Truth & Reconciliation Monuments with Minecraft Education Edition

 I've been working with Miss. Baker's Grade 5 and 6 class this year to integrate Minecraft EDU with their social studies learning.  In our latest activity, students were challenged to build a monument in Minecraft that represents moving forward with Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.  This learning activity was inspired by the Logics Academy activity: Changemakers of Canadian History.

The students worked in teams to brainstorm possible Monuments and discuss the meanings of the symbols/objects they might construct.  Each team decided on one monument to build and then worked collaboratively to create it in Minecraft.  Students added a sign to explain their monument and took screenshots or screen recordings to share their work.  

Some of the groups chose animals from the 7 teachings, which they'd learned about before.  Other groups designed original Monuments.  

Thanks to the Grade 5 and 6 students for sharing their work to be featured here for others to see! Not all groups had permission to share, but there is a great selection here to check out.  

Student Soundwaves: The Park West Podcast

Welcome to Student Soundwaves:The Park West Podcast! I’m Mrs. Leah Obach and I’m proud to launch this podcast to showcase our students’ skills and ideas.  I’ve been a teacher in Park West School Division since 2009.  Currently, I work as the Literacy with ICT Teacher Leader, which basically means I’m a technology teacher.  I work in schools around the division to support students and teachers with using technology.

I believe that technology gives us the power to create and connect.  Through this podcasting project, students have the opportunity to create their own episode to share their ideas, build important skills and use their creativity.  Thanks to technology, we can connect with you to showcase these podcast episodes and give students the chance to share their work with a wider audience.

Our podcast features student-created episodes from the talented learners in Park West School Division.  This podcast was designed to amplify the voices of our extraordinary students.  Each episode is a unique journey, showcasing the skills and creativity of the students who created it. Get ready to be inspired, entertained, and enlightened as you dive into a variety of episodes exploring different topics and themes.  

You can expect a variety of episodes, including different themes and featuring students from different grade levels.  Now, pick an episode and get ready to be inspired, entertained, and enlightened!

Find our podcast on Spotify.

Students sharing their work on this platform have completed divisional permission forms and also given their consent to share their work. Students have done their best to present accurate information on the topics they've chosen and to cite the sources they've consulted when creating a fact-based episode. 

Sketchnoting

I enjoy trying new things in my teaching practice and one of the new things I've been working on recently is using sketchnoting in education.  I've taken a few great workshops about sketchnoting and I finally felt ready to try teaching a sketchnoting workshop for students this fall.  Using what I've learned and some resources from educator Jen Giffen, I offered an Introduction to Sketchnoting workshop for 3 different middle years classes who were taking part in Global Read Aloud.  Sketchnoting offered these students a unique way of capturing their ideas about their Global Read Aloud book.  

Check out some of the sketchnotes students created.  (Students have given permission to share their work.)