About Me

My name is Rose and I am an OCT certified teacher. This blog will be used to share resources and ideas relating to teaching within the P/J classroom. I will also explore ways in which technology can used to facilitate and enrich learning within the classroom. I hope that this blog will inspire other teachers and teaching candidates to incorporate technology into their classrooms to create a more interactive classroom environment to cultivate creativity and make learning more pleasurable for all students.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Addition Art

For my grade 1 addition culminating activity, students created gingerbread men. Each student was given a gingerbread man template along with red and green “gumdrops” (colourful circles). Each student was given a set number of gumdrops, although the amount of gumdrops varied for each student. I found that through telling students that each of them would receive a different amount gumdrops, students were unable to copy the accompanying math sentence from others. It also allowed me to provide differentiated instruction by giving students more or less gumdrops based on individual abilities.

Students were subsequently required to use their gingerbread man to create a math sentence on a separate piece of paper. They were required to print the number of red gumdrops on their gingerbread man in red crayon and print the number of green gumdrops in green crayon. The students subsequently added the two numbers together. The students really enjoyed completing the activity. It doubled as both a culminating task and an art project to decorate the room!

Sunday 25 September 2011

Welcome to Grade 1

This week I started my placement in a grade 1 classroom specializing in speech and language. The program is essentially an intervention program for students who had difficulty during their kindergarten years. The program focuses closely on language skills through dedicating the majority of the day to improving reading, writing and speech. Although none of the students have been officially diagnosed with a learning disability, all of the students are on I.E.P.s.

 A noteworthy feature of this classroom is the sense of community. The teacher in this classroom goes of her way to encourage classroom sharing. For example, each morning the students sit on the classroom carpet. During this time the teacher asks one student if they have any news they would like to share with his/her classmates. After having shared, the student asks another student if he/she has any morning news to share with the class and so on until all students have had the opportunity to share with the class. The students are excited to share their news with their classmates. Through sharing and listening to the ideas and experiences of others a sense of community is established.

 I feel very lucky to have been placed in such a warm and welcoming classroom. I think that along with helping all of the students learn, I will also learn a great from this experience. In this reciprocal process of learning and teaching, I hope that I will be able learn valuable strategies to help my own students succeed in the future while helping these students acquire the necessary skills to succeed within a grade two classroom in the year to come.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Instructional Video

This is a short instructional video explaining how to use a livescribe pen followed by some classroom applications. Enjoy!

Monday 19 September 2011

Reflecting on Classroom Diversity

Diversity in the classroom is generally perceived as a challenge for teachers. However, diversity can be used to enhance classroom learning rather than hindering it. Rather than ignoring diversity or using the “colour-blind” approach, teachers who integrate and celebrate diversity are helping to create a more inclusive classroom environment. However, facilitating learning in a classroom with students coming from different backgrounds, possessing different types of knowledge, speaking different languages, having different styles of learning, and coming from different family backgrounds can be a challenging. I am interested to see how diversity is approached within my internship classroom considering the variety of cultures and languages referenced on the website. I hope to learn strategies from my associate teacher that I can implement into my own classroom in the future. I am hopeful.

Saturday 17 September 2011

Towards Creating an Interactive Classroom

The need for the computer lab within the school is slowly shrinking through the inclusion of interactive technology within the classroom. Rather than having students enter a computer lab once or twice a week to become familiar with the technology, the incorporation of technology (such as the smartboard) within the classroom is helping bridge the divide between technological knowledge (TK) and classroom learning. This major shift from the individualized or intrapersonal use of technology to more inclusive or interpersonal and interactive use of technology is beneficial to students for several reasons.

Firstly, students are able to engage in multiple forms of learning simultaneously. More specifically, students are able to learn a concept related to curriculum expectations, communicate and collaborate with classmates and learn how to interact with the technology being used to facilitate the lesson.

Another significant benefit to using interactive technology within the classroom is its impact on the digital divide. More specifically, students without access to technology outside the classroom are able to interact with it at school. Therefore although students will not be equally proficient with technology, they are able to learn from watching the teacher and their peers.

Consequently, although the use of interactive technology within the classroom may require extra budgeting, training and planning on behalf of the teacher and school board, it is beneficial to student learning. Thus, when reflecting on initiatives towards implementing a student-centred classroom, incorporating technology within the classroom is an important resource to consider.