Kristen's Education Blog

This week we had a presentation about distance education.  I don't have much experience in online course taking as I have never taken a full course via computer before. I have however completed smaller courses such as the "Commit to Kids", which was only about two hours of my time... so nothing to really compare for an entire course load. It was interesting to learn that there is distance education available right here in Manitoba for high school! You can check it out here:  https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/dl/index.html  .  Here is some information about the web-based course options that are available in Manitoba. You will find this information on the website I have shared with you above, but go here  https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/dl/wbc/courses/index.html  to see the available courses offered currently. Teaches can use this as a great resource too! They have entire courses incase you end up having to teach a cou...

Toontastic is a really cool app you can download on your classroom tablets for your kiddos! I used it in my last placement in a grade 3/4 as one of the daily 5 ELA stations. This app is tailored more towards early years students, but could for sure be used as a fun activity for the middle years.  So, what is it exactly? You create a setting, characters - even with your own face as a character! and create a story to share with your classmates. It has the options to scaffold the storytelling such as beginning, middle, and end, which really helps the younger ones keep track of their story. You can make up a story on the fly or write down some points of your story so that it is a little more scripted. You can do it with partners or how ever many characters you have in your story.  It is a great way to engage students in digital storytelling. I could compile a list of curriculum outcomes you could hit with this app, but t here are so many ways you could tie this in, if you g...

Do you know what an infographic is?! It is an image that displays pictures and information in a compact manageable way. They are visually engaging to the audience and I think infographics are great addition to the classroom! You can use them to easily present information about anything you want your students read and refer to such as classroom expectations. You could also create an end of unit activity for your students to create infographics about what they learned in a fun and creative way. They can be so engaging to create. ***If you have troubles accessing the internet in your class students can always use a chart paper and do it the old fashioned style with markers and other art supplies!*** Here is a sample of an infographic I thought was fitting considering we are all student teachers... for one last placement, then we will be the real deal!  Click me to go to the website Here is one that I made about  5 Steps to Active Listening . I chose to create...

One of my go to resources for the grade 3/4 class I was recently placed in was "Cosmic Kids" . This website was introduced to me by the classroom teacher as they used it frequently for their meditation time. This was implemented in their (almost) daily schedule. The kids absolutely love it so this is why I thought it is a worthwhile share.    Here is the website: https://www.cosmickids.com/tag/zen-den/  This can be great to use on those indoor recess days. There are some really good yoga videos so they will be getting some good exercise as well.  You can find a lot of different resources on the website including this cool poster. It can be emailed to you so that the picture quality is not reduced. Here is what it looks like. I'm sure if your class enjoys watching her video's they would love this to be an addition on your classroom wall.  Click me to get your free poster! Pros and cons: If you click on "WATCH the episodes" at the top of the w...

The Typical vs. the Networked - The Digital Age Looking closely at these two diagrams and considering what a diagram for a typical teacher and a typical student in 2019 would be, I think it would be very similar to the "Networked Teacher" one. Seeing on how connected our students are in the modern, connected world I think that we as teachers need to reflect on what social learning is happening in today’s society and how we can prepare them for the future. We live in a world where we are so easily connected with one another globally and culturally so we need to be  cognisant  of how we are teaching our students to interact and form relationships. The ability to access information and use social media platforms to convey our thoughts and ideas plays an important role for the future of our students. A lot of jobs and careers require a certain amount of  proficiency   in the tech area and will only increase in the years to come. It will be beneficia...