Author: teachermya (Page 1 of 3)

This week was our Tech Pod Presentations! It came up so quickly! The topics covered were Teacher Influencers, Technology to Promote Wellness and Learning, Movement Breaks, Assistive Technology, Gamification, and the Ethical Components of Technology and Screens. All of the groups had unique topics but they all seemed to tie together- meaning there were a lot of resources shared and ethical conversations had. Majority of the groups did podcasts, which is an easy form to share research and information with others. My group did a video as that made sense for our topic of movement break videos because it allowed us to demonstrate our resources.

For Elena, Tasia, Taiya, and Olivia, and I’s presentation, we highlighted how we communicated, the technology we used and the information our video covers. Using Google Docs, Google Slides, and WhatsApp allowed us to do majority of the work independently. Our meetings in person were mostly done to make sure we were all on the same page on the content and vision of our project. Communication via texting is great but it also leaves room for misinterpretations, which we experienced.

I am very excited to go through the other group’s final projects and hear how the podcasts turned out!

This week we were joined by Tracy Humphrey and Kaori Lau (via Zoom) from the BC Ed Access Society which was very exciting for me. I am very passionate about disability inclusion and what that looks like in education right now. I am currently doing an inquiry project on it so the timing was great! BC Ed Access serves families of students with disabilities and complex learners across BC. The volunteer-ran organization uses a private discussion board to illustrate the daily challenges that family’s encounter while constantly advocating and fighting for equity in BC education.

They started the presentation by doing an activity using pieces of paper. Some students received either pink, orange, or green paper, while others did not receive any. Each colour represented a level of inclusion (ex: pink paper meant you were allowed to be present for the entire lesson, while students who did not get a paper were not allowed to attend). This exercise got people thinking about how they felt based on their level of inclusion. It was a very powerful exercise to get the class to open their mindset and microscopically begin to understand what some individuals go through on a daily basis. We then learned about intersectionality and identity. Personally, I identify myself as white, straight, privileged, educated, middle-class, a daughter, sister, friend, and women.

As we got into the main content of personal stories, designations, funding, and ableism, Kaori said, “You may start to notice in your time in education that some systems are broken.” This really resonated with me because of the frustration and overwhelming feeling that has come along with researching inclusion in education. The system is incredibly broken and the amount of work and education that needs to take place is astonishing.

Something that really irritates me about the system is how hard it is to get a diagnosis and how damaging that is for an individual. No diagnosis means no designation, which means no funding and way less support. Then, educators always emphasize the importance of early intervention but this is not possible without designation and a plan.

It was very interesting to hear the perspective of parents and what they have hoped for their kids. This really emphasizes the importance of IEPs and designations because it allows the education team to come up with goals that work for both the families and the people involved in the kid’s education. This is obviously easier said than done, but it is a start.

This presentation was incredible. This topic really means a lot to me and it honesty makes me angry- I could talk about it all day. I really appreciated the time and vulnerability that Tracy and Kaori displayed today and it will be very helpful for my inquiry project!