Category Archives: Weekly Tasks

Since I am a teacher, I tried to focus on what my school might look like 30 years from now.

Utopia 2050

How strange it feels to be back in the halls of Big Rock Secondary School.  Has it really been almost 30 years since I quit teaching here?  It must be since it was during the Covid-19 pandemic that I quit teaching.  If what I see is the state of education today, I think I should have continued teaching until retirement.

This is definitely not the school of thirty years ago.  The building looks new and modern.  I guess they finally did get the funding that was promised almost forty years ago to build a new school.  What is happening inside the building is unrecognizable.

I was greeted at the front door by the security bot.  As with any public space, a background check was done to make sure it was safe for me to enter.  It was a quick and painless process – facial recognition and a simple DNA test to confirm my identity.  I almost got swept away by the Custodian 3000.  No more humans to keep the school clean.

There are so many students, of all ages.  Last time I was here, the halls and the classrooms were almost empty.  So many students did not see a purpose for being at school.  I can hardly blame them.  What good would an education in a system developed during the Industrial Revolution do them?

I smell food, so this must be the cafeteria.  There are robots in the back of the kitchen, preparing food, cooking, and cleaning.  Not a human in sight.  There is a lineup of drones ready for delivery.  Students must have placed their orders already.  

There is this new device that has replaced phones, laptops, Chromebooks, and tablets and is small enough to fit in your pocket.  Communication, social media spaces, word processing, video production, virtual reality experiences, and more – all in one place.  All students have access to one and they are upgraded each year.  There are no concerns about whether all students have access to the tools necessary to be successful at school.  All people have access to a high speed network connection, allowing universal access to the internet.  Content and social media is monitored on the network so that students do not have access to inappropriate posts.  Cyberbullying is non-existent.

I didn’t hear a bell, and yet students are moving about in the halls.  There doesn’t appear to be much order, but everyone seems to be moving with purpose.  This is because each student has an individual educational plan.  Artificial intelligence is used to create a plan and modify it based on activities and accomplishments of students.  Each student has their own path to graduation and a career.  Schedules can even change from day to day, depending on the learning needs of the student.

Each classroom I pass by has a teacher, at least that’s one thing that has not changed.  Teachers are acting as facilitators.  They are guiding students along their individual paths, helping students who have common goals work together, and making sure students have the supports they need.  Those students with learning difficulties or disabilities have both teachers and AI providing support.  AI is able to automatically adjust things like reading level of texts or provide speech to text or text to speech services.

Dystopia 2050

How strange it feels to be back in the halls of Big Rock Secondary School.  Has it really been almost 30 years since I quit teaching here?  It must be since it was during the Covid-19 pandemic that I quit teaching.  If what I see is the state of education today, I think I made the right decision to leave before retirement.

I expected things to be much different than they were 30 years ago.  The building is the same.  I guess they never did get the funding that was promised almost forty years ago to build a new school.  It appears as if not much has changed.

Upon pressing the buzzer at the front door, I was let into the building.  I am not greeted at the entrance, so I’m not sure who, or what is keeping track of visitors.  It seems kind of dangerous to me, it is a school after all.

Class must be in session as I don’t see anyone in the halls except for one custodian, mopping the floor.  There really should be a better way of taking care of those kinds of jobs.  You would think someone would have come up with a robot that could clean the floors.

As I make my way down the hall, the bell rings.  I can’t believe it is the same teeth-rattling noise from thirty years ago.  Apparently students still have strict schedules to follow.  That’s not even how the world of work operates anymore.  Very few students exit from the rooms.  It seems as if school is not engaging for young people and attendance is still an issue.  Teachers that I see in rooms look tired and stressed.

Two kids start yelling and pushing each other.  One says something about what the other posted online yesterday.  Still no way to control social media?  I dealt with these same problems many years ago.

They are carrying a variety of devices and backpacks full of what I assume are textbooks.  I figured that by this time, everything would be digital. Some of the laptops and tablets look like they are a decade old.  It is not really surprising, given that parents are expected to provide devices for their children and not every family can afford the newest and best.  Those children are destined to be left behind.  I can only imagine the challenge for teachers.  How can they implement any program when there is such diversity in technology?  What about those with special learning needs, do they have the technology and support they need?  It seems as if they will most likely be left behind as well.  Success and graduation looks like it is only possible for those that can afford it.

Curation of the Golden Record took place last week, with each of the members in the class choosing 10 of the 27 tracks.  The graph below was the initial graph of the class’ data created by Palladio.

Initial Graph

At first look, this initial graph was somewhat difficult to decipher.  There were nodes representing curators and nodes representing tracks connected with a number of edges.  The size of the node represented the number of links it had to other nodes.  

As I had never seen this program before, I found it necessary to investigate its functions.  It took a bit of trial-and-error to find the connections I wanted to see.

Communities and Tracks

Here I found the connections between communities and tracks.  I was expecting there to be more distinct divisions between the communities, but obviously that isn’t so.  In this particular graph, there are still numerous connections between all of the communities and most of the tracks.

My Community

My particular community was the smallest of them all with only three members.  With myself having only three links to Victoria and five to Michael, it doesn’t seem like this is a very strong community.  On the other hand, looking at Michael’s connections, five to myself and six to Victoria, this seems like a stronger community.

This led me to question what criteria were used in forming the communities.  Was there a preset number of communities, or did the program use its algorithms to figure it out?  Were the communities formed on the basis of the number of songs in common or the types of songs in common, or some other basis?

This type of graphic visualization is useful for seeing connections and patterns between groups of data, but it does nothing to explain them.  I see who chose each track, but I know nothing about why the choices were made or the criteria that were used.  I also see nothing about the tracks that were not chosen and the reasons for leaving those tracks out of the list.  One also needs to be cautious and not make assumptions regarding the inclusion or exclusion of tracks by individuals.

The process and challenges

For me, this task was harder than it seemed like it should be.  I started by choosing a show that I have been watching recently.  Then I had to write out the plot in simple terms so I had an outline to follow.  Even though “the late age of print—is visual rather than linguistic” (Bolter, 2001, p. 48), for me, stories need to be written in words.  I understand the appeal and importance of pictures and diagrams, but in my opinion, they should be accompanied by text.  Ikea instructions with only pictures and symbols drive me crazy!  

Did you rely more on syllables, words, ideas, or a combination of all of them?

As I started on this task, I realized that I would have to use words and ideas to tell the story.  I did not try to use syllables.  I rarely use emojis, so I needed to do a lot of searching to find appropriate ones to represent the ideas I was trying to convey.  It was frustrating since there were some words I could not find an emoji for, so I had to choose something close.  

Did you start with the title?  Why or why not?

For this TV show, I started with the title, as it seemed to be the easiest part of the assignment.  If I couldn’t figure out how to represent the title of the show, I was going to have to pick a different show.

Did you pick the work based on how easy it would be to visualize?

I chose the show based on the ease of representing the title.  Once I started with the plot, it wasn’t nearly as easy.  I realized how difficult it would be to be detailed and specific, and that emojis can be open to interpretation.

Reference

Bolter, J. D. (2001). The Breakout of the Visual. Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed., pp. 47-76). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://www.doi.org/:10.4324/9781410600110

Case of the Missing Treats

The biggest challenge I found with this Twine task was to come up with a storyline and characters.  As a science and math teacher, I don’t usually do much fiction storytelling.  By calling this a game, I initially tried to figure out a way that one could win this game.  I decided that winning would not be the goal.  The goal became working the way through the story to the end.  I remember reading “Choose Your Own Adventure” books when I was much younger and followed a similar format for this task, but on a much smaller scale.

As this was not a completely linear story, I used an “old school” method of planning.  I used sticky notes on a piece of paper to plan out the story.  The sticky notes allowed me to see the connections, or hyperlinks, between the slides.  I had to make sure that there was a way to reach the end of the story and that there was no way to get caught in an endless loop of hyperlinks.  After the story outline was done, then I started to use Twine to program the slides.  I started with the basic text in each slide.

I decided that it was important to not have large amounts of text on each slide, making it easier to read.  The spacing of the lines of text was important for readability as well.  There are many other features in Twine that make the text more engaging.  I tried working with different colour fonts and different effects on the text.

Images were also important on each slide to make them more interesting to look at.  It was relatively easy to find free images to use.  I used the website http://clipart-library.com to find and download free images to use.  Not all of the images were the same size, so some of them needed to be resized to fit the slide.  Sound effects also make the slides more interesting and engaging.

Overall, I enjoyed the process and am thinking of ways I can incorporate something similar into my science classes.

The Task

I chose the potato task since it was different from the usual assignments.  I have not done this type of activity in quite a long time, so I thought it would be interesting.  The word “beast” came as a result of asking my husband for a 5-letter word.  In preparation for this task, I borrowed some tools from my classroom.  I needed some paint and a paintbrush.  I also borrowed a scalpel from my science lab, which turned out to be the most useful tool.

Was there something particularly challenging in the process?

The most challenging part of this activity was creating the stamp for the letter “S.”  I had trouble visualizing it backwards.  I ended up having to write it on paper so I had a visual to follow.  I also used a marker to draw out the letter on the potato so I had a line to follow when I was cutting.  I didn’t do this for any of the other letters, they were done free-hand.  It was also somewhat difficult to cut out the middle of the letters “B” and “A.”  This is where the scalpel was particularly useful.  In order to get all of the letters somewhat uniform in size, I used a ruler to mark boundaries on the potato for my letters to fit within.  When making the actual print, it was difficult to line up the letters, as I could not see their actual edges.

My potato stamps and the tools used to create them.

How much time did it take for you to create the stamps?

I got so caught up in the task that I didn’t actually time myself, but I think I spent about an hour in total creating the stamps and making the prints.  The creation of the stamps definitely took the most time.  Creating the prints took less time, until I dropped a stamp and had to make a second attempt at the second print.

Print #2, need to start this one again!

Have you noticed anything particular about the letters that you have chosen to reproduce?

I chose to use all capital letters and a basic font for my stamps.  This was intentional due to my lack of experience with the process.  It also turned out that this made it much easier to create stamps for most of the letters.  For the “B” and the “E”, the letters look the same backward and upside down, so I just needed to cut them out the normal direction, then turn them upside down to get the proper stamp.  For the letters “A” and “T”, there is no difference between normal and backwards.  No matter how you look at the “S”, it has to be crafted backwards for the stamp.

Final prints.

Considering the time and effort that you took to create a 5-letter word, how do you feel about the mechanization of writing?

This task has given me a new appreciation of the mechanization of writing.  The process of creating a print one letter at a time is time-consuming and tedious.  Most of the text I interact with on a daily basis is in digital format and when I need a print on paper, it is usually as easy as pressing the “print” button.  I rarely think of all of the processes that have led us to this point.

I recorded my “story” using Read&Write for Google Chrome into a Google Doc.

So here’s a story about my last trip into the city Add to take my husband to the orthopedic surgeon for a check-up on his foot The check is a whole other story let’s just say he lost a battle with the tree in the summer I’ve definitely decided I prefer not to be in the city everything in the city seems totally crazy the people the traffic everything Drop my husband off at the clinic and decided I didn’t want to wait in the park Aid and pay crazy amounts of money to sit in the car the last time I was there I paid $12 for just a few hours I’m not sure why they charge so much to park at hospitals and medical clinics decided to take a drive in my head it off not quite sure where I was going I just knew I didn’t want to go to the mall especially now Turn off down the street I drank lots of times before I lived in the area when I was going to University to do my education degree I don’t remember it being that busy but maybe as I get older things are crazy or I don’t know what used to be a speed limit of 50 or 60 is now down to 40 which I thought was kind of crazy but I figured out that it really didn’t matter what the speed limit was because with the amount of traffic and late there’s no way you could drive more than 40 anywayPart of the adventure was when I decided to take a trip off of that main road I saw a sign for a park that I never noticed before maybe I just wasn’t paying attention close enough it took me down into ValleyOnly there is a creek and a park and walking trails picnic tables is been a Tranquility in the midst of all the insanity play spend some time going for a walk just standing on the bridge watching the creek and listening to the leaves in the Wind the Sun was shining you couldn’t hear the traffic except for one ambulance I heard probably on its way to the University Hospital and I found my way to a picnic table and satin could do some readingThis is the kind of atmosphere and we’re used to at home away from the city I thought about even leaving my cell phone in the car but I wanted to take some pictures I also needed to keep it handy just in case I got a text to go back and pick up my husband I had to do a double check to see if there was even cell service which is kind of crazy in the middle of the city that I was thinking that How to text and I head to head back into the insanity to go back to the clinic Which is a dislike the city I have to go back again next week this time I’m taking my dad to a different clinic but in the same area maybe I’ll get to explore the park by the creek again 

How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?

This particular text has most of the words that were spoken.  What is missing are all of the regular conventions that we use in writing English.  There is no punctuation to break the text into sentences, all of the words run together.  There are no paragraphs.  Capitalization appears to be somewhat random.  In places, capital letters mark the beginning of what would normally be the beginning of a new sentence; in other places, there is no explanation for their placement.  My spoken story unfolded in time, whereas the written text unfolded in space.  Read&Write translated time into space (Gnanadesikan, 2011).

What is “wrong” in the text?  What is “right?”

As already mentioned, the regular conventions of written English are wrong.  Also, the voice recognition did not get every single word correct.  There were also some words that it did not detect.  As for what is right, all of the words are spelled correctly, due to the built-in spell check, even if it is not the correct word.

What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them mistakes? 

The most common mistakes are the ones identified as common conventions of written English.  I consider them to be mistakes because in all of my education, I have learned that written text needs to follow certain rules.  The text created as I spoke does not follow those rules.

What if you had “scripted” the story?  What difference might that have made?”

A scripted story would have been in written format, so it would have included all of the text structures that this story is missing.  I would have included punctuation, sentences, and paragraphs.  As the script was read, it would have been easy to indicate to the program where to insert periods, commas, and new paragraphs.  When I first opened Read&Write, I was notified that I could say “period” to end a sentence.  As I spoke, though, I did not do that, since when you normally tell a story, you do not say “period” to indicate the end of a sentence.  The script would have resulted in text that looked like we expected it should.

In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?

In some ways oral storytelling is less formal than written storytelling.  There are no conventions or rules for the format to follow.  One is not concerned with proper grammar, spelling, or punctuation.  In some ways, oral storytelling is more complex than written storytelling.  Oral stories include nuances that are difficult to include in written language.  As one tells a story, they may be including facial expressions, hand gestures, and expressive voices.  Oral storytelling does not have the permanence of written storytelling.  If nobody retells the story, it will be lost forever.

I live in a community where many people are Cree.  “In the world of the northern Cree, orality systems govern all communication” (Weber-Pilwax, 2001, p. 152).  History is passed down from elders to younger generations by way of storytelling.  Keeping history alive relies on the younger people listening to and remembering the stories they are told.

References

Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2011).“The First IT Revolution.” In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet, 25. John Wiley & Sons, 1-10.  https://https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304671.ch1

Weber-Pillwax, C. (2001). Orality in northern Cree indigenous worlds. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 149-165. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/orality-northern-cree-indigenous-worlds/docview/230307021/se-2?accountid=14656

My name is Terri-Lynn McLeod.  I teach senior high math, science, and a variety of CTS (career and technology) courses at a small junior/senior high school in Wabasca, Alberta, about 350 km north of Edmonton.  For this project, I chose the backpack that I take to work at school every day.  The picture shows what I found in the one compartment of the bag.

As I emptied the bag, I found things that I use every day and things that I haven’t used in some time, but are there “just in case.”  The pens and pencils are still used everyday even though we are progressing towards more digital technologies in our classes.  Despite the abundance of technologies available, I still use pens and pencils to record attendance on paper, mark math workbooks, and make notes on planning for my classes.  All of the pens and pencils have some text on them somewhere indicating at least the company that produced them.  The sticky notes are used in conjunction with the pens to create a type of non-digital text message, possibly to myself, a student, or a colleague.  Surprisingly, there was no text on the back of the pad.  The highlighters are used less often to identify important information in written documents.  I use the calculator on a daily basis as I teach math and physics.  The face of the calculator is covered with a variety of text: numbers, symbols, operations, and functions.  It does take some special training to be able to decode all of the text on the front of this calculator.  For many of the buttons, the text is replicated on the screen.  The ruler has mostly numerical text, especially on the front.  On the back side, there is a conversion table from inches to millimetres.  The flash drives and the portable SSD have very little text on their surfaces, but hold huge quantities of a variety of text in digital form, including books, documents such as tests, and photos.  The presentation remote helps me to efficiently share many of the texts on the drives as well as text stored in my Google Drive with students in class.

Some of the more random items in the bag are not directly related to my teaching, but may be helpful during the day: nail file, CPR mask keychain, business card, hand lotion, glasses cleaning kit, mints, and medications.  All of them have some sort of text on them, many of the items have text in both English and French and the text is helpful in determining the proper use of the item.

The items in my bag represent a variety of literacies.  These literacies include mathematical/numerical literacy, digital literacy, text/reading and writing literacy, technological literacy, media literacy, and health/medical literacy.

Because this is a bag that I take to work and most of the items in the bag are used for my teaching job, the picture painted by the objects in the bag is not particularly private.  The one exception is the medication in the bag.  It is necessary for my overall well-being but not directly connected to my teaching.

Looking back 20 years, the contents of my bag for work were not so different than they are today.  There would have been no presentation remote, or portable SSD.  The flash drive would have probably been 128 MB instead of 32GB.  There would have been an older model of the calculator with no colour screen or rechargeable battery.  I would have had pens and pencils, probably in a greater variety of colours.  Many of the other random items would have been there as well, as some things don’t change over the years.  Looking forward, an archaeologist would look at my bag and see a time of transition.  Look at a pencil beside a 1TB portable drive in the same bag.