Read&Write for Google - en français!

Great news!  TextHelp has given FSL teachers an end-of-the-school-year present, releasing an update to Read&Write for Google Chrome extension that includes full French functionality.  Tools include text-to-speech, speech-to-text, predictive text, dictionary, visual dictionary, fact finder, translator, and highlighters.  It's a great literacy tool that our FSL students should find useful.  It works best in Google Docs and on websites - just look for the puzzle piece in the address bar.

For an overview of the different tools, this Google Presentation may be helpful.  If you are not a UGDSB teacher, ignore the UGDSB-specific log-on information - although the reasoning may apply to your domain, too.

Inquiry-Based Learning in #FSL

I'm still struggling a bit with the idea of inquiry-based learning in the high school Core French class. What does it look like? How do I ensure that my students have a common base of knowledge to drive their interactions? How do I make this time-efficient when there are ever increasing demands on what needs to be accomplished in the classroom?  And, more pragmatically, how do I make this manageable for me as a teacher while still making it valuable for the students?

One idea I tried this year in my Grade 9 Academic French class was to use inquiry to develop the students' vocabulary list for our unit on "Le week-end."  Our inquiry question was "What vocabulary do I need to talk about my favourite activity?"

A bit of background: when I got to the culminating conversations with my grade 9s last semester, I discovered that often times they did not have the specific vocabulary to talk about their activities and interests. For example, they could say "J'aime jouer au hockey" but didn't understand the question "Est-ce que tu joues pour une équipe?"  I was frustrated and disappointed with myself that my students didn't know as simple and necessary a word as "une équipe."  I swore that wouldn't happen again!

This semester I decided that students would create their own vocabulary lists, centred around their interests. A student who likes hockey had to create a list of 15 - 20 words needed to be able to talk about hockey. A student who likes to cook needed to come up with 15 - 20 words related to cooking. And so on.  Students created their list in a Google Sheet and included a URL to a picture that would represent the vocabulary word.

Once each student had submitted their Google Sheet through Google Classroom, I collated the lists to make one HUGE master list. We then as a class decided which words every student should know, with criteria being the importance of the word to the activity but also the applicability of the word in other situations. We were able to narrow down our master list to a list of about 55 words, many of which they already knew. I then used flippity.net to create visual flashcards so students could learn and review their vocabulary.  (Check out our list here.)

I liked how students were able to focus on vocabulary that was of interest and use to them, but that we were also able to create a base of common knowledge so that when students are talking to each other, they can ask follow-up questions using specific vocabulary.

The next step for me is to create some sort of an assignment where students use their individualized list.  This picture just came up in my Facebook feed, courtesy of the J'aime le français Facebook community via the French Teachers in the US Facebook group - I think I might try something like this, at least as a starting point.  Students could then use their poster to do a presentation to the class about their favourite activity.

My Storify of #bit14

Bring IT Together 2 - Day 3

It's been a couple of days since Bring IT Together 2 ended and my brain is still spinning.  What an incredible 3 days of learning, collaborating, and networking.  A list of the workshops is here - for many of the workshops, a link to the presentation can be found in the right-hand menu.

Friday began with a keynote from Ron Canuel of the Canadian Education Association.  He reminded us that technology is an important portal for the imagination of teachers and that our students are on the other side of that portal.  He also reminded us that students are the constant (age, neurological development) and that teachers are the variable.  We need to be courageous for without courage, there can be no change.

I loved how the focus of Bring IT Together 2 was on pedagogy - how can we be better teachers? - and that the technology is there as a tool.  As a result, the workshops were, for the most part, about improving our teaching by reaching their students where they are at and through their interests.  I also loved how there was a workshop offered in French during each session.  Not all of the French-language workshops were useful for me as a teacher in an English school but the opportunity to connect with other French-speaking teachers and to have workshops that were geared to the different needs of a French-language classroom were invaluable.

Lisa Noble presented some Web 2.0 tools that can be useful in the FSL classroom.  In particular, I think I am going to give Padlet.com a try.  I like that it allows for students to contribute to a class discussion and then to be able to reorganize those ideas.

I really appreciated Lisa Unger's presentation on Twitter as a tool to practice historical perspective.  I think of all the workshops I attended the last few days, this is the one that I am most likely to implement in my class this semester.  Lisa has her students take on the role of a Canadian teenager and then tweet about their experiences during the different time periods studied in the Grade 10 Canada since World War I course.  It's too late for me to implement as a semester-long project, but I'm thinking that as a project for the post-war years, it has a lot of potential.  You can check out her students' work here.

Rodrigue St-Jean & Josée Hébert presented a "Matrice d'intégration des technologies" to help French-speaking teachers integrate technology using the SAMR model.  Lots of great examples for different types of learning situations (e.g. communicate, collaborate, etc.).

George Couros closed out the conference with an inspiring keynote on Leading Innovative Change.  I've followed George on Twitter for years so it was a highlight for me to get to hear him speak.

George Couros

A few highlights from his presentation:

• The smartest person in the room is the room.
• If you don't understand what a hashtag is / does, you are becoming illiterate.
• Seth Godin:  Transformational leaders don't start by denying the world around them.  Instead, they describe a future they'd like to create instead.
• Change is the opportunity to do something amazing.
• General Eric Shinseki:  If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.
• Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational.
• To innovate, disrupt your routine.
• Take risks.
• Be uncomfortable.
• Share your ideas.
• Learning first, Technology second.

This was my first ECOO conference - it definitely won't be my last!  My notes from Day 3 are here.

If you attended the conference, what is your takeaway from Bring IT Together 2?

One last view of the Falls

Bring IT Together 2 - Day 2

Another amazing day of learning at #bit14 - between a keynote by Richard Byrne, lots of incredible sessions, and a photowalk by the Falls, it's hard to know where to begin or what to say.

Some points from Richard Byrne's keynote:

• We need to be preparing our students for jobs that don't even exist yet.
• Google has a "search anthropologist" who studies how we do Internet searches.  Check out Daniel Russell's Search ReSearch page for weekly questions designed to help improve research skills.
• Reframing our lessons:  "Today we will explore" vs "Today you will learn about."
• Google is the biggest search engine; YouTube is the second biggest.
• We need to encourage our students (and ourselves) to take risks and put our content out there - great things can happen!  For example, the theme song of the CBC show Mr. D came from a kid who posted some rap music on YouTube.

There were so many workshops today, I wished I could clone myself to be able to attend more.  Thank goodness for a spirit of collaboration among the presenters and the power of the Internet - most of the workshop presentations are available on line for all to learn from.

Workshops included:

• Utilisations pédagogiques de codes QR
• Citoyenneté et identité numérique
• Google Tips, Tricks, & Tutorials
• Digital Photography 101
• « App Hour »: un cinq à sept techno

My notes from today are available here.

Photos from tonight's #bit14 Photowalk:

Bring IT Together 2 (ECOO & OASBO-IT) - Day 1

What an amazing day of learning at Bring IT Together 2.  This is the first year I have been able to attend the famed ECOO conference and, 1 day in, I am so glad I am here.

The day started with a keynote address from Artemis Papert and Brian Silverman.  Memories surfaced of a long-ago computer course held at St. Clair College in Windsor where my parents, brother, and I learned to move the turtle around this wonderful new device called a computer.  Brian Silverman demonstrated the newest version of Logo - that turtle from my childhood.  Thinking back to that computer course, I am amazed anew at how far technology has come in such a short time.

My morning was spent attending workshops put on by D.J. Cunningham and LEARNstyle.

A few interesting facts & reminders from D.J.'s keynote:

• Globalization is fueled by the Internet.  8 of the 10 most visited websites are housed in North America and 81% of their traffic comes from within North America.
• Our students' community is no longer their classroom, school, or town - it is the globe.
• ¼ of all Tweets are education related!
• 98% of college students own a digital device and 38% of them say they can't go more than 10 minutes without using it.

The Google Classroom workshop was a good introduction for anyone new to Classroom.

I got the most out of Lise Galuga's presentation (en français) on Google Chrome, learning a few new tricks and discovering some new apps & extensions that I am excited to try out.

The afternoon was spent discovering the power of Antidote 8 with Lise Galuga.  After a great explanation of the program and all it has to offer, Lise presented ways to incorporate Antidote into the French classroom using the SAMR model.  Antidote is an OSAPAC licensed software that, to reduce it to its simplest terms, is a French dictionary and correction program - although that description in no way does this program justice.  Dictionary, Synonyms, Antonyms, Proverbs, Conjugator, multi-word search, spell check, grammar check, visual verb tense summary, language register - this program has it all!  (If only it were cloud based . . . )  Lise's presentation is available here.

My notes from Day 1 are here.

The conference is being held in Niagara Falls so after a long, brain-tiring day, the chance to walk around outside, enjoying the fresh air and the beautiful scenery, was much appreciated!

Looking forward to more learning tomorrow.

Improving Feedback and Student Self-Analysis

With thanks to Colleen Lee-Hayes and her blog, I discovered the Google Docs Add-On "TextHelp Study Skills" and thought it could be useful in a lot of subject areas.

TextHelp Study Skills

Use this add-on to Google Docs to highlight key information that can then be grouped, sorted, and exported into a new Google Doc for later use. 

Ideas for Student Use in the Classroom:

• In Language classes, students could use the different colour to identify required language components in assignments.

• In Geography, History, Civics, Social Science classes, students could use a colour to identify the facts that they've included in their assignment.

• In English, students could identify quotations used in their essays.  (Use a different colour for each book if doing a comparative essay or, one colour for quotations from the novel and another colour for quotations from secondary sources.)

• Students could use the "Collect Highlights" feature to collate the highlighted information into an overview document that they could then share with their teacher.  

• For study purposes, students could highlight their notes and then export their highlights to create a page of key facts / ideas / etc to study.

Ideas for Teacher Use in the Classroom

• Teachers could also use the tool to provide visual feedback --> highlight the error and provide students with a legend identifying what each colour means.  Students can quickly see where, what type, and how many errors they are making.

• If teachers are the ones using the tool, we could use the "Collect" option and then go over some sample errors with the class quickly and easily.

Setting It Up:

• Link to the add-on:  https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/texthelp-study-skills/fjgimeiehjeaammngbkmpmjikfpknmpf?hl=en

• The first time, students add this "add-on" to Google Docs by opening a Google Doc, clicking on "Add-Ons" (in the File / Edit / View / etc menu of the Document) and then "Get Add-Ons" and then searching for "TextHelp Study Skills."

• Alternatively, you could provide the above link to students to authorize.

• Once they've added the program, for future documents, they simply need to click on "Add-Ons" and then click on TextHelp Study Skills --> Show Highlighting Tools.

I'd love to hear your ideas of how you see this tool being used effectively in your classroom!