A Blended Learning Approach to Teaching Social Studies

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This past week the Grade 2s continued their work preparing presentations about countries using Google Drive. What really amazed me was the ability to use the comment feature to provide immediate feedback that was relevant and purposeful for the students. As they were working, I posed questions to direct their next steps. I was not sure how this would work, so I didn't let them know ahead of time that I would be doing this. To my delight, students replied to my comments and made additions to their slides in realtime. 
Afterwards, they remarked at how much it helped them "think about what's next". They also asked if they could comment on each others work! 
This caused me think more about the purpose of feedback and how informal feedback such as this helps students see learning as a journey. 
Here is a great read that speaks to this:
Learning Dispositions blog post - from MindShift

Next week, we will be sharing our work with another Grade 2 class who also used Google Drive to create a presentation about countries around the world. Looking forward to using the comment feature with this wider audience -- creating purpose and authenticity to their work.
The Grade 2s also commented on how they would like to know a little more about the globe. 

 I examined the OERB resources and found many interactive activities for this particular strand. During a lab session, I invited the students to choose an activity to explore with a partner on the D2L Carousels. Afterwards, they were responsible for listing the activity as well important learning in a Google document. This quick 'ticket out the door' helped set a purpose and provide accountability for the collective learning of the class.


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