Month: December 2011

community_post, grade8, humanities2 Comments

Market Collective, A Big Hit!

Deirdre Bailey

By Anton S (Student, 8.3) Recently, grade eights embarked on a mission to complete graphic novels based on a list of short stories including Alice Munroe’s Day Of The Butterfly and Roald Dahl’s Lamb To The Slaughter. During the process of creating the graphic novels we were asked to convey the theme of the story through our illustrations. We were also asked to create graphic novels that draw in the reader through diverse paneling, the introduction of poetic language, and varying points of view. Although this process took over a month to complete the time and effort put into the … Continue reading Market Collective, A Big Hit!

environmental-education, grade4, science, technology1 Comment

Students into Scientists

Deirdre Bailey

by Deirdre Bailey and Amy Park It began with a conversation on how best to develop deep understanding of biological cycles. When we considered simply slicing fruit and vegetables in half and leaving them out in the open to observe the resulting changes, we never anticipated the smells, the new life, or the learning that would ensue. The suggestion that we use Google Docs to facilitate collaboration and data management through the scientific process provided an excellent opportunity for introducing students to the incredible value of facilitating collaborative research and documentation through technology. See examples of our student work in … Continue reading Students into Scientists

assessment, physicaleducation, research-and-innovation, technology3 Comments

Verbal Assessments in Physical Education

Deirdre Bailey

by Tammy Berry, PE Specialist Mr. Schmeichel and I are in the process of working on improving on our reporting process by conducting verbal interviews with specific grades of Physical Education students every term. Our focus questions are as follows: 1) How does an Interview / Conversation (recorded and shared) based Term Assessment allow the students a deeper understanding of the PE programs goals as well as their own areas of strength / areas for improvement? 2) How is this form of assessment and parent feedback a more effective means of communication (compared to the written term-ending comments) for parents … Continue reading Verbal Assessments in Physical Education

library3 Comments

The Internet is NOT a Library

Deirdre Bailey

The Internet is truly not a library, and shouldn’t be confused as one. Ask most students what a library is, and they inevitably offer a reply with the words books, information, borrow, etc. included. If you truly understand a library, which in its essence must have at the very minimum, these words- information, evaluated, selected, categorized and organized for access– then the clarification becomes obvious. In Siva Vaidhyanathan’s 2010 publication The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry), he offers a very clear explanation of the mighty search engine (and everything else) we call “Google”. The Internet and the … Continue reading The Internet is NOT a Library

grade8, science1 Comment

The “Better” Life Strategy

Deirdre Bailey

by Kevin Sonico After studying about different organelles that are present in cells and looking at examples of organisms under the microscope, students in Grade 8 explored the life cycle and life strategies of a unicellular and multicellular organisms. Through their research, students compared and contrasted these two different types of organisms. Students brainstormed on what content areas they could find out about each; these were a few of them: life cycle, life span, reproduction, examples of organisms. Several of them constructed graphic organizers like Venn diagrams and tables. After collecting and researching, students were then prompted to write paragraphs … Continue reading The “Better” Life Strategy

grade6, grade7, math1 Comment

Hungry Countries Math Exploration

Deirdre Bailey

by Erin Couillard The last time I looped between grade 6 and 7, I noticed a gap existing in students understanding of equivalency and their ability to make connections between ratios, fractions, and decimals. This was after teaching the same group of students for two years, and placing a large emphasis on this strand. Through conversations with colleagues, we recognized that this is an area many students find challenging, in all grade levels. I began to think about other ways of teaching these concepts that would build a deeper, longer-lasting understanding. While working in our Math lesson study with Galileo, … Continue reading Hungry Countries Math Exploration

community_post, humanities1 Comment

The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living

Deirdre Bailey

Rachelle Savoie is a teacher currently on leave from the Calgary Science School. She has taken a position teaching junior high humanities at the Canadian International School in Abu Dabi, United Arab Emirates. The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living After working at CSS for almost 4 years, I had begun to take the act of questioning for granted. It is ingrained in our culture to question. It is what we base our charter on …inquiry. However, historically, and in many educational institutions, questioning is not the predominant component of learning. In some cases it is not even encouraged. Upon … Continue reading The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living

grade7, humanities, research-and-innovation2 Comments

Determining Historical Significance

Deirdre Bailey

-by Jody Pereverzoff, Grade 7 Humanities Students in grade 7 Humanities are currently completing an assignment called 8 Events Leading to Confederation, adapted from the website http://historicalthinking.ca/. Historical Significance Unit Inquiry Question: What event is the most significant event in Canada pre-confederation?This unit opened with a discussion on the difference between ‘the past’ and ‘history’. We examine many events, past and present, using the following criteria: – The event had deep consequences for many people
– The event affected many people
– The consequences of this event lasted for a long period of time We evaluated a variety of events including the … Continue reading Determining Historical Significance

environmental-education, grade4, science, technology2 Comments

Inquiring into Waste and Our World

Deirdre Bailey

by Deirdre Bailey and Amy Park Our Grade 4 classes have spent the past three months inquiring into the topic of “Waste and Our World” with the goal of developing an appreciation and understanding of their roles and responsibilities as global citizens of this environmentally fragile and increasingly endangered planet. We had hoped that our inquiry would help students feel empowered to sustain environmentally conscious action as part of their everyday lives. Our first mission was to collect garbage from the school ground. Students were shocked to discover that we had collected over 4lbs of lunch-related waste in one day … Continue reading Inquiring into Waste and Our World