Digital Portfolios – Careers and Goals

Part way through the school year is an opportunity to review one’s goals and pathways to potential careers.

Explore career opportunities in Northern Canada and create a post on what you have learned and what you wonder. See bit.ly/NorthCareers. As well, in Alberta, one can use ALIS – https://alis.alberta.ca/plan-your-career/ to explore skills, interests, passions and what you value in a job.

Make kindness the norm in our schools by using the Random Acts of Kindness in the Classroom social emotional learning curriculum. A great opportunity for students to input their thoughts and products into myBlueprint! Go to www.randomactsofkindness.org/for-educators.

If you would like to see previous “biobreak” posters and resources, please go to https://ottomat3ch.wordpress.com/tag/biobreak/.

 

 

Computational Thinking – Decomposition

Breaking something into smaller parts is found in all parts of our curriculum.

Find more information and K-12 resources on how Decomposition can be used in the classroom at bit.ly/psdDecomposition.

If you would like to see previous “biobreak” posters and resources, please go to https://ottomat3ch.wordpress.com/tag/biobreak/.

 

Digital Portfolios – Ideas

Having students thinking about their learning, their products and even goals is a great way for them to recognize what and how they learn but also why. Connecting this with the community and the world around them brings in relevancy to the curriculum.

Resources included:

• See the two exemplar portfolios from this poster, more can be found at www.myblueprint.ca/support > choose Resources.
• Computer Science Education Week – csedweek.org/.

If you would like to see previous “biobreak” posters and resources, please go to https://ottomat3ch.wordpress.com/tag/biobreak/.

 

Computational Thinking – Algorithms

Algorithms aren’t just for computers or in mathematics, they are found throughout the work we do in a day.

Check out more resources on how algorithms can be showcased in the K-12 curriculum at bit.ly/psdAlgorithms. 

If you would like to see previous “biobreak” posters and resources, please go to https://ottomat3ch.wordpress.com/tag/biobreak/.

 

Digital Portfolios – an introduction

Whatever online platform you are using at the school level for digital portfolios, the information below can support some of the work that you are doing. You can see that in our school division, K-4 students can be using Google DOcs, Google Slides, Google Keep, SeeSaw and ClassDojo while our grades 5-12 are using myBlueprint.

Some of the links found on the poster:

• Building SEL skills such as gratitude requires F2F interactions, meaningful discussion and reflection. Check out the sites and apps that can be used to promote the development of character in  and out of the classroom – bit.ly/OCTgratitude
• Within myBlueprint there are the Digital Media Literacy Lesson Plan Series for K-12. 
• Common Sense Education has its K-12 Digital Citizenship Lessons at www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship.  
• MediaSmarts hosts Media Literacy Week in mid-October at medialiteracyweek.ca .
• PSD’s Digital Literacy Fundamentals GSite at bit.ly/DigLitFun.

If you would like to see previous “biobreak” posters and resources, please go to https://ottomat3ch.wordpress.com/tag/biobreak/.

 

Computational Thinking – an intro

Over the past two years, I have created edTech Focus Posters that reside in staff washrooms. A “biobreak” as you may call them whereby the poster shares some specific edtech information for staff to digest and then try out. For the 2019-20 school year, our Tech Focus Group wanted these posters to concentrate on Computational Thinking and Digital Portfolios. Each month will be on one of those themes.

Check out September’s focus on introducing staff to Computational Thinking and then head on over to the Mobile Learning Initiative > Computational Thinking page that is full of resources.
If you would like to see previous “biobreak” posters and resources, please go to https://ottomat3ch.wordpress.com/tag/biobreak/.

 

GSuite in Action: GSlides

Classroom Uses

Google Slides is a presentation editor that users can work on individually or collaboratively. They can be used at any grade level with any subject area. Check out the various examples below!

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

 

• Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

• Collabordependent Writing

• Create an eBook

• Flat Icon – students can show what they are learning visually with icons

• Grade 1 Visual Dictionary

• Grade 2 Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs

• Grade 3 Poetry Templates, Ideas

• Grade 4 Compound Sentences

• Grade 9 Film Study, TGuide

 

• • Icons by Noun Project add-on

 

• Instagram Stories

• Magnetic Poetry

• Storybooks

• Writing with Pictures

• Writing/Picture Prompt

 

 

MATH

 

• Animate Your Math

• Creating Fractions in GSlides and Drawings

• Grade 1 Math Patterns

• Grade 2 How Many Feet/Tails?

• Grade 3 Be a Shape Detective

• Grade 4 Congruence: Where Math Meets Art

• One Fish, Two Fish Sorting

• Parallel & Perpendicular Memory Game

• Transformation Comics

 

 

SCIENCE

 

• Grade 1 Bugs

• Grade 2 Boats and Buoyancy Missions

• Grade 3 Classifier les roches

• Grade 4 Photosynthesis

• Grade 6 Egg Drop Challenge

 

 

• Grade 7 Interactions & Ecosystems Vocab

• Grade 9 Circuit Activity, TGuide

• Science-themed slides

• Stop Motion Animation example

 

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

 

• Creating Comic Strips

• Grade 1 Then & Now

• Grade 2 Ressources naturels de mes trois communautés

• Grade 3 I’m Taking My Camera To…

• Grade 4 Regions of Alberta

• Grade 6 La Grande Paix Image Analysis

• Grade 7 Graphic Novel Template

 

 

OTHER

 

• 4 Video Options

• Adobe Stock add-on – images

• Create an interactive Table of Contents

• Create Your Own App

• Easy Accents add-on

• Flat add-on – compose and insert sheet music

• GSlide Tutorials

• Group Design Journal

• Haiku Deck add-on – images, presentation templates

• Pear Deck add-on (formative assessment tool)

• Screencast Slides

• Student-Created Vision Boards

• Teach Like the Tonight Show

• This or That – student template, background

• Turn Slides into an Animated GIF

• Unsplash Photos add-on

• Yearbook template

• Would You Rather – student template, background

 

 

GSuite in Action: GSheets

Classroom Uses

Google Sheets is a web-based application that allows users to create, update and modify spreadsheets and share the data live online. They can be used at any grade level with any subject area. Check out the various examples below!

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

 

• Cloze Reading Activities

• Emoji Writing Prompt Generator

• Googley Poem Projects

• Pi Poems

 

MATH

 

• Creating Simple Formulas

• Using in Math Class

 

 

SCIENCE

 

• Chemistry class

• Finding Mass, Volume and Density of Water Lab

• Geocode and Representing Data

• Physics class

 

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Mapping Sheets add-on

 

OTHER

• • 20 Awesome Tips and Tricks
  • Add Reminders add-on
  • App Sheet add-on – create your own app

 

• Analyze Easily with Explore

 

• • Battlesheets!

 

• Cheat Sheet

• Digital Rubrics (#2)

• Flippity add-on – turn GSheets into Quiz Show, tracker, flashcards, etc.

• GSuite Sheets Tutorial

• Mail Merge add-on

 

• • Interactive Learning Databases
  • Make Mondrian Art

 

• Pixel Art for any Subject

• Power Tools add-on

• Random Generator add-on

 

• • Spreadsheet activities for ALL subjects

 

• Student Guide

• Student Practice Template

• Template Gallery add-on

• Quickstart video

 

 

GSuite in Action: GEarth

Classroom Uses

Google Earth is a free application that works as a browser for all sorts of information on Earth. It uses satellite imagery to grab, spin, pan, tilt and zoom down to any place on Earth. Students can explore every corner of the globe, measure distances, create their own virtual tours, and share their tours with others. You can also create and download layers of information and view them in geographic context.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Have students explore the placemarks for Harry Potter and Fairy Tales from Around the World through the Voyageur section.

 

MATH

• Teach your students that mathematics is all around them: use Google Earth to identify shapes and angles, such as looking at the different shapes of swimming pools; or get a close-up view of a cafe with outside tables, and have students count the tables and the number of customers. For older students visit RealWorldMath.org for great idea on using Google Earth to teach mathematics.

 

SCIENCE

• Have students explore verified locations where meteors have hit the Earth, then create a chart of the number of craters per continent.
• Explore the earth’s terrain in 3D – Discover the world’s incredible physical geography by using the compass to tilt your perspective into a 3D view.
• Extreme biodiversity on the high seas – Join Mission Blue on a high seas adventure to the Costa Rica Thermal Dome Hope Spot where we follow marine biologists in the field tagging turtles, tracking sharks and more.
• Pristine seas – Join Dr Enric Sala on his mission to protect the last truly wild places in the ocean. Activities.

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Have students pretend they are with Sir Ernest Shackelton during his adventure in Antarctica. Explore the virtual tour in Google Earth and have students write diary entries to personalize the experience. mapping, the iterative design process, and user feedback.
• A Storytelling Odyssey – Journalist and National Geographic Fellow Paul Salopek is walking the globe in the footsteps of our ancient forebears. Follow along as he reveals hidden stories of Earth’s remote corners, and of the people who inhabit them. Activities.
• Explorers: Age of Encounter – The explorations of Samuel de Champlain, Jacques Marquette, Louis Jolliet and Renee de LaSalle opened the interior of North America to European settlement and trade. Lesson Plan.
• This is Home – While the countries, cultures and climates may differ, knowing we all have a place to call home is a first step to understanding everything we have in common. Activity.

 

OTHER

• • Immersive global imagery – Dive into Google’s huge library of 360-degree imagery using Street View. Just click on Pegman and follow the blue lines to where you want to go in Google Earth.
  • Using the Search feature, you can easily learn more about places around the world by clicking open the related Knowledge Card. Within the card you will find detailed information and related places to explore.

 

• GEarth’s Incredible 3D Imagery Explained

 

• Wonders of the Ancient and Modern World – From Stonehenge to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, take your classroom to locations of great historical significance around the world.

 

GSuite in Action: Google MyMaps

Classroom Uses

Google My Maps is an online mapping tool allows users to create their own highly customized maps to share with others and for display. Google MyMaps can be used in any subject area at any grade level for whole class, projects or portfolios. Check out some of the exemplars on this page.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Setting of a novel, short story or other literary work — Where was the story set? Instead of dropping a single pin there, plot the different locations that show up throughout the story.
• Make a map of where authors you’ve studied are from — Pin their hometowns. Add biographical information, other books, etc. in the description as well as photos of the author and/or covers of their books.
• Map how words are different in different locations — Is it a lift or an elevator? An apartment or a flat? Create a word usage map.

 

MATH

 

• Calculate rate of travel — As students learn about calculating distance/rate/time, have them choose locations and calculate the travel time to get there. They can add pins to those locations and show their work in the description of the pin.

• Use the ruler tool to calculate distances in various units of measurement – See Maths Maps.

• Describe to your students the size or scale of something they have never seen – How does Antarctica measure up?

 

 

SCIENCE

 

• Plot locations with certain environments — Seeing locations with different climates and vegetation can be clearer with a MyMap. Students can add pins of different locations with pictures and description of how they’re different.

 

• Identify locations where animal species live — Animal units get a whole different dimension when students can see where they live. Add details and photos to those pins, too. Neigh-BEAR-Hood Watch Kids video and Roots & Shoots info.)

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Important locations in a historical event —Have students plot locations on a MyMap, filling in additional details as well as historic or current photos and links to more information.
• Create a map-based timeline with layers — Studying content over time? Have students plot events or locations of each decade (or year or century) in a different layer. When viewing, you can turn off all layers except one to see that time period … or see all of them together with all layers turned on.
• Log important or historic locations in an area being studied — Studying a certain location? Before digging into your content, have students do some preliminary Internet research and create a MyMap with their findings. They’ll be better prepared for your unit of study!
• Log locations where political candidates have visited — Want to see who’s campaigning where? Create a layer for each candidate and pin the locations where they’ve stumped.
• Create map layers with different forms of government — Create a layer for each type of government, and add pins to those layers to see where the democracies, monarchies, oligarchies, etc. are.
• Everybody lies (even Maps) – All might not be as it seems, Maps projections class activity.

 

OTHER

• • Turn statistics into a visual aid — Looking at the top 50 cities for obesity or fitness? Studying population statistics? Add that data to the description. Then use the “individual styles” option on the layer you’re editing to make the pin’s color change based on the data.
  • Map where alumni are going to post-secondary (or have graduated) — Show how far from home students are studying, have studied or will be studying with a MyMap.
  • Provide parents with an interactive map for a field trip — Give parents clear, interactive information about your trip with a MyMap. Plus, they can click the “Directions to here” button right from your map!
  • Make a pinboard of locations where your class has Videoconferenced — Does your class do Mystery Skype games? Use Google Hangouts/Webex to provide virtual guest speakers or field trips? Create a MyMap of all the locations you’ve video called.

 

• Mapping with Google Course sample