Tuesday, July 27, 2010
THINK Conference
Catch up on what happened at the THINK Conference. PowerPoints will be available soon. Links to Jill's wikis are there already. THINK Conference on our Cluster wiki.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Presenting work at DNI
At my visit to DNI we were looking at ways that teachers could use ICT tools for students to use to present work in different ways, most teachers felt that PowerPoint had really dominated as a presenting tool. We looked at several ways of presenting work on a wiki, through Comic Life, Glogster a web2 tool which creates digital posters and one of my favourites Blabberize. Blabberize is a really cool tool, kids love it and it is technically pretty simple. It is a shame that a lot of the time the fun and learning really stops at working out how it works and laughing at the end result. Blabberize can be a tool that the author presents information to an audience through particularly characters, making an impact about an important short message- for example sun-safety or any safety information.
It is also a great tool to present perspectives.
Working with Chris at DNI with Blabberize we discussed using this tool in Social Science. Students can take different perspectives and speak on each characters behalf on an issue they have been studying. One example we thought of was related to ANZAC day as Chris had just finished some work on this, the first picture the students upload could be soldiers, who give their perspectives, then perhaps family at home, then perhaps the generals who sent orders to attack the beach etc. If you haven’t heard of Blabberize have a play it is great fun, Vokis can be used in the same ways. A voki is an avatar that you create and then speak through.
It is also a great tool to present perspectives.
Working with Chris at DNI with Blabberize we discussed using this tool in Social Science. Students can take different perspectives and speak on each characters behalf on an issue they have been studying. One example we thought of was related to ANZAC day as Chris had just finished some work on this, the first picture the students upload could be soldiers, who give their perspectives, then perhaps family at home, then perhaps the generals who sent orders to attack the beach etc. If you haven’t heard of Blabberize have a play it is great fun, Vokis can be used in the same ways. A voki is an avatar that you create and then speak through.
Strath Taieri Wiki
Addie at Strath Taieri is using the class wiki to share the weekly homework with the class, she has made a homework blog to do this and has put the blog into the class wiki in an Iframe. This decision was made so that the homework files did not need to be managed and the students could see the homework sheet without having to download it, also the blog made it easier for the student to comment on the homework or perhaps share sites etc that helped them to complete their homework with their classmates. The senior class are doing speeches. The plan is to use a video camera to record the speeches and then share these on the class wiki. Warwick the classroom teacher liked the use of video exemplars for assessment he saw in Andrea of DNI’s Action Research Project last year at the Mini-Conference.
I Frame- Blogs in Wikis at St Leonard's School
At St Leonards two of the classes have been using wikis in 2009. Both had decided over time that they would like a place to put news or share work. As time went on they wanted to archive this work and things had started to get messy. Their wikis were not originally intended to have this information on them but as their skills have grown they now wanted to use them in this way. A blog is really a better tool to use to update news and have it archived as the blog does this for you. So we made two blogs and went over how these worked which was easy for these teachers as they were able to relate the skills and understandings from their wiki to learn to blog. The parents are well trained to visit the wiki and they didn’t want to manage two online spaces. We could have linked the blog into the wiki with a button but we decided to use an Iframe. We used some html code to put a window in the wiki which you could see and interact with the blog through. Check them out, they look great. Room 1 and Room 3.
Lianne at St Leonards has been thinking about using her class wiki for news board, she will get students to write onto the wiki and at the top of the writing she will write DRAFT so parents know it has not been checked by the teacher. Thanks to our National Facilitator Jill for this idea.
We talked about then using the children’s writing at newsboard to edit this work as a class, taking responsibility for the wiki’s presentation as a class. This would mean Lianne doesn’t have to do this after school in her preparation time and the students benefit from an authentic editing experience as newsboard time.
Lianne at St Leonards has been thinking about using her class wiki for news board, she will get students to write onto the wiki and at the top of the writing she will write DRAFT so parents know it has not been checked by the teacher. Thanks to our National Facilitator Jill for this idea.
We talked about then using the children’s writing at newsboard to edit this work as a class, taking responsibility for the wiki’s presentation as a class. This would mean Lianne doesn’t have to do this after school in her preparation time and the students benefit from an authentic editing experience as newsboard time.
Instructions at Lee Stream
I had a great day at Lee Stream working with a group of students on Comic Life. Bilinda has a great system set up for the students to coach/teach one another ICT skills related to different tasks. Bilinda teaches a small group of students to do something, they work with peers to teach these skills until everyone in the class can do/use whatever the target learning was.
I worked with the students to teach instructional writing. Comic Life is great for teaching anything procedural or sequential. We made finger puppets and the students took photos of each step in the process and then used these pictures to make their comics. I had planned to then use the puppets in graphic narratives using comic life but not everyone had time to do this. I’ve taught instructional writing several times without using photography and it is very difficult for the children to remember the steps in the process. I think in taking the photos they can recall and understand the concept of a step in the process, as it forces you to pay attention to what is changing each time you take a picture. I was really impressed with the comics the students made; we put these on their school wiki (which is a closed protected space) for family to look at.
I worked with the students to teach instructional writing. Comic Life is great for teaching anything procedural or sequential. We made finger puppets and the students took photos of each step in the process and then used these pictures to make their comics. I had planned to then use the puppets in graphic narratives using comic life but not everyone had time to do this. I’ve taught instructional writing several times without using photography and it is very difficult for the children to remember the steps in the process. I think in taking the photos they can recall and understand the concept of a step in the process, as it forces you to pay attention to what is changing each time you take a picture. I was really impressed with the comics the students made; we put these on their school wiki (which is a closed protected space) for family to look at.
Outram Term 2 2010
I had two really positive days at Outram School this term. There was a noticeable development of a positive attitude, improvement and excitement about the work we were doing from all staff. Many staff members had new teacher laptops that seemed to almost have them singing, they were so pleased to retire their old laptops after years of report writing and lesson planning they were not what they used to be.
Many teachers are using audio recording to meet students’ needs in writing. Writing is the school’s focus for all of their action research projects this year. Stacy is using this both to motivate and support some writers in her class. She observed how powerful this audio recording is for her as a teacher also. When she is marking the children's work she can hear exactly what they have tried to write. I’m sure many teachers particularly junior teachers, have had experiences of having no idea what the students writing says when they come to read the work. This enables Stacy to mark the work and identify what to bring up with the students without having to decode the writing with the student. This avoids a situation that can so often result in the child feeling as though they have failed, as their message is illegible to the teacher. The independence and success the student is experiencing is having a positive effect on their attitude to writing.
Many teachers are using audio recording to meet students’ needs in writing. Writing is the school’s focus for all of their action research projects this year. Stacy is using this both to motivate and support some writers in her class. She observed how powerful this audio recording is for her as a teacher also. When she is marking the children's work she can hear exactly what they have tried to write. I’m sure many teachers particularly junior teachers, have had experiences of having no idea what the students writing says when they come to read the work. This enables Stacy to mark the work and identify what to bring up with the students without having to decode the writing with the student. This avoids a situation that can so often result in the child feeling as though they have failed, as their message is illegible to the teacher. The independence and success the student is experiencing is having a positive effect on their attitude to writing.
Audio as a tool to scaffold students
At Liberton Christian School Alan is working on an Action Research project with students during writing. He has selected some students to use audio recording during the composition of their story. The students will record their stories orally and then play these back while they write this message down. This supports students to be independent writers, separating the tasks of content generation and remembering their message from actually transcribing their story. We also discussed other strategies that effective writers use particularly self-talk. Alan will make up a self-talk sheet to prompt these students to try to scaffold themselves through challenges before appealing to peers or the teacher.
Hermione the Year 3 and 4 teacher is also using audio recording in her action research. She will be recording herself and some selected students reading text and will put these onto her class wiki. The students will be able to listen to these at school and home to become familiar with the text and to independently manage their learning when they are not with the teacher.
Hermione the Year 3 and 4 teacher is also using audio recording in her action research. She will be recording herself and some selected students reading text and will put these onto her class wiki. The students will be able to listen to these at school and home to become familiar with the text and to independently manage their learning when they are not with the teacher.
Applying knowledge at Ravensbourne School
Ravensbourne School is has both PC and Mac computers. The children in the senior room are more familiar with the Mac computers and know many shortcut keys. Much of this knowledge is transferable to the PC, most shortcut keys are the same as Mac but instead of using the apple (command) key you use the control. The task I set the children was to make their own posters help-sheets on the PC computer with the shortcut keys for both computers in a t chart.
One thing I noticed, when observing the students making these posters about shortcut keys, was that some of them were not using the shortcut keys to their advantage in this task. I stopped them and pointed this out, there is no point having knowledge if you cannot or do not apply it when appropriate. For these students they realised why knowing the shortcut keys would benefit them and were worth remembering. I loved working with these students they were so enthusiastic and worked so well together.
Later I worked with the junior class and their teacher, taking digital photos with the cameras and learning to load these onto the computers in their classroom. We also did some work on comic life. The ideas was that there will be something the children can do independently with their pictures while the teacher is taking groups etc. Comic life lets students tell a story through images, perfect for New Entrant children who can attempt to write using the speech bubbles but their story is still obvious in the sequencing of the images.
One thing I noticed, when observing the students making these posters about shortcut keys, was that some of them were not using the shortcut keys to their advantage in this task. I stopped them and pointed this out, there is no point having knowledge if you cannot or do not apply it when appropriate. For these students they realised why knowing the shortcut keys would benefit them and were worth remembering. I loved working with these students they were so enthusiastic and worked so well together.
Later I worked with the junior class and their teacher, taking digital photos with the cameras and learning to load these onto the computers in their classroom. We also did some work on comic life. The ideas was that there will be something the children can do independently with their pictures while the teacher is taking groups etc. Comic life lets students tell a story through images, perfect for New Entrant children who can attempt to write using the speech bubbles but their story is still obvious in the sequencing of the images.
Time Lapse at NEVNS
The teachers at NEVNS are working with various blogs and wikis. One teacher is well on her way to putting together an interesting action research project.
Tracey wants to monitor independent on task behaviours during reading time. She is doing lots of things to improve and scaffold independence at reading time, but what is different is how she is measuring this. She has been using time-lapse photography in the classroom. The class had a chrysalis which they set up next to a webcam and used a free download from Powertools Webcam Timershot (get at the bottom of the page). If you have a Mac the free download Gawker can do the same thing. If you want to learn more about time-lapse photography click here.
So time-lapse photography will be set up in the classroom to collect the data at the beginning of the research and then again at the end monitoring on task independent behaviour. What an easy and engaging way to monitor actions over time.
Another teacher Michael is presenting his action research project at another school outside of our cluster in a staff meeting. They are interested in buying interactive whiteboards, screen or projectors and to help them think about how they will make the most out of these resources Michael will share his journey about ways he used his screen in the classroom during the 2009 school year.
Tracey wants to monitor independent on task behaviours during reading time. She is doing lots of things to improve and scaffold independence at reading time, but what is different is how she is measuring this. She has been using time-lapse photography in the classroom. The class had a chrysalis which they set up next to a webcam and used a free download from Powertools Webcam Timershot (get at the bottom of the page). If you have a Mac the free download Gawker can do the same thing. If you want to learn more about time-lapse photography click here.
So time-lapse photography will be set up in the classroom to collect the data at the beginning of the research and then again at the end monitoring on task independent behaviour. What an easy and engaging way to monitor actions over time.
Another teacher Michael is presenting his action research project at another school outside of our cluster in a staff meeting. They are interested in buying interactive whiteboards, screen or projectors and to help them think about how they will make the most out of these resources Michael will share his journey about ways he used his screen in the classroom during the 2009 school year.
2010 at GSNS
I have visited GSNS three times so far this year but have seen many of the teachers also at some of the Expert Workshops. There has been a lot of new equipment purchased by the school so teachers are learning lots of new things. Each classroom has a new Ipod touch which they are learning to use as a staff. At this stage everyone is working to get these to sync with their computers and learning their way around the world of ipods, itunes, applications etc. Later the teachers should be able to receive news and updates around the school when they are on the move. Teachers are beginning to plan their ‘Teacher Inquiries’ (action research) projects for the year. There are a few more blogs that have been started and these are being used increasingly with the students as the blog authors. Some blogs are being used for reflection on learning in senior classes. Although all of the students reflect on their learning, a few are selected to publish their reflections on the blog, as a reflector of the day.
Many teachers used their time with me to try to solve problems they have been having with equipment compatibility. Different cameras often create files that are not always compatible with their computer software or applications they want to use on the Internet. This can be very frustrating and is something to be mindful of when you purchase new equipment. One useful and free tool to use to convert files so they are compatible for your uses is Zamzar. It is an online site that you can upload a file to, select what you want the file to become and you are sent an email when the site has completed this change. You have 24 hours from the time you receive your email to download your converted file.
Although file problems is a frustrating way to be introduced to files types, this was an effective lesson for teachers in paying attention to the file type and realising that file problems such as these are often what is causing their problems. On a Microsoft Word document for example .doc is the file extension. The file extension tells the computer, which programme can open that file. Getting to know and paying attention to these file extensions is a good habit to get into.
Many teachers used their time with me to try to solve problems they have been having with equipment compatibility. Different cameras often create files that are not always compatible with their computer software or applications they want to use on the Internet. This can be very frustrating and is something to be mindful of when you purchase new equipment. One useful and free tool to use to convert files so they are compatible for your uses is Zamzar. It is an online site that you can upload a file to, select what you want the file to become and you are sent an email when the site has completed this change. You have 24 hours from the time you receive your email to download your converted file.
Although file problems is a frustrating way to be introduced to files types, this was an effective lesson for teachers in paying attention to the file type and realising that file problems such as these are often what is causing their problems. On a Microsoft Word document for example .doc is the file extension. The file extension tells the computer, which programme can open that file. Getting to know and paying attention to these file extensions is a good habit to get into.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Too busy to blog
It has been a long time since I have blogged on here. I have been working with lots of people and some of the work has been consolidating what we started and can be read on previous posts. Lately my visits have become different. The teachers I am working with are beginning our one-on-one sessions. Before I have even opened my laptop they are talking about what they have done and can I fix this problem or saying "I have a list for you..."Teachers are really directing the sessions.
There is some really fantastic and innovative thinking and work happening. I am really looking forward to the mini-conference where people will present their action research and show their work from this year. Dave and I worried that we would have to beg people to present at the mini-conference, we might need to do a bit of pleading but plenty of teachers have contact us immediately and are happy to present which is encouraging.
One thing that is very noticeable, when I have asked people to share at the conference, is their first reaction- that their work is not as good as others and it probably would be of no interest to anyone else. I think this is just a natural reaction. I have been challenging people to see that everyone has completed a different project and have approached it in unique ways. That is of interest to people. Some people have had amazing growth and change over the year but feel that as they started as one teacher described "as a blank canvas" they can not do all of the whizzy things that others can do.
I think that it is very important for these people to present. For two reasons:
They are fantastic reminders of the change that has happened, and change is sometimes so gradual we do not notice it ourselves or in others.
And it is important that everyone in our cluster sees themselves in some of the presenters.
One of the teachers I spoke with last week felt that technology did not come naturally to her and it has been such a frustrating, but in the end rewarding, process. She thought her work was perhaps not a very good example of action research because she hated it so much to begin with and she probably did it wrong. I think her voice is the most valuable for people that felt the same. We had a fantastic conversation about learning and challenge and getting the right balance between the two. She explained how she avoided difficult things at the beginning of her ICT journey because she was worried that things might go wrong. Now she looks for things she can't do and is confident that she will be able to work them out eventually.
She was so pleased with the outcomes of her action research and all that she had learnt from it. Until we looked through the results and had this discussion she said she would have said the process was largely a waste of time. It wasn't until it was finished and she could see the whole thing come together and reflect on it, she realised what she had achieved.
I think the best is yet to come for her. She has largely been working away on this without many people realising what she has been doing. If she does present at the mini conference I think the feedback she gets from other teachers will take her thinking to another level.
There is some really fantastic and innovative thinking and work happening. I am really looking forward to the mini-conference where people will present their action research and show their work from this year. Dave and I worried that we would have to beg people to present at the mini-conference, we might need to do a bit of pleading but plenty of teachers have contact us immediately and are happy to present which is encouraging.
One thing that is very noticeable, when I have asked people to share at the conference, is their first reaction- that their work is not as good as others and it probably would be of no interest to anyone else. I think this is just a natural reaction. I have been challenging people to see that everyone has completed a different project and have approached it in unique ways. That is of interest to people. Some people have had amazing growth and change over the year but feel that as they started as one teacher described "as a blank canvas" they can not do all of the whizzy things that others can do.
I think that it is very important for these people to present. For two reasons:
They are fantastic reminders of the change that has happened, and change is sometimes so gradual we do not notice it ourselves or in others.
And it is important that everyone in our cluster sees themselves in some of the presenters.
One of the teachers I spoke with last week felt that technology did not come naturally to her and it has been such a frustrating, but in the end rewarding, process. She thought her work was perhaps not a very good example of action research because she hated it so much to begin with and she probably did it wrong. I think her voice is the most valuable for people that felt the same. We had a fantastic conversation about learning and challenge and getting the right balance between the two. She explained how she avoided difficult things at the beginning of her ICT journey because she was worried that things might go wrong. Now she looks for things she can't do and is confident that she will be able to work them out eventually.
She was so pleased with the outcomes of her action research and all that she had learnt from it. Until we looked through the results and had this discussion she said she would have said the process was largely a waste of time. It wasn't until it was finished and she could see the whole thing come together and reflect on it, she realised what she had achieved.
I think the best is yet to come for her. She has largely been working away on this without many people realising what she has been doing. If she does present at the mini conference I think the feedback she gets from other teachers will take her thinking to another level.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Erika's maths wiki
Erika has started a wiki with Dave. She has been uploading videos of her students demonstrating number strategies to share with parents what the students are learning at school and help parents understand the focus on strategies rather than knowing the answer.
We added some games to the website which complemented the strategies Erika's students were demonstrating and explaining. She has only just started to add these as it is a lot of work for her five year olds. One of the senior classes is also developing a wiki of mathematic strategies, so hopefully some older children will be able to help Erika out with the videoing. We talked about perhaps setting her resource room up as a little recording studio and having a 'recording in process' sign on the door. It's hard to find a quite time to record with very young children, there is no such thing as silent reading.
We added some games to the website which complemented the strategies Erika's students were demonstrating and explaining. She has only just started to add these as it is a lot of work for her five year olds. One of the senior classes is also developing a wiki of mathematic strategies, so hopefully some older children will be able to help Erika out with the videoing. We talked about perhaps setting her resource room up as a little recording studio and having a 'recording in process' sign on the door. It's hard to find a quite time to record with very young children, there is no such thing as silent reading.
Clemency is ready to Podcast
Clemency has been using her blog to keep in touch with her class while she was overseas recently. Now that she is back she is ready to get the class blogging. When I visited last she was considering podcasting. She thought using audio blogging might be more engaging for the children and make it easier for them to report the class news without having to worry about the writing of their message as much as the message itself.
I said I would send a few examples from our cluster and of other schools podcasts. Clemency wants to have a class jingle at the beginning of each class news report. She is going to experiment with Garageband on her mac and during my next visit we will go through the process of uploading audio to her blog with podbean.
This is Petra's class blog and podcasts from George Street Normal School. You have to scroll down a little past all of the other exciting things they have been doing.
Click here to go to the cluster wiki's resource page on podcasting.
Point England School are serious podcasters.
I said I would send a few examples from our cluster and of other schools podcasts. Clemency wants to have a class jingle at the beginning of each class news report. She is going to experiment with Garageband on her mac and during my next visit we will go through the process of uploading audio to her blog with podbean.
This is Petra's class blog and podcasts from George Street Normal School. You have to scroll down a little past all of the other exciting things they have been doing.
Click here to go to the cluster wiki's resource page on podcasting.
Point England School are serious podcasters.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Stacy is online
Stacy at Outram has been using a word document with some games hyperlinked to it to help her class navigate the web during reading time.
Last time I visited she didn't feel ready to undertake a wiki so thought she could learn to hyperlink in a document and understand this process and get this up and running in the class, sorting out the practical classroom problems and then going on to a wiki later. So she has a wiki and I think a lot more confidence in her knowledge and ability using technology.
She has been having some difficulty with some websites. She has been using them to reinforce phonics and spelling type teaching in her class and many of the games audio has been recorded with accents that change the vowel sound. We found a few more sites that she could use.
We also talked about the students using the digital camera to collect picture of objects which represent a target sound and displaying these in Comic Life projects on the wiki. I have sent her some examples of this on Margie (GSNS) and St Leonard's Junior wikis.
I am hoping to get back to help Stacy transfer her links from her document to her wikispace and putting some pictures into her wiki to represent her links and make her wiki look flash.
The main benefit of a wiki over a document is that it is portable, anywhere you have the internet you just put in the wiki address and up pops your wiki, at home, at the library, on school trips, holidays, snow days, any classroom. This is the really advantage that Stacy will now have.
Last time I visited she didn't feel ready to undertake a wiki so thought she could learn to hyperlink in a document and understand this process and get this up and running in the class, sorting out the practical classroom problems and then going on to a wiki later. So she has a wiki and I think a lot more confidence in her knowledge and ability using technology.
She has been having some difficulty with some websites. She has been using them to reinforce phonics and spelling type teaching in her class and many of the games audio has been recorded with accents that change the vowel sound. We found a few more sites that she could use.
We also talked about the students using the digital camera to collect picture of objects which represent a target sound and displaying these in Comic Life projects on the wiki. I have sent her some examples of this on Margie (GSNS) and St Leonard's Junior wikis.
I am hoping to get back to help Stacy transfer her links from her document to her wikispace and putting some pictures into her wiki to represent her links and make her wiki look flash.
The main benefit of a wiki over a document is that it is portable, anywhere you have the internet you just put in the wiki address and up pops your wiki, at home, at the library, on school trips, holidays, snow days, any classroom. This is the really advantage that Stacy will now have.
Managing a wiki once you've made it.
Lynda has made her maths wiki during one of her CRT days. It was all finished, we just added a few touches. Making sure that the children had pictures they could click on to represent their maths groups, as many of Lynda's NE class members are beginning readers.
We also put some picture of her class during mathematics time on the wiki to personalise it. Then we went over to Lynda's class and made her classroom computers homepage the class wiki, and put some links in the toolbar of the internet browser of her classroom computer so that the children could get straight back to their wiki if they get stuck in a game or a bit lost online.
We also looked at the resources that Lynda could use that you can download from the cluster wiki to support managing you computers in the classroom. There are posters and help signs etc made up, these will save Lynda having to dream and type these up. There are lots of tips on this page for managing computers in the classroom to make you life easier and the classroom a little quieter.
We also put some picture of her class during mathematics time on the wiki to personalise it. Then we went over to Lynda's class and made her classroom computers homepage the class wiki, and put some links in the toolbar of the internet browser of her classroom computer so that the children could get straight back to their wiki if they get stuck in a game or a bit lost online.
We also looked at the resources that Lynda could use that you can download from the cluster wiki to support managing you computers in the classroom. There are posters and help signs etc made up, these will save Lynda having to dream and type these up. There are lots of tips on this page for managing computers in the classroom to make you life easier and the classroom a little quieter.
Moving forward with a wiki.
Kerry and Janferie have put their action research projects together which is very sensible since they share the same classroom.
We went over some of their questions and reviewed a few things that they say they were not ready for last time. This is a very important point when trying new things, you need to be ready to take them on. That is why frequent efforts to do things rather than putting in great chunks of time tend to work better when you are doing something new.
Just like anything learning to build a great class wiki takes time and you do go through a period when things feel more annoying than worthwhile, but the more you preserver the easier it does become. While we were focusing on all of the next things they want to do, it is also a great time to celebrate what they have achieved since my last visit. I hope they had time afterwards to think about that. They could go back and read my last blog post about them.
One thing Janferie and I discussed was concepts. She explained that it is important for her to understand what she is doing and I totally agree. If you get the concepts behind what you are doing, trying to do, you tend not to need to know every little step. If you have the big picture most of the steps just make sense, they become obvious or common sense. With a bit of deduction and trial and error you can usually work out what to do. And of course frequent practice makes perfect. Janferie said last time I visited they weren't ready- now they are and I can't wait to see what they end up with.
We went over some of their questions and reviewed a few things that they say they were not ready for last time. This is a very important point when trying new things, you need to be ready to take them on. That is why frequent efforts to do things rather than putting in great chunks of time tend to work better when you are doing something new.
Just like anything learning to build a great class wiki takes time and you do go through a period when things feel more annoying than worthwhile, but the more you preserver the easier it does become. While we were focusing on all of the next things they want to do, it is also a great time to celebrate what they have achieved since my last visit. I hope they had time afterwards to think about that. They could go back and read my last blog post about them.
One thing Janferie and I discussed was concepts. She explained that it is important for her to understand what she is doing and I totally agree. If you get the concepts behind what you are doing, trying to do, you tend not to need to know every little step. If you have the big picture most of the steps just make sense, they become obvious or common sense. With a bit of deduction and trial and error you can usually work out what to do. And of course frequent practice makes perfect. Janferie said last time I visited they weren't ready- now they are and I can't wait to see what they end up with.
Planning and filming video to teach Number Strategies
Sarah at Outram School has been working with the students in her class to develop a video library demonstrating number strategies to each other.
Sarah has been getting the students to learn a new strategy and then plan an instructional or demonstration video for each other to teach what they have learnt.
She has been storing these on her class wiki so that the students can continue to review their work. She says that this activity which is a part of her maths programme now as an independent activity has been a really good way of increasing students confidence and communication skills to explain their thinking and has really helped students to remember the strategies and use them.
The wiki has become a resource for the class that they can also share with parents at home. This helps to demonstrate to parents the strategies that are now a focus for students in numeracy. Many parents are still trying to understand the teaching of strategies rather than teaching pencil and paper algorithms.
The students have taken control of all of the planning and filming, Sarah just exports the video so it is a web size (small for uploading and playing back) and puts it onto the wiki.
She is developing pages for each strategy she teaches. Sarah will be sharing her work at the next Virtual Syndicate on Numeracy, but you can have a peak now by clicking here.
Sarah has been getting the students to learn a new strategy and then plan an instructional or demonstration video for each other to teach what they have learnt.
She has been storing these on her class wiki so that the students can continue to review their work. She says that this activity which is a part of her maths programme now as an independent activity has been a really good way of increasing students confidence and communication skills to explain their thinking and has really helped students to remember the strategies and use them.
The wiki has become a resource for the class that they can also share with parents at home. This helps to demonstrate to parents the strategies that are now a focus for students in numeracy. Many parents are still trying to understand the teaching of strategies rather than teaching pencil and paper algorithms.
The students have taken control of all of the planning and filming, Sarah just exports the video so it is a web size (small for uploading and playing back) and puts it onto the wiki.
She is developing pages for each strategy she teaches. Sarah will be sharing her work at the next Virtual Syndicate on Numeracy, but you can have a peak now by clicking here.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Classroom meetings
Carmel at GSNS has been investigating Circle time to use with her class. To avoid this becoming too teacher centred, Carmel wants to have students run this time as a classroom meeting. She also wants to tie this in with her classroom blog, where many of the issues or celebrations from the class meeting will be shared with families.
Carmel is considering combining some practical element to this, that these class meetings link with the key compentencies. By giving students time to collaborate on rich tasks with opportunities to demonstrate key compencies. The student will then evaluate their achivement of the competencies in the classroom meetings. Some students will be responsible for recording this work by taking photos which the students can use to reflect on in the meeting.
Carmel is considering combining some practical element to this, that these class meetings link with the key compentencies. By giving students time to collaborate on rich tasks with opportunities to demonstrate key compencies. The student will then evaluate their achivement of the competencies in the classroom meetings. Some students will be responsible for recording this work by taking photos which the students can use to reflect on in the meeting.
Comic Life on wikispaces
Margie at GSNS has been using wikispaces to provide links for her class to support the learning in the class. Check out her class wiki, it looks fantastic.
She had been experimenting with slide share to make powerpoints of photos the students had taken and uploading them to the wiki to share.
This was a bit tricky and Margie really wanted the students to take a larger role in the development of the sharing on the site.
So we looked at Comic Life. The students can easily use the photos they have taken and put these into Comic Life projects. Margie can export these projects as an image and put it straight into the wiki.
She is making a table with a space for each letter of the alphabet which will link to a page with their comic life pictures.
Student wikispaces
Keith at GSNS has handed the reins over to his class. They have developed their own wikispace. It has really developed, it has over 400 pages.
The students have had a period of time to get an idea of the basics of how to do things. They are ready now to take responsibility for organising their pages, links etc.
Keith and I discussed that perhaps they are ready to have their own wikis. Keith can have the main class one. Each students' own wiki will link to his wiki. Only Keith and the student will be members of their own wikis, all students can contribute to discussions but they can only edit their own wikis.
At the end of the year Keith will be able to hand ownership of the wikis on to the individual students and create new wikis to his. This will mean that the work he has put into his original wiki can continue to be used saving a lot of set up work.
The students have had a period of time to get an idea of the basics of how to do things. They are ready now to take responsibility for organising their pages, links etc.
Keith and I discussed that perhaps they are ready to have their own wikis. Keith can have the main class one. Each students' own wiki will link to his wiki. Only Keith and the student will be members of their own wikis, all students can contribute to discussions but they can only edit their own wikis.
At the end of the year Keith will be able to hand ownership of the wikis on to the individual students and create new wikis to his. This will mean that the work he has put into his original wiki can continue to be used saving a lot of set up work.
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