Slides created on the Elementary Connected Classrooms Project and uploaded for those who would like additional information for Edmedia AACE Conference June 2013.

1. 1
Elementary Connected Classrooms
School District 74 (Gold Trail), British Columbia, Canada
School District 74 (Gold Trail), British Columbia, Canada

2. 2
History and Context
 A project that started four years ago and is unique
to Gold Trail
 Was created to connect students within our district
who are geographically separated from each other
and create a larger peer group beyond the walls of
their classrooms, schools and communities
 Creates new learning partnerships between
students, teachers, and the larger communities
 Uses technology in a transformative way to
enhance the learning experiences for students,
increasing engagement and motivation

3. 3
Our Three Sites
3

4. 4
Aislinn Mulholland’s Grade 4/5 Class
at Ashcroft Elementary

5. 5
at Lytton Elementary

6. 6
Errin Gregory’s Grade 5 Class at
Cayoosh Elementary in Lillooet

7. 7
In our classrooms…
 Class set of laptops (one for each student)
 Video conferencing equipment
 Desktop sharing software (Brigit)
 Ceiling-mounted Projectors and Smartboard
 Shared Connected Classrooms Moodle site
 Digital Cameras
 iPod Nanos for audiobooks
 Headphones for each student
 USB drives for each student

8. 8
How We Connect
 Students engage in four teacher-focused
instructional lessons a week
 Students also connect to share and explore new
Moodle forums weekly
 connect on Moodle at school and at home
 Students meet three times a year (once at each
site) for Connected Classrooms gatherings
 focus is networking and building relationships
 Classes share a monthly news broadcast

9. 9
What Connected Classrooms
Instruction Looks Like:
 Lessons are skills-based, project-based and
cross-curricular
 Each teacher has a teaching focus based on
individual strengths, passions, and expertise
 Aislinn Mulholland : Reading and Writing Power
 Errin Gregory: Digital Photography
 Tarla-Rae Sayenchuk: MindUP & AVID Strategies

10. 10
Moodle Site
10

11. 11
Moodle Site:
Collaborative Hub Online
Collaborative Hub Online
• password-protected website where teachers and
students can communicate content and share
online.
• available to the students, parents and teachers
• contains a variety of weekly forums, including
online literature circles

12. 12
Weekly Current Events Forum
 Each week students engage in discussions
about current events. They are given a prompt
on a developing topic, and are posed a deep
thinking question.
 The core idea of this forum is that real-world
problems capture students' interest and lead to
serious thinking as the students acquire and
apply new knowledge in a problem-solving
context

13. 13
Reading Power Deep Thinking Question
 Each week students are posed a thought provoking
question that encourages critical and creative
thinking, as well as inferring skills.
 Students can reply to the question with their own
thoughts and opinions, or can take the discussion
further with by asking their own question related to
Deep Thinking question of the week.
 Students are engaged in thinking through an online
conversation, strengthening their ability to reason
their way through a question or problem.

14. 14
Digital Photography Forum
 weekly photo posted with link to source
 basic critique questions asked:
 What’s good about the photo?
 What’s bad about the photo?
 What could be better?
 questions connect to the Visual Arts curriculum

15. 15
Parent Section
 There is an section on our Moodle site that
provides information that supports the use of
technology in the 21st
Century Classroom:
 Moodle criteria
 Online safety
 Technology performance standards
 Media content

16. 16
Inquiry-Based Learning
16

17. 17
Year Long Inquiry Project
 Students have chosen a topic based on their
own interests and engage in a weekly focused
lesson on the inquiry process.
 The goal for this project is for students to
become experts on their topic, and experience
deep learning.
 Used as a context within which to teach all
curriculum areas
 Students will share their work at a Year End
Celebration of Learning.

18. 18
Connected Classrooms Gatherings

19. 19

20. 20

21. 2121

22. 22
Online Literature Circles
22

23. 23
Online Literature Circles: Goals
 Our goal for online literature circles is to
motivate students to engage in a variety of texts
and share this experience in an online
community of learners.
 These circles encourage and develop a joy of
reading, aid in reading comprehension, and
critical thinking skills.

24. 24
Online Literature Circles: Books
 Students are given a wide variety of books to
chose from based on a specific theme.
 Books include a variety of text: fiction, non-
fiction, picture books, First Nations Literature.
 Themes for novels this year were Heroes,
Student Choice, Teacher Choice

25. 25
Book Talks
 The book choices are introduced during Book
Talk Week.
 These book talks build background knowledge
and spark personal interest.
 Summaries of these talks are also posted on
Moodle for student’s reference.

26. 26
Online Literature Circles: Forums
 The discussion forums and book talks are
moderated by teachers and principals; each
book leader takes a different book and poses a
weekly deep thinking question.
 Students read independently throughout the
week, and are responsible for posting weekly.

27. 27
Find more information here:
http://about.me/ConnectedLearning
27