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Cross-Curricular Teaching and Learning

July 23, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

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About Me : I started teaching 4 years ago and as I worked through the curriculum I constantly found myself realizing that I missed several competencies throughout the year. This wasn’t the case with just one subject but what seemed like every subject. How does one manage to teach all concepts and competencies within the year to all students at a sufficient level? I knew there had to be a better way. I reached out to district level coaches and learned about cross-curricular teaching. I discovered that subjects areas weren’t separate but in fact overlapped by teaching literacy concepts during science lessons or teaching mathematical concepts during social studies lessons. I found when I started to dig deeper for myself into what the curriculum meant to me my students in return had increased engagement, excitement and practical understandings of what we learning within the classroom.

Some things I’ve learned so far:

Cross-curricular teaching is not a new concept; in fact, it has been researched and developed since the before the 1990’s. In both Denis

Photo from Pixabay

Haye’s 2010 article The Seductive Charms of Cross-Curricular Approach and Robert J Marzano’s 1991 article Fostering Thinking across the Curriculum through Knowledge Restructuring the inherent need for cross curricular teaching was born from the lack of higher level thinking demonstrated by students. This concern was brought to the government level in both Hayes and Marzano’s articles which highlights that there were fundamental aspects of education that were missing from the current system. Despite these articles being 20 years apart, they both still note that simply teaching content isn’t enough of an education to create a holistic and well around citizen of society. Hayes argues “[a]s children are continually on a self-discovery tour, it is essential for them to know who they are, how they should best relate to others and their role as ‘world citizens’, rather than just being able to reach academic targets” (p. 386). To aid this, cross-curricular teaching focuses on concepts such as meaning, peer projects, higher level thinking, student lead interests, inquiry, themes and issues. It allows students to take control and defend their thinking about the content as opposed to simply regurgitating information that was given to them. Marzano states “that for knowledge to be restricted and higher level thinking fostered, students must use knowledge within tasks over which they have some control and which match personal goals or needs” (p.519). Cross-curricular learning allows for this to happen by providing student choice and peer interaction. Not only are they learning the content required of their grade level, but they are learning skills such as time management, organization, communication and compromise which are concepts that are hidden within the curriculum. So why is it not done in every classroom?

Reference List:

Hayes, D. (2010). The Seductive Charms of a Cross-Curricular Approach. Education 3-13, 38.(4), 381-387. DOI: 10.1080/03004270903519238

Marzano, J. Robert. (1991). Thinking and Learning Across the Curriculum through Knowledge Restructuring. Journal of Reading, 34. (7), 518- 525. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/stable/40014576

Unlocking Assessment

July 18, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

As educators, assessment is a large part of our job and there are a vast number of tools and pedagogies available. Therefore, as a group we chose to look at the specific aspects of assessment and online assessment tools for the current time we are in, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We first created a set of learning outcomes for assessment (see below), then our curated list and finally we collaborated on a blog post. The Key to Unlocking Assessment seeks to provide educators with ideas of how to transition into the blended and online learning environment that will likely be our reality in the fall. These sources, strategies, and tools were chosen with a critical lens in order to provide practical resources for the everyday educator. The remainder of this post provides our rationale behind this curation. We focused on a range of resources from connections to ministry curriculum, different types and formats of assessments, tools to conduct them, and opportunities for professional development. To achieve this, we examined government and university articles, commercial enterprises, as well as public/private blogs. The CRAAP test was applied to each entry, to evaluate whether they were: Current, Relevant, Accredited, Accurate, and Purposeful. There were only a few resources in our curated list that did not meet every aspect of the test, however they were included for the following reasons.

Old ministry document: This document is not considered current as it was created in 1994. However, the PDFs are still useful as a starting point for educators; although some adjustments will need to be made in order to address updated curriculum. Included in the list are the updated curriculum resources.

Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment: A 2001 summary of a 1998 literature review that provides a detailed outline of the important building blocks of assessment by answering the questions of why assessment is important and how it aids learners. It focuses specifically on formative assessment for learning. Although the literature review was written over 20 years ago the information provided is still applicable to today’s learners and educators.

Assessing the Online Learner: Does not contain a specific date but does contain referenced work from 2007, therefore we can reasonably conclude that it was written sometime after this. The information shared is applicable, purposeful, reliable, accurate and could be a very useful resource for teachers.

Learning Outcomes for Assessment:

Identify self-assessment tools that allow students to engage with content through:

Explanation
Justification
Personal connection

Build and apply rubrics and scales to assess curricular competencies.

Investigate and utilize various forms of formative and summative assessment for online learning environments.

Develop a variety of assessment methods to engage students in a subject area using technology.

Consider teaching/learning environment (online vs blended)
Personalized to consider student needs.
Voice and choice
Use assessment to inform instruction

Construct timely assessment or appropriate support to ensure student success.

Check-ins
Support Blocks
Office Hours
Communication Home

What’s Next?

Our next step is to create resources and evidence informed content that will authentically assess student understanding, in our new learning context. Additionally, we aim to aid educators in developing their own assessment skills, strategies, and tools, that will fit both in-class, blended and online environments.

Co-Authors: Faune, Jerry, Leanne, Rhyanon and Rochelle.

What is Curriculum:

July 14, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

Fog, Coniferous Forest, Spruce, Forest, Green

https://pixabay.com/photos/fog-coniferous-forest-spruce-forest-3622519/

Metaphor:

To me curriculum is a forest.

The Why?

It is heavy and dense with knowledge that as a professional and educator you must circulate your way through. The more you learn about this forest the more trails become clear and the better you are able to navigate these pathways. A forest also connects and lives off of itself. Everything is connected, the soil provides nutrition to the trees, the trees capture sunlight etc. all things are intertwined. Curriculum is not just a mandated place of concepts provided to teachers. It is a well thought-out forest of learning that can be interpreted and explored in a vast amount of ways.

Avenue, Away, Nature, Walk, Trees, Forest, Landscape

https://pixabay.com/photos/avenue-away-nature-walk-trees-5239679/

Designing Curriculum? Drink In The Beauty

July 9, 2020 / fnicholas / 1 Comment

Thought’s Prior:

This week we started to discuss the project we are about to embark on as a Cohort. We are creating an online resource that aims to support parents and teachers during this transition into online and blended learning models. This is obviously an unprecedented time within the world and within education. However, it is also a great opportunity to learn and strive for a new understanding of what education can look like. What a glorious undertaking you’re thinking. Although that’s true, I have very recently realized how difficult creating learning outcomes and designing curriculum truly is. As a teacher, I am handed the play book on what I have to accomplish. Essentially, I sit down one day, look at the various outcomes and put them into a plan of attack. How do I accomplish these? What’s the best way to blend multiple subjects together? How do I best distribute these outcomes across my entire year plan? Oh, and how do I teach all of this with all the vacation time I’m given? No problem though, this is what I was trained for I practice this skill every single year when I create my year plan. As I move from year to year I better learn the outcomes and know how to integrate them more and more. So what’s so hard about designing the curriculum?

Reality Check:

Well, let me be completely honest when I say designing curriculum is not easy, trust me. Between the entire 26 people in my cohort I am sure many of us at one point or another thought “wait…what?” I have always been given the playbook on curriculum, I have never had to step all the way back and ask myself “what is important for someone else to know and teach in this area?” I found we circles around massive ideas about student engagement, assessment, participation and connection. These topics is not small by any means. They encompass thousands of ideas and routes one can take to accomplish these goals. However, they also pose major road blocks. So although I am extremely excited for this opportunity to take a step back and look at the biggest picture, I am realizing that this is not going to be a small task. Anybody else have a new respect for those who actually designed our curriculum? I sure do!

Check back in to see what other types of struggles and strives I make is this area of learning.

Going Back To Our Roots

April 3, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

My prior thoughts:

This weeks discussion has been one that I have absolutely LOVED as a grade 3 teacher. We discussed the concept of Maker Spaces and learning through play. Maker Spaces aren’t something I am necessarily familiar with but given our discussion I have dabbled with it unintentionally. The whole idea revolves around engagement and inquiry. Allowing the students to discover by manipulating and creating from their own ideas with small amounts of guidance. Now I am no expert on this specific idea and I have done a little bit in inquiry. The connection to teaching was obvious this week. I didn’t want to stop there though, I wanted to figure out how I could bring this idea to families and parents while I am teaching online.

Through reflection, my thoughts now:

In trying better to understand Maker Spaces not only through readings and discussion, I truly enjoy Ted Talks. They often give a combination of visual examples and ideas that have already been done in the schools. The idea of Maker Spaces allows for the creativity and problem-solving skills that we are trying to get our students to indulge in. The Ted Talk I watched is presented by Vipul Redey. He speaks to the past of how Leonardo da Vinci used what he had around him in order to create what he saw in his mind.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n7aBQDubLU

My Key Connections:

Vipul Redey in his Ted Talk says “children are in their very nature, makers. They are drawn by their innate curiosity to make sense of the world.” This is a huge key factor in teaching. We often speak of allowing students the freedom to learn. We are meant to ignite the passions within them so that they are excited to learn. Often times though, we end up feeling like we (as teachers) are not doing anything if they are taking all the control. We have questions such as how do we mark them? How do I help them if I don’t know all the content about the subject? How do I keep them on task? Whenever teachers are asked to relinquish control they can nervous and truly question if they are doing the right thing.

People, Children, Child, Happy, Kids Playing, Cute

https://pixabay.com/photos/people-children-child-happy-1560569/

Learning Through Play:

What was your favorite thing to do as a child? Usually we hear people say play games, play outside, go camping etc. The reason is because we were able to play and able to explore without the fear of failure or expectations. We often turn students away from play and place paper in front of them and ask them to be wildly creative and fearless but only in the way we want them to. Makers Space, Inquiry and learning through play eliminates those preset expectations. This doesn’t mean that expectations don’t exist because they do, but they are not set to limit the students ability to explore. Instead they are set to ensure that students find success. In terms of the teacher, it is okay for them to be uncomfortable at first. It is okay to defy some peoples expectations of what school is meant to look like. It is okay to allow the students to teach you. It is amazing how much information is in both a teachers and students brains and it’s even more amazing to watch how they support one another. Play is a key part of life and allowing students to use that fundamental aspect of they nature to learn is by far one of the most important things we as teachers can do, in my opinion.

Reverting Back To Data

April 3, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

What I thought:

A couple of classes ago our instructor asked us to watch a Ted Talk about data collection. To be honest, I was confused as to why. Of course as teachers we collect data in terms of grades or where students are in a variety of subjects. But how did these two ideas connect? How could data collection relate or even inform my teaching? It took me a while to write this post simply because I had to take so long to process and determine what the video meant to me. Perhaps it would be helpful to know which video I’m talking about.

Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en

New thoughts through reflection:

Perhaps there is a correlation between data and teaching. It could have been obvious to others but I did not see it at first. When going through this video several times I start to ask myself, how does this relate? All of a sudden it hit me that he’s talking about people. Not specific people but people in general and how we’ve moved through time, adapted and changed. One part that really stood out to me was the idea of diversity within a country. In one part of his video he shows how diverse Africa is in terms of its needs. He split apart Africa into its various areas and spoke to how aid must be varied in Africa depending on the region and that regions specific needs. There are regions with more money and regions with less money and thus they should be given aid differently depending on their needs. So, I finally connected the dots and thought, this is the same in Canada. A large country with various places all needing different things. I started to scope it down from large to small and thought first we have Canada, then B.C, then Langley, then my school and finally it ends up in my classroom. I thought about taking this visual Hans Rosling used to separate Africa and using it within my own classroom. You could use it to determine whether students are given basic needs or whether they’re lacking them and how that could effect performance. You could also look at the variety of family sizes, housing and income etc. All these things determine how a class composition is shaped. Through a long winded thought process and discovery, I now see how collecting data and ‘knowing your students’ creates the conditions to have the best informed teaching.

Unprecedented Times

March 20, 2020 / fnicholas / 4 Comments

Current Situation:

During this week people are encountering an unprecedented time where social distancing is a continued safety measure. Since this is occurring all schools within B.C. have closed.

Questions:

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/question-mark-pile-questions-symbol-2492009/

The question then begs, what will teaching look like when teachers return to school? Will it be a question of working from home or working within the classroom? Are we going to be mandated to use a particular online learning service such as MyBluePrint or Google Classroom? All districts and provinces will be different in their approaches. Seeing as I am on Spring Break now, which doesn’t have a normal Spring Break calmness, I am unsure of what will be expected of me when I return to work. I also wonder how long we will be required to teach online everyday? Will it be the 6 hours of normal schools time? If it is, I for see many many issues that will occur.

Options and Considerations for Online Curriculum:

Given that my district has focused and implemented MyBluePrint as their online learning space I am going to be using that to provide online learning tools. On MyBluePrint, you are able to assign lessons or activities. For example, I would record myself doing a read aloud, asking questions and ask the students to submit a typed response on their MyBluePrint to answer the questions I have asked about the book. I could even have them pose questions themselves about the book. In doing this, we can then have discussions about the questions or connections that we have made during the reading. Following this, students could be asked to submit a written reflection about a topic that I assigned to them that involved the book. Another thought I had around using MyBluePrint, is that I could send out a picture of a Story Workshop I have created and have the students write a story using that they see in the picture.

For math, I could utilize platforms that my students are familiar with such as Math Playground or Greg Tang Math websites. This will allow students to focus on specific concepts while playing games just like we would in the classroom. Furthermore, using the MyBluePrint platform I could pose open ended math questions to which students would respond with explaining their thinking and problem solving. They could provide a video or picture as well to demonstrate how they solved the problem or what questions they encountered. Students could be sent home a copy of math games and asked to play with them their parents or a sibling. How this would occur if students didn’t have a printer would be another question to consider. It is one I don’t necessarily have the answer to just yet.

Other considerations could be sending out YouTube videos, National Geographic links or using the Digital Resources Page that would allow students to watch videos based on science or social studies curriculum. Given that I had already planned to incorporate a science specific inquiry project. Students could be given directions and resource links in order to complete this project at home. They would be required to send in weekly updates on their research, questions they have, a visual plan of how to create their project, a video of their completed project and explanation and finally a reflection. All of these pieces could be submitted on MyBluePrint.

Learn, Student, Laptop, Internet, Online, Books, Woman

https://pixabay.com/photos/learn-student-laptop-internet-3653430/

Overall Thoughts and Feelings:

Of course this is a stressful time for everyone but given that I have been doing my masters which specifically focuses on technology I feel that I am prepared enough to have a starting point. I will absolutely encounter hurdle after hurdle but I believe I have some necessary tools at my disposal in order to provide students with basic education. I believe it is essential for teachers to open their minds and share, share, share their knowledge so support one another during this time.

Digital Story Telling

March 8, 2020 / fnicholas / 2 Comments

I have never heard of Digital Story Telling before and I am still slightly confused by the concept. However, my take on it is that one uses technology or digital media in order to tell their story. For example, you could host a podcast talking about your love of cooking and amazing recipes you’ve tried. My digital story telling would focus more on education, being a grade three teacher. I find the idea of digital story telling and interesting one as B.C’s grade three curriculum is all about story. It speaks to how we, as individuals, have our own stories to tell. It is also an interesting concept when bridging into First Nations learning. I still am unsure of how I would use this in my classroom. but I feel that is due to my lack of knowledge about the subject versus the actual use it has. I look forward to seeing how I can use digital story telling in my teaching and especially finding out how it can aid my students.

Open Educational Resources and Online Learning

February 15, 2020 / fnicholas / 0 Comments

Over the last several weeks the discussion of online learning and open educational resources have circulated. Before taking the course (Open and Distributed Learning), I had never heard of open educational resources. However, open educational resources are used all the time by everyday teachers. We search content through Pinterest and follow teacher blogs in order to get idea from others. Now, these are sites that are used daily and are unlikely to shut down due to the vast majority of people using them and the sheer amount of content that is covered. When considering how open educational resources are used, Katie Gosa on TEDxUTA sums up the bright possibilities that can be achieved specifically at a post-secondary level in her talk on OER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUgqdSOD9bg

In going through this course though, I have learned that open educational resources generally shut down within the first 5 years. Sometimes due to lack of publicity about the site or maintenance or even lack of funding. Yet, the thought of having an online platform where people can share resources without providing a ton or even any personal information seems like a no-brainer. Even the discussion of whether something is truly open or not is complex. Some believe that a resource is not open unless there is unrestricted access to the information with zero need for any information from the user. This is to say that in order to get the information you want, you would not have to provide an e-mail, username, you would not even have to create an account. Others, on the other hand, believe that open resources include sites that require usernames, passwords and an e-mail address. I would side with this argument as it seems utopian to run a website without any information from your demographic using the site.

With the idea of website usage in mind, the thought of online learning as a type of educational resource is one that provokes many thoughts. Online learning provides a freedom that is unlike traditional school. You are able to access classes anywhere (possibly at any time), you are able to be anywhere (as long as there is internet access) and you can connect with people around your country or even the world. This type of easy connection allows for broader learning capabilities. People in two vastly different places can collaborate over a project focusing on the same thing, yet the two people will provide varying perspectives on the topic. This again seems like a walk in the park. However, whenever technology is involved we have to consider the limitations. Limitations can include no wireless access, no internet access, lack of laptops or tablets, increased self motivation to attend classes and a lack of personal connection with others. Could the increase of technological use inhibit the exposure to the outside world such as being in a classroom or even being outside. This is to say that there could be an overexposure to screen time.

Therefore, when considering the use of online programs within education I believe there is a place for it. In doing my masters, it is a wonderful way to fit in my higher education that works around my schedule and does not require me drive to a classroom. I also believe there is room for these types of programs in high school and university, but elementary school is where the plot thickens. I am unconvinced that an online program would work for students at an elementary school level. There are aspects that can be used within elementary schools but the basic foundation of elementary school is to learn basic curriculum skills along with social emotional skills. Using a computer to connect with others, I think would not contribute to that social connection piece the way a classroom does.

Matt Miller, in his Don’t Buy the Book: Cultivate, Curate and Go Open TedX talk, speaks eloquently about the beauty of successful integration of technology into traditional teaching. I appreciate that he highlights the difference in terms of book versus technology role out in the school system. We have had years upon years to cultivate our understanding of books and how to use them within education. We even have librarians and library technicians to support us in our search for incorporating books into our classrooms. Yet, when technology came into the mix, it felt more like a need to integrate quickly without giving teachers time to learn how to use technology effectively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM-oyzgkPx0

Overall, throughout this course I have learned about open educational resources, privacy measures and the positive and negative effects that technology through online learning can create. Clearly there are limitations to online learning but in many situations there are also benefits. All in all, online education with a mixture of traditional classroom exposure seems to be the happy medium in my mind.

First Online EdCamp

February 3, 2020 / fnicholas / 1 Comment

Last Tuesday was my first experience with an online Ed Camp. I’ve been to several Ed Camps before but certainly never online. In some ways I found this style to be more efficient. You didn’t have to sit through the opening remarks that lasted an hour while everyone gathers their coffee, biscuits and makes sure they’re going to the same session as their best friend. Instead, this Ed Camp was more efficient. It allowed for us to have personal input in what we wanted to discuss. It makes me wonder, if Ed Camps send out a form to people to determine what possible options are before sending out the sign up would their be more interest and engagement? Although I enjoy Ed Camps as a style of learning, I often find that I am forced to pick at least one session that doesn’t interest me much but becomes a time filler in my time table. A possible downfall to the Ed Camp was that, at least in my group, we didn’t branch out to other discussions. It was difficult to know when to leave or how to hop from one session to another. Perhaps that has more to do with my knowledge of the program we used versus the easy capability of it. Never the less, it is something to consider. The discussion of my session was social media. This seems to be a topic that is a discussion in an abyss. What I mean to say is that there is a vast number of benefits and a dauntingly large number of down falls to using social media within the classroom. We’re in a day and age that promotes social media and yet, educators seem to be under the “public eye microscope.” One false step and immediately you’re on the defense questioning every choice you made around using social media. The over arching understanding from my group was that despite the growing interest in social media, there is still no rules surrounding how to use it. Furthermore, because there’s no regulations there’s also no security for educators. Overall, it was determined that the scale of social media usage does not easily tip from one direction to the next.