I meet the future I teach

Y-Chart HOMs 2

2011-09-27T20:26:00.003+13:00

Here is the second Y - Chart I've created about Listening....

Y-Charts HOMs

2011-09-27T18:35:00.001+13:00

I've been re-thinking my understanding of the HOMs lately (Habits of Mind) and I've found re-creating Y charts to be very helpful at looking at the Habits to gain a deeper understanding of them. This Stop and Think (Manage Impulsivity) Y chart isn't complete. Please feel free to challenge anything I've put on here, its always good to get other people's perspectives on what their understanding of the HOMs are.

Celebration

2011-08-31T21:37:00.000+12:00

Teaching wasn't my first career choice, however today reminded me
again why I changed careers to be a teacher. When I can take a
running record and be pretty much leaping around the classroom with
excitement afterwards I can't argue with my choice.

We're busy testing at the moment a sometimes trying time but one that
is very rewarding in our class. Today even more so as I took another
running record with one of our struggling readers and realised that
yes we could put him up another level! That's two in a week. A feat
we were beginning to think wouldn't happen.

So, it's time to celebrate! The teachers, teacher aides, student
teachers and family that have worked with this child all deserve to
celebrate! It's an amazing feeling that I know many teachers including
me don't take the time to just be in. Well I'm going to tonight, for
once, even if it's just a blog post it's probably more than I usually
take the time to do when a child reaches a milestone we've been
working on for a while.

Here's to children and their ability to make your day just by being themselves.

Cheers.

Sent from my iPad

Activboard Staff Meeting

2011-08-30T20:15:00.000+12:00

Today we welcomed another 15-20 teachers to our school for the Activboard staff meeting. It was all about science and using the science learning hub as a resource for science lessons.

Here's the brief notes I took while listening.

I really enjoyed the chance to listen to other teachers ideas about how they could use the tools and ideas being presented. It was insteresting to see promethean's answer to a document camera in action. I'm sure any teacher would definitely love the opportunity to have such a device in their classroom, however I'm still not convinced that the investment is necessary. I think I'll keep playing with creating our own out of webcams for the time being.

Numeracy in Parent Speak

2011-08-29T16:15:00.002+12:00

We're quickly coming up to our Parent Teacher conferences and as with previous years our school gives out information that will help parents to both understand and help their children with their learning. This year I've re-done the numeracy information sheets we give to parents. They aren't perfect yet and will probably go through a few tweaks before the final copy arrives that we give to parents. As you can see Stage 6 isn't quite finished hopefully I'll get to that tonight. I'd love so feedback on them, feel free to leave comments.

Numeracy Parent Information Booklets

If you would like a more user friendly copy please leave a comment below with twitter or email address and I'll be in touch.

Children's Leadership Presentation - Your Thoughts?

2011-08-29T14:47:00.000+12:00

I'm about to attend a leadership camp with our house leaders and the leadership team (children). I am presenting for about 20 minutes on the topic "you are what you think" I would love to hear your thoughts and share them as part of the presentation if possible.

If you are able and willing please leave a comment on this post. I'm looking for things like
- examples of when thinking you can do something helped you to do it
- goals you've set and achieved and how you did it
- affirmations you might use
- how positive thinking helps you
- anything else you think might work with this presentation.

At the moment I'm thinking about producing a video with our schools leadership team and maybe doing a bit of role play during the presentation with a few of the other teachers at the camp.

Any suggestions would be appreciated :)

Excited about Using Technology

2011-08-24T17:41:00.000+12:00

Children = no problem

I've never come across a child yet that hasn't been excited, interested and engaged when using technology. The children have always been willing to learn something new without any reservations about it working or not. Sure I've had a few say "I don't know how" or "I can't" easily solved by "yes you can" and "ask our expert..."

Teachers = a little harder

Engaging teachers in tech has sometimes been a little more difficult. I find this especially difficult when you have a wide range of abilities. From the "I know how to do this I'm going to go on Facebook and update my status" through to the "hang on can you do that again I didn't get it, oh never mind I'll ask you later" right up to "this isn't working, what are you doing in weekend?"

We had another Activboard training today, similar situation to what I've seen in most technology professional development some chalk and talk demo type situation, but also teachers had their laptops. This was the second group of teachers we've had boards installed for. I was impressed. I have to say the ability to talk while the presenter was talking and to have a play while she was talking was actually something that I think helped the teachers to become more comfortable with the situation. The proof comes from the comments:

"This is the most excited I've ever been about technology"

"oh wow, that's so cool"

"I can use this to do ..... tomorrow"

So why is it that this was so successful? What makes it more successful than other tech development I've seen? Was it the outsider coming in? Was it because it was so relevant to their classroom tomorrow? Was it because they walked away with something they could use tomorrow? What made it useful?

How successful will it be in the long run? How do you make it successful in the long run?

More thoughts to come soon...

video and image blogging via ipad

2011-08-22T19:13:00.000+12:00

I'm keen to try this with our year 2/3 class tomorrow. I've decided to use a youtube account and the mobile email address for blogging videos and the blog email address for blogging images. I want to make the process fairly simple so that children can post themselves and so that teachers can post with ease as well.

I've created a couple of simple instruction sheets in Comic Life that I'll review with the children tomorrow, it will probably need tweaking once they've had a go at using them. I'm excited about this possibilities here as I think we've used the ipad apps like Puppet Pals to created great stories but we need to take it to the next step and share them with the world. I also want others to see what we've been up to on our ipads.

Here are the Comic Life Instructions I created -

Testing youtube connectivity

2011-08-20T21:03:00.000+12:00

we're still working on the best way to send video created with ipad apps to my own blog and our class blog. I think we may have solved the issues we've been having by sending video directly to youtube through our youtube mobile email address. ...

Hopefully we'll be able to get video uploaded faster and without too much fuss from now on :)

Testing images with iPad email

2011-08-17T12:13:00.001+12:00

Testing Blogging on iPad

2011-08-17T12:06:00.002+12:00

We've been using our iPads as much as possibly in the classroom these past two weeks. One of the things I wanted to start testing was how we can share what we are doing with a wider audience so the next couple of posts are going to do just that,..... Hopefully :)
Sent from my iPad

Term 2 Reflection

2011-07-21T21:56:00.000+12:00

Another 11 weeks over, the year really is flying by. I'm really looking forward to heading off to Melbourne to see my little sister and enjoying complete time out away from school for a few days!

This term I've created another video, however it's my whole reflection this time so no more typing I'll let the video do the explaining...

HOM Bootcamp

2011-05-30T12:55:00.001+12:00

Four days of intense learning, challenge and great fun! I really enjoyed the experience of bootcamp and I'm looking forward to implementing the Habits of Mind into not only our classroom but the whole school.

A few things stood out as highlights of the experience....

The first has to be breaking through a block of wood with the palm of my hand! There are plenty of things that get in the way of myself and I'm sure many other people achieving their goals, breaking through those can at times be near impossible. The experience was about doing just that, breaking through a plank of wood with your hand doesn't seem like something that's possible when you're first told about it but it is!!! The video below shows me breaking through not only that block of wood but the things that are in the way of my goals.

The second amazing experience was listening to Art Costa in person. He lives and breathes the habits and has so much to offer. I was hanging on every word! It was actually quite difficult to take notes while he was speaking I was more interested in just listening to what he was saying.

Here are the notes I took throughout the Bootcamp process including those I took while listening to Art.

HOM Bootcamp Notes

There are too many other highlights to mention here from working with Sonia on dance moves I thought I'd never be able to master, to gathering fantastic ideas from Adrian and being challenged to think about how I run a classroom by Karen. I've put below the other notes I took during the bootcamp. Of course it doesn't beat being there so if you ever do get the chance.... GO!

Karen Boyes - Mini Conference

2011-04-29T21:56:00.001+12:00

What a great reward! We've been very blessed to have Karen Boyes at our school for two days during the term 1-2 holidays. Here's some of the notes I took while she was there.... They aren't the greatest as I hadn't quite got the ipad sorted so used inspiration which is particularly cumbersome when you don't have a tablet to write on!

Term 1 Reflection

2011-04-16T18:25:00.002+12:00

Managed to get through 11 weeks now time to relax with friends by traveling the country can't wait! But before I do time to reflect a little on what's happened this year....

We use our school values to give us headings for reflection they are - consistency, respect, integrity and persistence.

I've created a video that shows the things I've reflected on under each heading.

Consistency

- I've worked hard to keep regular hours and to be around for people to work with me both asking for guidance and for planning together.

- I've introduced Google Docs, Calendar and have created an ICT issues form for all staff to use. This has helped me to be more organised personally and allows me to let others know what's happening.

- I've continued to remain open to learning especially through twitter.

- I've experienced my first term of team teaching and have really enjoyed it! It's great to have someone else to bounce ideas off and it's made it much easier for both of us to run a classroom as well as our extra management responsibilities.

Respect

- I think it's really important to ensure everyone has the chance to relax and rest. I know that I need to focus on this more next term especially leaving work at work rather than taking it home.

- I've worked hard with the PRTs I help to mentor ensuring that they are aware of what our expectations are and trying to ensure they have the resources they need

- Celebrating success is something that I've encouraged others to do and have taken a bit more time to do myself this term as well. I think it's still something I need to keep working on.

Persistence

I feel I've worked hard to continue to develop strategies for helping students who we feel we aren’t getting through to.

I've tried to be persistent with ICT systems ensuring they are followed. In light of unsatisfactory record keeping from previous years I've been demanding paper work be sorted out through google docs and ensuring that I've been keeping records up to date.

Integrity

I've been working hard to keep computers up to date where possible, so that teachers have the resources they need to integrate ICT into the classroom. I've continued to upgrade teacher laptops and ensure new and innovative software is installed.

This term of tried to ensure PRTs are actioning details placed in meetings, that the both understand and implement what we've agreed on.

I tell it like it is, I've attempted to ensure the information teachers especially PRTs need is at their fingertips and that it's easy to understand. I think I still need to work on this especially ensuring it's available in a digital format so that it can be accessed wherever it's needed.

Digital Kids

2011-04-07T17:52:00.000+12:00

WOW!

What a great video, what a challenge!

Have you seen this yet...?

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century.

I really enjoyed watching this, although it's American it got me thinking about what is possible here in NZ. We're discussing our theme for next term next week and I definately have a few ideas for this that should challenge us to get our kids into the digital world.

I think too often as teachers we get bogged down on the having to learn how to read, write and do maths and we forget how much more powerful this learning is when it's linked to a purpose. What if we made a movie, wrote a book, developed a game, create a showcase for our school, invited guests into our school to experience us (with the Rugby World Cup on its way to NZ this is definately an option).

So true "We have to stop thinking ... what if something goes wrong, what if one thing goes wrong" " We have to stop thinking we have all the answers because we don't have all the answers noone has all the answers"

A few other ideas I took from this video....

Technology isn't the be all and end all, the process, the colaboration, the power of ownership by children of their education is what counts. Technology is one of the amazing tools that can give children that ownership.

Wouldn't it be cool if we had a place where school isn't about the job you're going to have but somewhere where everyone gets to have the opportunity to develop new knowledge, skills, colaborate and be part of society. A place where school develops people who are too intelligent for the current jobs out there, but where new jobs are created where those people can make life even better for all of us.

ICT - Sue West - Staff Meeting

2011-03-24T18:04:00.001+13:00

Another great staff meeting bought to you by Sue West. What a great day, I've worked with Sue today and the Rowandale News Team to continue to develop our news within our school. We've also been able to work with Sue this afternoon in a staff meeting. Continuing to develop on the experiences we had at our Retreat in January.

I've created an Inspiration map from what we did in the staff meeting....

I really liked using ietherpad I think it would be a fantastic tool to use during a staff meeting or professional development session to share notes and ideas all at once, of course it can get very interesting and fairly competitive when you have a group of teachers who want their post to be the one at the top :).

I think it's also a great spot to collaborate with another classroom next door or across the world! I'm sure there are hundreds of other uses for ietherpad these are just a few we thought of.

Once again thanks has to go to Sue for her ability to introduce us to some easy to use tools for our classrooms and to give people the experience of using these tools. They're also simple tools that don't require lots of learning before you can start using them of course the learning that went on while we were using them was fantastic and is definitely something that can be transferred to a classroom full of children rather than adults.

ICT - Rowandale News - Sue West

2011-03-24T08:28:00.001+13:00

Rowandale News has now broadcast it's first 3 episodes at our weekly assemblies, the year 6 children have been fantastic at putting their mark on the broadcast. We've had so much fun interviewing children and teachers around the school. We've also showcased our classrooms in both the High Flyers (Senior School) and Busy Bees (Junior School). We've also had some great conversations about how to improve what we're doing including looking carefully at sound, using still images and video in interviews and starting to think about different camera angles.

We haven't yet published our news to the internet but we're looking at putting it up soon so check back to find the link to our news sites.

Sue west has been a great part of getting our news program up and running with lots of advice and suggestions for improving the program we're running. A few of the children in the team have worked with Sue to improve their ability to edit the video and still images that are coming into the news room. We're aiming to get to a point where the children own the broadcast and the teachers are there to unlock the news room, provide the equipment and help to troubleshoot if things go terribly wrong (we don't need to do this often as the children usually do it themselves). We're also there to learn from the children since they pick up tricks and tips far more easily that we ever will :).

Here's the planning document we use to help us to plan what's happening each week:

We also use a number of timetables to show the children what equipment and classrooms are available for them to work in.

Advanced Phonics Training

2011-03-15T19:50:00.000+13:00

Yolanda Soryl provided us with an advanced phonics training at staff meeting today. It was great to see a modelled lesson again and to affirm what I've been teaching for the past year. There were a few things that I had forgotten about especially the extra practice games. I think we'll definitely be doing a few more of those to get our kids through stage 4 and 5. I'll also be adding in the writing fluency which I have neglected a bit in the higher stages.

I really enjoy Yolanda's approach to phonics as it focuses on the teaching rather than the resources you might or might not use. I think it's a simple approach that really works! I have really enjoyed teaching it and have seen some fantastic progress in reading and writing while teaching it over the past year.

Here's the inspiration maps I made while listening to Yolanda's presentation this afternoon...

Yolanda has also posted some great videos of her teaching phonics, well worth a look if you haven't seen this system working before.

Young Picasso

2011-03-10T23:02:00.003+13:00

hmmm I can actually produce some artwork that looks slightly better than my usual stick figures :)

We've been participating in course 1 of Young Picasso's over the last month and have had some great results. I managed to give the children a go via our teacher aide at using some of the techniques today. Mixed results with that one but have many ideas for what to do next time.

I think the best part about this art professional development is having techniques broken down, explained and then trying them for ourselves. I don't think I've ever had as much information as we're getting now on visual art. It's great!

Here are the display boards I created during each of the two sessions we've had...

Here are a few close ups of our attempt to include some of the techniques in our class mural today...

Inspiring...

2011-03-04T10:52:00.000+13:00

I've just listened to this presentation from Lane Clark, one of the Keynotes at Ulearn10 ... what a great inspiring presentation. Makes a lot of sense!

I created a mindmap of sorts while listening.... more later on how this might be implemented in our classroom.

Christchurch

2011-02-27T13:59:00.000+13:00

In light of the tragic events that have unfolded in Christchurch recently I thought I would post our National Anthem. I think it's one song that most New Zealanders recognise as being ours. It's a song, for me, that symbolises the strong bond that we have to our country and all people that call themselves New Zealanders.

My heart goes out to the people of Christchurch and those all around New Zealand that have been affected by this event. Although no words can bring your loved ones back we know as New Zealanders we will go on, we will rebuild and we will be strong again.

English version

God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.

Men of every creed and race,
Gather here before Thy face,
Asking Thee to bless this place,
God defend our free land.
From dissension, envy, hate,
And corruption guard our state,
Make our country good and great,
God defend New Zealand.

Peace, not war, shall be our boast,
But, should foes assail our coast,
Make us then a mighty host,
God defend our free land.
Lord of battles in Thy might,
Put our enemies to flight,
Let our cause be just and right,
God defend New Zealand.

Let our love for Thee increase,
May Thy blessings never cease,
Give us plenty, give us peace,
God defend our free land.
From dishonour and from shame,
Guard our country's spotless name,
Crown her with immortal fame,
God defend New Zealand.

May our mountains ever be
Freedom's ramparts on the sea,
Make us faithful unto Thee,
God defend our free land.
Guide her in the nations' van,
Preaching love and truth to man,
Working out Thy glorious plan,
God defend New Zealand.

Māori version

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

Ōna mano tāngata
Kiri whero, kiri mā,
Iwi Māori, Pākehā,
Rūpeke katoa,
Nei ka tono ko ngā hē
Māu e whakaahu kē,
Kia ora mārire
Aotearoa

Tōna mana kia tū!
Tōna kaha kia ū;
Tōna rongo hei pakū
Ki te ao katoa
Aua rawa ngā whawhai
Ngā tutū e tata mai;
Kia tupu nui ai
Aotearoa

Waiho tona takiwā
Ko te ao mārama;
Kia whiti tōna rā
Taiāwhio noa.
Ko te hae me te ngangau
Meinga kia kore kau;
Waiho i te rongo mau
Aotearoa

Tōna pai me toitū
Tika rawa, pono pū;
Tōna noho, tāna tū;
Iwi nō Ihowā.
Kaua mōna whakamā;
Kia hau te ingoa;
Kia tū hei tauira;
Aotearoa

SwimSafe

2011-02-10T06:31:00.001+13:00

During the second week of this term all of our staff participated in the SwimSafe professional development program. This was a chance for all of us to experience the techniques used to teach children how to swim. There were a few nervous looks as we got into the pool to try things out for ourselves after a classroom session that looked a bit like dead ants trying to escape from some sort of crazy threat :)

Our facilitator was great, she put our minds at ease and took us through the things we need to do with the children in the pool. It was great to have the chance to experience what children experience when we're trying to instruct them. It was also good to put a few more ideas under our belts with what to do with those non-swimmers and what to do when we can't get to the pool - yes you can still teach techniques outside the pool, to be practiced inside the pool at a later date of course.

We were also given a CD with all the modules in pdf format so we've got them handy when we need them. A great day had by all and I'm definately more confident about teaching children water confidence and eventually how to swim (I teach year 2-3, so a few aren't at the 'swimming' stage yet).

Further information on this program is here.

Teacher Only Week - Tony Ryan

2011-01-25T19:05:00.003+13:00

Model your smile, Enhance the Learning, Find out with ZEST, Share it, See it.

I really enjoyed listening to Tony Ryan today and although much of the information he talked about was things I'd heard before in different places I still thought it was a very worthwhile day. The ideas above describe some of the main ideas he went over today.

Model Your Smile
It's so important to be inspiring in your classroom having that energy and enthusiasm for what you're doing is contagious. Like anyone else though I have my bad days where things just don't go right. Tony taught us today about finding ways to put a smile back on your face or at least getting yourself to think about your attitude towards things. One of those was putting a pen in your mouth and then moving your lips away from your pen... it was a very funny sight to see a room full of 80+ teachers with pens in their mouths ... I really should have had my camera out!

I managed to jump on Tony's blog before listening to the presentation today and among many interesting posts I found this video about what teachers make:

I think getting enthusiastic about learning is something that you really have to work at especially if you're someone who has trouble letting go and making yourself look a little bit silly. I know it's really worth it though, I've seen faces light up in a classroom where a teacher really gets into telling a story or explaining a concept it makes such a difference!

Enhance the Learning
As the Associate Principal in charge of ICT one of the things I'm constantly thinking about is how the ICT equipment we have in the school is being used. Tony talked about the need to use ICT to enhance learning and how important it is to have that in our mind when looking at using ICT tools in the classroom. He also talked about the need to have ICT as part of of our classrooms especially since the children we teach live in a technology rich environment.

So what does this mean for me? What does it mean for the teachers in other classrooms at school? I think at the moment it means we need to really have a go at a tool before we introduce it to the classroom, which is fairly obvious. Beyond that though we need to look at what we are using the tool for and how we are asking the students to use the tool. I'm going to keep thinking on this and will post results later.

Teacher Only Week - Google Calendar

2011-01-24T21:00:00.000+13:00

Whew! Today was a long day but it flew by and I'm glad that our staff now have a better idea of how to use both our Google Docs calendar and online SMS system. I really like Google Calendar and especially like the ability to easily share it with the whole school and/or individuals. I'm looking forward to seeing a digital version of our calendar being available throughout the year.

There are a few good videos out there about Google Aps/Docs/Calendar which I didn't show during my presentation but I think would be useful to show those that haven't used anything like the system before.

Here are just a few I've found:

This one is more about why Google has developed Google Aps for use with education and organisational environments...

2010 A Year in Review

2011-01-01T13:36:00.000+13:00

And a great one it's been! I've had a fantastic year in terms of teaching. I've changed jobs, taught year 2's enjoyed getting to know a bunch of great staff, taken on the roll of Associate Principal and attempted to redevelop our ICT accross the school. I'm looking forward to a great 2011.

Some of the highlights:

1. Our Great Adventure - 6 weeks travelling!!
2. Our first wedding anniversary ---- one of many more :)
3. Fantastic school events - the cultural festival, the art show, school open days!

So where to next?
I'm planning on having a nice relaxing holiday and looking forward to setting some goals for 2011.
I think 2011 will be another year filled with lots of great learning and a chance to continue to journey I've started at my new school as part of the management team .... can't wait!

Activboard Training

2010-08-27T20:03:00.002+12:00

We've just had our second training session on our new Activboards and it went really well. It was good to go through the basics again as like anything the first time round doesn't always lead to knowing what to do when you eventually get to use the tool.

Some of the things I'm looking forward to trying in my room is the dual pen option, having two children at the board rather than one will make it even more useful in my classroom program. I'm also looking forward to using the Shark Attack flipchart we downloaded.

Starting out on the Activboard or any new technology for that matter can be a bit daunting but I've found the Activtips secion of Promethean planet really helpful for learning new things. The free professional development tutorials are also really useful when you're first starting. It would be a good to get a few more videos up that are free to download especially things like a tour of the toolbox. Perhaps Promethean has this in the pipeline.

Joy Allock - Switched On To Spelling

2010-08-18T16:21:00.015+12:00

Another great session with Joy Allock was had today. I enjoyed being reminded about the importance of teaching spelling explicitly and knowing that there are rules out there that we tend to take for granted as adults but our kids don't actually know.

I've used the Switched on to Spelling resource a lot when I was teaching year 5 and 6. It's probably the most useful spelling resource I've ever come across if used correctly of course. The detail in the way to teach it is fantastic especially if you're just starting out. It's also a great way to refresh yourself if you've been teaching spelling for a little longer.

One of the interesting things I guess you could say about the statistics Joy introduced was the difficulty we have in getting children to catch up when they don't have the vocab they need from the start. I know that it sometimes looks like a mountain but I do still believe that children can catch up and do catch up even when the task of getting them to have enough vocab seems impossible. I'm not sure everyone shares my opinion on that one. I don't however think it's something that just happens it definitely has to be taught in a way that allows children to pick up the vocab.

I think the best thing I've heard from Joy is the need to realise that sending home lists of words doesn't work for every kid, in fact there are very few children who can learn new vocabulary in that way. I also believe that we need to expose our children to different ways of introducing voacb not just by saying oh look here's a new word lets add it to our list but by truly inspiring them to find new words and experiment with them. How you do that I'm no expert on but I'll try and post a few of my ideas soon.

Reggio Approach Part 2

2010-07-30T22:06:00.003+12:00

We've started the term with some great intentions on following this approach and I've really enjoyed the professional discussions our team has had over the last two weeks around how it's going to look in our classrooms. Here's a few of the things I've been mulling over....

What happens to core subjects - reading, writing, maths

We still teach them and move them around so that they are based on theme/topic as much as possible
They are still our core business so we can't just leave them out

When do we find the time to demonstrate/model project based learning and fit in core subjects

At the moment I've got a seperate project time that's outside of reading, writing and maths
Hoping to change this so that it's more integrated into reading, writing and mathematics time rather than a seperate thing

When children aren't at a point of reading or writing effectively what do you do for their independent projects?

Teacher scaffolding of children is very important
Baby steps i'ts not going to happen overnight
They can participate in finding answers / information about their questions using key words
They can listen to the information and pick out key ideas and phrases
They can watch the information using video clips and presentations
They can take photos of the concept or information to help to demonstrate their understanding

EducampNZ

2010-07-26T22:40:00.000+12:00

Speed Geeking, Unconference, EducampNZ

Well worth getting up for, on a spectacular Saturday morning in Auckland! I had a great time along with Wendy one of the DP’s at Rowandale. I was a bit concerned before attending as I’ve never experienced a day of professional learning where there isn’t a planned agenda and set times for things. I was surprised to find the day zoomed past and it was great to get input from everyone there as to what we wanted to discuss or find out about.

The smackdown at the start of the day gave me plenty of new and exciting ideas to develop both in my classroom and hopefully across our school. I thought Barb D’s idea of surveying the staff for what they want for morning tea would be great fun. I’ve just starting using Google Docs with a form to get staff to record ICT issues/concerns/queries. It had taken a bit of training but we’re starting to make better progress especially when it comes to scheduling technician assistance and repairs. There were plenty of other ideas shared during this spot, including answer garden and history pin two tools well worth having a look at. I can see how answer garden would make it really easy to gather feelings after a learning session with children and adults.

I relished the opportunity to get together with other junior school teachers and hopefully the wiki Rachel Boyd created will be a place where we can share even more ideas. We talked quite a bit about the importance of children being able to move their digital work including blog spaces, wikis and the items they’ve posted on them. I can’t remember which teacher suggested it but tagging posts with the child’s name throughout their school life and linking back to those posts on new blogs as they move to the next year is a good place to start with portability. I think this is something I’ll be reflecting on with my ICT team in the next few weeks.

I’ve been lurking around Twitter for just over a year now and it was nice to match up a few faces with twitter names. I think anyone considering taking part in a day with this format should definitely go for it!

Big thanks have to go to Summerland Primary for hosting the event at their place and to ACES for their organisation.

Active Activboard ---- It's Arrived

2010-07-22T22:31:00.000+12:00

"what's that Miss?" "it's an Activboard" "can we touch it?" "who put it there?" "I think it does the tv thing" "no look it does her laptop too" "does it turn off?" "it's soft look"

I managed to explain what the board was for and even turn it on during our first day back this term. I had 21 year two children focused, engaged and willing to participate in what we were doing. I introduced the board by showing them a flipchart I'd made about our topic this term - Superheroes Lost in Space. We started our KWL by brainstorming what we already knew about space, this was helped along by the great introduction assembly the teachers put on to start the new term. The children enjoyed the photos of themselves I'd added into the flipchart. We took superhero photos last term so I'd used the snapshot tool to make them fly through the flipchart.

Day two involved using another part of the same flip chart to get the children asking questions and thinking about all things related to space. I'd made a treasure chest and 'put' it on the moon. The children could retrieve things from the treasure chest and then talk with a buddy about what they'd retrieved. A simple idea but a very engaging one. I used similar flipcharts for mathematics where we looked at halves and how to halve groups of objects.

I'm really looking forward to continuing to integrate the board into my classroom program. Hopefully I'll get the chance to demonstrate the dual pen function so that the board will work a little better with small groups of children.

I'll keep posting details of what I'm doing with the board in my room as time permits so keep watching this space. I'll also paste links to any flipcharts I upload.

The Activboard - Before It Arrives. . .

2010-07-09T17:02:00.004+12:00

I'm very excited about the possibilities that come with having an interactive whiteboard in my classroom. I've had the advantage of one before - a Mimio and it did change the way I taught. This time I'm keenly anticipating the arrival of an ActivBoard.

As the Director of ICT I've already had a peep at the software and I'm starting to develop bits and pieces for use in mine and other teacher's classrooms. The software - ActivInspire is relatively easy to use and similar to other IWB software that's available. It's probably a little more powerful in my opinion than the Mimio Notebook software I used to use. I've started off by creating a topic related flipchart that teachers might use to introduce this terms integrated topic about space. Morning procedures are my next port of call. Taking the roll on the board and having short activities that children can participate in before 9am sounds like a good place to start.

I've also looked closely at a few of the interesting debates that have been happening over the last year with regards to IWBs and their usefulness in the classroom. One such opinion is that of Chris Betcher - after watching his edtalk video I'm keen to get hold of a copy of his book and read a bit more about his experiences with the boards. The video (below) is one that resonates with me, I agree that placing technology in front of teachers and children doesn't mean its going to improve the teaching and/or learning that goes on. Here's the video:

I'll keep you posted on how the board is going over the course of the term. Watch this space...

Building Blocks to Literacy

2010-06-27T12:57:00.022+12:00

Hmmm... a one day conference that makes me think early on a Saturday morning! Actually it was well worth it both for new ideas and reaffirming what we are doing is going down the right track. I haven't heard Barbra Brann speak before so was interested in gaining some insight into the way she has developed the building blocks to literacy programme.

The conference allowed us to see a variety of activities and approaches Oteha valley and Arahoe school are using with the building blocks to literacy programme. Here are a few of the thoughts I had during the day along with my notes from the Keynote speakers:

"Children are often pushed into formal learning before they are ready" I agree in theory. However as a year 2 teacher I can't see how I can justify stopping children from writing and formal reading instruction until they have all of the skills deemed necessary to the programme. This is one area of the conference that really made me think, challenging my firm belief that we need to keep kids moving and ensuring they are meeting as many checkpoints as possible. Something I think we have to balance when we push ahead and when we wait. At some point we can't wait any longer for children to be ready to move on we just have to move on a reality I think all teachers have to deal with at some point. Perhaps one that we don't have to worry as much about as our English and American colleagues.

I already use the magic caterpillar handwriting programme in my class so was interested in how others work with the programme.

One of the things I'm still not convinced about is the use of chalk and chalkboards, for a long time allergy sufferer this seems like a nightmare. I can't see the point in reverting back to something that irritates so many allergies and makes a rather nasty mess. I still prefer to use either whiteboards and whiteboard markers or using crayons and paper on a desk to get a similar drag to chalk. Just something I'm not willing to change I guess.

I did think the use of the Mimio to animate the story really bought the programme into the 21st century and the colour pictures on the wall were great to... I must get hold of some of those!

Differentiated Coaching

2010-06-19T16:09:00.000+12:00

I can teach children, I've been doing it for 5 years but now I've been asked to help teachers improve their skills both in my role as Director of ICT and as a tutor teacher for those new to the profession. I guess I haven't really given much thought until now about how that is different to teaching children but it is... a lot different.

I've just come back from a day where I learnt about exactly that - teaching or in this case coaching teachers. The day was run by Interlead and called Differentiated Coaching.

We looked closely at how different teachers need to be coached in different ways. Using the Myers Briggs personality test we analysed different ways of coaching different personality types. It was stressed throughout the day that although we might test as a certain personality we can all exhibit most of the personality traits at different points in our lives so there is no hard and fast rules that are going to work for everyone. However it's still worthwhile looking at different approaches that could be taken with different personality types.

There are many things to think about when you're asked to coach someone. The way people cope with change and the cycles we go through in order to change interested me, especially when it was put into this format:

1. classroom management
We just want to know how to do it. When something new comes along we're in the frame of mind of "great, how do I do that in my classroom"

2. Curriculum Knowledge
When we've had a few goes at teaching it, or we've been using it for a little while we move into curriculum knowledge, we're able to use it and now we're looking to make it part of our knowledge base, this might be when we need a bit more theory

3. Teaching strategies
It becomes part of our strategies we start to look at it as another tool and can pull it out when we need it.

4. Formative assessment
This is when the change really happens, it's when we're comfortable enough to make it our own and we can start to innovate.

I guess this appeals to me because as Director of ICT change is something that goes with the role. ICT is never the same from year to year, school to school or person to person. It's often seen as a scary thing rather than an important tool. There are many of us out there who see it at the formative assessment stage but we need to recognise that there are also just as many if not more teachers who are at the classroom management stage - how do I use it in my classroom?

One of the other things I took out of the course is just like children building a positive relationship with the person you're coaching is paramount. However with adults you also need to find out what keeps that person motivated. With children we know many of the different approaches we can use to motivate them in their learning and we as teachers a responsible for motivating them. With adults the story is a little different we can't motivate them ourselves we can only present things in ways that might interest them.

As coaches we don't have, I guess you could call it power, over the people we coach they are our equals. With children, they are the children we teach and we are the teacher there is always more power in the teachers hands than the children's hands - or there should be. This is why the coaching relationship is so different to the teacher/child relationship. I figured they did have to be a little different but I think when you have it laid out in front of you it's a lot easier to see what those differences need to be.

Interlead provided us with a course booklet that has a wealth of information about the topic as well as practical ideas for continuing your coaching journey. Many of my notes are in this booklet but here are the rest of the notes I took during the course.

Remember you can click on the photos and go to view largest to get the full size picture :)

The Reggio Approach

2010-06-15T20:00:00.001+12:00

I've been lucky enough to participate in some fantastic professional development lately. One of the courses I've attended was "The Wonder of Learning Through the Environment" a one day conference about using the about using the Reggio approach. This was held in the beautiful grounds of St Cuthberts College and hosted/organised through Reanz (Reggio Emilia Aotearoa New Zealand). They were fantastic hosts and we really enjoyed the chance to have a look around the grounds during our lunch break.

I haven't done very much research into the Reggio approach it has tended to be something I'd like to have a look at but never got around to doing. So this opportunity really appealed to me. The approach is one that allows children to have more time to discover and experience the world in their own time rather than sticking to the rigid schedules we sometimes have. The videos and information we received from the schools, kindergartens and early learning centres that are using this approach is very valuable.

One of the things that I think all the teachers who were there took away from the course was the idea of morning walks. Many of our junior classrooms can now be seen walking around our tree covered areas during oral language time in morning. I've only managed to venture out once but have enjoyed the rich talk that comes from just taking time to experience and allowing the children to 'play' rather than be told what they are looking for or doing while they are outside.

A theme of the presentations was children's right to nature, their right to get outside, get dirty, wet, cold, fall over and generally have fun with their surroundings. It is so important to give our kids these times as many of them haven't had the chance to feel dirt, grass, water in the outdoors, many children have been stuck in front of a television for too long. The approach isn't about throwing everything else out, it is still important to have an intent to the experience, discussion and debate before hand about what the children might see, do, experience while they are out on their walk still remains important. It's also important to record those experiences through stories, the learning stories we were able to see over the course of the day were inspiring and really showed the child's learning from their point of view as well as the teachers assessment of their learning.

I didn't take too many notes over the day but here are the mind maps I created during the presentation. I also took photos during the day but I won't post those here as I haven't requested permission to do so. There are a wonderful array of links to more information on the REANZ blog that were mentioned on the day as well as a great smilebox of photos that were taken over the course of the day.

Getting on board with Mac.

2010-05-16T12:08:00.000+12:00

I've always been a proud PC girl and never really ventured into the world of Mac's.. well now I have to! I have shifted jobs and am now part of a fantastic Mac based school.

I've been pleasantly surprised, I was expecting to have to forgo many of my loved PC applications and change me work flow dramatically to fit into the mac environment but I haven't had to. I can still do much of the usual day to day activities I would have done I my PC.

I am however still annoyed that the government hasn't supported schools with Macs by ensuring they to have the latest Microsoft software available to them. I know that many people out there are adverse to using Microsoft products especially on a Mac however I still believe office has it's place inside and outside the classroom. I would dearly love to have the latest version of office Mac but this doesn't look possible with the high cost of having to license machines ourselves rather than grabbing the PC licenses from the government like PC based schools can. I have used the great free products similar to Microsoft office but still find Microsoft office a better fit, probably because it's what I'm used to.

I have enjoyed getting to know another system and have managed to pick things up reasonably quickly to the point where I tried to command/apple Q chrome on my home PC the other day! For those of you that have made a similar change to mac here are a few useful sites I've come across that answer simple questions you may have when transferring....

Mac for Beginners
Switch 101
Switching to Mac

I'm sure there are many more great sites out there please feel free to add them in your comments. I'd love to hear about others experiences with the Mac and will keep you updated as to the gems I find inside this well oiled machine.

New Beginnings

2010-04-11T21:02:00.000+12:00

Well I'm starting at a new school on the first day of term 2 and really looking forward to the change. I'll be teaching year 2s instead of my usual year 5 & 6 and I can't wait to try out all the great web resources I've already discovered. Check out my delicious links for just a few of the websites I'll be using.

One of the things that concerns me most is keeping up with the movement children make at year 2. Yes, year 5 & 6 make movement too but nowhere near as quickly and as often as I expect the year 2 children will. I am going to need to change quite a few of my teaching techniques and probably spend a little more time ensuring the children are understanding the procedures and expectations I have for them in our classroom. I think this will be a great challenge and a step in the right direction in terms of my teaching career.

If you have any wonderful ideas that you've tried and have really worked when teaching year 2 children I'd love to hear about them!

Inspiration amongst tough times

2010-02-07T20:15:00.009+13:00

With all the talk about National Standards at the start of this year, the debates that will follow and no doubt the interesting times we face with negotiating our contracts this year I think it's important to continue to look at what we are here for as teachers. That's to teach the children, our adults of tomorrow, to help them to learn, grow, prosper in a world with an uncertain at best future.

I've been inspired by the video I need my teacher's to learn (below)

I think we all need to jump behind the eyes of a child occasionally and actually see our classrooms from their perspective. What are they actually engaging in? Is what we are doing in our classrooms really any relation to these children or are we just doing it because that's the way we always have and it worked 10 years ago so why won't it work now?

Don't get me wrong the debate around National Standards needs to happen and we all need to make sure that our education system doesn't end up with a teach to the test mentality as that would be a disaster! I just think we also need to remember that we're still teachers and the children we're teaching this year and next aren't going to go away because we have been asked to implement something that hasn't been researched properly.

Introducing Children to Geocaching

2009-11-24T19:25:00.002+13:00

I really enjoy Geocaching it is that thought of being able to be a kid again I think, looking for the treasure and sharing it with others via the net, talking about it, showing off photos etc.

We've been working on Geometry this term so looking at grid co-ordinates and finding about about direction, rotation fits quite well with this unit. It's also a follow up to our camp earlier in the year when children were introduced to a GPS for use within a survival situation. The children had to find there way around the camp grounds picking up essential survival items along the way.

All that aside, how did I introduce it?

1. I used Google maps & Google Earth, I let the children loose in these two programs finding their own houses and different landmarks around our school

2. I set them a shape finding challenge, they had to find and label at leasst ten shapes in within the Auckland area including the geometric attributes within the description of the shape. Here is one of the maps they have created, they're still working on it. You will probably need to view the larger version of the map to get all the shapes they have included.

View Computer 2 Shapes In Auckland in a larger map

The idea for this and the following activity came from this blog post

3. Treasure hunt time, the children were introduced to GPS co-ordinates and we talked breifly about what they were. Then I asked them to find interesting parts of Auckland and mark down the co-ordinates for their classmates along with a question like - What happens here? or Why is this place important to....? We'll be sharing these soon as they aren't quite finished.

4. I took them to the Geocaching website and found the caches that were close to our school. They instantly recognised one of the photos in a cache full of travel bugs. I asked if they'd like to meet a travel bug and of course they do so I went and found the cache took a few photos and bought a travel bug back to school.

5. I have them hooked, there are about 6 students with hand held GPS units at home that are very keen to get out geocaching this weekend. So we've set up a class account, found the next cache for me to visit and droup of the travel bug and also found caches for the students to visit.

Where to now??

Finding out what a GPS actually does, how the co-ordinates work and how they fit within the world. Talking about cache locations, procedures, and aiming to release our own travel bug and hide our own cache. They may not have learnt too much about grid co-ordinates yet but it's a hook I can use to move them along a little further and it's something that is going to get some of my most reluctant children outside moving during the weekend!!

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Are you a geocaching class? We'd love to hear from you, what you're doing, caches you've found etc.

4 Weeks Since Ulearn --- What's happened so far?

2009-11-09T21:40:00.001+13:00

Well as always happens the fourth term seems to be one of the busiest for me. I hit the ground running, literally around school getting organised to leave for camp by 8.45am on Monday Day 1 Term 4. Camp was fantastic by the way a real experience for many of our children that haven't had the opportunity to really challenge themselves in the outdoors.

So what have I done since Ulearn....

1. I've tried out new web 2.0 tools for publishing writing including Marvin

2. Looked carefully at how the topic/theme this term is structured in my classroom

3. Asked the children in my class about what they want to learn in regards to our topic

4. Had fun! Enjoyed some great days with children that weren't planned, didn't relate to our theme/topic, had nothing to do with standards or testing but turned out to be the best days we've had as a class.... we had a look at some great websites and had fun teaching each other how they worked. Shared. learnt.

5. Enjoyed listening, looking, investigating, learning as a teacher via twitter, blogs and other contacts I made during Ulearn.

6. Listened to Gary Stager's Ten things to do with a laptop presentation again and vowed to continue to do more REAL THINGS.

Marvin --- Much Fun!

2009-10-24T16:52:00.000+13:00

Well I've finally set a bit of time aside from doing my last assignment to play with Marvin. I have had a great fun becoming a kid again and making the characters do all sorts of werid and wonderful things. I'll be testing out the program with my class on Tuesday as a bit of treat after they have sat their PAT test. I think it'll have to be something that we use with our buddy class to create a review of the year and definately something we show off in assembly to our wider community.

If you haven't had a chace to play yet, give it a go, there are many easy to follow tutorials available for download. I managed to create my own background image using Art Rage and my own voice using Audacity.

Here is my first attempt at making a little video I'm going to add to it and use it to introudce our class topic on Tuesday...

I'll post more complex examples as I create them.

Ulearn Notes - Pre Conference

2009-10-10T12:24:00.001+13:00

Here are the notes I took during our pre-conference workshop with David Anderson - Thinking Teacher - Thinking Classroom.

The list of attributes a thinking teacher should have...

Goal setting as a thinking teacher...

ULearn Notes - Breakout 1,2,3, Monday Keynote

2009-10-10T12:18:00.005+13:00

As promised here are my notes from ULearn 09. My battery tended to run out by the end of the keynote or even before we got to the keynote hence some of the notes being in pen & paper versions rather than digital. I used my tablet laptop and inspiration where I could to write my notes in a mind map sort of form. I haven't used inspiration extensively before, I found it useful to write my notes rather than type them and the ability to move them around within the mindmap made it easier to organise and link my thoughts together.

Martyn Weatherhill - Nine in 90 The Best E-Learning Tools in 10 Minutes or Less - Breakout 1

I used onenote to record my notes for this breakout. I didn't write a lot as we were given a CD with all of the information we needed on it. I really enjoyed this breakout and the software that Martyn chose to introduce us to. I'll definately be looking into a few of them for schoolwide installation.

Andrea Tele'a - Authentic Presenters for an Authentic Audience! - Breakout 2

I didn't take any notes on this one, we were involved in making an episode of Ulearn news and went through lots of the things that Pt England do to create their television show and news broadcast.

Showcase for the Future - Mutiple Presenters

Gary Stager - 9 Things To Do With a Computer - Keynote Monday

ULearn Notes - Breakout 4 & 5, Thursday Keynote

2009-10-10T11:51:00.004+13:00

Gary Stager - The Best Educational Ideas in the World - Breakout 4

Tony Bryank and Amanda Prosser - Embedding ICT into 21st Century Classrooms - Breakout 5

Derek Wennmoth - The Future's Not What It Used To Be - Keynote Thursday

ULearn Notes - Breakout 6 & 7, Friday Keynote

2009-10-10T11:40:00.003+13:00

Andy Penman - Qwizdom - Breakout 6

Jill Pears - Get Scratching - Breakout 7

Learning Journeys - Margaret Carr - Friday Keynote

Ulearn Day 3

2009-10-09T10:27:00.000+13:00

Last day :(. Breakouts first thing this morning were a little hard to get up for after all the great entertainment and food at the conference dinner last night. I made it.

Interesting to find out about Qwizdom this morning, how it all worked and potential applications in the classroom. Probably not somehting I would consider but always worth having a look at these new technologies.

I'm off to learn all about using scratch next.

Ulearn Day 2

2009-10-09T10:21:00.000+13:00

What a great day, a little tired from all the thinking I’m doing but still well worth attending the breakouts and keynote we had today. I have to take my hat off to Derek Wenmonth that stepped in and gave us a keynote at short notice. I think we need more educators who are willing to take the risks you did in your keynote this morning.

It’s always great to here from the people that are actually out there using ICT in ways that are allowing children to experience things that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. I think everyone around me enjoyed listening to the enthusiastic recount of what the Pt England children had been doing especially with the chance they had to talk with Will Smith.

Breakout 4 provided me with more challenges from Gary Stager, I wrote on my evaluation from – thank you for challenging the way I teach, I think all of us need that challenge every so often just to remind ourselves to think about why we are doing what we are doing and ensure we are able to answer that question confidently. I enjoyed Gary’s upfront manner and the ideas he put forward, I will be continuing to think about how these ides apply to my own learning and teaching and thinking about my explanation for what I am doing and why.

In breakout 5 I enjoyed hearing about Silverton Primary’s journey with their open plan school buildings and how they are ensuring the children get the best opportunities to learn. There approach to learning as projects in their Pre to 2 area seems to be working really well for them. They were kind enough to share examples of children’s planning with these projects and to make clear that this is something that the children work on through a process, it’s not a free reign the children still have that structure and explicit teaching to fall back on that helps them to enhance their project learning. I shared with other teachers from our school how Silverton structures their learning, we are very interested in this idea and will be investigating further what this might mean for Hillpark. I was really happy to hear that the journey this primary school is following is not over and is re-visited every year as well as the fact that the journey does take time, years in fact for it to actually start to come together. I think we as educators sometimes forget that big changes in our style of teaching might happen overnight, but for us to really start to use them everyday we have to give the changes time to be able to work them into every aspect of our teaching.

Conference Dinner

WOW, it was like going to a flashy product launch  lots of dancing, eating and merriment to be had by all that attended.

Ulearn Pre-conference & Day 1

2009-10-09T10:20:00.000+13:00

Well I don’t think I can put into words the inspiration that I felt today during the Ulearn conference. As a first time attendee I didn’t really know what to expect so I just made sure I read everything on the website and emails that I received I also joined up to twitter earlier this year and watched with interest the excitement that has developed over the last few weeks leading up to the conference.

I have now attended my pre-conference workshop, the first day keynote and breakouts 1,2 and 3 and I’m really looking forward to the next installment tomorrow. I can’t wait to be challenged an inspired by the presenters tomorrow.

Notes from today will be scanned in soon.

Pre-Conference – Thinking Teacher Thinking Classroom – David Anderson
A challenging presentation that made me really think carefully about my classroom practice.

Breakout 1 - Nine in 90 minutes
Breakout 2 - Authentic presenters for an authentic audience
Breakout 3 - Showcase for the future
The one presentation I didn’t make notes on was the Authentic presenters, Authentic audience breakout that I went to. This was all about PENN – point England News Network. The school presents a news show twice I week I think and also has a spot on Triangle TV.

ULearn Here I Come!

2009-10-05T22:33:00.001+13:00

Well I'm off to ULearn on the early flight tomorrow. Starting with a pre-conference workshop >> Thinking Teacher Thinking Classroom. I'm really looking forward to it and the rest of the conference. It is going to be a fantastic opportunity to share, network and learn I can't wait!

I'll be updating my blog as I go through the conference so check back soon.

What's Really Important?

2009-10-02T10:48:00.002+13:00

In light of recent natural disasters I find myself asking - what's really important for me to teach the children in my classroom? When I think about the tsunamis and earthquakes that struck Samoa and Indonesia earlier this week along with feeling a sense of despair because I can't help many of those affected it also makes me wonder about what children in those situations really needed to know.

Obviously some of us are in situations where we are more at risk of natural disasters or human made disasters than others. So why is it then that New Zealand is trying to make a standard that all children will be measured against, surely there are things that are more important to teach in some regions of our country than others, so how can we possibly apply the same standard to all children?

I may be oversimplifying here. Wouldn't it be better for our children to be able to think for themselves, solve problems, see the big and the small picture rather than smaller goals like knowing what an adjective is and how to use it? I don't know that you can measure those attributes using a national standard. I believe even at primary school we need to be teaching children life skills, what they really need out in the big wide world rather than random facts that they just learn for the test or worse for the then forget because they are never going to use it again.

I’m not saying don’t teach children what an adjective is, I’m just questioning what I teach, and asking is it really relevant to the children in my class. I would love to hear your thoughts, how do you choose what to teach when?

Ressiting that telling tempation....

2009-09-21T21:29:00.002+12:00

I've benn working hard at this little gem this year, resisting the urge to tell children rather than help them to find / work it out for themselves. The mathematics paper we're doing as a staff has highlighted the importance of this form me. Every time we tell a student how to work something out we then sometimes assume they have understood it yet research in the area of mathematics tells us they are not understanding it especially when we look at place value. I'm happy to dig out the research for anyone who's interested.

Anyhow my point is I've transferred this from maths to spelling, today we were looking at how to make a word into a plural and instead of explaining the rule and getting the children to practice it we brainstormed some nouns ending in O and then I got them to go away with a dictionary and try and work out what the pattern / rule was for turning these words into plurals. We'd already done some work using singpost letters and plurals, we're now looking at a few exceptions.

A relatively simple idea I know and probably one most of you do everyday. I think sometimes though I overlook the need to give the children time to think about the problem and try and solve it themselves.

They did eventually get the pattern/rule. Before then however we tested a lot of the rules/patterns they had come up with using our Mimio. The children went back to the drawing board a few times as we discovered their rules/patterns didn't really work for most situations.

I then asked was this easier or harder than our last lesson - harder was the resounding reply. I asked was it better than our last lesson - yes and why I asked - because we got to figure it out for ourselves, now we know it and understand it.

We went on to test out the rules/patterns they had decided on and used 'Power Teaching' to reinforce the new knowledge we had gained. A lesson worth celebrating I feel :)

ICT News - Useful?

2009-09-16T20:56:00.001+12:00

This year I've taken on the role of being Teacher in Charge of ICT at our school. It has been a reasonably steep learning curve as I've had to get to grips with being in charge of a budget and being the go to person when something goes wrong with any of our ICT equipment. I've also had to learn to deal with managing problems and ensuring those that really are urgent get solved first. My management degree and systems experience has definitely come in handing over the course of the last three terms.

One of the things I've tried to implement this year is a regular ICT News bulletin that includes useful links, passwords, and short how to guides. I've also tried to introduce a variety of web based tools for use in our computer suite and within classrooms. The comments from staff have been very positive which is fantastic I'm glad I can help to inspire in some small way. Now I'm looking at how to improve the bulletin, however this is difficult as we all know teachers are busy people and being able to take time out to evaluate something is difficult as there are so many important things that we need to get done. Anyway I'm going to try to get a bit more feedback on the bulletin and see what I can do to improve it.

Here are a few picture examples of what I put in the previous bi-monthly bulletin. I'd be really appreciative of any feedback you can give me!

Wiki Journals

2009-09-12T22:01:00.000+12:00

We've had a very busy term so far and only a week until our Junk to Funk show ARGH!

The children have really enjoyed using our wikispace as a journal to record the process they have been through to make their artworks. They have all been making a piece of wearable art out of junk. I started off by taking photos each time we did anything with our Junk to Funk topic so we built up quite a few photos.

The last two weeks however the children have taken over asking to use the camera and taking their own photos to add to their journals. They have really started thinking about what kind of photos they are taking and how they are going to make them more interesting.

Having a wikispace means they are able to work on their journals at home as well, it's a welcome change to get an email saying *** has edited their journal and reading the little updates they've made at home. I can't wait to start sharing the journals with our year 1-2 buddy class over the next two weeks.

At the moment we've locked up our wiki until we get a bit more of a handle on using. I'm hoping to unlock a few pages and give parents and families access to more of the work the children have put on the page. So watch this space.... !!

Time to Let Go!

2009-07-25T11:42:00.005+12:00

I've had a great week with my class this week, they have really shown me that live in a digital world. This is their space. I think I've known that for a while but I've held back because I wasn't sure if it was okay to let them loose and to be digital rather than pen and paper... what will the school community say? I'm I going to have to explain why it is so important for this change to happen in our classroom? What will other teachers say? is always in the back of my mind.

I've made one big mistake though, one of the children asked me if they could draft their work on the computer and I said no we're only planning our work then printing it out and drafting in our draft writing books so that you can edit in red pen and then conference with me on it. You should have seen the look of disappointment on his face. ARGH why did I say that! I guess it's because I have this preconceived idea that I need to check how they are editing their work and see what they are doing in their draft to be able to conference with them effectively.

Well I've been watching & listening to a few of the Shift Happens videos and ideas on the Shift Happens wikispace and I've changed my mind. If the children in my class are motivated by being able to draft and edit their work on the computer why not let them? I'll be changing their writing contract next week to ensure they are able to plan, draft and edit and publish using the computers if they wish to... the only problem is I know that almost all of my 29 students will want to do this so how do you cater for that when you only have 7 computers available?

I'm also aware that I have to assess their handwriting this term so they do need to be practicing that as well but how can I assess that if they are all doing their work on the computer? Is their still a place for handwriting? At the moment when I think about how many forms I've filled in during the last week that just had to be handwritten because they companies and people I was doing it for wouldn't accept a digital version I guess there still is a place for legible handwriting. However I don't think that teaching only handwriting is okay I think I'm going to have to be teaching some keyboard/typing what ever you want to call it skills as well. This is an area that lets quite a few children in my class down, they just don't get enough computer time at home to develop the speed they need to be able to operate at. So maybe I'll be added a keyboarding/typing activity as well.

Lots of things to think about. Would love to see your thoughts!

At their fingertips...

2009-07-21T18:44:00.002+12:00

Well it's only been two days but already I've had teachers comment about the changes I've made to my classroom and most importantly the children in my class are loving it. They are at home with the new computers at their fingertips design of our classroom and wish they could have more. I knew it would be something they enjoyed but I didn't think that it would be that enjoyable, I guess I underestimated how much more engaged they would be.

Things to smile about:
- new writing, reading and mathematics contracts making use of computer groups for warm ups, discussions and brainstorms
- engagement in learning even when they aren't using the computers.
- whole class is more involved as they have a 1:3,4 or 5 ratio so more opportunity to contribute

Things that need tweeking
- creating comments via our blog, not working too well through our network
- getting the cords to stick in the right place so they don't get run over by seats, desks or feet.
- traffic jam around art area

Watch this space .... photos and more tweeking & smiles to come

Attempting to Integrate ICT Just a Little Bit More

2009-07-09T15:27:00.007+12:00

Well after much debate and lots of moving of desks and chairs I've come up with a new classroom layout for term 3. Of course this may all change again once they children finish their scale maps on how they would like to the classroom to look. Thanks to

Here's what it looks like for now....

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

There's one big group in the middle with xtenda and decent speed xp system and three other groups to the side, one with a mac laptop and two with older xp based machines. I'm hoping to get another machine to take over the mimio & projector duties as it's a pain having my laptop permanently attached to it makes release time a little harder as I have to pry laptop away from the children.

More Mathematics Workshops

2009-07-07T17:09:00.009+12:00

Well a huge thanks has to go to Jacqui Sharp again for her inspiration for mathematics workshops... I've created two more for this terms strand focus which I plan to share with the rest of the team.

I plan to use these after I have introduced the children to each aspect so they will be come practice and reinforcement rather than straight introductions to the topic.

To get the great animations and the sound effects you'll need to download the file from slideshare :) The children in my class enjoy music and like to have things move around the screen so I've added a few in this time. Slideshare also wipes out the inking I've used via my tablet so you'll need to download the file to get that as well.

I'd love to hear your comments on these two workshops!

Statistics- Statistical Investigations Workshop 1

View more presentations from Angela Lee.

Probability - The Basics Workshop 1

View more presentations from Angela Lee.

There's just something about having a choice...

2009-07-03T20:08:00.005+12:00

Well it's finally the last day of term 2... it's been a long term. Today I wanted to reflect on the choices I've given my class in the last week. I like to round off each term with a finishing off period where we work on reflecting on the term and getting things finished that we might not have been able to during the previous weeks in the term. This means that the children get a choice as to what they are doing. We create a Big Scary List together that really isn't all that scary and they need to finish everything on it in order to participate in fun things on Friday or the last day of the term.

Now this works really well for most children in the class they enjoy being able to work at their own pace and to choose what to do next. One thing I have noticed this year especially with having year 4's is that there are more children who can't handle this opportunity, they choose basically not to do anything if left to their own devices. This means I end up having to walk them through one thing at a time in order for them to get the work done. I believe that it is important to develop children's independence and their ability to self manage. I've worked really hard with the children in my class to show them that they have control over their own behaviour and are responsible for their learning - I'm of course there to help them every step of the way. I was impressed today to watch the children that last term needed very small steps become able to just do it on their own this term. There are a few others that I still need to work with and there probably always will be, it's nice to see the progress happening though!

Better than maths...

2009-07-01T19:04:00.009+12:00

I've been working with the children in my class on measurement this term with a focus on length, width, area and perimeter. Today as one of the last activities of the unit I talked to the children about how I'd like to change the classroom around during the upcoming holiday break. I explained that I'd really like them to decide where we are going to put everything so they are going to create their own classroom maps and we'll vote once they're finished.

Being a class full of kids hungry for competition they thought this was a great idea. We had a short discussion on how maps are made and what scale means on a map. We also talked about using a scale of 1m = 10cm just to make it easy.

Anyhow I set them to work on measuring pretty much everything in the room so that they could then use our scale and create their own classroom maps. They all went about this rather mamouth task. After working on this for about 25-30mins one of my girls came up and said "This is so much better than doing maths" I thought that was a classic comment.

It really illustrates how important it is to give children a chance to put their knowledge and skills into practice in a practical way. They crave the ability to become part of the process rather than have the process given to them. I've always tried to do this as much as possible but maybe a little bit more thinking on it would get a few more comments like this is better than reading or writing. Who knows :)

Here's one of the workshops I used (thanks to Jacqui Sharp for the inspiration on this one) for the children after we'd done a bit of work on length, width and measuring using a ruler: (I've removed some of the links as they were specific to my class you can sign up to smart kiddies here unfortunately there are no free subscriptions to rainforest maths any more but you can use it if you have a matheltics subscription.)

Length Height Width Workshop Upload

View more documents from dotsa26.

Write Anywhere & Recognise Ink - Mimio

2009-06-04T18:28:00.003+12:00

Yahoo, I'm finally getting the hang of the write anywhere tool that comes with the Mimio software - Mimio Notebook. I love this tool!

If you haven't used it before it's basically a quick and simple way to change your writing into typed text. Very useful when you're adding things into something other than Mimio notebook (when you're in Mimio notebook you can use recognise ink to change your writing into text).

Today we used it to add examples to our table in a word document we were working on. It meant I could write just like a would with a whiteboard marker and just like magic write anywhere changed my writing into text and put it into our table. The children thought it was fantastic!

Recognise ink in the tools section of Mimio Notebook is also fantastic, the children in my class have been using it in our roll call file to change the names they have written into typed text. It's very powerful because difficult to read handwriting becomes difficult to read typed text - it will come up with symbols and jumbled letters.

If you're looking for info on Mimio try these websites:
www.mimio.com
www.mimio.school.nz

Voice Thread

2009-04-28T21:12:00.004+12:00

My class and I have been experimenting with Voice Thread what a great tool. One that I discovered a while ago but didn't really get into until now. We used it to comment on Despereaux that I've been reading to the class.

It was great to listen to the ideas the children had about the book, ideas that I would't have been able to gain from some of them had we left it to. I got the children to write down a PMI just a sentence for each one before they recorded their opinions. This helped them to feel a little more at ease when using the microphone.

There faces while listening to themselves were classic. What a fantastic opportunity to talk about what we hear when we're speaking and the things we need to be careful of so that others can understand our message. We came up with a set of things we needed to think about when talking into a microphone that will help them to improve next time.

Well worth the experimentation time :) and the frustration of getting the children all logged in and recording at the same time!

Reading Comprehension

2009-04-05T16:04:00.003+12:00

Wouldn't we all love to have our children actually comprehend what they have just read in their reading group? I have been struggling with this over the past term but have found a few interesting resources to use that might engage a few more children in the process...

Firstly Into The Book, a great little American website that works through some of the most important comprehension strategies children need to have. I've found this site fantastic as it even has videos of children using the strategies (in the teacher's section). I've shared a few of these with my class and they have not only enjoyed the great American accent but have engaged with the strategy when we practiced it afterwards. They are starting to use the language of comprehension and even looking at using more than one strategy at once WAHOOOO!!

Secondly we've been really lucky to have the great expertise of Alison Davis on site. We had a very challenging session with her earlier this year and have all been fortunate enough to receive a copy of her book. If you get the chance to read it go for it... many fantastic ideas and a really in depth look at what it is to teach comprehension to children.

Thirdly I've challenged my children to use their vocabulary to fill in the blanks with cloze activities I've made using the Hot Potatoes program. This little gem of a program also makes crosswords, quizzes and a few other neat little activities that I haven't used very much of yet ... but I will :)
Any other ideas about comprehension would be greatly appreciated please add them as comments to this post.

Kerpoof! This is cool...

2008-11-27T21:14:00.005+13:00

My class had a new favourite website.... www.kerpoof.com most of them spent a good part of the day creating their own digital version of this narratives. What a fantastic site! If you haven't managed to get here yet... TRY IT NOW. There are so many different applications for this website in the classroom. It's free to sign up for a teachers account, takes about 24 hours to activate then you're ready to go.

Here is a great video I found on youtube from the founder, talking you through some of the fantastic features of the site

Today the children in my room and another classroom that joined us created a mind map using inspriation to plan their narrative then logged in with their new student accounts and created a movie to go with their mind map. This was a taster activity and turned out great, most of them were able to complete a movie that detailed everything they had planned in their mindmap. Then once they had finished their movie they were able to save it. These should be approved within the next few days so we'll jump back on to the site on Monday and have a look at everyone's movies, we'll also do some evaluation together and hand out gold stars in small groups to the movies we thought were the best.

Tutorials on YouTube

2008-11-18T17:26:00.003+13:00

If you haven't discovered this channel on YouTube yet then get on to it. The create people of from Common Craft has explained all our lattest web tools in plain Englilsh... The one below is all about social networking... something the children in my class have been keen to embrace and have done so through Imbee.com... give it a go!

Imbee ... Safe social networking?

2008-11-16T20:15:00.004+13:00

Does anyone out their use imbee? I'm looking into changing the way we give our children email & blog access and trying to give them a space that they can make their own on the web while making sure we have a safe space that doesn't require a whole lot of teacher monitoring.

Imbee struck me as being a little commercial but I'm open to ideas has anyone else used it?

Thoughts please..

Favourites / Bookmarking

2008-11-16T18:08:00.005+13:00

If you're like me you visit a website and think ooohh I could use that for... and then chuck it in your bookmarks in the hope that when that ... comes along you'll be able to access it again. I've had the misfortune of having a few computer crashes over the years and loosing all those precious bookmarks. So lately I've been trying out a few new ways of keeping them safe...

Delcious: been around for a while now and well worth a look all bookmarks are kept in date order and searchable through tags you have added when you place the bookmarks.

Simplybox: looks like a relatively new kid on the block where you can actually select sections of a website to boxes and then organise the boxes into containers. I thought it was a pretty cool little ap, unfortunately it doesn't work for chrome yet.

There are hundreds of others out there I'm sure.. I'll let you know if I try any others in the near future. For now if you're into trying things out here's a pretty extensive list of social bookmarking sites from Wikipedia.

If you're interested in the sites I've bookmarked recently I've put a section in my sidebar that links to delicious or visit my delicious site

Not another crazy frog!

2008-11-13T22:37:00.004+13:00

I loved crazy frog, I'm one of those people that can listen to those really irritating songs over and over again. I remember being one of the only people who loved the peanut butter nutter add that sanitarium put out 10-15 years ago. I've just been searching you tube for a few Claymation examples to talk about with the children in my class and came across this video. Very similar to crazy frog but even more repetitive. I wonder if it will catch on...?

I visited the website and noted that you can send the annoying video in an e-card. I've been talking to my class about internet safety today, we watched another episode of Hectors World it's amazing how much trust children place in the websites they're visiting. This one is a prime example no security just give me your email address and you're friends email address... wonder what they plan to do with those. We had an in depth discussion about Mooshi Monsters as scholzone has recently blocked this site, we talked about how we can't really be sure the person we are talking to is who we think they are. We also talked about how much they enjoy Mooshi Monsters and how often they visit the site. More on how that's going later :)

Encyclopedia Britanica Online

2008-08-12T19:27:00.006+12:00

I haven't used encyclopedias online before as I have tended to rely on google and teaching children search criteria along with this. This site has potential though, and is safer than using google if you open filters on your web traffic. With my class working on getting to know their way around the olympics and everything that goes with it I was looking for information about China and the vast history the country has experienced. This site was easy to navigate and I managed to find a wealth of information including photos, videos and plain text. Well worth a visit if you haven't been yet..

The other great thing about this site is the children can build up the information they find by saving it as a project. As they find information they can save it to a project website, give the project a name and a password. Children can go back to the project and add more at a later stage.

New Zealand public schools can get on using the EPIC link from TKI and their digistore passwords. Other schools I'm not so sure, I assume you will need to aquire a licence from the site itself.

Have fun.

Excited about learning

2008-08-08T16:52:00.003+12:00

I introduced my class to Tutpup this week in the hope that they might find something to engage them a little more in their basic facts learning. Basic facts seems to be one of the biggest things that are preventing the children moving from stage 5 to stage 6 when looking at them from the point of view of the numeracy project.

Well I can say with a huge smile on my face the Tutpup was a great success, the children spent almost all of their free computer time (before school and supervised lunch eating) playing the games and challenging each other to get better scores. I know that sometimes we shy away from creating competition in the classroom but this is one competition that I think was worth it.
One of the girls played it until she was at the top of the New Zealand table today, and proudly announced this to the class during lunchtime. Her classmates gave a round of applause and made plans to go onto the site when they get home tonight.

We have focused on the mathematics area of the site but there are also word based games and I believe a geography game in the pipeline.

I'll keep you posted on how the competition progresses.

Think Outside the Box

2008-07-31T18:20:00.002+12:00

I have been off sick today and have resisted the urge to write new plans for next week. I have however become very bored and decided to try and set outlook up to check all of my email addresses. Well what a nightmare, who would have thought this would take so long. Turns out Telecom has blocked the port I was trying to access their outgoing server on so all sorted now.

It did make me think though how would the children in my class cope when faced with something they couldn't solve by using the help files in the program, how would they know to ask the question in a different way. I think it illustrates the importance of getting children to think of different ways to solve problems and find information. I use many thinking tools and teach many thinking skills in my classroom because I believe children need to learn how to look outside the box. However I don't often relate it back to real life, we have an opportunity as teachers today to help children learn how to do this and to continue to develop these skills throughout their lives rather than leaving it until they get lost in the workplace and have to quickly learn how to do it.

Anyhow, if you're interested in starting to use thinking skills and tools in your classroom this website created by Kurwong school in Australia has a wealth of information and sample units. There are hundreds of different ways of introducing thinking into your classroom, some I have used and am continuing to learn about include Habits of Mind, MI and Tony Ryan . Spectrum Education also have a number of good books and courses available.

Artists in the Making

2008-07-21T17:11:00.002+12:00

Another thing we started today was a team artwork. I show the children this video and talked about how we could do this in our classroom. I found this video linked from another blog, I can't remember who's it was, if it was yours please let me know and I'll credit the find to you :)

I'll keep you posted on our progress. I'm looking forward to what the children in my class come up with.

Another way of getting it done...

2008-07-21T16:51:00.003+12:00

This blog started off with a couple of quick easy posts, since it was the holidays I was keen to get as much on here as I could. Now that the school term has started I'm not sure when or how often I will find the time to post on here.

Anyway my reason for my post today is because I have had such a great day with my students using the technology we have left after yet another burgulary. To cut a long story short I don't have a projector to use anymore.

We made do showing videos using our xtendas and all pressing play at the same time, I haven't done that for a long time! We are in the middle of a unit called 'Getting Around' that is foused on maritime history and exploration. I wanted to show the children what it would be like if a boat they were on sunk. So we watched this video using the method described above. It went perfectly. I didn't think I'd be able to sort out a way of showing all the videos I had found over the holidays but this works just as well as having a projector.

We played a paper based scenario game in the afternoon and the children loved it. Feeling like a bit of a dork pays off when you see their faces light up :).

First Post

2008-07-04T23:22:00.001+12:00

Well after my welcome this will be my first post to my new blog. I intend to post ideas here that I'm using or planning to use in my classroom.

So lets get to it...

I've been working on Digital / E - Portfolios for the last two years with mixed success. Somethig I have found really powerful for the children I have taugtht recently is video, they love being in front of the camera. We've done videos on their oral presentations or speeches, group projects, them playing music during a music lesson.

We've also done term by term reflections using PMI as a starting point. It is interesting to see them really think about what they have achieved over the last ten weeks, and well worth a trial in any classroom. Towards the end of each term we (student, teacher and parents) set goals according to areas of need with each student. I use the SMART method to help them to set goals that can actually be achieved rather than just I'm going to improve my reading. When we relfect at the end of the term the children' s goals often become their focus, they usually mention what goals they would like to work on and how they are going to work on them next term.