Mr. Rennie's Class

  This week in the lab many students were able to finish their slideshows. They are all to be done by Tuesday. The cool thing about this is that is that they will be able to invite their classmates to share their document. This means that each of them will be able to view their peer's slideshow, all of them while sitting at their own desktop. Having this skill and capability also means that starting next week we will not only be able to share, even edit each others work but more importantly, they have an alternative way to present and demonstrate their learning. The students will publish some excellent poems about themselves called "I am From". These will be published on Google Docs so you will be able to read them at home either through your child's account or your own if they share it with you. I am really pleased with how it is going and the kids are generally excited to get into the lab, to work not play.

  The children today are so technologicall aware that they are easily able to access these new ways of working and to quickly master them. I've been taught by Kennedy and Sydney how to  transfer images in a faster more effective way.  This was then passed on to the others so they could all put it into practice. I have been wanting to tackle these types of things for years and am so glad I'm finally doing it. Our school district has announced that in the new year all SD 72 users will have access to wireless capabilities when on site. So staff and students with lap-tops and PED's will be able to use them at school by logging in with a personal user name and password. The future is here,

  A quick thank you to the Kretzschmars for allowing us to use their loo and property for our lunch on Wednesday. Also thanks to Teresa Kretzschmar, Teresa Boyd, and Amanda Cromer for helping us with supervision while we were away from school. I'd lastly like to thank Leah Kay for her excellent work and for really getting involved with the class in her introductory week. She did very well teaching four lessons in total and the student responded well to her while she taught. Way to go students you were great and deserve an extra day off this weekend so you can all take Monday off. Have a nice long weekend.

  This week in the lab many students were able to finish their slideshows. They are all to be done by Tuesday. The cool thing about this is that is that they will be able to invite their classmates to share their document. This means that each of them will be able to view their peer's slideshow, all of them while sitting at their own desktop. Having this skill and capability also means that starting next week we will not only be able to share, even edit each others work but more importantly, they have an alternative way to present and demonstrate their learning. The students will publish some excellent poems about themselves called "I am From". These will be published on Google Docs so you will be able to read them at home either through your child's account or your own if they share it with you. I am really pleased with how it is going and the kids are generally excited to get into the lab, to work not play.

  The children today are so technologicall aware that they are easily able to access these new ways of working and to quickly master them. I've been taught by Kennedy and Sydney how to  transfer images in a faster more effective way.  This was then passed on to the others so they could all put it into practice. I have been wanting to tackle these types of things for years and am so glad I'm finally doing it. Our school district has announced that in the new year all SD 72 users will have access to wireless capabilities when on site. So staff and students with lap-tops and PED's will be able to use them at school by logging in with a personal user name and password. The futurenis here,

  Yesterday was a big day in the lab. I got a hint of what the future could hold for the students as they interacted with the Google Docs presentation option. The kids have all been working on About Me slideshows. Many have gmail accounts but others have been using mine. Today, by inviting them to share, the new account holders were able to simply have their work transfered to their accounts. This is an indication of the type of capability and versatility this application has.  Students will be able to share documents with a partner, small group, or whole class. They will even be able to edit each other's work if the author permits it. So group projects can be worked on simultaneously  by the group from any computer with an internet connection. I find this an exciting option for the students to represent and demonstrate their learning.

  And now a few words about the new OG morning routine. We're talking about ten minutes that seem to be stirring up a mess. This mess in large part has been fueled by misinformationa and misunderstandings. The students in the past were allowed in classes at 8:15 am and they were supervised by roaming supervisors. Very often this loose supervision resulted in behavior by a segment of the student population that created an atmosphere of wild, physical, noisy play. This would carry over into the first half hour of school and meant that it was a challenge to restore a calm and cooperative learning environment. This loss of instructional time was an unfortunate waste. The new routine has provided a calm and orderly start to the day. Students are greeted by me at the door and we get right down to it with little wasted time. In  addition to this positive atmosphere change students are:

-supervised in a specified concentrated area by two staff members. The group includes those students who arrived early and not the bus students or those that arrive near bell time. It would be around 70 kids not 185.

-welcomed into the school during inclement weather

-able to use the washroom, entering through the unlocked front door if needed.

-spending as little as one minute or less behind the school once the bell rings and are with their teacher as they line up.

-greeted by their friendly neighborhood teacher.

While the students are outside their teachers are (contrary to misleading and incorrect newspaper rants):

-conferring and collaborating regarding school events and activities (this morning for example Mrs. Hatfield and I talkied through the days buddy activity).

-marking student work.

-making copies

-displaying work or other visuals (today I put up spome portraits and a Canadian flag).

-teachers are not doing or discussing post graduate course work. This work is imbedded into our daily practice or done at home. You are reading part of my field study and I'm writing this at 8:00 pm.

As for working till 2:30 pm, most teachers work  till around 4:00 pm at school as well as at night and on weekends. I was at school till 3:15 pm today, then at the school board office for a district course till 5:30 pm.

I hope this clears some things up and if anyone wants to talk about anything please contact me at school or by email and we'll have a chat.

Mike

  Today we went to the lab to explore Google's Docs presentation feature. This slide show format is an excitinf way to represent content, anything from a science project to a birthday slide show. The students messed around with the text and image inserting cpabilities to begin an "About Me" slide show. They really seemed into it and many picked it up really fast. Some were frustrated by forgotten passwords or didn't have accounts yet but it went well and now I have 8 slides shows on my account. The enthusiasm observed makes me hopefull about future projects and writing tasks. The use of such programs will I hope encourage those not always so motivated to do projects. We will tackle the new application again on Wednesday.

  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