Barrier Game Stand

With all my final assignments due in the next few weeks I have not blogged in a few days. WOW, really I mean WOW! A year ago you could not have gotten me to write anything that did not require grading. Engagement and ICT are effective for any age learner.

My EAL Learners course require teaching students at a local school. I needed a barrier game stand the night before! I was inspired and would like to share my new invention with all the educators out there, the easy and cheap barrier game stand.

You just cut slits in the cones of an egg carton and slip your card in. They stack easily and you can afford to have 30 sets ready at any time.

I will revisit this in time and look at some effective barrier games.

Do you have any interesting barrier games ideas or successes to share?

Building a Yardstick for PD Success

“Building a Yardstick for PD Success: Establishing Key Performance Indicators for Web 2.0 Personal Optimized Learning Environments” a K12 Online Conference presentation by Sharon Peters and Vincent Jansen.

This presentation discusses the ways that teachers are recording and measuring their Professional Development (PD), and suggests some ideas for developing their own measurable reflective practices.

A big question regards how effective PD really is and why? They say that often it does not even pertain to the classroom, because it tends to be organisationally driven (top down) as institution wide PD for all staff. They do have their role but these PD's are not individualised and not aimed at meeting the needs of individual teachers. We are just like students, we need PD based on our individual learning needs. We also need to provide evidence of our PD, and what success we have had implementing it into our classrooms.

PD can be followed up and reflected on in new ways, through discussion, blogs and wiki's. The vital element here is that we as teachers are taking ownership for reflecting on and recording our PD. Over time this becomes a collection of resources, artefacts and a portfolio of ones own PD growth.

Sharon and Vincent briefly looked at some web 2 tools that can be used to measure and record PD growth. My own blog is an example of self directed PD and reflection. PD growth can be measured through comments and looking back through reflection. Further they look at using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which define and measure progress toward organisational goals.

We all know the benefits of PD but I believe we now need to reconsider how we approach and measure it. We are modelling ourselves as lifelong learners, and this is just what we hope for in our students.

What is the future of PD? Thanks to the internet and online networking, education is being transformed and we can take responsibility for our own PD. We do not have to wait for mass generic PD to be organised from the top. We are now empowered to make sound PD choices of our own, hopefully more principals will recognise this new individual approach to PD and allow teachers more flexibility.

PD teaching in the future is more likely to be delivered by 'friends' and colleagues which make it more likely to be used and followed-up. The focus needs to be on the individual teachers needs! We insist we do this for our students, are we not worthy of the same?

The BP Science Technology Challenge

I love seeing children take on creative thinking challenges, and The BP Challenge for primary and secondary students held today at Villa Maria Girls School was a wonderful example of this. The categories were the same for both primary and secondary.
Challenge 1: Creating a waterproof shelter for two people that can withstand some wind, using only the materials provided (newspaper, tape and crayons). Students were allowed to practice for this challenge before the day.
Challenge 2: The Ginger beer challenge. All contestants had to bring in home-made ginger beer, with all the packaging and a portfolio. I was honoured to be a judge and after tasting 25 home-made ginger beers my stomach was feeling a bit wobbly. Thanks to all those students for their hard work and interesting flavours.
Challenge 3: The surprise challenge was for each team of four to get a message in a film canister over a wall and be retrieved by on the other side again using only the materials provided (newspaper, tape, rubber bands, string and a film canister). There were many really creative solutions, but I was particularly impressed with the students perseverance and engagement. A long and exciting day.

The primary school turnout was disappointing, only four schools entered. I believe schools need to receive printed information packs as well as emails and websites. This year they tried only send emails, and although a big supporter of digital media, I do believe that printed media is still a vital part of literacy and the real world. Secondly, I believe that science and technology are often treated as token curriculum areas. Do you know that many of the 21st century skills were first used by scientists.

The primary school challenge will be open to Years 5-8 and can be mixed age teams. So this is a call to all primary school teachers for the 2009 BP Challenge. It is an engaging event that encourages creative thinking and can be integrated into many curriculum areas.
Same time next year, come have some fun learning.

Teaching for the 21st century

At the K12 Online Conference Professor Stephen Heppell presented “It Simply Isn’t the 20th Century Any More Is It?: So Why Would We Teach as Though It Was?”

Stephen says that technology can do almost anything what we want, but the challenge is to determine what it is we want? He asserts that the education factory model needs to be replaced by new concepts that reflect the fundamental changes of society. He describes it as the end of “they” and the beginning of “us”. "They" being the big corporations and "us" being individuals and communities who now have the tools, knowledge and ability to make their own choices and have their own voice.

In this age, individuals have more power by having knowledge freely at any time and thus make their own informed decisions. Also important, is the social communication and collaboration that globally creates communities of interest that can rival a corporation.

Definitions of knowledge, literacy and identity are changing and this is impacting throughout our society. Stephen says we are witnessing “the death of education and the dawn of learning.” It is time for education to catch up, our challenge is to find new models for teaching and learning.

Logo: a visual communication

Almost every business has a logo which is a visual brand that represents the ideas, values and identity of the company. Many individuals may have their own logo in the form of a family crest. Maori culture have tattoo's called Moko, which serve as a visual identity showing their rank, nature and ancestry. A very personal logo.

As I am in the process of sending out my CV, I realised I needed a logo for myself, something that personifies my philosophy of teaching and learning.

My logo was originally based on the Maori poutama pattern which represents the steps and scaffolding that guides learning. I then created Tetris blocks to represent the many different personalities and communities that come together and collaboratively construct knowledge, forming a strong foundation for learning. What makes it a strong structure is that it depends on each piece being different. The bright Tetris blocks also represent the digital age, integrating ICT and considering new ways of learning for the 21st century.
In itself it is a form of multi-literacy, it tells a visual story that required an inquiry process, deep reflection and critical questioning. It has the structure of a story and has inspired further writing in the form of this blog post. I will now go on to incorporating it into a variety of media.

Millions mark UN hand-washing day

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Millions mark UN hand-washing day
I wonder how many New Zealand schools took part in this event? I have noticed that hand washing is part of daily routine in junior classes, but seems to be lost in many middle and senior primary classes. Are we presuming that now that they have been taught this, that is really happening? It is such a small but important health routine that needs reinforcing within routines. This is an impression from limited experience, I'd love to hear what is happening in classes out there.

Remember the Bird Flu panic? It is not an impossible concept and consider where a pandemic would run wild first; in schools. The Ministry of Education says that all early childhood education services, schools and tertiary organisations are expected to develop their own pandemic plans to protect students and staff.

Does your school have a Pandemic Plan and do you know what it is?

My aside is that I like to know that the things my students and I are touching and sharing, are kept clean and safe through the simple ritual of hand washing.

Poverty Action Day

Poverty is a worldwide social issue but as a beginning teacher I have decided to reflect on what this means for me in New Zealand. Having taught at schools where children come to school hungry, I have felt a sense of helplessness when thinking about what I can I do to help. It's easy to think of the big ideals, education is the solution to poverty. Yet that is no immediate solution for me or for the child sitting in your class each day. We give children breakfasts and attempt to deal with the social issues often accompanying poverty, but there is only so much we can do as teachers outside the classroom. What we can do however is provide safe learning environments and show that we care.

I would like to know how other primary school teachers deal with poverty in their school communities.

Assessment in the Digital Age

I have been very interested in learning environment assessment possibilities since I created my first WebQuest. I felt the rubric was limited and not utilising the web 2 abilities. My attempt to address this was to include a self-assessment poll that also allowed them to see a graph of the results. I continue my search, and I have two educators to recommend that have taught me some amazing strategies to apply formative assessment that both scaffolds and engages the students.

Konrad Glogowski is a presenter at the K12 Online Conference, in “Initiating and Sustaining Conversations: Assessment and Evaluation in the Age of Networked Learning” he aims to address some of the challenges associated with assessment and evaluation in Web 2.0 classrooms. His message that grades stop learning, is very powerful and something I have experienced myself at university. His presentation is a must if you plan to blog with your class, you will find he teaches and practices scaffolding.

My second recommendation is blog ICT in my Classroom, Tom shows how he uses Google Documents for formative assessment in writing. The fantastic part is it can be done while they are working on their document. I was first introduced to Google Documents by a university colleague. He suggested we do our joint project online using Google Docs, we were able to work collaboratively on the same document. It open my eyes to the possibilities of collaboration and communication in an ICT classroom.

K12 Online Conference 2008

Now that I have moved beyond my own blogging and started to participate more online, I have grown through reading other educational blogs and gained confidence in my own ability to contribute. The K12 Online Conference promises to be a exiting opportunity for free professional development using the ICT knowledge and competencies we aim to teach. See you there.

Three things I hope to gain from the K12 experience this year:

1. To learn how experience educators are using ICT for constructivist learning.
2. To gain new skills and digital tools that can enhance learning.
3. Meet new people, professional contacts and mentors.

Using Wordle for reflection

I have been seeing word clouds used in many different ways on the web, and being a visual person I have found them very powerful. I decided to try Wordle and put it to a learning use. It is very easy and quick to use.

I would love to use this as a brainstorming tool and what about using it to assess students written work. In my teaching practices I have often struggled to get children to see how they are using the same word repetitively. This is part of learning, but seeing your own written work transformed into to visual clouds that make words that appear more frequently in the text bigger and bolder, makes you reflect from a new perspective.

My own reflection is that I am on my journey of teaching, learning and ICT. I have surprised myself with a growing interest in digital literacy. The truth is the 'digital' side of it is what engages me and will engage more children into literacy. My blog writing has developed my own literacy skills and concepts. I also picked up on a few repeated words that I felt I could find better alternatives too in my writing.

Do you have any ideas for educational uses of Wordle?

Search Cube a visual search engine

I read about a visual search engine 'Search Cube' in the blog HeyJude. I have been exploring some as well but this is one of the better I have seen. It is visual interesting and quick loading, although as Judy mentioned, it could provide more site information to facilitate choices. I did find a similar visual search engine 'KartOO' which offers fewer choices but they are linked like a mind map and offers more detailed site information.

Judy asks how could this be used as a teaching tool. I believe students need to value different strategies of searching beyond 'traditional' web methods. I would probably use if for exploring visual language and symbolism which is so important in our digital world. Have a look at 'TenbyTen' which gives 100 thumbnail images that 'define the time'.

What about for an art class introduction? Type in 'Picasso' and see the result. It could be a great way to engage a topic, and it could provoke amazing oral discussion around an idea or concept.
Given its shape and rotational ability it would also be great as a maths learning object.

It is tools like these that make ICT learning so interesting, but a tool is tool, how we use it for teaching and learning is what counts.

Seven Elements of Digital Stories

This week I read a resource "Learning Journeys with ICT: Digital Storytelling - Narratives for the millennium" by Angie Simmons. Having explored my first digital story a few weeks back, I was eager to learn more. I was pleased to find an adaptation of "The seven elements of an effective digital stories' from the Center for Digital Storytelling. I found it to be a good scaffold for my own learning. I reflected on these seven elements in my first digital story and decided to apply these elements to the story again, and see what happens.




I am very happy with the result, my growth is evident. It was not without problems but that's the fun in learning, I learnt to 'envelope' tracks in Audacity. Can you tell the difference this scaffold has made?

The seven elements of an effective digital stories:

1. A point of view
2. A dramatic question
3. Emotional content
4. Economy
5. Pace
6. Concise narration
7. Effective soundtrack

Ref: Simmons, A. (2006). Learning journeys with ICT: Digital storytelling - Narratives for the millennium. Essential Resources Educational Publishers Limited: Invercargill.

The Future of Reading - Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers - Series - NYTimes.com

I found this article while reading this excellent educator blog, weblogg-ed by Will Richardson.

The main idea I got from "Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers" was that we can engage children in reading by providing contextual opportunities. We need to think outside the square when we consider what is appropriate literature. I do 90% of my reading on a computer monitor or mobile phone, I imagine our children will do the same and much more.

I consider my role as a teacher in this scenario would be to guide reading and inquiry learning through a WebQuest or other online learning environment. We all love reading about what we love.

I believe Barton and Hamilton (1998) description of literacy offers an insight to this article. Cited in Literacies Across Media.

Literacy is primarily something people do; it is an activity, located in the space between thought and text. Literacy does not just reside in people's heads as a set of skills to be learned, and it does not just reside on paper, captured as texts to be analysed. Like all human activity, literacy is essentially social, and it is located in the interaction between people.

Mackey, M. (2002). Literacies across media. Playing the text. RoutledgeFalmer: London.

A Second Pass Past Mercury - The New York Times > Space & Cosmos > Slide Show > Slide 1 of 6

We are fortunate to be living in such an amazing times. These beautiful images evoke an emotional response in me, imagine how children could respond. I would love to present the slide show accompanied by a piece of classical music, or perhaps that could be an activity for the children.
A Second Pass Past Mercury - The New York Times > Space & Cosmos > Slide Show > Slide 1 of 6

One in four mammals face extinction according to Red List - Times Online

A very good reason to promote environmental awareness in our students.
One in four mammals face extinction according to Red List - Times Online

Praying Mantis a digital story

I love this time of the year when plants burst forth and insects are everywhere. This was my inspiration to create a digital story. It is a simple process the uses ICT and critical thinking while developing literacy in an engaging way. The process requires understanding the story, breaking it down into visual planning which aids extending language. It is an excellent tool to develop written and oral literacy.

Obama camp offers iPhone app

I have been very impressed with Obama's use of ICT to connect to the public. Through the use use email, texting, website and blogs he is able to create a personal connection to millions through mass multimedia, yet the communication and interaction happening is individual. What a concept and that is the path we should consider when planning learning experiences.

I was particularly interested in in the iPhone app they created. Not that I follow their politics but I think just offering an iPhone app is a limited portion of the ICT market.

Obama camp offers iPhone app

Animation

Express Yourself with Gizmoz Video Clips

I have discovered a fantastic tool for animating faces called Gizmoz. As a teacher I already have many ideas on how to use this, particularly in my future WebQuests. This tool could be used to engage and guide. Give it a try, it's easy, fun and your students will love it as well.

As I go on this journey of ICT in education, I realise I want to learn these things for myself because it's fun. More importantly I can use it to develop more engaging contructivist online learning environments and what I can learn my students can too.