September 30

The SAN Script – Wednesday, September 30

It is not from your own goods that you give to the beggar; it is a portion of [the beggar’s] own that you are restoring to [the beggar]. The Earth belongs to all. So you are paying back a debt and think you are making a gift to which you are not bound.
Ambrose of Milan

best haircut ever!

best haircut ever!

St. Anthony Today

Paul in all day – Director’s Conference tomorrow

Boys soccer at McMaster – Nora out – and Paul for a bit

Wastefree Wednesday

All teachers – please note the Staff PD session (half-day) has been tentatively switched to the 15th – just waiting on confirmation from mathletics

5 THINGS COOL TEACHERS DO

ps – you are all cool teachers!!  Paul

cool teachers

It took about 15 years for me to figure out that students work hard for teachers they like. They work even harder for the cool teachers.

Some teachers say, “I’m not here to entertain. I’m here to teach.” A long time ago, I said it. This attitude doesn’t impress today’s learners. Even studious kids want cool teachers. So, use these strategies to jettison your stodgy self and get your cool on.

5 quick tips to get your cool on

1 – Cool teachers use social media

It’s important for educators to be connected, as it helps them grow professionally. It’s way cooler, though, to use social media in the classroom as an instructional and collaboration tool. Want every student to participate in your class discussion? Conduct your chat on Twitter or Todays Meet. Want to encourage reading? Invite kids to review books on Goodreads. Students love social media. Use it for teaching and learning, and you’ll be well on your way to cool.

2- Cool teachers sometimes look silly

While it may seem contradictory to connect silly and cool, students believe teachers who are willing to be self-deprecating, a little awkward and even silly, in an effort to engage learners, are very cool. If you take yourself too seriously and cling to the “I’m-not-an-entertainer” mentality, students will see you as erudite and will be more likely to shut down. Want an amazing guide to turning silly to cool, check out Dave Burgess’ Teach Like a Pirate.

3 – Cool teachers embrace chaos

Want to be cool tomorrow? Before students arrive, re-arrange your desks or post an eye-popping sign or question. Instruct students to do something noisy as they enter the room or ask them to group themselves any way they wish. Encourage movement. Play loud music. Sit on the floor. Shout (not at them but with them). We live in a chaotic world. Create an environment of “controlled chaos” in your classroom, and feel the cool as it envelops you.

more here

September 29

The SAN Script – Tuesday, September 29

Here are 9 facts about refugees:

1. Refugees have fled persecution or war

In order to officially be considered a refugee, a person must have suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, because they are part of a persecuted social group, or because they’re fleeing war. Those people who claim to be refugees, but whose cases haven’t been fully evaluated may instead be defined as “asylum seekers.”

2. Refugees have crossed an international border

There are lots of people who are forced to leave their home because of persecution or war. But not all of them are considered refugees. People who have fled their home, but stayed within their own country are considered “internally displaced,” or “internally displaced persons” (IDPs). In 2014, it was estimated that there were 38 million IDPs around the world. [source]

4. Almost half of all refugees are children

Many of these children may spend their entire life away from home. And these children are far more vulnerable to abuse, neglect, or other types of violence. [source]

woman and four children

5. There are currently 13 million refugees worldwide

The UNHCR estimates that, as of mid-2014, there were just over 13 million refugees around the world. [source] This is higher than the year before. Which brings us to our next fact…

more facts here

P1110484

Hapara Tutorial – The Student Panel: Part 1 from Hapara Team on Vimeo.

St. Anthony Today

terry fox 2

Terry Fox – the fun begins at 10:00 AM

Next staff meeting is an AM meeting – October 13

Staff PD Day – I am planning on mid-October – Please check your calendars– I would like to do this day on October 16 – half day for everyone – focus will be on Mathletics (webinar) and Discovery education – both available on the web portal.

September 27

The SAN Script – the week of September 28 – October 2

Big Magic: Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Courage and the Art of Living in a State of Uninterrupted Marvel

“Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?”

Big Magic: Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Courage and the Art of Living in a State of Uninterrupted Marvel

“When you’re an artist,” Amanda Palmer wrote in her  magnificent manifesto for the creative life, “nobody ever tells you or hits you with the magic wand of legitimacy. You have to hit your own head with your own handmade wand.” The craftsmanship of that wand, which is perhaps the most terrifying and thrilling task of the creative person in any domain of endeavor, is what Elizabeth Gilbert explores in Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (public library) — a lucid and luminous inquiry into the relationship between human beings and the mysteries of the creative experience, as defined by Gilbert’s beautifully broad notion of “living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.” It’s an expansive definition that cracks open the possibilities within any human life, whether you’re a particle physicist or a postal worker or a poet — and the pursuit of possibility is very much at the heart of Gilbert’s mission to empower us to enter into creative endeavor the way one enters into a monastic order: “as a devotional practice, as an act of love, and as a lifelong commitment to the search for grace and transcendence.”

elizabethgilbert
A generation earlier, Julia Cameron termed the spark of this creative transcendence “spiritual electricity,” and a generation before that Rollo May explored the fears keeping us from attaining it. Gilbert, who has contemplated the complexities of creativity for a long time and with electrifying insight, calls its supreme manifestation “Big Magic”:

This, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?

[…]

Surely something wonderful is sheltered inside you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours: The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.

The hunt to uncover those jewels — that’s creative living.

The courage to go on that hunt in the first place — that’s what separates a mundane existence from a more enchanted one.

The often surprising results of that hunt — that’s what I call Big Magic.

Illustration by Maurice Sendak for 'The Big Green Book' by Robert Graves
Illustration by Maurice Sendak for ‘The Big Green Book’ by Robert Graves. Click image for more.

 The rest of this interesting article can be found here in Brain Pickings
Aviva poster

 

(message going out to all staff October 5th)

Greetings to all members of the Ottawa Catholic School Board

 

I am writing all of you today to ask you to support St. Anthony School in our bid to build a new schoolyard.

 

A bit of History

 

St. Anthony is a small school in the heart of Ottawa’s Little Italy, serving a vibrant immigrant community. In 1998, the original schoolyard was entirely made of asphalt and won the Ottawa-wide “Ugly Schoolyard” contest. Shortly after, a greening project was started to remove some of the asphalt and add trees. Now the school community wants to finish the job and transform the St. Anthony yard into a green haven for the entire community.

 

How does this work? 

Encourage your friends, family and community to vote every day from October 6 to 23. You have 18 votes and 18 days to use them. You can use your votes for a single idea, or multiple ideas, but you can only vote for the same idea once per day.

 

Timeline for voting

Timeline

 

Voting starts October 3 – please see the timeline below. Do it every day fromOctober 6 to October 23!The 30 projects with the most votes in their idea categories and funding levels will go on to be finalists. On December 2, a panel of distinguished judges will select the Grand Prize Winners from the list of 30 finalists.

 

How can I help St. Anthony?

 

We need your vote every day from October 6 – 23 days – you vote by going to this address:

 https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf32399

you will need to register and provide an e-mail address in order to vote the first time. You can register with more than one address.

 Even better!!

 

Please send your e-mail address to me – paul.mcguire@ocsb.ca and I will send you a daily reminder from October 6 – 23 because voting every day is the way to win.

Please help us!!  We really can turn Asphalt into an Oasis at St. Anthony Catholic with your help!!

Hapara Workspace Introduction July 2015 from Hapara Team on Vimeo.

Here is a look at a Hapara Dashboard – by going to Student Info, you can send out an e-mail to all your students.  As an experiment, I sent out a welcome to the new school year e-mail to all the students in your classes – it will be interestingt to see how many noticed that they received the e-mail!

Meg Myers' class dashboard

Meg Myers’ class dashboard

 

St. Anthony This Week

Monday, September 28

School photos plus staff photo – staff photo at 8:00 AM

Sabina in all week

IEP meeting: Geraldine/Sandra

Tuesday, September 29

Terry Fox Day – Live streaming at assembly

Karen (behaviour Consultant) in to observe kindergarten 11:00 am

Dr. Catherine Olmstead (new psychologist for our school)meeting with Geraldine, Maria – 12:30 pm

meeting for kindergarten structure- – good news, the class has been split!

Wednesday, September 30

Wastefree Wednesday Today

Boys Soccer – Nora away

Paul away at Directors Conference – Geraldine designate

Thursday, October 1

Alina Carranco, Neurocognitive Science Student at Carleton, volunteers in Mrs. Rupnik’s class

IEP meeting; Maria/Geraldine – 7:45, 10:45

Paul away at Directors Conference – Geraldine designate

Friday, October 2

Pizza Day!!

Paul away at Directors Conference – Geraldine designate

As part of the 90th-anniversary celebrations –

there is a t-shirt for every staff member – please let me know what size you would like

 

September 25

The SAN Script – Friday, September 25

Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is my resting place? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the Lord.

– Isaiah 66:1-2

Fall Clean up 010

 

My Live District 2

Live Feed address:

http://www.mldistrict.com/districts/ocsb/san/

Video stored here:  http://www.mldistrict.com/districts/ocsb/san/vod/

My Live District 3

St Anthony Today

Thanks for all the great work everyone did on the clean-up yesterday!  So important to make our surroundings beautiful for our kids and the community!

Fall Clean up 004 Fall Clean up 005

Please make sure you mention Aviva to your kids today – we need a whole school effort this year to win!

web page screen shot

 

 

September 24

The SAN Script – Thursday, September 24

shot Sept 24

asphalt-to-oasis-1s5p64h-1024x506

The Aviva Campaign – We are starting again!!  We will need your vote and those of your students – every day starting in October – we have seven days to spread the news and add people to our daily e-mail contact list – please ask your friends, family everyone to e-mail me at paul.mcguire@ocsb or mcswa1@gmail.com so I can add them to my daily reminder list – the best way to mobilize support for St. Anthony School.

This year we are going for the National Prize of $100,000.00 – this will complete the renovation of our yard this year!!

 

7-yr-old girl thinks Canada is super funny in both English and French

September 23

The SAN Script – Wednesday, September 23

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
Maya Angelou

 

sept 23

Finnish landscape photographer Tiina Törmänen recently ventured into the cold, vast, emptiness of the Arctic Lapland wilderness deep in the north of Finland.In a project entitled Wanderer, Törmänen takes a series of night-time self-portraits that show the vast landscapes and incredible skies above. The lack of light pollution truly lets you experience the stunning auroras and stars of the night sky. Twistedsifter

St. Anthony Today

Girls’ Soccer Tournament – all day at McMaster Catholic

Squirmies Forms Due today

Paul away – principals meeting Geraldine designate

Salima (social worker ) in for the afternoon

 

What is Hapara?  Last night I started a course to become a Hapara Certified Educator.  Not looking for more work, but I am thinking that this will help us all with Hapara adoption at St. Anthony.  This is also part of our SIPsaw.  From time to time I will put useful tidbits about Hapara into the blog for you.  Hapara will also be part of our digital integration workshops that will start in Early October once I hear that we have the Science Techbook from Discovery – still waiting for word

September 22

The SAN Script – Tuesday, September 21

Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

– James 1:9-11
stars

download
We Day is quickly approaching (November 10) and our planning committee does require some final information from all participating schools. 
Please complete a planning-form by clicking HERE. The form provides the options for transportation, coverage and the number of participating students. You may need to consult with the lead-teacher to confirm numbers. 
Please pay close attention to the options for transportation as there are changes to the busing procedures. 
Please complete the We Day Survey by Friday, September 25th
if anyone is interested in taking this on please let me know, thanks  Paul

invited

You’re invited!
Vous êtes invités!
David Currie | Director of Music | Directeur musical
The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra presents its 2015-2016 free concert series for students from grades 4 to 6.
L’Orchestre symphonique d’Ottawa présente la série 2015-2016 de concerts gratuits pour les élèves de la 4e à la 6e année.

The overriding objective of the school concert initiative is to provide a cultural enrichment opportunity for the students.
L’objectif primordial de ces concerts destinés aux écoles est de fournir aux élèves une occasion d’épanouissement culturel.

Schedule | Calendrier
All concerts are held at the Albert Street School Auditorium
Tout les concerts ont lieu à l’auditorium de l’école de la rue Albert.
440 rue Albert street

29 Oct 2015
11:00-12:00 | 11 h 00 à 12 h 00 Concert in English | Concert en anglais
1:00-2:00 | 13 h 00 à 14 h 00 Concert in French | Concert en français

30 Oct 2015
11:00-12:00 | 11 h 00 à 12 h 00 Concert in French | Concert en français
1:00-2:00 | 13 h 00 à 14 h 00 Concert in English | Concert en anglais

20 April | Avril 2015
TBD | à déterminer

21 April | Avril 2015
TBD | à déterminer

22 April | Avril 2015
TBD | à déterminer

We need you to sign up before September 28th to ensure that we have a sufficient number of confirmed participants to proceed with the free concerts !
Veuillez s’il vous plaît vous inscrire avant le 28 septembre, de façon à nous assurer que nous aurons un nombre suffisant de participants confirmés pour offrir ces concerts gratuits.

How do I sign up? Comment puis-je m’inscrire?

Send an email to ticket@ottawasymphony.com with your:
Envoyez un courriel à ticket@ottawasymphony.com avec votre:

Name | Nom:
School | école:
Phone number | numéro de téléphone:
Mobile number to reach you on the day of the concert | numéro de téléphone mobile pour vous rejoindre le jour du concert:
Grade | année:
Number of students | nombre d’élèves:
Number of supervisors | nombre de superviseurs:
Date of concert | date du concert:
Concert time | l’heure du concert:

***It is the teachers responsibility to book bus transportation to and from the venue. The concert is FREE! First come, first served. Seating is limited.
***Les enseignants sont responsable de réserver les autobus pour transporter les élèves au lieu du concert. Le concert est GRATUIT! Premier arrivé, premier servi. Les places sont limités.

We encourage you to advise your students and their families of the following free opportunity to attend an open OSO dress rehearsal.
Nous vous encourageons à informer vos élèves et leurs familles de l’occasion qui leur est offerte d’assister gratuitement à une répétition ouverte de l’OSO.

 

St. Anthony Today

Young Rembrandts Sign Up Deadline

CCAC- SLP Jane Withers in to work with students

Co-op meeting this morning – anyone interested in a co-op student for the first semester?

Sheila Cousineau (ASD) in to work on IEP’s

Levels of Understanding: Learning That Fits All

Have you ever tried on a “one-size-fits-all” article of clothing? If you happen to be of average height and average weight, then perhaps this size worked for you. However, if you happen to be shorter, taller, weigh less, or weigh more than the average person, then the odds are that the one size that supposedly fits all does not work for you!

The same goes for one-size-fits-all lessons or practice. Think about this for a second. Do all of your students earn the same grade? I’m certain they don’t! And yet, many teachers assign the same homework or same practice to all students regardless of individual students’ level of readiness. Let’s say that I create a practice geared toward proficiency — maybe for students with a B. This practice might be useful for students with B’s or C’s. Clearly, this practice is too easy for students with an A and too difficult for students with a D. By assigning this “one size fits some” practice, I just ignored the needs of the advanced and struggling students.

By now, teachers start to think, “Wait a minute! I don’t have time to create individual practice for all of my students! Who has time for that?” The truth is, no one has time for that! So the question is how do we develop and embrace a framework that supports creating homework or practice to meet the needs of all learners? In order to reach diverse learners, we need diverse teaching strategies. Student voice and choice lie at the foundation of a differentiated classroom. When voice and choice are honored, the one-size-fits-all model transforms into multiple pathways for student growth.

For the rest of the article, please click 

similar to the TED Talk theme presented at our first PD session – I think we can differentiate more with the use of the digital tools we continue to roll out

September 20

The SAN Script – The week of September 21 – 25

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

– 1 Corinthians 10:17

voice of the day

The fact that the Church is literally changed into Christ is not a cause for triumphalism, however, precisely because our assimilation to the body of Christ means that we then become food for the world, to be broken, given away, and consumed.

-William T. Cavanaugh

prayer of the day

Jesus, Bread of Life, we long to enter into a deeper communion with you and with each other. Thank you for letting yourself be broken to make us whole; teach us to let ourselves be broken to help make the world whole.

IMG_0519

 

 

St. Anthony this Week

Monday, September 21

8:00 Meeting with Mary Ann Coleman: Natalie, Geraldine – spec.ed

Meeting Mrs.Rupnik and Lindsey Barr re: Kindness class project, Room 8

Paul out 11:00 AM

Tuesday, September 22

Co-op meeting for possible co-op student – if you are interested in having a co-op student please let me know before Tuesday

Young Rembrandts Sign Up Deadline

CCAC- SLP Jane Withers in to work with students

Sheila Cousineau (ASD) in to work on IEP’s – 12:15

Hapara Certified Educator Program Welcome Webinar – 7:00 PM (Paul)

Wednesday, September 23

Elementary Principals’ meeting – Paul out  

Squirmies Forms Due

Thursday, September 24

Recycle Day at St. Anthony Catholic School- PLEASE recycle today!

Fall Cleaning the Capital Event – rain date Friday

cleaning the capital

 

 

 

 

Young Rembrandts Classes After School

download

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, September 25

Theresa Patenaude, new SLP, to visit Mrs. Rupnik’s Class

Saturday, September 26

 

promotional poster photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

brain Pickings

Leisure, the Basis of Culture: An Obscure German Philosopher’s Timely 1948 Manifesto for Reclaiming Our Human Dignity in a Culture of Workaholism

Leisure lives on affirmation. It is not the same as the absence of activity … or even as an inner quiet. It is rather like the stillness in the conversation of lovers, which is fed by their oneness.”

“We get such a kick out of looking forward to pleasures and rushing ahead to meet them that we can’t slow down enough to enjoy them when they come,” Alan Wattsobserved in 1970, aptly declaring us “a civilization which suffers from chronic disappointment.” Two millennia earlier, Aristotle asserted: “This is the main question, with what activity one’s leisure is filled.”

Today, in our culture of productivity-fetishism, we have succumbed to the tyrannical notion of “work/life balance” and have come to see the very notion of “leisure” not as essential to the human spirit but as self-indulgent luxury reserved for the privileged or deplorable idleness reserved for the lazy. And yet the most significant human achievements between Aristotle’s time and our own — our greatest art, the most enduring ideas of philosophy, the spark for every technological breakthrough — originated in leisure, in moments of unburdened contemplation, of absolute presence with the universe within one’s own mind and absolute attentiveness to life without, be it Galileo inventing modern timekeeping after watching a pendulum swing in a cathedral or Oliver Sacks illuminating music’s incredible effects on the mind while hiking in a Norwegian fjord.

So how did we end up so conflicted about cultivating a culture of leisure?

In 1948, only a year after the word “workaholic” was coined in Canada and a year before an American career counselor issued the first concentrated counterculturalclarion call for rethinking work, the German philosopher Josef Pieper (May 4, 1904–November 6, 1997) penned Leisure, the Basis of Culture (public library) — a magnificent manifesto for reclaiming human dignity in a culture of compulsive workaholism, triply timely today, in an age when we have commodified our aliveness so much as to mistake making a living for having a life.

Illustration by Maurice Sendak from ‘Open House for Butterflies’ by Ruth Krauss. Click image for more.

Wonderful article – you can read the rest here

September 18

The SAN Script Friday, September 18

 

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

 

early Dante Academy class - 1925-26

early Dante Academy class – 1925-26

St. Anthony Today

Pizza forms and milk forms due – please please do not send money down to the office without a deposit form – to do so breaks auditing practice that we are obliged to follow -I will have to ask Krista to return the money to you if you do not provide the proper deposit slip.  You should also make sure that the lists are updated for milk, pizza and of course student fees by today

thanks

Paul

Terry Fox assembly – 10:30

please let me know if there are any key procedures you want me to go over with the students

Song # 2 today at the ed of the day!

Using blogs to make learning visible

By James Hopkins on Thursday, 06 August 2015 10:00 | Social Medi

John Hattie’s Visible Learning hasn’t just inspired teachers to innovate their classrooms; it’s driven them to think beyond the great educators published ideas. Here, New Zealand-based Brit James Hopkins discusses how the use of blogs can really fuel a pupil’s learning.

Visible learning is not just about John Hattie. This is not to take away from Professor Hattie’s research, merely to say that creating visibility around student learning can redefine a learner’s understanding of the world. When in classes facilitating, I often open with the question “Do you know how many people in the world have access to the internet?” to which there are a myriad of guesses from the students. Very few get anywhere near the 3.1 billion internet users suggested by websites such as Internetlivestats.

By the time this blog post is finished, I’ve no doubt that number will be closer to 3.2 billion and still climbing. Of course, these are estimates, but the realisation that the potential audience for a student’s learning could number in the billions is a very exciting place to start with a classroom full of learners. Be under no illusion, I’m very careful when I use the term ‘potential audience’ as without driving traffic to any online space where learning is shared. It is as redundant as the marked work in an exercise book from years ago that currently resides in the bottom of a box in the attic.


It begs the question, why isn’t everyone sharing their work online? For some it’s simply a lack of knowledge. If you cannot identify a vehicle within which to share, then you cannot begin sharing. For others it’s fear. Students and teachers alike are often afraid of criticism or being judged by others; something we develop as we get older, as my two year old son certainly isn’t fussed by what others think of his finger painting! It would be easy to say “get over it”, but it’s not that simple. It’s an entire mindset shift. It’s an understanding that sharing learning online needn’t be in the form of a portfolio or record of achievement. It could echo the journey that millions of students take every day, the visual growth of knowledge and progress in an online forum. And lastly, for many, it’s time! Teachers in New Zealand are no different from many others around the world. Overworked, exhausted and constantly being bashed by the media.

I’m very fortunate to work in one of the world’s leading education sectors and within that, working alongside a well-known, progressive group of schools, a truly inspirational and world-recognised cluster, focused on accelerating student achievement in a low socio-economic area – and they’re doing it! So I thought I’d take the opportunity to delve a little more into the ‘Why’, the ‘How’ and the ‘What’ of creating visibility around learning, a reference to Simon Sinek’s amazing Golden Circle TED Talk:

YouTube Link

Why?

I briefly touched on this earlier, but I often ask students why they feel it’s important to share their learning. The usual answers of “to connect with my family” or “let others see what we’re doing” come up, but when you drill down a bit further students as young as seven or eight years old can begin to talk to you about audience and purpose. It’s amazing to watch the transformation in a student’s effort and dedication to learning when they realise that the audience is no longer their peer, their teacher or (in the very ‘best’ case) the principal.

“Why isn’t everyone sharing their work online?”

The audience becomes real. It becomes unknown but exciting. The awe and wonder that comes from a student asking the question, “Who could end up reading this?” is a magnificent sight. Something we shouldn’t ever stray from is the vision within the NZ curriculum. – To create young people who are confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners. Forgive my paraphrasing. So I return to the Why that underpins the need to make learning visible. Our learners need to be confident when sharing their learning, proud of their progress first and then their achievement. They have the right to connect beyond the four walls of their classroom, seeking feedback from those interested in their learning, wherever they may be in the world. Connecting through structured commenting, through ongoing feedback in an online environment as well as the classroom, gaining perspective and new momentum.

Our learners need to look for their audience, find the opportunities to connect and engage both in and out of the classroom, becoming actively involved in online communities and developing their voice. And lastly, it falls upon us as educators to show students that learning doesn’t end at 3pm. It isn’t constrained by the four walls of the classroom. It’s rewindable. It’s about finding passion and pursuing dreams!

How?

How can this be achieved? In a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) environment it’s certainly a little easier, but outside of it (with a little grit and determination) it’s certainly just as possible. Within a progressive cluster of twelve schools here in New Zealand, students each have a blog. This is an initially underwhelming statement until you begin to realise that there are around 1500 active blogs within the cluster, all being posted to constantly by students and all being commented on constantly by other students from all over the world. So my How becomes, “How do I do it?”

“They have the right to connect beyond the four walls of their classroom, seeking feedback.”

Start small, create a class blog and post examples of students learning. Encourage others to look at it, comment on the learning. Share the comments with the students. Parent engagement is a powerful tool to motivate learners. The wonder of a conversation between parent and child about their day that doesn’t start with “how was your day?” and instead begins with the parent sharing their thoughts on their child’s learning posted online that very morning! It’s about looking for opportunities to connect with other blogs and beginning to analyse the style of comment you’d like to see- Is it positive, thoughtful and helpful? A simple three part system worth visiting each time students comment.

A simple blog, sharing ongoing learning to engage the community and connect students to the world. There are many apps out there to help capture learning and experiences as they happen, stopping it from becoming yet another thing to do! Of course, there will be times that a post needs to be something special, not a snapshot window into the classroom, but a carefully constructed display of the brilliant things happening in and outside of the room… I can’t think many better teachable moments, can you?

What?

And so I come to the easiest part of all. If you know Why and How you’re sharing, then the What falls into place effortlessly. Whether a student blog or a class blog, what to share isn’t really the question. It’s more about defining what the purpose of the blog is. To me, it isn’t a portfolio of best work. It isn’t a place for typed up stories after being drafted in books or perfect, finished pieces. It’s a place to show the journey. The ups, downs, ins and outs. The rollercoaster that learning can be.

Whether it’s simple photos of the stages when creating a piece of artwork or a digital story plan, it’s about showing the process and thinking, just as much as the outcome. A blog can be a place for incredibly elaborate animated movies or a quick picture of something that made a student think, and everything in between! It’s a place to show student voice, progress, achievement, failure, success, choice and perhaps most importantly reflection and growth.

Something I’ve lived by over the past few years has been, don’t be afraid to FAIL. Because in itself, it’s simply your First Attempt In Learning.

Recommended reading:

Manaiakalani Blog
Manaiakalani Story
The Manaiakalani Outreach Project
Start with the why
Start with the why- blog
The Principal of Change

September 17

The SAN Script – Thursday, September 17

We have abandoned a light burden, namely self-criticism, and taken up a heavy burden, namely self-justification.

-Abba John the Little

prayer of the day

Free us, O Lord, from the impulse to prove ourselves right. Instead, give us the humility to repent, so that you can put us in the right.

IMG_0513

Please read this article – it is an excellent response to our inquiry intention on the impact of digital technology on student achievement – the article has been added to our SIPSaw

Make it Stop

Posted: Updated:

“More time spent on technology in the classroom doesn’t necessarily help kids do better in school, a new study has found.”

When you read a statement like this people tend to have one of two reactions. From many who have been hesitant to embrace technology, there is an audible, “Told you so.” For those proponents of technology, they often think, “If only they trained their teachers in how to use it.” The reaction you rarely hear, but the one that signals the failure of many technology infusions into our schools is: “what do we mean by do better?”

The opening quote is from an LA times article about the failures of technology implementation in Los Angeles Unified School District. This is not the first time LAUSD technology efforts have been featured as a failure and unless things change, it won’t be the last.“Do better” is code for “increase test scores”. It’s beyond me how often school districts with seemingly smart people are still thinking of technology as a tool to simply improve test scores. This lack of vision and understanding is way past an acceptable level of ignorance. After decades of these initiatives, I’m not sure if this represents a lack of courage or vision but it has to stop. If all we want is to improve test scores we need to stop spending money on technology and start spending it improving our test taking skills. Without a doubt, we could drastically improve these results with a bit of intention. Focusing on things like memorizing facts will take us a lot further than exploring and creating rich content with technology.

There are 2 things that have to happen in order for us to stop repeating the mistakes of LAUSD. First, we have to understand that technology changes the way we learn. Going back to Seymour Papert, smart people have seen how computers afford new learning opportunities. In the past decade, most everyone with access has experienced what it’s like to learn from anyone, anywhere at any time. In everyday life, this is no longer an event to behold but the way we learn. Any policy maker or leader who doesn’t understand and live this needs to find other employment. I can’t imagine people not being exposed to these ideas and shifts by now. Recently I listened to a podcast about a person living in the US and had never seen the Internet. The episode was called Unicorn. Sadly, it seems many of our leaders have also missed out on the learning revolution that is taking place all around them. The second thing that has to change is our definition of “doing better”. We should be asking how technology is changing teaching and learning. Questions like “What can this technolgy do that couldn’t be done without it? Thes questions lead to fundamentally different ideas about what classrooms can and should look like. This means new measures of success. Whether it’s how well students communicate and tell stories using a variety of media, building and creating art, solving and finding real and current problems, collaborating effectively with people around the world or writing code, there are infinite examples of doing better than are never going to fit inside a spreadsheet cell.

Frankly, I’m tired of reading about districts who view learning and technology in such narrow terms. Fortunately, there are many district and district leaders who are working to address these 2 things. Did the leadership at LAUSD not look around or are they so big they couldn’t imagine learning from others? At any rate, equating “doing better” with “increased test scores” is a tiresome and outdated perspective even without bringing technology into the conversation. When districts invest dollars into technology they have a right and responsiblity to see results and change. It begins by seeing changes in the classroom and ends with students demonstrating their learning in ways that go way beyond a test score.

 

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