Category: Weekly Reflections

Today’s lesson was a little different from our usual setting, as we spent the first bit inside before moving to Finnerty Gardens to explore. I really enjoyed both portions of class but definitely preferred it when we went outside, as the fresh air was refreshing and needed this late in the term.

To start, we were in the classroom receiving a lecture from Kirsten Pierce on integrating outdoor education into our classrooms in more than just PHE class. I found this lecture very informative, and Kirsten gave us a lot of apps we can use in our day to day lives that are educational and have to do with the outdoors. I only recognized one of the apps she showed us, SkyView, as I was shown it in grade 10 science during our unit on the solar system, and although I used it for a bit after that class was over, I found myself quick to delete it when I needed more space on my phone. It’s a fun app that can show you the location of the constellations and planets using AR technology to show you where everything is in relation to you, but it doesn’t have many uses once the solar system unit is over unless you love space.

Once we moved out of the classroom to Finnerty Gardens, I had a lot of fun walking around. Even if my group found the “hidden” QR Codes right away, we were still enjoying our time surrounded by nature and watching the wildlife. There is a lot of biodiversity around Finnerty Gardens, and most, if not all, of the plant life has signs in front of it telling what it is and some facts about it. I found this super interesting because I see a lot of those plants around in my life, but before then I hadn’t known the names of most of them. We also saw some ducks and got some pictures as they approached us, making sure not to disturb them if they chose to walk away.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class, both the inside and outside portions, and it has encouraged me to try and include outdoor education as much as I can into my future classroom.

Todays class was more discussion based than lecture, with an Ed camp allowing us to join any of the mini discussions scattered around the class area. I chose to join the discussion based around AI in classrooms, and what sort of place we believed it should have in all classroom levels.

I took the point of view that although AI can have a use in classrooms, it should only be done in a way that makes virtually misuse impossible. In my Link 2 Practice classroom I saw one use of AI that I thought could be useful in many classrooms, as well as allowed no ability for misuse. The only way AI was used in that classroom was through a specific website they used for research (not Google) that had a button at the top of the screen to adjust the wording to simplify the article if needed, with the use of AI. I saw many students who struggled to understand the articles prior to the adjustments, have a much easier time researching for their projects.

A common theme that came up when talking about using AI, wasn’t just the environmental impact, because I have talked about it a lot, but how to most of us it was ingrained in our heads that AI is cheating. I personally don’t see AI as cheating unless you are using it to write your entire essay, but I do see it as a lazier way of doing things, and I don’t believe we should encourage students to use it in place of doing their own research or drawing their own pictures.

In todays lecture, the main focus was AI and its use in the classroom. I am not a big fan of AI as a whole, so although I tried to keep an open mind, I still found myself looking at all the resources offered to us with a negative point of view. But I was glad that this class wasn’t just influencing us to use AI more, and was instead giving us information on the pros and cons of AI.

Although I found the class informative, I personally don’t use AI if I can, and if we are instructed to use it in a class I will see what others have gotten and retype it myself. My main issue with AI is the environmental impact, and I find it hard to use something unnecessary if it has a negative impact on the environment. I am the type of person to turn off the shower when lathering shampoo or conditioner to conserve water, so I am not comfortable using technology that uses a significant amount of water with no remedy in the near future.

I try and cite my sources when I talk about the impacts of AI, so here, and here, are two articles I found on the impacts AI has on the environment.

I think eventually AI may have a different impact on the environment, hopefully more neutral, but for now I will do my best to avoid use of it when possible. And although I avoid it when I can, I can still see why others may use it, and I will still educate my students on proper and improper use.

Today we had a guest speaker, Rich McCue help us learn how to edit videos using iMovie or Clipchamp, two free video editing software’s installed on most peoples computers. I had never previously used these software’s as I use Davinci Resolve to edit my videos, but I found that iMovie was simple to understand.

I wouldn’t say that I am inexperienced making and editing videos, but I liked to learn more about the process on different types of computers, as I usually use a windows computer to edit my videos. It was also nice to edit a video that was easier to blend together, and had less obvious jump cuts, as the videos I am usually editing are of a playthrough of the Sims 4, where any cuts I make are very obvious.

It was fun getting to mess around with video editing, as well as seeing the different ways to use videos in your classroom. Although I chose a more creative approach when we were allowed to edit our own videos, I still found myself thinking about how I could use this skill in my classroom to either edit a video for the class or allow them to edit their own videos for a project.

For the second half of todays lecture we talked about internet safety and FIPPA, or the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. The main theme of the presentation was proper use of technology and social media in the classroom.

One thing that we went over was social media use by teachers; it is recommended that teachers, especially of the middle school age, have private social media accounts to protect their privacy as well as their students. The digital footprint of a teacher is closely monitored by both their schools, students, and their student’s parents. I found talking about this very informative, as I currently have public social media accounts, and I was curious as to why most teachers have private accounts. After talking about how photos posted when you were younger, before becoming a teacher, could still be viewed as inappropriate if they are intended for older audiences (alcohol is in view of camera).

It was a very informative class and I will defiantly keep the information shared in my mind as I post on my public social media pages, as well as consider making most of my accounts private, as I wouldn’t want to limit my opportunities with posts on social media.

The beginning of today’s lecture was based around the documentary “High Tech High”, a school that deviates from the traditional structures present in learning environments. The main deviation from traditional learning environments is how the classes are present to the students, instead of having the classes taught in isolation, they integrate themes from different classes together. Classes at this school aren’t divided into “math, science, English, etc.” and are instead combined to teach values from each subject.

The school also leans away from standardized tests, and gives the teachers more freedom in what classes they teach. As well as this the school gives the students more freedom in how they learn, emphasizing how not everyone learns the same and that in order to give everyone a shot at success its important to remember that something that works for one student may not work for another. One concept that was brought up in class was that modern schools were created when there was a need for factory workers, and was made to prepare students to eventually enter society as a worker, and wasn’t made for the modern society.

Overall it was a very informative lecture, and I found myself wondering if more schools will adapt to have the same structure, or if schools like that would continue to be the minority. I think I would have trouble teaching in an environment with little structure, but I would eventually be able to adapt.

Today’s lecture had Jesse Miller as the guest speaker, where he talked about integrating AI into classrooms, appropriate relationships with students, and appropriate use of social media and your digital footprint as a teacher.

I really enjoyed learning more about what is expected, relationship wise, as a teacher, as before this we were taught a little bit, but it is always nice to refine your knowledge.

I also liked the talk about digital footprints, I think it is really important for everyone to be aware of how everything you post stays on the internet forever. I have seen on social media how quickly someones career can end due to them posting inappropriate things on their public social media, and I think more people should understand how it could happen to them, even if they weren’t the ones posting. It is super important to watch out for how you are being portrayed on social media, because one wrong post can get you blacklisted from jobs, even if it was a joke from a friend.

One thing I didn’t enjoy as much from the lecture was hearing so much about the positives of AI without the negatives. Jesse Miller had a lot of good things to say about AI, and AI generated photos (which we could all tell were AI) but he didn’t talk much about the environmental impact of AI. One quick google search can tell you that a request through AI uses 10 times the amount of energy as a google search, and a conversation with AI uses around a 500 ml bottles worth of water, and the waste the data centres produce often contains hazardous substances such as lead and mercury. Here is one article I found, but there are countless more. It was frustrating to hear only positives about AI, and although I know it isn’t going anywhere soon, I don’t think that’s an excuse to ignore all the negatives.

Overall it was a very informative lecture, and I learned a lot of helpful knowledge. I am glad Jesse was able to talk to us about internet use, and classroom relationships, and I hope he updates the AI section of his slides soon.