Kat Enters the 21st Century

A new educator's first foray into modern media

Category: Collaboration

Trello, Google Apps, etc.

Google for Education

November 8, 2019 / / 0 Comments
Google Educating Educators on Google for Education

What?

Yep, today in EdTech we explored how to use Google applications for education, via the Google for Education training on the Teacher Centre. I was introduced to two things: 1) just how recursive Google and its subsidiaries are in terms of their self-advertisement and 2) you can use Google for everything, if you want. I use Google Drive and Hangouts, and I foresee myself using Google Classrooms once I start teaching. I have my own organization methods outside of Google Calendar, but I’ve used Calendar and Tasks with OneNote at a previous job. If everything in my life were run on Google, which is clearly what Google wants, then this might be a good organization tool, as well as a way to collaborate and keep track of students’ tasks.

Google wants to (help you) run your life.

But my entire life is not on Google, nor do I wish it to be. And, more importantly, nor do I wish my students’ lives to be wrapped up in Google exclusively. Students using other platforms may have other systems, and I would rather encourage my students to find their own (more secure) way to organize themselves and communicate/collaborate with their peers. The Google-world idea makes sense in perhaps a rural school or a correspondence school, such as SIDES. This does not, however, remove the issue of privacy and the fact that Google does not store its data in Canada. That means that if even one student does not get permission for data sharing, that student will be excluded from class activities and collaborations taking place on the Google platform.

My verdict? From the training that I managed to get through, I think I have a good working knowledge of how to use the Google applications that I already use.  I have slowly learned to use a number of these applications on my own, and if I am interested in using more, I’ll learn it the same way. I am technologically literate enough that, rather than a training course, I can look up or learn by exploring about other tools or uses for Google that I feel the need to add to my toolbox.

Project-Based Learning at Esquimalt High

October 30, 2019 / / 0 Comments

As part of our Multiliteracies class, we had the opportunity this past month to work with a group of students from Esquimalt High School on a project that they were passionate about. This was an open inquiry-style project, and the projects that grew out of it represented emergent learning. I had the opportunity to work with another of the pre-service teachers in the program on a project that interested both of us. I learned a lot during this experience about how to relate to today’s students, how to build trust and rapport with them, and how to enable them to do work that they couldn’t do on their own by providing effective scaffolding and collaborations.

Our Students

Image from PxHere (Public Domain).

My colleague and I ended up attaching ourselves to a group of four students who were all passionate about organizing a class trip to Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park. All four had strong opinions about the logging of old-growth forest on Vancouver Island, and wanted their classmates to see the beauty of the forest (and the devastation of the surrounding clear cuts) for themselves. These students were part of a challenge program, and so were already very high-achieving youth that are in their final year of high school. In addition to this project, they are all dealing with the stress of graduating, applying to university, and finishing their year with strong grades. They were fantastic resources for us, as they knew the school and the staff within it well, and were able to access the resources within the school that we needed.

As challenge students that are very involved in their school and community, our group were already quite comfortable interacting with adults, which made it easy to establish a respectful rapport with them.  They were able to clearly articulate their ideas, and were also very aware of their own strengths. With very little prompting, they were able to put together a plan of action and self-organize into loose but interchangeable roles: the researcher, the artist, the designer, and the logistics handler.

Our Project

The group agreed that their goal in this project was to win their class over to the cause, in order to prepare a field trip proposal to take to the administration for approval. As outdoor educators, my colleague and I were both able to advice on the kinds of logistics required, as well as offer suggestions toward a ‘save the forest propaganda campaign’. This campaign came together as follows:

  1. The students contacted a researcher at the Pacific Forestry Center and arranged for him to come in and talk to the class about the importance of preserving old growth rainforest.
  2. The students independently researched and produced multimodal publication (called a ‘zine, pictured below) aimed at informing their classmates about the issues facing the Carmanah and Walbran valleys.
  3. With minimal input, the students explored arrangements for camping accommodations, transportation, and possible dates for the field trip, to begin the process of their application.

Front and back cover of ‘zine. Photo by me.

Inside of ‘zine. Photo by me.

Opportunistic Collaboration

It so happens that another pre-service teacher in our cohort is a member of the Friends of Carmanah Walbran collective, and was in possession of some cedar with which the organization was planning to make trail marker signs. We were able to take advantage of the opportunity for our students to design these signs themselves, as the colleague I was working with is also a visual artist and had access to the CNC router at UVic’s Digital Fabrication Lab. Using a free design program, our students produced another product: two trail marker signs that the class will take with them on their field trip and install in the Carmanah (pictured below).

Photo by me.

This was a phenomenal experience, and I hope that our students keep in touch about the results of their efforts!

EdCamp and Un-Conference for Collaboration

October 25, 2019 / / 0 Comments
Like a Conference, but Better

Today in EdTech we practiced a ‘mini-EdCamp’ design. EdCamp is a design for a casual conference that has a bottom-up or ‘un-conference‘ design. I have participated in a few un-conference events before, as they’re very trendy now, especially in education. However, I’ve never participated in an ‘EdCamp-brand’ conference. I look forward to participating in them once I’m working in a district. If the district doesn’t typically run an EdCamp, I’ll be organizing one early in my career.

Side Story

PEEC 2019 Participants. Photo by pacific_eec on Instagram. Used with permission.

Little known fact about me: running peer conferences is something I both love to do and have a ton of experience with. Have you heard of the Pacific Ecology and Evolution Conference (PEEC)? I was the lead organizer last year (no big deal). While it gets restructured every year, and the topics are influenced by the papers that participants submit, it’s a really inclusive research conference and not as amenable to bottom-up control, as we’d hate to exclude presenters because their field was not ‘voted up’.

I also attended Science Talk ’19 this past year, which was built on a digital un-conference model. Several months before the physical conference in Portland, OR, the organizers sent out calls to the sci-comm community to send in topics they are interested in, and they collate them into discussions and workshops, as well as bringing in speakers and panelists to speak to the ‘hot topics’. There are still keynotes and presenters, but it’s a much more organic, participant-controlled feeling. I’ve been to a lot of science conferences, but meeting some classroom teachers at this science communication conference was what gave me the final push into becoming a K-12 educator. This year’s conference interferes with the PDP program, but I cannot wait to go back and represent K-12 educators once I’m working in a district!

Back to Our Mini-EdCamp

Low-tech survey methods to choose our sessions. My photo.

We did a one-session version of the EdCamp model, which is done in a single day with sticky notes and not topics submitted ahead of time. In this model, there are no speakers brought in, and no presenters – just groups of peers discussing topics that they care about, and generating good ideas. The topic I chose to participate in was ‘Mindfulness Practice in the Classroom’. It turns out that we had a lot of expertise in the room, and we were able to better define ‘mindfulness’ as well as separate the benefits (and possible drawbacks) from the buzzword that it has become. We even talked about some best practices for using mindfulness in the classroom, including student buy-in and authenticity. A couple of us fell into the role of facilitators, and I think we all got something valuable from the discussion. It was also nice to have somewhat-unstructured time to talk frankly and casually with my fellow teacher candidates, which is another benefit of unconferences – the ability to make genuine connections with colleagues or speak with your coworkers outside of ‘work time’. That social aspect is crucial in a workplace, and I like that unconferences are free and not held during working hours – you’re off the clock!

 

 

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