This is my final post for this years Edtech 336 course. This presentation was Exploring the Way AI is involved with and influences k-12 Education and how educators can utilize AI as a productive tool. This presentation was done by Carlee, Racheal, Melody, and Kat.Â
Author: lifewithcarlee (Page 1 of 2)
Well this is it, this is the last post for this blog. As this course comes to an end I have been reflecting on how this blog has affected my life. I think the concept I chose to explore in my blog is really impactful for grounding my life. The Art of Noticing has been extremely beneficial to my every day life. I think my life can get so busy that I don’t notice all the wonderful things that are happening around me. Or, I am often waiting for the next big exciting thing to happen, but I am not often noticing the things that are mundane but equally beautiful. I think throughout this semester, this blog has allowed me to take in the world around me. It started out with trying to pay attention to something that I could write about, but as my blog is now finished I still find myself taking in my surroundings, paying attention to the smells in the air or the noises. It has been a wonderful practice of grounding myself in reality and practicing gratitude for a world that has so much to offer. I think if I were to do this blog again, I would try and find things to talk about that were fit into all the categories of the senses, just as an extra challenge to me. I will recommend this art form to everyone, it is a wonderful way to break away from the daily grind, and really see the magic in the mundane.
In this weeks zoom class we played around with the web format EDcamp. In this format, multiple people could post a thought or a question and then the whole class could have access to it. We then took the questions and complied them into categories in which we then got into small groups to discuss. I could really see the usefulness of this is a form of distance or hybrid education as it gives everyone a chance to contribute to the conversation or ide formation without having to be in person. I also enjoyed how we split into smaller groups to try and tackle our discussion topics. I think it was really great to have a chance to hear everyone speak (or gives those with a quieter voice an opportunity to speak.) Our discussion topic was incorporating play based learning or nature based learning within the learning atmosphere. We were also given 30 minutes to discuss this which could’ve gone sideways but actually resulted in a fruitful discussion where conversation flowed well. After our small groups we got into one big group so we could hear thoughts on the other topics which I feel allowed us to get snippet’s of other interesting topics. As stated before, I think the use of EDcamp like we used today would be really beneficial for online, distance learning.
This was our collaborative brainstorming during our Ed Tech presentation.
Rich McCue v5.0 â My Thoughts on Makerspaces, Technology, & EducationâŚ
Question for this week: What are the things I notice about myself that I have not noticed before?
Growing up my grandmother would always get her hair died, in fact she still does. She rocks a beautiful shade of chestnut brown and she looks stunning. She would say “if I ever have to move into a care home you have to make sure they look after my hair, I don’t want any grey hair!” I would laugh and say “Ok, Grammie I can do that.” While there is nothing whatsoever wrong with dying your hair, I wonder how many of us (particularly women) are afraid of growing old, of looking old? Maybe it’s because there are so many advertisements for anti-aging cream and wrinkle reducing formula care. But what is wrong with growing old? I think its a beautiful thing to be able to grow old and say you have lived a full life. Recently I was taking a picture of the ocean and I for some friends who live abroad. When I looked at the photo I realized that I had smile lines and I thought “Wow isn’t that amazing!” You see each one of those smile lines represents a friend or a family member who has brought joy to my life. There is no beauty product that I would want to use that would reduce my little wrinkles because they represent times of laughter and belly aches from trying to catch my breath after a friend has said a good joke; they are priceless. Yes, there are unfortunate parts to growing old, like the aches and the pains that come with age, but there is so much wonderment to share with others as you build and share upon the story that is your life.
Everyday, on my way to the bus stop, I pass by a bench that is outside a retirement center. The bench is a place for the retirement community members to have a smoke and have community time with others who do the same. As their faces become familiar, I find myself wondering what are their stories, what do the years upon their faces and silver lined hair represent in the story that is their lives? Do they still worry about those darn wrinkles or have they accepted the beauty in them?
So, as we age we must remember the privilege that it is to grow up. To have those grey hairs and wrinkled faces. Not everyone gets to grow up to see the beauty in aging, so we must carry that responsibility as we do.
Photo Taken By Carlee Cleveland on Iphone
Question for this week: How does noticing color change the way I see the world?
I am recently new to the shores of the west coast in British Columbia, and so this is my first autumn season watching the seasons change in a coastal region. I have spent time living in England so I thought it would be quite similar with the rainy season and it getting so very gray outside, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the changing of seasons here. With it now being the second week of November I feel I have truly experienced the changing of the seasons of a coastal region, and it has been beautiful. It started out very gradually, with just a few things changing at one. In fact I thought things were never going to really change because it was so hot the first few weeks of September, but then gradually things started to shift. The mornings became just a little bit colder and had more fog, and there was the classic changing of the leaves as well. I found myself often looking down as all the colorful leaves had dropped to the ground. It is funny how as humans we have January as our start of change; a new year, new challenges or goals etc.. But I find the majority of change happens in September (maybe that is because I have been a student for to long haha). I also find that sometimes I look at a rainy season as gloomy, but I think my opinion is changing and the rainy season or the season of change has shown me how colorful things shine in grey skies or dull backgrounds. I was walking along my campus and I had to stop to take a tree that I was so gob smacked by. It was a brilliant shade of red and it was planted all by itself in the courtyard of a university building. It had been raining all day which sometimes that can get me in the brain pattern of “keep your head down, get to where you need to go.” However, this beautiful tree was so vibrant in it’s color on such a wet and gray day that I had to just stop and appreciate it. It was a good reminder to just stop, look up and take it all in, all the change, all the beauty. What has made you stop and and look up this week?
Noticing colors like this vibrant tree has made me realize what an amazing thing it is that I can truly take all of this in, that I have been given eyes that can see something so wonderful. It leaves me with profound gratitude.
Photos Taken By Carlee Cleveland
Question for this week: Does noticing others, even strangers, make me more connected to them?
Recently, I have been very interested in social dancing. I grew up in a small town, where there wasn’t a lot of community dance events other than when someone got married or a graduation party. Even my school didn’t put on dances for the students, they tried but the interest just was not there. So, when I moved to Victoria and heard that there was a big social dance community here, I was so excited. I imagined social dancing to be kind of like time travelling; going back to my grandparents era where people would ask others to dance and it would strike up a conversation naturally. So, the past few weeks I have been going to swing dance and fiddle dance events and it has been wonderful! Every time I go I notice different things. Firstly, I notice how wholesome it is to go ask someone to dance and get treated with respect! I noticed that it did not matter how proficient a dancer you are, those who are really experienced will still like dancing with you and still ask even if they know you are a beginner. Lastly, the biggest thing that I notice is nobody is always on their phone even if they might take a picture here and there. Every time I go, I notice that if people are choosing to not dance or to have a break they either sit on the side and watch or they strike up a conversation with those around you. This got me thinking although this space is wonderful and needed it is very unique. As humans we are very social creatures and the feeling of being connected is deeply ingrained into human culture. However, I think I’ve noticed that in North America at least we more individualistic. That’s not necessarily because we want to be, it is just the way we have been moving forward. We tend to stick to ourselves, to mind our own business and get set about in our ways, tuning out things that we feel we don’t want to intake, such as when we listen to music on a bus. Our technology that we use can be a tool but also a distraction, like previously mentioned in my other posts.
There is a song I like by Josiah Queen called Things That Matter. In this song there is a lyric that strikes me:
“I saw an accident this morning on the interstate
And the first thing on my mind was “running late”
I didn’t stop and pray that they were safe, I never thought about it after
When did I start missing the things that matter?
Often I think we do not see ourselves as connected to others so we get so interconnected and preoccupied with ourselves. These lyric points out the fact of where our priorities might rest. What if we all noticed each other a little more? What if we brought that community aspect back to our daily lives? What if we loved our neighbor a little more, even better yet, what if we cared about someone we never met? I know this is a large concept to come from a little thing like social dancing but I think it has been something i’ve been reminded about the more I invest into community, whether thats a church communisty, school communities, or dance communities. After going to these dances and meeting people I would not have previously met on my own, I’m reminded that we are all just looking for some form of connection, and that in itself is what connects us. What does connection look like to you?
Photo by Ardian Lumi on Unsplash
This week (Week 9) we had guest speaker Cari Wilson who spoke on AI technology implemented in schools. She brought up interesting points, such as the fact that all schools and educators will have to grapple with the fact that kids are exposed to technology and AI from a young age. This could either be amazing for kids to grow and learn with technology or it could be harmful and I think it’s our Job as educators to try and understand and implement safe areas for kids to experiment with and understand the use of AI in the classroom setting as well as their home room setting. I thought it was also important to note that she said teachers will never be replaced by AI and for the most part I agree. I do however think that our roles as teacher will most likely gradually shift into something like a an adult who guide social emotional learning more than academics which can be modeled through the alpha schools that are starting in the US (link below). It will be interesting to see whether school systems such as Alpha will produce well rounded students.
In week 8 Education Technology class we had a guest speaker with Rich McCue who spoke on some of the technology tools we can use in the classroom to equip as better as teachers. This class was a lot of fun for me as it was a lot of experimenting with tools I haven’t previously used. The main things we went over was image editing, Google Gemini and video editing using clip champ. I have had a fair bit of experience editing both photos and videos but I hadn’t engaged at all with Google Gemini. I thought it was really interesting the to play around with it. I gave it a few prompts such as organize the classroom so that everyone is facing forward but in a collaborative sense, and it gave me the image below. I felt that this could be used in a abundant kind of way as it is very versatile for helping come up with ideas and perspectives a teacher possibly hadn’t thought of. I think tools like this are very cool but I am still learning the gray areas of copyright and ethical / environmental responsibility.
Image created by Google Gemini
Rich McCue v5.0 â My Thoughts on Makerspaces, Technology, & EducationâŚ
During week 5 of the education technology class, we presented our ideas for a group inquiry project to each other in our online zoom class. I found the array of topics that each group chose quite interesting as so many of them are topics us as future educators will have to grapple with and try to understand. For example, my group has chosen to tackle the use of AI in classrooms for both the good and the bad. Some other topics by other groups include “How did school going online during COVID affect students’ learning?” and “What are the primary internet safety issues for use in the classroom, and how can they be most effectively taught?” I think it’s really great that we have the freedom to choose some of these topics that are of interest to us. I think some of these things are not only of interest but of worry. I think we as teachers are going to be challenges with teaching the first ever generation that is completely surrounded in technology. There is no point shutting it all out because kids can not escape the technology that is rapidly developing around them. I am looking forward to these presentations as I hope they will educate me or inspire me in my journey to becoming an technology literate teacher that protects and equips her students.
Week 5: Project Preview Presentations; Datafication â EDCI 336
Question for this week: What does stooping to focus on something else do for me?
Ever since I was young, I have been enamored with the sky. There are so many different aspects to it, the clouds, the shape, the colour, the fog. Whether it is night or day, I find myself sneaking glimpses at its beauty. However, that’s not always the case. It can get so busy during our workdays that simply stopping and looking up isnât something we consider doing. The other day, I was working in my living room when I noticed that the sky was absolutely stunning. My roommate (who is a post-degree elementary education student) was busy doing schoolwork at the table when I said, âLook at the sky!â
She looked up and said, âWow, that’s beautiful.â And then she said something that I think we all need to do: she said, âI think I need to look up more often.â
Isn’t that the point? We spend so long looking at things that are meant for productivity or enjoyment, like schoolwork, work, or even our phones, that we miss the beautiful things that are right in front of us. Donât get me wrong, those things are inherently important, but if we don’t notice things that have natural beauty and importance, what does that do to us?
I personally love the sky, and it boasts so much beauty in every season, and reminds me how big the world truly is, and honestly, it just makes me smile and check in with myself and my surroundings. It gives me a second to pause and breathe and say Isnât that pretty or look at those colours! Below I have some of my favorite pictures I have taken from the sky, some are recent and some are from a while ago, which one do you see the most beauty in?
I feel like when I stop and look at something, and I mean truly look at it. I’m tuning out all other distractions and giving myself a moment to simply breathe and reset; this fills me with extreme gratitude.
Photos Taken by Carlee Cleveland
So my challenge for you is to look up and see the beauty in something that is always there.