Digital Stories

Story telling has been around since teaching began and digital storytelling is one of the ways teachers can use technology as a learning object. The format of storytelling has changed drastically over time but it has many benefits:

⇢Students remain engaged
⇢Students are able to retain and recall information
⇢Students with different learning types can relate to the multimedia platform.

I did a task in my Digital Learners class to build my knowledge about digital stories. I used Google Slides to demonstrate a learning task from one of my Digital Hour art activities I recently conducted. Below is the result of creating a sequential story of how to do line art using mathematical strategies:



The activity I decided to do in this slideshow was one that was challenging to one of my students when she attempted to do it for the first time. Showing a slideshow like this instead of verbally telling her what to do would have been an easier way for her to follow along since she's a visual learner!

Using Popplet for Problem-Based Learning

My Digital Learner's class required me to create a Popplet! Popplet is a site that teachers (or students) can use for the classroom to generate ideas or present ideas. More than one person can work on a Popplet which is helpful in creating a collaborative environment.

I used Popplet to create an informative document about what you can do to protect endangered species. I also created another Popplet to present a Problem-based learning lesson that I could implement as a science unit project using previous knowledge about global warming and evolution. Below is the outcome of my Popplet:

Assessment

Today in my Digital Learner's class, we learned about assessment and how to make an assessment tool using Google Drive. I decided to listen to the story Clark the Shark and create a series of questions that pertain to reading comprehension of that story. 

Below is the assessment I created in class:

Copyright

Online media are helpful resources to use in and out of the classroom in a creative way but it is important to consider Copyrights when you are using things that are made by others. It is essential to teach students two important rules:

**Rule #1: Do not use other people's things and pass them off as your own!

**Rule #2: Cite the source of the Internet materials used

Inkles, Paul. (2011, September 25). Business Baby Pointing [Online Image].
 Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/e2QMS5

What are copyright laws?

Copyright laws protect people who create things. These people have the right to use their work while others have to get permission to use it. You can use or look at other people's work with their permission through Creative Commons.  This means that teachers can use outside resources to enhance their classes using Creative Commons that creates licences for internet sources. Whether it's a video, or using short excerpts in the form of a class handout from copyright-protected work, teachers can use it for the purposes of education or study with a license and citation. With permission and proper citation, you can use videos, poems, short stories and images from others for the purposes of education.

Kroes, Neelie. (2011, September 27). Kids at Nairobi pimary school using computers [Online Image].
Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/asx2wq

Awareness of copyright is important because teachers are educating those that will be using online resources for the future. If you are a positive example for students, students will learn the right way of how to reuse or redistribute internet sources with permission and proper citation. 

"Copyright Matters" has updated copyright information from the Canadian Teacher's Federation useful for teachers or teacher candidates. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my very first blog! My name is Britney Milhomens and I am a teacher candidate at Brock University. My hope is to be a future English teacher. I am a perfectionist, bookworm and absolute dog lover.

This fuzzy cutie is one of my dogs. His name is Lucky.
Milhomens, Britney (2017, June). 

Over the course of my teacher education I will be using this blog to reflect on being a teacher candidate through specific courses and explore new territories! I hope to gain insight into what it takes to be a successful role model and teacher that influences and motivates others to be successful!

I will be using this blog for my Teaching Digital Learners in the Digital Age course where I am a little uncomfortable. As an English major, diverse technology was not required to read books or write essays. In fact, I can barely even use a kindle e-reader! That being said, I am excited to learn more about technology in the classroom because I know it would have been great to learn with more technology in the classroom when I was in school. I will also be using this blog for my Mathematics I and Language Arts I courses to reflect on myself as a new teacher.

Now to formally introduce myself! I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher since I was in grade 4. I would always help my fellow peers write their name or learn their numbers because I already knew the alphabet and numbers before reaching Kindergarten. I was excited to have two siblings growing up because it always meant that in July and August as soon as school was done, I could play the role as a summer school teacher to teach them the next year's curriculum. This meant creating worksheets, giving them a lunch and recess break (unfortunately they always took an extra long recess break to avoid doing work to which I would always get upset).

When I was in Grade 12 I was a PATH (Peers As Teacher Helper) teacher where I assisted in teaching a Grade 9 Academic French class. I was open to the idea of teaching French until my love for English set in in University. It was there that I got my first tutoring job at a tutoring centre called Smart Academy. For the last 4 years I've been teaching English to students from grades 1-12. My true passion lies in English literature (i.e. Shakespeare). If I could teach all things British literature, I would!

Some fun facts about me:

I love all things Disney, reading British literature, and finding time to express myself creatively through my art. For more information about me check out my

  All About Me Pinterest Blog!

I'm hoping that my passion and enthusiasm will help me to become an influential and motivated teacher. I want to be able to create an environment where students love school just as much as I do!

A lot of my passions arise from my personal interests. Below are some examples of some of my passions and interests in the shape of my favourite animal:

In the spirit of Walt Disney himself, here is a video about Goofy and the role of a teacher that I found amusing. Published in 1952, a lot of the remarks about being a teacher is still relevant today. It is also part of a series of short clips if you want to see other videos on YouTube!