For this week’s blog, we have decided to discuss and research the cons to have technology shortcuts in the classroom. During our group discussion…
- takes away from the students’ learning
- students stop thinking about the little details of their grammar and spelling
- students rely on these shortcuts
- if you don’t know it, when there is a list of possible correct options given, you don’t know which one to choose.
Following our group discussion, we researched a couple of articles and found the following quotes:
- “In using e-mail or word-processing software, we become less proficient proofreaders when we know that a spell-checker is at work” (Nordquist, 2019).
- “Typically, if you have misspelled a word the spellchecker will offer a list of alternatives. Unless your initial attempt is reasonably close to the correct spelling, you are unlikely to be offered sensible alternatives, and, even if you are, you have to be able to make sense of what is on offer” (Nordquist, 2019).
- “By middle school and high school, students start saying things like “I don’t have to spend time on this because I can ask Siri,” Gardner said. “I’m even guilty of it. I use Grammarly. … We’re less likely to self-monitor our spelling because we know the computer will do it for us” (Denn, 2019).
hasn’t been enough daylight hours to be able to accomplish what we had planned. Hopefully we’ll be able to pull some weeds and start tidying up the garden areas this Wednesday. The seedlings have been growing like crazy and look very healthy! It didn’t take long before we had to transplant our seedlings from our egg carton container to bigger, sturdier ones as the plants were already becoming root bound. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep them in these pots for long enough before they will need to go into the pots they will grow in, in the greenhouse. We have 13 total cucumber seedlings and 27 total tomato plants.
This evening, while half of the house was out, I attempted to record myself playing the song, Part of your World, and was pretty disappointed with the results. However, I have a plan! It’s not the most solid plan I have ever had, but nonetheless, it is something. Actually, it’s more of a Last Hope, Hail Mary kind of wish/prayer. Tomorrow is Wednesday Feb. 26 2020, and my MusicEd video has to be uploaded and sent off by tomorrow evening. Between my student teaching for P.E. and my EdTech fieldtrip, I should have about 4 solid hours of uninterrupted practice time. I plan to go full bore! Part of me wonders if I should be admitting this and part of me feels it is only fair to be honest about this assignment. I realize, for my music plan, that I was planning to be a lot more organized and a lot less distracted. (Actually this seems to be the same for all my courses this semester. I’m not sure why, but I am finding it difficult to manage my time and stay on track and task this term.) At the beginning of the semester, I was actually more excited about my music class and music assignments than I was about any of my other classes. I was looking forward to having an “excuse” to be able to play the piano again. However, as we get further into the term, I find I am really struggling with the work, school, life balance. Technically, I was physically busier last semester, but didn’t feel as heavily burdened. Everything I do feels like “work” and I want to figure out how to find enjoyment in my classes again. That being said, I really enjoyed our last class, and look forward to continuing playing with the Orff instruments. A part of me wonders if I shouldn’t have chosen a simpler instrument to learn, but part of me still wants to prove I can learn to play again. I guess the key to this is to really buckle down and practice when anyone is home, and practice through the distractions. I had originally planned to make appointments to ask for help from my professor, and it looks like I will need to actually follow through with that for the next part of this assignment. Learning from you tube is alright for some things, however, it is no substitute for getting feedback in person. The rest of my plan is to pick up from the midterm point and follow my plan. That, along with communicating better with my instructor, is the only way I am going meet my goal of playing the song with confidence and fluidity.
Well, there are two days left before I have to provide video evidence of how my music journey is going. If I am being truly honest, I am not entirely where I had hoped to be. I find some days sound better than others. Although I am solely working on playing the song, Part of Your World from the little Mermaid, and pretty much have the timing and tempo down, I still find I get tripped up with my finger positioning. This is something I used to try to compensate for as a child, but would always get admonished for by my music teacher. (Rightfully so!) I have a tendency to do things the way they feel right for me and I have always been able to compensate. However, I do know that I won’t keep improving without using proper techniques. I think part of the reason I quit playing the piano when I did was partially because I didn’t want to have to put in the work needed to get even better. I definitely regret that now. I also have found it difficult to find extra time these past few weeks to practice. Reading break was not much of a break and I did not get a lot of extra practice done. I feel like I was definitely more productive the first few weeks of this assignment. I know there were a couple of opportunities to practice at school, but I don’t find it easy to concentrate when there are other people around. As well, there are few areas to be able to practice piano that aren’t already booked. There was one session when Holly and I practiced together, but the room was booked for another’s use, so we had to leave. Luckily, we met up with Aria and Claire who shared their piano room with us. It was ok, but between the four of us it didn’t leave much time for individual practice. Another time Brit and I went to the music storage room where I practiced on the keyboard. It was ok, but again, I find it difficult to concentrate when there is excess noise or distractions around me. I originally chose the piano as my instrument in part because I thought I would be able to make extra time to practice at home in the comfort of my own living rom. However, distractions abound! I am not sure how I am going to make more time to practice…or minimize distractions.
Starting out, I have to admit that I am very glad I decided to scale down my original goal of playing Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy for my music assessment. Instead, I had chosen to learn Part of Your World from the Disney Musical, The Little Mermaid. I remember playing Clair de Lune as a child and thinking it was such a lovely piece. However, that was when I was practicing for at least 1-2 hrs per day. There is just no possibility of me finding long enough or even consistent periods in which to practice, given my busy schedule. I almost feel a bit embarrassed that I won’t be able to play like I once did, but that is just a reality I will have to get used to. On a positive note, I am looking forward to playing it while my son sings along. It hasn’t been very long since I started practicing, but already I am feeling challenged finding time to practice when few people are home. I have been doing 10-20 minute stretches and seriously wonder how on earth I practiced for the 1-2 hours per day I did as a kid. It’s not that I don’t enjoy learning and playing music, but I definitely remember it being much easier back then. I find myself feeling silly not being able to blow through the beginners books like I thought I would. Some are pretty easy, and some are not, likely because I am not as familiar with the timing and how the song is supposed to sound. It’s funny how I now understand what my old piano teacher and former examiners were talking about when they said that they couldn’t understand how I was able to play so well. I still kind of have no idea what I am doing, but can somehow figure it out. (No prodigy here, that’s for sure!) I think, as far as my musical growth plan indicates, I am fairly on track. Moving forward, I think I will have to try to make better use of the limited time I have in which to practice, and I will likely have to seek some help from my music professor with regards to understanding the timing of the music. I know we have been given good information in class to help me understand this, but for me, I sometimes have to hear/feel how the music is intended to be played.
On Tuesday Feb. 11 2020, our Ed Tech class had a fabulous guest speaker named Jesse Miller, of mediatedreality.com, come and speak to us about online safety and privacy, while promoting education and dialogue surrounding social media use. Unfortunately I had a couple of sick children at home and missed the first part of his presentation. However, what I did see made me feel quite glad that I had grown up without having to worry about the negative effects of social media and any on line related concerns. Today, it seems like everyone is putting their life story out there for the world to see, without truly recognizing the potential consequences and legalities. When I was growing up, there was no social media. The only thing I used a computer for was to play keystone cops and type out resumes. I didn’t even use it to type out an essay for school as we hand wrote everything. Photographs were the most damaging reminder of anything we did, and even those took a few days to get developed. Today, it seems like you can practically ruin your reputation, your career, and possibly you life with one or two poorly thought out social media posts. It is truly a terrifying thought and we need to educate ourselves to be able to use this technology both responsibly and effectively and with a dose of common sense.
Zack and I were surprised when, a couple of days ago, we noticed that some of the seeds we planted had already started to sprout. They were hardly noticeable, just barely poking their heads out of the soil. I wasn’t expecting to see growth that early as the dining room, where we have the seeds growing, is a bit on the chilly side. We even put a plastic cover over the carton because of this, but noticed quite a lot of condensation building up. To avoid mold growth, we poked a few extra holes in the plastic and it seems to be working. This week, because we were waiting for the seeds we were planting to grow enough to measure,, Zack and I decided it would be a good idea to get outside and start preparing the greenhouse for growing our seedlings. For cleaning, I’ve always used a bleach/water mix for my greenhouse and gardening tools, even though there are many other ready made products available. I tend to stick with bleach, probably because I always have some on hand, and I know it works. We used some scrub brushes and cloths and made sure we were wearing clothes that didn’t matter if we got bleach on them. Zack was a pretty big helper scrubbing pots and containers and was very pleased to be using protective gloves. They made him feel like a ‘big boy’ and he was very careful not to splash the solution. (He would proudly reminded me every few minutes how careful he was being!) Thankfully, there weren’t any signs of mildew or fungus so it wasn’t a difficult job. This coming week, because the weather still isn’t prime for growing, and the seeds have just begun to sprout, I don’t think there will be a lot more we can do in terms of preparing our greenhouse for growing. I think, to stay on the topic of gardening, Zack and I will head out into the main garden and pull some weeds while they are still small and relatively easy to pull out.
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