Why I'm CHOOSING To Make My Life Harder

My chosen Genius Hour Project is all about staying physically fit and active, even when my life gets crazy. I have chosen to train to run a half marathon. This is no easy feat. Though I try to run at least four times a week, the busyness of life with the stresses of school, volunteering, work, and maintaining a social life can sometimes get in the way. In order to run a half marathon I am going to have to commit a fair bit of time to training. I am okay with this though, because what motivated me to start working out in the first place a few years ago was the value I placed on having an active lifestyle.

With all of this said, when I was looking through my Twitter feed this week, I saw a tweet that really interested me about a high school runner who shoveled a pathway around the track at his school so that he could continue to train. When reading this, I couldn't help but think how inspiring it was that this runner was willing to spend an hour shoveling just so that he could get his run in for the day. He was determined to run outside, instead of on the treadmill and the motivation to run he exhibited was so clear. Here is the link to the article about this student: http://wapo.st/2kF6J5m

After talking to my dad about the tweet, he told me about a doctor who created a movement entitled "Make Your Day Harder." Dr. Mike Evans believes that in contemporary times, the culture that we have created is one in which we are constantly sedentary. He advocates for movement and staying active in a time when everything is made easier for us (We have remotes that can turn on our TV so why get up off the couch? We have online shopping so who needs to go walk around a mall?) He states that medical research shows that people in this generation are living longer, but also suffer from more chronic disease, obesity, and lower self-rated health. His mission is to prove to people that maybe EASIER isn't really BETTER! Instead, we can make our days harder so that we are moving more throughout the day and staying active. His website gives readers tips for how to change their day-to-day life so that there are no excuses and people are staying active.

For more information on the movement you can visit the website at http://www.makeyourdayharder.com/about OR you can watch the video below about making your day harder.

DocMikeEvans (2013, September 3). Let's make our day harder [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPuRLil4c0

This movement has inspired me to do what I can to make my day and my life harder. I am motivated to be active in my day-to-day life. I can do this by making small tweaks during my day to get active, but also workout, run, and train when I can as well. The "Make Your Day Harder" movement is one that I will constantly keep in mind when working on my Genius Hour Project, as being an active individual was one of the key reasons I began to work out in the first place. I look forward to training for my half marathon and CHOOSING to make my day harder, every day.

What I've Learned So Far About Genius Hour

This week in technology class, we have started to choose Genius Hour inquiry topics. You must choose a topic that is important to you and that you have interest in. When choosing an idea, I wanted to choose something that I would be excited about anytime I had to work towards my goal. I have always been interested in fitness and working out. It started by playing soccer many times a week from the time I was young, all the way until I finished high school. Once I got to university, I knew that I still wanted to live an active lifestyle. Since then, I have been passionate about working out. I enjoy it and it has become my way to relieve stress. As a result, I have chosen a form of working out for my Genius Hour project. Running has always been my preferred activity of choice and I enjoyed running my first 15k in September 2015. Therefore, my goal for this Genius Hour project is to train and run my first half-marathon by October 2017. I hope to increase the number of kms I am running each week, reaching 10km, twice a week by March 2017, 15km, twice a week by May 2017, and 18km, once a week by August 2017. My ultimate goal is to run/exercise four times a week. My motivation will be my determination to maintain a healthy lifestyle, even when life with school, work, and volunteering gets busy. I look forward to conquering my goal!!!!

Skeeze (2014, December 20). Runner [Photograph]. Retrieved from
https://pixabay.com/en/running-runner-long-distance-573762/ 

The Importance of Teaching Students about Copyright

When you create a song, a picture, a video, or a piece of writing, you automatically have a right to copyright the creative work against uses that you don’t consent to. The people who create the pieces of work can choose whether other people may use their work and in what ways they may use it. Copyright ensures that the original owner of the creative piece is the only one who has the right to use the work, unless otherwise stated by the owner. If you did not create the work, in order to use it, you must seek permission prior to using it.

Santana, L. (2011, March 12). Create and construct [Drawing]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2ipTbVG

It is important that we seek inspiration through other people’s original pieces of work in order to enhance our own work. In addition, some of the people who create original work want others around the world to use and refine/build on it, but don’t want people coming directly to them to seek their permission. That is why the people who have created original products open up their work to millions of people around the world. They use sites that protect their work from particular uses, but give permission for people to use their work in other ways. For example, an individual may not open up their work for commercial use, but may choose to allow people to modify their original work. When people visit these sites hoping to use an original piece of work, the copyright licence is clearly communicated to them so that they know how they can and cannot use it.

The use of technology in the classroom has become extremely prevalent in the last decade. Therefore, as educators of the 21st century, it is extremely important for us to know this information so that when our students use pictures, videos, or music for class assignments, they know how to gain permission before using the creative work. Teachers must model for their students the appropriate places to find pictures, videos, and music so that students know that the work is okay for them to use and how to cite their source within their assignment. If the teacher is not demonstrating the appropriate procedure for copyrighted works, it is likely that their students will do the same, leading to teachers passing down the incorrect information to future generations and devaluing the importance of copyright.

Ribeiro, L. (2008, June 30). Children at school [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2jttS72

I think it would be extremely important to teach my students where to go if they want to access original work that they have permission to use. For example, I would show them Creative Commons, a site where there is an abundance of original work that they may use when they need pictures, videos, or music. It is free and easy to use so that students can find the creative pieces that will fit with what they are creating in class. I would also encourage my students to learn how to get copyright licenses for their original pieces of work through the same site.  

For more information about Creative Commons, visit their site using this 

link: https://creativecommons.org/

Welcome!

Welcome to my Genius Hour Digital Blog Portfolio! In our technology class for the Faculty of Education at Brock University, we are beginning Genius Hour projects about a topic that is interesting to us.

Genius Hour, at an elementary school level, is a time period during the day that the teacher gives the students to work on a project that helps them learn more about their passions and interests. It is a way to promote creativity and to motivate students to enjoy learning both in and outside of the classroom.

I am looking forward to learning more about Genius Hour and how it works so that I can implement it in my future classroom. Stay tuned for posts about my progress on this project!

For additional information about Genius Hour see these links:

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/6-principles-of-genius-hour-in-the-classroom/

https://engagetheirminds.com/genius-hour-resources/