I’ll respond with notes or links to resources over the next short while to the questions that emerged on our Menti poll January 2020 (I’ll also try to organize or maybe alphabetize at some point…)
- District Learning Resources (to answer the ‘do districts have’ questions… what districts have varies widely… many/most coast metro have some kind of streaming services, online encyclopedias and other licenses. http://guides.library.ubc.ca/c.php?g=676257&p=4765076#s-lg-box-wrapper-18628560
- Link to MYEd BC resources (grade book, attendance) – https://www.myeducationbc.info/ Find out if/how it is being used in your classes/school and find out if/how you will gain access. Is a portfolio being used in the class? Do you have access? If it is a learning portfolio, consider how students might be engaged in selecting evidence of learning. NB: students names and photos are typically pre-provisioned in the system… automatic.
- NB: If you don’t have access to a school district acct, email, how would your SA like you to submit grades and what is the best way for you to correspond with students and parents.
- What is google classroom and how can I use it in my class?
- Class Website – here’s a post about Teacher Blogging – Join me for a session next Tues Jan 28 Scarfe 155 or Wed Jan 29 Scarfe 1007
- Where can I find planning templates and resources? UBC Teacher Ed Designing Learning blog – https://blogs.ubc.ca/learningdesign/category/teaching-resources/
- Are there examples of lesson plans or unit plans for BC curriculum? Yes – Teach BC has ‘by and for’ BC teacher resources. The BC Curriculum website is also now being populated with lesson, unit and assessment examples.
- Should we be writing down formative assessment: YES – definitely. You will want a record to help you understand what students know, understand. This will inform your teaching – this isn’t for creating a ‘grade’ but may help provide anecdotal information relevant when communicating student learning (with students and with parents)
- How are teachers evaluated and by what criteria? – this varies across districts but typically teachers are evaluated through a series of observations in their first year or two of teaching… i.e. once based at a school and then again every 5 years. When moving schools or applying to grad school, it can be a good idea to request an observation by your principal (even if less formal). The criteria – vary and are district based as far as I know (and remember). The TRB, of course, has the overall criteria or ‘Standards’ for being a teacher and any other criteria would be based on these. https://teacherregulation.gov.bc.ca/Standards/QuestionsCaseStudiesContents.aspx#
- Do you like football? – well, yes – but more the European version than the American one. LOL – a harmless example of why we either moderate responses vs. having all responses visible to the class when using online co-creation tools or response systems ;D
- FIPPA compliant backchannel chat forums? – I don’t know of any. Having said that, it is possible to use tools like menti, backchannel, padlet etc if students are not required to sign up and provide personal info AND are provided with the option of informed consent. How this is done varies school by school – chat with your Teacher Librarian, SA, admin… Example – some districts use google classroom tools and have worked with the privacy commissioner to develop informed consent policies; others allow the use of non-canadian housed tools with student sign up as long as permissions are in place (informed consent, parent signatures etc)
- What is Microsoft Teams? this is an office 365 platform for collaboration in use in MANY of our local coast metro schools districts. MSoft houses much of its data (all student data as I understand it) in Canada and so is becoming favoured in SDs. There are open source tools that also work on ‘channels’ or conversations (Mattermost is one example). Teams is pretty robust with video, chat, sharing, meeting rooms, file sharing and collab.
- Who can I talk to about my choice of assessment tools? Your SA and FA are your best go to. I’m also happy to advise. For French, I believe you can also contact Susan Ankeman…
- A FEW MORE TO COME later in the week…
