The Use of Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom

The use of interactive whiteboards has become prevalent in parts of Canada and the US. Interactive whiteboards are a great tool for both students and teachers, it allows students to collaborate with their peers, and be immersed in the lessons. With the use of interactive whiteboards, teachers can show students multimedia content that can be shown during the lessons. By showing students multimedia contents, it can keep the students engaged in lessons. There are a couple of ways that interactive whiteboards can engage students. For example, interactive whiteboards give teachers the opportunity to present additional information on certain topics, such as infographics. Interactive whiteboards allow teachers to highlight the most important information that they want to emphasize, the function is particularly useful for emphasizing what students need to study for an upcoming test. Moreover, interactive whiteboards can allow students to collaborate on solving problems.

Some benefits of using interactive whiteboards in the classroom include enhanced lessons, which means that students will have the opportunity to learn by interacting with the board by touching it, as well as hearing and seeing. When students are able to learn by interacting with the board through touch, students can remember more content information. Another benefit of using interactive whiteboards in the classroom is it provides students with interactive learning, which means that students can interact with the content information, this is done through writing, drawing, and touching the board. Another benefit of using interactive whiteboards in the classroom is that it is easy to use, in which markers or chalks are not needed. Lastly, another benefit of using interactive whiteboards in the classroom is that it can be connected to the internet, where both students and teachers can have easy access to search for various resources to support their lesson.

Looking back on my experiences in elementary school, the technology used in the classroom was mainly a overhead projector. Most of my teachers used overhead projectors during their lessons. Moreover, some of my elementary school teachers did not use any technology during their lessons, instead they used chalkboards - which later became whiteboards. However, when I was in Grade 8, the teacher began to integrate some forms of technology in her classroom. For example, she began to use SMART boards in some of the lessons she taught; however, she did not use the SMART board in all subjects - she only used the SMART board for math classes. Overall, it is definitely interesting to see how far technology in the classroom has come. It will be interesting to see how advanced technology gets, and how it is implemented in the classroom.

References

Platinum Copier Solutions. (2017, March 22). 7 Benefits of Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom. https://www.platinumcopiers.com/blog/aquos-board/7-benefits-of-interactive-whiteboards-in-the-classroom/

 

The Growing Use of Interactive White Boards in Schools. (2018, June 12). Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from https://www.dme.us.com/2018/06/12/the-growing-use-of-interactive-white-boards-in-schools/ 

Catherine L(OTECC)@NU 

EDUTOPIA Article: Four Ways to Build Emotional Literacy

By teaching students how to identify, process, and communicate their feelings, educators give them a set of tools they can use throughout their lives to calm themselves, navigate conflict, and build stronger relationships.

Narrator: Students often experience very complex emotions as they explore the world around them, but understanding where emotions come from, how they can develop in our thinking brains, and ultimately how they can be managed takes time and lots of practice. By teaching the skills of emotional literacy, educators can give students a set of tools they can use throughout their lives to calm themselves, navigate interpersonal conflicts, and keep themselves focused and on task when they need to.

Narrator: Feeling frustrated is different from feeling angry, anxious, or overwhelmed. A limited emotional vocabulary means that students miss out on nuances that express feelings in all of their complexity. For younger students, experiment with feelings charts or picture books that incorporate a broad range of emotions accompanied by illustrations of facial expressions. For older kids, try brainstorming emotions. Can they find 20 different words for happy or sad? Post the words in the classroom, and ask students to incorporate them into their own writing and conversations. Or use them to express how they’re feeling in the moment.

Narrator: Emotions and cognition work in tandem, affecting focused attention and working memory. Consider teaching students about the limbic system, the brain structures responsible for emotional and behavioral responses, and the role of executive functions. Learning the neuroscience of emotion helps normalize emotional responses while empowering students with the science of why we have big feelings, how they can happen in the brain, and what could be done to assert control and regain focus.

Narrator: As students mature, new emotional challenges arise. They continue to need plenty of opportunities to practice expressing their feelings. Try a quick rose-and-thorn check-in where kids share one positive and one negative thing happening for them. They can choose what and how much they’d like to share day to day. Or you can ask older students to do a daily dedication where they talk about someone who has inspired them, living or dead, fictional or real, in 30 to 60 seconds. That sends the message that being vulnerable by sharing emotions is encouraged, which in turn fosters a sense of community and belonging.

Narrator: Once students feel comfortable identifying and expressing their emotions, consider introducing some strategies to positively shift their feelings in a social context. Try a mindfulness exercise where students can take deep breaths and tune in to how they’re feeling as they get ready to learn. Or help students reflect by letting them take turns sharing an appreciation, an apology, or an aha moment with the class. As students apply emotional literacy to real-life situations, they learn to deeply connect with their emotions and respond to others with intentionality and compassion.

Looking for resources cited in this video?

• The Neurobiology of Emotion-Cognition Interactions, by Hadas Okon-Singer et al., 2015
• Fostering Emotional Literacy Begins in the Brain, by Kathryn Fishman-Weaver, 2022
• Building Classroom Community Through Daily Dedications
• When Mindfulness Feels Like a Necessity, by Aukeem Ballard, 2017
   

Original source:

https://www.edutopia.org/video/4-ways-build-emotional-literacy

April 19, 2022

Using Coding in the Classroom

I was never familiar with coding until introduced to it this semester. I believe My knowledge of coding is important to incorporate into the school curriculum. There are multiple hands-on activities that allow students to become engaged in the concept. Coding creates creativity in learning as it allows students to use different ways to demonstrate their knowledge of a concept. It enables students to think differently about literature, as it is not always about reading and writing. Coding may present different ideas like instructional knowledge or actions. Coding allows literature to be told through various means. I believe coding is the new literacy helping students communicate their ideas to others. It allows students to demonstrate their ideas about a story or literature more visually and innovatively. Using coding by making beaded necklaces allows students to participate in an interactive hands-on activity. By using an alphabet coding sheet to spell their name or any word, many unique and creative beaded necklaces may be made.

 Courtesy of Stephanie @NU

EDUTOPIA Article: How Music Primes the Brain for Learning

To reap the benefits of music on learning, kids need consistent and abundant musical practice, according to the latest cognitive research.

Ten years ago, musician Angélica Durrell began teaching a small group of Connecticut high school students how to play different percussion instruments, including the charango and toyos—musical instruments native to Central and South America, where many of the students had immigrated from. They learned to play Pachelbel’s Canon, then moved on to master “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” the sixties doo-wop hit by The Shirelles, singing the lyrics in both English and Spanish.

Within a few years, the after-school music program—aimed at Latino students, many of them new arrivals to the U.S. who were struggling academically—became renowned in the school district, recast from a “nice-to-have” extracurricular into a strategic tool for addressing some of the district’s persistent challenges. Durrell’s students, teachers and school leaders noticed, were attending school more consistently, their English was improving, and they seemed increasingly comfortable making friends.

Today, Durrell’s non-profit program serves more than 3,000 students each year in Stamford and Norwalk schools, underscoring music’s profound impact on learning from both a cognitive and a social-emotional vantage point. “We went from approaching it from a music perspective,” Durrell says, “to approaching it from an immigrant inclusion, language acquisition, and grade-level reading-acquisition perspective.”

Consistent exposure to music, like learning to play a musical instrument, or taking voice lessons, strengthens a particular set of academic and social-emotional skills that are essential to learning. In ways that are unmatched by other pursuits, like athletics for instance, learning music powerfully reinforces language skills, builds and improves reading ability, and strengthens memory and attention, according to the latest research on the cognitive neuroscience of music.

Want to know more about the evidence that is out there and how it might just change the current state of music education in schools? 

Click here to read more >>> MUSIC MATTERS

USING DUO LINGO IN THE CLASSROOM

Duo Lingo is a great tech tool for teaching languages that are foreign to students. The platform, website, and app is very easy to use. Users practice vocabulary, grammer, and pronunciation using spaced repetition. Exercises can include written translation, reading and speaking comprehension, and short stories. Users are also able to save their profiles to view progress and up their levels and difficulty. 

Duo Lingo can be used in the classroom in many ways. Educators can use "Duo Lingo for Schools" which is an extension that differs from the general individual log-in. Educators can create challenges for their students and assign them as "homework". Educators can also track their students' progress and use it for "grading". This way, Duo Lingo activities are personalized, pased, and can be used for group challenges. 

https://schools.duolingo.com

Silvia (OTECC @NU)

EDUTOPIA Article: Using Digital Escape Rooms to Make Learning Fun

Students as young as pre-school are able to solve engaging learning puzzles, and teachers can use these resources to design their own.

When you think of escape rooms, you probably imagine adults trying to solve a puzzle in a short amount of time. Did you know that children as young as 3 can participate in them as well, and will be begging to play again?

In escape rooms designed for young children, students are actively engaged with their whole class, with their teacher, or in small groups working to solve puzzles. Once they solve a puzzle, students have to work together to open a lock in order to “escape” from the room. When students manage to open the lock, you can hear the excitement across the room. Here are some ideas to bring escape rooms to pre-K through third-grade classrooms.

For more incredible info and to read more, click the link below: 

Game-based Learning-ESCAPE ROOMS

The Top Five Benefits of Incorporating Technology in Schools

Technology provides great opportunities for both teachers and students. Various ways technology such as smartboards, video projectors, among others should be used in order to facilitate learning. 

Technology makes a connection with studying

When technology is used properly, students would be more interested in the topics that they are studying. Technology provides the opportunity for students to learn a topic in different and newer ways. An example of which is virtual teaching and using online resources.

Technology facilitates participation within learning procedures

Technology helps students to have active participation in class and is an important factor for remembering materials/contents in memory. The best technology that can help students to keep materials in their memory should be chosen.

Technology encourages students to learn

No two students learn the same way because each individual has different styles of learning and skills. Technology helps each student to meet his/her needs. For example, a gifted student who learns quickly, can review what he/she has been studying or delete the content. Technology equips students with a lot of information and resources which makes students more curious to learn.

Technology encourages collaboration 

Students can build their collaboration skills while participating in various online activities with other students. For example, working on projects with different people or sharing journals online is very effective in becoming collaborative. Technology can connect students from different schools or around the world. Students actually can learn how to build 21 century skills through the use of technology. Some examples of 21 century skills built through technology are:  modern collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, communication skills, leadership and creativity.

Technology facilitates teaching

Technology is the way to access different resources online. Teachers can use a lot of valid online resources to make students more curious. Teachers can also save a lot of time with technology such as virtual curriculums and online grading/evaluation. 

References:

Roozbeh, M. (2020). Top Six Reasons to Incorporate Technology in Schools. Minevisa. https://minevisam.com/advantages-of-using-technology-in-the-classroom/

Marziyeh@NU-OTECA

EDUTOPIA Article: Boosting Civics

3 Strategies to Boost Civics Education

Teachers across the curriculum can promote civil discourse and share digital tools that help high school students develop the skills needs for citizenship. In many schools, writing is largely reserved for English and social studies classes, which limits students’ ability to get writing practice across the curriculum. When students do write in math and science classes, they’re often asked to summarize what they’ve learned—they’re not given tasks that guide them to further learning through the process of writing. This can ultimately affect their ability to become strong, versatile writers—a basic proficiency in the modern working world. Cross-curricular writing isn’t a novel concept, and research has consistently shown that by writing about connections between their lives and what they learn in science classes, students become more invested in the subject and achieve greater academic results. To read the full article, click here >>> Boosting Civics

My Perspective on Physical Education

Throughout my grade school years, four years of university in my Early Childhood Studies program, and endless amounts of placement in schools, I have never really come to a clear realization and awareness that physical education and activity in schools is not as high of importance as other curriculum subjects.

I always knew that subjects like math, science, and language were taught on a daily basis and that gym was typically only held around two to three times a week, but it never really clicked in that this was problematic until taking the "Methods of Teaching Health & Physical Education and The Arts" course at Niagara University.

Through class discussions and course material, I came to the realization that physical education isn't deemed important, when in actuality, it should be held at the same standard as other subjects. As a future educator, not only do I want to make physical activity more of a priority in my classrooms, but I also want to spread awareness of this issue.

There is a positive correlation between being active and academic performance, among a number of other things, which is more of a reason to promote it. One way I would introduce it more in my classrooms is first by extending the 20 minute minimum requirement of daily physical activity to approximately 40 minutes. This does not have to be all at once, but even having two separate 20 minute periods throughout the day to give the students a brain break and to get them moving out of their chairs.

Being active and healthy living in general is so important and needs to be made aware of more than it is. Another way I would instill healthy living in my classroom is by reading related books, watching videos, planning lessons around the four food groups, sending letters home to parents and making sure to notify the other teachers as well as the principles to include it more into practice. My perspective on physical education has definitely changed for the better, and I cannot wait to be the change for the next generation.

By: Teresa G@NU (OTECC)

Should students have more choice in their language education?

As students begin their careers in learning, there are several subjects that they need to cover in order for them to become successful. In primary school, these subjects vary from math, science, and English to gym, social studies, and art. One subject that students also learn is French. French is an essential part of the curriculum, as it is spoken throughout Canada. Certain career choices need their candidates to be bi-lingual or at least have a strong ability to communicate and understand. 

            Although French is a necessary language to learn, especially while we live in a bilingual country, variety is an important option for students. As somebody who has traveled to multiple different countries, and speaks many different languages, there are many opportunities to learn different languages. For example, in my own personal experience, Spanish is spoken in a larger number of countries in comparison to French. Also, the Spanish language has a foundation of verbiage and grammar that is comparable to many different languages.

 

            Giving the students the option to have some control in their education is an interesting concept. We allow for the choice to occur in high school, and at certain schools, their "middle school" (Grade 7,8) are able to choose which type, of course, they want to take. For example, at a school I worked at, students in middle school took music as a class. However, they were able to choose between doing choir or band. Allowing for students to have the choice between the two allowed for them to prepare themselves to not only learn how to properly choose between courses but also allows for them to choose subjects that are tailored towards their own interests. 

 

            As previously stated, French is essential for elementary students to learn. It is important in a bilingual country to have an understanding and ability to communicate in both languages. However, giving the students options to learn different languages could benefit them when they grow up. Although there are logistics that would have to be thought through (i/e., Would mean hiring more qualified teachers), students could learn about more topics that they are interested in. In high school and university, students choose their own "electives". Introducing this concept in elementary could prove to be a positive change in education. 

Courtesy of Spencer@NU(OTECA)

EDUTOPIA Article: Improving Parent Engagement

Improving Parent Engagement at the High School Level

It’s possible to improve communication with parents and guardians of high school students by rethinking a few outreach strategies. Educators understand the importance of parental involvement in a student’s life. In graduate school, my statistics professor told us that parental support is an underlying factor influencing all research studies. By that he meant whatever we as graduate students researched for our thesis, such as correlations between experiences in nature and achievement scores in science class, the ever-greater correlation with academic success is parental support. Leveraging parental influence is so important, and I struggled with communicating with parents at my high school. Emails, phone calls, and open houses didn’t really produce the type of parent engagement that kids needed in such a difficult school year. Emails were the easiest for me, since I could send them en masse to a whole class of parents, but I rarely got a response, or even a confirmation that the email was read. Then, I would make phone calls. If you’re like me, however, the thought of calling parents due to behavior or grades produced a tad bit of anxiety. When I did muster the courage, as well as carved out the time to call parents, I often left a voicemail and hardly ever received a return call. I get it. Answering a phone call at work is sometimes not doable. Personally, I don’t like talking on the phone in the era of texting. Additionally, open houses are a time when teachers stay into the evening and parents can drop by and meet them, but barely any parents attend. Last year I had one family take part in that event. There had to be better ways to engage parents. MORE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES Google Voice: An English teacher at my school introduced me to Google Voice. Last year, she lamented how parents never responded to emails, but when she started texting parents using Google Voice, the response rate increased significantly. She had conversations with parents that she wouldn’t have had otherwise; parents became more aware of missing assignments, and students began turning in work, resulting in increased class pass rates. There are many benefits for teachers. They still get to keep their personal phone number private, and they can turn off Google Voice once the school day ends, allowing them to recharge both their phones and themselves. To create a Google Voice phone number, teachers need only a Google account. Texting, instead of calling, saves time and is more convenient for teachers and parents. Interest-based open houses: In my experience, a traditional open house is generally not well attended. But when we had programs focused on a smaller population of the school, parents attended in significantly higher numbers. For example, my school had an AP Info Night that focused on explaining the benefits of AP and the classes we offered. Introduction meetings for ACT Academy, an after-school program focused on test prep for the ACT, also had a good attendance rate. Open houses that are smaller and more personalized, and focused around a particular interest, improve parent engagement. To continue reading, click here >>>>> Parent Engagement

Morning Check-In

Morning check-ins allow students to "recognize and manage their emotions…" as they must think about and label how they are feeling. Teachers should implement this early and continue it throughout the school year. There should be a designated time throughout the day where students can complete the check-in. 

Morning check-ins require teachers to create a chart with different emotions or phrases and place it in a private area of the room Prior to the first check-in, teachers should explain the chart to help with understanding. As students come in each morning, they will write their name on the back of a sticky note and place it in the row that best describes their feelings. While students are working, teachers can check the chart and determine the next steps such as individual meetings.

 

 Courtesy of Michael C  @NU

Random Picker

 

Using a random picker spinner in the classroom for students is a great way to introduce an element of surprise to students. It has a variety of uses in the classroom including ideas such as creative writing topics, brain break activities, student names, etc. To use, you input a list of topics, names, etc, click go and the spinner spins around until it stops. Whatever it stops on is what the class will be doing. 

For example, if the teacher is trying to select this week's people for classroom jobs (ie. line leader, caboose, library helper, etc), they input the names of the students, and then it generates a wheel with the student's names on it. 

Then the teacher clicks anywhere on the spinner and it spins until it stops on a name. Once it stops, that person now has the task for the week.

There are multiple different ones to use. If you google random picker spinner, a list comes up. However, my favourite is Flippity https://www.flippity.net/RandomNamePicker.htm. Flippity offers a variety of different forms for the random picker where it can be used as a spinner, single name, groups, teams, etc. To change to a different picker, all you have to do is click the tabs at the top. There is no need to add the names again, which is a great time saver.

A random picker is a great resource to create an element of surprise for students, but also creates less time and thought for the teacher as they just have to let the spinner do its magic! 

RoseannC@NU OTECC

Toy Theater

Toy Theater is an excellent free online tech tool that can be used in your elementary school classroom. Educators are able to choose a game for their students to play from different categories/subjects such Math, Art, Reading, and Music. 

Toy Theater's colourful design and unique games get them engaged and excited to learn. Students are able to have fun while learning!

Link: https://toytheater.com/

Julia D. @ NU OTECC

Coding

Scratch is the world's largest coding community for children and is a website that allows students to create digital stories, games, and animations. Students can use this website to learn essential skills in their everyday lives. 

This website has a resource section for students, educators and parents to help them become familiar with the website. 

It is a beneficial website to bookmark for us future educators especially for those that are not too confident teaching coding to primary and junior students. Have fun using this great coding website!!  

 

Website Name: https://scratch.mit.edu

By, 

Sabrina D OTECC @ NU

Tech Tool:

Starfall 

Starfall is a fun and interactive website for students to learn basic reading and writing skills. It is an educational alternative and can be used in schools that serve young students with exceptionalities. 

Children in kindergarten and pre-k are able to play games that teach them math, language, art, singing and different seasons.

& students in grades 1, 2 and 3 are also able to play math, language and seasonal games. 

The design of star fall is bright, colourful and easy to navigate. Greatly enough, star fall provides printable worksheets and lesson plans for all educators. 

You and your students will love it!!! 

Make sure to give it a try 

- Caterina Caravetta @ NU OTECC

Affirmation wall

Affirmation walls

Students' well-being is one of the most important things. As teacher we must make sure our children are well and feel safe in the classroom environment. This Affirmation wall would be a really great way to get boost up children's confidence and self-esteem, not only physically but emotionally. This activity can be implemented at any point of the school year, then could be continued by discussing different affirmations and why they are important. This could be done student-by-student or have the student anonymously post something on the wall for someone. If one student has a turn every week then everyone is able to write and post positive affirmations about them. This gives students the opportunity to write beautiful and meaningful affirmations for someone else. This would continue on until each child has had a turn and then we would do another round of affirmations for each student. The goal is to create an open environment where they feel comfortable and safe.

- Maria M (OTECC)