Like everything, educational technology has its positives and its negatives. Technology is advancing at an ever-increasing rate, instead of focusing solely on technology, we need to be sure we have a clear understanding of the purpose of education. In my mind, education serves two purposes - to teach wisdom and virtue. I am confident if we can instill those two things in our students, then they can learn the necessary skills to navigate the twenty-first century.

Students, like many adults are addicted to their cellphones. and I would be interested to hear how others handle the issue of cell phones in school.

Tinker Plots is an excellent alternative to excell for students to chart, manipulate and analyze data.

This reminds me of the story happens on my son. Due to the long time he spends on watching TV and playing video games, we enrol a street dance class for him. He enjoys dancing and playing with other kids there, but he resists to step out of home and go to the class every week. My husband and I was confused as he really seems like the class and perform very well. I remembered that I might have the same feeling before accepting a huge job task or reading a hard book. However, that feeling disappeared immediately once we were engaged in. Now I could identify that feeling as the resistance to avoid situations that make us feel anxious rather than the feelings implying our true needs, and it is better not to reject it. This is profound for our family.

My mom has been suffering from Anxiety for more than 30 years. She deeply believes that anxiety is completely detrimental and is eager to get rid of her anxiety as soon as possible, which makes her feel even more anxious. Know that anxiety is normal and adaptive could greatly change her perspective towards anxiety, and maybe make anxiety her friend one day.

If anxiety were not identified, the side effects of our anxious behaviours would affect other people. For example, if the teacher fails to realize the kid is anxious, the kid could not receive the help he or she needs, and his or her anxious behaviours might also influence other children in the classroom.

Recognizing the signs of anxiety is also an important first step in identifying anxiety and offering help to students or other people to manage it.

Therefore, it is important for teachers to acknowledge the helpfulness of anxious feeling to students and children before an exam or a show. Also, teachers should offer practical help to help student manage anxiety, such as instructing students to schedule their time and energy properly and one-on-one mentoring.

I will have to keep reading related researches as my son seems to be with BFRBs. He keeps touch a part of his body no matter how many times we try to distract him to touch something else. It never occurs to me that it could be a kind of anxiety. This is really helpful.

I think this is a key step in curing anxiety. It could be extremely helpful. My concern is that separating from anxiety cannot go too far. Letting anxiety be the scapegoat for most of things could also result in an irresponsible attitude. Therefore, we have to also watch the ideas and be aware of them when the anxiety is cured.

This idea would be helpful for people to identify anxiety positively. It could be something fun, and that's not bad. Having experience with anxiety could also be a lifetime precious memory.

Gathering information, taking notes, analyzing data. These are all systematic methods involved in the process of conducting a research. Approaching to anxiety through these methods is a scientifically helpful.

This might be the hardest step as people might not be willing to admit to other people that they are with anxiety. In my context, it could be even hard for people to admit they are have anxiety to themselves. Nobody likes to be defined as a patient.

Either fast or slow, finding the most comfortable pace for oneself is the most important. Sometimes moving so fast might not be instructive.

I let my son try all three methods. It seems that calm breathing is the most effective one to a 5-year-old. He got increasingly uncontrolled when trying muscle relaxation, and ran around the room when I tried to let him imagine. But after calm breathing practice, he could stay calm and finish his violin practice rather than larking about as usual. Maybe calm breathing could be adopted for helping children with anxiety.

There is a psychological practice in China, which is very similar to mindfulness, called "Zhengnian". It is about focusing on the right present moment. It requires people to do nothing, simply sit down with eyes closed, breath, and notice what is happening in mind. And the key is trying not to control any idea, just let them float, rise, and disappear. It is really helpful for me to calm down and stop thinking everything would go bad.

I believe writing them down would be particularly helpful in increasing confidence of dealing with anxious thoughts. Most of people will not bother to write them down most of time, and they will forget about them very soon and be anxious next time. Writing them down will be a period of "history" with anxiety and reminds us of the bad thoughts we have overcome. The list is delivering the message to us that we could manage our anxious thoughts.

Do not exaggerate effects of positive and neutral aspects. Having a friend or a family member to look at them together would be better at the beginning of using balanced thinking.

I remember the days I did the same things: obsessively checked my phones or walked in my office again and again. However, those anxious feelings and behaviours disappeared when I hugged my son in my arm. I believe it is critical for new moms or people with anxiety to find the moment that they could calm down. That can be helpful for diagnosing where the anxiety starts.

This sounds like a helpful advice. But I am concerned that what if this method causes more anxious feelings as the girl just does not enjoy the feelings of trying something unknown. Would trying something she already knows the end help cause she could gain reassurance?

The mindfulness exercise in the "Calming Strategies: Learning to Chill, Lesson 3" would be helpful in this situation.

Yes, and truly friends respect boundaries between you. I am the one who likes to focus on the quality of friendship rather than quantity of friends. I believe that people who respect boundaries in friendship are worth making friends with.

Not just teenagers, I think even adults need to acknowledge this fact. I felt the same way when my parents got divorced several years ago. I thought I could manage the situation well as I am already an adult. And more importantly, adults should not be embarrassed of feeling depressed during parents' divorce. There is nothing to do with our age, and we need to understand the parents made the choice for them to be happier, not abandon us.

Students are to study the material for tests and projects. I post it on EverNote. I've been using the site for months when one day I happened upon a tutorial button by mistake. I found out that students can actually chat and I will get notifications. I thought it would be great for allowing them to post questions. In addition, I can change the settings from 'can view' to 'can edit'. If students want work edited before submission, they can share their own notes with me so I can edit them. All in all, the site had way more options than I thought it did. I definitely think it just goes to show that even if you think your extending your practice in one way you can broaden it even further to explore other avenues. Overall, I need to approach learning with technology in a more humble way and not just assume I know all there is to one domain.

This very unit led to an hour-long discussion with our school librarian yesterday. Together we developed a Google Sheets document which has the four areas we are supposed to choose from for our reading response this week and then down the side is every grade. We went through each grade and entered in things they are already doing under the header which it met. For example, the grade 4 class uses the Spheros (digital robots) to learn coding. They set up a course in masking tape on the floor and then work together to get their Spheros to navigate through it. The first team through wins. This meets the target of using technology to create hands-on, collaborative learning. We are hoping to go through and ask each teacher what they are using for digital learning and help them analyze it with the questions in the Triple E Framework from our previous article. It's a big undertaking, but we think it will help us to all know what the other is doing and create a better use of technology in our school.

About four years ago, a grade 9 student came to me and asked me if she could create her Iroquois settlement model using Minecraft. My own children were very young and nowhere close to using Minecraft yet. I had heard of it but knew nothing about it. I asked her if I could think about it, and did some research. After learning how interactive the game is and how it allows players to create entire worlds, I decided to let her go for it. Her final project was incredible and went way above and beyond my expectations and my requirements. She was so excited to come in and show it to us-she was able to use a laptop for this-and her presentation was the one the other students were most engaged in, because they all played Minecraft too. I was glad that I had said yes, and I still think on that whenever a student wants to try something new. Think about it, research it, allow it if possible!

This could be a powerful exercise with faculty not just relating to technology, but to all areas where we feel there are inequalities. One issue that often comes up in our small K-12 school is an "us vs. them" attitude between the high school and elementary staff. The elementary staff feels like the high school gets more opportunities, and they may be right. I wonder if doing a CIQ with both sets of staff around the way they view inequality within our school and how it frames their thinking would be eye-opening. We have a healthy staff and good relationships in general, but things do creep up sometimes.

Oh how I have experienced this! I taught at a school located in a very low socio-economic area of Bakersfield, CA for my first teaching position. There were several other high schools in the district and although they should all have had the same opportunities, they definitely did not. My roommate and I were both high school teachers...I was at X School in the rough neighbourhood and she was at Y School in the affluent, mostly white neighbourhood. I had to buy most of my own classroom supplies out of my pocket, she received a classroom stipend. I had to share desks with the teacher in the classroom next to me, she had extra desks that she didn't even need. I coached a sports team and often had to use the school van to drive students to the games and even drive them home afterward, she helped coach cheer and her students received extra lessons outside of school, parents came to all events and the athletic booster club provided them with track suits, new equipment each year, etc. We were both in public schools in the same district, but had VASTLY differing experiences, as did our students.

This caused some great divides among the students and students from our school often made comments about the affluent schools in the district and how the students had it easy, had more breaks than them, received more opportunities, etc. I'm not sure how that divide could have been overcome and I imagine it is still there, with technology now as another issue that divides them and highlights the inequalities.

I think we have to look at why that gap is there. When I taught in an inner-city high school in Bakersfield many of the students came from single-parent families, and even if they didn't they came from low socio-economic backgrounds. They were usually getting themselves to and from school and providing all care for themselves because their parents were often working multiple jobs just to make ends meet. They did all they could just to get food on the table and finding time to help support their kids with school work and mentorship was not something they could afford to do. It wasn't that they didn't want to, they simply couldn't. I think that this shows how important it is to not just provide the access, but to also teach how to use it.

What a great point! I remember reading a quote once that said something like "Maybe the key to curing cancer is in this child, if only someone would teach them to read." I love the fact that the door opening for a tech-savvy parent who takes to the tech brought home from a family program. This could change whole communities! Oh the power of seeds...

I really like this quote! Tapping into student interests is valuable in making learning rich. I would like to see more of this in the STEM courses, not just HUM courses and the arts. LM

I personally identify with this. For example, last year I had a Science 8 class for which I rarely had access to technology. It happened to be a block where other senior classes would mass book the laptops and ipads, so I got used to not consider how I would even attempt to try to incorporate the tech.

Hackers celebrated? Slackers and deviants? This all sounds terrible to me! This data shows the racial undercurrents of the professionals. I don't relate to these exact things but I'm sure we have our own systemic racial undercurrents here. Can anyone point an example out so that I can make a personal connection? LM

This is a new acronym for me as well. Googling it, I find it means "Massive Open Online Course."

I must admit to never considering this before. It has caused me to pause and reflect on the privilege I live and teach in, as well as being raised in. Wow. LM

This is a new acronym for me. Does anyone have experience with this? Maybe is it American?

I like this visual !(https://edublog.soundtrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Screen-Shot-2017-11-07-at-11.24.48-AM-529x380.png))

It brings to mind the compentency levels: not meeting, minimally meeting, meeting, exceeding.

I appreciate Reich (2019) saying that most teachers do not get to the point of redefinition, and thta "when teachers get access to new technologies, they typically use them to extend existing practices." This is especially true when put in the context of my "STEM and Student-Centered Practices" post on Moodle. LM

I definitely agree that we need to put effort into learning about in order to improve teaching and learning. It is difficult because it feels like another thing teachers have to do during their spare time however, I feel more motivated to bring attention to the importance of digital equity.

I think this would be another challenge when is comes to having technology in the classroom. After this quote it talks about the documentary that compares two neighbouring schools where one has access to a lot of technology and the other one does not and the implications of that. I can relate to this documentary a little bit because even within my school some departments have several chrome carts for their classes whereas my department does not have any chrome carts (we have just never applied for funding and departments don't usually like sharing technology). However, my point is even within my school we have this divide and sometimes I feel like the students who have access to the chrome books in their other classes get a better education because they have access to more advanced technology.

Some strategies that I would suggest include: -accommodating for differing levels -offering extra help outside of class time for students or maybe even families who need it -professional development -reviewing progress often -collaboration -allowing for frequent practice and use of the technology

Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

I agree with this. I have been substitute teaching in the 2018/2019 school yea and I have noticed that many assignments are just scanned into the computer and the students type the answers is. This is no different than writing the answers by hand. I believe that there needs to be a greater level of teacher training on technology before it can be effectively implemented. In my division, we have opportunities to learn about google, however, I have yet to hear of other professional development sessions in which teachers come away with concrete examples of how to provide challenging learning opportunities with technology for students.

In my experience, I have noticed differences between cultures and their priorities to implement technology or not. I teach a significant population of students who come from traditional Indigenous families. Integrating technology at home is not a priority for most of these families. Many students are very inexperienced and new to the technologies they are experiencing at school.

The Kids, Cops & Computers program does something similar in Toronto. It provides free laptops to students while also promoting positive interactions between students and the police. It also promotes student leadership.

This is a powerful quote that calls for deeper reflection on the way we view students.

I like this model because the 5 phases appear to represent a continuum of learning. Sandholtz's model could be used as a framework for self-evaluating one's ability to incorporate technology and pedagogy well. The concept of a developmental process of professional learning appears to be a practical way for teachers to identify personal learning goals and map out their PD since the rate of technological advance is so rapid it often overwhelming to know where to start and how to move forward.

I think increasing student motivation is critical, if using technology captures a student’s interests, the learning is more likely to follow. I think technology allows for individual student interests to be explored within a diverse classroom. In turn, sharing these unique interests allows classmates to learn about each other.

This is so important when developing lessons involving technology. They are going to use the tools to explore their interests one way or another. If we guide them in this, then they aren't misusing the tech as a distraction to learning.

I noted earlier or in another article about 3d printers. As a teacher at a private school our funding for technology education is far less than in our neighbouring public schools. I can totally relate to this quote, while at the same time realize that we make do with what we have, and learning is not tied to a specific technology. There can be equity through pedagogy (as mentioned) rather than the physical devices.

The hour of code activities are great for this, they have a long list of deviceless activities to teach coding. The link is here

This speaks to systemic racism- until attitudes and beliefs change to view others as equal and worthy of equal opportunity, this type of discrimination will continue. It will require ongoing education and advocacy to acknowledge and change this thinking.

I cannot emphasize enough how much parents need to be a part of this discussion. If parents are not coaching and monitoring their student's technology usage at home, it can create a plethora of problems at school. Middle school and high school students are still learning self-regulation and without the help of their parents, they may never see the line of when we need a break from technology and connectivity. In my opinion, parents are too relaxed on their children's usage of their phones at home and this is building a strong unhealthy reliance on cell phone use.

How do we facilitate this effectively on both a large scale (with companies like google and apple) but also on a local scale within our districts?

Is the business sector involved here? Do they realize this need? Interesting idea.

A reminder that we might be on the right path. Many students come work in the library and computer lab after school.

This is why we have not yet really tackled the technology use in the classroom. If teachers are not yet challeging students, computers will not help.

Could this also happen in the same school? Especially in our case where we have a very diverse group of students. We have very low-income students and very high-income students.

Bingo!! This is what we see every day. Some of the more affluent parents have also had access to better schooling so they can assist their child. On the other hand, students from low-income families have parents with little schooling and are not able to assist their children. This is true with technology and all other areas of our education. If we want children to learn, we have to do it at school. Disadvantage children need full support at school.

This is deeply problematic given the fact that even if Ts use SAMR recommendations, the platforms themselves (at least proprietary ones like GAFAM - Google/Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) are specifically designed for surveillance and monetizing 'engagement'. See Kwet, Michael, Digital Colonialism: US Empire and the New Imperialism in the Global South (August 15, 2018). For final version, see: Race & Class Volume 60, No. 4 (April 2019) ; DOI: 10.1177/0306396818823172. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3232297 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3232297

I agree with this statement and would add, there are no silver bullets when trying to keep up with technology. As soon as you have embraced something there is something else that has replaced what you have finally just mastered.

I am going to inquire about what the gender difference is in some of the tech classes offered at my school. I am curious to know if there is a bonafide gender issue, as this article posits.

I like this quote. I see our school as a village where everyone, including administrators, teachers, students and parents can all learn together as new technology is implemented.

This statement is so true! I have one student who typically does the bare minimum for any given assignment. One day last week, we were discussing the latest breaking news out of Ottawa (for me it was all about the SNC Lavalin scandal and what was happening politically in Canada, but for two of my grade 10 classes the late and breaking news was about the Momo challenge. This student I mentioned surprised me when he shared how he had spent four hours researching on his own trying to get to the bottom of who started the Momo challenge. This proves a point in that "Kids who barely scratch out a few sentences" to a writing assignment could be investing heaps of time writing or researching something else that they are absolutely passionate about (Reich, 2019, p.1).

I asked around at my school and in particular talked to one of our VP's who said "95% of students have cell phone or other electronic devices and even if they don't have a cellular plan they simply use all the free Wi-Fi that is out there including in our school" (L. Kitteringham, personal communication, March 4, 2019).

I think students are already prepared at my school. Some schools have pro-active parents who are a great means to generating funds for the school. This is definitely the case at my school.Our school offers 19 different computer studies courses and there are designated computer classrooms just for those courses which are off limits to the rest of the school. Some of the courses being offered are Game Coding, 3D Graphics, Computer Apps, Computer Graphics, Digital Sculpting, Computer Repair, Graphic Design, Print Shop, Video Game Design, Video Production, Visual Effects, and Computer Science Principles. Our school is certainly not lacking when it comes to preparing students for a networked future!@

Admittedly, this is a valid point. Teachers need extra money and time for such ambitious endeavours. As a third point, I would also offer interest. Not all teachers are eager to sacrifice their weekends going to workshops on developing their computer skills. On the contrary, I wonder why there isn't a mandatory tech course offered as part of the PYP program for new teachers? When I reflect back to my PYP, all that was offered was a one day Tech workshop. I do recall looking forward to upgrading my tech skills while taking my PYP, but in the end, it was more self-taught as I worked on assignments for university and learned a bit about Prezi. I also learned a lot of new map making skills through a Geographic Information Systems(GIS) course I audited a little in order to grasp some skills for a Research Methods course in the Geography department.

Ok, perhaps tablet computers are the modern day version of old school notebooks, however, for the most part high school students are not hat tech savvy. Rarely do I see students pull out a tablet and start taking notes. Also, many classroom activities still call for paper. I have asked my students why they don't simply bring their laptop to school and their response is they are too afraid of it being stolen. That is interesting when I think of the pricey Airpods so many students are wearing in class today.

I honestly believe not having a plan with technology also allows us to understand why teens seem to be so glued to phones. Parents give teens phones without any boundaries i.e. what it should be used for, and when. It comes to no surprise that technology fails when it is passed around to teachers with no instructions.

I think I'm good at technology being that I'm born in the 90's. Yet, I myself get overwhelmed when it comes to finding apps and sites that work in the classroom. There are so many it's hard to narrow them down! I definitely want to get more information on what options are most beneficial for students. Specifically, for the history classes I teach. All in all though, I don't think teachers can rely on upper staff to provide structure. Instead, they need to take learning into their own hands and attend workshops if necessary. We must all be proactive!

JAMIE KEITH

This would be very helpful- exemplars which include not only the final product but how to get there would ease the transition in learning new skills.

This is an amazing idea. I would have never thought to start a movement where teachers would come together and have a coherent vision when using technology to support learning. If we implement that vision I think it could help with some of the challenges we face when using technology and it would help students to see the value of using technology in the classroom for learning.

I really do think technology has enhanced learning and I honestly don't know what I would do without it. Everything from, Kahoot to google classroom to youtube clips it has made learning in the classroom more engaging and my life easier. That being said technology does come with its challenges and is not always assessable to everyone.

The article Teaching Our Way to Digital Equity by Justin Reich which we are assigned to read presents some helpful strategies in how to approach this topic.

For me, the use of exemplars is very helpful. In my opinion it is one of the best ways to support teachers who are at the very beginning stages of implementing a new strategy, concept or instructional practice. My school board is trying to implement new instructional practices in a particular area that are easy to understand in theory, but implementation is overwhelming to think about and difficult to visualize. Being able to visit model classrooms or access videos of teachers implementing the strategy in practical ways would make the process of professional development go a lot smoother for many teachers, myself included.

I really appreciate that they are implementing just one thing, and then actually following up on it and sharing. That makes it seem easier to implement.

I wish I could see what this looked like in action. How did they provide time for training? Where did the funding come from? How did they get teacher buy-in?

Our school is a tech-advanced school. We have two iPad carts teachers can book for use, a computer lab with a class set of laptops that can be booked as well as a set of desktops, a library with a class set of laptops and a class set of iPads available for booking, AppleTV hookups in every room, a 3D printer, and-most recently-a laser engraver. This is all technology that is available to both students and teachers to utilize. I feel like the technology director and admin usually know the vision for these devices, but it is not always translated well to the staff. I am wondering if this will be a part of my proposal. As I talk about this topic with teachers in my school it seems that we would all appreciate a sort of "vision" and "scope and sequence" for the use of technology in our school. That being said, I'm not complaining! I am thankful that my children go to this school where they have opportunities to utilize cutting edge technology. My own son has used our Sphero cart and iPads to learn coding, designed and created a puzzle using the laser engraver, and learned French through the use of a language program on the computers. There are definitely advantages, I just wonder if we all know what the other is doing.

Building a shared vision seems to be the key to success in implementing any lasting change!

I think this is really important in the implementation of technology. If teachers use it as a tool to keep students busy, we are not creating enriched and innovative learning experiences for students.

This would be an absolutely amazing opportunity and one I wish we could implement within my school- we have several people who are using technology in very educational and innovative ways but they do this with their own classes. How wonderful it would be if we could be trained by our peers. It would segue nicely into building relationships and collaboration.

In my school division, we have transferred all accounts into google drives. Our school division did an excellent job of providing training for all staff members. I thought it might be interesting to some people or provide people with some ideas for their own division. Our school division had levelled professional development sessions throughout the year. There were training sessions starting with the very basics (logging in to google) all the way to creating a google classroom. People had the option to sign up at the level they felt comfortable with and could progress from there. The people who had completed all levels were the team 'helpers' and could be approached with questions and for help if people needed it. Levelled groups was a great way to minimize fears and anxiety about the changeover and at the same time, keeping people at higher levels engaged in learning the new system.

I can relate to this. Our school budgeted for an Ipad cart. There are about 30 Ipads in the cart. There was no training for teachers in regards to using the Ipads in the classroom. Unfortunately, if teachers did not learn how to use the Ipads on their own time, they were just being used for listening to stories online. Ipad's have many other uses. Another problem, was that the Ipads were not synced and some had different apps than others, making it difficult to use them. Another challenge was that some students were really good at using Ipad's and created passwords without telling their homeroom teachers. When the Ipad's would get sent to another classroom, the other students could not use them because of the passwords. Many times the students who created the passwords couldn't remember them and teachers did not have the ability to reset the Ipad's once the passwords were created. Over time, they became more of a frustration in the classroom and many teachers didn't bother with them.

This reminds me of some Health Curriculum aspects- teaching students social and community health and well being. I recently used a lesson about Video Game Avatars that can affect body image.

We had a surge of accessibility to technology a few years ago; we have ipads in each class but we have not received training on how to use them appropriately for our individual grade levels and or for someone like myself who needs to be shown more than once- this can be daunting.

This seems like a common theme in the MAEL program, especially when implementing new change. Effective change comes from: clear vision, good leadership, strategic planning, collaboration, and shareholder buy-in.

This is pertinent across the board, not just in technology usage. Wether it be implementing manipulatives in math, or a new curriculum the vision needs to be clear, concise and effective before schools take action.

I guess I should have looked at all the required articles first rather than citing this article several times in my comments. This is a great article on overcoming the trend to fit tech into the lesson rather than using it for deeper learning.

Sorry, but I chuckled at this line, because how can we possibly have standards for future technology skills? We may well be in driverless cars sooner than we think. I agree that having standards for skills needed now is imperative, yet as soon as they are determined, they may be out of date by the time they are agreed upon and published. Just my two cents on this! LM

We are in such an early stage of technology improvement that we do not have people that can train us. There are tech-savvy people, but they work for businesses and do not understand schools well enough.

Here in Paraguay, to show the international community that some of the public schools also had 1 to 1 laptop, every student received a computer. The problem is that everything else continues the same. Students still have to purchase all the books they bought before. It is double work. There are extrem cases where the student was not even able to charge the computer at home since the family did not have electricity. Another problem is that some editorial companies simply load their original book in digital form without really providing a true digital version of the material.

I believe that this is one of the most important points mentioned in this article. Without "teacher ownership" (Culatta, 2019) implementing anything new, technology or not, is likely to be unsuccessful, or an uphill battle at best. This is why it's imperative for leaders to be intentional about rolling out new plans, and find ways to get their teachers (or team) on board with new changes.

We have huge gaps between students. Some arrive with the news computer available from abroad and others cannot afford a cell phone. We now were able to convince the board to purchase newer computers for our lab after six years. I believe the private sector tech companies should be closely connected with schools in helping them be up to date with latest technology and in training teachers. Tech businesses need to connect with schools and help close the equity gap.

It appears that narrowing the scope of vision is key to implementing the effective use of technology. Too often, new technology is introduced (such as the example of IPads) with broad expectations for changing every part of the educational experience.

This is a key point that shows the importance of leadership around change. Even something that may seem minor, like a technological upgrade, can need careful planning and guidance. My father, who was a principal at a middle school in the lower mainland, once shared a story about how every classroom at his school had been upgraded and had a 'smartboard' installed. As time went on, he realized that many teachers had no idea what a 'smartboard' was, or what they had the capability of doing with it (lots of interactive, useful teaching features). He was horrified to find out that teachers were using their 'smartboard' the same way they that they would before, as a projector, and nothing else.

I find it so helpful when I come away from a conference or workshop with exemplars and lesson ideas that have been carefully thought through, in light of the new curriculum.

This is a great proposal because offering ten sessions would definitely help teachers practice their newly acquired skills involving technology. As Michael Fullan (2013) writes "students and teachers alike-need to feel and experience some regular progress" and "small steps of progress are essential for drawing players in" (p.22). After ten sessions focused on technology, I am quite sure there would be more buy-in from teachers across the board. Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy and change knowledge. Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada.

I think that using technology to close equity gaps is an admirable and feasible goal. However, at the same time, I am skeptical as to how it can be done strategically. As higher economic areas get increasing access to brand new technologies consistently (as technology rapidly changes from year to year), schools and areas that cannot afford to keep up with the rate of change, will tend to fall behind in their technology department, thus creating another gap. As a TOC I saw a noticeable difference around the lower mainland between schools and districts with schools that had access to newer technologies, and others that did not. I continue to inquire about how much this affects one student with access to technology against another without.

I think this is another great idea. Providing four-hour workshops is much more effective than just a 1.5 hr pro-d workshop. I know from experience that 1.5 hours does not really help teachers familiarize themselves to the point where they feel competent utilizing the new technology. For example, at one District Pro D I attended once, there was a workshop on using Book Creator. Seeing it for the very first time and walking through the steps in a 90 minute session seemed helpful but in reality it was all forgotten when I later decided to try and use the feature with my students. Thankfully, my teacher-librarian was familiar with the iPad App and could walk my students through the process. After going through the process with her slowly and methodically, I then found I could teach my students independently. It was quite the process though.

What a great idea! If school districts hope to spur their teaching staff on to embrace new ways of using technology in the classroom then this is what needs to be spearheaded directly by them. When we transitioned as a district from Gradebook to MyEdBC, a principal was sent out to do workshops in all of the schools in the district. That was quite helpful as the workshops were in-house and the school board even paid for Teachers on Call (TTOC's) to cover our classes, so we could learn key tools in utilizing the new website.

A day does not go by without a computer related problem. I find myself continuously "getting lost in the weeds" when it comes to technology (Culatta, 2019).

I think it is wise to train your teachers and be sure there is buy-in from the start otherwise the grand vision could falter. My students may come across as being tech savvy, but in truth they do not know everything. The vast majority of students do not jump out of their desk to assist me when there is a computer glitch and my computer crashes. This year I have experienced a number of tech issues since our district purchased new Dell laptops for all teachers. In this case, the district was quick in handing out new devices to all teaching staff, but did not educate us enough on the new computer. Like Culatta (2019) notes the district really needs to first "provide adequate teacher training" (p.1).

Interesting, I would actually say that for me even when I have technology barricaded away in a different room my mind still wanders when reading a textbook. My dad grew up in an era without technology and said concentrating in school was hard back then at times too. Though, I'm sure he'd agree technology has heightened student distraction since his time in grade school. I like the example below with the science teacher in which more instructions are given. That way students can treat each step like a mission and avoid other rabbit holes that might otherwise serve as distractions. I know that I made the mistake of once handing out computers and then showing on PowerPoint the instructions... bad idea!

JAMIE KEITH

How true this is! Instead of doing book reports last year, in our library time we gave the students an option to do a book trailer. The librarian and I quickly realized we had not given enough scaffolding and direction as the "book trailers" were about one minute of a brief plot synopsis and two minutes of bloopers! Lesson learned by us.

My librarian just introduced me to Flipgrid a few weeks ago and we are utilizing it in a reading project we are having our grade 10s complete. I'm excited to try it. It definitely utilizes technology to help students create videos, but we found that we need to structure it by setting up connecting questions that they respond to in advance which relate to the skills we are targeting. For example, we want the students to discuss a text-to-self connection in which they compare something happening in their novel to something that happened in their own lives. We had to set up a question that got them thinking specifically in that way.

I try to tell my students everyday all the ways they can implement what they learn in the classroom into their everyday lives. I feel like it makes it a lot more real and easier to remember when the students make those connections. Since I teach French and Spanish I would also love to teach my students how to build their language skills using technology other than using google translate.

This is an excellent point! I often just assume students will know what to do when technology is placed into their hands however, if I took some time to learn effective ways to use iPads in the classroom and for learning French/Spanish I think that could really expand student's learning. On top of that whatever we do in class they could potentially do on their own at home. We even have a mac cart at work so it would be very easy to implement.

I find certain types of assignments using technology seem to motivate my students to start the learning process more than others; anytime my students can create videos to show their learning to a broader audience (for example they created “heritage minutes” for socials, and “right way/ wrong way videos for workplace safety) they jump at the opportunity to engage in the learning process. I wonder if it is the technology, the final product they can show multi-grades, the creativity involved or a combination of these factors.

It can be hard to do! Students are VERY quick and crafty at flipping to a different site! Our tech director, however, has the ability to check in on what is on the screen of any students at any time to be able to see what they are looking at without them knowing. He can then hack in and comment and it pops up on their screen. We utilize this. I will send him a private message asking him to do a "check" and he will and then comments. It is effective!

I like this! A simple way to have a checkpoint.

This is an interesting strategy and one I have started to implement with my classes. I show them where we are going for the activity, what the activity calls for, the steps they will have to take, and then I follow up in my check in question for the next class by asking them what they enjoyed about the activity, what they learned, and what they found difficult.

This just gave me an idea! In a k-12 school with buddies we could have our senior students help younger students with editing by using Google Docs. My son is in grade 5 and they use Google Docs for writing book reports. My son always shares them with myself and my husband for editing. Why couldn't he also share them with his big buddy, who is in grade 9?

We are a Google School! All of our high school students know how to use the Google platform and although they still struggle with turning in assignments and remembering to check the Google Classroom, they understand how to comment, how to make suggestions. how to create documents that they can all contribute to for class planning, etc. My students recently created videos for a Work Safe lesson in Career Life Education and they used Google Docs to plan the video frames, write a script, assign roles, and make lists of what they needed. They were then able to submit all of these planning document to me via the Google Classroom. True collaboration.

One thing that I constantly hear is that technology isolates students and makes it difficult for them to understand how to communicate. They say that youth today are disengaged and don't know how to talk to one another. My two sons recently purchased and Xbox with money they had been saving for over a year. My husband and I were hesitant to go down this road, and when they said they wanted to get Xbox LIve so they could "play with their friends" we had a big conversation around rules and how that would play out. Then, they got going in it.

We recently had a series of snow days, and in the afternoons the boys asked if they could go online and play with their friends. They "connected" and were chatting away for over an hour. We have it set so we can hear everything that was being said, and as they built a world in Minecraft they discussed school projects, classmates they were struggling with, talked about strategies for creating buildings, and just talked away for the entire time. They were in no way isolated or not communicating. They were, in fact, using critical thinking and communication skills to build their world, among other skills.

I think this same situation can translate into the use of technology in our classrooms, we just need to find the right tools.

Last year my class and I created an Escape Room in our drama portable. We used a lot of different technologies for this. They used the Sketch Up program to design the room layout and what props we needed. They used Google docs and spreadsheets as planning documents, with each group putting tasks and items needed into it. They used a digital music editing software program to create a soundtrack for the room that perfectly matched the time they had and the ambiance we were trying to create. This is just a starting point. The students were interviewed afterward for a video the school wanted to create on the project and they all could name at least one "real-life" skill they had developed through the project and the use of these various technological methods. It was also the most engaged I had ever seen them in my two years of teaching them!

This is such an interesting tool that I think teachers could use themselves to assess their own implementation of technology in their lessons.

I just had a lengthy discussion on this today with our school librarian. She is the one person in our school who really sees most of the different technologies that are being used, because a lot of it happens in the library, especially anything to do with our MakerSpace. She mentioned that the biggest challenge is teacher buy in. She felt that this was mostly due to not knowing how to employ the tools. To get students on board, teachers need to be on board, otherwise most students just see things like iPads as a toy. I like that many administrators seem to be seeing the need to provide this coaching. As a small, private school I always wonder, however, where does the funding and time come from?

I find this a particularly frustrating part of technology and would love some other strategies for this. I find that the students are very easily off-task and distracted. There are websites, such as Hapara, that are helpful for monitoring activity, however it is still very easy for students to be off task. In situations where I need to work one-on-one with a student, it is even easier. A quick glance around the room and it appears that all students are on task but then, if I check further, some students have not accomplished any significant amount of work in the amount of time that they've had.

I also find that many students like to use headphones and listen to music while working, but I would be interested to know if the music is actually helping the students focus or not.

When the shared vision is built as a team and people buy into the vision, there should be less pressure on the administrator. In my school, the framework was given to our administrative team and we had a team of 5 people who were enthusiastic about the changes and took leadership in implementing the changes. These people were available to answer questions, demonstrate use of technology after school or during PD days so that some of the pressure was taken off of the administrator.

My take-away is that teachers need to be very intentional about how they use technology. They should therefore be able to identify what they want to achieve with the technology before they start to use it. Otherwise technology-use will not be beneficial for the students. Added to this consideration should be the idea of value-added learning below.

I am very interested in learning how to do this!

I personally see a need for professional development in how to do this effectively, or more concrete examples beyond those presented in this article (as helpful as they are).

Is there some sort of framework or template that can help a teacher rate technology based upon criteria such as this (the ability to create, analyze, evaluate, gather, synthesize knowledge)?

This is a challenge I am having this year. Although such positive reinforcements like points or coins is very motivating for the students, it definitely presents a challenge when you have time constraints and want them to spend as much time as possible engaged in the task at hand. Applications that have these features should have a way for teachers to turn them on or off without negatively impacting students' rewards for their work.

I learned this the hard way. I created an assignment for my students in a program called Freckle Math (freckle.com) and asked my students to complete it. I was happy to note that the students were signed in and working on Freckle Math site for the entire time. However when I logged on to see the results, I discovered that some students went to other activities instead of the assigned one. I learned that I have to actively monitor what they are doing even when they are all logged onto the same computer activity.

My son is in grade 8 and has been using Google Classroom for some of his classes. I find this to be a very effective tool but it requires him to be self motivated and I can see how this could be difficult for some students and or parents who are not actively checking. This approach doesn't require him to bring books back and forth etc..he can have access at anytime. This has been teaching him many tools that he will find useful when he is in Post Secondary and in his career.

What does this mean? Most tech at the high school level will be web-based, so there is ALWAYS the potential to be distracted by the availability of online platforms. Our admin was talking about the article about Ontario government looking to ban cell phones next school year. We discussed the life skill of learning how to have constant access to tech but use it responsibly is more competency-building than outright banning.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-to-announce-cellphone-ban-in-classrooms-starting-next-school/

We are at the point at my school that when the internet goes down, we are all at a loss of what to do! Thus, I feel that we, as a society, are getting to the point where these questions do not need to be asked anymore. Tech seems to now be synonymous with education because it is so ubiquitous. Add to that the modernized curriculum is student-oriented based on inquiry, tech is basically an extension of what one does If one's pedagogy is to engage, enhance, and extend, then it will happen in spite of tech. LM

I love to give students a new tech toy, or app and give them time to explore it. It is fascinating to watch how they individually learn the functions/features of the device or app. It is also interesting to watch them compare notes. I hear: "Hey look what i figured out" several times a class, and they build off each others learning. Exploratory learning or problem based learning is a great opportunity for active social learning, though it often creates a class that some more traditional teachers might view as off task or noisy.

When using devices all screens need to be visible. I teach from the back so I can see what they are doing. If they are using cellphones/ipads/laptops they have to be visible. When they turn their screens away or hide them, I have a pretty good indicator that they are becoming distracted. I allow students time to explore the functions of a new app or program, then try and focus on problem based learning objectives that are student driven. For example, when teaching grade 4 students how to make stop motion videos on their tablets, I give them a 20 minutes to explore the app, take pictures and try and make a simple movie. After teaching them the functions of the app, I hold a class discussion on uses for this type of movie, where have they seen it, what are some interesting ways they have seen it used. Finally we talk about how we could use it to solve a school problem. One term students made stop motion videos for pink shirt day. Another term they made them to support their heritage fair (socials) project. By putting the onus on them to find a useful way to use the tech, they have a desire to remain focused while using it.

This ties in really well to concepts of problem based learning. Tech is often best used when students are using it to provide a solution to a problem. A great article on the benefits of learning through uncertainty is below. When I teach ADST I have my students build webpages and programs for problems they need to solve. One student used SQL (a programming language) to create a library to keep track of all his gaming achievements across platforms and games. While this is not necessarily knowledge I might find useful, his project showed great understanding of the programming language and an ability to make something useful/real world from a language that does not typically appear that way to grade 6 students.

Beghetto, R. A. (2017). Inviting UNCERTAINTY into the CLASSROOM: Five strategies to help students respond well to uncertainty--and foster complex problem-solving skills. Educational Leadership, 75(2), 20–25. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=125627092&site=ehost-live

This is exactly what I am talking about. When tech is used intentionally to provide access to new and profound knowledge, it is beneficial. When it is just thrown into the mix like another piece of stationary that must be used it is detrimental.

This is a great term for how technology can negatively impact the learning environment. It works well with the need for teachers to stop looking at technology as a required object that must be implemented like a new piece of curriculum and instead look at it as a tool to support learning in a new way, that overcomes the weaknesses of the teacher.

Rodberg (2019) states: "We created an elective class for all grades that unbound student learning from what the teacher knew, what the curriculum dictated, or what the rest of the students needed."

The tech should be a source of knowledge and inspiration rather than a distraction to learning. This perspective needs to be the foundation for implementing tech, rather than an afterthought of its effects.

Rodberg, S. (2019). BIG TECH, LITTLE CHANGE? Technology doesn’t change much in schools unless educators can push past convention. Educational Leadership, 76(5), 75–79. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134555686&site=ehost-live

I was at an ADST conference last year where one of the presenters indicated he put together a 3d printing lab by looking through computer lab closets in his district. He found 21 3d printers that had invoices from 4-5 years ago that were not being used, some not even opened/unpacked. This made me incredibly jealous because I would love to have 2 or 3 3d printers in my lab but my school cant afford to shell out $5000 for me to set it up. Many schools have great tech but no concept of how to use it or benefit from it.

This comment points towards to fact that just using technology in the classroom is not enough. We need teachers to be using (and teaching students how to use) technology in a way that supports "academic and social-emotional growth" (Kolb, 2019). This includes topics like digital literacy, social media and digital communication. In the article "Integrating Technology in the Classroom: It Takes More Than Just Having Computers" by Linda Starr, Starr unpacks that "Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience" (Starr, 2016) She also makes the point that "For many teachers, a lack of personal experience with technology presents an additional challenge". (Starr, 2016)

I saw Ursula's comment above and it made me think about the population of administration and school leaders who are not as technologically savvy or full of enthusiasm about technology as the modern world of education might need them to be. Our conversation and annotations have often pointed towards how we train and support teachers with technology, but how do we do the same with leadership and administration?

As a principal, I feel this pressure. But, at this point, I am more interested in sound teaching methods before encouraging tech use too much. We have more basic teaching questions to answer first. We are in the process of updating our system and using Microsoft 365 as a school. This was thanks for a business who has helped us. Now, we need to train staff and teachers.

I see that technology should help engage students from passive to active. help those that are not really participating to becoming more interested in what is being learned. Technology could also help students connect their everyday life with school life. Most of our students have access to a cell phone and could film and record assignments at home and show at school.

Two years ago I gave students an assignment at the beginning of the year where they had to introduce themselves to the class personally. I gave them the choice of presenting it life in class or film it at home and show the video. Several chose to do it through video. One particular girl, quite shy at school, was very different on camera. I talked to her after class, and I was able to see her from a different perspective. Besides, we had the opportunity to see their home setting and family context.

I have been looking at the Empatico platform to possibly collaborate with a class from another country. Technology has the potential to provide meaningful opportunities for students to learn outside their school day. Learning what these opportunities are seems to be the more problematic issue.

This reminds me of an activity my daughter had to do this year in her grade 7 class at PA. She was tasked to make a budget for a trip for three to Victoria. She did this in an excel spreadsheet and kept track of hotel accommodation, food entertainment and miscellaneous for the duration of a few days holiday., It was such a fantastic way for students to learn valuable, real-world lessons.

I found Adrienne's video tutorial on Hyothesis to be quite helpful and engaging. Although, this takes a lot of extra time on the part of the instructor and it cannot be expected by the administrative team, that all their staff must take this initiative on. I like how Fullan (2013) points out "Technology in its evolution is not simply neutral; it can be shaped by what we want out of it. It does have a life of its own in that its growth is inevitable" (p.12).

This is a nice idea and perhaps it would work best in elementary school but in high school we have so little time. I find it far more practical to do a quick loop in the class to see what my students are working on when they are tasked to do something using the COWS. I also monitor my students in Career Life Education by viewing my class on-line in MyBlueprint.ca. This way I can access each of my students on-line portfolios and see how many activities they have accomplished. The computer gives a break down by percent for me to see how much progress each student has individually put forth.

This is so true! Last term my students were creating Diary Entries on the book My Name is Seepeetza. I observed them working one moment on their iPads and toggling between their iPad and their iPhone. It was quite disturbing to see how they could hardly focus on the task at hand. A couple of years ago I tried taking students digital phones away at the start of class every day but it was such a struggle that I only enforced that rule for one entire school year then I gave up the fight. Today, if the phone is an issue, I take it away from individual students and keep it on my desk until the end of class.

In our International Student Program (ISP) the students are using Duolingo, Common Lit, Read Theory and Rosetta Stone to enhance their English skills.

My students utilize Google documents all the time in group work assignments and this is something they are taking ownership of on their own without me telling them directly that they must do this. Perhaps they learned it back in middle school, already; at any rate, they have already obtained this skill.

Is it always necessary for the teacher to be employing the tools? Fullan (2013) purports that while technology can accelerate the learning experience what really needs to happen is to "flip the roles of teacher and student" (p.4). Using technology in the classroom is engaging and students find it to be in the realm of their comfort zone. I personally know that many of my students are far more tech savvy than I ever aim to be. Therefore why not give them a platform to showcase their knowledge and teach their peers something?

I agree to some degree. However, many of our computers that are available for the general student population ie. library computers and Computers on Wheels (COWS) were not purchased directly by our administration. Our head librarian said "We have 39 computers which I have purchased from the Library budget" (J. Proske, personal communication, March 4, 2019). The COWS were purchased from our Parent Association Committee funds (PAC). In our case, the administration are not trying to keep up with other schools, by purchasing "expensive digital equipment" rather it is teaching staff and parents who take up the cause and make things happen (Kolb, 2019).

Fullan (2013) writes "technology can join the fray in a more purposeful way in order to transform learning for educators and learners in the 21st century" (p.3). For this reason, school leaders would be wise to help coach their teachers into utilizing more innovative approaches in technology. Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy and change knowledge. Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada.

Re: Technology use on the Rise at https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/teaching-for-the-future_9789264293243-en#page79

Please repeat after me, "PowerPoint is not an effective teaching tool!"

This chapter explores how teachers can use technology to provide quality instruction and provides a few insights....

LDRS 626 please annotate chapter 4 'How can we effectively use technology in classrooms?

The way that I observe student anxiety being addressed in my school gives evidence to the notion that there is limited communication between the school and clinical environments. I think this is the most important message conveyed by this study.

This looks like a good topic for a literature review.

According to the Anxiety website (https://www.anxietycanada.com/parenting/my-anxiety-plan) "it is common for children and teens to experience anxiety symptoms of more than one anxiety disorder". Fortunately many of the tools on the website can be used for more than one type. This being said, it makes it even more important to have a clear understanding of how the anxiety impacts school functioning so effective accommodations can be put in place.

I observe this to be the case in my school. In one specific example there was no direct communication between the school and the psychologist. Once the parent contacted the teacher and advised them of the diagnosis, it was left up to the School Support Team to suggest appropriate accommodations for the student. One suggestion to improve the process would be to have the mental health professional observe the child in the school setting and make recommendations that are specific to the child's learning environment.

Given that Greif Green et.al. noted potential differences between how parents see the anxiety and how the child sees it, identifying how anxiety interferes with academic and social functioning would be key in creating an IEP that meets the specific needs of the student.

Services for primary students with anxiety at my school are in the form of accommodations provided by the teacher. Sample accommodations include pairing the student with a stronger student who can act as a role model and academic support for the student; seating the student so that he/she cannot see what other students are doing (to decrease anxiety about his/her work performance in comparison with others); teaching the student to verbalize his/her feelings; monitoring the student and daily written communication with the parents.

I wonder if it particularly the case for females because woman are encouraged to share how they are feeling a lot more than men are and therefore are more vocal about feeling anxiety.

I feel like one of the reasons why we don't know a lot about how to support and accommodate anxious children at school is because a lot of the anxiousness starts at home. The education system can do a lot to help students with anxiety, and I think we should do everything we can to help these students, but at the end of the day if something doesn't change at home, how much can we really expect things to improve at school?

I think this is a very important limitation. Often times, if a student is not understanding something, it increases anxiety. Especially if the child is already anxious when it comes to asking for help.

Also, just out of curiosity, what would be the benefit of surveying mothers and children instead of parents and children?

I have experienced situations in which providing extra time for students with anxiety only made the situation worse. There were two students in my 5 years of teaching who were given extra time that they would spend questioning or second guessing and changing answers.

I am curious to know how people effectively use 'safe spaces' in there school. In my experience, the students that I have had who have needed a 'safe space' have not been students who can be trusted to go somewhere alone and unfortunately we don't have enough staff support to be able to send a student somewhere with a staff member. How does your school find/utilize 'safe spaces' for students?

These percentages are higher than I expected. Anxiety is a very real impairment in academic functioning.

I think that it is important to note that there is a need for further educating everyone about mental health. If mothers are feeling unsure about the experiences of their own children, how are teachers supposed to be sure? I think that mental health is something we need to pay more attention too. If we feel 'unsure,' I think it would be difficult to be successful in helping students develop the necessary coping skills.

I think this is very important. We do not have much to offer for out-of-school mental health support in my community. When a student is seeking out-of-school mental health support, they are often commuting between 3 and 5 hours for this service. Their parents would not be making the commute if it were not serious or necessary. This means that the person that is providing the service knows even less about the child, our community and the family. Communication and sharing of information between all parties is important. The people who are helping the child are a team and will be more likely to experience success if they can share ideas, strategies and relevant information.

In my experience, I am finding that many student could be on IEP's. One year, I had a class of 21 students. 9 students were on IEP's and at the end of June, I created 5 more new IEPs for students who needed them. This is 14 out of 21 students on an IEP. At this point, I almost felt like the IEP's were not really beneficial. It's not realistic to be able to manage this many IEP's without additional support in the classroom. Unfortunately, IEP's can sometimes become a document that gets made, submitted and then forgotten about until it is time to update the document. This was not how they were intended to be used. How does a teacher effectively manage this many IEP's in day-to-day teaching? Does this affect the learning of students who are not on IEP's?

I would be curious to see information on how this has changed over time. I have only been teaching for five years and in that time, have noticed an increase in the number of students with anxiety. What is causing this increase in anxiety? I often wonder if the increased use of technology is causing some of the increase in anxiety because people are having to interact and use social skills less often. I wonder what else could be causing the increase in the number of people with anxiety.

As was commented in the AnxietyCanada site, this study differs with the site. Maybe not the question who is more responsible but both, parents and school staff, are responsible in providing help and support.

We do realize that several of our students are anxious in these situations. We usually think it is because our school is finally raising the bar in our community with higher standards. Most schools have such low expectations that when we require students to present information in front of the class and take tests that are being evaluated with a rubric, students feel anxious. We need to continue to think in ways to help students cope with such anxiety.

In Paraguay we are not yet diagnosing anxiety in schools. I wonder how many students are anxious and leave. We know that some do not think they can meet the standards at our school and prefer to give up.

We are yet to develop such reports her in Paraguay. The work of writing and IEP style report is left to the school to do. It took our school psychologist many weeks and hours to file one report to justify the modifications that were needed for one child. These are weeks and hours that she cannot be assisting students personally.

The fact that students with IEP’s have higher anxiety scores seems logical because many diagnoses are comorbid with anxiety. For example, 33% of students with ADHD have concurrent anxiety (Masi, 2015). Knowing this means we must be aware that students may be dealing with more than one diagnosis. Providing accommodations for symptoms of anxiety may not be enough, teaching and accommodations for skill deficits may also be needed.

I would be greatly interested in having a workshop on this topic. I had a girl with cut marks on her arms in my class and when i inquired to parents and upper staff I was told "Councilors are looking into it". It made me feel helpless. I want more training in the area so I can help and know when a referral is needed. JAMIE KEITH LDRS 626

Within our IEP's, I see a lot of adaptations for students where they get to avoid doing certain types of assignments and have a reduced workload. I wonder how much this is an effective strategy for these students, and how often this might be having a negative effect on the student's ability to deal with anxiety. What are some other strategies we can use in education other than avoidance-based approaches?

Or, it may indicate that students either aren't being transparent enough with parents or aren't aware that there is a difference. Do students know the difference between behavioral and cognitive experiences? There are different types and levels of anxiety. Perhaps it's worth supporting student and parent understandings of the differences and how each can be managed.

• JAMIE KEITH LDRS 626

I had an issue with this yesterday. I personally want to understand more about the differences between the natural growing pains and self-consciousness associated with growing up and where technology has created unnecessary stress and anxiety. How can a teacher/parent tell the differences? What did the amounts of anxiety look like in students before technology ever came into classrooms? -JAMIE KEITH LDRS 626

This past year we helped a high school senior find funds to attend college. As she is attending college, we realize that she is far from home and the familiar settings and none of us, former school staff or her family can help her with her fear of failure. She knows we are investing a lot in her. Through phone conversations, she has mentioned it that her fear blocks her at times when she is taking a test. One of our staff is calling her weekly to help her cope with anxiety

This resource gives simple, yet effective ideas that could be used for the whole class. For example, teaching and implementing class wide deep breathing provides a practical strategy for all students to manage anxiety. It also links further resources for each strategy.

Such an important point. We have to keep ourselves healthy in order to fully be able to cope with helping others. Parents are important too and having a child that is upset can be stressful JAMIE LDRS 626

I really like that the website almost seems 'spa-like'. I'm not sure what gives me this impression, but I feel it invokes calming ideas and suggestions. I almost here oriental calming music in my head as I read. JAMIE LDRS 626

I LOVE ALL OF THESE STEPS! I've copied them and have been inspired to plan a lesson around them. The final words "You can handle the panic attack" are unique because so many of us feel out of control in those moments. just because you lose it briefly doesn't mean you can't regain! JAMIE KEITH LDRS 626

I am REALLY loving all of the forward thinking technology on this website. The resources are phenomenal. I downloaded the app and it has some great tips. I would recommend you guys explore it! It's really worth it - JAMIE KEITH

Hi Adrienne, did this work?

I am truly motivated to see a mission and vision built into the anxiety website! We have spent a lot of time in our MAEL programs, discussing MVV. I think it is important to see that an MVV should be a part of every organization.

The doctor being interviewed talked about how children and teens cope with anxiety and the importance of recognizing and understanding that their anxieties are real to them. It was a good reminder to not only validate my students in their academics but also in how they feel.

I wish I had read this when I started teaching. Sometimes my ways of thinking were so old school. If a student skipped my class I immediately assumed it was because they didn't want to be there, they didn't like me, they thought the class was boring. What I should have done was think about other reasons why a student would not come to class, especially if they are consistently not showing up to class.

It is encouraging to read how we are learning more about trauma. It is something we need to be talking about more in schools and provide training on. I recently organized a Pro-D with a workshop on Trauma Informed Practice and we plan on continuing with this topic for our summer Pro-D. I used to think trauma was only for those who experienced a catastrophic or life-threatening event but now I know that is not always the case.

I never really understood anxiety until my recent years in teaching. Especially how “anxiety presents in our students in many ways. Some examples are: not attending school, refusal to ride the bus, difficulty being in a full classroom, afraid to leave their parent each day, anxious about working on academics that they struggle with and more” (Preibisch, 2016, p.5). I used to not realize that my students would feel anxious about things I have never felt anxious about. I have also learned that everyone deals anxiety on different levels and we all have different coping strategies to deal with it and sometimes we don’t even realize the things we do every day are our way of coping. For example, binge watching tv shows, playing video games, online shopping etc.

According to Greif Green et. al., (2017), cognitive-behavioural interventions for anxiety encourage the development of coping skills and discourage avoidance/escape. I noticed that the tools in the MAP are focused on teaching students how to deal with their anxiety rather than how to avoid it. The MAP tools therefore seem to be in alignment with clinical best practices.

I have already shared this website with a colleague who has a student diagnosed with anxiety. There are SO many helpful resources here!

This is very interesting information. I did not know that selective mutism is an anxiety disorder. I was under the mistaken belief that it was caused by emotional trauma.

It makes sense to me that they would be identified at the time of starting school. As mentioned earlier in the article, they can be social and talkative in situations where they are comfortable (such as at home) but the first day of school can be a huge transition.

Having encountered a primary student with selective mutism this year, this is very enlightening.

I think that this is an important step to consider. If a student has outpatient care, it is so important for the strategies and procedures to be communicated to the school so that they can work together as a team rather than doing something that may obstruct student success and development in this.

Is this due to the assessments that are already happening for these students in other areas? How can we begin to assess the needs of our students struggling with anxiety? I'm not sure what the process is for this. Would it be overboard to create IEPs for students who only suffer from anxiety? Is there a stand alone IEP purely for anxiety-related issues...excuse my lack of knowledge. I just had a big conversation with my husband-who is also a teacher-about this! If a student has a plan in place just for this, would it raise our awareness of the adaptations that need to be put in place for these students?

I am truly motivated to see a mission and vision built into the anxiety website! We have spent a lot of time in our MAEL programs, discussing MVV. I think it is important to see that an MVV should be a part of every organization.

I had no idea that there were so many anxiety-related disorders. This is really helpful as an educator. I have had students diagnosed and medicated for anxiety, however, if I knew the specifics behind the diagnoses, perhaps I could be more helpful and knowledgeable with how to help.

I really like the section on self-help. This is excellent. Where I live, there is not a lot of local help. It is important for people to build skills and gather tools that can be used when going for help may not always be an option.

A video library is an excellent way to create understanding, increase awareness and perhaps decrease the stigma around anxiety. These videos are great for educators who may feel lost in terms of how to help a student.

This App looks really cool! In an age where we are dealing with youth who are constantly on their phones, it would be nice to see a shift in their use of time on the smart phones! More time spent on personal growth and development and less time spent or wasted on other things on their phones!

Also, I know that mental health still faces a lot of stigma. An app would be a great help for someone who may feel like they would prefer more private options for dealing with mental health.

Although I think an app is a great idea, I am wondering, do you ever think that technology is taking over too much? Will youth be able to practice these skills and behaviours on their own, without the use of technology?

Very helpful tips since Greif-Green et al. (2017) says that 40.4% fear speaking in front of the class. Something we as teachers need to know.

Greif-Green et al. (2017) says that 30% of chidlren under 18 suffer from anxiety disorder.

Still remember a student of mine that would have at least one panic attack a week. Thankfully over time with the help of our school counselor and with much understanding from friends and teachers, the student began to lash out or scream less frequently.