Bitstrips which is a user- friendly, online comic strip maker is an excellent teaching tool and learning tool. I’m presently using it to have my students demonstrate their learning.

I’ve asked my grade nine students to use Bitstrips to create a graphic-non-fiction booklet about the teenage brain based on the PBS video Inside the Teenage Brain. The the  booklet  would be for grade seven students to read so they could understand  how changes in the teenage brain might affect them as they enter their teen years.

I teach my grade nine students  about the teenage brain, and how it  is responsible for the characteristics we associate with teenagers- sullenness, difficulty going to sleep, difficulty getting up, engaging in risky behaviour, just to mention a few behaviours.  Students enjoy learning how their brain affects their behaviour because they finally can understand why they behave the way they do, and why adults react to them the way they do.

I planned the unit on the teenage brain  mindful of two things.  First,  my students enjoy spending  lots and lots of their free time online watching videos of one sort or another and little time reading, and second my students enjoy novelty. When I introduced the teenage brain assignment, my students  were quite keen on learning why they  behave as they do, and when I asked them to demonstrate their learning by creating a graphic-non-fiction booklet, they seemed to relish the idea.  If someone had complained about creating the booklet using Bitstrips, I would have entertained other options.  But, no one did, so we were good to go. I suspect  my students would  rather create a graphic-non-fiction booklet than write an essay to demonstrate their learning.

I introduced the teenage brain unit by asking them to do a placemat activity to generate the characteristics of  teenage behaviour.  After we talked about teenage behaviour, I asked them why teens acted the way they do.  Hormones is the answer I got.  I told them it was more than hormones that caused teenage behaviour.  It  was the teenage brain itself that caused teenage behaviour.  The teenage brain is different from the child’s brain and different from the adult’s  brain.  The teenage brain is unique, and they were going to find out why and how. I had their interest!

After our introductory discussion, I outlined what they would be doing during the unit. They would be learning about the teenage brain and how and why it affects teenage behaviour. They would be

• watching the  PBS video  Inside the Teenage Brain;
• taking notes from the video and a transcript of the video using the note-taking  graphic organizer;
• using the note-taking rubric to be mindful of  note-taking expectations;
• using the story board to plan the graphic-non-fiction-booklet;
• using the rubric for the story board to be mindful of the storyboard expectations;
• using the Bitstrips application to create the graphic-non-fiction booklet;
• using the rubric for creating the booklet to be mindful of booklet expectations.

I asked my students  to take notes during the video using the  Inside the Teenage Brain note organizer I created just for this assignment. I’ve  noticed  my grade nine students take notes better if they aren’t faced with an empty 8.5 x 11 in.  lined page. I think they’re intimidated by an entire empty 8.5 x 11 in.  lined page, so I  create graphic organizers to help them.  I’m hoping that given more practice note taking and more confidence, my students won’t need these graphic organizers or if they do, they can learn to create their own using Word.

I’m using this kid friendly  note taking rubric I created for the note-taking assignment.

Since many of my students have difficulty taking good notes while watching a video, I provided a link to the  the transcript of the video so they could read what was said during the video  and add to their notes.  Then I met with my students and we evaluated their notes using  the note-taking rubric to discuss strengths and next steps.

My students have almost  completed their note-taking activity and are ready to go on to planning their graphic-non-fiction booklet using the Inside the Teenage Brain Story Board legal size .

I haven’t had my students complete a graphic-non-fiction booklet before, so I’m not quite sure yet how many frames or pages would be reasonable to expect from my students. I’ll discuss this with my class,  and once we’ve decided on a range of possibilities, we’ll create a rubric to use as a guide for the booklet.  I’ll share all this in my next post.

If anyone has any hints about creating graphic-non-fiction booklets, I’d sure appreciate hearing them.  Creating a graphic-non-fiction booklet is all new to me.

Students demonstrate learning by creating a graphic-non-fiction book using Bitstrips originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on April 28, 2011.

I teach my students a process when I get them to write a paragraph, an essay, create a poster, a PowerPoint presentation, etc. The process starts with brainstorming. The students generate and record all kinds of ideas about a topic during this part of the process. They then select the most appropriate ideas to use for completing their assignment. That’s where graphic organizers come in.

Graphic organizers can be used to do more than organize ideas in a visual way.  They can be used to store ideas for later reorganization. Students regardless of their preferred learning style can park the ideas they select after brainstorming into a graphic organizer and need not worry about forgetting the ideas. who have short term memory challenges. This is especially useful for students who have short term memory challenges.  Once the ideas are parked in graphic organizer, students can organize or reorder the ideas as they see fit. Students won’t get overwhelmed trying to remember everything and trying to organize it all in their heads if they use an organizer.

I show my students how to break down assignments into manageable chunks. Sometimes that involves using several graphic organizers. For example, if I assign a five paragraph essay, students can brainstorm ideas and park them into a mind map they’ve created by hand or by using software like Smart Ideas or Inspiration. Once they’ve created the mind map, they can take those words and create phrases and put those phrases into five paragraph essay organizer. Once they’ve parked their phrases into the five paragraph organizer, they can create sentences out of the phrases and paragraphs out of the sentences.  I encourage them to insert appropriate linking words to help their essay flow.

My students regardless of their learning style appreciate graphic organizers  more and  more when they see how powerful a tool they can be.

Visual learners love to use graphic organizers but auditory and kinesthetic learners would benefit from using them too originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on February 10, 2011.

It’s that time of year again.  Time for students to create a learning plan in preparation for taking  their final exams.  Many of my students who have learning disabilities have difficulty knowing how to plan to study for exams.  They don’t realize that having a learning  plan will make studying more effective  and help them get better outcomes.  I remind my students from time to time if  they want different outcomes then they need to chose to do things differently.  The problem for some students is that they don’t know what to do when it comes to studying. The learning plan I have them complete helps them structure their exam or test preparation and helps them achieve better results.

In class, we have talked about learning styles and students have completed questionnaires to determine their preferred learning style.  We also talked about which strategies are useful for which learning styles.  Armed with this information, students can create a differentiated learning plan that meets their specific  needs.

Learning Plan

Name______________________ Date _____________________________

Subject ____________________________________ Exam Date ________________________

Location __________

A. What I Need to Know

B. When I’m Going to Study

Plan at least three study dates and times.

C. How I’m going to Organize What I Need to Know

Organize the information you need to learn in any of the strategies below.

1. Create a list of what you need to know.

2. Create a graphic organizer for what you need to know.

3. Use mnemonics to help you remember what you need to know, eg BEDMAS

4. Draw a picture of what you need to know.

5. Other _______________

D. How I’m Going to Remember What I Need to Know.

Choose at least two methods to help you remember the information . Refer to the strategies for each learning style in the online article above.

Examples-

1. Draw pictures so you can see the info in your mind.(Visual learners)

2. Highlight important information in notes. (Visual learners)

3. Read the material aloud so you can hear it. (Auditory learners)

4. Listen to someone read the material to you. (Auditory learners)

5. Write the material out repeatedly and read it aloud as you are writing it out. (Kinesthetic and auditory learners)

6. Walk around the room while you are reading the material aloud. (Kinesthetic and auditory learners)

E. How will I Know That I’ve Learned What I Need to Know

Choose any method of self-testing and submit the self-test.

1. Answer questions from examples in your text books.

2. Answer questions from your homework.

3. Answer questions from other students.

4. Other_____________________________________

If you have any suggestions for improving this learning plan, I would appreciate hearing them.  I’m thinking that it could be better.  Perhaps you even have a learning plan of your own for your students that you might like to share.  I would be delighted to post it here and share it with others, giving you credit of course.

Helping students create a differentiated learning plan for tests and exams originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on January 17, 2011.

“It wasn’t me. It was my sister. She probably did it.”

” It wasn’t me. It was my brother. He helped me with my essay.”

“I used dictionary.com and found some synonyms so some of the words are different. It’s not exactly the same.”

These are some of the excuses I got recently when I caught some of my grade nine students handing in essays they didn’t write. The irony of all of this is if these students could craft fine essays like the ones they handed in, they wouldn’t be in my class. My class is for students who struggle with writing essays. The minute I see one that is finely crafted like these were, I’m suspicious.

I try to prevent this kind of thing happening by having my students show me their entire writing process from start to finish. I tell them that writing an essay is a process and they have to show me the process.  The process involves

• brainstorming
• using  a 5 paragraph graphic organizer to organize their thought before putting them to paper
• having a peer edit the first draft of the essay and have the editor sign acknowledging this
• making corrections to first draft
• having another peer edit the second draft of the essay and have the second editor sign acknowledging this
• making corrections to the second draft
• submitting  the final draft

None of the students who plagiarized could show me the entire writing process.  The fact that the students weren’t  able to show me the entire writing process would have tipped me off as well if the plagiarism hadn’t been as obvious as it was.

Here’s an excellent link about plagiarism that students find engaging.

This link teaches students how to evaluate creditable sources

Sometimes they take a bit of time loading.

Hope you find the videos useful.

The excuses I get when students are caught plagiarizing. LOL. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on November 14, 2010.

I tell my students that although they may have a preferred learning style, they need to do all they can to develop their less preferred learning styles as well so that learning becomes easier. I have found from personal experience with students and as a learner myself  as all three learning modalities, visual, auditory and hands-on  strengthened because of practice using them learning  became easier.

I recently came across this great site that has  free graphic organizers galore I can download and  use.  The site is a real time saver because I don’t have to create my own graphic organizers like I used to do.  I’m sure  you find graphic organizers you can download and use.

One of my friends at work found this site useful. The graphic organizers are also free. Thanks for sharing, Jenn. There are also suggestions for when to use the specific graphic organizers.

Graphic organizers are one of the most useful tools to use in the classroom originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on October 24, 2010.

I start by giving them a chart that lists the days of the week and the different times of the day and then ask them to record all their activities and the times they would do them. I just have them do it for one week. Then I help them schedule their homework into the open time slots. Amazingly, this works. I help them “see” the available time slots. Sometimes this involves a bit of rearranging of activities on the part of the student, but usually by the time we’re finished the student is satisfied with the homework schedule. They think it reasonable, and that’s half the battle. They don’t feel homework interferes with their life or that life interferes with their homework.

I suggest that the students tell their friends that they’re busy during the time allotted to do homework so they won’t be disturbed at that time. That shouldn’t be a big deal because they already have scheduled time to talk to friends anyway. I also suggest they don’t do any homework after 10 pm.

Some students schedule homework the same day everyday. Others schedule homework a different time every day. I leave it up to them. It has to be their plan for it to work. Of course we revisit the schedule after the first few weeks and rejig it where necessary.

The point I am trying to make here for my students is that homework can be worked into their lives. Homework doesn’t mean they have to give up the things they like or have to do. I talk about doing things in moderation- homework included. I tell them I try to achieve a balance in my life, and I think they should strive to do the same. Being a student is only part of their lives. Being a teacher is only part of mine. I think we understand one another.

Helping students schedule their homework into their distracted lives. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on February 7, 2010.

After we watch the slide show,  I have my students set their own short term, medium term and long term goals using the graphic organizer below.

Smart Goal Setting Organizer

If you’d like this as well,  just ask and I’ll send it to you as an attachment.

I’ve always had good results with this activity.  We will revisit their goals during the semester to see how things are going and to set more goals.

Setting SMART goals help students succeed originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on February 4, 2010.

In September, I’m going to be teaching a grade 9 applied math class, and I’ve been thinking of ways to engage my students.  See the problem is for the last few years I’ve been in a classroom with computers.  I love using computers to teach, and my students love using computers to learn. There are no computers in the  new  classroom where I’ll be teaching this grade nine class so except for the odd time that I’ll be able to book the class into the computer lab, we’re out of luck. That’s why I’m planning to introduce interactive student math notebooks in my math classes.  I’m hoping that the interactive student math notebooks will engage the students like the class blog did and  make them accountable for their own learning. A tall order, I know.

I just discovered interactive student notebooks myself this summer as I was surfing the web some what desperately.These interactive notebooks are regular spiral notebooks, not the fancy digital Smart Boards. I don’t remember how I found Mrs. Gannon’s site explaining all about interactive notebooks,  but I’m sure glad I did. Many of you  are familiar with the concept, but I wasn’t- life long learning in action. Then I found this by Kimberly Riggins about interactive math notebooks, and I was good to go. I’m not going to explain interactive student notebooks here because both Mrs. Gannon and Kimbely Riggins have done an excellent job of that,  much better than I could. I’m just going to comment on why I think they’ll work with my grade nine students.

I like interactive notebooks because they  encourage students to get involved in their own learning.  I find that my students  will let the lessons I teach just wash over them and not put too much effort into learning  if I don’t get them involved in some way.  Just sitting and listening to me lecture just doesn’t work.  My students are engaged by graphic organizers and I use  them a lot.  I also use group activities a lot.  I got the activities and graphic organizers  from  a series of  Barry Bennett workshops that I attended a few years back.   His  book Beyond Monet that he co-wrote with Carol Rolheiser is a great resource.  I use  it all the time.  If you ever get a chance to attend his workshops, go.  You won’t regret it.

Many of my students are visual learners and so really like graphic organizers and using colour to highlight certain things. Other students enjoy writing math journals and poems.  Still others like to draw.  All of these activities are part of interactive notebooks.  So I’m thinking that this strategy will work.  I’m going to have the kids use spiral notebooks so there’ll be no loose pages or fewer loose pages on the floor under their seats as they rush to the door when the bell rings.  What do you think?  Any suggestions. I need all the help I can get.  Thanks.

I’m counting on the interactive math student notebooks to do the trick. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on August 18, 2009.

My students, all but one,  loved the idea of creating a comic book to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Some of them, however,  weren’t too thrilled about having to create a storyboard to help organize their thinking.  It was definitely a good idea though.  I was able to tell right away if someone needed a bit of redirection.

As I said, not all of  my students liked having to do a storyboard first- surprise, surprise.  They kept asking if they could create the comics as they created the storyboard.  I didn’t want to dampen  their enthusiasm.  Some of them are pretty reluctant students, so I was  delighted that they were so engaged.   I thought having them create the entire  storyboard first  would help them do a better job on the assignment.  Of course,  I’m always open to negotiation if I think it will help  keep my students engaged , so I agreed to let them create part of the storyboard and part of the comic book simultaneously.  Bad move!!!  Some of the students never did finish  creating the storyboard. They  just kept on creating comics planning them on the fly.

Some  students  didn’t care that the rubric for the assignment included a storyboard that reflected the comic book and was created before the comics were created.  High marks aren’t everything for many of my students, especially at the end of the semester.  (I’ve had students tell me they aced a course when their final mark in the course was   53%. Go figure.)  They just want it all over with.  Too bad we couldn’t have a final evaluation at the beginning of the semester when they are keener.

When I think about it, I really don’t know if  not creating a storyboard made much of a difference to the quality of these kids’ work.  They just kept editing and re-editing their work as they went along. Enjoying the entire process.  Just ask them to edit an essay and see what happens.   Perhaps someone who has had more experience using storyboards in their classes can let me know if it really does make a huge difference. I encourage students to use graphic organizers to help organize thinking, but  maybe just because I find them useful doesn’t mean my students do. Maybe some students just need to get in there and muck about.

I think next time I’ll give my students a full two weeks to complete the assignment. Originally, I thought that seven classes, one for each habit, would be enough,  but it turned out that  some  students needed more time- mostly because of poor time management. What else is new!  Since  many of my students have IEPs that state they are to have extra time if they need it,  we  negotiated a new deadline  a couple of days hence. No problem.  Part of me thinks that no matter how much time I  give my students  to complete  assignments some students will  still need a couple of more days.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see next time.

Some students didn’t have computer access or rather internet access at home  so I told them they could come in during exams and finish the project.  It must be embarrassing for these kids not to have internet access when most of their classmates do. I’ll have to remember to check  about internet access with students who seem to be slow at getting Web 2.0  assignments done.

I really liked the positive energy that this assignment created in the classroom.  Some students told me they went home and created their own comics to share with family and friends. A positive note is a  great way to end the semester.

I just want to point out that my class was a grade 11/12 class of pretty street smart kids  so I wasn’t too worried if something on the Toondoo site wasn’t totally school appropriate.  Personally,   I didn’t come across anything inappropriate, and my students didn’t  draw anything to my attention either.  But, you never know,  so for younger students I might choose another cartoon generating program.  Maybe some day Toondoo will have an educational part to it  like other useful Web 2.0 sites so teachers can control what kids see while at the same time letting kids publish and read each other’s  work.

If you have any insights to share about anything I’ve said here or have any questions, I’d appreciate hearing them.

Oh yes, remember the one student who hated the idea of creating a comic book I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  His  final evaluation will be an oral one as per his IEP.

Update: Amber Johnson sent me this link

Comics in the Classroom: 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers

Thanks, Amber

The comic book assignment was a hit! originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on June 15, 2009.

Although my students are pretty digital savy seeing that most spend hours and hours online visiting Facebook, YouTube, playing online games and text messaging, I can’t assume they know about  blogs and blogging so  I show them the following video.  I love it.  They love it. As you’ll see after viewing it, Common Craft , the company who makes these educational videos, believes in the KISS principle. I believe in the KISS principle. Keep It Simple for  Students. What’s not to like!  Common Craft also has videos on TeacherTube-great when YouTube is blocked like it is at my school. Grrrr!!!!

See, wasn’t that a great video, especially for students who are visual learners or for those struggling or  reluctant readers in your class who loath the printed page.

My students are usually quite excited when I introduce the idea of a class blog.  They like the idea of  writing blog posts and having others read what they’ve  written. To  be more precise, they like  not having to write something using pen and paper, and they like knowing that someone other than their teacher will actually read what they’ve written.  In the two years that I’ve had the class blogs,  only one student has asked me not to publish some of his work.   I’ve got no problem with that. At least, he was thinking and writing.

I suspect that the kids also like the blog because when their work gets published it  looks so professional-just like the articles in the papers, magazines or even in textbooks. Some of my students have really messy handwriting and are embarrassed by it,  and some of my students  find the process  of forming letters difficult to do so they write as little as possible.  When they type their work and use the spell checker, their work looks the same as everyone else’s when it gets published.  What they’ve written doesn’t look stupid, so they don’t feel stupid. They don’t have to be embarrased. That’s definately a good thing with reluctant and struggling students.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive about having my students contribute to a class blog.  Some of them can be very creative in a michevious way- if you know what I mean.  I told my students that  I didn’t want to have to take early retirement because something went wrong.  I can honestly say there haven’t  been any problems.  More about that later.

I wasn’t only concerned about  inappropriate material appearing on the class blog, I was also concerned about student safety. I didn’t want the class blog to put my students in harm’s way.   We’ve all read the horror stories about online bullying or harassment or even worse.  Fortunately, it was easy to put all the saftey  measures in place to protect my students so there have been no problems in the past two years.

In subsequent posts, I”ll share with you how I made the class blog a safe and inviting place for my students, and why I chose the particular blogging  tool I use for my class blogs.  Oh yes, I’ll also share the letter I sent home to parents to tell them about the class blog. I got wonderful positive feedback from parents about the blog.  I’ll tell y0u more about that later too.

See you then.

The 5 W’s and the 1 H of a Classroom Blog. originally appeared on Teachers At Risk on May 10, 2009.