Applications I used and how they compare to Bloom ‘s taxonomy

Bloom wrote the different levels of engagement at which students can work.  All levels have a place in the curriculum and as educators we try to make them work at the highest possible level.  Here is a link with 14 different posters explaining the Bloom taxonomy.

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/14-brilliant-blooms-taxonomy-posters-for-teachers/

The following SMORE gives a brief overview of the applications I have used either as a teacher or with my students classified according to Bloom’ s taxonomy.

https://www.smore.com/e0z4-applications-and-bloom-s-taxonomy

 

To go further – TWITTER – networking online and at EdCamp unconferences

Once we complete this course where do we go?  One of the best ways to learn further is to meet other people online via twitter or at un-conferences like EdCamp Hamilton.

My TWITTER handle is:

@mcd_boulanger

and I have been publishing some SMORE posters at the hashtag #edufrancais

I share current events in English and French, some lessons I created and I retweet lessons and ideas from other people.  It has been very useful to know people who sometimes have strengths in areas different from you who would share what they do, at the time you need it.  Someone I had met at edCamp Hamilton (@Michelle_Horst) shared a worksheet that she uses with her students where she asks them to review, reflect and assess their own learning skills.  I thought it was a most brillant idea. I had never done this and it made my life at report card time much easier. Being able to connect with other people, ask questions, gives ideas and improve practice.

You can follow IT resource people from your board and other boards.  Two good resources from Peel where I learned tremendously are:

@dcruz22

@cashjim

You can follow also your favorite journalist for current events or your favorite university professor.

There are also Unconferences like EdCamp Hamilton have an interesting format.

http://www.edcamphamilton.ca/

It is completely free.  You get to meet other like minded professionals.   Every participant bring one resource and one question they would like to share and discuss with other people.  Initially participants write a question or a topic on a piece of paper. The questions are sorted and workshop organized around the questions of the participants.  Through discussion, we get a different perspective.  If there is someone we like, we can add them to our twitter account and share later.  I would personally like to go to EdCamp Montreal where I could meet other people who speak French, when the event occurs.

 

 

 

Teaching with current events

I spent a very large part of this year, teaching with current events.  I have used a source called SCOOP, which is available in English and French.  SCOOP provides news items that are happening all over the world.  Teaching a second language like French or if you teach English, most news items can be included in the curriculum, where age appropriate.

http://scoop.ecolebranchee.com/fiches/

This year, we have seen government news (grade 5 government), like the Queen that celebrated her 50th anniversary, feeding the world with insects (health, overpopulation), space pollution (grade 6), conservation of water initiatives, Earth day, the Pope resigned (French), tornadoes, and many more.

It is an excellent tool to make connections and understand the world.  Starting from their understanding, students are invited to analyze the events using applications like SMART ideas, evaluate the events by triangulating with other sources and use their knowledge to create a blog using KIDBLOG for example.  Here’s an earlier posts I shared on twitter about SCOOP.

https://www.smore.com/1jk0-la-classe-invers-e

It is a very powerful tool that potentially include all the levels of Bloom’s taxomomy.

 

With BYOD – How to choose applications

Our board, Peel Disctrict School Board, has officially started the BYOD initiative, with a flyer informing parents at the end of the year and information available on the website.

http://www.peelschools.org/aboutus/21stCentury/byod/Pages/default.aspx

Keeping that in mind, how do teachers choose applications.

1- Compatibility between devices in class and at home

Our students come to school with many different types of devices.  Students have phones, ipods, tablets of all types.  Students are encouraged to bring their own device to school.  Choosing applications that will work on all of the devices students bring to class, will make the teacher’s life much easier.  Every device can run the program and every child can work without difficulty.

Students may also work in class with the teacher on applications and would like to return home do do homework.  The home setting is different from school setting and being able to have an application that will work at school and home may inspire students to continue their wonderful ideas at home.

2- Allow the use of several languages

There are several companies that would produce software to learn programming.  From the several available, I would choose SCRATCH for example that allows learning and sharing in both Canadian official languages and as well many International languages.  It allows access to a world wide network of people to learn and share with.  Earlier versions of software like BITSTRIPS for SCHOOLS  that have been purchased and installed on our computers at school are wonderful to work with.  I never worked with this program, however, because it did not have French accents.  After contacting the company, they told me it was not possible,  They since have a newer version with French accents and a French Interface.  In my opinion, if any software product will become obsolete very quickly if it does not include people and devices of the entire world.

 

Stop Motion animation workshop for York Special Ed course participants

Stop motion animation has been quite popular in my French Immersion class this year and found that all students enjoyed doing this type of project.  Gifted students who have heard of stop motion animation asked me to do a special project.  They enjoyed doing stop motion animation to show the growth of tomato plants coming using seeds from the International Space Station.  Students who have difficulty with language in the sense that they are hands-on learners could see a way where they are quite proficient at communicating.  They already liked playing with little Lego figures.   They were asked to do for class what they enjoy doing at home or at recess.  They were more than engaged.  Stop motion animation is a powerful and very creative tool to express oneself, and engage students who feel otherwise left out.  It can be used as well to engage students with subjects that can me more difficult, like science.

Example of applications/themes where stop motion can be used

Children will spend hours creating stories with their toys:

Story making: LEGO stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0m-qxEdWsQ

 

Social Studies: Ancient Egypt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1AvRaeD3rc

 

Learning happens not only in school but everywhere 24/7.  Many will create imotion videos while travelling or doing a field trip.

 

History/Geography: Visit to Old Montreal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pakw4mbZUk


More difficult science can be made more enjoyable by having students showing their learning in a formal they enjoy working with:

Science: DNA replication

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoYhDDxiwPE

Science: Filming stars

http://vimeo.com/28040685

Some Apple apps like iMotionHD is another very easy to use option.

It does allow using automatic settings to film plant grow, or the change of the seasons

Science: How a plant grow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDN0yAFcQok

Stop motion can be used with many subjects

Character Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE0122jqe4Y

Health – Healthy eating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwmZEhDqEOs

Social Studies: A civilization story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aze9Fk_Wz2E

Math – Multiplication

http://youtu.be/M48Txz8WXxw

Literacy – Poetry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j2HsQ8rqSc

Literacy – The Great Gatsby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUTuhPsdI9k

Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aGoOhZN_PR8

 Professional Resources:  On separate Document

http://www.cinetrafic.fr/liste-film/619/1/les-films-d-animation-en-stop-motion

Group workshop – technology 

We were asked to show the class of about 50 participants.

First the story needs to be planned using a graphic organizer or story board.  The set can then be designed with paint, paper, plasticine, LEGO figurines, books.  They then take several pictures, using a (iphone camera and digital camera) of their stories.  The pictures are integrated in movie maker.  The story can be narrated, or copyright free music can be added.  The movie is complete.

Other alternatives exist like using an Ipad with iMotionHD.

Real life questions

The real life situations of train crash in lac Mégantic with petroleum burning, the storm in Toronto that flooded highways, the subway and my basement, and cut power to Toronto and area, begs to ask a question.  Is this normal? Do we have problems with our aging infrastructures?  Are our governments making the right decisions, or going in the right direction? The magnitude of the problems begs to ask fundamental question.  Is our society going in the right direction?  Are there other environmentally more friendly ways of doing things?  Where do we find inspiration for solutions?  Am I the only one to see problems?  Are there other people we can linked with?  Can we inspire our students to find solutions as they will be the ones working in that area in the future? These questions have been in the mind of many people around the world and many started sharing their success.

Students can do project work to simulate the work real scientists and engineers do.  For example, in grade 6, my students have been studying biodiversity.  One project they did was to look at the growth of algae in order to produce “green energy”.  I first learned about it here:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2012/07/2012776331815944.html

Since I teach French Immersion, I have been looking for French resources to support my students as well.  Amazing French Science programs are available as well.  The program “Découverte” from Radio-Canada has also been an excellent inspiration.

http://www.tou.tv/decouverte/S2012E32

Here is one lesson my students have done with this inspiration.

https://www.smore.com/azfw-la-classe-invers-e

The first and second season of EarthRise is available here:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/

The third season is starting and will sure provide entirely new ideas for projects that will lead the students to build a more sustainable environment.

 

Learning with technology is not only about what lesson to do tomorrow

In the week-end, we saw the frightening explosion of a freight train carrying petroleum that crashed and destroyed downtown lac Mégantic.  It is sad enough to see oil spills, loss of life, damages to the environment. This news has a much closer connection to me personally.  My father is born in the village next to the site, my great grand-father was a pioneer in that area at the beginning of the 1900 century.  The train crash news was published in local Quebec, across Canada, and as well Internationally.

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/estrie/2013/07/08/002-tragedie-lac-megantic-videos.shtml

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/07/201376161051859189.html

The train explosion happened in a small village in Quebec, but the train did pass through Toronto. This accident could have happened anywhere along the train’s route, in any of the many cities along the path.  In my humble opinion, one of the most important part of learning with technology is about building a better world, about creating the foundation, skills needed for that purpose.  We are so used to driving our cars with petroleum to run our lives without thinking about where petroleum is coming from, how it is extracted, how it is transported to come to us, the dangers associated with using petroleum to the land, the air we breathe, the water we drink.  Current events can force us to rethink our way of life and come up with better solutions, envision and implement safer, more responsible and more sustainable ways of using technology in our world.  Using technology to make people think independently, to analyse problems and to create solutions would be a good starting point about using technology.

 

 

Leadership

Shocked? No.  Pissed? No.  Amazed? Yes.  Surprised?  A bit.  Good leadership is like that.

Leaders need to prepare the next generation for what is to come in the future.  The current ways of teaching with filling worksheet after worksheet will not do justice to what we need to prepare our students for in a world like today.  There are multiple problems worldwide such as the environment, overpopulation, energy wars, economy, food supply.  Our job as teachers is to prepare our students and mentor our coworkers towards that direction.

In my humble opinion, independent thinking is one of the most fundamental skill that needs to be taught to our students and the adults as well.  With independent thinking, students can learn to read, analyse problems, find solutions to all kind of problems with a critical eye, without being frightened.  The leader would act as a role model.  The leader challenges others to do things he hasn’t done before and find new ways of teaching.  With blended learning, we can use the power of media and class discussion to foster those skills.  For example, the Aljazeera program “The Listening Post” does a great job of teaching skills of independent thinking to world-wide population.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/

Programs such as those from world leaders can definitely support teachers in teaching those skills with their students and media literacy with their students.

One quote from Dr. Lois Zachary:  “Find people who are better than you in some areas, people you can learn from”.  By working together, it will be possible to mentor the next generation of leaders.

 

Google alerts

Using and teaching with technology can be challenging but the nice part is that with networking and interacting with people, we can get new ideas or use our existing knowledge in a new way.  Google alert is a powerful tool for searching the Internet automatically for topics of interest.  I have used it to search topics on the Internet that interests me.  Everyday I would receive search results about topics that fascinates me.  The search results will be delivered to my email account as frequently as required.  Here is a link that shows how this works.

http://source.smepro.eu/en/lesson/how-use-google-alert

As teachers move towards teacher inquiry/project-based learning, this tool can be quite effective to keep track of what is being published on the Internet about what the students are researching.  Since several topics might be researched by several students, receiving one email with current searches of  students’ topic could prove very useful.  For example, if a student has been researching a worthwhile project like a producing “green petroleum” with algae:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2012/07/2012776331815944.html

the teacher who wants to foster critical thinking may want to use Google alert to search ideas that the student may have missed.  A Google alert may come with the following article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2013/jul/05/algae-beach-qingdao-china-video?INTCMP=SRCH

I saw this via twitter, but it could have come through Google alert.  Did the student consider the problems caused by algae, such as the phenomenal growth of algae in China?  The algae population along the shore is so great, it needs to be removed with a bulldozer.  It is interesting and an aspect that might have been missed by the student.  The teacher also has to be careful with the accuracy of the information.  The Guardian newspaper is a reputable source but the way the article is written seems unclear.  It states: “The algae is not dangerous to humans but can suffocate marine life by sucking oxygen from the water”.  Algae produce oxygen through photosynthesis.  It does not “suck” oxygen from the water.  I would think that the concentrated physical presence of the algae does not allow water and oxygen molecules to be present.

Google alert is a very powerful tool in the hands of teachers and students for that matter who might be interested in researching a topic for an extended period of time.