Using Infographics

I can not say at all that this is my idea, but lately I have been using infographics quite a bit in my room. The idea to use them came out of a discussion in our Literacy Cycles about the increased use of infographics on the grade 10 Literacy Test. The discussion became how to incorporate inforgraphics in the regular classroom without 'teaching' an entire unit on them. So we decided (thanks Ms. Bonany and Mrs. Roberts), to choose an infographic each week and spend five minutes a day on it. Here is an example of an infographic I have used:

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So each day we spend about five minutes thinking about and discussing one topic related to the infographic.

To help guide me each week, I have come up with generic questions to help focus each day.

Guiding Questions:

1. What do you notice? (this is always the day 1 question)
2. How is the information organized?
3. What is the most important part?
4. Why did they choose the information they did?
5. What words or phrases are repeated most?
6. Take off the title - what would the title be for this infographic?
7. Take off an axis from a chart/graph - what would be an appropriate title?
8. Why did they use the font that they did?
9. Is this an effective infographic?
10. Question specific to the infographic. For example, one for the infographic above that I asked was: if you were to make this one for yourself, what three things would you need to include to help you get up early? 

As you can see the questions can be quite generic, but depending on the topic you choose, the discussion can vary a lot.

Here are a couple of my favourite so far this year and a couple of questions I asked about them.

 

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 Questions:

1. Why is it so much more expensive to be a superhero now then 75 years ago?
2. How have the costumes changed over time? Why?
3. Why do you think the 'now' version has more stuff?

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Questions:

1. How might an infographic like this effect your food choice?
2. Why does it matter how much water is used to produce food?
3. Chickpeas and Lamb have similar totals, do you think their production has an equal environmental impact?

More and more we are inundated with information and in more and more compact forms. Infographics are showing up everywhere so why not take advantage of them, especially in those little moments like the first five minutes of a day or the last five minutes.

Have a great day,

James

The Dreaded Seating Plan

So far this year I have been blessed with a wonderful class.  It helped that they had great teachers in the past and are genuinely nice kids to begin with.  Knowing this before they entered my room, I decided at the beginning of the school year to make the conscious decision to throw out the rules of the seating plan.

As a Resource Teacher for 8 years, I used to preach to give kids one location and let them get comfortable.  Moving them too often forced them into difficult situations, that by the time they figured out, were being moved again. On the other hand, I visited classrooms that never changed their seating plan and it resulted in kids getting comfortable, but also caused them to lack energy.

As a result of my previous experience and my goal of creating a 21st century classroom, I decided to take a different approach; every 2 weeks I was going to move students to a new home base and during independent work time and reading, students would be able to sit where ever they could be productive.  It has worked beautifully!  I have only had to move 1 student and he needed to sit by himself for 4 days before the seating plan changed again.  I did have a couple students complain, but channeled my inner Debbie Silver and told them 'for now' this is the seating plan and it will change in 2 weeks.  After the first month I never heard another complaint.

Now I am venturing into the world of no seating plan.  Only rule I have is that your seat (home base) is the same for the next 2 weeks.  My first attempt at this did not go so well.  Students sat with their friends and were significantly less focused than before. So we went back to a seating plan. Tomorrow we will try again. I have spent the last couple weeks talking about being successful at school and recognizing positive student behaviour around attention and focus.  I have also reviewed with them what a good seat should be for you as an individual and reminded them there is always time to sit with your friends later. I am hoping to be surprised tomorrow, but have also prepared myself to deal with whatever comes up in the morning.

One thing I have learned so far is that students need room to make mistakes and I am hoping this leads to some personal growth for some of my students.  We shall see how it all plays out.

Feel free to share how you have been assigning or not assigning seats in your room.  I am interested to hear your thoughts.

Have a great day,

James

First Blog

So I have decided to enter the world of blogging.  Not something I would have thought of even 30 days ago.  But here I am.

Thought I would start with the #10GoodThings that happened to me in 2014.  Many are coincidental things that have lead me to where I am.

1) The reality of the teaching profession - I work hard to provide a safe, enriching environment, but without at least a slightly caring environment at home, kids can be broken right down.  I had 3 students whose home lives do not reflect at all how they are at school, and that gives me hope they can make it to the other side.

2) First steps - Took my first step into technology by having my students complete podcasts.  They were fully engaged and I was able to real a level of learning that was missing from my class.

3) Thank-you government and principal - My principal told me to apply to a group looking to do a pilot project.  This lead to a grant to purchase 30 ipads for our intermediate division.  This is where the explosion started.

4) New layout - After using technology in a traditionally laid out classroom, I realized changes were needed.  After spending the summer thinking and collecting, my room now sports 2 couches, 3 chairs, a flat screen TV and Smartboard.

5) New philosophy - Now with couches I needed to use space differently and started using the cave, campfire and mountaintop model.  Lead to interesting class layouts and new thoughts on how to approach activities.

6) Wiping is bad! - Learned that wiping ipads to help clean them up is bad.  Many good things have come up including more control over the content on the ipads. But that time will never be recovered.

7) People who think the same - Attended a tech conference that did not really give me new ideas, but sparked me to start trying new things.

8) One new thing - Was introduced to the vLE and am looking forward to implementing this in the near future.

9) Second new thing - Started using Instagram to share anchor charts with students.  I have let my parents know that can follow me, but only 1 has.  It is such a young person tool.  There is often a mad dash to like the pictures I post.

10) Started Tweeting - Found Twitter and a few people in my board.  Began following more and more people.  This is now my greatest resource for new ideas in my class. 

Lots has happened and many more things to come.

Have a good one,

James