Unfortunately, this week I was sick and missed class. It turns out I’m not yet immune to seasonal illness! I’ve marked it as an area that I’ll need to improve in before becoming a classroom teacher (we’ll see how successful that is).
Looking over the slides, I was excited to see the reflection topic encouraged playing around with graphic design. Since I was in school myself, I have spent time playing around with various digital design softwares (e.g., iMovie for videos, Procreate for drawing, Google Slides for presentation, and Canva for graphics).
From “Powerpoint Nights” (presenting niche topics and interests with friends) to creating event posters, I’ve loved playing around with these design tools. This reflection introduced a new way to play around with these resources: worksheets! Therefore, for this reflection, I’ve included two example worksheets that I made. Both are made using Google Slides. The second one involves elements from Canva’s graphics library.
1. The Wild Robot
While sick, I spent a lot of my free time reading. For my L2P, I had weekly visits in a grade 3/4 classroom. As my Wednesdays are available this semester, I spent one visiting the class again. There, I had found that the students were reading The Wild Robot. Coincidentally, I had recently received that book for Christmas! Therefore, for my first worksheet, I thought I would create something to tie in with a novel study of Peter Brown’s book.
2. The Middle Ages
Outside of class, I also work as a tutor. Part of my job is tutoring eighth-grade Social Studies. According to the BC curriculum, one of the first units for Social Studies 8 is “Feudalism in Europe.” For my second worksheet, I wanted to create a tool to illustrate the social and power structure of feudalism present in Europe’s Middle Ages. Often, this is demonstrated using a pyramid showing the flow of power, as well as each role’s responsibilities and interactions. I thought for a review worksheet, students could “fill-in-the-blank” a pyramid.
What did I learn?
From making these worksheets, I considered when each would be introduced in a unit. I also had fun exploring what else could tie into these exercises.
For the novel study worksheet, I imagined this to be a reflection after reading the chapters mentioned. I thought this could also tie to elements of science with camouflage. Therefore, I wanted to focus on what camouflage is—both in the story and beyond. The exercise of finding the definition in a dictionary would encourage students to use the resources available to them. Also, it would act as a touchstone for new vocabulary. In camouflaging Roz themselves, students would reflect on how she camouflaged in the novel and imagine new ways she could interact with different landscapes.
For the feudalism worksheet, I imagine this could be a study aid alongside learning about the social structures in Europe’s Middle Ages. That is why I provided a word bank. In my own school experience, I remember “fill-in-the-blank” follow-along notes were how I learned best. It allowed me to both note important information and follow along with what my teacher was saying. If I were to adapt this exersize for review, practice, or a test, I may omit parts of the word bank (either roles or responsibilities) or omit the word bank altogether.
All in all, I had fun trying out new techniques in Google Slides (for example, using the “shapes” function to build a Roz lookalike). This exercise made me excited to build activities for students! Worksheets, activities, and note documents all provide ways for students to recall, learn, and explore new information. In addition, they help students learn how note-taking can work best for them!
I’m looking forward to playing around with graphic design tools and seeing what is possible! (Special thanks to Google Slides for this reflection post).
