From little things...

One of my missions this year was to build capacity in those around me. This has taken me on many paths and some dead ends :) thankfully most of the paths have lead to positive endings for the teachers and students involved :)

A recent remarkable moment... And I know it has been awhile since I posted!! Those silly reports get in the way!! Oh... Back to my remarkable moment... I love Teachmeets!! By far the best PD we have to offer all teachers, accessing, building and maintaining PLN's for NST's and my trusty non digital natives. They inspire and reignite the fire in those who attend. I have been bringing along one of my wonderful teachers to previous TM's, she is always up for a challenge and WANTS to be inspired. For a long time it has really only been the two of us who potter along and soak up the enthusiasm and energy that these TM's provide... They are truly amazing!! Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I discovered (via twitter) an upcoming TM at a private school... I thought to myself this would be interesting... See how the rich do things :) jk!! But I truly was interested to see how they ran their format. Knowing many of the twitter names attending I approached my principal and asked if she would be happy for a few to attend as it was on a staff meeting night... She agreed ( because she is super supportive and amazing) and off I went to recruit some un-expecting prey!! ;) to my delight it would not only be myself and the other avid TM attendee but we had also roped in a NST and a NonDig!!! I was sooooo excited!!! And this was not even the remarkable moment... I know, this feels like the never ending story!

The remarkable moment was not getting them to sign up but what happened next.... I became sick and couldn't attend! The three ventured off and not only did my NST tweet the whole way through but when I walked into the staffroom today there was the NST and my NonDig sitting at the computer and he was setting her up on twitter!!! Remarkable Moment indeed!!! It was Amazing to see the confidence he was showing and the willingness to learn she was displaying!

All three cornered me at different times in the day thanking me for introducing, informing and pushing them to TEachermeet as well as;

1. Wanting to know when I could sit down with them and unpack the possibilities for what they had learnt and what else was out there.

2. When is the next

and

3. What is happening to the iPads at the school once I leave at the end of the year!!! :)

For people who didn't even want to know about iPads and twitter, elearning and ICT I think they are remarkable, interested and energized teachers who are embracing learning!!

I think it's pretty remarkable!

I convinced

The Remarkable Moments Keep Coming

Wow... Wow... Wow!!

Our second attempt at Discovery Time was AMAZING!! The difference in one week was truly inspiring.

After last week I sat back and reflected on how could I engage those students who really had no idea about what was going on. I thought about those student and what challenges they were facing in moving forward. It came down to two things.

The frist was that they didn't want to do the wrong thing so they just did nothing :) and the other was that they didn't know what to do with the information they had or what their next step would be.

So.....

This week we spent 30mins with me modeling and guiding the 62 students as a whole on what to do with the notes we have and identifying what step we might be up to (gathering, reading, identifying key points, note taking, conferencing or making). We also disussed 'how do we know if we are ready for the next step?' I used students at different stages to model the steps and then gave all students the opportunity to decide what stage they were at. We had an hands up response to what stage they were up too. We had time for questions and discussion.

It was apparent that through this interaction the students felt more confident to state what stage of the discovery they were at.

From this we then moved into 'Think Tank Time'...

This was to address one of the other challenges we faced the previuos week... What do I do now?

Students had to spend 5mins (this was a very long time for Year 1) to think about what stage they were at and what was their goal for today? They had their discovery journals and thinking caps on!! They were not to get up or begin until the 5mins had passed. There was to be no "I don't know what to do" or "mrs Irwin, mrs Irwin". They HAD TO sit, THINK and PLAN their discovery for the session.

At the end of the 5 mins nearly every student had the capacity to direct their learning and discovery for the day! It was truly magical and inspiring and a definite REMARKABLE MOMENT!! I took the time to stand back and enjoy the problem solving, critical thinking and authentic learning that was taking place!

They could have worked all day and when I told them it was time to back up they all looked at me like I aaas delivering the end of the world to them. When when reflected on the discovery session all agreed that they worked harder and better today than the previous week. They flet that they knew where they were in their discovery and what steps they needed to still take.

So after week two I can confidently say that...

25 out of 31 students were totally engaged in their discovery,
3 needed guided teacher assistance,
2 needed reassurance of what to do next,
1 still had no idea what was going on until the last 5 mins when the light bulb went off!! We will get there!!

So pretty successful session in my eyes!!

Keep your eyes out for remarkable moments... They are all around us!

Xoxo

A

Let the Discoveries Begin

Discovery Time in Year 1

Well Friday maked our first Discovery Time!!

It was a great experience of learning and thinking on our feet :)

We begun the two hour block with all 62 Year 1 kiddies together and talked about how things were going to take place:

1. For the first 20-40 mins of each Friday we will come together and have an expert research skills workshop run by the teachers to begin with and then some kids later on. We will discuss how to search for information using different tools on the computers, iPads and books.

- today I introduced them to duckduckgo search engine. They love it!! Was great to model how to search using it and what to do when we find some information. We discussed what is 'key information', what was 'extra information' and what was 'silly information'. This then brought us to the conversation of relevant and trust worthy information and rubbish information. We talked about how we can all be authors on the Internet so we need to be careful where and what information we use :) I used the example of myself going on to Wikipedia and saying that rockets are made of popcorn and posting it. They all thought this was very funny.... But they got the idea!!
- We talked about what happens if we come across a word we doing know?? They came up with solutions like cut and paste into a new search and find out what it is, use e dictionary on line and real dictionary, ask a friend and ask the teacher. Pretty good problem solvers :)
- we came across some hyperlinks and once again branched out to a discussion about these.

The amount of incidental and unplanned learning that took place was incredible and truly uplifting for me!! I honestly didn't know what or how it was going to work out!!

Any suggestions for future workshops???

2. Talking Circles

Each week students will get into talking circles and talk about what they accomplished in the last discovery time. They can ask questions and seek clarification from peers and teachers.

3. Self reflection for 5mins to set goals for the session.

4. Continue independent discovery - reasech, note taking, conferencing, making and presenting.

In the class of 31 I had I think the following is a pretty accurate account of the fourth step of our first discovery.

10 students off and running fully independent and self guided.... Yay!!!

8-10 students needed help to get started and on track and then were off and working.

6 students needed more support and direction as to what and how they were going to use their time.

5-8 students had no idea what was happening or what day it was!! :)

All in all pretty good!!! Much better than I expected!! :)

Issues
- not enough computers or iPads for those students who were still gathering information.
- need more instruction as to how to highlight and identify key information from books or printed information. Leading to summarizing key points and note taking.
- management of the 'no idea' kiddies :)

Possible actioning
- the reseaching and research skills will be built upon on Monday Technology Centre time :)
- hopefully this will emlimate the need for heaps of computers for research on Fridays!!

Well that's a wrap from me about discovery for this week. Heaps of little remarkable moments takng place!! Awaiting approval to add pictures on her. Can't wait to share them with you all!!

Any suggestions please comment!!

Keep your eyes open for remarkable moments....

Xoxo
A

How I use my iPad2 as a Teacher?

The two biggest things I am currently using my iPad for is.... Evernote - I use just about daily as a way to make observational records, take pictures and recordings of my students progress. Particularly handy in literacy groups and maths groups. We can have the conversation recorded and I can make notes for the groups and individual students. I also take many photos using Evernote. The biggest plus to using Evernote to do all of this is that it is all in the one place and then I can flick it to my email if needed. I also use this at meetings then email notes and bits to different parties that need it. Google Docs - record keeping and assessment. I have set up a Google Doc and use this spreadsheet to track and record their grades and marks. The only problem with this is that when accessing it on the iPad for editing it is a little painful to edit as you need to save each individual change. Also accessing web, email... All the stuff I would use my iPhone for :) Any other apps for teachers that are useful? Thoughts? Xoxo A

Caught a Remarkable Moment Today

When you think that you aren't having an impact... all it takes is a few 7 year olds to bring you back!! So Year 1 ventured off on an excursion to how things used to be in the Past... Seeing that they are only 6&7 I was worried that anything before 2001 would seem a long time ago to them :) Remarkable moment 1.... In the replica olden days school building the guide asked the students what they thought this classroom would need form their classroom to make it better. I was thinking... Yeah, yeah they will say computers, IWB, iPads etc... And yes they did. This was not the remarkable moment. What followed was... After each child said a piece of technology they followed it with 'because it will' or 'to help' or 'to show'.... One of them went on to explain to the older gentleman... 'You really need to have computers, because then you can have a website and once you have a website then you can blog about what you are learning to show mum and dad. That's what we do and it really cool'. Another stated that you must have a camera so you can capture your learning and show people. Remarkable moment!! They... At 6 and 7 they can tell you what and how they use the technology in the classroom to help them and inform others. For me the biggest shift over the past years is from the technology to the pedagogy.... And even more than that it is about how ANY tool can build capacity, inspire and encourage students in their learning. Moving beyond the flashy tool and whats the next big thing but rather building creative problem solving THINKERS who can rationalize their learning and choices. Thoughts??? Xoxo A

Discovery Time - Year 3

Year 3 have begun the planning phase of discovery time!!

One of the teachers said that it was amazing to see those students who can ask questions and those who struggled. She said it was a great opportunity for her to identify a learning need and act on it!!

How inspiring!! Loving it!!

xoxo
A

Discovery Time - Part 1

The World of Discovery....

After visiting Silverton Primary School in September I was inspired to have a go at the notion of guided students lead discovery. I played around with a few concepts and ideas and came up with the following.

Discovery Time is guided student led learning that will take place for 2 hours every Friday. The process will involve students selecting a topic or area of interest that they wish to investigate for example; flowers, planets, robots, popcorn etc.

They will be required to keep a ‘Discovery Journal’, in which they will plan their discovery and record their progress.

Students will be working with the teachers to organize and plan their discoveries. During their planning time students will list two to three key questions they want answered and the different steps they might need to take in order to answer them.

During the allocated weekly technology time and as part of homework, students will begin to gather information about their topic.

Once they have some information during the discovery time they will begin to answer the key questions they asked during the planning stage. They will develop the research skills of Identifying Key Points and Note Taking.

Students will then be able to present their discovery in any format they would like e.g poster, PowerPoint, Prezi, podcast or pictorial form etc. 

Students will be given a maximum of three weeks to complete a discovery project, during Discovery Time on Fridays. They may complete it in one or two weeks also.

Once they have completed a discovery, students will share their discovery in their home class. Teachers will then use this time to generate feedback and assessment.

So this term Year 1 and Year 3 are embarking on this journey. I am blessed to have a team of teachers who are willing to take risks and have a go. I told them that we are just trailing it and seeing what works and what doesn't....

It is as much of a learning experience for the teachers involved as it is for the students.

Interesting points for discussion and thought -
*Resources: as we are not a one to one laptop school and only have four computers in each classroom finding and gathering information was the first problem. In year 1 we asked that they students gather and only gather some information at home and bring it to school for unpacking. This did however mean that some students went home and found all the answers to their questions.

*Reseach Skills: During our Technology Centre (YES, we still have a lab!!) we have begun to use different search engines to find more information and locate what information is 'key information' and what is extra information what we don't need. Very interesting with 31 Year 1 children!! I used 'askkids' as the search engine but I am sure there are better ones??? Any suggestions?

* Working with 31 different topics: Was always going to be something to overcome.... We are however getting there. Having the students write two to three key questions has meant that the search for specific answers has been easier than if we had just said find information about the topic.

The students are SUPER excited for our first actual Discovery Time session this Friday!

I will update you on how it goes! Fingers crossed!

xoxo
A