When my class found out that they could finally login to their new ePortfolios a jubilant “HOORAY” erupted from the students. For us the rubber was finally hitting the road. :+) We had discussed the ePortfolio concept together as a class from the beginning of Term 1. During this preparation period we put together a written list of the samples we thought would be good to share with our Parents or peers and that would show what we are learning. I was impressed with the discussions and samples the students were suggesting. The list of samples looked like this:

• Special Things About Me: 
  • X-Factor movie
  • Our “Smarts” (a pictorial representation of our Multiple Intelligences)
  • Power points I have made about me
• Term Goals
• Maths Basic Facts tests
• Reading (audio recordings and comprehension activities)
• Writing:
  • Audio recorded or published Pirate narratives
  • Accompanying assessment rubrics
• Handwriting
• Topic Studies:
  • Pictures of our Pirate projects or the Pirate project powerpoints and their accompanying assessment rubrics

Over the last 3 weeks we have been busy setting up our ePortfolios and archiving our work samples (listed above). I continue to offer suggestions and guide my students. While I do this I have to be careful not to “take over” otherwise I rob them of the ability to own the ePortfolio. This is not an easy task. 

I have found the following ways to be effective in building student ownership:

1. Allow students to upload things that are of interest to them eg: sport pictures, power points they have made or to create links to other pages they enjoy visiting.
2. Show students how to design their own ePortfolios so that they become personalised eg: the different ways they could create an avatar, change the layout of their portfolio, colour schemes, etc.
3. Always include the students in discussions about their ePortfolios. We all contribute, then discuss ideas and finally solutions are arrived at together.
4. Give options for the different ways you can come to the same conclusion eg: in Term 1 we wrote Pirate narratives together as part of our Pirate topic. Together we discussed the different ways we could publish these. Some students choose to type them while others choose to record them orally.

I love reading blogs that are either visionary, challenging or practical. Here is a blog that is very practical.

Jacqui Sharp is an Educational Consultant who works in Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve never met her but would like to. Her blog:

• is written with tips for teaching junior and senior students (generally a Primary/Elementary focus) .
• shows a strength in incorporating powerpoints into everyday teaching and shares these with you.
• uses web 2.0 tools effectively for teaching and learning eg: Scribd, Bubl.us, Inspiration, Delicious, etc.
• shares a range of sites that will support the following classroom programs: spelling, writing, oral language (and this is only on the first page!).

Click here or on the picture above to visit Jacqui’s blog.

So I have been asking myself lately, “As a Teacher what attitudes and behaviours am I encouraging and modelling? What am I communicating?”

At the conclusion of the last two terms I presented a survey to my students to complete. Using Survey Monkey I designed a survey that would:

1. Give me some detailed feedback on the term from the students’ perspective.
2. Allow my students to take greater ownership of the classroom and share with me ideas they think would help what we do.
3. Hopefully give me an insight into how I am teaching and communicating.

   

To have a look at this survey click on the picture of the clipboard. (I have left it open and made it possible for you to move through the pages without filling anything in.)

Many will think this is a bit crazy but with careful wording it has been most valuable to me. I will share a few points with you that have been beneficial to me and my teaching:

• The students felt that I could be better at remembering things (This became my goal for the next term and I enlisted the support of a egg timer which now keeps us better on time.)
• A number of students felt I was sometimes unfair. This was something that grabbed my attention as I worked hard on being consistent and fair. I took it back to the class and listened to their thoughts. They were open with me and shared some good points. However I must note that they are students and a number couldn’t see the ‘real picture’ from their own issues.
• I was also encouraged in my teaching as they saw some of my strengths to be a good sense of humour and the ability to teach, communicate, stretch them and provide support. (Thanks E3 :+D)
• Many felt that homework had become too boring and monotonous. They wanted to do some more projects. (This became another goal for me and so to spice things up I now pop a “Brainer” challenge in from time to time to replace part of the standard homework.)

I will leave you with a thought:

“The problem with communication … is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” George Bernard Shaw

Picture Author:

Dictionary = http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/library/tutorials/behavior/communication.html

Clipboard = http://www.arb.ca.gov/ports/cargo/documents/survey.htm

It grabbed me because as a Teacher one of my desires is to see my students finding their passions and taking opportunities to develop them. In my mind, our passions are linked to our talents/gifts. I believe everyone has one but sometimes it takes a long time to identify it.

So my question to you is “What are we doing to help our students identify and develop their passion/s?”

Here are two successful ways I feel I have done this, this year:

Example A “Multiple Intelligences“: Teaching these has given my students and myself a window into their talents, strengths and possible passions. The survey I discussed in an earlier post identified some common M.I’s my class demonstrate and has given me ideas for possible learning contexts. I discovered that I have a strong contingent of nature and visual “smart” learners. I have therefore planned with these in mind so that the students with these talents/smarts/passions can have an opportunity to flourish.

Example B “Contracts”: I run a management system where by if the students have finished an activity early there are two sections on the board they look to. The first is called “Must Do’s” and the second is “Can Do’s”. The first is obviously things they need to finish but the “Can Do’s” section gives them opportunity to explore and be extended in activities.

One such activity is where they negotiate a contract with me. Past examples of contracts are student initiated inquiries/projects and student responsibilities. It is has given space for students with a particular passion or bent to develop these further. I have loved observing my students “take off” on projects they have negotiated with me. One example recently has been a small group of boys in my class who love sport and wanted to take it further. We have negotiated a contract where by they are responsible for organising the “Teachers vs Students” sport matches. They are buzzing with this negotiated contract.

So back to my question: “What are we doing to help our students identify and develop their passion/s?” Are we squashing our students passions or allowing them to fly?

Picture Authors:

- Flying Eagle www.birdwatchersdigest.com/slideshow/gallery.php?Show_ID=3&Slide_ID=169

- Contract www.mma-analyst.com/post/Can-Couture-escape-his-contract-A-brief-look-at-contract-law.aspx

• Write a poem using similes to support and emphasise your message.
• Write an acrostic poem using alliteration.
• Write a palindrome poem using onomatopoeias.
• Write a cinquain poem using verbs, adjectives and nouns correctly.
• Recite our poems fluently and with expression to our buddy class.

Yellow Hat Thinking (Positive Reflections):

1. Finding Poetry examples on the net supported the teaching of new poetry forms.
2. The use of visual images on our class W.A.L.Ts (I found these easily using a ‘Google Image’ search)
3. Teaching a variety of poems meant that students learnt and experiemented with different poems.
4. The students were encouraged to keep an “Ideas Book” which enabled them to run with an idea when it was time to write.
5. Sharing our poems with our buddy class via a web conference meant that our students had a live audience.
6. Recording our spoken poems onto a voicethread meant that others could listen and our successful poems were celebrated!

What have you done to make your poetry units successful?

What other ICT tools could be used to enhance a unit like this?

The overal aim of this unit was for students to work co-operatively as a company to design and create a new type of chocolate bar and to produce a visual presentation outlining the process.

The following is a list of the activities the children had to complete:

1. In your chosen Company of 5 members assign the following roles: Co-ordinator, Recorder, Creative Arts Director, Communicator and Collator.
2. Design a Company name, logo and jingle.
3. Develop a timeline showing the history of chocolate.
4. Survey 60 people regarding:
   1. Their favourite chocolate.
   2. Time of day they enjoyed eating chocolate.
   3. How often they ate chocolate each week.
5. Sort, display and comment on the findings of the survey.
6. From these findings design a chocolate to enter into E3’s Chocolate competition.
7. Design a wrapper for your chocolate bar that includes your logo, company name and list of ingredients.
8. Make the chocolate.
9. Present your Company chocolate to the class and include in the presentation:
   1. Graphs displaying the survey and written comments.
   2. Description of the chocolate making process.
   3. Jingle.
   4. An advert for your chocolate eg: Newspaper, T.V or Radio.
   5. A timeline depicting the history of chocolate.
   6. Company chocolate ready for the taste test! (Of course I had the privledge of doing this part)

Green Hat Thinking (creative thoughts) If I was to do the unit again I would…

• Do it at the beginning of the Term when the students are less grumpy/tired. The co-operative nature of the unit was socially very demanding.
• Give the rubric out earlier in the process so students had a clearer picture of the expectations.
• Give more demonstrations and examples of the successful criteria set out in the rubric.

Overall it was a very successful unit as students worked through a motivating subject overcoming relationship issues to produce a tangible and tasty product :+)

Has anyone else taught a similar unit? What worked well for the students/teaching in your unit?

Picture Authors:
http://www.chocolate-world.net/images/Chocolate.png

1) My class, E3, has begun a new relationship with a school in Nelson, Room 8 from Ranzau School. We have been collaborating together on our speeches. Below is one of my students who was going into the semi finals so we used Voicethread so that our buddy class (and others) could provide some positive support and critique her speech to help her better prepare her for the semi finals.

Click on the picutre below to be taken to the Voicethread. (I had some trouble embedding it.)

2) We have recently finished an inquiry into “How Great is Our God?” with the focus being on Space. Here is a link to a Voicethread where Bono’s Thinking Hats were used to reflect on the inquiry.

3) At the end of last Term I set up a Voicethread so that students could record collectively their thoughts on the question “What would school look like in 100 years?” Tony Ryan’s ‘Prediction’ Thinkers Key was used to provoke this thought.

4) I used Voicethread at the beginning of this year to help teach internet safety to my Year 6 (Grade 5) students. It has proven a good source to go back to when we need to remember how to be safe on the net.

5) Last year I was teaching a group of Year 2 students about “How Things Move”. During this time we used Voicethread to reflect on and celebrate what we had learnt during this topic.

Please share other ways you have used Voicethread to enhance teaching or learning in your class.

What will schools be like in 100 years?

I found the following themes:

1. Digital technology will still be around.
2. There is a feeling that technology will continue to make things easier.
3. Schools will be in interesting places eg: sky, underwater.
4. Some students believe technology will replace Teachers.

There were no real surprises as I felt students visionary skills were restricted to what they have seen on TV EXCEPT for two students that I thought were worth noting:

Does this surprise or freak anyone else?!

These two students showed me that they could think outside the box. I will therefore be watching their development closely.

I found some entertaining animations today on Youtube written by a Grade 5 Teacher named Tony Dusko. He has a website called “Notebookbabies” and I just have to share it with you.

As you can see these little fullas look quite simple……but he uses them effectively. My students (10 year olds) laughed at them when I showed them a few of the clips. Tony has produced a number of short animation videos to address issues or present information for his class. Below are a few that caught my eye:

• “Homework Hero” – a funny video encouraging students to do their homework.
• “Messy Desks” – used to challenge students to keep tidy desks.
• “What is a Friend” – this video (below) is a good place to start a discussion on Friendship for ages 5-10yrs.

I’m keen to find some animation that would encourage creativity, integrity and internet safety in my students. Have you found any that are worth checking out?

The following link on Brain Gym was written by Ewan McIntosh from Scotland.

http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2008/04/brain-gym-was-i.html

It is definitely worth a read so I have posted about it quickly to bring it to your attention (if you haven’t read it already).

Check out the videos (Part 1 + 2) in my Vodpod collection on the left side of this blog (note on Ewan’s page he shares Part 1 only.)

What do you think? Have you found enough evidence to say it improves learning?

Picture Author: http://www.fitbuff.com/brain-gym-exercises-get-fit-get-smart