tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47209982196858238152024-02-20T23:19:40.803-05:00EvolvEduEmbracing innovative instructional strategies that inform and evolve our educational practice by Ferdinand Krauss.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-48653961205075690942017-06-26T13:21:00.000-04:002017-06-26T13:55:15.277-04:00Innovative Teaching to Promote Deeper Learning in Math - Waterloo Catholic DSB, Part 3<div style="line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff5722; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Research Question</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the questions from our Technology Learning Fund Math Evaluation Project was: </span><span style="color: #ff5722; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are the impacts of the TLF-M teacher professional development on student learning and achievement? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This report shares the results of one attempt at capturing the impact on students through use of pre and post tests.
</span></span><span style="color: #ff5722; white-space: pre-wrap;">Description of Pre and Post Tests</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Post tests were completed within 2 weeks of the last session on May 8, 2017.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A WCDSB Math consultant developed a pre-test for participating teachers to have students complete using a Google Form prior to implementing any of the new pedagogies in the classroom. The tests included transformation geometry thinking/application (only application for primary) questions from 2006-2010 - Gr 3 EQAO (13 qs) for Grade 3-5s. For participating Grade 7-8 students, Grade 6 transformation geometry EQAO questions were used (13qs).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All pre-tests were completed in class prior to session 3. The pre tests were analysed and individual and class results were used as assessments of learning to inform educator’s learning plans beginning in session 3. </span></span><br />
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<iframe height="800" src="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G8zGwkGNvk04bJWo23K-gFC4KXHTipgVcvjJR-4DZ4A/pub?embedded=true" width="1060"></iframe>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-14042267013711347892017-06-16T11:31:00.000-04:002017-06-16T12:15:54.912-04:00Innovative Teaching to Promote Deeper Learning in Math - Waterloo Catholic DSB, Part 2<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As part of last year's Technology Learning Fund (TLF), we created a Video Series to showcase what </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">21st Century Learning looks like in different classrooms in our Board (see playlist icon in top left corner of the video embedded below). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This year, during sessions 7 and 8 of the TLF-Math training, a videographer accompanied a researcher from Wilfrid Laurier University to conduct interviews with students and teachers that participated in the project.
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A series of short (an average 5 minutes in length) student interviews (n=27) were conducted during the class visits (each class visit was approximately 20-30 minutes) at 2 participating schools. Students were interviewed most often in pairs or in a group of 3 and sometimes alone if they were working on a project alone or if their partner did not have consent to participate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Short teacher interviews (10-20 minutes in length, n=5 ) were conducted during the lunch breaks of the professional development session. The teachers consented for their interviews to be edited and shared </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">publicly</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> and for their quotes from interview data to be used in final reports of the TLF-M.</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The videographer distilled the interviews down to a 10 minute video that is available to view below: “Innovative Teaching to Promote Deeper Learning in Math”.
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Themes that are addressed and indexed in the video, through the words and actions of teachers and students include:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">leveraging digital tools for student learning</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">student collaboration & critical thinking</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">student voice & meta cognition</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">teacher reflection on pedagogical practice</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">changing role of the teacher</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">student-led inquiry</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">leveraging digital</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">student choice in their learning - defining the problem</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">connecting the learning</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">innovation through iteration</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the value of professional collaboration</span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLmEr6P5gen8avMPix_vpvS5dxo6W0YLRG" width="560"></iframe></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-57452889540088914522017-06-15T14:41:00.000-04:002017-06-16T10:37:42.085-04:00Innovative Teaching to Promote Deeper Learning in Math - Waterloo Catholic DSB, Part 1In 2017, the Technology Learning Fund – Mathematics (TLF-M) at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) bridged math curriculum learning and 21st century competencies spanning the junior division. Mathematics content knowledge focused on the curricular big idea of location and movement with a heightened focus on transformational geometry, through the use of math-tech enabled resources.<br />
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The goal of the cross-school network was to construct understanding of the curriculum expectations/big ideas and continuum of learning from grade 4 to grade 6, through job-embedded co-learning and reflections on both student and teacher learning. The project aimed to build capacity of effective teaching and learning of transformational geometry through classroom embedded collaborative inquiry that incorporated different school contexts, 21st century competencies and technology.<br />
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Six elementary schools participated in the TLF-M network, with four junior teachers representing grades 4, 5 & 6, including combined grades and cross-divisional grades such as 3/4 and 6/7. 457 students participated in the project. There was a total of 23 educators that completed the professional development.<br />
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Through 2 full days of <a href="http://npdl.global/" target="_blank">New Pedgogies for Deeper Learning</a> (NPDL) training and 6 full days of job-embedded networked co-learning, teams of educators conducted in-class investigations of student work and lessons in classrooms, using a collaborative inquiry process (i.e. plan, act, observe, reflect). This process aimed to have participants identify and build knowledge about deeper learning. The WCDSB action plan for the Ministry's Technology Learning Fund included the purchase of licenses for 6 schools to receive training on the New Pedagogies for Deeper Learning (NPDL) framework. In February 2017, educators participated in two full day facilitated sessions with a NPDL consultant and participated in 6 more sessions from February to May of 2017.<br />
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NPDL is a global partnership, created by Michael Fullan, which includes 1000 schools in 10 countries (14 school boards in Ontario). Deep learning is mobilized by four elements that combine to form the new pedagogies; learning partnerships, learning environment, pedagogical practices and leveraging digital. The Deep Learning Competencies, (collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, citizenship, character) are the skill sets each and every student needs to achieve and excel in, in order to flourish in today’s complex world.<br />
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Below is the project plan which documents the collaborative inquiry and professional learning cycle for one of the schools that participated in the project.<br />
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<iframe height=800 width=1060 src="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iBEAH1u5RtfEjpzXv4Mm4VYjgWacpK8G7UPBhHPoL8k/pub?embedded=true"></iframe>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-67345758102643843402017-03-21T11:30:00.000-04:002017-03-21T12:18:43.071-04:00Waterloo Catholic DSB Digital Learning Progress Evaluation<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<span style="background-color: #cccccc; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have been meeting with a group of educators in the Waterloo Catholic DSB to participate in an assessment of our Board's implementation of our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KzJUQV4jjjPkP5qXhzMYTSxU7nipfyPHec6jnRlkhOc/edit?usp%3Dsharing&source=gmail&ust=1490194338388000&usg=AFQjCNEWq869MpSZZux4dkJnYbT787hcLQ" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KzJUQV4jjjPkP5qXhzMYTSxU7nipfyPHec6jnRlkhOc/edit?usp=sharing" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">21st Teaching and Learning Blueprint</a>. The focus of our first session was to determine how we can use technology to best support teaching and learning in our Board. </span></div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">We used the</span><span style="color: #5c6c84; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://drive.google.com/open?id%3D1vnyuzuOUIY1Ngbx8oSvK95XLI3vMW2bKy-5N7w9ke9Y&source=gmail&ust=1490194338388000&usg=AFQjCNGNUM7nUlajELFPdLc-xzMcWLKJ7A" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vnyuzuOUIY1Ngbx8oSvK95XLI3vMW2bKy-5N7w9ke9Y" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3876b2; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">North-Carolina-<span class="il">Digital</span>-Lea<wbr></wbr>rning-<span class="il">Progress</span>-Rubric</a><span style="color: #5c6c84; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">as a framework to reflect on our <span class="il">progress</span> and to inform our next steps. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This rubric contains five major areas: Leadership, Professional Learning, Technology & Infrastructure, Content & Instruction, and Data & Assessment. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We will also give some consideration to methods we can use to include input from students about how we could use technology to promote critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and collaboration (a Board strategic priority).</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc;">Below you will find the following documentation in support of this process;</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc;">1) Group ratings in a Google doc for each of the indicators in the five major areas: Leadership, Professional Learning, Technology & Infrastructure, Content & Instruction, and Data & Assessment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="600" scrolling="yes" src="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vnyuzuOUIY1Ngbx8oSvK95XLI3vMW2bKy-5N7w9ke9Y/pub?embedded=true" width="840"></iframe>
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">2) The <a href="https://realtimeboard.com/app/board/o9J_k0xUKrI=/" target="_blank">Realtime Board</a> where we captured artefacts, evidence and the rationale for the ratings.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">3) The Youtube video which captures the collaboration in real time.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EVM9hkY8O0Y" width="560"></iframe>
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During our next session, each group will have some time to present their ratings and for the whole group to discuss the rationale. Subsequently, we will establish priorities and make specific recommendations to move to the next level in each category. We will also discuss the format by which we will be able to obtain additional feedback from educators and students through the use of small, school-based focus groups.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-63856678564127769592016-12-11T07:59:00.000-05:002016-12-11T07:59:05.893-05:00Digital Leadership<div class="storify">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-60361580692967547332016-11-05T15:27:00.003-04:002016-11-06T08:34:15.370-05:00ASCD Educational Leadership Conference Day 2<div class="storify"><iframe src="//storify.com/kraussfe/ascd-educational-leadership-conference-day-2/embed?border=false" width="100%" height="750" frameborder="no" allowtransparency="true"></iframe><script src="//storify.com/kraussfe/ascd-educational-leadership-conference-day-2.js?border=false"></script><noscript>[<a href="//storify.com/kraussfe/ascd-educational-leadership-conference-day-2" target="_blank">View the story "ASCD Educational Leadership Conference Day 2" on Storify</a>]</noscript></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-82988488484132363332016-11-04T15:04:00.000-04:002016-11-04T15:04:29.163-04:00ASCD Educational Leadership Conference Day 1<div class="storify">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-18575917359746102802016-10-30T08:46:00.003-04:002016-10-30T08:46:24.312-04:00Innovative Instructional Practices and Leadership<div class="storify"><iframe src="//storify.com/kraussfe/evolve-edu/embed" width="100%" height="750" frameborder="no" allowtransparency="true"></iframe><script src="//storify.com/kraussfe/evolve-edu.js"></script><noscript>[<a href="//storify.com/kraussfe/evolve-edu" target="_blank">View the story "Evolve EDU" on Storify</a>]</noscript></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-87393483137501792892016-10-15T09:54:00.000-04:002016-10-15T10:01:01.192-04:00Educational Leadership Portfolio<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My values and guiding principles of educational leadership are informed by the image of the leader as shepherd as inspired by Psalm 23 (1).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> A shepherd leader is a positive role model, one that leads and serves the community by being protective, patient, caring and supportive yet exhibits diligence, courage and resilience when implementing necessary changes. It is a fully integrated leadership philosophy that identifies a way of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thinking</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">doing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">being</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. First, leadership is a way of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">thinking</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which involves visualizing the future in order to think and plan ahead and to empower those around you to see and learn more than they would on their own. Leaders also need to move from deep reflection and contemplation to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">doing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, by making decisions in a timely manner that will enable the school to achieve the objectives outlined in the strategic plan. Thirdly, in order to create an environment conducive to growth and well-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">being, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">leaders need to see and experience first-hand the perspectives of the different members of their school community.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leadership is a joint effort that requires interdependence and support from each of the stakeholders and a commitment to the vision outlined in the strategic plan. It is important for an educational leader to discover the needs of the various stakeholders by interacting with them in order to listen to the substance of what people tell them, and to more clearly understand the context of the details that are being shared. Learning how to meet their needs will enable the leader to help the community to reach their full potential. When people provide input, they become more motivated and engaged in their development. This helps to establish an environment of trust, because they know you value their opinion. The more involved they become in implementing the changes, the more responsible they will feel for the results that are achieved, which creates a greater capacity for growth. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Effective principals are both managers and instructional leaders, recognizing that both roles are essential and providing a balance between management and instructional skills (Chell, 2002(2))</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. One of my main motivations for becoming an educational leader is because I want to help teachers to continue to evolve their instructional practice by embracing 21st century learning approaches and tools to improve student engagement and achievement. As Toffler states, “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”(3).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I think it is important as a school leader and teacher to model how these tools can be used in a responsible way to collaborate and communicate with others to co-develop school plans, share educational resources and best practices, and to use social media to celebrate what is happening in our schools. I find it personally rewarding to work with teachers to facilitate their professional and personal growth through our professional learning cycles and collaborative inquiry. “When members of a team make the results from their common assessments transparent, analyze those results collectively, and discuss which instructional strategies seem most effective based on actual evidence of student learning, they're using the most powerful catalysts for improving instruction”(4).</span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-30164a41-c38d-9c3d-05b8-742aa449d48c"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In order to facilitate the re-examination of current instructional practices, I will need to create an environment where teachers feel safe to take risks in order to find innovative solutions to instructional challenges and to become learning partners with students. As Fullan states, the unplanned digital revolution is creating a push-pull factor; push - school is increasingly boring for students and alienating for teachers, pull - the allure of the digital world (5).</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> By letting teachers’ natural curiosity for learning guide them in their collaborative inquiry and by re-framing failure as iteration I hope to achieve the progress principle so that staff feel motivated, energized and self-efficacious in working towards overcoming the problem of practice they are experiencing in their classrooms. Innovation will be achieved through an iterative process whereby staff continue to evolve their practice as a result of their experiences in implementing their professional learning cycle. Another critical aspect of driving change will be to directly involve students in helping to create a learning environment that is more engaging, authentic, collaborative and inter-connective.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is the link to my </span><a href="https://realtimeboard.com/app/board/o9J_k0o6roU=/" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">interactive mind map presentation</a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where I provide an overview of the different areas of the Catholic School-Level Leadership framework that I have been involved in through my role as a 21st Century Learning and IT Consultant. (You may switch to the full-screen mode to start the presentation by clicking on the arrows icon in the bottom left corner or you can use the following </span><a href="https://help.realtimeboard.com/support/solutions/articles/11000016240-navigation-controls" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">navigation controls</a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to interact with individual elements in the mind map).</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">#OntEdLeaders #ontedlead </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">#leadcpco </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">#WCDSBawesome </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">#on21clearn</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Wiley: Shepherd Leaders hip: Wisdom for Leaders from ... 2003. 3 Jul. 2015
</span><a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787966339.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787966339.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Part, A. "Introducing Principals to the Role of Instructional Leadership." 2005.
</span><a href="http://www.saskschoolboards.ca/research/leadership/95-14.htm" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.saskschoolboards.ca/research/leadership/95-14.htm</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Alvin Toffler Quotes (Author of Future Shock) - Goodreads. 2007. 5 Jul. 2015
</span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3030.Alvin_Toffler" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3030.Alvin_Toffler</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-30164a41-c392-9cfe-cce3-bf48d786da72"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline;"> 4. Educational Leadership:The Principalship:How Do ... - ASCD. 2013. 5 Jul. 2015
</span><a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr13/vol70/num07/How-Do-Principals-Really-Improve-Schools%C2%A2.aspx" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr13/vol70/num07/How-Do-Principals-Really-Improve-Schools%C2%A2.aspx</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-30164a41-c392-ec30-9782-49cfc71ca2d7"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline;"> 5. Fullan, Michael. </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy, and change knowledge</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px; vertical-align: baseline;">. Pearson Canada, 2013.</span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-73722906565770121192015-10-26T11:48:00.002-04:002015-10-26T11:57:02.790-04:00Evolve EDU Daily<script src="http://widgets.paper.li/javascripts/sr.embeddable.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script>Paperli.PaperFrame.Show({id: '3034c94e-e649-482d-90d3-3df419cc2405', width: 780, height: 1200, background: '#ECECEC', borderColor: '#DDDDDD'})</script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-44462837183012643512014-04-24T10:24:00.000-04:002014-09-11T10:01:22.371-04:00Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education: Key Strategies for Successful Implementation <span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the presentation I delivered with <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/109665695127454941794" target="_blank">+Rolland Chidiac-WCDSB</a> at the recent <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111315389434069014635" target="_blank">+Google in Education Summits by EdTechTeam</a> in Kitchener, hosted by <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/113730615163752442626" target="_blank">+Mark W. Carbone</a> and the Waterloo Region District School Board. There were many fantastic presenters and <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/gafesummit.com/on/2014/program/detailed-sessions" target="_blank">sessions</a>, like the first one <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2013/04/google-apps-for-education-summit.html" target="_blank">I attended last year</a>. At the beginning of my presentation, I reflected on the fact that at last April's summit I had just started to explore the use of these tools to enhance student learning. At that conference I met <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/114228444007154433856" target="_blank">+Sylvia Duckworth</a> and it led to our implementation of <a href="http://goo.gl/qaGH1r" target="_blank">GAFE to facilitate a collaborative story retell project</a> between our two remote classes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />As you will see from the documentation below, a lot can happen in one year. In the Waterloo Catholic District School Board we now have <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2014/01/21st-century-learning-teaching.html" target="_blank">teachers in each of our schools being trained</a> in the use of Chromebooks & Google Apps for Education as we move to a Board-wide implementation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I created the presentation in <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111944887453153319165" target="_blank">+RealtimeBoard</a> which is a free app for education. It is an excellent tool which allows you to create multi-media, interactive mind maps and whiteboards. Follow the instructions below to see the presentation;</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">use magnify tools in bottom left corner to zoom in/ out of interactive multi-media mind map</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">click & drag the hand to move the board</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">click arrow next to title to start presentation mode</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">use arrows below documents to navigate contents</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You are free to use & adapt any of the Google Docs in the presentation (</span><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px; white-space: pre-wrap;">File > make a copy).
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">They are </span><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">licensed under a </span><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</span></a><span style="line-height: 21.81818199157715px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-157d961a-9419-05fb-640f-2355af121be8"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%8Bhttp://bit.ly/WCDSB-EDTECH" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">WCDSB Chromebook & Google Apps for Education (GAFE) Project</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-157d961a-9419-05fb-640f-2355af121be8"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rationale, pedagogical, cost and technical considerations for this project;</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%8Bhttp://bit.ly/WCDSB-GAFE" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WCDSB Chromebook & Google Apps for Education Support Resources</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%8Bhttp://bit.ly/WCDSB-Chromebook" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">WCDSB Chromebook Handbook</span></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://goo.gl/YWcr6p" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">WCDSB GAFE Parent Letter</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/a/wcdsb.ca/document/d/1VpmrZk9XvMohZBwvtlGabIFLCqjsvbxpIcVs9RCJddM/edit" style="text-decoration: none;">21st Century Project Framework</a></span></span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://realtimeboard.com/embed/?id=36687473&title=WCDSB Chromebooks & GAFE&width=600&height=400" style="border: none;" width="600"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-42534383830860634402014-01-25T19:42:00.000-05:002014-01-26T10:08:27.176-05:00Chromebook and Google Apps for Education Implementation<span id="docs-internal-guid-0c169ddc-cbee-7db2-3ee9-827ad9d7c4fb"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the documentation I prepared to support our Chromebook and Google Apps for Education implementation. It provides a comprehensive overview for all of our stakeholders, and includes the rationale, pedagogical, cost and technical considerations for this project. Link to the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yzhj1CaeEhhTbmCN57tc2uFdASOgxBf0PsZAxs5mZ_o/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Google Doc</a> version.</span></span><br />
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In the latter part of 2013, I began to meet with teachers from my school board to begin their professional learning cycle on 21st Century Learning & Teaching.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span>The <b>shift from teaching to learning</b> is intentional as the focus of this Professional Learning Cycle (PLC) is on their own learning and professional development. The PLC will follow a collaborative inquiry model, where there will be a lot of flexibility and time for them to explore their own professional growth and development and learn from each other. As Dr. Ann Lieberman (Stanford University) has stated, teachers learn most from other teachers - they are real and have practical experiences that they can trust and can relate to. It is through this exploration that the teachers will discover different ways for their students to become successful in achieving the outcomes they have defined. Each participant will choose a numeracy or literacy focus in line with their school improvement plan in order to achieve the Board system goals in student achievement. </div>
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Over the course of the cycle, teachers will receive a <b>Chromebook</b> and use the tools of the <b>Google Apps for Education</b> suite to facilitate their own learning as they design activities and projects for their students (our <a href="http://goo.gl/ZWzjxP" target="_blank">rationale for choosing Chromebooks & GAFE</a>). Through the professional learning opportunities provided by this collaborative inquiry, teachers will better understand the changes in instruction that are required and the 21st Century tools that can be used in order to attain higher levels of achievement in students’ literacy and numeracy skills. The added benefit is that they will be able to model 21st century learning for their students so that it becomes a natural part of what happens inside and outside of the classroom. <i>Adequate time to reflect on these changes and to become familiar with these tools is essential for a successful system-wide implementation.</i> There are all sorts of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/13/us-usa-ipads-schools-idUSBRE9AC0XQ20131113" target="_blank">examples</a> where technology is deployed district-wide without the proper training for teachers or the lead-time to consider the most effective use of these tools. <b>Our goal is to transform learning and teaching in our Board - not to merely map existing teaching practices on to new technology.</b> My role is to facilitate this exploration and to try to model the strategies and tools that they can use with their students. I am leading this PLC as part of my <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/tllp.html" target="_blank">Teacher Learning and Leadership Program project</a> funded by the Ministry of Education. </div>
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We begin with an examination of the key student outcomes identified in our <a href="https://www.wcdsb.ca/about/pdf/WCDSB-21st-Century-Teaching-and-Learning-Outcomes.pdf" target="_blank">21st Century Learning & Teaching Blueprint</a>. These outcomes; effective communicator, reflective, creative & holistic thinker, self-directed, responsible life-long learner, and collaborative contributor, are not new. They have been embedded in our <a href="http://goo.gl/h2QzL3" target="_blank">Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations</a> for many years. While they are not new outcomes, there are many new strategies and tools we can choose to achieve them. I also encourage our teachers to consider the importance of modelling these outcomes for their students and the process for attaining them, in order to promote a 'culture of learning'.</div>
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I spend some time reviewing the approaches that are critical to fully leverage 21st century learning and teaching. Otherwise, we are unlikely to see the kind of transformation in educational practice that we are seeking. <br />
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1) When we encounter a problem of practice, it is an opportunity for us to re-imagine our teaching. <b>We adopt a 'greenfield approach' where we are not constrained by the previous instructional methods we have employed.</b> When I started teaching French, I taught my students the same way I learned the language in school, by teaching grammar rules and conjugating verbs. This is not a natural way to learn a language and therefore I had very limited success with my students. I started to experiment with new methods and was fortunate enough to observe another teacher that used a revolutionary program with a formalized sign language known as <a href="http://www.aimlanguagelearning.com/">Accelerated Integrative Method (AIM)</a> that helps students to acquire, comprehend and speak new languages with a high degree of fluency and accuracy. I noticed dramatic results with my students as a result of implementing this new program. New possibilities for learning equals new opportunities for teaching.</div>
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2) Sometimes we let our fear of making mistakes prevent us from learning new things - as educators we need to step outside of our comfort zone and <b>try new things and new methods</b>. As part of this PLC, teachers have the license and are encouraged to experiment with the Chromebook and the GAFE tools, because when we are in 'beta' we continue to learn and grow. An iterative approach is ingrained in the professional learning cycle - we will all learn from each other and use our experiences (good and bad) to inform our practice. I show teachers the video below because it illustrates how ''<b>re-framing failure as iteration allows students</b> <b><i>and teachers</i> to thrive</b>''.</div>
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I also show the <a href="http://www.iteachithink.com/2012/08/a-letter-to-my-students-and-parents.html">20% project</a> as an example of what this looks like at the secondary level.<br />
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3) As we look to <b>embrace technology</b> and all of the wonderful forms of expression and collaboration that it affords we should be moving from substitution (where technology is a tool that involves no functional change) to modification and re-definition (where technology allows for the significant redesign of tasks that were previously inconceivable. The image below is from the excellent presentation by Jim Cash on ''<a href="http://prezi.com/mdgkhmcvtx5g/technology-in-the-service-of-learning-samr-tpack-21st-century-skills/">Technology in the service of learning</a>'' and the SAMR model.<br />
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I also refer our teachers to the <a href="http://gettingsmart.com/2013/07/the-samr-ladder-through-the-lens-of-21st-century-skills/">SAMR Ladder</a> created by Susan Oxnevad and the <a href="http://www.azk12.org/tim/">Arizona Technology Integration Matrix</a> so they can see practical examples of the different ranges of technology integration and characteristics of student engagement. I use the Arizona TIM because their videos are viewable on the Chromebooks (unlike the <a href="http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix.php">FCIT</a> ones created in Quicktime).<br />
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4) As participants in the PLC they will be invited to <b>become members in variety of communities and Professional or Personal Learning Networks</b> to share best practices and resources in order to grow their knowledge and understanding of these tools by connecting with educators from around the world (<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/111885171520981887334">Chromebook EDU</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/111138038754004333717">Google Apps for Education</a>, <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/100342834366095345013">Educators on Google +</a>). This is a critical strategy to build capacity within our Board so that the Chromebook and GAFE project is a successful and sustainable implementation. We have also created our own Waterloo Catholic DSB community to facilitate sharing and collaboration across our Board.<br />
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The infographic below on the <a href="http://blog.alwaysprepped.com/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-teachers-who-use-technology/" target="_blank">The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers Who Use Technology</a> from the edtech blog<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><a href="http://blog.alwaysprepped.com/">Always Prepped</a> provides a nice summary of the qualities we are looking to embrace.</div>
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Future blog posts will focus on the specific activities, tools and strategies that will be used to facilitate this professional learning cycle. I will also outline the methodology that will be used to measure the success of this professional development program.<br />
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<a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2013/05/blended-learning-professional.html" target="_blank">My previous post on this topic</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-26778971805870568302013-11-07T14:36:00.001-05:002013-11-07T19:56:44.169-05:00A Blueprint for 21st Century Learning and Teaching<div class="tG QF" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; position: absolute; width: 0px;">
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<span style="color: #404040;">Yesterday, with the leadership of our Superintendent of Student Success <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/114232310904317895777" target="_blank">+David DeSantis</a>, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board began the process of defining the vision and implementation plan for realizing the outcomes in our <a href="http://goo.gl/JiKKxN">21st Century Teaching and Learning Blueprint</a></span><span style="color: #404040;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Source</span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Creator:Charles_Fadel&action=edit&redlink=1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 10.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #a55858; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:Charles Fadel</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Recently, I began reading the book ‘Why’ by Simon Sinek and reflecting on his message and how it relates to our vision for 21st Century Learning and Teaching. We have outlined the ‘what’ (desired student outcomes, sub-committees, focus questions), and the ‘how’ (committee process, report recommendations, tools for achieving student outcomes). For Sinek, it is identifying the ‘why’ that inspires people to act. Below are my thoughts on </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">‘why’ we should be undertaking this process and 'why it is so important. </span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">For me, the ‘why’ is because we need to re-examine the way learning & teaching takes place in our Board (from the instructional strategies and tools and the way we support technology to what our learning spaces will look like).<br /> </span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />At the recent <a href="http://bringittogether.ca/ecoo1-keynote-speaker-jaime-casap/" target="_blank">ECOO conference</a> </span></span><a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/103759446822828646901" style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" target="_blank">+Jaime Casap</a><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> asked a very good question? "Why do classes remain unchanged from the times when we went to school?" Some recent articles; </span></span><a href="http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/10/what-does-classroom-20-look" style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">What Does Classroom 2.0 Look Like</a><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">? (Educators detail how they’re putting a new learning space design paradigm to work in their schools) and </span></span><a href="http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/9367" style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Why Disruptive Leadership</a><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> (a great article about the approach required to change the prevailing mindset) are excellent food for thought.</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">As we undertake this visioning process, it is an opportunity for us to adopt a ‘greenfield approach’ - a fresh start where we are not constrained by what we have done in the past. It is this new thinking about learning (for students & staff) that will allow us to achieve new possibilities for teaching. I have deliberately placed the </span></span><b style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">focus on the learning</b><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> as opposed to the teaching, because I think this represents the kind of shift that is required to transform instructional practice. It is the educator learning that can take place through collaborative inquiry in the professional learning cycle that will encourage teachers to adopt new methods for achieving 21st Century outcomes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">While we will share our insights and experiences from our individual classes and schools it is important for us to keep in mind </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">our catholic </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">social teachings about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">community and the common good, as</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> our decisions will have implications for the entire system.</span><br />
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"><br />We will be using Chromebooks and <b>Google Apps for Education</b></span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;"> </span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">to facilitate the collaboration and documentation of the sub-committees and to familiarize ourselves with 21st Century tools and methods. This decision is practical as well as symbolic, as these tools represent a new and different way of working that we can model for our educators and students. </span><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 17.987499237060547px;">I will also be arranging a tour of the <a href="http://www.communitech.ca/connect/the-communitech-hub/" target="_blank">communitech hub</a> so that sub-committee members can see 21st Century work in action.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">As I meet with each of the sub-committees I will show the video on ‘<a href="http://youtu.be/0uaquGZKx_0" target="_blank">moonshot thinking</a>’ because I think that it embraces the critical mindset that is necessary for us to achieve exceptional learning outcomes for our students and our educators and to solve the really big challenges that our system faces; </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px;">equity, anti-bullying and re-thinking 21st learning and teaching to mention a few.</span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> Although the video focuses on science & technology I think it is very applicable to the educational context. </span></span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px;">‘’<i>We choose to do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard</i>.’’</span><br />
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I hope the video will also encourage committee members to be open-minded, to dream big and to reinforce that iteration is essential. "Why" is this mindset so important for 21st Century Learning and Teaching, - because the stakes are high. There are several </span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px;">private sector examples of companies that once dominated their markets, that now struggle to succeed because they have failed to adapt to the changes around them and continue to innovate (Kodak, Nortel, Blackberry, and increasingly Microsoft). On the flip-side we have examples like the Perimeter institute and Google that are providing solutions for problems that do not even exist yet (e.g. Google working on a protocol for communicating with Mars).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">If we do not take this opportunity to be open-minded about this re-examination and to challenge the status-quo how will we ever know what will be possible in our Board?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16944950127840876546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-87522183888255294992013-05-20T09:32:00.000-04:002014-01-25T21:23:59.651-05:00Blended Learning Professional Development for Teachers TLLP 2013I just returned from the planning sessions for the Ministry of Education's <a href="https://event-wizard.com/TLLPMayTraining2013/0/welcome/" target="_blank">Teacher Learning and Leadership Program</a> (TLLP) with my colleague <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113067691074511450689" target="_blank">+Rolland Chidiac</a>. In addition to seeing wonderful presentations by Dr. Anne Lieberman (Stanford) and Dr. Carol Campbell (OISE/ UT) on research related to leadership and professional development for teachers, we had a chance to continue working on the project proposal that was accepted by our Board (Waterloo Catholic District School Board ) and the Ministry for 2013-2014, <a href="http://newfluencies.blogspot.ca/2013/04/success-for-all-students-21st-century.html" style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Success for all Students: 21st Century Teaching/Learning using Tablets & A Blended Learning Model</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">.</span><br />
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We are finding that this proposal continues to evolve as we experience new technologies and approaches to teaching and learning that we would like to include in our project. One of the major advantages we have is that our decisions are informed by the insights and experiences Rolland has gained as a result of his work on his current <a href="http://newfluencies.blogspot.ca/2013/02/term-1-iproject-summary-tllp.html" target="_blank">TLLP project</a>. Instead of learning about the project planning process, we are able to focus on the project implementation and the resources we will need to employ to achieve our SMART goals.<br />
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There will be <u>2 significant changes to our project</u>. Previously, my focus group for the blended learning model was to be junior students, but this will now change to include educators in our school board. Teachers that are interested in using blended learning in their classrooms will be invited to attend professional development sessions that will model the same method of delivery (i.e. they will experience blended learning from the perspective of a student - some face to face sessions and some online sessions). The main focus will be to use the same tools and approaches that they could incorporate into their own teaching. Their experiences as a student will help to inform their instructional practice. This is important because educators often lack the personal experience with the new methods and tools of delivery and therefore have a difficult time determining their value and how it would work in their classroom. The instruction in the blended learning course will follow a Collaborative Inquiry model as teachers reflect on their own teaching & learning to design blended learning activities for their own students.<br />
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Facilitating professional development for teachers is a passion of mine as I really enjoy the exchange of best practices that are shared between educators that have a variety of experiences. This type of interaction and model for professional development delivery is critical for the adoption of innovative teaching approaches as my rationale below explains.<br />
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The key question to address is <i>how can we promote innovation in teaching</i>? The important distinction for the context of our project is that ‘perceived as new’ is relative to the traditional educational practices of a school which consists largely of face to face classes. If blended learning delivery is adopted and used with the existing instructional paradigms, the effect on learning will be negligible and will therefore not represent an innovation in teaching. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Ultimately, it is not the technology that matters, but how we design the learning through the technology</span> (Miller). Advances in teaching may result when technology is used as an opportunity discover new ways for achieving learning outcomes. Blended learning can represent both a pedagogical innovation and a channel of communication capable of engaging the learner. Technology enables the instructor to create a different kind of curriculum and to establish a different relationship with the student. The virtual classroom provides a new environment for human interaction and allows the teacher to design learning which can be more student-centered and collaborative and focus on 21st century skills and literacies. <a href="https://learni.st/learnings/158533-examining-blended-learning-models-student-to-teacher-interactions?board_id=22283" target="_blank">Examining Blended Learning Models: Student To Teacher Interactions</a> provides some great examples on how the role of the teacher in a blended learning environment could change.<br />
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According to Rogers, innovation is adopted by members within society at different times and at different rates. A steep learning curve is overcome quickly by early adopters who absorb the new skills and instructional paradigms quickly while late adopters acquire this knowledge over a longer time span. Information seems to flow easily from innovators to early adopters. The barrier for diffusion is identified by the gap that occurs between early adopters and early main-stream educators. The size of this gap can be attributed to the level of the inter-connectedness between schools in a school board. Often teachers have connections that do not extend beyond their department, division or school. This limits the reciprocal exchange of teaching methods and content. The number of nodes and connections between educators determines the complexity and richness of the network (Rueter).<br />
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Professional development is often seen as a key enabler of innovation in teaching as it may serve to link successful teaching initiatives and the broad expertise available throughout a school board. Such a network would facilitate the sharing of innovative teaching strategies and encourage the exchange of best practices in the development and delivery of blended learning and full eLearning courses. As Dr. Lieberman stated, 'teachers learn most from other teachers as they are real and have practical experiences you trust and can relate to.' This is why it would be important to include <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113067691074511450689" target="_blank">+Rolland Chidiac</a> as a co-instructor in these sessions as he would continue to share his day-to-day experiences with blended learning and his primary students. These types of initiatives also help to raise the profile of innovative teaching practices, and foster communication and collaboration between teachers and programs.<br />
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The <u>second significant change</u> to our project is that we will be employing Acer chromebooks instead of the tablets we had initially selected. After rigorous testing we chose this system because it will enable our teachers to view the Flash-based learning activities in the Ministry's Learning Management System <i>without additional configuration</i>. The simplified yet powerful interface of the Chrome operating system will enable us to fully leverage the tools of the Google Apps for Education suite to empower the professional and personal learning networks of our teachers and students. My <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2013/05/using-social-media-to-empower-pln.html" target="_blank">recent experiences</a> with these tools has clearly demonstrated to me how effective they can be at extending our learning to include educators and students from around the world. In order to adopt these innovative approaches our teachers need to be exposed to these tools and strategies. An <a href="http://www.glenbrook225.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=2c77e2e8-237b-4cd7-8e24-68b8e8f44bf2" target="_blank">excellent study</a> by <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/103070522760026573150" target="_blank">+Ryan Bretag</a> and his team provides clear and compelling evidence that we are making the correct decision. '<i>100% of the Pilot teachers preferred the Chromebooks over Nexus tablets or reviewing other devices' and '65% of the Pilot students preferred the Chromebooks over the Nexus tablets (24%) or Reviewing Other Devices (11%)</i>'. Another excellent <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5AOHQcS-cAeODhkOGQwNmMtNDRiNC00ZjA2LTkwM2YtNDY4MGEwOWEyZWNj/preview?pli=1&hl=en_US" target="_blank">case study</a> by <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/115103808906074590354" target="_blank">+Terry Korte</a> revealed that, '<i>since moving to Google Apps, collaboration has flourished across the district. According to Korte, Google Apps is improving the way students learn and teachers teach. Today, students and teachers are blogging about novels, working out math problems using Google spreadsheets, sharing documents such as lab reports, research projects and surveys using Google Docs, creating sites with Google Sites that include links, pictures, videos and more - all using Google's tools. One teacher says that Google Apps has significantly decreased workloads and planning, because staff no longer need to create several different versions of material for different access methods</i>.' Google's recent announcement of the <a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/05/15/google-play-for-education-google-goes-after-apples-k-12-stranglehold-with-cheap-apps-tablets/" target="_blank">Google Play for Education</a> initiative will also make these devices easier for teachers and IT departments to administer (send out applications updates to their entire fleet of devices with one click and app purchases can be charged against an account that a school has on file).<br />
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My future posts will focus on the explanation for measuring the SMART goals for our TLLP project. We will be adapting the rating instruments and research methodology from a previous study I conducted on the <a href="http://www.ijello.org/Volume1/v1p001-022Krauss.pdf" target="_blank">A Study of the Design and Evaluation of a Learning Object and Implications for Content Development</a>.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-13627334901552292552013-05-15T15:56:00.004-04:002013-05-15T16:24:10.512-04:00Using Social Media to Empower PLNUsing social media to empower #PLN and #GAFE.<br />
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In my <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2013/04/google-apps-for-education-summit.html" target="_blank">last post</a> I described what I experienced at the recent GAFE summit I attended and how the application of the concepts and tools I was exposed to has clearly demonstrated to me how social media can empower PLN (personal or professional learning networks). When <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/116498651353722533474" target="_blank">+Molly Schroeder</a> posed her 'design challenge' and asked us why we were at the summit giving up 16 hours of our personal time on the weekend, my response was because, 'I am in beta'. I continue to look for innovative ways to engage my students by sharing strategies and resources with other educators. During his session <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/109972393384120358602" target="_blank">+Mark Wagner</a> <a href="http://www.edtechteam.com/workshops/2013-04-21pln" target="_blank">discussed how one's PLN</a> can expand exponentially from colleagues in your local staff room or department to educators from around the world who have a variety of insights and experiences and resources to share. Sometimes it can be a challenge to participate in these networks to the degree I would like given all of the extra-curricular activities at school and at home, but I find that what ever time I have been able to invest has easily generated an incredible rate of return.<br />
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At the summit I finally met <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/114228444007154433856" target="_blank">+Sylvia Duckworth</a> in person. She is someone I have admired and been following and exchanging ideas with on Twitter as we both use the AIM methodology and resources to teach our students French as a Second Language. At the time, I never realized that a tweet requesting to make a personal introduction at the conference would have turned into such a powerful and enlightening collaboration. Throughout the day we had been <a href="http://on.gafesummit.com/program/detailed-sessions">attending sessions</a> by <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/100534297006636427233" target="_blank">+Wendy Gorton</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/104511818843111994926" target="_blank">+Marc Dubeau</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/109972393384120358602" target="_blank">+Mark Wagner</a> on using Google + Hangouts to facilitate dynamic and enriching collaboration between educators and students. While I enjoy using Twitter to connect and exchange ideas with my colleagues I think that Google + Hangouts really has the ability to take PLN to the next level as you will see below.<br />
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Unbeknownst to me <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/114228444007154433856" target="_blank">+Sylvia Duckworth</a> began formulating some very clear ideas about how our two classes could collaborate using the tools we had a chance to experiment with during our sessions. When you look at the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oGdPx1OGpKxLbX8KboHpNFYBCSGeevtE4TIzzFlbqsU/edit" target="_blank">plan</a> she put together you will see an aspect of every session we attended that weekend; <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/104113609296713658107" target="_blank">+Jim Sill</a> YouTube in the classroom, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/107277545054697824030" target="_blank">+Joseph Romano</a> Google Docs and PBL, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/101515574777500570383" target="_blank">+Pierre Sarazin</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/106724188943355787401" target="_blank">+Lise Galuga</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/106583676135079787099" target="_blank">+Tanya Avrith</a> Google Drive and innovative pedagogical strategies for Google Docs and Forms, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/112182545881101932802" target="_blank">+Joe Sisco</a> Google Apps, just to mention a few.<br />
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The same evening the summit ended Sylvia and I had a <a href="http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/" target="_blank">Google + Hangout</a> to start experimenting with the tools (real-time Google doc collaboration, desktop sharing, video and text chat, Google effects, YouTube streaming) so we could get a clearer idea of how we could use these tools with our students. There was also the very practical element of being able to effectively plan the implementation of this project using the very same tools. Our students had a great time using the <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lU2HlJMv794PdXgNTqqMVOEjlcje2nCGVs5Pr8ZvJMk/viewform" target="_blank">Google forms</a> to provide input to the character development and interaction for the story re-tell activity. We were also able to look at the <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lU2HlJMv794PdXgNTqqMVOEjlcje2nCGVs5Pr8ZvJMk/viewanalytics" target="_blank">results in graphic form</a> and discuss some numeracy objectives by examining how we would use the information to make specific decisions. The students were very engaged when we had a Google + Hangout to do a shared reading of the story and then to co-construct a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NMC-bv-b39Uo_d89PoWaq3VqopbIJv1XNg4KXIl65To/edit" target="_blank">new ending</a> for the play in real-time based on their responses to the survey. We did not encounter any significant technical issues during our session, but that was probably due to the amount of testing we did prior to our Hangout.<br />
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Currently, we are at the stage where the students are creating their own version of the play using <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14GC3Kseknrs51ASt9zk5ps-zn_GUjETIldtcHrSx620/edit#slide=id.gbcaf937b_090" target="_blank">Google presentation</a> and using <a href="https://twistedwave.com/" target="_blank">Chrome Extension Twisted Wave</a>, to record their voices reading the sentences they have constructed. This activity is a critical part of extending second language development as the students use the words they have learned to express their own ideas in a creative fashion.
I have learned so much from my collaboration on this project with Sylvia and we are only at the midway point. It has not been without its challenges - trying to schedule real-time collaboration and planning for 2 busy professionals with different teaching schedules gave us a very narrow time frame to work with. Previous restrictions on my school network did not permit Google + Hangouts to take place due to blocked communication ports - thankfully this issue has been resolved. My board has not yet implemented GAFE so my students do not have Google accounts and access to their personal Google drives and documents. For the time being they will need to download the documents as MS Office files in order to create their presentations. I consider it all as part of being in 'beta' - the insights and experiences I have gained will inform my future practice and help me to support educators that have similar goals and ideas for enhancing teaching and learning.<br />
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Thanks again to <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113730615163752442626" target="_blank">+Mark Carbone</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/102773446476839918992" target="_blank">+Harry Niezen</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113451521882944904839" target="_blank">+Bill MacKenzie</a>, and <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/111315389434069014635" target="_blank">+Google in Education Summits by EdTechTeam</a> for all of their hard work in organizing such an inspirational and transformative conference.<br />
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My next great PLN adventure starts today as <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113067691074511450689" target="_blank">+Rolland Chidiac</a> and I begin our planning sessions as part of the Ministry of Education's <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/tllp.html" target="_blank">Teacher Learning and Leadership Program</a> (TLLP) which is an annual project-based professional learning opportunity for experienced classroom teachers. The TLLP "...funds proposals from classroom teachers who seek a peer leadership role in curriculum, instructional practice or supporting other teachers. The three goals of the program are to create and support opportunities for teacher professional learning, foster teacher leadership and facilitate the sharing of exemplary practices with others for the broader benefit of Ontario's students". Our project which will be funded for 2013-2014 is <a href="http://newfluencies.blogspot.ca/2013/04/success-for-all-students-21st-century.html" target="_blank">Success for all Students: 21st Century Teaching/Learning using Tablets & A Blended Learning Model</a>. We are planning on using Google + Hangouts and the methodologies and tools I mentioned above to facilitate this project. Once again I am looking forward to all of the insights I will gain from my collaboration from Rolland and others like <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/104243539799743886162" target="_blank">+Michelle Cordy</a>, who have so much valuable experience using these tools with their students.<br />
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I would be interested to hear from other people and how they use social media to facilitate PLNs.<br />
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What are some of the tools that you like to use?<br />
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In what ways do you use them and what is the frequency and depth of your collaborations?<br />
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How would you adapt the model I illustrated above for your own PLN or classroom implementation?<br />
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What are some of the challenges and affordances of using social media to empower PLN? Please provide some specific examples.<br />
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Looking forward to hearing your responses.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-11358537288751708262013-04-27T08:27:00.001-04:002013-04-27T08:38:28.658-04:00Google Apps for Education SummitThe <a href="http://on.gafesummit.com/program/detailed-sessions">Google Apps for Education Summit</a> #gafesummit was one of the most transformative Professional Development experiences I have ever had in my 17 years as an educator.<br />
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<a href="http://on.gafesummit.com/program/detailed-sessions"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgjASHyBACw5C935JbG9JB2uLVuyyapWpOu46b84yLwQp6adPo2R86qIXYeITn3jNDC4CYkaQoY_dem9DlMBqI3Kd0CbN0jCVzuvfR28YsGBqnYm__qvKDGlX0l58TjgwW9kqD_Lz4Fe0/s320/customLogo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">source: Google</span></div>
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To start off day 2 <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/109972393384120358602" target="_blank">+Mark Wagner</a> asked us to consider a message that we would send from the future to today's teachers. My response is to continue to invest in Professional Development, continue to be in 'beta' with your adoption of educational technology and use these experiences to inform and evolve your practice.<br />
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Keynote speaker <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/116498651353722533474" target="_blank">+Molly Schroeder</a> talked about Google's philosophy to launch early and iterate. They are always in the 'beta' phase developing new products and new ways for people to use technology. Molly cited examples of newly released products like <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/">Google Glass</a> and some they have decided to drop like Google Reader (no longer available after July 1st). This is inevitable and just means that they are moving on to something more innovative. All the steps are integral because they have led to the current stage of development. Google loves being in beta because this is the place where learning and growth happens.<br />
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I think that as educators we need to allow ourselves more time to be in 'beta' with respect to our instruction. The number and scope of Ministry and school board policies and initiatives sometimes makes it difficult. However, by investing this time in trying new approaches we will continue to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our students.<br />
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While I am learning a lot about technical tools and tips, the part that amazes me the most is <u>the change in the approach to teaching that is required in order to leverage these tools to the maximum</u>. Admittedly, this is a difficult shift for most educators to make. Trying new things means operating out of one's comfort zone and possibly making mistakes due to our lack of understanding or experience. I think <a href="http://on.gafesummit.com/tim-lee">Tim Lee's</a> <span style="color: #38761d;"><b>greenfield approach</b></span> (a project which lacks any constraints imposed by prior work, source: wikipedia) to 'Re-designing your School technology around the Cloud' is the same approach we need to take towards our instruction. <span style="color: purple;">Innovative teaching lacks constraints imposed by prior instructional approaches.</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>We need to have the courage to try new things, new instructional practices, new technologies and to model this for our students. Below is the video on <b>Moonshot thinking</b><i>. </i>The basic message is that <i>'we choose to do things because they are hard. We need to find what you are passionate about and not be afraid to take risks because that is what is required to solve the really big challenges</i>.'<br />
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In his keynote presentation <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/104113609296713658107" target="_blank">+Jim Sill</a> showed us quotes demonizing everyday technologies we now take for granted (like the bicycle) when they were first released. He suggested that we need to change our thinking about technology by changing our perspective (zoom in thinking routine). We need to adopt a more holistic view of the role that technology plays in the lives of our students. As educators we can no longer ignore the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html">fact</a> that '<i>72 hours of video content is being uploaded to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a> every minute</i>'!! We can't let our fear of technology prevent us from embracing it and all of the forms of expression that it affords.<br />
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Molly said that we need to think about our students as being in beta. There is tremendous potential for them to learn and grow and that the focus should be on what they are going to do to find answers to questions and how they will represent the knowledge and skills they have acquired. We need to empower them to become active creators of knowledge by providing them with 'design challenges' that will allow them to flourish in beta.<br />
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They need to be involved in the process of understanding, building, designing and testing their ideas and to know <i>why</i> they are learning, much like the <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/02/technology-skills-competition.html">technology skills competition</a> our students engage in every year. What if we allowed <i>all</i> of our students to participate in these kinds of projects on a <i>regular basis throughout the school year</i>. An excellent example of this is the <a href="http://www.iteachithink.com/2012/08/a-letter-to-my-students-and-parents.html">20% project</a>. Make sure you watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XbUkkJ-8hNU">student testimonials</a> about their final presentations on this project and why it is so important to them.<br />
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My subsequent blogposts will illustrate how I have begun to apply what I learned and experienced at this summit to my own professional practice. Specifically, I will demonstrate how I am using Google + Hangout to facilitate a #PLN around the planning and implementation of projects using Google docs to collaborate with my colleagues <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/114228444007154433856" target="_blank">+Sylvia Duckworth</a> and <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113067691074511450689" target="_blank">+Rolland Chidiac</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-65198405155359494752013-04-01T10:23:00.003-04:002013-04-01T10:23:56.344-04:00On The Rise K-12, eLearning Conference Part 2How to encourage teachers to adopt #blendedlearning or #elearning to enhance their instruction? I continued to reflect on this question as the second day of the conference began and I was inspired by a number of examples of forward-thinking school boards. <br /><br />In his keynote presentation, <a href="https://twitter.com/malloy_john">John Malloy</a>, Director for the Hamilton Wentworth DSB made a point of saying that <i>digital does not necessarily mean differentiated instruction or innovative teaching</i>. I have always been a firm believer that pedagogy should drive the adoption of educational technology and that it is a tool not a strategy. I was not surprised to hear John Malloy mention that his board has a <b>21st century learning team</b> with a variety of stakeholders to help define the vision and implementation for innovative teaching and learning. The Hamilton Wentworth DSB was one of our original partners in the EDEN project (Electronic Distributive Education Network) established in the mid 1990's to deliver elearning and blended learning courses to the member boards (Simcoe County DSB, York Region DSB, Upper Canada DSB, Toronto DSB and Dufferin-Peel CDSB). It is also no suprise that the Hamilton Wentworth DSB recently won the <a href="http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/896114--public-board-wins-national-award">Ken Spencer Award</a> a national prize for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. “Students develop personal blogs as online learning portfolios, and manage their digital footprint in a safe space while learning what it means to be a responsible digital citizen.”<br />
<i><br />How many other school boards have a 21st century learning team in place to make sure that teachers have the training and infrastructure to be truly innovative?</i><br />
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I attended another inspiring presentation by <a href="https://twitter.com/joe_sisco">Joe Sisco</a>, WECDSB who talked about how his board integrates <a href="http://www.google.ca/aclk?sa=l&ai=CGARZz3VZUYG3PPC1yQGsloAI-8XvjAPL19DFNO3388kqCAAQAVDi39rKA2D9iJqB6AOgAZWekugDyAEBqgQZT9CfYcYVFKkn2qxhJXQElt0tYYGVF3s2GIAH0-HtFw&sig=AOD64_3dd14tuW-a1bBJE2v4N2rJehJgyg&ved=0CDEQ0Qw&adurl=http://www.google.com/apps/education&rct=j&q=google+apps+for+education">Google Apps for Education</a> with the <a href="http://desire2learn.com/">Desire2Learn</a> platform. Joe showed examples of how students in his board help to peer-edit each other's work, collaborate on presentation and group projects and how teachers provide descriptive feedback to students in a seamless and intuitive manner. It was another example of a school board that has the vision and understands what needs to be in place in order to promote innovative teaching and learning.<br />
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Bill MacKenzie, President, <a href="http://ecoo.org/">ECOO</a> also informed us about the upcoming <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/gafesummit.com/on/">Google in Education summit</a> taking place at Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener, April 20 & 21, 2013. I do not think that it is a coincidence that the summit is taking place at a school in the Waterloo Region DSB. <a href="http://blog.markwcarbone.ca/">Mark Carbone</a> and his team have been working with local business leaders in Communitech to create a vision and plan for the future of teaching and learning. Not only are they participating in <a href="http://plpnetwork.com/">professional development</a> designed to change teaching practice, but they are also working on the <a href="http://blog.markwcarbone.ca/2011/02/02/wrdsb-futures-forum-project-goes-live/">Future Forum Project</a> which recognizes the need to engage learners in a variety of approaches and activities to better prepare them for tomorrow. 'The project strives to integrate promising practices and learning across schools to meet the needs of all students in a more effective, sustainable and progressive manner.'<br />
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While the above examples are truly inspirational and operate at a very high-level, my own focus is to target a more grass-roots transformation of teaching in the mainstream classroom. Now to return to my initial question about how to encourage teachers to consider changing their instructional practices and to use educational technology to achieve different learning outcomes. My colleague at <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/">Elearning Ontario</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/dan_bodkin">Dan Bodkin</a> sent me a link to a great article on <a href="http://plpnetwork.com/2013/03/27/hesitant-teachers-technology/">How to Get Hesitant Teachers to Use Technology</a>. It contains many great suggestions especially about 'giving them time to play' and experiment with the new tools. Early in the consultation process I provide teachers with a number of <a href="http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/march_2012/features/tech_class.aspx">different models and examples</a> based on the learning outcomes they have selected. However, <i>I think that their own experiences using the technology is what will transform their practice</i>. The number one complaint I hear from teachers is that they do not have the time to reflect on how these new tools can impact the way they teach. They are often over-whelmed by the options and features available.<br />
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It occurs to me that the initial conversation with mainstream teachers should not begin by introducing web 2.0 tools, new features to the LMS or terms like blended learning. Without the experience of using these tools and approaches it is difficult for them to determine their value or how it can transform their practice because they have no frame of reference. It may be more productive to use the upcoming sessions for school and board effectiveness planning as the means by which they could receive a gentle introduction to blended learning. Shortly, educators will be deciding on specific literacy and numeracy goals and interventions based on previous evaluation data (i.e. EQAO, CAAT, etc..) for the upcoming school year.<br />
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Teachers that have defined specific literacy goals related to reading comprehension, writing or oral communication can be given access to the <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/05/elementary-interface-provincial.html">elementary elearning carousel</a> where they can select relevant activities according to subject, strand and expectations. Teachers will appreciate the simplified interface and will come to realize the potential for differentiating instruction by providing enrichment or remediation as a result of the comprehension checks they perform while students work on the activities at their own pace. Teachers that express an interest in using tools to complement these activities can be given an introduction to areas like the discussion board so they can gain first-hand experience in helping students to apply creative thinking and writing skills to their online posts in order to promote higher level cognition.<br />
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At last year's Digital Learning Forum a group from the Near North DSB presented a pilot project where they created a number of online evaluations in D2L to prepare students in grades 3, 6, & 9 for the upcoming EQAO tests. Students used tablets to access a variety of questions they could expect to see on the tests and were provided with feedback based on the answers they submitted. They could also complete the evaluations multiple times. This kind of a project would work well for helping teachers to achieve the specific numeracy goals they have identified in their school improvement plan. I think they would quickly come to realize the benefits of students being able to work on relevant activities at different times of the day from multiple locations and devices.<br />
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I believe that mainstream teachers will be more willing to embrace digital tools that can transform their teaching if they are presented as a natural and complementary way to achieve learning outcomes. They can use their initial experiences in the online environment (both positive & negative) to inform their practice so they can decide what tools and approaches they will incorporate in the next iteration of their course.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-40112182079552025262013-03-31T07:40:00.000-04:002013-03-31T07:48:56.342-04:00On The Rise K-12, eLearning Conference Part 1Insights and reflections on the recent e-learning conference I attended. This past week I joined educators from across Ontario to share best practices and experiences with e-learning and blended learning implementations. There was tremendous energy and many <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/wecdsb.on.ca/on-the-rise-k-12/workshop-sessions">great examples of innovative teaching and learning</a>. <br />
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John Baker CEO of <a href="http://www.desire2learn.com/">Desire2Learn</a> began the conference by providing updates on a number of different areas in which the LMS is continuing to evolve. You can hear the passion and conviction in John's voice when he explains how the new tools are going to help teachers and students become more successful. He talked about flipping the learning paradigm by letting students find the problem they want to solve in order to increase their motivation, level of engagement and empower them to find solutions. He said that it was this kind of approach that helped him to develop the skills and knowledge to build his own company. Below are some of the product announcements that I found interesting;<br />
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The new <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/05/elementary-interface-provincial.html">elementary elearning carousel</a> is to be released shortly. This simplified interface will make it much easier for younger students to access the activities in the Ontario Education Resource Bank according to the subject and strand they are studying. <i>I wonder what is going to happen to all of the Flash-based resources in the OERB as HTML5 emerges as the web standard?</i> The <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/04/improving-student-success-online.html">predictive analytics</a> tool that runs in the background will help teachers to identify students that are struggling in their course so that they can plan early interventions to help them to become more successful. I was very happy to see that D2L seems receptive to my idea of including a draft post button for students working in the discussion board. This occurred to me during a recent class when my students were posting their online reflections in the digital stewardship unit and it came to the end of the period. The students that were not done had two options; post incomplete work (which can't be revised later or copy and paste to another application). This just did not make sense to me. I think having D2L staff at the conference and willing to sit down and talk with educators about their experiences in the LMS is key to their ability to improve their product and the way it functions. We will see if my suggestion makes it into the new release due of the discussion board out in about a month. The <a href="http://www.desire2learn.com/products/mobile/binder/">D2L binder</a> is new a mobile app that will make it possible for students to interact with and annotate course documents and information on their tablets.<br />
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I attended some great sessions on how to engage students using web 2.0 tools such as glogster, voicethread and jing. I was very impressed by the quality of student work and the level of engagement and collaboration. As an 'early adopter' of instructional technology I can immediately see the value of these approaches and the tools that the teacher used to achieve the learning objectives. It's no surprise that the majority of people who attend the conference are keen on seeing new methods and tools that will help them to change the way they teach - that's why they attend. However, as the conference continued, I began to reflect on how to encourage the mainstream classroom teacher (not present at the conference, not currently using web 2.0 tools) to undertake the process of re-examining their teaching practice in order to discover new ways of improving student learning.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-83564739639542632042013-02-13T21:26:00.002-05:002013-03-05T13:07:17.972-05:00Digital Stewardship through Blended LearningOur plan for the digital stewardship case study via blended learning is outlined below. I am responsible for leading our team through the <a href="http://goo.gl/XoJ5h">collaborative inquiry process</a> in order to inform our teaching practice for this pilot project. There are many excellent examples of <a href="http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/march_2012/features/tech_class.aspx">using social media in the classroom</a>, but many educators and administrators encounter challenges when it comes to teaching students about the <a href="http://www.catholiccurriculumcorp.org/Units/EthicalResponsibleICTDec.pdf">ethical and responsible use of information technologies</a>. An example of the need for this kind of instruction was highlighted in a recent blog post by George Couros, '<a href="http://goo.gl/PwWB7">Is your school’s “digital citizenship” practice a pass or fail</a>? His example of the student twitter accounts that contained derogatory and offensive remarks is one that is playing out in many schools as students become more prolific at using social media. The problem is that students are not always taking the appropriate steps to <a href="http://youthprivacy.ca/en/contest.html#c4">protect their privacy</a>, or do not fully understand or contemplate the implications of their online activity because they have difficulty differentiating between public and private realms.<br />
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During my session we will working in the discussion board of our Learning Management System to determine our shared vision for the project. 'In an ideal world, what would responsible & ethical use of digital technologies by our students look like?' Subsequently, we will identify the inquiry question which will determine what type of action is required and what evidence we will need in order to make our decisions with respect to planning the instruction for the case study.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-50607658813696404882013-01-13T08:02:00.000-05:002013-01-21T10:01:13.937-05:00Using podcasting to improve reading comprehension and fluency<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How to use podcasting to improve reading comprehension and fluency.<br />
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This past week I started using free audio recording software called <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">audacity</a> to help primary students improve their reading comprehension and fluency. The software provides the students with visual feedback in the form of sound waves so that they can monitor the volume of their voices and the timing of their speech. The students can listen to their voice recording and make any adjustments necessary before making another one.<br />
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What I like about this approach which is documented by Vasinda & McLeod (2011) is that it uses evidence-based literacy strategies along with educational technology to enhance specific learning outcomes. The literacy strategy is called <i>Readers Theatre</i> and uses an authentic audience and engagement to help students to become better readers. Students rehearse scripts and use their voices to provide dramatic effect to the characters and scenes in the reading passages. Because there is no visual element that the students can provide with their performance they need to really understand the roles they are performing (i.e. using expression, intonation and volume to communicate the emotional state of the character). In order to understand when and where to employ these methods students need to have a very good understanding of the story line.<br />
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The software is available on our network or can be downloaded for free from the <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">audacity</a> website. It is fairly simple to use and the students enjoy hearing themselves speak. They are motivated to practice their dialogues because they want to provide their best performance for the recording. There is a period of adjustment at the beginning as this is a novel experience for many of the students (for some the visual feedback is a bit of a distraction). Using independent stand-a-lone microphones is probably the best option. We only had the combination headphone & microphone sets available which made it difficult to share between speaking partners and compromised the quality of the recording. We will also need to give the students more specific instruction on how to use the visual feedback to improve their volume and fluency.<br />
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Once the students become more familiar with the process we will <a href="http://www.guidesandtutorials.com/audacity-mp3.html">convert and upload the audio files</a> to create podcasts so that family members can listen to the recordings. This will greatly expand the audience and make the experience more authentic for the students.<br />
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I really endorse the way in which the authors of the study chose to use educational technology to achieve learning outcomes that would otherwise not be possible because that is what leads to innovative teaching.<br />
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Stay tuned for more progress on this project. I will be using the same approach with my French students to help them to prepare for their oral presentations.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.600000381469727px;">Vasinda, S. and McLeod, J. (2011), <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1598/RT.64.7.2/abstract">Extending Readers Theatre: A Powerful and Purposeful Match With Podcasting</a>. The Reading Teacher, 64: 486–497. doi: 10.1598/RT.64.7.2</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-66941817541982597512012-11-11T07:58:00.001-05:002013-01-28T14:41:48.936-05:00Creating the first blog entryMy reflections and insights on the progress of my class blogging activity are recorded below.<br />
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<u>Instructional Challenge</u>: One of the reasons for undertaking the blogging activity is to have students practice writing for a particular audience. They need to keep in mind the perspective of the reader and what kind of information they would find interesting.<br />
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<u>Observations</u>: The junior students have completed the paper blogging activity and providing each other with comments on the content and design of their blogs. This was a great way for students to focus on the quality of their writing and the kind of information they could include to capture the attention of their audience. We discussed <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/bloggngwithelementarystudents/01-creating-a-great-post">how to create a great post</a> and <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/bloggngwithelementarystudents/02-create-quality-comments">how to create quality comments</a>. While students did a good job of providing feedback on the design and content of the blog it became obvious that they will need more instruction on the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/36946185/The-Art-and-Aspirations-of-a-Commenter">art of commenting</a>, specifically how to use a blog as a means of facilitating a dialogue between the writer and the reader. Subsequently, we looked at <a href="http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/#exstudent">some examples of student blogs</a> and what the author did to encourage conversations with their readers. Below are some examples of the paper blogs;<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One Direction Blog</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selena Gomez Blog<br />
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<u>Lessons learned:</u> Interestingly enough I ran into some administrative challenges that I had not anticipated. I provided the students with a class code so that they could create their individual accounts according to the convention I had outlined. I did not anticipate that the students would memorize the class code and continue to use it to create additional accounts when they re-visited the site (in some cases 3 or 4 times!!). I now create the accounts myself and provide the students with the information to log in.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-21871526860441569082012-10-09T15:08:00.000-04:002013-01-28T14:42:40.685-05:00Student responses to Blogging activityThe student responses to our introduction to blogging activity are listed below. I used the framework outlined in <a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/10/promoting-connective-reading-writing.html" target="_blank">my previous post</a>.<br />
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</b><b>Why would someone want to blog?</b><br />
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</u></b>gr 6<br />
-share their life & experiences with other people<br />
- find out information about people and their interests<br />
- share stories about games or sports they play<br />
-share good & bad life experiences<br />
-write a review on a product or a movie<br />
-offer an opinion or point of view<br />
-meet people or make friends online that have similar interests<br />
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gr 4<br />
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-to communicate with people when we are not with them<br />
-to find someone with similar interests (i.e. music groups)<br />
-if you have questions<br />
-to learn new things<br />
-communicate what you do or your experiences<br />
-express your feelings<br />
-document experiences, places<br />
-recommendation for a book<br />
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<b>What would I be interested in blogging about?</b><br />
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gr 6<br />
-celebrities e.g. one direction<br />
-blog about sports teams i.e. synchro swimming<br />
-video games - reviews, prices<br />
-favorite activities<br />
-music albums - new music videos & songs<br />
-fashion<br />
-pets<br />
-current events<br />
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gr 4<br />
<br />
-class projects<br />
-recommendations - music<br />
-comics<br />
-trying new things - sports, travel, meet some new people<br />
-communicate with your friends<br />
-exploring the world Hollywood - stars<br />
-class activities<br />
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<b>Who would want to read my blog?</b><br />
<b><br />
</b>gr 6<br />
-teenagers that play video games<br />
-people interested in getting pets<br />
-people interested in doing synchro swimming<br />
-people who listen to specific music groups, go to concerts<br />
-promote celebrities<br />
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gr 4<br />
-teachers - get to know their students, experiences, read class assignments<br />
-best friends (any part of the world)<br />
-sponsor a foster child - updates on their life<br />
-family in a different part of the world - videos<br />
-experts who have answers to your questions - author, scientists<br />
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<b>Internet safety - internet is like a mall</b><br />
<b>What would we do to stay safe?</b><br />
<b><br />
</b>-do not give personal information to strangers<br />
-do not speak to people who approach you<br />
-do not let people influence you to do bad things i.e. stealing<br />
-protect personal belongings<br />
-stay where you are supposed to stay<br />
-don't take objects from someone you do not know<br />
-don't go off by yourself -stay where you are safe and secure<br />
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Subsequently, we reviewed the class blogging rules. Student will be working on the <a href="http://www.notesfrommcteach.com/2010/09/learning-to-blog-using-paper.html" target="_blank">paper blogging</a> activity in preparation for our next session together.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-3269247960160218402012-10-08T09:55:00.001-04:002013-01-28T14:40:08.777-05:00Promoting connective reading & writing through bloggingThis week I begin teaching junior students about Blogging. For most of them it will be their first time using Web 2.0 tools. We will be using the <a href="http://kidblog.org/home/" target="_blank">Kidblog</a> platform because it is easy to administer and use and I like the variety of privacy settings they have in place.<br />
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Our classroom discussion will focus on any experiences they have with blogging (posting or reading) and <b><a href="http://www.brainpop.co.uk/designandtechnology/ictcommunicatingandcollaborating/blogs/" target="_blank">why someone might want to blog</a></b>. Students will discuss their ideas in small groups or partners and I will <i>record their ideas on my Blog</i> so they get a sense of how it works. The discussion will evolve into <b>topics for blog posts</b> based on their personal interests. Naturally, this will lead them to consider their <b>audience</b> and who might be interested in reading about topics they post and issues around protecting one's privacy (i.e. personal information). We might also consider some of the <a href="http://www.pernilleripp.com/2012/10/ideas-for-integrating-student-blog-into.html?m=1" target="_blank">ideas for integrating blogging into the curriculum</a>.<br />
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This is the point where I will provide a couple of examples so students can see the 'big picture' and what we will be striving for in our class. This will give the students some ideas of the different kinds of information, layout and multi-media elements that can be included in a blog post. I will refer to the examples from the <a href="http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/08/31/class-blog-activity-3-must-haves-for-your-blog/" target="_blank">Edublogs Teacher Challenge</a>.<br />
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Having looked at a variety of class blogs we will discuss <a href="http://www.brainpop.co.uk/psheandcitizenship/pshekeepingsafe/onlinesafety/" target="_blank">internet safety</a> using <a href="http://www.pernilleripp.com/2011/01/why-internet-is-like-mall.html" target="_blank">Mrs. Ripp's analogy of why the internet is like a mall</a>. Subsequently, we will also review the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GSAZCms4RXtv1EN-k7bwq7t2NJxlrPMDQqG5ypB-wUQ/edit" target="_blank">Blogging rules</a> we will observe throughout the year (adapted from <a href="http://discovery0607.wikispaces.com/Discovery+Blogging+Rules" target="_blank">Discovery Blogging rules</a>) and hand out the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XTTiIjx2KdjXcUTwsQv_r4_GVzMYPcNHqlAGxBImmgk/edit" target="_blank">parent consent letter</a>. <br />
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In order to prepare for our next session I will have the students <a href="http://www.notesfrommcteach.com/2010/09/learning-to-blog-using-paper.html" target="_blank">learn to blog using paper</a>. The rational and logistics of this lesson has been provided by <a href="http://bookwyrmish.edublogs.org/paper-blog-lp/51/" target="_blank">Sue Rockwood</a>. This activity helps students to understand the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/36946185/The-Art-and-Aspirations-of-a-Commenter" target="_blank">art of commenting</a> which is important for creating a collaborative, respectful community.<br />
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Some excellent ideas on <a href="http://www.pernilleripp.com/2011/05/14-steps-to-meaningful-student-blogging.html" target="_blank">14 Steps to Meaningful Student Blogging</a>.<br />
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Stay tuned for our progress on this project.<br />
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The video below is a group of 10 and 11 year old students at <a href="http://y62011.heathfieldcps.net/" target="_blank">Heathfield school</a> talking about why schools should blog.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GJRFYnNP0c8" width="420"></iframe><br />
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My subsequent posts on the blogging activity;</div>
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<a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/10/student-responses-to-blogging-activity.html">Student responses to Blogging activity</a></div>
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<a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/2012/11/creating-first-blog-entry.html">Creating the first blog entry</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4720998219685823815.post-83341282187203708662012-09-26T10:56:00.000-04:002012-09-26T10:56:01.917-04:00eLearning resources to support 21st century teachers and learnersMy list of #eLearning #edtech resources to support 21st century teachers and learners is outlined below.<br />
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This past week I met with each of the divisions at my elementary school to identify the kinds of learning outcomes they wanted to see in their classrooms. I also provided some examples of how technology could be used to facilitate the kinds of outcomes they had identified.<br />
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<u>Intermediate Division</u><br />
With the teachers in the intermediate division I discussed the strands of mathematics they were currently working on and how they could use the resources at the <a href="https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/" target="_blank">Homework Help</a> website created by the <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/" target="_blank">Ministry of Education</a> to review <a href="https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/tools/listen_learn/details.php?t_id=327" target="_blank">specific concepts</a> and to facilitate <a href="https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/applications/hwhdemo.php" target="_blank">real-time online tutoring</a> for students having difficulty with homework questions or test preparation. In addition to providing an overview of the features of the site, I will be registering students so they can begin accessing the resources and the one-to-one tutor chat.<br />
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I also demonstrated how the teachers could use the <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6S9ElxdHmucU1I0TXltNVlMVlU/edit" target="_blank">curriculum guide units</a> with links to the Homework Help resources to support their classroom instruction. In addition, I showed them how they could '<a href="http://elearningdiscourse.blogspot.ca/search/label/flipped%20lessons" target="_blank">Flip their classroom</a>' by assigning students math questions they could pose to tutors at the Homework Help website. Subsequently, small groups of students could present a lesson on a topic using the Brightink projector and the resources from Homework Help chats and tutorials.<br />
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The teachers have also requested that I provide a demonstration of the math and science teaching resources available from <a href="http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cVideos.dspVideo&id=2" target="_blank">Explore Learning</a>. The interactive learning resources are correlated to curriculum standards and include student activity sheets & teacher answer guides for using the learning objects.<br />
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I will also be supporting teachers and students in their use of the <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/bank.html" target="_blank">Ontario Educational Resource Bank</a> by using the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MUvt8bwJLKEQnkciouQk-J0uebM7TkCyDP_GfJtreUA/edit" target="_blank">resources lists</a> I created for each grade. For example, in the media idols learning object students respond to and learn how to evaluate different types of media texts. The documents are on the school network so that grade partners can continue to add resources for a variety of different subjects. <br />
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The is also some interest in accessing the curriculum units available in the <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/courses.html" target="_blank">Learning Management System</a> available through <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/" target="_blank">eLearning Ontario</a>. For example, I can work on the career exploration unit with the grade 8s while the grade 7s are working on a History or Geography unit with their classroom teacher. The added advantage is that the students can continue to learn at home and at their own pace. Because the content is already created teachers can focus on differentiating instruction and provide remediation for students that need extra help while other students can progress through the learning and move on to enrichment activities.<br />
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More resources for junior and primary divisions to follow.</div>
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