Technology - Establishing Our Team Focus & First Steps

1. Focus: What do we want students to learn?

Question: How can technology be used as a tool to improve the learning of all students?

2. Measurement: How will you know when they have learned it?

We will use data from the following and more:

•        Baseline data (DART, DMA, First Steps, etc.)
•         Self assessments

•        Rubrics
•        Surveys

•        Pre and post assessments
•        Observations, journaling
•         Feedback from students
•        Student samples


3. Interventions: How will you respond when students don’t learn?

•         Encourage students to try another way: i.e. on their own, with peer support, with adult support (for example, guided questions. NOT the adult doing the work for the child)
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•         Searching out different technology tools
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•        Supplementing technology (for example, with manipulatives).
•        Setting technology aside.

Getting Started!!!

Today we explored a math game that focuses on addition/subtraction called Number Pyramid. This particular math game has several positive features:

*      Can be used with iPod/iPads as well as a version called Pyramid Addition on computers.

*      Can change setting to meet the level of students/grades.

*      On iPod/iPad can work with addition, subtraction or mixed operations.

*      On iPod/iPad can change the number of rows on the pyramid depending on how much of a challenge you want.

What’s Next?

*      Have students explore the games and reflect on how they are improving learning opportunities. 
*      For our next session we will individually reflect and share our findings with our PLC team and explore phonics apps targeting our at-risk kids.

SOCIAL THINKING/SOCIAL COMMUNICATION

Group Members: Morgan McDonald, Rebecca Coley, Jennifer Hall, Jacquie Sahlstrom, Kathy Macdonald, Sharon Guignard, Andrew Nicoll

PLC Focus: Addressing and teaching the steps of nonverbal social communication as means for encouraging successful group participation, classroom communication, and learning in students.

• The focus of this PLC is based on the 4 steps of communication outlined by Michelle Garcia Winner (take social perspective, physical proximity, think with your eyes, talk), and her emphasis on the importance of focusing on the first three steps of nonverbal communication.
• This PLC will also utilize the following steps of instruction: teach, rehearse, practice, generalize. 
• The following social thinking lessons/terms will be used in order to teach the first 3 steps: thinking about you vs. just me kids; body/brain in the group, think with your eyes.  
• A positive behaviour approach will be taken, with emphasis on teaching/focusing/emphasizing the desired behaviours.  
• PLC question/goal: to develop activities, materials, and methods to teach, rehearse, practice, and encourage generalization of these 4 social thinking concepts.  

Plan for the next two weeks:

·         Over the next two weeks group members will develop a list of target behaviours to help create  measurement systems for baseline assessments (these will be created next session). 

·         Next session we will get everyone on the same page with a presentation on the 4 steps of social communication (this will be sent out beforehand for everyone to read)

ZONES basics!

Last PLC day, our group looked at the Zones of Regulation. We learned about the four zone colors; blue, green, yellow, and red zone. There was discussion about what each zone may look like, what the zones represent, and what zone student should be expected to fall into depending on their current situation.

 The blue zone represents being sad, sick, tired, bored, or slow moving. The red zone represents being mad, terrified, yelling/hitting, elated, and basically out of control. The green zone is the optimal zone for learning, representing feelings of happiness, calmness, feeling okay, focused and ready to learn. The yellow zone will represent an escalation towards being out of control, with feelings such as frustration, worry, wiggling or silliness, excitement, and some loss of control. 

We learned that the zones correlate with our verbiage in regard to expected behaviour and unexpected behaviour. A child who is feeling under the weather would be expected to be in the blue zone, while a child who has much stress and anxiety in their current lives may live mostly in the yellow zone. I found it important to realize that one zone is not to be labelled “good” or “bad” but that depending on life circumstance and situations, you can expect a child to be in a certain zone. 

We briefly discussed how to help students identify with their feelings in regard to the zones, and the benefit of using common language surrounding this learning. 

Written by Amanda Campbell, EA