2011

A new year has rolled around. This year my goal with ICT is to integrate better in my classroom programme. I had some success but this year I now have 4 classroom computers plus my teacher laptop. That means 2 students can work together if I have groups of 8, and if 10 in a group they can use mine. It also means that from 8.30 until school starts, students can complete work.
We had Solo Taxonomy PD for our teacher only day, with training on the rest of the maps. My other goal is to learn how to incorporate the maps in my classroom programme as much as I can.
Now our cluster is over so to speak, I want to be able to keep the learning I have done, and to continue moving forward with it.

Last Lead Teacher Day

Last week, we had our last lead teacher day. We shared our action research which was interesting to see how much thought and planning had gone into all. It will seem strange not having the ongoing PD which I have enjoyed very much. I find that I have learnt the value of PD and being current. When I first came to Botany Downs, I wasn't that fussed on lots of PD (and I find some current colleagues have this attitude), but having to stand up in front of others and explain my PD, try and inspire others to take the "call" and seeing change across the school, I can see the value. I like having current PD, rather than feeling like the last school to be having PD even though we are probably one of the last schools to have the cluster funding for ICT and inquiry in the way that we have. Going to conferences like Ulearn and Learning@Schools helps with the focus of what is current in our field of inquiry.

Highlights for me have been the external conferences, visiting schools on lead teacher days to see and understand how other schools do things; (Schools can be insular places.)getting the data projector and other equipment so we feel more like other schools who have lots of equipment, and how I have changed as a person, and a teacher. I had to learn to stand up in front of others, think more on my feet, be proactive in being able to do the ICT and inquiry things so I could model this for others, and become more flexible about letting students on and with equipment (becoming the facilitator).

One of the biggest buzzes for me is when students can demonstrate their learning or say "I get it." This year my students have started to "get"the creating stage of our inquiry journey, they are independent users on the computer, and more recently, with a homework project have created slideshows that have internet links, using Goanimate, and generally sharing their work. It was great to see with the homework projects all the acknowledgements. One student commented that another didn't have the acknowledgements. Cutting and pasting is still a huge problem. They have a second homework project due, so we will see if the message as got across. When we were viewing, one student came up to me quietly and said,"I think my project is too long." She was asking to take it home and reduce hers as she had got very bored with another and could see the same would happen with hers. Learning has happened!!!!. We are "getting it" with ICT and Inquiry.

Action Research

After 2 terms we finished our action research. Marie and I have one more presentation on it to make to staff. With writing, 2 terms hasn't seemed enough time to make a huge difference. There was improvement but only within the level. I think in hindsight that my choices of students made it harder. This was because they had other factors which impinged on their ability or willingness to improve, eg home circumstances, and suspected processing disability.

Overall, I think doing the action research helped me focus my teaching. Sometimes, when reflecting about it I wonder would I have done anything different, as with the ASTLE identification of needs to focus on, I had to do a lot of it anyway. I would have liked more computers so that those other students in my class who would have like more opportunity to use a computer too, could have had said opportunity.

One of the students that I focused on believed he thought better using a computer. I never found it so for this student when I sat alongside trying to get the thinking and links into the story to improve it, but who is to say it is not for other students, or this student in a few months or years. The idea that "Oooh, look at me I am on a computer," is still a prevalent thought at my school, and still a distraction, so the thinking is still to come. For the more mature/responsible student this is not so. They do focus, and attempt the new learning that I am trying to instill.

I found it interesting that Marie and I chose different approaches to our action research because of the year levels that we teach, and because of our professional goals that we had set at the beginning of the year. Marie did lots of modelling with the mimio, and students using kidpix to draw, and create their stories, whereas, I used the mimio also for modelling, a little bit of kidpix drawing, and direct typing into the computer to overcome the student's dislike of using pen and paper because of poor fine motor skills. I also had student retell stories during reading time; ( a time honoured method of integration).

Action Research

Marie and I finished our Action research project last week.  It has been interesting that we have both approached the same task from a different angle because we teach different class levels.  Marie worked more on using ICT tools for modelling, and I got my kids onto the computer write.  Sometimes I got them to plan or draw first or they just typed straight into the computer.  One student reckoned he thought better at the computer but I found no evidence of this especially as he needed teacher help and assistence to get a story structure in place, and struggled with understanding that lots of detail needed to go in to explain to his audience how his characters came to be there.   The research was interesting in that some of my kids inproved and some did not.   I think that for it to have worked more throughly, I needed to have had a longer time to work with my students.  2 terms was not enough.  I sometimes found it difficult to maintain due to various and frequent times out of the classroom. On a more positive note, I found that giving opportunities across the class to go on the computers made it slightly competitive for a chance, and when they had the opportunity tried even harder with their writing.

Action Research Writing

View more presentations from Botany Downs School.

Ulearn Key Message

ARE WE PREPARING OUR STUDENTS FOR THE FUTURE OR THE PAST

Digital Citizenship - Lee Crockett

•     Take knowledge and make it wisdom

·         Educentric problem – paradigm paralysis – specific way to do school – not preparing students for their future

·         Screen is a place to project your identity

• Images and video are powerful enough to learn

Our student's are:
• Visually literate

• Visual right brain society developing, mix colour and sound

• Learners do better in multi sensory environment

I liked this phrase:

·         Tyranny of the Urgent takes us away from things that are important

I see this often happening in my workplace.  I wonder how will National Standards make this phrase so true.
I am begining to understand how instant gratification is important to my students, and how just in time learning is important to them rather than just in case.
The test for me is to ensure that the "Tyranny of the Urgent" does not overwhelm me.
 
Social Media: Steve Wheeler
Education is about teaching students not subjects


Can we blend the formal and informal learning?

Lifelong learning against the odds

All too often we are giving students flowers rather than teaching them to grow plants

• Generating content, sharing content, organizing content 0 blog, wiki, mashup, e portfolio, tagging


• Personal learning environment – personal web tools (web 2), personal learning network – where to connect to to find out, personal learning environment (social media landscape)

• With access to social media everyone has a voice – the architecture of participation

I am not sure I understood totally about social media.  This is probably because I am still not a fully willing participant in things like Twitter and Facebook, and am not sure whether I want to be.  I do recognise that because I don't want to do something that this should not limit the opportunities for children.  Maybe by teaching students who are not of an age to be on Facebook is useful at this time.  Yesterday, I was in a workshop which included Superclubs which I think will be good rather than Facebook.

Learning to Learn - Lane Clark
I really enjoyed how Lane talked about rigor in planning and preparation and in what students are learning.

"How we educate – not what we educate."

I also liked how her students get to celebrate and share their learning. It is interesting how it is a stage of her inquiry journey for students.  More recently, I have realised that we share our learning in class, sometimes we upload it to the blog and very rarely share with the rest of the school.

I had this "aha" moment as Lane talked about being at the end of the immersion learning and then "So What."  What can we do with this information?   In her example, the students decided to make books for other children.

Usually at the end of our Hook (immersion) we say, what questions can we come up with to learn more?  No wonder students often turn off.  I have the opportunity next week to put this into practise.  I am most interested in the outcome.

Other thoughts from Lane I liked were:

• You don’t grow you brain if you don’t use part that is difficult
•  Colour the inquiry stage so they know where they are (the students have a blackline of the journey.

I have a student who avoids the difficult, and colouring the stages would help them recognise where they are in our learning journey.

Going up in the World

I have 2 new toys - a touch phone and a netbook. My phone has not come with the instruction book yet and when I tried the net for instructions, the website had a problem.  I am learning my way through trial and error, and get better as I get over my fear of too many things.  I even used the internet on it yesterday.

I came to Ulearn with my netbook and have been typing my notes on it, and using the internet.  It is so much more light weight than my laptop, and often I find it frustrating when I go to do a capital and get page up instead and end does not go to end.  Overall, it has been good for me.  It was mentioned yesterday in one of the keynotes (I think) that touch is the way and the mouse is on it's way out since the ipad was launched.  At the Microsoft stand I used a laptop where you touched the screen instead of clicking or tabing. (tabbing)???
That's me, late to going up in the world.

Global Communities

My first day at Ulearn was the preconference day on a course titled: Global Communities.
I learnt about this really cool website called iearn. http://www.iearn.org/ .  Iearn has a projects page where students can join and collaborate in global communities so that their learning is not limited to their own environment.  These projects are often action inquiry where communities are improved.  I liked this idea because most of the inquiry units that we do at school do not have that social action or link with communities around the world.
Here are some screen shots of projects that attracted me for my Year 5/6 students.

I like the idea of Beauty of the Beasts as a first project as I know how much my students like art and our native animals.  Also it means they can learn about being part of a global community online before embarking on a larger project. 

We then moved onto making a project using weebly.com.  I decided to make a homework project.

http://room22bds2010.weebly.com/ .  This project is for next year and this webpage needs work.  I ran out of time to think my way through it on the day.

This morning after listening to Lane Clark I realise I will have to rethink my changes again.  Watch this space!!