This is the official site for St.Timothy TLLP. It's a website where will share our learning in this journey as we co-learn with students. It's also an area where we will reflect on this learning. You can also find us on Twitter.
June 2017
We have had a couple of very busy months with our TLLP here at St. Timothy school! In April, we had the opportunity to attend the Connects Conference in Niagara Falls, where our team learned a great deal about Making, Coding, and STEAM. The conference gave us some great ideas to build on, as well as network with other educators from across the province. One of the great ideas inspired by Scott McKenzie and his TLLP that I used in my grade 3 classroom was using our Sphero and Dash to code. Students were given a perimeter and asked to create a rectangle with dimensions that fit the perimeter. Afterwards, they had to code the Sphero and Dash to walk the perimeter of their shape. We also had the chance to attend Edcamp905 in May where we discussed and share our learning with educators from across the GTA.
In the last couple of months individual classes have been busy learning and exploring in our learning commons with our teacher librarian. Our grade 1's completed their shape city and it was resounding success! In addition, our grade 2's completed their STEAM based project for simple machines while, our Grade 7's completed their design projects and built device charging stations. As well, they were busy designing and making additional green areas around our school with the help of the Eco-Team. Students also continued to learn to crochet during our school wide Wellness Wednesday in the library.
Currently our grade 3's are working in Minecraft to build the Canadian structures they learned about in science and to celebrate for our upcoming Canada 150st birthday on July 1st. In addition, we are busy ordering the last of materials to enhance our Makerspace with our budget. This includes an Arduino and MBot. Grade 6 and Grade 3 students will be starting a project to build a Robotic Arm in the remaining weeks of school. This lesson was inspired by my attendance at the Microsoft E2 conference in Toronto in March. In addition, our grade 3's are working on coding using Scratch to demonstrate their underestanding of the importance of plants and what they have learned in science as part of Canada Learning Code Week. Lastly, our Health Action Team has put together a great day of activities on June 7, 2017 including: knitting, photography, lego, and coding. We will be working with members of our community as students work in differentiated groupings to learn and develop healthy skills.
Sadly, our TLLP journey is coming to an end but we know the work and learning will continue this year! We will be sharing our learning through workshops this summer. We are also busy completing our two final reports which go to our school board and the Ministry of Education. This experience has been overwhelmingly positive and we are blessed as a school community to have been part of this journey which will continue next year!
March 2017
Another very busy month here at St. Timothy! We are wrapping up our Coding Club with Junior students. Our grade one teachers took a day with our Learning Commons teacher to plan a STEAM based unit design project. Integrating many curriculum areas, students will design and build a 3D community using their knowledge of 3D shapes and structures. Students will code Dash to travel through their community as a culminating task.
Our Learning Commons teacher will also be working with our intermediate students this month to develop a science environmental inquiry project around native tall grass. Working inline with the school's Eco Team, students will research plants that are native species to our area and prepare the garden. Following the research, the grade 7's will involve all classrooms in learning about the species of plants and how to use the area for outdoor education.
One of the highlights this month was having our entire special education department and having Joe Marquis one of our special education consultants come out and work with our team. We spent the morning exploring the ipads and how they can be used to service our exceptional learners. We also had the chance to explore some of the new tools we have aquired our Makerspace and Coding and STEAM area including our newly added Osmo and Code and Go Robot Mouse.
We also acquired a Rasberry Pi for some of our more tech savy intermediates to explore. We are currently investigating some uses and open to suggestions. I am currently printing the 3D structures students have created on Tinkercad. The plan is to complete them before March break and then do some urban planning and construct them later in Minecraft.
We have had a couple of very busy months with our TLLP here at St. Timothy school! In April, we had the opportunity to attend the Connects Conference in Niagara Falls, where our team learned a great deal about Making, Coding, and STEAM. The conference gave us some great ideas to build on, as well as network with other educators from across the province. One of the great ideas inspired by Scott McKenzie and his TLLP that I used in my grade 3 classroom was using our Sphero and Dash to code. Students were given a perimeter and asked to create a rectangle with dimensions that fit the perimeter. Afterwards, they had to code the Sphero and Dash to walk the perimeter of their shape. We also had the chance to attend Edcamp905 in May where we discussed and share our learning with educators from across the GTA.
In the last couple of months individual classes have been busy learning and exploring in our learning commons with our teacher librarian. Our grade 1's completed their shape city and it was resounding success! In addition, our grade 2's completed their STEAM based project for simple machines while, our Grade 7's completed their design projects and built device charging stations. As well, they were busy designing and making additional green areas around our school with the help of the Eco-Team. Students also continued to learn to crochet during our school wide Wellness Wednesday in the library.
Currently our grade 3's are working in Minecraft to build the Canadian structures they learned about in science and to celebrate for our upcoming Canada 150st birthday on July 1st. In addition, we are busy ordering the last of materials to enhance our Makerspace with our budget. This includes an Arduino and MBot. Grade 6 and Grade 3 students will be starting a project to build a Robotic Arm in the remaining weeks of school. This lesson was inspired by my attendance at the Microsoft E2 conference in Toronto in March. In addition, our grade 3's are working on coding using Scratch to demonstrate their underestanding of the importance of plants and what they have learned in science as part of Canada Learning Code Week. Lastly, our Health Action Team has put together a great day of activities on June 7, 2017 including: knitting, photography, lego, and coding. We will be working with members of our community as students work in differentiated groupings to learn and develop healthy skills.
Sadly, our TLLP journey is coming to an end but we know the work and learning will continue this year! We will be sharing our learning through workshops this summer. We are also busy completing our two final reports which go to our school board and the Ministry of Education. This experience has been overwhelmingly positive and we are blessed as a school community to have been part of this journey which will continue next year!
March 2017
Another very busy month here at St. Timothy! We are wrapping up our Coding Club with Junior students. Our grade one teachers took a day with our Learning Commons teacher to plan a STEAM based unit design project. Integrating many curriculum areas, students will design and build a 3D community using their knowledge of 3D shapes and structures. Students will code Dash to travel through their community as a culminating task.
Our Learning Commons teacher will also be working with our intermediate students this month to develop a science environmental inquiry project around native tall grass. Working inline with the school's Eco Team, students will research plants that are native species to our area and prepare the garden. Following the research, the grade 7's will involve all classrooms in learning about the species of plants and how to use the area for outdoor education.
One of the highlights this month was having our entire special education department and having Joe Marquis one of our special education consultants come out and work with our team. We spent the morning exploring the ipads and how they can be used to service our exceptional learners. We also had the chance to explore some of the new tools we have aquired our Makerspace and Coding and STEAM area including our newly added Osmo and Code and Go Robot Mouse.
We also acquired a Rasberry Pi for some of our more tech savy intermediates to explore. We are currently investigating some uses and open to suggestions. I am currently printing the 3D structures students have created on Tinkercad. The plan is to complete them before March break and then do some urban planning and construct them later in Minecraft.
February 2017
This month we have been continuing with our after school coding club which started a few weeks ago. The club is run by one of our parent volunteers who works in the industry and supervised by a staff members. Students are working with Google CS first and the feedback from students and parents has been extremely positive! Last week, students worked on designing their own games. I also participated and I was struck by the amount of critical thinking, creativity and mathematics involved in this activity. I designed my own game but I took a lot longer to work through the tasks than most of the students. It's interesting to observe how quickly they catch on to these tasks . What I am proud of with our Coding Club is the partnership it creates between our parent/staff environment by bringing in the talents of those in our community.
Our primary division is busy meeting this month to co-plan and co-teach some lesson integrating STEAM using some of the new materials we have acquired. With the help our awesome Learning Commons Teacher they will meet to plan out some lessons that link to areas of the curriculum they are covering. Our Learning Commons Teacher is also meeting on Fridays to work through some problem based tasks for students in different divisions.
This month I also experimented with Breakout EDU with my grade 3 class in order to build our critical thinking, collaboration and social skills. It was amazing to see how students at such a young age come together to work towards a shared goal. I gained a lot of assessment through watching them work through the challenge. It is a tool that I will continue to use moving forward.
In my own class we started with the learning goal of creating 3D structures that have a purpose and shape and can support a load. Students designed their own structures and then built them out of boxes. They are busy communicating using science and math language about their structures. For example, names of solids, vertices, shapes. Students also went into Tinkercad and recreated their structures and we are busy printing out our structures with the help of one of our intermediate students. We will be writing about our structures as well as going into Minecraft to build our structures/city after we plan out where we think they would best fit. One of the challenges that teachers often face with STEAM is integrating it into the different areas. This particular study has let me hit most curriculum areas and been extremely well received by the students.
I have also been doing a lot of reading and self-reflection this month on leadership. I had a chance to read a bit about Leading from the Middle by Andrew Hargreaves which made me reflect on our project thus far and how I can continue to empower and lead our team from a place that benefits all. One of the key quotes that has stood out to me is from The Right to be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier which I highly recommend reading. In the book she writes:
"Leadership is to always check inward, to ensure you are leading from a position of strength, not fear or victimhood, so you do not project your own limitation to those you are modelling possibilities for. That "checking inward" and the personal growth that accompanies such introspection have been, I believe, instrumental to my own ability to succeed" (page 277).
January 2017
A lot has been happening here at St. Timothy school. We are starting up our new Coding Club with Junior students. We will be working with Google CS First to learn to code with the help of one of our parent volunteers, who has a background with coding and App development. The club will run after school in our lab once a week until March Break. Students will be learning to code and design their own video games.
In addition, we have been working closely with Logics Academy to give all our students and teachers some experience with STEAM education. We have used some our funding to help subsidize the costs of our in school workshops. Teachers picked workshops based on strands they were learning in science. The feedback has been extremely positive from students and staff.
We are continuing to build capacity at our school through in school PD opportunities for school and students taking a focus on inquiry. We will be continuing to offer Maker Fun Friday with design tasks linking to some of the new materials we have. Teachers will also be sitting down in grade teams in grades 1 and 2 to plan some STEM centres and activities in the classroom. Further, students will have opportunities to take a MakerFun Pass to work on projects throughout the day in our school Learning Commons.
Stay Tuned for more news and great things to come!
This month we have been continuing with our after school coding club which started a few weeks ago. The club is run by one of our parent volunteers who works in the industry and supervised by a staff members. Students are working with Google CS first and the feedback from students and parents has been extremely positive! Last week, students worked on designing their own games. I also participated and I was struck by the amount of critical thinking, creativity and mathematics involved in this activity. I designed my own game but I took a lot longer to work through the tasks than most of the students. It's interesting to observe how quickly they catch on to these tasks . What I am proud of with our Coding Club is the partnership it creates between our parent/staff environment by bringing in the talents of those in our community.
Our primary division is busy meeting this month to co-plan and co-teach some lesson integrating STEAM using some of the new materials we have acquired. With the help our awesome Learning Commons Teacher they will meet to plan out some lessons that link to areas of the curriculum they are covering. Our Learning Commons Teacher is also meeting on Fridays to work through some problem based tasks for students in different divisions.
This month I also experimented with Breakout EDU with my grade 3 class in order to build our critical thinking, collaboration and social skills. It was amazing to see how students at such a young age come together to work towards a shared goal. I gained a lot of assessment through watching them work through the challenge. It is a tool that I will continue to use moving forward.
In my own class we started with the learning goal of creating 3D structures that have a purpose and shape and can support a load. Students designed their own structures and then built them out of boxes. They are busy communicating using science and math language about their structures. For example, names of solids, vertices, shapes. Students also went into Tinkercad and recreated their structures and we are busy printing out our structures with the help of one of our intermediate students. We will be writing about our structures as well as going into Minecraft to build our structures/city after we plan out where we think they would best fit. One of the challenges that teachers often face with STEAM is integrating it into the different areas. This particular study has let me hit most curriculum areas and been extremely well received by the students.
I have also been doing a lot of reading and self-reflection this month on leadership. I had a chance to read a bit about Leading from the Middle by Andrew Hargreaves which made me reflect on our project thus far and how I can continue to empower and lead our team from a place that benefits all. One of the key quotes that has stood out to me is from The Right to be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier which I highly recommend reading. In the book she writes:
"Leadership is to always check inward, to ensure you are leading from a position of strength, not fear or victimhood, so you do not project your own limitation to those you are modelling possibilities for. That "checking inward" and the personal growth that accompanies such introspection have been, I believe, instrumental to my own ability to succeed" (page 277).
January 2017
A lot has been happening here at St. Timothy school. We are starting up our new Coding Club with Junior students. We will be working with Google CS First to learn to code with the help of one of our parent volunteers, who has a background with coding and App development. The club will run after school in our lab once a week until March Break. Students will be learning to code and design their own video games.
In addition, we have been working closely with Logics Academy to give all our students and teachers some experience with STEAM education. We have used some our funding to help subsidize the costs of our in school workshops. Teachers picked workshops based on strands they were learning in science. The feedback has been extremely positive from students and staff.
We are continuing to build capacity at our school through in school PD opportunities for school and students taking a focus on inquiry. We will be continuing to offer Maker Fun Friday with design tasks linking to some of the new materials we have. Teachers will also be sitting down in grade teams in grades 1 and 2 to plan some STEM centres and activities in the classroom. Further, students will have opportunities to take a MakerFun Pass to work on projects throughout the day in our school Learning Commons.
Stay Tuned for more news and great things to come!
December 15, 2016
This month the entire school participated in the Hour Of Code. Students used Code.org as well as Dash and BB8 Sphero and the Tickle App to code. The overwhelming feedback was very positive from students. One student said "Thank you for teaching me to code! I went home and practised on the weekend!" As well, for many faculty members this was the first time they had experienced and practised coding. Code.org made it approachable and many teachers commented that they would be continuing to work with the site in class. After the new year we will be starting a Coding Club after school for our students from grades 4-6. Stay tuned!
This month the entire school participated in the Hour Of Code. Students used Code.org as well as Dash and BB8 Sphero and the Tickle App to code. The overwhelming feedback was very positive from students. One student said "Thank you for teaching me to code! I went home and practised on the weekend!" As well, for many faculty members this was the first time they had experienced and practised coding. Code.org made it approachable and many teachers commented that they would be continuing to work with the site in class. After the new year we will be starting a Coding Club after school for our students from grades 4-6. Stay tuned!
November 2016
Caine’s Arcade: Making our Own ArcadeIn late September my class and I participated in the Global Cardboard Challenge. The challenge encourages creativity and making, as well as STEAM by encouraging students to create anything they wish out of cardboard and recycled materials. We began our provocation with watching the Caine’s Arcade video and generating ideas and creating sketches. Students were interested in creating their own arcade games. We then began collecting boxes and then the real fun and messiness began!
As our school has a TLLP Grant with the Ministry of Education to embed and develop STEAM/Makerspace experiences. I decided to tie in our work in science on forces into the arcade project and ask the students to think about “How they see forces at work in their arcade games?” Many students connected their games to gravitational force as well as muscular force and used examples of push and pull forces. Then the real fun began with building our arcade games!
We also had the opportunity to Skype with Steve Auslander’s class in Indianapolis and share each others games via Skype in the Classroom.
When our arcade was complete, we created a letter together to send to classes to invite them to come try out our games and requesting a donation for charity.
We encouraged students to provide feedback and give us suggestions for ways to improve our games. Our arcade raised almost $300 in donations.
As a class, we decided to donate the money to a local food bank in our community called The Compass. We then started to prepare for a shopping trip to buy items to donate by examining grocery store flyers. We discussed media literacy and how advertisers use colour to sell their products and how everything tends to look perfect in the flyers which is not realistic. Since students are expected to work with amounts up to $10 they were instructed to create a shopping list of items to buy at the store after we did some research on what food was most needed. Students then created their own shopping lists for our trip to the store.
We headed out to one of our local grocery stores to do our shopping and brought reusable grocery bags, the eco-friendly thing to do which also saved us money as there is a five cent charge per grocery bag. We also discussed grocery store etiquette which included: don’t block the aisles and return any items you don’t buy to their original location. At the store, we examined where food was from and how buying local supports our local farmers and is the environmentally conscious thing to do. We discussed things like price matching, and how companies pay to have items placed at eye level, reading labels and how the healthier food tends to be placed around the perimeter of the grocery store. Then we headed upstairs to make our own lunch and treats at the PC Cooking School.
Back at the school we demonstrated our learning by using the Explain Everything Appto document our learning as well as what we would have done differently.
The students’ engagement and the learning opportunities provided were amazing! I am grateful for the opportunity to co-learn and be able to do something positive for our local community.
November 1, 2016
Things have been very busy at St. Timothy school! Students have been busy participating in Maker Friday to get acquainted with our new Makerspace materials in our Learning Commons. The goal is the next few weeks is to have all our classes experience this. You can see some images on our Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/StTimTLLP. We are still ordering some materials and organizing materials in our Learning Commons. We also have a trolley that can be wheeled into classes so materials can be brought into different rooms throughout our school.
In addition, we did some co-teaching with our Kindergarten friends to introduce Coding. After being introduced to Dash, students were challenged to construct a maze for him that they would code for him to go through. Students were then introduced to coding through the use of blocks and manipulatives and used the Tickle App to assist them. Here is a video that documents students learning from October 20, 2016.
October 19, 2016
Today was our first meeting of Minecraft Club For Teachers facilitated by some of our grade 4 students at lunch time. The idea to have students run the club is due to the fact that from my experience, students are the experts when it comes to playing Minecraft. My specialty is finding the curriculum connections and facilitating the collaboration piece. As well, I wanted some younger students to develop leadership skills. To ensure a gender balance I picked one female and one male student but as it turns out the interest grew and we have approximately six student facilitators.
The plan is to meet approximately once a month on Wednesday which seems to be the day that works for most of the staff that were present at the meeting today. Meetings are very relaxed and informal with no experience required. We started today with exploring the tutorial world in MinecraftEdu (which I recommend as a starting point even with students, as not all students have experience with Minecraft). As well, teachers got excited (like students) with the ability to collaborate together in a shared space. As teachers worked I shared some tips and experiences that I have encountered over the last few years but mostly today was just about play!
Play and PD are probably one of the most successful ways to get teachers on board with new tools. I am a big believer that teachers need to experience what our students would go through in order to gain an appreciation, as well as “buy in,” of new technology or tools. My favourite moment came when one of the students said: “Miss…this is so fun teaching teachers. I love it…”. It was such a powerful teaching moment and made me realize that power shift that was occurring in having students teach the staff. That is exactly the kind of classroom and educational environment I want to work and teach in. It is also the way, I believe, that change can occur with professional development to make it more meaningful and create systemic change in our educational system. If we want to create authentic learning communities than we need to become comfortable learning with and from our students. I am looking forward to next month with the hope of seeing even more staff present now that the word is out!
September 26, 2016
Today was our first Team meeting of the Year. The day began with a web call with Beth Holland who is an instructor with @EdTechTeacher21, blogger at @Edutopia and EdTeach Researcher and doctoral student at John Hopkins University School of Education. We were lucky to have several of our Math Consultants from our school board attend. Beth was extremely helpful in getting a better understanding of why Makerspaces and STEAM are important and the skills that they teach our students. In particular the focus on creativity was discussed. We also delegated jobs in terms of documentation and went through our project setting deadlines.
The afternoon focused on experimenting and having time to play with some of the equipment that has come into our school. In addition, we started to map our some lessons that we hope to get started on immediately.
May 4- May 6 2016
Leadership Skills for Classroom Teachers
Over the next few days we will be learning about the TLLP process as well as having the chance to build our networks and connect with other educators in the province of Ontario.
May 5, 2016
Today started off with a Key note with Ann Lieberman and Carol Campbell. Some of the quotes that resonated with us were:
"If you don't involve teachers in change you won't move"
"If you don't know where you're going then any road will do" ~Alice in Wonderland