Adventures in Teaching and Learning

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!

IMG_3711, originally uploaded by skambalu.

Thought these little blue flowers were pretty. Saw them on a walk last week up to the new Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

I’ve been showing my sister some of my favourite websites. She asked me to send her links, so I thought maybe I could just make one post with them all here and then just send her the link to this post! So here they are.

Animations

Xtranormal – If you can type, you can make an animation.
GoAnimate! – Make cartoon animations.

Flashcards

Quizlet – Make simple flashcards and learn your keywords
StudyStack – Make flashcards, and StudyStack will automatically make games out of them, eg hangman, catch the bug, unscramble words
FlashCardFlash – Search for flashcards on a number of different sites

Video

Fliggo – Host your own video site. Hopefully the school might not block this …

Visuals

CompFight – Click on “Creative Commons ONLY” to find images to use in school
SimplyBox – Choose your favourite images or videos then simply box them for use later.

And remember … I also have links to a wide range of Web 2.0 tools here. Have fun!

Just found another new site …

Beliefs and Values

I have made a set of flashcards on Quizlet. There are a number of games and ways to revise and test the terms. I’m going to add it to our new Fronter site and see how my year 10s get on.

I have been using Twitter to try to find some new resources that could help my students revise. I’ll need to make a revision post on my school blog later, but let’s concentrate here first!

First of all, I could make – or ask my students to make – a video … perhaps a conversation between two people with different points of view discussing one of the evaluation statements that crop up all the time in their exam papers? But, videos so often seem to take so much time … Well, fear not, because my good friend Victoria on Geogtastic has pointed me in the direction of Xtranormal. Their tagline – if you can type, you can make movies. And it’s true. Check it out. (Although I have had some difficulties recently making movies. Not sure if it’s them or me. Hope it fixes itself soon. It is in Beta, so maybe I ought to drop them a line.)

On the other hand, some of our students really like revision cards, and some enjoy trading cards. So how about they make their own trading revision cards? BigHugeLabs have such a trading card maker. And results can then be shared on Flickr, or elsewhere, or printed out to be used as revision cards.

Finally, for now, a new YouTube type site, where you can make your own school based site. The privacy levels on Fliggo can, I think, be made stronger than those on YouTube – for example, you can moderate comments before they are posted. You can visit my new STM RE Fliggo site here. I presume I can upload any relevant video here, not only my own? Would be a good place to store all the useful and relevant videos I find in such places as TrueTube and GodTube. I think. If that’s allowed. Any advice?

And now, over to you. What one piece of advice would you give a GCSE student that would help them with their revision? Thank you!

I am busily trying to produce resources that I can upload to Fronter. Here is a Wordle for Matthew 5:17 – 7:5.

title="Wordle: Matthew 5:17 - 7:5 NIV"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/701562/Matthew_5%3A17_-_7%3A5_NIV"
alt="Wordle: Matthew 5:17 - 7:5 NIV"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

As well as producing visual images such as these, I have been using CompFight (bizarre name, great tool) to find Flickr images that are Creative Commons, then I have used SimplyBox to quickly store them so I can access them whenever I want. I have also made some of my own images, which I have saved in my own Flickr resource set. Later, I shall save some of these presentations (which I am making using Keynote) to Slideshare.