On Friday my Grade 8 class held their first Science Fair after working diligently over the past three weeks. After a very long first unit on Cells & Systems (I was getting used to teaching Science!) we moved on to our unit on Fluids at the start of January. As a summative assessment, I decided to have my students organize, plan, and administer individual science experiments that would then be showcased with a Science Fair (an event that our school does not formally have). Not only would this serve as a summative assessment for our unit, but it would also… Read More
2 Stars & A Wish: Week 25
This week actually represented my shortest teaching week on record due to extracurricular activities, meetings, and illnesses.– Tuesday was our Grade 7-12 Ski Trip to a downhill ski hill approximately 2 hours away (a gorgeous day where I got to snowboard with my students!)– Wednesday I attended a meeting at our Division Office– Thursday I had my first sick day all year after battling bronchitis-like symptoms for almost two weeksAs such, I feel like I wasn’t able to accomplish much this week. I am hoping to hit the ground running on Monday, however, as spring break is only a… Read More
Free #EdTech – Apps For Your Class 3
Free #EdTech – Apps For Your Class is a sporadic posting I do every time I find a neat new app that is not only being offered FREE (for a limited time) but that is also educational and could serve a purpose in your classroom. While no longer free, last sessions app: King of Maths: Full Game, is still awesome and I recommend you check it out! Today I’ve found: Fun Slides I think this photography app would be a easy and fun tool for students to create fast presentations! It allows users to:– Upload pictures from their… Read More
Good Things Sunday
This post is inspired by the stories at the collaborative blog, One Good Thing. – On Friday we were having a work period in one of my classes where students were given time to work on completing projects. During these periods I often have music playing and one of my students began dancing to the song. In response I had one student look up from a project, chuckle, and mumble, “You are so weird”. Without missing a beat the student replied with a huge smile on her face, “I’m being myself, I love this song and I love to… Read More
2 Stars & A Wish: Week 24
I haven’t reflected formally through a “2 Stars & A Wish” post in quite some time and it is something that I would like to get back into. While I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting informally throughout my lessons, at the end of the day, etc I feel like I benefit more when I take the time to write out my thoughts and get feedback from those around me. As such, two things that I think went well this week were: 1 ) Having my Gr 8 Students Pass 3,000 Pageviews on Their Blog!– My Grade 8 students… Read More
Share The Love
Last week I was pleasantly surprised to receive a link to a blog post written about… me! Before I go further, I should provide some context. Last month, I had the opportunity to present via Skype for Brandon University’s Internet for Educators class (a class which only one year ago I was a student in). I shared my experiences regarding the integration of technology into my classroom as well as the successes and challenges that have arisen from my ideas. Mr. Nantais, the professor of the course, has all of his students maintain a blog sharing their learning… Read More
Good Things Sunday
I follow a lot of blogs… blogs written by educators… blogs written by administrators…. blogs written by friends/family… but one of my favourite blogs to see pop up in my Feedly account is One Good Thing. This collaborative blog, is a space where educators share stories of good things from their day. Teaching is a profession that can leave you overwhelmed, exhausted, and questioning if you are doing anything right. As this blog states, however, “Every day may not be good, but there is one good thing in every day”. I love reading the stories from other educators… Read More
March Currently
March is here which means my first year of teaching is officially over half way done! I can’t believe how fast the year is going by and I know that it will only continue to fly by. In most years, March would mean warmer temperatures and the start of melting snow as we near the end of the month. This winter, however, seems to be much more severe than anything I can remember and I doubt that winter will let up at all this month! Here is what March started as for us: Yes, you’re reading that right, “Feels… Read More
mRLC Backwards by Design PD
Today was a division-wide PD day for TRSD and each school was responsible for holding their own unique PD opportunity for their staff based on their school goals. At “S-School” we attended a session on Understanding by Design, sometimes referred to as “backwards planning”, “Universal Design for Learning” or “Planning with the end in mind”. Design. (2011). Uploaded to Tach @ Riverdale by Meg Krause. Available online at:http://blogs.riverdale.edu/techintegration/2011/11/26/understanding-by-design-the-backward-design-model/ The session was divided into two half-day sessions, with the morning organized in a lecture-style format regarding the ins and outs of the planning strategy, while the afternoon allowed… Read More
Classroom Blog & the Development Of Our PLN
This past week marked a milestone for my Grade 8 class: the completion of their third round of blogging. Each science class, my students take turns being the “Class Scribe” or “Blog Author” using these guidelines: – Our first class scribe of the year volunteered– Only the current scribe has the power to appoint the next scribe– Everyone must have a turn before someone can post again*This is a system I modified from a friend, Darren Kuropatwa, who has a lot of experience blogging in the classroom. Now there are some exceptions to these guidelines: – If a student… Read More