As I move further along with my free inquiry, I feel that my focus has started to shift away from yoga and instead towards flexibility training. Yoga is an excellent way for me to unwind and relax, but I find that I have been able to make more time for flexibility training as it is relevant to my own life since I often practice it at my work as an artistic swimming coach. This week, I was able to do a training session during one of my practices; my coach lead me through a few new activities that I really enjoyed. A few days later, I introduced the activities that I learned to my own athletes. I find great pleasure in learning all sorts of new stretches and drills so that I can practice them with my athletes and work towards becoming more flexible.

Photo by Wesley Tingeyon Unsplash

Last class, we discussed coding and looked through a few different resources that would be useful for beginner level coding. I had the chance to visit a few different rooms, however the resource that stuck out to me the most was the app ScratchJr, as it translated basic coding skills into an appealing creative activity for children. The purpose of the app was to build sequences and stories by selecting different features and functions and placing them in the desired order. This app was very interesting to me because it introduces coding in such an approachable and fun way that encourages future coding development in children. I had never had the chance to do any coding throughout my education, but as society moves towards becoming more technologically sound, coding is definitely a skill that is useful and relevant.

Photo by Roozbeh Eslamion Unsplash

During our EdCamp session, I spent the majority of my time in the room that discussed gender in the elementary classroom. It was very enlightening to see how each person has had their own experiences, and has different levels of knowledge of the topic of gender. One key point I took away from the discussion is that teachers have the capability to educate children on sex, gender, and societal norms at a young age, even when it can seem daunting. If children are taught in school that gender isn’t black and white and that there are so many different ways for people to self-identify, then hopefully they will become more understanding and accepting of others. Also, if teachers create a safe, welcoming environment for people of all genders, then it can positively affect students to be able to be who they are with confidence, and it can give them a space to feel supported.

Overall, I found the EdCamp to be very engaging, as I learned many new things from other people in my discussion group. I think that this format could be an excellent way for students to share and listen to their classmates’ experiences and opinions, and I would definitely consider using it in my future classroom.

Photo by Yasin Yusufon Unsplash

I found this past school week to be quite hectic with having to turn in many midterm assignments. Because of this, I was unable to make time to complete an at home yoga session, however while I was at my synchronized swimming practice, we were able to do some flexibility training. Flexibility is a key component in yoga, and it is also an integral skill in synchronized swimming. At flex practice, we focus on split or leg stretches, with the addition of some shoulder and back exercises as well. Even some of the stretches we do in synchro practice are used in yoga, such as bridge, cobra, and pigeon. Although I was unable to enjoy a mentally calming  individual yoga session this week, I was still able to reap some of the physical benefits from my flexibility training.

Photo by Rawan Yasseron Unsplash

The above photo is a modified pigeon pose (we did this exact one at practice).

In this blog post are two videos of me playing the ukulele. The first video is of me playing “The Wandering Cowboy” (please don’t mind me smiling at my sister behind the camera). The second video is of me playing “Boll Weevil”. I feel fairly satisfied with the progress I have made thus far, but I am well aware that I need to focus on my fluidity and timing while switching chords in the latter half of the semester.

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After practicing the chords for my two short songs, I met up with my sister to have her help me with strumming. She corrected my form for strumming and also helped me to practice the strumming patterns for my two pieces, “The Wandering Cowboy” and “Boll Weevil”. After listening to the songs closely, we decided that it would sound best to just strum down for “The Wandering Cowboy”, and have a d,d,d,u,d strumming pattern for “Boll Weevil”. These strumming patterns are different from what is written on my musicianship goal assignment, but I feel more confident with the revisions I have made. One thing that I am particularly struggling with is the timing of switching chords in “Boll Weevil”, as there are parts where I have to switch back and forth between F and C quite quickly. I have practiced playing the songs all the way through, and even though it is far from perfect, I feel that I have made good progress since the beginning of the term.

I started to learn the basics of the ukulele from my sister. Initially, she spent some time with me and taught me the three different chords I needed to learn for my midterm demonstration: G, C, and F. After our first session together, our schedules didn’t line up to allow us to practice together for a few days, so I looked at some online resources on my own. I found Yousician on YouTube to be very helpful in solidifying the skills that my sister had taught me. I focused on finger positioning the most at first, and then I moved on to strumming the chords. Once I was comfortable with that, I learned how to change from one chord to another. This step took more coordination than I thought, and I am still working on mastering this skill.

I will admit, wrapping my head around learning a new instrument has been overwhelming, especially on top of all of my other assignments for school. I felt confident about learning the ukulele when making my musicianship goal, but as my course work intensified, it seemed more and more daunting to get started on the process. What ended up motivating me to begin learning (aside from the rapidly approaching midterm report) was help from more experienced musicians. My sister has been great with answering any questions I have about the instrument; she even let me borrow her ukulele for the term. Another thing that has helped me greatly was the group session in our zoom meeting last Friday. It was very encouraging to get tips from my classmates and professor, and I found that this helped guide me in the direction I needed to go.

For both my EDCI 336 free inquiry and my EPHE 310 new recreation activity, I have chosen to do yoga. I have been able to connect these two classes together by practicing the activity for both classes, and reflecting on my discoveries in these blog posts. Last week in my EPHE class, we practiced breaking down athletic skills, and my group chose to breakdown the yoga pose ‘downward facing dog‘. This lecture activity allowed me to really focus on the purpose of the exercise, and prompted me to analyze my future yoga sessions more thoroughly.

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This week in EdTech, we discussed some ways that audio and visual media can be used for educational purposes. Recently, I have had the chance to observe a few different ways that videos can enhance learning experiences. Since transitioning to online schooling, some of my professors have opted to record video lectures and post them on our class websites so that we can view the material asynchronously. I appreciate that this is available to me so that it decreases my overall sense of ‘zoom fatigue’. Also, in my school observation sessions in a grade 2/3 classroom, I have noticed that the teacher uses snack time as an opportunity to display read along story books on the projector, so that the students can have additional  practice reading. The students take turns choosing the stories and really enjoy having this as part of their school routine.

Photo by Johnny McClungon Unsplash