In the examination of wetlands in Alberta, students will have the opportunity to explore the importance of the land and its organisms to local indigenous groups. Students will take part in various discussions examining what wetlands mean to them and engage in examples of what various landforms and bodies of water mean to FNMI peoples. Students will also research the importance of various plants located in the wetlands to FNMI traditions, medicinal practices and celebrations. By incorporating origin stories and artifacts, all students will have the opportunity to explore how their own family is connected with the land.
We have included learning tasks to accommodate diverse learner needs. According to Alberta Education, diverse learners are those identified students with disabilities, English language learners (ELL), gifted students, and students identified at risk for leaving school before completion (2010).
To accommodate English language learners and students with learning disabilities, the instructor is to speak slowly, model how new words and language are to be used, and incorporate expression and gestures (supportrealteachers.org, n.d.). Visual aids are to be included in the classroom including wetland posters, picture books, videos, and a word wall (a large white board with an outline of a marsh where students may situate, draw and label organisms). The Phylomon cards created by the students can be bilingual. Hands-on activities will be provided, such as a plant centre where cattails, bulrushes and sedges may be touched and broken apart. A sound centre will be present in the classroom with recordings of pertinent frog and bird calls, and mammal sounds (beaver slapping its tail on water). KWL charts, think-pair-share activities, and journals written in students' first languages and/or English are to be encouraged. Software such as Rewordify may be used by ELL and students with learning disabilities (rewordify.com, n.d.).
Gifted students may create additional Phylomon cards for the class, design enhanced features for the wetland website, or perform research on wetland preservation. Advanced students may also enjoy learning and teaching others about the taxonomic hierarchy's of plants and animals as well as learning the scientific (latin) names.
Students with various learning disabilities will be accommodated by the vast amount of classroom support and hands on activities. Through technology, students are able to stay updated on what is required of them and work at their own pace. By updating the class blog on a daily basis, parents are also able to assist their child by knowing what is going on in the classroom and the requirements of the project. During the field trip, all students will be exposed to kinesthetic discovery with pond dipping. This approach benefits students who may not be as strong in other learning styles as well as accommodating ELL as well.
Our project has a great deal of technology included as tools for enhancing learning. As per Alberta's Inspiring Education vision, our technological tools call for student-centered and personalized learning in an authentic environment (Alberta Education, 2013). Our use of technology coincides with Alberta's Learning and Technology Policy Framework in that it follows Policy Direction 1 & 5 of the framework (2013). Prior to our exploration of topics, we will be creating a K-W-L chart using a program called Padlet as a way to assess students' current knowledge as a way of diagnostic assessment. Students will be able to take and develop photos during their tour of Ralph Klein park for future use in their Phylo cards and class website to foster creativity and self-expression. Parents, peers, and the school community are able to stay updated on our progress with our online blog as well as offering a form of formative assessment for students. Students will be tasked in creating an educational/advocacy website that will be linked to the Ralph Klein website. Our students will create their Phylo cards using digital templates and upload their finished cards to the crowd-sourced Phylomon database that can be accessed by the larger community.