Old Quebec City- Lower Town

Imagine a research project for Grade Seven students called “The Governor’s Banquet,” which is intended to focus on life in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries. Canada and the United States did not yet exist, and much of North America was, in fact, French territory, ruled by the Governor appointed by the King of France.
Each group of students must research an aspect of life in New France, and, at a project end celebration, present to the class what they have learned about the culture, clothing, food, daily life, work, education, religion and government of the time. Of course, a celebration is not complete without food, and each group must bring one type of food that would have been popular during the time period.
The Buck Institute for Education sets out some excellent planning, implementation, completion, reflection and assessment tools on its website. Critical to the project planning are setting the goal, project checkpoints and project reflection.
Students need to understand that the goal is not the party at the end, but rather, the rich learning that comes from the research and collaboration that takes place. Students will need some tools to get them on track and organized. Using a Google document as a resource for communicating the project benchmarks, and as a shared research tool would be an excellent start for students of this age who are not yet familiar with more advanced tools, such as Wikis. Having a Google calendar as a timeline for the project, where each work period is mapped out in advance, will inform students of the checkpoints and the workplace (classroom, library, computer lab, as examples).
When goal setting, groups need to decide on the product, or artifact, they will present. Will it be a fashion show for presenting the clothing, a play which shows the role of religion or government, a model of a village in New France, a dance of the time period or a skit showing life for a child in school at the time? Checkpoints must include the appropriate markers- a script for a play, a design for a model, or a layout for a fashion show. There must also be time to pause and address group challenges as well as assess, both formally and informally the progress of the group and its individuals. The teacher could prepare a Google Form that would gather feedback from students about their own, as well as their peers’ success and areas needing improvement.
During the celebration, groups must contribute to the menu, both the planning of the making of the food but also the collaborative production of the menu on a Google Document. The day of the celebration is anticipated, as students share their food (with careful attention to food allergies and restrictions of course), and each presentation.
Finally, a final assessment and reflection of the Governor’s Banquet must be carefully and thoroughly completed, using a number of the excellent tools on the Buck Institute’s website. Having enlisted a small group to record the event in still photos or video will assist students in their own reflections of their performances.
To top it all off, near the end of the school year, students travel to Quebec City, the only walled city in North America, to experience life in French Canada in the present, as well as the past. Even today, the city is much like it was when it was founded in 1608. Because of this, it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If only the trip could be done during the preparations for the Banquet, the learning that results would be even richer.
Making the learning of History an engaging, rich and productive learning experience through the use of Project Based Learning can and will make History come alive!

I know that my American friends are often puzzled by the normal, but different, spellings of the “English” words use in my Blog posts, and the Canadian colloquialisms that distinguish conversations by folks north of the border, so it should not come as a surprise, then, that we also have a different calendar. (One Canadian comedian frequently interviewed unsuspecting Americans and tried to convince them that we had things like igloos everywhere, a 20 hour clock, and legal seal hunting in cities, so perhaps our distinct calendar is no surprise).
Do join me in taking a moment to be thankful for the many good things we enjoy here in North America and I will do so again when it is the Americans’ turn to celebrate, in November.
Canadian Thanksgiving has less focus on football and pre-holiday shopping and more on food, family, and hikes in the stunning autumn colours. For some it’s a reminder that winter comes early in the north.
Whatever you are doing, have a good weekend!

As Web 2.0 gathers a huge amount of momentum amongst K-12 teachers and when students convince their teachers that their assignments can almost always be digital, more and more Web 2.0 tools will be utilized by students to demonstrate their learning. The question remains whether the use of the tools can not only demonstrate academic learning but also develop and refine 21st century technology skills that students can apply to other learning environments and in the workplace later in life.
The rapid developments that are occurring in the Web 2.0 sphere suggest that students who are not exposed to them now, will not be able to quickly adapt to the world of learning and work of the 21st century either. Web 2.0 and the 21st century learner are intricately linked, and are a cycle of learning and creating:

- A student who is creative can use Digital Storytelling to communicate a powerful message, perhaps created in a unique way, to persuade an audience. The images may have been edited online using Picnic and presented to a wider audience using Slideshare.
- A student who communicates well can collaborate with others to create new ideas or products, perhaps using Voicethread, Wikis or Nings.
- A student who is able to gather, organize, analyse and evaluate information can research 21st century issues, and present their findings using a Glogster poster.
- A student who can think critically about digital media and make decisions can use Web 2.0 tools to help solve the problems of the 21st century by using shared documents, such as Google Docs to gather and organize the information required to act on these critical problems.
- A student who recognizes the value of other’s intellectual property, and honours others’ work by attributing sources, perhaps using Bibme or another Web 2.0 bibliographic tool, is a student who views the internet as a place that can used for the public good, creating useful and meaningful content with integrity and at the same time, in a safe manner.
- A student who understands the basics of technology and its role in society today, and into the future, is ready to adapt to the constantly changing world of the 21st century, recognizing that Web 2.0 tools have their limitations today, and will need to be improved to meet the needs of the next generation.

The Web 2.0 world is a parallel metaphor for the skills and knowledge of learning in the 21st century. But more than that, they are the tools that create the learning in this new millennium. It’s not too late to join in the adventure.

Communication

Edmodo

- The beauty of microblogging in a safe secure class environment

Edmodo is unique in that teachers create an account, then set up groups (”classes”) for which they receive a code, which is then shared with the students in the class. Students create their own account, with no email address required. Then, when all students have registered, the teacher can change the code to avoid intruders. The result is that the messages to/from the teacher and students are limited to the class. This provides a closed and scure environment for classes to share information- links, feeds, messages, assignments. There’s even an internal poll utility.
What was curiously missing was any mention of age/consent i.e. COPPA requirements. It would be be the responsibility (not to mention common sense) of the teacher to request parent permission. It might also be wise to invite the parents to the Group, if the main purpose of your group is homework announcements and sharing.
The hallmark of Edmodo is its simplicity- share a document, a short reminder, a calendar, an assignment and have students hand it back in. It’s not much more than that at a superficial glance, although the style is very student friendly, trendy if you will, and has the potential to engage students. The Help Wiki provides sufficient support to get started, and there is a Blog too, for further ideas, and even some testimonials. I liked this one about a student who began to engage in his schoolwork through the teacher’s Edmodo site.
Initially, the site could be used for an academic subject such as English or Social Science as a teacher-peer-peer homework help site, where students could receive their assignments in digital form, ask questions of the teacher and peers, and finally complete and submit the assignments. The possibilities are wide open, however. The teacher could groups students to work collaboratively on projects and monitor their interactions and dialogue through Edmodo. The capability of embedding video or RSS feeds also could be implemented while doing project work.
I like Edmodo! There are pitfalls to every Web 2.0 app and Edmodo has them. But it is far more secure than Twitter, has the openness of the Internet but the closed structure that teachers seek when first stepping into the Web 2.0 world with students. It would be prudent for teachers to keep their administrators and parents fully informed of the ways you are using Edmodo, but the way it’s used is only limited by ones’ creativity.

Collaboration

Google Docs

- Share and share alike!

I am a recent Google Docs convert. Just this week, when my school’s Technology Committee was supposed to meet, and could not, I conducted a virtual meeting using Google Docs. Gone are the days when a document was created in MS Office, sent as an attachment, edited by the recipients and sent back to the creator, who then edited the edits of the collaborators. Now, documents are edited in real time by all collaborators! This video from Google explains that this was the primary reason why Google Docs were created, I quickly learned. The example given at the beginning of the video of how outdated collaboration methods using the old paradigm are so counter productive that perhaps Google Docs will lay them to rest.

A full series of support pages which answer almost every question a user might have about Google Docs is available, and teachers would be wise to scan through them. School-wide collaboration is now completely within the realm of even the smallest school, as email, documents and calendars are integrated through Google education services.

As for using Google in the classroom- where does one begin? I’m no longer a PE teacher but this Blog caught my attention ! Imagine streamlining your Physical Education class’ fitness results collection, equipment inventories, activity choices, event registrations and even evaluation tasks? It can be done using Google Forms, which allow the input of data directly to a spreadsheet. Formative testing can even be conducted this way! Real student collaboration is now an easy task, and the learning curve for doing so, even with younger students, is not that steep. However, there are risks, and students need to be reminded that shared documents are exactly that, shared and viewed by a variety of people, including their teachers. The best netiquette must be taught and used at all times. Schools can create their own Gmail domain and create their own accounts for students to create a higher level of security for students, as well as minimize liability of the school. But like all similar endeavours, parent awareness and consent needs to be obtained.

Publishing

Glogster for Education- put an end to Powerpoint boredom!

Not since bristol board entered schools in the mid 20th century has the poster seen competition like this! The ability to create virtual posters with text, photos, audio and video (and more) in a secure, teacher moderated environment is a move into the real world of 21st century learning, where students become thinkers, creators, and evaluators of their peers’ and their own digital media. Teachers set up classes and moderate student activity. There is a huge selection of resources and ideas that teachers can tap into on the Glogster educational site too.