bee’s buzz

The 21st Century school needs to prepare learners for the 21st Century job market. I believe that most people, including students, develop their own methods and speed on the computer keyboard. Who is to say our children will even have to use the keyboard when they enter the workplace. However, it’s important to help students learn the basic letter and finger positions to get them going.

To this end I usually give them time on Tux Type – a free download with a range of activities for varying levels of competence. I have used this programme for about five years with very little success. The learners start out trying to use the correct fingers but it quickly degenerates into a “picking chicken” style using the two index fingers. Sigh…

I then heard about Dance Mat Typing which is an online typing tutorial for kids. It has an engaging interface and humorous audio commentary. I introduced the Grade 1’s to this program today thinking to myself, “Catch ‘em while they are young”. I can see it’s going to be an uphill battle but I intend to persevere for at least the rest of this term. The problem is that the children cannot understand why they should have to stretch fingers into uncomfortable positions when it’s much easier to use their two index fingers. Perhaps some of the learners will grow up to pick at the key keyboard like chickens but at least I will have tried to set them on the right path.

ICT integration is about more than keyboard skills of course. The keyboard is merely a tool for capturing data effectively for tasks that promote 21st Century skills like creative and critical thinking, collaboration, communication, self-direction and  cross-cultural understanding.

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Our school puts a special emphasis on reading and the enjoyment of reading in the third term of the year. Towards the end of the term we have time in the hall when all grades share and display some of the activities they have been doing during the term.

In the computer lab we have of course done some sessions in Edmodo – see previous post. This encourages the learners to read and write in a social network medium they are excited about. Some of the groups have been more excited about this than others. We had fun with an activity where each child had to write a description of an animal but not tell us who they are. Some were great and others struggled to keep the secret.

This week Grade 3′s are writing newspapers – one edition for each class. I found a template in Google Docs Templates.  There’s a page 1 and a page 2. Each class had to share out the tasks – like feature stories, events, interviews, jokes and puzzles, sport events and anything else they came up with during a brainstorming session. They are working in groups of two or three and producing their section of the newspaper. During their next session they will appoint an editor and a couple of sub editors to do the collation and formatting. The sub editors will also be responsible for inserting the photos which are saved in a folder. We’re quite excited about this activity and I’m certainly looking forward to the finished product.

One of my grade 2 groups today was finished with their Edmodo assignment so I gave them an Excel template that a colleague had shared with me. It’s called About Me. They had to type in their personal information and then write sentences about likes and dislikes at school and at home. The real exciting part for them was when I took a photo of each of them and loaded them into their class folder. They could then insert their photo in their document. It was a learning curve for me. I realized too late in the session that I should have taken the time to re size the photos before the learners inserted them. They had to do quite a bit of adjusting to get the photo to fit and because of time constraints I had to help most of them. We then printed their pages and displayed them in the foyer, much to the delight of the other teachers and some of the children who enjoyed reading them. In the coming week many other members of the school community will get the opportunity to see these pages displayed right outside the secretary’s office. It was such an affirming experience.

We still have about three weeks of Readathon activities to go so there’ll be plenty to report.

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Most children are “turned on” by technology. If ever a teacher needs a way to motivate learners, technology is the way. This month I decided to focus on digital storytelling. The grade 3′s are using Photostory 3 to build a presentation about the Incredible Dog Show.  Lloyd and his well trained dogs have visited our school a couple of times with an egaging show which includes a motivational talk for the audience. During the show I take a lot of photos and load them onto the server. As I write I’m wondering why the learners don’t take the photos? Well the school doesn’t own a camera and I bring my personal Canon SX20 – which is more than the regular point and shoot camera. Perhaps next time I’ll ask who can bring a camera from home to take photos.

The Grade 3′s use the photos and text to build their Photostory. A few of them even added a narration but our simple equipment doesn’t produce the best quality audio. The highlight for most of them of course is synthesising their own music in the programme. During the coming week I will load a few onto Prezi to share in this blog.

The Grade 2′s have been introduced to Edmodo, a simulated social networking site for children with some built-in security features. I managed to set up each class as a group and the learners have joined the group and posted their messages. I set up a poll (Do you have access to a computer at home?) and a paragraph starter,( “If I were principal of my school”). They were very absorbed in the activities. Some of them then had time to send a message to their class mates as a group. I am still having a problem working out how the learners can send messages to individuals but I’m sure we’ll get there.

This week our new principal starts work at our school. We look forward to great things in the new era at our school.

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This is my current focus for my Grade 2 classes. All our learners are second language English speakers and I am awed by how well they manage. I have recently been introduced to Edmodo which is a social learning platform for school-going children. I’ve signed up and taken a look at the interface. It looks simple and appealing. My goal is to give the learners more practice in reading and writing English whilst making it fun and 21st Century.  We have also been using ThinkQuest which is a totally closed community and one of the disadvantages is that learners cannot show their parents what they have done at home – unless they remember their login name and password. They never manage that at school where they have it on a card in front of them so I doubt they’ll manage to remember it at home.

I have started with a simple poll and a short assignment entitled: “If I were the principal…” where they will respond with some innovative ideas for school improvement (hopefully). We will shortly have a new principal appointed so perhaps the Grade 2′s can give her some ideas….

Of course we don’t jump in completely cold here. I have a this educational video on Internet Safety which we will use as a discussion starter and a reminder of the guidelines for staying safe online.

We have tried a few other tools like Wordle and Wallwisher as well as a brief trial with Voicethread. One of the disadvantages of working without a budget is that one can’t buy “pro” versions of tools like Voicethread so we are restricted to three threads in the free version. We’ll have to do a workaround on that one.

Watch this space to find out how it went.

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As a facilitator of teacher workshops on Project Based Learning I am constantly aware of creating authentic, engaging lessons for my own learners. I only see each class for an hour a week so it takes a lot of planning to integrate my ICT lessons with what is happening in the classroom. Some teachers are happy to collaborate but others find it a drag. They would rather get on with their own thing and they expect me to get on with mine. But we have made progress in the five years I have been here.

How do we ensure that our learners are practicing  21st Century Learning and how do we make sure that the short time we have in the computer lab is used to the full? That is the challenge for me in my present context. If I had the privilege of setting up ICT resources in a school I would prefer to have at least two or three computers in each classroom with internet access. This would be far more practical for integration.

For now I am bound to work within the confines of the present setup. I enjoy my job and the challenge of creating relevant and engaging activities.

This is the last week of our second school term of the year. Usually I allow the learners to choose from a list of online games but we have to be careful with our internet cap. 5GB a month for a school is not enough but it’s all funds allow at present. Instead I used an Intel Visual Ranking tool project I have set up for the Grade 3’s. They have been focussing on good health in class this term and I decided to use the tool to finish off now that the theme is complete.

This screen dump is an example of one group’s work. They loved the fact that there were no right or wrong answers and the outcomes were based on their own thinking. The first class I had is usually one of the most restless and easily distracted, wanting to get to the free time at the end of the lesson when they can choose a game for a few minutes,  but they amazed me by remaining engaged and focussed on the task. They were able to verbalise the reasons for their selections and loved comparing their selection with other teams.

This quote from the Visual Ranking website sums it up:

"The exercise of ordering your favorites…ranking one a level higher than another, and then articulating why you chose the way you did-requires a depth and clarity of consideration and comparison that inspires richer appreciation and enjoyment."

Michael J. Gelb,
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci

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I have been participating in a 365 day photo challenge which is  into our second year. Lately I have not been consistent in posting a photo every day due to the busyness of my life. But I do still try to take a photo a day even if I don’t post them.

Today I was standing in one of the corridors of our school and took this photo of the ceiling. The school was built in the early 1960′s. I was reflecting on the photo and was struck by the fact that this photo reflects the education style of the 60′s. It was very structured, subject area bound, linear and closed.

Then I thought about 21 Century education. It is characterised by creative, open-ended activities which involve critical thinking, collaboration, cross-cultural understanding and the use of technology. It’s messy, not always structured but exciting and an adventure. I’m so grateful that I’m  teaching in the 21 Century.

Learners in the 21 Century classroom are involved in authentic problem solving projects using technology as a tool. In the past few years there has been a growth in the use of Web2.0 online tools in projects. The Internet has plenty of online educational resources available for learning and teaching and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are becoming popular tools for collaboration and integration. How can a teacher keep up? By signing up with a Twitter account and create a personal learning network to share and network with other innovative educators worldwide. Then set up a Diigo account to bookmark all the wonderful resources you find for future reference.

Blogs such as Blogger, Kidblogs and Edublogs add a new dimension to language and literacy and wikis offer the opportunity for learners to build a website and contribute collaboratively on projects within their class and school as well as globally. Apart from these more obvious choices there is a wealth of tools out there.

Hardware itself is constantly changing and evolving with the boundaries between smartphones, laptops and tablets merging. What will the present Grade 3 learners be using in the workplace when they leave school? Education will never go back to the linear model of the 60′s. The new normal is dynamic and constantly evolving. The 21 Century classroom is an exciting place to be and we as educators should be prepared to join our learners in this great adventure.

Here’s to all the innovative, life-long learners who happen to work in a classroom. You rock!!!

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I the past three months I have been contracted to establish and maintain an online profile for SchoolNet SA. The Internet is a great source of material for personal professional development. Linking some great educational sites to the Facebook profile makes them available for teachers to browse, dip in and sample. Perhaps someone will even find something of value for their own development as a teacher. If you have a Facebook account please search for SchoolNet SA and take a look. Our Twitter profile is @schoolnetsa. If you don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account what about social bookmarking on Diigo? We have a group there called SchoolNetSA where all the links are posted.

I have been interested to discover that just about every business and organization now has a Facebook profile.  It’s the marketing tool of the moment mainly because it’s so easy to set up a profile and use it. There are so many online tools out there. I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed at the choice. One just has to make a choice of tools and stick with those.

The important thing for me is to find a way to connect and network with other professionals who can enrich my teaching practice and personal growth. The key is finding a great PLN and being consistent. There’s definitely power in networking isn’t that what all creatures do?

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My ideal picture is of myself sitting down at the end of each teaching week and reflecting on my lessons taught and how I can improve my practice. It gives me a feeling of virtue and accomplishment to consider such a picture. Wouldn’t it be great? But it’s not me and I’m not there. As much as I’d love to fulfill this edealistic picture my life is much more spontaneous and connected with people. People have this nasty habit of drawing one away from one’s intended programme – and I love it. I’m definitely a people person.

However reflection is good and I’d like to do it from time to time.

Last week my little ThinkQuest team completed their Competition website and it was with great joy that I finally pressed the Submit Entry button. They have created a website about bullying and added two short videos that they produced. It’s been a busy time as I am not allowed to contribute to the content of their entry apart from coaching them in skills they might need. It makes for very slow progress but they finally finished and now we wait to hear if we have impressed any of the judges at all. Even if the judges aren’t impressed their coach is and I’m very proud of them.

We are still using  Computers4Kids as our basic curriculum for lessons but I do supplement it with other activities. We recently made a Voicethread about Extreme Weather.  This was quite a learning curve for the teacher and the children really enjoyed it too. It’s something we’d like to do more of in the future.  Another tool we’ve used is Wallwisher as a brainstorm tool. It worked well and the learners had great fun pressing F5 to refresh the page and see what their friends had written.  One more tool we used is Wordle and that was also great. The learners typed feeling words for the bullying project into the window.  We printed out their wordles in colour – which broke the colour lazer printer’s toner bank and now we’re doing fundraising to buy new colour cartridges. Next time I’ll be sure to restrict them from using the black background options.

Our bullying project in Grade 3 was extended to include a poster competition run by the ThinkQuest team to create awareness throughout the school. We now have bullying posters in all the classrooms and in the corridors as a constant reminder about the scourge of bullying in our world.

One of my extra roles these days is building the SchoolNet SA profile on Facebook, Twitter and Diigo.  Searching for SchoolNet SA on your Facebook page will bring up our site with loads of links to some great educational sites and resources. Our Twitter account is @schoolnetsa and our Diigo group is SchoolNetSA. All of these places take up a lot of my after school time but I so enjoy exploring and learning. There are times when it’s frustrating teaching in a Prep school because the learners are too young for a lot of the sites and ideas I discover on my cyber travels.  But my particular job does give me some time to pursue this constant search as I don’t have the pressure of marking books and constant assessment that the class teachers have.

It’s been an interesting week with the marriage of Prince William and Catherine closely followed by the death of Osama bin Laden. These two incidents alone have demonstrated the enormous changes that social media has generated and the impact on our worldviews and lifestyles is great. The big question is: Can I keep educating these children for the world they will occupy as adults? When I look back on the development of technology in the past twenty years my mind cannot begin to imagine a world twenty years hence.  It’s exciting but a little sad for me as I will more likely be learning to use a zimmerframe than the latest tech gadget. We can but take life one day at a time.

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So what is happening in the computer lab these days? The learners continue to enjoy coming to the lab – I suspect they would prefer to be left to play games all the time but I have to justify my salary somehow….. And so we continue to integrate the classroom curriculum with computer lessons.

Grade 2′s were doing Good Health in class and so I tried out Wallwisher as a tool for brainstorming. You can see one of the classes brainstorm by clicking on the link. Great fun! It’s also an easy way of sharing their work with the class teacher if she has access to the internet.

Grade 3′s recently did a project on the planets. I set up a wiki in Wikispaces about the viability of moving to a new planet. It was a great way of getting the kids to research planets with a purpose instead of merely collecting facts. They managed surprisingly well and we were able to come to a good conclusion at the end of their research.

I enrolled for an WikiEducator course during the term. It was much more comprehensive than I had anticipated and kept me pretty busy for about 10 days. Unfortunately I didn’t get to complete my learning resource – mainly due to a lack of technical skills on my part. This is something I would like to continue learning about – think WikiPedia and collaboration. A great way to work with collective knowledge globally. Wikipedia is the biggest online encyclopedia and it’s free.

The challenge as a teacher remains aiming to get learners thinking creatively and critically whilst making learning tasks authentic for their world. I recently watched this interesting video on YouTube about education paradigms. Another video that came to my attention was this one on stereotypes.  Whilst I thought the approach was a bit risky towards the kids self image it was a thought provoking concept.

Our school days are pretty busy during this term with the usual end of year activities. Our principal is retiring and we have not been given a permanent replacement so there is going to be change and change yet again over the coming year. The only thing to do is keep one’s head down and focus one’s vision for education.

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During our short break in the September holidays I travelled to Cape Town for the bi-annual conference run by eSchools Network. I managed to attend a few sessions in between helping with some presentations in Peer Coaching and ThinkQuest. One of the presentations I really enjoyed was one by a school that has introduced Apple Macbooks to their classrooms. As I watched what the learners can do with media in iPhoto and iMovie I became inspired and tried it out with some video I took of our ThinkQuest workshop. I then played around in iMovie and produced a short video of the ThinkQuest workshop run by Claire.

I have become the proud owner of a bloggie video camera and I am now going to teach my ThinkQuest Competition team to make videos and edit them on my Macbook. What fun! They are entering the competition in the Digital Media category. There are just so many opportunities to create. The children are really excited.

Whilst in Cape Town I stayed with my friend Fiona and what an inspiration that was! Of course we didn’t get much sleep as we talked “computerese” until late, but it was worth it!

The best part of going to the conference was the 7 hour trip along one of the most beautiful and scenic parts of South Africa known as the Garden Route. Mountains, sea, wild flowers and indigenous forests made for a spectacular show that is so good for the soul. Of course one mustn’t forget the numerous farm stalls one can stop at along the way and enjoy delicious coffee and snacks.

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