More Global Projects

It's been a busy time in my classroom. Learning all I can about Daily5; working with the students to make thoughtful choices; learning about Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day; Halloween activities and the arrival of snow has kept us on our toes!

Before Christmas break we will be working on 2 more "Global Projects". (1) Holiday Card Exchange, and (2) Seasons Project put on by the #globalclassroom network.

This will be my third time participating in Jen Wagner's Gift Card Exchange. I love this project because not only do the students create their own Christmas cards and send them around the world, but we get Christmas cards sent back to us in return! The kids LOVE getting mail, reading the letters, and finding out where in the world the card came from! As a professional I have been able to keep ties with some of the teachers I've 'met' through the exchange. It has been incredibly valuable and I would encourage others to give it a try!

I have included an older Voicethread that was created when I taught at my previous school. The students shared what it is like to live in Prince George with the other classrooms we exchanged Christmas cards with. If you have not used Voicethread in your classroom - you must! It is a fantastic tool.

The second project, is new to me. Someone asked me where I found out about the "Seasons Project" and to be perfectly honest I don't remember. I suspect I found out about it on twitter. I am always looking for new ways to connect my students with other classrooms and meets a number of my "ILO's" (Intended Learning Outcomes).

The project asks us to record our observations about the weather, temperature and things in our community. Then we upload those observations to a voicethread to share. The collaborative voicethread we will be contributing to is below.



I like that we can contribute 'our voice' to the above voicethread, but I'll be extending this project by having my class create their own. Ownership is important - contribution is an important first step, but for me, I find ownership is is much more powerful.

This last voicethread is a FAVORITE of mine that I created to show our friends from around the world how cold it can be in Prince George. Feel free to leave a comment. I certainly hope this winter it won't be so cold!

Daily 5 Update

This summer I read the Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. I immediately took to the book because its underlying principles fit with my educational philosophy. The Daily 5 provides choice and flexibility for students while providing me the opportunity to work with individual students and groups of kids.

I'll admit it is progressing much slower than I'd like, but I do love how I am beginning to see the benefits. The book, if followed precisely, estimates that it takes until the end of October to have all 5 structures (read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, word work, work on writing)in place. Right now I have introduced 3 of the 5, but I'd rather go slow and set things up for success. I'll get to all 5, it will just take a little longer for me.

Daily 5 requires incredible amounts of planning, modelling, teaching, re-teaching, and practice. I've created book bins, leveled books, individual student storage, anchor charts, activities for word work choices, technology that can be directly utilized in the classroom, record sheets, a pensive for teacher . . . and the list goes on and on. Despite all this work, I believe it is teaching my students to make good choices and helping them become focused and able to work independently.

The first concept I introduced to my class was "read to self". Many teachers take silent reading for granted, but in grade one students need to be taught how to read a book. We talk about why we read to ourselves and talk about the jobs they need to be doing, and the jobs that I'll be doing. Each time we practice, we come back to this anchor chart and talk about what we are going to work on, and then will debrief on what went well, and what we need to work on afterwards. The students were able to 'do their jobs' for 18 seconds in the beginning. We are now close to the 10 minute mark.

The kids love to read to someone. We've talk about being good 'eekk' partners (elbow to elbow, knee to knee)! We even demonstrated what fluency looks like in the gym - some students jog at an even pace, while others would run as fast as they can and then walk. We want to become readers that read at a nice steady even pace.

The latest anchor chart we have made together is for "listen to reading". I don't have a 'traditional' listening center in my classroom, in fact, I don't think there is one anywhere in the school. So I've bought some 5 way splitters where students can plug their own headphones into one of the laptops (I have 2 that I use in my classroom) or my iPad. The stories that we use are either free downloads from the app store, or are from websites like Tumblebooks.

I'm fortunate that I am not the only person in my school who is interested in the daily 5 framework for teaching literacy. A number of other teachers have made their own commitment to learn more about this strategy. We will be working together on an inquiry in the very near future!

To actually hear... another distinctive moment in my career.

I consider myself a strong, well informed woman who speaks her mind when I see things that I consider wrong. I have strong ethics and beliefs - both personally and professionally. I speak up for things I believe in and have never been afraid to confront things in a head on and straight shooting manner.

Professionally, I want to be judged for the work I do, and I judge on the work I see being done. Over the years I have learned to speak out, stand up and confront when I see things that don't sit well with me.

Over my teaching career a number of distinctive moments have shaped me.

I think back to early in my teaching when our provincial government was going to stop funding school meals programs. I was working at the neediest school in our district and I knew how desperate things would be for my kids without the food the school was providing. So I worked up some courage, made an appointment with my MLA and met with her. I actually ended up walking out of that meeting when I recognized my MLA was not "hearing" what I had to say. (As I type, I chuckle at the irony in that.)

Low seniority and bumping - it seems that many of the moments that have shaped me revolve around the political climate. A number of years ago, schools in my district were closing by the dozen and I was bumped out of my teaching position for the second time in two years. The second time, I believed I was bumped when I shouldn't have been. I went to my own union and was told 'sorry can't help'. This didn't sit well with me. I read my contract, I got my ducks in a row, and I made an appointment with our director of Human Resources. In my mind this HR director had it going on - she was straight shooting, very intelligent and didn't give you the run around. In the end - my hard work paid off- because I spoke up, the bump was rescinded! (note: I was bumped for a third time the following year!)


Another moment that has shaped me was when I was taking a leave mid-way through the school year. The workplace was in disarray and our district and district personnel were in the dark! I wanted the 'higher-ups' to know why I was going on leave - so I made an appointment with the same HR director and was given permission to speak freely. I did. I was heard. I was told something would be done, and something was.

I have seen the value in speaking up. I've got a few more moments that I could go on about but it's today's moment that's important.

I had to sit through a pretty sobering meeting today. A meeting that confronted my direct, straight shooting 'let's get things out in the open and deal with this' manner. Without getting into specifics I was asked to "actually hear". Although it was not the first time I was asked, it was the first time I truly did hear.

What enabled me to hear? I heard today, not because I was directed to, or was told to. I heard today because the person who spoke, spoke with care - and I heard today because this person has my respect. The respect has been earned through dialogue, through actions, and through character.


In my school we have an enormous sign posted in our gym that says "RESPECT: learn it, you earn it." That sign has resonated with me ever since I laid my eyes on it. I think of how it applies to me. I think of how it applies to my students. I think of how it applies to admin and our district folks. For me, words, action, inaction all contribute to respect. For me, power does not denote respect. Words also mean very little unless they are spoken with care. After today's meeting, I've come to recognize that my words can sometimes go unheard as well.

The medium IS the message... I value conversations, I value openness, I value transparency. The message I heard was delivered with just that tone - thus I heard the message.

Confucius says "I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand." - I got it. Thanks

International Peace Day Project

This post is to celebrate the hard work the students in my classroom and the students around the world did to recognize International Peace Day on September 21st.

I am brought to tears when I watch the mashup of our Peace Day videos that Mr. Ferguson's fourth grade class put together. I've never personally met Mr. Ferguson, he teaches in an American school (the ability to connect with technology is so amazing). To watch students of all ages from different continents and countries around the world talk about peace makes me so emotional. To know that teachers and students from far off places are having conversations, reading books, making skits, and writing songs then sharing their understanding of peace with other children from around the world is so powerful.

In this video over 20 classrooms from 5 continents are edited together. Listen to their message of peace ... You can find my students 1:25 into the video!



I am also proud of my 'kids' for the job they did explaining peace to CBC reporter Jenifer Norwell. We welcomed her into our classroom on September 21. Jenifer was there to record us while we Skyped with Mr. Greenberg's grade 2 class. During our Skype we answered questions and sang John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". Listen to our interview on CBC's Daybreak North morning show.

On International Peace day my class sat together and watched the students videos from all around the world. Here are some of my students favorite videos:

Peace from the Virgin Islands:


Peace from New Zealand:


Peace from the United States:


Peace from Ghana, Africa:


Peace from South Africa:


This was our submission. Peace from our Grade 1's at Spruceland Traditional in Canada:


As I reflect back on our participation I can say this is something I would do again, but I would try to spend even more time cultivating my students awareness of peace. I need to continue to come back to their understanding and have the students talk about it more and share what they have learned about peace. It might even be fun to create a second peace video based on what we saw from the other videos that were submitted.

I wish you peace in your classroom, peace in your community, and peace in your country.

Fear . . . oh how it can halt learning and communication.

I've just stumbled across a FANTASTIC post by Kindergarten teacher Matt Gomez and I found it both inspirational and infuriating all at the same time.

Read Matt's post here.

Matt's blog talks about how he used facebook in his Kindergarten classroom to inform and stay connected with the parents of his students. He successfully used this common tool to reach directly into his students homes! Read what his parents had to say about the facebook page (click here)and see examples of how he used it (click here). His blog then goes on to tell how his school district put the kibosh on it because of fear - fear of comments.



Let me rant... Comments bring us together. Comments make us think critically. Comments stretch us to do more, and to learn more. Comments open us up to new undiscovered possibilities. To permit comments is to say 'I value what you think'.

Comments bring me to another blog I stumbled across today . . . my own superintendents blog. While I commend our highest school official with his first attempt into the 'blog-o-shpere' I noticed something missing from his blog - comments, or rather, the ability to comment.

Let me rant (again)... Social media is meant to be SOCIAL! The ability for interactive dialogue to happen is the major component of social media. A blog without the ability to provide those comments is nothing more than a webpage, or a digital newsletter. So Mr. Pepper, if you ever stumble across this, know that I encourage you to open up yourself to social media. Communicate with it, learn from it, support your teachers who use it, and hopefully then you will discover how powerful it truly is.

I wish Matt all the best with his efforts to inform his district. I certainly hope they will change their minds sooner, rather than later. As a mom, I would love nothing more than to see directly into my son's classroom. Matt, know that you have inspired me to look into doing the same. I'll be following your lead and looking to start up a facebook group for my own class.

Peace Project - our small part.

PHEW!!!

It was down to the wire, but we were able to get our Peace Project finished just in time to be included in Mr. Ferguson's Peace Day Project.

Here are my Grade 1's with their message of peace.

Planning Projects - up first ... The Peace Project

In case I haven't said it before but I am so excited to be in a classroom once again! I enjoyed the last 4 years I spent in the library at Harwin Elementary, yet I have missed and even craved having "my" own students. One of the reasons I want "my" own students is for project work and this year I'll be off and running with some collaborative projects. The first project my class will be participating in is called the Peace Project.

For teachers wanting to be a part of global projects the first step is to get connected. We need to network and contribute to the larger community. It doesn't matter if you use facebook, twitter, or blogs just reach out outside of your own comfort zone (your own school and district) and start connecting.

How did I hear about the Peace Project? My FABULOUS twitter network! I have participated in a number of collaborative projects over the years and come to 'know' teacher leaders in a number of different countries. Bob Greenberg is one of those educators. Bob sent me an email about the project and I knew I was in.

Time lines will be tight. School hasn't started and I need to have 21 seconds of video ready for sharing by September 16. Students won't even be assigned classes until September 9th. That'll leave me only a week with students to get this done.

I am planning on introducing the project with a few books. I'll be reading Todd Parr's "The Peace Book", Karen Katz's "Can You Say Peace", and Shelia Hamanaka's "Peace Crane". Together the students and I will brainstorm ideas for our video. Then we will upload our finished project to a shared dropbox and students in Garrett Ferguson's grade 4 class will piece the videos together. The finished project will be ready for International Peace Day on September 21.




Stay tuned!