Day 151 - Sharing the Learning: Leveraging Digital

This afternoon, we were lucky enough to participate in a sharing session of teachers from the West. They came together to reflect on their inquiry that revolved around using the iPads for taking learning deeper.

Here are just some of the examples that were shared.  Daryl Pike's Grade 8 students at Birchview Dunes explored the impact of humans on the earth. Students did research and storyboarding in their Geography class and then did the video production with Daryl (their Media teacher).  The project evolved to include a focus on digital citizenship.

Rebecca Barr's grade 5 & 6 class at Admiral did a unit on fractured fairy tales.  The challenge was to modify or combine fairly tales and then share them in a digital format with their reading buddies. Students wrote a plan with paper and pencil, a draft in a Google Docs on the Chromebooks, then they used the Book Creator app (combined with Chatterpix and iMovie).

Laura Kennedy and Jody Bumstead shared some work that their students did in the Learning Centre. They were doing procedural writing so they created their work in the Book Creator app.  Students used speech to text and text to speech features in the iPad to support them with the writing process.

Margaret Johnson from Nottawa talked about how she is supporting her students to be more independent and self-assess their writing.  She has them use the accessibility features built into the iPad so they can correct spelling and punctuation, and use Voice Typing in Google Docs.  The change in routines has resulted in improved writing.

The common outcome for all of the students, as observed by the teachers involved, was greater engagement in the learning.  Everyone agreed that the quality of work was enhanced due to the combination of the technology and  the fact that the work was shared with an authentic audience.

Deb Shackell & Marie Swift

Day 146: Leveraging Digital Tools For Deep Learning

Today, 5 teachers from four different schools gathered at Wyevale Central P.S. to share their learning around the Leveraging Digital Tools for Deep Learning NM1 Inquiry.  The sharing of ideas and learning experiences was awesome!  

Here are some examples from a teacher in the group:  

I found that my students needed a space to share all of the digital work that we have been creating using the iPads in Science. We have been using apps such as Pic Collage and Book Creator. I also thought it was important for students to share all of their learning that they have been doing in Science Class with their parents. 

I decided to use the SeeSaw App to do this sharing. I set up a SeeSaw account for my classes (I am a PT teacher). I spent several classes demonstrating to the students how to post their digital work onto SeeSaw after they have completed it. I also printed out an invitation for each child to take home inviting their families to log onto their child's "page". 

The video below is from a student who posted right on SeeSaw. The student took a picture of her work and explained what her picture was about using the microphone part on the SeeSaw App. This project incorporated Science (friction), Media (conventions of Instagram) and Visual Arts (texture). 

The second post (see video below) was created in Book Creator. The students completed the experimental method of their Gravity Experiment. They then posted their completed experiments onto SeeSaw.

The impact of using this App to keep track of their learning was that students are engaged and excited about posting and sharing their work.When students knew that there was an audience for their work the students were keener to work harder on their work. Parents who have signed on are excited to see their child's work. It makes it easier for them to engage in discussions about what their child is learning at school. 

My next steps are to continue using the App for more digital projects. To take it to a deeper level I would like to demonstrate how to use the Success Criteria to give feedback to peers on their work and to do self-assessment. I will also resend the parent invitation to try and get more parents onboard. The last thing is to continue to demonstrate is how to use the app to my fellow co-workers.  (Kimberlee Hall)

Here are some examples from some of the other teachers involved in the inquiry:


-using the SeeSaw app to allow students to record their voices while doing independent reading or while doing "Read to Someone" 

- a Google Form with the group that she had created to track observations of students while doing Running Records

-using Google Maps to locate places in the community, then having students describe the special place and read their "script" in front of  an  image of that place using the Green Screen DoInk app

‐using various resources (print, online) exploring the impact of people on the natural features in the 
community (environmental focus) and sharing learning using the Book Creator app

-creating a Weebly blog to collect student work from various projects on Padlet, Adobe Voice and Pic Collage, related to a class novel study partnership with another class