Spring+Term+2010


 * __My Learning Statements for Term 4 of LTT (Spring, 2010)__ **

__Questions from my field study proposal __ __Essential Question__ – How can I use differentiated instruction in Mathematics to satisfy the wide variety of learning needs and abilities of students in my Grade 4 classroom? __Sub-questions__ -  a. How can I use internet resources to provide appropriate learning activities for students at all ability levels in Math, i.e. challenge the higher-level students with supplementary activities and reinforce basic math skills in the lower-level students? b. How can I organize my class so that higher-level learners can coach the kids at lower levels? How can they use technology resources to help do that? c. How can I organize different learning areas in my classroom which facilitate groups of students engaging with different activities simultaneously, while managing their own time, noise, movement, resources, work groupings and success? d. How can I use technological recording devices: video and audio recording, digital photography, students working on computers and recording their work in a file, etc. … to provide timely feedback to students on their success in their learning?

**//I am learning how digital technology, particularly the use of a digital projector and the internet, can add dimensions to my teaching and to the students’ learning, that pencil and paper, or even pencil, paper and pictures cannot. //**
 * Learning Statement 1 – re the Teaching and Learning Process **

In one of our first classes this term, we were asked to describe a lesson when we were most successful integrating technology into our teaching practice. Here’s mine: In early January, with the Winter Olympics coming in a month, I wanted to make use of the anticipation of the Olympics to engage my Grade 4 students in their Language Arts learning, and to help them appreciate the dedication that all Olympic athletes have to devote to their athletic pursuit. One of the passages in their reading text recounted the story of Silken Laumann at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, when she competed and won a bronze medal in the rowing events in spite of having suffered multiple fractures in her leg in a training accident 10 weeks earlier. Her determination and courage were evident in the short article, but I wondered how I could help my 9 year-old students relate to this event which occurred 9 or 10 years before they were born. I thought perhaps, even though digital video was very new or non-existent in 1992, there might be a video of her race available on the internet. So I checked Youtube and found a very fuzzy video showing Silken training with her teammates at Elk Lake outside Victoria and highlighting the final 3 or 4 minutes of her Olympic race. The images were blurry, but you could just make out the red Maple Leaf colours on her rowing skull and the large bandage holding her leg together. My students and I watched as she rowed in fourth place for most of the race and in the last 10 meters, put her heart and soul into her oars and overcame her pain to take 3rd place and the bronze medal. I remembered her saying at the time, and shared with my students “After all I had done to train in spite of my injury, I wasn’t going to accept fourth place. It was a medal or nothing!” A week before the Olympics started, I had the good fortune to hear a CBC radio interview with the Olympic speed skater and humanitarian Clara Hughes. In this wide-ranging 20 minute interview, she discussed her feelings about the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, her work with youth in the Canadian North, her conviction that in spite of all her Olympic accomplishments in both Summer and Winter games that her work with children and youth around the world is far more memorable and important. She also described the feeling of skating in a 5000 metre race, the physical pain involved and how she had to set aside the pain to skate her absolute best in each race. I was very moved as I listened to this interview, and I wanted to share parts of it with my students, to give them another perspective on the life of an Olympic athlete. I had hoped that her interview would be available on a podcast of the CBC program, so that I could simply save the podcast and play it for my class. Due to broadcast restrictions connected with the Olympics, they could not issue it as a podcast, but I was able to replay the interview by connecting to the CBC program website for that date. I played portions of it for my students one day just before the games started, and I was overcome with emotion as we listened. As it was just before lunchtime, I told the students through my tears to go and get their lunch and I sat at my desk to calm myself. Several students went to the principal’s office and reported that “Mr. Perry-Bater is crying”, so the principal came up to see if I needed any help. She thought I was reacting to the stress of my special needs students who had been especially difficult that week, and that I might need the afternoon off. I assured her that I was just crying over Clara Hughes, not my teaching job. I guess I could have had an afternoon off if I had just kept the tears flowing! The experience that my students and I had with Clara Hughes would not have been possible without the use of the internet. Learning Statement 2 – re my role as a teacher to meet the learning needs of all the students in my class **
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 * //I am learning that differentiated instruction, in the form of a multi-station approach for Math instruction, is more engaging for the students and more conducive to individual coaching for weaker students than all students sitting at their desks working on an identical exercise. //**

Children, especially at the elementary level, need to be physically and mentally engaged in their learning. I have often wondered how I can use more manipulatives in my Math teaching to help students understand some of the more theoretical aspects of Mathematics. This is especially important for students who have a weaker background in Math and struggle with fairly simple concepts, such as multiplication. Memorizing times tables can be useful, but engaging students in physical activities that allow them to manipulate concrete objects and construct images that demonstrate multiplication facts can help them acquire the skills and retain them longer than more traditional methods. More capable students can often complete the activities with little or no supervision, which allows the teacher more opportunity to coach those who are struggling. Furthermore, the stronger students can go on and complete more advanced activities while the others gain confidence with the basic skills, and/or they can be encouraged to help their classmates. Learning Statement 3 – re the ISTE Standards ** (NETS-T performance indicators 2 c. and 2 d. at the “developing” level. These are two of the standards I chose these to work on at the beginning of this term.) [] This is a link to my Webspiration page where I presented in a visual form the strategy and layout of my field study. And here are some photos of the plan in action. 1. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> 2.
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 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I am learning to: //**
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">a) customize technology-based materials to address the learning styles, work strategies, abilities, and developmental levels of individual students; //**
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">b) develop and conduct technology-based formative and summative assessments to inform learning and teaching. //**

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7. 8.  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> Photos 1-3 – students working in and displaying the results of the Picture Promenade station Photos 4 and 5 – students displaying their work in the Proof Place station Photos 6-8 – students working on computer math games and a view of the Timez Attack game in the Practice Plaza station

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">I believe I have made progress in the following capacities this term: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The main community I have participated in this term is a 2-person community, myself and a woman named Kellie Buis, a teacher from Delta. Kellie came to our school in January to give a workshop on differentiated instruction in Language Arts. She calls approach “A Classroom with a View”. I was quite inspired by her presentation, and asked if she could help me develop a similar approach for my Math lessons. She came back to our school in February to work with individual teachers and she and I sat down after school on a Friday for 2 hours and planned out my field study. She and I have been in email contact ever since; I have been giving her updates on how the field study is going, and she has given me further suggestions. I have also consulted with Rick Botero, since he is at my school, about my field study, particularly the technology aspect of it. Rick and I cooperate on many projects dealing with technology in our school, especially since we both teach my students. 2. //** **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Engage in a critical cycle of action-reflection to understand and develop your practice //** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">I have been reflecting more (in my journal) during this term than in the past few terms. I have documented each session of my field study math lessons, as to what has worked and what hasn’t worked. I have found it very useful to be able to go back and remind myself of the positive results of all the time and energy I put into the development of my field study and the adjustments I continue to make to improve it. Apart from my field study, I have been reflecting continuously on how to effectively teach 29 students when 2 of them have serious behavioural and academic disabilities that produce constant interruptions, whether I am teaching the whole class (in “Stand and Deliver” mode) or coaching small groups. My reflections have prompted me to try several different behavioural plans for them, most of which haven’t lasted more than a week or two. 3. //** **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Use, evaluate and integrate existing and emerging technologies into your practice //** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 130%;">This term I have used online Math games, resident software Math games, internet sites (Youtube, Olympics websites) to enhance the effectiveness of my teaching (refer to Learning Statement 1 above). I am striving to integrate these technologies into my practice, to make the transition from paper-and-pencil and overhead projector work to digital technology tools as smooth as possible. During the Olympics, I used and evaluated many ( 8 or 10) podcasts related to each of the winter sports from the Vancouver 2010 website. Students used them to learn specific details about the sports and hear how the athletes that were competing in these sports felt about their sport and representing Canada to the world.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: 115%;">Program Capacities **
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1. //****//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Participate in and help develop learning communities to support your teaching practice //**
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