Month: March 2022

Here it is, my final module and my course prototype: Reading support of French Immersion students reading significantly below grade level, in French. My course was inspired by an in person reading program that my Teacher Librarian and I, a Learning Resource Teacher, have delivered in person.  I have built on it, added resources, created a Teacher Handbook and put it on an online platform to increase the ways it can be used in order to bring support to more students. It is put together from the perspective of a Learning Resource Teacher. 

Google Classroom is the LMS that I used for my course.  I have created multiple Classrooms to support my course, for ease of use.  The first is a Teacher Handbook where all the information is housed.  Within the handbook is the course profile to explain the course to another teacher that may use it to differentiate and support students within the classroom. I have made a few changes to the course profile from my original blog post about my profile. Below, I have attached screen shots of the updated Course Profile from the handbook.

I have enjoyed the process of creating this course and am reminded of the importance of feedback. Having feedback from my peers, my course has evolved into something I am proud of and something that I feel is useful and user friendly. In my blog post, Improving with Feedback, I outline the changes that were suggested. Those changes are reflected in my final prototype.

When I submitted my first module, I included a walk through of the first module as well as the course prototype. You will notice a few visual changes to the daily template and changes to the number of sections that I will create, based on the feedback from our class breakout sessions.

Another change you will notice from the original walk through is how I have created the lesson plans. At first, I had created lesson plans for the first 4 days and was going to continue for 16 lessons as that would be the length of a session. However, I believe in meeting students where they are and providing individualized support to their areas of challenge. With that in mind, it didn’t make sense to create rigid plans. What I ended up doing instead is creating a teacher resource section. There is an example of a lesson, which I created as my second module, a lesson plan template and I have compiled resources that can be used to support each of the stations. I feel this would be more user friendly. Teachers would be able to chose activities from the list based on the needs of the students.

To review: for Module 1, I created Section A which would support of non-readers to level 2. I explained the activities I would use for each of the four stations and included video references for the students. These videos would be used when the students are working independently and need support. The activities in Section A are based on alphabet sound recognition. Flipgrid was used as a tool to have oral communication from the students and to have the students interact with one another. This can be seen in greater detail in the video below that was shared with the Module 1 submission.

For Module 2, I created Section C which would support level 6 – 10. These would be learners in grade 2 and 3. I focused on resources that have high interest at the appropriate reading level. This can often be a change to engage students reading below grade level with age-appropriate content, especially in French. I have made a lesson for day 5 of support. This way the students would be familiar with expectations and the online tools. I added Book Creator to this group as a tool to promote writing in the Word Work station. My hope would by having the student compile their writing into a book during the support block and “publish” the book at the end as something to be proud of.

My final walk through goes another quick overview of the Teacher Handbook followed by a walk through of the new Module- Section C, Jour 5. I look forward to hearing any feedback on my final submission and can’t wait to use this with students when I get back in the classroom after maternity leave.

I have always been a big fan of receiving constructive feedback. When you look at a project for a long time you see what you want to see and maybe not exactly what is in front of you, which can lead to missing pieces. Being receptive to feedback helps me to improve my work and in turn become a better educator. Having conversations about our courses, having the opportunity to review the work of others and having our work reviewed will all help me improve on building an online course which is a first for me. Thank you to my wonderful reviewers Bev and Leigh. I appreciate your complements as well as your suggestions. I feel like I am on the right path.

Below, I have taken quotes from my reviewers and have made notes on how I plan to address these ideas in my course.

•  I did not notice considerations for attendance or students who did not have access to technology, she may wish to include these details. (From Reviewer 1)
  • I am not a homeroom teacher and my support is extra and done on top of what the students are learning in class therefore, I am not directly responsible for attendance. Having said that, if a student who requires support or is supposed to be working with me is not attending, I would work with the classroom teacher to communicate with the family. I would suggest that the student work on this course at home. I would also take the opportunity to try and discuss what other obstacles may be in the way of the student attending.
  • At school, all students will have access to the technology that is required. During remote learning, our school division provided families with the technology that they required ie. Chromebook or iPad. If a student isn’t able to access the course at home, I can provide paper copies of most things.

• This would depend on your learners and their background knowledge of the Boom Card games, but it might be helpful to provide short video explanations of how to play each game and which games they should play on that day. (From Reviewer 2)
  • My course uses a variety of apps; Flipgrid, Book cards, Je lis, Je lis and Book Creator, that will be accessed through Google Classroom. I think an effective way to teach these apps and how to use Google Classroom would be to create mini lessonss, activities and a video on how to use each one. I would meet with classroom teachers to find out which of these apps are new to the students. Before beginning the reading groups, I would provide these mini lessons to each of the classes that I will be working with. This way all students are learning the tools and teachers may choose to use them in their classroom. If the class is already familiar with the tool, I could provide a review or just post the videos for reference in the Google Classroom.

I will absolutely be updating my course profile and course shell based on the feedback from others and from viewing others courses. The following points for improvement came from our breakout groups in class on March 2, 2022.

• I had planned to make many different sections to support different reading levels, as presented in the screenshot below. Robert mentioned, I wouldn’t likely be working with students reading close to grade level therefore I probably don’t need as many groups. After further reflection, some of the sections would also be working on similar concepts so that would also lessen the number of groups involved.

• Another idea that was discussed in a breakout group was instead of creating detailed daily plans in the teacher resource I will instead create a list of activities and links for each section. That way the activities chosen can be adapted to meet the needs of the students you are working with. The teacher can chose the activities to support what the students need that day instead of following a pre-made plan.

• The format of the lessons plan will stay the same with the four sections as it is above. The difference will be that I will have a list of possible activities and the teacher would choose one for each section instead of assigning the activity that should happen on a specific day.
• The next update I plan to make came from seeing Leah’s course. She created some great Google Slides for sorting activities. I didn’t know you could do this and assign them as an assignment for each student to be able to complete the sorts.
  • I was also inspired by Leah’s slides and the way she designed them to appeal to her grade 3 students. I can do a better job of the visuals for my grade 1-3 students. Stay tuned!

Accessibility and Equity

When building my course I was trying to be mindful of the learners I would be working with. For this reason, I have included written instructions, audio instructions, visual cues and videos. I have chosen a font that is clear and easy to read. I have also tried choosing activities that would engage the students, keep their interest and help achieve the learning target or outcome. In chapter 9, Bates says “The range of activities increases the likelihood that a variety of learner preferences are being met, and also encourages learners to involve themselves in activities and approaches to learning where they may initially feel less comfortable.” By having a variety of activities and a time frame to keep interest, students will be able to stay engaged.

I plan to pre-teach the applications and online tools to all students before begining to the support groups in hopes of helping with the digital literacy piece.

Finally, in thinking about choosing the appropriate technology and tools for my course Bates shared the following in chapter 9.

As I continue to modify, update and complete my course I will keep the idea of accessibility in mind to make adaptations as I go. I also think it’s important to keep your learners in mind and make modifications when working with each group of specific students. Knowing their learning abilities and challenges as well as being aware of the adaptations used by the classroom teacher to accommodate each child.