Starting Research on My Genius Hour...

Wow, I learned so much today about classroom pets!

My question is focused on how teachers can effectively incorporate pets into their teaching, and I definitely found many uses in this regard, but I also found lots of necessary background info when wanting to get a class pet. This information included some safety guidelines, such as teaching children how to properly wash their hands and being sure this is done after handling the pet, the pet's food, or anything from their habitat. Also found were concerns about being sure you know what will be done with the pet during weekends and breaks as they can't be left alone for weeks or months!

I am very excited about what I am learning about using classroom pets during lessons. I've found examples of teachers using pets in almost all subjects, including science (units on habitats and nature), reading (as children become very excited about reading to a class pet) or writing (students can write stories about the pet, or even write letters to them). I know this is only the beginning of what I will continue to find.

I knew this is a topic I was interested in, but I was shocked when I looked at what page I reached of the research article that I had found... I read up to page 20 without even realising it! It didn't feel like a chore, or an assignment, but I was genuinely interested in what I was doing. And if I can become this excited just about the idea of a class pet... imagine the difference it can make in a child's learning when they actually have one.

From here I will continue to read more articles and find more research. My main goal will be to find more first hand experiences from teachers and different ways that they used the pet to motivate students, or to teach lessons.

Genius Hour Goals

My goal for my genius hour project is to find out as much as I can about class pets so that I may use one in my own teaching and effectively incorporate one into my own future classroom. I will be looking for information on what types of class pets have been used in the past, how the teacher has incorporated them into the classroom and students' learning, and also the role of students in the care of the animal, if this is meant to be part of learning.

In my own experience I have been in one classroom with class pets. When I was in Kindergarten we had a class pet, a rabbit named Thumper who I, and my classmates, loved. We also had an incubator in which we watched our group of eggs hatch and grow into fluffy chicks.

I feel that I am not totally competent in my knowledge as to how these creatures were used to enhance our teaching, and so unsure as to how to do this myself. I do not want to try to incorporate something in the classroom that I am not confident in as this would be a disaster waiting to happen if I don't know myself why I am doing what I am!

From here I will be talking with other educators with experience in this area to get their opinions and participate in a dialogue on the topic. I also plan to find resources related to my topic online in the form of blogs, and websites.

Roo72. (2005, November 16). Gerbil [photograph]. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbil#/media/File:Gerbil.JPG

Genius Hour

When trying to come up with a genius hour topic I tried to think of something that I am passionate about, and something that I can also use in the future to apply in the classroom. A topic which came to mind pretty quickly was my passion for animals, and the way that animals have been incorporated into the classroom in my own experience was by having a class pet. In my Kindergarten class, my favourite year of school, we had a class bunny named Thumper. He was a big, friendly bunny who I would put into the toy grocery cart and push around at play time. Now that I am heading into schools myself I wonder how we can use our students' interest in animals to not only excite them just by having a class pet, but by incorporating the class pet into lessons.

This ended up being: How can teachers effectively incorporate a class pet into their teaching?

At this point I have a number of goals. I would like to explore the different kinds of animals that have been incorporated into the classroom, what lessons students can learn from interacting with the animals, and also how the animals can be used in regular lessons in a way that may pique the interest of students and get them more involved. Basically, I don't think that a classroom pet should be there just for the sake of having an animal, but that they should be used as an opportunity to further learning.

Going forward I am going to begin to research the experiences that have been shared by other teachers. I also believe that I may need to narrow down my question so that it will be more specific, and pick a specific focus.

Copyright

How many times were you told as a student not to copy the work of others? In post secondary education this becomes an even more serious warning as you could jeopardize your educational career by not referencing the work of others correctly.

Now, how many times have you copy and pasted something off the Internet? Whether it be words or pictures. There are even programs that allow you to record videos that are online in order to have them on your own computer. It is a strange phenomenon when we know not to copy academic works, but somehow feel it is okay to do this in other realms. Just as if you were using information from a scholarly journal or news article, all resources that are created by other people must be properly referenced and cited... if the author allows you to use it by doing so.

I think it is very important to teach students about the importance of giving others credit for the work they have done, but also not to be frightened. I can see students becoming terrified of using a picture of Google, but that isn't necessary! Rather we should teach them about copyright and how to identify if the resource they are looking at is able to be shared or not. I think this would also be an excellent way to promote the students doing more of their own work, such as taking their own pictures, when circumstances permit.

Gomez Monroy, Carla. (2008, January 17). One Laptop per Child [photograph]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/4YjhMe

Ribeiro, Lucella. (2008, June 30). Children at School [photograph]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/ehBnRE

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, Teaching and Learning with Technology!

I will be blogging about my experiences of learning to teach with technology, and learning about new technologies myself. The end focus of this blog will be to create and participate in a Genius Hour. This is something new to me that sounds incredibly interesting and inspiring as we are able to hear the voices of our students rather than tell them what they are to do. By providing students with open ended questions they must use their own background, experiences, and creativity to solve real world problems.

I found this great video on Youtube by MsEdredberg from last year listening to students as they share their thoughts. (Notice that new ideas for technological creations are quite common!)

Thank you for reading and I look forward to exploring Genius Hour even further.

Dani