Week 7: Resources and Discussion Points

This week, I was afforded the opportunity to learn about Brightspace. Our presenters, Chris & Shannon, from Manitoba Education walked through how to use Brightspace as a learning platform, and what features and resources can be utilized. The part that I am most excited about is the PDF versions of ISO courses that are available for Manitoba teachers. I love being able to see the big picture of a course, before I begin planning my units. Having access to the ISO courses provides a framework for the curricular expectations of each course. From there, I could weave-in creative ideas to produce engaging lessons. As an alternative, I could also teach some units using the ISO assignments and content. As a young teacher, this could reduce a lot of stress, since gathering resources can be very time consuming. I will be signing up to Brightspace this week, and will hopefully be able to utilize these resources in my upcoming practicum. 

I also enjoyed the topic of using online discussion boards in the classroom. Verbal discussions in the classroom can be fantastic, and a great way for students to contribute their thoughts or receive feedback. However, there are some downfalls to using verbal discussions entirely, without having an alternative. Some students may be shy, or have less confidence with their verbal communication skills, which may hinder their participation. With an online discussion board, students may be more willing to contribute responses, and would appreciate the option for written discussion. Online discussion boards also provide students with more time to formulate answers. The best answers may be the ones that have more thought put into them, which takes time. In verbal discussion, it is often the first thought that gets mentioned, and deeper thoughts are not afforded the opportunity to be shared, or are smothered by the hasty responses. With online discussion boards, students can contribute at their own pace, even taking the discussion beyond regular school hours. This allows students to optimize their potential for responses, and provide more thought out arguments. Finally, online discussions allow for archived lessons. Many great verbal discussions in the classroom are fantastic in the moment, but go undocumented. Any students who miss class are unable to access that knowledge. Teachers may also forget what was spoken about, which makes it more difficult to recycle lessons that went well, or reflect on lessons that didn’t go so well. If teachers have access to archived discussions, they can look back and use this for lesson plan creation. This is a good idea, and while I would not use this in replacement of verbal discussions, I would definitely use it as a differentiation strategy throughout the year. 

 

As my university studies wind to an end, this week’s presentation was very useful for several reasons. I will soon be entering my final student placement, and will need to gather resources for the courses I will be teaching. I am going to check out the ISO PDFs to get familiar with the content before teaching it. Second, it is interview season for term teaching positions, and a common question asked is: How do you differentiate instruction? Here, there is a great example of how to differentiate classroom discussions, and some benefits of this kind of instruction. So now you have a few things to do once you finish reading this post. Go prepare for your interview questions, and go sign up for Brightspace. That’s it for now everyone!