With presentation day tomorrow, each of us finalized our slides today. As a collective group we made the unanimous decision to use google slides rather than powerpoint as it is better for tracking progress for each individual and the best tool to use for sharing when working on a presentation in a group. With the end of the semester coming up soon, each of us are extremely busy with jobs, homework, studying and final assignments. Therefore we weren’t able to meet up before presenting so google slides saved the day with being the best tool for us to each have access to it from our seperate homes. For my editing of my slides I put each of them into grammarly (another great grammer and editing tool to use and implement in the classroom), as well as adding images to make it more engaging. We decided to add initials to each of the slides we were going to present this way each of us had sufficient time to prepare and no confusion would occur when presentation day came. With our presentation needing to be at the minimum 15 minutes long, I think with the amount of work everyone has put into this project it is sure to engage the class and be informative while following the criteria!
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With only a few weeks left until the final is upon me I have stayed true to my practicing schedule for this project. I have had some unexpected days where I was overwhelmed with homework or had to take a day for mental health reasons. However, when I did have to skip certain days for practicing, I always made up for it some other time in the week this way I wouldn’t fall behind. My issue with this weeks progression is I have noticed that I am quite a perfectionist which has posed an issue because once I mess up I won’t stop practicing until I get it closer to my end goal. The main problem with this is that my fingers started to callouse and began being quite painful as the more frustrated I became with myself, the harder I would press on the chords! After taking a break from playing I saw past this and decided that it doesnt have to be perfect. As for song updates, my “Island in the Sun” song has continued to show minimal progress which is slightly infuriating but I will continue to be persistent with my practicing. I have come up with a certain practicing regime where I play the song 4 times, then I only play the D chord and the G chord in order to succeed with the transition progress. For “Stay With Me” and “Counting Stars” I have decided to focus on keeping the beat as I have now memorized the “Counting Stars” chords so now all that is left is the transitions and staying on beat and not speeding up. I have noticed the best way to do this is to play the song with the youtube tutorial and follow along with the video, this way I have something to follow. With all that considered, I am excited to show my progress from the midterm to the final very shortly and hope that Anita will be as impressed as I am!
Update #7
The second pasta dish I attempted was one I learned when I was home for reading break the fast few days. It involved parpadelle pasta with squash ribbons, pesto, and herbed goat cheese. This dish was much simpler than the previous pasta dish as most of the things that were required for this dish were pre-bought. However, to challenge that I decided on making my pesto dish which involved toasting pinenuts, adding them to a blender with garlic, olive oil and lots of spinach and all of a sudden I had a delicious tasting pesto! As the pasta was boiling and the pesto was made, I began peeling out my squash and creating a ribbon of them which I then steamed to make them soft and blend well with the pasta. After the pasta was cooked I drained it, tossed it into a bowl with the squash ribbons, mixed in the pesto sauce and then added the crumbled goat cheese onto the pasta for a nice salty aspect to it. Overall this was a very simple dish which I am grateful I gave a chance since it may be filled with limited ingredients, it has a burst of flavour within each bite.
Today we had an extremely engaging and creative addition added to our presentation by Morgan. After discussing as a group how we could make our presenation more ‘eye catching’ or interactive, she had the great idea of creating a Kahoot game that consisted of some questions on the topics we are covering. This was great because this added a different platform of technology to our presentation. This also gave each of us a type of technology that could be beneficial and engaging to our future classroom.
The steps to create a Kahoot were straight forward as well, all you had to do was (1) visit the website (2) choose your role (3) give your school if applicable and (4) Create a username, add your email and password. By using Kahoot, thought provoking questions can be implemented in the classroom as a form of reflecting on what the students know. It is also easy to use and highly engaging while being inclusive as well. Overall, I learned a great deal about Kahoot and how to properly integrate it into future classes successfully such as in our upcoming presenation.
With the presentation day fast approaching, each of the group members have already completed their entire brainstorming page for the project. It’s interesting seeing all the different ways social media can affect us, how sometimes we allow it to control our lives and how the comparison game stems from social media. With that being said, there are also an equal amount of positives from social media which I found very surprising. This is because I have always know how there are multiple branches of effects that stem from social media such as depression, loneliness, addictions and more. But this project has also made me realize how many self-help resources there are online as well as support groups.
My task today that I completed was researching all those specific apps and resources that social media can provide. Originally I was only going to do the negative side of this project, however, after my curiousity getting the best of me I decided to add to both. I learned that there is even an app that distracts people who are wanting to act upon self harm by providing multiple games until the feeling passes. For the powerpoint slides, we collectively have added pictures that add to the content by using Unsplash as a tool for our presenation. Overall I believe the project is coming along quite well.
Today’s class was one I was most eager about as I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. At first, I could not wrap my head around the idea that Minecraft could potentially be used positively in a classroom. However, after listening to the students who came in as guest speakers from Colquitz and Spectrum school, I have officially changed my mind. These children vouched for Minecraft in such a profound way, for example, one student told us how after playing Minecraft he discovered that in the future he hopes to become an architect. The teacher who also came into to discuss the topic mentioned how she uses Minecraft for math (patterns), socials, art, teamwork, and spelling. There are also specific controls that allow the teacher to keep track of the student’s games and progress, she even demonstrated with the class how she can freeze games. The pausing of games is a good use of keeping this game safe and educational. After playing the game I was able to see what the appeal was, it was very addictive and really tested your limits as you need to use critical thinking as to how to succeed or build in the game (depending on what the mode was put on). There was a clear message of collaboration being present as whenever the UVIC students didn’t know how to move their player etc, the middle school students would come over and assist us in any questions we had. My favourite part was how there were different modes that could be implemented in the game such as survival mode or free play. Overall this presentation was extremely informative as it provided me with a new perspective on technology in the classroom.
Update #6
Tonight I decided to attempt a dish my mom use to make for my family all the time. There was only one way that I could make this dish and it was to retrieve the recipe straight from my mom herself. I decided to facetime her and get her to instruct me as I was cooking to ensure my success for this timeless dish. I began by boiling the pasta, specifically Conchiglie pasta. While the pasta was boiling I began with the filling that I would be stuffing in this. This involved mixing spinach with ricotta. After the pasta has become fully cooked to my taste I began stuffing them with the filling I had made. I then put each of the shells into a glass pan filled with a thin layer of tomato sauce (my mom gave me sauce to freeze at the beginning of the year so this is my mom’s homemade sauce keeping the authenticity of the dish). After I have placed them all in the pan I poured the rest of the sauce over the pasta and poured some store-bought pesto over of the sauce with a bit of sprinkled parmesan cheese. Finally, the last step consisted of baking the shells at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. At first, I was nervous about attempting a dish that means so much like home to me, however, after tasting it and following my mom’s instructions to the best of my ability, it did taste like home. 11/10 for this one as I even impressed myself with my cooking ability.
Since today is Halloween I thought I would try something kind of in the spirit of Halloween such as rice paper spring roll wraps! These were a burst of freshness by the end but they were the most difficult item I have attempted to make so far. The individual items that went into this dish were too easy that I knew I was doing something wrong. It included finely chopping carrots, cucumbers, spinach, and cook thin vermicelli noodles. After all those ingredients are prepared, I created the sauce for the spring rolls. This involved whisking together peanut butter, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, 2 cloves of smashed garlic, siracha sauce, and a bit of water to make the consistency where I wanted it. I believed this was themed for Halloween as the noodles slightly resembled brains so that was my idea of making it festive. This is where the hard part came, wrapping all the ingredients into the rice paper wrappers. The trick is to get them wet to they can therefore stick and keep everything together, however, as soon as they begin sticking to something other than the exact spot you want them to, they won’t move!! They become permanently folded and you will have to start from scratch. Although I was forced to start from the beginning and waste 3 rice paper wrappers, after I finally got it, it was worth the wait as they tasted 10/10 delicious. Perfect for if you are wanting to stay on the lighter but still filling side for dinner.
This is now my first update after the midterm and after getting the feedback from Anita I now officially feel like I am on the right track to completing all my musical growth plan goals. I have downloaded the “GuitarTuner” app on my phone which has assisted me in the tuning of my ukulele which was an issue I had during the midterm videos. I have also been attempting to hold the guitar properly with grasping it with my right arm. This has posed a challenge for me possibly because I find it hard to focus on having clean transitions from chord to chord while trying to grasp it with my right arm. I find it easier to rest it on my leg instead as it doesnt require me to focus on two things at a time. However, I believe that with more time and practice this will become progressively easier until finally I am able to do it unconsciously as it will become a habit. As for each of the songs, I am focusing the majority of my energy on the “Island in the Sun” song by Weezer as it is the one I have most difficulty mastering. When looking back at the midterm videos for this song I was able to reflect on my performance and noticed the transitions from the D chord to the G chord wasnt as smooth as I had hoped it to be. As for the “Stay With Me” song, the chords all sounded clean, however I sped up at certain parts so the challenge for that song is keeping the beat instead of speeding it up. For the song “Counting Stars” I need to memorize the chords better which will allow for more fluent playing and less hesitation for each chord. Overall, I continue to stay on track to meeting all my goals for the final!
For my groups Ed Tech Inquiry, we chose the topic ‘The Effects of Social Media on Youth’s Mental Health.’ During this weeks class my group which consits of Morgan, Hailey and Kylee got together to discuss the path we wanted to go for this assignment. After a lengthy discussion we decided on providing the presenation with postives as well as negatives that social media can contribute to the individuals.
This sparked my interest and the rest of the group members as we have each individually been affected negatively in some way by social media. Therefore we each want to be able to share the information of how to get past this, how to not let it affect us and what we can do to change it. We have already watched 2 ted talks on the subject which have been very informative. We will also be using scholarly articles to find the route of the problem. The group has agreed that meeting once a week to discuss our plan of action is completely doable and will allow us to prepare a presenation that represents all the work we hope to put in it to the best of our ability. To keep everyone on track we have developed a Trello Board which has a to do list for each one of us and we even colour coded our tasks to ensure success. We are currently off to a strong start and I cant wait to continue the research on this topic in order to share our learning efficiently with everyone in the class.
The TedTalk we found was…
https://youtu.be/Czg_9C7gw0o
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