Coding: A 21st Century Skill

“the twenty-first century classroom is a connected networked classroom” (Drake, Reid and Kolohon, 2014, p., 24). 

Dear Passionate Educators,

Merle Hureta and her blog post on Edutopia Coding in the Classroom: A long Overdue Inclusion, strongly encouraged me write this blog post.
We live in a world that is dominated by technological innovations (Ingerman & Collier-Reed, 2011).  Coding is becoming an important part of educational curriculum's across the globe as a way to promote technological literacy and to equipped students with 21st century skills. However, according to this CBC 2015 article, Canadian schools are "lagging" behind to implement coding into their schools and it is important that we catch up!


 After conducting an interview with Seymour Papert, an advocate for teaching children how to code, Schwartz (1999) wrote:

"anyone who has witnessed a toddler using a computer has probably experienced a sense of awe at that child's facility with what for adults can be an infinitely frustrating gadget. It's one thing for a child to play a computer game; it's another thing altogether for a child to build his or her own game. And this, according to Papert, is where the computer's true power as an educational medium lies -- in the ability to facilitate and extend children's awesome natural ability and drive to construct, hypothesize, explore, experiment, evaluate, draw conclusions -- in short to learn -- all by themselves. It is this very drive, Papert contends, that is squelched by our current educational system." (Schwartz, 1999). 

As this quote illustrates, coding can begin at a very young age. Also, as Merle's blog highlights, coding is a new type of literacy in the 21st century and students who are taught to master coding are better prepared for "a technical revolution that spans cultures and language boundaries. That's because coding isn't just a language. It's a way of thinking about problem solving." 

I remember being in elementary school and learning how to type and use a computer at the most basic level. In the 21st century however, children who come to elementary school will probably know more about technology than you as a teacher. According to Sweeney (2010), students do not view technology as something new or complicated. Thus, implementing coding into elementary lab periods needs to happen. Code.org is a great resource for elementary level teachers to incorporate coding into their curriculum. 
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OJlxaOIQMA

Above is a quick video illustrating Code.org's coding curriculum and how beneficial but also fun it can be for young students. 

Lastly, this website examines some of the main reasons why coding should be implemented into curriculum's such as: 

1) Programming as a basic literacy in the digital age 

2) Programming can change the world 

3) You have an idea for then next big innovation? Great. Can you bring it to life?”

4) Programming doesn't have to be hard to learn. 

Thanks for reading! 

With every good wish, 

Miss Roberts 

Work Cited 

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L. & W. Kolohon. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and assessment: Engaging 21st Century Learners. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.

Ingerman, A. & B. Collier-Reed. (2011). Technological literacy reconsidered: A model for enactment. (21), 137-148. 

Schwartz, D. (1999). Ghost in the Machine: Seymour Papert on How Computers Fundamentally Change the Way Kids Learn. Retrieved from: 

http://www.papert.org/articles/GhostInTheMachine.html

Sweeny, M. S. (2010). Writing for the instant messaging and text messaging generation: Using new literacies to support writing instruction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 54(2), 121-130.

Mental Health Literacy and Stress Management in the Classroom

Dear Followers,

I am very passionate about this blog and want to continue posting! I came across a great Canadian educational blog by Paul W. Bennett. It is called Educhatter and offers a lot of great information and resources for teachers. One particular post really stood out to me, as I am very passionate about mental health awareness and ways to manage stress and anxiety in the classroom. As a student in high school, I was a very shy, introverted kid who did not participate in class discussions and often missed out on opportunities to showcase my true abilities. This was because I had high levels of stress and anxiety caused by school, but also issues I carried with me from home and outside school activities. According to the Canadian Coalition for Children and Youth Mental Health, the mental health of students is the “number one issue facing schools today” (Whitley, 2012, p., 56).
 Now that I am a prospective teacher, it is really important to me that I incorporate mental health literacy into my classrooms and help students manage their stress and anxiety.

Schools themselves are a source of stress for many students. To name a few, bullying, academic expectations and peer pressure are common igniters of stress and anxiety in youth. Educhatter had a great post titled Kids and Stress: Are Kids more "Stressed" today - and if so why?.
As his post illustrates, the classroom climate consist of Warriors but also Worriers and teachers are responsible for accommodating for all the various needs and abilities that make up the classroom. Paul's blog offered an article from the Globe and Mail that discusses how the Toronto District School Board implemented Mindfulness meditation practices into their classrooms to help students manage stress. Meditation is a great way to reduce stress and allows students to clear their heads, relax their bodies and focus on their breathing.


Students should be educated on what mental health disorders are and how meditation can help counteract these issues. As Skre (2003) illustrates, “Stigma attached to mental illness is the main obstacle to provision of care for mental health problems”(p.2), and because of this stigma, only 1 in 5 children suffering from a mental health issue seek the treatment they require (Whitley, 2012). Therefore, it is extremely important as educators that we work to break the stigma around mental health disorders by appropriately educating our students and incorporating mental health literacy into every and any curriculum. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw71zanwMnY

The above video illustrates the scientific benefits of meditation and how meditating can help counteract stress, anxiety and even depression. 

A way to incorporate meditation into the classroom is a simple breathing activity. This can be a great way to begin your lesson in order to calm students down, especially after a lunch period or first thing in the morning. Students are asked to close their eyes, take deep breaths in and out and simply focus on their breathing. Stretching is another activity that is really beneficial and can help students with high energy release that energy so they are ready to learn. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeXuf7sOpzA

The above video illustrates a teacher performing a group meditation with her class through the form of yoga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCqmFpKiLD0

This video outlines the benefits of incorporating meditation practices into schools. 

Lastly, as Paul's post illustrates, not all stress is bad and it is important to educate students about this as well. In a CBC Interview with Dr. Stan Kutcher, he laments: 

“Stress is useful for us, it helps the body tune itself, it is a method by which we learn how to adapt to our environment either by changing ourselves or by changing our environment.  There is good stress, which is positive, it helps kids learn how to pick themselves up and dust themselves off, and start all over again. That’s part of resilience.  That’s part of learning how to deal with life, but sometimes there’s also stress that is bad for you and part of the deal is understanding which is which.” 

Thank you for reading my post and I hope it was educational! 

With every good wish, 

Miss Roberts 

Work Cited 

 Skre, I. (2013). A school intervention for mental health literacy in adolescents: Effects of a non-randomized cluster controlled trial. BMC Public Health, 1-16.

 Whitley, J. (2012). Promoting Mental Health Literacy Among Educators: Critical in School-Based Prevention and Intervention. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 56-70. 

 

Tech Literacy: Google and Education

Dear Educators,

The web is an amazing resource for educators to use. It can be used in every curriculum and should be used! In following a Canadian educational blogger Paul W. Bennett, I came across an interest blog titled Googlization of Education: What Happens When Google Appropriates a School System? and it really encouraged me to create this blog post. As a University student, I often take advantage of Google and its many free resources, but do elementary or high school students know about these resources? Do they use them as a part of their education? It is up to us as prospective teachers to bring this into our classrooms and help our students attain 21st century skills.

In Paul's blog post, he explores Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and how its being implemented into schools across Canada. Summits have been held in Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and BC as well as Nova Scotia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXFUl0KcIkA

The above video illustrates what Google Apps for Education is all about! 

According to Paul's blog post, a Nova Scotia teacher Grant Frost laments that Google Apps for Education "provides every student and teacher user with their own g-mail account, as well as several useful applications, including Google Docs, a leading edge word processing program, Google Sheets, which outperforms Excel, and Google Slides, which is a more integrated multi-platform version of PowerPoint. Users also have access to Google Classroom, where, with a click of mouse and a one time code entry, they can sign up for a class and receive notifications about upcoming events, class assignments and ask about homework questions with their teacher via his/her cell phone at all times of the week." 

As a prospective teacher, I plan to incorporate Google Apps for Education into my classroom as a way to incorporate technological literacy. It is a great way for students to work on group presentations from home through Google Docs, it allows them to create an email account and helps all students learn to operate Excel and Google Slides. As mentioned in an older post of mine, the flipped classroom model is something I am very supportive of. The flipped classroom model accompanies GAFE really well, as students can access lectures online as homework, and then come to class ready for open discussion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uEXJPw8Jwo

The above video illustrates GAFE in action!

Another great way to incorporate tech literacy and Google into the classroom is the use of  "a Google a Day". It is a free site that strengthens student's ability to search and find answers through a game-like format. Each day, it asks students to answer three different questions that are answered through research. The quicker the students find the answers, the more points they earn.

Just a short post today! Hope it was helpful.

With every good wish,

Miss Roberts