Dairy Queen Give Away!!!

I need everyone's help for this one. I got my grade 12 marketing class to create a Dairy Queen print advertisement. What I need from everyone is to vote for the one they like the best. Doesn't matter why you like it, just leave a comment of the name of the blizzard on the ad you like the most. Please note the winner of the contest gets a free medium blizzard (I am also putting them on social media and have gotten permission from DQ to do this project).

Go ahead and leave a comment!! Some more may be added within the next week due to a few students on the school trip to Spain who missed class.

Personalized Learning Network

Below is a picture of my personalized learning network (PLN). It is definitely not as intense as some peoples mainly because I have not had the time to search around and find different apps and tools that I may like using. This is the reason I have taken this course because it has given me time to explore different tools. I created this using Mindmeister, you can sign up for free and get the limited version or there are also three other levels that you can pay money to get. I can now add mindmeister into my organizing area of my PLN. I really liked it because it was simple to use, other than the fact (the free version anyway) did not give me any direction on how to use it. I figured it out and enjoyed it. 

Now when it comes to looking at the 21st century connected student's pln (below), I have just put in the areas where technology will be used since depending on the student and demographic many different tools could be used. 

Just by looking at my pln compared to the 21st student I am excited that I get to live during these times and witness all the interesting tools and things that have yet to be developed. This being said I already know that I will miss a lot of cool things after I pass because it is only going to get more intense! 

Google search yourself!

The importance of how you are perceived online depends, unfortunately, on your age and profession. After grade 12 is when your identity online becomes relevant. Post secondary, jobs, housing, etc. are all kinds of things that might take a look at you online. If someone researches you online and finds something they don't like they may put your name at the bottom of the pile. 

To protect mine I don't post much online at all. I use the internet more as a resource of information. This being said I think my online identity would be the one who used to be really active in the online world but now has stop using most things. For example I have twitter and facebook but I only post something monthly even though I actually use them everyday to look for ideas and interesting things.
We need to make sure our students understand how their online presence can affect their offline life. As an example I know of people who search people online when they get their resume... if they see something they don't like online about this person they don't get the job and most of the time they aren't asked to explain why such things are on the internet.

Below is a screen shot when I "googled" myself. Nothing about me came up except this blog, but this blog is set up through google and I was signed in. I decided to go "Yahoo" myself and nothing showed up about me... I guess I don't have much of an online identity.

Science Friday + any day = great blog!

The blog I have follow is a combination of a bunch of different science topics from interesting facts to things you can ask/do in a classroom setting. Ariel Zych heads the education blogs that are posted. I found this blog really interesting and decided to follow it for a few reasons. First I am thinking of teaching science once I graduate. Second, the things posted are interesting and current. Third, there are some cool projects/ideas for all age groups. These education blogs are also split up into a lesson plan template including objectives, materials, procedure, and background information. Also under the educate page there are subjects on the left hand side. These topics are: chemistry, earth sciences, engineering and technology, life sciences, mathematics, and physical science. I am student teaching placement is in a math class so I hope and will try to use some of the neat ideas they have posted. Below is the link to the education page and also a picture of the interface.
http://www.sciencefriday.com/teacher-resources/index.html#page/full-width-list/1

Mental Math Video... a different twist.

The video below is a video I have actually used for a mental math activity. Students watched the video as I wrote questions on the board. "How many dominoes do you think were used? How long did it take from first domino placed to finished video? Do you think they got frustrated and why? Was it all completed at once or in small steps?" My grade 11s and 12s enjoyed it but I got the sense that they thought I was crazy because that is not how mental math has always been done for them. My grade 9s and 10s on the other hand loved it! But how is this mental math?
Well I have changed my outlook on mental math from you have one minute to complete these ten questions on the board. I now will still do the ten questions but I also use more videos and abstract problems like this video. With this activity students get a visual problem to work on. They use estimation skills and communication skills when discussing the questions in groups. Also their answers for the last two questions are "yes the person gets frustrated because they might knock it down" and "they are completed in small separate steps and then video edited to make it look like one big one". Now I leave you with these two questions that I get the class to discuss after, "Does math frustrate people and why?" and "How should math problems be completed, all at once or in small steps that are put together to get the answer?"

The other video below is what I use for a "gear turner" in my physics classes. Gear turners are like mental math but more science based. After watching this video in class I asked the groups "How did he do it?" A bonus is that he is from Winnipeg, MB so he is also local :).

Also I was going to put a couple other videos up but I found that my other math teacher friend used both of them as well. Instead of posting them myself I added the link to Cecile's derivatives below
http://cecilecorriveau.blogspot.ca/2015/01/online-videos-tech-task-9.html?showComment=1425326358461#c5814814755016561839

Brandon School Division and 1:1

Another guest speaker came and talked to us about 1:1 computing but from a different perspective. Kelli, from the Brandon School Division (BSD) communications and IT department came and talked about 1:1 from the divisions point of view. It was cool to find out that Kelli was the lady put in charge of getting the BSD to 1:1. She was given a small budget and began. She has had to jump through a lot of hoops and dodge holes and change plans numerous times. BSD is interested in keeping things safe for all students when it comes to 1:1 computing. After explaining the processes she has been through, Kelli described what we as teachers must do and be careful of when using technology. For example when you want to use a social media site for class you must fill out the project proposal papers. These then get sent to the division and verified that it is an appropriate and safe way to use technology. I didn't know about this form before and I have had all my placements in the BSD, so it is a good thing I didn't have my students use social media. Now that I know and will have finished this class I look forward to implementing some of this technology in my next BSD placement and will have the forms filled out. Even though Kelli outlined a lot of the issues with using technology she still was able to get across the fact that if it is used right it will be really beneficial for students. 

http://aaaphx.org/seniors-carving-sizable-niche-technology/

Simple but Complicated

We had some speakers from Minnedosa come to our class today. Martin and Bryce talked to us about how 1:1 computing is working in their school. When doing 1:1 in the classroom they still use Blooms but like the SAMR model better because it is a model about how students use technology. Below is a picture of the model.

 



They strive to get students in the transformation region of the model as it demonstrates higher order thinking. They talked about how they have students do all sorts of projects using what ever technology they want. For example in math... yeah a real life math example :)... they get students to make videos anyway they would like about topics in math and the steps you need to follow.

I really like the idea of this and having someone who is actually trying it come and talk about both the positives and negatives was great. One thing I am still not sure about is that the school provides the technology. I think that this would just create problems in a larger school since you will most likely have more students who may not like school so could wreck their devices. I like the idea of having a bring your own device system. This way students are comfortable with their devices and will take care of them while learning!
Below is a 6 minute video on why going 1:1 is not really a choice if we want our students to succeed