Adventures in Teaching and Learning

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.

It’s the beginning of Advent, so I have just spent the past couple of hours researching Advent wreaths, calendars and Jesse Trees to share with my classes at school. I am not going to type them all out again, instead, here are the links to the relevant posts on my RE hub blog:

Jesse Tree

Advent Calendars

Advent Wreaths

Please do let me know if you find any of these links useful, and if you know of any other good sites that I can add, that would be brilliant!

Have a very happy Advent!

I can hardly believe it has been over a month since I last blogged! It has certainly been a very busy time, both at work and at home.

However, over the past week I have come across two websites that I think will be useful for my students, so I thought I would share them here as well.

The first is a faith-based website, YFaith, aimed at young Catholic Christians aged 10-13, although open and useful to anyone. As an RE teacher in a Catholic school, this is a site that I will be directing my Key Stage 3 students to. This is a new site, based in the UK, and they have attempted to make the site interactive and safe. Therefore there are many opportunities for young people to vote on different issues, and they can upload their own questions and comments, which are moderated first before uploading. There is no need for students to use their email addresses or to reveal any information about themselves.

The second is the GCSEPod website. This site has a number of revision podcasts that can be downloaded and listened to on mp3 players. There is a small charge per unit, and the hope for the creators is that parents and grandparents might want to buy podcasts for their (grand)children to help them with their revision. So far there are podcasts for English Language, Geography, History and Religious Studies, with more to follow. GCSEPod are looking for more writers for this series, so perhaps you would like to be involved.

Finally, I have just seen a clip of David Cameron talking in Parliament, shouting about Haringey’s Children and Young People’s Services: “They have done nothing to help failing schools in Haringey.” I would first of all like to point out that the views expressed in my blog are 100% my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer (although I would hope that they are normally not that dissimilar!). I am proud to work in a school that has been recognised as being “Good” by Ofsted. And I am aware that is partly because of the support we, and other schools, have received from Sharon Shoesmith and her department. As Alex Atherton has been quoted as saying, there “are no schools in special measures in Haringey.” Whatever has happened with the social services side of the CYPS, I feel angry that David Cameron has chosen to make the statement I have quoted above. This seems to be a soundbite rather than evidence of any investigation he has done into our local school situation. The CPD for teachers in Haringey has been second to none.

Get a Voki now!

The new TTP group meet on Tuesday; I have the privilege of hosting a session on Web 2.0, involving pedagogy and practical application. So today I have been trying to think of uses for a variety of Web 2.0 applications, hence the large number of posts! I think it’s about time to pull some of those ideas together.

Voki
I enjoy adding vokis onto my blogs to liven them up a bit and add sound. It’s a humorous way of engaging the students as well, and for students who find reading a bit more difficult, then Voki instructions may be a bit easier to follow. If students have access to computers, then I think Vokis work well especially in MFL, where students can record short paragraphs in the target language: this could then be used for peer and self assessment purposes. The main difficulty I have with Voki is that they are not downloadable, so they can only be shown when hosted on a browser somewhere and cannot be inserted into powerpoint presentations. (If they can, and I’m missing something, please let me know!) Of course, CrazyTalk can be used to similar effect, but with a little more effort.

If you have used Voki successfully as a teaching and learning tool, please drop me a line to let me know!

VoiceThread
This seems like a good way to encourage students to listen to one another and to respond to one another. A VoiceThread can be used to gather a variety of opinions and ideas, which can be shared or kept private (In this case, you would need to make accounts for all students, and add them all as your friends on the VoiceThread that you wanted them to watch/listen/comment on. They can also be moderated.) I have seen some good examples, eg “This picture makes me think …”, Students reading out poems that they have written in response to a visual stimulus, students using the doodle tool to demonstrate what they think will happen next in an experiment (actually, I haven’t seen that, but I think it could be a good idea … if you moderate the comments, then keep them all hidden until you have received everyone’s comments) … I’m sure there are many more.

What ideas do you have for how you could use VoiceThread in your subject? If you have already used it, could you add a link in the comments box so we can see it and be inspired?

Slideshare
An easy way to share presentations. I have made a very basic one with the most basic key points for my GCSE students to support their last minute revision, and another one with pictures to illustrate Pentecost, which I will use in my lessons next week. The other side, of course, is that there are many interesting presentations out there, that can either inform us as educators, or can be used by us in the classroom.

Have you a favourite presentation that you found on SlideShare? Or have you uploaded a presentation made by your students that could inspire us?

YouTube, TeacherTube, GodTube, TED, GoogleVideo, Teachers’ TV
I am sure there are other video sharing websites out there, these are just some of the most common, or ones that I have found recently. Videos can be a great starter for lessons, and there are some great educational clips out there, as well as lots of funny clips that can begin discussion. Just be careful though – I showed a clip of Mel Brookes as Moses, dropping one of the tablets on which were written the Fifteen – well, now Ten – Commandments in order to start thinking about the Decalogue with my class, and quite a few of them assumed that there really were originally fifteen … ! I have also used the Honda Cogs clip to illustrate the concept of causation. Of course, the next stage is then making your own videos to upload and share with others. For a trial, I made a video using OneTrueMedia, and uploaded that to YouTube. It’s not great, but at least it shows it can be done! I am also a member of the RE Group on YouTube.

How have you used YouTube or another video site during a lesson? Why do you think showing short video clips can be such a good learning tool?

Well, there are hundreds of other sites, and it’s getting late and I have other things to do, so that will have to do for now. I do hope that some of you who read this will leave a comment suggesting ways in which these, and other Web 2.0 applications, can be used effectively in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning.

It was great to meet so many Heads of Sixth Form today at the Sixth Form Conference. I hope that some of you may visit this blog and the conference blog and leave a comment to let me know what Web 2.0 ‘technology’ you might try out! I am going to attach the powerpoint that I presented to this post – I hope it might provide a starting point for you to explore Web 2.0 and blogging for yourself! Take part in the conversation!

Web 2.0

Remembrance Poems

Originally uploaded by vikellis.

Hope this works … wanted to draw everyone’s attention to the excellent Poppy Man that Victoria Ellis’ Citizenship pupils made last week – follow the link from the poems to see the Poppy Man, made up of many poetry poppies. A great piece of work, I’m sure you’ll agree!

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

You’ve probably heard it before; I heard it again on “Take on the Takeaway” this evening. But it made me smile, so I thought I’d share it! Also made me think – knowledge is knowing how to use ICT, wisdom is using it to improve learning and teaching …

I am still trying to plug the Scottish Learning Festival which ended today – I listened to a couple of their podcasts this evening, which were quite interesting. There are a lot of examples of Scottish educational terminology – I always think it’s nice to have an idea of what teachers are doing in other countries so we can share good practice. Also on the Learning and Teaching Scotland website are some videos of the speeches and interviews from the conference. I’ve linked to Mick Waters, who talks about sharing good practice between Scottish and English teachers. I’m all for it.

I think this is the new name for the course run by Haringey PDC. I was asked by Jane Blakely to share the results of my research on using visuals and oracy strategies to improve written work with EAL students, as an example of the sort of projects prospective participants could partake in (sorry, couldn’t resist that final p!). It was good to see so many teachers there, interested in taking advantage of the excellent CPD offered by the PDC (maybe I should do a post on acronyms in education …). Ian Terrell of Middlesex University and the Midwheb Partnership was also there, to explain how teachers following the course can easily get a certificate or work towards getting their Masters (which reminds me, my dissertation is due in about 5 weeks or so …). It’s always nice to see familiar faces!

I have also found this link to the Haringey SACRE, which I am also involved with.

And, just in case anyone from the Scottish Learning Festival 2007 is passing by – hope you are all having a great time and are being inspired! I look forward to finding some time to sit down and have a look at all the downloads and updates!

Oh, and finally … I used the Honda advert (the one with the small cog that knocks against a bigger cog that starts a whole chain reaction that ends up with the car moving off a plinth) as a starter for looking at the Causation Argument with my Year 11s today. It went down well, and is an example of how having an IWB and internet access can be really useful – the advert is just a couple of minutes long and there are lots of questions you can ask about it. This evening I saw the new Ford advert, “Wouldn’t it be a shame if birds never used their wings”, which will be an ideal Year 9 starter to review last lesson’s work on Vocation: Taking Flight and Taking a Risk. What other adverts have people used to effectively stimulate discussion on the topic for the day?

Emm … I’ve just seen it on TV and wow, it was great! Yes, I’m obviously talking about that Scottish victory last night against France. I’ve been trying to find it on YouTube, but with no success so far – fortunately I turned to the TV at just the right moment to see the ball sail from McFadden’s foot to the back of the net over quite a distance. The Independent’s report is here.

While we’re talking about Scotland, I think that’s a good time to remind any readers about the Scottish Learning Festival 2007 which takes place from 19-20 September at the SECC in Glasgow. There will be lots of info – including blogs and podcasts – on their websites, and there will be updates on Facebook as well. Wish I could be there! I expect it will be really inspirational. And I am sure that, as always, Ewan McIntosh will add pithy comments on his enjoyable blog.

Now, let me get back to finding that goal …

(I’m glad the blog is back up and running again!)

Last lesson of the last day before half term. How might you imagine that?

Well, yes, it was a bit hectic at times, and I’m sure anyone walking past would have wondered what was going on. However, at the end of the day I was able to sit down and show our Head of Year, and another form tutor, some quite moving and honest work, one piece the result of two boys whom you would not necessarily imagine working together. I’m hoping to get their permission to show you the resulting CrazyTalk animation.

The other group worked on another roleplay, which I look forward to editing later. I’d really like them to edit it, but it is hard trying to give everyone an opportunity to use the computer.

It was also good to have the TA again in the lesson. He was able to work with the group recording inside while I supervised the actors outside. It was also an advantage having another beautiful sunny day!

I’m trying to think of what I can do with that group after the holidays. I think we ought to have another project, but I’m not sure what. I wonder if there is a computer room free now that the Year 11s have left? Maybe I could trial my blogging research?!