It was simply wonderful to meet students on Thursday. Your children are amazing! Thank you for sharing them with me, and engaging in a Learning Coach relationship with me to help your children find, explore and enjoy learning success. Thank you!
A Philosophical Insight to Mrs. Easton
I am a firm believer, "...that intelligence can be developed throughout life" (How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, by M. J. Gelb, 1998, p. 4), and that making mistakes is a pathway into learning. Mistakes, help, "...sharpen your senses, probe the depths of experience, and awakens ... powers of questioning" (Gelb, 1998, p. 9), which leads to a sense/state of confusion. This sense of confusion is where the profound dynamics of learning occurs. Please be patient with yourselves and your child as they are learning. It is totally expected and okay for students to get frustrated and need to walk away from their work to let their minds process, in the background (also known as a incubation period), as they do something else. The trick is to have students return to their work, so that they can address their confusion and problem-solve. Help each other find ways to complete assignments without forcing the work. Discipline is needed and accountability exists, without a doubt. Please let me know what you may need support in and ways in which I can support you. I cannot thank you enough for all that you do!
Google Classroom, Schedules and Agendas
Each week within our Google Classroom, at the very top, you will find our weekly agenda and a schedule. This is an outline of the assignments that will occur throughout the week. Within each assignment there are instructions and pathways that are chunked for students to work through. Students are not required to complete everything in one sitting. Each assignment is due the following week.
There are two class times set up each day, one at 8:30 am and one at 2:00 pm. While it is not mandatory that both classes be attended, information will be shared about each assignment, and teaching will occur to help students with their assignments, and build understanding of key concepts and ideas needed to be successful. There will also be two drop-in Google Meets, where anyone can attend and ask further questions about assignments and student understanding. These two drop-in meetings will occur at 10:00-10:30 am and then from 3:00 - 3:30 pm. Attendance will be taken daily through a self-check in our Google Classroom, and by the teacher in both daily classes at 8:30 am and 2:00 pm.
Please note that the daily class times and drop-in sessions are from Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, students will be working independently with access to me via email and streaming within Google Classroom (as they can on any day). The reason for the Friday class difference is due to PD Days, conference dates, and other holidays, but also to honour the half day Friday's schools have.
Communication Preferences
Please feel free to contact me throughout the day via email. I will try really hard to be timely during the day. However, in the evenings after 5:00 pm, I cannot guarantee I will be able to respond before the next morning. Please know that I value your time, efforts and communication. The reason for the email preference is that I am also working from home. I am open to conversing with you if a phone call is your preference, please just let me know in an email, and I will make every effort to accommodate your request in a timely manner.
I will also have this weekly Blog to help communicate with you about upcoming events, how things are going in the our classroom, and to share information with you. As information is shared with me regarding conference protocols, IPP meetings, and other key concerns, I will share that information here, in our community blog.
Learning Activities
Thank you for your patience as I translate my thinking and ideas into online learning opportunities and assignments. I am a very cross-curricular thinker, and truly believe in students finding meaning within their work. Some of the activities students are being asked to do, are building blocks for a bigger picture summative activity. For example, this coming week, students are being asked to find three trees within their communities that they find interesting. As we dig deeper into our science unit, Trees and Forests, students will be referring back to these trees. We will also be building other connections to Indigenous Ways of Knowing, real world math applications, and how democracy is involves complex issues: hence, the theme of being weavers of knowledge and understanding.
I would also like to invite you to consider what expertise you have, that you would be willing to share with our class to help aid in our learning. There are a number of ways that we can include your expertise, skills and talents in an online forum. Please consider what you would be willing share. For example, I cannot pretend to be a skilled music teacher, but I can increase student awareness and appreciation for music. I will use many outside sources to augment student learning in this area. If you have music skills, is there a way that we could benefit from your knowledge and wisdom? Please keep in mind, that I am not asking you to 'teach', but rather to share with us your gifts and abilities.
I am also teaming with Mrs. Matikainen from Capitan Nichola Goddard School. Between the two classes, we will have opportunities to meet and work with other students throughout the year. While our Google Classrooms are separate, there will be Google Meetings where all students are invited to participate in larger group events.
Thank you for your time and efforts! I sincerely appreciate all that you do!
Earnestly,
Dianna
