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

Day 93: Mentoring Through Digital Media

If you want to learn some specific skills, why not call in an expert? 

Many schools across the county are preparing to participate in the upcoming SCDSBLive Radio Expo. In order to support the teachers and students to build some background knowledge for the project, we decided to call on a newly trained expert! Brad MacDonald, is a former student of Elmvale District High School. Before that, he attended Huronia Centennial Elementary School...and that's where he went today. 

Brad generously spent part of this morning sharing his knowledge about making effective audio recordings. In order to capture his advice and share it further, we decided to make a video recording using the school's iOgrapher kit and enlisted the help of some grade six and eight students. It was exciting to hear Brad talk about his experience as a news reader on CBC Radio One in Windsor after graduating from Humber with a degree in Journalism.  He taught us lots of "lingo" from the industry, explaining that reporters refer to their tripod as their "sticks" and the light on their camera as the "sun gun". Brad went on to give many practical suggestions for making effective audio recordings. 

Here's an example of an actual script that Brad used on one of his CBC Radio One newscasts.  

Be sure to check out the #SCDSBLive website where the full version of the video will be posted soon. You'll also find the complete list of categories for the "contest" including news reports, music spots, creative stories and many more. Share your learning in a new, creative way.  Be inspired and inspire others...just like Brad did.

Day 56: Getting Creative in Math

Mrs. Boate is the Innovation Resource Teacher for Numeracy K-8 with the SCDSB.

I invited her to join our class so she might demonstrate a creative and inquisitive approach to math concepts.

Math is typically an area that is seen as procedural, methodical and 'by the book'.

When most people think of math class in school, they think of following a set of pre-ordained steps, finding out the answer, and practicing questions over and over.

And yet...that does not have to be the case!

Our topic today was an introduction to graphing and data management.

To get our 'minds on' this new topic, and to access previous knowledge, Mrs. Boate posted a bar graph that had just bars and asked: what could this be about? Student brainstormed ideas, recalling previous graphs and survey subjects.

Then she asked: what is missing? Students remembered that graphs needs labels and scales and titles.

We then checked out this awesome site: Graphing Stories 

We looked at the Costa Rica swing video--but not past the point where we saw the swing portrayed as a graph because we wanted the students to try graphing it themselves.

Students had to creatively interpret the real life scenario into a mathematical (graphical) representation of their own devising.

This brought forth some interesting discussion on estimation of height, the shape the graph might take, marking the time for lowest point & highest point, etc.

We then compared student graphs to the graph in the video.

We will definitely be using this site again to explore graphing scenarios!

Mrs. Boate will be joining out class again in December for more graphing fun.

Thank you for visiting our class, Mrs. Boate!

*reposted from my class blog: http://mrsjohnsonintermediate.blogspot.ca/
*I'm a Grade 8 teacher at Shanty Bay PS. I love introducing creativity, tech and media into my classroom.
*on Twitter @julieejohnsonn