Day 39: Video Announcements

At Byng PS we always struggle to find the best time for morning announcements. Often the kindergarten students are in the coat area and are not yet into the classroom.  If you wait for the kindergarten students then it falls in the middle of the intermediate lesson. The idea was born to do video announcements.

On the day before, staff and students put any announcements in the announcement binder. Students take the announcement binder and use the ipad (Green Screen by Do Ink) app to video, then import the videos into imovie. At a staff meeting towards the end of last year all staff were given the time and training to get established on google drive. The videos are shared on the google drive each day. Each classroom chooses the best time to show the video in their classroom with the least amount of interruptions.

Our goal is to have the students independently create our announcements and a teacher only needed to supervise the filming.  In collaboration with our board’s Innovation team, we will be running a student workshop to develop student ability to generate ideas, plan, conduct interviews, present orally in an effective way, film preproduction and post production.

Students will develop various segments that will be incorporated into the announcements on different days of the week.  For example, we currently include a segment called “Things that Make you Go Hmmmmm” where the students choose a photo that encourages classes to discuss questions related to the photo.  We are looking forward to classrooms sharing their learning and successes through photos or video in the shared video announcement google drive folder and then incorporating these clips into our announcements.  We are hoping that creating an extended audience for student work will help to engage them in their learning.

Our video announcements are a work in progress but we are looking forward to our continued growth!

If you have any questions please contact us: Lesia Collicutt and Joanne Larmer

Day 33: Moving from our Comfort Zone

So this is my first blog post. I have to admit I feel a little uncomfortable with writing this. It is so out of my comfort zone! But, I know that is exactly the reason why I should do it! So here goes…

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the SIM (System Implementation and Monitoring) sessions for the Barrie Region. The two days were filled with lots of opportunity to learn and I found myself reflecting on that learning for some time. I thought a lot about MJ Gallagher’s suggestion that it is a leader’s role to comfort the distressed and distress the comfortable. I also thought about and agreed with the emphasis placed on remembering the human factor in everything we do. After an almost exclusive SIM focus on Math last year, Literacy was highlighted again and I really liked that the focus seems to have grown to include the critical literacy needed for our learners to navigate the digital world. Overall, the messages delivered at SIM seemed to confirm that Simcoe is not only the right path but is leading in many ways. I thought about how lucky we are here in Simcoe, and specifically, how lucky we are as part of the Program and Innovation Team because our leaders have given us “permission to innovate.” It speaks to the trust that has been developed in our system. Presenters at SIM spoke of how important it is to cultivate a culture of innovation and a culture of inquiry. I have been reflecting on what was started last year and I am excited by the possibilities this year.

Day 22: Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship

Today I attended ICE Training (Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship) with SHSM (Specialist High Skills Majors) champions from around the region. Fundamentally, ICE is continuation of the design thinking template. You empathize with the end-user, generate ideas and create a prototype. ICE training provides students with opportunities to connect with sector partners to find authentic and relevant problems to solve. Like so many other things, Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship is a mindset.

Students meet with community sector partners and talk about a challenge statement. Then, they enter into the ICE toolkit which involves;

1. Empathy and Need Finding
2. Ideation and Prototyping
3. Strategy and Testing
4. Sharing Innovations

Excerpt from SCDSB SHSM ICE Information Sheet 2015

While provincially, ICE training is connected to secondary students in SHSM programs, I can’t help seeing potential and possibilities for all our learners K-12. Authentic and relevant purpose and student agency are cornerstones of engagement and deep learning. I’d be interested in hearing ideas or stories about how this could work or is working across the county K-12.

Day 13: Library Evolution

Today I had the privilege of visiting the library at Baxter Central Public School. Last spring I had corresponded with the librarian, Andrew Morrison, about transforming part of his library into a 'Makerspace.' 

Makerspace has become a bit of a buzzword in the last couple of years; many people are curious about them and wondering how they can create one in their school. Our teacher librarians have a key role to play in this venture as we see many 'learning commons' being transformed into multi-purpose spaces, and Melissa Jensen has been doing a phenomenal job sharing her expertise with all of our librarians as they consider their changing roles in our schools. The arrival of the green screens in schools last autumn was probably one of the first indications that our libraries were becoming key locations for students to engage in hands-on creation.

After our short exchanges in the spring, I was thrilled to hear that Andrew had decided to dive into the murky waters of Makerspaces head-first this fall. The list of opportunities that students are being offered in the library at Baxter Central is extensive:

• 2 puppetry / stop motion lego stations with green backdrops
• Electricity Snap Circuitry station
• Builder Station (variety of building supplies with principles about structures and design)
• Junior Coding Station with CanaryMod / Minecraft on four tablets, also serves as GAFE station
• Junior/Intermediate Coding Station with two Raspberry Pi devices
• Examination Station with microscopes, magnifying glasses, and various items
• Inventor's Booth with materials and guidelines on invention process (taken from Quirky.com)
• Deconstruction station where there are a variety of devices that the students can take apart.  Using a camera, they'll take pictures as they take items apart to document their findings.

Upon my arrival in the building this afternoon, I announced to the office staff that my destination was the library. I was immediately told that the library was 'the place to be' and that it was fast becoming students' favourite place to spend time. 

When I arrived in the library, it was buzzing with activity. The makerspace area was jam-packed with students working on a variety of projects. Students were disassembling coffee makers and computers, experimenting with a sonic motion sensor, analyzing body organs taken from plastic models, working on plans for inventions, creating green screen stop-motion videos with LEGO minifigures, and observing slides under a microscope. Sound like chaos? It was. The room was electric. Students were engaged, and reluctant to leave their projects when lunch time arrived.

 

After lunch I had the pleasure of sticking around to observe a grade 2 class experiment with a Roominate set. (You'll notice it's branded for girls, but any girl knows that branding shouldn't be a limitation for creativity...right, LEGO?) With no instructions students built buildings and furniture and figures out how to create circuits including lights, switches and motors. Students shared their newfound knowledge with their peers, saying things like 'You need to switch the wires so that red goes with red.' and 'If you add a button then you can switch the light on and off; let me show you!' Their enthusiasm was fabulous and it was a delightful way to end my first visit.

Andrew is calling his Makerspace the 'STEAM Room.' Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math were all happening in the STEAM room, but, more importantly, the essence of a STEAM program was alive in that room. Students were collaborating, making decisions, performing research, communicating with peers and with a wider audience, asking deep questions about their tasks, and engaged in authentic tasks. All of this with minimal guidance. Baxter Central is proof that, with appropriate provocations, students will create their own learning opportunities that are guaranteed to produce deep understanding of the world around them.

If you're thinking about STEAMing up your library or classroom, keep your eyes open for our STEAM inquiry. Every SCDSB school will have a chance to participate in this learning opportunity, and we can't wait to see how it will transform your buildings.

So, what are you going to make this year? Keep your eyes on this blog for more about our SCDSB Makerspace trailblazers!