*** ICT U Can!

The case study: Storytelling in the industrial age and beyond

2011-12-02T09:47:00.001+13:00

Benjamin, B. (2006). The case study:Storytelling in the industrial age and beyond. On the Horizon, 14(4), 159-164.

Inthis article Benjamin looks at the history of storytelling through to presenttimes. She follows the history of the word ‘story’ and draws the conclusionthat storytelling is a way to transfer knowledge from one person to another anda way to keep that knowledge alive. In the words of Wittgenstein (1933) ‘The limits of my language are the limits of my world’. With theadvent of the Internet and digital storytelling, those limits are nowboundless.

In the history of storytelling, storieswere the way that tribes passed down important knowledge to ensure survival.“Their purpose is to ensure that, generation after generation, everyone hasaccess to the wisdom of the past as they live in the present and move towardsthe future” (Benjamin,2006, p. 161). Storiestake many forms in the present day; for example the digital stories on NZCOnline could be thought of as case studies. Harvard Business School’s firstDean, Edwin F. Gay, identified the value of discussing authentic business problemsas a method of instruction and used the first case study in 1908 (Benjamin,2006). Digital stories foreducation serve as an authentic example of what practice looks like inclassrooms, and promote discussions about the practices that were built uponand what the implications are for future practice. As different educators examinethe story and think about how that practice might look in their context thewisdom of the past is used to move towards the future.

Wittgenstein,L. (1933). Tractatus logico-philosophicus.London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Multimedia cases

2011-12-01T11:52:00.001+13:00

Halverson,R., Linnekin, B., Gomez, L. M., & Spillane, J. P. (2004). Multimedia casesof practice: On-line learning opportunities for school leaders. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership,7(1), 30-35.

As I read around the use of digital stories for professional development, I came across the term 'multimedia cases'. This seemed like a fitting term for the stories that we produce for NZC Online. They are multimedia cases of actual events in schools and classrooms.

Halverson et al. conducted research around the use of multimedia cases to support the professional development of principals.

They assert that leaders often find it difficult to know where to start when leading change. Good leaders have what the authors term 'professional practical wisdom' which means they reflect on experience to apply solutions to varying problems over time. Professional practical wisdom also involves the ability to transfer ideas into your own particular context. Leithwood and Steinbach (1989) suggest that expert leaders rely on collaboration and information gathering to support their problem solving. This is where NZC digital stories come in.

Leaders need to access rich representations of practice in context. Video makes these rich examples more accessible. Cases can engage readers to relate the situation to their own experience and can act as a catalyst for discussion and reflection on practice. Cases can also be used to produce as well as represent knowledge.

The authors reference Banks (1994) as being skeptical about the benefits of multimedia cases, and counter with Barron Goldman 1994 and Lampert and Ball 1998 as proponents of cases being positive for stimulating reflection on practice.

References:

Banks, M. (1994). “Interactive multimedia and anthropology - a sceptical view.” Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, 1-7.
Barron, L. & Goldman, E. (1994). "Integrating technology with teacher preparation," in B. Means ed., Technology and Education Reform: The Reality Behind the Promise. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 67-89.
Lampert, M. & Ball, D.L. (1998). Mathematics, teaching, and multimedia: Investigations of real practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Leithwood, K. & Steinbach, M. (1989). “Expertise in principals’ problem solving.” Educational Administration Quarterly, 25(2), 126-61.

Relationships of knowledge and Practice: Teacher learning in communities

2011-11-26T20:29:00.001+13:00

Cochran-Smith,M., & Lytle, S. L. (1999). Relationships of Knowledge and Practice: TeacherLearning in Communities. Review ofResearch in Education, 24, 249-305.

In this article Cochran-Smith and Lytle examine the assumption that often guides teacher learning, 'teachers who know more teach better'. But what exactly does knowing more mean? What is teaching better? What do policies that tout this assumption actually mean? The paper breaks down this assumption into three conceptions for teacher learning:

Knowledge for practice
Knowledge in practice
Knowledge of practice

Knowledge for practice is theoretical knowledge is that already known by someone else outside of the classroom. This theory is what is important for teachers to know and teachers are expected to learn this knowledge and apply it. Teachers are receivers of knowledge.

Knowledge in practice is that knowledge held by expert teachers in their everyday practice. Teachers can learn from these experts and adapt their practices. In this conception the teachers are generators of knowledge and receivers of knowledge.

These two conceptions support the assumption of teachers knowing more by being receivers of knowledge from theorists or expert practitioners. The third conception turns things around by positioning teachers as creators of knowledge and architects of transformative change.

Knowledge of practice stands outside the dichotomy of knowledge as theory or knowledge as practice. In this conception "Teachers learn when they generate local knowledge of practice by working within the contexts of inquiry communities to theorize and construct their work and to connect it to larger, cultural, and political issues" (p250). Knowledge of practice is a life long learning pursuit and is conducted by teachers working together across the span of novice and expert, and working alongside students, teachers and community. This knowledge is transformative and provides more than findings, it provides change.

You can see these three conceptions reflected in different policies for teacher education, both past and present. Knowledge of Practice for me stands out as being really closely related to the NZ Curriculum Teaching as Inquiry process.

My purpose for reading this paper was to see where I thought the digital stories on NZC Online were situated. I can see that these stories fit really nicely within the knowledge of practice conception. The stories themselves allow teachers to share what they are doing in their classrooms. These stories are not expert teachers presenting theoretical concepts, they are real people doing real things and discussing the challenges and successes they face. When speaking to the teachers who make these stories, they explained to me how the process was like an inquiry cycle for them. The actual process allowed them to look at where they had been, where they were now, and where to next. And they carried out this reflective cycle as a whole school listening to each other's accounts of the same experience. They also explained that as a result of undertaking the inquiry cycle they had made plans for further changes.

By providing their stories for others to interact with these schools and teachers are "playing a critical role in generating knowledge of practice by making their classrooms and schools sites for inquiry, connecting their work in schools to larger issues, and taking a critical perspective on the theory and research of others' (p273).

From my inquiries with educators who use these stories, many use them to stimulate discussions amongst their staff and learning networks and debate how the ideas in the stories would translate to their particular contexts. "Teacher networks, inquiry communities, and other school-based collectives in which teachers and others conjoin their efforts to construct knowledge are the major contexts for teacher learning in this conception" (273).

Here is the latest story from NZC Online:

Teachers are important

2011-08-06T12:56:00.002+12:00

I haven't been here for a while. I have taken some time to stop and think about what I believe in my work life. What is important.

There is one thing I hear a lot as I work with educators and professional development providers across New Zealand. And it has started to really get on my goat, so here comes a rant.

Teachers are important. They are worth the time it takes to help them be the best they can be. Whether this means bringing them up to speed or helping them race off into the distance. The underpinning of my post is that I have heard quite a few PD providers discuss the fact that it is important for our students to have access to quality ICT experiences. Exactly, I agree. But then I hear the statement that maybe we should bypass the teachers and go straight to the students. If we capture them and give them the opportunities then they will bring the teachers along. Um, ah, no, sorry I don't really agree with that. It is a deficit way of thinking. We are all partners in learning: students, parents, teachers. We work together, leaving any one out of the equation is not a thing I would like to think about. Teachers are important. Teachers make a difference, and building them up to be the best they can be is the best way to support our learners.

Professional knowledge landscapes

2011-03-18T21:28:00.002+13:00

Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1998). Stories to live by: Narrative understandings of school reform. Curriculum Inquiry, 28(2), 149-194.

There was a notion in this paper that captured my interest. Clandinin and Connelly talk about professional knowledge landscapes, and state these landscapes are narratively constructed. This fits with my idea that knowledge is socially constructed.

“To enter a professional knowledge landscape is to enter a place of story” (p151).

The authors state that this landscape is made up of two 'places'. The first place is an out-of-classroom place which is filled with things that are imposed on teachers such as policies and plans. They call the stories that are created in this place 'sacred'.

The second place is an in-classroom place. This is the safe place of secret stories where teachers are 'free to live stories of practice' (p151).

“When teachers move out of their classrooms onto the out-of-classroom place on the landscape, they often live and tell cover stories, stories in which they portray themselves as expert, certain characters whose teacher stories fit within the acceptable range of the story of school being lived in the school. Cover stories enable teachers whose teacher stories are marginalized by whatever the current story of school is to continue to practice and to sustain their teacher stories. (Clandinin and Connelly 1996, p. 25)”

I wonder if the stories we tell when we visit schools to make digital stories cross the boundaries of these two places? We definitely fit in the out-of-classroom place as we represent government policy - The New Zealand Curriculum. However, rather than coming with a sacred story about curriculum we are asking the schools to tell us their stories. This moves the ownership of the story.

Also the story is told by many voices. We hear the 'current story of the school' as explained by leadership, however we also hear the in-classroom stories as we capture teacher practice on film. We also capture student voice and the students reveal those secret classroom stories.

I see this as the value of digital stories for sharing practice across schools. The story is no longer the 'sacred' story imposed on schools. It is a dynamic, living, changing story as lived by teachers and leaders. And in the process of telling and sharing the story the doors of classrooms are opened, the voices of teachers, students, and leaders are heard, and they hear each other. This process adds another plot line, or scene to the story.

Focusing stories

2011-03-08T09:03:00.004+13:00

One of my favourite parts of my job is to visit schools around New Zealand and help them tell their curriculum story through video.

I have been interested in the process that schools go through when they let us into their place to help them tell their curriculum story. I find the whole process of 'storying' intriguing. By sitting down and taking the time to explore their own school story individually, and then telling the story to each other as they tell it to us, you can see new possibilities opening up.

Principals have told me that after we leave they can see even more possibilities for change and growth in their schools. It is as if our visit is a step in the process of curriculum change.

People construct identities through their talk in interaction with others

I read Narrative inquiry and school leadership identities (2009) by Greer Cavallaro Johnson and it raised a few ideas for me. She mentions that 'people construct identities through their talk in interaction with others' (p270). This is evident when you place a video camera in front of someone. They are not only telling you the story of their curriculum change but also their place within that change. It is interesting to see them explore this narrative through a different lens. They have been active in the process, but the process of storying allows them to see what their place was in that process and to reflect on the experience.

Telling stories is an interactional process

Greer also discussed the 'interactional process of how people tell and respond to stories' (p275) which got me thinking about the part that we actually play in the storying process. By inviting the school to tell their curriculum story we are providing a lens through which to look at what is happening in the school. We have a specific focus - that of curriculum development. We then funnel what we see and what people tell us through this lens to see in detail the parts that make up the change and the perceived outcomes. Prior to this the school may not have taken the time to see how all the parts of the change process connect together. There are always many different initiatives occurring in schools and sometimes those within the school do not see the interconnections between the initiatives and how they influence each other.

Story tellers are in charge of how they want to be heard

The last point I picked up from this paper was that 'storytellers are in charge of how they want to be heard' (p281). I think a lot of the time, in the process of telling us their stories, teachers and leaders see how they want things to be rather than how they might currently be. And this is the story they tell. It is a 'looking forward' story. And hopefully with telling us their story, reflecting on where they have been and where they are heading, schools find the process of telling their story an actual step in the process of making their story a reality.

Here is the latest curriculum story from NZC Online

Is Facebook evil?

2010-11-21T13:52:00.004+13:00

I have been a bit busy lately and finding it hard to keep on top of reading. I have set myself a goal to read and reflect on one academic paper a day to get back into the swing of things.

I started off today by reading the 2010 Horizon report. This report highlights trends that are ‘identified as key drivers of technology adoptions for the period 2010 through 2015’ as well as other issues and challenges. As I cast my mind over the issues arising in this report around innovative use of technologies for teaching and learning I found intersections with my thinking about the use of Facebook (FB) in education. My thoughts are predicated on the fact FB is for 13 year olds and up.

The Horizon Report stated that ‘The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing.’ Also that ‘People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to.’ These two statements fit with the notion of using a platform such as FB for educational purposes.

I have been thinking about FB and how it has become a word synonymous with fear and ridicule in some circles. FB is that place where people are posting drunken, embarrassing photos of themselves and sinking their careers. Teachers are losing their jobs, politicians are revealing their misdeeds and even the wife of the MI6 has exposed the holiday location of a man supposedly at the top level of security and secrecy. Students are making themselves unemployable because what they put on line in FB will haunt them in years to come. This social software platform is truly a thing to be feared.

Or is it?

What makes FB any different from blogging, or any other online experience? FB has just received all the negative press. In my opinion, as educators, this is a perfect opportunity to put some things into play.

It is our role to help students learn how to stay safe in this new environment

Students, and many adults too, are navigating a new ‘world’ with new ways of interacting with each other and the environment. A new set of rules is needed and a new etiquette learnt. Rather than throwing up our hands and leaving FB to the kids to navigate without support, there is a great opportunity here for teachers to explore how this social software platform can be used for educational purposes. And at the same time help the students to understand how to exist in the environment safely and with respect for themselves and others.

It makes sense to use a platform where the students already carry out most of their online activities

Students use FB for more than just connecting with their friends. A lot of personal learning occurs within FB. It may not be the academic learning that we would hope for, however students are forming groups around interests such as music and hobbies and taking part in collaborative discussions and resource sharing activities. FB has so many built in features that would make it ideal for a class to work collaboratively. Using a group, students can ‘join’ and therefore have all the information pulled from that group onto their walls. This could be used to make sure they receive the latest important information, sharing of resources and links that can help them with their studies, or engaging them in discussion around various topics.

But what about the distinction between private and public life?

Many teachers are hesitant to use FB with their classes because they see it as their private space where they interact with family and friends. And that is a very valid point. However FB as a platform is much more than just that space. It is a community of spaces that can be kept separate. A group can be set up for a course or a class, which does not pull in any of the user's private information. The sole purpose of the group is to interact in that one space. The people who join do not get access to your private FB profile.

I think the point I am trying to make, is not that we should all rush out and use FB, but that we should take a step back and see that it is just another social networking platform which is neither better or worse than others. I think that we should stop listening to those trying to scare us away from our responsibilities of helping students navigate the sometimes complex waters of online life. What issues such as the furor around FB offer us are a new way of looking at how people learn and live.

Just as the introduction of Wikipedia highlighted the increasing need for students to become sophisticated researchers to ensure the credibility of online information, Facebook is highlighting the need for students to understand how to present themselves, and behave in an online environment and to consider consequences of their actions.

That is what I have been thinking, anyway.

Kidz @ Conference

2010-11-05T18:35:00.003+13:00

I have spent the last two days at Kidz@Conference at the Dunedin College of Education. We have put this event on now for the last five years and it is always so exciting. The students come for two days of workshops using all different technologies with the idea that they can then help implement these back at school. Each school also sends a teacher along with their students so it is good PD for the teachers too. My job is to get all the students' work up onto the wiki before the end of the second day. On the wiki I have tried to include links to information about the software as well so there are examples of work and information for how to get started in your classroom.

Graeme Aitkin - Teaching what matters and selecting content and pedagogy

2010-09-30T12:55:00.003+13:00

Today I am lucky enough to be presenting at and attending the First Time Principals' Conference in Auckland. The final keynote speaker is Graeme Aitken, the Dean of Education from the University of Auckland, these are my notes from his session.

The title of Graeme's talk is - Teaching what matters and selecting content and pedagogy.

For me the session was full of provocative questions and I'll leave them with you in the hope that you find them provocative also.

He asks us 'How do you decide what to teach? and How do you decide how to teach that content?' We need to do more things that matter and do them well.

Teaching itself is not simple.

The role of school leaders in teaching:

Modeling effective teaching
Creating the conditions for effectiveness
Providing feedback about effective teaching to others - not just as part of the appraisal process but it is part of the ongoing process of being in and out of classrooms
Helping to identify and resolve teaching problems
Recognising effectiveness in selection - thinking about the criteria you use in selecting new teachers to determine effectiveness.

There is no one right way to be effective.

What are teachers obligated to be?
efficient, organised, in control, warm, enthusiastic, empathetic, interesting, humorous ...

What are teachers obligated to do?
overviews at the start, group work, cooperative learning, open ended questions, inquiry learning, use visuals, storytelling, whole class instruction ... This list is long and disputed when you look at what research states teachers are obligated to do.

But

What are teachers obligated to cause?
Successful learning, greater interest, greater confidence ...

To what extent are you 'causing' what is valued in teaching? It is effective to focus on what you need to cause, and how what you should be or do influences that.

There is a critical interaction between 'be' 'do' and 'cause'

Being ineffective is where students experience misalignment, lack of engagement and lack of success. This includes duplication, confusion, busy work, waiting. Graham Nuthall found in his research that a significant number of intermediate students already knew the content the teacher was presenting.

Being effective means giving students more time to be engaged and learning about things that matter.

We should be proud of the effort that teachers are putting in to engage and help students learn. Effective teaching is the effort that goes in to create learning environments and learning students. Teaching as inquiry in the NZC is a model that supports effective teaching. This model asks you to consider what is important and therefore worth spending time on given where your students are at before engaging in teaching and learning activities.

So what does Graeme consider are teachers' obligations?

Focus on outcomes that matter - desired results.
Cause students to appreciate the value of the desired results

We need 'student sensitive' learning, but maybe not 'student centred' learning. We don't always have to start with something that students are interested in. They don't know what they don't know. It is up to us to spark the imaginations of students.

Wiggans and McTigue (Understanding by design) discuss the twin sins of design - Coverage focused teaching and Activity focused teaching.

Important questions to ask are ...

Why does this learning matter for these students at this time?

and

What is the best way of teaching this?

In choosing content that matters there has to be some sense of standard against which you are measuring.

Then there is the tough task of appreciation - how can I help students appreciate the value of this learning?

How will we know when we have caused engagement and success?

If what you are doing is not working ... Then try something else!

What are some of the things we can look at to look for engagement and success beyond the obvious standardised tests?

For example:

observe the responses of the students over a period of time in a systematic way to ascertain engagement?
Ask students to rate activities - challenge, skill, importance, interest, success, relax, self-esteem. Choose one or two of these elements and genuinely ask students their opinions, not necessarily a tick box activity.
Ask students to report or explain what they are doing, why they are doing it, how it will help them, how it fits with previous learning and how will they know when they have learned?
At the end of a lesson - the one minute response to what is the most important thing you have learned - where did you get the most lost or confused today.

Be prepared to make changes when you identify what is not working, and what is working well. You cannot be effective unless you are curious enough to embark on finding out what works. Be open minded to new possibilities and understanding student experiences, observe your own practice and suspend judgment. Have the wisdom to be conscious of your own ignorance and have a sense of OPTIMISM.

Graeme's last statement :

Wise use of time, wise action, wise use of evidence leads to a profession of wise people.

Why go to Ulearn?

2010-06-23T18:17:00.000+12:00

LiveBinders

2010-06-22T08:02:00.002+12:00

I've just come across LiveBinders which I thought would be of great use in the classroom. Often you have lots of things for your students to view online and on your computer but you don't want them to get lost in the world of clicking. With LiveBinder you can put all your word documents, videos, and web sites on one page with a series of tabs across the top. All the information you have collected for that lesson or unit is available from one url.

I'm going to explore using it for workshops. Will make things a lot easier than jumping from one application, or one website to another.

CORE Education Foundation awards

2010-06-01T10:37:00.001+12:00

Awards Poster

IF you are interested in applying for one of the CORE Foundation Awards, visit http://www.core-ed.org/foundation

Students and privacy online

2010-05-27T07:45:00.001+12:00

I thought this video about keeping yourself safe online, for 11 to 16 year olds, was very well done. It has the right tone to make kids think without being too over the top scary. I will definitely be showing this to my teenagers.

Thanks Andrew

Developing whānau priorities

2010-05-23T09:17:00.003+12:00

I was privileged to visit Te Kura o Hiruharama up near Ruatoria a couple of weeks back and I was struck by a comment made by a parent.

"It's about everyone having an input on a whole, it's not the teachers are there and the whānau are there, we are one unit working together hopefully."

It made me think about the old adage 'It takes a village to raise a child'. Sometimes there can seem to be a big distance between school and home, sometimes, we even speak different languages in our different villages. This school has spent a lot of time talking with whānau and gathering in results of surveys to develop a set of three priorities that the school and home can work on together (sometimes these surveys result in developing something that the school can work on, on behalf of the parents, rather than in partnership with).

These priorities are evident in the school mission statement, in the school vision, and are evident in the planning of inquiry units. The concept of split screen thinking is evident here, as the priorities are skillfully and thoughtfully woven throughout elements at the school.

This led me to reflect on my own experiences in teaching:
Were the parents' priorities evident in my school vision / mission statement / lessons?
Was developing the school vision considered when planning units of work?

(image: I think this is Mt Hikurangi, at least it is a photo I took of a huge Mt on the way out to the school :) )

Beware when you blog

2010-05-22T09:46:00.006+12:00

Before I start my rant - let me state I subscribe and enjoy a good deal of talented teachers' blogs and learn a lot from them. Let the rant begin ...

I saw a blog post yesterday which made me quite worried and provoked me to write this post. I'm hoping that the post in question will be taken down soon and so I won't link to it.

I once heard someone say that technology is an amplifier. It can amplify good practice and it can amplify bad practice. I have two cautions I want to put forward:

Principals - subscribe to all the blogs being written in your school. You are the leader and need to know what is being put out for the world to see. Also you can then support, nurture, and encourage as well as moderate. This is not micro managing, this is being involved.
Teachers - think! What is the purpose of your blog? Who is your audience? What is the hidden message coming through?

The post in question that has provoked this rant is a typical post where a teacher has described an activity the class has undertaken. It sounded like a great activity. The class had read about 50,000 people protesting against mining in national parks. They discussed the use of signs in the protest. Discussed the language (I hope) and made their own signs. This would be a really powerful lesson - however, this is where the amplifier came in. The teacher in question seemed to missed out the powerful bits and then amplified this to the world through the blog.

The post displayed the signs made by the children including these statements (and there were more!):

"John Key the donkey"
"Don't mine NZ, that's what Australia's for"

Now in my mind the powerful parts of this lesson could be to talk about separating political attacks from personal ones. I doubt it would be acceptable to teach children to call anyone names, let alone the leader of their country. Who, even if you disagree with his politics, deserves some respect.

Another powerful part of this lesson could be to talk about what made mining acceptable or not. Is it okay to mine in one place not another, in one country over another?

I thought this was a timely reminder that you really need to have a good pedagogical framework before you start blogging.

In one sentence "Why do you blog?"

Telling a story with photography

2010-04-29T20:29:00.003+12:00

A while ago I wrote a teaching sequence for English online called Telling a story with photography

I have always loved using photography with my class to bring out a whole new side to story telling and creativity. I have just watched a video on Teachers TV that I thought was great for people wanting something simple to get them started with the idea in the classroom.

Boost your teaching - tips for better digital photography.

There wasn't an embed code, so head on over to have a look.

Final cut express 4.0.1 update

2010-04-16T14:56:00.003+12:00

I'm writing this post because I have spent a frustrating week trying to find out how to get my final cut express to install the update. I tried the software update many times but it didn't find anything. So after intensive Googling I resorted to ringing the lovely people at apple support and it turns out ...

the Final cut express application must be in the applications folder not in a subfolder !!

Duh! I had tidied up my applications and put all the final cut express stuff into a folder. So the answer was to pull the app outside the folder into the applications folder, run software update and viola! There was the update ready to install.

I hope this post saves you the time and frustration I've just been through.

Teachers TV

2010-03-25T08:27:00.002+13:00

Teachers TV is an online site that provides education video resources, lesson plans, inspiration and ideas to use in the classroom. However, it is more than that, Teachers TV also broadcasts on the television in the UK which means that they produce a large volume of high quality content to support teachers in their everyday jobs of teaching and learning. This site is worth a visit. From my point of view they have cutting edge ideas for the display of digital media and discussed the fact that digital media should not replace text but provide teachers with things that are not possible in just text.

We were fortunate today to meet with John Richmond, the international development executive of Teachers TV, to discuss how Teachers TV works. This is part of our PD to develop our skills in digital media for CORE Education. John took us out to Brook Lapping which is an internationally acclaimed independent documentary production company who make many of the films for Teachers TV. We came away with a wealth of ideas of where to next for our processes and procedures for digital media in our projects at CORE.

Leigh Academy - Dartford Kent

2010-03-24T10:21:00.003+13:00

We visited an innovative secondary school today. Leigh Academy is a new school that was purpose built. Frank Green, the CEO of Leigh Academy explained that the school was designed as a result of being required to find new ways to raise educational standards.

There are some interesting things happening in this college. Firstly they employ vertical integration where students from 11 year olds through to 18 year olds are integrated into the same classes. This is based on research stating that students learn best when they can learn from, and teach, each other.

Another innovation is around class sizes, operating classes of 50 to 60 students with three teachers, in large open spaces. This is a technology rich school and as we walked around we saw students working in all different types of groupings and purposes. We saw a large space with a lot of students and three teachers walking around, and we saw smaller spaces with students working one on one or in small groups.

And one more innovation is around school sizes. Based on research it was found that the optimal size of a school was no more than 500 students. Above this and there is less achievement and more chance of behavioural problems and so on. This was a hard issue to overcome in a very large secondary school and their answer is, I think, genius. The secondary school of over 1200 students was separated into four different colleges. These colleges are all housed in the same building as their own blocks. Each college has the exact same layout and their own speciality. DaVinci college specialises in (you guessed it) the arts, Chaucer - humanities, Darwin - the sciences, and Brunel - technology. Each college has its own principal to run the school and staff, this ensures that every child is known well as an individual by the head teacher and staff. Frank's role is as the CEO over the entire academy. Students belong to one college, however move between colleges for the specialities.

It was quite a treat to visit this school and see how new answers can be found to old problems. We recorded interviews with Frank Green and these will be available on EdTalks shortly.

Training day with Urban Fox

2010-03-23T09:23:00.002+13:00

Today I was fortunate enough to spend the day in one-on-one training with Christina Fox of Urban Fox. Christina has an extensive career as a camera woman for the BBC, working on projects as diverse as the news and playschool and so many other genres in between.

It was a treat to have her all to myself for the day. Christina had viewed some of my work before I arrived for training and had devised a programme to move me on. It was amazing. I didn't know how little I knew until I worked with her. I had been doing an okay job as a self taught videographer, but I now needed to step up to the next level.

Firstly we started with the bare bones essentials - the techie bits. We explored my camera and I am now confident to shoot video with the camera fully in manual mode. This answered a lot of my questions about how to get the image crisper, clearer and with the right tones and colours. I apologise to those I have shot who have turned out an orangy colour because I didn't know how to set the white balance!!

Once the techie bits were mastered Christina offered me some suggestions on what she considered as my next steps in editing based on the work I had previously shot. We talked about the effective way to shoot interviews and some of the techniques for shooting sequences to cover editing points. The video above is just a quick exercise at using different shots to portray the same story - master shot, over the shoulder, close up, and face shots. To get these shots the actor (in this case Christina) has to act out the scene four times over. This gives you four different angles to use to make the sequence more interesting.

I'm a little annoyed that I didn't do this training before I shot the video at Sawyers Hall as I can see so many places to use my new knowledge, but luckily, tomorrow I am shooting video at Leigh Academy, so I can try out my new skills then.

Triumph over adversity - Sawyers Hall College

2010-03-23T08:22:00.005+13:00

My colleague, Christina, and I were fortunate enough to win a professional development scholarship from CORE Education which has enabled us to travel to London for professional learning. Our plans while here are to shoot a digital story at Sawyers Hall College, attend a day's training with Urban Fox, visit Leigh Academy to shoot an EdTalk, and visit Teachers TV. Our aim is to build on our skills in digital story telling.

We visited Sawyers Hall College in Brentwood. They are using CORE's EPS web based self review tool and our task was to shoot a case study of videos with management, teachers and students about their experience with the tool.

The story that made me sit up and think though, is based in student voice.

Sawyers Hall was a school that was going downhill fast and facing closure due to bad performance. Stephen Capper was appointed as the head teacher (principal) and slowly started to turn things around. He told us this story, which is the philosophy of the school:

A wise old man was sitting at the beach watching a young boy. There had been a storm and hundreds of starfish had washed up on the shore and were slowly dying. The young boy was walking along throwing the starfish back into the ocean one by one. The old man walked up to the boy and asked him why he was wasting his time, he couldn't possibly make a difference with so many starfish washed up on the shore. The boy looked at the old man, then picked up one starfish and threw it back into the sea, "made a difference to that one," he replied.

Because of the care of the staff and the philosophy of the school to put students at the heart, the school has slowly turned around and is making progress now in leaps and bounds. They are truly making a difference. This difference was not because of measurement, but because of seeing each child as an individual.

Technological nomads

2010-03-01T14:17:00.003+13:00

I have been reflecting on my time as a facilitator and have noticed that you have to have a certain temperament to be good at this job. I think I have finally developed this temperament now. It has a lot to do with patience and caring.

When you work with people (teachers) there are often a lot of things that come into play. A lot of teachers are frightened and threatened by being faced with something they are unfamiliar with. In the past teachers have always been the holder of all knowledge, the supreme authority, the buck stops there ! With our wonderful new curriculum we are encouraged to be learners, to admit we don't know and then embark on finding out with enthusiasm.

There is one type of teacher that I work with a lot and it makes me wonder about how far we have come down the track of letting go of authority and embracing learning. I have called these teachers the technological nomads.

They kNOw nothing and they get MAD at you :)

I'm okay at working with these teachers now as I can smile and lead them gently until they understand and feel familiar and less threatened. But I wonder what would we do as teachers if our students did the same thing? Is that student who is struggling with reading coming to mind now? Those struggling students who play up all the time and display aggression?

Anyway, just my thoughts... How do you cope with the technological nomad?

An idea for smooth transition to primary school

2010-02-26T08:35:00.002+13:00

I was lucky enough to visit Otonga School in Rotorua while I've been here for the conference and to find out about some cool initiatives they have running. One that stood out for me was their 'Ready, Set, Go' programme to help children transition from preschool to primary.

This programme runs for one day a week over a period of ten weeks. The parents bring their children to school for one hour and take part in a targeted programme. Ready, Set, Go is an example of split screen thinking or using one idea to serve many purposes.

This is how it runs:

The parents and children all start together in the classroom with Jill, a very talented NE teacher. Jill takes the children through an element of the key competencies. When I was visiting the topic was how to get help in the playground. Jill demonstrated how to find a duty teacher and how to find other children to help, and how to find friends and make friends. This session gave the parents the security of knowing what is in place for their kids and the vocabulary to be able to talk to them at home.

Next the parents all leave with the leadership team to have a meeting in the staff room. They wave to their children as they leave and the children are becoming quite happy with parents leaving and their staying and taking part in the classroom programme. And the parents are happy with seeing their children feeling secure. The parents then meet with the leadership team to take part in a discussion around the same issue the children have been talking about however at an adult level.

Why I think this is an effective programme:

There are so many elements here that make this work. Firstly this is a superb idea for consulting with parents and making sure they feel a part of the school, know how things run, and feel like they can speak to the staff at any time.

Also, the parents are fully versed in the learning and teaching culture of the school. Since the programme they are taken through is based around the key competencies the parents fully understand the basis of the NZC and that the school is interested in their child as a whole person.

Additionally, the children become really secure and happy to be at school and make a much easier transition to the school. They already have a group of friends before their first day and they know all the routines and expectations of the school before they start.

I'm making a digital story at this school and it will be available on Key Competencies Online shortly (I'll link when available).

Creative commons at Learning@School

2010-02-14T19:03:00.003+13:00

I'm presenting a few workshops at Learning@School but the one I've been enjoying putting together is a session on how to find or make images and music for use online without stealing (copy friendly images and music).

By teaching kids how to attribute when they borrow or amend an image or music you are teaching them how to reference from a very young age. I can promise you their uni lecturers will thank you in the long run!

Adding music and images to a piece of writing broadens a students ability to express and also levels the playing field a little. No longer do those students who excel in writing rule the roost, students with a flare for images or a flare for music have just as much of a chance to express themselves powerfully. I had my students write a 'feelings' poem. I've been doing this for years, however the year I added imagery and music to the lesson was the most powerful.

A student writes I feel .... then needs to find or make an image to illustrate that feeling, then needs to find a sound effect or music to illustrate that feeling. Now that is a lot of learning out of something that was once a quick way to write a poem. Add on top of that a public performance by critiquing amongst peers or putting it on the web and you have a truly powerful learning experience which adds motivation by the truck load.

Every step in this lesson has a breadth of learning. It is not narrow by any means of the imagination and that is what I love - deep, broad embracing of language. By language I mean the way we communicate and let's face it, we very rarely communicate solely through writing.

I'm gathering up some resources to share. Feel free to take a look and add some more that you know of :)

http://ictucan.wikispaces.com/Creative+commons

Show me what's wrong

2010-01-22T12:08:00.003+13:00

I just had to share this site I've come across (thanks Allanahk).

http://showmewhatswrong.com/ is a website that allows you to set up a url, send this to your friends, colleagues, family or whoever is asking your for help with a problem on their computer. By clicking the link you have sent them it sets up a screen recording function that records everything they do on their screen, plus records their narration of what they are doing. When they click stop recording, this screen recording is sent to your email so you can see exactly what they are doing and how to help them.

I can see this coming in very handy!

365 photo blog challenge

2010-01-02T11:55:00.002+13:00

Yesterday I started the 365 photo challenge, I've always wanted to take part in one of these but never had the discipline. On the first day of 2010 as you do, I was wandering around on my computer and noticed a number of tweets being posted by my fellow NZ edubloggers about starting a photo challenge and I thought I would jump on board.

I'm hoping this will renew my passion for blogging as I have gotten a bit stuck lately. For blogging to work there must be a purpose. When I was in the classroom and working as a facilitator there was a strong purpose for this blog. It was where I recorded all the exciting things I was seeing, doing and experiencing with ICT in the classroom. Since I have moved across to my new position as an online editor I am finding it more difficult to write on the blog as I write online all day. If anything, I now have much more to write about as I am seeing first hand the marvelous things happening in schools around our outstanding New Zealand Curriculum. I'm hoping 2010 will be the renewal of my blogging.

So if you're interested, my photo blog can be found at http://daybydaybyjane.blogspot.com

Happy New Year everyone.

This year it was a good report mum

2009-12-11T19:27:00.003+13:00

I have been musing today over the power of language. The way we say things makes a difference. Last year my daughter was suffering very much from a low self esteem at school. She did not feel confident in her abilities and often saw herself as failing rather than as having challenges ahead of her. When we read her report together she saw the language 'below the expected level' and instantly begged me not to show the report to anyone. She didn't want her grandparents to know she was failing. It was very upsetting.

This year the school has reworded the reports. She has done very well with everyone remarking on her lovely personality and helpful manner and the only area she is struggling with continues to be maths. But this year the report states 'near the expected level'. We had a chat and I explained that this meant she was making good progress and the report was showing her that this was where she needed to put her efforts. She was very happy and bounced all over the place with the thought of success and challenges ahead.

What a difference the change of one word makes. We underestimate the power of words for motivation and self esteem. Please do not let the deficit words of 'below' or 'well below' anywhere near our students.

I finally got an iphone

2009-12-10T21:44:00.003+13:00

It has taken me a while but today was my first day playing with my iphone. I have high hopes of this device saving me time and supporting me in my work. Since my work has changed over the last year I am less in the classroom and more working by supporting teachers via digital stories and websites. So the posts I write about the iphone will be focused in that way.

My first find, for those who do a bit of travel using Air New Zealand is the free application called Air New Zealand mPass. I am always forgetting what time my flights are etc and then having to open up my computer to find out. Now I have it in a handy list on my iphone listed succinctly with flight number and time. This application also has the mpass for your trip so you can use this at the gates to get on the plane or when booking at one of the machines. Thanks to CORE colleague Nick Rate for this find!

Word magnets

2009-10-14T07:47:00.005+13:00

I just came across word magnets and I can think of so many ways for it to be used in the classroom. You can add words to the page and the students can move them around to try and put them together into a sentence that makes sense.

I was thinking this would be handy in the senior grades when talking about subject focused and object focused sentences.
You could have students recognise types of words by inserting adjectives into sentences to change the meaning, feel and power of the sentence.
You could use this application with letters and have junior students play with building up words
You could put a lot of word endings up and play with adding these to words
You could put up numbers to try and make number sentences ...

What ideas do you have for using this simple but effective tool?

Education management blogs and sharetab

2009-08-24T17:33:00.003+12:00

I while ago I came across sharetabs and could see its potential both in the classroom and for running professional development. Sharetabs lets you create one page with one url which contains all the sites that you wish your group to visit during your session.

On Wednesday I'm running a Web2 session for the Experienced Principals Development Programme run by CORE Education and I thought we might all wander through some New Zealand principal blogs. I decided to use sharetabs to make the process smoother. So here is the list of the Education management blogs I've turned into a sharetabs link to share with the group. If you know of any great education management blogs I've left out, leave them in the comments and I'll add them in.

How are schools approaching the key competencies?

2009-06-03T16:16:00.002+12:00

I have been privileged over the last few months to visit four schools which have been identified as doing some interesting things with the key competencies. All of these schools have approached things in very different ways with one important thing in common, it is a shared journey between staff, students, and school community.

One school noticed how the Habits of Mind can be aligned with the key competencies, so they began their journey by enhancing what they were already doing with HOM with the KCs. They broke the HOM into groups that could sit under each key competencies which would help the students to understand the depth of the KCs by each HOM which supported it.

Another school also saw the benefits of linking the HOM and KCs however they also noted that different HOM might look different within each KC and they weren't a perfect fit. This school started looking at different words, for example 'Responsibility'. What does that word look like when viewed through a 'managing self' lens? or through a 'thinking' lens? or through a participating and contributing lens? for example. This school was looking at the complexity of the KCs, their connections and how they looked different in different learning areas.

The UNESCO four pillars of education formed a third school's entry point into the KCs. This school looked at how the KCs sat within learning to do, to be, to know, and to live together.

And the last school looked at how KCs contributed to their school culture, and how creating an inclusive caring culture with KCs at the heart can support students to not only learn to their full capacity but to become the people the KCs exemplify.

These four schools have many things in common:

Leadership is leading - The passion is evident in these leaders, they know what is happening in their schools as they are leading the charge.
Leadership is distributed - In all of these schools the passion is shared among the staff who feel the freedom to run with their ideas and contribute to the direction.
Voices are evident - Students, staff and parents are knowledgeable about what is happening in these schools and have a vested interest. Students can articulate the shared vision and demonstrate partnership in their learning.
Building on what is already happening - These schools did not start from scratch. They took a step back to look at what was happening in their schools, what was contributing to student outcomes and then looked at how to enhance that with the new curriculum.

I'm reminded of the reflection strategy of the traffic light.

What is not working? Stop doing it!
What is working well? Continue with that!
What new ideas can move you forward? Get going!

Fun with twitter

2009-03-22T08:53:00.004+13:00

Thanks to Justine, I found this fun video. Seeing that I will be spending a large chunk of my time looking at Twitter in my dissertation over the next few years, it is nice to look at the absurd side of something I value.

For some reason I can't get the embed code to work, so head over to Justine's blog and have a laugh.

My teaching journey

2009-03-16T21:24:00.005+13:00

Here is a story of a journey begun. One of adventure, danger and heroism. There is also an element of innocence lost as our hero faces the stark realities of the boundaries of possibility. Our hero continues journeying for a lifetime, facing danger and solving mysteries, all the time growing in legend.

You may think this is a strange way to begin an essay on my personal history and development as a teacher. I see teaching as an expression of creativity and a way to make a difference in our world. The hero I mention is the typical narrative hero; the person most thought to amount to nothing, with nothing to offer. This person, through trial, tribulation, success and tears, enters into a lifelong journey of making a difference. Along the way gathering experience, skills, tools and knowledge. I am that person who had nothing to offer and I am enjoying my journey.

Stage One – Survival

I entered my first classroom with the purpose to create a positive learning atmosphere. I had few teaching strategies and little curriculum knowledge. I was teaching as I had been taught. Nuthall (2001) writes that culture shapes our understanding of both the teaching and learning process. The ritual of teaching remains relatively unchanged. He calls teaching a kind of cultural ritual.

This survival stage furnished me with many questions. Is it effective to teach separate subjects on separate days? What knowledge do my students really need? And the question that bothered me the most…what was I meant to do with that one computer at the back of my room?

So at the end of stage one, I knew there was something amiss, however, could not define it. I questioned the content I taught and the way I was told to teach it. I felt that learning was enhanced by positive self esteem which was developed within a safe environment that promoted a supportive community, risk taking and respect. I had started my journey.

Stage Two – From ‘what to teach’ to ‘how children learn’

This lengthy stage coincided with two major events. Firstly, I was presented with a new curriculum document to interpret in Western Australia. I embraced this new document with zeal. It confronted things about the way I was teaching that made me uncomfortable such as a differentiated curriculum, and allowed more creative freedom. My zeal was soon undone as we were informed by the Principal there was no hurry to adopt the documents. The books were put back on the shelf and teachers continued with the ‘cultural ritual’ of teaching.

Then I moved to New Zealand.

I continued with my cultural ritual, however it didn’t fit with the NZ curriculum. Teachers in NZ had already embraced a new curriculum. I was unable to work out how to teach in this new world. I had a lot of questions. I could no longer teach as I had been taught. This did not meet my students’ needs. I had to ask myself, how do I think students learn and therefore how should I teach.

Now I could run with the new curriculum documents.

I integrated the curriculum in a meaningful manner. I embarked on a teaching strategy, which I now know to be called ‘Inquiry Based Learning’ which made sense to me. Inquiry learning “begins with students’ prior knowledge and experience and moves through a deliberate process wherein that knowledge is extended, challenged and refined.” (Murdoch, 1997:5). I had moved out of the survival mode of thinking about ‘what to teach’, and had moved into the stage of discovering ‘how children learn’.

This curriculum with the four pillars of education stating that children need to: learn to do, learn to live together, learn to be and learn to know equipped me with a picture of the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values I wanted students to have and I designed my teaching with this in mind.
Some changes I made to my practice included embracing collaborative learning in all areas of my teaching; thinking skills were woven into lessons and I planned ways for students to take responsibility for their own learning. No longer would I supply knowledge for students, I would create an atmosphere for them to construct their own learning. Another major change was I began using assessment to guide my teaching rather than to report to the authorities. Crooks (1988) discusses that evaluation is a guide to learning as well as to teaching. Feedback should be given promptly and children should be given opportunities to demonstrate learning from the feedback. Black and William (1998) agree stating that formative assessment is at the heart of effective teaching and that frequent assessment feedback raises achievement overall but especially in low achievers.

The freedom in this new curriculum gave me the momentum to enter into stage two of my development as a practitioner. “Motivation is the key to preventing ‘educational suicide’. Constraint gives a person the desire to escape, freedom gives a person the desire to explore, expand and create” (Clifford, 1990:23). I began reflecting on my teaching and the children’s learning. I asked questions and enacted changes. I began to read educational research to support my assumptions. I realised I needed to know the theory behind my practice. This led me into the next step of my journey.

Stage Three – putting the pieces together

Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003) exert that teacher learning has a positive correlation on student learning. To ensure the best outcome for my students, I had to take an active role in my own learning.

I had begun my journey by providing children with a secure and supportive learning environment. I made changes to my practice with ‘how children learn’ in mind. I was beginning to fit into the definition of a social constructivist. “Vygotsky (1962) theorised that human learning is dependent on the social and cultural environment, as well as the mind, and that the deep determinants of human activity lie in the historically developing culture, embodied in various signs and symbol systems” (Stoll, Fink & Earl, 2003:23). Jones and Mercer (1993:72) identify that Vygotsky’s theory also supports the notion of teachers being active participants in the learning journey.

The Inquiry approach defined by Murdoch (1997) is effective for both students’ learning and teachers’ learning. Students wonder, find out, take social action, and then reflect. Teachers should do the same to refine their practice. As I began to explore my pedagogical knowledge more fully I recognised the need for effective reflection. Eisner in his article on “The kinds of schools we need’, cries “no longer would isolated teachers be left to themselves to figure out what went on when they were teaching” (2002:578). Learning communities and collaboration among colleagues are essential in effective reflection. I have identified myself as a social constructivist and now I need to understand what this really means.

Conclusion
So where do I stand right at this moment in time? “A paradox of information is that those who know a lot about a subject are more aware of what they do not know than those who know less… Those who have information are better placed to demand information than those who do not, hence the importance of metacognitive knowledge” (Dillon, 2004:106). Going even further than that, I find myself worrying that I may not have the time to explore all that I want to know. “One of the challenges of the twenty-first century will be finding ways to capture and dedicate the time necessary for the serious business of learning. (Stoll, Fink & Earl, 2003:41)

I have stated that I fit within the social constructivist paradigm. I see learning as a process of construction and reconstruction, where knowledge is constructed by the learner and not supplied by the teacher. But I find myself reaching beyond this paradigm – with the rapid changes happening in our technological world, what lies beyond constructivism? Brown (2005) suggests that it may be ‘navigationism’. With technology pervading all areas of teaching and learning students need to know how to ethically navigate the wealth of information available and the emerging literacies this demands. So, right at this moment, I claim I am a social constructivist, this may and no doubt will, however change.

Fried in his book “The Passionate Teacher” explains why I am a teacher:
“It (passion) is also a gift we grant ourselves: a way of honouring our life’s work, our profession. …It is teachers’ passions that help them and their students escape the slow death of ‘business as usual’.” (1995:19)

I am interested to see what my next stage will be. I have survived, changed my focus from ‘what to teach’ to ‘how children learn’, and embarked on effective critical reflection. Where will my quest take me next?

References

Aviram, A. (2000). From “computers in the classroom” to mindful radical adaptation by education systems to the emerging cyber culture. Journal of Education Change, 1, 331-352

Black, P and William D. (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 139-148.

Brown, Tom H. (2005) Beyond constructivism: Exploring future learning paradigms. Education Today, (2) 14-30

Clifford, Margaret M. (1990) Students Need Challenge, not easy success, Educational leadership, 48 (1) 22-26

Crooks, T.J. (1988). The impact of classroom evaluation practices on students. Review of Educational Research, 58, 438-481

Dillon, P. (2004). Trajectories and tensions in the theory of information and communication technology in education. British Journal of Educational Studies, 52(2), 138-150.

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The kind of schools we need. Phi Delta Kappan, 83, 576-583

Jones, Z., & Mercer, N. (1993). Theories of learning and information technology. In P. Scrimshaw (ed.), Language, classrooms and computers, London: Routledge pp 11-26

McFarlane, A. (2001). Perspectives on the relationships between ICT and assessment. Journal of computer Assisted Learning, 17, 227-234.

Murdoch, Kath. (1997). Classroom Connections, Strategies for integrated learning. Eleanor Curtain Publishing: Australia

Nuthall, G. (2001) The cultural myths and the realities of teaching and learning. Keynote address to conference of the NZS association for Research in Education. Christchurch, 6-9 Dec. To be published in NZ annual Review of Education.

Stoll, Louise. Fink, Dean and Earl, Lorna. (2003) It’s about learning (and it’s about time) What’s in it for schools? Routledge Falmer: London

Taylor, R. (Ed.) (1980) The computer in the school: Tutor, Tool and Tutee, New York: Teacher’s College Press.

Student driven research

2009-03-11T10:15:00.003+13:00

I have just read the article, student driven research and found it so motivating I wish I had a class to have a go at the process. I recommend you read the article.

In NZ with our new curriculum, student voice is an important element. Most schools are dabbling with or immersed in inquiry learning and teachers are using 'teaching as inquiry' to look at their own practice. This article on student driven research is combining the two together.

Students are taking part in inquiry learning looking at elements of their world of importance to them. A lot of the time the focus of these inquiries in schools I have visited is global: looking after the environment, looking after themselves etc. This article suggests the students look at what really affects them, with the support of the school and dedicated teachers. What about running an inquiry about how the school supports (or otherwise) their learning? What about the assessment procedures of the school? The way teachers interact with students? The work load and expectations? These are the types of questions students in the article conducted authentic research projects around. Students were led through the entire process, including ethics and how to evaluate the data. Students then presented their findings to staff as a part of the staff PD programme, which informed staff reflections.

This article was an eye opener for me and I highly recommend it.

Learning@School

2009-02-28T14:24:00.007+13:00

Blogging not only allows you to reflect on your own thinking, it helps you to connect with the thoughts of others. Blogging at Learning@School Conferences has grown from strength to strength. Twitter has added to this connection as teachers across the globe and nation connect using the microblogging platform.

One delegate who has been in the NZ Twitter network this year mentioned that because of the connections through Twitter she now felt really connected and less lonely while attending the conference. She has a ready group of people with whom she feels comfortable and can also carry out extended conversations long after the conference is over. These connections extend the learning and support us as we head back into normal daily life trying to incorporate the extensive professional development just undertaken.

Blogging has also created a new breed of creature loosely termed the ‘blogebrity’. In the image above Wes Fryer is taking the place as the international blogebrity for this year’s Learning@School (clicking on the image will take you to the original on Flickr which is annotated).

Why do you like blogging?

2009-02-18T14:39:00.002+13:00

Today I was reading a post by a friend of mine. He writes,

This is why I like blogging. You get to chew on life, like a cow chewing its cud, you get to think through your experiences, make connections, appreciate stuff again and taste it all anew. It matters not whether people read it, agree with it or enjoy it... read more

He has such a good way of expressing things. I urge you to go and read the whole post and think about why do you like blogging...

Learning @ School blue screening with a Mac workshop

2009-02-17T09:55:00.006+13:00

One of the workshops I'm running this year, with colleagues Dave Young and Disa McLean, is on how to chromakey with a Mac.

I had my first play around yesterday and it is soooooo easy using iMovie HD.

To make this video I took a video of a blue lunch box lid against the carpet, then used chromakey to make it mask a picture of my daughter. I was thinking you could use something like this as a guessing game with younger students. Or you could even video a blue square on a student's shirt and turn them into a Teletubby!

To get started I downloaded the plug in for iMovie from Stupendous Software, you have to put the plugin in the right place. You can find the link for downloading and view a visual on where to put the plugin on this page of the workshop wiki.

I put it in my user name > library > iMovie > plug-ins

Now you're ready. To build a movie the first step is to film against a blue screen. Make sure you have a good light source and no shadows. You can film an object moving across the blue screen or, like my movie above, film the blue screen that will be the frame for what image you put behind. Place this movie in your timeline.

Next place the object that you would like to be shown in place of the blue area on your video next to the video in the timeline. I used a still image however you could also use a video. Make sure this video or still image is the same length or longer than the blue screen video.

Next click on the blue screen video and from the editing tab click on video FX and scroll down and click on the one called 'ss Blue Screen, Smooth'. You can move the sliders to get just the right amount of colour and coverage and then select apply.

Once the clip has finished rendering preview to see if it is what you wanted then you can delete the second clip in the timeline as it has been merged with the first.

And there you have it. Blue screening made simple.

You can get the links, examples and explanations on the workshop wiki which is currently under construction.

This was so much fun. If any of my schools out there would like me to come and do a workshop with them, let me know.

Turn your Mac color picker into an application

2009-02-16T17:39:00.004+13:00

I'm feeling particularly clever today. I solved a problem and it worked!! Have you ever wanted to grab a colour off the web or another application? Well you can use the color picker that comes with the Mac to do this. Thanks to Macostips for this very simple tip.

1. Open applications > AppleScript > Script Editor
2. Enter this text:

choose color

3. Save it as an application (File > Save as and set the file format pop-up to application)

And that's it! Simple as that. You can now use your color picker any time you want.

To add something extra to your colour picker, download the HexColorPicker. This adds another tab to the color picker bar which tells you the exact number/letter identification of the colour you have chosen. Very handy for when working on the web. Read the help file that comes with this download to tell you where to place the bundle in your directory (very simple).

One more something extra. Your colour picker allows you to create your own palettes and save for later use. This tutorial talks you through the very simple steps.

Learning@School 09

2009-02-12T10:00:00.005+13:00

For those of you who are coming to Learning@School this year in Rotorua, the L@S Blog is up and running. Put it in your feed reader to keep up to date with all the news, events and gossip.

On a side note... I had one of these yesterday ... oh well

Nothing a trip to Rotorua to meet face-to-face with my virtual buddies won't chase away!

Blogger's Cafe at Learning@School 09

2009-02-10T15:32:00.003+13:00

Each year the Blogger's Cafe is getting bigger and better. This year the cafe is being sponsored by Breathe Technology and will be situated in the hallway linking the main hall and the keynotes. We will have tables, data projector and screen so we can share our twittering and blogging and general chit chat with others.

Simon "The dragon" Evans will be manning the cafe and would love to chat with old bloggers, meet new bloggers and even introduce you to blogging if you want to get started.

Breathe Technology will also be holding a competition to win a full day's professional development.

So come and join us at the Blogger's Cafe, meet the people you have been connecting with through blogs, get started blogging or even find out about this Twitter thing :).

Photo credit: Allanah with a pen? by Fiona Grant

Lifelong learning

2008-11-23T10:51:00.004+13:00

I am in the process of writing a literature review on "informal personal online learning networks". I decided that lifelong learning will be a central idea in this review and began reading 'The concepts and practices of lifelong learning'.

I realised that I had a very narrow view of the concept and there are elements that I have never entertained. Some ideas I am grappling with at the moment are:

Lifelong learning can be thought of as elitist. The concept is that the individual will drive their own education and access opportunities but not that the government will provide those opportunities (as opposed to the policy of lifelong education). If this is the case then only those people who can gain access through their economic or social position will have access to quality lifelong learning. This brings up the whole question of equality.
Lifelong learning can be linked with social control. If you accept the notion of lifelong learning then people accept they must adapt and change. This clouds out the other issue of questioning the direction of the change. Deleuze says that one of the features of societies of control is the idea of perpetual learning.
Lifelong learning is essential in the 21st century because of the changing learning society spurred on by changes in science and technology.

I still see the value in lifelong learning and think that greater emphasis needs to be placed on the equity issue. Maybe if we face this issue then the issue of power and control can be addressed also as people learn to evaluate and question change before adapting it.

This has really made me think about the fact that this concept 'lifelong learning' needs to be understood in detail before being claimed to be of benefit for our students or ourselves. I am a lifelong learner and I embrace the concept more now that I have begun to explore what it means, the inherent pitfalls and the opportunities for making the concept of value for all, not just the select few.

These are my initial musings. I am just starting to explore this issue, I am sure many more ideas will come to light so I reserve the right for this post to be seen as my grappling with ideas not making black and white statements. :)

Engagement of our students

2008-11-21T10:46:00.003+13:00

Today I spent some time watching videos put together by Michael Wesch. Many will know his now famous video The Machine is Us/ing Us. He has made a series of other videos about students engagement in school and a fascinating lecture which expands on his simple videos. Below are some of the key messages I pulled out of these videos.

Michael Wesch from Kansas State University put together the video A vision of students today (4:44min) after observing a level of disengagement in tertiary students he wasn't happy with. This video inspired a similar video for junior students A vision of k12 students today (4:09min)

In a presentation at the University of Manitoba entitled A portal to media literacy (1hr) Michael Wesch expanded on the initial video explaining how it came about and discusses the use of digital literacy to enhance student learning.

He asked his students:
Who doesn't like school?
Over half put up their hands.

He asked his students:
Who doesn't like learning?
No one put up their hands.

Michael Wesch also talks about the common statement made by teachers that

Some children are not cut out for school

He then makes the point that School is Learning

Is it fair to say:

Some children are not cut out for learning?

The power of the learning environment is discussed, with the question "What do the walls say about learning?"

He says that the traditional classroom may say:

"To learn is to acquire information
Information is scarce and hard to find
Trust authority for good information
Authorised information is beyond discussion
Obey the authority
Follow along"

This just is not the case for 21st century learning.

What does your learning environment say about learning?

The power of sharing ideas

2008-11-20T07:54:00.002+13:00

I had a good day yesterday. The best part of my job is listening to teachers share their successes and ideas. I spent yesterday at Outram School and every teacher I worked with walked in with something they were proud of to share with me. What a buzz!

I had one teacher who had been exploring the use of glogster to make posters explaining algebraic equations. Another teacher had made her first digital story with PowerPoint on a Mac and then using the easy 'make movie' function to turn it into a Quicktime to post on her blog. The next teacher was buzzing from a workshop she attended at ULearn facilitated by Amanda (heymilly) on 5 frame storytelling. She had started with two frame stories with her 6 year olds and was delighted with their achievements. We discussed the next steps and how digital storytelling can enhance and enable oral language in students and the resounding "That's so exciting" could be heard emanating from the room. Another teacher had made the most remarkable printed storybooks with her juniors where their original artwork had been scanned.

Wow! All this after just one year in the cluster! I remember my first visit to the school where I met with some very uncertain teachers. Uncertain about their ability, uncertain about how useful ICT is for learning, uncertain about the cluster. I am really looking forward to watching these teachers' journey continue over the next two years.

Now for a post about nothing...

2008-11-07T09:40:00.005+13:00

I have been reading some photography blogs and one had some tips for photographing pets and I thought I would have a go with my lovely Jessica...

2009 e-Learning teacher fellowships

2008-11-03T18:26:00.003+13:00

The 2009 e-Fellowships have been announced and I am very excited that a close friend and colleague, Esmay Sutherland, has been awarded an e-Fellowship for next year! Esmay will have an exciting year working alongside the talented people at CORE Education on a research project incorporating movie making and literacy. Who knows... I may even be able to get her blogging!

I have always said Pine Hill School Leads the Way! and this definitely is the case with effective teaching and learning with ICT. Pine Hill School is a small 3 classroom school and has had two teachers awarded e-Fellowships over the last three years. Not bad for a small school at the bottom of the South Island.

Update: Here is the official press release

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A not too subtle metaphor

2008-11-02T08:46:00.003+13:00

Kidz@Conference

2008-11-01T08:22:00.005+13:00

Over the last two days in Dunedin we have held our annual Kidz @ Conference. This is the third year this event has been running and we seem to have ironed out a lot of the kinks. One of the aims for this year was to make sure that the students' work made it online, the last two years this has been a bit of a mission but this year I think we cracked it!

The theme for this year was "I have a dream". Students attended four sessions through out the two day conference learning how to use various technologies: I Can Animate, Garage Band, Lego Robotics, Beebots, digital photography, movie making, green screen, Google Sketchup, Scratch and Wikispaces. And making new friends across the various schools attending. The key to the conference is collaboration, communication and technology.

The Kidz @ Conference is a remarkable two day event for those students lucky enough to attend. There are only places for 100 students (year 5 or 6) and teachers can attend with the students to sit in on the sessions as professional development. The buzz of excitement is contagious. On the first day the students arrive and are given their conference packs and a t-shirt. They then file into the lecture theatre at the University of Otago College of Education where the conference is held. One student was heard to exclaim:

Wow! Look at the seats!

Every part of the conference is an event for the students. After rifling through their packs they were entertained by some very cool dudes from the John McGlashan School band .

These young men from the band then spent the day at the conference running sessions called "Jam with the band". Students could learn how to play their instruments and have their jam session recorded. These sessions can be found on the wiki.

The theme of this year's conference was apt. The Kidz @ Conference has been a dream of the organisers for a very long time and was realised in spectacular fashion this year. A big thank you and well done goes to all the session facilitators and conference organisers who come from schools and education institutions around Dunedin and volunteer their time for free to put on this event. It is a privilege to be involved and I look forward to next year's event.

MPG video and sound problem in iMovie

2008-10-24T10:24:00.003+13:00

Last night I hit a problem. A colleague is in the last stages of cancer and the staff at her school have made her a tribute in the form of video clips of children and colleagues saying goodbye. I was given all the footage to build into a movie. I was honoured to be asked to help.

I sat down with these clips and started building the movie, however when I imported the MPG clips into iMovie there was no sound. I hadn't come across this problem before so I thought I would post the solution I found for anyone else who comes across the same problem.

Apparently MPG intertwines the audio and video tracks so iMovie can't separate them (there will be a technical way of explaining this I'm sure). I consulted trusty Google and one solution I came across was to use some software to split the MPG into an audio and video track then resync them in iMovie. Oh no! this was going to take forever.

Luckily I came across another solution. I downloaded Mpeg streamclip and the problem was solved. I converted each clip using this software into quicktime movies and had the movie built and burnt to disk in no time at all!

This got me thinking (as it always does) about the joys of problem solving. I was on a high because I had solved this problem, it was a similar feeling to finishing a half marathon! It was made even more special because it was such an important problem to solve for the people involved. Do we rob our students of experiencing the joys of problem solving when we solve their problems for them? Our role as teachers is to guide them in their journey to finding the answers and let them enjoy the feeling of success. It takes a skillful teacher to help someone find their own answers.

Close up digital photography with kids

2008-10-23T18:42:00.004+13:00

I had the privilege yesterday to work with a group of year 4/5/6 students at Ravensbourne School. We were looking at how to take close up photos. The photo above is one of the results of our session taken by Alisha, a year 4 student and I think it is amazing! We talked about how to take a close up using the macro function, we talked about angle and lighting.

I took a group of 10 students and taught them these elements of photography and they then went out and took some photos and shared back with each other. Five students then paired up with a new five students and taught them everything they knew. We did this until everyone in the class had learnt how to use the camera to take quality close up shots. I stood back in wonder as the students did such a good job at teaching each other and the excitement built over every creative shot taken. There was no silliness, no silly photos, just students whose world view had been narrowed! I say narrowed because they began peering around the school yard looking for small things of interest. A great cry went up when it was noted that small green clusters of leaves had small droplets of water inside which glistened in the sun!

It is a privilege to be a part of a child's learning. To share the excitement of new knowledge. To discover a world that went unseen before we, as teachers, opened the door to help students see.

I love my job.

Can kids teach themselves?

2008-10-17T20:37:00.001+13:00

I have just watched a thought provoking TED talk, so thought provoking that I had to write this blog post as I sit on my plane flying from Wellington to Dunedin. Sugata Mitra asks the question “Can kids teach themselves?” and went about finding out with a very interesting research project. Concerned about the poor level of education for students in remote areas such as rural India Sugata decided to find out how technology could help. He built ‘hole in the wall’ computers connected to the Internet and placed them in remote, non English speaking areas and then videoed what happened. He found that children very quickly taught themselves how to use these machines to browse for information. Amazingly these children taught themselves how to speak English using the machines to enable them to actually use the machines!

He found that all children could teach themselves with the computer, and this is the vital bit – as long as they were in twos or more. Over 300 children would become computer literate in a 6 month time frame with only one computer. And this was because of the group nature of the learning.

There are many more profound instances in this talk, I urge you to watch and be challenged.

Now I am not seeing this talk as saying we don’t need to teach our kids. One of Sugata's premises was that technology is being rolled out for schools with good kids and good teachers and not making too much of a difference, where it should be rolled out in areas where students are not experiencing a good education, have a lack of teachers, lack of quality education and there the technology makes a marked difference.

However there are important elements in this talk for those of us lucky enough to be in well-developed education systems. There were two major things that stood out for me in my thinking from the results of this research project. The first one was that it affirmed my solid belief in the importance of using computers collaboratively. With all the push for 1 to 1 computing I think we are losing the great benefit of students talking to each other and problem solving together.

The second thought was to do with teachers who are afraid to introduce technology unless they are proficient in it themselves. I have always believed that teachers need to be confident with the technology and be able to know the possibilities but do not need to be the expert. This talk highlights that we can’t hold kids back because of our limitations. My favourite way of introducing new technology to my class is to grab a couple of kids, give them time to explore and play, have them report back to me on what the technology can do and then I introduce it to the rest of the class. I then have ready made experts who can support the students. My job as the expert in learning and teaching is to know how this technology can enhance and extend my students’ learning. If we hit a problem with the technology, then fantastic, problem solving time!

The quality of the sound is a bit low but stick it out, it is worth it.

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ULearn08 Keynote - Steven Carden

2008-10-09T17:08:00.003+13:00

The second keynote was presented, ably, by Steven Carden. This was a highly entertaining talk with a profound message. I asked the twit network to reflect on the keynote as it was happening and you can see their comments in the image to the left (click to enlarge).

The take away message from this keynote:

We are facing or experiencing rapid, extreme change - discussions are needed about our future. What sort of society do we need to be to survive in a changing society?

Steven argued that we are not ready for this change. We forget how small we are (NZ) on the world's stage. We do not have any profound answers... yet. Dialogue is needed.

Societies who are moving in a forward direction have three things in common:
Idea-generating
Ideas are needed to cope with a world that is changing

Idea-absorbing
Small countries like NZ can't generate all the ideas we need. We need to absorb them from elsewhere.

Willing to change

Steven asks what does all this mean for NZ's education sector?

The workforce needs highly adaptive people. The nature of jobs is changing dramatically
We need radically new ways of educating young people
It's all about YOU - the quality of the teachers in our schools is the key.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." (Alvin Toffler)

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ULearn 08 Keynote - Sheryl Naussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson

2008-10-08T10:53:00.001+13:00

Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach opened the ULearn conference with an inspirational presentation with examples of students using blogs to make a difference.

Laura is a young girl who lost her grandfather, she decided in his memory to make a difference to the world. She tells her story at her blog http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com.

At a conference Laura was asked a question.

"Laura can you tell us how do you come up with your ideas of who to help."
She replied "I ask my readers."

Laura has a voice. She knows her opinions are valued. She feels empowered to make a difference and contribute. Do we allow this in our classrooms? I use the word 'allow' pointedly. Do our students get to use their voices?

It makes me think of the joke of the young girl spending her first week at school:
"Dad, I don't think I'll go to school anymore there really isn't any point"
"Why is that?"
"Well I can't read and I can't write ... And they won't let me talk."

21st century technologies allow us to have voices, to voice our opinion, to make a difference. These technologies are available for our students, our children. We must let students have their voices and we must make sure they know how to use these voices in an ethical manner and in a safe way.

That is our job as educators.

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A thought for the day

2008-09-26T06:58:00.003+12:00

I found this quote buried in my blog and wanted to shout it from the roof tops.

"When we adults think of children there is a simple truth that we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life; childhood is life. A child isn't getting ready to live; a child is living. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation. How much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognise children as partners with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing them as apprentices. How much we could teach each other; we have the experience and they have the freshness. How full both our lives could be." John A. Taylor, Notes on an unhurried Journey.

Childhood is not a preparation for life; childhood is life!!!

How's that for a thought to carry with you into the classroom each day.

What are your hopes and dreams for the future

2008-09-20T12:56:00.002+12:00

Million Futures is site I have just come across for which I can see many applications for use in the classroom. Million Futures is a UK based initiative which asks people to write their hopes and dreams for the future on a paper plane and launch it into the air to circulate with the collective hopes and dreams of others.

I can imagine using this site with your students to respond to their learning to give an authentic message. They could be looking at sustainability, participating and contributing to society, caring for each other, future focus, the list could go on. The students could launch their hopes and dreams on a paper plane to join the hopes and dreams of others.

What would your paper plane say?

Speed typing test

2008-09-17T18:08:00.006+12:00

79 words

Speed test

I have been told I'm a freak. I have been typing since I was in primary school when my then step grandma bought me a typewriter and a typing book. It was something I enjoyed doing and I never realised it would come in so handy. When I was in primary school the only people who needed to know how to type were secretaries.

Well now, the best thing about typing at 79 words a minute is that when I ichat or skype chat, no one can get a word in! You've got to be quick to keep up with a conversation with me!

Now the reason I'm bringing all this up is I am fond of typing tests and I found this one that has a twist. The test uses the most common words in English. It's not a flashy learn how to type game but if you want a quick 60 second speed test and want to expose your students to the most commonly used words, this is a good site to try out. Can you beat me?

Update - I am rather stuck in the vortex... must stop typing test... must join the real world... must stop procrastinating...

83 words

Okay, I can stop now.

Inquiry is a habit of mind!

2008-09-09T16:27:00.004+12:00

Last week we had Kath Murdoch present a two day seminar for schools in Dunedin on Inquiry Based Learning. Kath's presentations embody her inquiry theory. She leads you gently, building on prior knowledge, creating wonder and curiosity, allowing you to find out and ask questions before coming to new understandings.

I have always taught in an inquiry way. I didn't know there was a model, or even what inquiry was, but it was how I believed students learned best and how I enjoyed teaching. I was excited as I progressed as a teacher to be able to reflect on my practice and give my beliefs a name. For me Inquiry was a belief system and not a model.

Working in schools it is sometimes disheartening to see inquiry reduced to a 'model' in the barest sense, rather than embracing the pedagogical shift that it can be. Today I was given the okay to share a new resource provided by CORE Education called EDtalks. EDtalks are a series of interviews with leaders in fields of education. These brief talks are very powerful and one that resonated with me today is below. Here is Sharon Friesen talking about Inquiry as a disposition.

Life without Google

2008-09-07T20:41:00.002+12:00

There was a story on the news about Google tonight. I was watching with my 11 year old daughter. This is what she said:
"Google is 10 years old! Really?
I was around before Google?
Wow, mum, what did you do before Google?"

This really got me thinking. What did I do before Google? It has become such a way of life for me. If I want to know something I expect to find out the answer. I suppose before the internet became a way of life for me I accepted ignorance. If I didn't know something then I had to commit a lot of time and effort into finding out the answer. So I suppose I would weigh up whether this was worth the effort. And many times, my questions would remain unanswered because they just weren't worth the effort.

Now when I have a question, there is no effort involved. I know I can type the query into Google and the answer will be revealed. Every question answered. Not much energy expended.

What does this mean? Is it all too easy? We demand answers and information and we get it? Really, in the wider scheme of things what does this mean for us? I have been reading a book to my daughter about an ethnic boy living somewhere in Europe in a war torn country looking after his grandmother. When we contrast his daily life with hers, the difference is outstanding. He has a sense of responsibility for looking after his grandmother and his village. My daughter can hardly be bothered tidying up her room.

We have a nation of instant gratification. And now it extends to information. Is this a good thing or may it be a bad thing? I don't want to be like those people who cried fowl when the printing press became available and books were in the reach of the average person. I need to think bigger than that. We are on the edge of something. What happens next?

2008-08-19T14:18:00.004+12:00

The official ULearn08 blog is up and running. Contributions of participants is what makes this conference so successful and as the Ulearn blog states:

A key component of ULearn08 will be the contribution by participants to the understanding and knowledge being created during the conference through blogs, wikis, podcasts and online discussions. By subscribing to this blog you will receive regular updates about all of these, as well as some examples, and guidelines for getting involved yourself.

So add the Ulearn blog to your aggregator in preparation for the conference.

ULearn breakfast for NZ bloggers/twits

2008-08-18T12:39:00.003+12:00

Simon, from Education the Dragon, is organising a breakfast get together for NZ bloggers / twits while we are together at Ulearn in Christchurch in October:

http://educatingthedragon.edublogs.org/2008/08/15/breakfast-for-the-nzbloggertweets/

Head over to Simon's blog and leave him a comment if you are going to join us.

Look forward to seeing you there

Sharing the Blogger's Cafe

2008-08-10T12:28:00.002+12:00

I have been talking with Adrian Bruce from Australia and Chrissy (NZChrissy) who is soon to be moving to Bangkok to start an exciting new phase of life, and they both mentioned wanting to be included in the Blogger's Cafe, and our uLearn experience, virtually.

So here is a challenge for those of you attending uLearn and joining in the fun at the Blogger's Cafe, how can we make this happen? What are the best online apps at our disposal for bringing in others from around the globe? What have you tried and what do you want to try?

Embedding audio in blogger

2008-07-31T18:22:00.006+12:00

Today I was working with a teacher who wanted to embed audio recordings into his blog. He runs a sports blog where students report on their sporting activities. He thought it would be a good idea for his younger sports people to record their sports reports and embed them on the blog as they had much more to say than they could write about. I thought this sounded like a fantastic idea and we started out on a problem solving trail.

Firstly we worked out that you could embed a player from Podomatic, but that embedded all of the episodes and we only wanted to embed one.

Next we tried to convert the mp3 to an .mov using switch.app (a free app for macs which converts files to different formats). Unfortunately this wouldn't upload in blogger.

So I put out a tweet to my twitter network for some advice. Miguel Guhlin came back with this solution. We uploaded our mp3 audio to Edublogs.tv, grabbed the embed code and pasted it into blogger. And voila...

Update: The audio from Edublogs.tv seems to play automatically when you load the page, would love to hear from anyone who knows how to change this.

Update 2: Thanks Miguel for this tip. When you have embedded the code from Edublogs.tv click on the 'edit html' button at the top of your posting page and then look at the code for the audio. You will see something that says "autostart=yes" change the "yes" to "no" and this turns the autostart function off. Thanks again Miguel.

We also received some advice from Lenva:
She suggested using the online site http://vocaroo.com/. At this site you can record your audio online then grab the embed code and paste it into the post as well.

Lenva also shared this site http://boomp3.com/ where you can upload your audio and then grab the embed code.

Update: Here is a link to Lenva's new blog on tips and tricks with blogging that outlines how to embed in much more detail: http://cogsforblogs.blogspot.com/2008/05/audio.html

What would I do without my twitter network?

Bloggers Cafe at Ulearn08

2008-07-30T10:21:00.002+12:00

Getting back on the horse

2008-07-29T20:07:00.002+12:00

I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. I seem to have hit a wall. The problem is I have changed focus. I have stepped out of the classroom and I am wondering what to focus on. I still work with teachers as an ICT Facilitator however, in this new cohort, I don't think any of them are blog readers (yet!). So they are not the focus for my writing (yet). In my other new job I spend most of my time in front of the computer being the online editor for the NZ Curriculum Online website. This means that I feel less like being on the computer during my down time.

But I miss blogging.

I still read all the feeds in my feedreader. I still listen to the podcasts in my itunes. But I seem to find it difficult to be a producer. As a classroom teacher I could eagerly write about the exciting things happening in my room. However as the editor of a website it seems like promotion to write about the cool things I have put up online. For example there are some fantastic arts resources developed around the curriculum which I was so excited about I sent them to my colleagues in an email but I didn't blog about them. I spent some time interviewing educators in Canterbury for an article I wrote which I was very pleased about and thought contained some inspirational content, but I didn't blog about that either.

I have now :)

I suppose I have to still see that this blog is about what I find interesting and hopefully will be useful to others. It is about my thoughts and opinions and not those of my employers. It is the virtual record of me.

So I suppose that means I'm back. I am going to continue writing in this new phase of my career and see where it takes me.

PS... check out these cool things I've been playing with:
Glogster - a 'sooooo' cool (according to my daughter) site to make posters with web interactivity
Miro - after playing with it, it seems to be an app that lets you store all your videos plus search and download from different places (including Youtube etc) to build up your own channels. One click and you are in good quality full screen.
Capzles - This excellent site lets you build a timeline and embed audio and video etc. Would be fantastic to build a timeline of a student's reading over a year with a picture of them holding the book and the audio of them reading. Imagine this going home as a Christmas present for mum after you have used it for assessment :)
Moourl - this site is a tiny url creator which can live on your browser toolbar. But it is cute :)

Iphone frenzy in Dunedin

2008-07-11T22:56:00.002+12:00

Don't get me wrong... I love my Mac. I have been criticised for my preference for mac over PCs. But I had to weigh in on the hype over the iPhone.

Today, at 9am, the iPhone was released in Dunedin. I had read about the frenzy in Apple stores in the US. I had to take a look at what Dunedin had to offer in the way of Frenzy...

I apologise I took a photo but it was a bit blurry. So imagine this. A line of people outside Magnum Mac in Dunedin ... 10 people.

That's right 10 people. That's what constitutes a frenzy here in downtown Dunedin.

Either that or they are the only people who can afford the outrageous plans for the phone ! $80 per month for the cheap plan up to $250 per month for the expensive plan. Needless to say, I wasn't one of the 10 people lining up. :)

Wordle and the New Zealand Curriculum

2008-06-25T21:53:00.007+12:00

I am really enjoying playing with Wordle. It gives a different view on things, looking at a text as a word cloud. I thought I would put in the text from the New Zealand Curriculum document. So here goes...

Vision
ValuesPrinciples
Key CompetenciesI have even made a word cloud of the latest assignment I have written, which really highlighted what I was giving emphasis to in my writing.

Digital school stories (Playing with Google maps)

2008-06-16T16:14:00.003+12:00

I have been playing with Google Maps to make a map pointing to all the digital story content we have on the New Zealand Curriculum Online website. I thought I would embed it here as I am playing with building the content.

View Larger Map

Ulearn 2008

2008-06-06T20:38:00.002+12:00

Ulearn 2008 is fast approaching, this year it is being held in Christchurch from 8th to 10th October. This is a quality conference, I have attended ULearn for the last 4 years and have found it a dynamic experience each year. The Keynote speakers this year are Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach from the USA, Steve Carden and our very own Derek Wenmoth, Director of eLearning at CORE Education.

I am presenting three workshops so far :

The first presented with Jane Carroll, speech and language therapist:

How does "oral language" fit into the ICT world?
In this highly interactive workshop we will examine oral language development and how and where oral language fits in the New Zealand Curriculum and other new resources coming out of the Ministry of Education. We will demonstrate how ICT can develop oral language skills, critical thinking and reflection in your classroom.

The second and third presented with Christina Ward and Jenny Keeton, CORE Education:

We are suggesting a pedagogy where the participants in the learning interaction become involved in the process of collaboration, in the process of mutual storytelling and re-storying, so that a relationship can emerge in which both stories are heard, or indeed a process where a new story is created by all the participants. (Bishop and Glynn, 1999)

The New Zealand Curriculum Online is an environment designed for schools to share their developing knowledge, challenge thinking and effect change. In this hands-on session we will explore ways you can use the rich resources available on NZC Online to help you collaborate within your own school community, and to connect with the wider education community as you implement the NZC.

If you want to build a boat, do not instruct the people to saw wood, stitch sails, prepare tools, and organise the work... but rather, make them long for setting sail and traveling to distant lands. (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)

What's online that can help you with curriculum implementation? This lively, hands-on workshop is designed for those who haven't yet had time to explore the rich resources available and opportunities to share and discuss online.

There are also a selection of 13 pre-conference workshops offered on 7th October. I'll be supporting Mel Stopford of CORE Education in the workshop "You can lead a horse to water..."

As you can see there is plenty in this conference for everyone. You can find all the details on the website at http://ulearn.org.nz.

And of course... I look forward to seeing you all at the blogger's cafe... However, for this conference I'm proposing a "Twits" cafe, I have many more Twits I would like to meet face to face.

See you at ULearn.

I'm having a learning!

2008-05-28T20:52:00.003+12:00

I am reading the best evidence synthesis on professional development:

Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, I. (2007). Teacher professional learning and development: Best evidence synthesis iteration. Wellington: Ministry of Education
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/goto/bestevidencesynthesis

I absolutely love this illustration in the forward to the synthesis by Carolyn English. It sums it all up... I'm having a learning.

Making change happen

2008-05-21T23:06:00.003+12:00

I have been running professional development for teachers for a while now and I was thinking about the four types of teachers I usually work with.
1. The excuse maker
2. The holiday maker
3. The dream maker
4. The change maker

The excuse maker is the teacher who cries, ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’! I have seen these innovations come and I have seen them go, they are just the same old thing with a different name. What I have been doing has worked well enough and I’m not about to change now.

The holiday maker is the teacher who grabs hold of any and every new idea and zealously implements it. Then after a while returns ‘home’ back to business as usual. These teachers do not embed the theory behind the practice and therefore the practice doesn’t stick.

The dream maker is the teacher who understands the theories behind new ideas but does not implement them, doesn't know how to make the dream a reality. This teacher may purport to believing in collaborative structures but this is not evident in their room. This teacher may not be aware that their actions do not back up their beliefs or they just might not know how to align the two.

The change maker is the teacher who successfully aligns their beliefs with their practice. They see the value in new ideas for the learning of their students and set about making changes to their practice based on reflection and research.

These are the teachers I come across in my travels and the ones that I try to help engage with ICT and see its value for their students’ learning. Since I have become aware of these traits within the teachers I can see how to work with teachers more effectively.

Can you see yourself in any of these categories? I know that I can see bits of each of them in myself throughout my time as a teacher. What I want to know now is how to help everyone become a change maker, to make thoughtful changes based on learning needs which embed both theory and practice.

The Art of Facilitation

2008-05-01T22:02:00.003+12:00

This past week I have been at the Art of Facilitation course run by Joan Dalton and David Anderson of PLOT PD.

This amazing course delivers exactly what the title suggests, a very good grounding in the elements of effective facilitation. It is intensive and I feel as though I have been through five days of therapy! I have had a major 'aha' moment during the course as I reflect on myself as a facilitator. This is the fact that there is often a long distance between perceptions and reality, or to put it another way, our actions may not reflect our learning theories.

I hold to a constructivist and co-construction theory of learning with connectivity theory thrown in for good measure. In other words, to put it simply, I think we construct our realities through our interaction with others and the world around us. With this as my perception you would think the reality would be that I facilitate learning with my adult learners by helping them construct their learning and engage in opportunities to learn with, thru and from others. I have found however that my perception and reality do not meet. To be honest I have considered myself as the expert giver of knowledge, fixer of problems, motivator of action and basically indispensable help on hand. My actions do not support my beliefs.

The best thing about this week with Joan and David, exploring the aspects of effective facilitation is that I have aligned my actions with my beliefs. I have put a plan in place to ensure I foster independence in my adult learners to encourage sustainability in their learning. My role is to help people find the treasure that exists deep within, to explore their own expertise and enhance that.

I'll let you know how I get on ...

Podcasting in plain English

2008-04-22T18:05:00.002+12:00

Fantastic! I now no longer need to run workshops on the basics in podcasting. The Commoncraft people have gone and done it for me!

Here is Podcasting in plain English

Blooms taxonomy and digital developments

2008-04-21T19:01:00.001+12:00

With all the current technology available for teachers, they often struggle as to where the taxonomy of Bloom fits with the various digital developments. OpenEducation.net recently summarized the work of fellow kiwi, Andrew Churches and his concept of ‘Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy’. Check it out at:

http://www.openeducation.net/2008/04/11/blooms-taxonomy-and-the-digital-world/

Where are these digital natives?

2008-03-28T18:04:00.004+13:00

Yesterday I gave a presentation to 3rd year University Education students. I gave the same presentation last year. I was amazed last year how little these students knew of ICT in Education or even in life. But I was sure it would be different this year. This year I would finally find these 'Digital Natives' everyone has been talking about. Surely they have finally come up through the ranks and I will be singing to the choir as it were.

These students must be 19 or 20 years old. And they had not heard of RSS, did not know the merits of delicious, did not blog, hadn't listened to a podcast or created a wiki. Second Life was a foreign concept and really, what on earth is Twitter? A few of them had used Skype and one asked if Bebo counted as blogging. I launched into my presentation of the wonders of Web 2 for education and was met by a wasteland of blank stares. (Really without understanding the concept of RSS everything else falls over!)

Where are these "Digital Natives" we keep hearing about? Is my particular education system not producing them? Or is the concept of these hyper-connected students just a figment of our imagination, a reality we can see as being possible but is not actually real?

I finished dazzling them with my brilliance (unappreciated I must say, either that or I was speaking a foreign language) and launched into a safer topic they would understand - how to use PowerPoint in interesting and innovative ways for education.

I was relieved though, when I got home, to find my own tween daughter and teenage sons engaged in more "native" like pursuits. One was working on his music network within Last FM; the other was perfecting his musical talents creating original music through music notation on GarageBand, watching and contributing guitar tutorials to Youtube; and the third was investigating the new virtual world of Panwapa. Maybe I still have a few years to wait until I will be standing in front of a University class of "Natives" ... This (so-called) "Immigrant" is restless.

Read about Ralph

2008-03-13T06:41:00.005+13:00

I received a lovely email today from a teacher who was in my ICTPD Cluster for the last three years. She has set up her own blog for the class mascot and is very proud of her creation.

So head along to Read about Ralph and find out all the crazy adventures this mischievous cat gets on with his class of 5 and 6 year old Kiwi kids, and don't forget to drop them a comment.

People in order

2008-02-27T18:51:00.001+13:00

I have just come across this endearing and life affirming video. People in order is a video of people aged from one to one hundred banging a drum and saying their age. The smiles on their faces are contagious. Seeing the difference in personality through one beat of a drum is interesting as well. I could think of many ways to use this video in a classroom to help kids think outside of themselves. Enjoy.

Embedded Video

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Learning @ School day one

2008-02-20T11:56:00.003+13:00

Well here I am again, my fourth Learning @ School. It is still just as exciting. Seeing over 1100 people in one place who all have a passion for leading learning and implementing ICT is great. I have heard two keynotes so far and it seems there is a focus on the new curriculum this year. Jeremy Kedian, during his keynote, made mention of the difference between managers and leaders which I liked. He said that managers know how to keep schools moving, leaders know how to keep schools moving somewhere. Listening to his keynote made me think of a few things. Firstly he asked the question "what do you know about learning?" that is quite a difficult question to answer! I thought this would be a good question to use in a workshop and then have participants think about what type of learner they are in line with the new curriculum, key competencies, principals, values, vision and maybe with other thinking tools such as habits of mind. Jeremy Kedian asked "What makes a teacher?" and the answer was "They know about learning" (notice it's not teaching).

Anyway that's the end of my notes for today. Will try to write some more. This is a very busy L@S for me as I'm attending in two different capacities and feeling rather split down the middle.

Split screen thinking

2008-02-14T19:39:00.003+13:00

I read an excellent presentation written by Guy Claxton yesterday. He was talking about the importance of teaching students how to learn. He begins his presenation with these quotes:

‘The test of successful education is not the amount of knowledge that pupils take away
from school, but their appetite to know and their capacity to learn.’ Sir Richard
Livingstone, 1941

‘All skills will become obsolete except one, the skill of being able to make the right
response to situations that are outside the scope of what you were taught in school. We
need to produce people who know how to act when they are faced with situations for
which they were not specifically prepared.’ Seymour Papert, 1998

‘One of the core functions of twenty-first century education is learning to learn in
preparation for a lifetime of change.’ David Miliband, 2003

‘Pedagogy should at its best be about what teachers do that not only helps students to
learn but actively strengthens their capacity to learn.’ David Hargreaves, Learning for
Life, 2004

‘Effective teaching … should aim to help individuals and groups to develop the
intellectual, personal and social resources that will enable them to … flourish … in a
diverse and changing world.’ ESRC TLRP Evidence-informed principles for teaching
and learning: No 1, March 2006

This paper is well worth reading all the way through. There is a practical section where Claxton talks about split screen teaching and he had me so fired up I was ready to demand a class to teach to try out his ideas! I always think the best ideas are ones that when you read them you think, "why didn't I think of that?" Anyway, split screen thinking is when you keep two things in mind when teaching your lesson, both of equal importance. Firstly the content you are teaching, this is still important, but of the same importance is the learning to learn skill you are teaching at the same time. He tells the story of a teacher who was doing a lesson on electricity.Her learning to learn skills was questioning. She sent them off to explore the elements of electrical circuits as we usually do but set them the task to gather all their questions as they carried out their experiment. They then discussed the different questions a scientist might have about electricity than a mum, or a farmer, or an actor etc.

Another example he gave was when you are reading a novel to your class have them identify what kind of learner the main character is with examples. This idea led me think about something we were doing at Pine Hill. We had introduced the students to the Habits of Mind over the last few years. A way to revise these habits of mind would be to have the students identify what habits of mind famous characters use with examples. I have a set of cards with the habits of mind on them with explanations. I thought you could put students in groups with a set of cards for each group. Then give the group a well known character, say Harry Potter, the BFG or goldilocks. Give the group a few minutes to agree on a habit of mind they think that character uses with an example. Each group reports back and then you give them all a new character. This could be a quick 5 - 10 min activity to keep the kids thinking about thinking. If someone is lucky enough to give this a try please leave me a comment. I have been out of the classroom for one week and you can see the withdrawal symptoms are setting in. :)

Lester Flockton and the NZ Curriculum

2008-02-13T13:25:00.000+13:00

A learning organization is an organization:
• where people continually experience their capacity to create the results they truly desire
• where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured
• where collective aspiration is set free
• where people are continually learning how to learn together
(Senge 1990, The Fifth Discipline)

Today I spent a couple of hours listening to Lester Flockton talk about the revised New Zealand Curriculum at the University of Otago. It was a jam packed two hours and I have included some of my notes below. These are mainly pointers for school leaders looking at where to start when thinking about implementing the curriculum.

Development of the new curriculum:
A curriculum stocktake was held which highlighted that the old curriculum was overcrowded, inflexible, difficult for parents to read, teachers weren’t involved in the curriculum; achievement objectives (AOs) were artificially structured; curriculum levels were arbitrary; teachers were less creative as they were dependent on the AOs; assessment practices undermined teaching and learning; ERO used AOs as audit tools where as teachers saw them as planning tools. This stocktake led to the revised curriculum document.

The previous curriculum was a model of accountability founded on the AOs. The new curriculum is a co-constructed curriculum, which is more professionally embracing and received overwhelming support during the draft consultation phase. Over 15,000 people took part during online and face to face consultation in the construction of this curriculum and over 10,000 responses were received during the draft consultation phase.

Underpinnings:
The goals of the curriculum project are:
1. Clarify and refine curriculum outcomes (AOs)
2. Focus on quality teaching
3. Strengthen school ownership of the curriculum
4. Support communication and strengthen partnership with parents and communities.

The new curriculum document must be in use by all schools by 2010. Lester cautions us to get our thinking right and not to rush into things. There are two years to implement the curriculum and schools that are doing good things may not have much to implement. The key is in making the principles, vision and values of the curriculum explicit.

Lester states schools could address the implementation in three stages. Firstly schools need Clarification – what does the curriculum mean for that school. Next Exploration – think the curriculum through, critically review it in your context. And then Decide – which direction will you take. The key to this process is to continually be reviewing.

The principles from the curriculum document should underpin all school decision making. ERO should look for these principles infused in the school curriculum and we need to become better at talking about them in our schools. We need to be able to provide evidence through practical demonstrations in our school community of the existence of the principles.

Lester was part of preparing a package for schools called From NZ Curriculum to School Curriculum. This is available for download from the Curriculum online site on TKI.

New Zealand Curriculum online

2008-02-12T21:51:00.000+13:00

Well, I have had two days in my new job. It is exciting to be doing something different and it is challenging to take a risk and step into the unknown. I am starting to get my head around what I'm supposed to be doing but I'm sure it will all become much more clearer as I get further into the year.

I have spent some time today working on the NZ Curriculum share and discuss site. On this site you can share stories of how your school has begun to implement the curriculum. You can also read about other school's experiences. Today I set up a page where you can find some strategies to use when talking about the curriculum with your staff in your school. These strategies will be added to in the near future and there is the option for you to post about successful strategies you have used and would like to share with others. The other section I set up today was a page for people to share what they are going to do on their 'curriculum day', the day the Ministry has funded for schools to work on the curriculum. It would be great for schools to share their plans for this day to spark ideas for other schools and to engage in discussions.

If you have a school story, are looking for an implementation strategy, or want to share what you will be doing on the curriculum day, then please follow the links and share your experiences and expertise with the rest of us. I look forward to reading your contributions.

Bloggers' Cafe at Learning @ School

2008-02-07T18:31:00.000+13:00

Hey all you NZ edubloggers out there, want to put a face to the blog? The NZ Bloggers Cafe is happening this year at Learning @ School. Come along and engage with other bloggers in some lively debate about life, the universe and everything. This would also be a great place for 'budding bloggers' to come and learn some tips and tricks from 'blooming bloggers'. The cafe will be open during morning tea and lunch breaks so come along and join in the discussions. The venue will be advertised in the conference handbook.

We will need people to help man the cafe during these break times, the idea for the cafe is twofold. The first is so that we can all get together and meet in person the minds we have been reading. The second is to be of help to other bloggers just starting out and who would like some tips and tricks.

The bloggers' cafe was a big hit at ULearn with virtual friendships turning into face to face friendships, and new names added to our aggregators. A few visitors to the cafe have started their own blogs with a guaranteed readership and a lot of online collaboration has happened. So new bloggers and old, come along and join in the fun at the cafe.

Endings and Beginnings

2008-01-26T20:08:00.000+13:00

I have had a whirlwind last couple of weeks full of decisions and anxiety. I have been offered a wonderful opportunity to work for Core Education but to take up this offer, I had to leave the classroom. This made me think about my 'calling'. I love teaching, I love my little 'kingdom' and my adoring subjects, I love the creativity of crafting learning experiences that meet the needs of my students, I love the aha moments when the students finally get 'it'. I was literally born to teach. I relish the fact that I can make this world a better place for the 20 or 30 people in my classroom for 6 hours a day. That is what I was put on this earth to do.

So making the decision to leave all that felt very selfish. I am now embarking on an exciting opportunity to work with a great team of people looking at the implementation of the new curriculum in New Zealand. I get to see first had the difference this curriculum can make and the innovative way schools are adopting it. I get to contribute to this time in NZ education and maybe have a slightly wider impact than just my own classroom. I am excited about what this year will bring however moving on is a very difficult thing to do. I packed up all my stuff from my classroom and with a tear in my eye, wondered if I would ever teach in a classroom again.

Bloggers' Cafe at Learning @ School 2008

2008-01-17T21:36:00.000+13:00

Attention all New Zealand Bloggers... The Bloggers' Cafe will be open at Learning @ School 2008. The Ministry of Education will be running this annual Information and Communication Technologies conference at the Energy Events Centre in Rotorua from 19-22 February 2008.

If you are going to be attending Learning @ School this year and you are a blogger come and join us at the Cafe. Use this time to connect face to face with people you have been reading virtually. If you are not a blogger but would like to find out about blogging, come and join us at the cafe, there will be lots of people to answer your questions and point you in the right direction. The Bloggers' Cafe was a big hit at ULearn 07 and we look forward to adding new names to our aggregators at Learning @ School 08.

Technorati Tags: learning@school Bloggers'Cafe

Please spread the word, I look forward to meeting you all at Learning @ School 08.

Locating the field of educational research

2008-01-07T08:38:00.001+13:00

Reflections on these readings:

Burton, D., & Bartlett, S. (2005). Defining educational research. In Practitioner research for teachers (pp. 13-33). London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1998). Teacher research: The question that persists. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1(1), 19-36.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Introduction. The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K Denzin, & Y. S Lincoln (Eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research, (2nd Ed) (pp.1-28). New York: Sage.

Guba, E. C. (1990). The alternative paradigm dialog. In E. C. Guba (Ed.). The paradigm dialog, (pp. 17-27). New York: Sage.

Jungck, S. (1996). Teacher inquiry in the traditions of social science research: “is it real?” In G. Burnaford, J.Fischer & D. Hobson (Eds.), Teachers doing research (pp. 165-179).

Zeichner, K. M., & Noffke, S. E. (2001). Practitioner research. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 298-330). Washington D. C.: American Educational Research Association.

Is Teacher Research ‘real’ research? Jungck argues that teacher research “honors their keen observational skills, their inclination (indeed obligation) to influence their own environment with an aim toward improving it, and their skill at developing, modifying, and observing simultaneously, on-the-spot! The model [action research] systematizes what good teachers tend to do naturally.” (1996 p 176)

Anderson (1998:6) quoted in Burton and Bartlett (2005) states “Research in education is a disciplined attempt to address or solve problems through the collection and analysis of primary data for the purpose of description, explanation generalization and prediction.’ Burton and Bartlett describe research as planned, cautious, systematic, reliable and that rigor is paramount. Research is about finding out and understanding phenomena. It is used for different purposes: to persuade, to state a viewpoint and political purposes. Denzin and Lincoln (2000) add “qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world.” (p3)

The Burton and Bartlett (2005) article was a practical ‘how to’ guide for research and outlined what qualitative research is. The article by Denzin and Lincoln (2000), provided a look at qualitative research with a critical eye and presented this in an interesting narrative format. This article made me marvel at the richness, depth and breadth of qualitative research, the ‘why’ and not just the ‘what’. The discussion on qualitative research as being a montage or a bricolage was appealing. As was the quote in Jungck (1996 p 174) by Clandinin and Connelly (1994 p 417) that teachers tend to be “simultaneously focused in four directions: inward, outward, backward and forward” when doing research.

“Qualitative research is endlessly creative and interpretive… Interpretations are constructed… as a working interpretive document that contains the writer’s initial attempts to make sense of what he or she has learned” (Denzin and Lincoln,2000 p23).

The thought of research as a creative montage and not just a logical, linear, scientific activity is engaging. The discussion on ‘triangulation’ was equally as enlightening. “Triangulation is not a tool or strategy of validation, but an alternative to validation” (Flick, 1998, p.230, in Denzin and Lincoln, p 5). For the first time I saw that gathering data using many different methods was a way to experience the breadth, width and richness of the phenomenon being studied. You cannot capture the reality of the phenomenon, only a representation of it.

These readings engage in discussion of paradigms, what Guba (1990 p 17) defines as “a basic set of beliefs that guides action”. Guba concurs with Denzin and Lincoln (2000) that the researcher cannot be objective, but is an integral part of the research, and therefore needs to state the paradigm of the researcher. Guba (1990) gives a succinct overview of the various types of paradigms. I am leaning towards a constructivist paradigm at this moment.

In the article by Cochran Smith and Lytle (1998) a list of questions are generated around teacher research. Notable is the discussion that “the growth of the teacher research movement hinges on a paradox: as it is used in the service of more and more agendas and even institutionalized in certain contexts, it is in danger of becoming anything and everything” (p21). This is reflected in rigid performance management systems that do not take into account the needs of a teacher or their classroom.

In conclusion, my overall feelings when these articles fall into one tangled heap after reading them in a two week period, is that teacher research is an important part of being a classroom practitioner. It is a rich area of inquiry. Researchers cannot be situated outside the research object, they bring with them their bias, knowledge, beliefs and politics. There are many different paradigms of qualitative research, the researcher needs to state the paradigm they favour, and research always serves an interest. I personally feel that teacher research is important, needs to be valued by being allocated the necessary time, but that it also needs to be supported by established research.

(This highlights the importance of the Efellowship programme provided by the Ministry of Education in New Zealand!)

Image by froodmat (Creative Commons License: Attribution) http://www.flickr.com/photos/40361413@N00/16722536

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News from around the world

2007-12-15T08:16:00.000+13:00

Newseum is an interesting site where you can mouse over a map of the world and the front page of the newspaper from that region will be displayed. There are a large range of countries included, many more from USA than the rest of the world and only two newspapers from NZ. It is an interesting window into what is important in different parts of the world on any one day though.

How well do you know your way around our planet?

2007-12-11T20:16:00.000+13:00

I have spent an enjoyable evening with my kids finding out how little we know about the locations of places on our planet. We found this site, Traveler IQ Challenge, that quizzes you about locations of cities in the world. There is a time limit and you progress through levels. We kept going so we could level up and I now know where Portugal is and exactly where Turkey is. It was amazing to see just how little I knew about world geography... 80 days around the world and I would be lost at Switzerland wondering to turn left or right to get to France! I've embedded the game here, but there are many other parts to the game. Have a go at locating the country based on its flag, that one is tricky.

This Traveler IQ
challenge is brought to you by the Web's Original Travel Blog

Vote for Allanah!

2007-11-27T20:19:00.000+13:00

Well done to our own Allanah King! Her class podcast, Allanah's Appleby Showcase, has been nominated in the Best Educational Use of Audio category in the Edublog Awards. Hop on over and give her a vote for the innovative things happening in her classroom. Voting closes on 6th December so be quick. Allanah is doing a great job at giving her students a global voice!

Your Blog reading level

2007-11-15T22:19:00.000+13:00

Not sure what this is all about, but apparently you have to be a genius to read my blog... Hmmm

Getting on the highway!!

2007-11-14T07:42:00.001+13:00

(Or not)

Today I stepped outside my comfort zone. (Warning this post is neither intelligent nor about education!). I bought a scooter!! Why you may ask? I asked myself the same thing when I hopped on the thing, expecting to be able to fly off down the road and realised I was terrified! I was outside my comfort zone. This could be dangerous, I was taking a risk, what was I doing, I am a fully grown, seemingly intelligent woman!

It was the ride of my life (albeit down the road and around the corner before thinking I should take things slowly).

Are you in a rut? I'm not advocating getting a tattoo, naval piercing or a scooter :). But live a little. (Now I'm thinking about the classroom) Take a risk, try that new idea you had, see if it makes a difference. Reflection is the key. Spice up your work life. Think about innovating and keeping things fresh. It will be extra work but it will be worth it. Life is too short to spend it doing the same thing day in and day out.

Live a little :)

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Technology is changing, we need to keep up

2007-11-01T07:32:00.001+13:00

This video would be a good conversation starter for teachers who are still reluctant to touch the box in the corner of their room.

Embedded Video

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Interwrite Makeover Video Contest

2007-10-27T22:45:00.001+13:00

The kids from Point England School have done it again. They are in the running for the Interwrite Makeover Video Contest. Click on the link and go and give them a vote, their video is awesome!

Interwrite Makeover Video Contest

"Kia ora from Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. We thought that all the movies uploaded so far were really cool so we decided to have a go. The song we used for our movie is a parody of “Stop, drop and roll” which is a song originally performed by talented NZ hip hop artists ‘Mareko’ and the ‘Deceptikonz’.

This movie is a collaborative effort by the Senior school team starring a group of 9-10 year olds and our very own rap star in the making: Mr Palmer. Our school uses ‘ICT’ or ‘e-learning’ to help raise student achievement as well as to celebrate our learning.

Senior School Team
Pt England School
Auckland, NZ"

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Kids @ Conference in Dunedin

2007-10-26T21:38:00.000+13:00

Today was a great day. We have been running a Kids Conference in Dunedin over the last two days. 100 students from all around Otago come to the Otago University College of Education to take part in a two day conference. These students sign up for four different workshops ranging from Google Sketchup, animations, movie making, podcasting, digital photography, microscopic investigations and green screening. It is a fantastic two days with students buzzing with enthusiasm.
But this is the reason why it was so special for me. My students ran a workshop on podcasting. They were the only students to run a workshop in the entire conference. The greatest thing about this is that these students are not the gifted and talented ones, they weren't chosen for their confidence. However, they stepped up and ran the workshop and did an amazing job. This once again shows the value in a podcasting programme. These students had language difficulties ranging from a speech impediment, lack of confidence and lack of volume. This was not an issue though, as they have been practicing using their voice for the last two terms and know how to speak to an audience. These workshops have shown that the skills these students learnt through podcasting are transferred to speaking in front of an audience.

In this image above two of my students are instructing the three teachers who came to their workshop.

Podcasting with Kid Pix

2007-10-22T17:07:00.001+13:00

Today I spent some time playing with Kid Pix. I have being saying for a while now that KidPix is a great software for producing podcasts quickly and easily with junior children. Today I used this creative programme to produce a podcast on how to produce a podcast with KidPix :)

Pop over to my podcast page to take a look at this simple explanation. Here is another way to play with student voice in the classroom that is within reach of most teachers with any level of technical ability.

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Inspirational Teacher Meme

2007-10-22T09:43:00.001+13:00

Simon has tagged me for the Inspirational Teacher Meme, so I thought I would play along.

Rules

1. You are to copy the rules at the start of your post.

2. You are write, in 150 words or less the story of ‘Your Inspirational Teacher’ from your school days.

3. Name and link 4 other bloggers and leave them a comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

4. Tag your post ‘myinspiration’

Mr Pulley, my inspiration

Mr Pulley was my high school geography teacher. To me he looked like 'Big Ears' off of the show 'Noddy and Big Ears'. He was a towering man with white hair and a white beard. To me he seemed ancient. He always wore shorts and long socks with his pens tucked into his socks. He carried a box with him and it always contained magic. Mr Pulley had nicknames for all the students in his class and he 'knew' us. Which is a lot to say for a secondary teacher. The magic of Mr Pulley though, was that he shared himself with us. He didn't just tell us about geography, he showed us his home movies of trips to foreign places. He told us stories of people and places and land masses and adventures. Everything I learned was through his story telling and it was powerful. What I learned from Mr Pulley is that relationships are vital to learning. He is my inspiration because he showed me how to value my students and how to share my own stories with them. Thank you Mr Pulley.

I tag the following people:

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Oodles of Google

2007-10-17T20:40:00.000+13:00

I have just watched the K12 Online presentation by Sharon Betts entitled Oodles of Googles. This presentation is a series of short videos outlining the options Google gives you for using the web for writing and storing your documents. I had heard of Google docs, spreadsheets and presentations but I hadn't heard of Google page creator. This page creator lets you build webpages and then hosts them for you. They are very basic. If you haven't had time to have a look at all the cool new tools Google has been bringing out, these simple videos from K12 Online are a good start. Just subscribe to the conference through itunes and the conference will come to you!

Information Revolution

2007-10-16T19:20:00.001+13:00

This video from the Kansas State University does a good job at looking at the changing pace of the Internet and the way we interact with Information.

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Congratulations to Rachel and crew

2007-10-13T13:28:00.001+13:00

Congratulations to Rachel and class from Nelson for winning first prize in the class category of the TVNZ Webchallenge Competition !!

You can have a look at their website here.

Inventing the New Boundaries - David Warlick

2007-10-09T16:42:00.001+13:00

I have just finished viewing the pre-conference Keynote for K12 Online presented by David Warlick. This is a well presented video with enough to keep you interested for the full 45 minutes.

David said something that got me thinking though. He mentioned the 'digital divide', and I started to think about what that meant. A few years ago, that meant the divide between the people who had computers and those who didn't. Then more recently it meant the divide between the people who could access information and those who couldn't. However now, David points out, the divide is between those people who are connected to a network or community through their digital media and those who aren't. It's not about the equipment anymore, it's about the people. This was demonstrated beautifully by my 10 year old daughter who decided to walk in at that moment. She looked at the screen and saw David's smiling face talking away to me. She crept into the room because she expected David to be talking to me live through the computer and expected David to be able to see her. She waved and smiled at the computer until I told her it was a video. It was not too long ago that the thought of communicating with someone through the computer in that manner was the stuff of science fiction novels. Now my ten year old thinks it is the only way to connect with people. What are we doing in our classrooms about this digital divide? Are we teaching our children how to connect safely across the internet?

David also said that today's students "know how to play the information but they don't know how to work it." That's where we come in. My children all know how to pick up any technological instrument and play with it, but it is our job as educators to show them how to work the technology and the information and the connected networks for their own unpredictable future.

I have subscribed to the conference through iTunes so all of the workshops should be downloaded to my computer without my having to go to any effort (I love podcasting). Here is the link K12 Online Conference 2007

Blogged with Flock

NZ Blogger's Cafe

2007-10-07T08:40:00.001+13:00

NZ Blogger's Cafe
Originally uploaded by *** ICT U Can!

This post is as a result of my thinking after reading:
Bump on the blog
Tim Holt - Preaching to the ... You Know

Ulearn 07 was a very different conference for me. I have taken some time to try and figure out why. This is the 7th ICT/Educational conference I have attended in the last 3 years. What made the difference? I thought it might be that I presented more workshops than I attended and therefore I was intellectually drained. But that wasn't it, as I would hold this conference up as the best so far. Then it came to me. After attending so many conferences I have made many connections, I know a lot of people. I stop and pass the time of day with them and discuss what powerful learning they have engaged in, but it is somewhat superficial. This year at Ulearn 07 with the Blogger's Cafe, I made some strong connections. Meeting people who I have virtually known for the past year at least was remarkable. It was as though we had a foundation to build a community on. It is interesting, I have read about how the internet can help extend real friendships, with the Blogger's Cafe, I found that F2F can help extend virtual friendships. It was a privilege to spend the time with these talented NZ (and Scottish) bloggers, and I rushed back from each session to the cafe to continue with the discussions.

There has been discussion in the blogosphere about whether or not these Blogger's Cafes are a good thing.

Almost to a person, the best part of the conference really had nothing to do with the conference itself, but rather was the blog cafe. All of the bloggers talking to other bloggers. Sort of an incestuous feeding frenzy of writers not discussing the conference, but discussing themselves.

Nice blog Bob. Thanks Larry. Nice Blog. That’s quite a big widget you have there Bob. Why thank you.

The argument saying that the bloggers are removing themselves from the rest of the conference, forming a select group and spending all their time promoting themselves. I can understand these comments, but I will argue vehemently that we did not remove ourselves from the rest of conference, but that our participation in the Blogger's Cafe added a whole new dimension to the conference. It is also argued that it is near impossible to find the 'secret handshake' for this select group. I know for a fact that during our time at the conference there were many people who came up to the Blogger's Cafe to find out about blogging, and there were many people willing to share their time and expertise. For the current bloggers it was a treat to meet other bloggers, however the Blogger's cafe definitely served two functions. As I said before, our cafe was for both 'blooming' bloggers and 'budding' bloggers.

The bigger picture here, is of course, wondering how to get more members in the club. Is there some point that the dissemination of knowledge becomes so large that it becomes counterproductive?

This quote from Tim Holt is the position I was wrestling with in my post Troubled. I was so concerned about the sheer expanse of the Web community I was worried about it overwhelming me. My fault is that I'm an overachiever and if there is a blog out there then I must read it! But finding balance is important in all areas of our lives and this is just another moment in life for me to practice this skill :)

This conference and issue has raised more questions for me than answers, especially about the quality and functionality of virtual relationships. After attending ULearn 07 this year I now know the value of my online community and my virtual friends.

Reflections from day one at Ulearn

2007-10-04T09:10:00.000+13:00

Well, I hate to say it ... but I have been too busy to blog! What! How can that be? The reason is I am having a great time meeting people F2F!

The highlight for me of this conference has been meeting the minds in my aggregator. I have sat at the blogger's cafe with Chrissy, Simon, Rachel, Allanah, Ewan and Jarmin. Even though I really enjoy the community of friends I have on line, it was great to put a face to the blog. It was also great to meeting Ewan F2F after he has traversed the globe to join us here in the southern hemisphere.

Ulearn has so far been an exemplary conference. I began my Ulearn experience running a full day pre-conference workshop on podcasting. In my workshop was someone who looked familiar. It turned out to be Simon from Educating the Dragon. I haven't met Simon f2f before however have read his blog. It was a great experience. The day went well and we had a room full of new podcasters by the end of the day.

The next day the conference started with a bang with an inspirational keynote from Ewan McIntosh. Ewan gave us an entertaining overview of the issues we are facing in technology and education today. One thing he said that resonated with me was the concept of 'digital holiday makers'. As an ICT Facilitator I have come across those teachers who seem to excitedly grab hold of the ideas I am presenting in a workshop with a hiss and a roar. The problem is when I go to visit the next term the said teacher has finished with the idea and has returned to the previous way of teaching. The new learning has not embedded or changed pedagogy. This type of teacher is a 'digital holiday maker'. They take a holiday into implementing a new idea or technology and then return back to their normal classrooms or 'homes'. The teachers who really excite me are the ones who grab an idea, just one, and embed it into their practice. Then through reflection identify why that idea is valuable for the students.

Off to do more learning now. Will report back later.

*** ICT U Can!

The case study: Storytelling in the industrial age and beyond

Multimedia cases

Relationships of knowledge and Practice: Teacher learning in communities

Teachers are important

Professional knowledge landscapes

Focusing stories

Is Facebook evil?

Kidz @ Conference

Graeme Aitkin - Teaching what matters and selecting content and pedagogy

Why go to Ulearn?

LiveBinders

CORE Education Foundation awards

Students and privacy online

Developing whānau priorities

Beware when you blog

Telling a story with photography

Final cut express 4.0.1 update

Teachers TV

Leigh Academy - Dartford Kent

Training day with Urban Fox

Triumph over adversity - Sawyers Hall College

Technological nomads

An idea for smooth transition to primary school

Creative commons at Learning@School

Show me what's wrong

365 photo blog challenge

This year it was a good report mum

I finally got an iphone

Word magnets

Education management blogs and sharetab

How are schools approaching the key competencies?

Fun with twitter

My teaching journey

Student driven research

Learning@School

Why do you like blogging?

Learning @ School blue screening with a Mac workshop

Turn your Mac color picker into an application

Learning@School 09

Blogger's Cafe at Learning@School 09

Lifelong learning

Engagement of our students

The power of sharing ideas

Now for a post about nothing...

2009 e-Learning teacher fellowships

A not too subtle metaphor

Kidz@Conference

MPG video and sound problem in iMovie

Close up digital photography with kids

Can kids teach themselves?

ULearn08 Keynote - Steven Carden

ULearn 08 Keynote - Sheryl Naussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson

A thought for the day

What are your hopes and dreams for the future

Speed typing test

Inquiry is a habit of mind!

Life without Google

ULearn breakfast for NZ bloggers/twits

Sharing the Blogger's Cafe

Embedding audio in blogger

Bloggers Cafe at Ulearn08

Getting back on the horse

Iphone frenzy in Dunedin

Wordle and the New Zealand Curriculum

Digital school stories (Playing with Google maps)

Ulearn 2008

I'm having a learning!

Making change happen

The Art of Facilitation

Tag cloud meme

Podcasting in plain English

Blooms taxonomy and digital developments

Where are these digital natives?

Read about Ralph

People in order

Learning @ School day one

Split screen thinking

Lester Flockton and the NZ Curriculum

New Zealand Curriculum online