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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If they can't share their voice at school then where?

36 NZ teachers were asked if they thought enough time was spent in classrooms on Oral Language, 22% said yes, 58% said no and 20% were undecided.

These same teachers were asked if they thought that it was more important to teach Oral language for different aged students. 72% answered no, oral language was important for all ages, 22% thought oral language instruction was more important for the juniors and 6% were unsure.

So then, how did these teachers answer the question, 'why do you think oral language instruction is important?"

"If they can't share their voice at school then where?"

"It underpins a child's success in everything they do"

The response that occurred the most was 'to communicate' (33%) followed by 'underpinning every other curriculum area" (14%), 'increasing confidence' (12%) and 'the basis for all literacy' (9%)

Other responses included:

• clarify ideas
• listening skills
• clear instructions
• learn to read
• to discover and understand
• to teach others
• to set goals
• to be able to use vocabulary effectively
• to learn to write.

The conclusions that I draw from these results is that teachers recognise that a child's command of oracy is vital for success at school and in life. Teachers have also identified that maybe not enough time is being spent on developing this vital skill, or indeed, in letting student's speak. One teachers response "If they can't share their voice at school then where?" is the reason for my research.

technorati tags:orallanguage, oracy, efellow, research

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What is this thing called podcasting?

This term I have been working with a group of students to gather data for my research project on podcasting. I have made a mash up of the final podcasts these students made for me and posted it on the ICT U Can! Podcast. The assignment I gave the students was 'tell the world what this podcasting thing is, and why you like doing it'. Please head over to their podcast page and leave them a comment on how well they have done at http://www.room5.podomatic.com.

I have finished gathering data for my project now and the next term will be spent interpretting my findings. I will post further podcasts as I do.

technorati tags:podcasting, orallanguage, oracy, efellow, efellowship, research

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Oral Language Skills

36 New Zealand teachers were asked to identify the skills they taught under the banner 'Oral Language'. The top ten responses were:

• Listening (50%)
• Questioning (44%)
• Clarity (28%)
• Volume (28%)
• Eye contact (25%)
• Body Language (22%)
• Responding appropriately to others (22%)
• Concise, organised structured message (22%)
• Aware of audience (14%)
• Turn taking (14%)

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has provided a matrix of Oral Language skills and I have put the skills identified as being taught by New Zealand teachers into the matrix:

When you compare the skills identified by teachers to the Oral Language matrix, teachers have identified all of the key skills as being actively taught. When you look at the top ten skills that teachers identified as being actively taught, 7 of those listed came from the category speaking and listening skills 2 from Ideas and 1 was to do with Language.

This result is refreshing. Even though teachers do have a heavy emphasis on the 'skills' of how to speak in front of an audience, it shows that there is more of an awareness of the importance of teaching students how to express their ideas. This fits more with my cry for more 'thinking communicators' not just 'proficient speakers'.

technorati tags:orallanguage, oracy, survey, research, newzealand, education

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How is Oral Language integrated?

36 teachers were asked which areas of their classroom programme Oral Language was integrated in to.

• 28% responded that Oral Language was integrated into all areas of their programme.

Following are areas that teachers listed specifically:

• 36% reading
• 33% writing
• 28% Inquiry based learning
• 19% questioning
• 19% topic time
• 17% discussion time
• 14% speech
• 11% English
• 8% social studies, science, drama
• 6% reflection time, maths, technology, social skills, ICT, current events, debates
• 3% self assessment, visual art, dance, music, health, physical education, religious education, visual language, learning intentions.

Some of the areas that teachers listed are interesting - questioning, discussion, reflection, social skills, self assessment and learning intentions do not really fall into the category of 'curriculum areas'.  Inquiry based learning is currently being adopted through many NZ schools and is supported by the current ICT programmes being run through the country.  Reflection, questioning, self assessment and learning intentions would be important skills to sit within Inquiry Based Learning (IBL).  Hopefully these results show that student talk is becoming more a part of the classroom when IBL is happening and classrooms become more child centred.

Do you have any thoughts in regards to this data?

technorati tags:orallanguage, oracy, efellow, inquiry, survey, research

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Where do New Zealand Teachers go for Oral Language teaching ideas?

In this post I am continuing my look into the oral language survey. 

Out of a cohort of 36 NZ teachers, 25% would rate their knowledge of how students learning oral language as poor to fair, 50% would rate their knowledge as good and 25% would rate their knowledge as very good.

Teachers were asked if they had attended any professional development in the area of oral language recently (in the last 12 months) 80% of teachers responded they hadn't had any PD in that area.  Of the 20% who had PD the sources were:

• Reading Recovery
• ICTPD cluster - questioning and inquiry
• RTLB (resource teachers of learning and behaviour)
• Critical Literacy
• NESB - Jannie Van Hees (Non-English speaking background)
• Head start development

When asked where teachers get most of their teaching ideas from the highest response rate (17) was from books, specifically:

• First Steps Oral Language
• NZ English Curriculum Document
• Linking the Language Strands - Jill Eggleton
• Write Ways - Lesley Wing Jan
• Read and Retell - Brian Cambourne and Hazel Brown
• Exploring Language: A Handbook for Teachers [English Online]
• TKI - Resource Link Online - Effective Literacy Practice
• Oxford University Press - SpellWrite
• TKI - Assessment: Exemplars: English
• English Planning Made Easy - Learning Network NZ

14 participants listed websites:

• Te Kete Ipurangi - The Online Learning Centre
• Assessment Resource Banks in English, Mathematics, and Science
• English Online
• Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom (I-TESL-J)
• NZ Herald - The Latest New Zealand, World, Business, Sport, Entertainment News & America's Cup Coverage

9 participants listed colleagues as a source of ideas and support

5 participants listed their own experience

4 participants listed other professionals:

• RTLB (resource teachers of learning and behaviour)
• SLT (speech language therapists)
• ICTPD Facilitators (Information and Communication Technology Professional Development)

2 participants listed podcasting and lastly 1 participant each mentioned television and Toast masters.

Are there any gems that you would like to add to this list?  Leave them in the comments and share the wealth.

technorati tags:orallanguage, oracy, speaking, listening, newzealand, teaching, resources, literacy, efellow

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Oracy in New Zealand

A few months ago I asked for people to fill out an Oral Language Survey as part of my research in the E-Fellowship programme this year. 36 teachers from throughout New Zealand took part in this survey - A big thank you to all those who took part. I thought I would begin to summarise some of the findings on this blog.

Of the 36 teachers who filled in the survey, 72% teach in the primary sector, 9% in the Intermediate and 3% in High School.

How many hours per week do you spend on the following literacy areas?

• Writing - ranged from 1 hour per week to 8 hours per week with an average of 4 hours
• Reading - ranged from 1hour per week to 7 hours per week with an average of 4.5 hours
• Visual Language - ranged from 20 min per week to 5 hours with an average of 1.5 hours
• Oral Language - ranged from 0 hours per week to 12.5 hours with an average of 3 hours.

In the responses to reading and writing, one person mentioned that they integrate these subjects and in the responses to visual and oral language three people mentioned that they integrated throughout the curriculum. One response to Visual Language read, "Don't know what this is".

I am just reporting back statistics straight from the survey here and would not like to draw too many conclusions as yet. This is only one part of my data gathering to form an overall picture. But I would like to say that it is interesting how differently teachers run their programmes. It seemed that teachers found it easier to calculate the times they spent teaching reading and writing as these two areas of literacy seem to stand alone outside the programme even when integrated. Other things are integrated into these areas. Visual and Oral Language on the other hand are seen as integrated through all other curriculum areas.

This does lead me to wonder whether enough specific focus is put on these two areas. If you think about the skills adults will need in the 21st Century (as far as we can predict anyway) it seems to me that Oral language is maybe one of the most important skill students can take away from our classrooms. A person with well developed oral language skills can communicate their needs and ideas effectively. Also students are interacting more and more with visual images. I believe being able to communicate and interpret visual images will be just as vital as being able to write in the coming years. I am not saying that writing is not important, it is. But it must be underpinned by effective oral language skills. The four strands go hand in hand. My aim is not to push Oral Language to the detriment of all other literacy areas, but to bring it out into the immediate family. As I see it currently, Oral Language is the third cousin in the back row of the wedding photo with his head obscured by the bride's veil.

technorati tags:orallanguage, oracy, survey, literacy, reading, writing, visuallanguage, efellowship

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Replace the teacher?

On my run this morning I was listening to Jeff Utech's podcast, On Deck. Episode 7 of this podcast is a discussion with a group of year 6,7 and 8 students from TeenTek after they had watched footage of the new Microsoft multi touch interface. This was a really interesting discussion as the students predicted what technology like this might mean to their classrooms.

Jeff asked the question, "What could this technology replace?" The students discussed this for a while and after a few suggestions one of them said, "The teacher". A discussion then ensued as to how this could happen and the students mentioned that you could download textbooks and have your schedule on the screen and work through it etc. I started to think that these students saw teachers as the deliverers of knowledge and agreed with them whole heartedly that a teacher could be replaced if that was all they were doing.

Take a moment, think about your class, would they think you could be replaced with the latest cutting edge multi user touch screen technology?

I would hope that my students would think that this technology would be a cool thing to use alongside me. That we could do even more interesting and innovative stuff than we do now. That they would see that we are co-constructing knowledge and above all, that we are creating a culture of learning in our classroom based on relationships. Learning is constructed through interaction with others, collaboration leads to deeper understanding and seeing alternative view points. This cannot be replaced by downloading a schedule and a textbook, what do you think?

technorati tags:jeffutech, ondeck, teentek, utech, microsoft, touchscreen

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How cool is this!!!

I have been podcasting with my class since the end of 2005. I can not stop telling people about how powerful podcasting is in the classroom. It provides an authentic context for learning and gives students an authentic audience. Well, today we had something really exciting happen. Over on our podcast page from last year, Room5's podcast we received a comment on one of our book reviews. Now this is nothing new, we get lots of comments on our book reviews but this one was special... It was from the author herself! Check it out! Click on the image for a better view.

Imagine how the producers of this podcast now feel! They have put together a podcast reviewing a book they enjoyed reading and then received feedback from the person who wrote the book, how powerful is that. What a great motivator to not only keep reading, but producing scripts (writing) and recording podcasts (oracy). This is only made possible by the power of using the internet. I would love to hear of any similar experiences you have had. Let's celebrate.

Flixn.com

As I went on my travels around the blogosphere I came across this cool tool, thanks to Clay at Beyond School.

It is so cool! You could even embed it straight into a wiki I'm sure, but I'll have to try it out.

Wow, things are just getting easier all the time.

technorati tags:flixn.com, beyondschool, video, web2

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Podcasting with Percy Jackson

"Dreams like a podcast

Downloading truth in my ears

They tell me cool stuff"

Haiku recited by Apollo, god of the sun, in Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (page 147)

Podcasting has made it to the mainstream :) Rick Riordan has included this term in his book which has been ravenously consumed by my two boys in the last two days. Could it be possible that there are still teachers out there who think that this stuff will just go away?

technorati tags:percyjackson, podcasting, rickriordan

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Time 4 Online Conference

Podcasting Workshop:

 

Online Publishing with Audio and Visual Tools

Presentation one by Jane Nicholls Available now!
Description : Oral Language is the basis for all learning and is a powerful tool in itself. Podcasting is a way to harness the power of audio for authenticity - of purpose, audience, and context. What is this thing called podcasting and why should I care? This presentation is for those people who have heard the word podcasting and would like to know what it means. I will showcase podcasts for fun, professional development, and for student learning, and give you directions for putting your toe in the water and having a go yourself.

Time4 Online Conference Blog

If you haven't had a chance to check out the Time 4 Online NZ Conference, the second round of workshops have just been released.  There are some great presentations from classroom teachers and from students to motivate you into giving this stuff a go and some instructions on how to get going.  Go on, take a look, you know you want to :)

technorati tags:time4online, time4online07, ictpdconference

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