Year end reflection & See you in 2015-2016 school year from the SEA team!

As the school year winds down, the SEA Team would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful and amazing teachers who have worked with us this year and who have strived to better understand how they can use assistive technology to improve their students’ learning outcomes. We all know that using technology isn’t always easy!  Nonetheless, the teachers we have worked with this year have persevered and succeeded in embedding the use of assistive technology into their daily practice. Whether it was using ActivInspire with a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard to differentiate instruction and increase student engagement, or learning how to use Microsoft OneNote to support students’ organization skills, or Geometer’s Sketchpad to help students find new ways to communicate their mathematics reasoning, teachers trusted us to help them and their students and were successful beyond our expectations. Below are a few samples of some of the feedback comments we received:

Interactive Whiteboard Learning Community

Q: Which experiences were most beneficial to you in your Learning Community?

 “The Professional Development Learning Community sessions were informative and provided me with lessons and ideas that I used with success in my classroom immediately following the PD sessions.”

“To my surprise, the Co-planning/Co-teaching time with the Itinerant Teacher was the most beneficial because I had the opportunity to see some of my teaching ideas come to life on the Promethean. Not only did I get to try out some of the newly taught functions on the Promethean Board, I also had a chance to build and trouble shoot ideas one to one with an experienced Promethean Board teacher and user. It was also great to see how individualized a lesson or activity could become just by knowing what functions to activate or deactivate when students were participating in a lesson.”

Q: What advice would you give to a Learning Community Member who will be part of our Learning Communities next year?

“Attempt to use the devices given and try to implement them as much as possible into your lessons. The students loved using the new interactive technologies.”

"After each session go back to your school and try it out immediately, this way you don't have the chance to forget what you learned -embrace this opportunity and be prepared to learn a lot.”

OneNote for Organization Project (student responses)

Q: During lessons, I made an effort to persevere with work I found challenging.

“I would take a picture of it, send it to my binder and have Read and Write Gold 11 [RWG11] read it to me.”

”I sometimes have a hard time remembering things, so I use the record sound tool, so I could go back and listen.”

I Have Assistive Technology In My Classroom…How Do I Use It In Math? Project

Q: To what extent do you feel using assistive technology helped deepen your students' understanding of the math concept(s) that were taught?

“Kids are more willing to collaborate and help one another to understand concepts. It provides more opportunity to offer differentiated instruction. Can cover more concepts…less time on paper/pencil tasks. Can quickly evaluate if individual students have learned concepts for programming purposes.”

“My students really enjoyed our lesson using GSP [Geometer’s Sketchpad]. They were extremely motivated and engaged!!”

Q: Thinking back to your personal goals for wishing to be a part of this project, to what extent do you feel you were able to meet those goals?

“I met all of my goals because my wish was to become more comfortable with other programs/technology available, and pass that comfort and understanding along to my students. That happened, especially with GSP [Geometer’s Sketchpad].”

We also received some excellent constructive feedback on how we may improve upon the Professional Development opportunities our team offers and are already working hard planning for next year with many of those suggestions and ideas in mind.

In conclusion, we want to wish all of you a safe, happy, restful summer. Please don’t forget to make a regular habit of checking DirectLine and Key-to-Learn each week for news regarding our Professional Development opportunities. 

We look forward to working with our Special Education teacher colleagues again in 2015-16!

Math & AT project underway - in-class sessions: West Glen J.P.S. spotlight

The AT team's Math and Assistive Technology project, "I have Assistive Technology in my classroom, how do I use it in Math?" is well underway. With one Learning Community session completed, each of the special education project teachers have been match up with members of the itinerant teacher team for the job embedded professional learning opportunities of co-planning and co-teaching. Some of these in-class sessions have taken place.

At West Glen Junior Public School, special education teacher Nicole Barnes and itinerant teacher Valia Reinsalu co-planned a lesson to support Barnes' students consolidate concepts about money amounts.
To start, the group reviewed and revisited concepts about money that they know on the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB)- the Minds On part of the lesson. Students worked on identifying images of coins and their amounts as well as creating money amount using different combinations of coins.

Students were assigned specific interactive whiteboard files based on their grade level and money concepts they are learning. Students used the netbook and file to complete a math problem and further explore money concepts. (Tools used at the start of the lesson were the same ones students were required to use on their own using individualized files.)
It was the first time Ms. Barnes' class used the IWB tools to solve the problem on an individual file and computer. Ms Barnes' incorporated many sound files for students to use to as auditory prompts to support comprehension of instructions as well as reinforce coin names and amounts.

Students worked individually or in pairs.

An example of one student's solution to the "Buying lunch" problem.

Ms. Barnes' shares a money video with students following the consolidation and summarizing of the lesson.

 

One of the main goals of the Math & AT project is for classroom teachers to try a lesson while embedding AT in order to deepen their support of students in Mathematics. Through the project, teachers will learn various strategies and features of assistive software tools in software programs and/or the use interactive whiteboard peripherals to support special education students. The project also aims to create networking opportunities for special education teachers through our Learning Communities model.

Project launch: I have Assistive Technology in My Classroom...How Do I Use It In Math?

The SEA Team is very excited to announce the commencement of our “I Have Assistive Technology In My Classroom…How Do I Use It In Math?!” project for this year.

The goal of this project is to share strategies and features of the various software tools available to support special education students through a mathematics lens and to create networking opportunities among special education teachers.

Three sessions will be held throughout the term of the project along with an observation classroom opportunity. The first session, taking place on Friday January 16^th, will provide an opportunity to meet the other learning community members and to examine the resources available in your classroom. In our second session, we will take a more in-depth look at some of the software applications. Teachers will also have an opportunity to share some experiences at that point. Our third session will be a sharing and celebration opportunity for learning community members. In between the sessions there will be co-planning and co-teaching opportunities (along with the opportunity to observe one another) in order to provide job-embedded professional learning.

We will support the use of various assistive technology software such as Microsoft Excel and OneNote, Read and Write Gold, ActivInspire, and SMART Notebook. New this year, we will also use Geometer Sketchpad.

At the end of the project, Learning Community members will be provided with a memory stick containing copies of all the lessons that were developed.

AT & Mathematics project concludes with sharing at "Bring & Brag" session

Our “I Have Assistive Technology in my Classroom…How Do I Use it in Math?” project wrapped up on Friday May 16^th. Teachers who were a part of this Professional Learning Community came together for our “Bring & Brag” and shared their learning experiences with one another. 

Sandra Castiglione, Pleasant P.S. (Jr. HSP) shares her "favourite" strand of Math to teach - part of the LC warm-up.

Sean Kitney, Secord C.S. (Pri/Jr. MID) shares the Interactive Whiteboard measurement sorting activity his class explored.

Over the course of this project, 12 Special Education teachers co-planned and co-taught math lessons with assistive technology tools embedded in them. Students were given opportunities to deepen their own understanding of math concepts by using these tools to assist them in solving problems and helping them to communicate their thinking more clearly. As part of this job-embedded learning, teachers who were a part of the PLC were able to observe their colleagues deliver their lessons. 

(left) Cathy Watson, Stanley P.S. (Jr. HSP) shares work samples by one of her students demonstration his progression of learning following an Interactive Whiteboard hands-on lesson. (right) Abbas Hussein (Int HSP) shares the geometry activity his students explored with the LC group.

On Friday, the PLC came together and each teacher presented their lesson and reflections on their professional learning. At the end of the session, each teacher left with a memory key containing all twelve lessons as well as the teacher personal reflections contained on it.  Thank you to this dedicated group of teachers, who co-planned, co-taught and opened up their classrooms as part of this PLC!

Here's a video highlighting work done at the 12 schools: 

So you Inherited a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard, now what? Learning Community session review

Learning Community Session ~ Math and Differentiated Learning

Through a math 3-part sample lesson, teachers were shown various ways that the IWB could scaffold for students, along with provide a multitude of differentiated virtual manipulatives to support their learning. They also had a chance to explore the use of the Response Systems (ActiveExpressions) as a way to engage and motivate students, along with providing all students with an active voice.

 In the picture below, two teachers are sorting responses to an open-ended math question that were inputted by the participants using the texting feature of the ActiveExpressions.

Dual user feature promotes collaboration.

Teachers were then provided with work time to create their own 3-part math lesson, incorporating IWB tools and features. Below is a sample of one flipchart page created by one of the participants.