Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Welcome to our Tech Application.

Innovative Learning Design Project
Grant Application




Building a New Culture of Inquiry with the Help of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy







School:  Sullivan Heights Secondary                               Date  April 20th, 2011
Sheila Morissette Principal
Bal Ranu Vice Principal
Robert Whitham, Vice Principal




Names and roles of team members.
Baljit Ranu (Vice Principal – Sullivan Heights)
Nicole Painchaud (Computer Facilitator/Information Technology Department Head, Professional Development Committee Co-Chair, Provincial Inquiry Network)
Jennifer Spain (Languages Department Head, Professional Development Committee Co-Chair)
Robert Dewinetz (Social Studies/BASES/Planning Teacher)
Ryan Neufeld (Athletic Director/BASES/PE Teacher)
Shawn Stroh (BASES Department Head)
Heidi Nielsen (English Department Head, Barrie Bennett Chair, Developing Readers Co-Chair, Gifted Facilitator)
Jerry Penner (Provincial Inquiry Network, Social Studies teacher, English Teacher)
Carley Brockaway (Acting Math Department Head, Barrie Bennett Group).
Gro Averill (Life Skills Teacher/ Developing Readers Group Chair, Provincial Inquiry Network)
Susan Rogerson (Career Department Head)
Karen Barry (Home Economic and Textiles Teacher)
Shelley Blackwell (Department Head Home Economics)
Lisa Leonard (Department Head Science)
Warren Edwards (Science Teacher)
Roger Hayward (Teacher Librarian)
Dean Pacheco (Department Head Counselling, A/P Psychology Teacher)

COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY:

Describe some specific collaborative practices and structures used by members of your school Community.  How will team members work together to address critical questions throughout this project?

Sullivan Heights’ mission is to create a learning community where students can explore their personal potential by participating in quality learning experiences, prepare for a lifetime of challenges and opportunities, and develop a personal vision of a preferred future.  As teachers, to continue to fulfill our mission, we need to continue providing quality and innovative methods of instruction and assessment for the 21st century learner.

At Sullivan Heights there have been pockets of learning around the common interests of teachers who are focusing on the research being conducted at the school district, provincial and national levels.  Interests include using a variety of assessment practices that meet the needs of individual learners, using new technology to improve learning and assessment, using a variety of teaching strategies and techniques to improve student learning and using Bloom’s Taxonomy (creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying and understanding and remembering) to create higher level thinking in our learners.  To achieve these goals teachers at Sullivan Heights are considering the metacognition for learner, nimble and responsive teaching to making learning a way of life, inquiry based learning using thoughtful strategies and looking for evidence of deeper learning to create life-long learners, and learning collaboratively through networks such as PLNs, Network for Performance Based Schools, and developing readers among others.   One thing that all teacher groups at Sullivan Heights have in common is the desire to meet the individual learning needs of each student in our school, the love of learning and the dedication to the growth and success of our students.

To assist Sullivan Heights in meeting these goals we have developed the following Inquiry Question:
·       How can we at Sullivan Heights help Students in the 21st Century become more engaged, more active in learning through the use of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and 21st Century Assessment used in the world today? 

Participants of this Inquiry have more specific questions of their own:

Teacher
Department
Inquiry Question
Susan Rogerson
Career and Planning10
How do we make sure students have the knowledge and the ability to understand the permanence of the Internet highway and the awareness of how to interact in a responsible and safe manner while online? (similar to Roger Hayward)
Nicole Painchaud
Information Technology
How can E-Portfolios on Facebook show higher levels of thinking and learning, using them for authentic assessment?
How can Web 2.0 tools be used for authentic assessment and enhancing  student engagement? (similar to Jennifer Spain)

Ryan Neufield
Physical Education
How can Twitter be used more effectively with students in our learning environment? 
Jeff Vaughan
Physical Education
What if our only assessment goal was to have students own their education, what would happen? (similar to Shelley Blackwell)
Jennifer Spain
Languages
How do Web 2.0 tools affect the role of the teacher and engagement of the students in different areas of second language study? (similar to Nicole Painchaud)
Teachers taking part in the Barrie Bennett group
Various
How do graphic organizers change the manner of teaching by the teacher and learning by the student?
To what extent does the use of the same graphic organizer in different curricular areas help the student achieve mastery of that learning tool?
Robert Dewinetz
Social Studies
How can Ipad Apps motivate and facilitate collaborative critical thinking?
Roger Hayward
Library and Law
In what ways can we give the google generation the tools to navigate and develop web skills for the Information highway? (similar to Susan Rogerson)
Shelley Blackwell
Home Economics - tourism
To what extent does interview assessment engage students in self-directed learning?  (similar to Jeff Vaughan)
Dean Pacheco

Carley Brockaway
A/P Phychology

Math
How do the use of i clickers provide all students the opportunity to be engaged in the curriculum and produce immediate feedback to questions, inquiries, and positions, in an inclusive and non-threatening environment, while providing teachers with instant data to guide assessment for learning.

Jerry Penner/ Heidi Neilson
Social Studies/English
How does the use of feedback instead of grades affect student performance in Geography and English?
To what extent does giving students the opportunity to revise work multiple times (with teacher feedback) help improve students’ overall writing skills?
To what extent does encouraging students to use technology, such as word processing programs, Inspiration, or the internet for research improve their overall product?
Shawn Stroh and various SEA’s in the department
BASES
How can using Web 2.0 tools and live feeds from various locations enrich the learning and capabilities of BASES students in their understanding of the world at large? (similar to Nicole Painchaud)
Various teachers
Science
How can fully utilized document readers enhance the learning of students during science experiments?
Shelley Blackwell
Karen Barry
Gro Averill
Home Economics
Will Document Readers give higher comprehension of food and sewing demonstrations compared to using the demonstration mirror?
Sheila Morissette,
Jerry Penner
Nicole Painchaud
Melissa Horner
Gro Averill
Network of Performance Based Schools  (http://npbs.ca )
To what extent will student achievement improve when using feedback and performance assessment guidelines and tools instead of straight marks to assess and monitor the level of student comprehension of the learning outcomes in Math, English, Home Economics, Social Studies and Information Technology?
Heidi Nielsen
Gro Averill
Erin Pacheco
Avery Thurston
Lori van Niekerk
Nicole Painchaud
Bal Ranu

Developing Readers
School Question: 
How will the Developing Reader’s team small manageable steps and model them to staff to impact staff to buy in to literacy initiatives?

Individual classroom question:
How will sharing learning intentions and using descriptive feedback impact my students engagement in their learning?

















The information in this table demonstrates that many of the inquiry questions overlap, from different practices of AFL to integrating the document reader into instruction.  Many teachers are looking at a variety of Web 2.0 tools, collaborating on the explorations of these tools, what they can bring to the learning environment, the positive and negative aspects when using these tools in the classroom, and together assessing their worth.   To assist with the collaboration process this inquiry group will meet regularly to discuss learning practices and assessment and share student exemplars that demonstrate the successes and failures of their inquiry. Smaller groups with similar focuses will meet more often to collaborate, share ideas, and support each other in their endeavors. This will include what they have learned, what is happening in the classroom, how to improve results, some “Ah-ha” moments and discussions of failures and how to avoid them next time.  Release days for this collaboration will be provided during the school year, giving time for members with similar interests to collaborate and share.  This cost has been included in the budget section of the report.

Online sharing through twitters will give instant updates and feedback.  Communication online through blogs, Wikis and Twitter or other sharing media has been chosen by some teachers to facilitate their reflective practices.  Evidence gathering will also be done through anecdotal reports, and daily observations.  The computer facilitator will coordinate any technology concerns and assist in training members in the usage of the various media for gathering of data and general computer concerns.  Ryan Neufeld and Robert Dewinetz are resident experts in the field of Twitter and will train and coordinate all aspects of Twitter for the group. 

How will the project enhance student engagement and promote /extend student learning? What learning design have you chosen and why?
Students have shifted in their way of thinking according the BC Ministry of Education[1]. Students today are texting, emailing, tweeting, face booking, blogging, video chatting, and playing realistic games with others across the country or across the world for extended periods of time.  They are familiar with receiving instant, real time action and updates.  According to the Ratheon study, 72 percent of U.S. middle school students spend more than three hours each day outside 
of school in front of a TV, mobile phone or computer screen rather than doing homework or other academic-related activities. The study found that students spend a lot of time in front of a screen doing one or more of the following activities: 
watching TV, playing video games, sending text messages or using the computer (for non-school related tasks)[2].  Teachers need to explore ways to use students’ digital knowledge to enhance learning, and to use these tools to motivate students.  When teachers provide students with a greater variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge and their learning, students will take ownership of their learning, and begin to develop the habits of lifelong learners.

The focus of the 21st Century skill[3] set is critical thinking and problem solving, communication, creativity and innovative contextual learning, collaboration and information media literacy.  The life skills set for the 21st Century learner includes:  leadership, ethics, accountability adaptability, personal productivity, personal responsibility, people skills, self-direction and social responsibility.  To be a 21st Century teacher, we need to teach the students to think and rethink, to create, to analyze and to authenticate knowledge learned digitally, then to apply this knowledge to their experiences.  Students in today’s world are digital learners; we at Sullivan Heights need to be as well.  What do students need to learn at Sullivan Heights to become part of a 21st Century School of Learning?   What is the pedagogical DNA (building blocks)[4] for schooling in the 21st Century?  This will give the teachers at Sullivan Heights an opportunity to explore new pedagogical process looking at Bloom’s revised Digital Taxonomy and how to assess this new philosophy to improve student engagement (see Appendix A).

Teachers need to entice students to use some of the time they are watching TV, sending text messages, playing video games and other non-school related tasks for educational purposes.  Don’t change the task, change the purpose.  Through the use of elements such as challenges, human interest stories or humor teachers can capture the interest of their students.   The use of social media in collaborative projects  and sharing,  in discussions outside of the classroom  showcasing work, expressing opinions, hypothesizing, analyzing and critiquing or other formats that may become available in the future motivate students to be involved.  See Appendix B for examples of different digital tools that can be used at different levels of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

Considering Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, teachers can and will be learning how to enrich the creative experience and learning within their classrooms.  This improved creativity and higher-level thinking can be achieved through the use of a variety of tools, both digital and non-digital.  By exploring ideas and relationships between words using tools such as Wordle, planning using graphic organizers, producing and podcasting using tools like Garage Band and iTunes, revising and storytelling using iDVD,  iMovie or Dvolver, web development using Sharepoint, Skyping or Elluminating to interview experts around the world, collaborative digital storytelling using Storybird, or team building and collaboration with EdiStorm, students are able to use a powerful range of tools that not only provide them with information but also prepares them to use their knowledge and 21st century literacy skills in new and powerful ways.  Other possibilities include using technology such as Facebook to read in French or Spanish, virtual flashcards to allow students to assess their own learning, mind maps or other graphic organizers to show understanding, threaded discussions in Outlook or similar programs to have debates and follow discussions, or bringing the world into the classroom through the use of 360 Cities or webcams.  As the project unfolds, teachers will continue to research and use new tools that become available.  A summary of the tools used, lesson plans and exemplars, assessment strategies and discussions as staff and students go through the process will be documented and shared online.  An example of a possible format for this sharing is at http://sullivanheights21stcentury.blogspot.com/; however the group has not made a final decision as to the exact format that will be used for our online sharing.

These tasks are designed to enhance higher orders of thinking and create life-long learners, the goal of teaching at our school.  The premise as always in education is to move along the continuum from Lower-Order Thinking to Higher-Order Thinking levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy.  To accomplish all of the above aspirations, we will begin implementation of the ideology of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy to enhance our teaching strategies and incorporate the theories of differentiated instruction into classroom practice.  This will move teaching away from a teacher-centered structure to a new framework that incorporates a variety of strategies to engage all learners and prepares them with tools that will move them effectively into the 21st century workplace.  The use of a new range of teaching tools and techniques requires that teachers explore the use of different formative assessment tools such as performance assessment or constructed response items. In addition to these tools, the increased use of student self-assessment will lead to greater student involvement in the assessment process, and give them ownership of their learning process.


CONNECTION TO EXISTING WORK

How will the team members’ work on this project connect to and extend ongoing priorities and passions at
your school? What have been the catalysts for innovation at your school?

At Sullivan Heights there have been pockets of learning around the common interests of teachers who are focusing on the research being conducted at the school district, provincial and national levels.  The Physical Education Department has been researching and developing online Personal Learning Networks through Twitter and blogging.  The Barrie Bennett Group has been conducting research on the usage of graphic organizers and using these graphic organizers in their classrooms, reflecting back to the group, and developing a plan for future use of graphic organizers (this work is ongoing and will continue).  The Developing Readers group has been focusing on developing proficient readers using a wide range of strategies that trigger the cognitive process of readers and enhancing literacy strategies throughout the entire school and on implementing teacher modeling to improve literacy education.   Math, English and Information Technology have been using free web sites to develop communication links with parents and the community at large.  Fine Arts and Media, Independent Studies and English are using portfolios and starting to use e-portfolios to give students an opportunity to self-reflect, as well as experience practices utilized in the business world and within Post Secondary Institutions.  Social Studies and Physical Education are using Student Lead inquiry based learning to increase the engagement of their students.  BASES believes in bring the outside world into the classroom, through virtual tours, and outside cameras so the students can experience and learn more about life outside of the Sullivan Heights Community, both locally, nationally, and internationally.  The Network of Performance Based Schools Group (Provincially based inquiry network) has been investigating different means and manners of performance assessment that focuses more on feedback then on actual grades.  Many of the staff continues to explore various assessment practices with Kathleen Gregory and George Clulow and the Building Resiliency to increase Graduation Rates using the 40 Developmental Assets presented to us by Mark Littlefield.

All of these groups have been and will continue with this work and strive to increase the sharing of this knowledge both inside of Sullivan Heights as well as with the educational community at large.  Each group has been focused on improving student learning in different exploratory manners, including technology, Web 2.0 tools, assessment exploration and future possible changes to educational practices. 


ACTION PLAN:

Describe your plans for innovative design in your school. How will learning be different for students? For teachers?

To be 21st Century teachers, we need to tap into the existing knowledge and skills of students and teach them to think and rethink, to create, to analyze and authenticate knowledge learned digitally, and then to apply it to their experiences.  Students in today’s world are digital learners, we at Sullivan Heights need to be as well.  Changing instructional practices requires that we examine the way we currently do things and ask ourselves questions such as what students need to learn at school to become 21st century learners, and what is the pedagogical DNA for schooling in the 21st century?  Teachers must try to build upon what is already there.  Sullivan Heights is now looking at revising our learning philosophy of Bloom’s taxonomy (1956) to Lorin Anderson’s revision of it to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy (2001), utilizing a greater variety of teaching strategies and exploring different assessment techniques to ensure the success of this practice with students.

Instructional Strategies
Instructional Approaches
Indirect instruction is mainly student centered. This strategy includes methods such as inquiry, induction, problem solving, decision making, and discovery.

·       Student lead-learning
·       Constructivism
·       Portfolio based learning/assessment
·       Differentiated Instruction
·       Performance assessment
·       Graphic Organizers
·       Critical thinking
·       Project-based learning
·       Open-ended questioning
·       Guided Practice
·       Formal Assessment strategies

Interactive instruction relies heavily on discussion and sharing among participants. The range of groupings and interactive methods include total class discussions, small group discussions or projects, or student pairs or triads working on assignments together.

Experiential learning is inductive, learner centered, and activity oriented. The emphasis in experiential learning is on the process of learning and not on the product. Personalized reflection about an experience and the formulation of plans to apply learning to other contexts are critical factors in effective experiential learning. Experiential learning greatly increases understanding and retention in comparison to methods that solely involve listening, reading, or even viewing (McNeil & Wiles, 1990). Students are usually more motivated when they actively participate and teach one another by describing what they are doing. 

Independent study refers to the range of instructional methods which are purposefully provided to foster the development of individual student initiative, self-reliance, and self-improvement. This learning is usually student lead.



With this in mind, the action plan we are considering is three fold and incorporates philosophy, teaching and assessment. 


Considerations:

In order for Bloom’s digital taxonomy to work, a number of factors need to be considered when exploring the skills needed for students to become 21st Century learners.
The 1st consideration is the tools to be used.  One must choose tools that enhance the curriculum and the student’s ability to learn, not just the tools that are eye catching and seductive but do not enhance learning.  Prezi is an exciting tool that swirls and moves and integrates videos but unless the learning criteria are clearly stated and students understand what is expected from them, the tool itself could be useless.  Although we want to use technology tools to engage students in their learning through familiar or interesting tools, they must be applicable to the learning goals.   We hope that by using both technological and non-technological tools in a positive and productive manner, we will help to prepare our students for lifelong learning.

The 2nd consideration is the capacity of the network and the technology that we have in the school today.  We are limited in the wireless capabilities and the number of computers we can have online in our school.  Students have access to more modern technology, such as iPads, iPhones, faster computers, and newer software, and they wish to use these tools instead of those provided by the school.  We are presently in a position of deciding to continually use a large portion of our budget to replace school computers, or to let students bring in their own technology and open up our infrastructure to facilitate this.  At present our wireless system is dropping connections and reconnecting to other devices because of the large number of students using the wireless system at our school.  This is causing problems with our computers on wheels, the teachers who are using wireless connections for laptops, LCD machines and document readers. Every student in the classroom needs to have the ability to retrieve, process, synthesize and publish information digitally through blogs, emails, instant messaging, or video and other handheld technologies if the teacher or the curriculum requires it for their learning experience.

The 3rd consideration is that not all teachers are equipped with the knowledge and experience of the digital age.  Change takes time and what we are attempting to accomplish will begin over the two period of the two years covered by the grant, but it will take numerous years to accomplish.  The computer facilitator and other members of this team will be available to assist in the training, mentoring and development of staff, both those who have been at Sullivan Heights for a while, and new staff coming into the school.

List of Actions:

The premise of turning our school into a 21st century learning environment will take more than just two years.  We will be evolving and reassessing where our group is on a monthly basis, as well as at the end of each year.  From this information we will reassess our action plan and make any changes necessary to be incorporated for Year Two and beyond.  It is recognized that not everyone at the school will necessarily be at the same place along the continuum of change, and that changes will take time to implement effectively. The following is a list of actions detailing some of the changes we are considering at Sullivan Heights, in no particular order at this time.

Action A:  Developing an intensive staff professional development program that focuses on Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and different assessment practices

Using in-house experts where available, teachers will be trained in the use of digital tools such as Twitter, blogging, Prezi, StoryBird, document readers, SmartBoards, online tests, performance assessment, portfolio assessment and student directed learning.  We have experts in our school who have already started to investigate these instructional practices and can share their experiences, successes and failures.
We will also use in-house experts where available in training teachers to use a variety of  non-technological tools such as graphic organizers and a variety of assessment practices.  We will continue with the Barrie Bennett Group and Assessment for Learning Group in their exploration of practices in a variety of areas.

We will use outside experts from the district’s Research and Evaluation Department, which promotes the use of research to improve evidence-based practices and sound decision making.  They improve research literacy through workshops and dialogues.  We will be looking into this department coming to our school to help teachers understand data gathering processes.

SEAS have asked for training to be developed for any Web 2.0 tools they find would be helpful for their students, and technical support when using the tools.  The SEAS want to meet with experts in the area of different Web 2.0 tools, and discuss which ones would be effective in aiding the educational group of their charge, and then to learn these tools as a group so they have a repertoire of applications to choose from to integrate into the student’s collection of tools of assistance.

Action B:  Informing Parents

A letter of intent to parents should be included in the newsletter at the start of the year, informing parents of the new changes happening to our school.  Knowledge should be exchanged at any given moment both by the administration of the school and by teachers who are doing the inquiry.. 

Each teacher should also inform the classes who are participating in the inquiry of what is happening, and the importance of what the teacher is trying to do. By asking students for their consent to participate in the inquiry, they become motivated to work to the best of their ability, making the research more valid.

Updates and question periods should happen at PAC meetings, making sure that the community around the students are all in agreement with these changes.

Action C:  Mentorship Program

When creating the mentorship program the staff must questions such as:
1.     What are the goals of the mentoring program?
2.     What functions will the mentor have in the group?
3.     Who should be mentors?
4.     How will mentors be prepared?
5.     Who should be the mentees?
6.     How will the mentees be prepared?
7.     How will matching of mentors and mentees occur?
8.     How will the school recognize and value the mentoring?
9.     How will we assess the effectiveness of the program?
10.  How will individual mentoring relationships be evaluated?

We are currently looking into models of mentorship programs. Staff will volunteer to mentor in a specific area of study.  People who wish to learn more in regards to that area of study can team up with a mentor. At any point in time, once a mentee feels strong in a particular area of study, he or she can join up with another mentor to continue to grow in another area.  All mentor/mentee relationships will be voluntary, and in no way forced.  The motivation to learn is not only for students but for staff as well.

Action D:  The creation of forums/message board

The creation of forums or message boards where students and teachers can interact outside the classroom environment in a productive and subject-oriented online space will enhance learning and give it meaning beyond the classroom setting. The conversation is not subject to geographic or time constraints; this allows for the opportunity to reflect and discuss in an asynchronistic environment.

Action E:  Sharing resources and experiences

Giving release time will allow for sharing of ideas and practises that have worked with fellow colleagues who are interested.  At staff meetings, the enquiry group will have the opportunity to share experiences and learning in their area of study with the entire school and give the opportunity to mentor someone else. Within department meetings, the enquiry group will share their experiences in detail and provide department members with exemplars, lessons plans and methods they can use to implement these changes in their classroom.

Action F:  Sharing of material within our community and outside of our school

We will developing a central hub that stores:
·       Lesson plans, exemplars, resources
·       Assessment tools
·       Reviews of Web 2.0 tools used.
·       Reflections, observations, posts, and archives of collaboration (between teacher-teacher, teacher-student, student-student)

Action G:   Sharing within the team

Members of the team with similar questions and interest can meet at any time to collaborate, but coverage will be granted to those requesting to develop their learning during school time.  For the entire group, monthly meetings will be held at the beginning of the project and will become bi-monthly once all are established in their learning inquiries.  Sharing will also take place online through Twitter, blogs and wikis, with the ability to comment on each others’ pages for support and suggestions.  The group collaboration will continue daily, with the understanding of each member that they are here to support each other in this endeavour.

Sharing will also take place at staff meetings and department meetings through the Continuing Conversation Initiative.

How will learning be different for students and teachers?

Learning at our school will undergo a cultural shift from learning as a student-centered activity to becoming a community-centered activity. The definition of “community” will extend beyond the walls of the school and incorporate the personal learning networks of all community members – including teachers and students.  The student will not be limited to just pen and paper anymore; he or she can choose from a range of tools that will allow them to collaborate with others both within the school and in the community at large.  Sullivan Heights believes that educational technology has shifted from an “Instruction Support Paradigm” to “Learning Support Paradigm”. In the face of the challenges posed by a paradigm shift in educational technology, teachers will respond by advancing their capability in informational instruction on levels of technology, tools, instruction methods, assessment and knowledge.

As a part of the world-wide shift in assessment practices, it is the hoped that students and teachers will discover a new meaning for evaluation of learning outcomes.  The philosophy that feedback gets more positive results in learning than letter or number grades has been widely accepted and the development of new methods of assessment will be modelled in a number of subject areas of our school.  As students self assess and develop critical thinking skills in accordance with Bloom’s digital taxonomy, they will develop their own learning intentions and create their own assessments at a higher level of competence, since they are both intellectually and emotionally invested in the learning.


EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING

How will you measure the impact of your interventions? How will you document new learning and the changes taking place as a result of your innovations?

At Sullivan Heights we will use the tools that we have already been exploring to access and analyze the learning of our students and the results of our efforts.  Following the examples of the Barrie Bennett Group and Developing Readers as well as examples of our colleagues in the field of Portfolio/Student Lead assessment there are a number of means of assessment we can manage for our project.  Our assessment will be two folds:  1) evidence of the change of culture in our staff at Sullivan Heights towards Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and formative and summative assessment and 2) the assessment of students’ improvement in learning.  Said measurements, thoughts, observations, lesson plans, exemplars and students comments will be on a website for teachers of the group to post two.  Teachers will have two means of showing evidence of the learning as well as share what we will be doing through a blog for Sullivan Heights and subunits per member of the team.  The members can post to the blog or use a twitter account set up for them on the Blog for other colleagues both inside the district and outside to the world what we are attempting to accomplish at Sullivan Heights.

Measuring a Change in Staff Culture:

With the change of culture of learning styles more suited for the 21st Century, as well as the development of collaborative groups in our school to pool all our resources, we can measure the collegial communication between staff members as well as the sharing of material in the following manners (in no specific order):
Quantitative – the number of : 
a)    Teachers with Twitter accounts.
b)    Tweets on Twitter to the Sullivan Heights Hash Tag (Sullivan Heights Discussion group)
c)    Activity of posts on the participants blog.
d)    Comments on said blogs from other colleagues outside our school.
e)    Mentorship participants in the mentorship program.
f)     Participants in the Learning Lunches at our school.
g)    Posts to the Community Inquiry Project Conference.
h)    Teacher-generated (and attendance at) Pro-D activities at our School
i)      Number of sign-outs of the available computer lab time, and the COWs (computers on wheels) available in school.
j)      Number of groups sharing their learning and observations at staff meetings
k)     Evidence of material/ideas used in the forms of
·       Lesson plans
·       Marking systems
·       Exemplars
·       Students work and student reflections of work completed.
l)      Minutes of Monthly meeting of observations, plans, refinements and sharing of experiences relating to the project (all posted online at a website already established for participant of said project.

Qualitatively:
a)    Staff self-reflection on the process/nature of the collaboration both orally,  written, journalized on Blogs, and/or tweeted.
b)    Staff satisfaction with student engagement (Survey)
c)    Student surveys questioning
·       perceived shifts in teaching methods
·       relevance of coursework and delivery
·       enjoyment of said change.
·       other engagement factors as identified by stakeholders

Measuring a change in student performance and engagement:

The following is the list of assessment manners that a number of teachers in this school have explored and used in the classrooms through the Barrie Bennett Group, Developing Readers, and research.   It is the initiative of this project that teachers choose one or two per year to use when analyzing the success or failure of their attempt to change the learning styles we use with students:

Classroom Assessment :
o   Formative Assessment
.  Pre-tests 
.  Traffic Light Records
.  Self and Peer Assessment
.  Learning Logs
.  Performance Assessment / Rubrics
.  Oral Assessment (feedback)
.  Observation
.  Graphic Organizers

o   Reflective Assessment
·       Logs
·       Journals
·       Personal statements
·       Position papers
·       Reflective essays
·       Portfolios
·       Progress Files

o   Summative Assessments
·       Portfolios
·       Learning logs (using Facebook, Wikis)
·       Journalizing (blogs, Wikis)
·       Tests results (written and electronic)
·       Performance checklist
·       Survey results
·       Oral assessment (see above).
·       Graphic organizers (see above)

See Appendix E for a fuller list of formative and summative assessments and Appendix C of assessment strategies.


BUDGET:

 Budget supports advancement of innovative practice, and furthers student ownership of learning.
An upgrade to our site’s wireless infrastructure will open the door to wide scale inclusion of a variety of handheld, mobile, and computing devices. This will allow for members of the school community to incorporate external sources of information and collaboration at any moment. With the potential for a high level of functionality, and higher level of learning , we will be training students to create their own opportunities for consumption and the creation of information in an easy to learn, engaging and interactive way. The explosion of tools designed to make the connectivity of information and ideas/comments more relevant, up-to-date and applicable to their own experiences creates limitless opportunities of learning for both educators and students to engage in a more current learning process.

The budget above shows a  partial amount from the first year carried forward for the purposes of updating our wireless system to accommodate students’ devices connecting to the Internet or using educational apps designated by their teacher to enhance the learning experience. Sullivan Heights is currently over capacity for the wireless infrastructure of the school and in order for students to utilize their personal computing devices and any additional computer or IPads that the computers purchase, we need to update our system with the help of this grant, our PAC committee and our school budget.


IN CONCLUSION

Where we want to go with this project.

Students' belief in their capabilities to master academic activities affects their aspirations, their level of interest in academic activities, and their academic accomplishments. 
In many school environments there are social comparison versus self-comparison appraisal. Self- appraisals of less able students suffer most when the whole group studies the same material and teachers make frequent comparative evaluations. Under such a monolithic structure students rank themselves according to capability with high consensus. Once established, reputations are not easily changed. In a personalized classroom structure, individualized instruction tailored to students' knowledge and skills enables all of them to expand their competencies and provides less basis for demoralizing social comparison. Students are self-motivated when not receiving a mark, rather then a comment of how to improve, to grow with learning, not to be criticized, are more open to collaboration and peer-assessment, with critical thinking and analyzing.  With the ability to choose their own learning and their own goals that align with what they need to learn they are motivated, interested in what they want to do, using technological skills that enhance the resulting learning.  In the end, students are more likely to compare their rate of progress to their own personal standards than to the performance of others.[5]
In other words, they develop a love of learning, wish to improve themselves, and become life-long learners. 
As a result of the paradigm shift suggested by this proposal, in which students have a more active role in their own learning and assessment, we hope to create a greater sense of students’ abilities within themselves and skill set of the 21st Century Learner.
Perceived self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that in the end affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes, the attributes of a lifelong learner.
It is believed that a strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways. People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities. They set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them. They heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure. They quickly recover their sense of efficacy after failures or setbacks. They attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge, skills which are acquirable.[6]

Our goal is to motivate students to go out and find these skills themselves.  It is our goal to create motivated, strong, self-reliant, and self-efficient lifetime learners.  This is where we want to go, what we want for our students.


Appendix A:  Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy


Appendix B:  Digital Tools Corresponding to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy




Go to http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htm to see a web site that has links to each of the above mentioned tools.

Author: Samantha Penney, sdpenney@usi.edu 


Appendix C:  Sample Instruction/Assessment Tasks

Standard A: A student should be able to speak and write well for a variety of purposes and audiences.
TASK
What is the student doing?
INSTRUCTION/ASSESSMENT PURPOSE
Why is it performed?
SUPPORTIVE INSTRUCTION/ SCAFFOLDING
How do we as teachers and students get there?
ASSESSMENT TOOL
How is it measured?
Using a journal/learning log (either electronic or paper)
Instructional Reason:
      To clarify thinking and prepare for discussion
      To apply elements of effective writing
Assessment Reason:
      To evaluate language proficiency and clarity
      To evaluate student attitudes
      To evaluate analytical skills
      To evaluate applicable skills in regards to real life.
      Guided practice
      Modelling
      Checklist
      Rubric
      Self evaluation
      Peer response checklist
      Oral assessment
      Self evaluation
      Peer evaluation
      SWOT
Discussing a video seen on YouTube.
Instructional Reason:
      To comprehend content
      To extend thinking
Assessment Reason:
      To evaluate ability to apply to life
      To evaluate analytical and oral skills
      To evaluate what was learnt
      Preview discussion
      Viewing and stopping video, modeling discussion
      Note taking
      Venn diagram
      Anecdotal record
      Note taking rubric
      Observational checklist
Preparing exhibition for presentation
Instructional Reason:
      To read effectively/thoroughly
Assessment Reason:
      To evaluate synthesis of information
      Guided practice
      Performance assessment
      Checklist of strategies
      Anecdotal notes/running records
      Self/peer analysis
      Analysis of student response journal
Writing a descriptive essay
Instructional Reason:
      To clarify thinking
      To apply elements of effective writing
Assessment Reason
      To evaluate writing skills
      Guided practice
      Writing process practice
      Modeling application of rubric to one’s own and others‘ writing
      Using Inspiration in word format for organization
      Self/peer analysis
      Checklist
      Rubric
      Graphic organizers
Such as Fishbone, Triangle,



Appendix D – Sample Lesson Plans:

Supplied by Carley Brockway, Sullivan Heights, Math Department Head, 2011.


Exemplar – Student’s Work




Appendix E – Classroom Assessment: 

o   Formative Assessment
.  Pre-tests 
.  Traffic Light Records
.  Self and Peer Assessment
·       Formal or informal
·       Written or oral
.  Learning Logs
·       SWOT analysis
·       Skills Analysis
.  Performance Assessment
·       Task Assessment
·       Restricted Performance Task
·       Extended Performance Tasks (Higher level of thinking)
·       Rubrics
o   Generic
o   Teacher Created
o   Student-created
.  Oral Assessment (feedback)
·       One on one assessment
·       Interview conference
.  Observation
·       Anecdotal
·       Checklist
o   Student or teacher based criteria
o   Rating scale
.  Graphic Organizers
·       Venn Diagrams
·       Plot Diagrams
·       Word webs
·       Concept maps
·       Comparison matrix
·       Timeline
·       Fishbones
·       Clusters
·       Timelines
·       Ladders
·       Planning Chart
·       Flowcharts
·       KWL Chart
·       KWS Chart
·       Wordles
·       Time-Order Chart
·       Persuasion Map
·       Problem Solution Charts
·       Observation Charts
·        

o   Reflective Assessment
.  Logs
.  Journals
.  Personal statements
.  Position papers
.  Reflective essays
.  Portfolios
.  Progress Files

o   Summative Assessments
.  Portfolios
·       Written
·       Electronic (using Facebook, blogs, and wikis)
.  Learning Logs (using Facebook, Wikis)
.  Journalizing (blogs, Wikis)
.  Tests Results (written and electronic)
·       Multiple choice
·       True or False
·       Matching
·       Fill in the blank
·       Short Answers
·       Case studies
·       Situation analysis
.  Performance Checklist
.  Oral Assessment (see above).
.  Graphic Organizers (see above)


Resources
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 Assessment of 21st Century Skills. Tucson, Arizona: Partnership for 221st Century Skills, 2006. Print.
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[1] Ministry of Education, 21st Century Learning.  <http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/21century_learning.htm>  Accessed April 17th, 2011.
[2] "Middle School Student Media Consumption Study Results." Media Ue Statistics. Media Literacy Clearinghouse, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2010. <http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm >.
[3] "21st Century Learning." BCIS Redirector . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/21century_learning.htm>
[4] dgholma. " YouTube - A Vision of K-12 Students Today ." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . B. Nisbitt, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8 >.
[5] Elliot, Andrew J., and Carol S. Dweck. Handbook of competence and motivation . New York: Guilford Press, 2005. Print
[6] Bandura, Albert, and even work itself. "Self-efficacy defined." Division of Educational Studies, Emory. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://des.emory.edu/mfp/BanEncy.html>.

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