January 27th

Tyler, an English teacher from Vincent Massey came in to present today.

Tech Tools to Create Meaningful Tasks and Improve Your Health

One really interesting thing Tyler showed us was how to create a Snapcode!

So I thought I would give it a try...

I created my Snapcode by going to the Snapchat website. I had to log in and then it was very simple!

I just entered the URL that I wanted the Snapcode to link to. Then it gave me the option to add an image to my code. Every time I tried to add an image the ghost just went black so I'm not sure what I did there. Anyways, here's my Snapchat QR code! Give it a try :)

January 29th 

Social media! I use social media every day. So why wouldn't I use it in my classroom? At the beginning of today's class we all went out into the hall and lined up. At one end were the people who planned on using social media in the classroom. On the other end were the people who thought they wouldn't. I found myself somewhere in the middle. Honestly, I hand't really thought about it a ton... 

As an educator, can I create a social media environment that is safe and educational for my students? Or will the dark and damaging things we see on the internet infiltrate my little online bubble? However, is it our job to shield students from the world (online or off, I think I've decided it's pretty much the same thing)? Or teach them how to navigate it as analytical and conscientious citizens? 

We had a Zoom conference with Andrew Mead (principal at Mitchell School) and Kirsten Thompson (from a few classes ago) and I liked the examples they gave for how staff are using social media. The idea of using it as a news source appeals to me. I think social media would be useful for replacing newsletters and celebrating successes within the school. In the same way we see student run school newspapers, I wonder how student run Instagram or Twitter accounts would work.

Survey Monkey Update*

I will be posting my Survey Monkey results this weekend. If you haven't had a chance to weigh in yet, check out last week's blog post!

Thanks,

Mme. Lamont

Tech in and out of the Classroom

This weeks presenter was Chris Fredrickson! He is a  Web Based Course Consultant with MB Education.

email: Chris.Fredrickson@gov.mb.ca
Bit.ly: bit.ly/2QRxWzh

Chris discussed technology supports for students:

• Classmate communication (text, email, etc.)
• Photos of Assignments
• Online Videos
• Social Media
• Mobile Apps for Organization

I think the biggest technological support available to our students is their cellphones.

Cellphones allow students to access all of the above supports. In my last placement (grade 8, Winnipeg) classmate communication happened via group chats, texting, email etc. My class of 17 students made a group chat on their own where they would ask each other questions about homework, find out what they missed if they were sick and share study questions for upcoming tests or quizzes. There were a few students in this class that struggled maintaining an agenda. They would take photos of assignments or a picture of the homework board before leaving for the day (whether or not they checked their photos that night was another story...) We would use online videos as learning tools every day and students used their cellphones to film their own video projects for their "Ancient Egypt Vlogs". My cooperating teacher had a few students who would contact her through her social media on her professional Instagram with questions about tests or projects (how do you guys feel about that? I feel like that would be a no-no in some divisions). I feel like, in a french immersion classroom especially, there is so much room for helpful mobile apps. *See bottom of page for a list of apps I would have my students download on the first day of school and why they would be useful in the French Immersion classroom.*

So with all that being said... what do you guys think? Obviously cellphone use policies are going to vary division to division, but what if it was up to you? I've created a brief survey because I'm curious to know where everyone's at. All responses are anonymous and I will be posting the results in next weeks blog!

Create your own user feedback survey

If you chose one of the pro cellphone options, would you mind letting me know in the comments what regulations or expectations (if any) you would implement in your classroom? In theory, I like the idea of a classroom where students use their cellphones freely and responsibly. I'm just trying to figure out what that looks like in practice.

Thanks everyone,

-Mme. Lamont

Useful apps for French Immersion

(Or: Apps that save my butt as a french-as-a-second-language speaker)

• French Dictionary - Offline - Great if not all your students have data, free, great for finding out if the word is masc. or fem. Great as a spelling reference. Awesome French word of the day feature for expanding vocabulary.
• WordReference.com dictionaries - Just the mobile version of the website that runs circles around Google translate. Provides multiple translations based on context. 
• French verbs conjugation - Conjugation -  It's embarrassing how much I use this. Just a quick, simple App to conjugate your verbs.
• Duolingo - Fun just for practice at home. Can build your students confidence. I'm using it to learn Spanish. Encourage all your students to learn Spanish. It's an awesome language. Plus it's a lot easier to learn if they already know French!

First Presenter!

Today we had Kirsten Thompson come in and do a presentation titled "Why I Replaced Myself With A Machine".

Kirsten Thompson is a Brandon University graduate. She was a classroom teacher but now she assists teachers with technology in Mountain View School Division.

During her presentation, Kirsten touched upon how to use technology to make your life easier and tasks faster so that you have more face to face time with your students. Kirsten is active on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube. She uses these accounts to model how social media can be used in the classroom.

Kirsten also talks about a Hierarchy Mindset vs. an Ecosystem Mindset. The Hierarchy Mindset is the idea that either humans or technology are going to be higher up on some sort of chain. The Ecosystem Mindset is what should be adopted into the classroom. Since we already use the term "Classroom Ecosystem", it's an easy concept to apply. Essentially, technology has a place or a niche within an existing system, and so do we. Educators and technology each play an important and unique role within the classroom ecosystem.

In an ecosystem approach, the effort is to see what each component does best. In other words, teachers need to find their niche doing things they do better than technology. - Zhao, 2016

So what are my niches within my environment?* I think that it is important for me to consider what I bring to the table as an educator that technology may not. Here's a few I came up with:

• Personal experiences, stories and perspectives
• Interpersonal relationship skills
• Ability to care for and empathize
• Classroom management techniques

*My environment was two 6th grade classes and one 8th grade class all in French Immersion. I hope to end up teaching in the middle years stream.

Other important niches human educators fill:

• Relationships
• Content development
• Social emotional learning
• Small group instruction
• Transfer inspiration
• Inquiry support
• Differentiation
• Motivation
• Summative assessment

So what aspects of my teaching could be replaced by technology?

• Non subjective assessment
• Translation/definition/vocabulary/conjugation
• Instruction reminders
• Giving spelling words
• Video resources
• Curation
• Agenda
• Instructions
• Content
• Multimedia
• Large group instruction
• Formative assessment

Thanks to Kirsten for taking the time to come speak to our class and thank you for reading!
-Mme. Lamont

Week 1

Hello and welcome!

My name is Ellen Lamont. I am a second year education student in the middle years stream at Brandon University. For my first entry, I would like to share a little bit about myself as well as my thoughts and take aways from the first week of our Internet for Educators class.

About me:

• I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts from Brandon University in 2017
• I majored in French and minored in painting
• I moved to France for a year and worked as an English Language Assistant
• I enjoy being outdoors and staying active
• I love being creative, painting and cooking

Figeac, France 2017

I am looking forward to Internet for Educators this term. I think that being able to navigate the Internet and to use the many tools it provides is an important skill. Starting a blog and a Twitter account will be a learning experience and I'm excited to figure out how to integrate these platforms into the classroom. I also hope to be able to use my creativity to create an exciting and eye catching blog that could maybe one day function as my classroom website. I certainly hope that I can watch my blogging skills progress.

Thanks for reading!

Mme. Lamont