Author: Casey Hunt Page 1 of 4

Last Music Blog!

Hello C’s Class

Coming at you with my last music video and blog! I’ll post my video below along with some of the struggles I had leading up to the end and some other things I learned! Keep reading!

Alright so this last week I struggled with playing the guitar. Now that school is at home my questions I had about playing were hard to get answers to due to not being able to meet in class in person! I got though it by pushing through and doing my best regardless of my guitar sounding a bit funny even though it was in tune and I was playing the correct chords! This past week I also explored playing the guitar with and without a pick. I discovered that with this particular song I enjoyed playing it better without a pick as it made the sound a bit softer. As you can tell in my video I am not using one! Last blog I was also figuring out which strumming pattern to use! I ended up going with down down-up up down. The first 2 chords were played with 1 set of this pattern and the 3rd chord was 2 sets of the pattern. I learned that being at home trying to get all your assignments in without being able to go into class was a lot harder than it seemed. But I did my best and honestly I am very proud of being able to now play two songs on the guitar! I think I would like to get my own guitar and over the next little bit learn some more songs so that I can implement this into my future classroom! I really enjoyed learning something new even though at first I thought it was impossible! So thanks to my teacher for making us all push through because I did it! I hope you enjoyed my blogs and videos! I am not perfect at playing but I am trying my best and I believe I made some awesome progress since the beginning of the year till now!

XO

Last Blog!

Hello C’s Class

We are coming at you with out last group inquiry blog! Thank you all so much for following along and we hope you found at least one thing to take with you so you can implement it in your classroom! Here is the link to our final project and some resources for you to check out!

Final project and resources! 

Thanks everyone, have a great summer and stay safe and healthy!

Casey, Aria, and Kaylyn

XO

Zoom

Hello C’s Class

So, as I am sure you are all aware of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this my university was shut down making us finish up the remainder of the term online….I am not a fan! I personally don’t love doing class online and then doing it one FaceTime… yeah not my favourite! But that is what happened and I am here to tell you how it went down!

We used a cool video platform called Zoom. Which is awesome because you can video conference the whole class! This allowed everyone to stay at home, log on in their pj’s and come to class. Although I personally wasn’t a fan I did think it is a great tool you should look into for future calls that maybe are long distance, or if you are sick, or any other reason you can come to class or even a work meeting! So I would say that this would be my top video conferencing platform that I would use if I had to. My class was even able to do group presentations on it by sharing the screen which means that if I was to share my screen and I had was secretly watching Netflix while in class everyone would see… so don’t do that but you can share you screen and then people can see your power point slides for your prez!

Okay so there must my a catch or some cons for this right? Well as it happens to be there is a catch. This link will take you to the zoom website where it will show you the different plans that you can buy. So there is a free plan but you don’t really get a lot out of it unless you plan on only videoing one on one or up to groups of 100 but under 40 mins…. The other thing is that during out class chat I noticed that lots of people just put their screen on mute and decided to chat with someone in their house or cook food while people were presenting… rude! This would never happen in a real class!

Anyways, I encourage you to check it out and see what you think! That’s all for today!

XO

Self Care

Hello C’s Class

Today is my last blog on my self care journey… Sad but thank you for following and I hope that you got the chance to try out a few of my tips and tricks! I think that it was such a great topic now that I’m assuming we will all be isolating in out homes which can be quite taxing on our mental and physical well being! Keep reading if you want to know some of the ideas that will be continuing to do and maybe some other new info!

Okay so a few months ago I started this journey to discover what self care activities worked for me and to find some that i could implement into my daily life and to cover different categories other then just watching Netflix and drinking vino.. which I must admit is still one of my favs! So I started out with running which is not my favourite way to get out and active. You have to do what you love in order for it to be self care! So instead if this I started walking and going to kick boxing classes! I find that daily exercise  is so essential in living a well rounded and healthy life! especially know that we are stuck at home please get out, soak up the sun and get active! Establishing a sleeping routine is still one of my favourite ways of self care. I think sleep is very important for out health and getting off screen time before bed I think is my top tip about sleep. Try it out and see how it works for you. There have been so many articles saying to get off screens so I encourage this! What else did I like… oh cooking of course! Take this time away from the world to use the food in your pantry, try out new recipes, and nourish your body! My last tip is to do things out of love. Chose activities that make YOU happy, that make you feel good, that make you feel relaxed, and that make you feel rested. Self care is the one time I encourage you to be all about yourself! We can help others if we don’t help ourselves first!

My over all learning from my inquiry is that self care takes a lot more then just having a bath, or going to the beach to read a book alone. It is about taking care of you as a whole. This means, physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. You need to ensure that you are well rounded and balanced in order to life a balanced life. I want to continue to challenge myself by finding new ways of self care that I can help switch up my routine. Of course I’ll resort back to lots of my original favs but it’s fun to mix it up once in awhile. If you are living a busy life literally schedule in you self care time for the day..seriously! We all need it and we all deserve it!

Thanks for following along my journey. Until next time!

XO

Musical Journey

Hello C’s Class

Just coming at you with another update on how my guitar journey is going. So far I am enjoying it as I am isolating at home… it gives me something to do other then just watch Netflix! I have been practicing through out the day for an estimated time of maybe 15-20 mins a day…

So what have I been working on? Well, still trying to work on transition from chord to chord while not looking and pressing hard enough on the strings that the song comes out clear. I haven’t quite mastered not looking yet but that is something that will come with practice and time. I also have been working on the strumming pattern which is definitely harder then I thought. It is not hard in the sense that I can’t do it but more hard on the fact that I can’t quite find a pattern that I think goes best with the song… I have been watching lots of youtube videos and everyone seems to do something different so I am trying lots of different ones out and seeing if I can find one that really makes sense to me or maybe even trying to combine some and making up my own? That would be crazy but we shall see what works! I have been playing the guitar with my song which helps me stay on beat and track of the song and to ensure I play the whole song. My hand gets cramped up sometimes so I have been trying to play more and more of the song each time so that I can eventually play the entire song with out stopping! I have also been seeing if I like the song better with or without my pick. They both make a different sound when strumming so this is something I have been trying out!

That’s all for today! Check back next week for my guitar video!

XO

Bringing Assistive Tech into the Classroom

Hello C’s Class

Today we are going to be talking about some of the easy things and some of the harder things when bringing assistive technology into the classroom. Some of the smaller and more easily accessible things are graphic organizers, alternative seating, fidget tools, noise limiting headphones, and closed captioning. Many classrooms we have been in have DIY fidget tools such as bottles that have glitter or other things in them for students to play around with. You can purchase stress balls and other squishy toys for students to silently use. Online there are several DIY videos for crafty things teachers can make super easily and cheap. Here is a video of one DIY fidget toy you could make for your class.

Graphic organizers are super easy too. They simply require the teacher to create an outline for the given lesson and then print them.  This organizer was used in Kaylyn’s class she visited last semester. The teacher used it to visually show students how they should format their paragraph writing.

Headphones will range in price so depending on the funding you get you can explore your options.

Flexible seating can also get pricey. These wobble chairs are $50 on Amazon. In the classrooms we have been in they usually only have around 4. This may become a problem in your classroom so other seating could be used as well. Exercise balls, bean bag chairs, pillows, and carpet areas are all ways you can create different seating and learning spaces easily in your classroom.

 

Of course one of the biggest things is price. A cart for IPads is $700 on its own IPads aside. This would be a very expensive thing however often the cart is shared between the whole school. Therefore funding would be more accessible as you are not getting a cart for every class.

Overall there are certain aspects of assistive technology that are easy to implement and simply require time. Others become more expensive. In 2019 the Government of Canada put more money into making technology accessible for those with disabilities: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/118.nsf/eng/home. Families and research institutions can receive money through this. Students in university can receive funding through the The Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment for Persons with Permanent Disabilities: https://www.at-bc.ca/programs/grant-equipment-for-students-csg/ . This website  (https://canasstech.com/pages/resources) shares different resources in BC.

As for funding in Elementary schools we weren’t able to find specific resources for funding for assistive technology. However, these things could easily fall under things that other educational funding websites would cover. As well as the PAC could support these types of expenses.

Thats all we have for now! Tune in next week for our summary and final resource package!

Corona… no not the beer

Hello C’s Class

So I am sure that all of you are aware of the coronavirus and if not please let me know where you are hiding out! Well I hope that you are all isolating yourself the best you can to ensure you stay healthy and to protect those who are compromised and are at risk! Today I am going to be talking about what I am doing to take precautions and stay safe!

My university finally called it quits and we will be doing the remainder of our term online/at home! I hope that your work/schools do the same to ensure your safety! I am currently writing this blog on my couch while still in my PJ’s.. what a dream! Okay but in all seriousness here are some of the things I am doing to stay calm and safe in order to make sure I am still doing self-care and that fear and anxiety of this virus doesn’t control me! First off wash your dang hands!!! I hope you do this regardless of the virus… Wash your hands and scrub em good for 20 seconds and then dry them. Don’t touch you face and try not to come in direct contact with people. Stay at home if you can! I honestly can’t believe the amount of people still going out to the bars… don’t be dumb! At home constantly wipe down surfaces and wash all you produce you bring into the house! Basically be safe and take extra precautions just to be safe. Most likely like me you know that if you get this virus you’ll be okay but that’s not the point. You need to stay safe so that medical professionals have time to help the people most at risk. You want to stay inside so that you don’t come in contact with someone who is compromised. You can’t just think about yourself in these kinds of situations. Keep safe so you keep others safe. Easy as that! Here is also a cute video that you can show you kids, or students, or anyone dumb enough not to know that you need to wash your hands!

Anyways, that’s all for today and remember wash your dang hands!!!

XO

 

Minecraft and Google Science

Hello C’s Class

In our tech class on Tuesday we did a few different things. First, we had a guest teacher come in with some of her students to teach us about Minecraft… Then following this we checked out an app called Google Science. Although I learned lots, I honestly didn’t really love either.

So, let’s talk about Minecraft. A lot of student’s these days are really into this platform…me? Nope not at all. I have never been into games or video games; I literally don’t have any game apps on my phone. Trying to use this in teach class made me so overwhelmed. I actually was getting so frustrated and annoyed and if I had been in school having to use this, I would not be a happy camper. Although these are my thoughts, I can see how students would be more engaged in learning when doing something that is fun and out of the box. I do think that it can aid in student learning and if my future students wanted to use it, I would try and figure it out. Online there are some different lesson plan outlines you can use to create a lesson plan and use Minecraft to implement it. One thing that I would use that I liked was using Minecraft to create stories. I think it would be a cool way to do literacy in the classroom.

The other thing we did in class is check out Google Science. This app allows students to measure light, sound, movement, and more. I do think this is useful because if you have ever tried to take your own data on these things it’s hard! This allows you to track your experiments and take notes and have it all in one app. Honestly, I am still trying to figure out how to use this app and what it really does. So, you are probably better off to go online and look up what this app does instead of reading this blog… I am not very helpful in this department.

Anyways, there you have it. My great explanations….

XO

Blown Away

Hello Casey’s Class

So I am sure you are all wondering how my music journey is going…well! I am learning a new song and it is going great!

I am learning “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood and I am learning three new chords. The chords I am learning are EM, D, and G. So far, I have been learning the three chords and I have to say I have got them down pretty good already! I practiced once in class and I really used the time to learn the chords, learn how to use a capo, and find some videos to help me learn the song! The video I am using to help learn the chords and the video I am using to learn the strumming pattern are both posted below! As I go on my journey I am practicing every second day for about 15-20 mins! I am finding it a lot easier to learn the guitar this semester and a lot easier which is exciting! But I know I know I won’t get ahead of myself. I will keep you posted on my journey and hopefully it keeps going good! I am going to be learning the strumming pattern next! Well, enjoy the videos below and maybe bust out a guitar and try it out! Or not… maybe stick to what you’re good at? Either way do something musically and go blast music in your car at least!

Thanks for checking in!

XO

Dyslexia

Hello C’s Class!

Today we are going to be focusing on assistive technology specific for dyslexia. Dyslexia is a learning challenge for students as it affects being able to identify speech sounds and how they relate to letter and words, also called decoding. Dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.

There have been many incredible creations in the area of aiding in helping individuals with dyslexia. First we have speech recognition software, being able to talk to a computer that can convert conversation to text. This would most come in handy when struggling with spelling or writing any professional communications.

Mind mapping software is also a thing. This provides a space for students struggling to write out their ideas with the ability to plan their work more effectively.

Text-to-speech software was also created to help individuals understand the work they are presented with and be able to proof-read or check their own work.

There are also smart pens that can be used to write but can also track the text being written and recreate the notes in digital form. Then the pen can upload the text to a software for further processing.

Lastly there are more tools designed to help students with dyslexia that are all very similar to other ones. Tablets, smartphones and applications, computer based learning programs, spell checkers and many more softwares are available to aid in the learning success of students with dyslexia complications.

Last week we had discussed the pros and cons of assistive technology, but it is also important to discuss why labelling students with this learning challenge can sometimes be beneficial but also may cause some negative responses.

The diagnosis of being ‘dyslexic’ is usually then slapped onto why a specific individual is under-performing in school. However once a student is diagnosed correctly, the appropriate instruction and assistive technology may be implemented in order to assist them in being successful in school.

The cons however come when that label comes into play. Labelling a student with this learning challenge brings it into focus when it’s unnecessary to highlight it. It may be hard to separate personal differences and strengths once that learning challenge is slapped onto their name.

In supportive learning environments the main objective is to improve the learning abilities so to be classified as having dyslexia should be beneficial. The school would work with the parents to find the best way to support the student.

In different environments where the focus is primarily on optimizing productivity, it may be harmful to be classified as a person with “dyslexia”. The categorization may just lead to unnecessary discrimination.

Overall, the student with learning challenges and parents should assess the situation to make sure it will be beneficial to be seen as a “dyslexic”. Every environment is different, so even as future educators it is our job to ensure the safety of students with learning disabilities in the classroom. There can be many things going on that we don’t see so we need to make sure conversations are had and precautions are taken to prevent unnecessary distress to the particular individual(s).

That’s all for today! Technology for dyslexia and pros and cons of labelling a person with it. Thanks for reading, we will catch ya next week!

Aria, Casey, and Kaylyn

XO

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