After gym time this morning, David Resijan, one of the Grade 4 teachers at the school, came to talk to me. His students have been learning about rocks and minerals, and they wanted to share their learning with another class before taking home their collections of objects. Since our two classes pair up for reading buddies, David wondered if my class wanted to come for a visit to see the collections. We arranged a visit before the second nutrition break.
Just before we left, I asked some of the students if they wanted to bring the iPod Touches, digital camera, and Flipcam to record their learning. Then two students suggested bringing the iPads too. I was skeptical, but my students thought that they could use the Audio Memos app to record some discussions with the Grade 4’s. Why not? We might as well give this a try.
Video Links – Video 1, Video 2, Video 3
What happened in David’s classroom really was incredible! Students were teaching students, and as teachers, we could just sit back and watch. Giving students these tracking tools (i.e., the cameras, iPads, and iPods), made them feel like they had an important role in the classroom, and they really took this role seriously too. The Grades 1, 2, and 4 students were asking questions of each other and engaging in meaningful dialogue. George Couros (@gcouros) and Shawn Ram (@sram_socrates) taught me about the value of shared leadership, but seeing what was happening today, really made me realize the value in this!
Congratulations to David’s Grade 4’s for being such fantastic teachers, and to my Grade 1’s and 2’s for asking such great questions and allowing the conversations to evolve. Have you had any similar experiences before? I would love to hear about them!
Aviva
Great post. I love hearing stories and posts such as this one. It looks like you and Mr. Resijan have made some great advances and developed great relationships between the different grades.
It will be great to see how many ideas and posts the kids come up with over the summer as your kids are already doing some amazing things social media and technology.
Thank you for the great compliment, but all I did was give you an idea and shared what I was doing, you took it from there and have done some wonderful and innovated things. Most of the credits have to go to you. Next year we will have to connect and maybe set up a combined Edmodo group for the kids to learn from each other and share.
Great post Aviva.
Thanks Shawn! I’m very excited to see what develops from here. I would love to connect more next year. I didn’t use Edmodo too much this year, but I have used it a lot in the past, and using it to connect, read, and write in a meaningful way would be great! We’ll definitely have to talk more about this!
Thank you too for the inspiration! A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have believed that students really could learn from each other without teacher direction. You’ve helped me see that students can be the leaders, and that we can be the guides. I can’t thank you enough for helping to change my perception, and without a doubt, helping to make me a better teacher!
Aviva
Aviva,
Wow! Another great experience! I was having teacher interviews today and one said to me that as soon as one thing goes wrong that’s all she can focus on. I then brought up that she also takes everything that’s going right and finds things that are wrong with the right things. That’s the great thing about following someone like you. The focus is on the positve and the trusting relationships. Your result is so much more meaningful because you look for the good and you find it everytime. Thanks for being such a great role model for teachers and being part of my PLN.
JoAnn
Thanks JoAnn! I was about to go to bed, and I’m so glad that I saw your comment first. I’ll now definitely be heading to bed with a smile on my face!
When I first started teaching, a teacher that I admire reminded me of the importance of “focusing on the positive.” It really does make a difference. I’m so glad that I took his advice.
Many thanks for all of your support, JoAnn, and for your lovely comment too!
Aviva
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