We came, we saw, we learned. 

Our school has taken two field trips related to the Synergy Project already so things are definitely happening at Cedar Secondary. 

In November, we took our Earth Science and Photography students on a field trip to a variety of significant geological locations throughout the region. The Earth Science students gave presentations at each location and Photography students collected images. Now that the trip is over, we are working to combine these resources into both instagram posts (we have been in touch with @geostories to post to their account) and also make presentations for elementary students. It is an ongoing process to have students work with the surface tablets to create these presentations. Some of the work we have seen so far is pretty stunning so we look forward to sharing it!

December saw us take our first field trip for the Nanaimo Poetry Map Project. We went to one location which has a poem written for it and experienced it. We went to a second location which does not have a poem associated with it, and students were expected to write a poem for that place. Finally, students are expected to write a poem in a location of their choice. This field trip featured one class each of grades 9, 10 and 11; by the end of the school year, all of our grade 8-11 students will have experienced it in some way. 

The fog on the day of our Poetry Map field trip was intense! Visibility was at an all time low which made for some unique challenges and opportunities. Again, we look forward to seeing what our students produce.

Some of that good Digital Citizenship

Teaching Digital Citizenship is crucial at all grade levels and something we are trying to do more of all the time at our school and in NLPS as a whole. Projects like GeoScape one, which involve collaboration and technology, provide us with some unique opportunities to develop Digital Citizenship skills which we have done our best to take advantage of.

One resource we have found particularly useful is Mike Ribble's Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship. The format is clear and accessible and a lot of other work is based off of his. Through the GeoScape project, we have had many opportunities to include aspects of Digital Citizenship and have spun a lot of this off of his work.

One interesting aspect has been digital communication. Because we are working with two classes who are in different blocks, we have leveraged Google Classroom to allow groups to communicate with each other between Earth Science and Photography. Though students are certainly effective at many methods of digital communication, many lack skills to collaborate and communicate in a more formal way, and this has provided an avenue for this teaching.

We have also, through new technology available from SET-BC, built digital literacy in our students. Learning to operate new technology, in both the GoPro cameras and Microsoft Surface tablets, has forced some of our students outside of their comfort zones and given them new skills. It has also been gratifying and inspiring to see students work together and collaborate to discover how to best utilize the new technology.

Perhaps the most important aspect of our project, however, has been digital law. Students are very used to creating research presentations and pulling images from the internet, which is easy but of murky legality. In this case, by taking our own images the groups have ownership. Interestingly, the Earth Science students have had to acknowledge that the Photography students actually own the photos. This has created some valuable conversations and has created a deeper understanding in our students on how copyright law works and why it important.

We want to teach Digital Citizenship everyday, but it's not always an easy fit. In this project, we have had multiple opportunities to teach and reinforce important concepts, and have (hopefully!) inspired some deep learning in the process.

Place-Based Synergy!

The links between a school and the community in which it resides are often tenuous; rarely do students spend time exploring the community as a class, and likewise rarely do others make their way into the building. We are excited at Cedar Secondary to try to build more connections through place based education over the coming school year. With the support of SET-BC we have two projects planned that will help our students to appreciate some of the culture and landscape of our region, and help other people in the community to appreciate the efforts and abilities of our students.

The first project, which is quickly coming to fruition, will see an Earth Science and Photography class come together to create a resource and presentation which connects students to some local geological features. We will take a field trip throughout the region where Earth Science students will see some of the things they have studied in the real world. Photography students will produce images of select features, which will be combined with the research to create presentations. We are excited to share these, with the community at an exhibition of learning, with local grade three students in presentations to class, and with the world on instagram, using GeoStories through the Geological Survey of Canada.

The second project, which will take place mostly in the Spring semester, will likewise take students on a field trip through the community, this time following the Nanaimo Poetry Map, which has geo-tagged poems throughout the region. At the location, students will read and respond to the poems and begin to compose their own. Wherever students choose to set their place-based poem, they will also take a photograph of the location which represents that place to them. The poems will be submitted to the Nanaimo Poetry Map.

Both of these projects will provide opportunities for students (and teachers!) to stretch their creativity and spend an extended period of time doing excellent work. Students will be able to revise and improve their work, share it in a public way, and utilize new technology all while exploring our community and building new connections to it. Suffice it to say, we are very excited to see what they will be able to do!