Month: December 2020

I read Latenight11’s blog on Learning, Motivation, and Theory.

As I read this blog, I found myself feeling more and more relatable. I agree that when you have a “buddy”, you can be more consistent, and having that other person go through the same/similar journey as you actually helps you stay on task and keep on progressing. 

You also mentioned that when you have purpose, your motivation increase. I agree with you on this as well. I always found going to the gym to exercise very hard because I always had to motivate myself to get there to start working out even though I liked the idea of moving my body. I used to think “maybe I can just do similar things at home” and end up being lazy and not doing it. 

One day I got inspired by one of my friends who competes in lifting. I have known him for a very long time, and seeing him evolve  was very very inspiring, making me think maybe I can do it too. I wanted to be strong like my friend, and that enough was a good motivation for me to start hitting the gym and stay consistent. Even if we don’t go to the same gym, he continue on to motivate me through his progress. If he is working hard to meet his goal, I am going to try hard to meet my goal.

I read Mara’s blog post on Experiential learning. Thank you for the mention as well! Her post included a short video that explains Experiential Learning in only a few minutes, and I really like the way she delivers information. It keeps the reader engaged with different features in her blog post!

I especially resonated on the part “It gives learners opportunities for hands-on learning, which has been linked with increased engagement and memory retention as the learning is linked with memories and feelings (Carlton University, 2020). 

When I look back on my highschool years, to be honest, I don’t remember most of the things I learned when I was sitting in class, but I remember the function of internal organs because we used our body and played it out. Someone acted out as a “food” that goes through the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, and etc. It was way more memorable and enjoyable than just staring at the textbook to learn!

I believe it is beneficial for students if learning happens both indoors and outdoors,  including some sort of hands-on features especially with younger grades, ideas that are relatable, and open, for it to be meaningful and memorable.

I read Harleen’s blog post on Interaction. I thought her activity idea with students was great and the TedTalk she shared with us was very powerful. I find myself sometimes getting drowned with technology and screen time through responding to emails and text messages. Especially these days with online courses and working from home, I hear a lot of people, including myself, struggling to separate work/school and their private life. As much as I believe that there are many cool technologies out there and that it is important to incorporate those in classrooms,  it is also very very important to take ourselves outside and do outdoor learning so that we can give ourselves some break and time to rest in our own nature. 

I read Heidi’s blog called Learning Design for All .

I found her posts very interesting and eye-opening at the same time.  After looking at Shelly Moore’s evolution of inclusion image that Heidi shared in her blog, I realized I’ve been slightly misunderstanding the idea of “inclusion” this whole time.

I knew in my head that all individuals are unique and they learn differently in their own pace. However after reading her post where she says “there is no such thing as an “average” learner, each person is as complex as the next”, I  realized I have been unconsciously categorizing a lot of them as “typical” or “average” learners and some individuals “unique learners”. 

I found the image of dots very helpful to imagine and understand what inclusion actually means and looks like. Heidi’s blog posts reminded me of the importance of giving options to use the support and modification provided for everyone, instead of limiting those to individuals who “seem” to need it.