Mr. Rennie's Class

  Next week we will be missing a student who's been at at OG quite a while. Breanne Heatley has moved and will be attending Georgia Park. We will miss her and wishher and her family the best. Also on a brighter note, we will begin a project next week using the resources of the library and computer lab. The students will be taught by Mrs. Haines and I how to creat presentations and documents using google docs. This is where they will utilize that gmail account we've been talking about. I am hoping even predicting that this self selected research project and presentation will be fun and educational. Students will have a broad range of presentation options and can work independently or in a group of up to four. The applications they will be learning are the same currently used at Southgate and as many of you know they just might all be there next year. This would make their transition to middle school even easier and get them down to work faster in the fall of 2011. In the past this was called a Library Talk project  but we will work on it in class as well and if all goes well we will do it more than once.

  I'm very excited not only for the students but myself. Last year every kid successfully completed this project and I would say they learned a lot, had fun and enjoyed each other's presentations. I think working alongside Mrs, Haines will be great and am thankful she is so willing to share her expertise with us as we all learn and interact with technology. I'll keep you all posted here on how it is going.

  Today in writing we worked in the lab to draft and publish our first memoirs. At times the room was quiet and the students focused. The record without a reminde from me was ten minutes. I would say everyone could claim a total of fifteen minutes silent writing. We had done a mini-lesson on leads in the lab as well that was quite successful. The students should be able to tell their parents about five different types of leads. I was also surprised that a couple kids chose to write by hand given the choice. The kids were talked to about using google for writing and projects and seem either curious or excited, yeh!

  Students did seem to want to talk a lot but I'm chalking this up to their wanting to share. They will eventually learn that they will always get to share if they so choose and they just need to be patient. I'm hoping that by Tuesday we will all have gmail and can begin playing around (learning about) with google docs. This should and could be great. We'll see but already I'm noticing that despite working on this connection between technology and writing daily that time is marching on and September is almost over. Later

  This year I'm continuing in my post graduate program with SFU. This term I am doing a field study on the effects on student engagement in writing when computer technology is incorporated as an integral piece of the writing program. For this reason I'll often use this space to comment on how things are going in this area as well as to comment on how things are going in class generally. You will regularly be able to read how things are going in class and discover what the students are learning. I'm super jacked about this website and would like to thank Rob Hatfield for his help and ongoing support. I hope to eventually expand it to include student writing and hope you will visit it to see how the kids are developing academically and to stay in touch. I hope that through this site, online publishing with Google Docs and exposure to alternative ways for students to demonstrate their learning, that writing will become fun, exciting and purposeful. Wish us all luck!

Mike

  We just finished our first week as a class. We spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each other. The students worked well together for the most part. Some minor conflicts emerged and were dealt with a ninja-fast response that included talking about it and discussing alternatives. We did a number of team building activities to learn how to work together better and see how cooperation can really get a job done more quickly and efficiently. We had two class meetings where we shared, complimented each other and discussed and reinforced the Ocean Grove Orca key words: organized, repectful, cooperative, accepting and safe. These words apply to virtually all we do in school and can really help us remember how to act towards each other.

  In the field of technology we had a frustrating week in the lab. The machines clearly displayed Sandowne's student storage files and printer but not ours. So we couldn't save or print. This coming week Mrs. Haines the librarian and I will teach the kids about internate safety and the wonders and versatility of Google Docs. This site will enable us to post , publish, display and demonstrate our learning in some very cool ways. Speaking of technology, how about this developing web site? This is a big deal for me ad I hope it will help the students, their parents and me to stay connected and informed about one another.

  We found out this week that we will be getting a student teacher from V IU. Her name is Leah Kay and I taught her a million years ago at Sandowne. The studenta and she can exchange Mr. Rennie horror stories. Talk to you next week.

Later