Techmasters+PLC


 * TECHMASTERS PLC Reflections (8Y24 Lab 2: Wednesday 10-12)**

Place your cursor BELOW the three lines. Type in your Professional Learning Community Reflections below. Add your image - ** IT MUST BE OPTIMIZED **. Then place a line under your entry to prepare a spot for the next student's reflection. **BE SURE TO ADD YOUR NAME!!**
 * HINT: DO NOT post when others are posting. Be patient and wait till they finish. Likewise, post your information as quickly as you can as others may be waiting.**

Lauren Caldwell: My professional development of was lecture on occasional teaching in relation to the Niagara District School Board. This presentation was brought to our cohort (2) and was very informative to all the teacher candidates preparing for our career. This is the second occasional teaching lecture I have gone too and I plan to use the suggestions and strategies in the future. The presenter gave many tips on classroom management and school administration that will help in my profession development. I attended a workshop about global communication technologies. During this workshop I had the opportunity to learn about how one teacher from Bradford Ontario uses Skype, email, twitter and pod casts to help her students connect with students from across the world. This workshop was very interesting because it showed how global communications technologies not only help school to become more engaging and relevant for students but they also familiarize students with important global issues such as poverty, war and peace. Moreover, these technologies empower students to solve these problems. This conference really inspired me. AS a result of it I am currently speaking to a teacher from Italy and we plan to have our students conference throughout my block. Our students will be discussing social issues such as war, poverty, global warming and peace. They will also be learning about one another's countries and ways of life.

by Samantha Zara

I attended a smart board workshop; the main highlight was the “smart notebook”. It was a great experience and really showed the many tools it has and how it can beimplemented into so many lessons. It also talked about the numerous smart notebook lessons that can be downloaded online for free or a program you can get for your computer/lab top. I had the opportunity to also test out the smart board and become more comfortable with the tools on it. I have had some previous experience with the smart board but had no idea all the things it can actually do. I would definitely use the information I learned in this workshop and incorporate smart notebook into my lessons. I feel there is a need for smart boards in the classroom if the teacher willing to make use of it. There is so many things I am sure I don’t even know about that can be done on the smart board. It is engaging for all ages and can be used for any subject. I found this technology very fascinating as it was very engaging for myself and would also be for my student learners. by: Lisa D'Aguanno 



The Bitstrips workshop highlighted how students can create comics to show what they know. As a teacher, I would use Bitstrips with my class by having each student create a comic that gets them to reflect on what they are learning. Similar to writing in journals, students would create a few frames that summarize their thoughts on a particular topic. I would also use Bitstrips for class discussion since students can post comments underneath every comic. There is a great built in tool that allows the teacher to view all comments students post – even the deleted ones. One reason for selecting this workshop was that I have noticed an increase in the number of students (particularly boys) reading graphic novels and comics. I was interested in learning practical ways to incorporate comics with writing because I think it is a great way to motivate students.

- Carolyn Foster



Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to attend the Technology Showcase. I did however attend the Arts Conference in the fall term. This conference focused on all four of the arts in the curriculum and how to effectively integrate these subject into other curriculum areas in the classroom. The ideas presented at this conference was incredibly valuable for myself and any other teacher or teacher candidate that attended. While I have been lucky enough to have studied drama in education throughout university, it was a wonderful opportunity for other teachers to see the value of the arts in the classroom. It is easy for a teacher to rely on traditional methods of teaching, but by bringing music, dance, drama or art into the class, students can explore the material in more personal ways. The fundamental concepts as outlined by David Booth, the keynote speaker, can and will be easily adaptable in a classroom and I intend to use the strategies of full body warm-ups, expression through body and sound and specific lessons in my future classrooms. Some of the material in the curriculum is dry for the students. By incorporating some of the techniques taught by the artistic professionals at the workshop, student success or at the very least enjoyment will subsequently increase.

-Katy O'Neil

One of the workshops I attended at the Teaching and Technology Showcase was “Serious Gaming and the Teaching of Critical & Historical Thinking Skills.” In this workshop we learned how we could incorporate gaming within the classroom as an engaging way to teach our students about history of Canada. I think gaming is a great strategy to incorporate within the class reiterating my previous point it engages our students but also gaming in the 21st century is authentic. We are teaching our students through a way they are familiar with. Many students today predominately spend most of their time playing some sort of online or video game. The games that were provided educate students about different strands of Canadian history; from the lives of the aboriginals, to economics, politics, agricultural purposes, and social change. The games are educational and help develop student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. The games would be a great strategy to set the stage to an upcoming unit. As teacher you could also assign questions or have the students list the strategies they’ve taken to complete the tasks assigned for each game, or a reflection piece/exit card of what they’ve learned from the game. I personally selected this session because my background is a specialized honours degree in history and the idea of learning about innovative ways to engage my students in learning history and developing a passion for this subject to the extent that I have intrigued me to take part in this workshop that was being offered. From my observations it’s unfortunate but many students tend to be disengaged when they hear that they will be learning about Canadian history, by incorporating something that interests them I believe history will lose this negative connotation that has been associated with it.

-Christina Circosta

I had the privilege of attending the workshop, Teaching and Technology: A Collaborative Educational Showcase on January 28, 2011. I was very excited for this professional development day because I one workshop that I went to was SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard in the Classroom. I know that my next associate uses the Smart Board in her classroom for almost every lesson, and I am still pretty uncomfortable using this type of technology so I was excited to learn more about this great teaching tool. I think that it is fabulous idea to have workshops on SMART technology because they are become more prevalent in all schools across Ontario and it is a great way to meet the needs of all different types of learners. The SMART board will be a great tool for me when teaching social studies or language arts because it is an interactive way for students to be engaged in what they are learning. You can use this technology for brainstorming activities, taking up worksheets or even creating graphs. Through my next placement I am hoping to learn many more strategies that I can use in a SMART board in my future classroom.

Personally, I do not have a strong math background, so one highlight for me was him showing all the different ways you can present math strands to your students. Students are able to become engaged in their learning and the SMART board encourages students to play around with the technology while simultaneously learning different math concepts and strategies. After this presentation, I feel more prepared to learn about how to integrate SMART board technology into the classroom as well as allow the students to help me along the way. Finally, the presenter also talked about how to use clickers as well as a document camera to complement SMART board technology and I am both thrilled and apprehensive learn how they work.



- Marley Taylor

At this years technology showcase, I attended the presentation regarding the Ontario Educational Resource Bank. During this presentation, I learned all about the online database of educational resources which is facilitated by the Ministry of Education. There are over 23000 resources available on this site, ranging from online activities to lesson plans, quizzes, tests and rubrics. I could see using this technology in a variety of ways in my teaching career. I plan to use it to find ideas for engaging activities when planning a unit in any subject. I could see it as being a quick and easy way to find engaging resources in any subject or grade level, which would be particularly useul for an occasional teacher. I knew that learning more about the Ontario Educational Resource Bank would save me a lot of planning time, and provide me with many valuable resources, and it seems that this will indeed be the case. Jordan Froese

This picture is from the Arts Matter conference that was held in Hamilton October 2010. David Booth was the keynote speaker who talked about his experiences within art education and the importance the arts plays in the lives of our students. As a teacher I found the speech very inspiring and it helped me remember why arts integration is increasingly important to improve student's school experiences. The conference gave me many ideas on how I can integrate drama, dance, visual arts and music into other subject areas to allow students to use their creativity and have more time involved with the arts at school. In the movement class we learned how activities such as //the magic han//d or //puppeteer// can help students explore meaning in other subjects through moving their bodies. There were many ideas on how to integrate drama and movement into DPA also. Having students sit in their seat but swing their legs as if they were running on the spot or being seated and recreating Auguste Rodin's sculpture 'The Thinker' and then quickly extending your arms and feet switching the position of both the arms and the legs. I selected this conference because my personal education through a performing arts school helped me become a more confident and well rounded student and I would like my future students to have as much exposure to the arts as possible. I will use arts integration in my future teaching as I believe it helps meet the needs of a variety of learners. The arts are often undervalued in our educational systems and I believe it is increasingly important to integrate in order for it to be a daily occurence for students. There wasn't technology at this conference. -Claire Dusto

I attended the SMART Board presentation which highlighted the many uses of this technology in the classroom, and provided several examples of lessons that could be adjusted to suit many grades. There was a general overview of the many features this technology is capable of and how it can be manipulated by both the teachers, and their students. What resonated with me the most is that the tool is meant to be interactive for the **students**, and should not be for teacher use only. I would use this technology to showcase student’s work, take-up work, for presentations, as a tool to enhance learning, and in time, learn several other ways to use this tool in the classroom. My students would be able to use this technology for their own presentations as well. I can see this as being especially valuable for mathematics learning; in that everything can be demonstrated and manipulated right before the student’s eyes so they are able to experience the process as whole before attempting to apply their learning independently. I chose to attend this workshop because I believe in The SMART Board's potential to augment learning, and actively engage students in their own learning. I believe it more effectively addresses the needs of today’s 21st century learner, and appeals to a broader range of learning styles. This is what the contemporary classroom needs to more successfully relate to a generation of digital natives. Students will no longer be bound to their seats during classroom instruction, but instead be given the opportunity to interact and manipulate several activities to supplement learning. Maddy Tyrrell



I also attended the SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard in the Classroom workshop that was at the Technology Show Case on Friday January 28, 2011. The workshop highlighted the different features of a SMART Board and what teachers can use them for. For example, the instructor provided both Language and Math SMART Board activities that allow the students to being interactively involved in their learning. I felt that this particular workshop would be very beneficial for teachers that currently have SMART Boards in their school or in their classrooms and are interested in the function and mechanics of this technology. The workshop was more centered on the different tools and features of a SMART Board, i.e. the camera, eraser, copy and paste features, etc. For any person wanting to know how to better incorporate the SMART Board into everyday classroom activity, this workshop may not have been too beneficial. As mentioned above, its main focus was for new and/or learning teachers teaching them how to use a SMART Board. Lastly, I chose this particular workshop because I am personally fascinated with the SMART Board technology and the collaboration it produces amongst teacher/student and student/student. Francesca Virgulti

Presented by: Marianne Fenner, Special Education Resource Teacher Summary by: John Gordon
 * Examples of Assistive Technology used in Peel District School Board**

This workshop was focused on giving examples of effective uses of assistive technology in the classroom for students that are identified as DD, MID, or ASD. The course went over all of the different technologies (both analog and digital) that students were using effectively in the Peel District School Board.

Any teacher would use this PLC to look up the ministry licensed software and recommended assistive technologies. There were also some suggestions for software for purchase. You were able to look at the handout given in the PLC as a guideline. I would use the information I gained in this PLC to further adapt my pedagogical practices and include more effective assistive technologies in my classroom.

I selected this presentation because I believe that it is a teacher’s responsibility to maintain a fair knowledge on current trends and ideas in the assistive technology field. The benefits of helping a student with technology are in some cases quite extraordinary and it is the teacher’s job to bring those technologies that they would feel best appropriate to their students.

Note: I completely forgot that I needed to get a photograph of myself and the presenter. I have a highly photoshopped picture of myself at the Brock Hamilton Campus (where the tech workshop took place) but I don’t think I should post it.

- John Gordon

I attended the Smart Board Interactive Whiteboard in the Classroom workshop that was present by Smart at the Teaching and Technology: A Collaborative Educational Showcase January 28, 2011. Some of the information I learned, that I will use for instructional purposes in the classroom consists of scanning student’s written work into a Smart Notebook file accompanied by an audio recording of the student reading his/her work. This can be used to show parents on parent teacher night, and/or used to assess progress by recording the student reading the same work 2-3 months down the road and comparing the progress. I selected this presentation because Smart Boards are becoming more and more popular in modern classrooms, so I want to be well equipped with the knowledge and skills to use this tool as a means to increase student learning. I also think that there is value to explaining during an interview that I have attended a Smart Board workshop. Matt Gordon

At the Tech Showcase I attended the WordQ and SpeakQ workshop. Out of all the software I saw at the conference, I was most impressed with WordQ and SpeakQ because I could see the value of them in my classroom and family. WordQ predicts what you are writing and provides possibilities so that you can see the spelling, hear the word and hear the word in a sentence. The software also learns to predict the words you use most often. Also, it will read anything on the computer back to you, whether it be what you wrote or something written on the internet. SpeakQ can be trained to know each students’ way of speaking, even if they have a stutter or other verbal communication issues. When the student speaks, the software writes 5 options of what it hears and the student picks the correct sentence by listening to each one. The applications for the classroom will help differentiate learning and help students get their ideas on paper. So many students are dependent on the teacher to tell them how to spell or pick words. With this software students get options of words, options of spelling and in return, they are able to communicate through writing. Personally, I have a family member who struggles with reading and writing. He is in high school but reads at a grade 3 level. One of the most difficult things for him is doing independent research. With this software he can simply highlight any text on the internet and it will be read to him. He will benefit because now he can be independent and also because he is an auditory learner and he will remember the information better. Kathleen Peirce

**Arts Matters Conference**

As a science student, I do not have much background in the arts, nor am I really comfortable with the various strands of it. For this reason, I decided to attend the Arts Matters Conference because as the title of the dictates, the arts are important. As a soon to be qualified elementary school teacher (junior-intermediate), it is not guaranteed that I will be able to teach only the subjects I am comfortable with. My solution to this is to try and become comfortable with all the subjects I am not. The Arts Matters Conference really helped with this as it not only gave us pointers on how to effectively teach music, drama, dance and visual arts, it also taught us how to incorporate it appropriately into other subjects. David Booth, as seen in the picture, was the presenter that started off the Conference with a speech on the importance of the arts and proper art integration.

An example of one of the activities that I came away with was how to incorporate dance with physical education or a class' daily physical activity (DPA). During the dance workshop, we did an activity called "magic hands", where one person dictated the movement of a group with their hand. The movements were not strenuous and did not really remind the participants of dance. This made it possible for those who are uncomfortable with the concept of dance to participate and still have fun, something that is very important when working with younger students. If they are uncomfortable with something, regardless of what they are told, they will shut down and refuse to participate. Through the use of proper integration, more students will be able to participate and be comfortable in doing so.



- Mengyi Zhang

At the Teaching Technology Showcase in Hamilton, I was fortunate to attend the SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard in the Classroom workshop. I am very interested in enhancing my TPK during my next teaching block and when I get my own classroom, and using a SMART board is one TK that I think will be the most important tools for me to use.

The workshop presented a plethora of ideas for which we can utilize in the classroom using the SMART Board. The presenter, who was engaging, friendly and extremely knowledgeable, introduced us to the myriad templates available in the SMART Notebook software, and presented ideas and practical demonstrations on how we will be able to integrate this into our teaching.

I think the SMART Board is an integral classroom tool for teaching now and into the future. The potential is boundless for what we will be able to do with the board, and it opens up worlds of opportunities for us to engage and present interactive activities for our 21st century learning students. I am excited to be able to use the SMART board and can’t wait to use it with my students!

Rob Irwin

The workshop that I attended in the Tech Showcase was “Serious Gaming and the Teaching of Critical & Historical Thinking Skills”. I selected this presentation because of the fact that history was my second teachable subject and I wanted to know more about the interactive games that are available. I thought it would be beneficial to take this workshop in order to learn interesting ways to incorporate technology into the history classroom.

I thought that this workshop was useful because the examples of games that were provided helped students to develop critical thinking skills. I also thought that this idea of using computer games in the classroom is constructive because students associate games and technology with leisure and enjoyment. Ultimately, students are excited to start playing the game and get immersed in the game very quickly. I was shocked how quickly I became immersed in the game myself. Immediately I wanted to continue to play each game and find out what was going to happen. It is quite often that when students are playing such games, they do not realize they are learning.

I would use these technological games in my classroom; however I would be careful when choosing the game that is being played. I would make sure that it contains appropriate material that connects to curriculum material, as well as capture student interest immediately. I think that I would modify this instruction by adding a communication portion after the students have played the game. I would come together as a class and discuss what strategies they have used, what has gone wrong, what they have learned, etc. I would they allow them to continue playing the game after this discussion. I think that this type of communication would help students to think about their thinking and possibly improve their gaming strategies.

Rachael



One of the presentations that I attended was the Learning Mathematics for Teaching, which was offered at the Building Futures workshop by the Ministry of Education. It highlighted the importance of teaching mathematics through problem solving and the benefits of this student centred learning. Initially I also questioned this new approach that has been greatly emphasized. But the presentation provided excellent examples through videos of elementary students solving real world problems by working together and communicating with other members in their group. Thus, students not only understood mathematical concepts but also learned social and group skills. In addition, the presentation also provided many references to resources which we as teachers could use to plan lessons that are problem based and student centred. This was one reason why I chose to attend this workshop. I also found that mathematic instruction has drastically changed since I was in school, and these resources are very useful in planning with the new method of instruction. Furthermore, I can see myself using these strategies in a class, because it allows the teacher to use real world problems that the students can relate to. It can also provide an inclusive atmosphere for all students whether or not they are strong in math, because their mathematical thinking will be evident as they work through the problem. I look forward to trying to use this new method of instruction with students in a class. Aqeela Bhatti

The presentation I chose to attend was the Hamilton Technology showcase. From the tech showcase, the presentation I intend to discuss is the one on the Smartboard presentation. The highlight of this presentation was based on an educator who incorporates the use of a Smartboard into his lesson plans and demonstrated his knowledge and understanding to our class. His presentation was largely based on utilizing all of the tools and options that Smartboard has to offer. The presenter demonstrated to the class where and how we can access alternative Smartboard activities from the internet, and his favourite resources that he incorporates into his classroom. As a classroom teacher, there are various reasons why I would use this information for instructional purposes. As the presenter stated, from his experience, students become engaged and both physically and mentally active when a Smartboard is incorporated into his lesson plans. Therefore, I feel that if I were to incorporate a Smartboard into my lessons, students would be willing to participate in class and possibly retain more information. Furthermore, as we are entering the twenty-first century, also known as the technology era, a greater number of individuals are becoming familiar with different types of technology and want to ‘play’ with technology. As a result, it seems essential as a twenty-first century educator to meet the students needs, and incorporate technology, that being the Smartboard into my lesson plans. I chose to attend this presentation because the demand for incorporating Smartboards into a classroom is on a rise. Since I have never had a direct instruction on how to use a Smartboard, I believed this would have been a very beneficial and practical presentation to attend. - Lynsey Bayer





I chose to attend the Hamilton Campus Technology Showcase. I attended the showcase on Inspiration and Inspiredata. I thought this workshop was great! I am very interested in developing reading and writing skills in students, and this software will be a very essential tool for developing those skills. The workshop built on what we had covered in class with Inspiration, but it was great to hear some insights from a practicing teacher and how they implemented it in the classroom. It is easy for students to manipulate their thoughts with the brainstorming, or help with spelling and reading by using the spelling tools and voice recognition add ons. It was very user friendly, and I can easily see myself being able to get students started using the program within one class period. It helps create great visual aids for students who rely on images and diagrams to learn best, but also has a written element that aid already strong students.

The Inspiredata seems like a great tool to use in Math as well. I personally struggle finding connections to the math curriculum, and this was a great way for teachers to demonstrate data management to their class. With technology, the results were instant and students could see the results of their work in seconds. The survey creation was also a really great tool to be used with students.

This workshop was very informative and I wish all school boards would purchase this software for their classrooms!

I had the opportunity of attending a workshop about serious gaming in the classroom. Many of the games that we looked at can be played free online, and they help teach important curricular concepts, while engaging students. The people who attended the workshop were given the opportunity to play the games that were discussed, and all attendees were very focused on the game they were playing. Thus, games can be a good classroom management strategy, as students are more likely to participate and stay on-task when they are interested in what they are doing. There is an amazing website that can be used to teach students about the history of Canada, including information about First Nations peoples and European Explorers: http://www.historycanadagame.com. ~Jen O'Neil