Zoe’s ePortfolio – Page 2 – Welcome to my adventure in becoming a teacher!

When I first started my field experience in the classroom last semester I was so excited to learn that my mentor teacher did an outdoor class everyday. I am very interested in outdoor education because it helps students regulate in so many different areas. One of my passions is helping students connect to nature. My mentor teacher once told me that we should teach children to love our Earth so that they naturally want to protect it, rather than scaring them into protecting it. This line stuck with me the most, and one of my goals as an educator is to attempt this.

One amazing resource I have found that goes above and beyond in teaching children about the outdoors is a book I bought from Amazon called Dirty Teaching: A Beginner’s Guide to Teaching Outdoors by Juliet Robertson. This book showcases all the benefits of teaching outdoors and also provides a huge variety of engaging activities.

https://www.amazon.ca/Dirty-Teaching-Beginners-Learning-Outdoors/dp/1781351074

The book description on Amazon provides all the topics that are covered in this book: “Topics covered include: forest schools, learning outside the classroom, outdoor education, nature activities, caring for the environment, play in schools, investigative play, urban outdoor activities, problem-solving, creative thinking and strategies for supporting curriculum objectives.” (Dirty Teaching on Amazon)

Make sure that the children are getting free play as well. This is how children learn to socialize, develop independence, improve physical coordination, and have a good time without adult direction.
(Dirty teaching, pp. 12)

This quote explains how outdoor free play is important in an outdoor class. My mentor teacher shared with me her thoughts on what an outdoor classroom should look like and one of these aspects was free play. Instead of getting involved, my mentor teacher would observe from a distance and watch as students learn to strengthen their relationships and solve problems. I believe that doing this outdoor is a great way to do this because student’s moods are improved when they are outdoors so their cognitive and social skills may be working well.

The book dirty teaching suggests using songs and music as a stimulus in outdoor learning. Some ideas for this are creating a music playlist for when you are outside with your class, creating an outdoor music wall, and creating musical instruments outside
(dirty teaching, pp. 81-82

Outdoor education can mean so many things. My mentor teacher last semester taught me that there are three aspects to outdoor learning: learning in nature, learning about nature, and learning for nature. Learning in nature refers to the curriculum and doing lessons outdoors. When I saw this quote in Dirty Teaching I was blown away by the fact I have only ever thought about doing science and PE outdoors. I had never thought about taking on music lessons outdoors. I absolutely love the idea of creating music outside in nature because I believe it helps children connect to themselves, music, and nature. Creating musical instruments outside seems like a fantastic idea to me. I even looked up some outdoor music walls and this is what I found:

Pin by Leslie Parker on preschool outdoor centers | Music wall, Outdoor playground, Gardening for kids — https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b4/b1/84/b4b184235c21ff6fd3b80ae6240b0f23.jpg

Assistive Technologies

by zoejacobson1

On March 18, 2021

In EDCI 336, EdTech

As I am on the road to becoming an educator I am learning all types of things I never would have considered on my own. One of these concepts being how to be inclusive to those with disabilities. Reading the article on disabilities in schools made me realize how much of the population has some sort of a disability: ~24.7%.

I personally know of a teacher that teaches in SD63 who often gets students with behaviour challenges and disabilities. This year they have 5 students who need or have IEP’s. I am excited to begin my journey and start teaching in classrooms because I know that it is going to be a challenge to be inclusive, but the more challenging it is = the more rewarding it is when you succeed at what you do.

We have learned a bit about UDL in other classes so I am glad to see it being brought up again. Creating lesson plans with UDL in mind is a great idea because, as the article states, it’s a great way to avoid reworking later on.

The use of assistive technology is a great way to make use of UDL because it gives you options for students who may have difficulty communicating or understanding lessons. iPads, Windows, Kurzweil, Google, Boardmaker, Inspiration/Xmind, FM systems, Braille, and Zoom are all different types of assistive technology. One example that I use sometimes is the voice to text option on google docs when I am listening to video lectures because sometimes I have a hard time recalling what happened in class. I am also excited to learn more about tools such as Broadmaker to help students with success regardless of their abilities. Specifically, their shop which I will post here: https://goboardmaker.com/collections/all

During my field experience there was a kindergarten student who had moved from Russia and did not speak very good English. The EA used flashcards like this to help him understand what was going on:

Boardmaker share- potato head gotalk 9 - I have not got board maker but I can adjust the pictures using the software … | Boardmaker, School fun, Speech and language — https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/56/be/df56be8a10f052a00cee7d6ad9a03f28.png

The Mindset for Healthy Eating

by zoejacobson1

On March 17, 2021

In EDCI 336, Free Inquiry

In this informative Tedx Talk, Gillian Riley talks about the mindset for healthy eating. She opens up talking about how when people want to eat healthier, they are often denying their freedom of choice. An example of this is restrictive diets, although it is not limited to this. People give themselves rules with food all the time.

Gillian talks about “The Minnesota Starvation Experiment” which put men on low calorie diets. These men became obsessed with food among other psychological issues. After this experiment, the men ate a lot more food and ended up gaining more weight. Gillian compares this to modern diets by stating this is due to the lack of freedom to choose. Prohibiting food makes it more attractive.

Gillian suggests instead of prohibiting food, give yourself permission without necessarily eating the things you give yourself permission to eat. Instead of thinking of restrictions, is to choose to eat less. Gillian talks about studies that show brain activities reflecting the habitual mindset, and this can be changed. The way to get around this is to embrace freedom completely. We are all free to eat whatever we want, however, we can make choices to consider our options.

“The more freedom you include, the more self-control you can develop” is a quote stated by Gillian that I really love. What I love about this statement is that it sets eating into a more positive light rather than a negative one. This is because when we decide what to eat without feeling guilty, we are allowing ourselves to be in more control of our choices. For example, I can tell myself that I can eat a tub of ice cream if I want to. That is giving me freedom. Now, say instead of eating the full tub of ice cream I decide to eat a small bowl. I do not feel as guilty about eating the ice cream because I realize that I have freedom to eat what I want, and my choice is to make a healthier decision.

Sample Lessons, Projects, and Assignments

by zoejacobson1

On March 17, 2021

In Uncategorised

Assignment’s That Showcase My Teaching Philosophy

301 Critical Reflection on Spiritual and Emotional Development Download

250 Outdoor Education Inquiry Download

302 Creating a Safe Environment Inquiry Download

311 Emotional Regulation Download

310 Basketball Unit Download

Teaching Philosophy

by zoejacobson1

On March 17, 2021

In EPHE 311

There is so much more to being an educator than just following the curriculum. As a future educator, I would like to support all dimensions of development in my students including spiritual, emotional, physical, cognitive, and social. It is difficult to teach students if they do not have all their needs met in each department. By supporting spiritual development, I will help students feel grounded with themselves and be kind to all living and nonliving things around them. This will be supported by going out into nature frequently and discovering all the ways to love our planet, supporting each students ways of thinking, and much more. By supporting emotional development, I will help students with self-regulation and learning what their needs are and how their behaviours may be reflecting these needs. I will also help students understand the needs of others and help them develop empathy. By supporting physical development, I will make sure students are frequently active in class. I will also encourage healthy eating habits and help students understand the importance of sleep and the effects of lack of sleep on our health. By supporting cognitive development, I will help students find their passions through inquiry. I will also help students discover different forms of learning and communication, and I will allow students to engage in ways that make them most comfortable. To promote social development, I will create opportunities for students to work together and scaffold a classroom that is able to partake in healthy discussion. It is important to me that I understand my classroom collectively and individually to support each student in an inclusive way.

The Seven Dimensions Of Wellness - International Council on Active Aging® — https://www.icaa.cc/business/images/dimensions.jpg

About Me

by zoejacobson1

On March 17, 2021

In EPHE About Me

My name is Zoe Jacobson and I am in my second year of the Education program at UVIC in the Elementary Curriculum. To share a little bit about me apart from my education, I love to be outside in nature and make some amazing food! I love to hike and just be outside in nature in general. You can sometimes find me sitting by the ocean or river just observing nature. As for food, I love to cook delicious meals and explore new recipes. However, this does not include baking. I am not the biggest fan of baking! I do LOVE to eat baked goods though.

Once COVID is over you will find my discovering new places in our beautiful province. I love where I live and getting out to explore new places close by is one of my favourite activities. Luckily, I have a good friend whole lives close to the rockies so I get to explore over there whenever I can! Here is a picture of me in Lake Louise, one of my favourite places on this Earth.

SEL: Social and Emotional Learning

by zoejacobson1

On March 15, 2021

In EPHE 311, EPHE Supporting Artifacts

My teaching philosophy has a lot to do with supporting students social and emotional development. I believe that a very large chunk of a teacher’s role is to create a positive learning environment by being actively responsive to students behaviour/needs.

Here I am introducing Social and Emotional Learning. I believe using SEL in the classroom is important because, in order for students to do well in the classroom, these key concepts need to be addressed: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills.

https://bcchp.org/the-importance-of-social-emotional-learning-in-children/

This video I have attached below is a great resource for introducing SEL and why, as adults, we need to re-evaluate our thoughts to support our social and emotional development.

In this video, Caige starts with a story about Josh. The main takeaway from this story is that instead of asking a child “what’s wrong with you?” when they are upset, we should be asking “what happened to you?”. Doing so will benefit both Josh and the parties involved in his outburst because there is social/emotional learning happening for everyone. Josh will understand his behaviour better, and so will everyone else by understanding his needs.

As a future educator it is important to always consider the behaviours of your students. In my Learners and Learning Environment’s class there are two classroom management approaches listed:

“behaviourists control behaviour through setting rules and reinforcing through reward and punishment”
“supporting self-determination so students learn about and are supported to monitor their own emotions and behaviour”

The first approach suggests that students should be punished for misbehaviour and rewarded for expected behaviour. This is an old approach used and is troublesome because it suggests that when students act in a way that is not meeting expectations, there is no help for them to understand their needs. The student will not find out why they are acting out and instead associate these “bad behaviours” with punishment only. In the second approach, students are able to look at their behaviours and understand them more. This way, students may be less likely to repeat misbehaviour and more likely to repeat good behaviour because they are self-aware of their emotions and needs.

As Caige stated in the video, SEL is the process through which children and adults effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”

As educators, we need to guide students to think about SEL.

Black Bean Burgers!

by zoejacobson1

On March 12, 2021

In Free Inquiry

Ok, so burgers are my absolute favourite food in the universe. There is just so much you can do with them!

Some of my favourite toppings are:

Fried mushroom
Tomato (simple yet so good)
Avocado
Legendary burger sauce (ketchup, relish, mustard, vinegar, and diced onion/garlic mixed together)
Gruyere
Olive tapenade

Here I have a recipe for a fabulous black bean burger. Now I don’t know if you have ever had a black bean burger. I had not and I had very high standards, but this recipe succeded. I usually go for a greasy bbq burger (the classic) so I am always wary of trying out new kinds of burgers. Let me tell you, even if you’re a carnivore you will love this burger.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/best-black-bean-burgers/

Let me know what you think!

Inclusivity in the Classroom

by zoejacobson1

On March 12, 2021

In EDCI 336

This week we had a presenter talk to us a lot about inclusivity in the classroom and her website, BCEdAccess. Tracy Humphrey was very easy to listen to because she seemed very passionate about the subject of inclusiveness and technology in the classroom. This presentation made me realize that tech is not always inclusive because it can be outdated, there’s a lack of access, no supports for parents, and much more. There were a lot of great conversations in my breakout room about inclusiveness and the challenges teachers face in their careers to try and meet these standards (and go beyond).

Tracy made it very clear that as teachers we should use technology that honours strengths and challenges in our students. There are a few steps to approaching this, so here I have made a list:

Find out what the student needs
1. You can do this by talking to the parents, past teachers, admin, and the student themself.
2. You can also do this by reading their IEP (if they have one)
Figure out what you have available for technology in your class
1. Is there anything that should be updated?
2. Figure out a way to advocate for anything new you need
Use technology in the classroom to support all students
1. Visit BCEdAccess.ca
2. Educate yourself as a teacher in technology
3. Educate your students in technology
4. Educate the parents in technology