Coding

For one of our tech tasks we were required to check out some coding sites and play around with some of the codes and think about how it would work in a classroom setting.

First, I did the Flappy Bird one where you had to try and figure out what codes to put in. I was confused at first because it was more difficult. Then I tried a simpler coding exercise and below is a screenshot of what I started working on:

This program was much easier to work with (and especially so because I’m just a beginner with no experience at all).

I think something like these exercises will help students with problem solving and give them a chance to understand how games work — especially the Flappy Bird coding exercise. It is also relevant for high school students who are thinking of going on to major in something like Computer Science. This would be a way for them to get a feel of the program and what it all encompasses.

If students have computers at home, their parents can become involved in helping the students solve some of these problems of coding and help their children understand how games are created. Programs like these would work well in a math class because they require problem solving skills — just like the Angry Birds game simulation I did above. You needed to look at the situation and figure out how you were going to get the Angry Bird to the pig.

Coding is a neat way to bring something new to the students. An almost “behind the scenes” look at how games are made. Maybe having your students code could be a way to introduce them to the field of Computer Science. So many possibilities.

Padlet in the Classroom

I was introduced to a bunch of useful teaching tools that use technology. I was immediately drawn to the first one – padlet.com — where you have a wall and can post anything on there. Whoever has the link can post on there, too.

This would work great in any classroom because it would give students all students a chance to contribute to a class discussion. You could easily use it for brainstorming. For an English classroom setting you could brainstorm story ideas in a fun and unique way. For my first wall, I decided to do a “bucket list” style. Anyone could contribute their ideas on what would make a fulfilling life for them. I added a few ideas and I believe I’ll ask some of my friends to contribute their ideas. You can view and contribute to my wall here. Below I’ve posted a screenshot of what my wall looks like!

Starting off a unit in English would be easy, too. You could have students brainstorm at the beginning of a new novel about what it was like to live in the 1930s (if you were doing Of Mice and Men). It would also be a neat to do as an ice breaker at the beginning of the school year.

I will definitely use Padlet when I am in my own classroom. Even if students are doing their own independent research project, it would be a fun way to display the information they find on the subject. It’s an awesome program!

Table for One – FanFic Assignment

“Table for one, please.” He says in a crowded Saturday morning where all the hungover kids scarf down their breakfast in an attempt to calm their stomachs.

Kevin Reowl’s six foot frame follows the waitress to the table and slides into the seat and stares at the other chair across from him. She hands him the menu and places a neatly wrapped fork, spoon, and knife beside him. “Anything to drink?”

“Water for now.” He says and opens his menu, green eyes lazily scanning the pages. He hated waffles and eggs and skillets. He just liked bacon and the odd orange juice. He’s kept one ear piece in and the other dangles around his neck. He’s supposed to, though. That was the plan. Go in, scope it out, and leave.

Kevin Reowl takes his position seriously. He works for someone who knows exactly when targets will be arriving at certain places. Then he’s sent out. Soon, she’ll arrive and the waitress has placed him in the exact spot he needed to be. Of course, the Boss knew that, too. He set an elbow on the table and rested his jaw in it, fingers brushing his short, curly, brown hair. He enjoyed sitting alone on missions like these. He was able to have some alone time to himself and think about his life.

He ended up with this position when a good looking woman entered his life and told him that he would be perfect. He must have looked confused. Perfect for what? Marriage? A doctor? An all-star quarterback?

Nope. An spy.

And so here he was sitting in a restaurant waiting for the next target to come into play so he could get the details he needed and leave abruptly. Maybe he would buy an orange juice. if the waitress ever came back with the water.

Whatever. He wouldn’t care either way. it was just something to make people think he wasn’t a creep or something.

Kevin heard her voice and his looked up above his menu. He glanced down at his watch and nodded. Right on time. Now he could finally complete this.

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There’s a short answer to that assignment for DS106: http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/creating-your-own-character/. I could go on for a lot longer but I believe I covered the majority of the criteria of the assignment. I really enjoyed this little assignment. This prompt came from actually hearing a guy ask for a table for one. I found it very interesting and decided to write about it here. Any feedback would be great on it. Can you tell I’m an English major? This might actually spin into a longer story for another class of mine.

Something like this I will definitely do in an ELA classroom of mine. I would love to tell students to just listen to conversations around them and something might spark a story. I’ve had this happen to me several times. Just seeing what a person looked like had a story spinning in my mind and I ended up writing it.

Writing about a character’s likes, dislikes, appearance, backstory, personality, and what their place is like in their world is definitely a great place to start for a character. If I were to continue this story I would add in more details about him but this will suffice for now. Again, an assignment like this is a great way to get students thinking about characters for stories.

Another great place would be to ask students to think up questions they would like to ask a character who lives in their mind. Tell them to think up ten questions and not just basic “What’s your favourite colour” ones, either. I’ve also had to do that for a creative writing class this semester.

Overall, I love writing exercises so whenever I get the chance to do them, I’ll do them. I’ll definitely continue writing some DS106 Fanfic or Writing assignments.

 

What’s in a Name?

My first name, Helyn, is a different version from my grandma’s name, Helen. My parents thought it was a beautiful name (and yes, I think it is) but it has created some irritation with me over the years. Why? Well, both ways are not pronounced the same. Ah ha! Yes, that’s the trick. You might think it’s like Helen but no. It’s actually, “Hel-lyn”, if you will. Just think of “Lynn”. Close enough.

I’m becoming more amused when I tell people my name and it takes them several times to find the right pronunciation. I still have some friends who pronounce it wrong. I’ve received all sorts of name variations from “Helain,” to “Helene” (a French version).

And then there’s the spelling of my name. I would say my name over the phone of for another person and they would stare at me with a blank stare, “Um, what?” Really, though, it’s not that hard to spell. H-E-L-Y-N. One time I had someone who put an “i” where the “y” is supposed to go. Close, but not quite.

When I’ve gone on first dates I usually ask them how to pronounce my name. I’ve become more amused with it over the years as they try to look like they know how it’s pronounced. But they usually get it wrong.

Anybody else have funky name problems? I could tell you about my long last name and the spelling of that but that might be for another post.

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This was an assignment for the DS106 (Digital Storytelling) assignment in Writing. http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/whats-in-a-name/

It is a really simple assignment that can be used in the classroom as an ice breaker for students. It’s a great way to let them write about themselves and talk about their name and the experiences they’ve had with it. As I kept writing the ideas and stories just kept flowing. This would work really well for a high school ELA classroom and would work well for a prompt to a character — the students could write about a certain character’s name and see what type of story comes from just doing that.

Teaching and Reffing

Recently, a fellow blogger posted his thoughts on Hockey and Teaching. You can read Donovan’s post here.

He talked about how reffing a hockey game relates to teaching.

Just recently I was at my hometown’s basketball game watching my brother play. The school I graduated from was, and still is, very much into basketball. So when it was the championship game and my brother and his team were up against a challenging school, the crowd became very involved in what the two refs were doing. They were constantly yelling at the refs who were just trying to keep things as fair as possible. Of course, it didn’t help that our team was losing but it wasn’t nice to yelling at the refs. Both the refs had been around the school lots. One graduated from there and the other taught there a few years ago. Some people in the crowd were calling out the ref’s names which is not being a fan of your own team.

Finally the refs became irritated and told one audience member that if he was going to keep it up then he would have to leave the gymnasium. That quieted the crowd. After the game, the one ref left the gym immediately and the other one broke into tears. It was horrible to see.

Even though our boys lost, it was still an intense basketball game to watch. As a spectator, you need to just cheer on your own team and not beak the refs who are doing their best to control the game. Same with teaching. Parents need to support their children in school and realize that the teachers are doing their best to help them learn.

I can also relate to this incident because I’ve reffed volleyball a few times and some of the audience members comment on the calls that I make. Being up on the stand, though, is very intimidating because you are the one making the calls and ultimately choosing whether or not the team wins. Same with teaching. We assess students’ abilities on learning certain subjects and, a lot of the times, choose whether or not they should continue onto the next grade.

Donovan’s point about teachers working together and coming together as a whole is very important. When I was learning to ref volleyball, I was with a senior volleyball ref every time I reffed a game. I was glad I had someone to answer my questions if I was unsure about what to do in a certain situation. That was the best way I learned how to ref.

Overall, there are many similarities between reffing and teaching. Both of them require patience, knowledge, and skill. Someday I will take up the challenge of reffing basketball.

Standing up for Yourself

Recently I had a conversation with my cousin about students being bullied.

She told about how her nephew was being picked on and then he finally decided to stand up for himself and not be pushed around anymore. This young boy is only in elementary school and he was already being bullied. He ended up punching his bullies.

It was a very interesting story she told me and I felt sorry for the young boy. She said that after he stood up for himself, he started having more friends and began to feel included because he wouldn’t let anyone pick on him anymore.

I don’t think students should be reprimanded for standing up for themselves. Though I don’t think that punching and physical violence is the best answer, being called names is terrible and can stick with students through their entire lives. I think this video shows this best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY

Blogs and Twitters I followed.

To add to my PLN, I decided to follow several people who I found interesting and might help me in the future.

One person I followed was Katrina Wirth whose blog is called “Teaching and Learning in the Primary Classroom” . Her one recent post I found interesting is called “School Ditches Rules and Loses Bullies”. She shared an article about a school that ditched rules and let the students free on the playground which resulted in hardly any bullying. Definitely check out her blog and read the article, too.

The next one I followed was “Teach from the Heart” blog and one of the reasons I followed her was of a very recent post called “Cutting my Daughter some Slack”. It was so adorable about just showing your daughter that you can make some mistakes. It was such a real post and she seems like such a real person that I decided to follow her.

Another one I found was a “What if…” blog and the post that caught my attention was “What if there were no criteria to become a teacher?” I’ve linked it to the title there and I suggest all of you to go read it. It’s very interested and the one question he had in bold print was “Why do people who aren’t educators always think they can do a better job than people  who have been to college to become educators?”.  That should be enough to catch your attention and give this one a read.

The next one I decided to follow because I’m an English major is Renee DeAngelo . Her passion for reading and writing is similar to my own and the recent post she had was “How to Build a Fictional World” and the video she posted with it is linked here:

I really enjoyed the video — and it was through Ted Ed on YouTube which was pretty cool. I can’t wait to read all her posts and get more ideas for my own writing and the writings of my future classroom.

I also followed my new mentor, William Chamberlain @wmchamberlain . I think he will be a great contribution to my Personal Learning Network.

Tech Survey Results

So it’s been roughly a week since I posted my New Tech Survey and I decided to do the results today and talk about them a bit. 

I had 8 responses total including my own response. 

My first question – Have you heard of Prezi? I had 7 Yes and 1 No. That’s interesting to me that the one person hasn’t heard about Prezi. I figured it was a pretty common thing for teachers like me to know and be somewhat familiar with. 

2nd – Do you like using a powerpoint program? There were 7 Yes and 1 No. I figured that in a world where technology in the classroom is being pushed, there might be all “Yes” answers to this question. Apparently I was wrong. I’d be willing to ask this person why they don’t like using powerpoint. For me, I find it really easy to just whip up a powerpoint and have it ready to go for my lesson. I don’t have to bother writing on the board or anything. 

3rd – Have you heard of Hootcourse (Twitter-based program)? I had 1 Yes and 7 No. The one yes was from me. As for the rest that don’t know about the program. I find it really useful for if you are using Twitter in the classroom and want a way to send out a tweet to everyone. So what you would do is you would have students sign in to Hootcourse with their Twitter account. It’s essentially like a little community that brings Tweets to one place and where you, as the teacher, can fire out questions and assignments without having to get everyone’s Twitter names in the question. Very handy. 

Number 4 – Would you use Twitter in the classroom? 6 people said Yes and 2 said No. I think that’s a fair answer. Twitter definitely isn’t for everyone. I’m not a huge twitter person myself but I think for something like an ELA class or Drama class it would come in real handy. 

5 – Would you use YouTube in the classroom? All 8 people said Yes they would. I believe it’s a great tool to use for Educational purposes. There is so much on YouTube that it make teaching and learning so much easier. You can give the students visuals to what you are trying to teach them. 

My final one – Do you care if students have their cellphones in the classroom? 

These were the answers: – No, as long as they are participating.  – No, doesn’t matter.  – I don’t mind. – Depending on how they were using it. – No, as long as the students are not using them inappropriately or at the wrong times. – I don’t think students should use their cellphones in class. – Not at all! I love to have mine! – Yes. – Not if they are using them appropriately.

Very different responses. I suppose it would be the individual’s opinion on them. I think that as long as you have some firm rules on them, then you should give them the choice whether they let it affect their learning or not. I would try to use it positively in my classroom but I don’t think I would ban them out of my room completely. 

Overall, very interesting responses from my survey. I realized that there is lots that people don’t know about! I’m eager to learn more about different ways of incorporating technology into the classroom in a positive way. 

Blog Changes

I decided to make a few changes to my blog after I listened to Sue Waters talk to us in our class. First, I changed my title to just “Helyn’s Portfolio” so that it would be more specific and people would know who’s blog they are browsing. I changed my theme, too, so that my title was on top and underneath the main title I just added “Helyn van Staveren’s teaching portfolio”. The theme, too, is also mobile friendly which is nice when people or I need to view my blog on their phones or smart devices. I went into the Mobile settings and made sure everyone would see my posts on the front page — just to make things easier for everyone.

I set up two categories, “ECMP355” for the class I’m and also, “Teacher Thoughts” just so that when I write posts that relate to teachers, they will have their own category. 

I’m also starting to incorporate more links into my posts, like the two you see here. Those will help everyone stay connected as to what I’m talking about in my posts. People reading this post may want to visit Sue’s blog about making blogs better so I added her blog link to her name in the first paragraph. 

As for the pages, I have some created. One that I did at the beginning of this semester was my “About” page. This will be good for people who want to know who I am before they read any posts that I’ve written. The other pages were from another Education class and I’m sure there will be more that I will create in the near future. 

Phone face?

Another blog post I read gave me another idea about technology and the scary realities that seem to be happening.

I believe people are having trouble communicating with one another and not knowing how to be outgoing to meet new people face to face. I don’t like the idea of people hiding behind their phone the entire time. It’s scary to imagine a place where there is no more face-to-face contact with people. 

On a more interesting not, I’m not a huge fan of texting. Really. I’d rather call someone or make plans to meet up with someone through text message. I get really bored of texting people and want to end the conversation as soon as possible just because I have something else to do in the “real world”. Maybe it’s just the generation that I’ve grown up in — the 90s? Since I didn’t get a phone until I was 15 or so, maybe that’s the reason? I’ve grown up to not be so attached to it. 

Maybe this new generation that’s coming has started with phones at such a young age that they will be really dependent on them. Any answers on that one? 

Food for thought.