Embedding Slideshows

Then early this year I became really clever and taught myself how to embed a slide show into my blog - so easy really. I then discovered how to change the size of embedded fotobabbles and Storybirds - more by good luck than good management!



 Click this link to watch a video slide show of the Trip to the Zoo in March 2012 and sing along to the zoo song
or
Zoo Trip March 2012 - watch a slide show of photos

 

Click this link to watch a video slide show of the Trip to the Zoo in March 2012 and sing along to the zoo song or

Zoo Trip March 2012 - watch a slide show of photos

TVs in the Classroom - A Great Teaching Tool

Superstorm Sandy link to the TV One

We couldn't have asked for more perfect timing for our latest C.O.T. topic - "Keeping Ourselves Safe".
We have been following the happenings of the latest superstorm to hit New York. Our TVs have given us wonderful videos and the latest news. Children today are so lucky!
Gone are the days of showing them newspaper pictures - now they can watch and discuss and interpret what is happening in real time.
Below is our latest brainstorm where we are thinking about after the storm - who are the people who will help and what will have to be done to clean up and try to get the homes   
back to before the disaster.

Glogster - Our Latest Glog

I love this web tool! It is so motivating and an instant winner with the children. It's a great collaborative tool - I get the children to work on a shared glog together. It means I have a whole reading group of 8 children working at a writing task - it works well as an activity on our Reading Tumble each day. So every child gets 15 - 20 minutes with a buddy every day. No one else in the school gets this much time - I'm lucky - I have 4 computers!

Our latest glog was a class collaborative effort. We used it as a medium to publish our holiday highlight stories drafted on the Monday back after the Term 3 holidays.

We also used it as a way to practise and extend our video interviewing skills. With a buddy the children wrote a script using text from their drafted stories and added connecting questions and comments. We practised reading them aloud and then Shana and Emi recorded them with the digital camera. We added them to our class glog along with extra trimmings to make it look inviting to read.
I think everyone in the class agreed that we had improved our front of camera image. The feedback from parents was very encouraging too.
(Read more about Glogster on the Glogster page on the right hand side bar.)

Twitter in the Classroom

Follow me - @jennielesueur

I have already written a post about the benefits of teachers using Twitter to keep up to date with new information. This post will deal with the benefits of using Twitter in the classroom.

WHY and WHO benefits? - Mainly the parents at present.
This is where my iPhone becomes another useful tool in the classroom. I take a photo of a learning moment and tweet it with a caption. I have a number of parents who follow me on Twitter so they get an instant update on what is happening with their child in the class.


 My aims for the future use of Twitter in the classroom:

- to tweet a photo/ caption each day, sometimes more
- to tweet a photo with a child of one of the parents who follows me
- to tweet information about what is happening daily in the classroom/ syndicate/ school
- to tweet information about what is going to happen in the classroom/ syndicate/ school - eg sports events, spelling tests, reminders
- to get the children involved so they are able to choose the "tweetable" moment

A sample - view these tweets -
Carnivore or Herbivore
Stars of the Week 
Kelly Sports on the Field

              

More TVs - We're On Our Way into the Future!

Starting the beginning of Term 4 seven more 32" TVs were installed in the remaining Year 0 - 3 classes. The teachers welcomed them with enthusiasm!  We have been sharing ideas on how to use them to enhance our engagement and learning with the children. I shared this
slide show presentation at a staff meeting to:


Click to view the slide show


1. Provide some hints on setting up
2. Give some quick and easy ideas to use the TV immediately
     with the children
3. Provide some further ideas and websites with free web 
    tools to use with the TV, for the whole class or small
    groups, once they were more confident

The B.O.T. want to see change in the school and have relseased money to start updating technology hardware in the classes. The theory - if every teacher has a TV they can use it to engage the whole class.
The remaining classes in the school will receive their Tvs before the end of the year. These TVs will be 47" or 55" and will be mounted on the walls - bigger children need bigger TVs. These TVs will replace the data profectors that are being used at the moment by some teachers.
TVs are the way of the future:

• no expensive bulbs to replace
• don't need to worry about cooling down period for buld
• brighter, clearer picture
• sunlight and light does not effect the picture screen as much
• no messy cords to get in the way
• no projector obstructing the view of children sitting on the floor

ISTE - An Eye Opening Conference!

ISTE - International Society for Technology and Education

San Diego June 24 – 27  2012

Keynotes - Sir Ken Robinson, Dr. Yong Zhao,
                   Michael Fullan, Dr Howie DiBlasi

This was THE conference that opened my eyes to 21^st century learning in the classroom!

https://sites.google.com/a/ptengland.school.nz/iste12/?pli=1 

(a collaborative file containing notes from the conference - a quick reference for me)

The ideas from this conference inspired me to continue with what I had been dabbling with in the classroom. It also made clear to me that I needed to share the information from the conference with the staff back at school, as the message that the world of education was changing hadn’t got through yet – we were still ignoring the changes going on in other schools that were making ICT an integral part of the everyday classroom programme - our teaching techniques had not moved forward in ICT for 10 years!

Mainly because:-

We had an IT suite of 30 computers with an IT specialist teacher that took IT with each class for an hour a week for the last 10 years. The children were getting an hour of ICT each week, but the teachers were not. No computers in the classroom for the children to use also made it impossible to integrate IT into the everyday classroom programme. Hence a vicious cycle eventuated.

Main Themes from the conference  

·         Children of the 21^st century are wired differently and need a different style of learning and teaching

·         Teachers have an obligation to their children to up skill and present them with rich, stimulating programmes that get their attention and switch them into learning

·        iPads, iPhones and mobile devices were THE way forward for IT in the classroom

·         There are LOTS of FREE web tools that can be used in class programmes

·         Digital storytelling and encouraging student voice were popular themes

·         Classroom programmes need to have lots of visuals, include online games that challenge and use flash simulations, avatars etc

·         Class programmes need to include lots of socialization and movement – talking, discussing with each other, moving/actions rather than static listening (to the teacher)

·         Teachers need to provide constant feedback and scaffold lessons - children need to clearly know what is expected of them so provide clear targets and success criteria

·         They need opportunities to collaborate with each other, get involved in authentic, real life issues and to share with others in a global community

Twitter for Teachers @jennielesueur

 

All teachers should have an iPhone



The staff at Pinehill had begun blogging in 2011 as well as me. I followed their blogs and often “borrowed” their ideas.

I now follow them on Twitter and this helps me keep up to date with new ideas to use in the classroom. The educators I follow tweet links to a huge range of websites and references about all fields of education, not just IT information.

Twitter has become my main resource for

professional development reading. Every day I try to quickly scan through the tweets and "favourite" or email the link to myself for future reference.
One of my goals for next year is to either:

- encourage other staff to follow me on Twitter so I could retweet links to sites they might find useful or
- regularly email them the links to these sites.
I am preparing an introductory information pack to present to staff at a PD meeting.