Class #11: Wrapping It Up

Class #10: Wonderings and Poetry

Inspiring Lessons

Students created cross-curricular lesson plans based on Success Criteria and a rubric we created in class.

Lesson Plan Success Criteria Rubric

The lessons were all very well done and were interesting to read. Planning and teaching is an ongoing process and in order to help students reflect, I made some notes about possible areas for improvement. There were some areas for all to consider in planning lessons in the future. We discussed these in class.

Lesson Plan Feedback

Many students created very innovative, engaging lessons and some have agreed to let me share them here as inspiration.

Kindergarten:
Cydney's Kindergarten "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" lesson
Stephanie's Kindergarten "Press Here" lesson

Grade 1:
Jessica's grade 1 "Hungry Caterpillar" lesson
Kathleen H's grade 1 "Wait and See" lesson

Grade 2:
Karen's grade 2 "Scaredy Squirrel" lesson
Kathleen C's grade 2 "We Are All Stardust" lesson

Grade 3:

Grade 4:
Andrea's grade 4 "The Gruffalo" lesson
Kiera's grade 4 "The Lorax" lesson
Melissa's grade 4 "The Lorax" lesson

Grade 5:
Jamie's grade 5 "Rain School" lesson
Keeley's grade 5 "Perspectives on Environmental Issues" lesson

Grade 6:

Melissa's
Stephanie's 

Class #8: Oral Communication

Class #7: Writing

Your Life's Purpose

Last week, we watched Adam Leipzig's "How to Know Your Life's Purpose in Five Minutes". It's a great watch and an awesome exercise.

Several students wrote their own life purposes. Here are some:

Christine:
"I'm Christine. I work to re-define the term 'success' for my students. They need help relizing their value beyond grades. I give them confidence and help bring out their full potential."

Palig:

Sketch Noting

Emily Sketch Noted an Apple Pie Recipe:

Answers to Last Class' Questions: Reading

Hi all,

  I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving and to those of you who went home, welcome back!

  Thanks to those of you who completed your "What Stuck With You Today?" survey. It's very helpful in my planning.

  We have an exciting class coming up this week, in which we'll be talking about Writing and doing the long-promised Mystery Skype!

DIVISIONS

What are Primary and Junior grade levels?

In Ontario, we split elementary school into 4 divisions: JK and SK are kindergarten, grade 1-3 are Primary grades, 4-6 are Junior, and 7-8 are Intermediate. 

ASSIGNMENTS

For the Day Plan, can we work in partners who created their Lesson Plan at a different grade level?

Sure. Ideally, I'd like you to focus on different division, but if you have someone you particularly would like to work with, go ahead. You have three planning assignments in this course - Lesson Plan, Day Plan and Unit Plan. Between the three of them, make sure you focus on at least two divisions. 

As soon as you know what grade level(s) you're planning your Day Plan for, you can fill it out on the Day Plan Hand In Box.

Can we look at the Curriculum Development assignment together?

I'm happy to meet with a small (or large) group after class time to look at the assignment(s) you have in other classes, but we can't afford the class time to go through other professor's assignments. If you'd like me to take a look, though, let me know and we can meet after class. 

LIBRARY

What can you expect from a school library?

School libraries greatly vary based on site and budget. Currently, the OCSB has turned their library spaces into "Learning Commons", rooms with not only book storage and borrowing, but also computers and (sometimes) Maker Spaces. My school library currently is of the old model, but we do have a SmartBoard in there along with the stacks of books and circulation desk.

READ ALOUDS

How do you find a Read Aloud that works for all your students?

In the course of the year, read a lot of things out loud to your students. You can find great recommendations from colleagues, Twitter, blogs and even your students. I expose my students to a huge variety of texts throughout the school year. For a read aloud novel, I usually pick a few that I've heard of or enjoyed, introduce them and have students vote. 

What do you do to engage all students in Read Alouds?

I read in an exciting, excited voice, I often have funny voices for characters. I stop periodically to make connections, ask questions and engage students. Often, I'll have students discuss in partners or small groups as well. I often have students reflect, connect, synthesize, predict or infer in their Reading Journal notebooks. They can do this in writing or with drawings or both.

READERS WORKSHOP

How do you teach the necessary skills for students to be engaged in reading?

You use mini lessons, based on what you want to teach your students and what you notice they're needing extra support in. Start Reader's Workshop daily with a 5-10 minute lesson and have students practice those skills in small groups and independently.

Respond to your students needs and interests.

How can you do Guided Reading in a class of 30 students?

Do some full class mini lessons, give the students time to work independently (Daily 5 has a great gradual release of responsibility structure to help students learn to work independently) and then pull small groups to have conferences with.

When students are reading at different levels, how do you work with all the groups?

Simply, you take turns. Most students should be working independently or in partners during Readers Workshop, so that you can pull small, focused groups for more detailed, targeted teaching and assessment. 

How do you judge comprehension when all students are reading at different levels?

Assess! Standardized tests like PM Benchmark and CASI can help to give you a baseline. Then, split students into ability groups and assess as you go to see if they need more challenging or simpler texts to work with.

You will work with small groups of students in conferences, so it will be easier to assess their comprehension.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Do you have a "teacher look" for when students misbehave?

I don't think so. I try to use non-verbal hand signals (finger against mouth, etc) to help students stay on track or use verbal prompts ("Find a better space to sit", etc) instead of giving a dirty look! You might have to ask my students if I have on, though!

COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENTS

Can we add the Five Finger Test to the Best Tips to Teach Reading Document?

Yes. Please do!

Best Tips for Teaching Reading

In fact, please keep adding to all our collaborative documents, including:

Using What We've Learned

Ways for Students to Demonstrate their Learning

Book Whisperer Recommendations

These documents are for you, not for me! The more you add to them, the better. They will be made public and posted on the blog at the end of the course on the "Resources" page so that you can refer to them later in your career.

See you on Wednesday!

Shauna

Class #6: Reading

Our Behaviour Plans

Students created behaviour plans as homework. They were encouraged to be creative in the way they shared them. It was wonderful to hear people's ideas and see how POSITIVE all the behaviour plans were. Instead of a list of "don't"s or prescriptive rules, they're much more focused on creating a safe, inclusive classroom culture and atmosphere.

Check out the wonderful ideas:

Alexandra's Behaviour Plan

Kaha's Behaviour Plan

Teng Teng's Behaviour Plan

Class #5 - Assessment and Evaluation

5 Word GPS

Inspired by the amazing Dave Burgess (Teach Like a Pirate), for attendance today, students came up with a 5-word GPS - a combination of 5 words they'd like their future students to use when thinking about their teaching. I tried to blow their minds by quickly whipping up a Wordle, but with slow Internet and out-of-date Java, I was unable to do so. Here's a Tagul (similar idea) that shows what is important to 1140A.

Thanks to Sarah for being our secretary and for her fast typing skills. 

Class #4 Slideshow: You As a Teacher

Class #3 Slideshow: Preparation and Gradual Release of Responsibility (Balanced Literacy/Daily 5)

Class #2 Slideshow: Planning and Class Set-Up

What Stuck With Us? Class #1: Introduction to Literacy

Every class, students will be expected to fill out a "What Stuck With You Today?" survey.

This week, I took the results from your week 1 responses about our Introduction to Literacy class and created this word cloud on Wordle. The words that appear in the highest frequency in your responses appear the largest in the word cloud.

Note: Wordle is super easy to use, but it needs Java to work. It does not work on Google Chrome. Use another browser like Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox instead.

Reminder Email Sent Sept. 6th, 2014

Below is the email I sent to all students on Saturday, September 6th, 2014:

 Hello PED1140A,

 It was great to meet you all last week and I'm really looking forward to our class next Wednesday.

  I thought of a few things that I didn't get to in class time last week or I wanted to remind you of before next class:

#1. Media Permission - I'd like to share stories and photos on our class bloghttp://language2life.blogspot.com ​and my twitter accounthttp://twitter.com/misspollock 

It would be great to be able to share about you (nothing personal, just photos and stories of our work in class), but I do not want to do so without your permission. Please fill out the following form to let me know if I can use your photo/first name on our class blog and twitter: https://docs.google.com/a/ocdsb.ca/forms/d/1085kZ0IMTwWPHl4cOJGgYy-wwneNEdVElDIaoFkeh3w/viewform

The rationale for this: I'd like our learning to be open sourced, others from around the world can view what we are doing and share it, try it themselves or add suggestions. I do this with my elementary classes as well. Also, I think it is VITAL for each of us to own and control our online identify. Control what you put out into the world. Check and see what happens when you google your own name. Are you happy with the results?

#2. Devices - Please try to bring a device with you to next week's class if possible (a laptop or netbook is best, but a tablet or smart phone will work). If you do not have access to a device, please email me back and let me know. I can bring a Chromebook for you to use next class.

#3. Volunteering in my Classroom - We are not taking a field trip as a class in Language. However, getting into classrooms and observing experienced teachers and practicing your methods is absolutely vital to your development as a teacher. If you are interested in coming into my class (grade 3/4) or having me arrange for a visit to another class, please let me know via email. This option is open to you all year - through this semester or next. My classroom is an experimental place and if you'd like to try to teach a lesson (or co-teach one with a friend), I'm always open!

#4. Office Hours - My office hours are scheduled for Wednesdays from 12-1 in the part-time professor's office (LMX210). It's not a great space for meeting. Please email me if you'd like to meet during that time period and we can arrange for another location (perhaps the cafeteria on LMX's 1st floor?) 

#5. Twitter - I'm very excited to see that more than a quarter of you have either started Twitter accounts or connected with me via Twitter this week. Here is a list of your classmates on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/misspollock/lists/ped1140a-2014-l2l4l If you want to start an account before next class, here is some information on how to do it: http://language2life.blogspot.ca/2014/09/how-and-why-to-join-twitter.html

  If you join Twitter at any point, feel free to tweet at me by using my twitter name with an "at" symbol in a tweet (@misspollock). I will happily follow you!

  I hope that several of you will be "backchanneling" next class and will tweet during our time together, using the hashtag #L2L4L

  Some of you expressed an interest in starting a Twitter account. I'd be thrilled to help you before or after class. Let me know if that interests you!

#6. Google Drive: Before next class, make sure to log in to the Google Drive using your uOttawa email address and password. Visit drive.google.com and enter your credentials on the log-in page.

Then, you'll be "in" your Drive account. You can create and share documents, spreadsheets, forms and presentations. 

  I have shared a "Welcome" doc with you. Once you're in your Drive, click on "Incoming" on the left hand side.
​​The doc I shared will be waiting for you. You have permission to edit it!

The Drive is the ideal way for you to submit your work to me this term and, in my opinion, the ONLY way to collaborating with peers. Remember, if you share a doc with me, write your name before the title!

#6. Questions for Next Class: Our class this week will be focused on Planning and Classroom set up. If you have any specific questions about that topic that you would like me to address in class, feel free to email me before Tuesday at 6 p.m.

#7. Homework: Thanks to those of you who completed this week's homework in a timely manner. If you haven't yet, please make sure to fill do the following:

1. Getting to Know You survey

2. What Stuck With You survey

​3. Leave a comment on the class blog​ (if you post a question, I'll be sure to answer it!)

4. Read the Ontario Language curriculum - pages 3-14, 22-top of 24 and 30-31

5. access your Google Drive

6. Think about what you're going to teach us with your 60-second story 

​#8. Class Blog: Don't forget that ALL materials from our class (plus some bonus materials I'll post this term) are available on our class blog.

#9. Totally optional Think Tank Invite: If you're interested, I'm starting an Educational Think Tank here in Ottawa. Check out the details if you want! All are welcome! ​

​Thanks for getting to the bottom of this post. Bonus points if you have and you greet me with the secret phrase,"everything is awesome" next class. I'll know you read through the whole email!​

​

​Thanks and see you Wednesday at 1 p.m.!

Shauna​

How and Why to Join Twitter

Do you want to start a Twitter account? You really should!

Twitter is the new PD. Every educator can connect with educators from all over the world and extend their learning, personalize it and learn professionally anytime and any place. I cannot encourage you highly enough to take some time to figure out Twitter.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial from wikiHow on how to start your account.

I'll be tweeting throughout our course, using the hashtag #L2L4L (Bringing Language to Life for Life). Please feel free to do the same. Using a hashtag helps to organize the enormous volume of tweets that make their way into the world every moment of the day. Some of your classmates in PED1140A have already been experimenting with Twitter. Feel free to check them out on our class Twitter list. 

If you join Twitter, let me know! Just tweet at me using my username @misspollock in your tweet and I'll add you to our class list!

UPDATE (Sept, 6th, 2014): Still looking for more of an explanation of Twitter? Check out David Truss' blog post.

Class #1

PED1140A, welcome to your Language class - Bringing Language to Life for Life!

I'm so excited to get started. As you'll hear in class, we'll be going over a LOT of ideas each and every class. Every class, our materials will be shared on here. If there is something you miss in class, you can refer back to the slideshow from that class.

Feel free to leave a comment to let me know you were here or ask me any questions that we didn't have time to address in class.

Crowd Sourcing Our Course

A lot of awesome people gave me tips to help with my planning for our course. Former student teachers and members of my PLN (Professional Learning Network) shared their input about what worked well in their BEd programs, specifically their Language classes. They also shared some ideas of things that were missed.

I'm very grateful for the ideas and input they provided and know that my students will be as well!

Below is a slideshow of the ideas that were shared with me:



If you're interested in adding some ideas, please fill out the survey below: