Preparing for my genius hour I am beginning to consider what I will need for my video of Ted Talks. I am planning on video taping in my bedroom at my desk with my laptop camera. I will wear something professional to make my video seem more profession because my topic is serious. Also, I want to make my video interesting and exciting so I want to incorporate photos and video clips of animals in captivity to keep my audiences attention. I am not sure what I will use to make my video, but I think I will attempt to use iMovie because I really enjoyed it while making my genius hour trailer.
As for my feelings towards using educational technology is that I really love it because it enhances learning by grabbing the attention of students. Throughout this class I have really enjoyed learning all about the different tools that you can use in class. I feel as though I have learned very useful things from this class because I can use all of the different technology tools that I have learned about. I have already began thinking about how I could use Plickers or Story bird in my own lessons! I really believe that the tools that I have learned about from this class will help me become a better teacher because my lessons will never be boring if I use this interesting technology.
Jourde, F. (March 14, 2014). Plickers. [Image]. Retrieved from:http://bit.ly/2faoouS
Today in class we got to explore some really cool resources online! One that I really loved and connected with was Storybird, which is a site that allows you to make your own books. As a kid growing up I used to love making my own books and I really wish I had this tool back then to use. I can definitely see myself using this in my own classroom. I especially like how other classmates can go on and read each others books and make comments on them. This is a great way to have students edit and review each others works. Also, teachers can add their own comments on students books and even grade them right on the site!
In the article "20 Strategies for Motivating Reluctant Learners" written by Katrina Schwartz she talks about a workshop she went to where the speaker, Kathy Perez, discussed 20 strategies to motivate students. I found this article specifically interesting because for another class (EDUC 8P16) I am doing my project on students in my placement who are disengaged in reading. I felt like this article that is about motivating disengaged learners could help me with my project to come up with strategies that I could potentially use myself.
Perez states 20 strategies to engage students and many of them are very interesting. She promotes a lot of brain breaks to give students time to digest what they are learning. Perez also puts a lot of importance on allowing students to discuss things with each other and work in groups to really get engaged and interested in learning. Another strategy that I particularly liked was something Perez called "Guessing Game" where students would be given an opportunity to debate and predict an answer to a question before you tell them the answer. By allowing students to make predictions it gets them more invested in the answer, and therefore more engaged!
Many of these 20 strategies I can see myself using in my own classroom because I think truly getting students motivated and engaged in lessons is a key aspect of education. Students learn much more when they are interested and want to learn. These strategies will also come in use for me as I work on my project to try and motivate students in my placement classroom who are disengaged in reading. I could use the guessing game strategy by having students predict what will happen in books to get them invested in reading what actually happens in the end.
This week I was able to put together my Genius Hour Trailer. I used iMovie for this and through making it actually gained new insight into my topic. While making my video I came across a term that I haven't yet seen in my research thus far. The term is Zoochosis , which is the abnormal or stereotypical behaviours that animals exhibit while in captivity. Some examples of these behaviours include walking in circles, nodding their heads, self-harm, and many more. It seems that zoochosis is a major issue that animals face within zoo's and will be an important aspect to my research moving forward.
Here is a short video that demonstrates zoochosis.
Peta2TV.
(December 12, 2014). What No One Told You About Zoos [Video]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2diZ09F
Going forward in my research I need to look more into HOW to stop zoochosis. Through my research I am starting to wonder is animals can ever live in captivity and not suffer in some way? It seems like the only way animals do not suffer is when they are in a type of sanctuary that mimics their natural habitat more closely. Maybe all zoo's need to be closed and animals need to be left in their natural habits or placed in sanctuaries? These are all questions that I need to do more research into and consider.
As a side note I wanted to discuss a little about my experience actually using iMovie for the first time to make my Genius Hour trailer. At first it was a little frustrating to figure it out and get it to work, but afterwards I was thrilled with how good the trailer turned out. From this activity it really gave me the idea to make a trailer with iMovie to use when teaching a class a new topic. I would use the trailer as a type of "Minds on" beginning activity to really get them interested in the topic we are about to learn about! I think it is a great way to use technology in the class and a way to get your students really engaged and interested to learn.
This week for my research into Genius Hour I watched a documentary called Blackfish, which illustrates the mistreatment of animals in aquariums. The documentary focuses on killer whales and Tilikum a famous whale that lived and preformed at SeaWorld. It is a truly saddening documentary that shows a lot of the truth behind these large aquariums. I learned a lot of facts about whales in captivity like killer whales suffer extreme psychological damage due to life in captivity. Tilikum, the whale focused on in this documentary, lived in captivity all his life and was significantly psychologically harmed, which lead to him killing three people. This documentary shows how damaging captivity can be to these large animals. Below is a trailer for the documentary.
Movieclips Trailers. (June 3, 2013). Blackfish Official Trailer [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLOeH-Oq_1Y
Besides my own Genius Hour research I want to reflect on Genius Hour and how I would use it in my own classroom. I really like Genius Hour because it gives students something to research that truly interests them. With my own Genius Hour I am way more interested when working on it than other school activities because I was able to pick a topic that I knew I would be interested in. Through Genius Hour students will be able to explore their interests and passions. As a teacher I would use Genius Hour by having my students learn about what a good question to research might be and then choosing their own. Afterwards they would get a set amount of time each day to do research on their topic. Once their research is done the students will present their findings to the class so that we all learn about the cool and interesting topics that everyone has been researching. In my own experience I have seen a grade 2 class do a type of Genius Hour called "I Wonder" where students research a topic they are interested in for a period of time each day and then present it to their peers. While observing this class going "I Wonder" it was amazing how focused and engaged the students were in their own research. I think that the way the students were engaged in their research shows how powerful Genius Hour can be to motivate students through their passions, and this is exactly why I will use Genius Hour in my own classroom as a teacher!
