Minecraft Edu Reflection

Posted on by juliafalzon336

Today in EDCI 336 we had the amazing opportunity to work with Heidi James and her grade 6, 7, and 8 students today. Heidi and her students taught us how to use Minecraft in the classroom. Heidi has used Minecraft as a tool to teach science, social studies, and math. In social studies, Heidi had her class create various components of ancient civilizations. In teams, the students created entire civilizations as a final project. Heidi assessed the students on whether or not they had all necessary components in their civilization and also how well they worked as a team. She had access to all of their work and could check up on their progress along the way. In math, they used Minecraft to learn about coordinates in 3 dimensions (coordinates x, y, and z). All of the students who came to talk to us seemed passionate about Minecraft and excited about using it in the classroom. They were also confident in their abilities enough to teach us, a group of adults, how to use it. As a student, I think it would be empowering to be able to teach others, especially adults, how to do something. Minecraft also promotes collaboration in the classroom. It challenges students to problem solve in order to reach one goal.

I would love to use Minecraft Edu in my classroom one day. There are so many possibilities to incorporate Minecraft into the classroom. There are also countless opportunities for cross curricular connections. Minecraft allows students to explore and inquire about the possibilities of the world that they are in. It gives students endless opportunities to create and be leaders in their own world. I am a little intimidated about the prospect of using Minecraft in my own classroom because my knowledge is limited. There are lots of tutorials and resources for teachers available, so I would not be alone in the learning process. I also keep reminding myself that my learners will be able to help me because they will likely have a wealth of knowledge to share.

Posted on by juliafalzon336

For week six of our graphic design inquiry project we focused on the importance of layout & composition in a project. We watched this video on how to properly organize the different components of graphic design projects & here are the 5 points we learned!

  1. Proximity- using visual space to show relationship
    • make sure related items are grouped together to make work easier to read/understand
  2. White space- helps define & separate different sections
    • don’t be afraid to use it!
    • makes sure your work remains uncluttered
  3. Alignment- how each item in your design lines up
    • inconsistent alignment makes your work look messy
  4. Contrast- difference in text, colour, proximity, size…
    • helps catch the readers eye & emphasizes important items (& make these stand out)
  5. Repetition- every part of a project should have a consistent look & feel
    • Makes your work easier to read because the viewer knows what to expect

Paying attention to details like these is what will make your graphic designs stand out among others! For more videos on graphic design, click here!

Posted on by juliafalzon336

Today, we decided to experiment with PicMonkey. PicMonkey is a photo editing and graphic design tool. It is easy to use and offers users tutorials to help them achieve their specific design needs. PicMonkey gives users the option to being with either a template or blank canvas. It also allows you make specific searches based on your needs.

PicMonkey is easy to use and all of us could definitely see using it in the classroom. However, PicMonkey has a massive downside: it costs money. We took advantage of the 7 day free trial in order to test it out. However, it is not realistic to pay $7.99/month for a graphic design tool as a teacher. It is much more reasonable to use a free tool like Canva or Adobe Spark for any graphic design opportunities in the classroom.

Here are some designs that we made:

A Few Thoughts on Blogging

Posted on by juliafalzon336

At the beginning of this semester, I did not think that I would find blogging to be a useful way to document my learning. Contrary to what I thought initially, I have actually found it helpful. After every EDCI 336 class, I write a blog post about what we did in class. Whenever I need to reference something that we did in class, I can just search for it easily on my blog. Blogging has also been helpful because it gives me a less formal setting in which I can organize my thoughts. It has also kept me accountable and focussed on doing my inquiry projects. Because I know I have to write weekly blog posts for each of those projects, it motivates me to practice my Italian skills and research information on graphic design. I thrive when I am in a routine, which is why I love being organized and making weekly blog posts.

I would love to blogging in my classroom one day. I change my mind about what grade I would like to teach, but as of right now, I would like to teach middle school. If I end up teaching middle school, I will likely ask my students to write blog posts. My students would ideally use these blogs to document their progress on inquiry projects and respond to prompts from me about various different subjects and issues. Blogs have value in the classroom because they encourage technological literacy while teaching other subjects. I have included the citation below of a fantastic article about blogging in a middle years context.

References:

Baldino, S. (2012). The classroom blog: Enhancing critical thinking, substantive discussion, and appropriate online interaction. Voices from the Middle, 22(2), 29-33.