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Self-directed Learning

I finally did it! How I was dreading this 10mn video but in the end, that was a powerful way of reflecting. I enjoyed working that way with my students. I enjoyed documenting even though I felt sometimes that I was missing some of my students’ learning. Documenting and teaching at the same time is really tricky for me. While putting my video together, I noticed that I didn’t have any shot of my students choosing their topics. Yet I remembered we had a lot of interesting conversations going on in the classroom during that time I regretted also not being able to use SWAY as I did with the first Genius Hour last year. As we started the project early in the school year, my students didn’t have an email address until mid-October, therefore their presentation was already well advanced. [embed]https://youtu.be/CXM6tZ5teZk[/embed] New beginnings Coetail gave me the little  big push that I needed to feel comfortable with Educational technology, how to use it and what to address. The programme I
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#smartertogether

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Before Coetail, I was a happy lurker, connected to a lot of social networks. I used them to find information, to stay in the loop. I was following people with the same interests as mine. Tom Whitby explained in Okay, I’m connected now what?  For me a connected educator is one who uses technology and social media to personalize learning for both personal and professional growth. The big picture in being a connected educator is the idea that you as the educator are first connected to the general flow of information, and then secondly, focused on specific connections to drill down to the detailed needs specific to you, or your students’ needs. [caption id="attachment_473" align="aligncenter" width="300"] flickr photo by Jurgen Appelo https://flickr.com/photos/jurgenappelo/6797252840 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license[/caption] When first joining the Coetail community, my only preoccupation was to read as much as possible, to write my blog posts a
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“Wow! "Moment - Popup Makerspace in French

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Isn’t it wonderful when you hear your students having those moments? Last spring, I set up a popup maker space. For a whole morning, my students tinkered, made, built and played with scribbling machines . “The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge” Seymour Pappert. I’m telling you, setting this popup Makerspace was a big thing for me. It involved disrupting the “usual” French learning, disrupting the whole classroom. As I organised my room that morning, my mind was spinning with “ what if..”, what if the students can’t do it, what if it all fails, what if it’s too easy for them??? Added to that, the funny look on my colleagues’ faces didn’t help to relax! Yet it was a completely and truly amazing morning! How did I get organised... [caption id="attachment_470" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Photo M. Brutel[/caption] I was lucky enough to attend Learning2 Europe in Milan last spring and to
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Reflections on the first minutes of Genius Hour

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New school year, new beginning! Last year, I tried my very first genius hour and it was such a success that I decided to work on it for my final project. [caption id="attachment_458" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cocochewy.fr via https://www.facebook.com/ChewyPhotos[/caption] My plans were ready and I was hoping to follow this quiet path! The brainstorming of the ideas went very well and we had a lot of topics to choose from. I was concerned that this part of the project took a lot of time but my students were quick to pick up a topic and confident on how to approach it. When my grade 5 students came into the classroom for the first session, I was delighted to use the new devices that the school acquired! [caption id="attachment_459" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by M. Brutel[/caption] Why Genius hour in French class Authenticity, engagement and students’ voices It first brings authenticity in the classroom. And
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Genius hour in French as a final project for Course 5

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[caption id="attachment_455" align="aligncenter" width="300"] flickr photo by mrsdkrebs https://flickr.com/photos/mrsdkrebs/6900256573 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license[/caption] Digital story telling and blogging with my students were until recently my main ideas for my final project. But I wanted to use my final project to have my students really being creative. While I was wondering how I could have it worked out, I went to #Learning 2 Europe. Since then I have two bright ideas that I equally like. Genius Hour in French Creating a game with Scratch and Makey Makey : the upper primary grade would create it to the early years to play. I’d like them to create a “Operation” like as they both know, learn or will learn vocabulary about the body. As I’m still discovering Scratch, I decided to give up on the latter to focus on the Genius Hour. Here is my UBD planner. Why do you think this unit is a good possibility for my course 5 project ?
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de-VICES: how many are enough?

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Where am I now? [caption id="attachment_426" align="aligncenter" width="300"] flickr photo by eSeL.at https://flickr.com/photos/eselat/5891486456 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license[/caption] While writing my posts for Course 4, I had a feeling of déjà vu ! So I went back to the Course 1 posts as it’s where the déjà vu comes from. What has changed for me? My use of technology was mainly teacher-centered. In my post TIOM Try It On Monday, I explained that I used my IWB as a TV screen, the SMART Notebook software for interactive game and “Plickers”. Since then I have introduced my students to “Quizzlet” that they play on the IWB and to “Kahoot”. That’s for the teacher part. I like those tools as the students are still very excited about it. At first I thought it was because it was new but the excitement and the engagement are still there! No, what has really changed is my way of thinking: it's me, technology and the students. I've re
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What will change because of technology?

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What is changing because of technology: education or the educators? This week’s prompt gives me a lot to reflect on! That’s another good thing about Coetail: the reflection part! Reflecting on our learning is already a change in education and it is even more visible and doable because of technology. Obviously, I’ve always reflected on my teaching but not as much as I do now. I’ve never blogged about it. [caption id="attachment_420" align="aligncenter" width="300"] flickr photo by omran.jamal https://flickr.com/photos/62855773@N08/10757491534 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license[/caption] Reflection is, I think, part of the growth mindset and if we want changes to happen, don’t we, educators, need to have a growth mindset? Easy to say when we know how scary tech integration can be sometimes. Carol Dweck, author of “ Mindset ” explained in Recognizing and overcoming false growth mindset We have come to realize that every one of us is a mixture of bo
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