Fairly new to this so called "Twitter world", when being assigned to participate into an online Twitter Chat, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I choose to participate in an Genius Hour Chat solely due to the fact I have chosen to implement Genius Hour as an intervention for my action research, which is based upon student choice and student engagement. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to engage with other educators employing Genius Hour within their classroom and hopefully gain some insight on some of the strategies and techniques they use during this hour, as well as hopefully get some of my current questions answered. What is Genius Hour, some of you might ask. Well, it is much like our own 20% project but used within the education realm. It takes on the same notion of taking part of the students school day or school week (it of course varies depending on the teacher, school, etc.) to create and work on a project that the students are passionate about. For my particular project, my students decided they wanted to focus on community service, so therefore that is the focus of their Genius Hour time. I could go into deep discussion on my action research, but for the purpose of this blog, I will keep it simple. If you would like to see more on my action research in full effect, feel free to check out it out here. Being this was my first online chat, like I had mentioned, I had no idea what to expect. As I sat on my couch, 15 minutes prior to the chat starting (not wanting to be late), I thought to myself, "Well this can't be too bad." Little did I know, I was in for an overwhelming surprise. Before this chat, I thought I was pretty good at multi-tasking, but I came to realize I need to brush up on my multi-tasking when it comes to the social media! Trying to read, respond, favorite, re-tweet and answer the questions being tweeted all at once was pretty intense. As the hour passed by, I found myself re-tweeting and favoriting more than responding because I felt like I could not keep up with all the discussions going on at once and I wanted to be sure that I did not miss anything. Also, I realized I kept forgetting to hashtag genius hour (#geniushour), so I often found myself re-tweeting my responses a second time. Probably the most frustrating thing though was having a limit of on the number of characters that could be used, ESPECIALLY when "quoting" an individuals tweet. I felt like I spent too much time thinking about how I could shorten my response and it does not help that I am a semi perfectionist, I was determined to make my response fit. (Probably not the best idea for the matter of this chat.) Although I did find the chat to be overwhelming, I also found it to be very beneficial and helpful as well. I loved how many great ideas and suggestions that were able to be shared with each other within a matter of seconds. It was also great because stepping into this project, I felt like I was stepping on thin ice and I had gotten to a point where some of my questions and wonderings were unsupported. Here, i was able to ask my question and get a great amount of responses and ideas to help support me. Also, when sharing some of the strategies I am currently using, it was also re-assuring to hear that it was a "good idea" or like one fellow tweeter said "THAT'S GENIUS!" As far as curating the chat, I did learn that it is best to do it soon after, if not immediately after the chat. As you can see, I have a Storify to the right that is not my own; it is Denise Kribs Storify of the chat, who actually hosted this particular chat. I am showcasing her Storify because when I went back to do my own, I waited a few days and by that time, I had a hard time going back and finding all the tweets from our chat. For my next chat, I will be sure to create my Storify immediately after the chat is over. Overall, I think this assignment was a good experience. Although, yes it was overwhelming, I think like anything else it takes some getting use too. I can't say that I did not enjoy it though. It is great to see how much support there is out there via Twitter. I never looked into using Twitter in this way, so it has definitely broadened my outlooks on the social media and how it can be utilized. #untilnexttime, -Marina | |
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Why School? by Will Richardson, addresses the changing needs of society and students. He addresses the abundance of technologies and recommends that schools need to “prepare kids for old-school expectations and new-world realities alike.” Richardson asks the questions “Why school?” He states that with all the new technology, why do kids need to keep showing up to school? He goes on to ask why we have classrooms and teachers when now we have the technology for kids to watch a video and teach themselves. Throughout the reading Richardson addresses these questions. One line that summarizes it pretty well is he states “Just because technology gives us access to new opportunities for learning, doesn't mean every new technology is better than what we have."
So what does that mean to me as a future educator being wrapped up in the world of technology? Although I believe technology is a wonderful tool in schools today and I have recently be lucky enough to work in a school with iPads and netbooks in the classroom, I still believe students to need the guidance of a classroom teacher. I believe students will still need that human interaction that technology does not give them. But I also believe this a great time and opportunity to learn alongside our students. With our thinking and understanding constantly changing, we are continuously forced to be a life-long learner and as Richardson says, “We have to stop delivering curriculum to the kids…. And start discovering it with them.” "Change is the end result of all new learning." -Leo Buscaglia Change is something I have always been a little reluctant of and more especially when it comes to my workout routines. As I stated previously, going into this 20% project, my knowledge of fitness was very minimal and me being the rather shy individual, I never took upon myself to try and learn from others what else might beneficial in exercising. To be honest, I really enjoy running and feel comfortable running so I ideally just found running to be my usual workout routine, although I know running can only do so much. Last Saturday evening, as I was feeling very unaccomplished and rather lazy due to the lack of school work I was able to get done, I decided I would at least push myself and have a decent workout. As I sat on the couch, contemplating whether I wanted to do my usual run or simply complete a Nike workout video, I decided to try something different and workout with my roommate, Alyssa who I believe has quite a bit more knowledge on fitness than I do. Our workout for the evening, which is called the "Park Workout" was designed by Alyssa and consisted of:
Although this workout kicked my butt and my legs were incredibly sore for the next few days, I really enjoyed this workout and was happy I decided to join her. I learned a good amount of new exercises I could utilize to change my normal workout routines. On Monday night, again, I decided to join Alyssa because not only did I like the results I was feeling, but also just something about working out outside, in the nice cool San Diego breeze, is just lovely. Monday's evening workout, which was a little bit longer than Saturday's workout consisted of:
Additionally, Alyssa introduced me to a high intensity workout called Tabata, which I absolutely loved! Within Tabata, which was founded in Japan by a man named Izumi Tabata, one chooses an exercise and does it for 20 seconds then rests for 10 seconds with intervals of your choice. Alyssa and I chose to sprint; we sprinted back and forth for 20 seconds, rested for 10 seconds and did this a total of eight times. After completing this, yes i was extremely out of breath, but I loved it! It was such a refreshing feeling and I what I enjoyed the most was I found myself really pushing myself to run faster when I noticed I was slowing down. It was the perfect end to a great workout. Overall, I found that a change in my workout was postive and I really found these different workouts to be both successful and a very motivating! I learned a lot of new exercises that I have already found myself using. I am also looking forward to doing Tabata again, with different exercises and we agreed to take it to the beach, which I am excited and looking forward too because who doesn't love the beach! :) Until next time, -Marina P.S. I am also a little ashamed it took me a week to write this blog; this week has been CRAZY! Yesterday, I decided to spend my Saturday hiking to the Hollywood sign. If you're ever in LA or if you ever just feeling adventurous, like i was and want a fun, fairly simple, and enjoyable hike with beautiful views, I would definitely recommend this hike! Not only did I get to knock out my workout for the day, I was able enjoy nature, the lovely weather, sight see, and spend valuable time with a cousin and good friend of mine. It was a win, win situation!
According to my Nike+, I hiked 4.40 miles, both ways. Roughly, it took me about 45 minutes to hike up one way but because I also wanted to get as close as possible to the sign, I back tracked and took the second trail, taking about another 15 minutes or so. This second trail led me to the back of the Hollywood sign, (as you can see in the picture above) and had much more beautiful views and sights to see on the way up. Not to mention, on one of the fences on the way up, lots of other previous hikers left their Twitter and Instagram profile names asking you to follow them ;) I utilized technology, for one to initially find directions to get to the Hollywood sign and to also look for the actual hiking directions/tips. I searched "Hollywood Hike" on Google, and it took me to a website (hollywoodsigntrip.com) which lays out very conscise directions, and also includes photographs for the actual hike showing which turns to take. Come to realize though, once you get to start of the hike, its pretty self explanatory from there. I also researched and will share some benefits of hiking:
As this would be my third new hiking trail of the year, I have found hiking to be extremely fun, enjoyable, challenging and relaxing all at once. I look forward to finding new hiking trails and exploring much more. Next hike I want to tackle is the "Potato Chip Hike" here in San Diego, Ca. Until next time… Happy Hiking! :) "Make it simple but significant." - Don Draper First things first, let me just say how surprised I was too see just how many applications there are to record and track one's daily water intake! I expected to find a few but then ten minutes later, I found myself downloading five different water intake apps and debating on which one I liked the best.
For my first goal/challenge of this 20% project, I would like to "make it simple but significant" and what better way to do that then by starting off with a daily water intake challenge. For the learning portion of this challenge, I have researched exactly how much water I am suppose to consume daily. According to U.S. News and World Report -- Health and Wellness, "half of your body weight (pounds) in ounces is how much water you should be drinking each day, and if you're exercising and sweating profoundly, add another liter with half a teaspoon of sea salt to ensure proper electrolyte replenishment." With that being said, currently weighing in at 124lbs, I have challenged myself to drink 62 oz of water a day and on days with exercise, 95 oz. To keep myself on track and within utilizing another technological tool, I have downloaded an app called "Waterlogged." It basically keeps track of the amount of water I intake daily and has a chart to show my progress thorough out the week and month. I have also set it up to where it will send me a "Remember to keep drinking water throughout the day" reminder at 12:15pm daily as well as mini goals, which are 8-10oz of water with the hour. To end, I would like to share 6 benefits to drinking water:
Drink up! :) "Strive for progress, not perfection." - Unknown Yesterday, as I happily and successfully finished my 6 mile run, I finally made the decision to focus my 20% project on gaining a better understanding of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. Within my Learning and Technology class, I am required to complete a "20% Project." This project is inspired by Google, whom allows their employees to take 20% percent of their work week to learn something, ideally anything they want, in hopes of innovating new ideas for the company. This semester, I am excited to say, I have the same option, to teach myself and learn about anything I want. This year, one of my New Years Resolutions was to exercise more and eat healthier. I don't at all want to be the fitness queen, but I do want to start living a healthier lifestyle simply to feel better about myself. (Plus, to be honest, I like food way too much to be fitness queen.) On January 6, 2014, I committed myself to running more often, and to eat healthier meals throughout out the week. Honestly, I have no idea if it has made a difference in my weight (I didn't really think about weighting myself when I started) or if I have gained muscle and all that fitness jargon, but what I do know, is that I have been feeling a lot less stressed, happier, and good about myself!!! So therefore, I am happy! With the being said, like I said I have not the slightest clue about fitness and I never really set specific goals going into this, so for more 20% project, I wish to implement and use the internet as a resource to guide me to a better understanding of living a so called "healthy lifestyle." I also want to set weekly/monthly goals and utilize the internet to find recipes for healthier but still delicious foods! I am currently using the Nike + app to record my running progress, so I will continue to use that and Pinterest, to pin different work outs and recipes. I also downloaded another Nike app that utilizes different work out for different areas of focus. I will continue to search for more ideas that I could use to help me during this project and suggestions are welcome! Cheers to living a happy and healthy life! |
AuthorMarina Sandoval Archives
May 2014
Healthy && Fit Pinning |