Although I am leading e-learning PD in my syndicate, and teaching staff about Google Apps for Education, the potential pedagogies of e-learning with Google Apps, have not yet been realised. A common mindset and misconception is that we are adding the ICT into current teaching, giving it a obligatory slot in the subject tumble. Sometimes however it is the first step for some teachers; getting familiar with new tools. As we know from maths, knowledge frees the mind for critical thinking.
Yesterday marked a breakthrough in staff collaboration for my team. After a long team meeting we realised that we had not done out term newsletter. I promptly copied one from term 1 and shared it with the team, who all (without any glitches thank goodness) started working together on the same document.
It was only after about five minutes when one teacher exclaimed that "this was fun the way we were all working on the same document", that they realised were were collaborating. I added the image below with the revision history tab open to show that they were all taking part. They all liked that they could see where the others were working in the document, and one teacher who didn't like her assigned colour figured out how to change it. I was very proud of them, now I am waiting for the penny to drop, "hey we could get our students to do the same thing!"
After a recent staff professional development (PD), I came to realize that my students really need to be doing more problem solving. It is so easy to give text book practice and teach 'step by step' from the Numeracy Project books. Yet our students seem to lack the ability to solve problems that require critical thinking.
This TED video of Dan Meyer also really made me challenge and reflect on the way I have been teaching maths. He says we are teaching "paint-by-numbers" and depriving students of not just solving problems but formulating them. Follow Dan on Twitter here.
Lucky algebra is our term focus and is an ideal vehicle for this. One of the problems we were given in our staff PD was solving a vegetable garden problem. I like to use my interactive whiteboard as a group activity and so created an e-version that my students could use and contribute their own problems to. I am also a Google Apps for Education freak, and on my way to becoming Google Apps Certified (2/6 tests passed so far) so I used Google Drawing to create the one below.
Originally I planned on using problem solving to extend my higher Year 8 students but the activities, games and my problem solving teaching approach have transformed my class. Even my most reluctant students were engaged and talking mathematics enthusiastically, which made me enjoy teaching maths more than I have ever before, a double win. Below is an open copy of my Google Drawing, please feel free to test it and copy or change it for your own use.
I also found a fantastic and free game called "Lure of the Labyrinth" which is a mixture of comic strip story (which I used for shared reading) and monster video game. It is a challenging digital game for middle-school pre-algebra students with fascinating puzzles intertwined into an exciting narrative with it's own mythology (my class are exploring myths this term too) that is a perfect accompaniment for literacy. They support educators well with a wealth of resources and teaching material around the game puzzles. It is also encourages collaboration amongst the students and sharing of strategies.
Do you have any great algebra problems to share, I am always looking for more ideas?
Early last year I wrote a blog post about how to analyse text and websites for reading age using Lexile Analyzer. It is a Lexile Text Measure based on two predictors, word frequency and sentence length, of how difficult a text is to comprehend.My tests showed it to be reasonably accurate, however the downside is that it is it not simple or quick to use.
One of the hardest tasks for me as a teacher is finding websites for my students that are at an appropriate reading age for them, especially when the range of those ages is large. Depending on your students reading and comprehension ability, it is usually better to provide website links for your students to visit, even when they are doing inquiry research.
Yesterday I discovered, via the blog The Daily Cafe, a site called Twurdy; a play on the words "Too Wordy" but somehow reminds me of Disney's 'Tweety' bird (Tweety & Sylvesta). The web is becoming a bit of a flock!
Twurdy search engine (powered by Google)
analyses the text on each page, it displays the results of each page shaded with their peachy colour code system. I did find it a bit hard to distinuquish between the colour shades, yet I found the readability level key easy to read. Actually I enjoyed the Twurdy's simple design, pleasant colours and ease of use.
Although this site is much easier to use, you will need to have your ever present teacher judgement at hand. As you can see from the results above a Wikipedia page got a 8-10 age range (wrong) yet in another search Wikipedia rated 18+ (believable).
I choose the text from taitokerau.co.nz/matariki.htm and used the Lexile Analyzer and Google Reading Levels to compare.
Lexile measures 1050L which is a reading age of approximatly 13 years old.
Google Reader Levels (found under 'More Search Tools' ) gives it an Intermediate Reading Level. I could not find a qualification for actual reading age. Intermediate in schooling usually refers to age 11-13 years old
Twurdy shows this website reading ages at around 15-18 years old.
Google Search 'reader levels' seem to be more reliable for now, although Twurdy is powered by Google they not not seem to use the same ranking system.
Below is my screen-cast on how to use Google Search 'reader levels'. I would love to hear whether you use any of these websites and which you think are most effective.
One of our wonderful RTLB teachers has been running new some lessons on self management aiming to teach children how to recognise their emotional levels, and strategies to help them cope. We run the lessons every few weeks, although truthfully it has been hard to engage the kids, if fact some downright hated it. We started co-teaching but the delivery was well a "delivery" at a wall or bored 13 year old's who were not relating to all this emotional talk or the style of delivery either.
The night before our most recent lesson I was doodling on the lesson plan I had received, trying to see where I could add some spark, and of course e-learning. To the left is an image of my scribbled thoughts.
I created the Google Docs table below and shared it with the group leaders, it was also projected on the whiteboard so everyone could see it being created collaboratively. The groups were mixed ability with student leaders who are still learning to lead groups. Each group of six sat together with one laptop and were assigned an emotional level to focus on. The leaders typed as the groups shared ideas. They then sent two students off with another laptop to take a photo of what a person may look like at that level. Those students then had to email it to the leader who inserted the photo into the table. The leader was expected to manage all their team members, as well as their part of the shared document.
The other three teams members went off to make up role plays of situations where students are at these different emotional levels, and how they coped with it. They then presented them to the class, and I recorded them for our wiki. Many students discovered they giggled when they got worried about people watching them act, they didn't realise they were at that level themselves. We discussed how as spectators we could support them by being an attentive audience.
The classroom was a hive of noise, discussion, laughter and students talking, showing, playing and creating the concept of managing self. Everyone participated and we not only learnt about this important key competency as a deliberate act of teaching, but the students practiced it by virtue of being fully immersed in collaborative learning, catering to multiple intelligences.
I believe e-learning help to engage with the use of technology, but it also provided a structure for collaboration and creative critical thinking.
Ministry of Education on TKI offer some suggestions for recognising and monitoring key competencies that I observed during the lesson.
learners performing real tasks in real contexts
learners interacting with others, rather than working in isolation
teachers monitoring key competencies with students, rather than ‘doing monitoring’ to students
formative opportunities that enable responsiveness, rather than summative
self and peer-assessment, rather than just teacher judgments
teachers reflecting on overall student performance in a task, how it might have enhanced content learning and determining areas for future focus
After a recent discussion about finding information in the mountain of Google. I learnt how to do an Advanced Google Search and taught it to my students (see a copy here), luckily it also tied in well with our reading learning intention which was finding key words and phrases. About five of them got <10 results which was amazing, but still everyone got below 5000 results, which meant they were more likely to be relevant websites. Next time I want to introduce WonderWheel search which I believe will help my students focus their questioning as well as developing good key phrases.
Additional responsibilities seem to bring additional PD days away from the classroom, and with a sick day included my presence was not very strong in the classroom the last two weeks. I missed my students but found that their self management had gone haywire and behavior issues were rife. I had to put very structured routines in place, and get back to some early term one basics. I now see that although some students are ready, most of them need more scaffolding and modeling in order to develop their self management. I have used this opportunity to share more of my planning with them on our wiki, they can see their activities for the whole week, along with explanations of their tasks. I have gained inspiration from fellow e-learning teachers, and being part of a PLN with like minded teachers helps challenge and extend my own teaching practice.
This week along with my principal, I attended a PD for Principals using web2.0. It was fantastic to see so many schools leaders who are willing to lead change. It turned out I am more well known by my Twitter username (MrWoodnz) than I realized, branding really does work. It was hosted by the principal of Summerland School who is enthusiastic about elearning. On a classroom walkthrough it was evident that the school had a culture of e-learning that was inspired and modeled from the top. I am hoping to get some photos to add to this blog as they had specially design mobile and flexible furniture that suited the spaces of e-learning very well, including being bright, comfortable and fun. All available from local suppliers too.
My principal was overwhelmed by some of the content, but completely sold on how they used wiki's for their Board of Trustees. I am proud to say he created his first wiki for our BoT, and is excited about taking on this new challenge. I particularly liked the way Summerland School used Google Docs within the management structure, from managing relievers to shared planning.
Along with David Kinane who is giving us PD on e-learning, I am leading our syndicate teachers on a e-learning journey. I am very proud of the progress the teachers have made and their growing enthusiasm is exciting to see. They all created their first wikis and even reflected on our e-learning wiki using Vocaroo. So my reflection for that part of the day will be audio below.
My week started with the teacher who has my most of my students from last year asking me to help her add her latest assessment data to the Google Docs spreadsheet I left her. I was excited that she is seeing the benefit of using and sharing student information on Google Apps, using it as a Learning Management System (LMS) which is one of it's many benefits. As I have had to hunt 'High and Low' for last years assessment data on my students, I can appreciate how good it would be to receive it all presented in a spreadsheet. My favourite function is being able to sort columns sequentially, which allows differentiated grouping with a click. I hope she passes her spreadsheet onto the next teacher and my Student Data System will spread like a virus (he cackles madly, rubbing his hands in glee).
This week we had our first e-learning PD with David and we all came out of our sessions enthused with ideas and more aware of the need to adapt our teaching to meet the needs of 21st Century learners.
With the cold weather of Autumn settling in, I discovered only 3 students had brought togs for swimming, instead we played softball. I split them into teams and appointed a referee because I don't know much about sport but also I wanted to see how they collaborated outside the classroom. I sat under a tree and watched, what I saw was all students taking part in the team work, students giving each other strategy advise. Rules that managed the game play were accepted by all and followed by all students. I saw empathy when a student encouraged another back into the game after she had walked off upset. I was proud of my students, they were self managing and showing all the key competencies without me doing a thing, well except observing.
This week I tested my mixed ability groups doing a quick inquiry to help them work cooperatively as a team and to use the inquiry process. They only had two days to inquire and create a presentation together. Four out of the five groups worked fantastically as a team, however one had leadership issues, however in the end they produced a good product. I will mix up the ability groups next week to see how the leaders cope with a new mix of peers.
My successes this week were:
- My students guided with my assistance, the Red & Black Mufti Day to fundraise for the people of Christchurch. As a school we made over $800. Now they are planning their own school event, a great inquiry that crosses curriculum areas and full of HEART (our school values + key competencies).
- We had our first e-learning meeting with David our guide. Although their was was some initial concerns, everyone was open to discussion and we ended the meeting on a positive note.
- We had our first Skype with a high school in Illinois, USA. Although we provided scaffolding the conversation was very stilted, due to both student uncertainty and poor connection. See my students class blog post here.
- During our e-learning meeting we had spoken about allowing students to learn to do what we cannot and learn from it. I decided to give my students a challenge with no instructions. They had to use the laptop webcam to take a portrait photograph and then print it out. It turn out to be an engaging afternoon with students experimenting and teaching each other.
Some difficult parts of my week have been:
- Arranging the Soap Box Derby team and activites. I hate cars, grease etc yet got hooked into managing this. It is stressful doing something you don't like or know anything about, which made me think about what I ask my students to do in class every day. When do they feel like this?
- I have also begun my two Post Graduate Diploma papers and finding the extra workload very hard to keep up with during this busy term. I must just keep at it and hopefully term 2 will get easier.
