West Coast Teacher

West Coast is the best coast

Category: Uncategorised

Lights! Camera! Action!

November 20, 2020 / / 0 Comments

This week I learned about taking action shots in low light. If you have ever been to a theatre performance, an indoor sporting event, or in my case, my dog’s playtime, you will know what I mean when I say taking action shots in low light is hard! I found action shots particularly hard to do because they always ended up blurry. So, I did a little research and found some sites that described some techniques and camera settings in order to capture the action shots in low light. The first suggestion was to use manual focus because it gives you complete control (Hamel, n.d.). I found that I am still not comfortable with using the manual focus, so I decided to stick with autofocus for my photos. The article also suggests that if your subject is far away, like at a play or dance recital, to use a long lens that has a large aperture (Hamel, n.d.). The large aperture will let more light in and help with the quality of the photo in the low light setting (Hamel, n.d.). A fast shutter speed is also necessary in order to keep your moving subject in focus (Hamel, n.d.). In order to make sure you are using the right shutter speed you can follow the Reciprocal Rule, which states that the minimum shutter speed needed to keep the picture sharp is the inverse of the focal length (Hamel, n.d.). I found this a little confusing, so I just set my shutter speed by trial and error. Lastly, this article suggests using a high ISO in order to achieve the right exposure (Hamel, n.d.). During my dog’s playtime, I took many shots, and some turned out okay and others not great, but I decided not to worry about that and follow the mantra that “the more photos you take, and the more mistakes that you make, the better your photography will become” (Landwer-Johan, n.d.).

 

This video goes into more depth on ISO and shutter speed that are needed for low lights action photography.

Some of my photos from this week:

 

References:

Hamel, J. (n.d.). 13 Tips for Doing Action Photography in Bad Light. Digital Photography School. Retrieved from https://digital-photography-school.com/13-tips-for-doing-action-photography-in-bad-light/

Landwer-Johan, K. (n.d.). Why it’s a Good Idea to Take Lots of Photos. Digital Photography School. Retrieved from https://digital-photography-school.com/good-idea-take-lots-of-photos/

Video from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMVHloCjot4

Landscape Photography-A lot harder than I thought

October 30, 2020 / / 0 Comments

This week I experimented with some landscape photography. Before I went out, I watched this video by Mark Denney (2019). In this video, he summarizes five mistakes that people make when taking landscape photographs. The mistake that I found the most relevant to me is taking snapshot photos (Denney, 2019). Mark describes that many beginners (me included) will take snapshot photos that don’t have a clear subject or focus, and usually these photos will have twigs or branches that come into the frame which take away from the photo (Denney, 2019). He suggests asking yourself, why do I want to take this photo? What do I find interesting in this landscape? Another thing that I took out of this video was that it is important to shoot whenever you can, but really focus your efforts on sunset and sunrise (Denney, 2019). The light at both those times is very different than the light half an hour after or before because mid-day sun usually causes flat light (Denney, 2019). With this video in mind I tried to take some landscape photographs, but they did not really turn out. However, practice makes perfect so I will keep trying and experimenting!

Here are a couple of nature photos I took without the use of Mark Denney’s expertise.

Reference:

Denney, M. (2019). 5 Beginner Landscape Photography Mistakes to Avoid. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdwkkzFg3M

Flip, or not to flip, that is the question…

October 30, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I think using a flipped classroom style of teaching in a science class would be beneficial to students. The flipped classroom allows a more individualized learning experience where students can work at their own pace on their own or in small groups (Trach, 2020). Flipped classrooms have been shown to be a more student-centred learning experience, as the teacher can address student’s needs individually instead of addressing the whole class (Trach, 2020). In these types of classroom settings, it is best to have a discussion or hands on activity to help students grasp the concept that they learned on the online portion (Trach, 2020). This can also help the teacher see where clarification is needed and which parts of the concept students understand (Trach, 2020). The one downside I see to this classroom style is that it assumes that all students will have access to a computer and internet (Trach, 2020). I think over this pandemic, it has become clear to educators that not all students have the same access to technology. I wonder if there are different ways that flipped classrooms could be achieved still but be modified for those students that don’t have access to a computer? Maybe the teacher could present these students with written text and paper handouts these students to still be able to participate in this new beneficial classroom setting.

http://bitly.ws/as9V

Reference:

Denney, M. (2019). 5 Beginner Landscape Photography Mistakes to Avoid. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdwkkzFg3M

A bit out of the apple- EdCamps for Professional Development Days

October 22, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I found the EdCamp very useful and interesting. The only other time that I have been involved in an EdCamp was when I went to Esquimalt High School’s Pro-D day last month and it was very similar to the one that we did in class. So far, I have really enjoyed participating in EdCamps because they allow for inquisitive conservation to occur between colleagues. They are also cool because they are based around what the participants want to learn and what they are interested in, whereas on other Pro-D days the topics are predetermined. These types of camps give everyone a chance to share their interests, knowledge, and experiences, which I think is beneficial and helps educators to learn. One downside to EdCamps is that the participants can sometimes get off-topic; I experienced this in our in-class camp. However, it’s important to remember that off-topic conversations can be beneficial and lead to a new and enriching topic to investigate. Another benefit of these EdCamps is that they are open to all, no matter your role in education, this allows for diverse knowledge to be included in the conversation. At the bottom of this blog, I have posted a video that demonstrates the key aspects of EdCamps. http://https://youtu.be/gr7teMAk-hA

A new type of school

October 17, 2020 / / 0 Comments

This week in class, we had a guest lecturer come in, Jeff Hopkins from PSII (The Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry). This alternative school includes all the traditional school subjects, like math, science and English. The key difference is that the students learn these subjects through inquiry-based learning and by doing so, students learn multiple subjects at a time (“Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry,” 2020). I had a family member attend this school a couple of years ago and although it was beneficial for her at the time, the one thing she struggled with once she got to post-secondary was taking tests. She hadn’t developed the skill of test-taking that students in a traditional setting do. It’s difficult when the whole educational system hasn’t shifted; universities and public schools are still mostly based on didactic learning. I think since the educational system has been resistant to change, having a hybrid model would be the best for students. This would include inquiry-based learning as well as some traditional forms of tests. The new BC curriculum seems to be starting to follow this model, but we will have to see if it continues (Columbia, n.d.).

 

References:

Columbia, G. of B. (n.d.). BC’s New Curriculum. Retrieved from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/9

Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. (2020). Retrieved from https://learningstorm.org

A little light in the Night Sky

October 17, 2020 / / 0 Comments

This week for my individual inquiry on photography I took some photos of the moon at night. This was tricky because of the limited amount of night photography I had taken. Before having a camera, I just use my iPhone and iPhone night shots were always blurry and never turned out well. I was pleasantly surprised that the Sony Alpha 7 ii took fairly clear night shots and even without a flash! It can do this because it has a full-framed sensor (one of the reasons I picked this camera over others). The full-framed sensor is twice the size of the APS-C sensor, this means that it can capture twice the amount of light (Dan, 2020). The Sony Alpha 7 ii also has excellent ISO sensitivity which makes the photos cleaner (Dan, 2020). However, if you want a flash, the body of the camera has an area on top for an aftermarket flash that can be bought at any camera store, but for now, I am satisfied with the night photography I can take without it.

Here are some of my night photos:

Reference:

Dan. (2020). Everything You Need to Know About Night Photography. Retrieved from https://www.halfhalftravel.com/photography-advice/night-photography.html

image showing person walking in pre-painted footprints
Photo by Flickr user jfchenier under CC license: BY-NC 2.0

Welcome and Introduction

September 9, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Before proceeding with this first blog post, we expect you to consider your privacy preferences carefully and that you have considered the following options:

  1. Do you want to be online vs. offline?
  2. Do you want to use your name (or part thereof) vs. a pseudonym (e.g., West Coast Teacher)?
  3. Do you want to have your blog public vs. private? (Note, you can set individual blog posts private or password protected or have an entire blog set to private)
  4. Have you considered whether you are posting within or outside of Canada? This blog on opened.ca is hosted within Canada. That said, any public blog posts can have its content aggregated/curated onto social networks outside of Canada.

First tasks you might explore with your new blog:

  • Go into its admin panel found by adding /wp-admin at the end of your blog’s URL
  • Add new category or tags to organize your blog posts – found under “Posts” (but do not remove the pre-existing “EdTech” category or sub-categories, Free Inquiry and EdTech Inquiry). We have also pre-loaded the Teacher Education competencies as categories should you wish to use them to document your learning. If you would like to add more course categories, please do so (e.g., add EDCI 306A with no space for Music Ed, etc.)
  • See if your blog posts are appearing on the course website (you must have the course categories assigned to a post first and have provided your instructor with your blog URL)
  • Add pages
  • Embed images or set featured images and embed video in blog posts and pages (can be your own media or that found on the internet, but consider free or creative commons licensed works)
  • Under Appearance,
    • Select your preferred website theme and customize to your preferences (New title, etc.)
    • Customize menus & navigation
    • Use widgets to customize blog content and features
  • Delete this starter post (or switch it to draft status if you want to keep for reference)

Do consider creating categories for each course that you take should you wish to document your learning (or from professional learning activities outside of formal courses). Keep note, however, that you may wish to use the course topic as the category as opposed to the course number as those outside of your program would not be familiar with the number (e.g., we use “EdTech” instead of “edci336).

Lastly, as always, be aware of the FIPPA as it relates to privacy and share only those names/images that you have consent to use or are otherwise public figures. When in doubt, ask us.

Please also review the resources from our course website for getting started with blogging:

Archives

Attributions

Image Attributions

© 2024 West Coast Teacher

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑