My First Teach Meet

Posted by Mrs A on Monday, October 10th 2011

On the last Friday of the school holidays I attended my very first Teach Meet.

I was keen to meet up with my online PLN, and finally put some names to faces. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I knew that I would come away from the day inspired and armed with some new tools and ideas.

Upon registering my interest in the session, I was contacted by @ccoffa, one of the organisers who asked if I would like to present about my journey into the world of app development. I was a little apprehensive at first, because I wasn’t sure that people would be interested in what I had to say, and I didn’t want people to think that I was using the opportunity for self promotion and merely to sell my apps.

Up until this point of time, I felt that my existence on twitter had been more ‘take’ than ‘give’ and that I had stalked around soaking up information and ideas, but offering little. I had benefitted greatly from the sharing and collaboration that goes on there and decided that it was about time for me to give something back. I could share my learning journey and illustrate how I have been involved in an global online environment. My learning journey had been self directed, self paced and authentic. I was passionate and genuinely excited about about what I was learning. I could draw parallels to student learning and implications for engaging learning environments.

I agreed to do a quick presentation so as to give people a ‘taste’ for what I had to say, they could always seek more information via email/twitter later.

I really enjoyed sharing at Teach Meet Melbourne and could easily have prattled on for longer. The participants were friendly and encouraging, the organisers were helpful and enthusiastic. It was possibly the most friendly and positive PD environment that I have experienced for quite some time. It dawned on me why. As @ccoffa reflects in her blog post, “Teach Meet Melbourne No. 1,” everyone there was there because they wanted to be. The learning was relevant to their own personal needs and their own personal journey. Of course there are implications there for student learning as well as staff and leadership PD.

I loved the format of the day, short sharp sessions from people who were willing to put themselves “out there” and share their experiences. The relaxed informative atmosphere made it easy to connect with people and share. I was even able to pick up some hints and tips in-between presentations. Of course I had plenty of follow up work for home.

Thanks so much to the organisers, presenters and participants, all of whom gave up their own time to be there because they wanted to be there. I think that says so much about our profession.

Can’t wait for the next one!

category: Education

tags: app, collaboration, iPad, share, Teach Meet

IPads 1:1 – Why My Kids Are Lucky!

Posted by Mrs A on Thursday, July 28th 2011

Some excitement had spread amongst the students at my own kids school as it became apparent that the school was embarking on a 1:1 iPad program for certain levels across the school. I had read about this myself with much enthusiasm.

My friends will tell you that I do like to have the latest gadgets. Yes, I will admit that is true. However I pride myself in understanding the extensive learning opportunities available to all of us now, due to the technologies available to us. I often muse at how quickly our kids embrace the technologies, and how despite us, they are learning “stuff” way beyond our expectations, and probably way more than many parents realise.

Whilst I was excited about the 1:1 iPad prospect what was really interesting to me was the reaction of my own kids. They were instantly interested in whether they would be getting an iPad, whether they would be a part of the program. What was of particular interest was my son’s reaction, for whom school seems to be totally irrelevant to his life and only really maintains his interest for social reasons (from my observations anyway — perhaps I am being a little harsh here). This got me thinking about the “Remaining Relevant” title of my blog, maybe my kid’s school was embarking on a courageous journey that would help them to remain relevant in the lives of their students.

I went along to the information evening, for exactly that, to get information. How were they actually going to do it? I wasn’t really interested in hearing why they were doing it. I know why, to me that is obvious, and I have to say that I was annoyed by the questions from parents that didn’t get it. I had to remind myself to be patient. They don’t fully understand the amazing power of this technology and how it is already turning learning and our education system on its head. They have not been privy to the exciting online learning world that is now second nature to me, and most probably most of their children too. They have not seen the work of amazing teachers like ‘The PE Geek,’ who is already doing wonderful things with his students utilising mobile devices and social media to enhance and enrich learning. They have not seen work done in primary and secondary schools across the state and in fact the world, that flatten walls and make learning authentic, and relevant. One simply has to visit some of the blogs in my blogroll like 2KM and 2KJ of Leopold PS, to see real evidence of what is already happening and how some fabulous teachers are already embracing the technologies.

It reminds me of the book “Disrupting Class,” by Clayton M. Christensen. The iPad along with web 2.0 tools and social media has the potential to disrupt education in a very exciting way. I must be patient whilst others learn that too.

Our kids, and in fact many teachers are already absorbed in the new technologies. Everyday when I turn to Twitter I see constant examples of this. However, the worry is the number of people being left behind. Closing their eyes and ears and hoping it will go away. Comments like, “I don’t get that technology stuff,” and “It’s just for the young ones,” are not helpful and stem from ignorance.

It was obvious to me that my kid’s school had done their research, they had also anticipated a wary response by parents. They were very clever though in the delivery of their information. They started the information session with a poignant reminder of the values and ethics of the school. In that delivery among other things, they made the following points very clear:

Technology is here to stay – it is not going away

Students are embracing the technology

As parents and teachers it is our duty to adequately prepare our students for their future

There are, and will be issues to be dealt with

It is the responsibility of parents to play their part in responsible use issues (not just the school)

The information session then went about explaining the benefits of the program and how it would be implemented. Of course it was reiterated that during the planning stage there were still many decisions to be made. Question time produced a number of questions about cost and care of the iPads, and a variety of other issues regarding charging etc. The school was honest in it’s responses indicating that whilst still in the early stages many of the finer details still required some discussion and thinking through. Yes there will be many cons, but in my opinion far more pros.

I would like to congratulate my kid’s school for being courageous enough and informed enough to embark on this project. I know that it is the only way forward in education. I am excited about 2012 for my own children and look forward to going on this journey with my kid’s school. Most importantly I know of a couple of kids who have a new respect for their school knowing that their education is in safe hands! Their school is relevant.

category: Uncategorized

My First App

Posted by Mrs A on Friday, July 22nd 2011

Writer’s Hat

The Writer’s Hat is my first app for iPhones and iPads. For me this has been a really exciting journey! This app is aimed at educators and classrooms although it could easily used for family fun, camp activities and party games.

As a teacher and Assistant Principal I have many years of experience in teaching literacy to young children. Often students are asked to write a creative piece of work but are left scratching their heads for ideas. The Writer’s Hat app allows students to have four basic elements of their story selected randomly for them. For example they can be given a word for What, Where, Who and When. They then must include each of their words somewhere in the story. Often it is a springboard of random words that can be all it takes to allow the mind to think creatively.

How Could It Be Used in a Classroom?
After being provided with the four words, students could be asked to do a few minutes of planning using a graphic organiser, and then 10 or so minutes of “lightning writing.” They may then use this piece to develop a creative piece or they may store it away in their “Writer’s portfolio” to come back to another day, should they so wish. Often our best ideas grow upon us slowly. After a few hours, days or weeks of mulling them over, a really good idea may develop. This is why I like the idea of a Writer’s Portfolio or Scrapbook, ideas can be scrapped or developed at a later date.

Also in the Writer’s Hat app is the Word Box. Students are presented with a noun, verb, adjective and adverb upon pressing a button. Each word is selected randomly from the app’s database. Creative teachers will develop many a great use for this app.

I would love to hear your ideas. Share your thoughts on using this app to develop creative writing and thinking skills with your students.

category: Education, Literacy, Student Engagement

tags: Ideas, Literacy, Writing

Inferred Meaning From Text Using Music and Movie Making

Posted by Mrs A on Thursday, June 16th 2011

Last term my teaching partner and I completed some satisfying work in our Lib/Lab. (The Lib/Lab is an open learning space consisting of the Library and Computer Lab.)

Our students were to investigate the lyrics of certain songs and try to project the inferred meaning in the creation of a music video. The music videos were not to be dance videos, but a story that portrayed the deeper, inferred meaning of the song lyrics. We selected a number of songs for the students to choose from, but also allowed them to suggest titles of their own. Songs were chosen due to interesting content and students in conference with teachers were prompted to select topics suitable to their learning needs and ability to understand the concepts. Songs with environmental, social, emotional and political content were chosen. There were also songs that leant themselves more easily for literal interpretation for students not quite ready for inferential thinking.

As a ‘Tune In’ activity we showed a video made by students at Cabramatta Primary School to go with Paul Kelly’s, ‘From Little Things big Things Grow.’ We then discussed how the students portrayed the important messages of the text.

The task required each student to come up with a video of their own, however they needed to work with the other students to help act in, and create each others’ videos.

In the past we have allowed groups to come up with one final product for the whole group, however we found that their were some difficulties with this:
One or two students doing most of the work
Some group members riding on the coat tails of others
Difficult to tell if all students had developed the required skills
Lack of ownership by all students
Therefore this task was designed for the students to work together, yet still produce their own final movie.

My teaching partner and I were most proud of the efforts of our students. Unfortunately I unable to post the student videos as I do not have permission to show them on the Internet however, you may be interested in some of the songs that the students chose:
Caught in the Crowd, Kate Miller-Heidke – A song about bullying.
A Drop in the Ocean, Ron Pope
Bradman, Paul Kelly
You’ve Got a Friend In Me, Randy Newman
This Is Who I Am, Vanessa Amorosi
Blowin In the Wind, Bob Dylan
Holy Grail, Hunters and Collectors
Dear Mr President, Pink
American Pie, Don McLean
Together We’ll Sing, Jason Derulo
Redback on the Toilet Seat, Slim Dusty
Let’s See How Far We’ve Come, Matchbox 20
Last of the American Girls, Green Day
Big Yellow Taxi, Counting Crows
We Are the Champions, Queen
New Divide, Linkin Park

The project took quite some time to complete, but we were so proud of the finished products. Our students in Grades 4-6 were able to scratch beneath the literal meaning of the text and produce movies (some with very clever blue screen/chroma key effects) of an impressive standard!

I believe our students excelled for the following reasons:
Tuning in activity set the requirements and expectations
Students were engaged in the use of ICT (flip cameras, bluescreens, Internet to research lyrics, etc.)
Students were able to collaborate with others
Students were allowed choice and freedom
Frequent revision of expectations and goals
Appeal to the students’ enjoyment of music and learning technologies
Just-in-time assistance was available from staff and students

This is just one way of exploring the inferential meaning of text. What ideas have you used with your class?

category: Education, Movie Making, Student Engagement

ICTEV 2011 – Education for the Next Era

Posted by Mrs A on Sunday, May 22nd 2011

My Very First ICTEV State Conference: In Touch

I was looking forward to meeting up with like-minded people and finding out what innovators in education were doing with students in their classrooms. I was hoping to come away inspired and with lots to reflect upon, and I was not disappointed.

The day started off with an inspiring keynote presentation from Tom March. ”It’s Broke. Let’s Fix It. Inventing Next Era Education.” I sat listening whilst also watching the tweets on my iPad. The tweeting during the presentation reminded me of back channeling. A Victorian classroom teacher talks about this on her blog, Captivating Classrooms and I liked the way I felt like I could be an active part of the presentation by tweeting my thoughts as the presentation was actually happening. I enjoyed also watching the reactions of others in the very same assembly hall over Twitter. What was also interesting was that there were people who could not attend the session. They were responding to the tweets that were going out, asking questions and getting involved too. I am moved to ponder on the implications here for classrooms.

Tom’s presentation was thought provoking. As I look over my notes, I reflect on what struck a chord with me. He talked about student self-managed learning and smart digital environments that allow for real learning. He talked about using technology effectively and thoughtfully, not necessary to “forever chase the new,” but to use it purposefully.

For me there were many “Yes” moments.

Yes, “Conformity doesn’t equal excellence” but often teachers reward conformity. What about those disengaged students? Because they do not conform does not mean they are not capable of excellence. What if they were really in control of their learning? What if their choices were real choices?

Yes, mastery-based, differentiated learning is only possible by examining useful data. I was left to question what constitutes useful data. Is it NAPLAN? I am not so sure. Certainly not in isolation, that is for sure.

Yes, “Curriculum is not time dependent.”

Yes, “Teaching does not equal learning.”

“Successful learners create their own goals,” Yes, we do need to “let them out of the box.” Yes, “Teachers block mobile technologies because they muck up the box.” But, where do we start? How do we start? Are teachers brave enough?

Yes I know teachers who are brave enough. However teachers need the support and trust of the policy makers. A huge shift in thinking and understanding is required from schools, parents, policy makers and politicians. We have a long way to go. Yes Tom, we need 2020 visions and policies and we need new routines for schools.

The next step is the “How?”

…and that was only the first session!

More to come on the rest of the day. Overall it was well planned, well executed and well received by the participants — especially me.

What strikes a chord with you? How can we meet the needs of the next era of education?

category: Differentiation, Education

tags: Back channeling, Differentiated learning, Differentiation, Education, ICTEV, Self managed learning

Printing From My iPhone

Posted by Mrs A on Wednesday, May 11th 2011

I was so pleased when I read the headline from my latest ‘Computer Choice’ magazine. Finally there is a way to get my iPhone and iPad to print to my existing printer. From what I understand, a folder called “Attachments” is created in my Dropbox. Whenever a new item is added to this folder, my computer that is connected to my home printer is notified of this new item and then automatically prints it. Now I don’t profess to understand how any of this works, but I thought I would give it a go.

According to ‘Computer Choice’ all I needed to do was complete the following steps:

Install Dropbox

Go to www.sendtodropbox.com and click on connect to my dropbox

I was then assigned a unique email address – (if you don’t like the assigned email address keep clicking on the button to change it until it comes up with something you are happy with.) This unique email address can be used to put items to print in the “Attachments” folder in my Dropbox

On the computer attached to my home printer I installed a zip file called ePrint which I downloaded from www.choice.com.au/mobiledropbox.

Any file that is dropped into the new “Attachments” folder in my dropbox, is now automatically printed.

Now that I have completed all of the steps outlined in ‘Computer Choice’ I have had some success, but still have a few problems to iron out.

I am using a wireless printer and when a new item lands in my Dropbox Attachments folder, it tries to print, however I still need to click OK on my PC, and for some reason the PC wants to keep reinstalling my printer.

Well, it is a good start, as I was not overly happy about buying a new printer, but I am not quite there yet. Has anyone else tried this method? Can you make any suggestions to help make printing from my iDevices more printer friendly?

category: Uncategorized

Cybersmart or Not?

Posted by Mrs A on Tuesday, April 26th 2011

An interesting lesson in becoming Cybersmart

My teaching partner and I thought we were very thorough in the teaching of Cybersafety in our Lib/Lab specialist sessions. (Lib/Lab is our name for a combination of Library and ICT specialist sessions where students in Grades 3 – 6 use the resources available in the to them to investigate, learn, create and collaborate – more about this in another post.) Every year we go to great pains to discuss with our students the joys and pitfalls of online environments. It is an ongoing discussion that we have with our students. We talk about safe online behaviour and teach skills so that our students will develop into discerning users of the Internet. Our students are encouraged to be alert online “detectives” … or so we thought…

Upon attending a Cybersmart PD session run by Greg Gebhart, my teaching partner and I decided to try an activity he mentioned with our students in Grade 5 and 6.

Normally in the Lib/Lab our students are encouraged to move around, discuss their work, share findings and help each other, but for this activity the instructions were very different – I would have thought that the more astute of the children may have “smelt a rat” right from the beginning, however this was not the case.

We gave the students the following instructions:

You are to work on your own.
Research the “North West Tree Octopus.”
Record the most important information you found.
Create a bibliography.
Share your findings with no-one.

What followed was amusing, but a little scary (a whole lot scary actually). The students used Google to find appropriate sites. They happily collected photos and started writing information about a creature that does not exist. Only very few of them read enough information to reveal the hoax. In most cases the students didn’t even have to leave the Google page to see the word “hoax.” Some noticed that the photos didn’t look real, but continued on collecting information and believing the nonsense they were reading.

My teaching partner and I were amazed that our students were blindly believing what they were reading. It led to some serious reflection on our part. Our students felt a little miffed when the hoax was revealed, but I believe the experience of being tricked on the Internet will stay with them for a while. Far longer than the many discussions we had had about misinformation on the Internet.

Not only was this an excellent exercise for the students, but also for us as teachers. Never again will I assume that just because I have taught something, that my students have learned it. Nothing beats learning from experience, but of course not all experience is desirable.

How have you helped your students become Cybersmart?

category: Cybersafety

tags: Cybersafety, Cybersmart

On Twitter and Blogging — My Beginnings!

Posted by Mrs A on Wednesday, April 20th 2011

Two years ago I started my first blog. I made a blog with a small group of students as part of an extension program and encouraged the students to add their work and written pieces to the blog. The blog was moderately successful for a short period of time, but petered out before long. For a long while I didn’t fully understand the purpose and possibilities inherent in blogging and I think that this is part of the reason why my blog did not last. First of all, I did not have an “authentic audience” for my blog. Sure some of the students viewed it, and maybe some of their parents but that was it. Our audience was very small. Secondly, I didn’t recognise the ability for interactive discussion. I pretty much used it like a website to show completed work.

Over last summer thanks to Twitter, I have been enlightened in regards to blogging and its benefits. I watched teachers become involved in the Teacher Blogging Challenge. I couldn’t join in at the time, because the blog I had started in 2009 was taking up too much file space and even though I had deleted the files, I was not getting any joy in making changes to my blog. I now think it may have had something to do with the move to the global2 site. I have since redeveloped my blog and am in the beginning stages of blogging once again. This time however, I am not on my own. I have a whole network of teachers and co-learners to draw upon for assistance, advice and modelling of best practice through Twitter.

It’s funny, when I first heard of Twitter I had no idea of its potential. I wondered, why on earth people would waste their time writing and reading about what other’s were having for dinner! I now know better. I am amazed at the huge potential Twitter has for Professional Learning. I have learned to follow like-minded people, with similar interests and passions, and boy have I learned so much in a short period of time. I completely underestimated the ability of Twitter to provide such a powerful Professional Learning Network. All I have learned has been in the comfort of my own home in front of my own computer and at times that suit me. I can choose the information I read, save for later or ignore. What I have learned in the past few months through Twitter and other teacher’s blogs, far surpasses what I could ever have hoped to learn in one-off Professional Development sessions.

In a way I feel a little guilty. For the past few months I have been a silent learner. I have been lurking in the background, and listening in to the conversations of others. I felt that it was a little like stalking. I am grateful to the people and in particular teachers out there in “Twitterland” who are selflessly sharing their thoughts, resources, expertise etc. I at this stage felt like I had nothing to share, but was happily taking and giving little, for this I felt guilty.

Therefore, here is my first real blog post. In a way it is to thank all of those “Twitterers” for allowing me to follow them and learn from them. I have plenty of ideas floating around in my head, and intend to share more here.

So there it is, my beginning. Please excuse my failures to adhere to protocols etc, and feel free to help me become a successful blogger. Once I have it sorted in my own head, I feel confident in my ability to integrate blogging into classroom practice.

I haven’t worked out “Categories” and “Tags” yet, so if you can help me out, please do.

category: Social networking

tags: Blog, Twitter