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This is a cross post from Moving Up the SAMR Model . Ms Ange in Grade 9 Integrated Math I, has taken the challenge of having student create individual blogfolios to reflect on their math learning. As all students in Grade 9 have already created a Google Site Digital Portfolio that is being used in English and Visual Arts, so the students were taught how to link their Math blogfolio directly from the ePortfolio site under "Mathemathics". In this way, all their learning reflections are connected to a central hub. The challenge in a blogfolio is to create appropriate "labels" that will allow retrieval of posts according to learning goals. The thoughtful creation and use of labels is a great support to reflection, which is a Modification stage on the SAMR model. In the figure below you will see stages in the use of blogs for learning in Math. Those stages are described in more detailed below with emphasis on "Modification", which is the example described on th...

In PE 10, Ms Arcenas' class is taking the learning outside of the classroom and also outside of the "Unit" by recording fitness workout every week along the entire school year. Students will reflect on their own fitness plan and also on how it should be adjusted to provide the desired results and support other activities like basketball or soccer practice. In order to make this record viable, students will enter the weekly workout on a Google Form that feeds a spreadsheet where they will collect all the information to be used as a basis for reflection and review. The images below show how the Form looks like on a cellphone, and how the filled out spreadsheet looks like. Such use of cellphones to enter fitness data is interpreted at the Augmentation stage of the SAMR model. This is because the cellphone offers clear advantages to paper record. It allows better organization and more importantly, it allows easy record on the spot, avoiding imprecise recording at a later time...

This is a cross post from ePortfolios Development Spirals . Today we had a great meeting with the Brazilian Studies Department where Geoff and Jennifer Carpenter shared their experience with ePortfolios. Their presentation can be seen at Digital Portfolio Workshop , where the Reflect page was particularly emphasized. Other teachers in the audience have already started publishing student work in different formats like showcase portfolio webpages, student product page in a class site or even class blogs. Middle School has in fact started a focus on Blogfolios and 5th Grade students are creating blog posts with labels based on Graded's Core Values.  So in order to provide some context for ePortfolio experiences already happening and possibilities for growth, I created and shared the following Infographic describing ePortfolio development spirals as seen from different perspectives. Silvia Tolisano and Jennifer Peterson, representing Middle and Elementary School Academic Technolo...

 PFL IV - Projeto Sua Cidade e Seu País As part of learning Portuguese as a foreign language, students often create products that provide an insight into the culture that they bring to Graded.  There is therefore an untapped richness  of resources that relate to the idea of "intercultural competence" indicated in our mission statem ent. I believe that access to such products  can help our community better understand the different cultural experiences at Graded.                     PFL II - Projeto Roupas do Mundo Take a look at some of these projects below: Projeto Cidade Seul: Uma cidade dos nosso sonhos Cartagena: Colômbia Canadá Projeto Roupas Tradicionais Roupas Tradicionais India & Africa do Sul Coréia França, Estados Unidos e Brasil Argentina, Estados Unidos e Brasil

After publishing online newspapers, the PFL V class has now made available to the wider audience an online magazine with fictional news articles. The magazine is called "A Tela" which means "screen" in English, as a way to represent the different news you may see on TV or computer screens. The magazine has three separate sections:  Recent Events, Science & Technology, Culture & Travel. Anyone can read the articles and make comments by accessing the publication at the Issuu site shown below. The class worked collaboratively to develop the design style of the magazine and some students created the cover. A Google Presentation file was used to house all the articles under the same design, so each student was responsible for copying a master slide and adding his o her own content. A PDF version of this Google Presentation was then uploaded into Issuu, making the online magazine very easy to do. You can access the magazine below. A snapshot of students'commen...

In Ceramics, a reflection journal practice that has been done on paper is now transferred to the online world. Ms Ariani asked her students to create individual blogs to host their journal reflections. The advantage of an online reflection journal is first of all to the students, as they will collect an easily accessible and shareable portfolio of their progress as artists. There is also the advantage of being able to easily illustrate their reflections with pictures of their final work and work in progress. Students can also add links to resources and research they may have done for the work, making such background information easily available not only for the reader but also for the student. The power of seeing one's own work nicely displayed and easily accessible cannot be underestimated. Apart from that, the fact that students can start to see each other's journals can be a powerful way to encourage more reflection and also positive critique. So we will be looking forward t...

Gamification means applying certain gaming elements to the teaching and learning process. It appears at the Horizon Report 2013 as one of the technologies that will have a strong impact in higher education in the near future. Graded's Innovate 2013 Conference hosted some gamification sessions and our Biology 9 teacher, Ms. Beck, was excited with the concept therefore deciding to apply it in her DNA Genetics Unit. Two elements of gaming that are very important and actually mix together involve " storytelling " and " challenge ".  In a game, a fantasy aspect is key to transport the player to another world where a challenge will take place. Below, you will see the storytelling and the challenge for the DNA Genetics Unit. It involves groups of students trying to unlock the secrets of DNA, which takes us to other elements of gaming which are " cooperation " and " competition ". The competition element in the DNA unit involves cooperation within g...