dragonsinger

I asked my class what they liked and disliked about the Power Teaching that we’ve been doing for the past week.

Likes

• specific rules - for different reasons
• Teach-OK
• them getting a chance to lead the rules
• the gestures
• the Teacher
• all of it
• smilies
• oh-yeah!

Dislikes

• frownies
• oh-no
• one person didn’t like the rules
• several didn’t like the box below scoreboard (for habitual offenders)
• one person didn’t like the reward - and had a group of children tell him to choose something else
• the teacher saying the rules (because they like to say them
• sitting on the mat to do any of it

Sitting on the MAT!

That prompted me to do a survey of the children who were there (only 22 as several were out with NEMP stuff, home sick or out doing other stuff).

• 17/22 would prefer to sit in their desks
• 3/22 like to sit on the mat
• 2/22 don’t mind either

So NOW what do I do? Eliminate all but small group work & play on the mat? Make them sit on the mat?

Ideas welcome!

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I think this is a question that we should be asking ourselves - a couple of weeks ago I asked via twitter the following question “opinion please … can a tchr show/teach impact & innovation in ICT if it’s not an integral part of their life?”

Talking to a teacher who is taking a lead role in ICT at school this year about the definition of visitor vs resident she quickly said she was a visitor. (Logs in, does what she has to do and logs out.)

In the debates about computers, internet, ICT integration - how can a visitor understand the POV of a resident? Can they understand it?

I don’t know. I can’t approach it from the visitor perspective as I am a resident.

As are my two children (18 & 21). Computers, computing, internet, & other ICTs are all part of our lives - daily. My daughter is on Twitter (@spacegirlnz) and we talk to each other sometimes that way instead of texting (from our respective offices/desks in the house); my daughter decided she wanted to be able to do 2 things at once while studying for her uni exams - so she snagged our old PC monitor (which was attached to our storage computer!) and figured out how to attach it to her laptop and do the dual screen thing - now she can study and watch a movie, or study and chat with friends, or do some photoshop stuff and watch a movie … or whatever! We have 4 laptops and 1 PC between the 3 of us! Along with 2 smartphones (Nokia 6121s) and 1 other wireless device (iTouch) we’re all connected both online and offline. We’re residents. (Back in the day when we had an old 8088/80286/80386 both kids could execute typed dos commands to get to their games without adult help) (And this connectedness doesn’t mean we don’t do other stuff - we cycle together, sit around the house reading books together, go walking together, cook together - it’s just we’re also wired/wireless together as well)

So - visitor or resident?

A question I hear very often is “how can they be friends if they’ve never met in real life?” totally misses the point that the definition of “real life” has changed.

Are my online collegial relationships via Twitter less than those in person? I don’t think so. They’re different - we talk about different things - and sure there’s not a lot of classroom visiting happening - but there is a lot of talk - professional talk - and in fact I would say I’ve had more professional talk with some Twitter colleagues than I’ve had with colleagues here - because I have more in common with my online ones.

What about all the professional development that goes on via blogs? Is that less than “real life” professional development? As far as I’m concerned I learn more online than in “real life”. Where then is my “real life”?

I think my real life is everything that’s a part of me - online, offline where-ever!

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http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-but-visitors-residents/

Interesting post that I very much like. I’ve always hated the term digital immigrants vs digital natives - even though i was born in the late 1950s (OMGosh that makes me sound old!) I am more tech savvy than people 30-40 years younger than me - i’ve been mucking around with computers for 30 years now - before there ever was an INTERNET - even before people were using BBS.

According to this post you are either a visitor or a resident (or something else!)

The ‘Resident’

The resident is an individual who lives a percentage of their life online. The web supports the projection of their identity and facilitates relationships. These are people who have an persona online which they regularly maintain. This persona is normally primarily in a social networking sites but it is also likely to be in evidence in blogs or comments, via image sharing services etc The Resident will of course interact with all the practical services such as banking, information retrieval and shopping etc but they will also use the web to socialise and to express themselves. They are likely to see the web as a worthwhile place to put forward an opinion. They often use the web in all aspects of the of their lives; professionally, for study and for recreation. In fact the resident considers that a certain portion of their social life is lived out online. The web has become a crucial aspect of how they present themselves and how they remain part of networks of friends or colleagues.

That is so ME!!

Then you have the Visitor!

The ‘Visitor’

The Visitor is an individual who uses the web as a tool in an organised manner whenever the need arises. They may book a holiday or research a specific subject. They may choose to use a voice chat tool if they have friends or family abroad. Often the Visitor puts aside a specific time to go online rather than sitting down at a screen to maintain their presence at any point during the day. They always have an appropriate and focused need to use the web but don’t ‘reside’ there. They are sceptical of services that offer them the ability to put their identity online as don’t feel the need to express themselves by participating in online culture in the same manner as a Resident.

and a final quote from the blog

In effect the Resident has a presence online which they are constantly developing while the Visitor logs on, performs a specific task and then logs off.

So - which one are YOU - Visitor or Resident?

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actually i don’t know how new this particular feature is - BUT - for me it’s great ‘cos i often get long emails and want to only quote a small part of it …

gmail labs now has a feature where you highlight what you want to quote and then hit ‘r’ key …

excellent!!

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One of my fellow teachers has been to a couple of workshops with Alison Davis and spent some time yesterday afternoon sharing some gems with us.

http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/nz/products/learningmediadirect/TRCworkshops2008

http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/nz/products/learningmediadirect/professionalresources/ReadingComp

and a couple of other links

http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/literacy_symposium_2007.html

http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/framework.html

Today i had the best ever guided reading lesson - i took it so much further than i’ve done before …

first i talked about the word “predict” - i got the chn to discuss in pairs what they thought it meant and then they shared their ideas with the class - then we checked with a dictionary and wrote a definition on an A3 sized piece of coloured paper and pinned it to the wall behind me

then i told them we would be looking at the cover of a story/book and predicting what the book was about - from the cover

i had a simple non-fiction reader (orange or less) which i showed them; i then got them to talk in pairs what they thought the book would be about and then share back with the class

for each idea they shared i asked them why they thought that or how they knew that

the cover (i’ll try to scan in later) had a picture of a mother bear & 2 cubs in a circle i the middle with the outside divided into 4, each showing a different season (which i didn’t notice until one of the chn pointed it out)

we spent about 15-20 minutes just discussing the cover; i asked open questions

“How do you know it’s about seasons?” “Because it’s got pictures of the seasons on the cover”
“What makes you think the pictures are to do with the seasons?” “Because we know that when it snows, it’s winter; when the flowers come out it’s spring; when it’s sunny, it’s summer and when the leaves turn brown and fall off trees, it’s autumn.”

Someone else mentioned that it would talk about bears and all the things they have to do before they hibernate. I asked why they mentioned hibernate. “Because the title says something about a year. And we know that bears hibernate in winter. So it must have something to do with winter.”

It was at this point i wrote the word “know” up on the board and then the words “prior knowledge” up and told them that they were using PK - what they already knew - to predict what the story would be about.

Then i read the story page by page; (each page only had 2-3 sentences) and i stopped and got them to tell me something they noticed about each page.

Then i introduced another word - inference - because even my lowest readers were demonstrating that they could infer things from text/pictures.

The lesson just took off - i didn’t really get anything done i had planned to - but the chn were buzzing - they were proud of themselves for their very awesome thinking.

And i suppose here is where i mention that my youngest is still 7 and my oldest has just turned 9.

My colleague who introduced us to this is very excited about this way of delving into text - she’s been a literacy leader for years and is generally considered our school guru in literacy. Lucky me, i get to observe her doing a further lesson (information web) using same techniques tomorrow.

my next lesson will be using same book and looking at key words (to build up vocab) - my first will be SLEEP (as in how many words can you think of that have ’sleep’ in them - and creating a chart of the words

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Confession time - I’m an activist. That’s right - an activist.

The whole activist thing has crept up slowly on me - but after this last week I have to conclude that I’m now there - full blown activist!

Let me explain. Here in NZ we have a primary teachers union called NZEI and I’m an active member. Briefly the structure works like this. Each school has a worksite rep who reports to the local branch. Each branch has a District Council that it reports to - there are 12 of these throughout NZ. I’m DC Chair for my DC. Each DC meets around 4 times a year to discuss issues and policies etc. We also plan and run professional development seminars for teachers (and principals, support staff and early childhood educators).

Then, once a year, we have our Annual Meeting where representatives from branches and district councils (and the Maori equivalent) meet in Wellington to debate, endorse and plan. We represent around 49,000 people in our union.

This year we celebrated 125 years of our union (complete with birthday cake) as well as debating an organisational review, rule changes, policy amendments and resolutions. Every representative there can participate in the debate and for the first time I got up to speak - twice! Very scary - first time spontaneously, the second time I had written and re-written what I wanted to say. (I stand to oppose this resolution … )

The thing about being an activist is that you actually look at the issues/policies/resolutions etc - you research them and you make informed commentary on them.

New Zealand is in the build up to a general election (we do it very differently to the USA buildup) and, unlike previous elections, I will be scrutinising what the various parties are actually saying - I know I’ll vote Labour/Green - (ironically our Labour colours are RED and National colours are BLUE) - but I will be informed and will debate with candidates when and where possible.

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one of the pieces the choir i sing in is performing for our final concert this year is “Do you hear the people sing” from Les Mis

i found this youtube video with 17 Valjeans performing the song - the “Australian” Valjean is a kiwi singer (you’ll see him at 1:39) who died suddenly last weekend between performances of Wicked - so sad - he was a pop singer i grew up listening to

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so yesterday i decided to jailbreak my iTouch - nothing illegal about it - just not supported by apple!

back in the days when i was a windoze user i was forever tweaking my computer themes … now i can do that with my iTouch

here is my original homescreen

bog standard as you can see

now - take a look at my current (new) homescreen

isn’t it just prettyful … note the brown cydia icon and the winterboard icon - they’re part of the pwnage

and now … drum roll … how do you like my starting screen (which normally has a battery indicator)

it’s actually animated and is actually the hardest screenshot to get (as it only shows when locked)

note too the name in top left hand corner - it no longer says iPod …

so - waddaya think - cool or no?

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of some interest to some - George Orwell’s private and political diaries are being published here exactly 70 years to the day that the original entry was penned

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