Saturday 11 June 2016

Playing in the Sandpit

On Friday I attended Connected Rotorua's session on Google Classroom along with with staff from nine out of the twenty Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru schools. We explored how others have been using Google Classroom and for me is was also about comparing Google Classroom with Hapara. Hapara is a paid LMS for GAFE schools that we currently use, however I am questioning which would be more suitable for our school. My first thoughts are that they do have some similar functions yet also mange bulk student work in different ways. I suspect Google Classroom is better suited to one-on-one digital classrooms which is my personal ideal, but as it is not a reality in my school I have a plan to test Google Classroom. Through Microsoft and Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru I am borrowing 30 laptops for a period in term 3 or 4 to run my class one-to-one and plan to use Google Classroom to facilitate this. Watch this space.

What do you use, or prefer?

Friday 3 June 2016

Using Minecraft to Develop Writing

​ This term I was asked by the Waiariki Literacy Association to present a workshop on using ICT to enhance literacy (see the flyer below).
Waiariki Literacy Association presents “Using ICT to Enhance Literacy Learning”.

I decided to share a small part of one of my units on using Minecraft to engage students in reading and writing using Minecraft. You can see my presentation below. I have removed the free lesson plan, but you can buy it on TeachersPayTeachers. I always reassure teachers that they do not need to know the game to get quality learning from it; use your students enthusiasm and knowledge, but challenge what they tell you.

We explored how to use one small part of Minecraft (animals) for reading and writing. We used our note taking and key ideas to create trading cards, with the intention of moving towards report writing. It was only a short workshop so I was just able to give the teachers attending a few ideas to get started, plus resources to scaffold the learning and at least give it a go on their own.

Reading to Learn PD


Educamp Rotovegas 2016

CcK6ujCUAAA3jk2.jpgEducamps are a wonderful free PD opportunity for teachers who like to manage their own PD, as well as sharing their own skills. Everyone shares their ideas and resources. We started with the Smackdown (see slides below) and due to interest I took a small workshop on using Class Dojo. Like all the best PD there was lots of back channel chatting and sharing on Twitter using the hashtag #educamprotovegas