012335teach

Arts, technology and education.

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#IMMOOC Season 3, Episode 3 with @TaraMartinEDU

Thoughts on the episode

Feeling like I am playing catch up with IMMOOC at the moment but I am still really enjoying the course. This week it was great to listen to https://twitter.com/TaraMartinEDU share her thoughts and ideas. As my school currently focusses on our reading strategies it was very timely to hear Tara talk about #BookSnaps and how she developed and implemented this idea. I love the concept of “cannonballing in” where you just give something a try and you will either swim or drown. Sometimes it is easy to be hesitant about trying something or making a change and I thought this was a cool concept. The advice on blogging at the end was also good. I have added headings to this post :)

What is one thing that you used to do in education that you no longer do or believe in? Why the change?

At first glance this blog prompt seemed a little difficult. I haven’t been teaching for very long so my first instinct was to say I haven’t had much time to change. However on reflection I can actually see I have made a number of changes and in reality this makes sense. As an relatively new teacher I am still finding what works best, what suits me and what suits my students. I am constantly drawing on my experiences to revaluate my practice. In fact over the past 12 months I have made changes to bookwork policies, seating arrangements, class transitions and more. What stands out though is my change in attitude to technology.

Last week I had a chance to visit another school for professional development. This school was an Apple Distinguished School and a large part of the visit was to see how they used their iPads to improve teaching practice. I have always been pro technology, having previously run an online business before teaching I have always embraced the power of technology to improve the world. However as a parent I often fell slightly more into the kids should read books, get outside, turn off the TV camp. It concerned me when people talked about using iPads in the classroom, I wanted to see book work, hands on science and group work. The idea of my kids sitting on an iPad didn’t interest me. It isn’t that I didn’t let me kids use devices at home but time was limited and when I saw them on the devices I usually didn’t see it as a productive use of time (and yes I realise not everything in life needs to be productive).

What I have come to realise though is that how we use devices in the classroom is different to how we us them at home. The Principal of the school I visited last week made the excellent point that part of transitioning their school to an iPad school was educating parents that device use in the classroom looked different to device use at home. If the use of iPads or any technology in the classroom is tied to real learning we should see it as a benefit. I love the way technology gives students the freedom to access work at their own pace and this is something I have tried to embrace in my teaching. I also love the way it let me communicate easily and effectively with parents. My next goal is to get better at using technology to create student portfolios and give feedback.

Using iPads, computers or any other technology in our school doesn’t mean less handwriting, less reading, less activity. In fact if done right it could mean more of these things. Students can photograph writing and art to email home that day instead of the end of term, they can access libraries of ebooks on demand and they can get outside and photograph the world.

For someone who has always embraced technology in business it is ironic that I didn’t initially embrace it for education but now I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Reading (and literacy in general)

This post is purely a personal brainstorming exercise getting ready for a planning day on Monday. We are focussing on reading, especially comprehension, so I thought I would compile a few of the resources I use or would like to use. I won’t limit myself to reading as I just want to get my ideas down.

1) Sheena Cameron’s Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies is my absolute go to for reading comprehension. I had a University lecturer and prac supervisor both recommend this to me and then in my first ever contract my HOC was also a fan. I quickly invested in my own copy in used to to guide my reading in that first placement http://sheenacameron.com/teaching-reading-comprehension-strategies/

2) I am looking for ways to combine literacy with other subject areas. This is a writing activity but I saw it in today’s Teaching Channel email https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-thinking-logs?utm_source=newsletter20171014/

3) For reading in my STEM class this has been my favourite find of 2017 http://www.sciencejournalforkids.org The articles are “above” some of my student’s reading levels but they have all lapped it up. The comprehension questions have also provided excellent opportunities to develop student writing.

4) Audio books. Such a good way to give students access to a text. For example sometimes we hear students need to focus on decoding before comprehension but audio books provide a perfect way for a student to engage in a comprehension activity or focus even if their decoding has not yet developed to the level required my the text. Our school library and local council library have a great selection of texts. I have also recorded myself reading books so students who are absent can listen back to the text.

5) #BookSnaps Recently was introduced to this through twitter chats Tara M. Martin’s blog. http://www.tarammartin.com/booksnaps-snapping-for-learning/ While snap chat is not an option for my class and school the idea can easily be applied to other technologies. Recently I visited Coomera Rivers where the students were using the SeeSaw app to photograph work and comment on work, including reading. I can see how I could start applying this through the platforms, more suited for my class and school.

6) My students love making maths videos and I really need to start doing the same with reading. Book trailers are a great option. Here is one I helped my kids make for the 13 Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths. 

https://vimeo.com/142565200

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#IMMOOC Season 3 Ep 2

Well term started and the last week just flew by. I wasn’t able to catch the #IMMOOC live stream or twitter chat but one of the great things about this style of course is that I can catch up later.

This week’s featured guest/presenter was Alice Keeler and it was a really cool, super motivating chat with lots of energy. Just what I needed to keep motivated on the first week back. Have a watch here:

THOUGHTS ON THE VIDEO

Some of the things I am currently interested in and doing are:

- Teaching digital technology, data and spreadsheet skills. My students are currently collecting data about waste management in our school but I am also teaching them the spreadsheet skills they will use. What was nice this week is that I wasn’t really teaching them skills but rather encouraging them to race to discover new skills and email example to me as quickly as they could. It was fun, I never new 11 year olds could get so excited about excel.

- Thinking about better ways to do “homework” and I really like the term of independent practice. I think it is really important to recognise the homework is inequitable.

- I really like the idea of managing our time as teachers and strongly agree that initiating communication with parents is essential. I do this through Class Dojo and email which are both my school’s preferred methods. The feedback I get from parents about my communication is excellent. Many of my parents work and can’t drop by the classroom and they comment that the communication make life easier. I even feel that I have less emails and messages to answer then some of my colleagues. 

“Parents want to support their kids” - Alice Keeler

“Calling parents is not a waste of time” - Alice Keeler

BLOG PROMPT

Q: How can you create opportunities for innovation in your leadership? In your teaching? In your learning?

A: This question actually challenged me quite a bit. I am always very happy to innovate in my teaching, I will try new things, apply ideas I have seen elsewhere or look at what my colleagues and doing and apply that to my work. I also feel I am innovating in my learning; for example participating in something like #IMMOOC and blogging.

However the opportunities for innovation in leadership is a bit more challenging. I still sometimes “forget” I have a leadership role in my team and while I work my hardest to do a good job I haven’t directly thought about innovation in this role. While I often innovate in my teaching with video lessons, self guided online maths lessons, hands on activities, student lead teaching and effective communication I don’t apply this same strategies to leadership. Our team meetings are very traditional, we follow the template set out by the school and I doubt anyone truly loves the experience. If it was my classroom I would be constantly looking for better ways to run meetings and make the experience more effective. Instead I stick with the tried and tested and do the same old same old. I even end up leaving out some of the more positive parts of the team meetings.

In the Innovators Mindset George Couros says “We rarely create something different until we experience something different”. (pp.89)

From quote this I plan to reflect upon the idea that if I start to innovate with my leadership maybe this will provide a better space for people around me to create the type of innovation and change they want to see.

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Supply teacher at Hogwarts.

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If I ever get tired of teaching STEM maybe I could look at some supply teaching in wizardry and witchcraft.

Another great Chris Riddell illustration. Well worth following him or buying some of his books for the classroom.

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#IMMOOC Week 1 Blog

I am currently taking part in an online course based around George Couros’ book The Innovators Mindset (IMMOOC). As part of the course I will be blogging some thoughts and reflections. The main audience for these posts is myself, I see the blog as a way to reflect upon and process what I am learning and therefore may or may not be referenced as I see fit.

This week I am thinking about why we need innovation in education but I ended up rambling about bikes.

After many years working in small business I am still new to the teaching profession, at least in the strictest sense but I see parallels in my previous life all the time. I have worked for many years in the cycling industry, including at dealerships selling Specialized bikes, one of the world’s largest and best known mid to high end bike brands. Specialized have for a long time used the marketing slogan “Innovate Or Die” which could seem to be a challenge or a threat depending on how you read it. Specialized promote the idea that they are constantly improving their products, developing new technology and making their bikes better. Whether it is new materials, more aero dynamic frames or improved suspension systems the Specialized range continues to improve. Some might argue that this is simply a way to sell more bikes and that most changes are purely for marketing purposes but I can certainly say that the Specialized bike I can buy today is an improvement on the one I could buy 5 years ago and these improvements are the result of innovation.

So what does his mean for education? Well just as some people apply the “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it rule” to education, arguing that the way we did things in the past was fine you could also argue the same for bikes. I enjoyed riding the bike I owned 20 years ago, I got fit riding it and I had fun. Why change? I was having just as much fun riding then as I am now.

That bike I had 20 years ago did have some draw backs though. The brakes didn’t stop as well as modern discs. The suspension didn’t actually work and the extremely narrow handlebars meant a lack of control compared to a modern machine. I could climb as fast, bunny hop as high and had less control. Innovation made my bike better, the end goal of transport and enjoyment was the same but the scope for what I could do on that bike grew.

In education what worked 20 to 30 years ago was fine for me, it got me to where I am today but we can be better. Innovation lets us reach more students through ICT. Innovation helps us understand the needs of more diverse learners through improved pedagogy. Innovation helps us catch students who fall through the net. BUT most of all innovation in education helps us prepare for a world that is innovating whether education does or not.

30 years ago a young bike mechanic leaving school might have needed to calculate spoke lengths for wheel building and perform mental calculations for quotes and bills. Today mechanics need to run diagnostic software on electric assist bikes, use point of sale systems and train themselves in suspension servicing techniques with online courses. No industry says stop innovating because education doesn’t innovate.

The industry innovates and creates better products. Education can innovate to create a better education product.

Industry will go on and innovate whether we like it or not. Education must innovate to keep up.

Cynically Specialized release all these “innovations” so customers keep buying their bikes and not one of their many competitors. If as an individual educator I don’t innovate where will people go instead? Will they go to the schools who do innovate, the online courses, employ the teachers who are prepare to change.

INNOVATE OR DIE

Find out more about The Innovators Mindset and #IMMOOC here http://immooc.org

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Saving for future reference.

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This week I have been teaching my students how to read and interpret timetables. In one activity I had them plan a trip to the World Science Festival in Brisbane using public transport. On Saturday I then made my own trip to the festival, by public transport, made a quick video and showed the class on Monday. 

I hope it showed them that I try and set tasks that I think matter in the real world.

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Hans Rey was a huge influence on me in my previous career and now I am using his Wheels4Life Charity as stimulus for my Year 6′s next STEM project: designing the ideal bicycle.

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Self guided PD is best done sitting by the water.

[cpezaro-deactivated20180401]

Specialist science and maths teachers in primary schools are not the solution

The idea to put specialist science and maths teachers into Australian primary schools gained a lot of support after the latest results of international tests were announced.

“However, I suggest that this strategy is not the solution. I have several reasons for suggesting this. First, the strategy neglects bigger picture issues in the system. Second, this solution has the potential to undermine the strengths of primary education, as well as the relevance and accessibility to science for primary students. And finally, this solution assumes a deficit on the part of primary teachers. If the curriculum is too challenging for teachers to grasp, perhaps it is also too difficult for students. A better response would be to provide primary teachers who need it with the time, funding, and high quality professional development in science.” A piece I have written for the Australasian Association for Research in Education (AARE) EduResearch Matters blog. Thoughts?

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Well written piece by @cpezaro arguing that specialist science and maths teachers in primary schools are not the way forward. In my brief teaching experience I feel that best way to improve science teaching is to encourage collaboration between colleagues. We need to allow our teachers to share and support each other and give them the time and funds to do so. Of course we all have strengths in particular and sometimes surprising subject areas but instead of a deficit view that says some teachers aren’t great at science or maths why not look at ways to assist and up skill those teachers. Personally I think this could include the use of flipped learning and shared digital learning spaces allowing teachers to share their knowledge and expertise with their colleagues and get support in return.

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The Kid Should See This | Smart videos for curious minds of all ages: Science, art, nature, animals, space, technology, DIY, food, music, animation, and more

Smart videos for curious minds of all ages: Science, art, nature, animals, space, technology, DIY, food, music, animation, and more

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STEM

Very excited to be teaching a Year 6 STEM class this year.

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Libraries.

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Another great quote beautifully illustrated by Chris Riddell.

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Circles of teaching

Back in January 2012 my eldest son started Prep. His amazing teacher welcomed me into the classroom where I became a regular helper, reading with the students and becoming involved with the school. I truly believe her example helped set me on the path to becoming a teacher.

Today was Ms White’s official farewell from the school; the same school I will be returning to next year. It made me think how truly great teachers not only inspire their students but also the parents and the community around them. As teachers the positive attitude and hard work we bring to a school will continue to make a difference after we move on. I don’t know how long I will remain at my current school or where my career will take me but today was a reminder of the importance of this role and how a teacher can truly make a difference in their community.

Many great teachers left our school today but new faces will continue the work they began.

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Michael Rosen.

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The Arts can teach us much and so much can be taught through The Arts.

I have never been a particularly artistic person but The Arts will always have a place in my classroom.

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Digital footprint of children: latest research on the issues and implications

Australian children are among the youngest and most prolific users of the internet in the world. They are, on average, a little under eight years old when they begin using the internet and most go online daily.

A hint at the importance of the inclusion of ethics in the digital curriculum.

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I would like to put a bigger emphasis on ethics when I teach Digital Technologies next year. Reflecting on this term’s trial I feel that failing to discuss ethics and cyber safety in the digital world is a bit like forgetting to tell students the school rules. 

We can’t expect students to behave a certain way if we don’t teach them how.

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Unplugged Digital Technology

The Australian Curriculum Digital Technologies Hub has some good resources for teaching the new Digital Technologies curriculum. I really like the idea on the unplugged resources which are great for classrooms with limited devices, teachers who want to limit screen use or when students use up their bandwidth.

https://www.digitaltechnologieshub.edu.au/search#/site-search?pageNumber=1&unplugged=Unplugged

Well worth checking out for lesson ideas.