Adventures in Teaching and Learning

I’m giving a presentation on this topic in just over a week. So I thought I’d get prepared, but also have this ready so teachers can refer to it again later, if they want to. It’s just an intro – it was hard to decide what to leave in, and what to leave out!

This post will hopefully cover straightforward video sites as well as more interactive audiovisual sites. Once again, I have asked my PLN (Personal Learning Network) of other “educationalists” and “edtech” folk at Twitter to share their favourite sites, which I will hopefully share with you here. I’ll start with a few of my own:

YouTube – Probably one of the most well known Web 2.0 sites. There is a lot of inappropriate content, as there is anywhere, but don’t be put off – there is a vast amount of fantastic content as well. If you are an RE teacher, then from my skattp profile, you can find links to a group for RE teachers and to some other accounts that I find helpful. I am sure there are similar groups for other subjects.

TrueTube – There some excellent (British based) videos on here that would make great debate starters. TrueTube hopes that young people will make more equally provoking videos and share them on the site. I have written about TrueTube before, here.

Teachers’ TV – An excellent resource for CPD; the site also contains videos that can be used in class. There are also groups and forums that you can take part in.

TeacherTube – Videos by and for teachers.

Animoto – Upload photos, choose from a selection of Creative Commons music, and Animoto will produce an audiovisual presentation for you.

Xtranormal – If you can type, you can make movies. An easy way for a teacher to make a starter video, or for a student to produce an ICT-based piece of homework.

VoiceThread – You could add this as a way to introduce a topic, by uploading a picture or video, then recording a commentary while using pens to highlight key points. Or, you could upload students’ work, and other students can then comment on each others’ work, as a form of peer assessment.

GoAnimate – A fairly easy way to produce short animations. These can then be hosted on a video site, such as YouTube or TeacherTube.

Voki – This is an easy way for you, or a student, to animate a message without having to record your face as well as your voice. You normally need a blog to host it on.

Audacity – An excellent tool that can be downloaded for free. Easy to use to record and to transform voices as well. The voice can then be added to vokis or other videos.

There are some good primary examples on this Demo Primary School site, based in Falkirk. Thanks to @mvass for producing it, and to @johnmclear for drawing it to my attention!

I will add more later, as I receive more suggestions!

I have asked my good friends on Twitter what Web 2.0 photo tools they recommend, in preparation for a CPD session I’m giving in a week or two on the use of ICT in RE teaching. Here are their (and my) recommendations:

Flickr – I think the number one choice of most. Worth paying for. Which reminds me, I need to pay for the next year. Anyway, I think it’s well worth it. It’s about the only web tool I don’t even hesitate to think about paying for. It’s about £12 a year. I use it constantly, and have about 5000 photos stored there at the moment. I think. (Supported by tweets such as @creativetallis, @davefoord)

Compfight – Strange name, great way to browse Creative Commons Flickr photos.

Flickrstorm – Another way to browse Creative Commons Flickr photos (thanks to @mtechman).

Photo Sharing Web Tools – A whole list of good Web 2.0 tools for photos. (@mtechman)

Gazopa – A way to search for similar looking photos (and, I think, videos). (@mtechman)

Cool Iris – “The fastest way to browse photos and videos”. (@victoriaellis has been going on about this for ages!)

Big Huge Labs tools – A variety of fun things to do with your photos (@victoriaellis)

ImageChef – Customise photos and clip art (thanks to @dominic_mcg).

Tag Galaxy – Visual way of honing in on just the photo you are looking for by gradually being more specific in the tags used (thanks to @dawnhallybone)

It’s amazing how many more photo and image opportunities, tools, applications etc there are now compared with two years ago. There are still many of the sites that I thought were fantastic when I first found them, but I think as I have become busier, and the amount of time I have to spend online has decreased, I have become more particular with which sites I use. It is good to have a reason to find out what I might be missing out on in the wider world of Web 2.0, and it makes a huge difference that I now have Twitter to help get more precise and focused recommendations. It’s also good to see that Flickr continues to be popular!

If I have missed out your favourite photo tool here, please leave a comment and I will update this at some point!

Most of my daily CPD these days (and yes, it is almost daily) comes from Twitter. This morning, via a link to a blog, I found a link to a slideshare presentation, which I found so interesting that I thought I’d share it here.

Thanks to Rod Lucier, also known as the Clever Sheep, for this presentation. As well as the obviously useful information about collaboration, and the examples of site and applications that can support working together in education, I think this is about the first time I’ve sat and watched a slideshare presentation while listening to the voiceover. As I have an ICT in RE presentation to prepare, I think I ought to have a go at doing that as well, if I have time!!

I also thought I’d add a link to the Web 2.0 Tools site mentioned by Rod in his presentation.

Went on another excellent Philosophy for Children course on Friday and Saturday. It was about putting into practice what I had been introduced to during the previous course with Will Ord. We had three “enquiries” during the two days, where we had different techniques modelled to us, eg of starters, generating questions, thinking time and reflections. Many of us had had a brief intro to P4C before. It was a really nice group; I hope we can continue to share ideas for stimulii etc.

I have tried out some of the techniques with two classes this week so far. I read The Gruffalo to my years 9s. A few said they weren’t babies, but others obviously enjoyed it. Then each student shared a word that the story made them think of: scary, big, ugly, funny, stinky, strong. We then looked for links between these words: strong and scary, ugly and scary, big and strong. Then we moved on to formulating questions: a few students asked questions using the linked ideas. Eventually, using our felt tip pens, we voted, and chose the question, “Why, if you’re strong, are you scared?” (Or, why might a strong person feel scared?”) I thought this was quite an insightful question on behalf of my students (this is a lower ability set), and would have been interested in seeing how the conversation would have continued if we had had more time. As it was, there was some discussion relating to people using intelligence to scare others and hinting at fear of the unknown, although not quite in so many words.

Today, I decided on the spur of the moment to carry out an enquiry relating to abortion with my year 11 class. Some interesting questions, but in this case the time taken to generate the questions might have been better spent simply starting a discussion of my own choosing more related to the exam topics. Interesting to observe and evaluate these different situations. Am hoping to run an enquiry tomorrow with my year 8s; they were not quite ready today but I did go over some of the ground rules with them. I’ll see!

There is a very interesting article in the Guardian Weekend about the changes made in technology over the past decade. It got me thinking about the websites and applications that had most changed the way I do things using ICT. First of all, here is the Guardian list:

1. Google – I would 100% agree. I don’t think I really used search engines before Google came along.

2. Wikipedia – This is now so useful that it is often my first port of call, nevermind my pupils’.

3. Twitter – I believe this is the best source of CPD that I’ve had over this past year. Although it’s probably stopped me blogging so much!

4. Comment is Free – A particularly Guardian inclusion which I’m not sure I’ve ever used.

5. BBC iPlayer – I don’t use it that often, but when I do, it’s great – and its existence would encourage me to get rid of the TV at some point in the future.

6. iPhone – I don’t have one, but I know many people who do, and it did start that whole era of touchscreen phones. I’ve just got a BlackBerry, and I can see that being a big change. In fact, I’m typing this post on it now.

7. Craigslist – Never used it.

8. Facebook – Of course I’m on it! But I don’t use it so much these days. However, I still use it to keep in touch with old friends.

9. iTunes U – Need to look into this one.

10. Spotify – I think I’ve signed up to this but I’m not so much into listening to music. Don’t get me wrong – I like music, I’ve grown up playing the violin and I love to dance. But my husband is the DJ round here so I pretty much let him get on with it! A pretty eclectic mix anyway!

So, that was the Guardian’s top ten. What about mine? Of course, there’s bound to be an overlap!

1. Twitter – I’ve ‘met’ so many members of the education technology world through this, and they have shared so much in terms of resources and ideas. I can’t imagine trying to find out so much on my own. Definitely best CPD this year.

2. YouTube – Couldn’t believe it when I read that YouTube was founded AFTER the Indonesian tsunami. That is an event that I remember clearly because my husband and I were on an amazing Italian winter holiday. Surely YouTube must have existed before that holiday?! But it didn’t.

3. Google – The homepage on many computers I’ve worked on! Also the standard search button at school. I use Google at school and at home to find quick images and basic facts.

4. Wikipedia – First source of information. Normally the first item that pops up on Google as well!

5. Flickr – I love Flickr. Almost all my photos are up there. One of the few Web 2.0 apps that I pay for – I’ve had a Pro account for a couple of years. Still remember the first time I heard of Flickr – from a stranger who was taking pictures of the same smouldering warehouse as me – and now I’m shocked when other people haven’t heard of it. My favourite site to search for Creative Commons Flickr photos is www.compfight.com.

6. Facebook – I think I was one of the first of my friends and colleagues to be on Facebook (after much prompting from @victoriaellis!). The novelty has worn off – I don’t send people flowers any more! – but it’s still great for keeping in touch.

7. Blogs – To think I’d never heard of them three years ago. I enjoy writing them (when I have the time) and have learnt loads from reading them.

8. Online banking – I was probably one of the first to use phone banking, as I worked for Direct Banking when I was at uni, but it took until about 4 years ago to finally sign up for Online banking. And it’s so useful. I love being able to see my transactions, and being able to transfer my money when I want to without having to discuss it with anyone.

9. WiFi – I’m so glad the days of plugging in to dial up are long gone! And I can talk to someone on the phone and be online at the same time! Bliss.

10. BlackBerry – I’ve only had it a week, so I suppose it’s too early to say what sort of impact it will have on my life. But it’s already got me blogging again – this post has been typed on my BlackBerry – and I can send emails and texts on the tube and it sends them when it has a signal! Fantastic.

So, that’s my top ten. Now, what’s yours?

Note: You can also read @janeinjava’s post here.

It’s been too long … But today my lesson with my Year 7s on “Sustainable China” seems a very relevant topic for Blog Action Day! We looked at pictures of workers in Chengdu, looked at some of the problems faced such as breathing problems and having to boil the water to make it safe to drink, and then thought about the causes of these problems. Many of the causes of the problems were in fact problems themselves … but problems in the UK which are then shipped over to China! We considered the amount of waste there is in the UK, and learnt that many of our unwanted old technology is shipped over to China to be stripped apart so bits can get reused. Obviously this all has an impact on our planet and our climate … Hopefully my pupils have begun to consider the impact their actions have on others at the other side of the world.

I attended a fantastic course yesterday. Sitting in the room I was beginning to feel physically uncomfortable, so excited that I felt I was about to burst. I kept wanting to run out of the room and run to school and start putting what I was hearing into practice straightaway; but I knew I was going to learn more, so I was staying put.

Over lunch, I talked nineteen to the dozen with another teacher, both of us enthused, and trying to wolf our food down so we could get back to the seminar. We were bouncing ideas off each other, working out how we could use what we were learning back in our classrooms.

I was already planning my lesson for the following day, and had planned to use it once a week with a group that I have next year that has the potential to be tricky. I already had in mind a pilot group, a report, dissemination, training other teachers.

So what was this course?

Philosophy 4 Children. Obviously, the title gives that away, but I wanted to get across first how much this course had a physical and emotional effect on me. The trainer, Will Ord, from Thinking Education, was excellent. He had a good range of resources, but the best bit was the way he modelled the methods, and explained the pedagogy behind P4C very clearly. One piece of clear evidence that backs up how effective Will was: he asked us to make a “Take Ten” list – ten practical ideas that we could take away and use. I made a list of at least fourteen. And I used one as my starter today, another as a method of sharing ideas (put hand palm upwards as opposed to raising hand), and another as a means of voting (the omnivote – saves having to make sure no one votes twice, let them vote as often as they want!).

So, yes, I did put the ideas into practice straightaway. I teach my Year 7s last lesson on a Friday, and although they are a fantastic class, they can sometimes become a little bit hyper by that time, and not quite as focused. So what better time to try something new?!

As we entered the chapel (I’m lucky to have a quiet place where I don’t have to rearrange the desks), another class began to walk across the playground. I’d forgotten that another teacher was going to bring her class to do some quiet reading about Desmond Tutu in the chapel! So, I decided to make it a joint P4C class. Although this meant there was some shyness from some in my class, they worked together quite well. We started trying to sit down one at a time in silence, queue lots of laughter then some frantic gesturing from those that understood how it could be done more quickly than the others. I then shared as a stimulus an old photo of my grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother (most of my class had since this already, but it was new for the other class), then a few pupils shared their first thoughts. In threes, they then came up with some questions, which were then shared with the others in the class. Some of these questions were still about the stimulus (eg Who are they? What year is this?) but others included What is a family? Should we have babies? and Are all families close? Unfortunately, at this point we only managed three comments in response to the chosen question (Should we have babies?: some people want to extend their families, some people are poor, we might not want so many people), so I’ll need to keep a closer eye on time keeping next time, and bear in mind that it takes a while to go over some of the ground rules etc. However, overall, I was quite happy with it for a first go, and hope that I can do that again on Thursday, which will be the next, and last, time I see this group – and I am not due to have them next year, so it may be some time before I see them again.

Can anyone suggest a good stimulus for this last lesson? Maybe something that might encourage us to think about the past year, or something about summer holidays, or about change, or growing … Maybe one of their exercise books, or a photo from earlier in the year when they did a drama about The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas? A pair of sunglasses, or a clock? Or maybe I should ask them to all hold hands and pass a squeeze around, or just ask them to think about the whole year? What would you do? (And what would someone who disagrees with you say?)

I have been intrigued by Robin Burkinshaw’s blog, Alice and Kev, which follows the life of two homeless characters in Sims 3. It is a very touching story, and as well as the storytelling itself, the comments left by those who are following the story make interesting reading. Many people are being drawn in to the story of good but clumsy Alice and her violent father. An unusual introduction to the topic of homelessness.

I’ve just found a new and interesting tool: Scribble Maps. Very geographical – but I am sure there are other uses too!