As I am thinking of how to start this post I cannot believe it but it's nothing ICT related! Anyway...
My team talked awhile ago about our maths programmes and making math overall more relevant and meaningful.We thought about our maths warmups and ensuring they weren't always number knowledge focused. We have found in the past that this does not cater for the vast range of knowledge ability in the class and wanted to do something differently.
So, this week for my maths warmups I have taught fractions. Each day I taught the same objective but in a different, motivating and 'real' way. I even differentiated it for my high-flyers by adding in some decimals and percentage work.
I found great ideas on Pinterest. If you are not signed up to pinterest then you really must!
Here are some posts we wrote on our class blog about our week of maths.
Cubes Fraction work
Pebbles Fraction work
Name Fraction work
Fraction Portraits
I even had one boy say "This is a good way to learn fractions" Imagine my excitement to hear that!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
iPads and iPods
It's been great to see teachers now asking to borrow iPads and iPods to use with their own classes. I have enjoyed teaching the Techsperx some apps and then hearing stories of them teaching others in class. This is promoting great leaderships among our students.
My students are now beginning to link the use of these devices to their learning and how they can demonstrate their learning or create new learning. I need to use more content apps with my lower learners as this will reinforce skills they learn in their instructional groups. I know using creating apps is better for my students rather than using content apps although I wonder if my lower ability learners will benefit more from these apps.
Check out my iPad inquiry tab at the top of my blog for apps, resources and ideas!
My students are now beginning to link the use of these devices to their learning and how they can demonstrate their learning or create new learning. I need to use more content apps with my lower learners as this will reinforce skills they learn in their instructional groups. I know using creating apps is better for my students rather than using content apps although I wonder if my lower ability learners will benefit more from these apps.
Check out my iPad inquiry tab at the top of my blog for apps, resources and ideas!
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Comments are Powerful!
I already knew the importance of how commenting on blogs was extremely important to children's engagement and motivation to post/write on their own blogs. They feel like their work is valued and being viewed instantly from anywhere, not just in the classroom.
This is also true for adults! Thank you to Myra for making me smile! :)
This is exactly what I have instilled into my own class - the love of sharing your learning/thoughts/reflections etc with others and the importance of commenting to make others feel valued.
Myra's comment.
Now... my challenge to each of you... go and make someones day by making comment and letting them know you care! ;)
This is also true for adults! Thank you to Myra for making me smile! :)
This is exactly what I have instilled into my own class - the love of sharing your learning/thoughts/reflections etc with others and the importance of commenting to make others feel valued.
Myra's comment.
Now... my challenge to each of you... go and make someones day by making comment and letting them know you care! ;)
ICOT
At the end of the summer holidays seven of us attended the ICOT (International Conference on Thinking) in Wellington. Wow! What a week of full on sessions, "ah-ah" moments, reflective thinking upon my own teaching practice and wonderful conversations between colleagues!
The seven of us have already had a de-brief session, with coffee and cake, and have begun planning the next three teacher meetings of term 1. We had great conversations about how the brain works, personality types and Ewan McIntosh's main points from his keynote (and that was only Day 1 of the conference). We are looking forward to meeting regularly to reflect on our learning from the conference and how we are going to filter through the rest of the staff back at school all our 'wonderings' and new ideas.
2013... will be another great year!
2013 has begun and I'm already excited to begin my journey into exploring the use of iPads/iPods in the classroom. One of our quadblogging classes is well underway with the use of iPads so they will be a great resource to use, view, ask questions and trial some new learning using iPads - Davyhulme Primary
Friday, December 21, 2012
2012 Reflections
My reflections for 2012
2012 has been a great year for Vardon. Both staff and children have trialed different e-learning tools and have become more able in their IT skills but also their understanding of the pedagogy behind using ICT to support and enhance existing classroom programmes, and for the children - their understanding of how to increase and enhance their learning. Children are actually understanding why they are using tools, such as voicethread, their blogs and the purpose of using these tools.
For me it's about ensuring that I have a purpose for what I am doing when teaching/incorporating e-learning/ICT into my teaching - which is how we think about teaching maths, writing,etc. When I plan for any unit of work or a one off lesson i am thinking of the best tool to use to suit the purpose of what I am trying to achieve, or what I want my class to achieve.
This term I have being using a class twitter account for my class to collaborate with others, improve their writing skills and to also learn about other schools.
I first started with a whole class "tweet" session and this worked well. Most of my class were engaged for the whole 40 minutes. The second time we tweeted I was in the ICT suite so I set up the four library computers and had four chn tweeting. WOW! It worked so well! They were so excited about the amount of tweets coming through and were "hooked" into what they were doing!
Using twitter in the classroom has really motivated chn to write and connect with others. I am definitely continuing this next year!
I have passed on more ownership to my learners and encouraged them to ask me to create new learning using a variety of tools. This is slowing growing and going well. I have chn ask regularly to make a puppetpals to make a movie (an example - on how to make ice-cream- therefore linked to learning) or ask to create an animoto to show their learning of swimming at swimsafe.
I have begun to train my Year 3's so they can take the reins next year.They have been excited to take these lead roles and I'm sure that will continue into 2013!
With our purchase of three new iPads I would like to explore the use of these within our existing classroom programmes. Our iPods have worked really well and have engaged the children who have been using them. I need to ensure all children have equal access to using them and that they are using them in a meaningful way and to also increase their learning capability.
This article http://www.vln.school.nz/pages/revision/122278 is where I will start my learning journey in exploring the use of Ipads within a classroom programme. I will track my journey here on my blog and would really appreciate your comments and questions to guide and challenge me along the way!
2012 has been a great year for Vardon. Both staff and children have trialed different e-learning tools and have become more able in their IT skills but also their understanding of the pedagogy behind using ICT to support and enhance existing classroom programmes, and for the children - their understanding of how to increase and enhance their learning. Children are actually understanding why they are using tools, such as voicethread, their blogs and the purpose of using these tools.
For me it's about ensuring that I have a purpose for what I am doing when teaching/incorporating e-learning/ICT into my teaching - which is how we think about teaching maths, writing,etc. When I plan for any unit of work or a one off lesson i am thinking of the best tool to use to suit the purpose of what I am trying to achieve, or what I want my class to achieve.
This term I have being using a class twitter account for my class to collaborate with others, improve their writing skills and to also learn about other schools.
I first started with a whole class "tweet" session and this worked well. Most of my class were engaged for the whole 40 minutes. The second time we tweeted I was in the ICT suite so I set up the four library computers and had four chn tweeting. WOW! It worked so well! They were so excited about the amount of tweets coming through and were "hooked" into what they were doing!
Using twitter in the classroom has really motivated chn to write and connect with others. I am definitely continuing this next year!
I have passed on more ownership to my learners and encouraged them to ask me to create new learning using a variety of tools. This is slowing growing and going well. I have chn ask regularly to make a puppetpals to make a movie (an example - on how to make ice-cream- therefore linked to learning) or ask to create an animoto to show their learning of swimming at swimsafe.
I have begun to train my Year 3's so they can take the reins next year.They have been excited to take these lead roles and I'm sure that will continue into 2013!
With our purchase of three new iPads I would like to explore the use of these within our existing classroom programmes. Our iPods have worked really well and have engaged the children who have been using them. I need to ensure all children have equal access to using them and that they are using them in a meaningful way and to also increase their learning capability.
This article http://www.vln.school.nz/pages/revision/122278 is where I will start my learning journey in exploring the use of Ipads within a classroom programme. I will track my journey here on my blog and would really appreciate your comments and questions to guide and challenge me along the way!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Tweeting with my class!
This afternoon from 1:30pm-2:30pm my class were involved in twitter conversations with a range of schools around NZ. We used the hash tag #kidsedchatnz.
I used my twitter account and as the class came in from lunch we started reading the tweets that were being written and we started replying and then started asking our own questions.
My class loved reading, responding to and writing their own tweets. I actually wrote them but they told me what to write.
Most children were really engaged for 40 minutes. A few stayed on the mat with me while the rest of the class did other topic based learning.
Here is the post we wrote as a class at the end of the day.
http://room7vardonschool.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/using-twitter-to-connect-with-others.html
Here are some of the tweets:
Positives:
I don't think there were any negatives, apart from a few children getting wriggly towards the end. I would really like to try setting up a class twitter account because I don't really want to use my personal account (which is mostly teacher stuff anyway) but with a class account we can really make it child friendly.
Watch this space!
I used my twitter account and as the class came in from lunch we started reading the tweets that were being written and we started replying and then started asking our own questions.
My class loved reading, responding to and writing their own tweets. I actually wrote them but they told me what to write.
Most children were really engaged for 40 minutes. A few stayed on the mat with me while the rest of the class did other topic based learning.
Here is the post we wrote as a class at the end of the day.
http://room7vardonschool.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/using-twitter-to-connect-with-others.html
Here are some of the tweets:
Positives:
- using social media with the class - they are learning how to use these tools (even though they are too young to have an account of their own they are seeing good examples of how to use this tool)
- the conversations children were having with other NZ schools
- the links my class were making with other schools and other children
- discussions around the question being asked on twitter e.g one questions asked was "How does your teacher help you with connecting with other?"
I don't think there were any negatives, apart from a few children getting wriggly towards the end. I would really like to try setting up a class twitter account because I don't really want to use my personal account (which is mostly teacher stuff anyway) but with a class account we can really make it child friendly.
Watch this space!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
OTJ's and assessment
http://literacy-natstds-support.wikispaces.com/Assessment+Resources
This is a great link I found from twitter (tweeted from Ulearn12) talking about using OTJ's and how to support the OTJ's we make. It's a wiki made by Jill Hammonds from Core Education.
I especially like the student voice part of this. The template that you can donload has questions to ask students to see where they are at. How often do we write down student voice to use for future reports? Do we need to do this more often- notes, videos, student reflections - actually their blogs, learning logs and workbooks have loads of student voice in the way of goal setting and reflection. Is this enough?
Quote from the website; "ALL OTJs need to be made using more than just the writing tools above(see website). They need to be triangulated with regular teacher observations and collection of student learning conversations."
This is timly as we are about to undertake formal summative assessment with our learners. I do believe it is important to use all points of the triangular model - assessment data - OTJ's - teaching observations - to be able to accurately pinpoint where chn are sitting against the national standards and when we report to parents.
Roll on term 4; assessment, reports and quality teaching and learning programmes (with end of year fun and reflections of course)!
This is a great link I found from twitter (tweeted from Ulearn12) talking about using OTJ's and how to support the OTJ's we make. It's a wiki made by Jill Hammonds from Core Education.
I especially like the student voice part of this. The template that you can donload has questions to ask students to see where they are at. How often do we write down student voice to use for future reports? Do we need to do this more often- notes, videos, student reflections - actually their blogs, learning logs and workbooks have loads of student voice in the way of goal setting and reflection. Is this enough?
Quote from the website; "ALL OTJs need to be made using more than just the writing tools above(see website). They need to be triangulated with regular teacher observations and collection of student learning conversations."
This is timly as we are about to undertake formal summative assessment with our learners. I do believe it is important to use all points of the triangular model - assessment data - OTJ's - teaching observations - to be able to accurately pinpoint where chn are sitting against the national standards and when we report to parents.
Roll on term 4; assessment, reports and quality teaching and learning programmes (with end of year fun and reflections of course)!
Blooms and ICT
I found this great website on twitter http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html which links Blooms and ICT. Web2tools and apps are grouped under which Blooms skill they teach children.
In class I have started a wall display using a peacock design I found online (I'll link to it later). This is exactly what I wanted to explore and then implement in my class - the link to the higher order thinking skills and ICT. To integrate them both and not teach them in isolation.
In class I have started a wall display using a peacock design I found online (I'll link to it later). This is exactly what I wanted to explore and then implement in my class - the link to the higher order thinking skills and ICT. To integrate them both and not teach them in isolation.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Enhancing Learning with Assessment
James Rasmussen discusses assessment for learning at Newlands College. James challenges educators to look at what assessment is being done in schools, and if this is really getting to the heart of the focusing inquiry of the teaching as inquiry cycle and changing teaching practice to meet the needs of students.
My thoughts... soon to be updated. ;)
Friday, October 5, 2012
Cyber Safety
After our staff meeting on how and what we should be teaching in relation to Cyber safety I found these great links below. I love how the gird is set out for each year group with relevant lesson plans and activities.
I am starting Term 4 with this!
I might start with getting my class thinking of how they have been cyber-safe this year already and then go from there.
http://www.thegrid.org.nz/ to find lesson plans and more for each year group.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Interwrite reflection
Our PD session on using Interwrite went really well. It was a great idea to start with a challenge where teachers had to tick off when they had successfully completed each challenge.
We then moved into three groups. Each group had a different focus and learning outcomes. The group that I worked with learnt how to save an interwrite file, take a capture of a photo from the Internet, and duplicate a photo.
I use interwrite alot in maths, whole class and group work, where chn share their thinking. We use both the modelling book and the teaching station (interwite) to model thinking. This ensures more than child is sharing their thinking and I can keep track with where chn are at in the learning process.
This work can then get printed off for modelling books or learning logs or the classroom wall.
My next steps:
We then moved into three groups. Each group had a different focus and learning outcomes. The group that I worked with learnt how to save an interwrite file, take a capture of a photo from the Internet, and duplicate a photo.
I use interwrite alot in maths, whole class and group work, where chn share their thinking. We use both the modelling book and the teaching station (interwite) to model thinking. This ensures more than child is sharing their thinking and I can keep track with where chn are at in the learning process.
This work can then get printed off for modelling books or learning logs or the classroom wall.
My next steps:
- I really would like to get chn in class to create their own Interwrite activities for other chn to work on.
- the youtube clips I found were really useful so I might see if I can find some more
Monday, August 20, 2012
Puppetpals
An update to my previous puppetpals post (which can be found here) http://marcellesjourney.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/ipod-update-1.html
The app Puppetpals,which is on our ipod touch, is going so well. I am having chn ask (about 5 times a day) if they can make a puppetpals show. My new philosophy is to always say "Yes" to chn wanting to express their creativity by using the range of web2tools I have taught them how to use. I also have chn asking to post maths in their blogs, make numerous comments on blogs and use the ipod to create a movie.
Puppetpals started off by being used to create narrative plays/shows which was fine because it brought out the creative storytelling side of my class. Now when they ask to make a puppetpal show I ask them to link it to something they are learning or have learnt. Some of their ideas have been; our no wrap Wednesdays, retelling a reading book, healthy lunches....
Here is an example of a puppetpal show.
http://leahroom1.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/my-movie.html
My goals;
The app Puppetpals,which is on our ipod touch, is going so well. I am having chn ask (about 5 times a day) if they can make a puppetpals show. My new philosophy is to always say "Yes" to chn wanting to express their creativity by using the range of web2tools I have taught them how to use. I also have chn asking to post maths in their blogs, make numerous comments on blogs and use the ipod to create a movie.
Puppetpals started off by being used to create narrative plays/shows which was fine because it brought out the creative storytelling side of my class. Now when they ask to make a puppetpal show I ask them to link it to something they are learning or have learnt. Some of their ideas have been; our no wrap Wednesdays, retelling a reading book, healthy lunches....
Here is an example of a puppetpal show.
http://leahroom1.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/my-movie.html
My goals;
- to use this app as a set task in reading groups
- link learning outcomes with the final product
- ensure all chn are having the chance of using it
Friday, August 3, 2012
Using the easispeak in the classroom
The easispeak is working so well in class at the moment. I have children using it to remember what they want to write about. They record a sentence then write it and then record again. It's so easy for children to use.
Children have also recorded their mihis on it and then uploaded them to their blog. We have retold a maori legend in parts and then put it together on windows moviemaker with our art work.
We have 2 easispeaks per syndicate so I have been able to use 2 at a time in class to speed up the recording and uploading time.
I use a programme called audioboo to upload the sound file straight from the easispeak and then embed on a blog. I have a trained a few auidoboo experts which makes it easier to manage.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Ipod update #1
I downloaded the free version of puppetpals last night and then found this limiting so paid $2.59 for the full version.
Puppetpals is a digital storytelling app where you can use the existing characters and backgrounds to take photos or use your own photos as characters.
I showed Toby this app before school this morning and he "went for gold"! He was so excited he came and found me in the staffroom just before 9am to show me his very first try.
From the morning onwards he used every free opportunity he had to keep playing. By the end of the day he was taking photos of this peers, cutting them out (by tracing with his finger on the screen of the ipod), adding backgrounds and voice recordings.
I can see this app, Puppetpals, being used to retell stories in reading and writing, creating short narratives and more.
You can upload your finshed as a movie to a blog and share.
I'll upload his finished product when it's done. ;)
Puppetpals is a digital storytelling app where you can use the existing characters and backgrounds to take photos or use your own photos as characters.
I showed Toby this app before school this morning and he "went for gold"! He was so excited he came and found me in the staffroom just before 9am to show me his very first try.
From the morning onwards he used every free opportunity he had to keep playing. By the end of the day he was taking photos of this peers, cutting them out (by tracing with his finger on the screen of the ipod), adding backgrounds and voice recordings.
I can see this app, Puppetpals, being used to retell stories in reading and writing, creating short narratives and more.
You can upload your finshed as a movie to a blog and share.
I'll upload his finished product when it's done. ;)
Ipods in the classroom update #2
Earlier on this week Victoria took our ipod out to circuits on the courts and took photos of the syndicate doing these circuits.
I then showed her the splice app which I had downlodaded for free on the ipod. It's not the easiest app to use for the first time but I can see children getting the hang of it when they use it more often.
Victoria then made a video of the photos she took, added music and then we plugged it into my laptop and I modelled to the class how to add this video straight from the ipod to our class blog.
Now I have a child each day asking to take the ipod out to circuits!!!( I can't say I haven't motivated them!)
So... the purpose and "worthwhileness" of this??
Well, the actions of taking photos, making the short movie and then uploading all on one device is easy and simple.
Also, children can create short movies of their day-to-day "school life" and share them instantly with an audience.
They are also becoming more and more familiar with mobile devices.
I can't wait to get more ipods for our school and start sharing this knowledge with our techsperx club and then watching this filter through into classrooms. ;)
Below is Victoria's post copied from our class blog.
I then showed her the splice app which I had downlodaded for free on the ipod. It's not the easiest app to use for the first time but I can see children getting the hang of it when they use it more often.
Victoria then made a video of the photos she took, added music and then we plugged it into my laptop and I modelled to the class how to add this video straight from the ipod to our class blog.
Now I have a child each day asking to take the ipod out to circuits!!!( I can't say I haven't motivated them!)
So... the purpose and "worthwhileness" of this??
Well, the actions of taking photos, making the short movie and then uploading all on one device is easy and simple.
Also, children can create short movies of their day-to-day "school life" and share them instantly with an audience.
They are also becoming more and more familiar with mobile devices.
I can't wait to get more ipods for our school and start sharing this knowledge with our techsperx club and then watching this filter through into classrooms. ;)
Below is Victoria's post copied from our class blog.
Victoria used the ipod today to take photos of us doing circuits. She then created a video using the splice app on the ipod. This is our first time using the splice app.
Circuits are a fun fitness activity. We are doing circuits to get fit and ready for our cross country.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Education Skype
I can really see the potential of joining Skype in the classroom. My class have skyped one of our quad blog classes in the UK so I can the potential of further utilising what skype has to offer.
From my quick look into it we can skype experts around the word and learn from them. I can see learning about the Olympics and our big idea of "performance" becoming more real-life to chn, especially if they are talking to an athlete at the games!
Hmmm, I wonder if this we can do that?
My challenge - sign up using my existing skype account and... go from there. I could ask the class who they would like to skype and why to get them thinking?
Beeclip - An online scrapbook
An online scrapbook creator....
So now I have glogster, smore and beeclip to trial and compare. ;)
Monday, July 9, 2012
Great website... ideas to 'technify' your teaching
The first great idea I found on this site was Smore. http://www.smore.com/app/ It is an online poster creator, similar to Glogster. You can upload poster to blogs, twitter, facebook and share with others. It would be great to use for our school events. I created a glog last term for the ICT parents evening but had to take a snapshot of it and upload as a picture to share on twitter. from what I have seen on Smore you can upload straight away to twitter.
Where to from here?
- trial making a poster on Smore and upload to class blog
- model and teach to an expert in my class to then teach others
- reflect on the use of this tool; What are the benefits of uing this tool?
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Brain Breaks
Minds-in-blooms is a wonderful website I happened to come across with ideas on what to do for a "Brain Break".
I am going to try this next term becasue these ideas sound like a fun way to give chn a break between sessions, especially the middle block of the day; a few of my chn regularly ask "When's lunchtime?" These brain breaks may be what they need to re-energise? Let's see....
This website is full of ideas... so there's another item added to my to-do-list!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)