Week 8: Bringing Joy Into Teaching

This is the final one of my weekly posts regarding the Internet for Educators course that I am taking. This week I had the pleasure of listening to the thoughts of guest speaker Dean Shareski, on the topic of bringing joy into teaching. This is a fantastic topic, and aligns quite well with my teaching philosophy. I love bringing joy to the classroom in any way possible. I do this through humour and my many dad jokes that are often received with eye-rolls. I also like to have fun in the classroom, and make learning a comfortable thing to do for students, rather than a very formalized task. I find that if the teacher appears to be enjoying themselves, and it is clear that they value learning, then the students are more likely to show interest in the subject. I believe that bringing joy to learning can also help with classroom management, since students that appreciate the teacher will often respect the teacher more, and be willing to behave in class. This is why you will rarely catch me having a bad day. I am always in a good mood. Seriously, I challenge any one of my classmates reading this to ruin my day. It is impossible, and you will not succeed. All that will happen is I will smile at your unsuccessful attempts, which will further fuel my good mood. 

In all seriousness, Dean gave an excellent and uplifting presentation which helped show young teachers how to have fun at work. It was also a very reflective presentation, with many questions such as: What does delight mean to you? Or What brings you delight in school? I would hope that everyone has at least one response to these questions, or that is a bit of a red flag for your upcoming professional career. Being happy at work is a good indicator that you are in the right career. I spent several years in a career that did not make me very happy. There were various extrinsic motivators, such as wealth and prestige that pushed me as far as I went, but the intrinsic motivators were at a real deficit. I did not feel good at the end of the day, and as positive of a person as I am, I was starting to lose my cheer. Now, I come home each day with something positive on my mind, and optimism for tomorrow. Teaching is a profession that works well for me, and it is a place where my good mood can become contagious to others. My advice for everyone: do what you enjoy as a career. If you are happy with what you are doing, you will be good at it, which will lead to a successful life. 

I will end this post with one of my favorite dad jokes to use in a high school setting, particularly related to chemistry. I will often write this on the board at the start of class when I am substitute teaching, and students love it. Honestly, a few of my jokes have been complete duds, but this one has not let me down yet. It always brings out smiles. Here it is: 

 

Week 7: Resources and Discussion Points

This week, I was afforded the opportunity to learn about Brightspace. Our presenters, Chris & Shannon, from Manitoba Education walked through how to use Brightspace as a learning platform, and what features and resources can be utilized. The part that I am most excited about is the PDF versions of ISO courses that are available for Manitoba teachers. I love being able to see the big picture of a course, before I begin planning my units. Having access to the ISO courses provides a framework for the curricular expectations of each course. From there, I could weave-in creative ideas to produce engaging lessons. As an alternative, I could also teach some units using the ISO assignments and content. As a young teacher, this could reduce a lot of stress, since gathering resources can be very time consuming. I will be signing up to Brightspace this week, and will hopefully be able to utilize these resources in my upcoming practicum. 

I also enjoyed the topic of using online discussion boards in the classroom. Verbal discussions in the classroom can be fantastic, and a great way for students to contribute their thoughts or receive feedback. However, there are some downfalls to using verbal discussions entirely, without having an alternative. Some students may be shy, or have less confidence with their verbal communication skills, which may hinder their participation. With an online discussion board, students may be more willing to contribute responses, and would appreciate the option for written discussion. Online discussion boards also provide students with more time to formulate answers. The best answers may be the ones that have more thought put into them, which takes time. In verbal discussion, it is often the first thought that gets mentioned, and deeper thoughts are not afforded the opportunity to be shared, or are smothered by the hasty responses. With online discussion boards, students can contribute at their own pace, even taking the discussion beyond regular school hours. This allows students to optimize their potential for responses, and provide more thought out arguments. Finally, online discussions allow for archived lessons. Many great verbal discussions in the classroom are fantastic in the moment, but go undocumented. Any students who miss class are unable to access that knowledge. Teachers may also forget what was spoken about, which makes it more difficult to recycle lessons that went well, or reflect on lessons that didn’t go so well. If teachers have access to archived discussions, they can look back and use this for lesson plan creation. This is a good idea, and while I would not use this in replacement of verbal discussions, I would definitely use it as a differentiation strategy throughout the year. 

 

As my university studies wind to an end, this week’s presentation was very useful for several reasons. I will soon be entering my final student placement, and will need to gather resources for the courses I will be teaching. I am going to check out the ISO PDFs to get familiar with the content before teaching it. Second, it is interview season for term teaching positions, and a common question asked is: How do you differentiate instruction? Here, there is a great example of how to differentiate classroom discussions, and some benefits of this kind of instruction. So now you have a few things to do once you finish reading this post. Go prepare for your interview questions, and go sign up for Brightspace. That’s it for now everyone! 

Tech Task #9- Infographics

Infographics are a great way to provide students with quick, easy to access information. They are great visual cues for reminders on important topics. If the walls of your classroom are bare, consider putting up some information. When students are bored and staring off into the nothingness, perhaps they can be staring off into more information. 

A good infographic is easy to read, visually appealing, and gets to the point. I have seen many infographics scattered around various schools that I have been in. 

 

One great type of infographic that has increased in frequency of use this year is those containing health reminders and information, particularly for COVID 19. Rather than constantly reminding students what the procedures are regarding COVID 19, infographics could be placed in strategic locations throughout the school, where students can view them at appropriate times. 

 

The following is an example of a COVID 19 infographic that could be put up in a school: 

In my high school, one of the infographics that I actually can recall to this day, and appreciate, was hung outside of our pre-calculus classroom. This teacher was also the career counsellor for the school, and around the end of grade 11 and beginning of grade 12, many of the students in the class were wondering about what career path to take. Many were deciding whether to pursue a university or college route, or to enter the workforce. The infographic that I am referring to was one that outlined the top careers in Canada at the time, and had a list of salaries and job satisfaction ratings beside it. This was a simple infographic, but it was a very quick and easy way for students to browse through careers and begin thinking about what might interest them. I recall my best friend at the time, taking a look at this poster and casting his eyes right to the top rated job, which on this particular poster was a dentist. My friend decided that day that he was going to be a dentist, and began his pursuit of this career afterwards. He has since graduated from dentistry school, and is a practicing dentist. You never know what information students will take from these infographics, but if they are posted around the school, there is a strong chance that someone will be reading them, and it may just affect their entire life. 

Infographics are also quite easy for teachers to make. There are websites such as Pictochart, Canva, and Venngage, that can help you create a professional-looking infographic or poster with ease. Teachers can use this for displaying important class content, or to create extra visuals for students. Here is an example of an infographic that I created using Canva. This could be used for a geography class. 

Week 6: What Do You Actually Need to Know?

This week we had a guest lecturer, Matteo DiMuro, an ICT specialist for Brandon School Division. Matteo is a quite lively presenter, which made him entertaining to listen to. He was also loaded with suggestions for tech resources that could be used in the classroom. I was jotting down notes the entire time throughout the presentation, taking names of websites and apps that could easily be used in some of my classes. I found Matteo’s presentation to be quite inspiring for technology use, and you could feel that passion and enjoyment that could be had while incorporating some of these resources. 

 One thing that stuck with me from the presentation, was Matteo’s emphasis on teaching practical skills in school, especially in math, and the importance of those skills later on in life. Matteo gave an example that differentiated between the book knowledge of a prospective engineer, vs the practical skills that universities (or employers) would be looking for. Having theoretical knowledge is good, but it is even better if you are able to apply it. 

 

While this example was being explained, my mind drifted to the past summer, where I was doing concrete work on a large potato shed. The engineer had created a very detailed plan of the building, with all of the calculations figured out, but yet during construction there were constant changes taking place. The farmer, who was paying for this shed’s construction, found several design flaws in various locations throughout the shed, which had to be altered. In this scenario, the engineer had significant theoretical knowledge, which led to the design, but perhaps had never seen one of these sheds being used. Whereas the farmer did not have any formal education, but had so much applied knowledge, that he could come up with a more practical design than the engineer. To excel at something, you need a mixture of both types of knowledge, and that is something schools should try to teach. 

 

Matteo spoke about how in schools, teachers tend to give students the exact information they need to solve a problem. But that is not how problems are presented in real life. There is much more extra information that has to be sorted out, and only the necessary pieces of information for solving the problem need to be considered. You do not see much of this type of thinking fostered through worksheets. Matteo described how sometimes when additional information is given to students on math worksheets, for example, they are then confused. Students wonder what they extra numbers could possibly be used for, and ask the teacher where the extra information fits in. That just goes to show how ill-equipped students are in sorting out a problem that does not have the steps to the solution handed to them on a platter. Essentially, these students are not prepared for the complexities of applied problem solving that they will face in life. Extra information should not lead to distress. Students need to see that they can sort information, and ignore the pieces that do not apply. This is what will best prepare them for life. 

For fun, I have included the following math problem, which takes a careful mind to reach a solution. Give it a try!

Tech Task #8- Twitter

For this tech task, I have been asked to write a review of Twitter. Several weeks ago, I created a Twitter account and began using it for the first time. Many professionals are using Twitter to connect with others who share similar values, careers, or interests. With all of the talk about the use of Twitter, I felt a little bit behind the times, having never explored the app previously. But, what was I missing out on? …

 The best part about Twitter is having access to many resources or interesting classroom ideas. I decided to follow some individuals that were in some way connected to mathematics education. Within seconds, I had access to lots of fun lesson plan ideas, unique math activities, or creative student work that I could view. This was very exciting to me, because as a new graduate teacher, I do not yet have a large collection of resources to use in my classroom, so it is nice to be able to borrow these free ideas that are posted on Twitter. One of my favourite people to follow for fun math ideas is Sarah Carter @mathequalslove, who posts something creative daily. Some of the content I will never use in my classroom, but it is just entertaining to scroll through and read. 

 

I also like to see what other professionals are up to in their classrooms. As a young educator, I have only been in a limited amount of classrooms to witness other teachers in action, so it is nice to be able to view some of that class content at my own leisure through Twitter. This helps me keep on pace with any new developments in the profession. 

 

So now that I have signed up, will I keep using Twitter? I think I will keep my account. There definitely would be no need to delete it, as I would say it provided more good than bad. I cannot see myself using Twitter excessively, or making very many posts. I think it will act more as something that I view routinely in the evenings, when I am either bored or looking for ideas. I am not someone who gravitates towards regularly sharing what I am up to, or sharing resources, but I do appreciate the people out there that are. Some people get lots of enjoyment from this type of communication, and that is great. I prefer longer forms of communication, where I will sit down and write several paragraphs about my thoughts. Since Twitter is more so a collection of links to other websites, hashtags, or small sentences and phrases, it is not my ideal platform. I think I would prefer if there was a larger amount of characters allowed for Twitter posts, but some would argue otherwise, so it is what it is.

 

Overall, my Twitter experience has led to some laughs, some screenshots of ideas to use for later, and a few blogs and collections of teaching resources that I have added to my toolkit. Twitter has its purpose, and it is there for whomever to use, to whatever extent they prefer. 

Tech Task #7- Podcasts

Today, I am sharing with you a resource that I would consider using in my future classroom. It is a podcast that contains rich knowledge on Canadian history. Podcasts are a great way to switch-up learning for students, and to provide a different perspective on issues. There are many experts out there that can have so much more knowledge than the teacher on particular issues. This information is compiled in a professional manner through podcasts, and can easily be presented to students. 

 The name of this podcast is The Discover Library and Archives Canada podcast. You can access the episodes by following the link I have provided. 

 

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/podcasts/Pages/podcasts.aspx

These podcast episodes are put together by Library and Archives Canada (LAC). This is a federal source, so you don’t have to worry about the credibility of these episodes when introducing them to your class. You can simply find a topic of interest, and play it to the students. These podcasts typically showcase resources and archived material held by the library, as well as bringing in several expert guests to discuss the topics. Much of the content relates to Canadian culture or Canadian history. These podcasts would be a great introduction piece to various social studies topics, to get students interested. These could also be used to further enrich student learning on particular topics, if the LAC happens to have an episode that aligns well with the classroom teachings. 

 

I have investigated several episodes, all relating to Canada’s involvement in war. Episode 20: Former Enemies Are Now Friends, takes you through the journey of an individual who had grandparents who fought on opposite sides during the First World War; one for Germany and one for Canada. Through this discovery, the listener is able to gain much insight regarding the details of war. 

 

Episode 63: Call to Duty: Canadian Nursing Sisters, is about the contribution of the Nursing Sisters in the First World War. The listener can learn about the over 3000 women volunteers that were on duty during the First Wold War. The podcasts describe the backgrounds of many of the nurses, their qualifications to be able to enlist, what their role was, and gives significant knowledge about what life was like at the time. 

 

Finally, continuing on the war theme, Episode 64 relates to the Avro Arrow. Here, the listener can learn about the Avro Arrow project following the Second World War. This was an extremely advanced aircraft at the time, which could have put Canada as a leader in aerospace research. The podcast looks at why the project was cancelled, and the significance of this in Canada’s history. 

 

There is a brief idea about how these podcasts could be used in a Social Studies classroom to support a theme or unit on war. But there are many other episodes that could work well together or individually for providing content. The episodes are relatively short as well (most are roughly 40 minutes), which allows them to easily fit within one class. Then there could be discussion questions to follow, to assess understanding. 

 

Whether you’re looking for something new to incorporate into an upcoming lesson, or looking for something interesting to have on in the background to relax to in the evening, I would encourage you to check out this podcast and soak up what it has to offer on Canadian history. Enjoy!

Tech Task #4: Using Internet Resources in the Classroom

Today, I want to share with you a great internet resource that will bring life to your classroom. This resource is a website, which you can browse through for many fun and engaging activities and ideas. You can reach this website at the following link: https://www.weareteachers.com

I will do a brief overview of the website, so that you know what to expect once you access it. I will also point out some of my favourite resources that I have pulled from this website. 

 

When fist accessing the home page, you will see some of the featured links to resources. I like to click the “view all” button, to see the full list of featured resources. By doing this, you are then able to search for resources by grade or by topic, which can also help refine your search. To give you somewhat of an idea what this looks like, some of the featured resources that I am viewing at the moment as I access this page, are as follows: 

 

-       Science Resources for Middle and High School

-       LGBTQ-Inclusive Classrooms

-       Reading Lists by Grade and Topic

-       Your Guide to a Happy and Healthy Virtual Classroom

-       Resources for learning at Home

-       The Fifth Grade Classroom

 

Links to above: 

-       https://www.weareteachers.com/science-resources-for-middle-and-high-school/

-       https://www.weareteachers.com/lgbtq-inclusive-classrooms/

-       https://www.weareteachers.com/reading-lists-by-grade/

-       https://www.weareteachers.com/online-teaching/

-       https://www.weareteachers.com/resources-learning-home/

-       https://www.weareteachers.com/the-fifth-grade-classroom/

 

As you can see, there is much diversity in topics, which should pique the interest of teachers from all grade levels. I am often interested in the games and activities, which make learning enjoyable, while also hitting curricular outcomes. 

 

The Classroom Ideas page also contains hundreds of interesting activities, ideas, experiments, resources, tech tools, or videos. To my fellow classmates in the Internet for Educators class, I would suggest that you check out these links, which provide suggestions for tech tools: 

https://www.weareteachers.com/best-tech-tools-for-student-engagement/

https://www.weareteachers.com/best-tech-tools-for-student-assessment/

 

This may afford you with ideas for completing some of the Tech Tasks in the course. I know I may have borrowed some ideas from here. As an educator, why not borrow resources? Thinking of engaging activities is time consuming, so if you are able to see things that worked well for other educators in their classrooms, then that will make your life easier. Additionally, with access to great resources, and extra time to think about implementing them, there is a strong chance that the quality of education you provide will go up. So do it; borrow these resources; they are free!

 

I first stumbled across this website while looking for interesting science videos to show to my students. I am quite fascinated by the many videos of little experiments that can be found online, and I enjoy browsing through content like that as a pastime. If you are the same as me, then you may find yourself enjoying this website in your spare time, or out of curiosity, as you browse through short videos for entertainment. You can check out the following short science clips as a starting point: https://www.weareteachers.com/free-science-videos/

 

 

On a final note, with such a massive amount of content contained on this website, I cannot possibly do it justice by writing about the various themes of material contained within. You will simply have to check it out for yourself. This will be one website that I can guarantee many of you will add to your teacher toolkit. Enjoy!

Tech Task #3: Edublogger

I have been following a very interesting and uplifting blog for the past little while, that I would like to share with you. You can access the blog page, titled “Math with Bad Drawings” at: https://mathwithbaddrawings.com

 

The author of this blog is Ben Orlin of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Ben has taught all levels of mathematics to children ages 12 to 18. He has several recently published books, titled “Math with Bad Drawings” as well as “Change is the Only Constant”. I would encourage you to follow Ben on Twitter, at twitter.com/benorlin, for more regular updates and interesting content. 

 

The Math with Bad Drawings page contains a lot of funny pictures and drawings related to math, that will make your day. This is of interest to me, since my major is mathematics and that is the subject that I hope to end up teaching. People often say that math is dry, or math is boring, which is why I think it is important to share fun posts like on this page. If people can laugh at the humour behind many of these math posts, that means they understand the math. It also helps students to think critically about the jokes that they do not understand, and perhaps do some research to understand the comedic value. I think that mathematics is a fun subject, and it all depends on how it is taught. 

 

One of my favorite images on the Math with Bad Drawings page is this one: 

 

This is not necessarily a mathematical image, but it is one of patterns. I simply find it fun to look at, as students have played games of Tic Tac Toe within a game of Tic Tac Toe, calling it “Ultimate Tic Tac Toe”. Beginning class with something like this could help introduce some mathematical language (like horizontal, vertical or diagonal), or to demonstrate a concept on patterns. My point is that math does not always have to be boring, and as teachers we should find interesting ways to help make sense of the sometimes cumbersome concepts. 

Following this blog has helped inspire me to become a more interesting math teacher, and to constantly seek joy from my career. It is clear that this author cares about his subject, as is evident through the blog and his published work. Humour can be used to foster engagement, and can even be used as an assessment tool. I want to do my best to make math classes interesting for everyone, with some laughs as my reward. 

Week 5: But What About the Children?

This week we had the guest speaker Tyler Letkeman, who talked about various tech tools that he likes to use in the classroom, particularly when teaching English class. Tyler walked through how to use these tools in creative ways to get the students highly engaged in learning. I am not an English teacher, and have had very little exposure to it, so it was very interesting to learn about the different tech tools from someone who is currently teaching English. I appreciated the discussion on BookWright, and am quite interesting in looking into that option in more detail to find ways to introduce it into my future classroom. I also appreciated learning more about the use of Nearpod to engage students in conversation in a non-traditional manner. Overall, it was really nice to listen to Tyler’s sincere thoughts on technology, as well as the teaching profession in general. 

 One thing that stood out for me this week, was the frequent comments regarding the challenges of online learning for students. Students are feeling overwhelmed with the workload, as well as the learning curve as they transition to an online platform. As teachers, we are well aware of our own personal challenges with remote learning, but often we overlook the struggles faced by the students. It was refreshing to hear Tyler mention this, and the considerations taken to ensure the students’ well-being. Teachers need to be aware that learning something new takes time, so having to learn brand-new content, as well as a new learning platform, is quite challenging. Teachers cannot always expect students to get through as much course material as in-person classes. The number of assignments and tasks assigned may have to be reduced accordingly. 

 

Furthermore, I think back to my own high school experiences. We did not have to submit course work daily. In fact, in many cases, if the teacher went on a tangent, or took advantage of a teachable moment that they students were interested in, sometimes we would go through entire classes without covering any “planned content”. Sometimes the in-person learning experience was in the form of a class conversation, which was just as valuable to learners, both for the social interaction component, as well as the non-curricular content. Teachers who are posting daily assignments for students to complete remotely are foolish in expecting the students to keep up with everything. Just think, if each teacher expected one assignment daily, that would be anywhere from 4-8 assignments in total (depending on the grade level and school). That is more than what is expected of me as a full-time university student, so there is no way that students in secondary school should have those kind of expectations. 

 

In the face of this pandemic, it is important for teachers to be aware of their own employment expectations, and to focus on the what, when, and how to teach. But I would encourage all teachers to equally think about the expectations of the student, and how much they should reasonably be expected to learn. A school day is 6.5 hours, but not 6.5 hours of straight coursework. A typical day would be broken up by recesses, lunch hour, social interactions, small talk, off-topic discussions, and everything else that makes up the entire school experience.