Technology and Inquiry Reflection

Joanna Lake’s Presentation

Reflecting on Joanna’s presentation, one of my favourite takeaways was doing a daily checkin with students. I’ve heard of teachers engaging with such activities before but I’ve never seen a specific example or way a teacher does it. I certainly see the benefits of doing a daily checkin, not only does it give you a glimpse into how your students are doing/feeling but it lets your students know that you care about how they are doing. One of the best things you can do as a teacher is build relationships with your students and daily checkins are a part of relationship building. You want your students to know you care about them and you want them to be comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings with you. Joanna showed our class a mood scale she sometimes uses with her students, that features guinea pigs. Now given that I have guinea pigs I decided to make my own guinea pig mood scale featuring my girls.

Check it out below!

I also loved Joanna’s low risk suggestions for making connections with your students. Making connections is a huge part of being an excellent teacher but it can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to create those bonds. But I love the idea of having daily routines like a joke or question that the class engages with everyday. Kids look forward to moments like those and they help create a positive classroom environment.

FreshGrade!

FreshGrade is a digital portfolio for use by teachers, students, and parents to easily capture and share student learning. FreshGrade allows teachers to digitally share resources, assignments and progress with their students and parents. It also helps keep parents engaged in what their child is learning. Teachers can share not just grades but student work and activities they have been participating/learning about. FreshGrade is a great communication tool dedicated to a student’s learning and progress. I think FreshGrade is a great tool for teachers and parents especially with students in younger grades. It can be difficult for parents to understand what their children are doing and for teachers to keep up regularly informing individual parents. FreshGrade streamlines the communication of student learning for both the teachers and parents. From what I understand FreshGrade can also be an excellent place to document student progress and what they have been doing. For example, I know a teacher who videotaped her class during their dance unit and shared the video on FreshGrade for parents to see. I have never had the chance to use FreshGrade but I look forward to the chance to do so!

Android Science Journal

This was my first time hearing about and experiencing Android Science Journal and I have to say I really love it. It’s a neat way to get kids engaged with science; trying hands-on activities without expecting them to have tons of fancy materials. In this day and age most families have at least one smartphone and most schools have tablets for classroom use. Android science journal embraces that available technology for learning and provides students with interesting activities right at their fingertips. Perhaps the best part, is that the website offers activities for a variety of ages from kindergarten to grade 12. Each activity is well laid out with the outcomes and goals even including the suggested length of time for each activity. It is certainly a great place to find a hands-on, engaging activity for your science class!