As a K-5 international educator it’s not often that we’re discussing ways to promote safe spaces for LGBTQ members of the community. It’s almost as though it’s a taboo subject for elementary educators and you only start to see Rainbow flags appearing when students enter middle school. Where does the teaching of Diverse Family Structures…
How can we minimise mid-year teacher burnout? Every teacher can articulate at least one moment in the year where it all feels like too much. Typically, it hits us sometime in November (near report-writing time) and/or in March/April (when we’ve passed the halfway point but there is still so much left to do!). A few weeks…
How can we build more play into our literacy units? In preparation for our Grade 1 Arts Festival students were exposed to familiar stories. We are fortunate that our narrative reading and writing unit also align with this performance & arts-based Unit of Study, so I structured this literacy project to include a lot of…
[This post is an excerpt from my EDURO: Coaching from Theory to Practice certificate course from 2015] Every year our school picks a whole-school goal. Last year (my first year at ISZL), we were fortunate as the goal was ‘Technology’. The two PD days in February were designated to the EdTech Team to design and facilitate, and…
Is coding the new literacy for 21st Century Schools? If so, how can it enhance a transdisciplinary program of inquiry? This past December I initiated our school’s first ever Hour of Code, the global event that introduces coding through games and activities, both online and offline. The Early Years to Grade 5 classes who participated…
Introducing Google eBooks! Great for: grade 2 and up who have google accounts classes with shared laptops (or 1:1 laptops) no iPad classrooms (therefore limited book creation apps) low tech students; language learning; learning support needs (collaborative element takes pressure off individual performance) pre-cursor for more complex eBook creation apps (ex: iBooks Author; Keynote etc) Why…
Why Blogs? real-world application of all strands of literacy encouraging reluctant writers/readers creative space for students to share learning modelling digital citizenship student authorship global connections exploring features of different texts showcasing learning creating links between home-school expanding classroom walls fostering pride and independence in students Not convinced? Read THIS Day 1: Introducing Easy Blogger Jr. to Grade…
What skills do students learn through eBook creation? In Grade 1, students are working on a How We Organize Ourselves unit of inquiry. They are investigating private and public spaces and looking at what brings people together. During the collaborative planning meeting, teachers discussed a way to document their progress during the unit and we…
Field Trip to Santi Rama School for the Deaf UOI: How We Express Ourselves CI: People can create and manipulate messages to target specific audiences. To introduce ourselves to students at Santi Rama School for the Deaf…Grade 4s prepared an ASL version of Owl City’s “Fireflies”! The purpose of this trip was to build a…
Literature Circles Part 2 Background: Before starting these Literature Circles, I consulted with MYP teachers to inquire about language used in the Language B classroom. I was given a list of terminology to expose students to such as: Plot, Exposition, Rising/Falling Action, Climax, Resolution, Metaphor etc. The students in my EAL class have only…
Innovative Learning 