Who needs a Star Wars break?

So.. how can I justify having this little vid on my blog?  Like this!

I'm a big believer in teachers having a life outside of their classrooms.  Who you are out there is what you are able to bring for your students - in there.  Especially when we want to make the learning authentic and real life.  We actually need to show our students that we have one.

So, I'm often talking with my class about the little things like my 13 climbs up Mt Ngaruahoe ,  my love for Holden stationwagons (was my first car, a green one; inside and out) and how I like Star Wars movies.  

There, I did it.  Justified.  Phew.  Here's the vid.  Pretty cool!

Digital Native my .......!!#@%

If you want to get some 'tech minded' teachers stirred up... all you have to do is talk about today's students being digital natives!

The term, 'Digital Native' was invented in 2001, (wikipedia) and was used to describe a generation of people who have grown up with technology and are comfortable in that environment.  In educational circles it's often used at conferences by speakers trying to convince an audience to use elearning and web 2.0 tools in the way they teach.

Last night I had another great chat about the idea with some teachers on Twitter.  Here's the argument:

 - Today's students aren't really digital natives cause most who don't know about html and rss.  If you challenge them with something that's digital and time consuming they run a mile. 

I replied with the possibility that this could be a developmental problem, not a generational one - they're just being teenagers and naturally averse to any form of hard work.  I don't think the phrase ever tried to describe D.N.s as experts with technology, just familiar with it but is there any truth in it - sure.  How many teenagers and children have to show their parents and grandparents how to set the DVD recorder?  How ever you roll, I think a lot of educators are realising that generations can't be put completely into boxes.  There will always be exceptions but the basic tenant can't be ignored.

The phrase I heard at this year's ulearn10 conference was 'Digital Learners'.  I like this concept because it puts the learner at the center and the focus of the idea back onto the pedagogy - how will we teach this generation differently to the last?  Here's my brief and not exhaustive list of implications of D.Ls in our schools;

1.  Students immersed in a digital world shouldn't have to leave it behind when they enter our classrooms (described as, 'powering down')

2.  Digital tools can lead to motivated and engaged learners who otherwise would be unfocused and disruptive.

3.  Technology allows student to develop their creativity and collaborative skills for a digital world that demands these dispositions.

Don't you think we are morally bound and professionally inept if we don't provide opportunities for these digital learners?

(Photo by Creative Commons - posted by  mharrsch - flickr.com)

Why won't you kids just reflect?

Following along from my post (Not 'Lord of the Flies' in my class) on teaching kids how to behave in our new digital world is a new initiative in my class.  We have started a Twitter account!  @Room8salford

I've wanted to keep driving my aim of developing the students into reflective learners. I thought I might be able to encourage this some more by using Twitter as a vehicle - they have turns on a roster system to post a small 'what I'm doing and what I think of that' tweet. Along the way we would learn about being responsible online citizens and put our preaching about digital etiquette (Yes! I know how to spell that now...) into practise.

Here's a snapshot of our first two days. We have two followers, apart from me, but that's not the aim. All the little strategies that Teacher's College used on me have worked... which, incidentally I resented but that is another post. Maybe all my little strategies will work on them?

Are the tweets staggeringly reflective?  Not many but it's early days.
Here are some steps I've taken to set it up...

1.  I have a roster on the wall behind our imac with a big red arrow next to the name of the next tweeter.  They get 20 points for their team if they tweet without me prompting them (real life incentive, people.  That is NOT a bribe...haha)

2.  We brainstormed some prompting thoughts and questions to help us work out what to tweet.  'What have I just learnt and how?' or 'What am I doing and how do I feel about that?' for example.
3.  I've made our tweets private for now.  This is mostly because I want to protect the class from 'randoms' mentioning us in a bad way - I always think it best to tread carefully and become more liberal as time goes on - still thinking that one through to be honest...what do you think?
4.  I have a 'follow us' badge on our class blog for any parents who want to.  One has!  Yes.
5.  I'm going to give someone a job in class to be the tweet 'cheer leader' - they'll get paid as part of our class economy for our market days.

Is there anyone else who is doing this.  I've had a hunt and haven't seen any evidence.  Surely I'm not the first!  If it helps us to become more reflective - and share some snapshots of our days - then that's awesome (or 'trick', my hip word for the week).

Samsung Showcase

There are some pretty cool concept technologies here.  My observations

1.  It's all about the touch screen - the clam shell, case in point.  I heard at the ulearn conference a speaker comment that the ipad is the first new technology in a long time to actually revolutionise personal computing - it'll be the death knell of the keyboard and mouse.

2.  Why do we need curvy screens?  Because we can!  Love it...

3.  The see through screen at the end reminds me of a vid I saw a few months ago.  A Concept is closer to a prototype. - Puts this fact in context - 'Half of all the knowledge that exists wasn't known 10 years ago.'  Scary - that was said in 2005.  Even scarier - 'The knowledge keeps doubling every 5 years!'

My Philosophy - Presentation

This is my attempt to explain my teaching and learning philosophy. It was a pretty tough assignment and even now I'm realising parts that I've missed out. Maybe that's part of being a life long learner?

Philosophy pres

View more presentations from Mark Herring.

Not 'Lord of Flies' in my class!

One of the biggest debates around technology and education is the role that social media and learning could or should interact.  Just bring up the word, 'facebook' around teachers and the heckles go up for so many.

It's a shame that many of us can't see past the dangers and traps of social media.  I know of at least 12 students in my class of 10 and 11 year olds who have Facebook accounts and that list will grow as the years go by.  It's here.  Kids and teenagers are using and it (a lot!) and hiding in the corner with a paper bag over our heads is not, I think, the answer.

Have you read 'Lord of the Flies?' or seen the movie?  It's a story of a group of young castaways fending for themselves and going through a period of anarchy, violence and regret.   It's also a reality that I think we are throwing on our students if we don't go with them to the Social Media island as well.  Don't we have the experience and social skills to point out the dangers and spot the opportunities?

When so many young people are engaged in this world it's incredibly important that adults are aware and engaged too.  You could even say that we have a moral obligation to.  I think we should be investing in understanding and teaching our students how to get the most out of communities like Facebook and Twitter.  Just like any environment there are guidelines that can keep us safe and get the most out of these sites and there are lots of resources out there for us to use - like this from Brainpop.

My next step is to start a twitter page for the class which, I'm hoping, will enhance their reflective skills - but that's another post.  We'll see.

Habits of Mind Heros

One of my favourite breakouts at this years Ulearn conference was one taken by Karen Boyes.  She presented on how to embed the Habits of Mind into the life of a classroom and school.  I'm a HUGE fan of the Habits - they compliment the Key Competencies so well.

One of my goals this term is to consolidate and deepen my classes understanding of the Habits.  I've led some activities that taught them explicitly and we often refer to them during the day.  We have a 'Superkid' who gets to sit on the sofa chair and watches for a student to be the next Superkid - someone who displays one of the habits, for example.  These little moments help us focus on what I think is one of the most important parts of being successful.

This term we are creating our own 'Habits Heros.'  The class had to choose a Habit in pairs and design a super hero - using The Hero Factory.   They then had to create a comic life poster that explained what their hero wears and how that relates to their habit.  Here's an example from Gabby and Ella.

 

 The habit they chose was 'Remaining open to continuous learning' - interesting!   I learnt a lot about the students from their choice but the greatest part of this project (apart from looking so cool around our room) is the investigating that had to happen for the groups to create their hero.  Most students had to explore their habit some more to be able to apply their understanding in a hero context.  'Why does your hero's cape help them fly into humour?'  'What does their sword do to help others manage their impulsivity?'

Embedding the habits into our class room culture?  Priceless.

Teacher expert vs teacher learner.

When I talk to people involved in education, from technitians to principals and software developers I hear a similar story about the state of tech integration in schools.  They all say the same thing - there is a HUGE chasm between the schools that are embracing the digital movement and those that aren't.

I think the chasm is also happening within schools as well as between them.  Some teachers are providing their classes with fantastic opportunities to explore and create with digital tools while others have technology that's gathering dust - and they're concerned.

There are a lot of reasons why this is happening.  One of the main reasons is that many of us are not ready to make the transition from being the 'teacher expert' to the 'teacher learner'.  So what is the difference?  Here's my take.

This transition isn't easy.  It means that I often find myself in situations where I'm asking my students for help.  I'll often admit that I don't know what to do - but let's try and work it out together!

I think that it's this approach, the teacher as a learner attitude, that encourages us to adopt new technologies in our classrooms and schools.  I have quite a lot of experience, now, with blogs and 3rd party applications.  I know very little, however, about ipod touches and how to make apps for them but I'm really keen to get some for our class!

My challenge to all of us is to risk being the student in the eyes of your class.   What kinds of new technology have you been a learner with this year?

Are we ready to take off our expert hat?
(Image posted under C.C.  from Al Hikes AZ, Cartoon - http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2010/10/12/)

Wallace and Grommet Maker

Here's another avatar maker - Wallace and Grommet style.  Thanks to Mark Warner for the link (and twitter, of course)  Tip - wait for a while for it to load, it took a while for me...

Stop with the changes already!

I like changing things. We just changed house the rooms in our house are used - we now have a study, but it's the third major change we've made since moving in 9 months ago. And...I've just changed the template on my blog, again!

You might say I'm a restless soul but I think it's just because I like being creative. Not in the sense that I'll make a living in the arts (a pretty narrow view but quite common) but that I LIKE MAKING THINGS. I LOVE the satisfaction of having a vision for something and seeing it come together and I see it come out in so many different ways.

I've realised that this blog is something I can make and remake, over and over again...and a few people read it. Crazy.

I've just stumbled on the Simpson's Avatar maker which is on their movie site. Pretty fun!

Postscript - My wife thinks my avatar looks too young and needs more grey hairs...gutted.

Ulearn10 BOT Presentation

Here's the presentation I gave to the Board last night. You can fill in the gaps, I'm sure.

Student bloggers

Who doesn't want to get their students to find meaningful reasons to write?
Who doesn't want to give their students the freedom to write about the things they're really passionate about?

I've just started a group for blogging at lunch time.  At the Ulearn conference I went to there was a table set up that gave people a place to blog.  It was called, "The Blogger's Cafe."  I thought, 'What a great idea for students!'

We've met only twice but have about 12 kids coming and learning from each other.  I'm hoping that it keeps building momentum but, to be honest, if there are just a few who discover a life long passion to blog then...mission accomplished.

This is a post from Edna Sackson's blog, 'Whatedsaid' and it has some tips I totally agree with!

Here are some parts of the post that I totally agree with...

1.  Freedom of choice!
2.  Model great writing / blogging
3.  Allow students to personalise their blogs.
4.  Give them some motivation or skills to learn - I'm going to show a simple way to take some photos and make a basic panorama.
5.  Embed multimedia tools - We've just used theherofactory in class and uploaded the photo.  Youtube videos are great to embed.  Make sure you tick the 'don't show related videos' button in the embed settings - that tip's for free.

I'm thinking about having a blogger's award for the most viewed / interesting blog.  Fun times.

Postscript (Is that what this is?):  Since posting this I got this message from @whatedsaid.
Thanks for the  mention :) Glad you liked our post.  The bloggers' cafe is a great idea.  Have you seen Henrietta's post about that? http://www.classroomchronicles.net/2010/09/08/the-bloggers-cafe/

This post is about a teacher who started the exact same thing in her school.  Funny, there are hardly any original ideas out there.  Thanks, @whatedsaid.  Man, I like Twitter.



(Above image - Creative Commons - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramblingrovers/1310385981/)

World's southern most rugby game?

Is this the southern most rugby game played in the world?  Stags vs Wellington - 14 - 27.  LOVE the stag helmets.

I took these pics on my ancient sony (8 years old) and put them together in Word - who'd have thunk...

Indexed - communication in the new world.

This blog, thisisindexed.com,  uses graphs to tell some pretty cool stories.  The bio goes -
This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.

The posts look like this...

It's a pity some of the posts are a bit...risky... or I'd show the kids in my class.  It does make me think about the way new media is changing the way we communicate with each - even the fact that these new ways can earn us a living.

I teach writing in set genres (and I know that is a dirty word in schools now, yet we still assess them, therefore - we teach them) like procedural, recounts and persuasive writing. 

I'd love to see us teaching methods of writing - communicating - like this... just..how.  mmmm

Incredibox - new version coming soon...

 I LOVE this site.  I found it a few months ago and this week saw that the new version is out soon.  Can't wait!

Creativity and Educational Change..how?

Most of us in schools have seen or heard of Ken Robinson.  His ideas about creativity and changing the educational paradigm are often ringing in my ideas.

I'm sure he'd like the adaptation of one of his speeches by thersa.org.  In this video he shows how he sees a need for schools to competely change the way we do school.



What stands out for me the most how some research that was done (a longitudinal one - added that word to my lexicon!) that showed how being 'educated' ruins our ability for divergent / creative thinking!  We get trained into believing that there is one right answer.

What are we doing to encourage creativity in our classes?  One small thing I use is Tony Ryan's 'Thinkers Keys.'  (I heard Tony give a presentation at the Ulearn10 conference this month and his blog is full of fantastic ideas for 21st C learning.)  The challenge, as always, is to reform our classrooms within a system that has certain requirements and mandates.

Who's going to be brave enough to completely reshape our schools?  I wonder if starting a new charter school, based on a new teaching and learning philosophy is an answer?  Just putting it out there!

NB:  I just found this resource of Tony's to use in class.  Now... to get some cash.

School websites - Brochure or Community Builder?

We've had an interesting week with weather in Invercargill, to say the least.  A friend talked with a 70 year old local who said she hadn't seen snow like this in her life time.  So, regardless of what you view as the cause - global warming or freakish weather pattern - nature has a way of interrupting your daily routines.

When we woke up on Monday morning the media were reporting several schools were closed because of concerns about roofs collapsing.  When I arrived to school at 7.45 there were three staff and the principal fielding phone call after phone call.  The question was obvious, - "Are you open?"  It became quite comical at one stage.  They would say they answered the question over forty times - before I arrived.

So... I suggested we put something on the website, which I did.  Then we sat back, continued to field phone calls and watch the web stats (a great new addition to the blogger armory).  The thing that staggered me, when you look at the comparison of the stats, was how few people thought to check the website.  Here was my tweet on it the next day.  Ignore the first (last in tweetville) post about Ping.  I just thought that was funny.

There are three questions this raises for me.

 - Are the parents of our community not as digitally tuned as we like to think?  Most of our community uses the internet for banking, shopping, entertainment and, yes, even learning.  But do we use it for instant information?  I thought we did.  Why not with our school?

 - Do the parents visit the website?  Is it gathering some readership since we relaunched it?  The screenshot below shows that it's getting, on average, about 30 to 40 hits a day.  I'd say that, yes, some momentum IS gathering speed and word is getting out there - we've had some good feedback.

 - Should schools take some of the hit for their websites poor community support?  I have seen school site after site set up as a static, online brochure.  They are great for prospective parents and teachers looking to see whether they'll apply for that position.  But, as a community service and a place for communication they are quite redundant.

So, I think the scepticism of what a school website will provide is quite valid.  Why should a community take the time to visit a school site for up to date information when I can just call the school - or the Principal, which happens more than you would know.  What are the reasons for websites being so neglected and underused for the people they should serve?

1.  Time  - Anyone involved in education recognises the squeeze for time that is happening in our schools; a crowded curriculum, increased parent expectations and now a National Standards regime that will have us double up on assessment and reporting.  A teacher I really respect once said that we should always make time for the things that we value.  He was talking about using efolios in the class room and how we should give the students time for reflection and making comments.  I'd suggest that, if we really value creating and caring for a genuine learning community then some allocation of time for up-keeping a website would be critical.  Communication, celebration and sharing should be the aim of every school website.

2.  Expertise - There is a growing group of teachers in our schools who are quietly developing some amazing skills in working with blogs and websites.  It isn't really that hard - kids are doing it, after all!  Does your school have someone who create, manage and drive the fresh content on your site?  If not, perhaps this should be a consideration when recruiting new staff.  

3.  Cost - Lots of the static websites that I see are created and managed by a third party source that costs the school a setup and monthly fee.  This can easily be eliminated with the free services we can access now.  Our school's website uses Wix as it's launching platform (it has a kid friendly interface and interactive element) that connects with blogger and some google sites - all of these are free!  The only cost is the time that's given to work on them... and there's not as much release as you would think.

 

4.  Desire - How much vision and drive does your school have for a fresh, dynamic online presence?  I think that a website has a lot of potential to help build a community of learners - which is what many of our schools aspire to.  Communication is a big part of that but it takes committement and perseverance.    Every school just needs one person with the motivation, interest and drive to keep taking those photos, uploading video and updating newsletters and notices.  

I think that schools have some work to do to build up the trust of their communities.  People will become followers and users of a school website when they know that it will be useful, up to date and relevant. 

It's a big challenge!

NB Our school's next steps are

 - update our BOT information (exciting, I know)

 - upload our student voice page - a class project to see the school through student's eyes

 - continue to build the written content of our students.  I want to the website to be student driven and managed as much as possible.  We have a team of gifted students who are keen to be our journalists and photographers.  I think we should be taking advantage of this authentic audience!  But that's another post.

Break from the end of term exhaustion!

This morning we woke to the kids running around screaming, 'It's snowing!'  The snow was about an inch thick and we made a snowman before breakfast.  Talk about priorities!

Here's the storm at about 11am.  The levels grown to about 3 inches and we're wondering if we can still drive to the depot to get some more coal - we thought we'd just about make it till next year.   Haha, not even!

What a great way to finish the term.  I wonder if school will be open on Monday - it's expected to snow until Tuesday.

K C Web Assessment

You often hear of people asking how we can accurately assess the K.Cs - especially now that they are ideally the foundation of our curriculum.  This question, I suspect, comes from those wanting quantified and comparable data.

And it's this school of thought about assessment - the moderated, summative philosphy, that I think is taking over the other, formative approach.   I wonder if the worst effect of the National Standards is going to be the momentum it will give the quantitative force.

There is a great quote that I have been letting settle in my mind for some time.
"Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."  Oscar Wilde  

I see the K.Cs as fitting into these sorts of knowings.  There ARE some parts of the competencies that can be explicitly taught but others, such as self management are just as well 'caught' as taught through good modelling and a good deal of time.  I also wonder if we could also say that there is,

'..nothing worth knowing that can be assessed.'

Just because something is harder to assess does it make it less valuable or worthwhile spending classroom currancy on?  I wonder if the quantifying team would suggest not.  You can't moderate it, can't collect accurate data on it and how will we make some flash graphs for our B.O.T?

I realise I'm being a bit cynical but it's a road I see many schools heading in.  Is this the bigger picture that is getting lost for many in the National Standards debate?   The biggest deficit impact for students will be if we shift the K.Cs to the margins because we are chasing the numeracy and literacy wild goose.

So, this term I have been stressing to my class that our big picture is all about the Key Competency,  'THINKING.'  We've been using science as our fuel but thinking is the car we are getting better at driving.  'What are we getting better at?'  I ask them.  'Thinking!' is their chant.

So, how do we assess the K.Cs?  I absolutely value the formative power of assessment for learning and always see a matrix or rubric as an important part of this process.  This K.C matrix, above,  is based on the web that Lester Flocton introduced in the DVD, 'The Connected Curriculum' and was something I started using last year as a google doc.  Students created their own copy and embeded their assessment on their efolio.

This year I have created a web for the wall which groups of three use to guide them through the independent investigation process.  A booklet scaffolds them through the stages to developing their own question, carrying out an experiment and developing a theory.  Each strand of our, 'Thinking Web' has three stages; no evidence, some evidence and lots of evidence.  It's surprising how honest and thoughtful the students have been so far.
Key Competency Assessment Thinking

My next step with this process will be to use it next term too but to co-construct the strands with me.  It will be an interesting journey for our technology inquiry. 

Stumbled on.

I'm always finding new sites online to use in the class - mostly due to my PLN (Twitter!) and general surfing around.  This term I stumbled on an apple application called Numbers.  It's like an excell programme (for P.Cers) but has some great templates you can use.

This one was created by some of my students on a science template and was perfect for our science experiment inquiry.  The groups were finding out about gravity - we were working towards exploding the myth that heavier objects fall faster than light ones.  The data chart immediately creates a graph as you insert the data and the template is great for providing the scaffolding.

The education folder of the templates even has a grading template.  Could be my next stumbled on!

I'm Back! - catch up...

It's been FAR too long since I've written a post. I have no excuses, really, and it's always amusing to read other people post their big 'grandios' plans to write every week - and fail in the first month.

I've wanted to make this blog a place to record my own learning rather than make some ground making discoveries - no disappointments there. And to say that I haven't been learning in the last 4 months is really not true.  But...what HAVE I been doing for the last two terms?

- Our school has been making some slow...painfully slow progress with our new server, internet service and our overall communication strategy.  This has been a really eye opening process of chasing cats!
- I've been searching for a way to deepen and develop the thinking skills of my class and I think I may have found another tool to add to my box - 'Solo Taxonomy'.
- Coming to terms with my new school's Inquiry strategy.  Every school has a different take and method of planning, teaching and assessing inquiry but this has been quite a major transition to make.

So, other than all of this, the year so far has been a major journey of reassessing what I believe quality teaching to be (I'm sure this will be posted in the future). But then, does this ever settle in our profession?  (Image used by permission - sabcute_86  C.C.)

Online Planning

It's the start of term 2 and I'm flat out planning. Every teacher knows this joy... sometimes. Planning, I've found, is the key to having a successful day in the classroom.

When you're at teacher's college it's something that you come to resent because of the marking / assessment purpose - especially when you know that the chances of actually teaching what you plan is small. Now that I've got some time under my belt I've become a planning fan. There's nothing better than stumbling on a resource or an idea that you are excited to use.

Here are two ways I'm using some online planning resources for this term. The first resource, mindmeister, is something I saw Nick Rate use and really liked. This mind mapping application lets you create an overview of the term. Each curriculum area has the activity or focus described and then, what I really like, you can create the links between them. You can see the links I've made with the inquiry topic of cultural diversity.

You can also add online links, download it as a pdf / jpg etc and also share the map with others online and have them add or edit the map. Brilliant. Here's an embeded version you can interact with - students love making these and putting them into their efolios, too.



I'm also using this online planning resource found on the Ministry of Education website, TKI. It's a social studies inquiry planner that walks you through the steps. I really liked the colour coding of conceptual understandings, thinking and reflective steps. It's very visual (important to me), interactive, downloable and easily edited throughout the term.

I'm still a fan of pen and paper. I've become a hybrid planner you could say but these two sites show how we can use a digital format to create, edit, share and plan for the benefit of our students.

Image used under creative commons from MarkKelley, via flickr.com