This year I learned the Google helps make learning more fun. It helps me share my work more easily. I learned that the green screen helps me pretend to be in places that I'm not.

This is a video I made about it. I made it on my iPad and using explain everything.

Charlie is a grade 2 student at Tuscany school. He loves soccer, tennis, minecraft and rainbow loom. He loves being outside playing with his friends even more!

What I learned today….

As we wind down the school year my students and I have been talking a lot about the past and what we have learned during grade one.  Their answers are varied and day to day they come up with something new.  There are a few who hold steadfast to the most important thing they’ve learned in grade one.  One student is committed to his dream of becoming a builder and keeps telling me “math is the most important thing I’ve learned.  I need to know how to measure.”  A second student, quiet yet very reflective shared with me that she really learned that she needed to focus on her work.  “That way you always know what is going on.”  The most common comment is what they appreciate or are thankful for in grade one.

One thing that has really struck me is observing the impact of acknowledging and showing our appreciation for the help and support we get from others whether from home or at school.  Since the beginning of the year students have been “filling each others buckets” and recently shared with the class how much they appreciate them or what they are thankful for in their day.  It touches me to witness them sharing what matters most: positive relationships showing connection, appreciation and respect.   Their demonstration of citizenship in their various ways warms my heart and fills my bucket every day.

Tamara (@TDKoach) is an elementary teacher and lifelong learner passionate about creativity and inquiry.  Also a nature lover and coach inspired to help others.

This year, we explored the relationship that humans have with water and our relationship with the rivers that run through Calgary. We asked important questions about how water shapes us and how we shape water, an interconnected relationship that requires serious, thoughtful, consideration, and time to study the topic in depth. The more we learned about the rivers, the more compelling they became. We have become hermeneutic scholars around the rivers’ origin, landforms, myths, civilizations, celebrations, conflicts, disasters and their deep meaning to us and our personal identities as beings living in Calgary at this time in history. The rivers have become a part of us, just as we have become part of the rivers. Everything is the same issue.

A reflection from Zach captures a lasting impression:

Learning about the river changed my thinking about water. I find myself thinking hard about water in different and related ways. I am rethinking local and international water issues and how we treat them. I found that one question would lead to another and once  that question was answered, it led to another, fascinating question.

The lasting impressions from our explorations around water this year have made me respect our rivers a lot more than I did before. I try to waste as little as possible, leaving  a cleaner river and a cleaner earth. I also use less water, knowing that the freshwater supply is finite. Water is a part of us and we need to take care of it. We are the river.

Margeaux Montgomery is an educator who enjoys exploring, wondering, creating and laughing with her students daily.

I have learned that students have the ability to know and understand what kind of learners they are, as well as what they need in order to be successful learners. They can advocate for their learning and be part of the planning process that individualizes and specializes learning in the classroom for them as individuals. As a teacher, it’s important to take a step back and facilitate students in getting to know themselves as learners. I have tried this approach in my teaching this year and it has shown me that giving my students the opportunity to have a voice and an opinion in their learning has improved the overall learning process in our classroom. Including my students as part of the team that designs their learning helps to make the process of achieving individualized learning, as seamless as possible. Once I have delivered a lesson, each student knows what they require to accommodate their learning. They naturally use the tools or the spaces that work best for them and this helps them to stay focused and on task. As their accommodations need alterations/additions, they sometimes come to me and make suggestions that would work better for them. With the proper support, I believe this approach can work at any age level/grade. Observing my students and seeing their ability to adapt and create a successful learning experience for themselves has taught me that sometimes there is more to be learned from our students, regardless of their age or level, than we ever could have imagined.

Salimah Kassam is in her second year of teaching (elementary). This year she teaches grade 2. She is a Starbucks, BBQ & sunshine enthusiast.

This entry was inspired by Breane Pahl’s post on CBE182, day 45.  A teacher who experiences the power of social media in education, even in a division 1 classroom.  

I’ve been teaching grade six for four years now and it still amazes me how passionate, knowledgeable and determined this age group can be in achieving social and global change.  

What started as a novel study on ‘The Breadwinner’ by Deborah Ellis has turned into six months of constant connections between texts (ex. ‘I am Malala’, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ and ‘Hana’s Suitcase’), personal life experiences (ex. Living in Syria and Pakistan) and connections to the greater world via Twitter and Instagram.

A student approached me in early April with an Instagram photo of Selena Gomez with various handles and hashtags associated with it, such as @MalalaFund #FreeTheChildren & #WeAreSilent.  From this discovery, came a flurry of interest to participate in #WeAreSilent on April 17, 2014 to support Malala Yousafzai in bringing awareness to the millions of girls around the world who are not given the right to education.  

This students’ interest represented one voice from our classroom.  This one voice turned into 24 other students buzzing with questions.  From there, 25 mini activists channeled their energy into 3 simple, yet effective tweets.  These tweets submerged us into the conversation and awareness brought to the #WeAreSilent pledge.  On this day, students learned that their one voice turned into dozens of retweets, a handful of new followers and recognition from the @MalalaFund directly.  Although my students didn’t raise thousands of dollars like many schools did across the world, they still got to experience the power of speaking up and being passionate about issues that concern them.   

Kate Logan (@logankatej / @MarlboroughYYC) is a grade six teacher at Marlborough School.  She is inspired daily by her students’ ability to fearlessly observe, wonder and explore. 

What Did I Learn Today?

Nineteen curious five year olds entered the room, greeting each other and chatting. During carpet time, we gathered together to decide how the day would unfold. Before going to their centres, I let students know that I would stop their play at some point to have them draw their thinking.

It was a busy hour of play, with students engaging in a huge variety of activities. Some worked on creating a movie with light and shadows in our shadow room.  One student settled into a beanbag to quietly research snakes. A small group built animal homes with blocks, some drew and others figured out how to remove the flesh from the coconut. Moving from teacher to guide, I assisted with materials, listened to conversations and worked on targeted strategies with some students.

Our teaching goal this year was to embed joyful writing and math throughout the classroom.  We often discuss how to show our thinking through drawings, messages and plans at different centres and ask questions about where we see math in our play. I stopped the class well into playtime to drop everything and write. I was surprised to see the students clamoring for their journals! While they sketched snakes with patterns, structures, art projects and more, the engagement was palpable.  

Later, my partners and I met for a post-dismissal chat. We have developed a protocol: we talk about what happened in our classrooms, share student, discuss the plan for the following day and then we go big with blue sky ideas.  Today, we discussed the journal entries that my class did, spent a few moments talking about our sustainability inquiry that we are developing, then our discussion turned to the importance of collaborative space.

Reflecting at the end of the day, I realized that my students are learning how to think, collaborate and ask questions and I am learning just how much student voice, collaboration and intrinsic motivation can drive my practice.

 

Stephanie Bartlett (@sj_bartlett) teaches Kindergarten FI at Chinook Park. Passionate about infusing creativity & teaching. Life long learner.

At 8:30 AM on March 21st, CBE students from 18 Calgary high schools arrived at the Beijing Experimental High School to participate in the first day of the International Leadership Summit (IYLS) 2014.  The students were tired from traveling and were still used to the rhythms and flow that made up their days 8500 km and 14 time zones away.   The students could feel the warmth of the morning sun that penetrated the cool, hazy Beijing morning air as they gathered in the inner exercise courtyard of this large urban campus wondering what the day and week ahead would hold.  Within minutes, Iris - one of the Assistant Principals at Beijing Experimental High School - was leading us through courtyards and stairwells until we reached our destination.  Then it began - the 4th annual International Youth Leadership Summit in Beijing.

That day and the nine that followed were filled with activities, opportunities and events that merged to become an exciting collage of student engagement, learning, leadership development, adventure, and sightseeing. 

The students who were part of the CBE delegation had all been part of a special system student advisory group and had spent their year participating in leadership and intercultural studies.  As a result, students came with a deep desire to discuss, learn and benefit from their time with their counterparts from the other side of the globe.  What they gained was the experience and knowledge that it is through learning, communicating and collaborating that we are able to truly appreciate the things that make us similar and also celebrate that which makes us culturally unique.  Through this focus on leadership and the immersive cultural experience, that also included traveling to a number of local and regional points of geographic, historical and cultural the CBE students gained deep insights into and an appreciation into the educational, cultural, historical and social aspects of the world’s most populous country.

There is one thing that was clear from this cross-cultural experience.  The CBE students returned home more globally aware, culturally competent, and better equipped to undertake acts of leadership that make our communities, our cities, our countries and our world a better place to be.

To live the richness of this experience more fully, we encourage you to go to:  http://iyls2014.weebly.com

Brant is a Director and advocate for real-world experiences that foster leadership, cultural competence, and success learning & working in the global context. 

Debbie is a passionate #yycbe educator and system Learning Leader who loves working with students to bring voice and self-advocacy to their learning!  #studentvoice