Author: khayek (Page 1 of 4)

Welcome to my first blog!

I am currently a second-year student at the University of Victoria, studying in the Elementary Education program. The cohort I was assigned to seems like a great group of people who I'm excited to be spending the rest of the year with. It's a diverse yet inclusive team that isn't competitive, but instead quite encouraging and carries the value of teamwork very highly. When I'm not at school I enjoy hiking, reading, running and hanging out with friends. Ultimately a day off for me consists of sweatshirt and sweatpants, curled up in a blanket watching a movie on the couch. After our first elementary school visit as a student teacher, I now look forward to Wednesdays as it has quickly become the highlight of my week. My enjoyment toward visiting the schools only confirms that I have chosen the right program and profession. Can't wait for what is to come in this second year at UVIC.

Music Reflection

The music lesson plan went extremely well! Everyone presesnted their parts of the lesson to perfection and adapted to any hitches that may have come up. During the presenting for my task I was flooded with anxiety, however my group members were able to calm me down afterwards and after watching the video of our lesson that we got someone to record, I felt much better about my execution. With regard to the written part of the music lesson plan, I contributed a large portion of it. Before the other members of my group even began to start writing notes on the google docs we had made, I had already typed out and covered all the bases on the criteria and rubric sheet we were given about what information to put on it. That is not to say my group didnt contribute, I just did majority of the heavy lifting which I didn’t mind since I wasnt particularly musically talented so I hoped that the other would contribute in other ways (which they did). Each group member also provided their own task and part of the lesson that they were going to teach so that was nice to have your own part designated to yourself with the help of the rest of the members, peer editing and adding suggestions. We all came up with the idea about linking music to famous paintings as we knew the audience we were about to be teaching would have recognized each of these pieces and or bands/artists that we used. It was amazing how engaged the students in the class were, even to go as far as wanting to do the ‘next’ lesson we would teach if this were a real grade 6 class. As for the reflection on my teaching, I think I need to get out of my own head because often times I manage to stress myself out before I even present the work I had prepared. I think that also has something to do with the lesson we taught was to our peers opposed to a group of harmless and less intimdating grade 6 students. All the same though, I bring the anxiety upon myself for no reason, especially after watching the video as it showed that I did do well and the shakiness of my voice that I was hearing was again in my head. I also had the flu when I presented my the lesson which was not ideal and if I was in better condition I would have brought much more energy to the activity. I was pleased that the whole lesson came out cohesive, each one linking and connecting to the next and can’t wait to hopefully use this lesson plan in my own classroom in the future. As for the FPPL that we incorporated, that also flowed smoothly into the activity as there was a band that was perfect for the integration of it. We brought a bit of their culture into the lesson plan and I do believe we did it justice. We were able to use the following FPPL ideas.

Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).

Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.

Learning recognizes the role of Indigenous knowledge

Each of these were demonstrated through our building of trust, engagement, and connecting one thing to an even bigger picture with a larger message. Overall the class only reconfirmed that we had done well with their enthusiasm and great engagement. 

 

Class Reflection Nov. 25th

The guest speaker today was focused on coding. Directly at the beginning of the presentation, the speaker made it clear that the teachers do NOT need to be experts on this subject, but they need to be able to know how to use it and possibly integrate it into the classroom, even if it is only in a small way.

Hands-on portion: For the game, I chose I decided on the Scratch app. This was my choice because, at my Wednesday visits, the teacher and class I am observing are working on Scratch right now. Most of the kids have already played this game and are nearly experts on the game. Whereas me in this class attempting to make my ’Sprite1’ either say hello or move is a challenge in itself. This shows how advanced the new generation is concerning technology and coding. Even while the Scratch game instructions were being taught by the teacher on Wednesday’s visit, some of the students knew how to make more advanced commands and adjustments to there scratch story. I would defiantly love to incorporate this game into my class, however, the game can take a turn as individuals can design their characters and even add fake blood to there character. They can also make it so the character attacks another character which would be linked to violence which may pose a problem with parents if students go home and discuss this part. Overall, there are negatives and positives to using this as it gets the students to start to develop their cognitive thinking.

Music Update #6 (final update)

As the semester has come to an end it was time to finally put to the test what I had learned. I currently have a week until the end of the semester is approaching and I have learned a great deal with regard to music knowledge thanks to Anita. With the help from her criticism I was able to adjust the way I held my guitar and properly tune it for when I was to film. Even with my practice regime staying on track I still couldn’t quite get a grasp on switching from the D fret to the G fret with island in the sun.  However, I do think I have improved, I also thoroughly enjoy playing so I hope to continue practicing even when I finish this course.
For the second song I tried mastering, “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith has probably been my favourite song to learn. I discovered that when learning one of my favourite songs, it makes it more enjoyable when practicing and wanting to get better as you want to be able to do the song justice. I was able to keep a steady beat by the end, as that was a problem I noticed I had when reviewing the video updates from the midterm. I also was able to play more fluently and gracefully which was exactly the goal I had set up for myself in the final musical growth plan.
As for “Counting Stars” by One Republic, I also felt like I improved a lot since the midterm. I was able to keep the beat more consistently, and was able to memorize the chords. This therefore led me to playing each chord transition more fluently which is seen by the video.

Overall I believe I met nearly all the goals in my musical growth plan which I am content about. I will definitely be incorporating music/singing/playing an instrument in my own future class as a teacher.

Music Class Observations

During the music class observations taken place at Tillicum Elemntary school, I was able to gain a lot of valuable information to take onto my future class as a teacher.

There was different content and skills  we witnessed such as exploring the elements, materials, movements, and techniques of music (clapping along to songs, dancing, playing discussing instruments, practicing beat/rhythm, brief introductions to music symbols). It also incuded exploring artistic expression through creative processes (dancing to songs, making music using their bodies)

As for the pedagogical strategies for each class the teacher usually demonstrated the activity alone first, then do the activity and have the students repeat it after, then do the activity with the students, and occasionally have the students do the activity alone (Gradual Release of Responsibility). The students would also always sit in a circle on the carpet where they can all face the teacher and each other

With regard to adaptations made by the music teacher, one student has some behaviour issues (ie. is known to run out of class and hide – although this has yet to happen during music class, has a hard time paying attention/staying engaged, has a hard time keeping their hands to themselves – always wants to sit on your lap, wants hugs, kisses people on the cheek. While another student has some sort of learning/development delay (possibly autism), has a difficult time paying attention, has a difficult time waiting their turn, gets fixated on certain things – like a specific spot they want to sit on but weren’t assigned, has an abnormally difficult time resisting using the instruments before instructed to do so, has a difficult time keeping on beat with the song/teacher when playing an instrument, is always in a great mood though!

Overall this teacher that my teacher partner Emma and I observed seems to have created a very positive, engaging, classroom environment with fun and educational lesson plans

Update #8

Tonight’s dish was thai themed/inspired and I believe I did the thai cuisine justice. I decided that I was going to combine two recipes that I had come across online and make a coconut thai shrimp and rice dish. The dish’s main focal point and majority of flavour came from the sauce so I knew I needed to successfully execute this. It started with using the largest pan I could find in my house and adding oil then proceeding to heat up the pan. Then I minced 5 cloves of garlic and finely cut up a full onion which I then added to the pan with some freshly shredded ginger. After that began cooking I added a full can of coconut milk which I let simmer and almost bring to a boil. Next, I added some crushed tomatoes and a lot of lime to keep the acidity balance at par to what typical thai dishes are. The recipes called for cilantro in both to add an element of earthiness, however, I find cilantro tastes like dish soap so I substituted this ingredients for something similar I already had in the fridge. The only thing I had was the leaves/stems of the carrots. This ended up working out perfectly as they added a bit of a bitter element that brought the whole dish together. I chose brown rice instead of white rice to add a nutty flavour aspect to it. As for the shrimp I kept it plain and simple with just cooking it with some chicken broth to keep them moist and juicy since they were going to be mixed into the sauce. After everything was stirred together and the prawns soaked up the flavours from the sauce I added them onto the bed of rice and squeezed a quarter of a lime onto the entire dish. Rating of this dish 10/10.

Class reflection: Presentations

After the conference section of the class, the second half was witnessing the first few class presentations for their tech inquiry projects. I thought Val did a great job with only alotting 1 group per topic to be used as the rest of the class was able to learn new things from different topics rather than the same. A lot of these techniques/technology allowed me to gain valuable ideas and resources that I will hope to implement in my future years as a teacher.

  1. Josh. This presentation was based on google apps and how you can use them to postively affect youth, and also how they could potentially be used as negatives.
  2. Mikaela. This topic was the effect of technology on literacy and lagnuage and all the tools available online or technology itself that can help students develop language and literacy attributes.
  3. Lauren, Leona, Maxie, & Conrad. The topic for this presentation was mindfulness apps in the classroom, how it plays a role in ones life and what does mindfulness mean. This was extremely helpful as they each provided an app that they thought would benefit the classroom experience or solely ones mental health. Apps included were; ‘Stop, Breath & Think Kids’, ‘Simple Habit’ and ‘Cosmic Kids’.
  4. Jessica, Madi, Kayleigh & Jess. Topic for this was how to use technology to aid students with learning disabilities in the classroom. This group also provided useful apps and games to assist students and improve the classroom environment.

Nov. 18th Class Reflection

For today’s class, there was a mini field trip that we embarked in. We were able to walk over to the Cornett building to see the conference rooms that UVIC has to offer and the different (advanced) technology that is provided in these rooms. Originally there was supposed to be a guest speaker to teach this lesson, however, the video chat did not work so Val quickly took over and taught this for us. This was another favourite class of mine as it provided me again with a new perspective on learning. The majority of this lesson focused on multi-access which is having a computer and face-to-face course option. This was something Val was clearly passionate about since she revealed to us how she fought to have this at uvic. This option was extremely useful for those who have health conditions or live in rural areas where transportation would have been longer than the actual class lecture space. Inclusion is what stuck out most when Val discussed the benefits of having such technology/options. An example of a positive use of this would be if a student suffered from a severe health issue, and instead of opting out and missing their entire elementary/highs school experience they could use video chat through a robot that could still incorporate the student into social cues and friendship opportunities. As well as they would be able to get the education they deserve at the same price as the rest (minus the expense for the robot which is sometimes covered). Multimodality is a new and advanced way of progressing into the future of inclusion where each student will receive the opportunity to learn and grow.

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