Placement Blog Post

1.  My top skill from that list would be teaching students and teachers to use the software.  I am a youth leader for a youth group and I really enjoy teaching and helping people learn.  The second strongest skill would be the Movie maker instruction, because i have used that program before and am comfortable with it.

2.  a) 8.  I very much enjoy writing my own music, and i can come up with new ways to solve problems.
b)6.  I don't have the greatest memory in the world, but when situations arise, I act responsibly.
c)0.  I don't have any experience designing websites.  If I learned how though, I could apply my creativity towards that.
d)6.  I enjoy taking charge in groups and coming up with plans.
e)9.  This is a strong skill of mine, and I enjoy teaching people new things.
f)8.  As long as I write down what is due, I will meet the deadline.  The problem is when I have to remember something without writing it down.
3.  I am comfortable leading a group of students.
4. I would prefer to work with a partner.
5. I would be most comfortable working in English and Biology, but there are none there that I would not be comfortable working in.

Enriching Technology evaluation.

Based on the comments on my previous blogpost, I will not be pursuing my idea.  First of all, it does not enrich learning.  Also, the amount of time and resources would far surpass our cabablilities.

Instead, here is an idea from an educational website:  http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/

Basically, it talks about letting students hand in papers in their own language, and then using Google Translate so the teacher can mark their work.  If the course is intended to improve the writing skills of students, I think they will learn better if they improve their native language skills first.

This would not be effective in English class.  However, in all other classes where writing is required, the student would best be able to convey the knowledge they learned through their own language.  History, SAP, and other courses similar to these are all places where this tool can be used by students to show their teachers how well they really grasped the concepts in the course.

Enriching Technology in our School.

Idea:  Students should be able to put money into an online account that goes specifically into buying things at the school, ex. cafeteria food, books, supplies, fundraisers etc.

Subject Area:  Not really subject related, more about convenience.

Details:  Basically, students would go to a website run by the TDSB where they would sign in to a personal, confidential account.  They could deposit money into that account, and top it up any time.  Whenever the student makes a purchase in the school, they would give a card supplied to them by their school upon activation of the account.  They would have a pin number that they would enter to verify the purchase.  The money would be taken out of the student's account.

Technology Needed: For this idea, we would need a website creation tool to make the website and a machine that reads cards, takes PINs and takes the money out of their accounts.

Pros:  - more convenient for students
           - money could not be lost
           - students would not have to carry around loose change
           - students would not have money stolen
           - the card could be stopped at any time if it is lost or stolen
           - it is secure with a PIN and a picture of the student on it

Cons: -if the network is down then students can't buy lunch and other things at the school
           -if the website is down then students could not top up the card

What needs to happen:  First, the website would have to be created, perhaps by IDC students.  It would be important to make sure that the website is bug-free, because any bugs would hurt the system a lot.  Then, we would have to train the lunch personnel and other people in the school how to take the students' cards and input them correctly into the machine so the transaction will complete.  The students would probably have to have an assembly on responsibility with these cards.  Also, the cards will have to be created.

Overall I think that it would be a cool idea that could eliminate some problems that are around right now that involve purchasing things at school.

7x1

The Staples contest is probably the most "boring" because its an essay.  500 words, blah blah blah.  But, there are lots of things we could write about.  Our school has an active recycling program, and i dont know one student who refuses to recycle.  Also, we plant trees regularly in our field.  We have an environmental club that is commited to environmental awareness.  Most importantly, we have solar panels on the roof of our school which greatly helps the environment.  I think our school has done enough to win this contest.

5+1.

For the Futureshop contest, I propose that we could also do a music video similar to the first contest.  But we need five pictures included, so i think we should do something funny, like a before picture without the grant and everyone in the picture sad, and then an after picture where everyone is happy and getting A+s.  This could put a comedic spin on the entry, and be more creative than a picture of the technology (which in my opinion is a little stale).

5.

I would like to enter the eInstruction contest worth $75,000.  Ideas for the music video could be us altering a popular song to describe what we could do with the new technology in our classrooms.  It could be of our class learning, and some people are lip synching the song while others are just paying attention in class.  I dont know, its just an idea, itll probably change over time.  Thats just what i was thinking of at this moment.  Also, since ms cuttle has to be in the video, she could be "asking" the class questions through the song about technology, and the class could be "answering" through the song as well.  I think that would be a pretty cool idea.