Module 7 Culminating: The Flipped Classroom

Article Link:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/Evidence-on-Flipped-Classrooms-Is-Still-Coming-In.aspx

Reflection:

One new idea in education today revolves around the idea of a “flipped” classroom. That is, the students are able to watch short videos with the lesson presented at home, or at the beginning of the class, and then the majority of the time spent in class with the teacher is used to practice the concept, ask questions, or compare problem solving solutions. Particularly in mathematics, this strategy can be worthwhile as students often fail to fully grasp new concepts when they learn them through a lecture format. As suggested in the article “Research Says Evidence on Flipped Classrooms Is Still Coming In” by Bryan Goodwin and Kirsten Miller, in Educational Leadership’s journal, “after a hit-or-miss lecture, teachers often assign homework, which many students perform in a private hell of frustration and confusion” due to their lack of understanding of the concepts. As the curriculum has changed so much in the last twenty years, the concepts that students are now learning are often foreign to their parents who are thus unable to assist them in completing their homework. The flipped classroom reverses this problem by allowing the students to learn the concept at home, and then practice the concept in class with the aid of the teacher and their peers. Teachers are also able to better communicate with students, and provide them with much faster individualized supports and feedback.

I really appreciate the beginning of the article which acknowledges that lectures are not inherently bad, as “they can be an effective way to help students acquire new knowledge”. As a secondary teacher, I recognize the importance of providing students with the tools that they will need to succeed in post-secondary institutions. I therefore feel that it is important that students are exposed to some lecture-style lessons, as many of them will be faced with this style of teaching in university or college, and will need to understand how to effectively take notes and ingest the information. Through the flipped classroom, some of the video lessons may still be in lecture format, which can allow students to practice their note taking skills and ability to digest information in faster paced environment. With that being said however, for many students, they may need additional supports in order to understand new concepts. Using a technique such as the flipped classroom may allow these students who may feel overwhelmed with lectures to learn the concepts more thoroughly and develop a greater proficiency as they are able to ask more questions and get one-on-one assistance after they have watched the lesson online.

The journal article also notes how today’s students have a limited attention span of often around ten minutes. Through the flipped classroom, teachers can utilize this information to chunk their video lessons into more manageable ten minute sessions in order to increase engagement and understanding. I have found in my own classroom that many students often cannot sit still or pay attention for longer than ten minutes as they are digital natives, and are accustomed to accessing information at a much faster pace. They would often prefer a quick explanation, rather than a longer more exploratory lesson.

I am curious about the results of some of the preliminary studies which have been conducted on the flipped classroom. The article mentions that in one survey of 453 teachers, 67% reported increased test scores (especially for advanced students and students with special needs), and 80% noted an improvement in student attitudes. I am curious whether these statistics would change based on the subject and grade level. While I recognize the benefits of the flipped classroom in a secondary math and science classroom, I wonder how effective it would be in other classes where there is not always the need for ample practice time and problem solving, such as history or English classes. Most exemplars focus on the sciences and maths, but I think it would be interesting to explore how it would work in the arts or social sciences, where rote practice may not be required.

Project vs Problem vs Inquiry

	Project Based	Problem Based	Inquiry Based
Similarities	·         Place an emphasis on teaching process, not just content ·         Require students to make discoveries for authentic audiences and purposes ·         All fit well in a technology-rich learning environment where the focus is on the learning experience ·         Use technology as a way to facilitate learning ·         Bound to the students interest of solving a problem or addressing an issue they find meaningful ·         Provide authentic applications of content and skills ·         Emphasize student independence and inquiry ·         Are longer and more multifaceted than traditional lessons or assignments
Differences	·         Focused on developing a product, performance, or event ·         Often involves multiple subjects ·         May be lengthy (weeks or months) ·         Often involves real-world, fully authentic tasks and settings	·         More often single-subject ·         Tend to be shorter ·         The “product” may be just a written or oral proposed solution ·         More often uses case studies or fictitious scenarios as “messy problems” created by the instructor	·         Student explores a subject or theme and formulates a question themselves ·         Student develops a plan of research ·         Not about seeking the “correct” answer, but to seek resolutions to questions and issues

There is no “best” practice when it comes to these three. Many different source, such as Lauren Davis on Smartblogs, give different ideas of where they are more commonly found. According to her entry, “Project-based learning is usually done in English, social studies or foreign-language class… Problem-based learning often takes place in math and science class… [and Inquiry-based learning] is often done in science but can be done in any subject area.”

For a better understanding of each type, please check out the following websites that have a lot of information on each:
Eduscapes
Edutopia

University of Saskatchewan
Smartblogs

Technologies Aid in the Classroom

For me personally, I have used websites, such as Trello, to help me better communicate with my students and parents. I have used Trello this past year to set each of my Physics 30 students into groups for their final projects (or individually if they choose to). I had posted all of the required information on the Trello page and left the students to complete this project. As they complete each individual part of the project, they post their work to the Trello page, which allows me to immediately give feedback to them, and also a nice place to keep a record of all things they have completed with all previous versions of their work.

Another tool that our school has adapted this past year was to use Maplewood as a recording software for the students marks and attendance. This allows us to enter the students marks with comments on each individual assignment and have them available to use anywhere with an internet connection. Also, students and parents can log in at any time and see what they are missing, what their marks are like, and any attendance issues.

A classroom blog is also an amazing way to bring focus on the course work that you do within your class on a day to day basis. This allows student who have missed the class to find out what is required of them for the next day. This also allows parents to see what is happening within our room.

I believe all of these items have helped me to collaborate more with both parents and students. Parents are able to see which assignments need to be completed and what we are up to in each class, to allow them to be more connected to their own childs education. The students are also able to keep on top of any assigned work and ensure they are completed all of the required course work on time.

Since we have integrated our classroom with the use of the Internet and World Wide Web, a lot of the content in classrooms have changed. A lot of teachers have changed from having students do journal entries to creating a classroom blog or even Twitter page that allows parents to see what is happening within the classroom. In my class, I am able to do a lot of online simulations for Physics experiments that we would normally be unable to obtain. The Web has also allowed me, and many others, to share and receive pre-planned lessons and course material (why re-invent the wheel?). This has created a large selection of material for each teacher to use at their discretion.

Technology in the Curriculum (SK Edition)

Flipped Classroom Lesson Outline

Click HERE to be transferred to a lesson outline which uses the Flipped Classroom model approach, modeled well by Graham Johnson on his website "Flipping Math."

I highly recommend watching the video on Graham's website which explains his methods in the mixed classroom.  I can see it would take a long time to incorporate into a class setting, but could be very much worth it.

Personal PD

Throughout my education and career thus far, I have experienced a variety of different PD opportunities, from those that were mandated through the school division, to those that I was able to attend myself based on my interests and learning goals.

Each year our school division has a two day conference which all teachers must attend. Often these sessions are held in August right before the school year begins. We have had a number of notable presenters and educational theorists, such as Sandra Herbst, Damien Cooper and Mike Mattos. I really enjoyed listening to Damien Cooper last year as he provided some great suggestions for making effective assessments and a better framework for understanding the key components of assessment. The only downside to these conferences however, is that the sessions are often very general, as the speaker must cater to teachers from pre-kindergarten to high school level. I commonly prefer PD which can be catered to teachers’ levels and subject areas so that they can provide applicable examples and direct examples which could be implemented in my own classroom. As teachers, we are constantly struggling to find time outside of teaching time to prepare and improve our materials, so if the material that is presented is not adapted to meet my subject area, I find that I often get caught up in my day to day work, and don’t have time to alter and change the presenters’ ideas to meet my needs. This reaffirms the main idea in the document entitled, What is Effective Teacher Professional Development, from the Canadian Education Association, which suggests that “teachers need to have the chance to put what they learned into practice and to reflect on how new ideas and teaching approaches work within their classrooms; and that students are more successful when teachers have meaningful, ongoing, PD opportunities.”

Our division has also started a PD program for first year teachers, where we were able to meet once every other month for a full day with fellow first year teachers and more experienced teachers and mentors in our school division. I found these days to be highly worthwhile as we were able to not only learn more about initiatives within our board, but we could also spend this time working with other first year teachers to share resources, problem solve, and ask more experienced mentors for assistance in any areas which we were struggling. These meetings were a great way for us to establish connections with other teachers and to learn from their experiences, which is one of the key indicators of effective PD as suggested by the Canadian Education Association. By giving us a choice about the direction these meetings took, we were able to cater these PD sessions to meet our individual needs and learning goals. As a first year teacher it was nice to listen to experiences of other teachers and reflect on the outcomes in our own classroom throughout the year- rather than just having one meeting. I also had the chance in my first year to attend a first year teacher conference in Saskatoon with first year teachers from across the province. This opportunity provided us with a great opportunity to network with one another and learn more about the profession and benefits through the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF). By learning more about our rights and the logistics behind the profession, we were better able to maintain a safe and effective learning environment within our own classrooms.In the future I would like to continue to focus my PD opportunities around the flipped classroom and new mathematics and science initiatives (such as robotics). I am also very interested in technology (which is the reason I am taking this course), and would like to continue to take courses/attend PD sessions focused on integrating technology within the classroom as the students we are teaching today are digital natives and often are more interested in subjects such as math and science when technology can be integrated. The only challenge which I have faced as a result of these PD sessions, is trying to get new technology and programs approved by the board for classroom use. Sometimes this process can be highly lengthy, and as a result, I am not able to integrate new initiatives in a timely manner at which point there may be newer technology available to use.

What is Effective PD?

Effective professional development is important for the progression of teachers’ skills and understanding. Often times, professional development happens through local workshops, school based collaboration groups, or formal/informal presentations. In our school board we have a number of professional development days built into our yearly schedule that are solely devoted to improving teacher skills. We worked in horizontal and vertical teams within our school, and had presentations from experienced educators and administration to help guide us through new board initiatives. Each year we also have a PD conference which is mandatory for the entire division that has brought in a number of well-known theorists and presenters, including Mike Mattos and Damien Cooper.

In order for PD to be effective there are a number of guidelines by which it should be run. Firstly, it is imperative that teachers are given choice in the conferences and sessions which they attend. Since teachers are professionals, their choice and interests should be given some consideration as PD is much more engaging and worthwhile if it relates to the content or teaching strategies that a teacher is using. As a high school mathematics and science teacher, I have experienced this first hand, as a number of the PD sessions which I attended at one conference were primarily geared towards elementary and primary teachers, and thus I found it difficult to remain engaged and apply the concepts to my own classroom because they were so unrelated.

It is also important that through PD teachers have an opportunity to reflect on their learning. Often times, teachers attend conferences and pick up great resources, only to have them sit on a USB or on a shelf never to be touched. By having a chance to come back to their place of work, try strategies, and then reflect on their outcomes, teachers can better utilize PD as a learning opportunity that can guide and improve instruction. This process may also involve data collection and reflection, as it is easier to reflect on the effectiveness of your improvements if you have concrete data to analyze. Through programs such as Aimsweb and Key Math, teachers now have a variety of instruments which they could use to test students prior to a PD session in order to use the results to provide a greater understanding of the improvements made or challenges which may have been faced.

We often think of PD as being solely those opportunities when a guest speaker is invited to present a new theory or strategy, when in actuality, PD can be just as effective when it occurs with local teachers and support staff. As educators have such diverse backgrounds and experiences, we all have different strategies for teaching, assessing and reporting. As such, this provides a great opportunity for teachers to learn from one another. Effective PD can occur within our own schools, by taking the time to teach each other about new ideas or strategies that have worked well in our own classroom, and asking questions to one another about how to improve and optimize student learning.

In summary, PD requires work. It requires constant reflection and commitment. As suggested in the document entitled, What is Effective Teacher Professional Development, from the Canadian Education Association, research has confirmed that “teachers need to have the chance to put what they learned into practice and to reflect on how new ideas and teaching approaches work within their classrooms; and that students are more successful when teachers have meaningful, ongoing, PD opportunities.”

The Astronomy Dream

I really hope that I eventually have the opportunity to teach astronomy.

Why you ask?

Because of Elite: Dangerous.

It's a new space-sandbox game that has been available on PC for a while (recently released as an early access game on Xbox).  It's very open ended and does not ever really "end" in the true sense of a video game.

What does this all mean?

It means if I were to teach a lesson about a specific solar system, star, black hole, or nebula, the class could travel there within the game and explore (as long as it is within our Milky Way galaxy)! They could see the different stars in the galaxy, and actually read up on some general information about the type of body it is, as well as specific information about that individual object.

One could easily make an assignment where they would need to go out and find a specific star (you are able to search within the game itself) and give certain information about it.

An example could be to find LHS 2520 (a star which astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson found for DC comics as the possible location for where Superman was from). Once found, you will need to explain what type of star it is, how massive it is compared to our sun, and how hot the surface of that star is. 

After they had done that assignment, they could then decide to search anywhere within our Galaxy. Want to visit the coal stack nebula? Go find it! Want to find Sagittarius A*? Get a move on, and bring some heat sink launchers to avoid burning up along the way to the center of our Galaxy!

I'm really hoping to find a way to explore this in my classroom, even if it's just as an extra curricular astronomy club. I think this is an interesting way to get students interested in the topic and allow them to explore our own Galaxy!

Classroom Vs Professional Blog

Although both sound similar, there are key differences between a Classroom Website and a Professional Educational Blog. The table below gives the glaringly obvious differences.

	Classroom Blog	Professional Blog
Audience	Students Parents Guardians	Educators Administration
Purpose	To detail what is happening within your classroom Provide students with material for classroom activities Posting of homework or important documents Any other materials used within the classroom Allow parents/guardians to be more involved with their students education	To voice your opinion on different issues in education Ask questions to other professionals and receive feedback

The Classroom Website/Blog is a very nice way to create a connection with the parents. Having the connection between school and home is a proven way to improve your child’s success in education. Because you’re trying to create this connection with the parents and students, the way you type to your audience is very different than how you would type on a professional blog.

In a professional blog, you are voicing an opinion on a specific topic in Education and almost expecting your audience to post comments about their own opinions or any questions they may have. This is more about a learning and collaborative experience than one of an information giver.

If you maintained having both a Professional Blog and Classroom Blog/Website, you would want to keep the two separate. Although some parents (and maybe students) may be interested in your opinions on education, this should not but contained within your Classroom Blog, as it could become congested and confuse the readers who may be looking for just their homework, or just the opinion on Google Classroom.

Parent Night Outline

• Slideshow
• Introductions(5 min)
• Talk about topics covered in class (depends on class, either Math 10, 20, 30, Physics 30, or Computer Science 20, 30) (10 min)
• Full year project information (Physics 30 only [so far]) (5 min)
• Technologies used in class for both parents and students
• Remind
• 1 way communication with entire class / parents to cell phones or email
• Ability to remind students of upcoming assignment due dates or tests
• Ability to send out days homework
• Allow parents to sign up
• Khan Academy (for Math and Physics classes)
• Online videos that will help explain a concept
• Allow students to re-watch and attempt questions as many times as they require
• Contains question sets directly related to video lessons
• Setting up the coaching tool will allow me to “assign” videos and question sets to students in place of missed classwork
• Helps students master the topics taught in class
• Trello / Google Docs (Physics 30 Project)
• Allows students to collaborate in group tasks even when they are not directly beside each other.
• Easily keep track of all work done on project and have a place to store all of the information
• No more “John has all the work”
• Allows for immediate feedback from me
• Classroom Blog (how to get there, guide through the site)
• Store all of the above information
• Will contain each topic that was covered for the day, as well as any Khan Academy video lessons and question sets that may be important
• Homework and assignments will be posted

UDL Strategies

The Universal Design for Learning process encourages teachers to offer multiple forms of representation and engagement. There are a variety of different ways that teachers can incorporate 21st century technologies into a classroom to provide students with different modes of representation and learning.

1. Teachers are encouraged through UDL to provide alternatives for viewing visual and auditory information. By using audio books and read aloud software, teachers can limit the amount of visual information which the students must process. In an English class, rather than having a student feel isolated by reading a different book than their peers, the teacher can provide the student with an audio book to help the student better understand the content of the book, rather than solely focusing on their lack of fluency or comprehension skills. Similarly, to aid students who struggle to process auditory information, teachers can now provide students with copies of their notes/lectures, directly from the SMARTBoard or tablet device. Teachers can also utilize the closed caption feature on videos, and even many Youtube videos, thus allowing students to have the opportunity to watch multi-media presentations. 
2. Teachers are also encouraged to continuously clarify vocabulary and symbols for students to ensure comprehension and understanding. There are a variety of resources that are available online which can help to develop students’ vocabulary, such as Visuwords, an online graphic dictionary and thesaurus which uses colours and patterns to identify the links between words. The program is free, and may be easier for students to use, rather than looking up a definition in a dictionary. Wordle is another tool that could be used to help students develop their language skills, as students could make posters with synonyms or describing words for each of their vocabulary terms in order to help them remember what it means. Making these bright and colourful posters can provide a fun way of practicing ones’ vocabulary. 
3. In UDL it is essential for teachers to illustrate the content and outcomes using multiple media forms. That is, teachers need to be able to present the content to students in a variety of different ways so that students of all different learning styles and abilities have the chance to develop their understanding. The National Centre on Universal Design for Learning, suggests a variety of different online tools that teachers can use to help integrate this idea into their teaching. For instance, Search Cube is a website that allows students to search any term, and it will create pictures or different visual representations of the top 96 pages from your search. From here, students can rotate the cube or move it to see different sides to learn about their search in different ways. As a math teacher, I have used the Illuminations website many times in my math class as it provides visual representations of different math topics. The webpage is easy to use and is easy for students to understand and manipulate the animations. Particularly in math, it is important that teachers utilize various forms of media to ensure student understanding as many of the concepts are very abstract unless students can actually move the shapes around or plot their information to see a realistic image of their task. 
4. In UDL, it is also important for teachers to highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas and relationships. There are a number of online tools that can help students identify key ideas, or help to keep students focused on the purpose of the lesson. Pace Car is a great tool for students who are often distracted by other content on a webpage. The program lights up only the words that surround the students’ cursor and creates a dark shadow over the rest of the webpage so that the student can only focus on the information in the box. Students must then focus on learning the key ideas in the written text as opposed to looking at the advertisements, or other distractions on the webpage. Similarly, Readability allows teachers to create clutter-free pages from the internet, so that students are not distracted by unrelated pictures or advertisements. By solely having the key information on the screen, students will be more focused on the important information- particularly for those students who struggle with attention deficit disorders.
5. The final teaching idea from UDL centers around the understanding that information should be displayed in multiple formats for students, particularly those with exceptionalities. Using the Aim Explorer, for instance, students can take a grade-level text and utilize text-to-speech, magnification, and highlighting tools to assist them in the reading process. Additionally students can change the text and background colours which can assist students with vision troubles. Having this software can assist any English, social studies, or even science teacher when their students are presented with different readings to complete. This software will allow them to adjust the program settings to meet their individual needs to help optimize student learning. For instance, when studying a particular novel, the teacher could have some students read to themselves, have others with visual impairments (such as colour blindness) use the program to alter the colours of the text to make it easier to read, and students who struggle with the reading skills could have the computer read the text aloud to them.

For more information, or to read up on more strategies, visit UDL Center.

Universal Design Learning Theories

Universal Design Learning Theories exemplify the idea that all students should be given the opportunity to learn. As suggested in the a paper on Universal Design for Leaning, “instruction can be universally designed when, without after-the-fact adaptation, it provides information that is easily recognized by all students, diminishes unnecessary physical effort for access, or is structured to avoid unnecessary frustration and to be highly engaging and motivational for the student” (pg. 22). The first step in the design process is identifying the barriers which inhibit students from learning. Through differentiated instruction, various technologies, cooperative learning, community-based learning, and by teaching learning strategies, teachers are able to better meet the needs of the students in the class and ensure that they are learning- that is, that they are being challenged and are not solely presented with tasks that they could finish with little effort or thinking. The National Center on Universal Design for Learning suggests that this method requires teachers to provide multiple means of engagement (to develop purposeful, motivated learners), representation (to develop resourceful, knowledgeable learners), and action/expression (to develop strategic, goal-directed learners). There is not a simple blueprint to follow for UDL, as it varies based on the needs of your students. As technology is further developed however, we are finding easier and more effective techniques for incorporating UDL into the classroom. For instance, there are a variety of online programs such as Mathletics that scaffold the curriculum for students and can be adjusted to meet the needs and abilities of the students in a class. From working on concepts that a student may have missed, to challenging students who are more advanced in their studies, these programs can allow teachers to individualize lessons to best suit the learning goals of their students.

As an educator, I feel uncomfortable saying that my classroom follows all of the UDL concepts, as I believe that there is always room for improvement, and that we as teachers must do the best we can to provide an optimal learning environment based on the tools we have and the unique students we meet. While I believe that I have seen classrooms that have taken large steps to be inclusive and to meet the needs of all students, I do not believe that there are many truly UDL classrooms in existence. I have observed classes this year that have incorporated new thinking and educational trends which have really helped to bring are more UDL environment, such as guided math. Through guided math, the teacher is able to divide the students into groups (which may change based on the strand or unit being covered), and the groups are able to cycle through a variety of different stations which are catered to their individual learning needs. For instance, one group may be doing activities through cooperative learning, while another group meets with the teacher. There may be another group using the computer, SMARTBoard or other forms of technology to practice their new skills. This technique allows for the teacher to differentiate their lesson and meet the different needs and abilities of their students, rather than solely lecturing at the front of the classroom.

The National Center on Universal Design for Learning has posted some great resources on how teachers can implement UDL in their classrooms, and ways for offering alternative forms of learning for students of different abilities and exceptionalities. These resources can be found by clicking here.

It is important to understand that integrating UDL in a classroom is a fluid process that is ever-changing, as the needs of your students and available tools may continuously change and improve. The five phases that teachers must pass through while implementing UDL are: exploring, preparing, integrating, scaling and optimizing, according to the National Center on Universal Design for Learning.

21st Century Learning with Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is a learning disability which can impede or affect a person’s ability to control their handwriting and fine motor skills. Often times this can lead to illegible handwriting, trouble using different types of letters (such as upper and lower case letters) and spacing, as well as difficulty copying material and multi-tasking. This disability can also cause students’ to develop cramps in their hands due to poor writing posture/technique. With the development of technology, we now have a multitude of resources that are available to help students overcome these challenges. For example:

• Penfriend and other text prediction software can help students who are slower at typing to become more confident writers as the program is able to help predict future words, thus causing less strain on the student. Other speech to text programs can also aid in alleviating some of these problems as the student would only need to talk into a microphone in order to record their thinking. Audacity would be a great example, whereby students can record their conversations and submit the audio file for the teacher to listen to. Similarly, teachers can use video recorders to record student performance, rather than asking for a written document, thus allowing the student to demonstrate their learning in a multitude of different ways. Computers can also help students with dysgraphia, as they may be able to type more accurately than they can using paper and pencil. Students could also use the spell-check feature in order to assist with their spelling and grammar depending on their dexterity. 
• SMARTBoards may also assist students as the teacher can write the notes on the device and then save/print a copy of the completed notes, thus allowing the student to focus on the content rather than trying to copy all of the information down off of the board.
• In mathematics, where sometimes it isn’t easy to explain the steps to a problem out loud, the teacher could provide the student with cloze notes (where the formula and problem are already recorded) to help reduce the amount of writing the student needs. Similarly, Excel or graphing programs, such as Geometer’s Sketchpad, could help the student to draw shapes, images and graphs instead of asking them to draw them on paper to illustrate their solution or understanding. 

Through these programs which utilize 21st century skills and technology, students with dysgraphia would be able to place a greater focus on learning the content and presenting their understanding, rather than focusing on their ability to copy down the information and neatly communicating their ideas. At the end of the day, we as teachers want to be able to assess what our students have learnt, and for students with this disability, traditional paper-and-pencil assignments may not fully represent their comprehension as writing can be a frustrating and tiring experience. Rather than discouraging them, teachers could use the above strategies to help the student reach their true potential.

Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Word Prediction Software (Penfriend)

In our school, we have started to use text prediction software (not the same one listed above, but similar). This helps a multitude of students with learning disabilities that affect their written language. According to Penfriend's website, Penfriend software “benefits users who have dyslexia, visual impairment or physical [disabilities], including Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease, Stroke, limb deformities and any condition which impairs the ability to write with a keyboard.” This software can help students become more confident writers as the software is able to predict the next word in a sentence as a student is writing, making the writing process more fluid and faster for students who struggle with typing. This could be particularly beneficial for ESL students, or those who struggle with their grammar and fluency.

Audio Books (Audible.com)

Our English teachers here have started using Audio Books within their classroom for students who have troubles reading on their own. This allows students who have difficulty reading to follow along with someone reading to them. This can help increase the student's vocabulary, as well as help with their reading comprehension and fluency. Students can listen to the book as a class, or individually using a personal listening device. For some students, listening to an audiobook can also help them to make more connections and think more critically about the content of the novel, rather than trying to solely decode the text. Students can gain a greater appreciation for literacy and different texts which they may have previously felt isolated from due to their reading level or language barrier. By listening to another source read the book aloud, students who have trouble decoding emotions and humor may gain a greater understanding of its and role in the text by hearing the expression in the reader’s voice.

Personal Listening Systems

Although we only have this available in our Theatre, our school has invested in a Personal Listening System, which allows the speaker to broadcast their voice directly into the user's ear by use of headphones or earphones. The unit we have connects directly into our sound system, so no special microphone is required. These can help with students who have a hearing disability, or even those who have trouble paying attention by allowing the user to focus more clearly on the speakers' voice. Rather than having to isolate students by moving them to preferential seating, students can sit anywhere within the room provided they have the device. Student comprehension is aided by these systems as the student can listen more attentively to the presentation and put a greater focus on the content, rather than struggling to focus or listen to a faint sound.

Interview with a Teacher

An interview with Samantha Stuart. As she was preparing her exams for her students, we were able to steal her away from her work for ten minutes to discuss her classroom and uses of technology.

What is your background in education, and can you remind me how we met?

I completed my education through McMaster University and Nipissing University, where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education, with teachables in senior history and English. I moved to Saskatchewan in 2012 to begin a middle years English position with the Northwest School Division. We met at a first year teachers’ meeting, which was a program set up in our division to help new teachers share resources, learn about current initiatives and educational technologies available to us, and to work alongside more experienced educators to improve our classes.

Can you describe the school that you work at?

I teach in St. Walburg, Saskatchewan, which has roughly 800 people in the town. We are primarily a farming community, and have a K-12 school with approximately 300 students. I have really enjoyed the small class sizes which we have, as they range from 9 to 27 students, depending on the grade. While we have small numbers, we certainly do not lack in our athletics and extra-curricular activities! We have a number of teams which have made it to the provincial level in different sports, including volleyball, badminton and track and field. We also have worked really hard at the school to integrate new educational philosophies and technologies within our school. These initiatives include guided math and reading, triangulation of data, outcome based assessment, daily 5, Key Math and aimsweb.

What types of technology do you integrate into your classroom?

This year I chose to integrate Google Classroom into my middle year’s English courses. The students enjoyed having access to all of their work and assignments, and found it was easier to keep track of everything. I also noticed that it was easier to keep track of students’ assignments and monitor who had handed it in. The only struggle with using this method has been our access to computers. We do not have enough computers for each student in the school to have one each period, and thus there were some classes where they were unavailable to be used. The students also often forgot their passwords, causing this process to be rather inefficient. As a result, I found that I still needed to print out a number of assignments and had students still submit some work by hand.

I also utilize a SMARTBoard in my classroom. I enjoy having this technology as I am able to save copies of all of my notes and print them off, particularly for those students who require completed notes or who are absent.

Audacity has been used by a number of my students who prefer to submit their work orally, or who feel their learning can be best demonstrated through a discussion or conversation. The students have submitted their audio files at the end of class to justify their learning.

Finally, we have begun to utilize aimsweb in my school which is a brief assessment that provides a snapshot of students comprehension and reading skills. This helps me as a teacher direct my allocated RTI time to provide interventions for those students who are below grade level or may be struggling with a particular concept.

Do the students bring in technology into the classroom?

The majority of students have smartphones and they are able to use them based on the discretion of the teacher. Often students prefer to use their phones to complete small amounts of research or to look up definitions as it is faster than finding a dictionary or using the internet at the school. Some students have also brought in their own laptops depending on the assignment.

Is there technology that you would like to use in the future?

In a dream world, I would really like all students to have their own computers, as this would make using digital classrooms (such as Google Classroom or One Note) more feasible. I would also be excited to have a tablet, as they are easier to write on and are often clearer than a SMARTBoard.

Thank you for your time and best of luck with your exams!

Makey Makey

MaKey MaKey is a new product that has been crowd-funded over the past three years. The project was launched in May, 2012, and raised over $500 000. The kit is based on research that was conducted at MIT Media Lab and driven by Eric Rosenbaum (who has a Master’s degree in Technology in Education from Harvard University), and Jay Silver (an electrical engineering graduate with a master’s in Internet Technology from Cambridge University). MaKey MaKey is an “invention kit for the 2st century” which students can use for art, engineering and science. In the kit, people receive a MaKey MaKey, alligator clips and USB cables. This hardware allows you to transform any device that can transmit electricity into a keyboard. Students could use ketchup, fruits, plants, etc. and transform them into their newest keyboarding device. Not only could this be a great lesson for science class, but it could also allow teachers to limit the amount of expensive technology which they need to buy or continuously replace for their classes. As alligator clips and USB cables are very inexpensive, teachers can consistently reuse these materials, and hook them to different items depending on students’ age and interests, unlike keyboards which are constantly having keys popped off and broken by students. The kits are relatively inexpensive ($49.95) and they can run on a variety of different operating systems. These kits would be fantastic for students who have special needs, who enjoy sensory stimulation as they may be more interested in completing different learning tasks if they can use objects that are of interest to them rather than a traditional keyboard. It could also be used to simplify different tasks for elementary students, as having only four buttons would be much easier for students to understand and utilize effectively. In a middle years science class or computers courses, these kits could provide a great study tool or basis for an inquiry project when exploring electricity and circuits. By learning how electricity is able to travel through these systems, students can investigate different properties of electricity and conductivity. With new inventions like the MaKey MaKey, it makes me excited to think about where the future of technology is heading and the innumerable applications and connections that we as teachers can make with the help of it.

Inquiry in Technology Lesson Plan: Formatting with MS Word

Lesson Plan and Reflection
Icon Scavenger Hunt
MS Word Formatting Basics
MS Word formatting with Ruler and Tabs

This lesson was originally adapted from Jennifer Britton, Glenn Ellis, Nick Hillier, Jeff May