Author Archives: amanda gill

Engaging, Collaboration & Differentiation

For my interview, I interviewed “Cindy” . Cindy has been teaching for 13 years. The interview took place on Sunday January 21, 2018 at Cindy’s residence. Three keywords that stood out during the interview were: Engaging, Collaboration and Differentiation.

Engaging:

Cindy describes using technology as a powerful and engaging tool. “It’s an engaging tool that allows students to gain 21st century skills to make inquiries into their own lives.”  Cindy has enjoyed using iPads and mobile devices with her class over the years as the students were excited to learn and take charge of their own learning. For example, Cindy now teaches Science as part of her new role as a Vice Principal and describes how engaging the Science Discovery Ed online textbook is. Cindy describes the online resource as “very interactive” and “great for English Language Learners as there are many visuals and links for students to explore.”

Collaboration:

Cindy believes that all staff “should collaborate in regular professional development together” as this helps to “foster a climate of sharing within the staff”. Cindy mentions that this can be achieved by having monthly lunchtime meetings where staff shares how they are incorporating technology within their practice as this helps to inspire others. Cindy discussed how using FreshGrade, an online digital portfolio for communicating student learning has opened the doors for collaboration as it allows teachers, students and parents to collaborate together and creates an ongoing dialogue. Cindy also strongly believes that workshops and opportunities should be available for teachers to attend and collaborate during school hours.

Differentiation:

Cindy also discussed the importance of using technology to support “at-risk” learners and how by using technology, we can differentiate to meet all student needs. Cindy discussed how the iPad itself has many built in accessibility features that support student learning. One feature being text to speech, which assists students who have difficulty reading but have great receptive skills can just highlight the text and it will read it to them. Cindy also described using an app called “iReadWrite” which is similar to a word processor and has word prediction for students to assist them with their writing assignments.

Practice time is essential!

In my previous post I mentioned that effective use of technology in math and science should be used to enhance student learning and not be used to keep students “busy”. There should be specific objectives and a purpose for why technology is being used within the classroom.

Watching Teacher S in Learning Environment 5, she demonstrated an effective use of technology. She was very comfortable using it and mentioned that her class is “part of a team”. They are able to work together effectively and obtain good results and demonstrate their understanding. The students work together as part of project based learning which creates opportunities for collaboration and creativity. Teacher S also mentioned that her students are “tech savy” and typically troubleshoot and figure things out. She mentioned that a challenge is the language barrier with ELL students, but with using technology this helps to break this barrier. The students were excited and showed great interest and pride in their learning.

The retiring teacher discussed how she gets “extremely frustrated”, “doesn’t have knowledge” and “doesn’t have time to use the computer”. She mentions that her students know what they are doing and she often relies on them to teach and help each other. She mentions that she isn’t comfortable and requires time to practice. In my previous post, I discussed how professional development is great for educators to attend, but most require time to practice and explore. Thinking about myself, I find that I attend amazing professional development opportunities but don’t have time to practice/explore and I am very comfortable using technology, so I can completely understand how this teacher felt. An example from my work is one of my colleagues was close to retiring when our team was involved in an iPad inquiry project. She shared the same views as the retiring teacher. What really helped was our team would plan weekly lunch collaborative meetings to teach her and let her explore so she could learn and ask questions. The new teacher in the video also discusses how she collaborates with her classroom neighbour when she chooses to integrate technology. She also finds there isn’t enough time to practice and believes the teachers should receive training in pre-service courses. At our school we have had weekly “tech” lunches where teachers can drop by and share how they are using and integrating technology within their class and it’s an opportunity for educators to collaborate and practice.

In Case 8 (Learning Environment with Teacher E) it was great to see how the pre-service teachers were practicing with Slowmation and learning the value of it for students when comparing it to a textbook. They mentioned that it’s engaging for learners, visually appealing and works well for including ELL students.

I believe schools should collectively work together so everyone is comfortable using and integrating technology within their practice as we know it has value-added. I believe it can be a simple as a weekly drop-in lunch sessions where educators practice, share and collaborate. It worked well at my school and was supported by admin.

Unpacking Assumptions

Using educational technology can enhance the learning in the classroom. Technology should be used to enhance learning and not be used just to keep students “busy”. There should be a specific objectives and a purpose for why technology is being used within the classroom. I often refer to Bates’ SECTIONS model when integrating technology within my class.

Since I specialize in teaching numeracy, I often integrate technology for teaching math. For example, I create interactive lessons using Nearpod. This creates engaging and interactive lessons for the students. By using this method of teaching lessons, I am able to track student progress as their answers get saved and documented. We are also able to share answers with each other as other students answers can be shared on devices (which the teacher controls) so all students can see how different students solve differently and collaborate. This is extremely helpful in numeracy as students all have different ways of solving math questions. From here, this work can then be posted on FreshGrade (online digital portfolio) which our school and district uses for reporting and staff, parents and students can reflect on the learning. My students also enjoy having access to virtual manipulatives and numeracy apps which allows them to further enhance their skills. Many of my older students enjoy watching tutorial videos on Khan Academy to review math concepts that they require more repetition with.

Using and integrating technology is definitely realistic. Many of the classrooms in my school have flexible learning environments where there is always access to technology. The biggest challenges with using technology is that sometimes it is not reliable. Further, having equal access to technology to use within the classroom is difficult. Other challenges also include students not knowing how to use the technology while other students have strong digital literacy skills. Teachers comfort level with using and implementing technology can also be a challenge. Opportunities for professional development for educators to explore technology is essential, especially for seasoned professionals who are more traditional with their teaching practice and may not be comfortable with using and integrating technology within their practice.

Misconceptions among students

In the video A Private Universe, we are introduced to a young student Heather, who is considered by her classroom teacher to be very bright, above other students, ranked 9 out of 10 on a scale, and expected to know the answer to the questions asked.  Heather’s teacher was surprised and mentioned that she “assumed they (students) already have the basics”. Driver, Guesne & Tiberghien (1985), mention how students have stable ideas and “students have not modified their ideas in spite of attempts by a teacher to challenge them by offering counter-evidence” (p. 3). Similarly, Burgoon, Heddle & Duran (2011), mention that “students tend to cling to their own conceptions even after experiencing events that directly challenge those conceptions” (pg. 102). This was seen in the video. To help correct Heather’s misconceptions, the classroom teacher gives direct instruction to target the areas of need. Even after direct teaching, Heather still has difficulty understanding direct and indirect light and held on to her theories.

Looking at my experience with teaching concepts whether in numeracy or in science, I find it beneficial to begin with a diagnostic to determine where my students are at, what basics skills do they possess before teaching concepts and what ideas they have formulated. Driver, Guesne & Tiberghien (1985), state that “the child, even when very young, has ideas about things, and these ideas play a role in the learning experiences” (pg. 4). Some of the programs I use include Pre-Diagnostic Before Module Assessments, a Mid-Assessment Check-Up, and lastly an End of Module Assessment to determine what growth the student made. Burgoon, Heddle & Duran (2011), state that, “if teachers are unware of the misconceptions held by their students and/or have misconceptions themselves, teachers may unknowingly reinforce new misconceptions” (p. 103). Additionally, I enjoy using Know-Wonder-Learn charts where students can indicate what they already know about the topic, what questions they have and after completing the unit, they write down information they know. This is a great tool for teachers to assess which specific area(s) further instruction needs to be directed.

It’s essential that we teach and provide various strategies for our students to learn concepts. This may include incorporating technology, using manipulatives, bringing in guest speakers, going on field studies etc., so students can use these strategies and various experiences and apply it to the concepts they are learning. Further integrating technology in the classroom has become very useful, as students can access tutorial videos or do further practice on their own time to reinforce concepts taught.

Burgoon, J.N., Heddle, M.L., Duran, E. (2011). Re-examining the similarities between teacher and student conceptions about physical science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 22(2), 101-114. DOI: 10.1007/s10972-010-9196-x

Confrey, J. (1990). A review of the research on student conceptions in mathematics, science, and programming. Review of research in education, 16, 3-56. http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1167350

Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien, A. (1985). Children’s ideas and the learning of science. Children’s ideas in science, 1-9.

First Online Class Science 10

 

When I was in high school, I took my very first online learning class in 2004 (at the time I didn’t know it was optional). Our teacher was piloting a Science 10 course online which was a first in the Surrey School District at that time. Even though we had a teacher (who played a facilitator role), we were given laptops to use and were using WebCT as our platform. I remember thinking how odd this was as I was used to traditional teaching and online learning was rare at that time.  The course was mostly self-directed and we worked through modules and experiments with our desk groups. It was a great learning experience. I used how to use WebCT, we learned how to post on the discussion board and work through modules. Our class loved using the email system through WebCT which we realized after the course our teacher could read all our messages! The funniest moment for us was when our teacher thanked us for being part of this pilot project and for not choosing to leave (we didn’t even know this was an option, we thought this was how the class was) as he was one of the main developers for Surrey Connect at that time. I was very thankful I had this learning experience as when I got to UBC for my undergrad, many of the courses used WebCT so I was very familiar and comfortable with the platform.

Hello from Surrey BC!

Hello everyone!

My name is Amanda and I’m from Surrey British Columbia! I teach with the Surrey School District as a Learning Support Specialist Teacher and have been teaching for 7 years! I currently teach intensive Math to students in Grades 5-7 who struggle in this area. Some of my students have designated Learning Disabilities in Math and work on  Individual Education Plans while some students require intensive intervention to bridge the gap by using specialized programs.

I am currently taking my 7th and 8th courses and can’t believe that I’m almost done my MET journey! I’ve completed ETEC 511, 500, 565A, 565G, 512 and 531 so far!

I am looking forward to learning more about using technology in Math and Science and also about STEM.

I enjoy living an active lifestyle! I love running and playing sports. I love basketball and am a huge NBA fan. I definitely miss the Vancouver Grizzlies and hope one day we can have a team back in Vancouver again!

 

Looking forward to learning and working with everyone!