Reflections

6-Shot Stories

I think that Greg Michie’s use of 6-Shot Stories to help teach children about technology is a great way for them to learn while creating something fun. All of the stories include music that really fits with the themes of the story they created, which was impressive to me. The music each group chose for their project just adds to the actual story itself. I thought that the story called, “The Pencil,” wasthe best because it was a classic story of a student running out of lead and heaving to borrow a pencil, which is a typical scenario in middle school.The video was impressive to me because the students were able to tell a short-funny story all within 6 shots and no dialogue. The children were able to really show what was going on in their story and it was never confusing.Greg Michie’s attempt to teach students about technology is very effective because 6-Shot Stories are easy for children to understand, they can cover any topic a child wants, and they are just fun to make. A lot of children at the age of these students are not typically familiar with technology, and if they are, it is not usually with filming and producing videos. So, I believe that this is a very creative way for students to learn about technology, but even more so just about basic film making. I believe they are also a great way for students to express different things, from serious topics to funny stories, they can create anythingthey want. For example, “The Pencil” story versus the “Depression” story discuss very different topics but they both work well. The “Depression” story is an example of 6-Shot Stories can be used to express more than just a funny story. This one expresses the impact of bullying on a child, but it goes to show a student could make a story about anything. A student could use a 6-Shot Story to portray their culture, feelings, concerns, and dreams. Overall, I think what Greg Michie is teaching his students is the most creative way of teaching basic technology to students.

Canva, Google Classroom, Screen-O-Matic Reflection

I think both methods, tutorial video with graphic organizer and google slides with Screencast-O-Matic, are very effective methods for teaching different things online. However, I definitely believe each method has benefits and downsides to them. I believe the biggest difference comes in what you are trying to teach. For the tutorial I chose, I believe the tutorial video with graphic organizer would be most effective because for an activity like sewing, you need to actually see it to understand it. The google slides with Screencast-O-Matic aren’t a very effective way of trying to teach someone to sew. However, this was useful to learn because I think this could be a very effective way of instructions for a different activity. Since Screencast-O-Matic records your screen I think it is best for teaching something about online activities. For example, teaching someone how to use a certain function of a computer or how to navigate a website. For a tutorial video with graphic organizer, it would be best for something like learning how to sew, how to tie a shoe, or anything that you would need to physically see a person do to understand. The tutorial video with graphic organizer would be beneficial because it provides an actual video of a person performing an activity, but it also provides clear instructions in the graphic organizer. The method of google slides with Screencast-O-Matic is beneficial for giving online instructions because it records your screen, gives you a list of clear instructions, but it also gives you the ability to add your voice which would really help with onlinetasks to clear up any confusion. Both methods of giving online instructions are very beneficially and I can completely see the use for both, but I did learn that the two methods are each better for certain activities, depending on what you need.

Hour of Code Reflection

“To what extent should coding become a part of the American K-12 curriculum?”I believe to some certain extent, coding should be a small part of the American K-12 curriculum. I think that is it important enough that it should be taught in all schools, but honestly it should not be a main part or requirement for a student. Not everystudent is interested in coding, but maybe they should all be taught a basic lesson for it. For the students that do enjoy it and are good at it, I think that after the basic requirement for every student to learning coding, there could be more advanced options for them to learn more if a student wants to take the course. I do for sure think it should be a small requirement froe very student, but I don’t think it should be required for e very student to take years and years of it or master it because its honestly not a daily skill or knowledge every student needs to have. I definitely agree with the article, An Entrepreneurial Mindset Beats Coding Skills by Laure Lee, because she describes how coding can help children with problem solving, learning how to try again after failing, and shifting focus. This article further pushes my opinion that every student needs to learn a basic level of coding because it help teach these important lessons, but no student needs to completely advance in coding unless they want to. She says that the lessons you get from coding will take you a lot further in your professional life than the actual skill of coding. This strengths my point that every child should be required to learn about it, but only the ones who enjoy it or aregood at it should continue to advance if they want to. In the article in the Washington Post by Valerie Strauss, I read the quote by Barak Obama saying coding is a basic skill, not an optional skill, and I disagree. Like I mentioned before, I think every child should learn about coding because of the other skills it teaches you along the way, like persistence, focus, and more, but coding itself should not necessarily be a basic skill itself for every child. Especially from my experience from this project, I definitely was not the best coder. I did take time and figure it out, which felt great afterwards because it was an achievement, but I do not feel the urge to pursue coding any further. In conclusion, from my experience with coding, the article by Laura Lee, and the article by Valerie Strauss, I believe coding should be taught in the American K-12 curriculum to a basic extent, and there should be optional further classes who some students who enjoy it and want to pursue it.

Semester Reflection

I think for my future career, the most useful technology we used that would help me would be WordPress. I have tried using it a lot before and it has never fully made sense to me, but this class has helped me learn how to use it a lot more. I am a journalism major, so of course, WordPress will be very beneficial to me in the future. I have always enjoyed blogging and I have always wanted to get more involved in it, so WordPress would definitely be a major part of that in the future. For educational purposes, I think the most beneficial thing we learned about was google classroom. I never had to use it in school, but I always see other students using it and I finally learned why it is super helpful. Google makes it super easy to learn with this technology and I think it is the most helpful because of how available it is. I feel like most students already use a ton go Google features like google mail, google sheet, good docs, etc. so Google Classroom makes it so easy to use for sharing things like that that students would already be using. I dont know if I would ever be using it for my future career, but I definitely think it will be helpful in the future for learning in the classroom. I also believe that one of the most interesting things we learned about was coding. It was something I would’ve never looked into or thought about, but I definitely believe that it will be a very helpful tool in the classroom in the future. I did have trouble learning about it, but I think it’s beneficial for all students to have a basic understanding of coding and I think it would be amazing for schools to offer a more advanced level of coding classes for the students that do succeed in the basics levels and for the students that really enjoy it. So, the coding learning is not something I would’ve ever chosen for myself or thought about, but I’m glad we did and I can now see why it would be super helpful for educational learning in the future. My favorite assignment we did was the Podcast because I love listening to podcast and it was cool to see how they are actually made. I think because podcast can be cover any topic in the world and you can find a podcast about pretty much everything, they will start to become more prevalent in the education industry. I feel like they are relatively a new idea and they’ve just recently become popular, and I can definitely see them in 5-10 years becoming a strong educational tool. Not only do I see them being used for learning in the classroom, but I do think that behind WordPress, podcast would be the next most beneficial thing for my future career. I am minoring in criminal justice, and I did my podcast over a crime story, so I can even possibly see how learning about the podcast could help me in the future if I ever wanted to host a true crime podcast and use my criminal justice minor. Hosting a podcast definitely hasn’t been my dream, but at least now I know how to do them and I have that opportunity now if I ever start to head down that path. I learned a lot about technology and using it in the educational setting, so in conclusion, I believe the two most useful technologies for my future are WordPress and Podcast, and the two most useful technologies for the future of education are Google Classroom and coding. Thank you!