The video by Sir Ken Robinson is one that I have watched many times. I find it fantastic the way he talks about our education system and the flaws that he sees. The points that Sir Ken Robinson bring up are ones that make sense to me. The way he talks about the way kids are separated by age has been a confusing characteristic about school for a while. Especially when kids are struggling and seem to get pushed through due to the year they were born. The second problem he arises is the quick diagnosis of ADD within our students. I am inclined to agree with him because many of kids these days have the diagnosis of “learning disability” or “ADD”. The numbers have increased significantly since even I was in elementary school. I think the kids having fun in school or being bored too often gets mistaken for other things and are quickly diagnosed from school board.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Summary of Learning
This is my Summary of Learning Project. While creating and then re-watching I realized that I can not fit everything I have learned into a short video. This class was one I would recommend to all ED students. All the resources and different ways of thinking about technology in the classroom. The biggest thing I took away from the class was don't block and limit students, but just teach them how to properly use technology.
Follow @DurstMcKen #ECMP355
Follow @DurstMcKen #ECMP355
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Internship
This blog post may seem dry to some people that read it but Internship was a great experience and not one that can be put in words easily!
From September to December I was at Cornerstone Christian School (CCS) in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for my internship. I had only been there a few times and once was for grade 8 basketball and another time was to say hello to my high school football coach and to meet the vice principal because my brothers said I needed to. Grade 8 basketball we were just in and out, but when I went back as a high school graduate to meet the staff and see my old football coach I felt instantly welcomed. I was there at lunch and I ended up staying for the full 40 minutes just talking and asking questions about teaching. I instantly got along and felt a good connection with the people I have met. Later on at my brothers grade 8 grad who attended the school I ran into Berhns (Vice Principal) again and we began talking how I was a couple years from my internship. The idea was brought to my attention that I could potentially go to CCS for it. I began thinking about it and the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.
When it came time to sign up for internship again I called in and asked if I could still do it there and I was given the “ok”! I went through a lot of back and forth with placement, but I finally got into the school. A few reasons I chose to move back to Moose Jaw was first off for my family. My brothers who are in grade 10 are going through that awkward stage in their life and I felt like as their older brother I should be there for them and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do so. My sister who is 5 years old and in kindergarten is growing up so fast and I don’t know where I will be after I graduate and get a job and I want her to know who her brother is. My parents, I’ve just felt like the 3 years I was in university I was really distant from them and I just wanted to be able to build a closer relationship with them. My grandma which was who I was going to live with during my time in Moose Jaw again I have just been distant and wanted to be there for her and repair a relationship I feel I was part of the downfall of.
All that being said I get to school for the first prep days and see my cooperating teacher Lucy Dalgarno and instantly we get along and I can tell it is going to be a good year. I also found out I would be working with Brett Young and Al Block who was my football my grade 12 year. Although a little nervous having this group of teachers to work with excited me more than anything. Although these were my 3 main staff I would be with there were several others in the building who were always willing to talk to me and help me out no matter what. There was not a day that I dreaded going into work because the people were just so awesome. If ever I was having a bad day someone in the building would always take a minute to talk to me and just give me encouragement to keep going.
If I wrote about my whole experience it would take forever so I will just get to my class. I mainly had a grade 8 class and I taught mostly every subject. I had 31 students which included 20 girls and 11 boys. I think at the start they wanted to test me and see how far they could push me like any grade 8 class would. I think early on we got into a good routine together and as time went on I became more consistent. By November the thought of leaving this group of kids upset me because I knew it was fast approaching. They would always say, “you should teach here” and tell me not to leave. All their statements I wish were true and I wish I could have stayed there with them. They through me a little party on the last day which they themselves set up and I was just so happy that in the end of all the obstacles we went through together they were going to miss me and me them. I pushed them to do their best and I never let anything rest, if there was a problem I would bring it to light to see if they would make a change on their own and they would.
My last day I was brought on stage in front of the whole school where I got a little choked up saying my goodbyes. Saying goodbye to the students was a weird feeling because every day for 4 months we were together majority of the time. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t the toughest day of internship. Later on went for lunch with all the staff and had our good byes. It was tough to say bye to such a wonderful staff as well. The part that really got me is when I went back to the school and cleaned out my desk and everything there just fit into a little bin. The bin wasn’t even that heavy and I thought how could 4 months of great memories just fit into this little bin. I stood in the classroom for a while and my only hope was that something I said will one day make a positive difference in one of the students lives.
Not a day goes by that I don’t miss Internship for the staff and students. I wish I could go back and hang out more than I have. I owe the staff at that building a huge thank you for helping me through tough times, school and life.
Obviously this blog post could go on to fill a decent sized book, but I just wanna give thanks to everyone at that building who made internship awesome!
Special Thanks to (in no particular order): Lucy Dalgarno, Brett Young, Al Block, Rodger Gregor, Carrie Hlady, Lee Behrns, Dwight Cameron, Janis Schultz, and Christina FlamandFollow @DurstMcKen #ECMP355 #Internship
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Trip With A Stranger
When I pulled over you could tell on his face he was relieved and grateful that I had pulled over which instantly made me feel good. He got in the car said thanks and announced his name to me, “Chris”. At first I just said I’m heading to Regina and I hope that is fine and he was appreciative and said yeah man any little way helps.
We begin talking and I find out he decided 4 days ago to go across Canada and try and make it to the east coast. Friends and Family don’t know what he is doing. The only one who knows is his girlfriend of 7 years who is supporting him 100% in his journey. He was in Canmore, Alberta hiking and snowshoeing, but due to avalanches and bears coming out of hibernation he said it just didn’t seem worth it right now and he’ll go back in July. For now he is just living for the moment as he has nothing but a backpack and an optimistic attitude. He filled me in that he travelled 250km last night and rewarded himself by sleeping in a motel.
After I picked him up the stress about school melted away due to his positive attitude towards life. He asked me about my dreams for travel and when I told them he really encouraged me to go through. He told me about the 8 people that picked me up before him and that this was his life experience before applying for his dreams to become an RCMP.
This guy was a positive energy that I think I needed at this stressful point in my life. He was grateful and his stories just restored my faith that there is goodness in the world still. I enjoyed this guy’s company and drove him all the way Balgonie. He is doing a great thing for his life and when I dropped him off at the side of the highway we took a picture exchange information, but I couldn’t help but be jealous of his carefree attitude and the experience he was gonna have over the next month or two.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Video Games in Life
As a child who grew up with video games I always heard the same things, “Get off your game and do something else.” For years my gaming habits were not supported by anyone in my household. I use to cut grass and do little chores to try and get enough money just for the next game. For my birthday I would ask for gift cards to Blockbuster and I was always looking for used games to be able to get for way cheaper. When I was growing up I wouldn’t say that it consumed my life at all because I was still active in sports and maintained a good average in school. It was just something I would do before bed and when there was nothing else to do. My logic always was, why would I stare at a television and watch a television and be totally disengaged? When I could control what happens on the television and be having fun.
When I was younger the type of games I always played were sports games. NHL being my favourite, but I also had NBA and Madden games. I would enjoy taking my favourite teams through seasons as the general manager. I won’t deny a few hours were wasted playing the games, but always for personal enjoyment. Something I was also learning while I played these sports games was money management and fairness of a deal. The way money management was learnt was the salary cap that was set out by a team. Even though you had a ton of money to work with I had to be conscience of the players I wanted on the team and what they wanted. Throughout the year I had to take into consideration the contracts coming to an end and having to project the backlash I would get in the off season trying to re-sign players who I know would want more money. Fairness of a deal was learned through trades and free-agent negotiation. You had to look at the players they have and then compare what a fair deal is to try and get that player. Free agents is giving them money you think they are worth based on their overalls. When I was younger I would always want the best team and had to realize that I couldn’t have it. In that sense the games also taught me not to be greedy.
Other things that were taught to me through gaming was hand eye coordination, decision making, and teamwork. I use to play this game Starcraft on the computer being the youngest sibling at the time that Starcraft came out my ability to click around the screen with ease was mocked because my hand eye coordination “sucked”. After playing this game for a little bit each week I could tell it was easier to click and navigate around the screen. Then after playing it for a couple of months it was very easy to click around and I started to win against other players online. At a young age my hand eye coordination was strong because of computer games. Having the stress of playing against other players around the world as well helped me to problem solve in what I thought at the time were stressful situations. Setting up base coordinating with other players on your team was all part of the strategy as well. Starcraft was one of the first games I ever played online with other people I did not know and the only communication was through text on the screen. Reading and typing were another skill that developed while playing games.
Gaming can be a negative in people’s lives unless it comes in moderation. While young I still was outside every day riding my bike, hanging out with friends, or tobogganing. This was just something I did in my spare time for fun, not saying it didn’t take over a day or two while growing up, but for the most part it was just for fun when I had nothing else to do. I would say video games were a crucial part to the development of simple skills early on that have only strengthened in time and help me in my life today. There is a blog posting that speaks about video games and how they are being used for good in modern society. I believe it is something that can help relieve stress and help strengthen skills in our young children. This is a new world and playing the right types of games can be a great tool to help kids succeed.
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Monday, March 24, 2014
Voki
This resources would be a fun way for students to learn. It starts off with being able to make an avatar that you can type in words to make them actually talk what you are typing. The students would get into it because they get to personalize their avatar.
How would I use this tool in a classroom?
I would find/create lesson plans for the students to go through and complete. It would trial and error for them to see how to use and complete the assignments correctly.
Why would I use this tool in a classroom?
Because it would be a new way for the students to learn. I think it is an innovative way that could hold students attention if it wasn’t over used in a classroom. 
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Recent Observations
Recently there has been a ton of buzz on the internet regarding homeless people. I have seen many “RAK nominations” (Random Acts of Kindness) where people go out and do something nice for people that are less fortunate. They are followed around with a camera or have one hidden to show off their good behaviour and post it to youtube. The fact that they are doing nice things for others who are less fortunate than themselves is great. If you need the camera to work up the courage then it is whatever because in the end it is being generous and helping others in need.
Other things I see on the internet are just disappointing. I don’t know how many people have seen this trend, but it happened to be spam that popped up on my Facebook labeled “This New Selfie Trend is Disgusting!” Curious I clicked on it and there were 9 photos that really left me speechless. With text reading “Shirtless Homeless Bum Selfie” “Quick selfie with a homeless guy sleeping in the lobby” And the pictures themselves. Smiling, thumbs up, exploiting and harassing these individuals. It absolutely boggles my mind to where people get this sense of higher self worth over others.
My friend Lane Sentes had a very strong Facebook post a couple weeks ago that he linked with a video of a homeless man receiving $1000. I took a few quotes from his post, the whole post was powerful but these quotes are what really stood out to me.
“Not everybody chooses, or wants to be homeless, and this guys gratitude afterwards made me tear up a bit. And it's not cause I feel sorry for him, but because it restored some faith in humanity for him; as he pointed out that no one has ever done something this significant for him in his life.”
“We shouldn't just label people as homeless or "they're too lazy, or inadequate"... rather have some understanding as to why they may be homeless: He could have went through some serious hardships that none of us even know the slightest bit about, (or perhaps he realizes how corrupt our society has gotten, and has lost hope)”
“I just wish we'd all come together in solidarity and help one another out, or try to understand one another instead of tossing out labels”
I then viewed a video of a youtuber by the fouseyTube who posted a youtube video labeled “THE HOMELESS CHILD EXPERIMENT!” This particular youtuber is known for pulling off pranks in society and seeing how people react so this being a more serious title I watched it out of curiosity. People walking by and looking at this child’s sign and not helping this young boy who is posing as homeless. The part that got me was when the little boy was made to feel bad from a citizen on the street and as they are walking away fousey asks him, “Is there anything you want to say?” The little boy responds, “Just what happened to this world?” The reaction on camera from fousey was the same reaction that I had which was speechless. Here is this young boy who at such a young age can already identify with a crumbling society and it is heart breaking.
This is an emotional blog post about real world issues but also I hope a blog post to get people thinking about being decent human beings to each other. There is one Earth that we all share, why not be allies rather than enemies. All the troubles in the world, all the problems are too much to handle. When you look internationally, nationally, and even in your own backyard. The hate is everywhere and my question is why? I have the same wish that Lane does which is, “I just wish we'd all come together in solidarity and help one another out, or try to understand one another.” The challenge now is to go out and be a better person in society. If it takes a “RAK nomination” to do that then I nominate all of you who are reading this. "Be the change you want to see in the world." -Gandhi
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