Category: Uncategorized

EDCI 338 – My Niche

The Niche I have decided on is discovering new music, and building playlists. I have always been obsessed with listening to music since I got my first walkman in kindergarten. I remember going on walks and trying to walk slow with it, because any sudden movement would cause my CD to skip. As technology has progressed, I have kept up with all the new trends and artists on a daily basis. Almost every single morning, the first thing I do is go on the “new music” page on apple music, and browse for artists I like, as well as ones I have never heard. After I do my browse, I download the ones I really like and start separating them into playlists. I have about 10 active playlists that I publish on twitter and send to friends, and every week I make sure to update them and add new music. I do this because I despise the overplayed radio songs, and like to find things that people have never heard of.

Blog Post #5

As my blogging assignments come to a close, I intend for my exploration within the intricacies of food, and the infinite complexities along with it continue to untangle. This week we had many family events including a brothers birthday, another brothers graduation and of course, Fathers Day. My family believes that the best way to connect and to celebrate is to come together at someones house for cocktails and massive dinners to spend the evening together. I have always been willing to assist in the cooking, but this time I got more of a deep understanding of my mom and dads cooking. I noticed my parents have a very specific way of seasoning red meat, specific ways to cook bread based meals, specific ways to present and prepare appetizers, and the list goes on. Throughout my experience of looking more at menus and recognizing the types of flavours that specific spices can add to a dish has been amplified.

My group mate similarly focused on nutrition, which assisted me throughout the weeks at looking at my subject through a different lens. Within her week 3 post, she discusses global issues like obesity, fasting and the best way to live a longer healthier life. Earlier this year I started intermittent fasting as a way to make my body more cut, while still gaining muscle mass. While doing this, I had to deeply focus on getting my daily share of protein, as well as a proper amount of vitamins through fruits and vegetables. This forced me to be creative and explore many other types of meals, and the best way to prepare them for maximum enjoyment.

I think I honestly learned the most in week 2 when my roommate and I decided to get a meal kit. This simply forced me to try things I haven’t made before, and made me be adventurous with my flavours, forcing learning to be ingrained in me. Much like the video in the notes in week 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVtCO84MDj8), through constant instruction and clarity of inputs, I could truly understand what was happening to my food.

I greatly appreciate this opportunity, and as previously mentioned, I intend to keep a focus on the things i’ve learned the past month, and will apply them as time goes on!

Blog Post #4

Finally I am home. Words cannot describe how much I miss cooking for myself, as the fast food and restaurants on the road were starting to make me sick. Luckily, I saw this forthcoming and narrowed myself to “healthier” options such as Subway, Pita Pit and other fresh meat and vegetable options. This kept me feeling a little better then I would have felt otherwise eating burgers every day. As I said last week, I wanted to look closer at the menu and the descriptions of the food at certain establishments. I had to take some clients out early last week for a nice steak dinner and a private restaurant in Saskatoon. As expected, the description of my steak with bernaise was completely blown up to make it seem like the most extravagant meal of all time. Though it was good, the unnecessary description and detail did intimidate, giving an overall “fancy” feel to the atmosphere. To watch the Raptors game on Wednesday, I decided to go to Browns for a more casual meal. The menu was honest, concise, and honestly similar quality and taste to what I would be getting at a private steak house.

Menu descriptions and the enthusiasm of a waiter/waitress isn’t everything. Much like how “Knewton” and other learning programs should be, “to complement and support teachers” (Westervelt, 2015). Much like week 4’s discussion, education technology is not meant to completely replace a teacher or a textbook, but to assist it. If someone reads a recipe and adds and takes away things as they continue, they will begin to build pathways of learning. This will slowly form into a better understanding of the flavours of what they are making and how it is effecting their cooking. If we had a program to measure, mix, pour and bake everything, there would be no point in learning about cooking at all. I compare this with the statement that “technology is neutral” (Week 4 notes) and disagree with the statement. Technology can be brutally awful, or can assist us and our learning substantially. This just depends on our reliance on technology and how we use it to assist us. As discussed, “there is no more important thing a teacher of writing can do than read and respond to their students’ work” (Warner, 2019) alluding to the dismissal of technology in certain times.

This next week I should be home much more, and will attempt to do a lot of creative and adventurous cooking on my own. Being home also means I will be able to be in the gym a lot, giving me the ability to cook large meals quite frequently.