I had to leave early and didn’t get to the 360 VR tours but I still enjoyed the topic. I find games are a real hands on activity that helps learners to access knowledge they are learning. They are forced to rely on their own knowledge or to ask for help and these are both excellent learning methods. I hope not to limit my future learners to only using in-person games but have the ability to use online games as well. On our firstvoices.com website for the iihatis dialect, we have some games there and the younger learners do have fun with them. Although they’re really basic (like the card matching game) I think it’s the computer or device that helps them to stay engaged. This seems to have the opposite effect on our fluent speaking Elders though, the technology can be a real barrier for some. We need to be mindful of all of the diverse learners in our classes and I think this especially included the tech-inclined language learners because they could very-well help us to create more resources in the future.
I forgot how cool twine was, when we were first introduced to it I imagined using it for story telling. I previously started a story on tiickin (thunderbird) and had options throughout the story for the reader to choose his daily activities. Today I thought that a story on ta-inwa would be cute. That is the word for sea cucumber. We have some traditional stories related to this sea food but I thought I would make another new story based on daily roles in the community. I think this is a definite pro for story creation considering many of us do not know a lot of traditional stories. Twine offers a platform for us to use stories in a new way. Again, I think some considerations would have to be limited access for learners who don’t have technology at home or maybe they don’t have parents/guardians to help them use this software. I also feel pressure as someone who isn’t very tech-inclined, that sometimes things can feel overwhelming or a little intimidating. Either way, I hope to utilize this in the future to help my learners connect with an activity who might enjoy more technology based programs. I definitely would be bringing in extra help (i.e. Rich) to help support advanced students with this.
Instruction: Before the students begin, I will show them how to navigate to the site and walk through the steps of selecting the right dialect. Then each learner can use a device to search the phrases and fill out their blank worksheets. Usually questions will come up and some learners may already know how to do this step and can get right to searching for the virtual scavenger hunt.
Activity: Virtual scavenger hunt
Evaluation: Virtual scavenger hunt marked out of a total 14. Consideration will be given for spelling attempts and penmanship but will not impact the overall marks.
students will read and write in the iihatis dialect
clean-up
Multimedia Lesson Plan Example:
Vocab Scavenger Hunt
Goal
Learners will be able to navigate to the First Voices website and use the search bar to find words and phrases in the iihatis dialect.
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based.
By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to:
Search for and find the Firstvoices.com website
Navigate to “find languages” for the iihatis dialect
Search within the iihatis dialect portal
play audio clips in first voices when they are available
problem solve when they cannot find words
Complete blank vocabulary worksheet by writing in nuuchahnulth
Ask for help as needed
Prior Knowledge & Learner Profile
The learners are all beginner level adult learners who also either learn in groups or have families present for the learning. Learning takes place online and learners can use zoom for classes. Some learners with expert level language skills have not been exposed to the writing system and will need support with bridging their knowledge with the modern writing system.
Learners will need to know how to power up the laptops and open up google chrome
Learners will need to be familiar with the beginner level nuuchahnulth alphabet in order to read the words/phrases in nuuchahnulth
Learners can write in the standard nuuchahnulth writing system
Delivery
Beginning / Introduction: Introduce the First Voices archive portal on Firstvoices.com
Show the video to find First Voices website
Other nuuchahnulth dialects available
Before laptops, instruct students to clear their desks
Grab pencil/pen
Student helper distribute blank worksheets to the group
3. Grab the laptops
Open google chrome and search for First voices
Search in iihatis to complete the worksheets
4. Clean up
a. Power down laptops
B. plug in laptop for charging at charging station
Evaluation
Learners evaluation: learners submit their scavenger hunt worksheet for their instructor to mark and give them feedback on their writing
I really liked the advice for intentionally avoiding “fear based” education when helping children become familiar with technology. I feel like I was raised to fear tech, to “be careful” and to not spend “too much” time on it. I think when we build our students relationship with tech we can build a better connection to a useful tool rather than the fear based approach that leaves us feeling guilty if we use a laptop to look something up rather than a printed dictionary. I think there are great benefits to helping children gain tools rather than just trying prevent or limit their access to tech. My daughter already has a desire to use a smartphone because she sees us doing it, I think I prefer to look at approaches to aid her learning rather than just preventing access. I wanted to save this video from Jesse for future reference. Because of my practicum experience, I think its worth considering that not all learning spaces have an instructor who can navigate technology and this definitely limits the students.
Photo workshop with Dani
I really liked moving around portion and putting some of Dani’s advice into action. I could really see how the light moves a lot more than I thought before. Altering the exposure really made a difference, I took a few photos to compare the auto setting and what it looked like when I adjusted the exposure. This fence was my inspiration today and hopefully I can have some nicer shots in the future. I liked the benefits of learning more about taking photos because we use social media for so much these days, I think the skills are valuable. Most students have a phone but one downfall is to consider that some students may not have a device and pairing up for activities needing a device could be helpful.
I like the idea of using technology to help build relationship with students. I think similarly to the way we support excellent readers with reading materials, we can be working to support students who are more tech-literate. I also see the benefits of using technology to make learning more fun. It might be a lot more fun students to do activities using a creative program online rather than something that involves pencil to paper. I think a major consideration is the teacher/instructor’s ability to use technology.
Photo by hakatl Chrissie John
I jokingly wanted to search for a sea urchin icon and this ended up starting my sketch note. I began with the simple icon, then I added the name and specified that its the red species, I also remember my mom always saying the otters love to eat them and added the otter icon. I managed to find language in my dialect for the urchin and otter words but also for a phrase from a fluent speaker explaining the nearly extinct species in our area suffers because of the sea otters. I think this is super useful for learners who appreciate the visual aspect of the information. It can help to associate a photo, icon, or colour to help retain the information. I definitely enjoy this and find it helps me when I need to recall information (I will think of the way it was laid out on the sheet especially if there was a colour or picture associated with the info). Diverse students may enjoy the opportunity to create their own style of note taking, they may take preference on the style they use. For example, one student in my practicum drew all her pictures in a sort of anime style and it would be helpful to her if drawing was an option during class assignments. I also liked the opportunity to use my language for this lab and see how this can easily be utilized for language learning assignments or other progress recording. One con may be that some learners just do not feel inclined to draw, I have had students in the practicum who felt that drawing was not helpful to them. It was these students who we encouraged along by asking for the minimal stickmen drawings. I think sketchnoting can still be helpful for concept mapping or mind mapping if the students do not wish to have any sort of icons included. Icons definitely felt like less pressure than me trying to draw a detailed otter though and I will definitely use this tip for doodling with my future students.
Today I made a keychain using my daughters name. This can be used for language revitalization because learners can create words or use their name for a keychain or magnet or anything really. I wanted to do my daughter’s name because she won’t find her name anywhere on a keychain or a pen. I think this is a great learning tool that incorporate opportunity to use technology for language learning. keychain link:
I really enjoyed learning how to screen capture video on my laptop. That will actually be super helpful right away with language teaching. The tutorial video I created to show how to find my dialect on the First Voices website could actually be used for beginner classes because we usually go over this every time anyways. Now we can just play a video and students can either revisit or share the link with other learners too. I like the idea of exporting to youtube because it is accessible to most learners who participate in our programs. Sometimes we share existing language resources from our nation but none of us are creating anything new right now. I didn’t make it to the H5P part of the day but I think I could try that with some more time and support. I find I can get lost even with the written instruction because I don’t understand some of the language. Here is my tutorial video: https://youtu.be/MLMrZvvLEeg
This was cool to learn about how to ethically use images from google. I liked the tip for using tools on google to refine the search to include creative commons licenses. Photo from: woodleywonderworks at https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2885861465
The weather is nice today. The sun decided to come out and shine her light on us. I wasn’t sure about needing to use the public image but I see after looking at the websites that there is quite an extensive amount available. I liked the ourdoor scenery. I can see how this is helpful, I might not always have the photos I need for language resources. I also like that there are no large, ugly water marks on the image. This is helpful because they look more clear on the resource and most new learners create resources in their own unique dialects within nuuchahnulth. I also like the handy copy feature for the photo credit option, this was way faster than typing “photo by…”. This was a practice post for using an image from Unsplash. Photo by Lifeofmikey on Unsplash
This was the first attempt at recording and editing in audacity.
