Saturday 20 September 2014

Educamp Minecraft

Today the first Educamp Minecraft was held in Rotorua. As a long time proponent of Minecraft as a teaching and learning tool, I was lucky to be asked to present via Skype from Christchurch and managed to participate via Twitter. You can review the tweets below if you missed out on the conference.


Below is the slide I talked about, and here is a link to all the other wonderful presenters. Thank you to all, I learnt so much from you all.


I have also shared my teaching experience with Minecraft last year at a TeachMeetNZ virtual unconference. You can read my blog post and watch the recorded video about it by clicking the link below.
TeachMeetNZ - Minecraft as a Teaching and Learning Tool - See more at: http://mindcraftlearning.blogspot.co.nz/2013/11/teachmeetnz-minecraft-as-teaching-and.html#sthash.yMdehT6d.dpuf

Friday 19 September 2014

Dare To Dream: Imagine A Free National Minecraft Schools Server

MinecraftEdu is a fantastic tool that allows teachers to manage and use Minecraft for learning with relative ease. The problem is they are closed systems only accessible on the school network. Yet most of the young students I know have been playing on multiplayer servers with mostly teenagers and adults, not a safe environment. Also teachers have little opportunity to collaborate and use the power of Minecraft outside the school system. Imagine a free national server with shared wondrous learning worlds, managed plugins and just for NZ teachers and students? Well no one can stop us from dreaming...

Why a National Server? Currently, many schools host their own servers restricted internally, only available at school. Teachers don’t have time to learn to manage servers and coding, and create learning worlds.
Allow free access from home allows teachers to create flipped learning & students home study.
Give teachers free teaching worlds: Teachers free access to the portal and their own “world” for teaching.  
Provide  teacher support to manage plugins, worlds and translate learning objectives into Minecraft
Collaboration with other schools and students at any time (self direct learning).
Reduced maintenance costs and expertise.  The Minecraft software is continually updated, requiring more server updates than other software. There is a wide range of modifications and options which require specialist expertise, which many school ICT responsibilities or teachers do not have the time to learn and maintain.
Improved safe access controls.  Easy configuration of ‘Creative’ mode, safe and non-bullying features.
Greater access to options and modification. Numerous mods and plugins are available to change aspects of the world are available for Minecraft that can be managed on behalf of teachers.

Linkages to educational resources and advice for teachers. Many resources and resources worlds with Minecraft can be provided so teachers can teach and show use good models and exemplars of Minecraft; without having to know the game themselves.

As a teacher, how would you use it?

Thursday 11 September 2014

Poetry of Truth

Poetry is so powerful, and from it we can learn and teach. We can learn to be humble, and we can learn to be strong. Today I want to share two poems with you. The first is "The Cookie Thief" which has a powerful message about sharing and self-righteousness. The second is a poem by written by me "In The Gutter" inspired by a flower I found growing in a roadside gutter.

Valerie Cox called The Cookie Thief
A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shops.
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, “If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he took one too,
When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other,
She snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother.
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude,
Why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
The others were his, and he tried to share.
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

In The Gutter
As I lay in the gutter
Among the dirt and the waste
I heard someone mutter
How disgusting and base

But I felt no shame 
Of my starting place
I laid no blame
Only looked deep inside

Then held my head high
And smiled at the sun
From the dirt and darkness
The blossoming begun

Wednesday 10 September 2014

10 Benefits Of Using Reciprocal Reading In Your Classroom

Comprehension is always high on the list of teachers concerns about their students reading ability. It has always been an almost constant goal for my students of every level throughout each year. As teachers and advanced readers we know that if our students can just ‘get’ this, they will soar and develop the love of reading which is the main reason I teach teach reading.

“When a teacher actively uses reciprocal teaching in most readings required of students, reading levels increase one to two grade levels in three to six months” (Stricklin, 2011, as cited in Oczkus, 2005; Spörer, Brunstein, & Kieschke, 2009).

What is Reciprocal Reading?
Reciprocal reading (also known as Reciprocal Teaching) is a teaching model that allows teacher and students to scaffold and contract meaning around a section of text in a social setting by using think-alouds,  discussion, and modelling. In the beginning the teacher models and scaffolds the four strategies of summarising, questioning, clarifying, and predicting until students are ready to start assuming the role of guiding each others comprehension through these strategies.

What are the benefits of Reciprocal Reading?
  1. Improved understanding and use of these four reading strategies.
  2. Improved reading comprehension through the use of these four reading strategies.  
  3. Provides a safe group environment to explore unknown vocabulary and ideas.
  4. Enable students to reflect on their understanding and develop higher order thinking skills.
  5. This one strategy can be used to develop literacy and comprehension across all learning areas.
  6. Allows the teacher to be able to step back and be the guide on the side.
  7. Give students voice and the power to teach and learn from each other.
  8. It can be used with any text type or media.
  9. It can be used with learners of all ages.
  10. Allows all learners (including ESOL) to access the curriculum through social support.
"The findings have pedagogical implications for the ESOL classroom in Malaysia, as the results show a significant impact on the reading comprehension of the students"
The Reading Matrix, Volumn 11, Number 2, April 2011 Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/april_2011/choo_eng_ahmad.pdf

There are many free reciprocal reading resources online and I encourage you to give it a go, you and your students will benefit.  If you want all the resources provided and read to print, you can visit my TeachersPayTeachers site to get my reciprocal reading packs for junior and more advanced readers (available in US and British spelling).

RRcover image.png
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Wednesday 3 September 2014

Fathers Day Craft Ideas for Your Students

Fathers Day is this Sunday, and I always like to have a few quick and easy Fathers Day present ideas for my students. After all the best present a parent can get is one made with love by their own special little one.

I often get my kids to make heart cards cut out of coloured cardboard, it's quick, easy and they can write a personal message inside. Use a writing lesson to scaffold the written content and the making as a post or independent activity.  I have attached two free card templates for your use, they are easy to draw yourself in class too. Most of my ideas come from Pinterest of course, so I'll add a link to my board plus show two of my favourite ideas below.


Do you have a good Fathers Day craft idea?





Monday 1 September 2014

My Benediction to Spring

As a teacher I am always trying to inspire and incite students to write regularly and express themselves. Yet looking back I have done little myself, aside from blog posts. My goal is to write more creative and spontaneously, to explore my own inner poet unashamedly. So I write at least one poem a week, I try capture those moments when I feel emotions tug my insides and I keep most of them as my private collections. However it has made me more creative and I am really enjoying writing more just for the pleasure if it. My lesson has been; practice what you preach; not everything needs to be shared; don't be afraid to share; and poetry is good for the soul. 

So here is my Spring poem, and I thank @kimyeo for the inspiration after a conversation on Twitter about the weather. I pray I inspire you to write a Sping poem too.

Hidden in darkness
light and life
you are always within us
ready to sing

I open my eyes
I open my heart
you were always with me
welcome home Spring.