Snow Daze

This year has had a few days when buses have been canceled.  The weather has made the highways up above the Park to be pretty brutal.  Today, unfortunately, was one of those days. (I know what you're thinking, it's April 30th!).  And today, like our other snow days, I put on a movie for the grade 8's because there is really no sense in moving forward without about 60% of the class.

At the end of the day, we ended up playing a jeopardy quiz game as classes were shuffled around because out of town teachers left early due to road conditions.  This is what has led me to rethink the use of snow days.

1. Unfinished Business - If students have work that is incomplete for you (or any other class really), it only makes sense that this time is put to good use by getting work done.

2. Inquiry Days - This is what I might be trying tomorrow (weather-dependent).

Use the time to look into something interesting!  This can be done in groups or individually - totally up to the kids and what they will be investigating.  What will the day look like? (It really all depends on your schedule but it's really up to you).

     A. Getting Started - Kids can choose anything they are interested in. But this needs to have a little
          structure so they need to plan with the end in mind. 
          Questions for students to answer/define:

• What am I going to learn about today?
• What am I going to have at the end of the day to demonstrate my learning?
• How am I going to do this?
• What am I going to need to learn about this? (computer, supplies for testing ideas/building, etc.)

     B. Get'er Done - You may need some help in getting everything you need and supervising the kids as
          they go a million different directions.  But if you and the kids keep the material from part A on
          hand, this will help you redirect them if they get off-track/off-task.

     C. Put Yourself Out There - You need some drive to these projects or they will lose speed - "What's
          the point?"  These projects would not necessarily be for marks, as you are missing a number of
          kids (although I can definitely see how I would work this into the science curriculum).  I think that
          having some sort of sharing opportunity for the kids would be the best end result.  Kids teaching
          kids (and me).  That is what I am leaning toward - it will look different based on the end product
          that the kids choose.

Aboriginal Perspectives

As a (mostly) mathematics and science teacher, I have struggled a bit with authentic integration of Aboriginal perspectives into my classroom.  Today as I was driving home, I had a great brainwave while talking to a coworker.

7 Sacred Teachings in health class!

Since Spring Break, we have been looking at peer pressure and how to respond to it.  A big player in this which we haven't looked at is personal beliefs and morals.  What better way to do this than to consider all the aspects that can affect a person's decisions than through the 7 Sacred Teachings?

Step 1 (will be doing this tomorrow): 
Have students (in small groups) research the 7 teachings to find out what they are.  To keep track of what they find out, students will design a circle with the information - pictorially and/or verbally.

Step 2:
Option A - Students will relate the 7 Sacred Teachings to themselves.  They can articulate their thoughts in any form (media/written/pictorally) but must explain how each piece relates to them and which are more evident in a given scenario.
Option B - Students will choose 5 - 8 principle words which define their actions and beliefs.  Again, how this is articulated is up to the students, but they must explain why they have chosen that word and provide an example.

Suggested modes to demonstrate step 2:

• movie maker (include personal pictures with voice over)
• prezi
• song
• drawing (with blurbs)

Step 3:
Students will be asked to reflect on what they have completed in step 2.
Option A - write a reflection which looks at how these core principles would come into play when faced with a peer-pressure scenario
Option B -   for each of a number of scenarios, which of the core principles (personal or 7 Sacred Teachings) are coming into play (whether they are ignored or a key player in resisting peer pressure).

I'll keep you posted as I go!

Technology 1

This year have been a very draining one for me.  I have stayed busy with school, especially with my energetic grade 8's.  In all the hustle and bustle, somehow I lost track of why I got into this job in the first place and what a teacher's job really is.  After realizing that I was at root of my problems I have reconsidered what I am doing my classroom, returning to a student-driven approach. 

Inspired by Miss L, I have channeled my own learning toward technology.  For now, I am mostly focused on my own exploration of technology but the ultimate goal is to be able to integrate more technology into my classroom. 

Some ideas that I have as of right now, other than the standard research/typing/presenting modes include:

• Blogging as a means of student reflection
• Twitter as a tool to network with people in related fields, ask questions and share links
• Instagram to document what we are doing in class
• QR codes bring displays to life off the page

Step 1 to integrating technology in my classroom:  figure out how to use it!  

I've started using Twitter this week.   When it first came out I was a skeptic - I didn't see the value in it, as it was essentially the status update part of Facebook.  Turns out, it is a whole lot more.  It's amazing how fast you can grow your PLN - all you need to start is one person!  I'm still experimenting with #hashtags but I found a pretty cool explanation of how to use them here.

QR codes are a bit easier because all it takes is a URL and some technology to read the code.  I was away from school today so part of the science lesson I left was a webquest to fill in a notes skeleton.  We'll see how it went!  Luckily, one of the other teachers had already taught the students how to register the QR codes on the iPads.

And finally, I'm going to be blogging!  (You may have guessed that already).  The better I get a handle on this whole blogging thing, the more accessible and authentic I can make it for my students.

Wish me luck!  I'll keep you posted.