Social Studies 7 Project

Student artwork by Pier

Ms. Kwan (Assessment Coach), Ms. Langford (Social 7 teacher) and I (Technology Coach) are working with Grade 7 students on an Aboriginal inquiry-based learning project in social studies. In May, 2011, students will celebrate Education Week by hosting an interactive museum called the L'nu'k Student Expo. As expo presenters, students will share and provide evidence of learning and collaboration through various appropriate mediums of technology.

A social 7 wiki and blog has been created to encourage students, parents, and educational guests to participate in collaboration, information sharing, student engagement, and project communication. Please visit the sites to follow the project, view student work and join in the discussion.

Camilla Social Studies 7 Wiki

L’nu’k: A Tribute to the First Nations Blog

Ms. Tonhauser

Welcome Tech 7 Students to the Blogosphere!

Tech 7 students have entered the blogosphere as student bloggers. They are now web authors and collaborators by newly creating and maintaining individual public blogs. You can access the grade 7 student blogs on our main webpage titled Grade 7 @Camilla School. Please feel free to visit, read their postings and leave comments.

I decided to use kidblog.org as our blogging tool because it is simple, secure and presents straightforward formatting. Blogging is a great way to have an introduction to 21st century literacies, online participation and classroom sharing. Students will learn how to creatively design and edit blog posts, upload media files, and continue to grow as ethically responsible digital citizens.

There is a great article titled 20 Reasons Why Students Should Blog which outlines the power of student voice through this format. Blogging is a powerful learning community where sharing, learning, collaborating and responding is open 24/7. Students are engaged in writing meaningful posts and responding to blog comments, interacting not only with peers but potentially with a worldwide audience.

Take a little time to enjoy the view from our place in the blogosphere.

Ms. Tonhauser

Technology Videos Worth Watching

Video sharing sites such as YouTube and TeacherTube offer up a great deal of educational content, consisting of a wide range of appropriate resources for all subject areas and grade levels. Here are a few notable technology/21st century literacy videos worth sharing.

Digital World: Kids Today
The 21st century has created a new digital culture through the use of web tools and technology. Kids today are using new digital literacies to communicate and connect.

Pay Attention
Today’s students can be labeled as digital learners, so why should we pay attention?

A Vision of K-12 Students Today
How did you learn? How do students today learn? A snapshot how best to inspire and engage digital learners today.

Discover Information Literacy
Great introduction to information literacy and how teachers can help students ‘discover’ information literacy:
D Define
I Inquire
S Search
C Collect
O Organize
V Verify
E Express
R Reflect

Ian Jukes: Understanding Digital Kids
Ian is a well-known Canadian educator, author, consultant and keynote speaker. One of his educational missions is to make sure that educators are properly preparing students for the future.

Explanations in Plain English by CommonCraft produces an easy-to-understand video series on emerging online tools such as:
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Web Search Strategies
• Social Media
• Social Bookmarking
• Social Networking
• Wikis

Ms. Tonhauser

Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century

On November 4th Technology Learning Coaches in Sturgeon School Division attended an Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium session titled Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century presented by David Warlick. This was the first time many of us had the pleasure of listening to David speak in person and what a great learning day we had!

How do we define literacy today? Is literacy still simply defined by the 3R’s? David emphasized that literacy today is just not about reading and writing, but instead knowing how to find information, ask questions and find answers. What will the web look like in five years? What kinds of technology will emerge? For the first time ever, educators must prepare students for a future we know nothing about. We are preparing students for a future we cannot predict, or what David calls The Perfect Storm. Being literate today means questioning information, exposing information and becoming an informational ‘digital detective’.

David Warlick is an educator, author, public speaker, and blogger with over 30 years of experiences working with students and teachers.

Ms. Tonhauser