The Work After The Work: GAFE Outside of Instructional Time

My students have been using Google Apps for Education on their own time to create, communicate, collaborate, teach, and continue the work they start in class. I recently overheard them talking about sharing their work with each other to simply share what they are up to and in some circumstances, to collaborate. Simply fantastic.

Student reflects on the Lego movie she recently saw by using the Draw app to draw some characters.

A student works on a "Diamonds" project because that is what he is interested in.

Two students write me a note during indoor recess.

Google Draw app used to write/draw about good times with friends.

Letter written to me from a student who is at home sick. She is also working on an assignment that was started in class.

Parent wrote me note to let me know that her daughter helped her create a Google Document for her work.

My students tell me that they like using GAFE because they can 

"write without using paper, it's free (open with lots of possibilities [images, research, colours, shapes, etc] - you can do different things with it, you can use your imagination with it and you just don't have to write, you can do what you want". 

They have moved past using GAFE exclusively at school. They seem to really like using the apps and are constantly digging deeper within the apps to make the most out of their experience! With this type of interest and motivation the sky is the limit and I am quite excited to see how high my students will go. 

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me me via email, Twitter, Google +, or by leaving a comment for me here.

Creating Surveys & Bar Graphs in Mathematics using Google Forms and Spreadsheets

In our last unit of Mathematics (Data Management) the students learned how to conduct a survey, create a bar graph, and analyse a data set (collected data in a graph format). We created our learning goal and success criteria and made anchor charts for the students to refer to.

After learning some of the basics the students engaged in a paper-pencil activity in order to create their own survey. Once they had a good handle on the 'ins and outs' of what it means to create a survey and conduct one, they were taught how to use Google Form to create a digital/on-line survey. Via whole-group instruction we dove into Google Form and created a survey together. This provided the students with an opportunity to see how a survey is created in the Form application. The students were then given the opportunity to use Form to create their own surveys.

Here is a screenshot of my Google drive as students share their work with me. As the students are working on their Chromebooks I am logged in my drive and it is projected on the white board. I see their work in real time, help them troubleshoot, and use their work as examples/models for the class.

After the students created their survey, they posted the link to their survey in a Google Document that I had embedded into our LMS. Students had to copy their survey link and then log into the LMS in order to get to our shared Google Document so they could paste their site address in a table. When the table was completely filled in the students started to systematically do each survey and provided their classmates with "data". Here is a screenshot of the Google document - student names on the left and the link to their survey on the right:

By embedding the Google Document into our LMS and having the students place their information in one place we were able to save a lot of time and heartache by not having to type out long URL addresses for each of the 9 surveys they would complete.

Having collected a significant amount of data, the students then used Google Spreadsheet to create a bar graph. They entered their data into the spreadsheet and then used the data to create a bar graph.

Google Spreadsheet provided the students with many challenges. There is a lot going on in this app and I would say that it is the most difficult to work with. The students who really understood what graphs are and how they are used did well with Spreadsheet. The students who experienced difficulty with the concept experienced some difficulty within the app. Nevertheless, the group ended up doing well overall. 

Spreadsheet 'pushed' my students and that 'push' provided me with insight into how my students pace themselves and deal with cognitively challenging opportunities. It was neat to observe and I am pleased to report that no one gave up. Lots of questions were asked and a lot of troubleshooting occurred.  

The students told me that they really liked the task at the end of this unit. There is no doubt in my mind that the enjoyment they experienced was linked to how much control they had in customizing their survey and graph. The students continue to demonstrate a high level of engagement and motivation when their learning is blended and they appear to have become quite skilled in the use of the Chromebook and the suite of Google Apps.

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me me via email, Twitter, Google +, or by leaving a comment for me here.

Blended Learning and #GAFE Strike Again!

Today is Valentine's Day and I am engaging my students in Math "work" during the last block of the day. Anyone who spends their time in an elementary school can describe what this time of the day might stereotypically look/sound like....but the stereotype didn't fit with my students/classroom today. I wouldn't normally do Math at this time of the day but today was different. Mrs. +Tonya Reesor, VP at Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School and a fellow co-chair of one of our Board's working groups to assist in developing our 21st Century Teaching and Learning Blueprint, was at St. Anne (K) and was invited to visit our classroom to see what my students were up to with respect to the Chromebooks and blended learning. This time was the best time of day for Tonya and I really wanted her to see the transformative learning going on in our classroom.

We started our 3D Geometry unit and it was business as usual as we created our learning goals and success criteria and our first anchor chart. This happened earlier in the day.

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We started by reviewing the charts and and talking about the characteristics of 3D figures. The students then logged in to our LMS site in order to start working with an OERB learning activity called "3D Figures: Grade 2 Mathematics" which introduced them to a variety of 3D figures, provided a brief lesson on faces and edges, and allowed them to sort 3D figures by their geometric properties.

After completing the OERB activity the students were then directed to work in a Google Document (link to the document was provided in our LMS site) to use the characteristics of 3D figures to write riddles for their friends to try and answer.

Screenshot of the example provided to students in the Google document that they would be working in.

What happened next was a treat for me to watch and listen to. The students were totally engaged and having fun. They took the time to go through the digital activity and some of the pairs went through it 2-3 times. Students started grabbing 3D figures to hold on to and look at half way through the digital activity. When they jumped on to the Google document things went up a notch as students enjoyed working together and demonstrated a real focus on the task at hand.

Google document is a great communication and collaboration tool for the students and myself. In real time I could see what everyone was doing and get a feel for what was going on. I would purposely communicate with specific students as I watched them type their work into the document. At first they would look at me funny, wondering how I knew what they were thinking but they quickly got used to it and became fully aware that all of us could see each other's work. I made a point of using the document to see if it would assist me in being able to assess who required support and who required enrichment. I am pleased to report that it did assist me in providing appropriate feedback/support to students working at a variety of levels.

Here are screenshots of the progress students made in the document.

The coloured squares in the top right hand side are my student pairs logged in to the document - they are all in and ready to create their riddles.

The students starting their work.

Progress is being made. Right hand side shows a comment that I made to a pair.

Second page of the document as it grows because of student input. A student responds to one of my comments.

Some of my comments to the students.

While the students were working in their pairs, I was centrally located in the room with my Chromebook - monitoring their progress, making comments on the document as well as speaking to them as they worked in their space. I also had the document projected on our whiteboard in order for students to see what was happening when they weren't in front of their Chromebook. Along with the OERB activity and the Google document I had a box of 3D figures (which I referred to above) that students could actually hold in their hands. The combination of all of these things made for a rich learning environment. Students were working at their own pace and at their particular level of understanding. I was there for them to seek out, I sought them out, there was the anchor chart for them to refer to, they could talk to their friends about their issues/concerns/questions, and they had the document to look over if they didn't want to engage another person.

Did I mention that the students were doing all of this during the last block of the day on a Friday and that is was also Valentine's day? If you had been in the room you would never have guessed that it was the end of the day before a long weekend. The students were engaged, having fun, and applying some of the knowledge they had just been exposed to. It was a great start to the unit and I look forward to blending their learning as they continue to learn about 3D Geometry. Sadly, +Tonya Reesor didn't end up visiting because an issue fell into her lap (did I mention that it was the last block on Friday?) minutes before she was to join us. The students were sad that she wouldn't be joining us but were able to put that behind them and get to work.

If you have any thoughts/questions/ideas that you would like to share please feel free to connect with me via email, Twitter, Google +, or leaving a comment for me here.

Blended Learning and GAFE in Social Studies

My students are just wrapping up a blended learning unit on Traditions and Celebrations in Social Studies. The application portion of the unit, which was also the culminating task, was to invent their own celebration that included the characteristics of celebrations (name, food, decorations, and traditions) that we talked about during the unit.

Here is the learning goal and the success criteria for the unit:

Learning Goal and Success Criteria for our Social Studies work.

In this unit the students used two OERB interactive lesson/activities and learned how to use Google Presentation in order to work on their created celebration.

The unit started with a diagnostic activity in order to find out what they know about traditions and celebrations. They used a graphic organizer to write/draw what they know about about the topic. Their work was assessed by looking over their graphic organizer to determine whether their knowledge was accurate or not. Generally speaking, the students were not accurate in their understanding of what traditions and celebrations are.

We then formally defined what traditions and celebrations are. The students then made a connection to a common tradition/celebration that is common to their family. The students were were given the opportunity to make their connection by talking about it, writing about it, drawing it, and/or acting it out. The students were assessed by conferencing with them and determining whether the tradition and celebration meets matches with the formal definition that was introduced to them.

Anchor chart that defines traditions and celebrations.

At this point we discussed the common features of celebrations (e.g. birthday parties) like food, decorations, and specific things that are done at celebrations (traditions). Students were informed that they should pay close attention to these common features because they would come up again in the application portion of this unit. Students were assigned a task to do at home with their parents - to talk about and record information about their favourite family celebration and the food, decorations, and traditions that are part of this particular celebration. This activity would also provide them with a preview of what they will be doing on their own at the end of the unit.

Birthday celebration anchor chart.

The students were expected to orally present their homework to their classmates. This would provide them with great practice for the oral presentation of their invented celebration at the end of the unit.

Oral presentation anchor chart.

The students homework was looked over to ensure that all sections of the organizer were complete and they were given feedback on what they did well and what they need to work on with respect to their oral presentation.

Having explored traditions and celebrations within their household, we shifted gears and started looking at the traditions/celebrations of culturally diverse groups. Students logged into our LMS page and engaged in an OERB lesson activity called "Traditions and Celebrations" (ELO1301470). In this activity the students learned about Diwali and Chinese New Year. 

"Traditions & Celebrations" interactive lesson/activity.

The students used a Venn diagram to compare similarities and differences of the two celebrations/traditions.

Anchor chart created to remind students to use proper terminology - Venn Diagram was completed after the students completed the interactive OERB work.

As the students were working on the Venn diagram activity I informally assessed their work/understanding by moving around the room and asking question about the similarities and differences between the Chinese and Hindu celebrations. I also examined their Venn Diagrams to ensure that they were on the right track.

After that activity the students engaged with another OERB lesson/activity. They explored some of the holidays celebrated in Canada by Canadians of various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. "Celebrations in Canada" (ELO1415420) allowed the students to explore Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, and Canada Day in an in-depth fashion.

When the students completed the learning activity they made a text to self/text to world connection (e.g. what did the celebrations in the learning activity remind you of?). I briefly conferenced with each student to get an idea of the connection they were able to make to the new learning. The graphic organizers they used to record their connections were reviewed shortly after the students completed their work.

At this point the students were ready to engage in the final task of the unit - invent their own celebration. We reviewed the anchor charts created during this unit and the students were told that they would get to create their own celebration based on the characteristics of celebrations that they learned about throughout the unit. The students were also informed that they would be presenting their work. We reviewed what was explicitly taught about what they need to do in order to provide an effective oral presentation.

Once the students completed their work using paper and pencil they were introduced to Google Presentation as I modelled how to use the application by creating my own invented celebration. The students were reminded of the criteria and were encouraged to use their draft (paper copy of their invented celebration) to guide them in creating their digital slide. Here is the presentation they created:

Please do check it out and let us know what you think!

If you have any questions/comments, please feel free to reach me here by leaving a comment, via email at rtwcdsb@gmail.com, on Twitter @rchids, and/or on Google+.

Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education: A Great Recipe to Build Capacity and Creativity

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know about the Chromebook/Blended Learning journey my students are on. They are using the technology to benefit their learning and having a lot of fun doing so.

Whenever they are to learn something new, I guide them through what it is we are examining. They have learned to use Google Document and Google Presentation via the gradual release of responsibility model. Most of what happens in my classroom is guided by this model in order to build capacity in the students to operate independently when I am engaged with small groups of students.

My students have demonstrated to me that they are quite trustworthy and able to stay on task while working with the Chromebooks. In fact, they tend to be quite interested, engaged, and motivated when they are leveraging the technology for their learning and demonstration of their learning.

Google Apps

Due to the independence and responsibility I am seeing from them, I decided to change things up a bit. They are familiar with Google Drive and the great things about the suite of Google Applications (apps) in Drive are that the "look" and the "tools" within each app are similar. 

Due to the familiarity my students have with the "look" and the basics of the apps in Drive, I decided to let them explore the Google Drawing app with their partner - without me explicitly instructing them! 

Before you pass judgement on me I have to tell you that their experience was great! Some of my students were nervous because they enjoy it when I take the lead and some students were ecstatic because I was out of the picture. Either way, the results were the same. The students got to experiment with Google Drawing on their own accord. The created some really neat stuff, learned how to use the tools within the app, and had fun doing so. They were interested, engaged, and motivated. They were excited to try out the unknown and they were provided full permission to do so. Here are some examples of the drawings the students created:

Two students create a "Minecraft" scene and some unexpected text.

A castle and happy face.

Two students playing around with symmetry.

Two students create a fish bowl, a gold fish, and some plants and bubbles.

One of the first questions they asked me was "what will we be doing with this app?". I told them that they were going to tell me what we should do with it! I want them to become more creative and to think outside the box. I want them to iterate and see that things don't always come easy and that it is rare to have success the first go around. If they can pick up this message early on they can build capacity around the idea and extend themselves in unfamiliar situations. All of this has to start somewhere and I hope that they are able to get a bit of it from me on our journey this school year.

Here is a short video of my students working with Google Drawing:

If you have any questions/comments, please feel free to reach me here by leaving a comment, via email at rtwcdsb@gmail.com, on Twitter @rchids, and/or on Google+.

The Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Grade 2 Blended-Learning Unit in Mathematics

My students recently completed a blended learning Measurement unit in Mathematics. The students and I had a great experience and look forward to continuing our learning using a blended learning model. This unit was designed, implemented, and evaluated as part of the Teacher Learning and Leadership project (TLLP) that we are so fortunate to be part of for the 2013-2014 school year.

DESIGN
The design of this unit involved a combination of the Ministry's Mathematics curriculum (Grade 2), Pearson's "Math Makes Sense (MMS) Unit 3: Time, Temperature, and Money" Teacher Guide, and the Ministry's Ontario Educational Resource Bank (OERB). The curriculum gave me an exact understanding of the expectations my students were to meet/exceed. The teacher guide provided me with some direction with respect to before, during, and after components of lessons that I could use with my students. With an understanding of the ideas/concepts in the teacher guide I then looked through the OERB to find digital interactive lessons/activities that connected to the ideas/concepts in the teacher guide and the curriculum expectations. Once the above components were examined and considered, the unit was ready to be implemented.

IMPLEMENTATION
All of the OERB digital lessons/activities were embedded into the class Learning Management Site (LMS). Students would login to the LMS site and then go to the appropriate section to access the particular learning object.

Our LMS site login page

Our LMS site course page

Our Lessons/Activities page

The following is an brief overview of how the unit was implemented:

Learning Goal and Success Criteria

Each lesson is made up of a before (getting started), during (explore), and after (connect and reflect) component. I will indicate the point in the lesson where an OERB resource was used.

Concept: Time
Diagnostic Assessment - used "Launch" idea from the teacher guide. Determined strengths and needs around duration of time, temperature in context of daily environment, sequencing events, using measurement terms.

Lesson #1 - Passage of Time

• Teacher guide 
• Assessment: look for evidence that a) children estimated and measured the passage of time in non standard units (pendulum swing), b) use appropriate terms to talk about time

Lesson #2 - Units of Time

• Teacher guide in combination with paper-pencil activity with a partner (Explore).
• Assessment: look for evidence that students understand and use the terms hour, minutes, seconds; can explain the relationship between minutes and hours; estimate time in minutes.

Lesson #3 - Telling Time

• Review concepts of the first two lessons
• Explore, and Connect & Share: In partners engage in OERB "What Time is It?" (ELO1140590) (teaches students to tell time to the hour, half hour, and the quarter hour) 

• Explore, and Connect & Share: Student's also engage with OERB "Samantha's School Schedule" (ELO1303960) (practice telling time by matching digital to analog times) 

• Assessment: look for students using appropriate language to talk about time; matching digital to analog time; reading time to the quarter hour.

Concept: Temperature

Lesson #4 Temperature

• Discussion using visuals about weather change from season to season, introduce the thermometer to the students
• Explore: Exploration of the concept via OERB "How Temperature Affects Everyday Activities" (ELO1295470) (reinforce students understanding of how changes in temperature affect everyday experiences, students also learn how to use a thermometer) 

• Explore: OERB "Temperature Time" (ELO1288790) (students learn about thermometers and how to read temperatures) 

• Assessment: talk to students and have them explain how they would read a thermometer. Provide them with one and have them explain using the tool.
• Explore: OERB "Seasonal Experiences and Temperature" (ELO1295460) (allow students to watch an animation of the changing of the temperature and the corresponding changes in weather) 

• Assessment: informal questioning of students about the matching activity they did to determine if they understand the relationship between seasons and characteristics such as weather, seasonal activities, and choice of clothing. 
• Assessment (overall for Temperature): students can relate changes in temperature to their own lives; they can determine whether temperature is rising or falling by observing a thermometer; students use appropriate language to describe temperature.

Concept: Money

Lesson #5 Making Money Amounts

• Getting Started: students engage with OERB "Money and You" (ELO1295660) (develops the students ability to recognize different Canadian coins, their names, and their individual monetary values; also develops counting skills and applying those skills in purchasing situations) 

• Explore: students engage with OERB "Let's go Shopping" (ELO1299030) (provides students with opportunities to learn a two-step process by which they will add two money amounts to get a total)

• Explore: students engage with "Buying Items with Different Money Amounts" (ELO1288750) (practice making money amounts in two different ways)

• Assessment: check to see if students understand the value of different coins, create equivalent sets of coins, estimate and count money to $1.00.

Culminating Task

Lesson #6 Show what you know!

• students are told a story that combines the concepts of time, temperature, and money. They use a graphic organizer to record their work and are free to use any manipulatives and/or digital resources to show what they know.
• Assessment: conference with each student to talk about and see how they approached the problem/activity. Look for evidence of solving the problem of sharing the money, comparing digital and analog clocks, counting coins accurately, recording time on digital and analog clocks, determining whether temperature is rising or falling, and the use of measurement and comparative language. Also use success criteria for the unit as a rubric in order to evaluate thinking, communication, application, and knowledge & understanding.

The complete unit plan can be found on Google Drive.

EVALUATION
First and foremost, the students were engaged and excited about the work that they were doing. It is no secret that they love to use the technology (Chromebooks) to help them with their learning and their demonstration of their learning. Based on my observations, the OERB resources were very helpful in providing differentiation for the students.

Students worked at their own pace. Whether they needed to slow things down, speed them up, and/or do things over again - it was no problem. Some students experienced the activities/lessons several times before they felt comfortable sharing their understanding. Some students felt comfortable working with and coaching their classmates after only experiencing the lesson/activity once. No one seemed to be left behind with respect to their learning.

Students were asked during and after using the the interactive lessons/activities to share their thoughts and feelings about their work. Their responses were typically positive and had a lot to say about their enjoyment of learning by exploring and playing with the interactive activities. When they were asked whether they take as much pleasure in using manipulatives the general response was that they would rather be using the Chromebook because it is different, more exciting. When I asked for them to go "deeper" they would simply say that it is fun to work with a computer because computers and the Internet are fun. Some even said something along the lines of having to go to different sites to login with user names and passwords is a big deal, a big responsibility. Caring for the Chromebooks and being responsible for them is fun and different than what they have experienced in school.

With respect to their understanding and achievement, all the students met and/or exceeded the expectations. Most of the work they did involved some fun so I am not surprised that a group of students who were having fun while learning did well. When they didn't understand something it seemed as though they would accept the challenge rather than shy away from it. They were engaged and motivated because they were interested and knew that they would be having fun. They like the interactive component of the digital resources and they like that they are able to work with a partner. I'm getting the idea that they don't feel alone or isolated and that it is easier to face a challenge when they have someone else to face it with.

The feedback the students have provided me with, both verbal and observational, will continue to assist me with the creation of learning units/cycles as we move forward. In fact, my students are currently completing another blended-learning unit in Social Studies. OERB resources were included but the unit was "bumped up" by introducing Google Presentation as a vehicle to create a presentation that could be shared with the class and the world. I hope to reflect on and write about that unit and experience in the near future. As they are wrapping up their work in Social Studies I see creativity flowing and a growing confidence in their technological literacy.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them here by commenting on the blog, via email at rtwcdsb@gmail.com, on Twitter @rchids, and/or Google +.