Funding the Fight Finale

Alright ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to wrap up Matt and mines project for Funding the Fight!

I am excited to announce that we have raised a total of $1240 for the Canadian Cancer Society!

It has been an amazing journey raising money for something that Matt and I are so passionate about and have been overwhelmed with the amount of support we have received with our project.

I would like to send a huge thank you to everyone who has helped us with our project whether that be through donating, putting up posters, sharing our links on Facebook, retweeting our tweets on twitter, and of course, simply sharing our project by word of mouth.

This project has really put into perspective the importance of social media and the effects it can have on a project such as ours. Without social media such as Facebook, Twitter and our Go Get Funding web page, we would not have received as many donations as we did and would not have been able to reach out to as many people as we did.

It was also amazing to see people who we don’t even know reach out and support our cause. It truly is an indescribable feeling knowing that through social media people were willing to help us and donate their money even though we are complete strangers.

If I were to do a project such as this in the future, I would definitely use Go Get Funding again as a platform. However, I think it would be interesting to see if there would have been a greater response in regards to donations had we used a different web site such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter, GoFundMe or RocketHub.

Overall,this was by far the best experience I had ever had with a project and to experience something that was so rewarding made it even better.

We couldn’t have done this project and had it been such a success without everyone’s support and help!

THANK YOU!

Networked Professional Learning

Throughout the semester in my ECMP 455 class I have had the opportunity to connect with so many great people without even leaving the comfort of my own home.

Some of the ways we were connecting with each other was with our weekly meeting using Blackboard Collaborate where we were able to choose between actually speaking or typing to each other during our online class. Although this wasn’t my first online class, it was my first online class where we had specific meeting times. This was much different from previous classes because in a sense you were all together in class at the same time, but in different places. I really enjoyed this meeting place and felt like I could contribute in a very non-threatening environment which made me contribute more than had I been in a regular classroom setting.

Another way in which I got to interact with my classmates was through Twitter. Although sending out more personal tweets myself was not something that I excelled at, I did however enjoy keeping up with my classmates tweets and checking out things that they were posting, as well as doing a lot of retweeting on my account.

The best way in my opinion that I was able to keep up with my classmates was through their blog posts!

I always made it a point at least once a week to look and read all the new blog posts from my classmates. The most rewarding part of the blog posts were following the progress of the major projects that my classmates were completing. It was amazing to see the growth in everyone this semester through their blogs and how far everyone has come in using the knowledge gained in class to enhance their blogging.    

Along with the blogging it was cool to see people trying new things and being able to share those experiences with us in the class. It was always reassuring when people would comment on my blog posts/ I would comment on people’s blog posts to show that there were active readers out there.

Overall, I loved every minute of this course and I am so excited to take all that I have learned from everybody and apply it to my teaching career!

Summary of Personal Learning

As this semester comes to an end I have decided to try my hand at a concept map using a program called MindMaple to reflect my personal learning for my ECMP455 class. I thought that it only made sense to do my reflection of personal learning using a program that I had never used before to continue my learning right through to the end! As I mentioned, this was my first time using this program and found it very easy to use. The program is set up in a way that any first time user can figure out what they are doing right away. As I thought more and more about this program, I really saw the positives to using something like this in the classroom. For example, this could be a concept map that could potentially be used throughout the entire school year because the program has the capacity to continue to add to it whenever and has limitless space to grow. Where as if this were to be done on a chart paper or white board, one would surely eventually run out of room. And let’s face it…something like this would never last a whole year on a white board with students around! Overall,  I would definitely consider using a program such as MindMaple in my classroom!

A Final Goodbye

As the Winter semester comes to a close, so does my first University degree!

It has been an amazing four years at the University of Regina and I really couldn’t have asked for a better experience. 

I have had the opportunity to take many great classes, have some very knowledgeable and inspiring instructors, but most of all, meet some amazing people who I know will be life long friends.

The great part about being part of the Faculty of Education, is that you actually get to know the people in your classes. and have many chances to collaborate with these people.

I sincerely want to thank all of the people who have been part of my journey and have helped me along the way!

 ECE 425 class

Socrative – A roaring success

Last week I made a blog about stepping out of my comfort zone and using a new tool in the classroom that I had just been introduced to called Socrative. 

After the presentation was done and it was quiz time, I was quite nervous about using this new tool. My biggest concern when using this new tool was, “What if when the quiz is done and the results don’t generate!?” Of course I was simply worrying about every possible negative outcome.

Once the quiz was over it was quite a relief that it had gone so smoothly. No one had troubles finding the quiz, everyone was able to complete the quiz, and even at the end all of my results generated!

Needless to say, this is a tool I am very fond of now and I will definitely be using in the future!

 

Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone

A few weeks back for my ECMP 455  class we had learned about many new pieces of technology and discussed how we would use those new pieces of technology in the classroom.

After this class I had thought about where I could use some of these resources in my own University classes. Luckily for me as part of my EPSY 400 class I have to create a quiz for my classmates as part of a wrap up for a presentation. With that being said, I decided what better resource to use than Socrative!

Socrative is a site used to creative live quizzes with instant results. I think this tool is fantastic because it is so simple to use. All that is required for the participants to do is enter the given room number and away you go!

I am excited to actually try this tool for my class and introduce this tool to my other classmates!

The Carnival at Kitchener

This past week I was lucky enough to visit my internship school, Kitchener Community School for their annual Aski Carnival.

Aski is part of a Saskatchewan wide assessment called Help Me Tell My Story which focuses on measuring oral language.

The Help Me Tell My Story assessment uses a new, holistic approach to assessment that measures oral language development for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children. In order to provide a holistic view of each child’s learning, the assessment includes surveys that collect data from the children, their caregivers, their teachers and Elders in the community.

This new approach to assessment also includes an online portal that provides important information to caregivers, educators and administrators. Caregivers can access important information to support their child’s learning, while educators can easily access information to help inform their learning practices in the classroom. This information is helping to create real, measurable change in the oral language development of children across Saskatchewan.

As part of this assessment there is a part that involves the parents or guardians of the students so what Kitchener does to make this event unique is they hold a carnival!

At this carnival there are many things for the students and parents to do including mini games like ring toss, mini putt, a dino bouncer, face painting and to end the day off pizza.

I was a part of the carnival by getting the opportunity to face paint. Although this is definitely not an area of expertise for me or really an area in which I have ANY training in, it was such a fun experience and I am very happy I was able to be a part of this carnival. 

Of course it was great to reconnect with my own students and their families during this time as well. Being back at the University I have really been missing being in the classroom and of course seeing my students every day. Being back at my school really reminded me how excited I am to become a teacher and how much I can’t wait to begin my teaching journey!

 

Internet Inspirations

After keeping up with numerous Tweets and Blog posts, I have been inspired lately to try out crocheting thanks to classmates, Mandy and Kaelyn. There are also many people in my various classes who sit in class and crochet and knit as well. While watching them, I thought about how cool it would be to make my own things, however, it looked very difficult to do. Well then began the task of watching a number of YouTube videos on what I wanted to make until I finally found one that looked like it would be a good beginning point for me. After 5 very long hours of crocheting (yes, it really took me that long!) I had finally finished my first product!

Although it was very satisfying to know that I had made the headband myself, I didn’t think it was quite the hobby for me. However, the next evening, I found myself picking up that crochet hook once again and starting another head band.

I love the idea that I had taught myself this skill using a simple video from the internet (watch the video here!) and was able to come out with a product that is actually functional!

The End is Near!

Even though there are still 18 days of classes left, but who is counting, I can really see that the end is really in sight.

Last Thursday I was fortunate enough to have a first interview with the Regina Public School Board. This is the point which really put where I am into perspective and I cannot believe how fast the last four years have gone by.

I remember my first day of University thinking that it is going to take forever to finally get to teach and also wondering how I was going to survive another four years in school!

But looking back now on my University experiences, I am so happy that I chose the path that I did in life.  

The Importance of our Youth

One of the reasons I have always wanted to be a teacher is because of the potential I see in our youth. One instance I have encountered most recently is with the Z99 Radiothon. The Z99 Radiothon is a fundraiser built towards raising money to help save babies lives by donating the money towards the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Although this is a great idea, it would be nothing without the people who help donate money and make projects to bring in money. It is amazing how one mind can make such a difference. One day while driving home, my friends daughter, who is 8, heard the advertisement on Z99 about the Radiothon, to which she immediately wanted to help out. To help out this cause, she had committed to making Rainbow Loom bracelets in exchange for a donation. Simply through her Mom’s Facebook her project had sky rocketed and within hours she had pages of orders to fill! After many beginning hours of ‘looming’ and collecting donations, she has successfully raised $426 so far. I am so proud of this young lady and all that she has accomplished so far and cannot wait to see her end total!