Relocating!!!

Hello anyone who is listening!

I have decided to move my Creative Cranium to the Calgary Science School's Connect! blog in the spirit of increased collaboration!

As a member of the CSS learning community, and given my new research project focusing on the power of collaboration to transform teaching and learning; I know that moving to Connect! will increase my audience and my chances of becoming engaged in meaningful collaboration.

So, change the dial to Connect! and follow me on Twitter to stay in the know.

This is one Creative - Collaborative - Cranium saying "See you soon!"

:)

Ivy!

The Craziness In My Brain...

For starters, I want to say thank you to anyone who cares enough to read the musings of a teacher with a need to think-out-loud.  It means a lot to not just be talking alone in the dark!

Along that note - I LOVE MY JOB! I have ben having a great time, developing great teaching and learning experiences, and growing with every minute.  While it is extremely overwhelming at times, I feel like I am submerged in a culture where I am free to explore new ideas and really live my passion - education on the edge.  On the edge of what? Everything! The freedom to take risks in an effort to provide engaging and authentic education rocks!  

That being said, I am struggling with trying to know how to deliver the CONTENT, while still keeping with the framework for exemplary teaching and learning.  Today my teaching partner and I combined our classes (for a grand total of 50 students), and in the library they experienced a (brace yourself) LECTURE. It was not your typical lecture, there were videos and a dramatization challenge, but I walked away feeling like I did not support the students well enough before jumping into the Charter of Rights & Freedoms and it's relation to the Indian Act...  I decided to jump into it so that they will be prepared to consider such things next week when we are in Bamfield BC - but am wondering if it was the right choice, and if I will be able to backpedal a bit to make sure that we don't superficially cover something so important.  

But - Bamfield! On Sunday we (4 teachers, 6 parents, 2 administrators, and 94 students) are going to the Bamfield Marine Science Center for a week long field trip!  We will be doing all kinds of science during the day (for the Science 9 Biodiversity unit), and diving into some Humanities in the evening.  I am excited to challenge the kids to let themselves be inspired by their beautiful surroundings and amazing experiences.  Stay posted for pics and more!

I have so much more to say - other online platforms that have found their way into my classroom, upcoming projects, there's too much!  (Posting more regularly may solve this dilemma!)

Thanks again, talk to you soon.

:)

Google +, Penzu, Issuu and More

Hello!  Well, with school in full swing I am so excited about the things that are going to be happening in the grade 9 humanities classrooms at CSS!  My teaching partner and I are totally on the same wavelength, and have too many ideas to fit into one school year (as you may have seen in older posts...).

This week and next we will be introducing 3 web services to the kids.

1. Google +: the next thing in social networking sites.  Students will be using Google+ to share their journal entries, Free Reading Challenge novel reviews, current event 'Sparks', Googledocs, and more.  This site will be the main hub for all things humanities 9 this year.

2. Penzu: an online journal.  Students will be able to write privately, and only share what they want to.  Their entries will be everything from novel responses, current event responses, thoughts on topics in health and service learning, and more.  The fact that they do not have to share everything is what has drawn us to this service.

3. Issuu: an online publication service.  Students are able to publish their work in an interactive, online format that is available to anyone.  This will really allow students to share their work with more people than just their classmates, and enable them to truly respond to each others work.

That's it for now! Stay posted for more details on how these services work out in class!

ttyl  :)

Innovation & Collaboration

Well, with day two over, and the students coming in the morning, I am as ready as I am ever going to be :)
After spending two days with my team and really beginning to understand what collaboration is at CSS, I am more encouraged than ever.  The flexibility that is required is a challenge, but planning time and having grade level teams means that you are never going to be floundering by yourself.  I have completely enjoyed meeting everyone that I will have the extreme privilege to work with, and know that we are going to have an amazing year!

But, with the kids coming tomorrow I am understandably nervous!  I want to focus on my excitement and passion for what CSS is doing, but think I am still a little in shock that I even have this job, or moved to Calgary!  So, with less than 12 hours to go until 600 students descend on CSS and the year officially begins, I need to realize my new reality and focus!

I cannot wait to begin sharing more of the teaching and learning that is going on in my classroom, and less of my personal thoughts!  Please bear with me, if you are listening :)

ttyl

More Planning Brain Waves

I know that I have taught both English and Social 9 before, but I feel like this year is going to present an unlimited number of opportunities to really engage students in authentic learning.  After our staff retreat today, I truly feel like I am in the right place and am going to have a great (but also greatly challenging) year! 

Here are some more ideas that I have rolling around in my brain...

Dragon's Den Performance Task
-I did this project with my 9s last year, to culminate our unit on consumerism and marketing.  I am so excited that my teaching partners are interested in doing this once more, and cannot wait to see how we can jazz it up!  Some thoughts we have had include: trying to get a real dragon (or some other expert) to come in and assist in judging the student's pitches; having multiple people on the panel evaluting pitches; giving students free reign to decide what they are going to bring into the den, and how they are going to try and get the dragons to invest.  I think that in order to tie this somehow to the CBL "Making Sustainable Food Choices" project, I would like to challenge the students by declaring this a 'eco-friendly' edition of Dragon's Den - I cannot wait to see what they think could improve our world.

The Alice Project
-I stumbled across this project while exploring various edu-blogs, and would LOVE to adapt it to use with my 9s.  I am thinking about using Nancy Farmer's "House of the Scorpion" for a full class novel study, and think that it shows definite potential for this kind of 'higher level' novel exploration.  Check it out, and thank you to the creator!

Lessons That Change Writers
-This book by Nancy Atwell (one of my favourite ELA teacher researchers), she explores a variety of lessons designed to (obviously) change how our students are writing.  I am really looking forward to continuing the focus that CSS is carrying over from last year on student writing, and think that this book is an awesome starting point to engage students in meaningful writing.  Stay posted for more on this wavelength!