Showing posts with label Wonderopolis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wonderopolis. Show all posts

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Week of firsts

WOW......just like Mr. Slinger in Lilly`s Purple Plastic Purse...all I can say is WOW. What a week.
Over the course of our 2 week Spring Break I began to plan some new learning opportunities for my students and for myself. Through Twitter, I became aware of The Flat Classroom project and Wonderopolis. Both of these amazing learning tools have Tweetchats and on line discussion groups to share learning, successes and adaptions. I participated in my first chat with a fabulous bunch from Wonderopolis and saw immediately a perfect learning fit for my class. We began Wonder Wednesday last week. It provided my students with an engaging learning forum. many students wrote comments and quickly had feedback from Wonderopolis. How cool is that! Many students also reflected on their learning by posting on their personal blogs. WOW!

I have begun reading the Flat Classroom book but have been unable to join a chat due to time differences. There is one tomorrow and I am hoping to make it home in time to participate near the end.

We also had our first Skype session with a grade 2 class in Arizona. It was our turn to reply to their questions. Students had a day or two to collaborate and research(if unfamiliar) the answers to Ar. questions. It went very well for a first time. I would like to improve on the sound, it was not loud enough, and the placement of the camera in Ar.. I think students will be more engaged when the sound issue is worked out. We brainstormed questions that we would like to ask on our next session this Tuesday. To demonstrate what we have learned I would like st. to create a short video using maps and other tools to show the differences and similarities between our two classes.

We will also be preparing for our Aquarium sleep over the following week. Usually I have st. complete 2 research projects with questions that I have put together but this year I am hoping to get more st. input into the learning by finding out what they want to know in order to feel prepared for the the fieldstudy.

That`s it for this week......how do folks do this everyday?

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

I think about blogging all the time

Guilty...that is how I am feeling. I am constantly thinking about writing on this blog, just like I was also thinking about writing in my reflection journal while at SFU. I guess that means that I am more of a thinker than a writer, well maybe a chatter(word?) as well. But I really am trying to blog about my reflections.

I'm finding this whole situation with the job action to be quite trying......I want to protect my rights and the rights of those who are just beginning their teaching journey but I am totally conflicted bout providing my students with the best possible learning experience while they are my responsibility. I don't imagine that any teacher is taking any aspect of this situation lightly. I'm not going to go on about this but I felt I needed to have a say!

Change of subject

I am so excited to begin a few new projects after the break;

I have been able to connect with several teachers about a Skype in the Classroom project. All of the teachers are from the U.S. but in a variety of different states and areas of America. It is my goal that by sharing information about their school, city, province, culture and country,with others, my students will become more familiar with B.C. and Canada. As well, they will have an authentic opportunity to compare and contrast their lives with other students of similar age.

Wonderopolis is site that I have linked to my class blog. I participated in a chat with the lead teachers and other like myself who are interested in using or have used the site as a tool to develop wonder, questioning, and vocabulary development among my students. I will be changing my morning routine to add this valuable resource to my day plan.

Wonderopolis site

I have also discovered a professional book club that is meeting on Twitter to review the book:

Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time
I can't wait for it to be delivered!
So I am doing a lot of learning and hope to be able to share with others after Spring Break.
I also read these articles:

Teacher Leaders

Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum K-5

Ok...I blogged........I'm off to bed now.....