Mr. Stone WIES 2007

This all started from I wanted to create little books my students could start learning from. I had just bought some Robert Munch books translated in to Anishinabemowin but for second language learners those books are university level books. I wanted books that repeated words over and over like “Dick and Jane” books but my students know very little Anishinabemowin so I had to start from the basics. Walk, walk, walk. Bimose, bimose, bimose.

I can use this book to teach walk as well as teach counting (numbers). At the same time as the students are coral reading either I am reading with them or a PowerPoint is reading the book to them. PowerPoint is very use in the classroom because I can walk around and listen to the students read the books as well as maintains good classroom management.

This is Teamboard Draw it has many uses in the classroom, you can draw lines on top of pictures and it acts like a interaction whiteboard.

Teamboard also lets you write answers on the board using the computer. My laptop and projector are on a cart so it can be moved from room to room, My Teamboard is mounted on top of my chalkboard, I rarely use my chalkboard anymore.

The students love coming up to the Teamboard and writing on the Teamboard

This is one of the Anishinabemowin verbs I teach using EZ teach. The horn on the top left of the screen is me saying bimose in Anishinabemowin; as well as using bimose in sentences. Also all the pictures move around and can increase and decrease in size

Here the word bimose is covered, you have the students guess the covered word and you uncover the word when a student says the word.

Here is the word uncovered.

Making the grade; First Nations public school heightening literacy standards LINDSEY COADFor: www.theobserver.ca « Previous Page - Saturday, May 05, 2007 @ 16:00 The lunchtime chatter fades as children make their way outdoors for recess at Walpole Island's elementary school. Before joining them, grade 3 student Oceana Doxtator hangs back to finish her journal entry. "It's fun writing. You can write in cursive. You can go back and read it again," she said. She is practising for an Ontario standardized test that will measure her skill level. "I feel good about it," Doxtator said. "My brain is working well and my brain wants to do it really fast so we can get it done and over with." Staff are feeling good too. The First Nation school has won an award from the Indigenous Education Coalition for a school-wide literacy strategy started last year. "(Students) came up extremely weak in language skills, so we're trying to bring them up as quickly as possible to provincial standards," said principal Ron Richmond. Staff designed a plan from scratch and secured funding from various sources, including band council, government and corporate sponsors. A reading assessment is done for every student and a roomful of books is organized according to reading levels. Student progress is tracked with a focus on the primary grades. Teachers are improving their classroom strategies with on-site help from faculty at The University of Western Ontario. "This school is doing an outstanding job in trying to address student achievement. They've made great strides," said Bruce Stonefish of the Indigenous Education Coalition and a trustee for the Lambton Kent District School Board. The on-reserve school doesn't receive the same funding for teacher training as public schools, Stonefish noted. First Nation schools were initially hesitant to participate in standardized testing when it was introduced by the Education Quality and Accountability Office, said vice-principal Cathy Hampshire. The school has participated voluntarily since 2004 and pays a fee to do so. Despite the students' best efforts, they found themselves at the bottom of the Fraser Institute's annual ranking of schools. "We felt so thrilled and pumped up that our kids had made progress, but it was like a pin that deflates your balloon. It's not a true reflection of where our school actually is," Hampshire said of the ranking. Big gains have been made over the past three years. Today, 30 per cent of students are meeting provincial standards in reading, writing and math. Fifty per cent are approaching standards. The goal is to exceed provincial standards. "Every year we've improved. There's unlimited potential here for our children. We know they have the ability," Hampshire said. There are other signs of progress at the vibrant school of nearly 300 students, located on the reserve near Wallaceburg.

Teachers Craig Bunda and Paul Stone have swapped chalkboards for electronic white boards. The result is lively lessons in everything from math to the Anishnaabe language. The Indigenous Coalition for Education has awarded them individually for their use of technology which is ahead of many public schools. "It's cool," said grade 3 student Wade Riley, who used the board to write a story about powwows. Richmond said he is proud of the school's efforts. "They're doing above and beyond. They're playing catch up." Nutrition is also part of the equation for success. Nurturing the whole child means providing daily breakfasts and snacks, as well as hot lunches in winter. "For a bright mind, you need a full stomach," said chief Joseph B. Gilbert. He recently accepted $63,000 in federal funding to cover half the renovation cost of the school kitchen. "It's important for our children to be brought up where they can be competitive in the job market and careers," he said. The school operates on a $6-million budget with funding from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Laughter echoes from the gym. Brilliant pieces of Aboriginal art work hang in the lobby. Staff follow the Ontario curriculum but infuse it with grandfather teachings, Ojibwe as a second language, and cultural values. This helps students develop a sense of pride and identity, Richmond said. "They are capable of doing things and they have proved that. If you give them a chance at the Ontario curriculum they can compete on an equal footing with other nationalities."