Instructional Unit

As I begin walk into my own classroom for the first time I imagine I will:

I taste: the mint in my mouth from just brushing my teeth half an hour ago.

I hear: The bell ring, class has begun. I hear my own heart beating of nervousness with having my own classroom.

I feel: The sweat in my hands and fingers with holding them tightly. Feeling the balls of my fingers, circling my fingertips.

I smell: I smell the fresh air from the students from being outside before class has begun.

I see: Eleven boys and nine girls, some of who may be struggling with their gender identity, some who may struggle from mental health, some who may have ADHD, some students who may come from families who may be struggling financially, some of that may be new to Canada and trying to find and make sense of Canadian life and some of who have lived in Canada their whole life some trusting the government and some of who have lost trust in the government with residential schools and all coming from different family values, beliefs and morals. Together there are twenty students grade one students who are all unique and have their own story. Take time to learn their story.

As pre-service and service teachers it is important we consider student agency. Student agency is learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners that could be driven by their interests, with appropriate guidance from teachers. Furthering learning about students and their sociocultural perspective in an ESL classroom where there is lots of diversity within students beliefs, morals, vales, etc. I believe learning happens first through observing social interaction and second with direct communication with students individual interactions of social behaviors. When students become more familiar with their learning with lessons on basic understandings such as greetings students will be able to apply in their daily life and enhance their learning. Promoting students to use their voice more frequently and confidently. It is important to be with the student in their learning process to connection and form ever-lasting relationships in the classroom to help the students to be motivated to be a lifelong learner.

For the purpose of this class and assignment I will be focusing on the ESL students. Where I will discuss student agency with student needs, report my findings on local an ESL program from Regina Public Library that includes: the program mission, values, cost, etc. classroom management and creating two lesson plans I plan on teaching to my students. I am assuming the students in my classroom have limited language skills with reading, writing, spelling, listening and speaking.

Student Needs:

  • Give EAL learners thinking time (as they need to process what they hear and what they say).
  • Let students work together in pairs or small groups.
  • Allow students to use their strengths in the process of learning English. So, the student may draw a picture, the teacher should encourage the student to write the word out and practice saying the word.
  • Consider the use of gestures, mimes, exaggerated facial expressions.
  • Have a daily routine and consider asking specific daily questions every day.
  • When a student makes a small common errors such as “She runned home…” repeat by saying “ yes, she ran home…”) and encourage students to extend their sentence to be longer.
  • Make available and encourage learners to use an age-appropriate English dictionary and thesaurus (including online dictionaries for English language learners)
  • Have online resources and worksheets to send home for students to use at home and/or to use as practice if needed or wanted outside of school with their guardians.
  • Repeatedly check understanding of topic, basic learning intentions and what to do in a task.
  • Ensure that there are plenty of motivating books available at the level of the ESL in the classroom.

Regina Public Library Mission: The Regina Public Library is a board governed, integrated, cultural organization

that exists to provide opportunities for discovery and learning in an inclusive and safe environment.

Regina Public Library offers:

  • Free and open access to resources
  • Community space where people and ideas meet
  • Programs and services that support reading, curiosity and discovery
  • Community opportunities that complement and strengthen the public library offering

Regina Public Library Values:

  • Inspiration – Encourage and support the joy of reading, lifelong learning and growth.
  • Inclusion – Support physical, intellectual and cultural access for all in a welcoming environment.
  • Service – Seek to understand, anticipate and serve the needs of all people.
  • Leadership – Committed to the future of Regina and strengthening our diverse community.

The program has supports Indigenous Learning and Culture Awareness. In this section of the text it mentions: When you are working with Indigenous learners, it may help to reflect on Indigenous history and culture in Canada as many Indigenous learners have been successful in the school system, many have not. Some of this is due to the effects of the residential school system. An aboriginal writer, Dianne Hill, mentions her grandmothers’ experience in the residential school system was very traumatic as:

  • She was punished for speaking her language.
  • She worked long tireless hours.
  • She was unable to see her parents and felt extremely lonely.

* The most important part of this program is that is cost free and easily accessible for people of all ages. All people can read the Tutor Training Manual and Facilitator’s Manual to ensure the best learning for our students.

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Does not state anywhere about extra support for those people who struggle with:

Mental Health: I would like to see the program have a telephone number for students to call if in need for any emotional and mental support. Sometimes talking to a stranger Is much easier than a person you know. If you are ever struggling you can always call the kids help phone, Canadian Crisis Hotlin at 1 (888) 353-2273. See below for more supports.

Gender and Identity: I would like to see some considerations for people like learning about yourself in regards of your gender and Identity that includes learning pronouns or signs to look for when going to the bathroom so ESL will know what bathroom to go to whether the bathroom is gendered labeled or not.

Mental and Physical Disabilities: I would like to know if the building is wheel chair accessible and if there are addition training times or other programs.

Integra Learning Disabilities & Mental Health programs include:

The program offers support for adult language learners. However, the programs lack to acknowledge the guideline to assist with young students. The text mentions General Guidelines for Working with Adult Learners involves:

 • Creating an atmosphere where the learner is actively involved.

• Having learners set personal smart goals.

• Use activities in the lessons to help learners achieve their goals.

• Start lessons with what learners already know and build on their strengths.

This would be very similar for younger students. Later In this portion of the text It mentions to get to know your learners. I think this very Important In all classroom especially ESL classroom as we can all learn from each other and appreciate the diversity within the room.

This resource provides basic teaching strategies to help adult learners develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills – all with a learner-centered approach. There are eight sessions including such topics as:

  • The learning context for adult learners
  • Cultural homework
  • Teaching strategies
  • Lesson planning
  • Assessment

Classroom Management:

My priorities for teaching are to give students exposure to the English language. I can give students exposure by facilitating interaction whether students are in asynchronous or synchronous which is important with these uncertain times.

  • Asynchronous activities need plenty of detail and descriptions with directions, instructions about your expectations, are important for students. A tip from a professor is asynchronous activities require extra effort for students before they get started. It is best to assume, “if you didn’t type it, they can’t know it.”
    • Some ideas of how to deliver the information to students may be create short descriptions with videos. Provide worksheets for students to follow while watching the video.
    • Add comprehension checks to video lectures (such as Canvas Quizzes Kaltura Quizzes or Quick Check), so that students can confirm they have learned the key points.
  • The use of synchronous sessions I could actively engaged and collaboration with students. I would do my best to change up activities regularly so that learners don’t become demotivated by inaction. Some ideas below.

Classroom Management: Flexible Seating:

Advantages:

  • Flexible seating can range from just allowing students to choose their own seats or move around the classroom more frequently.
  • Flexible seating may create a calm, relaxed environment.
  • Flexible seating allows students to wobble, rock, bounce, lean or stand, that “increases oxygen flow to the brain, blood flow and core strength. In turn, this burns more calories and increases metabolism. It also helps keep young minds more alert and focused.” (Smith System, 2019, p. 1)

Disadvantages:

  • Often the budget for flexible seating options is non-existent, so teachers end up personally funding these efforts.
  • Fighting over seats is bound to happen.
  • Some seating options may not be accessible for all students.

Flexible seating ideas.

*This year, in this class ELNG 326 and being in the field I have gained insight that seating plans and flexible seating is important to consider. It is important to consider as it may help with students to have better behaviour and attitudes towards school allowing the students to stay on task. Rather then having students become distracted by friends, items near by, etc.

Lesson One:

Lesson Title: Counting to Ten                                                                                                             Designers: Carmel
 Learning Intentions
Objective: Student is progressing towards control on counting, communicating and printing (using upper case and lower-case letters) with the numbers 1 – 10. Student is progressing towards the written form (one, two etc.) of each of these words by sight.  
Essential Questions: How can write the following numbers 1 – 10? Why should we learning about the numbers 1 – 10? How can we use the numbers 1 – 10 in our daily life? What is your favourite one-digit number?
Materials
10 cue cards that have the following: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 10 cue cards that have: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 10 pencils
Learning Plan
EXPLORE: Begin the lesson by letting students explore with the flashcards with the numbers and the written number flashcards. Students may use the flashcards to look at the images, trace the letters, etc. Having time to explore to self for a few minutes may peek interest and motivation and familiarity for students.  

EXPLAIN: Once students have had time to explore, explain to students that we will be using pencil in learning our learning process to count and communicate. We can further elaborate with printing the number and word out onto line paper. Once we have explained what we will be practicing we can now engage with the pencils.  

ENGAGE: Teachers can begin to engage with students with the following activity that has a detailed description below.

Part A: Hold up one pencil. Say, “pencil”; have learner repeat. Say, “one pencil”; repeat and have learner repeat. Say, “There is one pencil”; repeat and have learner repeat. Hold up two pencils. Say, “Two pencils”; repeat and then have learner repeat. Say, “There are two pencils”; repeat and then have learner repeat. Continue the exercise using numbers 3 to 12. Repeat the exercise often for students as students will continue to be more comfortable and will be able to count and do exercise with less guidance.    

Part B: Using the pencils, have the learner use the phrases in response to the question, “How many pencils?” Example: Tutor (holding a pencil): There is one pencil. Learner: There is one pencil. *This would be ability defendant and could be use as students continue to progress.  

ELABORATE: Student will be able to elaborate their skills with using the techniques above with flashcards now. Flashcards are a great resource as student could have access to online flashcards or have some paper flashcards sent home to practice and to engage and elaborate their skills. See below of how students can use the flashcards. Using numerical flashcards (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) repeat part A but with using the numerical flashcards and then repeat part B using the flashcards (with phrases such as: “What is the number?” / “It is…”)    Using the second set of numerical flashcards (one, two, three, four, five etc.). Further elaborate by holding up the cue card with “one” in one hand, hold the cue card with “1” in the other hand. Say, “one”; repeat and then have the learner repeat. Trace the letters o, n, and e on the cue card. Then take the lined paper to write the letter on one of the lines. Students may have to practice writing the letter o repeatedly on the same line. *Note this is part of the process of learning.      
Reflection
Completion upon presenting lesson.

Future lesson plans: Review numbers and learn 13 to 20, 21- 29, and 31- 39. Lesson 3: Review numbers and learn 40 – 100. Lesson 4: Naming the money used in Canada.

Lesson Two:

Lesson Title: Exploring Money                                                                                                              Designers: Carmel
 Learning Intentions
Objective: Students will be able use their skills of counting in a new way Students will be able to communicate real life situation of being at a place that you may purchase items that are for sale. Students will begin to learn about money Students will progress to control of naming the coins used in Canada.  
Essential Questions: How many coins are used in Canada? What coins do you have in your native country? How could you save money? What can you buy with money? What would you use your money to buy?  
Materials
Vocabulary cards with one of the following words on each: nickel, dime, quarter, loonie, toonie. An additional set of cards with the following:  .05 or 5¢  .10 or 10¢  .25 or 25¢  $1.00 and $2.00. Coins and pictures of all the above coins. Handouts from Hands On! A Collection of ESL Literacy Activities.  
Learning Plan
EXPLAIN: Teacher can explain the importance of our past lesson with learning numbers and how it relates to money. They both are part of the counting process and are needed when we are purchasing items. Further discuss How many coins are used in Canada? What can you buy with money? What would you use your money to buy?  

ENGAGE: Have students engage in a refresher of what was learned in past classes. Students and the teacher review number that were expanded on through interactive activities from last few lessons. Practice saying and writing a number (from 1 – 100). Do verbal or non-verbal exercises where the learner must provide the next number (i.e . 14, 15, 16, ____ ). Once students have engaged in the review explain that we will the process of learning money.  

EXPLORE: Have students explore in the process of match the coin to the picture and practicing what each coin is called and its value. For example, a nickel is five cents and has a beaver on the coin. The use of BINGO card could be a great interactive activity for students. Where students will become more familiar with the name of the name of a coin and the learner pull the appropriate coin(s) off the grid. Round Two: Say a “price”/value and have the learner pull coins off the grid that amount to that price. *This may take time and students may need assistance or may not see that there are more than one of the coins on their sheet. Ensure you give wait time for students.    

ELABORATE: You can elaborate on this activity by having a discussion with students. Where do you go shopping? How would you greet a customer? What might you say to people while at the store? What stores would you go to? How many coins might you use? This formulates conversation and show that learning about numbers, money and counting are applicable to real life situations.  
Reflection
Completion upon presenting lesson.

Future lesson plans practice counting with money, practice looking at prices, practice laying out specific amounts of money, purchasing food items using money; discuss phrases used for purchasing.

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Resources

Restorative Justice Pedagogy Resources

We are all in this together…

On the first day of class, Katia told us the importance of this blog post. Through actively interacting with my classmates, I have found a great group of people who share great resources, have who have supported me, made new friends, I am forever grateful for this class and how much this class has made me connect more than any of my other classes.

I believe I have become a better student by actively being more engaged through making better connections and actively all working together. Twitter has been a huge step in creating this last connection and has caused me to break out and talk to more of my fellow classmates rather than sitting in the same seat with the same classmates. This led to me sharing in Zoom alone, as a group, helping lead the group through actively volunteering to speak, finding research, or fill out the document.

I have commented on every classmate’s blog at least once, sometimes twice. My blog posts often end with open questions where students can decide to answer. I have also shared a few classmates’ blogs in my blog post. (Cassie, Julia, Lydia and Morgan), I go to twitter for advice and I often get a handful of comments and compliments.

I have participated in three other twitter chats from the Sasked Chat, and hope to continue to participate in more once all three of my summer classes are complete. 

Commenting on blogs: I tried to find one thing to compliment and one question to learn. If my classmate responded to the question I would read it!

April made some awesome donuts. (Making them on June 20)

Celine’s & Jordan’s Cooking

Hailey’s Embroidery 

Brianne & Hannah ASL

Learning from Lydia

There are many more of my classmates blogs who I did not show our conversion. 

Twitter 

Seeking help/advice for another class

I have connected and will continue to stay connected. Thank you to everyone who has made this an unforgettable experience. See you on Twitter!!

Learning Project Summary

First I did background research on cleaning, types of paint and colour schemes. I wanted to learn how to refurbish items to give them a more modern look.. It took me a while to start, as I felt I needed to buy the perfect item to paint!

The first week, I traveled half an hour one way to pick up a dresser I had purchased. I then left the dresser for a while to learn about painting. I knew I had to find which cleaner would be best to use. I saw this video called “Cleaning Furniture With TSP Antique Restoration” so I checked out the cleaning supplies in our house and found some. TSP stands for Trisodium Phosphate. I looked into what I should know/the dangers of using TSP; my investigation led me to find out I only needed a certain amount of TSP, mixed with warm water and then wiped with warm water to remove any excess. This cleaning took me a whole TWO HOURS as I needed to clean the dresser very thoroughly and multiple times inside and out. 

The next two weeks I learned about types of paint and colour schemes.  

 I learned more about types of paint and which would be best for me to use on the dresser that I was refinishing.  I have learned that there are the following types of paint: 

  •  Latex paint has multiple finishes including satin, semi-gloss, or glossy finishes.
  • Chalk Paint is water-based paint typically has latex as its base, but delivers a thicker, buildable texture.
  • Milk paint for furniture is popular for its eco-friendly ingredients with no chemicals or added fumes.

Later, I seeked some guidance from my local Home Hardware where I talked to the staff about what I was painting and asked their advice. I even asked them about what colour they liked! They suggested I use a different type of paint specially designed for furniture and cabinets. My common sense agreed with this since they have had many customers use it and the staff member even had a positive experience with it as well! 

Prior to buying paint, I thought I was going to make a risky move and use bold colour so I thought it was best to learn about colour schemes to help me make a better decision. 

I learned…

  • Complementary colors are any two colors opposite each other on the wheel. For example, blue and orange, or red and green.
  • Analogous colors are any three colors next to each other on the wheel. For example, orange, yellow-orange, and yellow.
  • Triadic colors are any three colors that are equally apart on the color wheel. For example, red, yellow and blue.
  • Split complementary colors use three colors. The scheme takes one color and matches it with the two colors adjacent to its complementary color. For example, blue, yellow-orange and red-orange.
  • Tetradic or double complementary colors use four colors together, in the form of two sets of complementary colors. For example, blue and orange is paired with yellow and violet. 

After learning more about colour schemes and asking my twitter followers what their thoughts were. I thought I better keep it simple and go with a neutral colour; I decided on classic white. White is neutral, matches all colours, and may allow me to accessorize more and explore colours with the drawer handles. 

Finally, the fourth week I actually started painting. This was a huge relief. I was really starting to doubt my thinking that this project was not for me. 

I started with sanding, wiping the dust off from sanding and then introduced my mom with the stick it paint. My mom really pushed me to try and explore this project more with painting. She really motivated me to keep trying, by staying positive and helping me see the end result. This is part of the reason why, I wanted to include her in my process with a video.

Videoing the process was not for me, I enjoyed learning and showing my classmates what I was doing and learning. However, I found it disappointing as I could not see much progress happening in a timelapse. I decided I would be happier doing my learning project by posting more on twitter to gain support and engagement from other students and to take progress pictures. I almost wanted to quit when I had spilled almost a whole can of paint. Most of all, I have learned to stick with it and that my mom, and my classmates have helped me and supported (way more than any other semester) me so much this semester creating a positive environment full of excitement and people who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. 

Week five, I was still painting and finally in week six  the dresser was complete and I was happy with the results. 


I later refurbished more items but chose to post on twitter with pictures rather than blogging. I completed two side tables/end tables.

In week six, my sister purchased a house and my family spent some time moving her in. This was when my mom thought it would be nice to refinish her room and then I could move into her bigger room. (I thought to myself finally being the youngest has somehow paid off!!) With the help of my parents through buying supplies, helping pick colours and outlining the room with paint (cutting in) we got the room done. 

My mom and I picked out a neutral colour, grey to paint the walls. Once we were done painting the walls, my parents had decided that the ceiling was more filthy than we expected, so we decided it would best do paint the ceiling as well. (Yes, we should have done the ceiling first, but we didn’t.) Prior to painting the ceiling, I saw on Twitter with some tips about painting a ceiling better. So, I wore an old shirt, tied my hair up and put a shower cap on and made sure I had my glasses on similar to the tip on Twitter. After painting the ceiling, my parents and I saw a drastic change in the colour and this even made the room even brighter than it was before. We picked out some flooring and paid someone to come in and install it later that week.

Painting and moving to a new room has helped me decorate differently with a different colour scheme, has taught me new skills, and helped me value the hard work put into creating this space. 

My last project, that I have not shared with anyone besides my parents is making some blanket ladders. I had my parents help with cutting, and measuring, we took the time to work together and bond. (Group Effort) We bought some eight foot tall pieces of wood to make my gift for my sister for her housewarming and birthday gift. Her house is modern with the majority of the interior of the  house being white. I have not posted online about this because her birthday is coming up right away here in June and did not want to spoil the present by posting online where she may see my posts. I have even had to hide the ladders on multiple occasions. There are two options for her to pick from: a dark stained ladder and white painted ladder. 

I have loved creating and exploring. Please watch my video to see my projects that include some progress photos. Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way.

Classroom Coding

This week’s blog is about coding. I’ve done a little bit of coding in grade six, where my class had to build a website on whatever we wanted as long as it was school appropriate.  This was not a great experience at the time, because we were given a booklet of keyboard letters and characteristics and were instructed to type out exactly as the book showed for the hour we were in class. Everyone would always be making mistakes, and being at different stages of skill development, as most of us were new to typing regularly on a computer, made it harder for the teachers to work with the class as one.

Flashforward almost ten years, and again we are on the subject of coding. In class we were given two sites to experiment with, Hour of Code or Scratch. At first I was hesitant because of the difficulty of the last experience, but was relieved that these sites were easily accessible and great for all learners. I’m glad to have had this class reintroduce me to a subject I had felt so uncomfortable with. 

There are many great resources and apps to use in the classroom. I decided the hour of code would be best for me as a beginner, as it was filled with images to enhance my learning. 

Another thing I noticed right away was that it catered to a wide variety of different ages, with many different choices of themes such as Frozen. That one was called “Coding with Anna & Elsa,” and I decided that would be my first reentry into coding. I found it fairly simple and well explained, and very smoothly got more difficult and in depth throughout each step. 

I have learned in our lectures coding can be described as another language. I see how coding is such an amazing opportunity to tie different learning elements together as well. Things such as problem solving, divergent & creative thinking, planning and sequencing, spatial reasoning, and many mathematical and other subject concepts.

I hope to continue to learn about more resources to enhance my future classroom. The more I read and learn about coding, the better I can help my students adapt to a more technological world. 

Here are some of the reasons I have come across as to why every child should learn to code.

On Twitter I posted more resources.

What is Fake News?

Fake news is a form of news consisting of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media or online social media.As technology advances, so does the means to create more realistic fake news. It was once so easy to distinguish fake news, with the ridiculously fabricated images and giant fonts, but as Alec Couros and Katia Hildebrandt point out, that may no longer be the case.  

“Why is fake news so much harder to deal with today? One of the major changes is the prevalence of easily accessible digital tools that allow anyone to create realistic but false messages, videos, and voice recordings.” With this new age of online learning, it is especially important that we are teaching our students how to filter out the fake news. I learned that our search engines filter to our interest making us see very similar posts to interact with.  Being aware of our personal platform and newsfeed can help us decipher the fake news from the real.

Fake News" Web Sites May Not Have a Major Effect on Elections ...

Not everything we read online is real. I often find myself in similar situations and believe what I see on the internet, as I expect most people to be truthful/honest. I’ve slowly begun to distinguish clues of bias that may show what the form of media is trying to get you to believe. It is important to question your research and findings, as we should strive to find accurate information. EDTC 300 has been extremely beneficial with improving my online learning and will make me a better learner for future classes and in my classroom. 

Do you think you can spot fake news? Try these three places.

  1. Can you spot the fake news headline? 
  2. Factitious – A game about identifying fake news
  3. Weekly News Quiz from the NY Times

Use this great teacher tool to help guide your students in determining Fake and Real News. Worksheet: Bias in the news (Created by Katherine Koskie)

Learn More:

TED Ed playlist: Hone your media literacy skills

  1. How to choose your news
  2. How false news can spread
  3. How to spot a misleading graph
  4. How statistics can be misleading
  5. Can you spot the problem with these headlines?

Classy Cassie

Group Digital Sleuthing Exercise

In EDTC 300, I have been learning about the importance of my online presence that the world can see and how to convey our life as educators on social media platforms. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are Internet-based services that provide individuals a way to interact with each other online. Some organizations and workplaces may use your digital identity to assist in the hiring process as our digital identity can provide insight on your life. 

This week, I will attempt to look into a classmate’s digital Identity and be cybersleuthing. I will see if Cassie is classy or sassy online!

So, I started with a quick google search, Cassie with her last name, to see what I could find first fast. This is where I found her facebook account…I want to acknowledge Cassie’s choice of her privacy, she did not include her last name or any other information besides where she has lived and her current relationship.  I then looked at her boyfriend’s profile and found limited information there as well. Seeing who people interact with can assist in showing someone’s character. Cassie and her boyfriend both practice privacy and have a great digital identity on facebook. 

Overall Cassie is…classy along with:

C- Consistent and Conscious of her posting as her post are professional

A- Aware of current events and educational topics

S- Supportive of all people 

S- Strong sense morality 

I- Influential 

E- Educates others, including myself!

Digital space isn’t just for employers to learn more about who they may want to hire, social media may be a personal platform that many people may use differently. Different generations may use social media differently and may use similar and different apps. As future teachers, I believe teachers should be aware of our student’s activity in and out of the classroom. Social media may enhance the classroom and a teacher may have many great lessons. In Jon Ronson’s TED talk he discussed that social media gave a voice to the voiceless, but how that same platform could dismantle a life, “piece by piece” after only one online mistake. Unfortunately, what we put online may last a lifetime and I believe no one should have to suffer after one choice they have made. This is where teachers may address social media and the harm and dangers of social media and the internet. This may include the story of Amanda Todd. (Part One) 

Part Two

I believe if teachers model good digital citizenship, students may learn and follow similar practices. 

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