Collaborative Relationships

Daily Collaboration at Spofford Pond School

I can walk into any classroom at Spofford Pond School, at any time, and see students working together.  I also often see students working with teachers.  These collaborations are always in real time, either in the physical world or the digital one.  The G-Suite allows many opportunities for digital collaboration.  Sometimes these collaborations are synchronous.  For instance, when students are working on Google Slides presentation together.  Other times they are asynchronous.  For example, a student can turn in a Google Doc project, a teacher can offer comments and suggestions with in the document for editing, the student can revise it and turn it back in.  It is fantastic to see collaboration happening in every classroom! This week however I witnessed yet another kind of collaboration:  teachers working with teachers.  I know this happens all the time as teachers team teach with other colleagues and professionals in the building.  But this week I saw teachers across grade levels sharing knowledge in a Google Community, through Twitter, in the Google Classroom and in real time using the G-Suite.  I know collaboration is not new to Spofford and I am sure the things I saw this week have happened here many times before. However, coming off of a week that began with a Professional Development day that emphasized the importance of relationships, it was so great to walk the halls and witness the wonderful relationships of Spofford staff in practice. I am glad to work with these professional teachers who come to school everyday and give their best.    To me, they are all "TOP THIRD"!

Virtual Reality Redux

Volcanic Virtual Reality in Grade 4 Sparks Great Conversations & Collaboration

The Google Expeditions kit at Spofford Pond School has seen a lot of action lately - this time in the 4th grade.  As part of their studies of "Forces of Nature", science teachers used the kit to enhance the experience of understanding volcanoes.  Students could follow or lead the expedition.   The expeditions took students inside volcanoes, around the Pacific Ring of Fire, into Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii and other volcanoes around the world. Immersed in the virtual world, I heard students exclaim "Wow!"  "Awesome!"  "I feel like I am right on the edge of the volcano!"  "I wonder what those hot springs would feel like or smell like?" "Did you see the size of that caldera?"  "That scientist is really close to the lava flow!" Focused on successfully leading their followers through the expedition, I heard guides learning Russian, Icelandic, Amharic and Hawaiian on the fly.  We decoded foreign proper nouns like:  Karymsky, Kamchatka, Dallol, Grimsvotn, Kilauea, Halema'uma'u and Pu'u Loa. We stepped out of the virtual world to ask questions like:  "Where is the closest volcano that I can visit?"  "What type of scientist studies volcanoes?"  "Where is the biggest volcano?"  "Which volcano had the world's biggest eruption?" Students came to this event with background knowledge based on their science studies.  Students came out of this event as if they took a field trip around the world.  How great is that?

Technology Essential Questions:

How does this digital tool help improve collaboration and/or communication?

Are there technological solutions or enhancements to supplement what is being taught?

Why are exploration and creation an important part of learning?

2016 Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) Curriculum Framework:

3-5.CAS.a.1; 3-5.CAS.c.3; 3-5.CAS.c.4; 3-5.CAS.c.5; 3-5.DTC.b.2; 3-5.CS.a.1; 3-5.CS.b.2

Google Drawing

Grade 3 Gets Creative with Google Drawing

Mrs. Holt's 3rd grade classroom recently completed their study of the regions of Massachusetts.  As a culminating project, students were asked to choose a region and based on their knowledge of the area create a digital poster that might draw families with young children to investigate the area.
Students searched the internet for "free" images and then used Google Drawing to create these attractive posters.  Using Google Drawing, students inserted and modified images, text fields and backgrounds.  Students learned to arrange objects on the page and group them appropriately.  Completed posters were submitted to their teacher using Google Classroom.
Way to go grade 3! What an awesome display of digital design skills!

Some new vocabulary students learned in this lesson:

Grade 3 Hard at Work

Google Drawing Essential Questions:

How can technology be used to enhance a project and communicate knowledge?

How can we use this software to create original, innovative works and ideas?

Are there technological solutions or enhancements to supplement what is being taught?

Why are exploration and creation an important part of learning?

2016 Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) Curriculum Framework:

3-5.CAS.a.1; 3-5.CAS.b; 3-5.DTC.a.2; 3-5.DTC.a.3; 3-5.DTC.b; 3-5.DTC.c.2