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Providing an immersive (and fun!) experience for students; this is what stood out for me today during the class presentations.

Presentation #1; Stop Motion Animation by Keiro

I appreciated how Keiro mentioned that stop motion animation could easily provide curricular integration and covers learning across the competencies.

I’m excited to try this for myself using free stop motion software from Apple.  I think once I have a better understanding of how to make my own short animation I could be better equiped to think about how I could incorporate it into my classroom or into a lesson.

Presentation #2; Google Maps and Google Earth by Eliza, Anne, Connor and Kelly

How amazing would it be to take students to the Sahara when learning about desert biomes in Science class or allow students to visually explore the topographical features they are learning about in their geology class.  We have been learning so much about making lesson plans authentic and that if students can relate what they are learning to the world outside the classroom they feel more invested in the lesson.  How about combining a lesson on Egypt with a virtual trip to see the Sphinx? The fact that there are actual people in the picture further situates the Sphinx in a real world context, as well as gives much needed perspective on sheer size.

Or what about learning about Karst topography by actually looking at examples from all over the world?  Lessons using Google Earth would be more engaging and work for a variety of different learning styles.

Another feature I would love to check out further is the ‘view the past’ application.  Students can get a better understanding of how natural processes can change the land as well as how human developments have impacted our environment.

Thanks to these two groups for their inspiring presentations!

…..beaming into class that is and what an interesting experience.

I think the biggest challenge being in the beam robot is that I had no non verbal communication cues.   I realized I rely heavily on those cues to enter and exit a conversation.  It was also a bit difficult to gauge how close I was in relation to other people.  Was I parked too closely or creepily hanging over people’s shoulders? And although I could hear Michael speaking for the most part, there was a lot of ambient noise which made it difficult to hear especially when classmates were speaking in other parts of the room.  But in terms of the pros?  I was able to attend a three hour class from home while my sick son slept upstairs.  This technology could be important for students who might be home bound for whatever reason or for students who live in other parts of the world but wish to attend Michael’s lectures 🙂

So it is week three and I haven’t managed to post anything for my tech education course. I have spent hours looking at the word press platform, I have typed in a post here and there only to erase it again and turn off my computer.  I feel frozen and incompetent and I can’t understand my own reluctance at just getting on with things.  I’m not a procrastinator and I usually feel pretty confident in my ability to learn what I need to learn and do what I need to do, but in this case, I am stalling out because of…….what?  I’m not sure, I can’t pin point it.  This is my first foray into social media.  I have never had a facebook or a twitter account.  I have never dabbled with snap chat or Instagram or even used a filter on a photograph.  My interests just don’t generally lie with technology or with screens in general and as a result I have absolutely no know how.  BUT, I want to be a teacher and having no idea how to navigate technology  as simple as a blog post is not acceptable.  How can I expect my students to push past their own insecurities and try something new if I’m not able to take the same leap?  I am going to remember how this feels though.  I’m going to remember how this feels so I can be sensitive to students of mine who might be feeling similar feelings of incompetence, who might be too ashamed to ask for help and so might just decide to drop the whole thing. I’m not going to drop the ball on this though, I’m going to give it my best shot and that means I just have to post something already…… so here goes.