Ten Tools

Parent/Community Engagement Roles

One of our Superintendents has Community and Parent Engagement in his portfolio. Parental engagement looks different across the school board but a number of strategies are in place to encourage them to be involved.

The Parent Involvement Committee meets several times a year and sponsors a number of Parent information evenings with special guests as well an annual conference.

Each school council is encouraged to have a representative on the PIC, although this does not always happen. Information regarding the PIC events is shared to all schools through our Synervoice computer automated messaging system.

Recently, the HDSB announced the adoption of Edsby. Edsby is a Staff/Student/Parent portal that would streamline communication from schools and the school board to parents, allow teachers to post announcements and homework items on a 'facebook-type' platform. Schools are piloting the program with potential board wide adoption over the next year or so.

Some of our highschools have Parent Engagement Coordinators who also work with the school community to promote common understanding, support and work with community agencies to support students in the school.

As our Superintendent, Mr. Eatough writes, "The Halton District School Board Parent Involvement Committee recognizes parents play a vital role in the development and education of their children and in the success of schools."

Effective Communication

In the Ontario Ministry of Education's document entitled, "Shared Solutions" strategies and best practices for working with parents are outlined.  While this document is specifically focused on the relationships between schools and parents of students with special needs, many of the tips and strategies are applicable to all.  The document also provides some quick tear-out sheets teachers could use when working with parents. 

Interestingly, the document recommends an 'inquiry' model for addressing concerns and seeking solutions to issues that arise.  The document stresses the importance of building an open, positive environment where it is safe to ask questions as well as actively listening to what others have to say.

Having staff aware of strategies for addressing difficult situations or parents is also important, but often something that is not addressed in PD workshops.  Learning how to diffuse a heated conversation or respond to a parent who is upset can go a long way to ensuring that positive relationships between home and school remain intact.

Ten Tools for Assessment

Ten Tools for Assessment and Evaluation

Why School? Assessment

In Why School, Will Richardson writes "Real work for real audiences is, of course, hard to find in the current standardized testing regime...To assess this kind of work, teachers could co-create rubrics with students that identify what their work should address and what quality looks like" P. 515

This passage really struck me!  I feel like many teachers are ready to move in this direction but still feel so much pressure to check off each expectation as they go, to be prepared for EQAO and highschool.  Our students take part in an entrepreneurial fair every year, where Grade 8 students create a product or service, complete required tasks and then create and sell their product.  It is an incredible experience for them and they learn so much -across subject areas -Media literacy, Math, Geography etc.  This statement also makes me think about how Zoe's students feel after completing the Harbour front project and if they found the task more engaging, more relevant because it was their community?

How can teachers blend authentic, 'real' work while also meeting Admin/Board demands?

What does this look like in your classrooms?  

  

Growing Success and 21st century tools

No longer do teachers need to lug heavy satchels full of misaligned, yet stapled papers home to grade or stay late at school to mark all of the bristol board projects that take up the entire room. The nature of assessment has changed thanks in part to 21st century tools and the internet.

Technology, Assessment and Reporting

The continued advancement of technology has made many aspects of day to day teaching far easier! Prepping lessons, creating assignments, filing grades all happen at the touch of a few keys. When it comes to assessments and evaluations of students technology has continued to develop, offering far more ease of use, consistency across classrooms and has even improved the sharing and communication of student progress with students and their families.

Assessment using Audio and Video Tools

Assessment using Audio: Kaizena
Kaizena is a web program and Google Add-on/Extension that allows teachers or students to post audio comments to a piece of work. This feature supports the need for students to have timely, relevant and meaningful feedback during their learning. Kaizena now syncs seamlessly with Google documents which makes the process even faster. One of the biggest benefits to Kaizena we have found is that you can provide feedback to your students in another language. If you are a French Immersion teacher, it is often hard to find the time to conference and listen orally to all your students. Students could submit a piece of work, record it with Kaizena, and then teachers could offer feedback IN FRENCH about pronunciation, inflection etc. using Kaizena.

Kaizena Tutorial

Assessment using Video:  Explain Everything
Explain Everything is an iPad screencasting app that allows students to orally and in real time share their thinking about any particular topic.  Students can import images, add text boxes, draw a math algorithm and record their voice. Using video in this way can be a great strategy to use for students who may have a difficult time explaining just with paper and pencil, or who need motivation to show their thinking. In mathematics, students can demonstrate the strategies they used to solve a problem orally, while also demonstrating the steps they took to complete the task.  A second way that Explain Everything can be used for assessment involves the creation of student tutorials.  This would be an ideal opportunity for students who need extensions.  The students can use Explain Everything to post and share video tutorials about specific strategies or concepts.  Not only does the teacher have the opportunity to assessment the students' understanding, but now can assess their communication and application skills as well.

Explain Everything Tutorial/Introduction

Necessary for Some, Good for All

This is a brief overview of the Special Education services available in Halton.  Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of all Halton has to offer.  There are many exceptionalities that have specialized services that I did not specifically address in the triangle.  Technologies are highlighted in blue.

Twitter for Tools

This past week, I ventured onto to Twitter to explore #ATchat. After reading through a number of tweets, I decided to throw a question into the 'Twitterverse' to see what happened. I have posted questions before with specific hashtags without any responses, but am not sure if I approached it the right way. Much to my surprise, someone did respond to my question and this started a conversation back and forth. The teacher I was talking to asked thoughtful questions to gain better insights into the needs of the student I was thinking about and then provided some great tools and suggestions about what could help this student. I was curious to know more about the person I had connected with and discovered he was from California and passionate about AT.

Assistive Technology and HDSB

I have been fortunate to be part of a school based AT team. Working with 3 SERTs as well as another coach, we support students with assistive technology throughout our school.

Students who have been formally assessed and have an IEP that states they require technology to assist in their learning, are eligible to receive the device most suited to their learning needs. The devices can range from iPads and laptops to Smartboards and Clicker systems. Students receive the devices from the school board and are available to them until they leave for post-secondary education or withdraw from the school board.

21st Century Learning -Responsibilty

Educators have an enormous responsibility to teach students about appropriate use and safety about technology. It is a huge undertaking, often fraught with big obstacles -time, support, appropriate resources, parental understanding and support. But, it is imperative that our teaching helps prepare students for its use.

As an educator we are provided with curriculum that outlines what safety concepts should be taught when. Look both ways before crossing the street, don't talk to strangers, wear a helmet are only a few of the common rules we insist on for our students and our own kids. The rise of social media and technology in schools requires us to be just as thorough in our teaching of responsible behaviours.  

21st Century Learning -Legal Pt..1

There are several legal and ethical issues that come up when discussing 21st Century learning and our students. They can range from the use of social networking tools and professional vs. personal personas of staff to cyberbullying and the school's role in supporting those involved.

• Should teachers use social networking tools with their students?
• Should teachers personally use social networking tools? and where do teachers draw the line between friends/colleagues/parents? OCT -Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media
• Do teachers have the skills/understanding to protect themselves and how can we support this? 
• Do they understand what is required to support students and keep them safe when online?
• How do teachers/leaders best instruct students in becoming strong digital citizens?
• How can we ensure teachers are addressing digital citizenship when its not a 'required subject'?

School Policies

Are (should)  policies and guidelines be consistent from school to school or class to class? How do policies both protect and/or cause barriers when trying to implement 21st Century teaching tools?

To answer this question, I went in search of school and board policies about the acceptable use of technology in schools. After some digging, I found the board policies for the Romeo, Michigan county school district. I have family in the area and was curious to see what I would uncover. I also looked at British Colombia and found their "Access to Online Learning Resources" document that outlined the responsibilities of users.