Saturday 9 August 2014

#edchatnz conference - so what!

So what - what is it going to mean in my classroom and teaching practice in the next few weeks and months? That is going to take a bit of thinking as there are so many ideas I can run with. The question I have to ask is.... Is this change going to help my learners to...

1. Ask the important questions - it it real and important?
2. Clearly articulate their learning not focus on the e-tool they are using?
3. Make links across subjects as they follow their own passions and interests?
4. Access the class programme, allowing them to plan their learning and access resource links from home and school.
5. Have a sense of belonging to our learning community and show reciprocity by developing resources and workshops for others.

So how will I begin doing this? What are my first steps?
1.  Begin finding a way to collate and access 'flipped' videos, while getting students to make more.
2.  Develop the 'Waka Endeavour Learning Hub' with the daily programme, detailed planning and access to resources.
3.  Get the kids to help develop a 'game' that promotes and tracks the development of themselves as Independent Learners.

Friday 8 August 2014

Purpose ready learners

Edchatnz Keynote: Karen Melhuish Spencer from Core Education

The longer you work with the tools  - the less interested you are in them. The more interested you become in the learning you can do with them.

There are apps for everything but there is no moral compass app. Kids are finding it harder to recognise what is real and what has been manipulated.

Twitter pie:
Kinds of accounts -
Stephen Hawking 225,000,
Miley Cyrus 18.3 million,
Greenpeace 1.12 million,
Kim Kardashian 22.6 million,
Amnesty 1.12 million.

Lots of people follow the 'pop culture'.
Things that are popular may not lead us to the most rewarding life.
What is popular?  What is worthy?

Just because you see a photo on the 'Web' it might not be real.  The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!
Resources

Questions:
What is real?
What is important?
We need to ask these questions in regard to news, the internet, life and social media. It is in the social media that people are making decisions about life so they need to become critical and learn how to make informed choices.

When students are part of a community group, participating and belonging - they have a sense of well being.  School is the place we need to invest in because it is the only place where students learn to be critical and participate in society.

Two ways to take action:
1. Take a deep dive... into the curriculum. Map concepts in the curriculum so you can design a motivating curriculum.  Make learning purposeful - like enviroschools.

2. If we want kids to make a difference in society then we need to begin to build a community in the classroom.  Give people a space and help them find their purpose.

Planning idea: 
Design learning by starting with the kids we struggle to 'catch' and design it around them.  The rest of the class will be caught up too but it will meet their needs.

The future is here, it's not evenly distributed yet.   - Gibson

New technologies will not make the change - it is how we are learning them.
What makes the change?  How do we know ther has been change? If teachers and kids talk about the learning not the technology.
The answer to helping grow 'Purpose ready learners' is the teachers.

Take away something, one thing, innovative and begin to use it on Monday morning.

Getting started with Google Sites

Presenter: Amy McCauley
Organisation: Hobsonville Point Primary School
Twitter: @AmyMMcCauley
Website: amymmcc.blogspot.co.nz

Google Doc:
Resources

Google Sites are a collaborative wiki.
First think about:

Could have a team teaching planning/learning site:
  • gives parents and kids access
  • create initial template with blank boxes to add planning to
  • planning adds links to all online resources so kids can access
  • blog embedded
  • detailed planning is there but only admin can access it
  • Google Drawings area automatically updated
  • team meeting minutes are added or updated from Google Docs 
  • can open the Google Docs from the site

Student online spaces:
  • Digital citizenship agreement
  • Templates

Staff resource site:
  • Create resource place for staff to access rather than leave lost in drive
  • Add staff proceedures - creative commons, new students, digital footprint of all classes
  • Techie sessions with links
  • Teacher Tech toolbox
  • Teaching portfolio - RTC evidence, leaders can subscribe to changes


Getting started:


Get the kids to ceate the header image and have 'Artwork done by ......' pop up.  A great way to focus on acknowledging the artist. 

Google Sites work really well with all of the Google Tools but there can be a few problems with non-Google products.  

Ideas:
Photo of class - click on their face and go directly to their blog.  Draw around the face and insert link but remove line and fill.

Sharing and permissions:  Manage site - can have part of it private like your detailed planning but allow people to access other things.

Subscribe to changes: Send student changes to a folder rather than fill up in-box, you can check them later.

So what?
Unpack why - could this improve learning and student access?  
This is the way students access and plan their day at HPPS rather than making lots of paper copies and enables access to the class programme from home. 

Follow-up activities are included in the workshop and the programme can be easily adapted as they change. This will support independence in learning and give parents information about learning.

All the learning resources can be collated and accessed from home e.g. maths resources in stages with images and a summary. Flipped classroom resources can be accessed from here or links to iTunes-U. They can be made on another site an linked as an option.

Sudent sites - access to their site but limit access to their assessments / conferences to staff and parents.


Unleashing Curiosity and Creativity in the Classroom


Presenter: Steve Mouldey
Organisation: HPSS
Twitter: @GeoMouldey
Website: http://stevemouldey.wordpress.com/

Google Doc

Having a negative attitude to creativity creates a fixed mindset.

Three books that have been influencial: 
Can computers keep secrets?
ttp://amorebeautifulquestion.com/
Creative confidence.
http://notosh.myshopify.com/products/can-computers-keep-secrets-how-a-six-year-olds-curiosity-could-change-the-world
A more beautiful question.

Kids are naturally curious - how can we encourage and protect this curiousity? They look at everything and notice the strangest things. How do we keep noticing and asking questions alive?

Kids questions and experimentations can result in the best learning opportunities. 

What do you value?  Why?  Why?  Why?
Creativity enables you to create change in the world around you.
Curiosity enables students find their own learning paths.
 - we all have different paths and understandings according to our life experience and interests.
 - give opportunity for choice in pathway, recording, approach  - as long as the learning is happening.

Design ideas: (try not - do it - Yoda's advice)
Find a design project for our local community:
Find a problem - go for a walk and find the biggest problem first rather than giving them the problem or having the 'right' answer in your mind.  Give them opportunity for finding space, different ways of approach - window markers, post-it notes, devices etc. This builds confidence to take risks.
Design - build in Minecraft or build a prototype to then pitch to the class.
Next step - sell at the community markets.

The blank page is the scary bit!
Give them lots of opportunities to get started.  Use this as an 'in' into learning.


Brainstorm to begin inquiry.
Generate 'so what' questions or as many problems, questions or ideas.  If we have been working on throwing ideas down then we can get over the initial trouble of getting started. It does not matter if 20 of your questions are very ordinary, there might be 1-2 questions of value.  You need to get to 20-30 questions in to uncover the valuable ones.

e.g. Woman sitting in a dumpster as the people were going into the World Cup games.
 - Why is she there?
 - Why has Brazil been awarded the World cup when they can't look after their poor?

Questions are the key to unlocking curoisity and creativity:
Using the cross curricular lense is awesome - making links between codes of knowledge.
Learning about open and closed questions.
Assess a list of questions against open and closed.  Re-word the questions to change them to open or closed to investigate the difference.
Use the WWWHW approach.
Try grids with WWWHW and if, did to deepen the question:
e.g. With who did...

Favourite questions:
Why - purpose
What if - generating possibilities
How might we - look for alternatives
How might - it might not work but we'll experiment

How can we twist our learning intentions to cater for student passions?
Horse passion
Looking at animal rights.
Oral language focus - debates, persuasion focus.
Getting outside agencies involved.

Design thinking:
Not a set process - more of a mindset:
Human centred - impact on people, showing empathy to establish the issue for that person.
Bias towards action - we need to do somethng to help.
Radical collaboration - people working with 'whoever' can help their progress. Groups are fluid and experts are drawn in - both teachers, students and outside help.
Culture of prototying - make a version now, get started, adapt
Show don't tell - pictures tell a 1000 words, modelling and annotated diagrams are valuable - avoid paragraphs and essays.
Being mindful of the process - not following rigidly but keeping it in mind and moving accross the process.

Have a learning design model in the school.

Creativity is a team sport - for both children and teachers.  For sharing the idea you get a whole range of different perspectives. Twitter's a great option, Skype..... make those on-line connections.

Reverse mentoring: (Creates confidence)
Pair up younger people with older ones to give them a fresh perspective. Get the students set up as a critical friend but also within the staff. Purpose to support and challenge for change.

1. Form to fill out about professional goals and interests then matched.
2. Meet every 2-3 weeks to discuss challenges, chat, bring ideas regarding/issue, onsite, over coffee, question things, share articles, share apprasial document.
3. Each term do an observation and give feedback.

Language:
Is it shutting own ideas or opening up new opportunities.
No  - is banned
Yes - and  - this agrees and then extends the plan.
Focus on the positive side then looks for the next step in developing the idea.

As a teacher  - share your passions and get excited.  Show that it is OK to be you and have interests.

Using gaming to build community

Bronwyn StuckeyCultivating Identity and Community Through Gamification 
Organisation: Innovative Educational Ideas
Twitter: @bronst
Google+: Bronwyn.stuckey@gmail.com

Star the day increasing endorphin levels - look at puppies, kids photos and giving people hugs.

See the link to the presentation: Collaborative notes
Community and 'game inspired' learning rather than gamification.
Video game play is valuable to children.
Educators need to engage in 'Games' to identify and interact with their kids.

What is 'game inspired' learning?
Learning should not all be a game but learn from games to better inspire, motivate and support learning.
- add basketball hoops over rubbish bins - adding a game element to things.
- you got grounded - to get ungrounded you need to gain points from these activities....
- taking a game element or 'atom' and inserting it into learning.
- try adding this approach into teacher PD as well.



Jim G:
Literacy expert that explored the effect of games.
g - is the game or media you download to plan (World of Warfare or Candycrush)
G - the conversation people have to modify or change the game. This space around the game where people talk is the powerful place for learning. The community 'Metagame'. Talk in the game, videos made from the game, dicsussions they have, connections they make through the game. This is the spacce we want to use for learning.

Use games to improve a practice:
Add elements of a game to aid learning and teaching - fractions, oral language etc. 

(Image from notes to go here)

Plane Austalian Teacher Community: http://my.plane.edu.au
Programme environment set up with training, resources and community area - an alternative to POND? The Hero Journey must be undertaken which introduces teachers to all the elements and gives them the skills. Then they can work in the areas that are most relevant for their teaching. 
Purpose - make connections, share resources, make use of shared knowledge. This develops a sense of belonging between teachers.
See the video link: 



Just press play: https://play.rit.edu (Professor Liz Lawley)
Gamified the University programme but not the learning.  Focussing on getting students connected, resulting in lower drop-out levels.
They examined the elements of what 'Highly Successful' students do and made these the focus.
This type of learning can only happen if people have choice to participate or not - establishing elements of community.

Four player types:  
Explore
Learn
Socialize
Ceate
They gave students tasks to stregthen the community and used their QR code to allocate reward points. This was not a replacement for assessment but a way to stregthen the qualities of 'Highly Successful' students. It then enabled students to run coaching sessions to support the success of others.  



Highschool example: 1:1 ipad school within a non-tech-savvy school.
1.  Needed to enable the teachers to master the skills.
2.  Two levels completed in Goggle Docs before getting their school iPad.
3.  Begin to investigate things like Twitter etc.  Missions around these tools.
4.  Next step is to develop your own missions for colleagues.
5.  Earning level 10 by presenting at a conference or writing a paper etc about the school focus - iPads.

This identifies teachers or students with expertise that can be the support from within the school or classroom.

Watch out:
You have it wrong when the badge or title you achieve becomes more important than the learning. Points might give you currency to trade for further support in their own learning e.g. a master class.

Purpose:
Develop a sense of belonging to a community.
Show reciprocity by them beginning to design and further develop the programme or suppport AKO Kids teaching.
Develop reputation of yourself, your class or school for effective learning.

So What:

Develop a programme to develop the skills of independent learners: 
 Look for gaining points from the teacher and peers for aspects of being an independent learner. 
  - run a KidsAKO session
  - always ready for learning with stationery

Look at how those points can be utilized to further their learning or get the kids to develop an poster where the badges can be attached. Achievement allows them to gain responsibility in the commnity, which then stregthens the community itself.

Resource links:

https://play.rit.edu

Blending your teaching for the sake of learning

Presenter: Barend Blom

Organisation: Elim Christian College

Website: https://about.me/barendblom

Google Doc Link
Blened learning resources: 

E Learning is.... (from TKI site)
  • facilitated and supported by the appropriate technology
  • could be supported by 'paper based' or fully online
  • deliberate and justifyable choice about the best tool
  • effective learning is central
  • accessible 24/7 and relavant to learners
  • motivating and engaging
  • improves learning outcomes
  • range of different devices
Basically - e-learning is teaching with technology in a pedagogically sound way but this is not blended learning!

E-Learning
- see the car move on the floor and the probe showing the graph on the screen
- typing tutor used to reinforce a skill
- reinforcement apps - Tables Bingo
- use iMovie to show learning

Blended learning:
Blended learning is a subset of this: (one strategy)
 - use resources that are on-line to remove the boundires of your classroom
 - Monday - tweet of learning objectives, Tuesday - tweet set of resources, Wednesday - tweet follow up activites and further resources.
In school it looks like:
Instant feedback giving students their next steps.
Groups working collaboratively on different projects.
Groups working on rich tasks.
Teachers tracking and working with groups / individuals.

Christenson Institute: Clayton Christenson
Book: Disrupting Class
The revoluction happenging in education.


Rotation Model for Blended Learning
Rotation station:
Teach a learning intention through a range of three activity stations, rewind u-tube video (better to make your own as they connect with that better), practical activity, vocabulary station, on-line quiz search. This enables you to focus on the practical and the vocabulary students. 

Lab session:
Rotate through the practical lab session.

Flipped classroom:
Use videos of lesssons so they can be pre/post viewed or reviewed.  This clones you so you can be in two places.

Individual rotation:  Oops missed!

Focus on the SMAR Model

Mathletics:
Is blended because there is an online competition for learning - giving on-line audience.

So what?

  • Be sure I know the difference between e-learning and blended learning and promote the understaning within our school.
  • Begin to develop a bank of 'flipped classroom' videos for maths strategies etc but look at way to build a format that the whole school can access. 
  • Start small - add to the Kidscafenz again this term but look at making a central resource.

REFLECTION cycle:
1.  What's happening?
2.  What's not happening?
3.  How can I influence what's not happening?

In a MLE teachers need to have 'with-it-ness' allow for social conversations but keep them moving back to the task at hand without shutting down the 'Brain break' social talk.