Parent Letter Regarding Technology

Dear families,

Welcome to our classroom! Some of you I've had the pleasure to work with in the past, some students may know me from rotary or my having taught siblings in the past, and the last group, well we are new to each other and I look forward to working with you!

This year I'm hoping to continue with a few initiatives around technology.

We will be using the Desire 2 Learn online learning classroom. This is a ministry initiated, board supported blended learning environment. In addition to submitting paper assignments, students will be encouraged to submit work online. There is also an opportunity for students to do practice activities and review concepts, especially in Math and Science. This worked very well in my class the past two years and I hope the students will benefit from it again. 

We will continue the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative again this year. Parents and students will be required to sign and return the contract to me before students are able to use their own devices in class. Devices are for curriculum purposes only and there will be severe consequences for any student not adhering to these rules. As per the school Code of Conduct, students are responsible for their own cell phones and electronics and are to be locked away safely in their lockers unless otherwise indicated by the classroom teacher. I usually encourage devices during Science class. I look forward to showing students that their phones are more powerful than the world's first computer and that they possess all the knowledge in the world, in the palm of their hands.

I will also be posting updates on our class Twitter page, so I encourage you to follow us! I like to celebrate what we are doing in the classroom, but I will not post pictures of student work or faces unless I have permission from both students and parents.

Last year I signed my class up for Prodigy, an exciting educational game and a fun way for students to practice their math skills in class and at home. This game is very popular with students and I hope to continue to use it again.

The last week of June, the Grade 7s and I began writing a blog about the happenings around school. We may continue to collaborate on the blog with homeroom and Science classes. The blog can be found here and continues to be a work in progress.

New this year will be Google Classroom. We will not be doing this right away in September, but we will be working on collaborating on documents, slide shows as well as many of my lessons and assignments will be posted on D2L in the form of these documents and slides.

As exciting as educational technology is, please note that the primary medium to communicate with me is through your child's agenda or to call me at the school. Thank you for your continued support. We are teaching students the skills they will need in the 21st century in order to become responsible digital citizens beyond their formal education years!

Your partner in education,

Mrs. Skibinski

Created using Bitstrips.

Explicitly Teach Digital Citizenship

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. are a reality amongst today's youth. There was a time when students knew more about social media sites than their parents and teachers, but the grownups are slowly catching up! A wonderful colleague introduced me to the following book and I was able to start wrapping my head around teen's needs to be social publicly.

www.danah.org

Interestingly enough, the new and improved Ontario Health curriculum doesn't explicitly touch on internet safety until Grade 7. Students will "describe benefits and dangers, for themselves and others, that are associated with the use of computers and other technologies." In previous years students are expected to "make informed decisions that demonstrate respect for themselves and others and help to build healthier relationships, using a variety of living skills," but this is not necessarily just online.

My focus will continue to be on our HCDSB acceptable use of technology expectations as well as the School Code of Conduct:

Students are responsible for:

• using personally owned and Board technology for curriculum-related/educational purposes only while on Board property (e.g. classrooms or instructional areas);
• using personally owned technology for personal use only in specific areas of Board property as designated by school administration
• demonstrating digital citizenship through the appropriate use of technology, as outlined in schools’ Codes of Conduct;
  
• reporting any inappropriate use of email, data or unauthorized technology to a teacher or administrator immediately; 
  
• the care, maintenance and security of their personal electronic devices – the Board is not responsible for the replacement of lost, stolen or damaged items.

In the past, we have had an Elementary School Liaison Officer from the Halton Regional Police Service coming into the Grade 6 classrooms and teaching internet safety and cyberbullying among other Health topics. Click here for more information. I will probably require my students to do a weekly reflection on D2L discussion forums in order to check for understanding. I also came across a great app from Common Sense Media, the Digital Compass, which is "engaging game helps teach the valuable lessons that today's kids need to thrive in our digital world." I will be definitely recommending this to parents again.

As with any new concept, teachers need to do a diagnostic assessment of their class to gage previous knowledge and where the teaching should continue. I've recently read some great ideas about twitter and copyright and will try similar lessons with my students in the fall. It all depends on where they stand and where I need to take them.
Last year, my teaching partner covered many of these concepts during her Health lessons. With my homeroom and Science classes, I had to focus on plagiarism. This fall, we will probably co-create a poster similar to the one below. Here's part of my lesson on Digital Citizenship from last year, where I use the slides as anchor charts and I add student knowledge during class discussions, is there anything missing?

Why I love Twitter for Teaching!

Or also known as, Twitter's Been the Best Thing For My Teaching Practice (since sliced bread)....

Teachers can use Twitter in the classroom as a communication tool with their students or with parents. I like to use my classroom twitter to share what we are doing and be more transparent in my practice for all. This past year I really made an effort to tweet the exciting things we were learning.

 

From initial observations of labs:   

To provocations of upcoming labs:

As a Science teacher, what better resources are out there than current events or hot topics. So many provocations this year came from twitter:

Grade 8 - Exploring a Critical Issue

Grade 8 Science - Water Systems

Grade 7 - Heat in the Environment

And even though I don't teach History, I found something that applied to our City:



Sometimes I was even able to find Math concepts or post Math activities for when kids were away:



Here's something I used for my speech unit:



When we were picking lit circle books to read, one student found a book she liked but no group, so I tweeted this out!

I had an opportunity to present and attend a few conferences this year and participate in several collaborative inquiry opportunities, and I was happy that Mrs. Sagarese, who was our guest teacher while I was away, as well as my own students were able to document what was happening in the classroom.

Julia tweeted the first one out and Jessica (far left) was a finalist  for our HCDSB contest!

I like to save resources for parents and or students to use, or for myself to use for early finishers.

When we were discussing Lent, who better to guide our reflections?

I try model for my students how to be a good digital citizen. The internet was a bit of a wild west at first, and there are many misconceptions amongst parents and students. The idea of asking students and parents permission before tweeting out, for example, is modelled for them so they will be more likely to follow my example.

I always reflect on what George Couros said about connecting with others in a digital world. I personally love seeing my friends' pictures on Facebook and I know the students like to see themselves on social media as well. As a parent, I would love to see what my kids do at school.

One of the highlights of our year was the Roots of Empathy program, I know one of the parents was following me on twitter and I made a point to tweet pictures of her son holding the baby. Even our Primary Science teacher popped in to chat about that...

Another highlight this year was our confirmation, I love that I can look back with them on our year and cherish all the memories.

 I also have a professional twitter account because it’s my way to save ideas for my teaching practice. I tell my students I would get an S in organization, but technology has enabled me to improve....as soon as I began using more of it in my classroom, the paper became less overwhelming and I’ve been able to better organize my ideas. I consider myself a creative person, but in collaboration with others, what I do in my classroom provides my students more than I could've ever imagined. Here's an example of just one thing I found on twitter this year that convinced me to start a classroom blog.

  

I really do hope more teachers can see the value of using Twitter with their students!