Sept. 28thWe spent the day getting ready for the #glread12 - The One And Only Ivan. After going to the Digital Stories @shareski dinner meeting I am ready to try a few of the digital story ideas he showed us. We are going to integrate them into our Global read Aloud project that we start October first. We have a a new twitter account and will start using it too.
October 1
First up - 6 word stories
We started with 6 word stories or "twitter stories". We uploaded our illustrations of Ivan to our twitter feed and then added our twitter predictions to the illustrations to share with our new buddy classes. We are also made an Animoto slide show of them.
We will be meeting in Google Hangout with Mr. Hong's class and Ms. Thiessen's class to share as we read. We are also going to use Weebly to blog about the book. We will be starting them as the week unfolds and we read the first 78 pages. We will also read the blogs those of our buddy readers and share comments with them.
One thing about teaching...You are always starting over. There aren't many careers that offer a fresh start every year, and perhaps many would consider starting over so often daunting. However, for teachers it is a chance to reflect and renew.
As I start again, I look forward to all of the new opportunities with my new class and question if I can do it all. Every year I wonder how can I capture my students and challenge them. What new tools and resources are there to make learning exciting and meaningful? Can I take a whole new crop of children and turn them into writers, readers, and creators? What can I do to make this year better than last year?
As I am looking for new projects and opportunities I am thankful that I started tweeting. I never thought that Twitter would be so useful. It brought many great teachers and great ideas into my life. I am joining the Gobal Read Aloud because I saw other Surrey teachers excited to take it on. I learned about Weebly from tweets and tweeters I have met and I am trying it out this year.
So far we have created our student pages and are almost ready to publish our first entry. Every year I think this will be a big job. Every year I am wrong. The class got it right away and are already logging in and working from home. They are starting to bring in their own devices and we found some great apps to create digital portraits for our blogs. Using PowerCam and Mobile Monet students took pictures of themselves and used special effects to start their portraits. We will use new apps to merge portraits with our own artwork to create a "me" collage. If they turn out well we can make class and school portraits as well. This year I want to explore the camera and utilize it more.
Last year was a true adventure in
learning for me. I have always used technology in my teaching but I have
never had so many opportunities to integrate. Access to technology,
availability of new apps, online space to blog and the emergence of
iPads have opened new doors to us.
Today I went to the first Innovative Learning meeting of the year.
It was exciting to see and hear of the changes moving forward in
project based learning. As part of the day's activities we
re-considered our progress and re grouped for a fresh start as each of
does every fall ready to take on another year of learning. We made short
artifacts of the year that was as we looked ahead.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Year 1 was inspiring and I am looking forward to
an another great year. I am sure that more opportunities and ideas lie
just around the corner. Starting all over with a new class of "rookies"
seems daunting, but I know that jumping right back in always works,
the children always amaze me and the year flies by.
Math time is a busy time in our class. The Smartboard brings my students together to solve problems and support each other as they tackle new concepts. They are always eager to get to work and the best part is that even if they are not up using the board, they are actively figuring out what they would answer to be ready for their chance. A big plus is that as they work I can see what they are thinking.
Decimals as a team sport. Simply order them from largest to smallest.
This allows me to alter my teaching to address the misunderstandings of
the students. For example, when we were working on place value, one question I gave the class stumped them all. Their job was to write 1, 416, 098 from
the digits that were in a place value chart on the Smartboard. Every student came up one at a time,
and one at a time they were stumped. This amazed me because I thought they had a good understanding of the concept.
They were able to take the numbers from the chart and write them out in
the correct order1416098. However, the problem came when they tried to
put in the commas and read the number. After watching them come up one
after one, it soon became apparent what the problem was. They all started
from the left side of the number and counted out three digits and
placed the first comma. resulting in 141, 609, 8???? Of course it was
all down hill from there. Some tried to drop out the zero and others
tried adding some extra ones in various spots. However, no one thought of starting
from the right. I guess that we are so ingrained to read left to right
that the idea of starting from the right never occurred to them. We tried for about fifteen minutes until recess. They all headed out with the problem still unsolved. After the recess I set them groups to find a solution and the puzzle was eventually solved.
And..
http://bit.ly/LALk
Who knew Multiplication drills could be could be so much fun! Just a simple set of interactive buttons and the game is on! My students love these two big, noisy buttons. We use them for team math sports. They capture the first person's touch, light up, make a sound and count down. We use them for math drills amongst other games. They are always asking for a chance to use this.
Another resource from this website is a function machine.We use this as
teams as well. One student makes up the function while the other solves
it.
Using the Smartboard has challenged me as a teacher, and my students as a class, to develop a deeper understanding of math concepts. It provides me with opportunities to use observation as a pivotal part of assessing their learning, and helps me to tailor my teaching to student needs.
These resources are from TeacherLed http://bit.ly/OwnCHv.
This year has been an adventure in integrating technology. Our school acquired a cart of iPads as part of a pilot project in innovative learning. Our goal was to use them in class to see if and how they changed the way we teach and learn. The project was not just about using ipads in class but about discovering how using them would change the learning experience. My class got 5 iPads to use full time and I got personal Ipad to use.
Integrating technology was not new to me, but the iPads were. The first thing I did was to explore many of the Apps that were available to use in a variety of applications. I looked at apps that helped learn math facts, others that let you create books, video and music, and still others that let you download and read eBooks. I had intended to try it all.
Including the MacBooks, my goal was to use this equipment to create online portfolios of student work to motivate students and to allow parents to follow their progress throughout the year. We started with publishing a creative writing assignment for
Halloween. Each child followed the writing process in planning,
drafting, editing and publishing their own story. They learned how to
create a webpage, took photos of their illustrations and posted both.
During the process they learned how to use Dropbox, how to upload
pictures from iPads and then download them to use in a
blog. We worked through many problems, and their resolution and enthusiasm grew with each success. They learned to value each others opinions and to rely on each other for support.
Then we started blogging...and writing took on new importance to the class. The students began to take charge of their own learning. They stared blogging about class activities. Laterthey took on a new role as a character from our novel and their blogs became her diary.
I had started a blog as well to experience it myself and record and reflect on our progress.
"We started to blog with the idea of blogging once every week or two. We
now blog every day we are together. The kids are always looking for more
ideas to blog. They write more now. They are more creative in their
blogs and they are always busy taking pictures of their work with the
iPads to publish their work in their blogs. "From My Blog at the time (Blogging a Class Changer)
About this time we finished our Literature Circle novels and started a new project. We worked in our groups of four to create a video of the books. The students rewrote the book as a play, created sets, characters and scripts and used the ipads and MyStopMotion to create animations of the books. They used iMovie to do voice overs for them. I showed them briefly how to use the app and gave them very basic instruction on iMovie. They took up the challenge and became directors, actors, and producers.
"We jumped in
feet first and again the class surpassed all expectations. We all
started together but soon leaders emerged and as problems were encountered,
solutions were found. Everyone was proud of their finished movie and
gained a deeper understanding of the elements of a story. As I watched
and listened I realized just how important this was to them and marveled
at their new found expertise in setting and character portrayal. " (Reflections on Innovative Learning year 1)
We also took on the researching of the building of the CPR and its importance to B.C. We watched several YouTube documentaries on the building of the railway and took notes. We then set out and found old pictures of Immigrants working on the railway and the dangers they faced. We used Book Creator to meld our notes and pictures and created voice overs for the books. I wondered if students would emerge from the project with more than just technology skills and they impressed us by answering questions on their books, When I asked them if making the book helped them learn they said ."Yes, cause the information keeps traveling around your head when you need to use it."
I am amazed at all we have accomplished and how we have grown as a
team. Technology has become entwined in my daily classroom routine. I don't plan how and when to use technology.
On any given day, you will find some of my class filming or doing voice
overs as others are drafting and still others are blogging. Some are
busy taking photos of their latest artwork or making illustrations for
their blogs. Some may even be using the time to finish up some Math or
scrapbooking. We have many projects on the go and we are often all in
different stages of creating. We have blocks of work time and students
help each other, teach each other, work together and technology is just
another tool in our crayon box.
As we worked through each project I worried about the time
involvement for each. Were we taking too long? Was each project and
effective use of time? Would students finish with a deeper understanding
of the content they used? How could I evaluate each student's learning
effectively?
It is gratifying to know that the
students think they have learned more and have a deeper understanding
of the content we set out to learn about. They felt that they would
remember more about the topics than if they had just read about them,
answered questions, or written reports.
My personal
observations of the time they spent actively engaged and the
collaboration required in creating the movies, books, and blogs would
mirror those of the class.
"I have learned as much as I have taught and am excited to try new
projects next year. Each new project we finish seems to open a new
door of possibilities for another."
PS We never got to those Math apps or any of the other teaching apps. In May I erased them from the iPads and we are all happy filming, writing, taking photos and building portfolios. We used Pinterest to bookmark our work and highlight out portfolios Our adventure has just begun. We are already looking to next year.
I am currently a grade 4 teacher in Surrey B.C. I have integrated technology in my teaching for over 20 years and have given many workshops on how to do so. I am a past president of CUEBC and was Conference Chair of TELED, a twin International conference on technology integration in Victoria, and New Orleans. I participated in Ministry of British Columbia investigation into k-12 requirements for the successful integration of technology in schools. As part of this year long investigation I was one of the co-authors of the final report Conditions For Success. I appeared on Working TV in a documentary on the pros and cons of using technology in elementary school.
Sept. 28thWe spent the day getting ready for the #glread12 - The One And Only Ivan. After going to the Digital Stories @shareski dinner meeting I am ready to try a few of the digital story ideas he showed us. We are going to integrate them into our Global read Aloud project that we start October first. We have a a new twitter account and will start using it too. 
