I missed the last lead teacher day. It was probably the first I had ever missed. Today I arrived late due to an IEP, and have felt like on catch up the rest of the time.
I did arrive in time for Belinda to share her presentation on purpose that she did. It was a timely reminder about purpose as we come to the end of the year. Bridget who does ICT with me is on maturnity leave next year and we have an amical difference of opinion over blogging for next year. It does occur to me that the staff at our school need a revisitation of purpose for blogging to encourage them to do it well.
We looked at the app book creator and used pictures from a sophisticated picture book (Rose Blanche) and wrote our own lines to it. Most had not seen the book before. Book Creator had a couple of foilbles, like all programs. I think Year 5/6 children would take to it really easily. We also had a look at Story Bot which is good for ESOL, new entrants, and slow progress students as it teaches sentence construction. Creativ...uilder was looked at to. We were split into two groups so I looked more at Story Bot.
I have not done so well with my ICT this year. Some is because of the frantic year I have had with Year5/6 and all their interruptions, not being able to get the laptop pod so frequently which was bad for me but good in that other staff are doing more, and all the work we have had to do to ensure that students are meeting the National Standards. (hah!!)
Next year I am teaching Year One so am looking forward to see how well I get them using ICT.
I was reading in the previous gazette about ICT and ensuring students are having opportunity to have them using equipment and creating rather than being users of content. A key aim that is close to my heart.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Finally on my laptop and blog. Am at a leader teacher day and it has been frustrating not being able to comment on the things we have seen so far. Will try to catch up.
Our Smackdown had some excellent teacher websites like pininterest, and Sen Teacher. I was reminded again of mathzlinks and arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/jetski.
We chatted about the "Cloud." EPS are now google doc orientated for planning etc and emails and SPS are going that way too. BDS has our student management on the cloud and looking at the rest as our server is upgraded.
Now we have been listening to various classes using ipads and ipods and the applications. Some really appealing maths ones for learning maths facts and spelling. I can see the appeal as a reward to use for behaviourly challenged children who need incentives. The students showing us their skills on these tools are very impressive. Their Year 6 teacher likes the students to be creative and finds the ipod a bit more difficult. They are still on the learning curve. It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm from the kids.
Discussion on mobile classrooms was interesting. There is lots of implications on the whys and where's of students bringing a device from home, different application loaded, what parents say they can have verses the school, and how to set up.
Interesting point is that Belinda as an ICT teacher has an ipad and laptop and still needs both at this time.
Some teachers may get away with just an ipad. Excellent discussion on mobile classrooms.
Our Smackdown had some excellent teacher websites like pininterest, and Sen Teacher. I was reminded again of mathzlinks and arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/jetski.
We chatted about the "Cloud." EPS are now google doc orientated for planning etc and emails and SPS are going that way too. BDS has our student management on the cloud and looking at the rest as our server is upgraded.
Now we have been listening to various classes using ipads and ipods and the applications. Some really appealing maths ones for learning maths facts and spelling. I can see the appeal as a reward to use for behaviourly challenged children who need incentives. The students showing us their skills on these tools are very impressive. Their Year 6 teacher likes the students to be creative and finds the ipod a bit more difficult. They are still on the learning curve. It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm from the kids.
Discussion on mobile classrooms was interesting. There is lots of implications on the whys and where's of students bringing a device from home, different application loaded, what parents say they can have verses the school, and how to set up.
Interesting point is that Belinda as an ICT teacher has an ipad and laptop and still needs both at this time.
Some teachers may get away with just an ipad. Excellent discussion on mobile classrooms.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Lead Teacher Day 15/3
Visit to Stonefields School.
The visit was very interesting seeing the modern learning hubs and leadership hub. I like the idea of collaborative teaching although I have concerns of myself with sharing a room and the extra noise level. I am not very good at extraneous noises. I am not an aural learner.
I really loved their teaching stations with the flatscreens, little pull out drawers for netbooks, and the pull out desks to sit keyboards and laptops.
I thought there had been a lot of thought in their inquiry journey to link it to the quarry and their environment.
As planning is done oneline in google docs it is not necessary to print their planning out. I think it would be good to do that to save paper as well as mine would look neater.
The visit was very interesting seeing the modern learning hubs and leadership hub. I like the idea of collaborative teaching although I have concerns of myself with sharing a room and the extra noise level. I am not very good at extraneous noises. I am not an aural learner.
I really loved their teaching stations with the flatscreens, little pull out drawers for netbooks, and the pull out desks to sit keyboards and laptops.
I thought there had been a lot of thought in their inquiry journey to link it to the quarry and their environment.
As planning is done oneline in google docs it is not necessary to print their planning out. I think it would be good to do that to save paper as well as mine would look neater.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Lead Teacher Day
Google Accounts - need Google Education for class. Every student can have an account including gmail. I would have rights as teacher to manage their account. They could have their own website. Have teacher dashboard - is not free. $4 per student per year. The students would get gmail, blogger, sites, docs - spreadsheets, surveys (forms), presentations.
Using the presentation form with a group would be good. It means the group can all work at the same time rather than fooling around.
EPS is attempting to get everything off the server. The only thing left is emails. Teacher documents are on their laptops and server. They are envising weekly plans etc done in Google. Appraisal docs have been done, and Trish likes as she can pop in and have a look. Soon they will be really in the cloud. !!!!!!
Google is HUGE.
Discussion about Superclubz Plus. Better for kids rather than Facebook. www.scplus.com to sign in. I have wanted to do this with my kids for a couple of years. I should make it a goal for the kids.
Discussion about blogs, their purpose and getting comments. Do marketing, house points, homework, kids to comment on each others and other classes, put on how to comment, leave a question to provoke a response. Must have other classes blogging and commenting. PEOPLE MUST HAVE THE PURPOSE OF THE BLOG IN THEIR GOAL. - what is my curriculum learning intention. I have been pleased with the content of my class blog. I would like it to have more comments. I will have to try more bribery and corruption.
Smackdown: sharing of sites. We enjoyed the 12 computer days of Christmas. Thanks Bridget. Lots of great suggestions. Thanks guys.
E-portfolios - 4 students talked to us about the things they did with their folios. They go on once a week to reflect. Their portfolios are in sections: showcase, achievements, numeracy, reading, basic facts, spelling, competencies, and general comments. There are places for parent, peer and teacher comments. The students are quite rightly very proud of their portfolios. One goes back to the previous year to see what they did.
Student lead conferences: laptop, books, and the other things we are going to talk to our parents about. They take about half and hour. 5 conferences in each class at the same time. The teacher is the hello lady. They have checklists for next learning steps. Students are able to say what they need to improve. The kids clearly enjoy them. I liked how Veronica's class had their goal and success criteria in each section.
http://www.fotobabble.com/ talking photos. The students really like this site to show their learning and achievements.
One had a poem on power point. What a neat idea to publish.
Belinda showed us some of a powerpoint on e-portfolios and discussion of purpose. EPS have done a lot of work. I think that it would be good at our 3 way conference for my students to share. If we had our workbooks ready, and a sheet with student responsibilities and parents actions would help too.
Discussion around Ulearn and Learning@School. Next year Ulearn is in Auckland. What an opportunity for more of the school to go to be on the same page.
Some interesting learning today.
Using the presentation form with a group would be good. It means the group can all work at the same time rather than fooling around.
EPS is attempting to get everything off the server. The only thing left is emails. Teacher documents are on their laptops and server. They are envising weekly plans etc done in Google. Appraisal docs have been done, and Trish likes as she can pop in and have a look. Soon they will be really in the cloud. !!!!!!
Google is HUGE.
Discussion about Superclubz Plus. Better for kids rather than Facebook. www.scplus.com to sign in. I have wanted to do this with my kids for a couple of years. I should make it a goal for the kids.
Discussion about blogs, their purpose and getting comments. Do marketing, house points, homework, kids to comment on each others and other classes, put on how to comment, leave a question to provoke a response. Must have other classes blogging and commenting. PEOPLE MUST HAVE THE PURPOSE OF THE BLOG IN THEIR GOAL. - what is my curriculum learning intention. I have been pleased with the content of my class blog. I would like it to have more comments. I will have to try more bribery and corruption.
Smackdown: sharing of sites. We enjoyed the 12 computer days of Christmas. Thanks Bridget. Lots of great suggestions. Thanks guys.
E-portfolios - 4 students talked to us about the things they did with their folios. They go on once a week to reflect. Their portfolios are in sections: showcase, achievements, numeracy, reading, basic facts, spelling, competencies, and general comments. There are places for parent, peer and teacher comments. The students are quite rightly very proud of their portfolios. One goes back to the previous year to see what they did.
Student lead conferences: laptop, books, and the other things we are going to talk to our parents about. They take about half and hour. 5 conferences in each class at the same time. The teacher is the hello lady. They have checklists for next learning steps. Students are able to say what they need to improve. The kids clearly enjoy them. I liked how Veronica's class had their goal and success criteria in each section.
http://www.fotobabble.com/ talking photos. The students really like this site to show their learning and achievements.
One had a poem on power point. What a neat idea to publish.
Belinda showed us some of a powerpoint on e-portfolios and discussion of purpose. EPS have done a lot of work. I think that it would be good at our 3 way conference for my students to share. If we had our workbooks ready, and a sheet with student responsibilities and parents actions would help too.
Discussion around Ulearn and Learning@School. Next year Ulearn is in Auckland. What an opportunity for more of the school to go to be on the same page.
Some interesting learning today.
Clicker 5
Yesterday, I was looking at the Clicker 5 to learn about the program for my special needs student and assistive technology. I went on the Crickweb site and was able to load down several activities which saved time in making them.
I still think it is a shame that for all the work to get the technology, we only get one program.
I still think it is a shame that for all the work to get the technology, we only get one program.
Monday, November 7, 2011
widget -Maukie the virtual cat
Was looking at Cool Tools for Schools and found this widget.
The cat is animated.
The Website is http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/maukie-the-virtual-cat
The cat is animated.
Blogging and other things
I haven't been here for a while. My students have done some work on our class blog with reflections and homework. I put incentives into their homework like housepoints and more into getting their parents to comment. Even after 3 years of blogging, I still can't seem to get continual comments. BLAH!!! Onwards and upwards next year I suppose. On the plus side, more has been uploaded by having my students load at home with homework tasks. One or two can use slideshare.com with their powerpoints. So skillwise, my students are more independent.
I haven't been using ICT so much this year with my students as I have been concentrating on SOLO Taxonomy. However, more recently, they are busy.
Currently, my students are drawing in kidpix or artrage, publishing, and some have been draft writing direct into the computer to improve their writing. They also have some computer tasks during reading time with their chapter book study. I feel a little late with these things. Its been a busy year.
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