Digital Tools to Engage Learners

Here is some Monday morning Tech inspiration :) 

This morning as I was driving to work listening to my Monday podcast from Google Teacher Tribe (Kasey Bell & Matt Miller), they were speaking about practical  & engaging ways to use Google drawing in the classrooms. I love Google drawings for things like graphic organizers, digital posters, etc. It is nice because the students can interact with them, they can be saved as an image and inserted into Google Slides (think background you can't move for story maps or other graphic organizers that kids can add text over top), and it is a tool that is really easy to navigate and use. By editing the page size, you can make them printable as well on a regular sheet of paper. Below is a link to a really good list of ways to use Google Drawings in the classroom if anyone is looking for some inspiration: 

Google Drawing Manifesto

Also, the same author (Matt Miller) wrote a really great e-book called "The Digital Pirate: Adding Techno-Wizadry to Teaching with Passion and Engagement" which has some really amazing ideas for integrating different tech tools meaningfully in the classroom. I have attached the link below to that as well.

The Digital Pirate

Best Practices

My best practice focuses on 2 of the TQ Standards, i) there are many approaches to teaching and learning and l) the importance of engaging parents, purposefully and meaningfully, in all aspects of teaching and learning.

I know this is nothing new to any teacher in Ashmont but maybe I use it in a different way than you. Hopefully, you will find something useful.  I have created a Google Classroom for each unit taught in Gr. 2.  Each classroom includes teacher- created presentations using the various resources we utilize, videos and links to games that are at, below and above grade level,  that support the curriculum.  As we begin a new unit, we join another classroom.  The entire unit’s information is available from the beginning of the unit.  

             

Each student and family has access to the classrooms at school and home.  I encourage students to involve their families during learning by showing families what we are learning but also what is coming up.  This gives those students who need pre-teaching / awareness of what’s coming up and gives students and families a chance to go back and review what was already learned.  

Over the last three years, I have noticed an increase of willingness to participate in activities and discussions.  Conversations often include things like, “I saw that in Google Classroom,”  “I watched that at home last night.”  Also, I’ve had students write comments on the links in classrooms.  I’ve received notices from students who’ve commented on certain links on how they enjoyed a video or game in the evening and weekends. :)

Best Practices?

So when I heard grade two would be the first for presenting their best practices this year I was worried as I have barely had three weeks to have any practices let alone any best practices.   Deana pointed out I could use any teaching best practices experiences but… with the rush of the new year and getting used to a new grade I can’t think of anything right now it seems.   So I am going to add two things to this blog.  The first is what I spoke about for my best practices last year… the idea of professional development and different ways teachers can develop themselves without the traditional forms of PD. The second is simply plan that I have for Grade 2 and I hope it turns out well!

Professional Development

I am always interested to find out about new ideas or best practices in education.  As a result, I have found a few different ways to do this…

Educational Journals come in a variety of specialties and I am sure you can find different ones to appeal to your area of focus or interest.  

Two of the journals I have subscribed to include The Reading Teacher and Teaching Children Mathematics.  These are an extra expense but I find the information interesting and informative.  From these journals, I have found a few good lessons I can use as is or ones I can adjust to make work for me and my classroom.  I like the fact that they provide professional information with articles that have been peer-reviewed and usually have quality research behind them.  

I also find good professional development books and information from the ATA Library.  If you follow this link : http://library.teachers.ab.ca/Presto/home/ATADefault.aspx it will take you to the search page.  You may have to contact the ATA librarian to obtain your login information… (it’s been awhile so I don’t remember what I had to do) but once you have it you can search out materials that interest you and have the library mail it to you (home or school… you give them the address).  The materials will come in a box or padded envelope with a return label and it’s as simple as keeping the packaging and popping on the return label when you are done or it’s time to return them.  I’ve received many good books as well as DVDs that pertain to different areas of teaching.  

New Best Practice

Now!  Since I did already use that as my ‘best practice’ last year I suppose I should present something brand new and this is something that I hope to use this year.  It blends a bit of formative assessment as well as hopefully encouraging students to use metacognitive strategies to reflect on their learning.  I have created a data binder for each of my students and included inside some checklists for concepts they need to know.  At this time it includes some sight word identification checklists, some skip counting checklists, and other simple concepts.  I hope to include more as the year goes on including rubrics for projects etc.

I intend to use these with the students to help them fill in the checklists to see what they know and to (hopefully) watch their knowledge grow throughout the year.  I intend to link this to their goal setting and hopefully use these to help them plan smaller goals throughout the year.  At this time the checklists are simple and I have only used them with a few students on sight words so far. Hopefully, I will be able to have a positive update for this blog as the year goes on!  

How to post on the blog

This video is from a few years ago, but it explains how to create a new blog post on our blog. If you are posting your best practices, please label it so that we can find them all easily. Good luck! If you need any help, feel free to come see me (Jennine) or Jacob- Your amazing blog committee ;) 

Breakout EDU

There is a cool trend in education, called breakouts. It takes the principles of escape rooms and intertwines them with educational ideas to create fun and engaging student activities. Teachers design a series of challenges that students need to work together to solve using tools like locks, codes, online riddles, etc. Here is the website: http://www.breakoutedu.com/

A few weeks ago I created a breakout challenge for my students on the Iroquois Confederacy. They were really engaged, they problem solved, they collaborated, and to top it off they had fun and reviewed the topics we were learning. It is definitely something everyone should try out! There are lots of digital breakouts that don't require any physical locks. 

Planboard... Where have you been all my life?!

Ok, so anyone who knows me knows I spend an exorbitant amount of time making myself a pretty planner each year. BUT Planboard has changed my planning life. I love it! You can check it out at https://planboard.chalk.com

Here is what makes it awesome:

• It is available on computer or iOS
• It totally works with our 6 day schedule and you can color code it
• For each block, you can type, add links, add videos, link in your google docs, etc. It's amazing! And if you don't get to something, you can move your plan box to another day.
• Lets you view it daily, weekly and monthly
• Has a to-do list on the daily view
• Totally FREE!