Reflecting on Edmodo in Classroom

In February 2011 - I believe I read about edmodo on twitter – I get a lot of good ideas there. I investigated and I found an interface that I believed that students would find easy and convenient to adopt into our classroom learning community. Until then I had been making use of various wikis to accomplish a “blended” learning approach. Edmodo has the distinct advantage of privacy, membership and invitational structure. Together the students and I decided to experiment with edmodo. All of the students signed up using the group code. Many of the students downloaded the edmodo app onto their ipods.

Because it was an “experiment” I did not have any expectations. I was pleasantly surprised!

I was able to post folders with many links, interactive activities, and documents that my students could access. I was able to send individual feedback to students and they were able to respond privately also. Using the poll function, I was able to gather some “assessment for learning” data. As a teacher, I was excited to be able to give so many differentiated opportunities for my students to explore at home.

Students were excited to be able to access our pdf interactive whiteboard lessons at home so that they could focus in class on listening and actively participating in the discussion. They enjoyed the convenience of getting class announcements through their ipods. Some students even posted questions in the evening for extra help – and if I was available I replied. A portfolio assignment allowed them to make use of the edmodo platform to share their work not only with the teacher but with their classmates. It was particularly exciting to find that many web apps actually function within the edmodo interface ie. Quizlet, prezi, youtube, swf files, etc.

We worked with Edmodo for the duration of the semester and it was a great success!!!

I know that my class and I only got started – but I am very excited to try it again in the fall!

I look forward to further opportunities to share these exciting experiences with others.

AFL, AAL, AOL... any more acronyms?

Looking at Assessment today...
Assessment for Learning - to include diagnostic and formative
Assessment as Learning - self and peer assessment
Assessment of Learning - summative

Really should do this more often....

It has been a really long time - and someday - I may actually do this on a regular basis.

In my role as a secondary math facilitator, I have had the opportunity to work with numerous teachers on many initiatives ie. teaching through problem solving, Differentiated Instruction, assessment for learning, use of manipulatives, integrating 21st century fluencies, etc.

Currently, I am very excited as a few of the teachers are keen to integrate 21st century fluencies with the development of wikis, google surveys, glogs, online assessment tools, etc.

The wiki is a great place for class collaboration and publication. Students are proud to share their polished material with the world.

Google surveys are great for all of those courses where students are expected to gather data and analyze it. Students are excited to post their survey links on wikis and facebook to collect as much data as they can.

Glogs are new for me - basically an online poster making site. Better than that, glogs can include videos, pics, text, sound, etc . Amazing.

Best wishes to all the brave teachers who are stepping outside their comfort zones to address the needs /learning styles of our digital learners.

oh... the challenges...

It has been just over a year now... I have been working as a math facilitator at the secondary level. To be frank, I miss the excitement and energy of having my own class of students. I miss planning for a specific group with their own unique needs. I miss knowing my students so well that planning was a pleasure.

Working with teachers is also great! It is exciting to share new ideas/strategies with teachers. Better than that, it is great when they share back their positive experiences in the classroom.

Sharing is great. Co-teaching is even better. Learning together... De-briefing the lesson... Planning next steps...

I look forward to returning to the classroom at some point. For now, I will continue to avail myself to those teachers who strive to do more and learn more for the benefit of their students.

Assessment... the SMART way

More and more technology is making its way into our math classrooms! Yay! I have had the opportunity to work extensively with teachers planning lessons and assessments using SMART technologies. Currently, teachers are eager to explore the SMART Response clicker system. I have to say that I love SMART Response and I have had experience with other classroom performance systems. Students become actively involved with the lesson - clickers allow opportunities not only for multiple choice or numeric answers, but can also provide feedback about the timing of the lesson (traffic light pages), the students' understanding during the lesson (thumbs up, thumbs down pages) and student opinions on any topic.
Data management students can collect their data with the use of the clickers!
Even better... since smarttech makes these clickers - naturally they work in harmony with the notebook software for the SMARTboard! What a great pair!
Thanks to all our willing and eager teachers! Thanks to SMART Technologies!

co-planning and co-teaching

I have had a very exciting week co-planning with numerous teachers in our district. I am continually impressed with the variety of directions that these planning sessions take. Teachers really seem to appreciate the time to get together and come up with a lesson that utilizes some "new" or different strategies. I am particularly excited that I have the opportunity to work with them so that they may feel more comfortable taking on a new approach.

Stations, learning centres, SMARTboards, laptops, software, internet, web2.0, concrete manipulatives, etc, etc.
Together we are investigating lots of engaging opportunities for our students with the hope that student learning and student engagement will improve.

I have to say that at first I was apprehensive about the position of "math facilitator". Now that I have had a few months in the role - I am excited about where our math teachers are willing to go if given the time and resources!

More later.... :)

Working on webinars...

I have had the opportunity to work on various webinars over the last few months. It is my hope that teachers will make use of activities to differentiate their math classrooms. The wiki, onmath.wikispaces.com, serves as a web document of all of the resources/activities I have collated. Please go as often as you like. Feel free to make comments or suggestions in this blog.
I look forward to hearing from you.