Its All About The Tech

Many articles, tweets, and posts about integrating technology ttell us that it is not the technology,  but how we use it to change our teaching that matters. I agree,  how use technology within the classroom is important and that it is a tool not an end in itself. We should  use technology in creative and collaborative ways.

However. I think in my classroom its all about the technology.

 We have 5 ipads, and a cart of Macbooks that we can use daily, and the students can BYOD. If we had more we would use more, but it is certainly not essential to have a 1:1 setup. In fact, even when avaliable we usually work in pairs or teams to ensure collaboration, and to promote peer to peer support. I would much rather have 5 iPads all the time than sign out class sets that we share with the school. We use them exclusively for creating: making videos, slide shows, photography, blogging and skyping. We need them to be available at all times because,  just like our other classroom tools, we use them throughout the day. Having our own class iPads means they are always charged; they are always updated; they only contain our apps and content; and they do not get too full. We have them synced through iCloud and they are very manageable with little effort.

Now, back to the all about the technology...

Technology has transformed our classroom. It enables us to reach out to the world through daily blogging, skyping, Youtube and Twitter, We are able to share our learning with others and to participate in other classes' projects, experiments and blogs. It has enabled us to experience first hand sources for research such as the pictures, maps and diary entries within Passageways  and the information from the Government of Canada to become explorers and to blog about our travels.

It enables us to use rich resources such as Discovery learning, or to watch video  clips from credible sources such as the BBC,  NASA, and National Geographic,  to better understand what we are learning  and to produce our own videos and share them with others on Youtube.

Technology has enabled us to publish our learning in our blogs and given new importance to our writing and artwork while providing parents and others a window to our work. We have been able to reach out to others and to share globally through initiatives such as Global Read Aloud and given us choices in how we present our learning. Publishing and sharing has brought us confidence and inspired us as we learn. It has given us purpose, self direction and choice.

Our Class is all about the technology: http://mrsdycksclass.weebly.com/

IDL Yr. 2, Failure and Success

June Reflections

This year has flown by. I tried to take on new challenges as the year unfolded and I have ventured into the global stadium. Our class joined The Global  Read Aloud and I encouraged and mentored the teachers that wanted to integrate iPads and computers into their classroom.  We acquired more iPads and opened up their use to all of the teachers in the school and some have started to use them.

Even after years of using technology with children I always find new challenges to overcome. When I see new Apps, or great new ideas, or opportunities for my class to take on  a new way to build learning it excites me. I have to take it on. I can't always do it all, but I like to find great new ways to help my students succeed.

 I understand how hard it is for some children to communicate, to fail even when they have given their all. I understand how difficult it can be to march to  a different drummer. I have a special spot in my heart for children who struggle because school is not always an easy place for them to navigate. I know that many gifted children face challenges as diverse as others special needs children. Children come to us eager to learn, eager to please and eager to be accepted, Some make it look so easy, and some struggle every day.

I came to teaching as a second career after having children. I was hooked on education after seeing the new directions that learning was taking at the time. I visited classrooms that made teaching and learning an adventure. Along the way I took many courses on using technology as a tool to provide open ended learning opportunities for children with learning disabilities including giftedness.

I learned how helpless it feels to fail. School always came easy to me and I never quite understood how some people struggled to understand a new concept or remember a lesson. I always just knew how to write an exam essay, how to memorize a textbook, or how to anticipate what questions would be on an exam. Then, out of the blue, I learned how to fail... How desperate it feels to try to understand, how frustrating and powerless you feel.

In my last year of Education at University I ended up in a class "Elementary Mathematics From Advance Standpoint" A great math class for soon to be elementary teachers..right?? Not so. It was a class that looked at advanced mathematical proofs using whole (elementary) numbers. A class in advanced number theory. A class that only serious Math scholars and unsuspecting education students took. The Faculty of Education had mistakenly thought it was a class in basic math for teachers of primary students. The first day we were told all of the education students would fail. We did. All of us. We could not withdraw as it was required for a Math major and those of us enrolled were all a few courses from graduating. Withdrawl meant not graduating.

I was a mother of three and a student. I cold not, not graduate. The stakes were too high. The cost of daycare, classes and raising family had taken its toll and we needed to move into the land of the working. Every day I went to class and took notes, I got support from a doctoral student. I redid every question over and over. I still failed. I started to freeze on our daily quiz. My mind totally blanked out. Panic flooded me. I went to the Dean Of Education to get help. He told me to relax, my marks were high,  I would be fine. I wasn't. I turned to the Professor, a semi retired math genius, for help. He said married women  belonged at home  with their family, and education wasn't a real subject. I tried harder, I started to memorize all the proofs I could. The problem was we were never given the same type more than once.

In the end, I failed. I couldn't retake it as it was only taught by one professor. However, the course was removed from the the Faculty of Education requirements and without being required enrollment dropped, and the course did too. Too late for me. I was able to complete two independent study courses to graduate, and  more importantly I learned what it was like to fail. I have never forgotten that course. I still have the hundreds of pages of proofs I wrote out and memorized and my heart jumps when I see that look of confusion and fear in a child's eyes.

How does this relate to my teaching over the last year? It is with me always. I need to find new ways for children to succeed and be confident learners, to be able to take risks, collaborate and feel good about themselves, not the panic, fear and emptiness I felt.

This has changed my perspective on learning. I don't believe in Mastery learning, or in final answers. I believe that if you write a math test you should be able to take it home, get help, correct it, and rewrite the very same test, or take it home to practice with mom and dad first. I believe that we are there to help children succeed, to find ways to help them support their own learning, take risks, and to celebrate their success. I believe there are better ways to learn and the children will find them. If we let them.

This is what drives me to push them to do their best, to help them find new ways to succeed, to work together, to create, to engage in authentic tasks that compel them, guide them and inspire them. This year blogging was the most important tool in my box to make that happen. We invited in First Nations people to teach us to weave, to drum, to draw, to make button blankets, to listen to their stories and to appreciate their history. They taught us Arctic games, showed us their tools, and how to build an igloo. We went to Fort Langley and documented the trip, blogged about what we learned and then took time to learn about explorers from The Government archives and public domain logs, maps, and pictures. There was no test. We participated, blogged, and shared. We taught each other about the explorers we followed, and joined them on their journeys.

Every year I worry that I didn't actually test them. I listened. I read, I talked with them. They wrote, drew, and even made videos. I am not sure that every child learned everything about every explorer. But they did learn about some of the explorers, they learned about our past, and they learned how to learn more. They participated actively in first hand, authentic interviews and Aboriginal activities. They can tell me their stories.

For me the journey has been inspiring. I have seen some of my reluctant learners step up and become writers, Some have become directors and some have had their chance to shine, They blog for fun. They blog from home. They have a purpose to draw and their artwork is amazing. (Could be a book on its own.) Others have become mentors and and have been inspired to publish more. Their blogs are growing rapidly now and have become eportfolios of their year with me. They have added field trip photo galleries and some will add their artwork too. I love to see them take pride in their work and consider it important.

Now, having said all this, I must say that we have not commented as much on each other's work as would have liked. Most likely, because we do so verbally. Next year we will have to find a partner class to blog with to solve this. In fact I saw an amazing site that sets weekly blog challenges for students. It leads them through activities to learn about blogs, blog rolls, commenting, reaching out, and connecting.

I think this will be a great way to reach out and get in a weekly blog club. Also we will go ahead with Global Read Aloud again and as we make new blog partners we will Skype more.

I have started BYOD and some of my class have done so. It was done with little fanfare and students use them as they would the class iPads, We have used Creative Commons and public domain images or their own pictures for all their work. The year started slowly, but in January we reached a tipping point and the blogs took off. Now the year is running out and it feels like we just got started. When I think back to September I am amazed at all the class has accomplished and how much they have grown.

Progress Report Yr 2 Innovative Designs For Learning

 

As spring break approaches and I plan for Term 3, it is time to reflect on class goals in Integrating Technology for Year 2 of our Innovate Designs For Learning Project.  Below are my goals and our progress to date in Year 2.

This year I want to find new opportunities to support my class and new resources to individualize learning for each of my students. 

1. In year 1 of the Project we dabbled with Pinterest and although we only managed to dip our toes in and bookmark our work to share, I can see now that there are other great possibilities for this year. I want to set up separate boards for each child:

•  to post links to their online blogs, movies and to post photos of their artwork;
•  to pin the resources they find and the photos they use in their creations. This year we used dropbox but Pinterest makes it much easier to bookmark and collect resources because it is so visual.
• one reason for me to post resources and links to new projects. I make webpages for each of our projects with video, links and instructions and I think Pinterest will help me organize and make them quicker to access. Also the class can add new links they find that we should use or share Then they become part of the assignment creation phase. 
• I am exploring Surrey Schools new web site to build a class wiki that will connect student blogs and websites in one space. I would like to find a way to connect through district resources. I am working on an exemplar site to see if this is a possibility. So far I am finding it much more difficult to use in comparison with online resources, but I am going to complete the site and see how it turns out. When done, it may become a space to link students to all their books, blogs, and videos.
• I am still using Pinterest to collect my own resources and have a class site set up for this year too. However we have been so busy creating content that I have not had time to  get students pinning. I will work on this in term 3.

2. I will continue to make movies with the class. Last year we made two.  Both were follow up projects to novels. The class loved making them and it helped them develop a stronger understanding of setting, character, key events, and plotlines. They said it made them become the characters and they learned to work together and value each other. This year I would like to open up opportunities for them to use this format to make documentaries of our First Nation's workshops and research Owls. Now that Book Creator can hold videos we can embed our videos and then write about making them. Or perhaps create a book that contains them all and allow a question and answer  or comment section to go with each video. Lots more possibilities.

• We are in the midst of making our first movie. We have written legends and are working to produce them. Students have created the legends, written the scripts,  and now that they are bringing heir own devices we can work in smaller groups of three instead of four. We have also used Animoto this year and Book Creator so in term three students will have more ways to present their learning. We will start a research project on Owls and students will choose from making books or a web page to present their work to the class. We have been using book creator and blogging extensively this year and  have been getting them to produce their own illustrations or take photos so we do not need to depend on Google for pictures. However this is more time consuming and next term we may end up using royalty free photograhs. 

3. I would like to find more opportunities to give students choices. They love to take charge of their own learning. I think that after they have tried a variety of presentation and research projects they should have the opportunity and the confidence to decide which ones they want to try again.

• We are now able to make slideshows, ebooks, websites, blog and are just starting to film our movies with the iPads. Now that we have the skills we can have more choice. In term three  students will have at least two choices for presenting their research on Owls and Explorers.

4. Sharing. Last year we shared our books and videos at assemblies and through YouTube and our blogs but we did not have a partner class to work with to get feedback.This year I will involve at least one other class and help them to start their own class blogs,  publish ebooks and I will mentor other teachers as they work on their own class projects. Also I will find another class that is blogging and link up with them to comment and share our work and give my class an opportunity to appreciate the work of others. I want to set up groups to share online resources and ideas with others on our new Surrey Schools website and I hope others will add and share theirs with me.  I would like to find a way to meet with some of my twitter colleagues  to share,  compare, plan and engage in collaborative projects together.

• We joined the Global Read Aloud and were able to skype, Twitter and post our Animoto predictions with others from Surey and around the world. We enjoyed reading along with so many other students and blogged about the book as we went.  We have started to work on commenting on our class blogs and on others as a class. 
• I  attended the Dinner Series and tried to implement ideas between sessions.  For example 
• After Digital Stories dinner we made 6 word stories for our Global Read Aloud predictions. We started with the picture then we made twitter predictions and then honed them further into 6 word predictions which we shared using Animoto.  I usually start with the writing then move to illustrating but this session made me re-think my lessons and emphasize the importance of the picture 
• Bill Ferriter's talk on engaging students in real work was already an important part of our classroom. However, after attending that session I revised my math program to have my students create books to teach others the multiplication tables. Instead of drills, they created Math Raps, and illustrated, wrote and recorded them to create an interactive book.  Making Math Raps was a great idea but making the books became a cumbersome project so next year we will make them into videos to share instead of books. It will require more practice and less time illustrating. This is not Kiva, but a step. We still would like to introduce Kiva in Term 3, still a goal to work on. We have been too immersed in projects to find time for everything. It is sometimes hard to decide which ones to take on next. 
• I have set up online resources and helped a group of grade six students that are working with video and slides to make presentations at  assemblies. They participated in the City of Surrey Anti-Bullying Public Service Video Contest.  We are working with our buddy class to make ebooks,  I presented at CUEBC's fall technology conference, and mentored teachers at school with book and blogging projects as well.  

5. Assessment:  Last year we did school wide writes and as I looked at the fall and the spring writes I was amazed at the growth. The new writing is focused and far more detailed. The students edited more,  their stories had better overall structure, and their voice shone through. I will need to see if the same is true next year.  When they published their research on the CPR with Book Creator they were able to publish their findings in their own words - a big step for grade four. Was this just a one time event or does blogging make such a major difference in student writing? Some of the most dramatic changes were made by my lowest students. 

• This year I looked at the writing results on two fronts. First, I have been watching our blogs evolve over the last term. In the beginning, I had to encourage most of my students to write more. Now they write freely, and seem to enjoy the process more. They are taking on the persona of the characters they write about as well. 
• Secondly, I compared their two school wide writes and found changes in writing, similar to last year. Students that wrote only a few sentences are now writing pages and their writing is becoming more fluent. However, many still have not improved their editing when writing on paper. They are more likely to do so when blogging though. Perhaps they see writing on paper as drafting.  

As we enter term 3, we have Legends to finish and new projects ahead. Students now blog, make books, and Animotos. They are currently making videos so they will have the skills in term three to make choices in presentation formats. They are used to working in teams and are becoming more independent in their work habits. They understand how important everyone's role is when working in a group and are becoming more reliable as well.

I am looking forward to term three. The year is slipping by, and as usual we will run out of year before we run out of projects. I would like to find time for more online collaborating so we are going to try Wonderopolis next term-or perhaps Mystery Skypes. Perhaps we will get to try them both.

Let The Pinning Begin!

http://pinterest.com/mrsdycksclass/laura/

Today I introduced the class to Pinterest and their new boards. I started with a few students and they are passing on their expertise to other classmates.  By the end of next week all of them will have their boards well underway. They are all eager to create their own pins and have their webpages and blogs updated.



I think that Pinterest would be a great resource for students to use to keep their bookmarks to resources they are using on class projects as well. What I love about Pinterest is that it is so visual. You can find exactly what you are looking for and it links back to whatever it is. This year we used dropbox to keep all our resources together but next year I will set up Pinterest as well. I am thinking that it would be a  good idea for students to have 3 boards each. One for access to their blogs and videos and other creations, one for resources they gather and bookmarks to assignments, and one for snapshots of artwork and projects that are not online. I will have one as well with links to assignments and resources I want them to use.



We are using IWeb for the sites and blogs and I have them on Mobile me. Somehow with the changeover to ICloud we can no longer publish so we are changing to a new host. The class is still blogging everyday and are eager to upload so I hope our changeover goes quickly so the students have access to all of their blogs to pin the ones they choose to share.

I am thinking of changing from iWeb for next year but I love how all the students can work on their pages at the same time while we only need one site.  I don't have to set up separate accounts for each student and it integrates so well with iPhoto and iMovie and YouTube.

Blogging + Book Creator + You Tube + Pinterest = eportfolio

 An Update.

We are still blogging, although we have problems uploading from school computers now, so we have far more blogged than we have posted. One way or another I will find a way to get it all uploaded.
We are  making new ebooks with Book Creator.
We would like to find an app that adds bookcases for our blogs to share our books online.
We would like to find a way to pin our books.
If anyone knows please let us know

Well, the year is winding down but we are all geared up and still  charging ahead.

New projects:

Grade fours are researching Canadian Explorers and making ebooks about them using Book Creator.
Grade fives are blogging about their adventures along the Caribou Trail from Fort Langley to Barkerville as they set out for the gold fields.


Our adventures in search of the White Jade Tiger also continue as Jasmine and Keung meet up with Blue Scar.

I set up Pinterest for our ePortfolio.  I made a class account and a board for each student. I know they will love filling them up.

Oh, and I think we just have time to make another movie. That was a favourite of the class and they are experts now.

Consume, Collaborate, Produce

http://bit.ly/IRimd3 

I came across this poster online and it started me thinking about how I was using iPads this year. As a consumer, collaborator, or a producer.

 I would definitely say that my class falls in the last two categories to such an extent that I just removed all the apps that were math and word games.  We never even tried them out because we were too busy creating. Now I have fewer, more productive apps to upgrade etc.

This is a list of of my favourite things to do with iPads in class.




CONSUME:

• Use Google Earth for tracking characters and exploring settings of novel
• Use Google Images to find relevant photos for our research
• Use History Maps to study history and exploration timelines
• Use You Tube to research

COLLABORATE
• Use Dropbox to share resources, writing and photographs for use in group projects, to work from home and school, and to collect finished work

• Use Pinterest to share finished projects, collect online project and research resources, create photo libraries and scrapbooks of artwork. Currently I have my own but I am in the process of seting up a class one. I think I will set up one with each student getting his own board. The other option is to use a group board. The students all have their own webpages and blogs so this may be  new way to organize them to share easily with each other. It would provide quick visual links to their pages and the work

PRODUCE:

 •  Use Book Creator to make ebooks from  research notes and online photos or to create a character diary or daily writing journal

• Use Blogger :
  to build digital portfolios of daily work
  to create character diaries
  to become an explorer and journal along the way

• Use Mobile Monet to turn photos into paintings.
• Use Garageband to create soundtracks and voice overs for poetry, slideshows.
• Use  My Stop Action to produce trailers and videos of novels for literature circles

Pinteresting

I started my own Pinterest account. Now I can see that we need a class one too. How better to share our work all in one place, They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. And a link??

I am going to set up a class Pinterest board with each student creating a "scrapbook" of their year's work. As each of their pins will link to their blogs, webpages and artwork. I think this will be amazing!!
 

All we need is a way to pin our ebooks and we will have all of our pins in one basket.