Tag Archives: technology

Blueprints for Success: My Technology Plan on a Padlet

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My technology plan, made using a technological device that is new to me, padlet!

Technology Plan

P.S.

While we are on the topic of technology: iPads and WordPress are NOT friends. Weebly, Blogspot, and iPads seem to be friends though, thankfully.

And a note on the content of my site – both current and projected:

At the moment I have just one page. This page is where all of my blogs will go. At the top of the page is the title and a little paragraph describing my rationale in creating the blog. On the right hand side of the page you will find a number of “gadgets,” as Blogspot calls them. The gadgets I have chosen are; About Me, Cool Blogs to Follow, Cool Sites to Check Out, My Vision, a cool picture of a peace sign, and importantly, an archive of my blog posts. I think this is an important feature of any blog. One day, I think it would be cool to create one of those Wordle type things based on commonly used words or tags in my posts.

I have only added a couple of things to each gadget. More to come! I am having fun searching out other teachers’ blogs. Although, finding most are from teachers in the USA. Come on Canada!

The Rubies among the Rocks: Ten Minutes of Fame

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*Spoiler alert: don’t read until Thursday*

Why:

Similar to the difference between US Weekly and War and Peace, or One Direction and The Beatles, there exist trashy websites as well as wonderful ones. I am here to tell you about a few of the wonderful ones. Hopefully, there’s at least one amongst these that you haven’t heard of, and I can teach you something new!

These sites are all student friendly. Because we know that students are going to spend time searching the internet, it is a good idea to provide them with some places to do this safely, wisely, and appropriately.

What:

Sweet Search: Kid friendly search engine. All results are pre-reviewed by a research team

DOGO News: Kid friendly news site. Nicely laid out with interesting topics, videos, and links.

Wonderopolis: Ever wondered why the sky is blue? Why skunks smell bad? Why teachers are so cool? Wonderopolis has your answers.

Incredibox: Just for fun. Great for students that enjoy music. Great for learning about different elements of music: beat, rhythm, melody, chorus, etc.

3 Slices: A physics/logic game. Another fun one on the same site: sugar sugar. Much nicer than killing and shooting games. Still totally fun!

 

Oh, Hello Summative Presentation!

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learningWith today’s sudden change in presentation schedule came a suddenly influx of ideas. Turns out, I was more than ready to give you eight minutes of insight into the learning journey of Kate. Here’s what it looks like:

Past:

  • I have always been passionate about the environment and about incorporating environmental education into my practice.
  • When it comes to using technology in the classroom though, I was viewing it as more of “it is my duty to keep up with this and teach it” rather than “I wonder what sorts of innovative ways I can incorporate technology into my classroom?”
  • Never was there any thought to combining the two.

Guilty!

 

 

 

But that was the PAST (as in two weeks ago, before this class started)

 

 

 

Present:

  • Mega lightbulbage going off these past couple of weeks: why not combine the two to get the most out of each?!
  • Environmental education and technology can have a symbiotic relationship, just as technology and learning can/should. Let’s use technology to enhance the efficacy/impact of meaningful environmental educatIon.

And how you say? Oh I’m so glad you asked! Read ahead to the future section for some ideas.

** One more thought about my present learning journey before we get there: how cool is the concept of autopoesis? That’s a whole other summative presentation in the making. But I feel so strongly about the fact that students ( and people in general) need to genuinely respect the environment and feel themselves as part of it and not above it if they are going to be environmentally responsible citizens.

Future:

(or, where I hope my learning journey will lead me next):

My work in progress project, which is being fuelled by two main ideas:

  1. Using social media to foster positive change in the community/environment  (both in terms of student and teacher involvement). Check out my cool blog! ://ecoeducatorsvancouver.weebly.com
  2. Focussing on the power of their symbiotic relationship: using technology to enhance environmental education. This means not using either in a superficial way.

** Also, melding my idea with Jenny’s idea with the mountain of ideas Tess and I came up with in class today.

And a big question: is there an online presence for environmental educators or teachers passionate about including environmental education in their practice?

Answer…well, yes and no.

And finally, here are some awesome resources I have come across throughout my learning journey (some from before this class, many from during)

1. Green Teacher – this is both a book, and, as I just discovered, a great website: http://greenteacher.com

2. http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/index.cfm – both for students and teachers

3. http://theworldinagarden.com – workshops for all ages and levels. Local!

4. http://stanleyparkecology.ca – resources, field trips, news

5. http://www.walkingthetalk.bc.ca – my membership is now pending…seems the most similar to what I was looking for

6. http://www.dearmrharper.com – kinda funny. What are the odds he actually reads those letters?