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Creating Feedback Loop: Participation Task

I decided to go back in the class feed to analyze my own backstage blog posts. I noticed that there was growth in my learning. I now have learned to apply my learning that I have discovered through reading articles as well as my classmate's posts. In the beginning of the semester, I feel as though I was only posting regarding my own experiences in the classroom and not taking in that extra knowledge in the best way that I could. Using my learning from others has been a great strategy that I hope to keep using in the future. Just as my students should learn from me as well as one another, I should also learn from others.

[missayers]

Creating Feedback Loops: Write Task

I do believe that we should measure student's knowledge in some way so that we know whether or not they are grasping the content.

I am open to gamifying learning. My fifth grade team and I have noticed that, with each day, we have a ten-minute gap between that of specials and lunch. During this time, I started to practice multiplication facts with my students, in the hallway, in the form of a game called “Around the World.” This game is one that involves students battling off against one another in order to solve a series of multiplication one digit by one digit facts. I found that students immediately got drawn to playing this game, so to speak, and, oftentimes, ask me the following questions: “Can we play the game today?” and “Can I go first?” I have noticed such an eagerness from the students to practice their skills in this way.  

When thinking about assessments, both the learner and the educator play a key role. Specifically, the educator must create an assessment that is appropriate for the set of students within their classroom. This may mean that the educator has to differentiate the assessment. Differentiation could be done for those lower leveled students, who may need images instead of words or even multiple choice questions instead of open ended questions. However, differentiation could also be achieved for higher leveled students. If a given assessment is too easy for a set of students, the educator must make the assessment more challenging. This may mean creating more areas for a student to respond to open ended questions, use the text as evidence to support their answer as well as to think critically. It is essential that an educator differentiates their assessments in order to best support the needs of their specific group of students. As previously stated, one does not want the assessment to be too easy, where students are flying through it, or too hard, where students are getting easily overwhelmed or frustrated. The assessment should also be in alignment with the learning target as well as the state standards.

[missayers]

Creating Feedback Loops: Read Task

While I was reading this week's blog post, essay, and PDF, I used a number of strategies. One strategy was that I read each of them one at a time. One in the morning followed by two in the afternoon. I like to give my brain time to digest the content and information. Another strategy I used was taking notes on the essential information presented in the articles. Taking notes helps me to keep organized and to keep the big picture in mind while reading.

[missayers]

EDU 522 Final

For this course's final, I was tasked with creating a project that utilizes media to curate community as the curriculum.

In order to achieve this, I completed an interactive slideshow involved planning a meal. Students will be able to write and edit directly in this media program in order to design their own dinner meal.

Through the interactive media, students are required to plan with each food group in mind including fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins.

Students will be creating a shopping list and using media on the Stop and Shop website in order to find current prices of each item.

Following this research, students will be identifying how much money they plan to spend on the shopping trip and how much money they actually spent. They can also add pictures from the dinner they created.

This project solely involves using the media of the slideshow to create a meal. However, students can also bring this media to life. In a sense, they can actually go on the shopping trip and make the meal with their families. The school can then host a community event where students are allowed to bring their meals to school to share with their peers. This project would allow for the school to feel more like a family, home atmosphere which would contribute to a sense of community.

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Open Data Project

Open Data Class Project: Researching Women’s History Month using the Open Data on Wikipedia

Learning Target: I can learn about the contributions of an influential woman.

Project Lesson Content:

“Writers, today, we will begin to research a topic - influential women of history.

What is Women’s History Month?

Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987.

What will we be researching? 

March is Women’s History Month, so we will be researching influential women, both from the past and from today. You might recognize some of the names and some of them might be unfamiliar. You will get to look at all of these women today before choosing who you would like to research for your project. 

(Some names include: Queen Elizabeth, J.K. Rowling, Betsy Ross, Anne Frank, Coco Chanel, etc. Students will utilize the open data presented on that particular women’s Wikipedia page).

Things to think about:

Why is this woman celebrated? What is she most known for?

Ex. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is celebrated for her efforts as a supreme court judge who successfully fought against gender discrimination 

What important events happened in their life?

Ex. Ginsburg served as the director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s

What is their legacy?

Ex. The court case she ruled over, Bush v. Gore, which effectively decided the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Now you will have a chance to pick an influential woman to research!”

To do:

Choose one of these women to learn about. Research the influential woman you have chosen using open data on Wikipedia.

[missayers]

Learn Something New

New Skill: For the purpose of this project, I hope to learn how to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies. 

Understanding at the Beginning: Prior to this project, I knew very little about baking. It is not a task that I did often growing up as my mom always took it upon herself to do it. If I did bake cookies in the past, I would just put the pre-made ones in the oven. However, I knew that baking homemade chocolate chip cookies requires a set number of ingredients such as flour and chocolate chips. I did not exactly know the steps it would take to achieve a well baked chocolate chip cookie. I used this project as a reason to learn.

I began by looking up a recipe. I found one by NESTLE: https://www.verybestbaking.com/toll-house/recipes/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I bought all of the necessary ingredients from the store. I needed flour, baking soda, salt, butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, and chocolate chips. 

After I bought the ingredients, I began to follow the steps of the recipe. I was feeling pretty confident that I could achieve this task, but I was not sure if I would make any mistakes along the way. I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. 

I then started to measure the ingredients of flour, baking soda, and salt to mix together in a small bowl. So far, the steps are going well.

I then took out my mixer in order to beat together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract followed by the eggs. I learned that I should put each of the eggs in the mixer one at a time. Crack one, mix more, and crack the other.

I then combined the flour mixture I made into the mixer. This part of the process proved to be the most difficult. I had flour flying out of the mixer and onto my counter top. Flour is also a pain to clean up. I decided to lower the speed of the mixer and that change helped a bit.

I then added the chocolate chips to the mixer. This caused my mixer to work harder to beat everything together.

The next step of this process was to make small balls out of the dough and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. At first, I used a spoon to create the dough ball. But, I discovered that an ice cream scooper actually worked better.

I then placed the cookies in the oven for 9 minutes. I smelt them as they were baking. I also checked the bottom of the cookie to make sure it was golden brown.

I let the cookies cool on parchment paper. Then, I tasted them and was impressed by how delicious they were.

Understanding at the End: After reflecting on this process, I found out that it is fun to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies. There was a learning curve along the way. I learned that I should crack each egg one at a time into the mixer, I should lower the speed of the mixer when putting the flour mixture in, and that I should use an ice cream scooper to make the ball of dough to put on the baking sheet. However, through this learning, I was able to achieve a delicious chocolate chip cookie. I am looking forward to baking again after this new learning!

[missayers]

Digital Detox

Social Media Limiting: For the purpose of this project, I hope to cut down my time on social media to a maximum of 30 minutes a day. This includes the apps of Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Tik Tok. 

Time Period: 1 Week

Prior to this project, I had spent a minimum of 2 hours on social media a day - sometimes more. With viewing this statistic, I was concerned because that is a big time period to just be surfing the internet mindlessly. I thought about how many other, more productive things I could do within that time period instead. With this in mind, I decided to cut my social media time to 30 minutes a day for a period of 1 week.

While completing this project, I noticed that there is a feature on my phone’s settings that allows me to limit screen time and reminds me to do so. This feature is one that helped me to be on track throughout this process. At the beginning of the 1 week, I thought that this was going to be a difficult task to follow. I was so used to just going on my phone whenever I pleased. It was a habit of mine that was hard to break. However, I found that there are other ways to fill my time. Instead of going on social media, I decided to start and finish a puzzle. This was a time that I got my brain to start thinking and problem solving. In addition to a puzzle, I began to go outside more and be active. I played basketball, football, and cornhole more often. I noticed that I was having more fun doing these kinds of activities rather than going on the internet. This project made me want to delete social media altogether. Now, will I actually do that? I am not sure. But it is a decision that I am thinking about.

Data Visualization (This is a Table in Google Docs):

Day 1

50 minutes

Day 2

43 minutes

Day 3

34 minutes

Day 4

36 minutes

Day 5

32 minutes

Day 6

29 minutes

Day 7

27 minutes

[missayers]

OER Assignment

https://www.tableau.com/learn/articles/free-public-data-sets

For this assignment, I would have students utilize the open data set on the link above. The link reveals the Global Covid 19 Tracker from January 21, 2020 to April 29, 2022. Even further, the open data set shows the number of positive cases as well as the number of new deaths.

I would have students analyze this open data set and create a research project based on it.

[missayers]

Affinity Spaces and Connected Learning: Participation Task

My partner and I believe that a NFL fantasy league is an affinity space driven by co-learning. In a sense, members of the league who do not know football or fantasy football well can reach out to their peers in order to learn about the players, teams, and stats. This example was seen in the NFL league between several of the members. They wanted to join to do something fun, but they had to co-learn through asking others who would be the most appropriate player to play or bench for a given week.

[missayers]

Affinity Spaces and Connected Learning: Write Task

For this write task, I will be speaking on networking. Specifically, the ways in which networking supports co learning. I cannot help but to think about which networks I currently use within the classroom. I use I-Ready math program, IXL math program, and Arc Bookshelf reading program. With all of these programs, I could design moments for students to work with one another in order to establish co-learning and peer-learning. One example would be to have two students partner up in order to take turns reading a text to one another on Arc Bookshelf. Another example would be for students to work in groups in order to complete a given mathematics problem on I-Ready. With both of these examples, students are working and advancing through their academic struggles together.

[missayers]

Affinity Spaces and Connected Learning: Read Task

Hello. I was tasked with finding a way to display what defines affinity spaces. This week's post has two readings that are no longer websites, so I decided to do additional research.

I learned that affinity space is simply a space where learning takes place. "Affinity spaces are locations where groups of people are drawn together because of a shared, strong interest or engagement in a common activity."

One example of an affinity space would be a book club or sport banquet. In a sense, it is any place where many people come together for the same investment. Other factors, such as race or gender, do not impact this shared space.

[missayers]

Open Pedagogy: Participation Task

Hello all. For the participation task, I found a quote about the benefits of open pedagogy.

"Open pedagogy allows students to engage in higher-order thinking tasks from Bloom's taxonomy, such as analyzing, evaluation, and creating." https://libguides.humboldt.edu/c.php?g=1135659&p=8334460

I decided to connect with Ian O'Bryne and Greg McVerry through reading their article regarding open pedagogy in order to gather another quote.

"In order to be open pedagogy a course must meet the four R's: reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute." https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pdySJaqePAQFl2dKLsfyk_s0t2ByeYErScsEzMZ3i8Y/edit#heading=h.bwxf5ty82o5m

I am now going to mix the two quotes together.

Through relying on Bloom's Taxonomy, an open pedagogy allows students the opportunity to analyze, evaluate, and create while also reusing, revising, remixing, and redistributing within the process.

[missayers]

Open Pedagogy: Write Task

Hello all. For this write task, I have to define pedagogy, open, and open pedagogy.

Pedagogy: the method of teaching used

Open: Opposite of private. Encouraging the involvement of others

Open pedagogy: a method of teaching where students play a large role in creating the lesson and content

[missayers]

Open Pedagogy: Read Task

Hello all. I was tasked with making a Venn diagram for the three readings for this week. I am going to make it by listing the differences and similarities of each reading.

Maha Bali's reading:

Believes open pedagogy is about opening classrooms and our learning communities to publics.

Addressing power imbalance between students and teachers.

Robin DeRosa's reading:

Defines the four basic guiding ideas of open pedagogy - improves access to education, treats education as a learner driven process, stresses community and collaboration over content, and connects the academy to the wider public.

Ian O'Bryne and Greg McVerry's reading:

Highlights the importance of having a positive learning community by having clear expectations, redirecting behaviors, and encouraging reflection on our actions.

Creation of a new social compact: open participatory learning systems. Involves reusing, revising, remixing, and redistributing.

Similarities:

Open pedagogy is a term used across the board. Stresses strategies to help implement such a pedagogy.

[missayers]

Open Versus Privacy: Participation Task

This image represents being open:

This image represents privacy:

Instead of having one's hands open to others, someone is closing them off by creating a fence like shape with their hands.

[missayers]

Open Versus Privacy: Write Task

For this week's write task, I was tasked with thinking about what open means to me. In a sense, open means that one is sharing and does not mind that others see or hear what they are sharing about.

In a networked society, privacy involves the opposite of being open. Instead, one is closing themselves off from sharing such content. They would rather keep the information to themselves or certain members of people within their lives.

[missayers]

Open Versus Privacy. Read Task

For this read task, I have been tasked with thinking back to my high school years. Back then, I wish I knew how important it was to create friendships. I feel as though I focused so much on the academic side of high school that I forgot to socialize and make lasting friends that I would have for years to come.

Additionally, I wish I was not as strict with myself with academics. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and would not settle for less than an A. I wish that my teachers knew how hard I worked and how much I truly wanted to succeed.

Privacy should play a large role in the lives of students. However, I do not believe that most kids follow this. Instead, they are so free to post online. They have public social media accounts, and think that it is cool to share anything.

While reading Dana Boyd's article, I noticed that she thought from a different angle from myself. Instead of focusing on kids sharing a lot publicly, Boyd highlighted that most children do not want their parents or others to be looking over their shoulder. For she said, "Teens do not their parents to view their online profiles...when they're chatting with friends" (54).

Social media is such a complex subject with many different angles or perspectives. I would be interested in completing a survey on students to see just how much it impacts them socially.