Our Mission

Our mission is to create models of learning that support and inspire collaboration in a cross-curricular, inquiry-based community.

Thursday 8 March 2012

iPads and AntiBullying at FHSS!

These PSAs were completed entirely on the ipad. they recorded and then edited with the imovie app.  So these are the final products:

Troubleshooting was: How to get songs into imovie?
icloud - didn't work
dropbox - didn't work
itunes - this worked. If they had their own itunes account with the song they wanted in it, they could log in and import the song into the ipad to use it. The other methods didn't allow the song to be imported. Some kids held two ipads together and they played the song on one and recorded it on the other...that's why some sounded better than others but at least they learned to problem solve!
Other issue: one group's video clips got deleted by another class (we've narrowed it down to Pocock's...lol)

T. Oakland


Drama 9 – created on the ipads
http://vimeo.com/37191683    Iryna’s group  * *
http://vimeo.com/37207719   Gurvir’s group
http://vimeo.com/37207289   Amanda’s group
http://vimeo.com/37208054     Tara’s group 
http://vimeo.com/37207725      Parisa’s group

Friday 2 March 2012

Blogs and iPads in Bio and Chem

Here's what Fraser Heights science teachers are saying about using blogs and iPads in bio and chem...

The use of a classroom blog has been extremely helpful in Chemistry and Biology. The use of an iPad makes it simple to keep students and parents up-to-date on all the course materials and what is going on in the classroom.  Blog postings include photos of work done on the board and handouts that allow students access to the information discussed during class. Links to power points and other documents makes it easy for a student who has been absent to keep up with their work.  Students are able to come back to class prepared and not having to play catch-up. The blog also allows students to work ahead for those who need a challenge.

Using various apps on the iPad makes lesson plans, student/parent email, attendance, and marks all easy and hand-held.  Students also must be well prepared in Chem and Bio because there is even an app used in class that randomly picks a student name to respond to questions. Students are given a mark based on their response and statistics are kept as to how they progress.  Students are coming to class more prepared because they know it is possible they may be next to be picked!

Thursday 1 March 2012

Learning Design Initiative in Explorations 8 - An Update

- Mr. John Kelly, Explorations 8 Learning Design Project
This project began at the beginning of the semester (February 2012) - See Link in "Projects"

    When I first embarked on this exploration I was heavily influenced by the Learning Designs grant that we had recieved at Fraser Heights.  I was most curious about the idea of cross-curricular projects and was really trying to find a place in the school where this could be put into practice without disturbing the timetable.  As a teacher of an explorations 8 strand that incorporates Art/ InfoTech / Drama I realized this just might be the perfect place to start.  I've always felt that each element of these 3 courses really leant themselves well to one another.  Since I am teaching this class with one colleague (Angele Thibault) and am responsible for each of the three strands I felt that I could blend the courses in a new and inovative way, without causing any disruption in the timetabling at our school.  The result has been very exciting for me.  With the help of Angele, I have created a series of Summative projects that tether the curriculum for each of the three strands of the explorations B curriculum together. 
    The purpose of this post is essentially to share how this is developing.  I'm really enjoying watching the ideas come to life; being the first time I have ever done something quite like this, the process has been quite organic and things have developed with a living and breathing energy of their own. The students have been truly excited about the process, although I have to note that it took a little bit of time to get the students accustomed to a class that rotated classroom space on a weekly or even daily basis. 
     One of the major challenges so far has been the timing and organization of the class in the midst of attempting to cover the core curriculum, of three subjects, necessary to complete our first project.  We decided to use Edmodo as our virtual classroom to keep the students connected to each other during group work and allow for us to update the students outside of class in a streamlined fashion.  The students have really taken to the virtual classroom and are only disappointed that it doesn't work more like facebook (something to consider for the future). 
    The first project we have completed has been an interesting combination of each class and has involed an explorations of a dramatic concept called TABLEAU.  The idea of the frozen picture was expanded with the student to capture the elements of story and plot.  The students were asked to prepare a plot for a story and then begin to story board 20 forzen pictures (Tableau) that would be essential to communicate to an audience their ideas.  Following the story boarding the students had to begin considering the compositional make up of their photographs.  We used iPads to take the photos and then transplanted them into keynote to test the strength of the stories plan.  The students had a lot of fun with this process.  It was really fun to do photo shoots and to get them to understand the concept of backgrounds, props, costumes, lighting and composition.  We extracted the photos from the iPads with the use of dropbox (a very handy tool when working with iPads if you want to keep the work you do).  Following this step the students used Powerpoint to create a slide show which will culminate in the presentation of a polished mulit-media experience.  The students also learened how to cut music in Audacity and then finish by layering the music in their PowerPoint to communicate tone and emotion as an aid to telling the story they created.  Our presentations are next week and I'm really excited to see what comes of it.  (Pictures will be posted!) 
    The class has also begun a research project which is titled The History of Explorations.  We've covered how to use Prezi effectively and are now going to apply our research to a Prezi format.  The students will create, with partners, a dynamic exploration of Histrorical and noteable figures, movements, artists, playwrights, software and hardware that relate to each course.  The result will be a wealth of information that should (hopefully) aid in each students further understanding and appreciation for Art, InfoTeach and Dramatic arts. 
   Next we head into working on Silent Films.... I'll keep you posted.