What's your Dream Class?

If you could run a dream classroom programme... what would it look like? Imagine an unlimited budget and the freedom to follow your own pedagogical path! This was a provoking thought I've come across lately and I thought I'd share a glimpse into what I think would make a great 2013 with my students!

Tips for ICT momentum in schools

I was asked the following question on twitter today..

...so I thought I'd post some things that have helped (or not helped) our school and the schools I have worked in. These are also quotes I've picked up along the way that help guide our school when making decisions.

Digital Modeling Books

My teacher inquiry this year this about creating parent windows into our classroom. Our school focus is to develop a personalised learning pedagogy across our school (in an abreviated 'nutshell') and my contribution is to investigate some methods that will enable parents to engage with their children's learning.

My latest trial is what I'm calling our 'digital modeling books.' I wanted to give parents the opportunity to browse through our workshop modeling books when ever they wanted but I realise that for most of them it's not possible to drop into the classroom. So, I began to drop our paper books (which were the usual scrapbooks that I've used for years) and replace them with an ipad and a few handy apps.

Here are the links to our digital books - Literacy and Maths. they are linked off our class blog and created using the following apps.

Smartie Challenge

This was a great little activity yesterday that we used to tune in to fractions, decimals and percentages. Each group was given a box of smarties (about 13-15 in each box) and asked to complete this table.

They had a ball (after we talked about 'self control' to not eat them!) adding up the colours, working out the fraction, drawing the picture and working out ay possible equivalent fractions. An extention to the activity was to convert the fractions to decimals and percentages - a great little assessment part of the session.

Bottle Bivy - continued

Here's the updated timelapse of our bottle bivy build. Over 400 bottles and $40 of hot glue gun sticks later...

Bad Weather?

They say there's no such thing as bad weather down this way! Only bad dressing.

Well - how's we dress for a jog in a snow/sleet storm down south! If I was Irish I might say, 'Diddle e dee, potato!'

Bottle Bivy Beginnings!

Today we started out bottle bivy project! Here's a sneak preview of the 'gawker' (timelapse video) I'm planning to make with the class once the making is over.



We're also asking for each student to bring a gold coin donation to help with the costs of the glue gun sticks - the build take over 60 to get the job done. Thanks to everyone who's brought bottles into school. We couldn't have started without your help and team work!

Aurasma - an Interactive, Digital Display

We have a third year college teacher, @mattmurraynz, working with us this year and he is proving to be a handy innovator in his own right.  One of his college assignments this term was to create an interactive display in the classroom.  He told me his class were thinking, 'What? How do you do that?'

With a little bit of chatter and after seeing a great ipad app called aurasma lite he came up with an idea for using augmented reality and the student's learning about taonga - special treasures.

The student's held their taonga and spoke about it's importance to them, then Matt made this into a video. The video is uploaded to aurasma and a screen shot of the video was printed out and hung on the wall.

Matt then went through the steps on the app to take an image of the photo and linked it to the uploaded video. And below is the result. When you hold the aurasma app view finder up to the image it shows the video of the student speaking inside the image of the photo.

How cool would our classrooms, office foyers, shopping mall walls, and street signs be with this kind of interaction?

Time Lapse Fun!

During the last school holidays I edited and posted a movie on our class and school blogs. I wanted to showcase the 'business' of our days for the parents of my class - a push back against the 'nothing much' response to that age old question from our parents, 'What did you do at school today?'

The video was posted on the Core Education blog here, a few weeks later.  It was great to see the comments coming in and a few questions asked and the gawker software I used to create the timelapse video is something I'm keen to use again.

Easy Infographics

Yesterday I found an easy (easier) way to make some cool infographics online! Infographics are information, stats and images mashed together in some cool posters. Makes maths super cool! You can see some amazing infographics examples here at coolinfographics or even better, on their pinterest page. There's nothing like seeing info and stats in a visual way - for us 'visual' learners and people who like things that look cool!

A few months ago we had a go at making an infographic in our class, with varying degrees of success, using popplet and uploading images.  They didn't really like look like the genuine article which is ok. Sometimes things don't always go to plan but I was happy with the process of collecting data and displaying it in a static image.  It meant the learning intention which was the goal.

So here's the online tool that lets you use easy templates and input the data you want, where you want. It's called Piktochart. It was super easy to use, lets you add your own graphics if needed but gives you that all important structure that can be hard to make on your own.
And here's my first attempt. It's using some data I collected from a parent survey in Term 1 from my class. I'm looking for another chance to create something else.

Now... where can I get my hands on some stats. Never thought I'd ever write that in my lifetime!

Bottle Bivy Progress

We're up to 172 bottles on our quest to make a bottle bivy for the class.  We're hoping to make it before the holidays but it's going to take a MAMMOTH effort to get all the bottles we need.

You can see our progress, and the efforts of other classes in the project, here at the bottle bivy site.  We're a bit behind the bottle count of a class at St Marys in Mosgiel.  Let's pick up the pace team!

We need your cleaned bottles with their lids!  Share this around with your friends and family and bring your bottles to Kauri in Room 8.

BYOD Trial - a real world inquiry.

Last week our school started a BYOD trial with my class.  We have been wanting to increase the ratio of devices to students for some time and after talking to @annekenn about her classes journey this year (and getting some great resources - thanks Anne!) at the last educampdunners we decided to try our own leap into the future!

Here are the agreement / disclosure forms we asked each student to read and fill in with the parents in this box.net folder - feel free to download. Below is also the parent letter that was sent home introducing the trial to the parents, as well as the link to the classroom blog post that explained what we are doing and how it's going so far.


On the first day of our trial we created a 'stem chart' of possible issues that may arise and how we could address them.  The two ideas that we decided to promote to our parents were;
   - make sure you have really good contents insurance - damage is the responsibility of the owner (within reason, excusing deliberate damage by another student, obviously).
   - students with personal devices should be sole users unless collaborating with another student under supervision.


We've also discovered how to do a search in icloud to find our ios devices which could be a handy deterrant from theft in the future. - (plus it;s just so cool to see how accurate the GPS is on our devices!)

Here is a recorded interview with some students from our class about how the trial is going so far.  It was really interesting to also hear from 2 students who don't have their own device at school and the impact the trial is having on them.

Here are our next steps

1.  Upgrade our wireless to cope with the increased device connections.  We are in the process of getting high-speed broadband (the diggers are outside my office window as we speak) and we're also investigation getting a 'robust' wireless network that is industrial standard. A bonus of this, we are told, will be the ability to trace the user's footprints on our internet connection by tracking the mac address of that device (an important part of the BYOD registration process which we collect off each user's device when they arrive at school).

2.  Planning a parent workshop for all parents interested in a future BYOD policy across the school.  Having the trial in our school will give us some excellent data, experience and student reflections about the use of personal devices in class - rather than talking about some other school's experience.

We have decided to gather advice, make informed decisions and work with our students and parents as we go.  I know of some schools who are taking a cautionary approach and working through ALL possible pitfalls before they jump in.  There are pros and cons to that approach but, so far, we are enjoying the collaborative path; working with parents and students as we go.

So far...so good.

Throw away lines worth keeping

This week our staff spent some time over two days with Stuart Hale (@stuartnz) looking at mobile technologies in schools - the trends, the future and some hands on practical tips for ipads and ipods.

Over those 2 days I was able to catch some great one liners that I tweeted.  Here are my favourites and a comment or two.

"If you think technology is expensive for schools, try ingnorance."  

Stuart was speaking to a group of Principals and Boards and explaining the costs of infrastructure and monthly broadband.  Sadly there are too many schools with a deficit view on technology. - 'We'll buy a couple of computers for every room cause we don't want to look behind the times.'  They rarely invest the capital needed for what @Stuartnz calls, 'A robust wireless network' let alone the resources needed for effective staff PD and support.  Technology is moving rapidly and, I would argue, its use in education.  The long term costs of falling further and further behind is frightening!

"Technology will hook them but it won't cook them."

It's true that technology can be great for motivation and engagement.  But, as we all know, it's the expertise of the teacher to use technology within an effective teaching process that makes the difference.  High expectations, higher order thinking, formative practise, personalised learning strategies; these are some of the steps in that process.  'He tangata, tangata, tangata.'  It's also all about people - the relationship between the teacher and the students is most important!

"Feed the hungry!  Stop watering stones."

There is a trend in many schools to have a technology strategy that spreads access across all classrooms and teachers.  @Stuartnz puts a lot of the blame for this on the shoulders of our egalitarian society.  We want to make things fair and equal but what this usually results in is computers in classrooms gathering dust while a teacher next door is crying out for more!

I've written about my 'peloton model of change' before (a peloton is a group of bike riders who use one rider at the front to break the air in front and create a draft for those behind) where we resource one or two progressive teachers and see them drive change and elearning progress with a school.  If we want to see change we need to equip the change makers.

"We shouldn't be teaching hammer skills.  We should be teaching woodwork."

Many teachers will go to some PD on how to use imovie and then teach the same skills to their class the next day. There's no question that students need to learn these skills but gone are the days of the computer suite where we teach a class how to use a tool.  This generation picks up things incredibly quickly and can easily do it within the learning process.

Teach the skills as you move through your movie making project and learn them as you need them.  Don't teach students how to use comic life - use comic life while teaching your students to communicate a message to an audience.

"Your digital footprint is like a tattoo.  Once it's there you can't remove it."

Everyone needs to understand that their digital actions have eternal consequences.  What we upload is incredible difficult to remove if others have owned or distributed it.  There are many students, @Stuartnz commented, that are putting their futures in jeapody due to naive mistakes they are making in their teens and twenties.  It's all about being cyber-smart!

Showme - Connecting any time, anywhere.

My teacher inquiry this year is to provide the parents of my class as many opportunities to be a part of the learning with my students. I suppose I 'm trying to widen our learning community beyond being just my students and I'm assuming that this will help them achieve - so far it definitely has!

One of the things I've been doing is to give the students access to teaching from home - not from a worksheet but through interactive games and videos.

This isn't anything radical but, like any good elearning practice, the effectiveness is enhanced when teaching pedagogies and media are mashed into a workable system. One that is student centred and personalised.

An example of this is our basic facts blog. Here the students are working through a series of steps on a basic facts ladder (designed by advisersplus in the Hawkes Bay) using some links to interactive games - and some videos created on a great ipad app called showme.

Showme has been a fantastic way to record some teaching steps for a particular skill that the student can access at any time. Some parents have told me that THEY"VE found them helpful when they've tried to help their child master a particular skill.

Here's a video explaining more about how it came about and the impact it's having in classrooms across the world.

There are lots of uses for this great little app. I've used to remind students on our classblog about the scientific method - really helpful when they're working in groups and unsure about a step in their experiment, and last year my students became quite handy in making their own showmes to explain and demonstrate their learning about all kinds of things we were doing in class.

Here's a showme that I made to explain how to find fractions of a whole number. The small group I was working with was able to show their parents at home and consolidate their learning even more.

How are you providing opportunities for your students and parents to continue the learning?

Blogging with Zing

Last week I spent some time with some teachers from our school at our first 'iTips' workshop. We looked at how to create some extra Zing to our classroom blogs and I thought I'd share 3 things I do to personalise them and make them stand out a bit more.

1. Headers

- I use Comiclife, which is a mac and pc programme, to create a lot of graphics and visuals for my blogs. Pretty much all my classroom titles, labels and posters are made on this. By downloading and inserting some images from google, even the examples in this picture of some free icons I downloaded (by searching 'free icon download png') to put behind the text. Gives it a bit more bling , I reckon.

The best kinds of graphics to download and put on your header is the 'png' file. These graphics have the file with ONLY the image in them. It;s like they have the white background sort of cut away with scissors. These are great to put on top of other images or even the text as there isn't a white box around the image. Try it. You'll see what I mean. Use the 'arrange / bring to the front or back' feature in comiclife to change the orientation of the images.

Here's a review video of comiclife as a taster. Search around and you'll find LOTS of tutorial videos on youtube to get you more confident!

2. Pictures as links

The side bars on blogs are a great way to direct your readers, students to the sites you want them to visit. One obvious way is to use text as a link and there are a few different standard gad

gets to help you do this. I use these for lists of links but one of my favourite ways to link on the sidebar is using a picture as t

he link. I think this is far enticing for the reader and adds some visual effect to the look of your blog.

You can insert a gadget called PICTURE and use a screen shot of the site you want the link to go to. There's a space to include the website link (URL) and away you go! Screen shots are one of the greatest things ever - hold down shift / command / 4 and 'frame' the image that you want to capture. (For PC users the keys are different. Try this link)

3. Installing a 'third party' blogger template.

This is one of the greatest tips for revolutionising your blog - and one that I've noticed is not readily used by many teachers. Third party refers to a source away from the original, in this case blogger. You can alter your blogger blog (or most other platforms*) inside the design feature which can look great. But for an even more custom, original look you can search through a massive range of templates by google searching 'blogger templates download' as an example.

Here's a site I've used a few times - btemplates.com. It has some great search filters that help you find the template for you, such as searching by colour, structure or even key word tags. There are a lot of videos that show you how to complete this process and, with a little playing around (a few templates might have some gadgets that aren't working or might not allow you to add you're own zingy header at the top) you'll find one that suites you.

Here's a tutorial from a guy with a fascinating accent. There are plenty out there!

So, there's just 3 little techniques that can create a great blog. One last thing to get you going even further is to look at lots of other blogs and see what they're using. It's a great source of inspiration to 'borrow' another person's idea. Just click on the gadget or look for clues at the bottom for a website where it originated. There's nothing like a little google search to satisfy that curiosity of ours.

Here are some links of some blogs to inspire you!

Top 20 Teacher Blogs

Blogging Tips

Great teacher blogs

Classroom Blogs

* This is my new 'Bazinger' footnote - a word I've stolen from 'The Big Bang Theory' and my signal for a jargon word.

Platform - in this sense it's a form of blogging programme that you can use. Examples could be blogger, wordpress, tumblr or posterous.

The dangers of student centered learning

One of the current BUZZ words this year is student centered learning. We should have a student centered programme and a student centered curriculum. When we are talking about differentiation and personalised learning I am in whole hearted agreement.

My concern, however is that while being student centered helps to target the learning and boost achievement it is also solidifying our western culture's focus on the individual and not the collective.

What I mean by this is the danger that we make our classroom programme 'all about the student.' Everything is structured to meet the requirements of (cliched) 'little jonnie' that we encourage them to think first and foremost about themselves and their own needs.

Like everything, I think we need to have a balance. Yes, education is about preparing the individual for the future but it's also about helping to shape a society that cares for and thinks of others. It's about helping children mature from being egocentric to being empathetic and altruistic. After-all, to be truly functional, societies are dependent on the health of it's communities.

Perhaps, then, we need to add a new buzz word/phrase to this years teaching lexicon - 'community centered learning'. I'm beginning to wonder if this is my true calling?

So, what does this look like?

Yes - we should guide student learning at their pace and towards their own learning targets.

BUT - we should also be encouraging a desire for them to look for opportunities to help others around them.

Yes - we should prepare them to have a dream and fulfill their potential.

BUT - we should also be instilling a passion to be aware of the needs and concerns of their communities and how they can be a positive influence in them.

One reflection from a student of mine made my

month! She was reflecting on a co-operative group activity where they investigated a question with their classmates and created a graph from the results. It was a group that I had helped form and had not just left up to them to join. I asked them all to describe what they felt was a success for them from the project.

Her answer - "I learnt that it's fun working with people that aren't just my best friends!"

Pure Magic! In that tiny moment in time, my work felt done...now for tomorrow.

Teachers and teamwork

Many of us are nervous about the talk of teaching incentives and performance pay. In Australia there are moves towards teaching excellence payments - described below from the linked article.

"Under the Rewards for Great Teachers initiative, teachers who become certified at the highest level of the standards will be rewarded with $7500 for Highly Accomplished teachers and $10,000 for teachers who achieve the Lead Teacher level." http://www.deewr.gov.au/

Its all making for interesting staffroom discussion! The main fear that I hear from other teachers is the impact this will have on what makes our profession so strong - collegiality.

Teachers are usually amazing at sharing and supporting each other. If we are competing for excellence payments, what incentive do we have to encourage the teacher next door? Will we want to share the latest technique or strategy we've been working on with each other if we're vying for the same reward?

It's a valid concern. Like this video of supportive ants shows - it's when we work together that we are at our best. I'm trusting that our colleagues will always hold on to what makes us strong!