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Team Teaching: Student Survey Results & Analysis Pt. 2 - Triumphs!

noreply@blogger.com (@IvyWaite) — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:17:00 +0000

Jaime Groeller & Ivy Waite~ Grade 8 Humanities

This post is part of a series. Read the previous posts here, here, and here.

As discussed in a previous post, on April 30 we conducted a formal survey of our students regarding the team teaching approach we have taken up over the last 9 months. We had conducted informal surveys twice before, and tried to take into account the concerns and suggestions provided to make the experience more positive for the majority of the students. Here is part 2 of an anecdotal analysis of the formal survey. (Part 1 can be found here.)

Overwhelmingly, the positive responses outweighed the negative. Many students clearly understand and appreciate the learning experience we as teachers are trying to provide. They identified and commented on many of the specific items we outlined as goals of our team teaching:

Students speak to one another, and as such it is very important that we are providing equitable instruction to all 100 students. Team teaching has enabled us to ensure that all of our students receive the same information and expectations. Gone are the days of “but their class is doing X”, and “why are they allowed to do Y but we are not?” The survey results showed that our students noticed and appreciated this consistency.

Another positive is that students have realized that having two teachers allows them to access alternative sources when looking for formative assessment. This ability to access different perspectives is seen by many students as an asset as it allows for clarification when confused, or just a second “opinion” when required. Our students also commented that they have appreciated being able to go to the other teacher when one is not available for whatever reason.

The ability for students to collaborate with more than just those in their homeroom was frequently identified by the students as a positive of joining classes. The option to work with someone new, or just someone different, allows for students access different opinions and strengths amongst their colleagues, and for them to make appropriate choices when forming collaborative learning teams.

While we started the year with many students expressing concern about sharing ideas or participating in front of such a large group, that number has decreased. We were pleasantly surprised to many express that their confidence has increased when speaking in larger groups. While some are still struggling with this, it is important for our students to realize that as they continue in their academic career, many of them will be faced with class sizes much larger than 25, and soon 50 will seem small! The personal growth demonstrated by these students is very encouraging, as teachers are always looking for opportunities to work on the “hidden curriculum.”

The many positive, or even the indifferent comments, encourages us to keep this experiment going, with some modifications as outlined in the previous post. As always, we encourage your feedback as well!

photo credit: Ant1_G via photopin cc

Inquiry in Math: Order of Operations

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:17:00 +0000

Candice Shaw~ Grade 7 Math/Science

After reviewing integer addition and subtraction, and order of operations, I gave my Grade 7 students a challenge. This became a competition between many students and myself. The problem is as follows:

Given the following expression, What is the greatest solution you can create? What is the least solution you can create?

52 + 4 x 5 - 9 +22 ÷ 2 - 7

Rules:
You can only manipulate sets of brackets - the order of the numbers and symbols cannot change.
You can use as many sets of brackets as you wish.

Upon beginning this problem, students were very engaged to come up with the best answer. We kept updating the solutions on the white board. For students that weren't overly engaged, I occasionally got them to try to achieve other students' solutions. At first, the greatest solutions were in the hundreds, then thousands, then beyond.

Our final solutions:
Greatest: 848,897.5
Least: -283,500,000

Good luck beating our solutions! Leave a comment if you do!

photo credit: Thomas ♫ via photopin cc

Team Teaching: Student Survey Results & Analysis Pt. 1 - Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (@IvyWaite) — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:54:00 +0000

Jaime Groeller & Ivy Waite

This post is part of a series. Read the previous posts here and here.

On April 30 we conducted a formal survey of our students regarding the team teaching approach we have taken up over the last 9 months. We had conducted informal surveys twice before, and tried to take into account the concerns and suggestions provided to make the experience more positive for the students. Here is part one of an anecdotal analysis of the formal survey. (Part 2 can be found here.)

As is human nature, the less supportive comments often overshadow the supportive. As teachers, we want to ensure all students have the opportunity to learn in a safe, supportive environment, while continuing to provide differentiated instruction and authentic learning opportunities. The reality is, and we are learning to accept this and work through it, you can’t please everyone. Not every person in 100 will completely support anything, but we hope to find some compromises for those that are less than thrilled with the team teaching approach.

The noise level when all 50 students are working in one space is something that has been raised in every survey we have conducted, formal and informal. We have tried to mitigate this by limiting the time all 50 students are together, and encouraging students to spread themselves out over the two classrooms when working collaboratively, which is often! Reflecting on the formal survey results, it seems many students have not perceived this change as they see the time all 50 students are together at higher than 50%; some even see it as high as 95%! The reality is, we are together as a group of 50 for about 30%-40% of the time, with most of that time being spent on explaining assignments/projects and quick direct instruction. This perception is something we are still working on combating, and will continue to ensure we are providing appropriate spaces for all students to work. Naturally, we also have conversations about the choices students are making in creating the classroom environment, and encourage them to make positive decisions and take responsibility for their learning.

Being a teenager is hard, and speaking in front of 50 people can be intimidating for anyone. During class discussions we often hear from the same students, while others sit silently. We have tried multiple strategies throughout the year to combat this challenge, and have found that having the students engage in small group discussions before being asked to share with the larger group works well. We also feel that this is one opportunity to help students build community and trust in one another as they tackle their fear and share their thoughts to enhance and support the learning community. Having said that, recently we have conducted a few class discussions in groups of 25, and we were surprised to see that many of the same students still contributed, but some of those who don’t often share in the group of 50 did share. A possible idea would be to conduct some class discussions in smaller groups, and use collaboration tools such as google docs or “Today’s Meet” to join the two groups and their ideas, or meet up as a larger group at a later time.

Since our school is structured around homeroom groups of 25, students have come to know those 25 students as “their class”. One impact of combining classes has been that some students feel they are losing the community of the homeroom. Our intention from the start has been to encourage students to think of the entire grade as their community. We want students to feel safe and comfortable with all of the students in grade eight, not just the ones they share a homeroom with. This is part of a larger school initiative to build community and a culture of mutual respect in all situations. We have also tried to address this issue through various activities designed to build community and help students get to know one another in a larger setting. As a grade team, including our math/science counterparts, we are in the process of determining how to better build this grade-wide community at the beginning of the year, and then throughout the year as well with team-building and cross-curricular activities. We are lucky to have the opportunity to loop with these students into grade 9, so we may have the chance to assist in building this grade-wide community over the next year as well.

While it’s quite easy to get “down” on ourselves when confronted with these messages from our students, it is important to focus on how these challenges have been an excellent learning opportunity, and that we are continually forced to reflect on our practice. We welcome feedback in the comments from you!

Using the SmartBoard to Teach Algebra

noreply@blogger.com (K. Sonico) — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:35:00 +0000

Kevin Sonico~ Grade 9 Math and Science

Some have referred to them as glorified whiteboards. SmartBoards have had the unfortunate reputation of digitizing technology that was already in its own way a useful tool. Some teachers may have even requested for the removal of SmartBoards for the use of that valuable real estate behind it. The challenge is the to rethink of how we can use them differently in our classrooms. So instead of thinking of them as expensive blackboards or overhead screens where we only project content, let us make them more dynamic and interactive. Perhaps we can start to think of them more as oversized tablets.

One of the most useful functions of the SmartBoard is the infinite cloner. I was originally introduced to the idea of using the infinite cloner in modelling integers. Because this was such an effective way to visualize why we “invert and multiply” in subtracting integers, for example, I thought it would be great to demonstrate polynomial functions. Using individual manipulatives such as Algebra Tiles have been very helpful in visualizing such an abstract concept. To use the SmartBoard much in the same way like an iPad:

1. Open a Notebook file and start drawing shapes, e.g. green squares to represent x2.

2. Right-click on a shape and select “Infinite Cloner”

3. Click, drag, and model.

The use of Algebra Tiles is a great way for students to individually model polynomials. With the SmartBoard, it is a great means to discuss and display modelling as a collective. If you have other ways of utilizing the SmartBoard in math, I would love to hear back from you.

Community Building in the Middle School

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:15:00 +0000

Erin Couillard~ Grade 5 Math/Science, Learning Coach

I have been thinking a lot about community building in the middle school. I began my teaching career in a very small K-8 school in a rural Alberta town where one didn’t give much thought to community building, as the school WAS the community. Parents were in the school regularly, siblings saw each other in the hallway all the time and families gathered at community events, soccer practices, swimming pool, skating rink. In a large middle school (600 students, grades 4-9) which draws its population from all four quarters of a large city, a sense of community isn’t a ‘give-in’. It must be purposefully orchestrated.

At Calgary Science School we operate as a community of mutual respect. Discipline isn’t punitive. It is a dialogue meant to understand and change negative behavior to positive. Teachers and students talk and model respect of this place, self and each other. In the past few years we established colour teams as our first attempt at building a larger school community outside of grade pods. This program placed all 600 students in one of 4 colour teams who competed throughout the year in whole school initiatives (academic, social and sport related) for points. Colour teams would collect points and wear their colours at school events throughout the year. This was useful in helping to provide each student with a sense of belonging, but we quickly realized that 150 kids to a ‘team’ was too large to establish the types of relationships we were aiming for.

In 2012, myself and two other colleagues visited Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia PA and learned of their Advisory Groups. Every year when students enter the school in grade 9, they are placed in an Advisory Group with a teacher (not necessarily one who teaches them). They meet with their Advisory Group each week to discuss any issues, concerns or achievements with their advisor and their group. They stay with the same advisor (when possible) from grade 9 through graduation. It is purposefully constructed to build community and foster positive relationships between peers and teachers. We began to think about how this model might translate in the middle school. Out of these conversations, the concept of “Family Groups” was proposed.

At the beginning of this school year, all 600 students were divided into “Families” and assigned a staff member (including librarian, assistant principals and other non-teaching staff). Families are comprised of students from grade 4-9 and are approximately 16-18 students large. Currently they meet for one 45-minute block in a 6 day cycle. During this time, a wide variety of activities and projects were undertaken by different families. As we end year one of family groups, I have undertaken an action research project to review the successes and opportunities for this school wide initiative.

I am curious, what do you do in your school to build community? Do you have school wide themes? How do you gain the enthusiasm of staff and students in community building initiatives?

Grade 6 Wind Tunnel: Air and Aerodynamics

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:58:00 +0000

John Cadman & Greg Neil~ Grade 6 Math/ Science Teachers

Calgary Science School

This is a design for an open ended wind tunnel. This means the fan pushes air into the tunnel instead of pulling it out the end. Assembled it is 4ft long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet high. Our hope in building this tunnel as we did was that in future it would require no tools to re-assemble. This design is a larger version of a tunnel original built by Louis Cheng at CSS using an old computer fan.

How it works in the classroom:

The challenge to students is two fold. They will design and build a wing/air foil that will generate the most lift in the wind tunnel and achieve the greatest distance outside the wind tunnel.

In the tunnel students affix their wings to a fuselage provided by the teacher. The fuselage is attached to a scale. This allows us to control the angle of attach of the plane and thus limit the lift produced to that of the air foil. As lift is produced the weight (force) shown on the scale should decrease. This means lift is being created. The less weight registered on the scale means more lift.

We decided to test the planes outside as well to encourage students to design a functional wing, not just one that would pass a wind tunnel test.

The students were provided two short pieces of dowling. This was to act as wing spars and allow us to slot their wings into an existing fuselage.

Materials:

- 2 sheets of foam insulation (1 ¼ in x 24 in x 90in)

- 1 sheet of plexi-glass (3mm x ?? x ??)

- 1 20in. box fan (ours has 3 speeds) - $20 at Rona

- 1 sheet Egg Crate ceiling light cover

- Gram scale

- Styrofoam air place ($1.25 at Dollar Giant)

Tools:

- Utility knife

- Glue gun (one with a Low setting is preferable)

- Screw driver

Construction Procedure:

1. Cut the insulation to desired length. We cut it in half at 45 inches. This will act as the base of the tunnel.

2. At on end we traced the bottom of the fan on the Styrofoam and then cut out a channel so the fan would sit flush with the tunnel. (In hind sight this was excessive. Gluing a strip of foam onto the base in front and behind fan).

3. Tape plexi-glass to side of fan, and glue strips of Styrofoam to base on either side of plexi-glass to create a channel for it to sit in. This side acts as your viewing window.

4. Using the left over foam, repeat step 3 on the other side of the fan to create a second (non-clear) wall.

5. Optional: Cut the Egg Crate so it will fit inside the tunnel, 6-8 inches in front of the fan. We layered our Egg Crate 3 deep. The goal was to create a Wind Diffuser to settle the air into a stream. To affix the crate glue 2 verticle strips of styro-foam to the walls of your tunnel. One on either side of the crate. Thus creating a channel to slide the grate into.

6. Cut a section of foam to sit on top on the tunnel in order to seal space on top of tunnel between fan and Egg Crate Grate.

7. At this point your tunnel is done, unless your decide to add a ceiling to the test section of the tunnel.

Note: We removed the built in grate on the fan on the inside of the tunnel as it slowed down the air flow. The egg grate will protect students and their project from the fan blades.

Remove the grate from the fan on the inside of the tunnel.

Have fun and let us know what changes you have thought of.

Team Teaching: The Reality

noreply@blogger.com (@IvyWaite) — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:59:00 +0000

Ivy Waite & Jaime Groeller

This post is part of a series. Read the previous post here.

SPACE

Jaime's "Work Room" (Left) & Ivy's "Collaborative" Room (Right)

When we set up our classrooms in early August 2012, we were both so excited to begin this adventure. We spent time thinking about how we could provide the best physical learning environments, and even searched the internet for affordable options for students who like working while sitting on the floor. (We eventually settled on those foam-like floor tiles from Canadian tire.) Because of the lack of “alternative” seating for the “tabletop-free room”, we reevaluated our plan and ended up setting Ivy’s room up as the “conversation room” and my room as the “work room.” We put all the tables into Ivy’s room, and set desks up in my room, trying to ensure we had room for 50 students in each room. We envisioned one room as the place where class discussions would happen while the other would act as the place for mini-lectures, etc. We soon abandoned this plan. Here’s a few reasons why:

1. The conversation room got too loud and the work room was often empty!

Students saw this room as the place for conversing, but were often getting off-task and spending time chatting rather than discussing. It would also get very loud and as teachers we felt the noise was not always the good kind of learning noise. It was much easier to squeeze all 50 students into this classroom, though, as the tables took up less space than the 50 desks. While the work room provided a nice alternative to those who liked to work quietly, it was not effective to have so many students crammed into one area and another classroom almost empty.

2. Our work could not always be easily categorized!

All 50 in Jaime's room for a film study, comfortable at (and on) their desks.

The work we do with students did not always fit nicely into “loud” and “quiet” categories. Students are often working with other students collaboratively and we do so little that would fit in the “work room” that the categorization didn’t make sense. Both classrooms are now places where work needs to be focused and rigorous. Whether individual or in a group, all students have the right to a productive learning environment. Having common expectations of all students in all spaces is one immense benefit of the team approach!

Students working on free choice projects for our novel inquiry. They used both classrooms, the hallways, stairwells, quiet recording spaces - everywhere they could!

3. The role of the teacher was compromised!

As teachers who try to provide formative feedback and interact with students as often as possible, having too many students in one area did not allow for effective teaching. We began asking groups or students to move around so we could even out the number of students in each room.

PLANNING & INSTRUCTION

Our initial vision involved the co-planning and co-implementation of learning opportunities, and this has become reality. Each unit or project implemented this year has been a product of collaborative planning from the ground up: guiding questions are formulated together; resources are selected as a team; final demonstrations of learning and accompanying assessment tools are designed collaboratively. As a result of this the learning experiences provided to the students are richer and fuller because of the different strengths that we each bring to the table.

Check out our collaborative year plan from 2011-2012 here!

The implementation of all plans and learning experiences has happened side-by-side with our 50 students always in one space for instruction and discussion. We rotate between one classroom and the other for these “all 50” sessions to reinforce that both spaces are theirs, and both are acceptable learning spaces. This team approach to instruction has ensured that all students are learning the same lessons, with the same expectations, and the same variety of perspectives. No longer are students or parents in one pod questioning, for example, the “due date” of the other pod’s assignment because we work together to consider what is best for all 100 students, while always focusing on differentiation. We are able to build on one another’s ideas and model collaboration for our students daily, as we intended when we began this journey.

During a collaborative planning session!

ASSESSMENT & REFLECTION

Beyond the physical space, planning, and implementation, our approach to team teaching has evolved to the point of “team” assessment and reflection. Large projects, because they are co-planned and co-implemented, have naturally required summative co-assessment.* We now co-assess formatively and summatively, using google docs and a joint Jupiter Grades account to help us keep track of our formative and summative assessments of groups or individual students. This also allows students to access both of us for guidance and advice. We have made it a requirement for groups to alternate which teacher they check in with throughout projects and assignments to make sure that they are benefiting from both of our perspectives. Although we have managed to find alignment in terms of planning, implementation, etc., we are still different enough to provide students with varied advice for thinking and problem-solving. For assignments that we do not co-assess, we consult each other often for advice to ensure we are aligned in the implementation of our assessment philosophy.

One example of a cross pod project that we co-assessed (click here to access student blog and view project).

*This need is furthered by our encouragement to students to work across the pods, allowing for a wider variety of choice when working collaboratively. Here at CSS, we have four classes in each grade (e.g. 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4), and a pod is comprised of two of those classes (8.1/8.2 and 8.3/8.4). Each pod has two teachers, a Humanities teacher and a Math/Science teacher, who are teaching the same pod at the same time. In order to team teach, combine our classes so students are working with those from the other pod (i.e., 8.1 works with 8.3, and 8.2 works with 8.4). Recently, we have further mixed things up and changed our schedule so that 8.1 is now working with 8.4, and 8.2 is now working with 8.3.

Rubric used to co-assess group Scorpion Project Litspiration challenges (click here for access to googledoc)

Stay tuned for our next post on our student's perceptions of our team-teaching adventure, and be sure to check out our session at ConnectEd Canada 2013!

ConnectED Canada 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:29:00 +0000

The Calgary Science School is pleased to be hosting the ConnectED Canada Conference for a second time. This is a unique education conference where the first day of the event is held at our school during an operational school day with students. Student tour guides will host groups of educators as they visit classrooms, view student work and speak with the teachers and students.

This conference is the physical meeting of a digital community that meets throughout the year online through hashtags, hangouts, blog posts, MOOCs, and more. Emphasis is given to discussions and meeting time throughout the 3-days at Calgary Science School. The online community is a collaborative one, where all voices are equal in the discussion. The sessions at ConnectED honour this and are facilitated discussions rather than stand and deliver presentations. Everyone in the room is a contributor.

Our welcome reception on Friday May 24 will be held at the University of Calgary in the Alberta Room. Bussing has been organized for the 116 conference participants who are staying in the Mount Royal University residence. The schedule of speakers for the reception is available on the ConnectED website.

The session schedule for the following two days has been posted on http://connectedcanada.org

Our staff steering committee is working hard on the logistics for the event, which has seen almost double the registration from the first ConnectED. Our students are beginning to get excited to share their work and experiences at CSS.

CSS Reads- Grade 9

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Jason Publack & Abby Saadeh~ Grade 9 Humanities

The Grade 9 teaching team, which included two student teachers this term, constructed a reading competition based on the CBC’s Canada Reads program. Scott Bailey, one of our University of Calgary student teachers, created a CSS Reads website to share and track the process of competition. The site is an excellent exemplar for schools wishing to host their own ______ Reads unit. Please let us know if you are hosting a similar competition. We would love to connect.

The question every student needed to answer was this: Why is this novel meaningful and relevant for CSS grade 9 students?

Over two months, the grade 9 students of the Calgary Science School read books of their choosing, reviewing and critiquing them in search of the ultimate novel for their class. Taking inspiration from the CBC's "Canada Reads" contest, all 100 students, five teachers and two student teachers participated. The project ran through a series of "rounds" and students tracked their reading, thinking and writing about their selected books through personal blogs and videos. Because our 100 students are split into four classrooms of 25 it was decided that they would begin in groups of five that would, through votes of elimination, narrow down their five books to a single novel that the group would put forward to the class. The process was captured on the CSS Reads website here.

The Grade 9 teaching team modelled the debate process for the students which included a video introduction for his choice from our Superintendent Dr. Garry McKinnon.

This process of narrowing down the choices took four hours over multiple days; students defended and attacked the books within their group on the basis of themes, reader engagement, appropriate content, reading level, character motivation, writing style, and even believability. After the groups of five chose a single book to champion in front of the class the debate became a classroom affair. Each classroom of 25 deliberated for a full two periods and chose one book to put forward as their “Class Choice.”

The four finalists, from the four grade 9 classes were:
The Alchemist
Crank
The Illustrated Man
Boy in the Striped Pajamas

We could not be happier. Here we have The Alchemist, a classic novel acting as a mass-metaphor for living life and following your dreams, up against a free-verse style poetry collection detailing (in a sometimes graphic manner) the struggle of a young woman’s drug addiction in Crank. Across the table from those two are equally surprising selections. The Illustrated Man, unlike its opponents, is a collection of science-fiction short stories, written 60 years ago, detailing harrowing tales of alien encounters and the dangers of technologies. Whereas the Boy in the Striped Pajamas is historical fiction, following two nine-year-old boys developing a relationship through a concentration-camp fence, building bonds beyond the German/Jew demands of their society. Each of the four has varying themes and messages, from the need to reject peer pressure and build self-reliance, to multi-culturalism and hope.

100 students, from four classrooms, came together and found a collection of books, some of which most teachers would never have considered, and told us what we were missing. Which teacher would have thought that The Illustrated Man, written in the time of their grand-parents, would garner 22% of the popular vote? Which teacher would have believed that Crank could inspire a male reader to defend a female protagonist’s fight against drugs through poetry?! The point is, by the end of the debates every student had read two books, every student researched at least one other, and every student asked him/herself the question, “What book has meaning for me as a grade 9 student?”

It was beautiful. Two weeks later students were asking each other which book to read next. For students and teachers, we consider this unit a win.

If you host your own ____ Reads competition at your school, please let us know. We would love to connect and hear how you adapted the unit.

Calgary Science School Animation

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:01:00 +0000

One of our talented grade 7 students recently created this animation about learning at the Calgary Science School in his animation elective.

Student Insights into the Educational Potential of the Flipped Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:58:00 +0000

David Scott and Jason Publack ~ Grade 9 Humanities

Over the last few years there has been increasing talk within educational circles around the potential of the flipped classroom to enhance learning. Historically, and this is confirmed by a great deal of research, classrooms have been places where students spend a great deal of their time listening to teachers talk. Whether teachers are lecturing or explaining a particular concept, this has meant students have relatively limited class time to apply the concepts or ideas they learn from the lecture and must therefore do this at home for homework. This has meant that during the most difficult part of the learning process when they might need aid and support, they are left to their own resources when they are having difficulties or need extra help.

Responding to this limitation as to how many classrooms are currently organized, within a flipped classroom this process is inverted. Through a video posted on-line (e.g., on YouTube or Vimeo) students watch a lecture or the teaching of a concept at home and take notes. They then use class time to apply the concept or idea or work with the knowledge they gained within an environment where they can receive support from the teacher and their peers. Within this technology-enabled model, in theory at least, classrooms become a place where students spend more of their time working rather than watching teachers talk.

Due to the phenomenal success of the Khan Academy, which has posted thousands of mini-tutorials on-line (watch a video of Sai Khan here), the flipped classroom is gaining increasing traction in schools. Given this, the model seems to be most common in Math and Science and has yet to gain a solid footing, at least to my knowledge, in the Humanities.

Because of this, over the course of the year Jason Publack and I who teach Humanities 9 have been using this model on an ongoing basis with our students. Over the next five blog posts we would like to share our findings from a year long research project we have conducted where we asked our students to identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, along with ways we could improve how we implemented the flipped classroom in our teaching.

In order to give you a sense of what this process looked like for our students, here is a link to our assignment. Below are a series of videos by Jason Publack we posted on how to write a business letter in order to support this assignment. IMBED

Cross Authority Teacher Planning Institutes

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:50:00 +0000

We started the school year looking for new ways to collaborate beyond the walls of our building. We investigated the opportunity with the Rocky View School Division. Acknowledging that collaboration is more than linking people through curriculum, Darrell Lonsberry, and Dan McWilliam met with Josh Hill from RVSD and identified 3 stages or levels of collaboration for a Cross Authority AISI project. As described by Ivy Waite, "Collaboration is more than just sharing ideas, but the process of working together to achieve a common goal. True collaboration is a process in which two or more people co-conceive, design, execute and reflect upon teaching and learning. It is this process that ensures our students are engaged in meaningful, authentic, engaging, inquiry based learning."

Cross Authority Collaboration Model
Stage 1 Collaboration: Co-Reflect and Experience
Teacher cohort groups comprising of teachers from Rocky View Schools and Calgary Science School will engage in collaborative action research. Through CSS and RVS school visits teachers will collect digital documentation of student engagement and engage in reflective dialogue. This process will be jointly facilitated by RVS and CSS learning teams.

Stage 2 Collaboration: Co-Creation of Inquiry based units through Teacher Planning Institutes.
Teachers from CSS and RVS will co-plan and implement inquiry based units of instruction over the course of 3 days. This process will be co-facilitated by the learning teams from CSS and RVS and teachers will utilize support frameworks, rubrics and exemplars from both authorities. Teachers will
collect digital documentation as they implement their units of inquiry and on the final day generate co-reflection and analysis to inform future action and create exemplars to be publish these findings to the AISI Network, and the respective CSS and RVS community engagement blogs.
Part of the design features a research inquiry into cross-school authority collaboration. CSS and RVS Learning Team leaders will engage in collaborative action research to address this inquiry. They will collect digital documentation and engage in co-reflection and analysis to inform ongoing and future design.

Stage 3 Collaboration: Cross Authority Co-teaching and Learning
The School boards will provide the opportunity for teachers as they co-plan to consider the possibility of designing inquiry based learning for their students to engage collaboratively across school authorities.

We were fortunate to receive funding through AISI (Alberta Initiative for School Improvement) prior to the April 1st suspension of funding and were able to proceed with the project. Two streams were offered for Teacher Planning Institutes: Environmental Stewardship and STEM. We hosted school tour dates on March 18 and 19 for the 2 cohorts of 25 teachers to tour and co-reflect on their visits to Cochrane High School, Glenbow Elementary in Cochrane and Calgary Science School.

In coordinating the teacher planning institutes for co-developing inquiry lessons, we wanted to create the positive conditions for collaboration. The Environmental Stewardship cohort planning institute days were held at the Fish Creek Environmental Learning Centre and Banded Peak School near Bragg Creek. The STEM cohort met on April 17 and 18 at Telus Spark in the Learning Centre. The Teacher Planning Institutes emphasized the importance of teacher conversations while providing structure for the conversations and inquiry planning.

Rocky View School Division has developed an Instructional Design Framework that became the program for the planning institute. Josh Hill, a learning strategist from Rocky View School Division, led the group through the work flow with large portions of time dedicated to the creation of the units and bringing the work back to the group for feedback and revision.

There will be a celebration of learning in June where all of the teachers from the planning cohorts will share their experience in the project and their students' experience in the inquiry. Teachers were encouraged to continue their work asynchronously after the planning days and were encouraged to ask for continued support from their school boards for their work if they wanted to Co-deliver the content as a stage three collaboration.

We are currently looking ahead to the 2013-2014 school year and opportunities to continue the Cross Authority Collaboration with Rocky View Schools.

Inquiry in PE

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:30:00 +0000

Student Teachers Josh Stanley and Matthew Maccagno with Tammy Berry and Dean Schmeichel ~Physical Education grade 4-9

What could an inquiry unit in PE look like? At CSS, we challenged all 600 students from grade 4 to grade 9 to explore the question, “To what extent does training affect performance?” Each student was given the opportunity to choose a sport or activity that they were interested in, and then create a plan to improve a specific skill in that sport or activity. How the students chose to use their time over the course of the unit was entirely up to them. They had access to all the resources that CSS has for physical activity.

The rubric was created collaboratively between teachers and all the students in the school over the first two days of the unit.

Here’s what it looked like daily while students were working on their individual project:

For the most part, students were excited to have the freedom to work on something that they were interested in. However, not everything was perfect. If we were to do an inquiry unit in PE again, we would structure it differently. Some students saw this unit as an opportunity to play a sport against their friends, and as a result were measuring their results at the same time, against each other. This left these students with multiple manipulated variables, and affected the accuracy of their recorded data.

Pros	Cons	Student Feedback
Students were equally or more engaged than they would be in a traditional PE class Students were given ownership over their own learning Students started to understand the role of statistics in sport The focus was on the process rather than the result – anyone could be successful	Safety concerns – available space Initial setup was lengthy – lots of talking We were uncomfortable giving students so much freedom in PE Some students took the unit as a time for freeplay	A mix of students enjoyed the unit A surprisingly significant number of students said they could apply what they had learned to their sport outside of PE There was a mix of students in terms of their preference for being told what to do in PE versus having the freedom to choose

If we were to do this unit again, we would be sure to clearly explain the importance of eliminating human error from their data. In the future we would try to incorporate more structure into this project, while increasing the student’s activity time. A potential way that we could do this would be to start a unit by teaching the student’s pertinent skills, and then implementing our inquiry question. Students could then pick a specific skill they had learned in that unit and find ways to improve themselves. At the conclusion of the unit, students could be brought back into a game scenario and then try to transfer their improved skill to the game itself. This would keep all students working on the same activity, and would limit safety concerns. We would also work with a smaller group: 50 students proved to be quite challenging to manage in the space available.

On Light, Shadows and Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Deirdre Bailey) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Deirdre Bailey and Jenna Callaghan

We began a recent investigation into Light and Shadows in Grade 4 by posing the question “What is Light?” to our students. Before beginning the conversation, we reminded students that the world is not nearly as concrete or easily-understood as over-simplified statements of "fact" might often imply. We talked about how scientists are by nature inquisitive, always open to possibility and a reinvention of old ideas. We suggested that throughout our inquiry, they too might have the potential to share a completely new perspective, contribute to making new discoveries and either support or disprove current thoughts. With two of us in the classroom, we were able to capture some of our students’ opening ideas about 'Light' and have embedded them below.

Jenna
The complexity of the idea that the world is not completely knowable left me with an uneasy feeling this week as I was forced to acknowledge that even as the “teacher” I too have to admit that I just don’t have all the answers. Our opening conversation with students about Light was followed by an investigation into “What Light Isn’t”, and as students explored how to create and manipulate shadows in the classroom they were asking extraordinary questions; questions that I just didn’t always know how to respond to correctly. While scouring resources in order to continue to investigate the topic, I voiced my concern about not having all the answers to Deirdre. The conversation that unfolded was an important reminder for me of my real purpose as a teacher and the resulting understandings will certainly guide my role through the rest of this exploration.

Our role as teachers is not to be an “expert” in every subject and topic within the curriculum we teach. Education is learner-centred; it is no longer about the teacher as the source of all answers or holder of knowledge, and it wouldn’t be real to pretend that we could provide an answer to every question our students might ask. Our role is certainly to have an evolving understanding and curiosity for the ideas we explore in Science, but more importantly it is to be experienced in how to be a researcher, how to ask meaningful questions, and how to be genuinely curious about the way things in this world work. If we presume to always know the answer to every question that is asked there is no doubt that learning will be less meaningful for students. Who wants to investigate, only to be “given the answers” in the end? What is necessary is that we guide students, give them the tools to look for answers themselves, and continue to demonstrate passion for living in a way that is open to possibility. When students are asking questions that we don’t know the answers to, they are curious enough to look for answers. When we explore these ideas together, we are on our way to doing what good teachers should be doing.

Deirdre
My conversation with Jenna reminded me of how uncomfortable it can feel to be put in a space where there is the expectation that as teachers, we are the holders of all relevant knowledge. The perception that we should have all the answers is outdated and impossible. To paraphrase David Jardine in his article On the Nature of Inquiry: The Experienced Teacher: “it is troublesome to expect that teachers should have final, foreclosing or definitive knowledge, such that further experiences become less necessary, possible or interesting.” That said, acknowledging that teachers should not expect or presume to know everything about Light and Shadows before embarking on an investigation into the topic does not mean that we simply turn things over to the students and step back. Rather, it should be because of our own investigations into the topic that we are properly attuned to detecting important ideas, questions or opportunities in the students’ questions. I don’t have all the answers, but it is because of my own research and passionate interest in the subject that I am capable of helping the students identify the right questions. As Sharon Friesen reminds us in her brilliant EdTalk on Creating Knowledge Building Environments, “teachers can’t let go of good quality teaching. They must guide and steward student learning in a deliberate and intentional way. Capture and captivate student interests and learning so they can take their best next step forward.”

More to come as we continue to push each other to bump up against what we think we know to be true.

Link to our "Light and Shadows" Planning Document (In progress...)

Blog cross-posted on Savouring the Ish

Grade 5 Electricity Collaboration

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:16:00 +0000

Kathryn Desrochers ~ Grade 5 Math/Science Student Teacher University of Lethbridge

Just before spring break, our grade 5 students (and teachers) had an opportunity to learn from an expert. Emily Marasco is a University of Calgary student working on her Graduate Degree in Electrical

Engineering. As part of her Master’s research, Emily has gone around to various schools conducting a set of electricity modules for project based learning. This turned out to be a wonderful partnership, in which Emily could conduct her research with 100 willing students and our school community benefited from her expertise, enthusiasm and hands on approach.

All of the modules were well thought out and aimed at building understanding of concepts related to electricity through hands on exploration. Emily used STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math with a focus on helping students understand what Engineers really do. Students were engaged in various learning experiences with curricular links extending beyond science and into technology, art and social studies and language arts.

Through the use of everyday items and natural materials students had the opportunity to learn about voltage and conductivity. Students tested various fruits and vegetables, as well as different liquids such as lemon juice and maple syrup. Valuable lessons were learned about the importance of having a complete, closed circuit, as well as the use of conductors and insulators.

Students also learned about the history of electricity, and then were challenged to recreate the light bulb. Given proper supplies students had to test different types of wires to see which conducted electricity sufficiently for use as a light source.

The everyday application of electricity, circuits and engineering was presented to students in the form of "Learning to Speak Binary". Students learned about how computers communicate, and how this relates to electricity and our understanding of circuits. This activity was a great hands-on experience that allowed students to make a very real world connection between what they are learning about and something we use every single day - computers.

We finished off the week with electric art projects! This was a fun way for students to demonstrate their knowledge of circuits, conductors, insulators, switches and everything else we have learned about in the past two weeks. Students were given a plethora of supplies to use - from conductive paint and play dough to Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and glitter glue. The task was to create a circuit on paper that could light an LED light bulb (or two). Not all students experienced success in getting the light bulbs to light and that is perfectly all right! Engineers often learn the most from the problem solving and trouble shooting process. This was a valuable lesson to our students about perseverance. This activity was an excellent lead up to the design and building projects students began after the break. It supplied them with background knowledge and skills they need to successfully build a mechanism that uses electricity.

Family Artifact Inquiry- Grade 7

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:43:00 +0000

Rick Fawcett and Jared McKenzie~ Grade 7 Humanities.

This project was designed as a way to share the personal connection the students have to Canadian history and to engage them in the process of curating a historical narrative of their own family's history.

Inquiry Stage #1: Choose an Artifact - Is there some thing in your home that you have always wondered about? - The goal is to choose an artifact that has a rich history and means a great deal to you and your family. - It should have a story and you should have access to that story. - The artifact doesn’t need to be in your family’s possession.

Inquiry Stage #2: Research the Artifact - Learn as much as you possibly can about the artifact's history. - Ask the big questions: - Where did it come from? - How did it come to be in your family’s possession? - What is its significance? - You will conduct one personal interview with a member of the family that has important information about the artifact and the story it tells. - Explore the historical links between your artifact and World History.

Inquiry Stage #3: Present Your Learning - Using your creative iMovie skills, put your learning into a powerful 2-3 minute presentation that celebrates the artifact and the story it represents.

Student Teaching: Mentorship and Collaboration - A Video Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Deirdre Bailey) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:05:00 +0000

Jenna Callaghan and Deirdre Bailey

Deirdre

Working with a student teacher these past few months has been an exciting and rewarding experience. From our first meeting, it was evident that Jenna and I shared a similar pedagogical philosophy; with a strong focus on reflection and discipline-based inquiry. Jenna’s early ideas and questions were guided by an honest vulnerability that allowed for a number of frank conversations around assessment, engagement and lesson design in an inquiry based classroom. My understanding of collaboration - developed and deepened through a powerful team-teaching relationship with Amy Park - had led to a familiarity with how professional collaborative relationships might evolve and I was excited to incorporate my prior understanding and experiences.

Inquiry based pedagogy has affected every aspect of my own practice and approach to collaborative learning and feedback. As Jenna and I often discuss, comprehensive assessment in an inquiry learning space is a collaborative activity involving both learner and mentor, and is intended as a tool to advance learning and improve practice. Face-to-face conversation is often the most natural and instrumental assessment tool for formative feedback in our classroom. Leading up to Jenna’s mid-term narrative assessment, we reflected on its purpose and identified that ultimately it should provide Jenna with a chance to solidify her understanding of what worked and was important in the classroom in as authentic a format as possible. We agreed that a face-to-face conversation would provide the best opportunity for Jenna to verbalize her perspective and ideas to date, and through shared conversation we might have the potential to reflect more meaningfully than through an individual, written process.

The power of Jenna’s reflection is not only that it provided her with an opportunity to share frankly and openly in a more casual format, it also provided me with an important opportunity to hear about the work that we undertake in our classroom articulated from the perspective of a partner educator. Her interpretation has allowed me to deepen my understanding of what we do in our classroom space; how and why. It shows tremendous courage and vulnerability that Jenna has been so willing to reflect on her learning in such an open fashion. It is this openness to self-reflection that I believe has been a major catalyst for the evolution of our collaborative relationship and ongoing professional learning. Sincere thanks to Jenna for her candid willingness to try new things, and to our school community for inspiring the re-thinking of student-teacher/ partner-teacher relationships and assessment.

Jenna
I clearly remember the day I received the email notifying me that my final practicum placement would be spent teaching Grade 4 Math/Science at the Calgary Science School. I was walking down the hall on my way to my Assessment class and actually screamed in excitement! I had long been intrigued by the school, and had hoped to have the opportunity to spend more time there since a morning visit for a presentation on inquiry in the first year of my BEd program. Even in my excitement, I could not have anticipated what an amazing experience this final Field Placement would become.

In previous experiences, I always got along well with my partner teachers, but none of these relationships ever progressed further than what I would typically think of as a student/mentor dynamic. It seems that Deirdre and I connected immediately. We have a common understanding of our purpose in teaching, and have developed a strong relationship from the beginning of this experience. Our student-teacher/partner-teacher dynamic has naturally evolved into a situation that involves more team teaching than individual teaching, planning everything together through constant conversation (before, during, and after each day), and finishing each others’ sentences more and more. As a result of this connection and our constant collaboration, we have been able to produce ideas and teach in a way that never would have been possible alone!

For my Midterm Assessment, I was given instructions to summarize a discussion between Deirdre and I with the purpose being to reflect on several areas of my teaching practice thus far. As Deirdre is a technology whiz, one of my goals for this practicum was to meaningfully incorporate increased technology into my practice. Furthermore, with our shared belief that vulnerability is key for teachers to learn and grow in their practice, it felt natural that we would complete this reflection in a way that we could then share with a wider audience. Sharing a video reflection online is a scary, intimidating experience, and I am certainly feeling very vulnerable because of it, but I truly believe any feedback will only push to me grow more and to continually develop a deeper understanding of what it is we do. Thanks Deirdre for allowing me the opportunity to take these risks, and for viewing me as a valuable educator within the classroom.

Blog cross-posted on Savouring the Ish

Grade 5 Wild Weather Inquiry

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Erin Couillard- Grade 5 Math/Science

Big Question: Are we seeing a dangerous shift in climate? Or just a natural stretch of bad luck?

This question was inspired through question brainstorming with students at the beginning of the Grade 5 weather unit as well as a National Geographic article I read in the fall.

Supporting Questions (student generated)

A. Has your "event" gotten worse over the years?
B. Why does this "event" happen? (Consider the weather science)
C. Where does this "event" happen? Only in one place in the world or in multiple places?
D. What time of year does your event usually happen? Has this changed over time?
How as this event affected the people/animals that live there?
E. Has your "event" impacted the economy?
F. How have humans adapted to changes in this "event".

Extreme Weather Events (student-generated)

Cold Waves
Flooding
Hailstorms
Heat waves
Hurricanes
Ice storms
Monsoons
Snowstorms/blizzards
Tornados

Using the supporting questions, students worked in small groups (2-3) researching their extreme weather event to determine an answer to the big question.

We have set up our Edmodo page to have small groups where students are compiling resources into a bibliography of sorts. They will also use a Google Doc to compile their research and the answers to the above questions. The final product was an iMovie where students communicated their understanding of how their weather event occurs (the ‘science’) as well as their well-supported answer to the BIG question.

Students will also use our giant wall map of the world with a clear transparency overlay to plot (with a self created symbol) where their extreme weather event occurs and where most recent events have occurred.

General learner outcomes covered:

Observe, describe and interpret weather phenomena; and relate weather to the heating and cooling of Earth’s surface
Investigate relationships between weather phenomena and human activity.

Specific Outcomes Covered

Describe evidence that air contains moisture and that dew and other forms of precipitation come from moisture in the air (water cycle) – lesson
Describe and measure different forms of precipitation (rain, hail, sleet, snow)
Identify common types of clouds and relate them to weather patterns – lesson
Recognize that weather systems are generated because different surfaces on the face of earth retain and release heat at different rates
Understand that climate refers to long term weather trends in particular region and that climate varies throughout the world
Recognize that human actions can affect climate and identify human actions that have been linked to the greenhouse effect.

We just finished this inquiry and I have mixed feelings about the outcome. I believe the process was extremely valuable, but I was less than inspired with what the finished products looked like. The task itself required students to examine multiple sources, weather archives, bogus climate change websites. The task also required them to keep a running record of websites/sources and credit them appropriately. I still struggle with how to get student’s past gross generalizations and to dig deeply into research and fact checking. Despite extensive peer and teacher feedback loops I still feel as if the final products did not accurately reflect the students’ understanding of the weather events as their movies tended to err on the side of silly and did not include the visual aspects that were specified when the students created the rubric for this project. The ‘final product’ portion of the rubric is only a small portion of the overall summative assessment which does enable me to give feedback based on the entire project.

Thoughts for next time around:

· Shorten the list of extreme weather events to ensure students can find accurate research on their topic

· Do more pre-teaching/activities around high/low pressure systems and heating of earth’s surface to ensure deeper understanding of weather events

· Use a communication tool other than iMovie to encourage students to go beyond filming themselves talking about weather event without including relevant images

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gungirlnewyork/8145501665/">ChairWomanMay</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

Pi Discoveries with Grade 4

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:18:00 +0000

Heather Melville ~Grade 4 Math/Science

What is Pi? Why are we celebrating Pi Day? Didn’t you spell Pi wrong Mrs. Melville?

March 14^th turned into deep mathematical discussions for the 4.3 and 4.4 students. Rather than thinking the concept of Pi was too difficult for the students to comprehend, we explored what knowledge we already had and applied it to a new idea. Our math class began with a read aloud book titled; “Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi” by Cindy Neuschwander. We discussed the character names and what they were mathematically (radius, diameter, circumference, geometry and symmetry). The students loved to interact providing the sound effects for the story.

In the book, there is a poem, which tells the character Radius how to calculate Pi. The poem was written on the board for the students. They all were then placed into table groups and given the following materials; a ruler, string, paper, pencil and a round object. We wanted to discover who could find Pi (or at least come close to 3.14159). The students deciphered the poem to figure out the problem. Using the materials they were able to measure the round object with the string and then measure the string to get their calculations.

I visited each table group to discuss division and demonstrated how their measurements for diameter and circumference would make Pi. From both classes only one group had the outcome of 3.14. The discussions that came from this were thoughtful and reflected what they knew with multiplication and where they were headed mathematically. No one was questioning Pi anymore. The questions were about decimals and fractions, precise measurement, the relationship between multiplication and division, geometry and symmetry. The students were excited about what lies ahead in their learning. It was a very fun class with every student engaged in their learning. As a teacher I’ve learned that I need to embrace those opportunities as I did on Thursday and rejoice in the excitement of the students. We all embraced the challenge of Pi and began a new passion for mathematics.

Crowd Sourcing Fourth Graders

noreply@blogger.com (Deirdre Bailey) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 05:35:00 +0000

by Deirdre Bailey

Cross-posted on Savouring the Ish

I've got a novel on iPads in the grade four classroom waiting to be written. Lots of discoveries, ideas, struggles and triumphs. I just need to find the time to document it all properly. This brief gem, however, is too awesome not to share.

Earlier this year, our teaching team's excited discovery of the Edmodo app as an excellent resource for collecting and organizing student work digitally and providing an avenue for ongoing feedback was stinted by the limitation of only being able to upload images or links from the iPads. Our optimism was recently renewed by updates to the iWork apps which made it possible to upload pages, numbers and keynote documents directly to Edmodo. The latest struggle has been with how we might be able to have students download iWork templates we post to Edmodo and open them using the associated app. It seemed that the only way to open a doc from Edmodo was as a preview and frankly, I was beginning to think it wasn't possible any other way.

Nevertheless, while driving home from the mountains yesterday I posted a sample template for students to track their mousetrap car results to Edmodo via the numbers app with the comment "let me know if any of you figure out how to open this document as a numbers template!" Honestly, I didn't expect much. This morning I woke up to 17 replies...

Problem solved, instructions posted. Clearly I wasted way too much time trying to solve this problem myself. I should have asked the fourth graders in the first place.

I love my job.

Team Teaching - Our Vision

noreply@blogger.com (@IvyWaite) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Jaime Groeller & Ivy Waite

In August 2012, at the beginning of our second year teaching together, Ivy and I took the plunge and started “team teaching.” We had seen a successful example just down the stairs from us (Park/Bailey) and modeled much of our initial approach on those ideas. Furthermore, we had been doing a lot of co-planning and co-implementing already during our first year together, 2011-2012, and wanted to fully integrate our practices and our classrooms for the 2012-2013 school year.

The Team!

In our first year teaching together, we team taught to the extent that we planned all learning opportunities together, gladly using and exceeding our common planning periods. By the end of the year, we were planning until the very last minute before class began, confirming what we would be doing in the classroom, and trying to implement the same “activity” in our separate rooms. With just a wall between us, we were saying and doing the exact same thing, or so we thought. It was clear throughout that year, as we met and reflected on how our plans were being carried out, that we weren’t doing the exact same thing! How could we be? We were so different, despite the fact that we were both in the same year of our teaching practice and teaching the same “stuff” to our classes. Our past and our present continually inform our practice, as does our community of learners, and by implementing plans separately, they were being coloured by our individual personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. When in the “heat-of-the-moment” working with students, opportunities to deepen understanding or present new ideas would come up, and we would react to those separately, and often during reflections I would think “I wish I had done it that way!” I think most would agree that this is not a negative, as teachers must respond to the needs of their students, but more often than not, those teachable moments would have been beneficial to both classes. Furthermore, these moments would necessarily inform how we would carry on with the project in our individual class, often causing us to modify our collaboratively created plan. Once again, this is not “bad” but it furthered our quest to team teach more closely.

Another issue we believed could be alleviated with team teaching was concern amongst students and parents regarding minor differences between the pods, and that expectations differed between the two teachers because of differing due dates or learning activities. While neither of us believe there is a “right” way to teach anything, issues such as this strengthened our resolve to collaborate more closely, and The Scorpion Project 1.0 was a step towards a more integrated approach where we not only planned together, but also combined the classes for some instruction and activities.

We began planning for this team teaching adventure by exploring the space in which we and the students had to work. We both, luckily, had our own classroom, and these classrooms fit 25 junior high students comfortably. Neither, however, would be an ideal long-term solution for all 50. We brainstormed, together of course, on how we could create an area where all 50 could gather, but also allow for these spaces to be used by students in order to promote successful learning. Our initial plan, saved for posterity in a google doc, indicated that my classroom would be the space with tables where, when gathered together as a group of 50, students would be engaged in learning activities that involved the use of tabletops. Ivy’s classroom was the tabletop-free area, filled with mats and couches, an area where the 50 would engage in group discussions and other activities that did not require tabletops. It was a struggle to outfit both rooms as neither of these plans involved the 25 desks and chairs each classroom was allotted. In the end, neither of these classrooms materialized as we initially envisioned them.

Outside of the physical space, we envisioned a year of collaboration, not just cooperation. Our goal was not “tag-team” teaching: neither of us was interested in creating a unit in isolation and then sharing it with the other. We wanted to collaborate in the true sense of the word, rather than merely cooperate. In our minds this involved working together every step of the way including planning, implementing, assessing, and reflecting. We began this year with this mission in mind, and a question in our head: would we be able to make this a reality?

Alternative Methods of Multiplication

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Candice Shaw- Grade 7 Math and Science

In Grade 7, simple mathematical operations are not often a focus of instruction. If they are, it is in relation to operations with decimal numbers. Extending addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division processes to decimal numbers does not seem like a difficult task to the math savvy person, but we came upon some roadblocks when covering this topic.

Reviewing the purposes and processes of multiplication and division was essential, as some students still held misconceptions, or had simply internalized the process for a correct answer, without realizing the key ideas of the process.

As a learning strategies topic, I worked with a smaller group of students who require additional instruction and practice on these concepts. At the same time, the remainder of the students were given an enrichment activity. Both groups were focusing on accessing, testing, and explaining alternative methods of multiplication. Ultimately, we wanted all students to possess a personal understanding of the 'simple' processes they had learned in younger grades.

The students in the enrichment group were to find a method that made personal sense to them. We spoke about the best way to show learning: teaching. Students were to produce a video where they teach their method and explain its significance. Meanwhile, the students that required additional instruction were exploring the grid method of multiplication, which utilizes place value concepts. After the lessons, I was very excited to hear a couple students exclaim, "I didn't really get it before, but now it makes sense!" I even had a couple students that spent the evening doing additional practice because they thought it was fun!

Students enjoyed the activity because they were introduced to new ways of thinking, and it allowed choice in the methods they explored and presented. It forced the students to think about what the numbers actually mean, and how the process works.

Grade 5 Weather Wise With a Storm Chaser

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:56:00 +0000

Kathryn Desrochers~ Grade 5 Math and Science Student Teacher

University of Lethbridge

On Friday February 8, 2013 all four grade 5 classes had the opportunity to Skype with George Kourounis. George is a storm chaser, most well known for his TV Series “Angry Planet” in which he chronicles his adventures chasing storms and exploring the globe. He has also done extensive work with The Weather Network, most recently filming controlled avalanches in the Kootenay Pass.

Unfortunately we experienced some technical difficulties with the call, but George quickly shifted gears from his planned presentation to an interactive, engaging question and answer session. The students were brimming with questions and asked things such as “What is the most severe weather you have ever been caught in?”, “Were you on the East Coast for Hurricane Sandy?”, “Have you ever experienced a tsunami?” and many, many more.

George was extremely impressed by the depth and quality of the questions asked by our students. We will continue to be in contact with George via email to ask any more questions that arise during the completion of our weather unit.

Regardless of the fact that the technology did not work in the way we had hoped it would, it was an excellent opportunity for students to share in the expertise and passion of someone dedicated to exploring and documenting severe weather, climate change, and natural disasters worldwide.

Visit http://www.stormchaser.ca/Stormchaser.html to see more of the amazing video and photography by George Kourounis.

Grade 6 Dragon's Den Style Elective

noreply@blogger.com (Dan McWilliam) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:06:00 +0000

What Can U-Create?
Chris Dittman

Ms. Pereverzoff’s grade 6/7 U-Create elective is all about students taking an idea and creating a product, service or app that can be taken to the marketplace. This term, students were presented with the Re-Useable Material Challenge. Essentially, students were asked to think outside the box and create and represent a product idea using specific, recycled materials. Taking recycled cardboard, string, glue, tape, paint and recycled paper, students had the opportunity to create a product or a representation or model of a product idea. The final product idea didn’t have to necessarily include the aforementioned materials.

Students were then required to determine a target audience for their product, illustrate its features and benefits, cost of production and retail price, produce a brief marketing plan and finally create a 2 minute presentation to the class communicating their plan.

A grade 6 student decided that his product idea was going to literally stem from the re-useable materials presented. “One of my teachers, Mr. Dittmann, showed me a video of a man in Israel who created a cardboard bike to sell for 9 dollars.” He decided to take the idea and run with it, but with a twist.

The Israeli inventor targeted his product for developing countries. But the student saw a market for a similar bike here in Canada. “My target market is anyone who wants a cheap, environmentally conscious bike that stands out.” Needless to say, someone cruising by on a bicycle made out of receycled cardboard and string would certainly catch the eye. Plus, the bike would surely serve as an interesting conversation piece outside the neighbourhood coffee shop.

He took the re-useable materials part of the challenge quite literally. “My Mom’s friend is a gift wrapper and had a ton of cardboard tubes. She dropped them off at our house. My Dad got an elliptical for Christmas so I used the cardboard from the box."

It took the student around 40 hours, spread over a month, to build his bike. The design and construction was not without its challenges, requiring some on-the-fly adjustments. “I was going to make it so it was a normal bike with 2 wheels, but to make the wheels turn properly I had to make it like a trike,” he explained.

As he went through the different stages of construction, the student nervously awaited the final test of his bike. “I thought the chain wasn’t going to turn the wheels but I put tape around it and it worked. The pedals turn the chain but the string chain isn’t quite strong enough. I would need a metal chain like the guy in Israel,” he concluded.

His bike certainly caught his classmates’ eyes. “The class was like ‘Woooooooah!’ People liked it,” he recollected. When asked what he plans to do with his recycled cardboard bike, he was quick to answer. “I’m going to show it to my friends. I’ll keep it in my bedroom. I’m not going to sell it.”

Grade 8 Litspiration Blog Project

noreply@blogger.com (@IvyWaite) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:32:00 +0000

Ivy Waite & Jaime Groeller

The Challenge:

Student Created Book Spine Poetry

Inspire our grade eight students to connect with literature using novels that they have chosen, and hold them accountable for this free-reading, while creating a community of readers.

The Plan: The Litspiration Blog Project

Trimester One Overview - Jump into Literature!

A. 3 Novels Read

B. 3 Reviews w/ 3 Peer Revision Forms completed

C. 1 Litspiration Challenge - free choice

D. Project Reflection

Trimester Two Overview - Focus on Community!

A. 2 Novels Read, chosen from peer's reviews

B. 2 Reviews responding to peer's ideas and novel itself

C. 2 Peer Revision Forms completed

D. 1 Alternate Text Video Blog (Vlog) Review

E. 1 Litspiration Challenge - free choice

F. 5 Comments on Peer's blogs (completed in class at the beginning of term 2)

G. Participation in Project Survey (in class)

The Litspiration Project blog houses the project itself, including links to each student's individual blog and examples of connections to literature are easily accessible. Through this Evernote page, all assignment sheets, rubrics and other tools are available.

Litspiration Challenges

Litspiration challenges are a way for students to express the inspiration that literature can provoke. It is their chance to become "litspired" and share it with the world. We also wanted to incorporate an element of choice into the assignment, and give students a chance to engage their audiences through whatever medium they chose.

Student litspiration challenges have been the favourite part of the project so far, as many of the students indicated in the project reflection survey. We provided the following list of ideas, as well as links to websites that may inspire, and our own Litspiration blog. The greatest resource students have been able to access for litspiration project ideas has been their classmate's blogs.

“Litspiration” Challenge Choices

Please feel free to write, record videos, draw and scan, create digital media, and more to complete the following. You may not complete one task more than once to meet assignment requirements!

Follow this blog, or thereadables.tumblr.com to see examples of such litspiration!

-book lists (genre, fav, childhood, lately, etc.)

-consideration of author's choices

-character sketch

-letter to the author/character

-character's playlist

-reader polls

-book to film adaption reviews

-reflections on relationship with reading

-word art (or other creative opportunities) with powerful quotations from novels

-kinetic text exploring literary elements

-visualization illustration

-song

-your own proposed idea

Litspiration Challenge Exemplars - click on image to visit student's blog!

Soap Carving

Playlist, Performed on the Ukulele

Bookshelf History & Tour

Essay Comparing Concepts of Magic in Novels

Collaboration

One goal of the project was to not just create readers, but to create a community of readers. We wanted to see our students passionately talking about literature and the influence it has on their life. The very texts that our students were (and still are) writing, and the platform we chose, offered us ways to facilitate this.

First, students were given an opportunity to explore the blogs that their classmates had created in the first term, and to comment on at least five of the blogs they visited. We discussed the value of comments for both the blog viewer and writer, and engaging with the content rather than critiquing the work.

After this exploration, students chose their two novels for the term 2 challenge from the bank of reviews that had been created in the first term. While some students did read the same novel, there are over 300 reviews, and 100 more litspiration challenges, for them to choose from.

Do you have student book bloggers? Interested in collaborating? Send us an email!

Image from http://thereadables.tumblr.com/

Intention & Assessment

The students' intention when writing their novel and alternate text reviews is to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the literary elements that we have learned about in class through various lessons and media. We also challenge students to make connections to the literature they are reading and the media they are viewing, exploring it from a personal point of view and/or relating to current or historical events and global issues.

Throughout the project we engage in multiple rounds of formative assessment. Students are given class time to work on their projects (including but not limited to: reading, writing reviews, reading reviews, commenting on blogs, recording video reviews, working on litspiration challenge of choice, etc.), check in with their teachers regarding their progress, ask questions, and have their peers review the work they have completed.

This rubric provides students with strategies to meet and exceed expectations in their novel reviews. Peer reviews are also completed using the rubric, with an altered copy where they provide action-focused comments for their peers.

Three Cheers for Blogger!

• Blogging gives students an authentic, online audience for their work.

• Blogging enables students to view and comment on others' work in real time, anytime.

• Blogging allows students to customize their content to create meaning in multiple ways.

Student Litspiration blogs were created using Blogger.com. Our school already uses Google accounts and so this was the most obvious option for our platform!*

Side Note: BLOGGING WITH STUDENTS!

After the success that we had last year with The Scorpion Project, we already knew the power of an authentic audience on student writing. Students are more invested in the work they create and publish because it is just that - published. Watching our grade eight students create content regularly to post on their blog, and then checking in homeroom each morning to see how may "views" they had gotten the night before is powerful and rewarding.

*Note that blogs often have age requirements…. Because our student Google accounts are managed by the school, students were able to sign up without worrying about the 13+ age requirement.

Reflection

A third of the way through the second term, we conducted an anonymous project survey to gain information regarding student perceptions of what we felt had been a very successful project. The responses from students were on the whole positive, although some struggled with the timeline.We responded by committing to more time set aside in class for them to work on the various aspects of the challenge.

Overall, our goals for this project were met in terms of having students connect formally and informally with literature, and creating a community of readers! Some students said in the survey that they had rediscovered a love of reading, and really liked being able to talk about books in more depth.