2010+for+the+survivors

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July
20th Hi there, I was sent this link...some very interesting insights by Lester Flockton and Terry Crooks things are not that bad! [] Thanks for organising coffee on Saturday morning Janine, it will be good to catch up. Glynis 9th Kia ora, Hello out there! Where have you all gone? I was sent this link to a cartoon in the Hearld today and I thought of my Primary advisor friends... [|cartoon] What is happening in your world? I am managing to keep myself busy; still doing some PD, online tutoring, and some relieving! Have a warm weekend. Glynis

May
6th The very clear and open acknowledgement that these guys are using 21st century tools to **//extend//** the value of teaching and learning is one that I think we should discuss. In the Literacy Cycle example below they are teaching students to critically look at blogging as a way of communicating. They begin by looking at other blogs to grasp the concepts of genre specific to this way of writing and use this to frame their own writing. Well this sounds fairly ordinary, we've all done that before. What's different? Yep, they're using the online tools as the 'hook' that they refer to. Given the option of writing on paper for the teacher to critique, or writing on a blog for the world to see, i think i know which way i'd go. By opening up my writing to the world - or maybe just Mum to start with, I know i have an audience that is //different// to the one who daily tells me how to improve. Blogging allows the child to take back the ownership of their work and to be able to show anyone, anytime, anywhere. How cool is that!

I know about the barriers, but what are we doing encourage our teachers to at least talk about the potential of this way of working? Glynis has started to share what is already happening in an early childhood centre that i suspect has no computers for their children. But the teachers are thinking outside the square and coming up with solutions. but why would we do it in the first place? National standards seems to be being used as a reason to not go down this path, but why? Let's join Glynis and share some of our stories about what's happening in the Massey region. Or share some of our stories about what's about to happen to 'hook' our students in to their 21st century.

Looking forward to the discussion folks. Cheers, Heather

3rd Hi stranger haven't heard anything about the contract yet? Chris was on tender hooks last Friday when we were down in PN - they should keep to their timeframes!! Anyway, not working in CHB this year, but I know Waipawa school was very keen to keep working on their transition development so they might be a school to start with? Keeping my fingers crossed janine 2nd Fantastic Heather, I have enjoyed following the links below and discovering the possiblities of a multi-literacies approach being used in the Primary sector. I have brought it to the attention of my Heretaunga Kindergartens via our Community of Learners Blog. Oh the possibilities... is any one working in Hastings or CHB schools with whom we could link up any of the Kindergartens who have or soon will have Blogs??? Hunter Park Kindergarten Blog is up and running already... [] What about the Waipukurau schools? Have a great week. Glynis

2nd Literacy Cycles and e-learningI have been exploring sites from the ICTPD clusters and found this Tamaki Achievement Pathway cluster that are not doing ICT as such, but have a specific aim to raise student achievement outcomes in Speaking & Listening, Reading & Writing and to raise student engagement. Their key objective is to empower students with an evidence based belief that their personal voice is valuable, powerful and can be heard around the planet from their decile 1A community and that success need not be defined by the ability to leave. In their Manaiakalani Project (The Hook from Heaven), they have explored the use of literacy cycles recently and have had some lovely outcomes within their schools. To quote their blog " We were quite over explaining to people that ** //'this is NOT an ICT project, this is a literacy project - a 21st century way of doing literacy!"// ** There is no way that we are talking about throwing out effective practice that teachers have developed for the teaching and learning of literacy. We are simply saying that by using 21st century tools we can extend the value of the teaching, continue the learning beyond the completion of an exercise AND hope to [|hook] kids into enjoying 'traditional' literacies. So we began looking at a way of depicting graphically what was happening in the classroom."

For further information about the Literacy Cycles being used in the Manaiakalani project, click here. Really worthwhile.

This link takes you to blogs from junior schools and early childhood centres. Their aim is to use eCommunication to facilitate and improve the communication between their preschools and New Entrant classes. Just for you Glynis :)

Cheers, Heather

March
28th Nancy White or 'Choconancy' as she is known online (she throws chocolate bars out to the audience all the time) is a guru on using online platforms to support professional learning communities. This short video is about holding online meetings and she lists a series of key things to think about. There are some strong similarities to what we found in our work in 2008 - technical and social aspects and the order of these, online mannerisms, etc, but there are also differences. How do these relate to us? We haven't ever had any real online meetings in our group, but it definitely is a way of helping our teachers, so how could this look for us? With the expectations of our current contracts, it may become a necessary way of thinking about our future work. A few of us have been using Skype to connect with individuals in our work, but have any of us tried to hold an actual meeting? Apart from a few tentative steps last year with PN.

On a similar note, Glynis is asking for a face to face meeting. Could we perhaps run one on our next forced Friday? Do you think the video could be a good basis for such a meeting? We could develop some protocols to guide the practice. cheers, Heather media type="youtube" key="FvJHnEd99Ao" height="385" width="640"

18th I have just watched the Ed Talk about the computers in remote areas of India and children learning. This is fabulous as it exemplifys how "real" learning happens in sociocultural contexts. We must then question our role as teachers... one idea that I came upon a while ago was that our role as teachers was to orchestrate the environment and resources to facilitate children's learning. Basically that is what the researcher did - he orchestrated the environment by adding a computer (not just any computer but one that was specific to the conditions) and the children did the rest. This is how learning happens in good early childhood centres - teachers orcestrate the environment and resources in response to childrens developing interests, skills, knowledge, dispositions and working theories - this is where assessment for learning comes in. The teacher will assume different roles according to the orchestration.

Hope you are all well - when's our first face to face meeting for this wiki? Cheers Glynis

10th

Mashable
A great site for following social software applications in education is Mashable Recently there was a posting about using Twitter in the classroom and as I have been curious about the potential of this for some time, I gave it a go. I recommend you watch the video and have a think about where this could connect with our work. I know there will be some amongst you that roll your eyes, but step outside your comfort zones and consider it.

Another link from this site should appeal to you Susan.

In particular, this extract:

[[image:http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/skype-hola.jpg width="240" height="118"]]
//"Why force students to yawn over a textbook when a real-life native speaker is only a Skype   call away? At Marquette University, Spanish students hone their foreign language skills with frequent webcam chats with their English-learning counterparts in South America.// //“I absolutely fell in love with this program,” wrote one student. Professor Janet Banhidi, the brains behind the virtual language exchange, said Skype conversation gives students a surprisingly authentic experience. As a teacher (and fluent speaker), she can only give her students limited 1-on-1 attention. With Skype, every student has weekly access to a free personal tutor.// //Perhaps the greatest benefit of using Skype is the radical increase in motivation. A whopping 85.3% of Janet’s students kept in touch with their digital pen-pals outside of the classroom through Facebook. “In the end, the best part of this exchange was gaining a friend who I still today talk with on Facebook” said one student. Additionally, though some of her students enroll to simply fulfill a language requirement, many participants have gone on to major in Spanish from the experience. Students who go above and beyond mandatory assignments will be more likely to remember class material and apply it when they get out into the working world."//

Welcome back Mon. I've just seen a lovely EdTalks clip that may change your minds about what kids can do without us to teach them. Glynis this one will particularly appeal to you as it's set in the remote areas of India. Research was done to find out what kids could do to self teach the use of a computer. A computer with broadband access was put in a hole in the wall in slum areas and the reaction was videoed, and the kids were then interviewed. The results will make you feel very threatened in your roles as essential to learning. It's 20 mins, but worth it. Heather media type="custom" key="5496215"

February
18th I miss you all so much I begged Heather to invite me back to the Wiki - thanks heaps Heather, especially for showing me the video clip Glynis has shared!!! Can so relate some days!!! Cheers Mon 16th Finally had time to watch the video, it's classic!!! I'm pleased those two don't work here as they'd probably get thrown out the window along with their computers! I'd have my work cut out that's for sure. cheers, heather

12th Great to hear from you Glynis, sorry it's taken so long to respond but we've all been national standarding this week. I'm really happy that our strategies are still proving useful. It would be nice to get all of us around a table sometime soon and tidy them up a bit as I think they will be a stronger focus for all advisers this year, given this magic position i've managed to get. Yay!!!

Interesting article about the impact of protecting our children from the internet by blocking access to sites. Worth a read and discussion I think cheers, heather
 * Stop blocking internet access**

9th This is how I am without yous!!! See video below! Seriously, I have set up a Blog for the Heretaunga Kindergarten Assosiation. It is soooo time consuming. I am planning to use (consciously) the strategies we discovered in our research and you documented in your thesis Heather. Off to buy some chocolate fish. Has anyone heard how Paddy is going? Have you got her cell phone number please? I am missing Massey' Broadband speed. Honestly it is frustrating how slow it is to download Youtube videos at home! What ITC projects have you all planned for 2010 - don't forget to keep us all posted. Take care Glynis media type="youtube" key="FJ4A0aaaOAw" height="344" width="425"

January
28th Well it seems to be working so far, thanks for the support. You may have noticed that i've made the link pages headings so they appear in the Table of Contents - that way they are always easy to find and see as they are at the top of the page. Hope this helps - I think it's a useful strategy for all of us to think about as we try to re-establish our plcs for 2010. Heather

25th Well I've risen from the relaxation of holidays and the brain is beginning to find it's stride! Only 1 coffee so far - think I feel another coming on soon! Thanks for keeping us focussed Heather - bless you!!! Funny I've spent half my holidays trying to get the in-laws up with skype - maybe I should send them to Geraldine kindy to see how it's done! Have put comments on the linked pages - seemed okay but not sure about how we'll go keeping them up as a discussion - still wanted to be social here too?...Will look at the latest video soon. Cheers J9 25th Thanks Susan. Traditionally we have just commented here, but what do you all think about me putting links under these so we can write on the linked page? That way we could keep the comments related to the particular items of interest. I'll have a go and see what happens.

Just for fun, here's another piece of work that may stir interest for those 'literacy' minded ones amongst us. Its describing a unit called Trans Tasman Virtual Conferencing which involved two groups collaboratively creating a webzine through using social networking tools. Worth reading.

Virtual Conferencing Discussion page
24th Not sure where I am meant to comment, but thanks for two thought provoking clips to ease my brain into the new year! Susan

24th Well, to those who have managed to ride out the storm - or steadfastly ignore it - welcome back! We will have a promising year full of hope and ... national standards ... Yay! Found a few interesting videos in my latest trawl through edtalks and I'm sure these will be of interest. I'm particularly impressed by this one about using Skype in early childhood settings (Glynis, I hope you're tuned in). This video contains some really relevant suggestions that we could all make use of in our upcoming work. I'd be interested in your thoughts about this. //At Geraldine Kindergarten, Angela Turner and Tracey Nelson have been exploring how ICT supports children with metacognition. In particular they discuss the use of Skype to support children to reflect about their thinking.// media type="custom" key="5216289"

ECE and Skype discussion
Here's one by John Hattie talking about National Standards. Thought provoking! John throws out some interesting challenges for us to consider. //John Hattie, Professor of Auckland University's Faculty of Education and Director of asTTle, calls for clear policy and professional debate to accompany the new national standards. He describes 3 issues associated with National Standards in other countries, and urges teachers to be "change agents for the system".//