Resources – Page 4

September 30, 2018 Michelle Fenn Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, General, Inspiring Students, Math, Resources

Tools and Resources for Math Talks

One of the reasons that I spent so many years teaching the primary grades is that teaching math to older students terrified me. Growing up I struggled with math. I changed schools in the middle of my grade three year and missed a great deal of multiplication and division instruction which haunted me for the rest of my math learning. I remember crying at the kitchen table over my homework and my father being distraught over not being able to help me. I totally understand how a student feels when they shutdown and “can’t” get it. That understanding along with having excellent tools and resources helped me immensely when I taught grade 4 and 5 mathematics.

Math Growth Mindset

Jo Boaler is a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University and the co-founder and faculty director of youcubed. This fabulous website provides unique, research based instructional approaches to teaching math. There are videos for students of different age ranges and the “Week of Inspirational Math” was what helped me to create a positive math learning environment with a growth mindset in my Junior grade classroom. It doesn’t have to be the first week either-you can do it at any point. Jo Boaler has also co-written a series of mathematics instructional resources called “Mindset Mathematics” for each of the junior grades.

Math Talks

Number Talks: Whole Number Computation, Gr K-5: A Multimedia Professional Learning Resource became my go-to resource when I began daily number talks with primary students and it made the transition to teaching math in the junior grades much easier. The format of math discussion remains essentially the same no matter what grade level. It is an expensive resource but well worth it. If you want to give math talks a try there are some more affordable online resources that you can use as well.

Math for Love is a website that provides a number of online math talks for K-5. EduGains gives a brief synopsis of how to develop your math learning community in your classroom. Another great online resource for daily math talks is Which One Doesn’t Belong? This website provides all sorts of pictures for math discussion. Eventually my students began creating pictures for other classes to use for their math talks after using the examples on the website. Math Talk Resources is a comprehensive spot for math talk information and connects you to many different math talk resource websites.

When students have the opportunity to discuss math and hear fellow student’s different perspectives, they begin to see their own entry point into every math problem. They also begin to see the value of challenging each other’s ideas respectfully and adding to one another’s ideas. “What do you see and what do you wonder?” is a much friendlier way to open up math discussion than, “Who can give me the answer?” I am convinced that because my students engaged in respectful math talks they were able to transfer these skills into other discussion topics in our classroom. For me, the anxious math teacher, math talks became the highlight of our daily math lessons and sometimes, the highlight of my day.

July 23, 2018 Michelle Fenn Assessment, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Constant Learning, Inspiring Teachers, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, self reflection, Start of the year, Technology in school, Use of Technology, wellness, wellness

My Yearly Notebook

Each summer I buy a brand new spiral bound notebook. Not the skinny ones that you get in the 3 pack from Hilroy with the flimsy cover that rips within a few uses. I am particular about my stationary. It may be a kind of a problem. I get the 8 1/2 by 11 solid cardboard spiral bound notebook. It is where I keep my lists. Lists of things to buy for the classroom. Lists of things I want to change in the physical space of my classroom. Lists of books I’d like to read or add to my classroom library. Lists of things to get done before September. Lists of the curriculum topics I’ll be teaching and in what months I plan to teach them. Lists of special events each month that I might highlight or celebrate with my students. Lists…of lists. I use that big notebook all school year long to add notes from meetings, professional development sessions and of course, more lists. I have many already filled spiral notebooks of new ideas that I’d like to try over the school year on my shelf in my office. This summer I realized something. After the school year is over I have NEVER opened those notebooks again. There are lots of great ideas in there that I didn’t implement and then I feel guilty about that! Teacher guilt never seems to stop, unless of course, I choose to stop it.

This summer I quickly read the book, “Ditch That Textbook; Free Your Teaching and Revolutionize Your Classroom” by Matt Miller. It has fantastic teaching tips for technology integration in the classroom. Although I do not have the desire nor the access to the 1:1 technology to go completely paperless, I found a lot of wisdom and great teaching tools in Matt’s book. I have also provided a link to Matt’s blog. Matt helped me to break a cycle. I haven’t bought a spiral bound notebook this summer and I’m not planning on buying one. Among many pieces of advice in the book, Matt suggests picking two new things that you are really excited about to add to your teaching practice, being clear about your intention for using those practices and following through. I’ve been guilty of overdoing the professional learning to the point that I overwhelm my students by doing a whole bunch of new things all at once and then don’t end up sticking to any of them. I also get overwhelmed by the many great ideas out there and wonder if I do something else, what I’ll have to give up doing.

I’ll admit that I’m already kind of cheating. Instead of just choosing two teaching practices I’m also choosing two new technology platforms to learn about for next year. One of the practices that I would like to get in the habit of doing is adding more descriptive feedback to assignments that students do online and have multiple opportunities for the students to respond to that feedback and re-submit assignments with changes. The second thing that I would like to do is educate parents on how to leave constructive feedback for their students online rather than a thumbs up or “Good job!” I plan on exploring the video and audio creation tools, WeVideo and Voki. I may explore more than these but these are the ones that I am committed to doing. Since I have written my commitment here on the blog, I also commit to sharing what I thought about those tools in a review format. If you get a chance to read Ditch That Textbook, I highly recommend it. It is a quick read with great already-made lists and hey, it made me “Ditch That Notebook”.

April 2, 2018 Michelle Fenn Classroom Management, Combined Grade Classes, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Integration, Math, Modern Learning, Questioning, Resilience, Resources, Technology in school, The Global Competencies

Deep Learning in Inquiry (Part 2)

In reading part one of my inquiry blog, one might think, “That’s all lots of fun, but building a bee house isn’t exactly something that I can write on the report card.” You would be absolutely right. The learning is imbedded in the exciting things. It is intentional and it is authentic. Connecting with a local expert, using technology for research and having hands on activities with students engaged scratches the surface of inquiry. Our deep learning with this unit began with the types of questions that we were asking. I noticed that when the students began asking questions on Padlet that Siri could have easily answered many of their questions with one or two word answers. This lead to a series of lessons on “THICK” vs. “Thin” questions. We added better questioning to our goals.

The students also noticed that I had included a lot of infographics on the Padlet. Infographics are seen everywhere in social media to communicate information efficiently and visually. However, students need to know how to use this information, how to synthesize it, how to put it into their own words and how to source it. We spent a significant amount of our language periods on reading and interpreting infographics.

Source:Visual.ly

Our learning goals and success criteria went way beyond making houses for bees and honey tasting. Students wanted to DO something to help bees. We created our learning goals and criteria together:

Early on in the inquiry we watched an informative YouTube video called, We Can Save the Bees Together. Sarah Red-Laird, bee enthusiast and scientist, gave us a number of ideas of actions that we could take. The students decided that one of the things that they wanted to do was to call for stronger legislation about mono cropping and pesticide use in farming. They wanted to write letters to politicians and change makers. In addition, when Susan Chan, local bee researcher visited, she “planted the seed” about creating a non-stinging bee friendly garden in our school yard. This prompted students to write letters to local school officials to solicit assistance and guidance. One of our students from Curve Lake First Nation decided to write the Chief and Band Council to ask them to consider building a bee friendly garden in their community. The desire for letter writing lead to a series of lessons on how to write a professional letter, how to proofread and how to edit in a meaningful and authentic learning context for students. The students also felt that educating others about conservation of bees was important so they are now working on developing presentations that they can take to other classes as well as media advertising to share their learning and call others to action.

In math, we had been focusing on data management. It fit in perfectly to what we were doing with our inquiry! There is an incredible amount of data about bees on the Statistics Canada website. We read real graphs with information that the students cared about, we labelled the important parts of the graphs and we will be creating our own surveys and graphing the information from different areas of our inquiry.

Statistics Canada

Honestly, the best part of inquiry is when the students start to direct their own learning. I guide them. I provide thought provoking questions and “what if” scenarios. They make choices and feel good about doing something that is affecting real change. Inquiry is empowerment for students. This students aren’t done with this inquiry yet-they have many more plans ahead! Stay tuned.

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 Michelle Fenn Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Combined Grade Classes, Communication Tools, Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Differentiated Instruction, General, Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Integration, Literacy, Modern Learning, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, Technology in school, Use of Technology

Free Creation Apps to Show Student Thinking

I was asked to present a workshop about using technology in the Primary grades over a year ago and got into a debate with the Principal at the host school about apps. The Principal was quite excited about the apps that he intended to purchase for his teachers to use with their students and he showed me his list. I was surprised. None of the apps were creation apps. They were all “practice basic skills and keep kids quiet apps”. I showed him my list of preferred apps. It was his turn to be surprised.

“These apps that you have chosen for the teachers are a lot like fancy worksheets for kids to practice basic skills. Those skills are important, but doing a worksheet on an iPad might be a little more engaging, but it is still a worksheet, and an expensive one at that! The apps that I am going to share with the staff today are all apps that students can choose from to show their thinking in a fun, engaging way that also provides opportunity for feedback and editing.” Unfortunately, he didn’t stay for the workshop.

The main difficulty that I have found with apps is finding something that you can use in schools that doesn’t cost a lot of money and isn’t just a free trial or have “in-app purchases”. I don’t mind paying a few dollars for an app but when you get into the double digits for a school, it isn’t sustainable. I thought I would share a few free creation apps that I have used with both the primary and junior grades. I have also included some samples. None of the samples are done by students, but I can assure you that each of these are quite intuitive and easy even for primary grades to use. Each of the apps has a link to it in the App Store for further information.

Shadow Puppet EDU The name is deceiving and the little white bunny on the app icon is too. It basically provides a video of a slide show in which you can add voice and text. Students can link to the already sourced for copyright pictures provided within the app or take pictures from their iPad or with the camera. The students find this one easy to use but tricky to edit some of the text. It uploads to Seesaw and other platforms easily.

Here is a sample of Puppet EDU:

Padlet I have used this a lot in order to begin a new unit of inquiry on something. It provides a place to put safe links and videos that I have sourced for the students as a starting point and reference. In addition, the students can collaborate their thinking with sticky notes. You can share it publicly with other Padlet users, but we keep ours private at this point. We may share our Padlets with other classes at our school through the use of the QR code and password. The sign is uses a QR code which you can print out. We are using Padlet for our unit on the Olympics. The students will then create their own Padlet to share with classmates on an Olympic event that they will research. Students will be invited to provide feedback to one another. This is a screen capture of our Olympic Padlet:

iBrainstorm This app allows students to add sticky notes, text or hand written notes to templates like Venn Diagrams. In addition, up to 3 other people can be invited to collaborate on the same template in real time. You can take a screen shot and save it to photos. It also uploads to multiple platforms easily.

January 13, 2018February 1, 2018 Michelle Fenn Constant Learning, Curriculum Planning, Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Occasional Teachers, Occasional Teaching, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, The Arts

Teaching Dramatic Arts-Resource Recommendations

My first Additional Qualification Specialist was in Dramatic Arts. When I signed on at my current school board I worked as an overlay teacher between two schools and taught whatever I was assigned by the Teachers for whom I provided preparation time. I was mostly asked to teach art, drama, dance, and music. These curriculum areas are my passions but not all Teachers feel qualified or comfortable teaching these subjects. Drama seems to be one of those courses that some Teachers “tack on” for a week or two just before a reporting period and with good reason, they aren’t comfortable teaching it and it can become difficult to manage behaviour during dramatic arts.

Drama lends itself well to all areas of the language curriculum. There is a misconception that Drama and Theatre are the same thing and that scripts and plays are the end goal of the Dramatic Arts curriculum. However, there are many ways in which to incorporate Dramatic Arts activities into the daily language curriculum and you don’t ever have to mount a full scale production. Drama doesn’t have to be scary.

One of the best resources that I recommend to Teachers who have Dramatic Arts Anxiety is the DramaNotebook website. It has all of the Drama games you will ever need all in one place and is especially handy for Occasional Teachers for transition times. In addition, it has poems and scripts that you can access from 2 parts up to 30 parts. There is a sign up for a cost, but there is also many free items including 40 drama games for teachers.

Another great Canadian source for drama lessons is Larry Swartz. He is an Educational Consultant, author, speaker and Dramatic Arts specialist. His book, “Dramathemes” is in it’s 3rd edition and is used in many Education Faculties in Ontario. It not only provides “activities” but it creates units that are easily integrated into the language curriculum.

The Council of Drama and Dance Educators has a fantastic website and there are many free resources which are written by educators and can be accessed even if you are not a member of CODE. In addition, they have a conference each year held in the fall which provides opportunities to learn along with other Educators.

I would also highly recommend the Arts resources from ETFO. The Primary ETFO Arts and Revised ETFO Arts resources provide an integrated approach to all of the Arts. You can find them at Shop ETFO on the website by following the link below.

http://www.etfo.ca/SupportingMembers/Resources/pages/shopetfo.aspx

Revised ETFO Arts (2014) $23

Ref. #91.129 The Revised ETFO Arts book is a practical step-by-step handbook for junior/intermediate grade teachers who want to include the Arts in their classroom program by introducing all the elements of dance, drama, music and visual arts.

Primary ETFO Arts (2013) $20

Ref. #91.169 Primary ETFO Arts is a publication that features 10 picture books that will pique children’s interest with their universal themes, issues and questions. Each section of Primary ETFO Arts includes engaging verbal and non-verbal activities to stimulate imagination, communication and critical thinking.

I hope that these resources provide you with some ideas and inspiration. I am always looking for more. If you have some other resources to recommend; please add a comment.

December 31, 2017 Arianna Lambert Inspiring Students, Inspiring Teachers, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Goal Setting

As the year winds down, I take time to reflect on the year that has past and consider setting a few goals for the year to come. Not only do I do this personally but I’ve often seen the new year as a great opportunity to work with students to consider what they might like to achieve moving forward in the school year.

Over the years, I’ve considered different types of goal setting but have found SMART Goals as being the most effective, personally and in my work with students. SMART Goals are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. This year, I created a SMART Goal Action Plan to work on with my students. Using this Google Doc, students will decide on a goal that they would like to accomplish and answer questions to make sure that their goals are indeed SMART. Now I know that I’ve made New Year’s Resolutions in the past that were easily forgotten by January 3rd, but I also know that an essential part of achieving our goals is support and accountability. By having students turn-in their work in Google Classroom, I’ll have the opportunity to conference with them on their action plan and have ongoing discussions as they progress. Part of the learning is going through the process. I’m really excited to support students in achieving something that is of importance to them and the hope is that by participating in this process, they may gain the skills necessary to continue to set SMART goals, personally and academically.

What goals are you setting for yourself and for your students this year? All the best for 2018!

November 23, 2017 Kelly.McLaughlin Celebrating Success, Challenging Topics, Constant Learning, Diverse Learning Needs, Inspiring Teachers, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Mental Health, Mentorship, Mindfulness, Professional Learning and Growth, Questioning, Resources, wellness, Wellness

Book group

A colleague of mine started a book club for educators in our school. We read the book “The boy who was raised as a dog” which takes you on the journey of various stories from the child psychiatrist, Bruce D. Perry. The book group involved seven to eight educators discussing the assigned chapters we had read for the week. I highly recommend this read for any teachers who have ever struggled with a “challenging” student. The book details the accounts of many children Perry encountered whose traumatic past altered their future. The book teaches all teachers to have a compassion that is so necessary for these traumatized children.

We discussed many things during our meetings each week. We started discussing the chapters but the conversations always had a way of covering anything and everything. The meetings helped me go into each day with an open mind and a compassion for a child’s situation that I did not have before. You rarely think of the reason someone behaves “badly” or defiantly. We may just assume that that is the way that child is. Many of us may have not stopped to think of the reason for that action. Realistically, we all have a lot on our plates that day and we may be thinking of a quick way to discipline the child. The book helped our book group members to think of ways to help these children in class so that they may have a successful future outside of it.

Today was our last meeting and we took the last twenty minutes to reflect on our love for teaching. How amazing of a feeling it is when you have that moment in the classroom (or outside) when you just get that feeling of “this is the most incredible job on earth!” We all discussed moments we have felt like that and how incredibly lucky we are to be teachers. The book group was a great way to celebrate and to continue our love for learning. If anyone would like more information about this book, please let me know. The book could change your entire outlook on those “tough” situations, reminding us never to give up on a child or to jump to negative conclusions especially when we do not know their entire situation.

October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication Tools, Feedback, Resources, Technology in school, Use of Technology

An easy to use student friendly assessment tool

After meeting my new NTIP mentor the other day, she introduced us new instrumental music teachers to an app called “iDoceo”. I had used this before but had never really gotten into it. Since hearing about it again recently, I have become so attached to it.

iDoceo allows you to assess students quickly on the go on your ipad. The app is free in the HWDSB catalogue and maybe in other boards as well. When commenting on the process or product of a certain student, you can use icons, recordings, comments or other notes. These icons are easy to use and you can copy and paste them. You can then add them to another student’s column with an easy double tap. For instrumental music teachers, this is helpful because you can add a small recording to your student’s file so that you can listen to it again if you missed it the first time.

Students can also always view their marks and I use the icons to record these marks. So if a student wants to see how he/she is doing with “attitude/behaviour/self control” he will view his name and see what icon is beside it. The options are a green smiley for always/level four, a yellow smiley for usually/level 3, an orange smiley for sometimes/level two and a red frown for rarely/level 1. Students have a quick and visual way to view their process or product marks in class. Of course during performances I will still use a rubric for them to take home but for everyday efforts, this app is amazing! I always have students coming up to me asking to view their marks. They are eagerly searching for those green happy faces.

I love the app so much that I have brought it into my 4/5 split class. I use it for their learning skills so especially while they are working in a group, I record their efforts for the day.

I think that children love to know how they are doing and something as simple as a coloured happy face is an easy check for them. Of course it is hard for me to always remember to keep the iPad in my hand but over time I will certainly get used to it.

iDoceo-available on ipads. Check it out!

May 2, 2017 Mike Beetham Assessment, Challenging Topics, Combined Grade Classes, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, English As Second Language (ESL), General, Math, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources

Overcoming Math Phobia

A phobia is defined as an extreme fear or aversion to something. This can often be associated with mathematics both by students and teachers alike. Human nature is such that when we feel we are not good at something, we therefore can’t be successful at it and we tend to avoid that what we will fail at. This self-fulfilling prophecy is often alive and well in a teacher’s or student’s thoughts.

I will be the first to say that at an earlier stage of my career I was very uncomfortable and unsure of myself when teaching mathematics. Sure I knew how to do math, but did I know how to teach something I was not very comfortable with. I had to do something to ensure that my skills and pedagogy were improving. Thus began a voyage of self-learning or self-guided professional development. Now, twenty-five years later I am still on that journey of learning about how to best teach mathematics so that my students learn and are engaged in their world that is so filled with math.

As with anything else you must find the right tool or vehicle for learning. I attended as many workshops as I could on mathematics. The Waterloo Region District School Board offers a wealth of learning opportunities for their teachers as does ETFO and the Ontario Association for Mathematics Education (OAME) (http://www.oame.on.ca/main/index1.phplang=en&code=home).

These are several key areas where you can start your journey of learning. I would like to share three key resources that have helped me become a more efficient and knowledgeable mathematics teachers. The first is the work of Dr. Catherine Twomey Fosnot. Her work and approach to the instruction of mathematics is the number one influence I attribute to my growth in mathematical instruction. I attended several of her sessions as well as visiting her site in Harlem. I would highly recommend her series ‘Young Mathematicians at Work’ as a classroom resource.

The second most useful tool I have come upon is the series entitled Super Source. There are many reasons why I like this resource. The first is the rich problem solving tasks that are in each book. There are a variety of tasks and each task is connected to an area of mathematics where it can be used like number sense or patterning. There is a book written for each type of manipulative (Base 10, Pattern Blocks, Tangrams etc…). The most valuable asset of this resource is that there is a section where the mathematics behind each task is explained to the educator (the big ideas) as well as suggestions on how to bring out the math in your students. As with any resource this provides a jumping on point where a teacher can then adapt the task to meet their needs.

The final resource I would like to share with you is one of the many works of Van de Walle. I used this resource as a teaching tool for myself. It helped me understand the concepts I was teaching and how to bring out both a level of engagement as well as a deeper understanding of mathematics in my students. I hope these resources prove to be as valuable a tool to you as they are for me in my teaching of mathematics.

March 5, 2017 Mike Beetham Communication with Parents and Guardians, General, Learning in a Real Life Context, Resources, Start of the year

Allies

The word ally is typically defined as a nation or state cooperating with another for a military purpose. As with most words it of course has been expanded for many uses but retains the meaning of being on your side. So the question I ask you today is, as a teacher who are your potential allies?

From the minute I enter into my school I have an amazing opportunity to make allies, get people to support the work I do with my students, school and community. Allies are everywhere but like countries you must take the time to build up relationships to develop those allies. When you do that, they will be there when you need them most. I am going to talk about several key allies that I have in working with my students and how without them there are many things I would have much greater difficulty accomplishing.

The first ally is of course the parent(s) of my students. Let’s be honest, we both really want what is best for a child even though we may not agree on how to accomplish that. From the moment I know a child is going to be in my classroom I reach out to families to try and start building that working relationship. It starts with a simple call home the week prior to school welcoming them and their child to my classroom. It continues on with my first Weekly News letter home by asking them to brag about their child as they know them best as well as asking them to prioritize two goals they would like their child to accomplish this year. This helps sends the message they are a part of the formula to create success for their child. I continually update them with sunshine calls home, weekly news updates, inviting them to attend events in the classroom and any other way I can include them or make use of their expertise and assistance in my room. Of course not every parent becomes my ally or totally agrees with every decision I make. There will be some parents who just won’t or don’t engage in your efforts. This work I put into recruiting parent allies always pays off with some very strong relationships that are there when I need them most.

The second set of allies I work hard at creating are with the school support staff such as our office manager and custodial team. These are key people who are the heart and soul of the school and can be there to support me in many situations when I need the help. One of the most unique request I made of our custodian was to have our front classroom door taken off so my class could create a drawbridge door for our Medieval Times study. Needless to say I had to have a strong relationship with that person to make and receive such a request. Our office manager (and every office manager) is the heart of the school. He/she is the first and often last person everyone sees when coming to our school. That role is so important and my class spends time on a regular basis showing how we appreciate the work she does. That time and effort has helped me many times over the years when I need a last minute request or forgot some important deadline.

The final ally I want to talk about is a community-based position. My class spends time doing service learning projects and as such we need to have people who trust that I can take a group of 8-11 years old out into the community and perform projects that enhance our community. I have worked a lot with city environmental personnel who over the years have come to value and trust our staff and the request we make. There are community agencies and people who can also become a potential ally for you.

As I began to change the lens upon which I viewed my classroom I began to see more and more how many potential allies (support) I have available to me. I do not have to do this on my own. My educational team continues to grow as I grow relationships and take advantage of the opportunities they can provide me in supporting my students and my professional growth. Allies do not just happen, you must work at creating them.