Summary of Personal Learning

Hello everyone, here is my summary of personal learning I used bubbl.us to make a concept map.

Final Blog Post for Cree Learning Project

Tansi! (Hello, How are you? in Cree) This learning project taught me a lot.  Not only did I learn more of the Cree language but also discovered the ways in which I learn new things more effectively.  I found that when it comes to learning a language I needed to hear it, see it, and say it out loud.  Learning Cree online was effective in the way that it provides the visual, hearing and reading that made learning easier for me.  However, I am well aware that without speaking the language with people you cannot truly learn it, I did still find the online practice a good starting point in the language learning process.  Throughout my blog I posted many different resources I found that are designed to help a person learn Cree.  The most effective resource I discovered was this site (The Gift of Language and Culture Project) which offers interactive activities to learn swampy, plains, and woodlands Cree.  The interactive activities had animations, a voice recording how to say the words correctly, and the written words provided.  This I found was the best way to learn a language and so easily accessible for either individual students to learn or in small groups.  The second most effective way I learned more Cree was through songs, I now know two Cree songs by heart which I sing to my new born everyday so she can get used to hearing the Cree language as well.  I found most the resources I gravitated towards were aimed at teaching elementary students, which is what I plan on teaching, so now I have many great ways to incorporate the Cree language into my teachings.  I believe as I will likely be teaching in Regina or surrounding area, that it’s important for all students to learn some Cree to be respectful and aware of were we live,  as we live on Treaty 4 land.

national aboriginal language day

Yesterday was national aboriginal language day and in celebration I listened to Cree on the Cree Literacy Network.  Solomon Ratt tells a story about the old man Wihtikow in Th dialect on this site.

There are many other stories on this site.  When learning new languages it is essential to hear the language spoken.  On this site there is a recording of Solomon telling stories as well as written language in Cree and English and Cree syllabics.  All the stories are read along so you can listen first then read along after, this way the reader can hear the correct pronunciation.

Ed tech and Social divide (Digital Divide)

I found a website that touches on the issue of technology and the social divide it can create.  What I found most interesting about his article was the term digital divide which refers to the differences between certain groups of people according to income levels and how that effects their access to the digital word.  In schools the economic differences between students can effect their access to and knowledge of digital technologies.  How can we as teachers create equity in the classroom when working with technology when some students are more privileged than others and have access to these technologies at home and are therefore more advanced?

Garage Band

From exploring/researching Garage Band as the tool for our groups resource package there seem to be two common flaws of garage band and three common pros as follows found on this website:

Uses:

1.  Songwriting
2.  Soundtrack creation
3.  Podcasting and digital storytelling

Limitations:

1.  GarageBand only runs on Apple operating systems.
2.  GarageBand projects are difficult to change to .mov file format.

On the website I found there is an extensive list of ways to use garage band in a classroom.

Using Garageband in the Classroom

My Scratch Animation :Cats Yarn

Here is a very short cat animation.  Here is the link .

Exploring Scratch

As I was looking through the ScratchEd website I found a creative writing challenge and it provides story prompts to get students imagination and creative writing skills working while also teaching students how to create codes.  This is cool because it not only is cross curricular into the visual arts and english language arts but is a fun way to learn how to use computers and get a grasp on how codes are created.

technology in the classroom

I found this youtube video today which made a lot of sense to me about accepting technology as a useful tool to help us teach, it made me feel better about using technology in the classroom I’m so not intimated by it now, what do you think?
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2015/01/a-beautiful-illustration-of-impact-of.html

Five Card Flickr Story

here is the link to my five card flickr story.  I think it’s a great way to get creative juices flowing.  Students would benefit from it by having to use their imaginations and creative writing skills.