Protecting Devices - Protecting Ourselves

In our BYOD session we had a quick conversation about protecting your own device and our concerns with protection our information. 

The question that was posed was "How comfortable would you be in giving your own device to someone else?" 

Many teachers at the session were worried about their privacy, the condition of their own devices when someone would use them or how someone else could send information out on their behalf.  More than that, they did not like the idea of someone else touching their device because of the information stored on it.  

My reflection is that this is a problem.  As teachers, if we are scared of our information being "sent out," or inappropriately used, then what are we teaching our students.  Instead of being fearful, we need to be the ones to promote digital safety by helping students understand the importance of passwords.  

How can I share this understanding and knowledge with my students?  How can I help them understand the importance of protecting their device and their own personal identity?  How do I bring this practice into every one of my subject areas such as mathematics and computer science? 

An idea that was brought up in our BYOD session was to help teach this to students each time we use a piece of technology and I think this is a great place to start. Looking at the math classroom, we use graphing calculators, Chrome Books, personal devices, tablets, netbooks, SMARTBoards, and so much other technology to help us understand how math works, but do I ever take the time and teach the students how to properly use this technology?  

Honestly, I have not.  When we use ChromeBooks, I have never once discussed the important of logging off completely and shutting down the device.  I just assumed that they would.  I never spoke to them about the importance of clearing the memory in the Graphing Calculator before and after they use it so their knowledge and hard work cannot be incorrectly "shared" with another student.  I have assumed that these key ideas had already been taught to the students in my high school classes, but that was a wrong assumption.  

Even if they had been taught, who says they understood why at the younger age?  Who says that EVERY student had the opportunity to understand it's importance?   Why did I not take advantage of this opportunity in my classroom?  

Reflecting back, I know that I could have great learning moments with classes about personal safety using devices, academic integrity (so important for University and College students!) and deeper research using the Internet.  But I assumed that they already had this opportunity. 

So here is my goal.  The next time we use a device, of any sort, in my classroom, we are going to have a quick discussion about the safety of our information and why it is so important that we identify areas where our information could be taken or misused. 

How do you help your students properly protect themselves and their devices in your classroom? 

Twitter Conversations

I am so happy that I was a part of the #edtechchat conversation on Twitter last night.   I have always read the conversations after they happen but was never apart of the opportunity in real-time.  This week was different. 

I had a chance to introduce myself and start to connect with other educators.  I had a chance to read the questions posted and post my thoughts and have people reply to them.  I had a chance to reply to others thoughts and start those conversations.  Among all of the great ideas going on I had a chance to retweet all of the ideas I did not want to loose! 

The conversation went fast but that was, in my opinion, a part of the experience.  You had to be continually looking for new information and always ready to reply.  I know that I missed a lot of information, but between retweets and reading the archives, we have the opportunity to catch up! 

Looking back I feel that my next step would be to engage in more on-depth conversations.  Looking back, many of my replies were comments such as "this is great" or "I would love to try."  These foster a good start in becoming comfortable in speaking with these other professionals, but do not foster further conversation.  For the next twitter conversation my goal is to seek out more information in my replies. 

How do you use Twitter and scheduled Twitter conversations to help develop professionally? How do you foster deeper conversations? 

When to Contact Home

The number 1 thing that a teacher can do is stay in contact with student's parents.  Ensuring that the parents know what is going on with their student's education usually provides a strong wall to help motivate students to do their best.  But what happens as the students get older? 

This semester I am teaching Grade 11 and Grade 12 classes.  The students in these classes are close to finishing high school and will soon be out on their own completing apprenticeships, college and/or university.  Many of these students have jobs, responsibilities and are beginning to create a sense of independence for themselves.  They are developing a better understanding of the consequences and know what is right and what is wrong. 

With this noted, how do you work on the fine line of student independence and communication with parents.  I have had students who tell me that they will "turn it around" and consistently come in for extra help whereas I have had students who continually make up excuses for their lack of motivation.  

I have a student, who is not working at grade level but is continually improving.  This student has improved from earning 30% to 50% over the course of two months.  With the exam coming up, the student will have to buckle down and work hard to keep his grades improving.   When is the appropriate time to speak with the parents?  When is it too late - or is it ever too late to contact home?

Looking for Clues

After travelling over the holiday I have had the opportunity to look back and reflect on what I learned.  Travelling to a different country with a different language, I found that I resorted to looking for clues; something my students do every day! 

When travelling I looked for clues such as words that looked familiar to the English or images that I could relate to.  I looked for friendly faces toast for help and stayed away from those who looked like they would shoot me down.  I was nervous to take risks; to fail. This gave me the opportunity to realize what many of the students go through each day. 

Our students come into class and some need to use the clues they find to participate in class, especially when they have missed a lesson or do not feel confidence in the material covered priored. They looked for friendly faces to ask for help and have to feel comfortable in the situation to take that risk.  

Our relationships with the students and our lessons designed with clue finding help our students find their own confidence and gain unstanding of the content. 

How do you help your students with finding clues in your lesson?  How do you develop a safe environment for students to ask questions to help their understanding?

Proud to be Canadian

Over the holiday I have been lucky enough to travel.  Even though I am not sitting at my desk prepping for lessons, I am still constantly thinking about the classroom. 

Today was one of those relatable moments.  As I was walking around Copahagen, attempting to find the Hop On Hop Off Bus, I noticed someone waving their hand at me while I walked by.  The first thought was this is not for me, who would know me in Denmark, but then it clicked.  

She was waving with a 2013 Red Canadian Mitten.  I was wearing my 2012 Red Mittens and this is how she picked out I was also from Canada!  What a lovely surprise.  We had our moment, while crossing the street to let each other know we were not alone and had friends all over that big world we live in.  I didn't have a chance to speak with the 2013 Red Mitten lady but after our encounter, I had a bit more bounce to my step. 

This continued throughout the day.  As I was walking, I started to notice more about the people that surrounded me.  I was noticing all of the different country hats and scarves and even jerseys (yes I even saw a Toronto Maple Leafs!!).  I saw and interacted, however briefly, with people so easily just knowing we were all from Canada. 

Now, how does this relate to school?  It is our sense of community.  It's the feeling that I get when I am at the Sobeys and have students come up to say hi.  It is that smile you get on your face when you turn the corner in the street and see a coworker or a parent of one of your students and stop to chat/wave. 

It's the sense of family our schools foster and nurture.  The comfort level that we teach our students in acknowledging people that you know and saying hi.  It's helping them build the confidence to go out and say 'hi' to your teacher, when you finally get your head around that the teacher actually leaves the school. 

This is what we as teachers foster, and it is truly a part of being Canadian - always feeling like you are close to home.  

We All Learn at Different Paces

As my class is testing out our half-flipped classroom, we are truly focusing on the idea that each person learns at their own pace. 

Today, was the first day that the quiz was available for the students to complete.  Ideally, I would have liked them to come into class and be ready to write it, but with everyone working at their own pace, this was not possible.  I had the opportunity to conference with students and talk about where they are with the content, what they are worried about and what their next steps/goals were.  What an amazing feeling to be able to do this in a classroom of 20 students!   

I try to touch base with all of my students throughout the period, but some days, especially days with longer "lessons," it is sometimes just not possible.  With all of the students working at their own pace and independently, I had the chance to talk with each student today.  The chat was at the pace that the student wanted it to be, not at a pace that I needed to set to get through all of the conferences in a short period of time.  If the student had a lot of questions, then we were able to answer them and have that 1-1 time.  If the student was OK with everything and wanted to get right back to work, that was able to happen as well.

Back to the quiz writing ... after conferencing with a student, we set a plan together on what they will accomplish in class, over the weekend and when they will feel the most confident in writing the quiz.  The students get to pick when they are learning, how long they must stay on a topic for and when they show me their own knowledge.   The students were really appreciative and excited that they were able to pick when they wrote the quiz.  If they were struggling with remembering all of the material, then they had the chance to write the quiz in sections (a couple questions each time, throughout a single class or multiple classes).  It was up to the student when they were ready to demonstrate their knowledge.

Now I can already hear a bunch of educators reminding me that I have a limited amount of time to cover all of the topics and that I need to make sure that the class is progressing, and we are.  All of the students know that they must write the final unit test on Wednesday.  If they find that they need more time to learn or process the material, then they need to put in time outside of class.  If they are confident earlier than Wednesday, then they have the opportunity to take "break" classes or use the time to review further.  It is up to them; but all test must be done by 3:05pm Wednesday. 

From the quizzes that have been accomplished (we also did a quiz like this the previous week), the scores have been outstanding.  Many of the student's have improved the level that they are currently working out; it will be interesting to see if this continues throughout the unit test! 

How do you allow student pace in your classroom?  How do you let the students demonstrate their knowledge when they finally "get it"? 

Proud to be a Coach

Today the Sr. Girls Volleyball team travelled to a full day of matches within our District.  In all, we played 6 games (best 2 out of 3) and had a chance to watch the other teams practice, warm-up and play.  As the day was quite fast-paced, we did not have the opportunity to practice serving and hitting before each match and warm-up time was limited.  The gym was cold, so it was important to stay warm when having a "break" in between matches. 

Not to talk about the logistics of the day, or the benefits of staying warm and ready to play, I want to use this post as a shout out to the team.  

Today I saw a group of young ladies really turn into a team.  In our previous games, we were all over the place, losing points for being out of rotation and having quite a few holes in the court.  Today I saw a different team.  I saw a team dedicated to helping out one another, a team that knew each other's strengths and weaknesses and was willing to work with both.  A team that corrected their mistakes and encouraged excellent skill.  A team that wasn't individually driven, but driven as a team to achieve a common goal. 

Overall, we had a very successful day.  We won 5 of the 6 matches, and the match that we did not earn the title of "win" for, we did take to three sets with many great rallies and amazing hits and digs from both teams. 

Was I a proud coach! 

What was one of your most memorable moments as a coach or a supervisor of an extra-curricular activity?