Final Project: What did I learn?

Well this course seem to just fly by! I have truly learned so much from this class and from all of you! I cannot believe that it is already the end. Thank you all for commenting on my blog and for many of your great posts.
Here is a video of my final assignement I did upload it on a mac so I hope all of you can open it. If not my apologies. Again its been a blast!

Technology in the classroom

I found this video about the importance of incorporating technology in the classroom. I thought it was interesting. What are some of your thoughts?

What are your fears about technology in the classroom?

http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2012/teacher-survey-fetc/


I found these two images today and thought both were very interesting. Clearly there are tons of reasons/benefits for teachers to use technology in the classroom. However from this survey teachers lack the right level of technology/information. I have seen this in my pre-internship, where my co-op wanted to use technology in the class, but did not have access to the right level of technology. This resulted in her not being able to complete that lesson.

I have also seen other teachers not use technology in the classroom because they did not feel comfortable implementing/using it in the class. I have seen teachers not use certain technology because they do not want to branch away from something that they already know and understand. I was concerned about trying technology in the classroom because I did not know how to do it. Yet I tried it out with the class and it was a  great learning experience for the students and myself. I believe we need to push our boundaries/comfort zone and not be afraid to try new things. That is how we learn and see if something works, by trying it out and making mistakes.

Was there any type of technology you were afraid to use when teaching? Please share :)

When Was the Last Time You Did Nothing?

As I reach the final stretch of my classes I can't help but feel stressed with the amount of school work I have. I get caught up in working two jobs, going to school full time, playing sports all while trying to maintain relationships with my friends and family. I feel that I am constantly on the go and I am finding myself saying "I'm too busy" or "I don't have time for that". I feel when I start my internship I will become even more busy, and that will be amplified when I become a first year teacher!

Yesterday as I was going to sit down and do homework my dogs distracted me. I decided to take them both to the park. It was a gorgeous day, I sat in the park with them and just watched the clouds turn into things. I spent majority of the afternoon just lounging outside and doing nothing. After enjoying my afternoon in the park I felt happier, relaxed and less stressed.

I truly believe we need to take time to just do things that make us happy. Take a break from being so busy and slow down. Especially as we are so close to becoming teachers we need to take care of our personal health.

When was the last time you did nothing?

No Child Left Behind Pros and Cons

http://www.people-press.org/2007/06/13/no-child-left-behind-gets-mixed-grades/

I found this image today about the no child left behind act implemented in the states. As I read through the pros and cons of government involvement in education, I couldn't help but think who is left behind in schools today? Are students who are at risk, have exceptionalities, disabilities, or are very diverse left behind? Who falls through the cracks and how can we ask educators fill them?

The Real Polar Bears

Some of you may have seen this video. I think it speaks strongly to the rising percent of obese children in Canada. Working in a summer camp I have seen the negative effects of children eating junk food. Our camp foster healthy living and being physically active, yet children come with pop, chips, candy and a ton of other junk foods. It is hard for children/youth to eat healthy when they may come from families that cannot afford anything but fast food. Also with all of the advertisement of junk food making it attractive to people. I am very concerned with how healthy children are. Research has shown that if children have these bad eating/physical habits that will carry into adulthood, and are more likely to become obese. These habits are detrimental to their health. What are some of your thoughts to these issues of children eating junk food and not being physically active? Thoughts or comments?

Great Teaching!

I found this image and it made me smile.  I think all of us should print this off and tape it on our desks to remind us why we became teachers.
Why did some of you want to become a teacher? I would be interested in hearing your stories.

Are we meeting the needs of all students?

http://www.ldao.ca/

I found this image while browsing the internet on my lunch break today. It stood out to me because I am in an EPSY 400 class which focuses on working with differences and diversity. After viewing this image I thought what does it mean to learn differently?
Our role as classroom teachers is to meet the needs of all of our students and in Gwen Keith's words "all means all". This means we need to develop and understand how to meet the needs of all of our learners while being as inclusive as possible.
I would be interested in hearing some of your stories you may of had dealing with a child who has an exceptionality or disability. How did you meet their needs? Please share :)

Technology in the Classroom

Watching this video shows that you can use technology in the classroom at any grade! This also reveals the benefits to implementing technology for students and parents. What are some of your thoughts?

Tech Task #7: Mobiles For Learning

After watching the session with Liz Klob I learned a lot about incorporating mobile phones into the classroom. One of the ideas in Liz's presentation that I really liked and would use in a classroom was         Qr Codes.  I will be interning in a kindergarten classroom and majority of the students do have IPad's . Teachers can also book out IPads and use them for their class. So the kindergarten's can use their ipads for a ton of different activities especially QR Codes. Also parents can use their smart phones to see what their children are learning, or can do different activities at home. 

I would use QR Codes in my kindergarten classroom to: 

• Advertise school events or classroom announcements 
• Use the QR Codes as a scavenger hunt game where students can search the classroom/school to answer a question or clue 
• Link to a variety of children's books 
• Use the codes for a variety of counting activities that children can use and play to help them develop number sense 

Here is a link to create your own QR Codes:

http://www.qrstuff.com/

Here you can do a ton of cool things with QR Codes like change the colour of your QR Code for different events. 

As I got to thinking of different activities to do with the kindergarten class I found the blog Technology in Early Childhood. In this blog kindergarten teachers post different activities young children can do using technology. There was a link to QR Codes for kindergarten classrooms where there are a ton a different activities and bar codes to use in the classroom. Such as counting games, activity sheets or sliders to help young children match words to texts. 

http://www.classroomfreebies.com/

Why Finland Has The Best Education System In The World!

As I begin to think about what I will be expected to teach when I have a classroom of my own I do become worried.  In regards to implementing practices such as standardize testing. The notion of standardize testing fosters higher percentages/performances in all subject areas. Yet in Finland they have the highest scores and do not believe in standardize testing.
What are some of your thoughts?

What does teaching mean to you?

I found these two images very interesting. All these words go through my mind as I think about what it means to become a new teacher. What words or thoughts come to your mind as you think about becoming a new teacher? 

Image found on: http://timetoteachworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/teaching.jpg

Image found on: http://mathsse2011.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/how-become-a-good-teacher/

Tech Task #6: Story Telling Part 2

For the second part of this task I decided to complete question #1 by creating one story using two different tools.

I found it quite difficult finding a tool that would work for me. However after some time of trying a ton of different tools I found Bubblr. I find cites with a ton of stuff every where very distracting and hard to use. I liked Bubblr because there is minimal things on the cite, making it very easy to use. There are a ton of examples to click on and visual cues to help you figure out what to do. One challenge with the site would be the font is very small, making it challenging to see what you are writing.

Using this cite would be very easy to implement in the classroom. I could see many students loving the comic book style of the story, especially students who struggle with reading. You could definitely use the cite as an introduction to story writing.


Below is a link to my story:

http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/?custom=






http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157633857914631

The next tool I used for the story was on Flicktion. I did not find it as easy to use as Bubblr and I probably wouldn't use it again. I did like the idea of the cite, to post one picture and write a story on one imagine. In the classroom I would use this activity as a lesson to teach children to write engaging stories based on one picture. Maybe if I had some help utilizing the cite it could have been more beneficial to me, however using it on my own did pose a challenge for me.

Tech Task #6: Story Telling Part 1

For this weeks tech task we were allowed to explore the nature of story telling. I have always loved telling stories and having stories told to me.  In regards to this, I  decided to take part in question 2.

Using Five Card Stories was surprisingly easy. I am always apprehensive to try new tech tasks because I struggle using new technology, especially online! Yet five card was easy to use, fun and something I will definitely use in the future. Everything was very easy to find and the pictures were incredible.
If I had to point out a challenge with using the website I would have to say saving your story might pose as a challenge for some students. To save your story you have to write a security code and the letters are very close together and may be difficult for some people to read. Other than that this was a great source and I saved it as one of my favourites.

As a future educator I would definitely use this website in my classroom.  I believe this would be a great activity for any grade. This is a great way to introduce the processes of story making/telling. As well as teaching young children the fundamental tools of literature when matching/adding pictures to texts.

Below are the links to my two stories.

http://5card.cogdogblog.com//show.php?id=32084

http://5card.cogdogblog.com//show.php?id=32083

About Me

Check out my first @aboutdotme page- about me/nicole.koza 

Tech Task #5: All About Me

When I googled my name there were a few main pages that stood out. My Summer Sports School letter to parents, my Facebook page, my ECMP blog that I made for this class, my Pinterest page and the U of R track team roster. Nothing inappropriate came up, but nothing that showed what George Couros was looking for when hiring new teachers. There was nothing that showed how involved I am in the community or that I am making a huge difference online. I didn't not like what I found, but there was nothing extraordinary.
I am quite weary of what to put/do online because I have had some education profs tell me that we should not be online at all. That being online could jeopardize our future teaching career. So doing more things online is difficult thing for me, especially after listening to George Couros. He does amazing things online and specifically looks for applicants who our actively involved online making a difference. My apprehension could also root from the fact that I was taught in a  traditional school setting.
In the future, once I have a classroom of my own I would definitely like to be more involved online. I would love to start a classroom blog, have students create their own blog. So students can show their work online where more people can view it and can learn from each other. I just need to become more comfortable online and push my boundaries. This class is a huge help for me!

Killing Us Softly: Advertising Image of Women

I am a huge fan of Jean Kilbourne she does a ton of work recognizing the way media represents the image of women. Some of you may remember watching this video in ECS 200. I believe the way media represents women impacts how young girls view themselves, and affects their self esteem.  I showed this video to my BUGS girls (a program I run called Building Up Girls Self Esteem). The girls are from ages 11-13. All the girls felt that they strive to get this certain "look" that the media portrays woman to look like. They all felt peer pressure from tv ads, magazines, movies, and their peers, to look and act a certain way. I dislike that our society influences young girls to have distorted images of what women should look like, what they should look like. One of the girls in the group even pointed out that there are no other races other than white women in this video, which I found very interesting. Many  ads these days completely distort woman. They photoshop them to look completely different. Some ads even take different body parts of other woman and create a frankenstein model. What kind of message is this sending to girls? Is that real beauty?

What are some of your thoughts towards this issue and video?

EAL learners

This spring I am also taking an EPSY 400 class which is working with differences and diversity. For one of the assignments I am making a teacher resource file for EAL learners. From working in many schools I have noticed that there is at least one EAL learner in every class I have worked in. Since there is such an increase of students with an additional language we will most likely have an EAL student in our future classes. Knowing how to work with these types of learners is essential as a future educator. I found the cite The Educational Impact very helpful when learning how to teach the EAL learner.
Have any of you ever had to work with a student or child who was an EAL learner? I would be interested in hearing your stories.

Image found on the cite: http://ictineducationbu.wikispaces.com/Using+ICT+for+EAL

Internship!

This week I found out where I will be going for my internship in the fall. I will be at Hawrylak elementary school in a kindergarden class. I am very exited to be interning at such a great school. Throughout my education career I have worked in a variety of classrooms, but I have not had the opportunity to work in a kindergarden class. I have experience volunteering and playing games with kindergarden children, yet I have never been in a kindergarden classroom setting. I am a little nervous because I have no experience teaching children of that age. I am very interested in seeing how young children learn and grow in their very first classroom experience. Even though I am nervous about teaching this grade, I am so eager and exited to be working at Hawrylak with my cooperative teacher and the kindergarden class. I think this will be a great learning experience!

Does anyone else know where they will be interning and would like to share what they are feeling about it? I'd be very interested in hearing your stories :) 

FUNVILLE!

Hey all,
This Saturday Summer Sports School will have a booth at FUNVILLE! It is located in the Cathedral area at Holy Rosary Park from 11 am-3:30 pm. At our booth we will have a ton of activities for all ages. We will be playing Frolf, out door volleyball, football, soccer and much more! It's a great way to get involved in the community and have some fun! I hope to see all of you out there! :)

Tech Task #4: Be A Better Blogger

For this weeks Tech Task I decided to take Sue Waters advise and re due one of my older posts. What I did was take my Tech Task #3 Why Schools?  from last week and hiper linked to Will Richardson's blog and Why Schools page. I did this so readers can click on his name and view what session I was talking about. I never thought about doing this until attending her session. It was great advise and I hyper link everything I talk about in my posts now!

Dodge Ball

Today at work, I was discussing with my coworkers about the sport camp I'm working at over this summer. We were trying to decide what games we will be playing with the children. One of my coworkers made it very clear that we should no longer allow instructors to let their group of kids play dodge ball. She felt that dodge ball is a form of bullying. The stronger kids pick out the weaker kids, or kids they do not like and throw balls at them.  This got me thinking about phys-ed classes and whether or not teachers allow their class to play dodge ball.

I am aware that many teachers do have issues with the sport. Personally I do not have a problem with children playing dodge ball. They are developing fundamental skills such as running, stopping, throwing, catching, jumping and dodging. I do understand children can take anything too far, but as long as children know the rules, and the repercussion of their actions if those rules are broken, I believe it is okay to play. Just not every day! I do also believe that you can adapt the game to make it safer. For example letting the ball hit the floor before it hits another player. I believe children should be allowed to play the sport, but under proper supervision and not on a daily basis. I do not believe it should be taken out of phys-ed, or the camp completely. What do you think? I would be interested in hearing about everyone's opinion. :)

Tech Task #3: Why School?

After listening to the live session, Why School? with Will Richardson I couldn't help but think of my own schooling experience as a student, and as a future educator. The schools I attended in elementary and high school were very 'traditional'. We learned what our teacher wanted us to, when they wanted us to learn it. We were expected to model our learning the exact same way. There was no technology incorporated into my classes. I graduated high school with the notion that school was something I had to do. That school was product based rather than a process. I believed that I had to demonstrate what I learned based on what the teacher wanted me to learn. Once I got to university that way of thinking benefited me in most of my classes. However, some of my Ed classes completely shifted the way I saw schooling. In these classes I had choice in my assignments, I could show how I learned in other ways than an exam, or paper. Learning became something that I wanted to do, rather than what I had to do. Those profs inspired me to one day have a classroom like that. Where learning has meaning and school is a place for discovery.

I would love to have a classroom where students are allowed to use their own technology/tools, have choice and a say in their learning (run a demographic classroom). Yet as a future educator I do fear falling back into the old ways of teaching, and never pushing the boundaries (of classrooms, learning, students or the role of teachers). I fear this because of my schooling exposure and the pressures/negative reactions of staff, faculty and parents who are not accepting of modern learning/teaching.
I do not know how to change the role of the teacher with all these mixed messages. We are encouraged to change the traditional ways of teaching in order to meet the needs of all students. Yet school boards implement standardize testing. How do we make a change when we are constantly being told to stay the same?

Summer Sports School Job or Volunteer Opportunity

So today I went around to a variety of high schools giving job postings to guidance councilors for Summer Sports School. In hopes of having high school students apply for the open positions. Summer Sports School is held at the University of Regina, and a physical activity program for children 4 to 12 years of age. Children will be provided with opportunities to participate in a variety of sports, science, aquatic and other physical activities in a safe, fun and non-competitive environment. The emphasis is for participants to have fun, meet others, become physically active and learn new skills. All activities will be planned, facilitated and supervised by instructors and will be modified to suit the age level and ability of the participants. No previous experience is necessary. At times throughout the program, the instructors engage the participants in full camp activities such as the Mini Olympics.
If anyone knows anyone who would be interested in being a sport instructor for Summer Sports School below the website for the job posting. 
As well if anyone has any children who would like to be register in the program, registration information is also posted below. 

http://www.uregina.ca/recservices/children/summer-sports/index.html

Thanks :)

Nicole

Tech Task #2: Google Form

This course has been an interesting learning experience for me. I struggle with almost everything online! Before this course the only things I used online were Microsoft Word, power point and Facebook. All my friends tease me by saying I am like an 80 year old when it comes to doing anything online because I have no idea what I am doing! So setting up a blog, posting on it, making a twitter account and creating a Google doc form are completely new to me. Even though Michael Wacker's presentation was very engaging, I was confused with a majority of it, because I do struggle with EVERYTHING online!

Most things online are new to me, but the one thing I thought that would benefit me as a future teacher is Google Docs. It took me some time to get used to Google Docs, but once I stopped getting frustrated I learned that it is a great program and very easy to use. Basically it is a FREE tool where you can make and use any type of document, presentation, form etc online. Once you have made your document you can let anyone access it, without sending emails.
After talking with my younger brother who is in high school, he had shared with me that majority of his classes are set up in Google Docs. Teacher's feel as though they are way easier to use, they can have a paperless classroom and majority of students are online all the time so it is easy to access. I feel I would definitely use Google Docs in my future classroom to post assignments, grades, up coming events, reminders etc..This way students can always know what is going on in the classroom from at home or with a smart phone essentially anywhere. This also acts as a way to keep parents involved and up to date. Rather than sending home tons of paper (that typically gets lost) there is one space parents can look and get the information they need.

For more information about Google Docs or how how to set up a Google Doc go to the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s8yQv5yzlUh9AY8_h9dCnoUPxQAWzw9D7iduGHTZq_4/edit

Cheers,

Nicole

BUGS

Hello all, 

Today I decided to blog about a program that I am very passionate about. The program is called BUGS which stands for Building Up Girls Self Esteem. I have started and been running the program for the past three years now. BUGS is an after school program/club for girls in grades 6-8 that focuses on helping young girls gain self worth and self confidence before entering high school. I have run the club at three different elementary schools and have seen the positive impact the program has for young girls. 

I started BUGS because I was severely bullied in elementary school and felt I had no one to turn to. I felt alone, insecure and had no confidence. I did not want any girls to go through what I did, so I started BUGS to give young girls the opportunity to have a support system. Some where they feel safe, can share their feelings and lean on others. A place where they are not alone and can really learn about themselves and gain confidence in themselves. 

Throughout the program I have run a variety of activities such as: 

-Sports                       -Tye Dying                      -Group discussions 

-Yoga                         -Guest speakers              -Cooperative games

-Art activities               -Science experiments      -Field Trips 

-Water balloon fights   -And much more! 

I have built a very strong relationship with many of the girls who were in BUGS. Some of them are in their last year of high school! It has been incredible to see these girls grow into confident young women who are beautiful on the inside and out. I feel so happy to have had the opportunity to get to know these girls. As well as getting to know the new group of girls I will be working with!

Also I am always looking for volunteers and new activities to do with the girls, so if you have any ideas or want to volunteer please let me know through my blog! 

Thanks! 

Tech Task #2: First Google Form!

Tech Task #1 Who Am I?

Hello All, My name is Nicole Koza and I am going into my fourth year of education.  I am eager and exited to be going into internship in the fall! However I am nervous about taking this course. I have never taken an online class before and almost all technology confuses me. So this should be an interesting two months! I hope to learn a lot about technology and using it in the classroom. Here is a little about myself:  I lead a very active lifestyle I love sports and being in the outdoors. On the weekend I just had the first bon fire of the summer in my backyard which I have been waiting to do for a long time now! I have been on the U of R Track team and play a variety of Rec sports during the year.  I also have two huge golden retrievers that keep me busy.  I work two jobs, my first job is at the university as a Summer Sports School coordinator which is a sport camp for children ages 4-12. My second job is selling shoes at DAWGS shoe store, and no it is not a shoe store for dogs..  Family is very important to me, my family and I do a lot of traveling together. Every year we go on snow boarding trips to Panorama, camping trips to Kelowna, and snowmobiling or quading trips almost every weekend depending on our weather! My friends are also important to me I am very lucky to have such amazing friends in my life!  Below are a few pictures of me and my family :)