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Itinerant referral at Fenside P.S.: persuasive writing

Professional Learning Communities for Special Education teachers new to using their Promethean Interactive Whiteboards have been in full swing since October.  In addition to attending Professional Development sessions, learning community members have recently begun taking advantage of job-embedded PD opportunities. Some teachers have co-planned lessons with Itinerant Resource Teachers (IRTs) and then have kindly invited fellow learning community members to observe the lesson as it is co-taught with the IRT. Jennifer Samson from Fenside PS recently co-planned a lesson on persuasive writing and shared the lesson with fellow learning community members. Jennifer’s HSP students were highly engaged and showed tremendous enthusiasm when using tools such as the Magic Ink and Sound Recorder.  Observing teachers were also very excited to have many more ideas for ways to use these tools in their own classrooms.  Following the lesson, the observation teachers engaged in a discussion on how the assistive technology had been authentically integrated into the lesson to support student learning. We look forward to facilitating more co-planning and co-teaching opportunities in the New Year!

Year end reflection & See you in 2015-2016 school year from the SEA team!

As the school year winds down, the SEA Team would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful and amazing teachers who have worked with us this year and who have strived to better understand how they can use assistive technology to improve their students’ learning outcomes. We all know that using technology isn’t always easy!  Nonetheless, the teachers we have worked with this year have persevered and succeeded in embedding the use of assistive technology into their daily practice. Whether it was using ActivInspire with a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard to differentiate instruction and increase student engagement, or learning how to use Microsoft OneNote to support students’ organization skills, or Geometer’s Sketchpad to help students find new ways to communicate their mathematics reasoning, teachers trusted us to help them and their students and were successful beyond our expectations. Below are a few samples of some of the feedback comments we received:

Interactive Whiteboard Learning Community

Q: Which experiences were most beneficial to you in your Learning Community?

 “The Professional Development Learning Community sessions were informative and provided me with lessons and ideas that I used with success in my classroom immediately following the PD sessions.”

“To my surprise, the Co-planning/Co-teaching time with the Itinerant Teacher was the most beneficial because I had the opportunity to see some of my teaching ideas come to life on the Promethean. Not only did I get to try out some of the newly taught functions on the Promethean Board, I also had a chance to build and trouble shoot ideas one to one with an experienced Promethean Board teacher and user. It was also great to see how individualized a lesson or activity could become just by knowing what functions to activate or deactivate when students were participating in a lesson.”

Q: What advice would you give to a Learning Community Member who will be part of our Learning Communities next year?

“Attempt to use the devices given and try to implement them as much as possible into your lessons. The students loved using the new interactive technologies.”

"After each session go back to your school and try it out immediately, this way you don't have the chance to forget what you learned -embrace this opportunity and be prepared to learn a lot.”

OneNote for Organization Project (student responses)

Q: During lessons, I made an effort to persevere with work I found challenging.

“I would take a picture of it, send it to my binder and have Read and Write Gold 11 [RWG11] read it to me.”

”I sometimes have a hard time remembering things, so I use the record sound tool, so I could go back and listen.”

I Have Assistive Technology In My Classroom…How Do I Use It In Math? Project

Q: To what extent do you feel using assistive technology helped deepen your students' understanding of the math concept(s) that were taught?

“Kids are more willing to collaborate and help one another to understand concepts. It provides more opportunity to offer differentiated instruction. Can cover more concepts…less time on paper/pencil tasks. Can quickly evaluate if individual students have learned concepts for programming purposes.”

“My students really enjoyed our lesson using GSP [Geometer’s Sketchpad]. They were extremely motivated and engaged!!”

Q: Thinking back to your personal goals for wishing to be a part of this project, to what extent do you feel you were able to meet those goals?

“I met all of my goals because my wish was to become more comfortable with other programs/technology available, and pass that comfort and understanding along to my students. That happened, especially with GSP [Geometer’s Sketchpad].”

We also received some excellent constructive feedback on how we may improve upon the Professional Development opportunities our team offers and are already working hard planning for next year with many of those suggestions and ideas in mind.

In conclusion, we want to wish all of you a safe, happy, restful summer. Please don’t forget to make a regular habit of checking DirectLine and Key-to-Learn each week for news regarding our Professional Development opportunities. 

We look forward to working with our Special Education teacher colleagues again in 2015-16!

Preparing for the end of the day - SEA IWB in-class session David&Mary Thomson C.I. spotlight

Home Time at David and Mary Thomson C.I.

Raj Singh, Low Incidence Teacher at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute, has been participating in Learning Communities through the SEA Interactive Whiteboard Group Claim. Along with attending sessions throughout the school year to learn various ways to use the Promethean Board to engage his students and promote independence and learning, he partnered with the Itinerant Resource Teacher leading the Learning Community to Co-Plan and Co-Teach a lesson.

During the Co-Planning session, a home time schedule was created. Visuals were used to support his students’ independence in preparing for the end of the school day and in writing a journal about what activities they participated in.

(left) End of the day “Checklist of Daily Chores.”  (right) Students take turns checking off items.

(left) Students select the activity they did from templates created on the Promethean Board. When the picture symbol is selected, the corresponding sentence appears. (left) If the students did an activity that is not represented on the Promethean Board, the student will write it in using the pen tool.

Students then write their journals for the day using the sentences as prompts. Some students will copy the sentences, while others are able to create their own.

David and Mary Thompson C.I. also offers real life employability skills training. They have converted one of their classrooms into an area where their students can practice skills that will support their future employment.

Using AT strategies to support Science learning at Secord P.S.

Future Scientists at Secord Elementary School!

Rebecca Clark at Secord Elementary School recently started a Science unit on living things.  Students in her class have been learning about parts of a plant, what plants need to grow, as well as planting bean seeds to track the growth cycle of a plant.

Itinerant Resource Teacher, Andrea Statton, met with Ms. Clark to co-plan and co-teach a Science lesson using some of the Promethean peripherals to engage her students and to have students demonstrate their understanding of plants in a variety of ways.

Students were excited to observe the changes in their bean seeds; using the sound recorder in ActivInspire with the ActivSound microphone, students shared how their seeds had changed.

Students then had the opportunity to place their seeds under the ActiView document camera so that everyone in the class could see the changes the student was describing..

This page was set up as a container activity in ActivInspire so that students would receive immediate feedback as they worked. If the students correctly labelled a part of a flower, they heard applause; if they were incorrect, the word bounced back.

Next, students were shown a time lapse YouTube video on growing bean seeds. Students were then asked what they learned from watching the video and Ms. Clark annotated their responses using the pen tool.

(left) Ms. Clark continued the lesson by asking students some Yes/No type questions; students demonstrated their understanding using ActivExpressions. (right) Finally, students documented their observations in their log book.

Using Response Systems "clickers" to have students actively engage in Math lessons - Alvin Curling P.S. & Highcastle P.S.

The Interactive Whiteboard Learning Communities for the 2014-2015 school year have concluded.

At the LC final session teachers received Active Response Systems (Activ Expressions or Activ Votes) which are devices that allow students to share their voice and thinking using remote devices. Also referred to as clickers, the response systems provide support for students who may not want to raise their hand or speak in front of the class when sharing their understanding. The response systems also provide quick and useful feedback to both the student and teacher about student understanding as results are available immediately.

In recent in-class sessions Itinerant teacher Valia Reinsalu worked with two LC teachers in two very different ways in using the Active Response systems. At Alvin Curling P.S., Sahaira Khan used the expressions with her students using the Express Poll or adhoc questions. While in Gary Stewart's junior/intermediate Behaviour Intensive Support Program, his class used the responses to answer a self-paced assessment. (Click on the images to see a larger version of the photo.)

Alvin Curling Public School, Sahaira Khan, HSP Primary

Ms. Khan uses the Express Poll's wonder wheel to choose the type of question her Primary Home School Program students will answer. (left) Sahaira Khan has pasted the results of the answer onto the question page. One of her students answered different (see graph bottom right corner of photo). She is able to address and students discuss their responses immediately. (right)

Express poll text response: A student in Ms. Khan's class types out a text answer to a question.

Highcastle Public School, Gary Stewart, J/I Behaviour

Self-paced assessment. Mr. Stewart's students use the images on this page to help them respond to the set of questions given to them. They are given: text, multiple choice, true or false, sort in order and confidence questions.

Using the Active Expressions by using the self-paced assessment feature, a teacher can "pre-program" a number of questions on the exact same page. Mr. Stewart built 12 questions on the same Polyhedra page. Student then receive the questions on their devices. Students can answer the questions at their own pace.

Self-paced assessment: The student in Mr. Stewart's class answers a question that appears on the ActivExpression device. She also has a copy of the assessment in paper to refer or do rough work on prior to sending her final response.

(left) The document view of a self-paced assessment. A number of questions are "pre-programmed" onto a flipchart page. The questions will appear on the student's device one at a time. (right) The document view. A teacher can print out the questions so student have a hard copy of the questions along with the questions appearing on the device.

Special Education teachers who received a SEA IWB attended four sessions at our training centres at Terraview Learning Centre (East) and Burnhamthorpe Adult Learning Centre (West) throughout the year. As part of the year-long support the six SEA itinerant teacher also provide job embedded professional learning sessions in the model of co-planning and co-teaching. The LC teachers look to try different ways to engage and teach their students by embedding assistive technology strategies and tools into their lessons.

Learning digital citizenship through email communication using the IWB at Don Mills CI - Low Incidence spotlight

Emailing at Don Mills CI

Sylvia Cascone, Low Incidence Teacher at Don Mills C.I. co-planned/taught with Itinerant Resource Teacher with Assistive Technology, Renée Keberer, as part of the SEA Group Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Learning Community. As her students have been experimenting with emails, a lesson was created to show students how to use a proper email format when sending messages, along with looking at email tools and functions, email safety, and good choice and bad choices when emailing.

First, students were shown a variety of sample emails. After listening to them read aloud using the record sound option in ActivInspire, they indicated whether or not the email had the proper format and if it was appropriate. Corrections were made to the emails when inappropriate items were found, such as missing elements, or inappropriate language.

Sample e-mail with proper format and language.

Next, students where shown how to navigate their email and what the various functions were, such as inbox, compose, etc., along with how to reply to incoming emails.

Some of the tools and functions discussed with students.

The students then generated a list of safety rules around sending emails and opening emails.

Afterwards, the students were presented with a series of email scenarios. Using the ActiVote Response Systems, they answered questions about good and bad email choices.

Scenario 1: Opening an email from an unknown person.

Students listened to the scenario, viewed the inbox and then voted on whether or not they should open this email. (right) Results of vote, followed by class discussion.

Scenario 3: An inappropriate email request.

Students listened to the scenario, viewed the email and then voted on which response would be best. (right) Results of vote, followed by class discussion.

As a culminating task, students were given the assignment of writing an email to a classmate that is moving away.

I have AT in my Classroom, How Do I Use it in Math project update - LC session 2 - Geometer's Sketchup

Our “I Have Assistive Technology in my Classroom...How Do I Use it in Math?” project continued last week with our second learning community session. Teachers that are part of this project had the opportunity to explore Geometer’s Sketchpad and learn how they may use the features and tools of this program to support students’ mathematical reasoning skills.

Teachers looked at how to support their students in geometry through a variety of activities. For example, teachers learned how to construct polygons, specifically triangles, and then measure and demonstrate that the interior angles of a triangle always add to 180 degrees.

In addition, teachers learned how they can support their students learning of transformational geometry through performing flips, slides, and turns of polygons.

Finally, teachers had the opportunity to explore the multitude of pre-constructed activities as well as dynamic manipulatives available to use with lessons that involve student exploration of math concepts and problem solving using Geometer’s Sketchpad. Teachers even had time to begin developing a lesson that they could deliver to their students the next day.

By the end of our afternoon together, teachers left feeling confident that they could share what they had learned with their students and that their students would greatly benefit from the tools and features that Geometer’s Sketchpad has to offer.  In the coming weeks, several teachers that are part of this project will be engaging in co-planning and co-teaching with members of our team and will be using this program in their lesson. We are looking forward to seeing the results!

Feedback about AT project participation from Dublin Heights E.M.S.

“I haven’t been this excited in teaching in a long, long time!”

As a team, we are always looking for feedback to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our participants and to learn what we can do to improve.

Paula Brown, a teacher at Dublin Heights Elementary and Middle School, had the opportunity to participate in two of our projects this year – an Interactive Whiteboard Learning Community and the Alternative Access Project.

Ms. Brown recently shared that her participation in these sessions has been magical. Ms. Brown said, “I haven’t been this excited in teaching in a long, long time!” Part of her excitement comes from the valuable professional development that she has been receiving.  Ms. Brown likes that our session are geared for teachers and so they are “rich in practicality” which gives teachers attending the confidence to start playing with the technology.  Ms. Brown also remarked that the Itinerant Resource Teachers are “dynamic presenters” which helps support teacher engagement during the sessions.

Paula Brown recommends that other teachers should “jump in and [not to] hesitate” to participate in learning communities or other such projects! She also commented that teachers “need support at the school level” from administrators and other teachers, as learning new technology can’t be done in isolation.

More reflections on our projects will be shared in upcoming posts as our projects wind down for the end of the school year.

IWB Learning Community Job Embedded PD: spotlight H.A. Halbert P.S.

Learning About Motion and Movement in a Primary Autism ISP

Many of the special education teachers who participate in our IWB Learning Communities describe the in-class observation opportunities as being one of the best experiences of their Learning Community journey. During these job-embedded professional learning sessions, teachers are provided with the opportunity to co-plan and co-teach a differentiated lesson using their IWB with one of our Itinerant Resource Teachers. Moreover, it is within these in-class sessions, that the professional learning surrounding the use of the IWB as a tool to support differentiated learning is truly consolidated.

This week, Primary Autism ISP teacher, Lindsay Boag from H.A. Halbert Public School collaborated with one of our Itinerant Resource Teachers to create an interactive and multi-sensory science lesson on motion and movement. In this lesson, students were asked to describe, experience and explore the concepts of spinning, bouncing and rolling. Following the co-planning of the lesson, members of our IWB Learning Community, for teachers supporting students in an Autism ISP, were invited to attend the observation class and meet to discuss/debrief the lesson and tools modelled. 

This lesson employed the use of IWB tools such as:

• Containers
• Embedded/Linked Videos
• Actions
• Sound Recorder with the ActivSound System
• ActiView Document Camera 

The lesson also included accommodations such as:

• Repetition
• Student Choice
• Student Special Interest Areas
• Multi-Sensory Learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
• Consistent and Predictable Reinforcement 

As a result of these thoughtful and appropriate tool and accommodation considerations the students of Ms. Boag’s class demonstrated prolonged engagement and attentiveness to the lesson and its activities. This ultimately resulted in an excellent morning of student learning for our students and a beneficial opportunity for professional learning for our observing teachers. 

Math Mission update - using Read and Write Gold tools with other software

The Math Mission update

Special education teachers participating in the Math Mission project gathered for the final Learning Community session of the year at Burnhamthorpe Adult Learning Centre in early March. The Math Mission, facilitated by SEA Consultant Christine Harvey-Kerr and itinerant teacher Valia Reinsalu, is a year-long project focussing on using assistive technology in special education classrooms in a way that supports student communication in Mathematics.  

Using Activ Expressions and using Read and Write Gold tools in various contexts such as Google Docs and in Microsoft Word were two of the main topics explored during the session.

SEA Consultant Christine Harvey-Kerr shares the agenda for the afternoon session.

A starting point for use of Read and Write Gold tools with Microsoft Word. The key is to match the right tool to the student's particular need to support their communication of concepts learned.

Natalie Palubiski,  ISP ASD teacher from Buchanan Public School, shares how she creates vocabulary lists for her students using Read and Write Gold's Vocabulary tool.

Sarah Smart,  ISP LD teacher from Briarcrest Junior School, uploads an Interactive Whiteboard lesson onto the Math Mission Desire2Learn site. Math Mission teachers access and share student work on the Math Mission D2L site.

Throughout the year teachers have been part of an on-line community -  accessing and using the Blended Learning / Learning Management System - Desire2Learn to access resources, lessons and even post student work. Also Some students have had the opportunity to bolster their written communication skills by providing feedback on other student's work.
TDSB teachers can find out more about Desire2Learn from the intraweb site: Desire2Learn.

Math Mission teachers have a chance to continue to build interpersonal connections via Job Embedded Professional Learning Opportunities via co-planning, co-teaching and observation.

Part of the Math Mission group of special education teachers - exploring and sharing ways they support their students communication in Mathematics.

Photo Essay: Interactive Whiteboard in-class sessions: Job Embbed Professional Learning

Our Assitive Technology team supports 15 Learning Communities of teachers in our Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) group claim project. Each one of our six itinerant teachers facilitates specific LCs where teachers are grouped according to the exceptionality of students they teach geographic location of the school.

Throughout the year there are four sessions at Terraview Learning Centre (East) and Burnhamthorpe Adult Learning Centre (West), where itinerant teachers model ways to embed and differentiate learning using the assistive technology tools and strategies found using the IWB and its peripherals.

In between the session, there is job-embedded professional learning opportunities in school. The group gets together to observe a lesson that is co-planned by a host LC member and AT itinerant teacher. Opportunities to reflect, connect and discuss the different ways to using the AT to provide "the right tool at the right time for their specific students" is explored.

Here are some photos outlining some of the aspects of in-class LC sessions held earlier this month.(Click on the image to see a larger version.)

Teachers in the HSP Pri/Junior LC prebrief the lesson to be observed at Heritage Park P.S.

(left) Host teacher Anne Marie Butters, Timberbank Public School shares how she has created digital portfolios of her HSP students' work using Promethean flipcharts. (right) Host teacher Gary Stewart, Highcastle P.S. demonstrates how he uses desktop tools to capture images from the internet.

During the observation lesson, teachers note of the routines in place for students to access and use the AT. 

One of Mr Stewart's students accesses the board by using the slate to write down his idea that each graph "needs to have a title" during the Behaviour ISP LC in-class session.

(left) During Ms. Butters' lesson, a student slowly reveals parts of an image using the Magic Ink tool. (right) Mr. Stewart's students co-create an appropriate, detailed line graph together using Dual user feature. One student is making a voice note using the sound recorder. The other is plotting data.

Tool choice and the design of the lesson is made according to the specific needs of the students in the class.

(left) Host teacher Ms. Peterkin at Heritage Park P.S., shares the different ways students will show their learning. A few of her students work on the IWB, others using pencil and paper. (see below) (right) A finishes line graph by Mr. Stewart's students. One student typed his inference while the other used the sound recorder to verbally record his observation of the graph.

(left) A student uses digital manipulatives to graph her data. (right) A student uses the grid organizer, printed from the flipchart, to graph his data on paper.

Behaviour ISP in-class LC group after the lesson at Highcastle P.S.

Following the descriptive writing lesson at Timberbank P.S., the group debrief ways students responded to the embedded AT.

This week our third set of Learning Community sessions have started. One of the goals of these sessions is to engage our learners using images and multimedia by using the document camera with the IWB. Stay tuned for blog entries sharing other in-class lessons and activities in our TDSB special education LC teacher classrooms!