I am excited and nervous to share my course shell and first lessons for my blended course Reading Support program. The main concept of my course stems from a support that I have done with the assistance of our school’s Teacher Librarian. I feel very fortunate to have the support and expertise of another teacher but realize that this will not always be possible. By creating a blended, in person and online, version I will be able to run this program on my own and share it with classroom teachers to use as a support and differentiation in their classrooms.
I am using Google Classroom as my learning management system. I am hoping to get feedback on how I have organized the materials. My target population is Grade 1-3 students so I would like it to be as user friendly as possible. A great amount of pre teaching will be required for the students to learn the platform but once they do, I hope they can work with some independence.
I have created two Google Classrooms so far. One is the Teacher Resource, which gives an explanation of the course as well as the lesson plans for each section of reading levels. This will be explained in more detail in my walk through. The second Classroom is for Section A, which is non readers and level 1 readers. I have created a reference section with videos, logins and links to the other apps that will be used. I plan to create a separate classroom for each of my Sections in order to keep the activities and information separate and appropriate for each group. This is were the lessons will be posted daily as well as resources and other information that would be helpful to the students.
Walk through of shell and course plan.
Next, I have created two videos to show the walk through of the student Google Classroom page. I wanted to use an iPad for this as that is what the students would be using. I was having a bit of trouble recording that so I went back to the laptop to complete the recording, this is why there are two video for this section.
above- iPad Student walk through. below- continued student walk through on laptop.
Thank you for taking the time to check out my course. I welcome any feedback and look forward to editing and continuing to develop my course.
*In the lesson that I shared, I make reference to a game I call “Jeu des animaux”. This game comes from Maternelle avec Mme Andrea. She has many great activities and tools for teaching French to primary students. I highly recommend that you check out her blog if you are looking for ideas.
The course that I am creating is a support for teachers to use and it is a course that I will use when working with students in small groups. Creating a sense of community and safe space for learning are always high on my list as I begin any school year and when I begin working with a new group of students. Once this is built, we work to foster it for the duration of the year.
At the beginning of a session, I plan to have in person face-to-face interactions with my students and when this isn’t possible we will use Google Meets. During these first interactions we will set up expectations for our time together. This will be in-person expectations as well as expectations when using technology such as Google Meets, using apps and other activities done online. I found a good Resource for helping make a matrix for setting up online behaviour expectations. Below is a great example of a visual of expectations that could be used with elementary students.
In the article Guide to teaching 1st grade online, the author says “Many teachers have found that the best way to help students get used to the system is to begin with low-stakes, fun tasks to complete using the LMS.” During student- teacher face-to- face interactions we will also spend time getting to know Google Classroom, the LMS I plan to use for my course. Some of these activities can be set up for interactions between students.
I am nervous about the idea of using discussion boards with students from grade 1-3. I work primary with students working significantly below grade level and often don’t have the skills developed yet for spelling. However, this many be a fun and engaging way to practice. I am also considering using Flipgrid to provide the students an opportunity to create videos with questions or examples of their reading. This would provide an opportunity for student-student and student-teacher interactions.
Start video at 3:30 for ideas about using Flipgrid in your online class.
Finally, thanks to Leona for providing an excellent review of Book Creator, I think this would be another great way to have the students interact. At the writing station, the students could create a book together using their simple sentences. I think this would be a fun and engaging way to encourage writing and creating together.
By starting each session with a discussing the expectations, having visuals for the expectations and referring back to them will be important on helping make these interactions meaningful. The Flipgrid videos, Book Creator books and possible discussions boards, these can be shared with the classroom teachers to be used as part of assessment and see the growth in their students.
I would love to hear your feedback on using these tools with grade 1- 3 students. Have you successfully used any discussion boards with grade 1- 3 students?
When I was reviewing the list of possible content creation and teaching tools for testing, the heading of Mindmapping jumped out at me. I thought of my grade 4- 8 students who use assistive technology, Chromebooks, on a regular bases to support their learning. They would benefit from a online tool to do their preplanning, prewriting, organizing ideas, brainstorming etc. To decide which tool I would explore, I went to each of the suggested websites to see which app would catch my attention. Murial.co grabbed my attention first. It looked like it could do what I had in mind for my students however, it was a bit too much and over complicated for our needs. Next, Notability also looked very neat however, I don’t feel it would meet my students needs as it looks like it might be better for older students. Padlet was next up. I am sure it is also great but it didn’t grab my attention. The last Mindmapping tool on the list was Popplet. The home page was exactly what I was looking for. Popplet is the tool I dove into.
The home page is simple and clear. This was the first thing to grab my attention. As I scrolled down the homepage I came to Popplet for Education. These four points are exactly what I was after.
Easy to use and easy to learn
K-12 relevant
Any language- since I teach in French, this is always something I look for.
As I continued to play and create, I found other uses for my students. Popplet can also be used on an iPad. This would be great for my younger students in K-3 who work with iPads as their classroom technology. The Popplet website has suggestions and ideas on how you can use this tool with a variety of subject matter. They have a detailed example on how to use for a Word Family lesson for grade 1 students. You could do so much with this in a group setting and the teacher could create the Popplet as part of a lesson. Once the students become comfortable, they could create their own Word Family Popplet.
I created a Popplet to try out all the tools. Below is what the screen looks like as you are working, very simple. I added a YouTube video a “How to” introduction to Popplet. I added a picture from Vecteezy and text in English and in French. You can also use a drawing tool which is not very neat when using a laptop. Those are the four options you have when you add a box. The boxes are easy to add and easy to attach to one another, once you figure out how to do that. With the share button you can share with another student who also has a Popplet account and they can add to each others work. The name of the student shows up above the box they create. I did not try out the share feature.
Strengths:
It is a simple Mindmapping/ brainstorming tool.
There are only a few steps so students would catch on quickly.
A Popplet can be shared between students and teacher.
There are premade examples to look at to inspire creating your own.
There is a free option.
Here is a screen shot of the four options you have when adding a new idea/ box to your web.
Weaknesses:
It is simple therefore, it has minimal things it can do.
It was difficult to add pictures from the internet as they had to be a particular size. This may be difficult of younger students to navigate.
I had trouble with the zoom feature and would often have to start over because I couldn’t bring my Popplet back down to size.
Upon reading reviews from educator who have used the tool, I learned it can be glitchy and can need to be shut down often.
Limited possibilities with the free version. Would you school/ division pay for you to use this tool?
Overall, I would give the Free app a try with my students in K- grade 8. I feel that the simplicity would be great to keep students on task as the app only does one thing. It would meet the needs of my assistive technology students to help them get their ideas down in pictures or simple words. I also really like the ability it has to be shared with others to be able to work together.
What is your experience using Popplet? What suggestions to do you have? Any other strengths or weaknesses you could offer?
This is an exciting project to start to build a course that I can take and use in my classroom. My classroom looks a little different because it only has a few tables, a variety of seating and it is a small space. I am a Learning Resource Teacher. I am new to the role and have only held the position during the pandemic which comes with restrictions including not being able to mix students. This is what has led my thinking in the development of my course. If I can’t mix students but see similar needs across classrooms even different grades, how can I best support these students? To me, it is important to be as efficient as possible as I strive to support as many students and teachers as I can, in a meaningful way. This is the direction I am going with my course profile.
Free Stock photos by Vecteez
Target population: My target audience would be grade 1- 3 students who are reading below grade level, in French, in a French Immersion classroom. These students could range in age from 6 to 9 years old. Thinking about my current school, we have students from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of abilities. At the beginning of the year, it is my responsibility to get to know that students. I review learning plans including IIP’s and ROA, records of adaptation to see what supports have been used in the past and what learning goals students may be working to achieve. This helps me to better understand the learner I will be working with and adapt instruction accordingly to meet their learning needs. This includes EAL students, students with diagnosed learning difficulties such as dyslexia, a learning disability and ADHD to name a few and students who just aren’t there yet. Also, we often have grade 1 students starting in French for the first time with no background of the language. Grade 1 teachers typically prefer that I wait until January to start working with their students. This gives the classroom teacher a change to develop a base knowledge of French and determine which students are going to benefit from the additional supports.
Course format: This course will be a blended format. My hope is that this would be a support a classroom teacher could use to differentiate during literacy, it could be used as stations with me or could be used as extra support at home. For example at school, it could run as synchronous stations with technology stations as well as face to face small group stations. There will also be asynchronous activities to be done at home or in the classroom setting for extra practice and support.
I would run the course in 4 week blocks with a formal reading assessment at the beginning and end of each block to see if each student should continue for another block or if the support is no longer needed.
The technology tools will include teacher made videos, the use of apps., interactive websites and Google Classroom to manage the information. At school, we would use iPads as each classroom has access to iPads as well as I have iPads I can use with students. When I communicate with home about this support, I would check what technology tools are available and provide paper copies of activities and books where there is a need.
The face to face stations will include guided reading, sound and syllable work and any instruction or reinforcement specific to each student.
Course toolset: As mentioned above, I will us Google Classroom to manage the students, activities and to communicate with students, teachers and parents. I have chosen Google Classroom because I have used it in the past and am somewhat familiar with it. I also know that through the school division my students would have access to it so that I can use this program in the future. I will also use email to communicate with parents.
Assessment will be done in a variety of ways: a formal reading assessment will be done face to face or over Google Meets. Informal assessments will take place when working one on one with a student, checking student progress on the apps and websites we will be using as well as during games played as a group.
Other resources I plan to use are : BOOM cards, Je lis, Je lis, literacie!, Kahoot!, Saskatchewan Lit and GB+ series of books, just to name a few. I have access to some of these programs through Regina Public Schools and I am able to give my students online access to them as well. I will continue to develop a list of resources as I put the course together.
Course objectives: I am designing this course to meet students where they are at. My hope would be to see an improvement in reading level during a block of support. There may be a grade 1 and a grade 3 student working at the same level, doing the same activities. When the students are working online from their classroom or from home they won’t be aware of how is doing the same activities. This could certainly be an advance to working online. The students will only beware that they are working at their level and will be celebrated when gains are made. For this reason, I am including curriculum objects from the grade 1- 3 Saskatchewan curriculum.
The French Immersion curriculum is written in French however, the outcomes have been translated for parents to understand as well as administrators in a French Immersion school who may not speak French. I have included these translations below:
Component: Students acquire knowledge of the language and of socio-cultural references
Grade 1:
É-AC.3 Demonstrate awareness of the acoustic and prosodic features of the French language.
É-AC.4 Manipulate orally the parts of words.
É-AC.5 Associate oral language and written symbols.
É-AC.6 Build a repertoire of childhood socio-cultural references: certain idiomatic expressions, nursery rhymes, rhymes, songs, and characters in stories.
Grade 2:
AP-AC.1 Use cues to negotiate meaning and express themselves, including: visual cues; morphology; syntax; sentence segmentation; syllables; graphophonics; semantics.
Grade 3:
Written ComprehensionStudents will:
3. CÉ.1 Identify the content of a variety of texts: the message in an illustrated cause and effect, problem/solution or enumerative written text;elements in an illustrated story that provide answers to the following questions: Who? Where? When? What? How? Why?the general meaning of a short, unillustrated text.
3.CÉ.2 Use a variety of methods (strategies, language conventions and reading cues), before, during and after, with teacher assistance, to: plan their individual silent reading time;choose a text;understand a message or a text:make predictions;make connections between elements of the text and their prior experience;consult reference material;apply their knowledge of language conventions;respond to a narrative or humorous/poetic text by expressing their preferences and personal opinions; andreflect on their reading process.
Conclusion: I am really excited about the possibilities of this course. The thought of being able to support more students, create a support that a classroom teacher can fit into what they are doing without taking time on their end to differentiate to meet the needs of a student that is working far below grade level is very exciting.
I welcome any feedback you may have for me.
Grade 1- 3 teachers, what would you like to see that I may have missed?
Do you see something like this working in your classroom?
