It’s blustery and nippy outside. What better time than to dig into our latest newsletter of the year! Filled with hot items, as well as keep you up-to-date with the latest workshops and learning sessions. And who can resist those little tips and tricks that make teaching life both easier and interesting. CLICK HERE for your copy. For all archived copies, select NEWSLETTERS in the tab above.
Have you ever wondered how big the night sky is? Or how many stars you can count? Over the holidays, we’ve had a couple nights where the night was clear enough to see the stars and of course that got me thinking about the enormity of our world and how exciting that there are new possibilities to explore. Perhaps it’s the holidays that allows our minds more time and flexibility to entertain a zillion ideas or that Chris Hadfield is floating up in the International Space Station tweeting (@Cmdr_Hadfield) his new year’s message.
The new year brings a fresh start to sift through the stars, to set new intentions, and to take risks in purposeful learning. Sometimes the act of choosing can be daunting as we live in a time of mass change. What may help are these questions: What is your passion? What’s important enough to expend your energy? What do you wonder about? What is your first step?
These may lead you to finding a star that shines brighter than the others. Tell people about your star. You’d be amazed at how many will offer support in different ways. I can’t imagine a more exciting and hopeful journey for each of us and our students.
It’s December and most every hour is in high gear, trying to get those last minute projects merged in with winter festivities. And just this weekend, we got our first whiff of snow. Magic is in the air among the smell of gingerbread houses, mandarin oranges and other treats popping up in all locations. Not to mention the dreaded tinsel and glitter that seems to attach themselves everywhere or the impromptu breakout in song.
We’ve had a lot of projects this term. Blogging has continued to see an increase in the number of teachers and administrators who are wanting to open their communications to a wider world as well as providing spaces for students to practice their online digital footprint. One of our specialized groups - the teacher-librarians facilitated by Patricia Finlay are meshing understandings of “Learning Commons” and what that might look like in a blogging platform. No matter the purpose, it takes a coordinated effort in how we see the role of technology in our lives and how we use it to deepen both our understandings of the world and as a communication platform.
Writers Workshop launched with great energy as teachers work with their students to explore their writing in focused ways that include collaborative conversations, real time revision and blended support (in class face-to-face and online). Our tool of choice is Google Docs through Google Apps for Education. Stay tuned with us as we capture the journey.
Our Secondary Inquiry Assessment team is off to the races with a dedicated 
group of teachers across the disciplines and from a variety of sites. Questions and connections in how to include ‘standards based assessment’ or rubrics that are more than checklists are issues that deserve time to grapple with. Some have made a commitment to digging into ‘flipped classroom’ process and finding that it opens up time to work with struggling students (a positive surprise).
The iPad and other idevices have taken schools by a storm. What has become apparent are the creative ways that people have found to connect beyond the basics (the play) to delve deeper – asking bigger questions. The spiral of intensity increases as teachers connect and share with others; affirming, cross-referencing and in some cases challenging each other to extend.
What is even more of a privilege are the chance encounters down school hallways with teachers who are excited to share their insights. Their stories (successes and not successes) are the fuel that light the possibilities. Your learning stories are important and we love hearing them. Please consider sharing them here or give us a call.
One of the things I find challenging is the inability of the iPad to support multiple open softwares (like my laptop). Try using Side by Side. This allows you to split the screen up to four windows at a time. Read, research, download files and take notes can be integrated into a session. This app has just been updated with access to Dropbox, making it even handier than before.
Apps come and apps go. All of them serve a purpose. It is the teacher who makes “magic” happen through the lesson experiences. Our iDevices Blog is where you will see an ongoing vetted list of apps. (Click Apps Collection list) Please add to the list if you run across an app that you love.
Here’s one you may find useful:
Reading text online is just as challenging as reading a book if your students struggle with reading. Try Voice Dream Reader Lite. This handy app reads online webpages, documents, pdf, text, powerpoint, ebooks, Pocket, using text- to -speech technology. Words are highlighted as they are spoken making this a great app for your readers who have difficulties. Articles identified are stored locally so you can read them anytime, making this very useful when you are offline. [Adding additional voices are part of the paid app.]
Creating your story takes on many layers. Our lives rarely unfold in a linear fashion. There are twists and turns that make the journey interesting. Over the years, story has become more and more important to me and finding ways to capture them in their vibrancy is a never ending challenge.
I came across a tool that perhaps may be the beginning of something wonderful… It is called Projeqt – Dynamic presentations. In keeping with Remembrance Day, here’s my first presentation using this media.
You can insert images, pdf documents, text, video, live feeds. Details can be added to each as an individual stack, thus extending the information. A simple theme editor offers different ways to view your project (mine shows a horizontal slider).
Imagine the possibilities. Consider research skills in a dynamic way, storytelling that includes integration of maps, historic content, voice/music recording or video. How about using it as launch points for inviting deeper investigations and sharing at your “Genius Hour” (a twist on the google 80/20 activity). If you have one of our sd41 blogs, you can add it as a live embed by using the Text Widget.
Sometimes writing just text won’t do and you want to add some spice to get your point across. Or you’re thinking of how you might communicate more clearly to your audience. Like oral conversations, a variety of examples may be helpful to clarify thinking. One simple way is to use video and embed content from Ted talks, Youtube or Vimeo. Embedding uses code to link to a video. The video remains in its original place, thus taking up no space on your site. Here’s a great video on Hans Rosling – The Magic Washing Machine (greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution) found on Ted.
Click here for instructions on how you can embed videos.
Are you a Google Docs fan? This is a presentation created by one of our students in Writing Workshop series using 5 Card FlickR. It’s embedded here. Click here for instructions.
Or how about audio? If you have one of our sd41 blogs, then you will find the handy widget in your upload image area. Just select the Audio Player before clicking upload. Click here for instructions.
Stay tuned for more ways to augment in future posts.
Sometimes locating just the right book to share or use as a piece of mentor text appears impossible to find. Or have you ever wanted to expand opportunities for your students to read at home?
We now have access to TumbleBooks and TumbleBookCloud. [See links under District Links.] These online resources provide a fabulous array of e-texts for all readers (read-along, picture books, puzzles…). TumbleBookCloud aimed at older readers offer full ebooks, graphic novels, videos, as well as audiobooks. Both sections include fiction and non-fiction. Just imagine what can happen… Happy reading…
Welcome back September. And what a spectacular summer it has been – Olympics energy, warm sunny weather, family and friends laughter. Though it’s always great to get away and get recharged, I look forward to the start of each new year. A new year to test out some crazy ideas (yes I’ve read and reread some 13 books and most likely there will be future posts reflecting these ideas), a new year of possibles, a new year of adventures…
On the staff development side, I’m excited about a host of opportunities to engage in conversation and experiences. And I’m really excited about the varied entry points for our educators: hands-on experiences in gathering places rich with deep conversation, blended online interactive webinars [yes I'm expanding this due to the response from last year], small group experiences as a shared approach to inquiry, self-directed or guided by our blog content.
So what’s on the horizon? Since this could be long, I’ve broken it down to multiple posts. This one will focus on literacy (reading, writing, communicating in all content areas). [Details of how you can be involved is on the SD calendar.]
Blogging or having some web presence continues to be a mainstay. If you haven’t considered how this can help you enhance your curriculum, please talk to me or check out our many class or professional blogs (click on Blogs) hosted on our server. You will see a variety of ways that our teachers and administrators have used the platform (eg. Literature/Information Circles, math problem-solving, critical thinking, parent & community global sharing, class newsletters, extending student voices, homework reminders, research support links, deepening professional conversation). If you’re wanting to hop on board (“begin at the beginning”), our first group starts at the beginning of October. If you are thinking, “how am I going to take this to the next level”, consider joining one of our ‘next steps/advancing’ gatherings.
Writing, whether in general or content areas is part of the literacy process. We are continuing our pilot of Google Docs through our Google Apps for Education. In fact, the response received from last year’s Writers Workshop group was beyond what I expected so I’m hoping to dive in with both feet. Google Docs is an online tool, which allows teachers and their students to collaborate and revise in real time. Critical to the writing process is timely support, which this tool has in its commenting feature. What types of questions and writing scaffolds can increase writing skills? How can you reframe comments to strengthen writers? Great questions lead to great conversations. How does this open up the possibilities of peer support, parent engagement, as well as teachers targeting specific areas? Many of the teachers have shared how the writing has changed, how students have changed their personal view of writing and how editing/revision is more accessible over paper/pencil. And a big side perk of no more hearing “I forgot it or lost it”. If you’re thinking to change your writing program, consider joining our series. If you are one of our advanced writers [Writers Workshop-year2], we have a an entry spot for you too (deepening the conversation of writing strategies).
Oral language and Communication rounds out the general literacy components. Grouped in this is communication (eg. strengthening speaking and oral language through consideration of audio/video, and visual supports (eg. photography, graphic organizing). The tools we use fall into categories – easy, really easy, and supremely easy. Depending on your goals, audio recordings are a great way to encourage oral language, reading fluency, or ongoing assessment via tools as simple as the audio recorder on a computer, audio on ipad or itouch or online through Vocaroo. If you’re looking for a bit of splash, online avatars add personal pizzazz without driving you crazy (Voki, Blabberize). Of course you’ll need a blog or wiki or other web presence to showcase them. In video, our ‘go-to’ is Photostory or Movie Maker. And all of these can be strengthened through developing our ideas with the use of graphic organizers (Inspiration, Kidspiration, Webspiration (online), Popplet for ipads). For those interested in the role of visual images, consider how digital cameras can provide a voice to the world. I’ve watched students gain confidence and increase their vocabulary through the power of images.
