Virtual Reality in the Classroom
by Shelby Garrison, Garris37
Virtual reality can be such an awesome tool for the classroom! I have actually gotten to attend a meeting while doing field study in a classroom using virtual reality and it was so interesting and amazing to watch. I wish This tool was around when I was in school, it definitely makes learning more interesting. This was especially cool for sciences and engineering. It give students opportunities to travel to different places and see all kinds of different things without even leaving the room. The seminar I got to participate in involved dissecting a pig all virtually!
How does this affect teaching and achieving the SDGs? Well there are tons of opportunities for students to see first hand the issues that need working on first hand through virtual reality. There are companies that actually make virtual reality content specifically for people to use them to help spread awareness around the goals.
Walk of Eden
by Shelby Garrison, Garris37
In all honesty, this particular tool I probably wouldn’t be using in my own classroom, just because I wasn’t that much a fan of it. Navigating this tool wasn’t the easiest for me, and it didn’t draw me in. first place I went was Riverlands.
Even on this journey this man spread knowledge. He had workshops on journalism, I found this neat!
The next place I went was Silk Road.
The final place I looked at was the middle kingdom.
WE tools for the classroom
by Shelby Garrison, garris37
I looked around the WE site and found a few tools I found interesting and useful to teachers. One of my favorite and most interesting source I came across was about anti-racism. It was a powerpoint filled with information and even offers exercises to help educators.
I think this is a great tool for teachers, and this tool actually also helps with the SDG’s. Also in regards to our world at this point in time I believe this is a really important topic and teachers should get training on how to handle it. One of the exercises I found in this powerpoint I actually will save and use when I have my own classroom. It is very versatile and I can definitely make it my own, but it gives students terms and they need to piece together the definitions of these terms. It’s giving students the information they need, but doing it in a creative way, so it doesn’t seem as harsh.
Another plus to this tool is that there are exercises and information available for any age group of students. And some of these exercises even offer different scenarios to think about.
At the end of the slides, there is a list of other resources that can be used to support all kinds of other sensitive topics. This is awesome, especially for older teachers who might not know much about these more current issues (issues that have always been around that are now more commonly spoke about)
Ocean science Hyperdoc
by Shelby Garrison, Garris37
I choose to look at a hyperdoc all about Ocean and what climate change can do. I enjoy learning things about the ocean, even though I want to teach English in the future.
I really like the hyperdocs because it keeps students interacting! It enhances a normal powerpoint and I believe will keep students engaged in the lesson because there is so much information and tools you can add into the powerpoint for students to click on and research.
Some of the things you can add to a hyperdoc
- videos about the topic
- articles
- pictures
- links to other websites on the topic
- Games about the topic
Some of the things I learned from the Ocean and climate change hyperdoc:
- What causes waves (and tsunamis)
- Ocean currents
- Ocean simulation
The teacher who made this hyperdoc included articles, youtube videos, and models of what was being discussed. She included padlet which was familiar as my class has another assignment using this site this week.
Virtual field trip under the sea!
by Shelby Garrison, Garris37
I took a virtual trip under the sea! I saw pictures and videos of coral reefs fish and tons of beautiful parts of sea life! These pictures and videos were under a marina! There were so many coral reefs, of all different shapes and sizes! Tons of unique and colorful fish as well! This trip just makes me want to go scuba diving or snorkeling. I don’t think the pictures do these parts of our world justice. This site had hundreds upon hundreds of photos of our beautiful sea.
Turkish show with English subtitles
by Shelby Garrison, Garris37
I watched a Turkish tv show called Love For Rent. Some of the characters in this series seem to be high class people in fancy houses with their own people that work for them. Other characters I believe are lower class people that work hard and I think they are located in a city in Turkey. This show seems to be in modern time. A lot of things are similar to my culture. The way they dress (upperclass and lower class) is the same way people in my culture dress. The transportation is the same, they have cars in the show. Food is the same also I saw fruit on the table for breakfast. The weather was the same as I would say New York. There is really no significant differences in culture. The main difference is obviously language. The people in the show are very passionate when they speak and very loud! Another difference I noticed is the music. The music in the show was Turkish music, and very different from the music I listen to. The rich characters valued money and reputation. There really wasn’t that much difference in culture I think. The landscapes where beautiful and they had a pretty body of water with boats in in, Which reminded me of views we have in the states.
“The tools for the teaching trade”
by Shelby Garrison, Garris37
Though I have learned a lot already, this latest chapter had taught me a lot! Teachers have so many tools available to them to help teach their students more efficiently and to help them adapt to the more diverse students they may have. Two of my favorite tools I learned about are flipgrid and microsoft translator!
I as a student LOVE flipgrid! It is so much more personal than a regular discussion board. When someone just types out something and submits it you often just get lost in the words, with flipgrid videos you actually see the persons face, and hear the tone of their voice! With the way learning is at the moment in the middle of this pandemic still, flipgrid is an amazing thing teachers can utilize. They are able to make a video explaining what their lessons are and how to do it! And the best part is kids can comment questions and be able to see their classmates comments as well! This is such a great communication tool.
Another really great tool is microsoft translator! I wish I knew about this tool last year while I was working from home with special needs students who spoke Spanish as their first language. This is such a good tool for teachers to adapt to their diverse students and make communication easier!
Gender Equality
by Shelby Garrison, garris37
Woman and men still in 2021 are not treated or considered equals. The pandemic has made things even worse for woman and the work force. If you think about it. Just how many woman are currently working in places like our government, parliament, or even in management roles? Women should be getting the recognition for the work they do and the same pay a man would receive for doing the same job.
Woman also deal with a high chance of being assaulted. ONE in THREE woman are assaulted at least once in their life. That’s 736 MILLION women… Some countries currently don’t even have rape laws.
Trafficking and children brides are also a huge problem among women. In certain countries woman don’t even have the same rights to enter or exit a marriage the same as men. These numbers have gone down drastically over the past decade, however the pandemic has effected this unfortunately.
Bilingual Kidspot
By Shelby Garrison, Garris37
I chose Bilingual Kidspot because I am learning about diversity and how to deal with students who speak other languages. I am also planning on becoming an English teacher and thought this would be a great tool for me personally.
Bilingual Kidspot is an amazing tool that gives students access to online books! The best part about this tool is that they offer these books in different language and they are FREE! This means all of your students, even the bilingual ones are able to use this to, as well as students with financial hardships. We all know to expect the unexpected, especially because we aren’t completely over this pandemic, so this is a great option for students doing online distant learning.
Not only is this a great tool for people that already are bilingual, but this is useful for teaching other languages as well! Students have access to see the book they are reading in their first language and the language they’re trying to learn! This is a good tool for Spanish, french and german teachers as well as English teachers.
I would 100% use this tool in my classroom, and I am so glad I found it! There are many ways I will be able to use this. For example I would be able to choose a book I would want my class to read and they have access to that book even at home (so no excuses like “I forgot to take my book home”). Summer reading is also a school requirement in most districts around me and thats where I would ask my students to navigate to so they wouldn’t even have to purchase a book or go to a public library, they would have FREE access online!
Collaboration in 2021
By Shelby Garrison, Garris37 9/26/2021
Collaboration is an important tool in any profession but especially in the teaching profession. We give our students group work because studies tell us they can learn from their peers, and the same goes for us.
5 tools from around the world the are worth the share
- The Immersive Reader Immersive reader is a tool that gives you the chance to “customize” an article to make it easier for YOU to read! The best feature of immersive reader is if you find an article you like, and is compatible with it, you can have it read the article aloud for you and even change the language for those students that speak other languages. You even have the option to change the size of the text.
- Office 365 Integration There are tons of tools Microsoft edge brings to the table. One of the cool things that you are able to do is take a PDF and write on it! Students can interact on assignments this way and teachers are able to give feedback using this tool as well and you are able to save the PDF with all the writing on it.
- Multiple Accounts in Edge You are able to use a multitude of things while using edge. This includes different languages and accounts and even apps! You can add multiple profiles when you are logged into Microsoft, which once logged in you can switch between if need be.
- Collections Feature There is an awesome feature in Microsoft oft edge that allows you to save articles or websites that you might want to use at future times that is different from bookmarking. You have the option to add notes onto the articles that you add. If you find more articles or pages in the same topic you have the option to add it to that same collection, which is very efficient and can save tons of time. The best part of this is you are able to SHARE your collection with other people!
- Favorites in Edge In the favorites portion of edge you are about to aadd folders as well as websites. You also have the option to manage your favorite to keep them organized and prioritized. Good online classroom management!
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