Professional Learning 2017-18

Twitter Seating Survey Idea from Ms. Tiffany
I've been intrigued by the idea of flexible seating in my class, but have felt reluctant to dive in head first, fearing that students would simply choose to sit near friends who may not be the best choices for a productive, focused learning environment. Of course, certain times of our day gives students lots of seating options such as during silent reading, or while working on projects, or playing games, for example. However, I felt very reluctant to let students choose their desks particularly since we carefully place students together strategically. Some new students may need a potential friend, or some students may benefit from a translator, or math buddy.

I found a Twitter post from a colleague that helped me grant students a voice in the seating choice process without releasing the decision fully to students. This is the post from Ms. Tiffany:

I loved the idea of getting helpful information from students themselves to help guide our table group decision making process. 

January 30, 2018

Twitter Use Reflection

The past few months I have continued to check Twitter, for professional articles which I have read at least a few times a week. I have shared articles fairly regularly, and posted activities from my class sporadically. Often articles I read on Twitter posted by colleagues help me to view my teaching practices in a new light. I often read about approaches I find exciting and interesting, but not necessarily always ready to tackle or incorporate. Some of the most helpful tweets come from my teammates and other teachers in our school. My teammates are very collaborative and willing to share however, it's impossible to share all of the wonderful things they are doing during our weekly meetings. Twitter offers a nice window into their worlds. For example, after a field trip to the Pallikarnai Marsh, Tiffany posted the following: 

The idea of creating a model of the marsh which included living and nonliving features resonated with me and I set my students off on creating their own models the very next day. This model will be used to ask questions about how these animals, birds, and insects survive which will lead to some rich inquiry into marsh food webs, animal adaptations, and life cycles. This one tweet set into motion some great things in my classroom. 

This is just one example of why I'm pleased to be using and exploring Twitter this year, and hope to continue and expand not only drawing inspiration and ideas, but also sharing my own. 

March 4, 2018

Kath Murdoch Retweet

Following a field trip to the Pallakarnai Marsh during which my students shared their learning and expertise as a result of their inquiry and research with local students, I tweeted about the experience. It's always satisfying when colleagues like a tweet. It communicates that someone out there in the Twitter-verse found something helpful or interesting. Retweets are even better, since it means someone found a tweet intriguing enough to share with their followers. Today, was a proud day when Kath Murdoch retweeted my marsh tweet!!

After our team put so much time and hard work into the unit, and my students worked so hard on their questions, research, marsh models, and pages in a bird guidebook, I found the retweet(s) to be very satisfying and greatly appreciated.