relies on connection, like Rita Pierson says in her TEDTalk.) My goal is to honour them by striving to be the best teacher I can be.

 

Inquiry-based? Tech yeah!

Tech should not just be used for its own sake.
This morning I visited @trev_mackenzie's English 12 class. It was awesome to witness an inquiry-based classroom culture being created. Technology was being integrated from the very start. Students had access to iPads to enhance classroom activities, and they are assigned blog posts as a way to keep track of their learning. Students in this class are also given the opportunity to use Explain Everything to create presentations. The classroom was equipped with an Apple TV, which was hooked up to an LCD projector. This arrangement is great showcasing student work and facilitating discussions.

Great writing comes from passion and strong, informed opinions.   
What does really good teaching look like? The students discussed this question to get them ready for their first blog posts. This is an important question to think about, so I created this infographic with their answers. I have long admired infographics, but this is my first time making one. I used infogr.am. I will definitely be making more infographics. I am going to look into other ways to create them. I love quick, accessible representations of information that are easily shared on social media!

RBCM Learning Portal

At EHS, I heard about the Royal BC Museum's new Learning Portal today. I took a brief look at it, but I think it will be the source of hours of a-museum-ent. Seriously though, there is some amazing content, and it looks like it's only going to get better!

#Actua2015

During the final week of January, I attended Actua's national conference in Ottawa. I tweeted about it on the #Actua2015 hashtag. 

Learning with Communities

I helped facilitate a session called "Learning with Communities." During this session, I had the chance to share teachings that I have received from some of the amazing people who have shaped my ways of knowing and being. I am so grateful to the communities that I have had the opportunity to learn with during my time delivering STEM Outreach within this incredible network. Before our session, we got some exciting news: Science Venture won the 2014 National Aboriginal Outreach Award!

Steven Woods, Google

Steven Woods (@sgwoods), Senior Engineering Director at Google Canada, delivered an inspiring keynote on computer science (CS) education and the Codemakers initiative. Here are some of the key messages:

• CS offers new ways to think and make things come to life.
• Educators need to change the way they thing about computer science: "You have the best mission ever. How can you beat conveying magic to children?"
• Diverse teams produce better.
• CS is empowering. Learners can take action, and something is going to happen. 
• We need to change our view of failure: "There is a critical role of failure in innovation."
• "Give learners a goal, but don't tell them how to get there." 
• "Computer science is a theme, rather than a thing." 
• CS is incredibly social and collaborative.

UOttawa Makerspace 

At the UOttawa Makerspace we were encouraged to engage in hands-on, play-based learning. "Find your 7-year old self. Failure and mistakes are awesome." It was absolutely wonderful!

We played with littleBits and Snap Circuits, which is are fun tools for exploring ideas around electricity and circuits. Makey Makey is another great tool for inventing games, instruments, and more! I have used all three of these with kids during various STEM outreach activities, and kids love using them for inquiry-based activities. This exploratory process helped me regain my own sense of wonder.

Something new to me was seeing a Kinect camera hooked up to a MakerBot. This setup allowed people to print 3D images of themselves!

Bottawa: 3-D printing at the UOttawa Makerspace

UOttawa Makerspace

 

Pat Yongpradit, Code.org

Pat Yongpradit (@MrYongpradit), Director of Education at code.org (@codeorg) delivered a stellar keynote about his organization and the resources they have created. Their vision is that every school and every student will have access to high quality computer science education. Here are some of the main points from Mr. Yongpradit's presentation:

• CS education is about equipping kids with the ability to help society. It's not just about creating cool stuff.
• Typically, women can connect with CS more when it is put taught within the greater social context.
• It's not just about using technology, it's about creating technology.
• This is a basic literacy, not just a course.
• Code.org has resources for ages 4 and up. There is CS curriculum for elementary, middle years (science and math), and high school educators to use. K-8 courses 1-4 have a blend of online puzzle tutorials and "unplugged" activities (which do not require computer access). Each course is ~20 hours. They range from early readers to 5th grade reading level.
• There are motivational/educational videos about CS that can be used as a hook/introduction.
• Looking to learn about CS yourself? studio.code.org has all-ages 20-hour courses for beginners.

Here are some corrections to misconceptions that were covered during this presentation:

1. CS > coding
2. CS is foundational
3. CS is changing the world
4. CS is for everyone
5. Don't reinvent the wheel, adapt it!

I used text2mindmap.com to make this mindmap of the principles of CS discussed by
code.org's Pat Yongpradit in his presentation "Beyond an Hour of Code"

I first heard about studio.code.org through @abnorr on Twitter, when I asked him what his favourite #edtech resource was. Since then, I have been recommending it to everyone who asks about coding resources. After learning more about it, I will continue to sing its praises. It's absolutely terrific, and so much fun!

Mr. Yongpradit also mentioned these other free resources for teaching CS:

• Google CS First
• Scratch Creative Computing Guide
• Scratch Jr. (for ages 4-7)

Veritasium: An Element of Truth

Derek Muller (@Veritasium) makes Veritasium videos on YouTube. "Can You Solve This?" is in an interesting one with ideas around the nature of science, particularly falsifiability, and confirmation bias.

He spoke about his thesis on teaching physics through film, and these were some of the main points: 

• When doing a science demo, the prediction step is key to long-term learning. The emotional attachment to a hypothesis helps learners to remember the results and explanations. 
• The best way to engage people is to pose a challenge. Don't give away the answer. Not giving the answer is a powerful thing. 
• Exposing cognitive bias is key to learning. The process of learning is often a process of unlearning.

Here are some other YouTube science educators: 

• Minute Physics,
• Smarter Every Day, and
• AsapSCIENCE.

I am interested in learning more about using YouTube for education, and building in interactivity.

Nicole Belanger, Professional Soul-Barer

Nicole Belanger (@nskbelanger) spoke about the importance of slowing down and reflecting:

We trap ourselves in grinds and fill our lives to the brim. This leaves no room to maneuver and think. You never stop to think if you're moving fast in the right direction.

She shared this quote from Irv Grousbeck that really resonated with me: "It's our vulnerability, not our wisdom, that makes us authentic as teachers and leaders."

EverFi Digital Literacy  

EverFi (@EverFi) has an online course on Digital Literacy and Responsibility. I tried it out, and it's a really engaging, game-based program that would be great for middle years students. EverFi is also launching Future Goals, an online program to engage youth in STEM through hockey. I have connected with @FelishaEverFi about how getting a workshop to come to UVic.

Other Resources

• Natural Curiosity environmental inquiry handbook
• I'm an Engineer series by Aboriginal Access to Engineering
• TouchCounts app by Prof. Nathalie Sinclair of SFU Education
• Math Catcher: Mathematics Through Aboriginal Storytelling
• TeachEngineering.org
• Engineering, Go For It!
• Programme for International Student Assessment 

@STEM_puns

At the conference, I was inspired and encouraged to start a new online project about STEM puns. I love making puns, and I have been dabbling in cartooning with my Bamboo tablet (by Wacom). I am combining these passions in a way that I hope will make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) terminology more engaging and accessible to a wider audience. I have created pages on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Let's see what stems from this!

Get Connected

Video Conference Tutorials
I am putting together a couple of video conference tutorials about Blogger and Twitter for my colleagues in #edci336. If you are interested in attending one (or both) of these sessions, what sort of topics/questions would you like to see covered?

I will be using BlueJeans for these video conferences. Tomorrow afternooon I will start learning how to host a session using BlueJeans. On Thursday morning I will be using it to host a meeting between the PDPPPosseRC and a local teacher. Hopefully by the time I host the aforementioned tutorials, I will be able to use BlueJeans without getting David Bowie's song "Blue Jean" stuck in my head!

Twitter
By all accounts - and certainly by my Twitter account - I have been tweeting up a storm lately. I have expanded my PLN, increased my engagement in some great communities, found some terrific resources, and just generally been quite inspired by what I have found.

Today I started using Hootsuite, and I think that I am starting to get the hang of it. It certainly didn't take long for me to tweet a pun about it.

One particularly fruitful connection was with the Royal BC Museum. Because of this connection, I have been given the opportunity to be part of a creative team for an outreach project that combines science and comics. What an incredible combination of Science Education and Art Education! 

Face-to-Face Learning
I am so excited to be taking part in these fabulous opportunities for networking and professional development in the near future:

• #yyjignite on Wednesday,
• A national science outreach conference in Ottawa in 1.5 weeks, where I will be sharing what I have learned both while working as a STEM outreach instructor/coordinator, and while taking last term's courses in Indigenous Education and Education Psychology,
• A public information session at Pacific Institute of Inquiry and Innovation (PSII) on February 7th, and
• #edcampvic on February 28th.

Will I be seeing you at any of these events? Are there any other great events coming up? Let's get connected!

-Britney (@MlleBallen) 

SMART Term Begins!

This term my classes are SMART: Science, Math, Art, Reading, and Tech. I am so tech-xcited!

As part of my learning journey this term, I get to take part in a personalized course about Education Technology. Here are a few of the things I hope to accomplish as a part of that:

• Enhancing and using this blog,
• Engaging with education communities on Twitter* to expand my PLN (Personal Learning Network), and
• Expanding my repertoire of education technologies by exploring tools such as infographics, coding, and podcasts.

*On Twitter, I can be found at @MlleBallen & the course hashtag is #edci336.

Mlle. Allen

Term-endous! (Term 1: Accomplished)

It has been a week since I submitted the final assignment for my first term of the PDPP. I have now completed the following teacher education courses:

• Field Experience Seminar,
• Indigenous Education,
• Learners and Learning Environments (Educational Psychology),
• Literacy and Language, and
• Physical Education.

The past few months have been intense, but nowhere near as intense as the next year of the program will be! Before starting the 2015 chapter of my learning journey, I will be spending time reflecting, visioning, and expressing some of this through blogging. I will be writing more specific posts, but here are a few things that I learned this term:

• I am so lucky to be sharing this journey with an incredible cohort of colleagues. As we have learned from sources such as this video by Alan McLean, "affiliation, which is a sense of belonging," is a key ingredient in motivation, along with "agency, which is a sense of confidence and self belief, and autonomy, which is a sense of being self determining and trusted." I am so grateful to all of them for what they have taught me, and for their continued support.
• Mind maps are an effective way for me to document my learning. During my B.Sc. studies I used them as study tools before midterms and final exams; this term I started to use them as in-class note-taking tools. I find it helpful to spatially organize ideas, and to leave room to add future reflections or insights.
•  I am qualified to teach French Immersion practicum placements, so I will be signing off as...

Mlle. Allen