Oct. 8: Playing with Skittles

On Thursday we used Skittles for estimating and creating bar and pictographs. Excellent work completed by all!  This is a FREEBIE on Teachers Pay Teachers! Thanks EZ-Prep!

My First TPT Product!

Okay, after years of purchasing and downloading products from this great site, I've finally added something myself.  I'm starting with some easy and FREE!  Yes, my first product is a FREEBIE!

It's nothing special but I'm glad I created it:  It's a jumppage of the Top TPT Seller's of All time, as of August 2015.  I also add the Top 10 Clipart designers, though this is not an official list.

You can also find the jumppage on my Symbaloo webmix: Click here 

Lori-Anne

May 15: Personal Project on "Mousetrap"

On Thursday, May 15, Seth and Jack presented their Semi Personal Project. The set up for it took a while, but that was perfectly understandable when we saw the finished product.

Link to video

Novel Study Boardgames

As part of their novel study projects, Seth and Rheagan created wonderful boardgames for their novels.

Seth's boardgame on "The Giver" 

Rheagan's boardgame on "The Outsiders"

Rubric for "The Big Question"

Hi all,

I receive many questions about the "Big Question". I confess, this is a new concept to me.  I heard about this a few years ago when piloting our Innovations class.  I received a book called,

Essential Questions by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins

Though the "Big Question" does not receive a lot of marks in student projects,  it is what drives the project.

Here is a rubric that I use:

Essential Question Rubric

An essential question should be about the problem to be solved and the information needed to solve the problem.

Exceeds Expectation - achieves 5 characteristics I have thoroughly identified an essential question.

Meets Expectation - achieves 3-4 characteristics I have substantially identified an essential question.

Approaches Expectation - achieves 1-2 characteristics I have partially identified an essential question.

Does not meet Expectation - does not achieve any characteristics Your question is a topical question that can be answered with facts I have difficulty identifying an essential question.

Essential questions are:  (Five Characteristics)

1.       Open-ended with no right or wrong answer, cannot be answered with a list of facts but requires research.  Answers to essential questions cannot be found.  They must be invented.

2.        Thought-provoking or controversial requiring finding different points of view,

3.       May start with:  Which one? How? Should? Why?     

4.       Cast old ideas in a new light, lead to discovery, engender deeper interest in the subject, and are provocative.

5.       Involve higher-order thinking skills such as analyze, evaluate, create l
 

Examples of good essential questions:

1.       Was Napoleon a hero or a tyrant?

2.       How do the arts shape, as well as reflect, a culture?

3.       What makes objects move the way they do?

4.       How can I express myself when I don’t know the words?

5.       How does where you live influence how you live?

6.       Why did the Soviet Union collapse?

7.       What should we eat to prevent diseases?

If you are interested in project-based or inquiry-based learning, I highly recommend the book.  Thanks.

Oct 10: Personal Project Criteria

Personal Project presentations are happening in the next month.  Every project is out of 50 marks. What's the criteria?  Please see below:

Personal Projects:

1.  The Big Question          /05
2.  Research                       /10
3.  Presentation                  /15
4.  Bibliography                 /10
5.  Oral Presentation          /05

Total:                                 /50

If there are any questions, please ask me. I will add a separate post for the "Big Question".

Thanks,
Miss Harold

Blendkit 2014: Chapter 2 - notes & thoughts

Chapter 2: Blended Interactions

In my journey of blended learning, I'm in a stage where I'm creating a visual in my head of how I want the course to look like.  Reading articles such as this chapter helps define this visual.

Last week's DIY task was to create a mix map of my vision.  This is what I have so far:

Notes:  

2 Vantage points:   guidance from teacher/instructor and the opportunity for the student to be self-directed.

Personal self direction may be leveraged via blended learning.

Favourite Quote in Chapter: 

          Blended learning, in all its various representations, has as its fundamental premise a simple idea: link the best technological solutions for teaching and learning with the best human resources... encouraging the development of highly interactive and collaborative activities that can be accomplished only a faculty member in a mediated setting (Dziuban, Hartman, Mehaffy, 2014, p. 332).

Response made in text which is part of my own questioning: when students have minimal guidance in their learning, is there evidence of deep learning?  What I'm personally seeing is not deep unless the students pose "big questions" while they are researching.

I watch part of Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" video.  I would agree that individuals can teach themselves skills, whether it be a computer or tool.  My issue with "wayfinding" is that it is time consuming.  Why allow a child to spend 20 hours figuring out something when you can spend 30 minutes giving a brief overview and then allow the child to build from that.  Let them stand on our shoulders!

In our school there is an unspoken division between those who favor online and those who favor face to face.  I believe that most students (like the author) consider social contact a priority.  Is it a basic human need?  I think so.

What is the role of the educator in a networked world?  I think the suggested "roles are interesting.  I think my current role is a mix between a concierge and a curatorial teacher.  I spend a lot of time helping students tract down reliable information.  At the same time, because of class presents "unknown territory" to the students, I also create environments where students can explore without too much risk.

Techno-expression:

Some of the suggestions I found useful:  

-ask students to state their own expectations 

-give them opportunity to suggest ideas within the syllabus 

-give them opportunity to talk about themselves

-possible writing assignment:  "from where I am" - based on their descriptive paragraphs, figure out where they are when they are writing this.

A funny video that got me thinking about teaching:

What makes me sing?  Personally my faith, gardening, a great meal, but as a teacher, what makes me sing is watching my students sing!