This weekend I had the fortunate opportunity to attend and present at the ETFO ICT Conference in Toronto. The #etfot4t conference doesn’t start until 10:30 and the room is getting full already! #ETFO members eager to learn! pic.twitter.com/533rW3Q9ju — Jerry DeQuetteville (@jdeq) April 17, 2015 Learning with 180+ colleagues! Excited! #etfot4t pic.twitter.com/17kzNngZW4 — Mrs. Mott’s […]
As I gear up to present student work at ETFO’s ICT Conference in Toronto, I’d like to share some ideas: 1. Coding allows for students to learn across math strands instead of in isolation. 2. Coding is a place for students to fail safely. 3. Coding allows students to take risks and solve problems. 4. […]
Although this was an Art task, our Art teacher (@MrsPDU) allowed my students to code their fractal piece. Check out the Geometry expectations this also covered, besides the Art component. Grade 8 – Students Will: demonstrate an understanding of the geometric properties of quadrilaterals and circles and the applications of geometric properties in the real […]
Makerspaces, sometimes also referred to as hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. In libraries they often have 3D printers, software, electronics, craft and hardware supplies and tools, and more. oedb.org/ilibrarian/a-librarians-guide-to-makerspaces/ Please check the following resources for Makerspace ideas: Gamify Your Makerspace With Mettles […]
Here we are. I hardly believe I am writing this at our last group TLLP session. It seems like just yesterday when we were applying. I still remember when my colleague, and now good friend, Nicole (@BeuckelareNic) approached me to be a part of this project. If you are new to TLLP – the Teacher […]
I had the fortunate opportunity to present at this weekend’s Google Summit in Kitchener. My session was the usual – pedagogy, assessment, making and coding. I call it “the usual” but it is never delivered the same twice. This time around I even added four new slides thirty minutes before I was up. You can […]
Edmettle is a project I have been working on for a few months now to support our Learning Skills and Work Habits here in Ontario. There has been a lot of talk around gamification in my world as of late so I thought I would share an example method of gamifying your classroom using Edmettle. […]
As we continue to have conversations about coding in schools I routinely am asked where to start. I usually mention an app or two but I always question whether this is the right approach – many students already have a more natural understanding of coding than their teachers and I know nothing about someones’s skill […]
In this article I would like to explore a new coding app called Robot School from Next is Great (@nextisgreat). What hooked me immediately was how this app teachings kids to block code, but then shows them the syntax written in Swift. If you are unfamiliar, Swift is a new programming language for iOS. I love the […]
“How do you assess the process of learning through makerspaces and coding?” I get this question a lot. After all, how can you truly assess a student’s creativity – or any of the other 6 Cs many of us now focus on? Obviously we can use rubrics or another point system to track the […]
Over the last few weeks we have been exploring new ways to incorporate the 6 C’s, Learning Skills & Work Habits, inquiry and challenges into our math and science classes. As such we have started to talk about makerspaces. Makerspaces, sometimes also referred to as hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs are creative, DIY spaces where people […]
Jessica Konecny is a grade one teacher at my school. She is always willing to try new things and just recently began exploring coding with her students so I wanted to get a glimpse of what that looks like in her world. After all, I teach grade eight and am often far removed from primary […]
Valerie Volland (@MrsVolland1) is a colleague of mine who teaches grade 5 here in Chatham Ontario. Recently she has taken to Hopscotch as a tool for coding and demonstrating learning with her students. Val had never coded before this task so I thought I would ask her for a reflection. Q1) What made you decide to […]
In this post, we are going to determine plausible sizes of a Super Mario pipe. Let’s look at the curriculum expectations for grade 8 math: determine, through investigation using a variety of tools and strategies (e.g., generalizing from the volume relationship for right prisms, and verifying using the capacity of thin-walled cylindrical containers), the relationship […]
I have been an active twitter-er since 2009 and have tweeted over 20,000 times. I’m not sure that is something to be proud of but I will archive it one of these days for a good laugh. Maybe I’ll publish it to some dorky book. “The tweets of Brian Aspinall”. Not worth reading… For me […]
In this article we are going to demonstrate grade eight mathematics (growing patterns) by using computational thinking to support student learning in the 21st century here in Ontario. It is understood you have some knowlege of block coding (eg: Scratch). To begin, let us take a look at the expectations this task will cover. Overall […]
In this article I want to explore having students use their computational thinking skills to code an app to assist them in making predictions about real-life events while exploring theoretical and experimental probabilities. It is assumed you have some knowledge of block coding (eg: Scratch). Let us look at the expectations for grade 8 math […]
Pedagogy Before Technology Indubitably, IT has changed aspects of the nature of knowledge and the way we access it. But what knowledge do we need in the 21st century? Before I go any further, I recommend reading “Pedagogy before Technology” by DERYN M. WATSON, 2001 and ask yourself what knowledge do we need in the 21st […]
I’ve been doing some extensive reading by by Jeannette Wing about a term known as Computational Thinking . She testifies that Computational Thinking represents 21st century fluencies as a fundamental skill – as much as reading, writing and arithmetic. It represents a universally applicable attitude and skill set everyone, not just computer scientists, would be eager […]
Monday of this week I attended another Creating Pathways to Success committee meeting at one of our high schools. I look forward to these meetings as it gives us a chance to talk. Elementary folks, secondary folks, teachers, guidance, people, consultants, etc. all talking about the destinations and how to motivate students to achieve. This […]
My good friend and colleague Jon Orr (@MrOrr_geek) challenged me to reflect on the good things that happened last year. You can read where this originated here and also see one follow up from @MathManAnusic here Without further ado (spelled: adieu?), my #10goodthings from 2014. 1) I (we) successfully built and developed a Learning Space […]
I quietly (or not so quietly) launched Edmettle.com just in time for back to school this week. If you follow me on twitter you know how I can get with my projects – its all I tweet about for a while. I’m just trying to spread the word so bare with me. In a nut […]
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Wings vs. Avalanche game at “The Joe” with my brother @adamaspinall (thx @alicespinall for the tickets!). My dad jinxed the game the night before by reminding me of the Wings current record of consistently losing in OT or a shootout and last night was no different. […]
For all the kids who grow up in a small town and think they don’t stand a chance. You do. I was once that kid.