PSD70's Learning Leader Project

Collaborating, Creating, and Learning Together

Final Reflections

At first the Learning Leader Project was a way for me to keep up with the times in this fast paced movement towards technology in and out of the classroom.  Students are so into technology and after all, what matters the most is engaging students in their learning. So, I started out getting familiar with the iPad and using something new each month after each LLP session.

It didn’t take long and my student portfolios went from thick, hand-written file folders to Evernote cloud folders available on any of my tech devices anywhere, any time. At PD sessions I was able to share my learning and learn from other educators in a timely fashion with the use of tweets. During home visits, I revealed educational apps, read e-books with students, help create blogs, presented web sites for video teaching, and showed parents educational sites to help with student programming. Using the iPad at home visits was quick and convenient as compared to lugging around a lap top. As the year progressed, many families also purchased iPads to assist with their child’s learning. In the classroom we used the iPad as a portable device that was easily handled for such things as: videotaping an interview with our vice principal, taking pictures of our musical at the Horizon Stage and sending them to the local paper, looking up info on the web, using apps to view the night sky for science, and viewing virtual textbooks.

As I look back on this year, I realize that it wasn’t only the students who were using this new technology. The adults, parents and teachers, were also exploring the use of technology in education.  In fact working together as a team, we had captured what really matters the most: engaging students in their learning.

Pictures for Newspaper

Stony Creek students put on a musical at the Horizon before spring break. The local paper sent a photographer to take pictures for the local rag. She snapped many shots and the students checked the newspapers each week to  look for coverage of the musical. There was a glitch with the photographer’s camera and none of the pictures turned out that night. I had, however, taken pictures with my iPad during our rehearsal and filed them in Dropbox for my journal. These were easily sent to the Reporter/Examiner. Look for us in the next issue.

Student Portfolio

I have always been an advocate for using portfolios to document student learning, but this year I have shifted from  paper to using the iPad. It is amazing how quick and simple it is to take a picture of a sample of a student’s progress, file it in Evernote, and write a comment of why the sample was chosen. When I need to access the file, it is available on any devise that I have Evernote on. Very handy!

 

Taking Notes

Found it very easy to move about the classroom with iPad in hand while taking notes during the Balanced Literacy workshop we had for parents and students. One of our parents also took notes using her iPad. Handy!

Taking Notes

 

Home Visit

This morning I took the iPad along to my home visit. I introduced several apps to the family and the mother immediately downloaded the apps to her phone so that she could use the games in her home program. One was “Bluster”, a word game for grades 2, 3 and 4. Another was “ABC Writing” where emerging writers trace letters and learn to spell words. A challenging math game for the children was “Math Puppy”. The children loved playing the games and learning through play.