Loki's first report

I've been doing some research and some articles have stated that it's important for an adult dog to have a proper introduction with other dogs. In an article written on Bestfriends.org, it states that it is important for a dog to be slowly introduced with the owners being calm and relaxed. In addition to this, the dogs must be leashed - but not tightly.

I attempted this. Loki has met a brand new puppy named Aengus. He's quite small and playful. During their meeting, they were quite curious of each other. There was plenty of sniffing but it seemed as though Loki did not enjoy being sniffed despite him sniffing Aengus. I believe this introduction made him quite uncomfortable since Aengus was in Loki's personal space. In spite of this, Loki was not aggressive towards him.

After a few minutes, the situation worsened. Aengus, who is under 4 months old, has very puppy-like behaviour so he is extremely playful. Aengus tried to play with Loki by nipping his ears and climbing on him. It was very clear that Loki did not enjoy this and began growling. We had to immediately pull Loki away before the situation become violent.

It's clear this was unsuccessful. My next attempt will be bringing him to a dog park on the weekend (more likely for a dog to be there) and introduce him to a dog on neutral territory. I may try to look into dog training books or other Internet resources. I hope to have a video uploaded in the next blog post.

Why "dogs"?

I have finally chosen my genius hour question! After many hours of debates within my head and some contemplation, I decided to create my genius hour question based on my dog. Originally, I wanted to look into bullying in an educational setting. The reason for this is because I was bullied all throughout my elementary school years for my race and, you may be surprised about this, the fact that I was a mute. I was bullied for being the only Asian girl in the classroom (Imagine being constantly asked "How do you say this in Chinese?") and for being shy. Encouraged to look beyond the educational setting, I struggled really hard to find another topic.

I enjoyed being challenged by Ms. Welbourn. Indeed, it's great to have so much freedom in what you can research but it's also quite challenging since there's a billion topics you can choose from. The question I decided on is, "Is it possible to train a dog with social behaviour issues?" My dog, Loki, is quite stubborn and snooty when it comes to strangers - whether it be other dogs or human beings. He has issues trusting other people and refuses to go near strangers. Despite exposing him to other dogs and people, he still remains cautious to this date. I believe the core of this problem is the fact that he was severe separation anxiety and is therefore jealous when attention is given to others - in spite of constant reassurance that we will not abandon him. To show you, below is a video of his separation anxiety. When there's a chance of him being left alone, he suddenly looks up to find out where you're going and if it's long enough that he must follow you at your ankles.

I believe the topic I have chosen is a good one since the reader and I can actually see if there's progress in his social behaviour issues. You cannot simply Google quick fixes since not all training methods work on every single dog. With help from classmates, I hope to find a solution to this issue.

Copyright

In today's society, everything that was once inaccessible is not available to use at the tip of our fingertips. All sorts of knowledge is available for us to read, learn, and share. The problem that lies here is the word "share." With the media we access, are we really allowed to share it with others? Because there's billions of content on the Internet, we forget that we're distributing other people's work. Accordingg to Candace Figg, "Basic copyright law means that all rights are reserved - the copying, distributing, performing, displaying, or adapting of digital media found online is prohibited" (Figg, 1). We may all be guilty of sharing online content whether it be a video shared on your PowerPoint presentation, images you use to decorate your presentation or social media page, or music in your YouTube video. Many of us fail to give credit to the original content creators or even ask for permission. Copyright is a difficult thing since many of us don't realize we're committing it.

In an educational setting, there are exceptions but these exceptions are extremely limited. When distributing work in a class handout, only a maximum of 10% of the  content can be shared. As future educators, we need to teach students how to properly use an image without infringement. This may include encouraging students to do further investigation on the image (Does it say that it's copyrighted? Does the creator state that you may use the image?). In addition to this, citation is very important!

We can encourage this by turning our students into their very own detectives. The further they research, the more knowledgeable they may become on copyright laws!

San Jose Library (2008, August 9) Children using the library computers (Photograph)
Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjoselibrary/

Ribeiro, L. (2008, August 9) Children at School (Photograph).
Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lupuca/

Welcome to the blog!

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Catherine Vo and I am currently blogging for Brock University's Teacher Education course. To start off, I'd like to give you a small bit of information about me. I've recently graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts: Combined Honours English and Communication Studies.

During my time in school, I was given the privilege to learn from such amazing elementary/high school teachers and university professors. In all my years as a student, I have always admired educators due to the fact that they have an irrevocable devotion and passion towards teaching individuals. It has made me come to realize that education focuses on the student's ability to grow into the individual that they are meant to be and allow them to develop the skills that may assist them to reach their endeavours. With the privilege of learning from gifted educators, I was able to understand that teaching does not solely focus on delivering content, but, instead, focuses on how an individual can learn to appreciate the content and use it in their everyday lives.

I will admit: I am quite nervous and scared yet excited for what's to come in this program. Despite this, I know it will shape me into a better educator and a better person in general.