Tag cloud meme

Clay Burell has started an informal meme which I thought looked like a lot of fun. I saw Cathy Nelson's tweet cloud on her blog and was intrigued to have a go at making one myself. (It is interesting as an aside that Cathy's personal interpretation and commentary on her tweet cloud seems to have stirred up a pot of bother over on David Jake's blog!)

So to the meme, Clay did some interesting interpretation of his tweet cloud to turn random strings of words into poetry (that Clay sure does have a way with words!) So I thought I would have a look at what my tweet cloud had to say.By far my favourite is:
Away bad bed, better blog!
Followed closely by:
Feeds feel finally finished!

It is interesting what your tweet cloud can reveal about your (could I call it obsession?) conversations -
Exciting facilitating
Kids know!
Thinking time today tomorrow
Virtual voice
World writing year

What I have found the most interesting is that of the tweet clouds I have seen so far, (Allanah, Clay, Cathy and mine) all have one prominent word in common "Thanks".

Join in the fun, what does your tweet cloud reveal?

Podcasting in plain English

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Technorati Tags: news current literacy newseum

How well do you know your way around our planet?

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!

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

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

Getting on the highway!!

(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

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

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

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

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

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:

Allanah K

Paul H

Greg C

Sue W

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Oodles of Google

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

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

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

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

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NZ Blogger's Cafe

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

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.

Be a super hero

Mark left a comment on my post troubled with a link to a website - Be a super hero. I had left a comment somewhere stating that the source of my trouble is that I am learning all this neat stuff but don't have a classroom to put it all into and that I wanted to use my 'powers for good'.

I have taken up Mark's challenge and this is the result.Totally tongue in cheek , but it is quite fun. Have a go.

Thanks Mark :)

K12 Online

Troubled

I have run out of things to say... My brain has reached overload and I need to reboot. I feel like I have fallen into a tech vortex and that all things outside of tech have disappeared. I need to reconnect with real life. I was reading a blog post recently (sorry can't remember whose it was) about how disruptive these new technologies can be. Twitter (which I love by the way) constantly interrupts our day. It is hard to enter a 'flow' of deep concentration because you are constantly interrupted by random comments from your 'friends'. These twits make you feel connected and a part of your 'friends' lives. But when you think about it... most of the people in your twitterverse you will never stand in the same room as. Are we forsaking 'real' friendships for the 'virtual' replica? Can a virtual friendship gain 'real' status? If I dropped out of the twitterverse, would any of my 'friends' try to contact me? If I dropped out of real life society, I know my friends would contact me to see why.

I suppose my question is... In the long run is this connectivity helping me or harming me? I'm not making any judgements just wrestling with the question. I'm also wrestling with the question "what do I want to do with my life?" which is quite interesting since i should be all 'growed up' by now :o).

Flash Meeting with Friends

Today I took part in another global conversation organised by Paul Harrington. This Flashmeeting was attended by 11 educators from corners of the globe - England, Wales, USA and NZ.

The topic of today's conversation wandered around the use of podcasting and blogging in the classroom with some interesting discussion on home school partnerships and the digital divide. We have been requested to bring a friend to the next flash meeting, so if you would be interested in joining in the conversation, leave me a comment and I'll send you an invite with the details.

We are not only opening the doors to our classrooms, now we are opening the doors to our countries. I really enjoy seeing the challenges and celebrations from other education systems, and linking them to my own. Once again Paul, thanks for the conversation.

A very personal message

Today my husband sent me a message. It is very personal. It made me smile and it made my day.

I'm going to share it with you. Only because I think everyone deserves to be surprised by a message of love, and this website gives you the chance to do that. Check it out and send someone a surprising mesage to let them know you are thinking of them. Plus Dylan is cool!

DYLAN – EVERYTHING EXCEPT COMPROMISE – BRETT'S MESSAGE

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We can make a difference

A lot of my schools are  embarking on  a cross cluster inquiry this term under the banner "10 years to save the planet". Today when going on a walk through some New Zealand blogs I found this on Rocky Jensen's blog.

This video is produced by World Vision and is from Australia. It compares the lifestyle of a teenage girl in Australia suffering from 'Affluenza' with children from third world countries. The comparison is humorous and very powerful. Check it out.

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I believe ...

What do you believe? Well I believe one of the most important things we need to do as educators is ensure our students are ethical users of content and creators of truly original content.  We need to teach our students it is not all right to steal... words, images, ideas.

Why is this important? Take a look at this post about the new Britney Spears perfume. I was appalled... how about you?

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ULearn News

For everyone attending ULearn 07 in Auckland, here's a blog for your aggregator. ULearn News is the official ULearn blog where you will find all the latest information about this conference.

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NZ Bloggers' Cafe at ULearn 07

Hey all you NZ edubloggers out there, want to put a face to the blog?  The NZ Bloggers Cafe is happening this year at ULearn 07.  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 and I am told there will be some aromatic coffee available!

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.  If you would like to help, please leave me a comment.

I would like to kick the cafe off with a targetted discussion during lunch on the first day of conference.  There has already been a suggestion of looking at the issues raised in the Karl Fisch presentations, if you have a topic you think would be a great one to get us started please also leave a comment.

I look forward to meeting my aggregator in person, there are some great bloggers in NZ and I'm sure there are some I haven't discovered yet.

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What is the point?

I found this Youtube video on Christopher Sessum's blog.  Very thought provoking.  We often hear the question, "are we preparing our students for their future or our past?"  After watching this video I think you will agree that preparing our students for their present is just as important.  Let's sing and dance our way through life, seeing each step as an achievement in itself and not race towards the end (sounds like the name of a friends blog)

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Expanding Oral Language in the Classroom

I am not in the habit of advertising on my blog, however I had to share this book.  I have just completed reading this new publication written by Jannie van Hees.  Anyone looking for an understandable resource that outlilnes why Oral Language instruction is important need go no further than this book. 

Jannie not only outlines why it is important to focus on Oral Language but also explains clearly how to go about it.  Examples of real teachers and children in real classrooms are dotted throughout the book and there are lots of practical examples you could start off with in your classroom. 

Think about the question, "who does all the talking in your classroom?"

This resource is available from NZCER.
Expanding oral language in the classroom

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8 Random Facts Meme

I’ve been tagged by mstina on the 8 random facts meme

First, the Rules:
1) Post these rules before you give your facts
2) List 8 random facts about yourself
3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

For some reason I find these memes quite fun :)  Here we go

1. I once had a job writing poetry for a Gorillagram company
2. My middle name is the name of a Walt Disney character and the mascot of Baby Champs champagne in England
3. I was a state gymnast in Western Australia in my youth
4. I like to do folk art painting
5. I was a horsey girl when I was growing up, I owned three different horses at different times. My first horse was rescued by the RSPCA and given to me, a 28 year old ex Pacer who was more like a pet dog than a horse.  (he died :( after a wonderful year together)
   
6. I like to run and play netball
7. I went to a Spandau Ballet after party with the band, after attending their concert in Perth. By the way, this is the only concert I have ever been at.
8. I once toured the North West of Western Australia with a comedian and his dance troup - "Big Daddy and His Dollies"

Okay, tag you're it:
1. Greg Carroll
2. Iain Bonney
3. Janine Clague
4. Paul Harrington
5. Allanah King
6. Sheryl Nausbaum-Beach
7. Derek Wenmoth
8. Rachel Boyd

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Singshot - Karaoke with comments!

Now I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing... With my singing it is definitely a bad thing. I had to try this site out in the interest of good journalism, so there is now a recording of my singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' somewhere out in cyberspace.  I tried the 'send to blog' function, but of yet it hasn't made it to my blog (thank goodness!).  However over night a few copies may show up as I pressed the button repeatedly, oops. 

Anyway, SingShot - Online Singing, Karaoke, Sharing, Ratings, and Community is a site where you can set up a profile, choose a song and record yourself singing it.  Pretty simple.  The recording is then kept on your home page where anyone can come and listen to you, leave a rating and a comment.  It is completely open so hopefully the comments are monitored by someone!  And I deserve any 'oh dear' comments that might be left on my recording!  You have to be over 13 to register, but I could see some students having fun with this one. 

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Now this is interesting!

During the course of my research into the use of podcasting in Oral Language I put a similar question to two groups of people. Firstly I asked a cross section of teachers throughout New Zealand to identify the elements of oral language that they actively teach. Next I asked a class of 24 year 4,5 and 6 students who have been podcasting during 2007 to identify everything they think they learn when they are making a podcast. I have put the responses in a table separated into the strands of oral language identified in the New Zealand Oral Language Matrix.

(click the image to enlarge)

The students have identified all of the same elements as the teachers except for some skills of speaking and listening such as eye contact, turn taking, and body language, which are skills not used in podcasting. What is impressive about this comparison is the amount of metacognition students have about their learning in the strands of ‘ideas’ and ‘language’. The students identified that they were learning all of the elements that the teachers had identified as important and more. The students included using sound effects and music to enhance their message, and using them to suit the topic. They also mentioned using the right amount of humour which showed cognition of the importance of the information being presented and recognition of if humour would be appropriate or not. The students also identified additional learning when podcasting which impacted their reading, writing and use of technology:

• Use music no one else has used (copyright issues)
• Write a script
• To get better at reading by reading your script
• Using the equipment properly
• Learn how to use computers, GarageBand program

These students have shown that through the use of podcasting they are aware of the elements of oral language that make a proficient speaker as well as an effective communicator. It would be interesting to ask a similar question, “What do you learn when you give a speech” to a class of students whose main form of oral language is speech making, to see if the same awareness of the elements of effective oral language is present, especially in the strands of ideas and language.

That's going straight to the Pool Room!

This is cross posted over at “The Bloggers’ Cafe”

In light of the conversations that have been happening lately here and here about how the blogosphere seems to be distinctly American in flavour, I am going to add a bit of antipodean flavour to this post.

In my research into Podcasting this year I have been thinking about what it is that makes the biggest difference to student learning.  Obviously giving students the ability to hear their own voice is empowering.  Also having an expectation that it will be the student’s voice and not the teacher’s is empowering.  But the most empowering factor of all has to be the global audience.

This is where my strange title comes in.  Those people from my part of the world will be cognisant of Darryl Kerrigan and the ‘Castle’ (an iconic Australian movie).  For Darryl the highest place of honour for anything is for it to be put in his ‘pool room’.  You know you have pleased Darryl and produced something worthy if he puts it in his pool room.  Wes Fryer has been talking lately about his ‘Fridge’.  The highest place of honour for a piece of work produced at school and brought home is to be placed proudly on the fridge.  This is indeed a place of honour in a house of three children like mine.  The fridge has limited space! 

Students can now publish their work to the world, not just to the teacher, or the classroom, or the ravenous hordes stampeding the fridge at the 3:30pm “I’m starving mum” ritual.  I understood this, or thought I did, until I heard a podcast by Dr Tim Tyson.  He was talking about what he asked his students when they first ventured into publishing on the web:

What do you have to say that the world needs to hear?

What a powerful question!  It even made me tremble when I started on this blog post.  What do I have to say that the world needs to hear?  So I’m sending that question out to all of you…

What do you have to say that the world needs to hear?

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Blogthings - A fun waste of time!

Your Aura is Blue

Spiritual and calm, you tend to live a quiet but enriching life. You are very giving of yourself. And it's hard for you to let go of relationships. The purpose of your life: showing love to other people Famous blues include: Angelina Jolie, the Dali Lama, Oprah Careers for you to try: Psychic, Peace Corps Volunteer, Counselor

What Color Is Your Aura?

Blogthings is a site where you answer all sorts of crazy questions and they come up with some philosophical insight into your character.  I did ask myself some paranoid questions as I looked at some of the quizzes though.  One, 'How evil are you', had me thinking, if I answer this honestly will the answers be recorded somewhere in some database and come back to bite me one day?  (Not that I have anything to worry about...really) :).  So as you can see, I have a calm aura, I resemble Angelina Jolie (what!) or perhaps a cross between Angelina, Oprah and the Dali Lama, hmmmm. 

I know, this has nothing to do with education, but hey, it's the holidays, time to have some fun.
Thanks to Ms Cornelius at A Shrewdness of Apes for helping me to waste a few hours on this site!  Beware some quizzes are not for those of us who are spiritual and calm, they may give your aura a slight blush.

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ULearn 07

ULearn is happening once again this year, from 3rd to 5th October at Sky City in Auckland.  I will be presenting three workshops, starting off with a full day podcasting pre-conference workshop.  This day will take participants through the entire process of finding, making and posting podcasts, all using the Apple software GarageBand.  The two other workshops are entitled, 'What is this thing called Podcasting, and why should I care?' and 'The thinking, moving, collaborative classroom is not a myth'. 

Whew! then I will look forward to spending time with educators I only get to see at these conferences, like Allanah King.  I am also looking forward to meeting Ewan McIntosh who will be keynoting at the conference, who's blog I have read for a while now.  We should put together our own Edubloggercon or Blogger's cafe at the conference!  Mmm, might have to get on to that one.  Anyone who is attending ULearn and would be interested, let me know and I'll set the wheels in motion.

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Podcasting and the power of comments.

I was introduced to Podcasting at the end of 2005 and started using it with my class in 2006. We thought that book review interviews would be a good way to start and we had very humble beginnings. Here is a transcription of one of our first podcasts:

Matt: Kia ora and what's up mate. I'm Matt and I'm interviewing Paora, He is sharing Jeff Wilson's book, Here he is now. Kia ora Paora, what is this book about?
Paora: Kia ora Matt, it's about Jeff Wilson and what his life is about in rugby.
Matt: Who is the author of this book?
Paora: The author of this book is Ron Palenski.
Matt: Do you have a favourite page?
Paora: Yes, I have two favourite pages, one page is on 111 and the other is on 194.
Matt: Well that's all we have for today folks. I'm Matt and we were interviewing Paora on his Jeff Wilson book. Bye

Mmm, I had a chuckle when I heard it, my favourite page is 111! I wanted my students to develop and learn in their own steps. So I posted the podcast. These students had produced a very good podcast with clear voice and expression, the only problem is that there was no content. That was my next step, I had to extend their language and ideas. Here is where the power of comments come in. This podcast generated 14 comments.

So the first few comments gave the students a bit of a kick, people had interacted with their podcast. John wished he could have a go at making podcasts at his school. The students were feeling good. The next lot of comments showed the power of conversation:


But here comes the real power of comments - critical feedback!

I didn't have to stand up the front of the class and wax lyrical about the need for more content in the podcast. With this succinct comment from John the boys self assessed and realised that the audience didn't actually have the book in front of them and couldn't see what was on page 111, so they would have to use more description.

Podcasting truly fits with a constructivist viewpoint of learning, students take the next step because they see what the next step is. It is Vygotsky's zone of proximal development in action.

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Stuck in the Vortex and loving it

It is the school holidays here in New Zealand and we get to turn our minds and time to more frivolous things.  I have been exploring Second Life a bit further.  It is fascinating and is making me re-evaluate a lot of my thinking.

Wandering through Second Life the other day I went to visit KJ Hax at SLolar.  He was expecting a new intake of residents and had a party set out for them.  They were late in coming so he invited me in to share some virtual food.  After a while, more SLers started turning up and joined us around the table.  One very talented person decided we needed a dance floor and set about making one complete with music.  The next thing I know we are all on the dance floor dancing to 'Another one bites the dust'.  It was a strange feeling.  I was chatting with people and dancing in SL all the time in fits of laughter in my 1st life.  I must say I am not one for the night club scene and rarely take the trouble to get dressed up for a night on the town, so it was great to be able to dance all from the comfort of my house in my 'jammies'.  Now this occasion made me see the need to have a change of wardrobe.  So today I went out and purchased a dress for $25 Linden dollars, the currency of SL. 

This was another strange experience.  Shopping for something for my avatar.  There were some really way out things and the opportunity to take risks and experiment with your appearance.  But it is strange how I didn't want to do that.  I chose a dress that I would like in RL, I have made an avatar who resembles (very loosely) myself in RL.  My SL life has really become an extension of my RL. 

Now this is the educational part of my rambling... Wes Fryer often mentions in his podcasts the concept of a 'walled garden'.  He talks about students experimenting with blogging and podcasting in a controlled environment such as a school server.  In this way students can learn how to be ethical users and creators of internet content before being let out into the big bad world.  A bit like blogging with training wheels.  Now I have never been a fan of this concept.  I always thought that we should teach students out where the world is.  I am changing my mind. 

Second Life has a lot going on that you would not like to be exposed to.  Whatever is bad in RL is happening in SL.  You need to be even more careful because this is a new world and you don't know how things work.  It is a bit like being in a foreign country where even the signs are in a foreign language.  I am exploring SL in a walled garden.  I am spending all my time in Eduisland II where I feel safe and I am sure that I will encounter nothing I couldn't handle.  As I am getting my feet and understanding the world more, I feel a bit more brave to venture outside Eduisland II.  I am starting to see the merit in a walled garden for those educators and students who would like to get their feet wet before plunging into the internet ocean.  What do you think?

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A day in my Second Life

I have had an interesting couple of days exploring my second life.  I noticed a large group of people gathered so I went and joined them. There was an interesting mix of people from America and Canada all having a general discussion about education.  Most people present were bloggers and all were in a classroom of some sort ranging from elementary through to adult education.  The good thing about hanging out on Eduisland 2 is that you are guaranteed to meet other educators eager to talk to you about teaching and learning in their context.

After a slice of pizza we discussed the edubloggercon that was held before NECC this year.  In discussion it came up that having a Blogger's Cafe in Second Life would be a great idea.  Ryan Bretag has kindly offered his space in SL and is starting to furnish it.


On the wall inside the Blogger's Cafe, images of different blogger's avatars have been mounted. You can click on these images to visit their blogs.  It is all very exciting.  It is another way that the people who are having the conversations can connect with each other.  It is amazing how a virtual world can feel so real.  When I am chatting with someone face to face in SL it makes me feel as though I am really in their presence.  Which is impossible as most of the people I talk to are a world away.

Closer to home though, I spent some time showing a fellow Kiwi around Second LIfe today.  I very elegantly fell out of the sky and a person came rushing up to me and called me 'Jane' which surprised me as my avatar name is Jojash McmIllan.  I answered yes and who should be in front of me but Rachel Boyd.  We went for a walk around and I showed her all the sites in eduisland 2.  It is the first time I have gotten to talk with Rachel 'in person' since she is in Nelson and I'm in Dunedin.

But the real surprise of the day for me and the pivotal moment in my thinking about SL came when I bumped into a group of people on Eduisland 4.  They invited me over for a chat and it turns out that they were a group of people involved in handicapped education and were building a space to meet.  I was talking to one person and she told me how she lives her life in a wheelchair but when she comes into second life she can run, walk and even fly.  I know the buzz I got when I first tried out flying in SL, and she said that she got that same buzz from walking.  Now this really got me thinking.  Second Life could be great for people who are restricted in some way or another.  People who cannot leave the house, or have disabilities can meet people in SL and have company.  I know I enjoy the conversations I have in SL and I'm not restricted at all.  Imagine someone who has limited chances to leave their home...

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How are NZ teachers assessing Oral Language?

This post will continue to look at the information gathered in the Oral Language Survey.  Teachers were asked how they assessed oral language in their classrooms. The most common response was through observation which was mentioned by 33% of participants.

• (33%) observation
  
• (17%) peer assessment
  
• (14%) self assessment, checklist, rubric
• (11%) speeches
  
• (8%) JOST (Junior Oral Language Screening Tool), anecdotal records
  
• (6%) Continuum, exemplars, ROL (record of oral language), NONE
  
• (3%) Six year net, ARBs, TKI, KLST2, NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement), external examiners, video, audio
  

It is interesting to note that only two oral language 'tests' were identified, JOST and ROL.  The Six Year Net is a testing procedure all students go through on entering primary schooling.  I am unsure of what KLST2 is (and would greatly appreciate it if someone could let me know in the comments if they are familiar with this term).  The NCEA is the national testing for our secondary students.

It seems that the majority of teachers are relying on observation with a combination of self, peer assessment and checklists and rubrics to assess their student's oral language.  Only 3% mentioned that they use audio or video.  Podcasting or audio recording are great ways to gather data over time for oral language assessment, and with the rapid improvement in technology recording student voice is getting easier.

The shocking thing to me is that 6% of teachers said they didn't assess oral language at all.

technorati tags:oracy, orallanguage, research, nz, efellow

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