I'm still new at twitter so am still building my followers and finding good educational contacts to follow. last year I remember thinking... twitter?? I'll never be part of that. I actually did not realise the potential and importance of twitter to make connections with others from across the globe and also to 'hitch-hike' great ideas and I can't forget the readings and links that people tweet which are a great read!
I encourage you to join twitter and try to find as many people to follow so that can then follow you back!!!
Metacognition.
One thing I picked up from this session as to give chn "wait time" and "Thinking time". I have already implemented this in class and it worked great. I asked chn what they thought of "thinking time" and they thought it was great.... time to think, quiet time, no interruptions.
Kevin Honeycutt...
was the best speaker I have listened to for quite a while. Not only were his messages clear and precise, he spoke so easily and made connections to the audience. His life story touched my heart and I loved his expressions.... "What are you doing with your heartbeats?" and when he talked about just hugging chn... (need to be a bit careful there but who doesn't enoy a hug?)
He also challenged my thinking on where to next for us here at Vardon and what technologies we are using with chn. I definitely agree with him when he said that we need to let chn be creative and nt put so many restrictions on the outcome of work e.g; if a child wants to publish using this IT tool then let them (was it Kevin that talked about this?)
Digital Photography
I thought this session would give me different tools to use but it was on using the digital camera and the things you can do with photos....still a great session. I have linked with this presenter on twitter... Rachel Boyd for those of you who want to follow her.
I am going to try portrait weaving (which I have done before) but this time with black paper and get the chn to take thier OWN photos (of a buddy). Also photo symmetry.
Rachel's class were year 2's and they were taking ALL their own photos. She taught them how to use a camera, the parts of a camera sn how to take different shots. See my previous post for her workshop notes and heaps of examples!!
I also picked up the idea of an "Exit pass". Before chn go to play or lunch they need to post a sticky note on the wall/paper of a thought or a question about the lesson/day so far etc. I thought this would be great to see what chn picked up form lessons and just a different way instead of always asking what did you learn form that today? It would also be great form of formative assessment!!!
So where to from here?
- I am keen to extend our ICT club and further teach them the skills required to go back and teach their class... the skills to further their knowledge of how IT tools work and the benefit of them and how to incorporate them into every day learning.
- further explore engaging with a wider audience via our blogs
- letting chn explore, engage and choose their own pathway of learning??? with guidance of course???
Hi Marcelle, yes it was Kevin Honeycut who said to allow chn to choose their presentation/sharing method. I totally agree. It's something I am choosing to trial this year as I often state which technology to use for certain tasks. I do think there needs to be an initial teaching therefore teacher selection first to teach the skills? Or do we just let them explore? Will it work timewise & skillwise? What do you think?
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