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Free Inquiry 4: More Fun

I got out to play golf for the first time in two weeks today. I had low expectations for myself and honestly, I think I met them. Again, there was aspirations to play 18 but we ended up only played 9 holes and I finished +10. I bogeyed every hole except for the 6th where I ended up with a double bogey. The craziest part about that double bogey is that it came on the heels of my best drive of the day. I hit it dead straight down the middle and then completely whiffed my next shot. Classic.

My friend Connor managed to capture this image of me on the 4th hole after my tee shot went right. I ended up in a not so favourable spot but it is what it is. The course I play at has a ton of trees and is very narrow. So any shots that stray left or right are almost guaranteed to end up in a bad spot. I did not end up playing the shot as it is pictured.

My driver didn’t hurt me as bad as it did last round. It actually felt like it might be headed in a good direction. But only time will tell. My irons were solid today, I was able to strike the ball well and actually feel like I was compressing them which was nice. My short game was not bad. There were a few short chips that I used my 60 degree wedge on and they ended up working out. Putting was a different story that I don’t really want to talk about. I can not remember the last time I saw a putt that was over 10 feet go in the cup.

Driver 6/10, Irons 7/10, Short Game 8/10, Putter 1/10

Here’s a bonus picture of my friends Grady (left) and Connor (right) in the lounge after the round enjoying a nice warm coffee.

Weekly Reflection 3: Jesse Miller

In class today, Jesse Miller was able to connect with us remotely via Zoom to give us a presentation on topics surrounding digital literacy and some of the things we may need to look out for as educators. Jesse was very well spoken and made excellent points that I were both thought provoking and relatable. Two points in particular stood out to me and those were when he was talking about the failed link suggesting violent video games spawn violent children and also when he talked about his own kids and his opinion on whether or not they should be able to access social media.

Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/jTqg-Civt0U

I have been playing video games such as Call of Duty and Halo since I was 12. I have some of my fondest memories with my friends on these games and would not trade those memories in for anything. When Jesse mentioned how the suggestion of violent video games being the cause for school shootings is ill-informed, I was quite happy to hear that. His point about how kids in European countries and elsewhere on the globe play the same games but the frequency of school shootings being much lower was very impactful. For people to simply believe that what a kid sees on their Xbox is creating the need to commit violent acts is ignorant in my opinion and means they are probably against video games as a whole. These people are blind to the other factors (gun laws, mental health concerns) and are looking for a scapegoat, therefore they blame it on these games. As I mentioned earlier, my friends and I have been playing these games for years and in my eyes, we all turned out alright.

The second point that was cool to hear was his opinions on his 15 and 8 year old children’s access to social media. He mentioned how there should not be an umbrella ruling for kids of all ages and that his answer would vary depending on what child he was asked about. I support this statement wholeheartedly. I believe that a kid in grade 2 has no business accessing Instagram, Twitter etc. as their developing brains do not need the added baggage that would come with those apps. However, Jesse said he lets his 15 year-old on the apps and believes its good for them to begin to learn the ins and outs of the app. This makes sense to me because in world that is seemingly moving toward being more and more digital, at some point kids should start to learn not only how to use these apps but also how to be safe on them.

All in all, I really enjoyed and appreciated listening to Jesse and thank him for taking the time to talk with us!

Weekly Reflection 2: Social Media, Movies and Resources

Photo by dole777 on Unsplash

One of the big ideas that really stood out to me in class from September 18th was the idea of as educators, what we are putting on social media. I have been on social media for about 10 years now and have seen it change and grow in terms of the different networks, what gets posted and who can access what. I have never put much thought into who would ever see my online presence because I have yet to be in a position where I may have people looking me up. As far as I’m concerned, the only people that have ever looked me up so far in my life have been my friends or family (and potentially an employer). But now, as I begin my journey into education and look to start my career, that will most likely change as mentioned in class. There may potentially be employers, students or parents that are curious as to what my social medias look like. For that reason, it is a great time to start thinking about the way I use social media going forward instead of simply just posting for the sake of posting. I’m not sure I plan on making any massive changes to the way I operate (most of my accounts are private anyway), but it is just something to be more cognizant of.

Shifting gears now to the movie “Most Likely to Succeed,” there was one idea that I pulled from it that really stuck with me. That idea was featured toward the end when it came to the showcase for High Tech High and how it was open to parents and other family to be able to come in and view the projects that kids had been working. Early on in our program here at UVic, we have spent a little bit of time focussing on assessment of students and different ways to perform it. In my opinion, this showcase system is an amazing for students to be assessed because it inspires the students to put maximum effort into their project in hopes of impressing their families. It’s one thing to work on a project for a teacher in hopes of achieving a certain grade, but to work on a project knowing my parents were going to see and judge it would drive me to do my best.

Finally, in class we discussed resources and how we may access them as we become teachers. Of course there is the internet, teacher stores or maybe even that long list of open resources that was shown in class but one of the most important resources we have as soon-to-be teachers is other teachers. As of this blog post, I have only spent one day in an actual classroom observing but I already feel like just by asking my mentor teacher a few questions about her own resources, it eased my mind on some of the anxiety I had in terms of accessing materials. She gave me a few great ideas for worksheets and toys and just by spending time in her classroom, I got a better sense of some of the physical resources needed to make a classroom feel like a classroom.

Weekly Reflection 1

Wow! My first post on my brand new website, this is very exciting. I would like to say that the setup process was as easy as the tutorial made it out to seem but unfortunately, that was not the case. I was continuously locked out of my own website (this was my fault) and once I was in, I found myself getting lost often (also my fault). However, I am slowly starting to figure this all out and look forward to a time when I can log on, make a post and smile all without breaking a sweat.

When thinking about my Free Inquiry project, I have decided to go in the direction of one of hobbies, golf. For some, it may be beneficial to choose a topic that is new to them. And although I thought about some topics like that, I figured I would go back to something that I knew. In terms of the direction I want to take the project, I want to create a timeline on my golf game and track my progress to see if there is any progress being made through blog updates, videos and resources I have found useful. Being good at golf is something I have been chasing for many years and it has eluded me. Hopefully with this project in mind, it will hold me accountable to not only play more golf, but actually put effort into improving. With that being said, golf is not a game of perfect so I do not expect to be Tiger Woods by the end of this.

I am looking forward to this class for a few reasons. The first reason is that I feel as if the world is becoming much more tech reliant at a very rapid pace and in order to keep up, you must be somewhat tech savvy. Learning how to use tech in a teaching environment to enhance mine and my students experience will be something that will benefit me for a long time. Additionally, I like how this class is only once a week. It’s like watching your favourite NFL team, you wait all week for Sunday to come and then when it does, you’re ecstatic. But then it ends and you have to wait 7 more days for the next game. During those 7 days however, the anticipation builds and builds. That is what it is like to attend EdTech!

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