Questioning Professional Development

NRP Questioning Journey 2011As a staff we have been using the Trevor Bond Questioning Rubric to develop our students as Independent and Effective Questioners.  The following presentation is the first stage our staff have taken to unpack and understand Questioning.  We have used Trevor Bond readings, resources and assessment measuring rubric to monitor students questioning stages and progressions.

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eLearning Planning Framework

Last Tuesday I was a part of the first consultation for the eLearning Planning Framework.  This was a great opportunity to be involved in an online consultation. 


The e-Learning Planning framework will provide a 'road map' to support schools as they build their e-learning capability. Schools can use the framework as a self-review tool to gather evidence about their current practice, plan next steps and access resources and services to support to their progress.


I am liking the look of this practical document that will provide direction for those not involved in a cluster or about to fly solo.  With inclusion of Leadership and strategic direction and even how it looks beyond the classroom.  The phases have a evident flow on effect beginning with Phase 1 Emerging, Phase 2 Engaging, Phase 3 Enabling and Phase 4 Empowering.


If you want to check out the draft document and give your feedback go to e-Learning Planning Framework.

iPad Training

Last week I was fortunate to attend iPad training with Online Computers and presenter Staurt Hale -Education Adviser in eLearning.  I came away with some new found knowledge and app resources which was tremendous.

iPads
My biggest questions for the use of iPads in schools is managing the ipad apps and itunes accounts.  I put a discussion post up on the Virtual Learning Network after the training and more than 30 discussion posts were added - WOW!
The other big discussion topic seems to be creating the apps to meet the needs of the individual classroom or manage them in a way that they all host the same apps so they can be used in a pod type style - classroom versus pod!

I believe it is extremely important to give the teacher ownership of the ipad as they are the teaching and learning motivator within their classroom.  Lack of ownership becomes lack of interest!
With my new knowledge and discussion comments to research I will endeavor to create the use of iPads in our school using an ownership friendly approach that will be budget compatible.

BYOD
It was only 2 months ago that I had to reveal my ignorance and ask what the acronym Bring Your Own Devices to School was all about, with the thanks to AnneK I was informed of this new concept.  I learnt more today about this concept and do see how beneficial it will be in eLearning focussed environments.  With the support of school values and ICT Policies there will be great things to come.  Check out Berkley Normal Middle School iPods in schools policies, guidelines etc.

ICT Giggle for the Light Hearted

A must watch for a giggle and a half!!!

e-portfolio for staters

At our ICT cluster meeting with our ministry facilitator.  We are having discussions around e-portfolios and have found this quirky wee Youtube introduction.  Not too relevant to primary education but gives a good idea of the concept.  I will be definitely researching http://myportfolio.school.nz/ to learn more about this concept.  If your using e-portfolio's would love to talk to you! :-)

Educampinvers Term 4 2011

This is a must be at event being held in Invervcargill next term check out the link below and sign yourself up on the attendees list...

educampinvers2011.wikispaces.com/

Trevor Bond Questioning

As a part of our schools ICT/Inquiry contract we have made a committment to teaching our students to be effective questioners.  Over the past term we have been unpacking the stages of trevor Bond's Questioning rubric.  Last week teachers we given a scenario to take back to their classes to assist them in the collection of questions generated by their students in response to the scenario.  Tomorrow we will share the questions collected and place them on the rubric.  We will then justify our placement of questions and engage in professional dialogue to support our thinking and learning.  I have found a couple of Edtalks that feature Trevor Bond which will support us in our journey.

Educamp Dunedin 2011

Wow I have just experienced my very first Educamp - Thank you to our hosts, Claire and Anne who hosted #educampdunners at an amazing venue St Claire School Dunedin.  We started with a Smackdown where numerous people talked to us about a skill, tool or topic within a 2 minute time frame.  Listening to these experts was amazing!  Then we had break out sessions, it was your choice to join a break out that was of interest to you.  It was certainly a relaxing approach and where everyone could share their experiences on the topic - truly amazing.  Relaxed, informal and absolutely inspiring.  At the end we reflected on what we would take away from our day, however due to traveling with a group of people the learning did not stop once we left Educamp.  Great connections, new learning and inspiration was the key for my next steps on my eLearning Journey.

My Take outs were...
Personalised Learning was a big take away for me - I even went back to see Claire in her classroom and discuss learning approaches further.  I have changed the way I begin the school day, using choice workshops at reading and have some good feedback from the kids about the new approach we have to learning.
ipad apps - there were some really good discussions that about the use of apps in the classroom, how teachers manage ipads and the apps they use.
I also took away a number of other ICT tools that I will post later.
Fantastic opportunity, if you get to go to an educamp it would be the best day spent talking about school in your personal spare time.

Registered Teacher Criteria for e-learning

Within our ICT Cluster we are focussing on teacher practice that impacts on student achievement. This is also the aim of the renewed Registered Teacher Criteria.

This wiki below has been created by Suzie Vesper and Rochelle Jensen from Digistore and it provides links between the criteria and eLearning. It's an amazing resource that can help head us in the right direction when creating action plan goals and also our Individual Teacher Inquiries!

It is a must to check it out...

Registered Teacher Criteria and e-learning

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I Love Teaching Conference - 18-19th July 2011

It was yet again a great opportunity to be in the audience of our ILT sponsored education conference.  Brought to us by our Conference Convenor - Marlene Campbell and an enthusiastic committee who were dedicated in delivering a top quality conference leading the way with keynote speakers of a high calibre.

The conference programme was themed for teachers under two key competencies - Managing Self and Relating to Others.  The conference perked up everyones early morning moods with the first presentation from Rhythm Interactive - "Action Speaks Louder Than Words".  Before too long everyone was involved in creating music by using an African styled hand drum and believe it or not all those educators did it without speaking and via non verbal instruction.

The Keynote Speakers included...

Francoys Gagne
The DGMT (Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent) theory of talent development was delivered to us highlighting the clear distinction between outstanding potentialities (the gifts) and outstanding achievements (the talents).

Allie Mooney
In an exciting delivery we heard about the four different personalities there are in life Playful, Peaceful, Precise and Powerful.  It was certainly entertaining and thought provoking.

Wilson McCaskill
Brought to us key messages about play and how we empower children to manage their emotions.  His beliefs of how the power of games acts as a universal language for the development of positive social behaviour was incredibly passionate.

Graham Watts
Shared many practical tools in his workshop presentations that can be easily transferred into classroom programmes e.g. 10 tools to combine literacy and thinking.  His keynote messages encouraged us as educators to look critically at what we are teaching and why we are teaching.  Are we heading in the right direction for the 21st century learner and how will it look for our learners in the next 100 years?

Jeni Wilson
Asked us to take a step back and ask ourselves... What does it look like at our school from a students point of view?  How passionate are we about what we teach?  Have we personalised learning to meet the needs of our students?  We were given grand examples of learning spaces and "Big Picture Learning".  Within her workshops there were clear guidelines to use Thinking Strategies uphold the value of belief in ones self.  Creating action plans using personal learning goals and reflections to meet the students needs which applies personalised learning for students.

James Nottingham

Delivered a powerful message about the methods of feedback.  He explained how praise feedback was ineffective to the next steps of a students learning and how process feedback was essential.

I have added slides that James has shared as I am inspired to learn more.

It was a tremendous conference and I a grateful for the chance to have attended this marvelous form of Professional Development in Southland.

I Love Teaching

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Challenging Learning Workshop

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Welcome to the World of ipads

We have just had our senior classes equipped with two apple ipad2 per class.  The secret is now to find the best possible way to use the ipads to the best of its potential for child centered learning throughout the whole school day. I found the following interesting resource that will help us on this new but exciting journey.

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AclS3lrlFkCIZGhuMnZjdjVfNzIxZ2RrNWp0ZDg&hl=en_US



Using iPads in Education: Resources for teachers using iPads in the classroom

http://bit.ly/pIxQ52

Encouraging Teachers to use Class Blogs in the Classroom.

 How to sell the value and easy use of class blogging across all levels of the school. 

Most teachers can see the need for class blogging but find it difficult to find time and implement blogging into their exisiting class programes a hurdle to somewhat hard to overcome.

It is merely a shift in thinking and before you relise it the hurdles will have be passed and students will use blogging successfully and effortlessly within daily programmes.

Setting up the blog page easy with support from a previous blogger.

Learning how to embed new tools a slight challenge but once practised a few times, very manageable!

Maintaining the momentum of posts and links to programmes a little more difficult but with some planning and specific teaching and learning contexts it will become apart of your daily planning routines.

Creating an audience and regular input of comments from a wider audience may prove very difficult.  However applying some of the following ideas will be helpful

Steps I have taken to help lead the blogging journey...

1.  Whole Staff Teaching team create an account and design a blog page to meet their purpose e.g. Deputy Principals, Library, Junior / Senior school, nump / lit leaders page

2.  Offer Techie support for blogging at least 2 per term.  Introduce basics gadgets, embeding, widgets.  Practice is essential before returning to next session.  Next session staff share their questions / wants / needs.  Introduce the use of slideshows e.g. photopeach, glitter text for some sparkle - personalise to individual needs.

REFLECTION...
After a staff feedback session it was obvious that the main hurdles were...
time to organise or use the blog 
how to use in daily programmes
finding a reliable audience make comments and give feedback

NEXT STEP...
I had recently been introduced to quad blogging (four classes - each week one class is the focus class and the other three classes view and leave comments for the focus class) Every class gets an opportunity to participate as the focus class and viewers.  Within the school we will approach quad blogging as above but across the school involving junior, middle and senior classrooms.

Teach students how to make comments...




Blogging for the very Young - check this link out...

http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/07/19/blogging-with-very-young-students/

Intergrating Blogging in the Primary School

Teaching students to comment correctly on blogs is an essential step in the use of blogging.  Also these skills are handy to share with parents when encouraging them to comment on your classroom blog.
Check out Intergrating Blogging in the Primary school for inspiring ideas...

 http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2010/02/21/blogging-teaching-commenting-skills/

The Courage to Blog with Students

This is a great article from Education Week. It has some very interesting reasons for why blogging is an important learning and self reflection tool for learners and teachers. It breaks information into Tips...

Tip #1: The best way to get your feet wet without drowning is to use a group blog

Tip #2: Teach students how to write comments

Tip #3: Use what you already have in your teaching plan, with some minor modifications

Tip #4: Practice commenting without computers

Tip #5: Make student use of the class blog a privilege

Tip #6: You can't emphasize safety too much

Tip #7: Decide how you will choose user names

Tip #8: communicate with parents early on

Check it out and share your thoughts!

The Courage To Blog With Students

e-Learning Essential in Education

This is a sure indication that Teachers need to step up to teach, use and integrate e-Learning into daily routines.  The world is ever evolving and also the rate that ICT is moving. It is paramount for us as educators to take that on board. The role to empower our future generations with the skills that will support their survival in thinking, e-Learning, ICT skills and social networking contexts is essential. Have you integrated e-Learning into your reading, writing and numeracy programmes?

Borland Lodge Adventure and Education Trust



Clifden Suspension Bridge


 

Hall & Kitcen Facilities

Camp Cooking




Abseiling

Camp Fire & Marshnellows

Burnt Ridge Track

Bivvy Making

Borland Lodge what a great place for Education Outside The Classroom...hiking, abseiling, kayaking, river crossing and much, much more plus great accomodation...http://www.borlandlodge.co.nz/

Growing great leaders, taking students in the depths of nature away from home comforts, focussing on team building, setting SMART goals and over coming personal challenges...it is amazing to see students grow within themselves before your eyes!

Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering | Video on TED.com

Discovery Time maybe not quite like this within our school but this is excellent example of what we as teachers need to allow students to do "Take Risks" and allow self directed learning.  The students get the opportunity to use their imaginations and creative problem solving.  When given the tools, material and guidance the world is definitely their oyster!

Inquiry-Based Learning

What an easy, fun way to describe Inquiry Learning!!!

Using teaching as inquiry to guide an eLearning action plan

This video tells you how using "teaching as an inquiry" cycle informs  e learning action plans.  A good example of how teachers work through the process.

The Best Motivation Video

Imagine, Dream and Believe You Can Do It!!!

This just shows you the strength of perserverance and determination pays off. If you have a dream imagine it and believe it is yours and it will come true!

Making Mistakes is Positive

This is great - links to Inquiry Learning...Some focus ideas for the classroom...Get your kids to watch it and see what they say. It could be a whole language discussion.  All about learning, how they learn, why they learn, where the information is, how to access it, the importance / place of presentation vs information as well as the importance and place of mistakes in learning.