Drum Roll, Please! Here are the Details!

We have made some changes to our original plan. With the support of our amazingly insightful school psychologist (Maxine M.), we have streamlined our data collection. An LVS Engagement and Satisfaction Survey has been created to administer pre- and post- project and Maplewood will provide us with attendance data. Originally, we were going to collect literacy and numeracy data too; however,  Maxine felt that because of the short duration (April to June), it would be impossible for children’s cognitive processes and achievement levels to show changes. Furthermore, if a child has a true Learning Disability, they will be even slower to show growth – three months is just not enough time! However, we still can access informal achievement data through our school-wide assessment tools, for interest sake. At LVS, we collect individual student information in October and May each year to informally assess literacy and numeracy levels.  

The Satisfaction and Engagement survey will be administered after Spring Break and then again in the last week of June. We hope to see a rise in happiness and interest in our students!

Makin' it Stick!

In our grade 6 classroom, we are talking about making our learning stick in ways that are meaningful to each individual.  We had a class meeting and decided to make anchor charts to help us "walk the walk" after we "talked the talk." This chart was completely conceptualized and created by one of our students who best reads with his ears. I am very proud of him, because he honoured his strengths and learning styles with this chart. There are pictures and colours for visual learners; movable and 3-D pieces for tactile learners; and words for the word smart! He was also able to identify 4 things that help him as a learner which demonstrates some self smarts!

Another Delivery! 

Changes to the project are being contemplated too. Our school psychologist has some suggestions for me! Stay tuned...

Look What Came Today!

The PLAN

It turns out that we get to start Makin' It Mainstream at LVS! Our school just received word that we have received a $900.00 school-based Seed Grant from ManACE! We are very excited and have already submitted purchase orders for 2 NEO2  units; 1 Mobile Scanner ; and 2 iPod Touches . We will also have access to some iPads already in service at our school. We are hoping provide tools to help deepen understanding and build self-esteem in students who have achieved minimal success in school.

To get things started, an LVS Engagement and Satisfaction Survey has been created. It has 14 questions to assess how interested and happy each student is at school. There is room at the bottom for anecdotal comments for students to list what they feel they need to be successful at school. It has a Likert-type scale, and we will assign each response a numerical value. The higher the total, the more interested and happy that student is in school. It's not scientific, but will generate some useful information for us to use with our students. 
Ten students have been formally identified for this project, but the benefits will reach others through role-modelling and conversations. Attendance will be tracked using Maplewood to see if there are any fluctuations. In a perfect world, attendance would improve, but the time span is rather short. Pre- and post-writing samples and a pre- and post-ear and eye reading samples will be collected. An Excel spreadsheet is ready to house this information. We are looking forward to carrying out this little bit of research in our school!
Hats off to Mr. Hordeski and the grade 6, 7 and 8 students who helped make the digital story! Thank you for promoting learning for all at LVS!

Let's Make it Mainstream!

Our hope at school...

NAME CHANGE

Not sure if it was a smart idea or not, but I decided to change the name of my blog today to better reflect my intentions.  While reading is very important; good learning is about writing and being numerate too. Technology needs to be mainstream, hence the name change! I think that with one follower it won't do too much damage, right 56Zander?! :)