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 +.

Writing Letters in Google Drive using Chromebooks

Photo taken by the Charlotte Prong Parkhill - Kitchener Post
Two of my students working on the Chromebook

Each year, around the middle November, I tend to teach my students how to write a friendly letter. Traditionally, many of my students inform me that they will be writing to Santa before Christmas. For this reason, I try and take advantage of their focus, motivation, and excitement by connecting their lives to the curriculum.

The idea to use Google Documents to write the letters and share them came from a presentation I attended at the ECOO13 Conference in November. I was inspired by +Julie Millan's presentation ("Google Blends with Anything! Blended Learning with Google in the Classroom") and her encouragement to try one idea when we got back to our classrooms. I am thankful and appreciative of educators like Julie who employ Google Apps for Education to help inspire students to become more creative an collaborative with their learning.

We started our learning with the co-creation of success criteria and then proceeded to create anchor charts along our journey through the process.

Our learning goal and success criteria.

An example of one of our anchor charts: our friendly letter model.

After some brainstorming and discussion, the students used a letter template to start printing their drafts. The students and I agreed that it would be best to use paper and pencil to write out our drafts before jumping onto the Chromebooks to use Google Documents. After some discussion we decided that it would be best to learn how to properly write our letters on paper before adding the challenges that come with using a keyboard and learning how Documents in Google Drive works.

Here are a couple of examples of student work (first draft and final draft):

First draft - sample #1

Final draft - sample #1

First draft - sample #2

Final draft - sample #2

Once the students had completed their paper-pencil letter they were ready to use the Chromebooks and begin to learn how to use Google Documents to type their letter and then share it with their parents and intended recipients.

Here are some examples of the work the students did in Google documents:

First draft Google doc - sample #1

Revised draft Google doc - sample #1

First draft Google doc - sample #2

Revised draft Google doc - sample #2

Once the students had established their document they shared it with me and gave me editing rights. The ability for me to make comments in their documents and assist with revision in real time while they were working on their letters was truly transformational. The ability to go into documents to check on student progress and provide feedback without disturbing momentum and engagement proved to be quite beneficial to the students. As they worked on their letter (either alone or with a partner) they seemed focused and engaged. I try not to interrupt that when it is happening.

Before we started using Google Documents, students would bring their work to me and stand in line as I conferenced with each student in front of them. The time spent waiting to meet with me ended up being a huge waste of time for them and normally involved students being disciplined for engaging in inappropriate behaviour. Not a very successful experience for any of us.

With the integration of the Chromebook and Google Documents I have become more proactive in my 'check-ins' with the students via the Chromebook and they became less interested in waiting in lines. They would simply call out to me and ask if I could jump into their work to check it out. I found that when I would jump into their document they would be talking about their work with a partner or would be standing over someone else's work and offering suggestions or asking questions about another student's work. Much more focused, interested, and helpful!

The students in my class who struggle with printing informed me that they rather struggle with a keyboard rather than a pencil because their work will be neat and look like everyone else's in the end. I try not to hound my students about their printing if they are working hard and doing their best but when they share their work it is difficult for some because they wish that their printing was as neat as some of their classmates. This activity allowed certain students to produce work that they are proud of and resembles the work of others.

I am really happy that my students have learned the basics of using a word processor, particularly one that allows them to share their work and will provide them with opportunities to collaborate with others. I would like to connect with colleagues inside and outside of my school board who are interested in creating engaging tasks that will allow our students to connect with and collaborate with each other to make their learning experience a richer and more memorable one.

Photo taken by the Charlotte Prong Parkhill - Kitchener Post
Two of my students working on the Chromebook

From an organizational perspective, Google Drive assisted me in keeping track of my student's work. Here is a screen shot of the folder where I placed the student letters:

Whenever I needed to get into a student's document I would simply select their work and instantly gain access to their document. I found this to be an efficient way to provide descriptive feedback to my students and to interact with many of them at the same time. 

My students have enjoyed learning how to write a friendly letter and how to use Google Documents to write and share their work. Parents have been provided with the opportunity to make comments on their child's work and some have taken advantage of that. Some of the parents experienced some difficulty leaving comments in the document so they wrote back to their child via email and provided feedback that way. We have entered a new realm of teaching/learning where the integration of technology is providing innovative opportunities to learn and share. 

The excitement and interest in our classroom community is palpable. In fact, some of the students have been asking to use Google Documents in their free time! They are eager and serious about using the Chromebooks to learn and to demonstrate their learning. It's blended learning at its best and it is just the beginning. 

Stay tuned as my students learn how to use Google Presentation (similar to PowerPoint) to create a slide show of their culminating task in Social Studies. If the letter writing task is any indication, this next project will help my students be more creative and collaborative as they work to effectively communicate their learning to me and the rest of the world!

Photo taken by the Charlotte Prong Parkhill - Kitchener Post
Two of my students working on the Chromebook

I welcome your feedback. Do you use Google Apps with your students? If so, what kinds of tasks have they engaged in? Are you interested in connecting and collaborating my my students and I? 

Blended Learning in Action

My students have been using the Chromebooks this week to engage in an on-line learning lessons/activities about Time. At this point during the unit the students are learning about telling time. They have already explored the passage of time and units of time. They have been introduced to analogue and digital clocks and how to identify minutes and hours. This is their first on-line learning activity for the blended learning we are doing in this Measurement unit.

The activity I am showcasing below shows students the corresponding digital time on an analogue clock for time to the hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour. Students had to match the digital times to their corresponding analogue clocks.

This first shot is of the first slide of the learning activity:

Here they are learning about telling time to the half-hour:

Telling time to the quarter-hour:

Here they get the chance to apply their knowledge/understanding and practice matching digital to analog times:

The students are responding well to the blended learning so far. They enjoy working on the Chromebooks and appreciate the opportunity to 1) learn using the online lessons and 2) practice what they are learning using the technology. The students are doing a great job in this blended learning cycle. I'm finding it a challenge to get around the room and talk to all the students while they are engaged in their practice activities. I want to make sure that I know how they are doing so I can speed things up, slow things down, and adjust for their needs. Their excitement and engagement is incredible and they can't seem to get enough of the tech integration and online learning activities. Nevertheless, I still provide them with other opportunities to show their learning such as using paper & pencil to write and draw, the use manipulatives, and by conferencing with me. It is important that I continue to provide them with what they need to be successful but I also believe in producing well-balanced students who can show their learning in a variety of ways if asked to do so. 

It is important that I continue to transform myself and my teaching so that I am reaching every student. The Chromebooks are tools, blended learning is another way to reach students. My experience has shown me that the use of technology is motivating and engaging and that students tend to be more invested in their learning and achieve greater academic success. I recently had a conversation with a close friend and mentor who expressed some concern about the use of technology in my classroom and how it might negatively impact my students next year when they don't have such technology to assist/support their learning. Concerns around writing, for example, were raised. How would students learn to write a friendly letter with a paper and pencil if they are not provided with that opportunity? How will students lean math concepts and solve problems if they are not introduced to manipulatives that can assist them? These are great questions and they are valid. 

My students use paper and pencils each day. They use manipulatives to learn and solve problems too! The technology and all the "goodies" that go with it are also used. I'd like to think that my students have a variety of options to learn, create, collaborate, problem solve, and communicate. Blended learning is happening in my classroom because I am fortunate enough to have the technology and support to offer it up to my students. It is NOT the only way, it is one piece of the teaching/learning puzzle in my classroom.

In language literacy my students are currently engaged in learning how to write friendly letters. I won't get into too much detail around what we are doing because I would like to dedicate a blog post to it later, but I can tell you that we are BLENDING our learning using paper and pencil as well as Google Drive (via the Chromebooks) to write and send friendly letters. The students are learning the basics of this type of writing and are improving their technological literacy at the same time.  

I would love to hear your thoughts about blended learning - please feel free to leave a comment below, reach me by email, twitter and/or connect with me on Google +.

Sharing the Learning Summit - TLLP

Wordle created for the www.iprojecttllp.blogspot.com site where our project reflections and findings live on the Internet.

I've just returned from the TLLP Sharing the Learning Summit where I got to present the findings our our project and talk to other participants about their projects. I have created a Google Presentation of the project that can be found here if you are interested. The Summit was a bitter-sweet moment for me - the opportunity to meet with other passionate educators was sweet, the official end to our project is bitter. Fortunately, I am in the midst of another project which means that +Ferdinand Krauss and I will get to attend the summit next year to talk about Blended Learning and Teacher PD using Chromebooks.

From beginning to end, the Summit was a huge 'highlight' for me. +Mark Godin was in attendance with me and has been part of our project before it was a project. As the Principal of Our Lady of Fatima it was his vision and support that led to the purchase of the iPads. Then, it was his encouragement and leadership that led to the TLLP application to support teacher learning & leadership and an improvement in academic & social achievement for our students with Autism. I am honoured to have such a role model in our corner and was very pleased to have him at the Summit to wrap up a project that he was such an integral part of.  

Mark Godin taking a break at the Summit.

Other highlights included:

• Meeting and speaking with Dr. Ann Lieberman who told me "...I've been looking for you!". Dr. Lieberman is doing research about teacher leaders and was given my name. I will be providing her with information about my experience with the TLLP. It tuns out that the email address she had for me was not correct so I am really happy to have connected with her.

• Being interviewed by TVOnatrio about our project. I got to spend some time talking to TVO about our project and the positive impact it has had on staff and students. The opportunity to share our learning is endless!

• Connecting with people who I interact with on Twitter is always a treat. I got to spend some time chatting with Kyle Pearce (who also spoke to Summit participants about his past TLLP work) and Peter Skillen & Brenda Sherry (who are both heavily involved in TLLP training that participants experience at the start of their project journey).

• Last but not least, the opportunity to chat with a variety of people who stopped at our display to learn about our project. I was more than happy to talk about our work and next steps for this project and other work that we are currently pursuing. 

On duty at the Summit.

My only regret is that I didn't say anything on my evaluation form about the networking that spills over into Twitter or Google + from these TLLP events. As an example, I think it would be a great if TLLP participants could have their Twitter or Google + handles listed with their project descriptions. This would be one simple way to help people connect and it would provide encouragement for non users to give social networking services a chance to assist them with their professional learning and sharing. There is nothing better than being part of other peoples professional learning networks and having them join mine. 

Being surrounded by people who are passionate about their work and about sharing their work is such a personal and professional boost. I want to end this post with something Dr. Ann Lieberman said when she spoke to the participants closer to the end of the summit. She hit the nail on the head and I couldn't agree with her more.

Digital Boot Camp: Practice & Support

My students are finally starting to get a handle on the user names and passwords they need to log on to the Chromebook and enter our Learning Management System (LMS).

WCDSB Learning Management System

Today they experienced what I call "Digital Boot Camp". During their time with the device the students had the opportunity to sign on to the Chromebook, go to our LMS site, bookmark it, and then sign off to allow their partner to do the same. When all the students were done bookmarking the LMS on the browser via their account I got them to take turns signing on to the Chromebook, going to the LMS, signing on to the LMS, use one of the learning activities, and then log out of the LMS and sign out of their Chromebook account. 

This "Boot Camp" activity proved to be beneficial for the students. They needed the time and repetition of using their user names and passwords. This activity allowed them to use and reuse their authentication credentials and get to work with some learning activities on the LMS.  

An important lesson for me is that I need to continue to provide my students with instructional strategies that are effective for young students. Sometimes I get carried away and excited about what we are doing and my brain is running a lot faster than everyone else. I need to ensure that I continue to provide them with what they need to be successful - scaffolding and gradual release of responsibility - both are good examples that sometimes get missed with all the excitement. 

Today was a great learning moment for my students and myself. My hope and wish is that I continue to support my students effectively as I learn and lead and with them. 

The Power of Self Directed Professional Learning & Social Networking Services

I just finished spending two days at the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario's (ECOO) "Bring IT Together" Conference in Niagara Falls. This wonderful opportunity was provided by the Ministry of Education as part of my 2013-2014 Teacher Learning and Leadership project.

The organizers did a fantastic job of bringing together a variety of people (mostly educators) who put on great presentations. The amount of choice was staggering but very apt for people who are interested in directing their learning. My self directed professional learning lead me on the following journey:

- #ecoo13 Thursday Keynote: "Relentless Adaptation" - +Amber Mac

Amber Mac in the middle of her keynote at #ecoo13

- Google Blends with Anything! Blended Learning with Google in the Classroom  - +Julie Millan

- Google Chromebook Implementation and Use - A View from 4 Levels: Board CIO, Principal, Teacher and Student Perspective - +Mark W. Carbone, +Andrew Bieronski, +Ed Doadt

- Supporting the Development of 21st Century Competencies: Letting Technology do the Dirty Work - +Steve Joordens

- How Technology Can Break Down The Walls of School - Andrew Campbell, +Jennifer Chan

- Leadership in the 21st Century - A Model for Change - Scott Johnson

- Professional Learning and Expression - Aaron Puley, Lisa Neale

Feel free to select any of the links above to learn more about the presentations. The sessions were all very engaging, informative, and motivating. They will prove to be helpful in one way or another to my practice moving forward. With respect to my portion of the TLLP, blended learning using the Chromebook, I am building my capacity in terms of how the device works and its Google Apps for Education (gafe) capabilities. Furthermore, I am deepening my learning about 21st Century teaching/learning and the use of technology to assist. There is nothing better than learning opportunities that motivate me and allow me to immerse myself fully.

Aside from the formal learning opportunities I referred to above, I had the privilege of meeting face-to-face with some of the people who are part of my professional learning networks (PLNs) on Twitter and Google+. I also added many new people to my networks who I met at #ecoo13.

Aviva Dunsiger (@avivaloca), Adele Stanfield (@adeletweets), Andrew Campbell (@acampbell99), and Jennifer Chan (@jennzia) sharing a laugh at lunch time at #ecoo13

My PLN's via Twitter and Google+ have proven to be valuable resources. These people engage in discussion about a variety of educational topics/issues, they provide support/guidance for each other, and are always willing to share. They are excellent communicators, collaborators, and life long learners. The four people pictured above have provided me with support at one point or another and I am grateful for their time, energy, and expertise. The great thing about the two social media sites I refer to are that they allow ME to choose when, where, and how I engage others around my learning and/or their learning. It has connected me to many gifted people. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I am fortunate to be part of a huge villages called Twitter and Google+!

If you are not on Twitter or Google+ I urge you to consider joining one or, even better, both sites. They are very powerful tools that will allow you to learn, share, and network with people locally and globally. As one of my teachers once said, these social networking services are

"...akin to a river. The water never stops flowing and you choose when to come to the river and how much water you will take away." - +Anthony Carabache 

If you are interested but have questions or reservations, please feel free to ask me. If I don't have the answers we can search them out together! I look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing you on Twitter and Google+.