Livescribe and Social Studies

The following are two Livescribe notes that were done by me to assist students to understand United Nations and NAFTA. The notes were uploaded to our class web site where students can have access to this information at all times for review and to assist them with the final assessment in Social Studies.

NAFTA
brought to you by Livescribe

United Nations
brought to you by Livescribe

Have paper and markers become a novelty?

I assigned my grade 6 class a science project to research and make a presentation on energy sources. I allowed students to make any type of presentation that they wanted. For example, they could use any computer program such as Glogster, Prezi, Bitstrips or Powerpoint. If they did not want to use a computer program they could also choose to make a poster or a pamphlet using paper. To my surprise over half the students choose to make a poster using paper! Interestingly most of the girls choose to make posters on paper, whereas most boys choose to make a presentation using the computer. Differentiated learning at its best! This made me wonder, in our age of computers has paper and markers become a novelty?

Professional Development: Relevant or Not

I just finished tweeting in the #edchat tonight on “What are the roadblocks stopping teachers & administrators from engaging in PD?”
There were lots of opinions on what quality PD looks like, but everyone seemed to agree that teachers should be in control of some of their PD opportunities.
PD should be relevant to what teachers are doing in their classroom, not just some random lesson that has no real point. As teachers we attempt to make our lessons engaging for students, PD also needs to be engaging. To me, engaging PD would include teachers being able to “talk” about the issues or topic, whether this be verbal or tech talking. I also think that schools should use their teachers to provide PD rather then obtaining outside sources to present to a staff. Teachers engage in PD everyday. Talking to each other to problem solve situations in their classroom and to share great lessons and student success. Real life, relevant PD is the most beneficial PD for me and my students!

Twitter & #edchat

Last night I participated in #edchat on Twitter. The topic of discussion was Participatory Learning. At first I was not clear as to what this meant. However the great thing about Twitter is that when you ask a question, many people respond with an answer and a link! From my understanding, Participatory Learning occurs when students are given options in demonstrating their knowledge. I have participated in #edchat previously, however, last nights chat seemed to go at lightning speed! People were very eager to participate and share how they are using Participatory Learning in their classrooms with specific examples. I made some new Twitter connections with people from across the globe. After the chat I was so full of new ideas and contemplating ways to implement them into my class, I was up really late! I am so happy that a teacher friend introduced me to Twitter, it has opened my professional world to endless possibilities!

Livescribe Pen in Literacy Class

I want my students to be able to use the Livescribe Pen to help them read content area readings when I am not available to read with them. I made dots on paper, recorded the readings, and taped it to the Nelson Literacy guided reading. For the most part this works, however, sometimes the dots do not trigger the recording for some reason. I have replaced the dots, tested them and they work, most of the time. Students have been using this and they move on if a dot doesn’t work for them. I have also recorded discussion questions for students to discuss to make sure they are understanding what is being read to them. This is has been very helpful for me because if I am not able to see this group daily, I can set them up with the pen and discussion questions and away they go!

Multiplication with the Livescribe pen

The following is a Livescribe that was created to assist students in grade 6 to multiply four digits by two digits in different ways. I posted this on my classroom website and it was used as a guide for students as they practiced while they were at home. It shows two different ways to complete the same question, allowing students to see the different ways and choose the one that they are most comfortable using independently.

Multiplication 4 digits by 2 digits
brought to you by Livescribe

Livescribe Sentences for ELL

I used the Livescribe pen with a student who had just arrived in Canada, around two weeks before this video was taken. When she arrived she did not know any English, not even hi or bye. I thought she needed to learn certain phrases to at least help her in her first few weeks in Canada. I wrote a few sentences and showed her how to use the pen. After she used it a few times she asked me, using a translator program, if we could write a few more for her. I was very excited that she really enjoyed using the Livescribe pen. She typed a few different sentences into a translator program and I recorded them using the Livescribe pen. After this she became completely independent using the pen. She would go to the pen and paper, and click on the sentence she wanted to say. She would listen and repeat the sentence, then come to me and say the sentence aloud for me to respond. It was perfect! This helped her to feel more comfortable in the class and able to ask the questions that she wanted to ask.

Sentences for RH
brought to you by Livescribe