I love the last two days before a break. Our summative assessment is finished. Our UOI is complete. Our math test has been marked and corrected. Finally an opportunity to explore 'other things'. It's often the time when inquiry that feels most genuine happens, because it's the one time where there 'is' time.

Yesterday, we used our free time to dissect a salmon. http://mulgravesalmon.posterous.com/our-salmon-dissection

Today we had one block wide open. First, the students had a chance to review the pictures our student-cameraman Eli took to document the dissection. Then they had a chance to comment about something interesting they learned or about questions or curiosities they still had.

Many of the students were surprised at the small size of the salmon's brain. Khayali wondered, 'if the size of your brain doesn't always affect your smartness, then what does?'

This led a group of them to begin debating what it means to be smart. Jed suggested, 'well, what if you compare how much knowledge a salmon has to what a human knows.'

'Humans can't sniff their way back to a stream they were born in, and humans don't have their own sonar' 'Yeah, except salmon can't use iPads'. 'Okay. But before like two years ago humans couldn't use iPads and they still couldn't sniff their way up a stream.'

At this point it was still a casual chat, so we decided to explore 'salmon knowledge' and 'human knowledge'. Here were some of the things we brainstormed:

Things Salmons Need to Know

-what food to eat

-what stream they're born in

-how to avoid predators

-how to get to the ocean

Things Prehistoric Humans Needed to Know

-how to kill animals to make warm clothes and eat

-how to make fine to keep themselves warm and protected

-how to make weapons

Things Modern Humans Know

-how to write

-how to drive

-how to get a job and work

-etc.

We talked about instinct vs. knowledge. How do salmons and humans know what to eat? (Is choosing groceries at Whole Foods different from eating insects in a stream?), and we talked about how what salmon need to know hasn't changed much over thousands of years; however, what humans need to know has changed rapidly. Sahra thought it was because we 'have gotten smarter and evolved and adapted to new things', others suggested 'technology has changed us and our environment has changed and has changed us.' Eli commented on how the organ systems in all animals work together 'like the parts of a train' to help them survive in their environment.

We also talked about other animals adapting to our changing environments (birds using traffic light signals to have cars break open their nuts, salmon sensing human pollutants in the ocean and avoiding them).

Then, it was off to the iPads. Some of the students wanted to research their questions (brain size and intelligence, or how salmon actually sniff their way back up a stream). This led us into more discussion about perspective, knowledge, and validity.

Lucy googled 'how do salmon find their way up a stream?' and began reading this article:

http://www.kitabosunnah.com/mir/wonderful-creatures/how-do-salmon-find-their-way.html

I was reading along with her, as we got to this part: "There is only one answer to these questions: Allah, the All-Knowing, created the salmon and the systems that enable them to find their way. Like all creatures, salmon act by the inspiration they receive from Allah and they manifest the Lord's excellent creation."

Salmon acting on inspiration from Allah was something new for us. We compared this with other sources discussing the structure of a salmon's nostils and the unique scent of each current. Because we have quite a few Ismaili students, we were able to learn about the Muslim faith, who Allah is, and how he is viewed as a spiritual God who created the features in each creature. We talked about what a website about salmon might say if it was written by someone who was Jewish, or by someone who was not religious at all. Some students brought up the difficulties of knowing which websites to visit "Which is the best?" "Some have different religions and perspectives. Which should we view?" It was worthwhile to have a discussion about reliable sources and multiple perspectives as it does influence our ability to navigate the world of research through our iPads. We have another day before the break to explore some of these ideas, before we move onto my favourite unit: Space...  looking forward to seeing where our inquiries will take us there!

At the beginning of the year, I came up with an idea to start home reading clips using our iPads. The basics are described here: http://asliceofthefuture.posterous.com/home-reading-clips or here: http://novemberlearning.com/brilliant-integration-of-the-ipad/

Since it is the end of Term Two, we took time today to refect on whether or not iPads are helping to improve our oral reading, and on how we can take our reading clip programme to the next level.

Here is part of Victoria's reflection. She has been reading above grade level texts since September; however, was focusing on improving her pace, projection, and expression.

September reading clip:

March reading clip:

Since it is inevitable (well, hopefully) that reading fluency will improve over the course of a grade level, the students focused specifically on how using the iPad to record their reading has helped (or not) them to improve. Here are some of their thoughts:

"I like when my classmates send me their reading clips, because then I get interested in what they're reading and want to read their books too" (instant book talks)

"They make me read out loud more often because otherwise I would just read in my head. I know I'm sending it to someone, so I have to practice expression."

Victoria: "Reading clips have helped us with our reading because when we record on our iPad and we don't have expression it sounds really blurry. If we put volume and expression in our voice, then the reading clips would sound more interesting."

All of these comments are true. The students send their clips to myself and a buddy, and so they do 'dress them up to impress'. They practice using expression and they often re-record their clip before sending if they aren't happy with how their reading sounds. The sometimes not-so-perceptive iPad microphone does not pick up quiet monotone voices well, and actually accentuates the muffledness. This encourages students to ensure they project their voices well and to add expression through key 'colour-words'.

There is always room for improvement in our programme. Here are some of the ideas the students came up with to improve how we use home reading clips.

Alyza - each month we could use the Pages app to write reading goals for ourselves. We can look at our goals when we do our reading clips and each month see how we improve.

Victoria - we can send our clips to more people in the classroom and have them email us comments on our reading (this may be helpful as I often only have time to comment on six or seven clips each set)

Sahra - we can turn it into Reader's Theatre. We can each have a part and combine them together (maybe a possibility through FaceTime or Skype)

Yash - we can make them a more social experience. We can share them with our parents and other adults and have a goal to work on from our parent and teacher.

Kaden - we can post a few on our blog each week and have people leave comments.

Overall, I do believe that the iPads have improved our students' oral reading fluency. Because of sample size it is not possible to determine a direct correlation; however, recording and transmission features have given students an avenue for practice, improving, and sharing feedback they did not have in the past. Incorporating specific goals and broadening the 'social experience' as some of the students suggested this morning are new aspects we can incorporate into the programme in Term Three. So far, so good.

 

 

No voice = Kahn teaches math in 3C today. Here's how the Grade Three Kahn experience played out. Granted, point of Kahn is not to have videos played at school with 16 students in front of a screen, but desperate times/desperate measures.

Didn't t tell the kids we were going to evaluate the video beforehand, just said "we're watching a video for our math lesson today", so responses throughout are fairly candid. First time watching a whole video, so was interested to see what the reception would be. The students in the classroom for the block were groups meeting/exceeding expecations at grade level. 

Video - http://www.khanacademy.org/video/subtraction-3---introduction-to-borrowing-or-regrouping?topic=addition-subtraction

Subtraction 3: Introduction to borrowing or regrouping. 18 min 57 sec.

Lights dim. Kahn begins.

Writes a question. Ten hands shoot up in the air. Give them a quizzical look - 'you know he's not watching you, right?'

Thirty seconds later, another question. Eight hands shoot up. Another bewildered look. Think they get the point... no more hands. Lack of mutual interaction with 'the Kahn' an issue.

Minute two. Lucy - "This is SO cool. It's like there's a person right in the room with us!" Few others smile and agree.

"That makes sense now!"

Hmm... maybe he's onto something...

Minute five. Criss-cross apple-sauce turns to stomachs on floor. Lying on floor during a lesson usually a no-go, but the show's just beginning, so let's get comfy. 

Intro is fairly straightforward, three-dig regrouping begins.

Picks a problem where you can't borrow from tens, and must go to hundreds. Solves question four different ways. Three ways make sense, final method a bit 'out there'. 

Lucy's "This is SO cool" turns to sighs each time the same question appears again. Kids look at me hesitantly so see if they're allowed to sigh. No reaction. Sighs progressively a bit more audible. 

Jenny - "Doesn't he know this is too easy for us?".

"Well, no, he doesn't know you."

18 min 57 sec later... 'the Kahn' concludes. Prompt flashes with a 'replay' button and the proverbial thumbs up, LIKE button. 16 voices shout out in unison "DON'T PRESS LIKE!!!!!!"

Someone whispers, "He should have taught us how to subtract in the ten thousands, because that felt like ten thousand hours!"

"I'm curious, what did you think about the video?"

Sahra: "Wait. Won't we hurt his feelings if we say what we thought honestly. Can you not use our names?"

Another student, "Yes! Because won't he find out what we think? So maybe we should be nice. Do you know him?"

Reassure them that Mr. Kahn will not see, that I do not know him, that names won't be used. Rest of the responses...

"He gave us many different ways to solve it, so that was good"

"I thought it was good for some problems. But then for other methods I wasn't used to, I could understand what he was doing at the beginning, and then he didn't explain himself in the middle and I got lost, and then at the end he wrote down the answer, but because I got lost in the middle, I didn't learn anything from seeing the answer, so the answer didn't matter."

"I have two comments. My comment one: it was very, very long. My comment two: actually. I don't remember my comment two because it was so long"

"It has to be WAY more challenging. He kept explaining the same question three or four times."

"It was kinda boring because we already knew it after one question. It could have been one minute, not eighteen."

"My headache began at 7 minutes and 34 seconds, so then I decided to practice subtraction by seeing how many minutes were left in the video until I could get a drink".

 

I don't think we reached any verdict other than that the Kahn academy does not work well for a mass audience of students with different ability levels (which was never its intent). Or, that 18 minutes without being able to actively participate in a lesson is a long time for eight year olds who are used to having whiteboards or iPads on the carpet with them during whole group lessons. I don't think Sal's 'one man show' is the revolutionary answer to education some are suggesting, but haven't ruled the videos out altogether for differentiating or for having absent students catch up on concepts. 

Anyway, 3C classroom Kahn experience #1 done and dusted.

 

As a PYP classroom, we spend a lot of time talking about the action cycle and what we are going to do with our Unit of Inquiry learning. Some of our classroom projects have included salmon raising and participating in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Smaller groups of students have initiated action projects including reading and writing with Grade One students during E.R.I.C, recycling, and helping out at intramurals. To give us a broader perspective on the action cycle, we have decided to write postcards to a number of PYP schools around the globe to find out how different classes in different countries are taking action. If you are interested in exchanging a postcard (PYP school or not), please write to us at

3C Mulgrave School

2330 Cypress Bowl Lane

West Vancouver, B.C, Canada

V7S 3H9

We would love to send you a postcard back. You can also check us out at http://www.the3clife.posterous.com Here are some of our cards in progress:

p.s. the idea for our project came from http://hawesps.posterous.com/postcard-swaps (the postcard above is headed your way!)

The halls of Mulgrave were humming, and energy was abuzz on Friday as we co-hosted the first collaboratively designed ISABC conference. Brad Ovenell-Carter (@braddo) and his team created a memorable day, and the efforts his IT crew made to produce one of the most interactive and interconnected pro-d  experiences to date were remarked upon by so many educators in the building. Shauna and I missed our first session to prepare for our afternoon iPad workshop and it was fascinating to follow each different workshop and the conversations happening within through twitter and google docs. At one point, #isabcpd12 was the number one trending topic in Vancouver - looking forward to next year already!

 

Here is a copy of the presentation we made together. Huge thanks to Shauna for figuring out how to get it online through much trial and error - would have taken me til Easter!

And here is the google doc set up to go along with the pres. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ISl8JG5BRy_hOwQB8KX3ZdRPkwCwHBAu5DEwikBe-1A/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1 

We just started our Unit of Inquiry on Canada, and are working with Brad Ovenell-Carter on a Canadian Photo collaboration. On Wednesday this week (or Friday, if you're in 3C and you cheat!) different classes in different provinces all went outside to take photographs showing a sense of place. The plan is to compile our photographs into short photo books and share them with students across the country to have a true picture of a day in the life of Canada.

Here are the kids taking shots of the Pacific from our library balcony:

And here are some of the west coast iPad photos they captured on our school grounds.

 

 

 

Freedom

When Shauna and I received our iPads, it went something like this. Here's the iPad. Here's an iTunes giftcard. Go. I hadn't touched an Apple since the Macintosh 128ks in my elementary school in the early 90's, but there was no need for a pro-D workshop, or a standard list of apps, etc. because the iPads really ARE that intuitive and user friendly. I've been reading a couple roll-out blogs from schools, and it's disheartening to hear so many Ed. Tech. directors say things along the lines of 'I wanted to save my teachers the hassle, so I looked up a list of the top 100 apps for education and installed them onto all of the iPads in the school.' Great intentions, but so much of the fun and excitement came from discovering, creating, and sharing with no mandated direction.

Here's a blog post from our principal about how the recent roll-out to the rest of the Junior School went yesterday... http://karynmitchell.posterous.com/ We're incredibly lucky to have the IT freedom both Karyn and Brad O-C have allowed us, and I hope this is how we continue approaching technology in our classrooms. I think as long as key learning outcomes continue to be met, use of technology should be relatively personalised for teachers.

Flexibility and the Home Connection

Having the opportunity to discover, create, customize, and share is equally as important for students as it is for teachers. Our school is fortunate in that each student's iPad has been purchased by the family who is also responsible for covering the cost of applications (so far, quite low). The students enjoyed having freedom from the get-go and were chatting about choosing their cases and wallpaper on the first day of school. The ability to take their iPads to and from school has also been tremendously valuable. We send out a list of apps we need them to have, and they have the freedom to search and install any others they are interested in. The flexibility this gives families is important because they can choose applications to suit their child's needs (eBooks at their childs reading level, educational games for younger siblings, etc.). It also means that learning does not stop at 3:15 because students are still connected to their classmates and to their schoolwork. The interest and engagement students have shown in our UOIs has increased ten-fold and many students, who I suspect would not be otherwise, are finding relevant information and sharing it in various formats electronically. I think having an iPad home connection could work in cases where iPads are purchased by the school as well.

Assimilation

At the beginning of the year we were a bit worried about what tech. balance would look like. We were worried some parents might feel we weren't using the iPads enough after spending 500$, and we were worried others might feel we were using them too much. This led to some planned 'iPad time' in our schedules as well as some "Take out your iPad, we're going to do _____________ right now." For the first few weeks this was somewhat necessary as there were certain skills (email use, configuration, movie/document creation) that did need to be explicitly demonstrated. It was a lot more efficient to walk them through email set-up and procedures step-by-step rather than saying 'go explore email'. Now those times are fewer and farther between as the iPads have become assimilated into the learning process. Students don't feel they need to ask 'can I use my iPad for ____________'. They just do it. Here's a quick example of what this looks like now:

Yesterday we started our summative assessment for structures. Each group was given a chance to research and choose a model to base their structure on. The bridge group was meeting in the corner, where two students had iPads out searching the web for bridges around the world while the other two students had books. After school, Sahra found a picture of their group's bridge online, saved it into her photo roll, imported it into an app (Draw4Free maybe), labeled some ideas for materials and emailed it to Taka, Aleksei, and Gabi, her group members, and myself.

Gabi made a subsequent diagram which she shared after school, and then Taka sent Sahra the following email cc-ing myself and the rest of his group members. The amount of 'disguised' writing over email has been impressive, and it is nice to see them (mostly) try to be aware of punctuation, spelling, and letter writing etiquette online. 

When the bridge group met back at school today, they were quickly able to compile their ideas into their final blueprint:

 

The great thing is that throughout the whole process, I didn't mention the word iPad once. When it helps, they use it, and when it doesn't, they don't. I told them if they happened to find anything interesting at home, they should share it with their group, and they now have the freedom to interpret share the way they wish. Telling a friend the next day, drawing a diagram, sending an email, making a phone call. Whatever works best. It hasn't taken long to get to this point even with eight year olds, and I can't wait to see the future successes as our Junior School iPad programme begins to expand. Such an exciting time to be in education!

Parent engagement is one of the key factors in a child's success at school. We are fortunate to have a wide range of expertise in our parent community, and I think we need to capitalize on this a litte more. Here are a few of the ways we are trying to integrate parents, not only as school volunteers, but also as educators.

Parents Commenting on Blogs

Getting parents onto our class blog the past week has been very exciting for the kids. Our parents include two engineers, a commercial building flipper, and a solar panelist. The authentic advice they can provide the students with for our structures unit is more valuable than advice from myself or a book as it is coming from people who are both knowledgeable and successful in the industry. Here Nicholas's dad, a mining engineer, talks about the connection between imagination and design. The Threes were also very excited to point out the interest that Gabi and Jed's moms were taking in our learning.  Getting parent blog comments may have involved bribing the kids with extra newspaper rolls for their structures, but so far has been well worth it!

Parents as Participants

Two days ago we had our annual building challenge day. The last three years the project has been kids-only with parents invited to view the projects at the end of the day. This year I thought it would be neat if we invited parents in to complete the challenge with their children. While some structures may have been 'taken over' by our eager parents, I think the learning that resulted from building with the 14 parents was enhanced. The Threes will have an opportunity to build their own structures after the holidays and will be able to use what they learned from our parent experts, not only about structural integrity and design, but also about how to communicate effectively and work as a team.

http://the3clife.posterous.com/3c-building-challenge-day-the-sky-not-the-cei

And aside from engineering expertise, how fun is it for eight year olds to help their dads remove school ceiling tiles in order to build past the roof and win the coveted 'tallest skyscraper' award? Definitely made for a talked-about experience

Parent Connections Google Doc

Before the school year started, we filled out a 'Wouldn't it be nice...' brainstorm. I thought it would be incredible if we had a bank of parent guest speaker and field trip resources for each UOI K-6, but wasn't quite sure how to go about doing it. Luckily Brad's suggestion of Google Doc forms did the trick. Last week a community connections survey went out to each parent in the Junior School. The number of responses wasn't huge (so far <15), but there may be some valuable links for grade levels. Here is a screenshot of the first response coming in collated in a Google Doc spreadsheet (this tool is amazing!):

 

Last year our PYP coordinator lent me a narrative written by a teacher renowned for sparking social action in her primary class. The book was a bit hyper-socialist, but the one thing that really hit home was the importance of authentic connections to community experts in the form of guest speakers and field trips rather than the costly and somewhat artificial trips to Science World or the Planetarium. Hopefully we are headed in the right direction and can begin using our parent experts as educators in the classroom.

Today our minds were collectively blown by google doc forms. One tool I think we jumped on the bandwagon a little late, as the potential and user-ease is incredible. A little late to the game, but better late than never. Here's how our morning went:

Our current Unit of Inquiry is on structures - along with space, it is usually top for student enjoyment and engagement. Our unit where doors stay closed as catastrophic explosions of appliance boxes, newspaper, duct tape, and other building paraphenalia occur daily. Love it though.

This morning we were hungry for a little PBL and went for a hike in the forest across the lane. The land is owned by the city and crosses a small but gushing stream. To get to the trails we sloshed through the stream, trying but not quite succeeding to balance on the rocks. The problem: "My feet are SOAKED on my birthday!" Khayali. (... though for others this maybe wasn't such a problem: "AWESOME! My feet are SO wet!": Eli).

After a stroll through the woods, we had a chat about structures being built for a purpose and about using what is in your environment to improve your shelter, transportation, etc. Some of the kids brought up connections to the Aboriginals and the different ways they would have crossed from West Van to the rest of the Lower Mainland contrary to how we now cross (cheers for the Lion's Gate).

The actual 'solution' was supposed to be theoretical and back in the classroom, but a few keen bridge builders convinced the rest of us to use materials in the forest to construct a make shift bridge. The iPads and owners among us decided to record some of the action.

Here's Yash deciding which materials DON'T make good bridges...

Some 3C teamwork in action...

 

And here are lead engineers Lucy and Eli guiding the construction workers.

(Edit: forgot the test. Yes, we tested the weight load it would bear, and success - no wet feet. Maaaybe not the most stable but we're amateurs...)

After our forest expedition (and a dozen shoe, pant, and kilt changes) we broke out the reading comp, and the amazing (can't believe we didn't figure this out before) google doc. forms. Our Ed Tech. guru, Brad Ovenell-Carter, mentioned the use of google doc forms for a parent survey I made a few weeks ago, but this was the first time we got to test them out in action.

For the un-google doc-savvy. Super easy. Gmail account. Documents. Create form. Input questions (short answer, long answer, graphing, multiple choice, anything). Email out.

Here is what it looks like when the students receive the form via email (and they don't need gmail accounts, a school account is just fine).

And a group of bridge readers

And here is the cool part. Did not expect this when quickly whipping off the document this morning, but amazing. I can pull up the spreadsheet on my computer and see exactly what is going on in the classroom. I can watch as each group types as they are typing , see which groups are on task and on track, and when errors are made I can call the groups over and discuss immediately. Instant assessment exactly when it happens. Had the kids had gmail accounts more collaborative features would be available, but for us right now, this is super.

This is a screen shot after about six or seven minutes. Right away I could see two groups misunderstood the question about engineers. Next time I'll know to put the group names as the first question so I know who they are initially.

Here's the almost-finished compilation.

You can also see where edits were made and the timestamp for each question. There may not be as many stickered and stamped worksheets going home, but being able to see 140 reponses on one spreadsheet rather than 20 different pieces of paper and being able to assess immediately rather than at home or during specialists are invaluable time savers.

And finally, some early finishers putting learning into K'Nex-action: