Creating a Glogster Account 

Visit Glogster, to begin to create your account.

The page should look like this:

In the 'Educator/School' code feed enter: 6FGFCC

Make your 'Nickname' begin with your initials, followed by anything (THAT IS APPROPRIATE).

ie) KSstudent4lyfe

Before exiting this screen, come and record your name and password on the master sheet that I will have, in case you forget!

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

We [Westerners] Aren't the World!

A former colleague of mine posted a really interesting read on Facebook recently titled 'We Aren't the World'. The tagline reads: Joe Henrich and his colleagues are shaking the foundations of psychology and economics—and hoping to change the way social scientists think about human behavior and culture.

First off, I would like you to consider this (scary fact…) while reading my little excerpt:

A 2008 survey of the top six psychology journals dramatically shows how common that assumption was: more than 96 percent of the subjects tested in psychological studies from 2003 to 2007 were Westerners—with nearly 70 percent from the United States alone. Put another way: 96 percent of human subjects in these studies came from countries that represent only 12 percent of the world’s population.

Some of the highlight of the article include:

The Muller-Lyer Illusion showed that where you grew up would determine to what degree you would fall prey to the illusion that these two lines are different in length:

The Muller-Lyer Illusion

  

Researchers found that Americans perceive the line with the ends feathered outward (B) as being longer than the line with the arrow tips (A). San foragers of the Kalahari, on the other hand, were more likely to see the lines as they are: equal in length. Subjects from more than a dozen cultures were tested, and Americans were at the far end of the distribution—seeing the illusion more dramatically than all others.

As Heine, Norenzayan, and Henrich furthered their search, they began to find research suggesting wide cultural differences almost everywhere they looked: in spatial reasoning, the way we infer the motivations of others, categorization, moral reasoning, the boundaries between the self and others, and other arenas. These differences, they believed, were not genetic. The distinct ways Americans and Machiguengans played the ultimatum game, for instance, wasn’t because they had differently evolved brains. Rather, Americans, without fully realizing it, were manifesting a psychological tendency shared with people in other industrialized countries that had been refined and handed down through thousands of generations in ever more complex market economies. When people are constantly doing business with strangers, it helps when they have the desire to go out of their way (with a lawsuit, a call to the Better Business Bureau, or a bad Yelp review) when they feel cheated. Because Machiguengan culture had a different history, their gut feeling about what was fair was distinctly their own. In the small-scale societies with a strong culture of gift-giving, yet another conception of fairness prevailed. There, generous financial offers were turned down because people’s minds had been shaped by a cultural norm that taught them that the acceptance of generous gifts brought burdensome obligations. Our economies hadn’t been shaped by our sense of fairness; it was the other way around.

Here is the link to the article. 

Enjoy!

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

Canadian Persons Research Assignment

Miss Iantorno's Grade 8's:

Prior to just doing a Google search about your assignment person, check out the following websites for information:

• www.biography.com
• http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/
• https://multcolib.org/homework-center/biographies
• http://www.canadians.ca/index.html

Don't forget you can also check your history textbook. Be patient as you look for information and don't give up! Come find me if you are really stuck.

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott

Using voice recordings with QR codes

I’ve recently come across the fantastic idea of attaching a voice recording to a QR code and using it on tests and assignments so students who need help receiving print information can listen to a pre-recorded message of their teacher reading the test or assignment. Students should listen to the recording on their own device so they can control their own learning, by being able to pause it at their own pace.

You will need a microphone or some sort of other recording device to do this!

Visit the vocaroo website and record your audio (ie. of you reading through a test).

Copy the image of the QR code that the website generates and put it on your test or assignment that will be printed out or posted on the web for your students to access.

Voila! 

For more information you can refer to the following YouTube video.

PROS of vocaroo:

• very fast and easy
• audio quality is decent

CONS of vocaroo:

• Your data is on their site
• Longer recordings may have dropouts according to their FAQs
• Students would need internet connection outside of the school network
• file wont be hosted forever (although you can download and save it to your computer) 

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott  

What is a MOOC?

I recently was speaking with a friend of mine, Kathleen, and she mentioned a website she had came across that offered a list of a number of certificate (and the like) courses from Canadian and American Universities...for free. PARDON? But why?...

A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aiming at large scale-participation and open access via the web. MOOCs are a recent development in distance education. They are similar to college courses, but typically do not offer academic credit, and instead often offer a statement of accomplishment.

I was in. I love to learn, and being able to self-direct my learning so much in this way really excited me. The website that she referred me to was Coursera, check it our for yourself! There are a number of courses offered in a wide range of topics.

I signed up for the following three in the upcoming weeks:

1. Aboriginal Worldviews and Education (University of Toronto)
2. Know Thyself (University of West Virginia)
3. "Pay Attention" ADHD Through the Lifespan (University of Pennsylvania) 

The Aboriginal Worldviews and Education one has just begun and I can already tell that I am going to really love it. This is a subject area that I am very unfamiliar with, and cannot wait to learn more about.

I look forward to recording my journey as I navigate these new online learning environments!

Happy thoughts,
Miss Scott

New New New - 2013 Update!

Hello everyone :)

This year has already been so busy, I cannot believe two months have already escaped me!

Applying for my Masters of Education has kept me busy the past few weeks, and now that the preparation is finally over...the waiting begins. I only ended up applying to Brock for September 2013, as my tardiness left me little other choice. One of these days I will learn...maybe. Not that I am not happy to have applied to Brock, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I love Brock University and would be honoured to spend another two years here, it just probably would have been a good idea to have more then one option. I applied within both the Teaching, Learning and Development and Social and Cultural Contexts of Education streams, and I am interested in studying within the field of science and environmental education.

Teachers college is coming to an end this week, and this Monday I officially start my second teaching block. I will be spending six weeks at St. Peters Catholic Elementary School in Milton, Ontario, and then spending two final weeks at the Norval Outdoor Education Centre run through Upper Canada College, in Norval, Ontario. Though I thoroughly enjoyed my twenty weeks of teachers college, I am really excited for the weeks ahead!

This weekend I have further training to be an Earth Day Canada EcoMentor! I am excited about using my training as an EcoMentor to facilitate workshops for students at my school in my upcoming block. To find out more about the EcoMentors Program click here. Look under the "events" tab for information on upcoming training!

It is a goal of mine to keep up my blog during my teaching blog, and I look forward to sharing more!

Happy thoughts,

Miss Scott