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Post #5

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  I learned a lot about myself and the project while doing this genius hour project. First, I learned that I hate the sound of my voice in a recording. Actually, that’s not news to me, I always feel that when I hear my own voice in a recording. In terms of technology, I learned how to embed a video and how to upload a video onto YouTube. Also, I learned how to use Blogger and now it’s a tool that I can add to my pedagogical portfolio. I learned that I still get nervous when “public speaking” but am also gradually conquering that fear. I enjoyed finding evidence of my teaching that would be a good fit on my blog. It was handy that I already had a lot of screenshots from my lessons and also recorded classes that I could draw from. I also enjoyed trying the different themes on Blogger and deciding which one best suited my needs and preferences. My challenges were trying to make sure I had a variety of content, from text to pictures to video, and that none of the content was repetitive...
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Post #4

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This week, I worked on my TED Talk. I was pretty set from the get-go to use PowerPoint and create a narrated slideshow, which I would then turn into a video. This is a very useful tool of PowerPoint that maybe not a lot of people know about or use. It’s a great way to combine the slideshow functions of PowerPoint with the voice recording feature of audio platforms. To be honest, I am relieved that we don’t have to give a presentation in person. I’ve never been a fan of presentations and would in fact say that public speaking is a fear of mine. However, my friend pointed out that teaching involves giving presentations every day, and that made me think, huh, that’s true. Thinking about it that way, that this TED Talk was just a form of teaching, made it easier for me. I invite you to try the record feature on PowerPoint yourself. If you need help, you can check out this article: Record a slide show with narration and slide timings on the Microsoft Support website. Also, you can watc...
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Post #3

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  Hello again. First, I wanted to start off with a video clip of one of my classes on Zoom. This is a math class where I use the screen share and annotate features I mentioned in my last post. As you can see, these features are very useful for class, in particular something like a math class where you often have to draw diagrams. This video was made using Zoom’s built-in recording function, which is very handy. It creates a video that you can either save in cloud storage for a paid account (which I’ll go into later) or on your device. On another note, this is the first time I’ve ever uploaded anything onto YouTube. While I’ve had a YouTube account for many years, I’ve only ever used it to consume content, not create content. It was interesting to upload a video and see what YouTube is like from the other side, so to speak. Now, I want to talk about some downsides of Zoom. A major positive of Zoom is that it is free to use. However, the features for a free account are limited and ha...
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Post #2

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Let me tell you a little bit about my journey with Zoom. I was first introduced to Zoom when my workplace started using it during the pandemic. Prior to that, I had not heard of Zoom, but then suddenly it felt like it was everywhere around me. At my other workplace, they also started using Zoom. Even my mom’s church was using Zoom to host meetings. I started using Zoom to video chat with my friends. It went very quickly from something I had never heard of to something I was using every day. At first, when I started using Zoom to teach, I was hesitant about how to do it. My experiences with using technology while teaching were limited to Google Docs. I had never used features like screen share or a virtual whiteboard when teaching. At first, I was slightly daunted by these new features I was suddenly exposed to. However, I quickly picked them up and found them very useful. For example, this is a screenshot of the Zoom whiteboard where I had given a lesson on poetic devices: Xu, A. © 202...
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Post #1

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Hello, I'm Alice. Welcome to my Genius Hour blog! Valle, R. (2017, January 24.) Providing a Bigger Purpose with a Genius Hour Project [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3xslts3. Now, to be honest, I struggled with coming up with an idea for Genius Hour. I have quite a number of passions, but none of them felt right for Genius Hour. For example, I love reading, but I wasn't sure how I could make a driving question out of that. Lombrozo, T. (2015, December 14.) Confusion [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://n.pr/2DCsDiT. How did I eventually come up with my question, you ask. Well, I thought about how I'm in a teacher program, I'm passionate about teaching, this is a technology course and technology is important and only getting more important in teaching. Then I thought: how can I connect technology and teaching in a way that is personally relevant to me and hopefully helpful to others? India Today Web Desk. (2018, October 8.) Technology, technology uses, ca...
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