Resources

05/12/2014

PD opportunities for teachers in HWDSB


The following is a guest post from my teaching partner Chantelle Davies.  Thanks for looking up and sharing some PD opportunities for teachers.


In this fast paced world of teaching with so much to absorb, one thing that I have found essential for teachers who want to stay current is their ability to engage in self-directed learning.
Click for photo source

When I first started teaching for the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, there was always a plethora of after school in services being offered. I indulged in as many as I could. It seemed that as funding decreased, so has the boards ability to offer these face to face in services. However, as my experience with technology and education has increased I have come to appreciate that it is much more challenging to service everyones' learning needs; offering face to face learning in the many areas teachers want to know about, while ensuring a full session of people attending. Hence why I assume the board has shifted models a bit.

The Hub (or D2L) is our boards new learning space for both students and teachers. For those looking to expand their learning, there is much available here. Through the Hub, online PD sessions have been offered about all of the tools that are available through the Hub. There is also a “Recorded PD Sessions” section for anyone who missed the sessions or wants to refer back to these at a later time.

Similarly, the Hub also has a section entitled “How to Videos” that has many videos walking you through the variety of tools that are offered through the Hub. Some are repetitive of what is in the Recorded PD Sessions, but many offer tutorials on tools that PD sessions did not cover. Examples of the How to Videos include; Activating Your Course, Using Rubrics, Creating Quizzes, etc.

The Hub is also a place where announcements are made about upcoming face to face in services and online in services. For example, recently a series of PD sessions were offered on the iPad and many of its apps. Again, the great thing about the Hub, is that all of this information remains available online, should a teacher have missed a session.

Finally, for more online learning and again accessible through the Hub is tv.HWDSB. This is a video service that operates much like YouTube, but within the protections of our board site. This is where many of the How to Videos I spoke of above are loaded. However, it’s another starting place for teachers if you just want to search specific topics.

If face to face learning is still something you prefer, HWDSB still does off a selection of PD sessions in this format. Some of our upcoming inservices are as follows. You can register through the boards PD Place, as has been past practice.

Dec. 10th 4:00-5:00

Technology to Use with English Language Learners (ELL), 195197

The focus of this session will be on the use of web-based tools as well as iPad apps to support ELLs in acquiring the English language and accessing the Ontario curriculum.

Starting January 13, 2015 4:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Leaders Facilitating Learning, 194878

This six-session leadership program focuses on HWDSB as a learning organization. Participants will engage in learning team experiences that provide them with the knowledge and skills to facilitate/support improvement activities within their school/department.
The program is aligned with HWDSB’s key strategic directions of Achievement Matters, Engagement Matters and Equity Matters and addresses our Staff Development Standards.

If HWDSB's offerings don’t meet your needs, I highly recommend building a PLN through twitter and outsourcing your learning interests. There are so many knowledgeable people on Twitter and it is a platform that is based on the idea of sharing. You can put your question out there to a few key people in the education field (just see who others are following) and they may pass it on for you. Alternatively, find a twitter chat that you can participate in. Speaking from experience, you may find the twitter chat overwhelming at first. If there are many participants, it can be hard to follow. However, even if the first few times you just read the feed, you will likely gain something. Work at your own pace, add your thoughts where you can and you will get the hang of it. In my first chat, I shared that I was a ‘newbie’ and was so impressed with how welcoming everyone was. When I was worried about sounding like a dummy, many of the people were sending messages of welcome and letting me know to ask if I needed help with anything. It was a great experience.

In sum, there are so many directions you can take your learning as a teacher. You need to decided what it is that you need to know more about and then figure out where you can best learn about it. Take charge of your learning. Know that there are many resources available to you to further your knowledge.

29/11/2014

The Impact of Technology on Professional Development

Effective professional development enables educators to develop the knowledge and skills they need to address students’ learning challenges.

In the past, Professional Development required individuals to sign up for a workshop from a list of available topics. The problem with this is that the workshops that may be offered may not fit with the individual learners’ needs. A second scenario that could occur is for administrators to dictate to staff what PD they should attend. Again, this may result in individuals attending workshops that are not of interest to them or it may not fill a learning need. Technology has changed the way individuals can access professional development. I think the largest changes in professional development has become the focus on the teacher’s individual needs and they way teachers can access professional development through Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) and the use Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Ways Technology Has Changed Professional Development


Individuals are teaching each other on their one time. 
  • brings together a number of individuals with similar goals
  • co-learning - as everyone brings in their own expertise
  • develops future leaders/experts as knowledge is gained
Individuals are sharing knowledge.
  • resources and ideas are readily available
  • offers a support group
  • reduces the feeling of isolation some teacher may feel within their school community
Individuals can personalize PD through the use of tools such as Twitter.
  • brings many experts to one table
  • collaborative discussions allow deeper understanding 
  • exposes individuals to a greater diversity of thought
Individuals have access to PD anywhere anytime.
  • allows for self paced learning
  • can be accessed on a variety of mobile devices
  • allows for flexibility in time without the need to worry about a meeting place

The change in Professional Development mirrors how 21st Century Teachers are changing their role within the classroom. The teacher is no longer the giver of information but should be a facilitator who is their to guide students to achieve their goals. In the case of Professional Development, technology allows many individuals to come together and co-learn. Professional Development is about each individuals needs. Technology allows each individual to find or create a learning community to fit his or her needs.

It would be interesting to find out if anyone has signed up or considered a MOOC course. Please share some pros and cons of MOOCS.

The following MOOC List is specific to teaching on a variety of topics.

MOOC List for Teacher Professional Development

21/11/2014

Planning a Night for Parents

With all the work we build into our classroom activities that uses the Chromebooks and iPads, my teaching partner Ray and I thought it might be helpful to share some of the tools with parents and teach them how we use tools like Google Docs with our students. We have put together a small presentation that we can offer to parents to help educate them on this. Below is a copy of the Agenda that we have outlined:

Parent Night Agenda


1.  Introductions/Housekeeping (5 minutes)

2.  What technology does your child use at home? (Mindomo) (10 minutes)

3. Presentation Objective: To share some of the basic features of Google Docs in order to become familiar with the tool. (5 minutes)

4.  Google Slides Presentation – Using Technology in Language, Science and Social Studies. (10 minutes)

5.  Use Google Docs to create a shared document. Parents will be supported through the process by Mrs. Davies and Mr. Swinarchin by modelling on the projector circulating as parents work on task (25 minutes)

Parents will complete a table in a shared document
  • column one – four seasons
  • column two – insert image of season
  • column three – insert link to information about the season


 6.  Questions/Comments (10 minutes)

7.  Feedback – using Google Forms - Parent Workshop Feedback Form Some explanation of how Google Forms can be used in the classroom. Parents will be shown Google Form and assisted as needed to complete the feedback form.

Back up plan:

If we have technical difficulties at any point or extra time we will have ipads available for parents to explore some of the apps that have been highlighted in the power point.

Materials/Equipment Needed:

chromebooks projector ipads

Here is the Google Slide Presentation that we will share:


15/11/2014

How 21st Century Tools Can Improve Feedback and Evaluation




Authentic and timely feedback is often a hot topic in education. It is widely accepted that giving feedback quickly is the key to seeing improvement in student work. However, many educators will admit that they find this a challenge and that it is affecting the thoroughness of their assessment and evaluation practices. It is challenging for many teachers to keep on top of giving all of their many students feedback that is specific, detailed, and done quickly enough for them to make immediate improvements. The beauty of so many of the 21st Century tools that are now available is that they are providing us with more creative ways of giving feedback and assessing students. These tools are making it easier for teachers to give feedback quickly, to give more detail, and to follow up with more students. Thus in turn, allowing teachers to have more data to use in their assessment and evaluation practices. Below are ten technology tools that can help improve how teachers give feedback and evaluate students.



E-Portfolios: E-portfolios, like the one that can be created on D2L, allow students a space where they can archive their work, achievements, make reflections and leave notes. Students can use this space for their work and then reflect on their strengths and needs. The portfolio also allows the user to allow others to share comments. Using this feature a teacher could have students work on giving peer feedback. Finally, the student could set up the portfolio that would allow the teacher to give feedback that could only be viewed by the student. E-portfolios allow the student to collect work and see progression over the year by using and building upon the feedback and reflections of the students work.


Google Drive Forms: Google Drive Forms can be used in two ways to evaluate student work. The first way is to create a form that allows students to submit their work directly to the teacher. This makes it easy for teachers to access a particular assignment and prevents students and teachers from misplacing work. A second application for evaluation is to create a self-evaluation form. Once work has beens submitted the teacher could set up a questionnaire that has students reflect on the task they have submitted.


Voice Thread: Voice Thread can be used in many ways that allows students a way to show their work. Students can insert pictures of their work and add their own comments about it. By being able to record their thoughts, students can clearly express their knowledge verbally. A practical application is to use Voice Thread during DRA. Not only could the teacher record the student reading, the teacher could also have students give verbal responses to the comprehension questions.



Evernote: Is excellent for documenting anecdotal notes on students and can be used as a place to keep evidence of their learning. You could save photos of work samples, photograph and save any written feedback you have given. As well, you can later search for a note you made for a student easily because Evernote will search both text and images. This is useful when reflecting back with a student to previous feedback you had given.


Google Docs: Not only is Google Docs a great tool for student collaboration, but it’s also very handy for providing feedback as an assessment as learning tool. Students can submit work to you for commenting. The comment feature allows teachers to highlight specific sections of the document and comment on what they have done well or what needs improvement. In addition, if students share their work with their peers, peers can provide comments in a similar way; thus enhancing the use of peer feedback in the classroom.


Ipad: The iPad is another useful tool for assessment in so many ways. However apps aside, one of the simplest uses for evaluation is the camera tool to provide photo evidence. Rather than keeping endless samples of student work for reference when it comes time to write report cards or have handy for parent interviews; having photos of student work readily available on the iPad eliminates the clutter.



Document Camera: You can purchase dedicated document camera’s for your classroom. However, if limited the iPad can also double as a document camera if you have a stand for it to hold above the item you are viewing with your class. Using a document camera is very handy when providing whole class feedback for something most students need to improve on. Show them examples, write or highlight the text, place stickies near key ideas. All of this is projected to a larger screen when using a document camera, making it easier for students to see.


Lino: Lino can be used in many ways for assessment. Lino is an online tool that allows for collaboration, brainstorming, and sharing of information through sticky notes which can include text, hyperlinks, images and video. In our class, we used lino by having students post new learning on the board. Lino could also be used as exit cards or as a way to share level of understanding of concepts being taught in class.



OneNote: We have spoken of how OneNote can be used in a previous post. OneNote allows students to place all their work in one area and allows teacher access to the information anywhere. Teachers can monitor student progress and give instant feedback. OneNote could be used to take notes during guided reading. Pages could be set up for each student and using the audio/video tools, could capture student reading. A quick note could be added to the reading that might include observations about the reading including strengths, needs and next steps.

Video Feedback: There are several tools available that can be used to give video feedback to students. The value of recording the feedback you give students is that students who need additional support can view the feedback multiple times. As well, if you are giving whole class feedback, students who were away can view the feedback that was given and not be left behind as the rest of the class moves forward in improving their work. Video feedback also has the advantage of being easily viewable by parents so that they are more aware of what their child needs to work on. Here is a link with a sample of how video feedback was used to take an assessment of learning task and turn it into an assessment for learning: Why Feedback Needs To Be Integrated Into Flipped Classrooms
What other technology tools do you use to help you be more effective in giving feedback and evaluating students?

13/11/2014

Reflection on Sal Khan's One World Schoolhouse

It seems only fitting that as I get ready to hand out progress reports to my students this week, I read through a chapter titled Tests and Testing in Sal Khan's book One World Schoolhouse.  In this chapter, Khan suggests that educators need to question what level of learning is demonstrated through tests and what do test marks truly indicate about a student.  These are interesting concepts considering my last post, Evaluation, Reporting and Technology I suggested that an assigned mark ends the learning process for a student.  Testing, according to Khan, is a snapshot of the student's learning and for a variety of reasons they do not truly represent the student's potential.

Khan questions the validity of tests as they do not give the full picture of the student's learning.  For example, he wonders howl long the learning is retained after a test.  While reading this, I reflected on how often I remind students that they need to carry skills learned earlier in the year forward and apply them to current work.  The students seem to miss the idea of connecting what they have learned to real life applications.  Khan also wonders if the tests actually show what is important.  Tests created by teachers differ and as a result what each finds to be an important concept may differ so student knowledge may differ.  A final thought is that tests isolate subjects and that learning is not connected to larger concepts.  As a result, Khan feels that testing filters out the creative thinkers who must focus on answer questions a certain way in order to meet the teacher's requirements.  If they student does not meet the teacher's expectations then the student will receive a poor mark.

This leads to Khan's to further questions about tests, how valid are marks and what is an acceptable grade? First off, Khan questions what correct and incorrect answers tell the teacher.  A correct answer may be a result of deep understanding, a result of rote memorization or a lucky guess.  An incorrect answer may be a result of lack of understanding, missed lessons or careless mistakes.  The teacher must assume that when a correct answer is given in shows an understanding of content while errors means a lack of understanding.  What we need to remember as educators is that students are being given greater opportunity to show their learning in a number of ways.  Students can display knowledge through displays, pictures, models, use of technology. As educators we need to give students choice on how to express their learning and knowledge.

A final  interesting concept presented by Khan is what is an acceptable mark.  I know that when I was going to school I would be happy with 75% mark.  Khan flips this acceptable mark by stating that the mark indicates that the student is missing 25% of knowledge needed to be successful in this area.  How can a student possible move forward in their learn when they are missing a quarter of some concept that they will need to build upon in the future?  Khan feels that students should go back to review and then be retested until they gain all the knowledge that is needed to move forward.  Khan even questions a student who receives 95%; this means that the student has missed 5% of some key learning.  Again the foundation for future learning is not fully there.  Is it realistic to expect that every student reaches the mark of 100% on each test before they can move on?   At what point does a self paced classroom not meet the needs of the student?

A final thought, grades often define a student or it gives the student a label.  With labels, expectations and limitations are often attached.  How do we assess and evaluate students without giving grades?  Does the mark of an A truly mean that the student has a deep understanding of the subject or have they just mastered test writing?






12/11/2014

21st Tools: Making it easier to fulfill the fundamental principles of Growing Success





Here are some great thoughts from my teaching partner Chantelle Davies, Some interesting thoughts as we continue to move forward with technology in our classrooms.


Ontario’s Growing Success document outlines assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy for the Ontario Curriculum. It is based on seven fundamental principles which provide the foundation for the policy that is outlined in the document. Each of the policies outlined in the Growing Success document build upon these principles. These seven fundamental principles are as follows and suggest that “teachers use practices and procedures that:

  • are fair, transparent, and equitable for all students;
  • support all students, including those with special education needs, those who are learning the language of instruction (English or French), and those who are First Nation, Métis, or Inuit;
  • are carefully planned to relate to the curriculum expectations and learning goals and, as much as possible, to the interests, learning styles and preferences, needs, and experiences of all students;
  • are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the school year or course and at other appropriate points throughout the school year or course; 
  • are ongoing, varied in nature, and administered over a period of time to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning;
  • provide ongoing descriptive feedback that is clear, specific, meaningful, and timely to support improved learning and achievement;
  • develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specific goals, and plan next steps for their learning.

As I reflect on different aspects of the document I think about how the 21st Century tools we use in the classroom today impact our assessment and evaluation. In light of having recently completed progress reports, I consider how important students mastery of the learning skills are to a successful school year. Early in the year, we often focus on the learning skills of responsibility and organization. We work hard with students in September and October to ensure they are completing their work in a timely manner; and that they can create and follow plans to complete this work to the best of their abilities.

While we all hope that these skills come naturally to our students; in many cases these skills need to be taught. In light of the fundamental principles that ask us to be transparent and to communicate clearly with students and parents, technology makes it easier for us to do so and thus in turn also helps us to provide our students with further support in staying organized. For example, as I make greater use of my classroom blog I am also using it as a space to share what our class learnings have been, provide copies of handouts/homework that have been assigned, and share when deadlines are coming up. Having this additional tool not only helps to make students more accountable (because they can’t say they didn’t know when a test was), but it also teaches them how to use other tools to remain responsible and organized. My students know that if they forget to take their reading logs home on the weekend that they don’t have to come to school with their work incomplete on Monday. They can look on the class blog for a copy of the task choices they have to choose from and still ensure they have been responsible; completing their homework.

In addition to learning skills, using 21st Century tools allows us to be more effective in meeting several of the fundamental principles outlined in the document. For example, the use of some technologies allows us to ensure that feedback is clear and timely. This can be seen when students are using tools such as google documents or google slides to complete their work. The ability to highlight and comment right on specific section of their work ensures that students are clear on which aspect of their assignment you are speaking of. As well, tools that all us to give audio feedback allow teachers to give feedback faster and to ensure that the feedback is clear for all students, without the limitation of being able to read the teachers written word.

It is still possible to meet the seven fundamental principles from the document without incorporating technology into your practice. However, not only does technology allow us to better engage and support all students; it makes us more efficient at meeting these important guidelines around assessment and evaluation.

11/11/2014

Evaluation, Reporting and Technology

Click for image source.
As this week comes to an end, we are getting ready to send out progress reports to our students in the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board.  As the reports are completed, I had a discussion with some of my peers about the process.  One idea that was interesting to me was that once parents and students see a mark they ignore any other feedback.  Feedback is meant to give students an idea of what they did well and what steps they need to do in order to improve.  However, whether a student gets an A or F, it seems that the feedback does not matter to them.  The A students feel they have done things right and figures they do not need to do more while the F students feel they have failed so there is no point in trying further.  So how do teachers get around students' (and parents') fixation on marks?
 The simple answer is to do away with marks and focus on feedback.   Many may question this idea, however, with the use of technology this is truly a possibility.  Consider report cards.  They are still being delivered in the same manner as they have been for a great number of years.  Teachers try and write a summary of each student's learning three times a year to help inform parents about their children's progress.  This made sense many years ago when it was difficult to reach parents.  However, today we can reach parents in many ways; e-mails, cell phone, blogs where parents and students can access classroom activities.  These tools give parents and students instant information about how well they are progressing.  Parents no longer need to wait for a report to find out how their children are managing, they could do this with the use of technology.

  To consider how using technology could change the way we report I began to explore how teachers are using OneNote in the classroom.  One teacher expressed that she liked OneNote because she could use it both as a textbook and an exercise book.  Everything was in one place and she and the student had access to this at all times.  The teacher can monitor how students are progressing and give feedback that is timely and specific to that students work.  If a parent was interesting in how they student was progressing all they would need to do is view the their child's work and the feedback that is being given.  Since feedback should be focused on strengths and needs it would tell parents exactly what they did well and what they need to do to improve making a mark irrelevant.

On a final note about reporting and the use of technology, I have often heard administrators state, "There should be no surprises on the report cards for parents."  The underlying message is that communicating with parents about their children 's progress should be ongoing. What better way of informing parents than using technology?  By using tools such as OneNote, or e-portfolios, parents can see students work all in one place with the teacher's feedback.  The report card will have no surprises.

By using technology to give students regular and timely feedback on their work would there be a need for report cards?  What more could be crammed into the tiny space of the comment sections that could not be seen by having parents actually view their work?

05/11/2014

OneNote and Assessment

Class notebook creator ap icon
Click for image source.  


Recently, my teaching partner Chantelle Davies and I were exploring OneNote and decided to use it to complete on of our tasks for our course, Integration of Technology in the Classroom.  As we explored the program we discussed how it would be useful for assessment by creating tabs for each student and then adding annotated notes.  With this is in mind, I decided to further explore how to use OneNote for assessment with a focus on the audio and video features.  What I discovered was that OneNote offers an app called OneNote Class Notebook Creator.

OneNote Class Notebook Creator allows teachers to create a workspace for every student, offers content library for adding material, and a collaboration space.  With this tool students can work in their space and teachers can give feedback in the same place.  The work and feedback can be accessed anywhere any time.

According to OneNote's site the app allows teachers to:

• Empower students to take naturally visual notes with ease—place images, text, printouts, tables, ink, screenshots, and files anywhere in OneNote’s “anything, anywhere” freeform canvas
• Keep tabs on student performance—see exactly which students soar and struggle by observing their full learning process, from note-taking, to problem solving, to submission
• Revolutionize homework feedback with real-time coaching while students work
• Encourage collaborative creativity between students with fast synchronization on pages
• Eliminate paper by replacing printouts on paper with printouts to OneNote
• Organize every lesson, handout, and assignment in flexible shared notebook structure
• Combine OneNote with the creative power of digital ink to deliver the most natural digital educational experiences possible

What I did find interesting is that OneNote allows teachers to write comments in each students space.  The teacher can also highlight work and add an audio recording to share feedback with the students.  Also, the audio feature allows teachers to add comments or instructions for students who may struggle with just written instructions.  The audio feature will also allow students to share their ideas and knowledge removing a barrier for those who have difficulty writing.

In a similar manner, students and teacher can both add video to the workspace.  For teachers, they can add video for those students who are visually inclined learners.  With videos inserted, students or teachers can comment on what is being shown.  Text or audio can be used to create a comment.  With the use of OneNote in class, teachers can have students share their knowledge in multiple ways allowing each student create work that suites their learning style best.  It also allows teachers to give feedback in a timely manner in a variety of formats (audio, video or text) or by using any combination of these.

As I explored OneNote offered to employees by the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, I found that though OneNote Class Notebook Creator app is free it is not currently available to staff.  I tried to download the app but was informed that an administrator needed to do so.

If anyone has used this in class, please share how you have done so.  What do you like about using OneNote and what challenges have you faced in the classroom while using OneNote?

Links:
OneNote For Teachers

Collaboration

27/10/2014

A List of Assistive Technology Tools



 





Assistive Technology Resources and Links
Click to view image source.

Recently, my teaching partner, Chantelle Davies has been using our delicious account to collate a bundle of assistive technology resources that we have used with our students or ones that other teachers have recommended to us. Do you know of any great AT tools that we do not have on the list? Please share.
AT tools on Delicious

Learning From An AT Chat

Here is a guest post from my teaching partner Chantelle Davies.  Thanks Chantelle for sharing some and conducting an AT Chat. Your posts are always informative. 

Reading along with the most recent ATchat was my first experience with following a twitter chat. Although, it took some time to become accustom to following along several thought threads from a variety of people (with the limited content one can put into a single tweet); I did come to really appreciate that value of sharing thoughts about education with people from around the globe.

One of my initial challenges in following the chat was the need for a common vocabulary understanding. Terms like UDL and RTI were frequently used, and although they sounded familiar I had to jump over to do a google search to refresh my memory.

As I had first guessed, UDL was referring to the term Universal Design of Learning. If you are unfamiliar with this, this is the idea that educators can minimize barriers for students, while maximizing learning for all students. The theory is that if we support the students ‘between the lines’ of the majority, then we will benefit everyone. This is just like the idea that providing a ramp for someone in a wheelchair supports people with strollers, on bikes, with a walking cane, or someone on roller blades. UDL has three principals:

Representation - show learning in different ways

Action and Expression - allow students to approach learning tasks and demonstrate what they know in different ways

Engagement - offer options to engage students and keep their interests

Centre on UDL

CAST

RTI or Response to Intervention “is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs.” http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti

I discovered that RTI relates to the three tiered intervention approach that I am already familiar with. I guess I just didn’t know the terms properly:

At the tier 1 stage, students who have been identified as struggling learners through a series of test and screenings receive instruction and support in addition to their regular learning that is completed in a time frame of up to eight weeks.

Children who are still struggling after the eight week intervention are moved into the tier 2 stage. Students then receive increasingly intense intervention support in a small-group setting.

Students who continue to show difficulties in their learning following their grading period where tier 2 intervention was offered, move into the tier 3 stage. It is in tier 3 where students receive individualized intensive instruction. Following individualized instruction, students may be referred for further evaluations that would allow for special education services offered by the school board.

So, from this chat I learned some new acronyms and I was also exposed to a few new tools. A lot of the talk in the ATchat was about the tools available on students devices that can support them in their learning, and the logic that was often presented was that many of these tools could benefit all students.

Two of the tools mentioned in the ATchat were WordTalk and Balabolka. Both of these are free text-to-speech software that will work well with Windows operating systems. I see the value in offering these tools because students that struggle to read many of the texts provided in class for learning (for example around science of social studies topics) can now feel more independent in reading the material given to the rest of the class. Students will definitely feel more engaged when they feel they can be successful. Further, the beauty of using a tool like WordTalk allows all students to approach their learning with this extra tool if they feel it would be helpful. Even the best readers in the class could use these tools to extend their learning and find other more advanced reading material on their learning topic to deepen their understanding of the material.

Associative Learning - One World Schoolhouse Reflections Continued


Here is a guest post by my teaching partner, Chantelle Davies about The One World Schoolhouse by Salman Khan. We have been reading this book and I find that we have been discussing and questioning how is methods would work in our setting.




http://www.marcdegraauw.com/files/reference_as_social_interaction.htm

In recent days I have picked up where I left off in listening to my audiobook, The One World Schoolhouse by Salman Khan. In the book, Khan discusses the scientific side of how education happens. A phrase he used that really stuck with me was that, “we learn by deciding to learn.” So often, educators talk ‘at’ students hoping that they will at some point just absorb the material they are hearing. However, despite all of our repeating of concepts, if a student does not see any value in trying to learn the material; the chances are that he or she will not retain any of the information for any extended period of time. From time to time, when I’m trying to get a student to understand a concept they are not grasping well they will regurgitate the ‘correct’ answers back to me simply so they can move on and head back to their seat. Often this means that while they may briefly understand the concept, in a day or two I find they need further review as they have not logged this into their long term memory.

Khan explains that some of the research he has explored shows that students need to be able to relate new learning to something they have previously learned. This is called associative learning. Thus, students will retain information better if they can make meaningful connections to what they already know and they are more likely to want to learn the material if these links are there.

Khan asks why in our current system, do we chunk and separate concepts that we are teaching. Contrary to this thought, many teachers that I know do blend their subjects and learning concepts together. Well, at least in the lower grades they do. Language lessons are often intertwined with science and social studies lessons; while the arts are blended into assignments across all areas of the curriculum. The challenge with this comes as students get older and move to a rotary system where subjects are taught in isolation. When different teachers are teaching each subject, the separation as Khan discussed does indeed exist. When teachers don’t see students for multiple subjects, they are unable to find and demonstrate those natural learning links across the curriculum. Thus, stifling the associative learning. Should we then be re-evaluating the model commonly used in our middle schools and high schools? Is this another reason for elementary schools to avoid the rotary system?

Support - Resources - Strategies

As I was exploring special educational supports across the district I rediscovered a site called Teacher's Gateway to Special Education.  This link offers a great strategies and resources for teaching students with special needs. The teaching strategy and resource is broken down into Special Needs, Formal Exceptionalities Determined By IPRC and Diagnosed Medical/Psychological Conditions.  When a specific exceptionality is chosen the page shows common characteristics and teaching strategies including instructional, environmental and assessment.  This site is a great starting point that my lead you into exploring how to use assitive technology to help students achieve to their full potential.

I have created the following graphic pyramid that outlines access to assistive technology for students. To view the document please follow the following link:  Assitive Technology PDF.



Resource:  Special Education Report 2013 - 2014

Assistive Technology

Click for image source.

Technology can be advantageous for a broad range of students, in addition to those with special needs. Teachers can build supports using technology to ensure progress for all learners into their instruction methods and learning materials. Assistive technology plays an important role in the provision of instruction based on Universal Design (i.e., good for all, essential for some).Education for All, 2005; Learning for All, 2011)

Having had a conversation with the Resource Teacher, KG, at my school, I contemplated the above idea about the use of assistive technology in the classroom and realized that while it is essential for some students, assistive technology can support any student who may be experiencing difficulties.  Our conversation focused around assistive technology that can be accessed by all and specific assistive technology that may be required to support the needs of individual students.  As with all technology, what is really important is that each student can be supported in a way that will allow them to succeed.
The RT shared with me a number of programs that would support any student who might be struggling with reading or writing.  These programs included WordQ, Clicker, Premier and Read and Write For Google.  These programs main features are that they can read student created material, they can predict words when students are writing and they can read text such as web articles, I have used WordQ and Read and Write in the past with a few students and the change in engagement from these students has been incredible. Work completion has increased and the students feel proud of their accomplishments.  It would greatly benefit other students in the class to use these programs as well however, the struggling students are the only ones who use this due to limited resources.  I have often wondered if by only allowing the struggling students the access to these programs, am I centering them out?

As we continued our conversation I asked about students who might require specialized technology in order for them to succeed in the classroom.  KG explained that students could receive assistive technology to meet individual needs through Special Equipment Amount Claims. Special Equipment Amount Claims provide funding to school boards to assist with the costs of equipment needed to support students with special needs and where the need for specific equipment is recommended by a qualified professional.  The SEA Claim covers a variety of items including computers, software, computing related devices as well as training and technician costs.  The equipment the student receives moves with the student as it is essential for them to be independent and to succeed in the classroom.

As we talked about the SEA Claims, I recalled a student who had a DynaVox.  The DynaVox allowed the student to communicate with peers and the teacher.  This piece of assistive technology was something that allowed the student share knowledge, to write ideas and to express thinking.  This is a form of assistive technology that is specific to the needs of the student and thus it is important for teachers to embrace the technology and to have patients when using new technology.  To some teachers, new technologies in the class may feel like something else added to their plate, however for the student it may be the only means by which to be successful.

For students who struggle, assistive technology provides tools and supports that help the students become more independent learners by allowing them to control how they can process information.

On a final note I asked what is the most sought after tool?  The response was that in general there is a need for more technology.  Students with highest needs receive tools but there is not enough resources to support every student's needs.  As an observation, I noticed that while Mrs. Gresku worked with some of our most challenged students, she was doing so without assistive technology.  I began to wonder if the resource teacher or the resource room is overlooked when technology is distributed within schools?  Is this the last place that should be considered for technology or the first?






17/10/2014

HWDSB Creating Policy that is Working to Enhance Learning with Technology

My teaching partner, Chantelle Davies, and I have begun to use technology in our classrooms in a more regular manner.  This trend is happening across our entire school board.  In the following guest post, Chantelle outlines some of the changes in polices in regards to technology and some of the pros and cons to these changes.


The Hamilton Wentworth District School Board has been making technology a greater priority over the past few years with an effort to change the learning environment in its schools. Expecting teachers and students to move to a 21st Century learning approach where technology is embedded into practice regularly is a enormous task. Currently, they are working at moving all of our schools to a wireless environment; they have created a role called ‘instructional coaches’ to support schools in their learning; and they are attempting to bring social media into each classroom by investing in devices and designing platforms for teacher and student use which resembles social media tools such as twitter or Facebook. Another part of the change that has come as a way to support the move to this new learning environment was the shift from an IT team to the ‘21st Century Learning Team.’ While the IT team was connected to computer services and provided technical support for teachers; the 21st Century Learning Team are now part of HWDSB’s Leadership and Learning Department. This team is in place to provide interdisciplinary support to school, so as to work with staff or students to increase knowledge around 21st Century tools and support inquiry based learning through technology.

The Hamilton school board has made the decision to evolve because “change is constant.” They are looking to move away from old thinking, toward new thinking that uses technology as a way to enhance learning, rather than using technology as an add-on.


http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Changing-the-Learning-Environment-in-HWSDSB.pdf

The board has implemented a 21st Century Learning and Technology Policy that is intended to:


  • Increase understanding of how the use of technology can enhance learning and working for all
  • Increase understanding of blended learning
  • Provide pathways to systemic adoption of tools 
  • Enhance teacher instruction and assessment, educational research, and professional development
  • Provide pathways to understanding the importance of authorship and ownership, of managing identity in digital spaces, of recognizing credible sources of information, participating in positive ways, and respecting the privacy of self and others
  • Develop skills for students to critically evaluate information technology, tools and resources
  • Develop the 21st century learning skills of all students and staff
http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/21st-Century-Learning-and-Technology.pdf

One of the challenges with implementing this policy will be educating staff on mass to the extent that is required for these skills to become a regular part of their practice. The board has been great at providing a platform (D2L) for teachers to access self-directed learning videos and reading materials. This is useful because with such great changes come a vast amount of new learning for everyone; meaning such a great number of topics that make it difficult to cover everything in a face-to-face PD session. The drawback to this support and thus to implementing the new policies is that this self-directed learning requires a certain degree of comfort and knowledge with technology. Many of our boards teachers are still very unfamiliar with how to navigate using certain technologies and many are intimidated by learning these tools; thus easily overwhelmed by such a plethora of self-directed ‘digital’ learning instruction. In relation to that, HWDSB is looking to increase student use of social media. Before students can be taught how to use social media sites like twitter safely, our teachers must first be comfortable with using this and understand how to be safe. With a goal of one-to-one learning by 2019, I wonder how the board will go about ensuring all teachers become comfortable with 21st Century learning tools, so as to ensure the money spent on devices isn’t wasted as an ‘add-on’ technology?

Reflections on Salman Khan's One World Schoolhouse

"Nurturing the sense of wonder should be educations highest goal; failing to nurture it is the central tragedy of our current system." 

Khan, Salman, 2012.  One World Schoolhouse.  Retrieved from http://www.audible.com/pd/Nonfiction/The-One-World-Schoolhouse-Audiobook/B009HVNGQI 

In order to nurture his students, Khan has developed his vision on a few simple ideas. As I listened to his founding methods I found myself agreeing with his ideas. His most interesting founding methods included the idea of mastery learning and personal responsibility. In each case Khan does not take responsibility for developing the ideas. Instead he explains how through reflection and in some cases necessity he came to develop Khan Academy into a resource that has been used by 10 000 000 students. What is truly interesting about Khan is that though he does not have a teaching background; he understands how to meet the needs of students in order to create success.


According to Khan, his method allows students to learn and master skills at their own pace. This concept known as mastery learning is the idea that all students can learn if they are provided with conditions appropriate to their needs and that curriculum should not be based on time, but rather targets. Students should move at their own pace in order to comprehend the skills they need to master new concepts. In theory, all teachers agree that comprehension or understanding of skills is the key to learning; but in reality due to the amount of content needed to be covered, time often wins out. Are we doing a disservice to our students when we move them on thinking that they will develop the skills needed as time goes on?

With the use of technology, Khan feels that despite resistance, the time is right to change from a time driven curriculum to a target driven curriculum. As is with new ideas, some teachers find it difficult or are unwilling to change their teaching methods. Many teachers continue to follow methods that do not reflect our changing world. As teachers, we need to be leaders and change teaching methods by using and embracing technology in order to meet the needs of each student. Khan states that his videos allow students to learn, rewind and review content as needed. Without the pressure of time, students can absorb the content in order to get a deeper understanding. Also, by using resources outside of the classroom, students can come to class with prior knowledge. In a recent science class, I had the students go online and read a few articles and play some online games before a lesson. What I found was that more students were engaged in the discussion. They were eager to share their knowledge and I did not need to teach concepts, rather we consolidated their ideas. Student were able to go through the material at their own pace.


Khan also discusses the notion of the need for students to take responsibility for their learning. This is a topic of discussion in my class often. We discuss how much more we learn when we are interested in the topic. Khan suggests that we learn by committing and that learning is connecting concepts. Students need to know where they have been and where they are going. In order for students to do this they need to be able to access resources at all times. Khan also believes that students need the freedom to determine where and when their learning will occur. This brings to mind the blended learning model where students access material in class, at home and have face to face time with the teacher. Once again, Khan feels that with technology and the internet students have access to the material they need to facilitate their learning when they need it. By taking responsibility students become active learners and develop greater knowledge and skills. I have shared the idea of self paced learning when talking to the students about being responsible for their learning. The students seemed to be fascinated by this idea and it seems to appeal to all. Through the expressions on their faces, it seems that there is almost a sense of relief for those who struggle and a sense of excitement for students who excel. Every student gets what they need to master their learning.

How can we further the idea of self paced learning using technology so students can master skills? Can self paced learning exist with our current teaching system? How can we consciously ignore self paced learning when we know many students fall through the gaps because they do not fully grasp concepts in the amount of time allotted in the classroom? How do we overcome the drawbacks, such as our current curriculum guidelines, when trying to support a self paced learning model?

An Educator's Role in Protecting Students Online


Statistics of Home Internet Safety Highly Concerning
Click for image source

As the year unfolded this year, my teaching partner, my teaching partner and I were committed to getting our class blogs up and running for our respective classes. As we discussed what this would look like on a computer screen and in the classroom; we knew that we would need to consider our students needs. The things we considered were how to keep students safe, did we want the public to access and share on our blogs, and how do we ensure the students are acting appropriately online. As we continued our discussions, colleagues began to inquire about our methods. We found that not only were we working at ensuring student safety, we were also in dialogue and sharing ideas with our peers.
 
According to OCT Standards of Practice, teachers should promote and participate in the creation of collaborative, safe and supportive learning communities (OCT Standards of Practice). At times, participation in learning groups happens in formal settings and other times it happens informally. The two of us have been involved more with informal learning. As I have stated, we often discuss the learning that is occurring in class and where we are heading with the students. I had one colleague ask one day, “What do you two talk about each night?” One of the things that I shared with her was how we were working on getting our blog started. This sparked an interest in her as she had attended a tech night, put on by our board that dealt with classroom blogging. Suddenly, our informal group of two grew to include another member and we had begun to create our own personal learning network. It has since grown further with a few other staff members who are venturing into blogging and other 21st Century learning experiences with their students.

Within our PLN, our main focus was how to manage the blogs with our different grade levels. We wanted to expose students to the world of blogging while keeping them safe. According to the ethical standard of Care, teachers are committed to students’ well-being and learning through positive influences, professional judgement and empathy (The Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession). It is with the Ethical Standards in mind, that we began to share some of the knowledge we had gained in our Integration of Technology Course Part 2. We began to share lessons we had created with our colleagues and we continued to discuss the importance of ensuring the safety of students. Using our professional knowledge, we decided that with our primary grades, we would create a blog that would be worked on as a class in a type of shared writing opportunity. We would focus mostly on sharing our information and comments within our immediate community of students and parents. Our juniors would start blogging as a shared experience as well, with the goal of eventually interacting with our blog independently from home and by interacting with other blogs globally. This decision was based on our knowledge of students’ ability and their access to technology. With in class support and modelling, we felt that this was the best way to ensure the safety of our students. The next step would be putting our theories and planning into practice. 
 
Within our PLN we have had many discussions about how students today are part of the ‘digital generation.’ Most of them are online on a regular basis (whether their parents like it or not). This year when surveying our students, we learned that most of them are online at least once a week and many of them are online daily. We feel that not only does this show us that using online tools is a motivating factor for our students, but that it is also becoming more and more important to have conversations in the classroom about online safety and digital responsibility. As well, a quick conversation is not enough to instill good habits into our students. Rather, frequent modelling and practice of these skills is what will help ensure safe and responsible use for our students.
With doing so much activity online at school, we have developed lessons to start the year off to introduce safe online activity. In addition, we have continued to revisit these concepts with our students each time we get online or use our class blog. Our students have now become ‘experts’ at pointing out when someone else in the online community has done something poorly to impact their digital footprint or when someone else has provided information that may not be keeping them safe.
Without us intending on doing so, this has become great sharing and modelling within our PLN. Our colleagues see how our students now naturally think about their actions online. They see how much students online activity increases through the primary grades into the junior grades and they have come to recognize that early discussions about safety and online etiquette help to shape responsible digital citizens. While our lessons and ways of teaching are newly developed and will need tweaking in the future; they have provided some of our colleagues with a jumping off point or with an idea of how to create their own lessons on internet safety and digital responsibility. Our informal discussions within the PLN have encouraged others to agree with our views that tackling these issues in the classroom is important and valuable. Hopefully this suggests that we ourselves are becoming good leaders with respect to our online actions.

In the spirit of sharing, here are some of the things we have done to help ensure the safety of our students online, as well as some of the lessons we’ve used to encourage them to be good digital citizens. It is our hope that these actions are ensuring the safety of our students.

Discuss the value of blogging with students and parents - WHY BLOG

Create blogging guidelines for our students to follow and send this home with a letter letting parents know what will be involved in our online activity at school

Teach lessons on what information should not be shared online - STUDENT SAFETY ONLINE

Teach lessons on creating Quality Comments so that students are safe and so that they are kind to others online

Teach lessons on how to copy work properly, so as to respect other online users and the original authors of online work - COPY THE RIGHT WAY

Understanding Creative Commons Licenses

Here is great resource shared by my teaching partner Chantelle Davies.  Thanks for sharing.

In an effort to add to previous posts I have had discussing the value of the Creative Commons, I have put together a brief handout that Ray and I can share with our staff and students to help them understand the various licenses available under the creative commons.  I have shared it here.

Creative Commons.jpg

Protect and Provide


Click for image source.


As I read through a number of Acceptable Use Policies, I found that they all had one thing in common; protecting the students from questionable content and behaviour while trying to provide access to information and sharing. The Acceptable Use Policies addressed ethical issues, copyright and fair use issues, safety issues and disciplinary actions.  These policies set out the expectations for principals, teachers and students when going online.  The question is whether this policy should be consistent from school to school or class to class?  In reality, I think the policy is not consistent due to the fact that each teacher has a personal view of what is acceptable.  When this happens, a mixed message is sent to the students and they become unsure of what is acceptable.  There are two ways to solve this dilemma for students: ensure all staff follow and enforce the Acceptable Use Policy; guide students into becoming critical thinkers so that they can make good decisions about what they access and how they behave online.

If the Acceptable Use Policy is followed and enforced by all staff in the school then the students receive the same message from class to class.  When following this policy, teachers often choose sites, monitor comments, and punish those who abuse online privileges.  Along with Acceptable Use Policies, many schools use online filters that removes questionable sites.  When teachers do follow the policy, they tend to do most of the thinking for the students and may limit access to information.  The policies control content and focus more on the don'ts rather than teaching or guiding students.  While following the Acceptable Use Policy protects students, it does very little to prepare students for real world applications.

In the real world, the student's life, there are no filters or policy to guide students.  They are free to choose what they view and comment in any manner they choose since they are not governed by policies.  This is the real problem with using and enforcing these policies in school.  To truly protect our students we must create critical thinkers.  Students must be taught how to critically analyze the information they are viewing.  They must be taught how to be responsible when they come across content that is subjective and how to deal with it.  When we, as teachers do this, then we are creating digital citizens who will be able to make good decisions independently.

Does this mean that the Acceptable Use Policy is not needed and that we should allow students to make there own choices?  No, we need to ensure that we follow school board policies while teaching students how to be critical of content.  Working in the primary grades, I would not want to expose students to all content online.  However, even in the primary grades, students need to taught how to choose age appropriate material and how to respond to others.  As teachers, we need to find the balance between protecting students and providing access to the digital world.

Policies must be living documents that change to meet current needs.  They need to be updated regularly to address trends or they become outdated and meaningless.  Does your board's Acceptable Use Policy meet the needs of how students interact online?

HWDSB Acceptable Use Agreement
TDSB Online Policy
DSBN Acceptable Use Agreement
HDSB Acceptable Use Guidelines

06/10/2014

Connecting Web 2.0 Tools to Curriculum

5 Lesson Plans for Understanding Structures and Mechanisms Grade 4/5



Click for image source.


My teaching partner, Chantelle Davies and I currently teach a combined split grade class of 4/5.  As with most of the work we do, we have discussed and planned for our upcoming science units.  We are currently working on Understanding Structures and Mechanisms.  We have included a brief outline of the lessons and inquiry based learning the students will be doing.  Along with the lessons, we have included some ideas of how to integrate  Web 2.0 tools into the classroom.  The use of these tools has allowed the students to collaborate, communicate, create and to be critical thinkers.  It is our hope that by sharing these ideas with others, by having peek into our classes through blogs and the other tools web tools we use, they will begin to explore ways they can integrate technology into their classes.

Here are our 5 Lesson Plans for Understanding Structures and Mechanisms Grade 4/5 combined.

05/10/2014

The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined Filled with Questions

My teaching partner and I have begun to read and reflect on the book One World Schoolhouse by Salman Khan.  Below is a post with some thoughts in regards to the first few chapters.  We will continue to reflect in future posts.

"It's my belief that each of us has a stake in the education of all of us.  Who knows where genius will crop up?  There may be a young girl in an African village with the potential to find a cancer cure.  A fisherman's son in New Guinea might have incredible insight into the health of the oceans.  Why would we allow their talents to be wasted?  How can we justify not offering those children a world -class education, given that the technology and resources to do so are available - if only we can muster the vision and boldness to make in happen."  Khan, Salman.  2012. One World Schoolhouse.  Retrieved from http://www.audible.com/pd/Nonfiction/The-One-World-Schoolhouse-Audiobook/B009HVNGQI

As I begin to listen to the audio book, One World Schoolhouse:  Education Reimagined, my passion for helping students succeed is reinvigorated.  It's hard for anyone who listens to the radio, watches television, or reads on the internet to say they have never heard of Khan Academy.  However, I wonder how many are like me?  They have heard the name Khan Academy several times, they know it's receiving lots of attention, but they don't really know what it is.

The book is written and read by Salman Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy.  Khan believes in a world where education is free and available to all.  As I listened to his ideal world that got him started down this journey, I thought to myself; yes, I want that for everyone too.  In fact, I think most educators would agree with me.  However like me, many of us stop there; unwilling or unsure of how to make change to the system we live in.  I was impressed that in such a short time frame that Khan, someone who is or even a teacher to begin with, has started to make strides and bring learning to people in all parts of the world.  Well, at least to anyone who can access the internet.

So many of the questions Khan asks in his introduction are valid and important questions.  Questions that I know I have asked myself before; "Does the standard classroom model - broadcast lecture in school, solitary homework in the evening - still make sense in a digital age?  Why do students forget so much of what they have supposedly  " learned" as soon as an exam has been taken?  Why do grown-ups sense such a disconnect between what they studied in school and what they do in the real world?"  Khan, Salman.  One World Schoolhouse.  While reading these questions I was reflective of my own practice and was left thinking about many of my struggling students.  I often spend many nights lying awake thinking of how I can better help them.  More question came to me:  How do I support their different ways and pace of learning when I have 28 students in class?  If I provide video to view at home, as I know the Khan Academy has many of, will this help?  Is it enough?  If I want to change my practice to better fit the digital age (which I am trying to do, by the way), how do I still do this within the confines of the curriculum and confines of the public school system I work for?

At one point in the book he talks about the challenges that a student faces when the class must move on to keep up with curriculum, but the student is not ready to do so.  In Ontario, we have tried to curb this problem with the Individual Education Plan (IEP) that allows students to move forward with their peers, while still working at their level.  However, I'm not sure this process is truly helping these students get the learning they need.  Often students must sit through lessons that are above them before the teacher can work one-to-one with them to support them at their own level.  Otherwise, they are left off to the side during these lessons to work through some work at "their level" while this lesson is happening; allowing for distractions, isolation, and little instruction.  Do you think we are meeting the needs of our IEP students in the standard classroom?  What strategies do you use to support these students?  What new strategies should we be trying?

Khan's book has definitely caught my interest and I'm eager to hear all of it.  I hope that not only will I learn about the fascinating direction of the Khan Academy, but that I might walk away with some insights into how to evolve my own classroom practice within the walls of the current school structure that employs me.  I don't mean to write a post with so many questions, but having only begun the book I am left feeling curious.  I hope in the comments below that some of you will feel brave enough to address some of the may questions I have asked.  I will continue my read and share more of my thoughts as time goes on.

Share With Others and They Will Share With You

As my teaching partner and I continue to work together we are discovering new ways of sharing information each day.  We are now using technology to share ideas and thoughts.  By teaching partner, Chantelle Davies has written a reflection on how web 2.0 and sharing can support teachers.

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

As a leader or even as someone's equal in the education world, you would be doing a disservice to not only others, but to yourself if you did not choose to embrace the beauties of what we now call web 2.0.  As noted in an early post by my teaching partner, Ray Swinarchin, the web has evolved from being just a static resource with read only material (web 1.0) to being a tool that allows for reading, sharing, collaborating and interacting (web 2.0).  I have spoken before about the importance of embracing interactive social media tools as a leader in education.  To further elaborate on this, I think by using web 2.o tools such as twitter, blogging, instagram, etc. leaders are not only encouraging other educators to lead by example for their students, but they are also helping to open the door for those educators to a much greater wealth of knowledge and expertise.  In addition, as per the quote from Ralph Emerson above, leaders are also able to gain something for themselves.  By creating and using platforms that encourage sharing, leaders will naturally build networks that they too can rely on as a further source of knowledge.  In the age of information it is not possible to know everything about everything in education.  Building a network fostered by the sharing of information means leaders can manage this.  they can simply turn to their network to ask questions and seek information about the topic they are focusing on at any given moment.  they inevitable will benefit from the process.

In an effort to follow this message, we have created a wikispace.  It's a bit of a mash up of ideas that all pertain to where we are at in our teaching and learning.  Included are sections on split classrooms, blogging and other tech related ideas for the classroom.  Please consider sharing in this wiki and add anything you have created for your classroom.

https://21stcenturyclassroom-splits-blogs-tech.wikispaces.com/

HWDSB Virtual Library Resources


In a previous post I shared some interesting resources available in the HWDSB Virtual Library.  I recently revisited the site to see if any new resources grabbed my attention.  I have created an infographic to share some of these resources.

Click to view image
Did you know that HWDSB's Virtual Library allows teachers to request or suggest online resources.  A form with a request of the resource is available through the Virtual Library side bar menu.  There is also a tab on the side bar that allows teachers to evaluate the resources being offered through the Virtual Library.  The virtual library is a tool that is an underused tool as many people are not aware of all the resources available to them.  It is important to make peers and colleagues aware of tools available in the virtual library and to evaluate so that this is not an under used or overlooked resources.

I was wondering how often you share information or think about your virtual library with colleagues when planning?

As a side note, while I explored Venngage Infographic, I found it easy to use.  Adding images and text was as simple as clicking and dragging content into the infographic.  There is also a link that allows you to share your infographic using such social networking tools as twitter, facebook and google+.  However, as I have shared these links it has come to my attention that the link does not allow you to view the document.  This may be due to the fact that I may need to upgrade my membership to a premium page.  By upgrading, I will have the ability to turn my creations into pdf files so that I can share them with others.

Links to resources from Infographic:

Teaching Kids News -  With this site, teachers can access news articles written in kid friendly language.  The news articles are presented in a way so that kids can understand it, think critically about it and then apply their knowledge to the real world.  Along with a daily article, grammar and curriculum based questions are included with each article.
CGF Learning Free - GCF is a site that helps individuals learn skills needed to live and work in the 21st Century.  The resource offers 125 tutorial and over a thousand lessons on topics such as math, reading, and microsoft.  There are instructors who can support online classes.
The Red Book - The Red Book is a database of community, government, volunteer and health sector programs and services in and supporting the City of Hamilton.  By typing in key words users a lead to a list of support services available within the city.
Media Smarts - Media Smarts is a comprehensive collection of digital and media resources.  Media Smarts develops digital and media literacy programs and resources for schools.  The site offers information and tools to help children develop critical thinking skills they need to interact with the media they love.
Pop Culture Collection - Gale Cengage Learning offers content, tools and services to libraries in order to promote learning  and information discover.  One of the tools offered is Pop Culture Collection.  One interesting feature is Term Cluster.  When a subject is searched, related links and data is included.  For example, when I searched Harry Potter, linked data included J.K. Rowling, movies, books, London, New York.
Kids InfoBits - Kids InfoBits, also by Gale Cengage Learning, offers children age appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics.  Content includes books, magazines, news and images.  InfoBits engages students with interesting facts along with connections to current events.

The Evolution of the Web


"...because your knowledge and my knowledge, based on what search results are served, (our knowledge) may be very different."  (Silva Vaidhayana)  This quote reminded me of an article I read a few years ago about the way people conduct searches.  The gist of the article stated  that people will search out information that supports their point of view and disregard other information.  In a sense we search for the information we want and discard other related material if it does not meet our needs.  The evolution of the web will change the trend of only looking for data that suites ones opinion.  To understand how this evolution is changing the trend we need to examine how the web was used and how it will be used in the future.

The Evolution of The Web


Tim Berners-Lee, who launched the world wide web in 1989, wanted to change the way we used information and how we worked together.  Berners-Lee wanted a global resource that would allow people to access information.  In its beginning, the web, referred to as Web 1.0, was known as a read only web.  In other words, the consumer was limited to only reading information presented on a website.  Since these static websites do not permit interaction or communication, it is difficult to discuss the credibility of information or to present different points of views.  

To allow for communication and interaction new tools needed to be developed.  In 1999, a company called  Blogger  was started which helped usher in Web 2.0.  Over time more social networking tools were developed (i.e. facebook, youtube, twitter, etc.) which allowed the user to read, write and publish.  This allows the consumer to become active and share feedback with the creator of information.  As this interaction occurs communication, collaboration and creativity increases.  The problem that has users now face is that there is so much information available that it is difficult for consumers to sift through all the data in order to find appropriate content.

 Berners-Lee's new vision for the web is to have individuals put data onto the net.  His vision is that as more data is placed on the web it becomes linked to other data because machines will be able to read the data and link it to other sources.  In Web 3.0. the user will be able to do a search that will start in one data base and then move through other data bases which are connected or related to the search.  According to Berners-Lee, the information you get back is data with relationships to other data.  As a result, the linked data will come from diverse sources giving the consumer a better understanding of the content.

The following youtube video by Kate Ray, gives an overview of Web3.0.




Web 3.0 and Education

As Web 3.0 and linked data is created, students will be able to absorb more information and spend greater time analyzing this data.  While researching Web 3.0,I came across Gapminder, which shows the important world important trends.  It is a data bass, that has collected and organized data so that it can be understood by it's consumers.  Under the For Teachers page, there is an example of how data with relationships can be used in a classroom to discuss world trends.  The conversations are meaningful as students are able to analyze the data and share their thoughts on what the data tells them.  By linking to this, students are getting real world information and discuss real world issues.  

With the linked data of Web 3.0, teachers will be able to fully assess students according to Ontario Curriculum Achievement Charts.  Much of what is assessed is the student's knowledge and understanding.  As the content or data is made available, teachers can go deeper into the achievement chart and assess thinking, communication and application of skills.   Teachers will no longer be feeding information to students and asking for them to restate it.  Students will work with data to come to their own conclusions thus emergence of a 21st Century critical thinker.

As I was researching the evolution of the web, I became aware changes that have occurred overtime.  However, while we live day to day this changes are sometimes overlooked until we are made aware of these changes and reflect on how these changes ca affect our teaching.  I was wondering, as leaders, how often do we make other team members aware of the changing trends in education?