Tableaus and Technology: A New Twist On An Old Idea

Tableaus are something I've been using with Lit Circle units for a while.  The idea comes from Faye Brownlie's book "Grand Conversations" (an awesome resource if you want to try Lit Circles in class). Tableaus are frozen scenes  (like capturing a still shot in a movie). Students re-create a frozen scene from the novel they are reading that captures a key theme in that novel. In the past I have had students present their tableaus in front of the class, but this year I was short on time, and the novels are also testable material on the provincial exam (for English First Peoples) so I wanted something more permanent that the students could go back to for studying purposes. 

Enter "Thinglink"- a web based program that lets you upload photos and then add interactive links such as text, video or audio. Instead of presenting the tableau in front of the class, each group (or set of partners) took a photo of their scene, uploaded it and typed in the explanations of the various elements of the scene. If you hover over the dots on the scene below you can see the explanation of the scene, the theme it represents etc. In the case of tableaus, "Thinglink" is very effective because it allows the students to add unlimited text without wrecking the picture- (where a program such as "comic life" would not be as effective because it leaves so little room for text). This program allowed me to keep all the benefits of tableaus (movement, visualization, creativity, collaboration) and let students record the information more effectively for long term memory and sharing purposes. I think this is a program that could work well in many different subject areas. If I really wanted students to present in front of the class, it could also become an option for students who were extremely shy and needed an alternative method of presentation.



For examples of traditional tableaus done in a Social Studies 9 class click on this post.

Here is an OUTLINE SHEET that students use to organize their ideas before they are allowed to use the cameras.

You are the Reason We are Here!

I love to go visit classrooms and see what teachers are doing.  Just before Spring Break I was in Lindsay Guza’s grade 7 classroom.  I loved the message on the door.  Her philosophy was very evident to everyone.  You are EXPLORERS!  That paints a picture of what learning will be like when I enter here!  You are respected, important and a role model, inquisitive, valued... and you matter.  And the last sentence… You are the reason we are here!

Knowing how much it matters that students know their teachers like them, value them and have confidence in them, makes this door a very important message.

There were other things in the room that struck me.  Lindsay shared some of the things she is doing that are hands-on and thoughtful.  She is trying to make learning more interesting and connected with kids lives.  Here is an activity that she described:

VENN DIAGRAM on

ELECTRICITY

   "I gave kids sticky notes and they had to write down information they knew about current electricity, static electricity, and atoms of electricity in general.  Then I asked them to come up and place them in the Venn diagram where they thought they went.  If they weren’t sure they placed them on the outside of the Venn diagram.  Then as a class we went through all the ones on the outside and tried to see if they were in fact part of electricity and needed to be in the Venn diagram or if they could stay on the outside.

I also went around with pink sticky notes as the kids were working. I gave them to a few of the kids who I thought needed more challenge; these sticky notes had words that I thought were more difficult to place on the Venn diagram."  She described the activity as a great way to review the concepts, check for understanding and challenge thinking.

blog posted by Judith King with permission from Lindsay Guza

Professional Learning - Making Connections

I have recently become a “twitterer”… and I am amazed at how that one  small step has opened up a new world to me.  I pick up my ipad when I  am too tired to do anything else, and the next thing I know I am  skimming articles about innovation, assessment for learning,  creativity, inclusion, belonging … or I am seeing pictures of classrooms trying something new, or reading quotes.  It is great professional learning for me, and I am sometimes amazed at how interesting it is just to reflect and think and make connections to all of the work I am involved in.

Through a Different Lens is a project about innovation, creativity, relationships, and reflection on our own practice.  It is about our growth as educators and the growth of our students.  The project itself is school based, but many things happening in the district and in the province are connected so closely with the work that we are doing.

In the next two weeks alone we have some great opportunities for all staff in the district that teachers in TADL might like to take advantage of as they are all part of innovation, creativity, relationships and reflection.

Edcamp Penticton:  our very first edcamp Thursday, Feb. 20, 3:30-6:00 at Pen High, where anyone interested will meet for a few hours and share / facilitate sessions on current thinking:  assessment, behaviour, creativity, increasing dialogue . . . It will be a very worthwhile time in terms of content, but also interesting for educators to be exposed to a different way of sharing knowledge than the usual workshop format.  Come ready to participate.  (register www.edcamp67.blogspot.ca and if it’s already Thursday try just coming!)

Aboriginal book and video gathering, the 3rd session for this year:  We will be meeting to watch a NFB film called "we were children" - a Canadian film on residential schools, at the Maggie library on Tuesday, March 4, from 3:30-5:30.  The book club connects so closely with TADL and our work in school completion.  Our book club is exposing all of us to First Nations culture and issues through literature and film.  It is giving the adults in the district a safe place to talk and learn so that we in turn can work with our students.  (register atenning@summer.com or jking@summer.com or nsearcy@summer.com)

If you are looking for professional development on innovation, creativity, inclusion, belonging, creating cultures where everyone belongs - please join us at one or both of these events.

Post courtesy of Judith King

A Steaming Styrofoam Cup of Social Studies

Socials 11 is hard. It is course crammed with material and can at sometimes seem like a labyrinth. Like the famed labyrinth, there is also a minotaur waiting in the tunnel; the minotaur is of course, the government exam.

A coworker gave me an idea quite some time ago to help students study, while at the same time building classroom community and I was excited to try it out. I chose my 1920s/1930s  test, since students have typically found it to be challenging due to the breadth and depth of material contained in the unit.

Students were each given a styrofoam cup. They were told that they could bring the cup into the test as a study aid. They could write whatever they wanted on it and then, during the test, I would give them hot chocolate to put in the cup.

Some students wrote on the outside of the cup in microprint; other cut the cup up and wrote on both sides (a few who did this, also brought their own cup so as not to miss out on the hot chocolate.) Two or three students did not opt to use the cups at all.

Ultimately, the test results were higher than other years and fewer students asked for a re-test. However, anecdotally speaking, it was interesting to see that many students seldom seemed to look at their cups during the test. My ploy had worked - they had worked so hard to condense their material that they had in essence memorized it and the cup was simply there as more of a security blanket.

Interestingly, I found that in the two days prior to the test, students asked a lot more clarification questions because they had been actively reading their notes, chapter questions and reviewing. As a result, they were more knowledgeable and more prepared.

I know some teachers would scoff at the idea of a "Cheat sheet." However, if my philosophy is that I want students to learn the material, know it, synthesize it and retain it, then does it really matter how they come to that?  Would it be better to have them not do the cup, not learn the material and not do well on the test? I can think of one student in particular who hugely benefited from this form of studying and he was delighted to receive his highest mark on a test yet!

Anyhow, a neat new item to add to my repertoire and I will certainly choose to use it again for both its effectiveness and for its novelty.

Below is a video showing student examples of the cup along with a voiceover explaining what is going on.



Post courtesy of Jeff Fitton

Tell Me What You're Really Thinking… The "Ticket" Out

When a lesson comes to an end, and students gather up their things and head on out the door, there are days when I ask myself, Did they really get the lesson? What happened there? The hectic nature of an hour (or even two, if you are lucky to have the class for two subjects) with middle schoolers can leave any teacher with a little uncertainty as to how much the students are really engaging and really learning. One tool that I have found to be effective is the "ticket out the door". This is a quick formative assessment that can give a teacher some feedback on just about anything they want to know. One that I used recently was "Reflection on My Writing"- The questions were "What am I doing well at?" and "What do I need to work on?" This not only assessed what the students were thinking in terms of their writing, but also how they were doing with the language of writing. I wanted to know if they were able to recognize and use 6 Traits language such as conventions, transitions, style, detail, organization. Some students were able to express their strengths and next steps using the language, others said things like, "I wrote a whole page", or "I write good ending sentences". There was one student who wrote "nothing" as his strength - which clearly reflected his low engagement and therefore low confidence in writing- a good heads up for me. 

In my experience, the "ticket out" is a good way to invest the last 5 minutes or so of class. It provides a reflective closure for the students, gives me some quick feedback, and provides a good starting point for the next day. Once the practice is in place, and students become comfortable with it, the "truth" really surfaces and the feedback, although not always rosy, is invaluable.

Post courtesy of Andrea Devito

Developing a Framework for Inclusion Within Math 8

This year I have the opportunity to work with Pam Rutten in her Math 8 class.  The focus of this co-teaching is to attempt to provide access to the curriculum for all learners with a specific focus on "grey area" students.

Pam and I have jumped in to this experience wholeheartedly using a predominantly 'organic' approach.  Having a trusting and cooperative professional relationship is really the core of our approach thus far.  So far, Pam and I have co-planned, shared philosophical and technical teaching ideas.  Moving forward our goal is to spend more time 'structuring' our co-teaching time with student achievement in mind.

These are a few examples of what you would see if you wandered into Pam's class during our co-teaching time:

• Readiness Level Small Group Instruction
• Team Teaching (Pam and I teaching the same concept together.)
• Examples of different approaches (Pam teaching examples of how to add fractions followed by a demonstration of manipulatives from me)

We are in our fledgling phase of this process and I hope to add more ideas to this blog as we learn together.

Post courtesy of Nick Korvin

Trying Something New: Students Become the Experts

 Over the course of the last few years I have been trying to figure out different ways to teach and engage students on the topic of Confederation. I know, I know, it is a fascinating topic! But an important one for understanding the framework of our government and social problems in Canada.

 So, this semester I decided to break the info into the terms of the PLOs and make expert groups (four groups; Social, Political, Economic and Geographical reasons for Confederation). I had the groups stay together for about a week and become real "experts" on their topic.  They did every task for the week in these groups (note taking from text, note taking from power points/teacher "lecture", answering questions and class discussions).  This had an interesting effect as they built a new sense of community and ownership, as well as accountability to the group.

 I then took the four groups and made new groups with one member from each of the above groups going to form the new group which represented a colony of Canada. Then they compiled new notes for their colony based on their understanding of social, political, economic and geographical reasons for Confederation.

Finally,  the Colony groups had to make an advertising campaign to influence the delegates of the Charlottetown Conference (our class) to allow their colony to join Confederation. There were a variety of choices from rap, to poetry, to speeches to posters. As you can see from the video they really bought into this and I got a variety of presentation types. Looking at this process before the unit test and before the unit assignment (a written speech) I feel like they found it more interesting, felt it was a more effective use of time, it allowed more variety with more discussions and ultimately more learning!



Post courtesy of Christy Bevington

Fraction Smoothies with Seniors

Well last year I did baking with fractions, click here for the muffin recipe and fraction activity (these are sweet muffins).  You don't have to do the baking part if you do not have access to a kitchen with your class; however, everything is better with food and the kids loved it.  We had so many muffins after each group made a batch of 12-24 muffins that we decided to share them with other classes and the Summerland senior community.  My class visits a group of seniors at the Summerland Senior Village every 3 weeks and our next visit was just a couple of days away from when the students completed this baking activity.  Of course we brought muffins and enjoyed them over good conversations with the seniors.

This year my goal for our senior buddy visits was to incorporate fun curriculum based activities with the seniors.  Of course the baking with fractions activity came to mind, which would involve curriculum, a lot of fun, and something to eat over conversing with seniors.  We invited the seniors to come to our Home Ec kitchen, which has 6 stoves and all the supplies for a class to bake a batch of muffins.  However, the seniors wanted to be at their facility in the comfort of their home environment.  Of course we adjusted, but this meant that we would only have 1 oven to use at their facility.  Not the best situation with a class of 26 and 13 extra seniors!!!!  Muffins were out and an easier recipe, using the same concept, was used.  Thank you, Lana Manuel for your recipe and adaptations to make this work in one block and limited ovens.

Well, we packed 10 blenders and the ingredients needed for smoothies to the Summerland Senior Village country kitchen.  It was fabulous!!!  Some of the student/senior conversations were interrupted with the sounds of blenders going, but boy did they taste great!!!  Some of the seniors mentioned that they had never tried a smoothie before and now they really like them.  Funny how all of the students had tried a smoothie and some of them have them on a regular basis.

Below are some pictures of this activity.

Post courtesy of Jessa Arcuri