We're an ICT Cluster in Southland, New Zealand - a community of Primary Schools seeking to develop and embed an elearning pedagogy in a way that influences high quality teaching and learning.
One of the 'next steps' we've identified from the lastest cluster survey is the need to engage our communities in the shift that's occuring in education - especially in regards to elearning.
This presentation by Regan Orr, the Principal at Kopataroa School near Levin, is a great example of one way to engage with our parents and caregivers about the changes that are occuring to teaching and learning. Regan was really pleased with the positive response he had from his community, both during and after the evening's presentation. He has also said he's happy to be contacted for further comment. You can visit his professional blog here.
How we decide to engage with our communities will vary across the cluster but it's great to see how one school is approaching this important aspect of leading change in it's school.
I've had a couple of requests for some resources and strategies to help develop the questioning skills of our students - a focus for some of our teacher inquiries. Here are a few links that will hopefully give you some things to try. Are there any links you know of that you can add? Post them in the comments below.
1. Question Skills Wikispaces
This is a great wikispace with resources and links to explore. It has information that defines what effective questions are with a framework to work in. The 'questioning links' page has some more sites to visit.
2. The questioning toolkit
This site encourages classrooms to create their own 'questioning toolkit' based around the different types of questions you can ask.
I've used an actual toolbox with resources in it to help us in class. A teacher could make some laminated cutout shapes of tools with the description of the types of questions to ask. The students could (after learning the different types) chose the questioning tool that could help them at any time.
3. Socratic Questioning
This is a 'disciplined' form of questioning that's really powerful for students to dig deep into an issue. This site has a good example of what Socratic questions are and some examples under each of the 6 types. Here is a link to a 'taxonomy' of socratic questioning, too.
4. Posters - thick or thin questions
Here are some resources you can download and print for classroom displays
Are you looking for some websites that can help with your Teacher Inquiry? Paula, from Myross Bush, posted this link to a great collection of web2.0 sites you can try out.
You can search for specific sites - there are lots of categories - and I've yet to see a bigger collection! Happy hunting!
It was great to see such an enthusiastic bunch meet at Makarewa last night. These were the groups that split off after we met up for a quick drink. It was an informal chance to share, learn and explore some strategies for elearning in our classrooms!
Thanks to Julie, Evelyn, Kiri and Renee for starting the groups and getting the ball rolling. There may possibly be another teachmeet early next term!
Are you looking for some strategies that will help extend, engage your writers? This presentation has some great web2.0 tools and other strategies for you to explore.
It's been created by Mark Warner (@markw29) who has a teaching and learning blog with some great resources. Thanks to @fievels for the link!
On Wednesday I worked with some classrooms who wanted to develop their use of Skype. I arranged for two classrooms to skype with us (thanks to connections with my twitter friends, @Marama and @mrkempnz), one in Dunedin at Grant Braes School and the other at Pukeokahu School near Taihape.
The first class, Room 3 at St Thomas Aquinas, watched this video that explained what skype is and how it works.
Next we co-constructed a chart of what a successful skype session is. The poster below is the version I've put together in popplet- a cool chart maker, I've discovered. The three parts, preparation, during the call and reflection are based on the rubric I found online here, at the 'Educational Origami' blog. We found that it helped us have a great first Skype call, especially the prep stage where we visited their class wiki or blog and prepared some questions to ask.
Here are some reflections I've taken from the two sessions.
1. Watch for tricky technical bridges to hurdle.
It's always important to test your technology before using it, especially when you've arranged a time to do something with someone else- who has built their timetable around it. We had some issues with proxy settings and, I think, some firewall blocks which has tripped me up in the past. Always check your connection before you need it. Especially when using skype for the first time with a class.
2. Always have an authentic purpose.
Anything new has its gimmick appeal. I've found that this lasts for about 20 minutes with kids and then they're over it! When we're using skype to call someone you should always have a real reason for doing so...not just because you can - 'Hey kids, lets skype the class next door!'
With the second session we decided that we'd use the skype call to help the class develop an understanding of open and closed questions - and a real audience to practise on! They were totally engaged in asking their open questions (based on a video the other class made of a science experiment they did with cows eyes) and they got experience how powerful those types of questions are. The learning intention of the session was not how to use skype - classic example of use the tool to help the learning..rather than learning the use of the tool.
3. Don't underestimate how familiar our students are with technology
It was amazing to see how many hands shot up when I asked if they had used skype before. Many had skyped their grandparents and family front out of town and a lot of them knew how it worked and what it did.
Often we think that we will be sharing a tool with our class that is innovative and amazing! It may well be, compared to the technology we usually use at school, or even compared to the teacher next door. But to these students it's a normal part of regular life. It's not so amazing to them - they don't know any different. All the more reason to make our classrooms as relevant as possible to our students everyday lives.
Today I've been looking at this eLearning showcase site from Victoria - thanks to a link on twitter by @nickrate. It has some great resources for us to look at involving planning, policy, curriculum development and
It should inspire and direct us to continue using eLearning in our classrooms and help develop our understanding of what eLearning is, a next step to come out of our cluster survey. There are some good classroom project examples here.
This is a map the Lead Teachers have started making at this mornings meeting. They can add more ideas as the terms go by.
Mindmeister is another great way to collaborate together with your class for all kinds of brainstorming and collective thinking - as well as being a good example of Web 2.0!
It's great to see teachers putting some strategies in place that will help them achieve their focus for this year. Here are a couple of resources to help us create those strategies in our classrooms.
This is a popplet of the different forms that strategies could take. Remember that, for a strategy to include an aspect of eLearning it does need to have an ict tool as some part of the process - whether that is at the start / middle / end of the journey.
This answergarden widget could store some of our ideas so far!
I'm working at Makarewa Primary today and was shown this website by Gabby, one of the teachers. It's an interactive 'mashup' of global events / disasters. The google map is updated every 20 mins and leads the viewer to more info on each event - very topcal with the earthquakes happening at the moment!
Lots of us are starting blogs for our class. They're a great way to share our learning, to increase the engagement and motivation of our students and also a safe way to launch our class into the cyber world through links and images.
Here's one started at Myross Bush by Evelyn. She's using the side bar to store online links for maths groups, has some photos embedded in a post, using picturetrail and some links to some spelling games.
(Click on the image to have a closer look.)
Have you started a blog? Check out this video below that explains what a blog is - and answers - 'What's all the fuss?'
It's always best for us to learn how to fish, rather than to be given one. One way for this to happen is to learn how to take the initiative to explore new skills ourselves. It also means we don't have to wait for the next get together before we try something new.
This resource is a great place to find out about some strategies that will help us integrate the tech into our eLearning practice. It has some amazing links to examples and 'how tos' for all sort of tech integration - especially blogging, podcasting and even curriculum based eLearning experiences.
I've also linked the page about blogs wiki from our bloggingconnections wiki. Happy fishing!
I get asked, 'What do you think eLearning is?' all the time on my travels and it's been great PD for me to have these conversations. It's a concept that's evolving almost as fast as the technology that's driving it (both in terms of the tools that provide the learning 'opportunities' and also the societal factors that make it 'imperitive')- and it's an understanding that's CRUCIAL for teachers to make the paradigm shift from a tradition mode of teaching to a modern one.
Here's a slideshow (by Jacqui Sharpe) that makes a great attempt to define it as it stands at the moment. I hope it will be used as resource to help us define the concept for ourselves.
The question for us is, 'How could it look it MY class?' - What's you next step?
(Have a look at the links to the left. There are some great definitions there, too)
Here's an edtalk that was recorded at the last Learning@Schools conference about Teacher Inquiry.
This edtalk, by Claire Amos explains how her school, Epsom Girls Grammar, uses the teacher inquiry model to help the staff develop their elearning practice within certain curriculum areas. There are some interesting parallels between our clusters, especially with the focus being on improving student outcomes by using elearning strategies and tools - she also mentions the 'measurement' word!
We've all been seeing the hype created by the iPad, especially when it comes to being used in the classroom. Mobile devices are being identified as the next big tech tool for learning so... here are some links I've collecting.
My hope is that a school will begin a trial / pilot iPad programme. OR, just buy a couple for staff to take home and try...OR better still, buy me one..=)
Here's an example of one of MANY educational apps for the iPad.
Thanks to everyone who filled out the cluster survey for Feb. There were still some entries outstanding from the odd school - however, for the sake of moving forward I have closed the entries and collated the responses.
Here is a PDF of the entire cluster. Below is also a word doc that you can use to analyse your school's progress against the Cluster goals. You can use it to create an action plan for the rest of the year.
- Download the action plan,
- Go through your specific school survey results (emailed to your Principal and Leads)
- Complete the plan. You could then record that plan in your milestones.
Remember - this is a diagnostic resource for you to use to help the professional development of your school!
I've picked up a couple of resources that might be useful to you from the 'Learning @ Schools' Conference in Rotorua last week.
This is a list of web tools you can try that are listed under some Key Competencies categories. they are well worth a look at.
This is an offer to purchase / upgrade your comiclife software for a reduced rate. You will need to contact .... to get info on the finer details. The new version of comic life has some fantastic templates for education!
The Lead Teacher's are going to organise a 'Teachmeet' for the end of this term. The aim is to help us all share and collaborate some strategies to help us with our teacher inquiries.
Here's a video, by Brainpop, that explains what it is. Wikipedia also has a good definition.
(If you haven't seen Brainpop.com it's well worth a visit. They have a massive range of videos and interactive quizzes you can view - some for free, most you need to register for...)
I'm working at Makarewa Primary today and was shown this website by Gabby, one of the teachers. It's an interactive 'mashup' of global events / disasters. The google map is updated every 20 mins and leads the viewer to more info on each event - very topcal with the earthquakes happening at the moment!
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