Blog Posts

       I have always struggled learning languages. Unfortunately, I major in the study of languages, so only speaking English has proven to be a disadvantage in my field. I tried French for two years in school, and my teacher made it strongly about learning the grammar and rules of French. I quit after two years and retained none of it. Then I gave Spanish a good-college-try for three years. During this time, I really thought that I was learning the material in a good way and working hard enough to pick it up. But I now know that I was extrinsically motivated for a good grade, and I was only working for an A+ in a class. I would review the study guide and practice the vocabulary I thought I would be tested on, but I never worked because I loved Spanish class or the language at all. Instead, I was only doing what was expected of me.

               Flash forward to now, where I am in my second year at UVic. When picking my courses, I decided to use one of my electives to study yet another language even though I knew that languages were not my strong suit. However, this time, I didn’t register for a spoken language course… I started learning American Sign Language! This is the first course where the professors ignited a real interest in the culture of the language, as well as a passion for being able to communicate with a non-English speaker. Because my professors are both deaf and use almost exclusively ASL in the course, you have no choice but to keep up with what they are signing if you want to have any hopes of understanding what is going on. Suddenly, when I wasn’t focused on grammar, rules, or studying for a vocabulary test, I was doing quite well in a language course! My professors’ ignited a passion for overall communication by combining almost full language immersion, storytelling techniques that focus on conversation, personal information, a positive environment that encourages you to try, and most of all, a passion for what they were teaching that was contagious. I love ASL and it is all because of the professors I was gifted. They created an intrinsic motivation in me to continue learning more about Deaf culture and ASL as a language. They were able to use motivation as a tool to educate, just like the chapter from https://edtechbooks.org/lidtfoundations/motivation_theories_and_instructional_design mentions. I credit the shift in motivation that can blossom into passion for all my current language-learning success!

 

A response to my classmate and POD member Paige from her first post on a constructivist learning model!

I did not think I had a very constructivist learning style until I read https://paigemcp.opened.ca/blog-1/ and I learned I might have been wrong. After reading her entry, I thought about myself in a classroom getting formally lectured and I recognized that I can often disassociate with the lesson when being forced to listen and not move. Instead, when I am actively doing something or learning a new skill, I end up retaining more! I liked her examples about how sharing her own opinions with people and teaching someone else a skill worked for her. Then her personal story really solidified that I have a more constructivist style than I thought. I was able to relate her experience skiing back to myself and how I re-learned to ski as well in a very similar way. I went with someone else and I was finally able to ski when I just went for it! I loved how relatable her post was and how she took a big concept and made it applicable for anyone to follow. Great first post Paige!!

My favourite part of Alecia’s second blog post is how she goes into details about how direct and explicit instruction differ depending on the educating environment. I enjoyed reading about the clear different examples of direct instruction, such as demonstrations and different example strategies, and I loved how Alecia went into her experience using the DI method when teaching long division! My favourite part was how Alecia broke down the generalization that the D1 method is just lecturing to students at the front of the class. I learned how direct and explicit instruction is so much more than I previously thought, and thought her post was the perfect balance of informative and also easy to understand!

Prompt: How can you adjust your planned learning activities to meet the needs of your learners if an unexpected event occurs? (for example, a pandemic arises and many of your employees must now work from home – how will you ensure that they can still do their jobs? What training will they need, and how will you deliver it, knowing they must remain at home?) This is a common discussion thread right now as many schools and universities have made the switch to teaching online.

            Being adaptable as an educator is one of the most important qualities to possess. Even with the most detailed and prepared lesson plans, something unexpected can always occur. Quick-thinking strategies and problem-solving skills are essential, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic is a brilliant example of educators needing to become adaptable and think outside the box. Transitioning to an online format to coincide with contact restrictions and government regulations was not easy. However, it was needed to ensure student safety while still providing education services at the highest level possible. If I was an educator, I would have done the exact same thing that my educators did for me. I would set up times to talk virtually with each learner to go over their technological access and/or emotions throughout the pandemic, I would transition all the material to an online format, provide resources for students (for both mental health and academic support), and overall continue to play by ear and adjust to the needs of my students. Rather than think of students in large groups, I would try my very best to adhere to the very personalized and individual needs of each student.

Another example of being open to change can be seen with the climate catastrophe. I believe that as soon as possible, education systems should be trying to go paperless and consume less plastic. Being adaptable to change means listening to the needs of our planet and choosing to design lessons with the greater good in mind—especially when climate change is such as critical part of the curriculum! A typical elementary school institution will use an average of 2,000 sheets of paper per day. This means that in a year, over 320,000 sheets of paper are being consumed. For a bigger picture, there are 10,100 Elementary schools in Canada alone. (https://www.recordnations.com/2020/01/how-much-paper-schools-use-how-much-costs/). So as a future educator, my plan would be to use technology at our disposal and attempt to use less paper. If we are going to overturn climate change, it needs to start immediately. Since educators are often role models for students, it is important that people with a platform choose to make a difference and become a part of the needed change.

            Both examples show how versatility and openness to new ways of doing things are essential while still meeting the needs of leaners. I also believe that there is rarely only one “right” way to do something. Ultimately, I think it is important to try different methods when something has never been done before. Sometimes trial and error is the best way to conclude results in unprecedented times. At the end of the day, checking in and being a positive presence in your students lives can go a really long way if nothing else is working. Open communication, effort, and compassion play huge roles in facing new challenges.

I really loved my pod members third blog post because Catriona and I both chose the same prompt but took our answers in different directions. We both referenced COVID-19 as a prime example to designing lessons for inclusion, but she talked about removing barriers to broaden inclusivity for every student. I liked the specifics of making education accessible for all. She also focused in more directly on our groups Interactive Learning Design project and the different modifications we will be using for our assignment. I loved her closing argument about how no one can predict the future, so being flexible educators is actually the best way to be most prepared for anything—without real-life event preparation at all. Great post!

For my final blog post on Interaction, I have added a YouTube video covering the same topic as my Interactive Learning Design Project. Our topic is on “Helpful Study Habits for test-taking settings,” and the video I have chosen is titled “The 9 BEST Scientific Study Tips.” It is just over three minutes of quick and useful tricks for studying, and it uses a more scientific approach. I chose this video because our lesson plan covers a more social perspective on study methods. We back up our units with research; however, this video goes into a more detailed explanation of how the study tips are useful in various parts of the brain, and how you can maximize your brain to work the most efficiently. I believe learners would benefit most from this video if they were given a handout associated with the video, and they were able to keep up with answering questions on the assignment in front of them while the video plays. Then as the instructor, I would collect all the “assisted notes papers” and grade them as a completion mark. While looking over what the students answered and missed from the video, I would conduct a follow-up lesson going over the key points to really drill in the important parts of the lesson. After this, I would suggest that they all take the knowledge presented in class and proceed to personalize it. I would encourage them to begin thinking about their own learning environments and study habits, and how they could better their strategies based off the tips presented in the video. This is an activity that could benefit small groups of students as well as larger classes all at once.

 My only critique of the video is that it could have used better images to help convey meaning. It used a whiteboard-illustrated style, and I thought they could have thrown in some real pictures or different art styles to continue engagement. Though, I think the pros outweigh the cons in this video and I appreciate how it is concise in time yet informative and not rushed.

In regards to breaking down learning barriers to make this video and lesson plan useful for all learners, I would keep subtitles on for my hard-of-hearing and/or deaf students, I would make a virtual copy of the assignment note sheet so learners could access the resources at their own leisure from any location, the paper copy would also be accepted if technology accessibility was an issue, I would use assisted images for colour-blind students, offer the assignment in an external setting where there is more staff support for ELL and learning-disadvantaged students, and I would open the class up to questions to confirm understanding.

I loved how Katheryn’s post used so many direct examples from the video. Readers can tell she really watched the video thoroughly and utilized everything it had to offer. She also thought hard about the age group this video was directed for and accounted for the fact that most of the younger students probably don’t have strong note taking skills yet. I agree that younger students would benefit from simply watching the video as long as they stay engaged and focused in a limited-distraction environment. I liked that she would pause the video and then address the class directly to key in on important points and any potential questions. Finally, I absolutely loved the alternate options! The entire experiment outline was brilliantly thought out, and even the third option of simply having students put a lid over heated water are both great ways for kinesthetic learners to learn the material. They all are super great options that are creative and detail-oriented to satisfy different learning styles. As an educator, it’s super important to always have a backup plan, and Kathryn offered up many interactive instruction options. Really great post!

Pod 1 did their Interactive Learning Design project on the water cycle. I would like to start by thanking the group members Zoe, Kathryn, Alecia, Hannah, and Morgan for preparing their draft and sharing it. It is truly very well done. You can find their project here: https://fog-alpaca-7a7.notion.site/The-Water-Cycle-Unit-4ca902c5cee84ed180933b45d7fd0ff3

I will start off with the things I enjoyed about this presentation—and there is lots to choose from! Organizationally, the photograph of water at the very top, along with the titles being bold and the links being clickable makes it a very easy-on-the-eyes layout. I appreciate how it is creative but still easy to maneuver. I loved how it is targeted for second graders and I think that all of attachments on the notion site are correctly aimed for a young audience. The lesson plans were thoroughly thought through, along with a schedule for how long each section is anticipated to take. I definitely want to include the this scheduled timing part in my final presentation as well, so I am happy for to have the inspiration! I thought the description of the learning theories and how your presentation tied into different approaches was very inclusive. For this section, I would have liked to see more of a focus on WHY different learning theories are used. As educators we use these different approaches to tie into different styles of learning, (eg, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners) so a section tying your learning theory into learning-style inclusivity would elevate your rationale. From an organizational lens, the only other thing perhaps missing is a clearer differentiation between what is intended for the young students, and what is intended for the teachers. For the final assessment, I think this pod could use a separate tab that the grade twos could follow, and a tab that the educators were intended to see.

I thought that that overview of learning outcomes, assessments for each outcome, evidence of learning, and curricular competencies was fabulously outlined. I had no notes on this part of the draft assessment. I thought it was outlined and worded clearly, and the goals were focused and achievable. Great job!

            Moving on to your plan of inclusion, it is obvious to readers that this pod has thought of many different scenarios and solutions. It seems to me that in this section it becomes a little bit busy with points and becomes a bit unclear. Throughout the whole assignment one thing that pod 2 has done excellently is formatting. This is the only section that I think could be cleaned up slightly prior to your final resource. I think if you could arrange the points into different categories that might help make it easier for readers to stay focused on the targeted takeaway. All this being said, this presentation is fantastic! One thing is very clear throughout and that is that this group put a lot of time, thought, and hard work into this project. Their effort does not go unnoticed. I liked the format and design very much, the topic was clever, the lesson plans are creative, and they have done their research and cited it well. Great job everyone!!