Reflection on Joanna’s Presentation

One thing which I really took away from Joanna’s presentation is to create spaces for students to express themselves, whether through the art board in her class, the doodling areas on worksheets, is extremely important for student enjoyment of the classroom as a space of learning and joy. I also took away that adding humour and funny aspects can also make students much more comfortable, like her examples of using memes and jokes to make the students connect to the content on a deeper level. Throughout the presentation it also was made very clear that students should be able to freely express their emotions and state of mind throughout the day including the guinea pig mood scale or any other similar things throughout the day. It was also great to see how you can help students with visuals to keep them on track throughout the day and help them transition from one activity to another. I feel as though the biggest take away I got from this presentation is how important it is to build a genuine relationship with your students for both the success of your teaching but also for student learning.

Critically Reflect on the Fresh Grade App & Android Science Journal

Reflect on Science Journal:

The Science Journal seems to be a great resource for educators to introduce new topics to their students. The Science Journal has an incredibly wide range of topics, which are all in certain parts of the BC Science Curriculum. A great feature of the Science Journal is that it also breaks the lessons into grade level and has options which span from Kindergarten, all the way to grade 12. The Science Journal also does not just have lesson ideas but it also has activities which you could get students to participate in to help them understand different concepts and can make their learning experience that much more enjoyable. I have not explored all of the aspects of the Science Journal I am sure, but from what I have seen it seems to be a great resource that a teacher could easier take advantage of. I have included some links which delve into the Science Journal below.

Google Science Journal, Explained – A STEM Education Tool (teachthought.com)

GSJ_Guide.pdf (okgosandbox.org)

What Questions to Ask Before Using Science Journal in Class:

Some questions a teacher may have to ask before using the Science Journal is:

  1. Is it accessible to all learners in the class?
  2. Do students have access to technology and internet? (If being sent home)
  3. Does all of the of the content fit into the curricular competencies?
  4. Are the grades listed accurate?
  5. Does your school have enough resources for all students to use?
  6. Since many activities use phones, how can they be done with younger students who will not have them?

Freshgrade Reflection:

Freshgrade is something which I am aware of but other than that I do not know much about the service. Through researching I have found that, if used correctly, it can benefit educators, students, and parents. From the outside, it seems as though Freshgrade would allow for a much more open communication system between the teachers, and the parents, and their students. This is because it allows lessons, resources, and assessments to be communicated between the teacher and the student even if they are not in school. It also seems to be beneficial because of the multi-modalism that can be done on the service. It allows for photos, videos, audio tracks, filtering, and tagging, which in theory should help students in their learning. In a perfect world it would also allow for parents to be more involved in their children’s education and for them to be able to view their progress, assignments, and resources, which could help them aid their children in their education outside of school. I could see some drawbacks of this service however, and many of them come from accessibility concerns. Depending on which community a teacher is in their students may not have access to any of the technology or infrastructure to use this service outside of school which makes it somewhat pointless in those communities. I could also see how just because the projects, and progress of their children are more widely available that does not mean that students will be getting support outside of class. This could lead to an unfair amount of instruction being delivered to some students and a wider gap of understanding to develop between students who have support outside of school and those who do not. I have included some thinks which discuss the pros and cons of Freshgrade below.

FreshGrade Pros and Cons (surreylearningbydesign.ca)

Freshgrade, what is it and the pros and cons to using it – Miss Millar’s Blog (wordpress.com)