Friday, May 15, 2015
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Common Sense Digital Citizenship Certified Educator
Last night I received an email to inform me that my application to become a Common Sense Digital Citizenship Certified Educator was successful.
I discovered Common Sense Media a few years ago. Prior to that I had used a few different resources, but felt that my approach to digital citizenship was disjointed.
Common Sense Media presented a complete, and FREE, approach, which started with middle school and now incorporates Kinder and Primary as well as High School. The curriculum has also progressed to cover the following topics:
Internet Safety
Privacy & Security
Relationships & Communication
Cyberbullying
Digital Footprint & Reputation
Self Identity & Image
Information Literacy
Creative Credit & Copyright
The Certified Educator program is aimed as an addition to the curriculum, to celebrate the educators that embracing technology safely and responsibly in their classrooms.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Computer Programming at Glenburnie School
Here's a blog post that I posted on our school website in June 2012. For schools shifting their focus to an emphasis on programming I thought it would be useful to repost here:
Technology has rapidly evolved over the past few years and is increasingly incorporated in all areas of learning in many schools. One aspect of technology that has not been widely explored to date is the field of computer programming.
Glenburnie School has been proactive in this area, and has taken a multi-grade approach to engaging students in this field and introducing the world of programming in Computer Technology classes.
 Formal instruction begins in Grades 1 and 2 when students are introduced to BeeBot and Roamer, robots that use the LOGO programming language to move around the floor. Instruction continues in Grade 3 when students learn to utilize software which replicates their foundation knowledge, as well as building on additional coding skills, such as how to repeat lines of code.
Once these skills have been mastered in the early grades, students in Grades 4 to 8 are introduced to Scratch, a software program developed by MIT, which can be used to create interactive art, stories, and games.
Introduction of programming skills in Computer Technology classes is another way that Glenburnie School effectively prepares students to confidently meet the challenges and opportunities they will face in our rapidly changing world.
|
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Google Classroom goes Mobile!
In the past week, Google announced that they are releasing a new app for their Classroom website. This is fantastic news, as I have found for students on their own tablets, or using a school iPad that they cannot easily access assignments sent through Classroom without previously opening it.
They have also added more features: the ability to take photos right in the app to add to a classroom feed, an assignments feed for teachers to easily view all assignments on one screen, and the ability to archive a class at the end of the year or course.
Using Google Classroom has become my number one go to to hand out and collect work. More and more I am asking students to upload their work to see, rather than navigating the school network. And the students are seeing the benefit: starting work in my class and then easily finishing it at home or elsewhere.
They have also added more features: the ability to take photos right in the app to add to a classroom feed, an assignments feed for teachers to easily view all assignments on one screen, and the ability to archive a class at the end of the year or course.
Using Google Classroom has become my number one go to to hand out and collect work. More and more I am asking students to upload their work to see, rather than navigating the school network. And the students are seeing the benefit: starting work in my class and then easily finishing it at home or elsewhere.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
The move towards of Google Drive and Docs in Schools
Last year, I attended the ECOO conference and decided to move towards implementing Google Drive and Docs with my students. This was not a decision that I made lightly, I reviewed comments, took the time to watch videos, and basically made sure that this was the right step for teachers and students.
It was. I am happy to say that not only are the students embracing using it, I have read more and more about how this is benefiting schools. The public board where I live (I teach at a private school) also started to use it, so I am able to work with my daughter to see the benefits for her.
Let's back up though and work out what we are talking about. Rather than access files and programs on a computer drive or server, we are talking cloud computing; storing files and accessing programs through the Internet. You need a device (computer, smart phone, or tablet) that is connected to the Internet to gain access to your files and to be able to work on them (although off-line access is also available!).
The name is quite misleading as you can use Google Drive, Google Docs as well as the acronym GAFE (Google Apps for Education). In essence, GAFE is an umbrella for Drive, Docs, and a few others. Google Drive refers to the storage space where all of your files live. Google Docs are the programs to work on your files, whether it is a document, spreadsheet, presentation, form, or drawing (among others).
So, what can you use it for? Well, aside from storing your files online, you can work on them as well. What's best is that you can work on them at the same time as someone else, simply by sharing them. One of the first lessons I have done with students is to share a document and then get them all to work on it at the same time. The novelty of it becomes quickly apparent as they are not only able to add their text in real time, but can watch everyone else, as well as change someone else's work!
The next few blogs post will cover more topics about Google, so stay turned for a break down of Google Drive, Docs, Classroom, and more.
It was. I am happy to say that not only are the students embracing using it, I have read more and more about how this is benefiting schools. The public board where I live (I teach at a private school) also started to use it, so I am able to work with my daughter to see the benefits for her.
Let's back up though and work out what we are talking about. Rather than access files and programs on a computer drive or server, we are talking cloud computing; storing files and accessing programs through the Internet. You need a device (computer, smart phone, or tablet) that is connected to the Internet to gain access to your files and to be able to work on them (although off-line access is also available!).
The name is quite misleading as you can use Google Drive, Google Docs as well as the acronym GAFE (Google Apps for Education). In essence, GAFE is an umbrella for Drive, Docs, and a few others. Google Drive refers to the storage space where all of your files live. Google Docs are the programs to work on your files, whether it is a document, spreadsheet, presentation, form, or drawing (among others).
So, what can you use it for? Well, aside from storing your files online, you can work on them as well. What's best is that you can work on them at the same time as someone else, simply by sharing them. One of the first lessons I have done with students is to share a document and then get them all to work on it at the same time. The novelty of it becomes quickly apparent as they are not only able to add their text in real time, but can watch everyone else, as well as change someone else's work!
The next few blogs post will cover more topics about Google, so stay turned for a break down of Google Drive, Docs, Classroom, and more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)