More tools to use in the classroom....

SKYPE - I have mentioned this tool in previous posts however the more I read the more I think it's potential is underestimated. The idea of connecting classrooms around the globe has always intrigued me. Back in the old days when I was in school we had class pen pals from around the world. I remember the excitement of getting those letters and artifacts from students in China or South America and realizing how similar we really were. Skype in effect provides that same global connection opportunities just in real time. Collaborative projects, data collection, research materials and even math games such as the "Mystery Number" game I referred to in a previous post. SOCRATIVE - Socrative is a free student response system. It appears to be very highly rated by global educators. It offers a variety of assessment tools from multiple choice quizzes, short answer responses and exit tickets (i.e. today I learned..tomorrow I need). Activities can be completed and responses/questions submitted collaboratively, individually and even anonymously. Teachers can add images such as graphs or pictures for feedback or answers to questions. Student reports are provided to teachers in an Excel file or Google spreadsheet. A way to enhance classroom management, assessment and personalization. CLASS DOJO - is a Behavioural Management Software. In reading reviews and articles it seems that many educators have replaced notations in their Google Docs for this free software. This software runs on stand alone and mobile devices which some might view as a con as opposed to paper and pencil recording which is readily available in every classroom. The Class Dojo "captures and generates data on behaviour that teachers can share with parents and administrators". This software provides instant feedback to students via their own devices, tablets or through interactive whiteboards. Students are able to instantly recognize the correct choices they have made. Class Dojo also provides the opportunity for teachers to provide support and encouragement to reinforce a student's understanding of skills and behaviours that are needed to be successful.

Learning about Google Drive and Open Office

This was a great assignment as I had only every received documents from people via these tools but never created. Google Drive (formally Google Docs) can be created via the web and no downloading is needed. Pretty fast and easy really. I immediately created a variety of folders i.e. computer and tech course. Zoe had already sent the syllabus via this mode so I transferred that document into my new file. Definitely, I see the potential as shared files can be available anywhere and anytime to students, parents, colleagues and they can be worked on and reviewed simultaneously. Great for a group project. As students add things others can see their changes. As I am learning, many are using "cloud computing" to store and share documents. As many articles have mentions the this is only as good and fast as your internet connection". Which at our school is extremely slow. In researching this topic I see that many school boards in the states are shifting from Microsoft Office to Apache Open Office for obvious financial reasons. Open Office is a free open source software with no downloading or licence fees and updates are free. Apache Software Foundation is actually a non-profit organization whose "charitable mission is to publish open source software for public use". This software can be used on a variety of operating systems both windows and mac and can also be run on a USB stick. The "free" component allows parents and students to run this program from home and it can be installed on a variety of computers at no charge. Similar to Office it offers a variety of programs such as a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor. In looking through the program I appreciated the design templates specific to education such as venn diagrams, rubrics, graphing sheets and presentation backgrounds. I can see the communication and collaboration value in the classroom, and I look forward to reading further examples of specific uses within the classroom and school community.

Educational Software and Media - Can we use it in our classroom?

As many of us are expanding our PLN outside of our own board to include global sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus etc., we are learning more and more about various tools and resources that are being used in classrooms around the world. After the initial reaction of “I can’t wait to use that in my classroom”, the question becomes do I have access to that software or tool. As a new teacher, I am learning where to find the answers to my plethora of questions! With respect to software I navigated through my Board’s Virtual Library . Under “Professional Resources” I found the link to Learn Ontario and then the Ontario Educational Software Service (OESS) link esubmitit.sjpg.com/oess/index.aspx . This service provides a full listing of approved software, CD-ROM’s and DVD’s in alphabetical order. It even provides a tutorial and access and authentication information. i.e. when I clicked on Fotobabble it gave a description of how this software allows students/teachers to record commentary to web photos for projects that require short explanations. To save time you can add qualifiers to your search such as: intended audience, Ontario curriculum links, subject, operating systems etc. New software can be submitted to the Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee . Newly approved software and tutorials can also be found on this site.

How to "flatten your classroom walls". Ideas to foster life long learning in Math and Science

So the turkey was in, kids were playing outside....what to do? I was fortunate to catch a RSCON online learning session by Paula Naugle "10 Sites I can't live without in my Innovative Math Class". Paula is a 4th grade teacher from Bissonet Plaza/Jefferson Parish Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana. This teacher of 35 years has created a "blended" learning environment that is quickly becoming a paperless class. She has spent the last 10 years researching, testing and implementing technology within her classroom. This particular session resonated with me as on Friday our PD session focused on low math scores and student engagement. Further to that there was a great article in the Woolwich Observer this weekend talking about the lack of math and science interest by highschool students and what that disinterest and lack of skill would look like for future careers in Canada. "Lack of Math and Science Skills Hurting Canadian Job prospects" Woolwich Observer, October 12, 2013. With a $15,000 grant to start her off, Paula purchased netbooks, and an interactive whiteboard for her classroom. As Board resources were limited she took charge of her own PD as many of us have and took the time to learn how to effectively use hardware and software to engage and enhance student learning. She uses Twitter as her own Professional Learning Network and encourages teachers to use hash tags such as #4thchat to network with similar grades. Paula used this session to walk us through many of programs and sites that she uses on a daily basis. EDMONDO - She likes Edmondo as it is geared towards under 13 elementary students. This learning management system allows students to participate with a group code rather than the need for individual email accounts or login passwords. I appreciated her teaching strategy of revisiting expectations of use on a weekly basis and enforcing a "no tech speak" rule. Students are required to contribute using proper English grammar, conventions etc. No (LOL) allowed! Additionally, Edmondo does not allow students to "message" each other. All postings go to the "group" or the teacher. There is also a parent feature within the system to keep parents connected and involved. GOOGLE DOC (Drive) - Paula posts all of her anecdotals and lessons onto this. Her notes can be directly embedded into Edmondo without logging into Google. BRAIN POP - I was particularly interested in this one as I have just started using this site in my Grade 2 and Grade 3 Science classes! This is a site that you do have to subscribe to unfortunately (I have been using the free version but it is limited). Brain Pop is a huge part of what Paula does in her math classes. Students can also access this from home. She uses this during small and whole group instruction as well as connecting it to her interactive white board. She often puts Brain Pop math and science activities into Edmondo as an assignment. There are quiz features with every activity. She can assess which students need to revisit the concept again or she can send them directly to another learning link. LEARN ZILLION - this application is free right now, teachers must just set up an account. This site is full of short learning videos of particular concepts in math. Students could watch a video on how to do an area model for 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication during small group activities or at home. It is a great way for parents to see many of the applications that are being taught at school. SKYPE - Paula uses this application for global collaboration. Video conferencing with other schools and classrooms. Collaborative projects. One fun activity is "Mystery Number" calls. Classrooms will connect without seeing who the classroom is or where they are from (teacher initiated). Students on video will show cards with hints (equations) to the numbers included in the phone number (linked to the grade levelled math curriculum). I thought this was a terrific idea! GOOGLE HANGOUT - Paula is starting to use Google Hangout more than she is using Skype. She finds that there is less drag and less freezing with Google. She has used hangouts for collaborative projects with classroom inside and outside of her school. Students can take surveys, gather data collectively, create graphs, create word problems, present findings and ask questions. In her words a way to "FLATTEN YOUR CLASSROOM WALLS". TEN MARKS - mostly a free version. Paula has created a classroom site within this system. She can assign lessons to particular students. Students work through the lesson. They have options on the right side of the screen to watch a video or access 3 "hints". At the end of the lesson the teacher gets a score report, with information about completion time and the resources that were accessed by the student. This allows her to track what students are doing, as well as making students accountable as they know that the teacher will be checking. KIDSBLOG - This site is again geared towards younger students as you do not need an email address to get started. Paula begins each years with a "paper blog" activity. Students create a paper post about something that they are passionate about. These papers are left around the room with yellow sticky notes. Students then do a gallery walk and travel from post to post and write "comments" on sticky notes. Authors of the posts can in turn respond to comments on additional sticky notes. Allows students to experience authentic postings before going live online. Paula suggests a great hash tag on Twitter to help your students with comments #comments4kids. BLOG PARTY - Paula invites all parents to a Blog comments party at the beginning of each year. Parents are asked to come after school, bring some chips and drink and talk about their ideas of appropriate "commentary" online. She says every year it is a great success. She has also created a "how to comment on blogs" video DIGITWHIZ - Fact Fluency through gaming. Free application Teachers can create a class account and practice math facts. Students earn points to add things to the Avatar (Digy). She has found that this site has improved her students' fact fluency. She sets time aside during the day for students to work on certain facts, then they can move onto an assignment in Edmondo. PROJECTS BY JEN A great site for collaborative math projects. She has used the Oreo Project over the past several years. Overall a worthwhile session full of great ideas and future possibilities. To follow Paula Naugle on Twitter @plnaugle #4thchat

Are we prepared to be 21st Century Teachers?

After reading through a number of blog posts I came across one that really spoke to me directly. "How can 20th Century Teachers Lead 21st Century Learners". Great question....how can we? What does that look like in the classroom as well as within our own school community? As a "mature" teacher who took "typing" in high-school and did my first paper on a black screen with orange text I have to ask myself that question. Do I and my fellow colleagues have the skills necessary to teach these students in the way they deserve? We are ethically bound to care for these students with a "commitment to student well being and learning through a positive influence, professional judgement and empathy of practice". Our Ongoing Professional Learning Standard reminds us that "ongoing professional learning is integral to effective practice and student learning". This blog post outlines the skills needed to be a 21st Century Learner. Skills that as educators we must know and practice within our own professional learning. Skills such as: • critical thinking, collaboration, analysing, organizing and evaluating digital information and life skills to support success in future careers such as: • flexibility, self directed learning, collaborative communication and accountability "While our goals as educators should be to enhance these characteristics in our students we must first lead by example and demonstrate our own commitment to becoming life-long learners". Either reading, finding a mentor or taking additional courses in the authentic integration of technology, as teachers we must "lead by example" and continue to be life-long learners. Although technology seems to be changing everyday the skills that we and students need to be able successful in this digital world remain constant. http://www.wholechildeducation.org/blog/tag/Safe

Safe Use of Technology both in and outside the classroom.

We cannot talk about the use of technology with our students without addressing the need for Safe Use policies and the issue of Copyright and Fair use. I began my research on Safe Use of technology by viewing the OCT Advisory Video "Electronic Communication" www.oct.ca/resources/videos and navigating through the Creative Commons website to create a copyright licence to post on my blog (unfortunately I have yet to figure out the posting part of it). Both sites provided a great deal of useful information regarding appropriate use of material and communication for all educational partners. With creative teachers incorporating Social Media tools into the classroom, it is essential that teachers are aware of and students are taught appropriate communication conduct with between each other and the global community. One of my favourite resources is November Learning. Alan November writes a blog called Mind/Shift. href="http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/02/alan-november-how-teachers-and-tech-can-let-students-take-control/">"> One of his posts talked about Safe Use and the duty of teachers to be Web Literate and to teach Web Literacy. Within this posting is a variety of assessments, lessons and tools that can help teachers teach students the essential and lasting skills that they need to be safe and successful not only within the classroom but in the future. Teaching students how to read a web address for instance, understanding who the publishes information and being able to critically evaluate this information arms students with the tools they need to be informed users. Technology and Social Media tools will change over time but the skills that students need to safely and appropriately gather/share information or ideas remain constant. www.novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators

Blended Learning - What does it take?

Blended learning is a fairly new concept to me as an educator and I am enjoying reading through the variety of classroom, school etc. approaches to this new teaching philosophy. I found the posting by Heather Wolpert-Gawlron in Edutopia to be particularly informative as she outlines the skills needed to become a Blended Learning educator. www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-behind-scenes-heather-wolpert-gawron Blending "face to face" teacher/student interactions with onsite and offsite online lessons and activities has it's possibilities and it's challenges. Technology has provided students with opportunities for real world learning, global communication/collaboration, and self directed learning. However, is this a good fit for every student?

Technology is not a one size fits all tool. As educators, as with any initiative we have to be confident in our own knowledge and abilities to be able to deliver a program that will bring success to all of our students. It really goes back to my previous post about Ongoing Professional Learning not only for individual teachers but as the school community as a whole. Teachers need to be educated in order to make choices of instruction that will "best fit" the individual needs of their students, to be able to effectively model the critical thinking, analyzing, organizing and evaluating skills students need to navigate through a digital world. My concern as that with students; teachers are varied in their skill and knowledge. Schools need to be able to support this initiative with the leadership and resources needed to provide continuity to students for whom this approach is successful. Heather Wolpert-Gawlron outlines a few key skills that are essential for providing a Blended Learning environment: 1. Teachers/Schools need to be flexible. Technology is not perfect and not all programs will be a good fit. 2. Problem Solving - Teachers need the ability to be able to train their students to be problem solvers. A life skill that is essential for future success. If you increase student independence than you must model and teach the skills to help them be independent. 3. Patience - not only are you supporting your students but parents/guardians who are also part of the learning community. 4. Effective Scaffolding (Crucial) - We should never assume that just because we are in the digital age that all students are familiar with technology tools. Creating and contributing to blogs can be a great communication tool but many students still need step by step instructions in order to be able to participate. 5. Use a variety of tools both digital and "old fashion". Never ignore the importance of mentorship and classroom dialogue 6. Willingness to give up time - new things take time to master, coordinate and implement.