Having previously blogged on K9 browser I have to return with some disappointing news,we have had trouble copying and pasting pictures from it and so we went back to the drawing board. We are experimenting with Mobicip but are also considering returning to Safari.
We have a meeting with parents planned for the news year to talk some more with them about safe surfing. Increasingly I feel the answer is to teach the children about being repsonsible and to guide them through the challenges and issues. I'm still optimistic that they can rise to the challenge if we give them the trust and repsoncpsibility. I would also like to spend more time with parents considering the filtering that is being offered by the Internet providers they use at home. In the meantime in school there is not chance of anyone accessing anything inappropriate our local authority filtering is so severe I found this morning that most of the Bible was blocked!
Monday 12 December 2011
Tuesday is Vocab day
Learning Pod is a big class, they are enthusiastic learners but all found school, everyone agrees they are very noisy. So I really appreciate our routines for learning which get us off to a good start everyday.
On Mondays and WednesdAys we read, on Thursday we have equipment check and on Fridays we write a learning log, but Tuesdays is vocab day.
We love the Chamabers Thesaurus and Dictionary on our iPods and have used them every week to improve our word level work in all kinds of writing and speaking and listening activities.
I've blogged before about our Vocab posters made on the iPods using Pages but we do other work too.
Last week we did poster work on words associated with the cold as part of our winter writing project and I have to confess it failed to yielded many interesting results. So tomorrow the stakes are raised and we are looking at this fabulous winter poem by Laurie Lee.
Christmas Landscape
Tonight the wind gnaws with teeth of glass
The jackdaw shivers in caged branches of iron
The stars have talons
There is hunger in the mouth of vole and badger
Silver agonies of breath in the nostril of the fox
Ice on the rabbit’s paw
Tonight has no moon, no food for the pilgrim
The fruit tree is bare, the rose bush a thorn
And the ground is bitter with stones
But the mole sleeps and the hedgehog lies curled in a womb of leaves
And the bean and the wheat seed hug their germs in the earth
And a stream moves under the ice
Tonight there is no moon
But a star opens like a trumpet over the dead
And tonight in a nest of ruins the blessed babe is laid
And the fir tree warms to a bloom of candles
And the child lights his lantern and stares at his tinsel toy
And our hearts and hearths smoulder with live ashes
In the blood of our grief the cold earth is suckled
In our agony the womb convulses its seed
And in the last cry of anguish
The child’s first breath is born
We will begin by underlining all the best words(wow words) and then I will ask pupils to shade the words using warm or cool colours to show words in the poem that are cold and hostile and words in the poem that are soft and warm. This should show the transition in the poem from cold to warm and yield some more interesting and varied vocabulary for our posters.
See our blog for some of our winter Vocab work and I'm hoping that if you look tomorrow there will be some even better work.
wordenwriters.blogspot.com
On Mondays and WednesdAys we read, on Thursday we have equipment check and on Fridays we write a learning log, but Tuesdays is vocab day.
We love the Chamabers Thesaurus and Dictionary on our iPods and have used them every week to improve our word level work in all kinds of writing and speaking and listening activities.
I've blogged before about our Vocab posters made on the iPods using Pages but we do other work too.
Last week we did poster work on words associated with the cold as part of our winter writing project and I have to confess it failed to yielded many interesting results. So tomorrow the stakes are raised and we are looking at this fabulous winter poem by Laurie Lee.
Christmas Landscape
Tonight the wind gnaws with teeth of glass
The jackdaw shivers in caged branches of iron
The stars have talons
There is hunger in the mouth of vole and badger
Silver agonies of breath in the nostril of the fox
Ice on the rabbit’s paw
Tonight has no moon, no food for the pilgrim
The fruit tree is bare, the rose bush a thorn
And the ground is bitter with stones
But the mole sleeps and the hedgehog lies curled in a womb of leaves
And the bean and the wheat seed hug their germs in the earth
And a stream moves under the ice
Tonight there is no moon
But a star opens like a trumpet over the dead
And tonight in a nest of ruins the blessed babe is laid
And the fir tree warms to a bloom of candles
And the child lights his lantern and stares at his tinsel toy
And our hearts and hearths smoulder with live ashes
In the blood of our grief the cold earth is suckled
In our agony the womb convulses its seed
And in the last cry of anguish
The child’s first breath is born
We will begin by underlining all the best words(wow words) and then I will ask pupils to shade the words using warm or cool colours to show words in the poem that are cold and hostile and words in the poem that are soft and warm. This should show the transition in the poem from cold to warm and yield some more interesting and varied vocabulary for our posters.
See our blog for some of our winter Vocab work and I'm hoping that if you look tomorrow there will be some even better work.
wordenwriters.blogspot.com
Sunday 11 December 2011
Enjoyment and Engagement
Rolling out the iPod project beyond the walls of the Learning Pod and into the school at large. Enjoying sharing the love with my colleagues. Nothing quite like having a pupil rush up to you on the corridor to tell you they have been learning their French vocab on the app you downloaded in class or emailing you to say how much they have enjoyed a lesson.
One little device, putting the life back into learning!
One little device, putting the life back into learning!
Friday 25 November 2011
Deeper not broader
I have been considering whether I give children enough time to complete their best work, or whether some of my methods of generating pace and covering the curriculum are actually robbing them of the chance to learn and express creativity.
We have nearly completed one term in Learning Pod. We have six curriculum areas to cover and in addition to that I have identified a need to focus on literacy, a need to develop awareness of proactive and positive digital citizenship and to develop thinking skills and social skills through explicit taught programmes of study. I also need to spend time experimenting with the iPods and learning how best to use them to promote quality learning.
How will we fit everything in to our 10 hour a week?
My current ideas for future planning are,
Concentrate on doing the right things well
Go deeper, not broader
Design curriculum based around the children's needs
Make space for questioning, thinking, discussing and being creative
Give pupils choices and ask them what they would like to learn
Focus on relationships not content
Have fun!
We have nearly completed one term in Learning Pod. We have six curriculum areas to cover and in addition to that I have identified a need to focus on literacy, a need to develop awareness of proactive and positive digital citizenship and to develop thinking skills and social skills through explicit taught programmes of study. I also need to spend time experimenting with the iPods and learning how best to use them to promote quality learning.
How will we fit everything in to our 10 hour a week?
My current ideas for future planning are,
Concentrate on doing the right things well
Go deeper, not broader
Design curriculum based around the children's needs
Make space for questioning, thinking, discussing and being creative
Give pupils choices and ask them what they would like to learn
Focus on relationships not content
Have fun!
Saturday 19 November 2011
My writing family
My family, four children and a husband, are all writers. No one talks in an explicit or self conscious way about their writing, they just do it. Two of our children have had difficulties acquiring literacy, they are also writer. For us writing is an aspect of school, work and many of the other things we enjoy. For us, our computers and hand held devices are causing us to write more.
Peter is at university studying politic and communications. He went to university following a Btec course and is on a steep learning curve regarding study skills and academic writing but has admirably risen to the challenge. More importantly he is active on a team writing for his church website and it looks stunning.
http://www.riverchurchliverpool.com/
Edward has a blog where he creates fabulous illustrations of readings from the Bible. I'm also impressed with his stories presented in PowerPoint using animated gifs to illustrate, a technique he has devised himself.
http://jamesoneversetwo.blogspot.com
Jonathan is a prolific writer and keeps notebooks. He throws himself into writing school assignments but also pursues personal writing projects with enthusiasm. He has an amazing Prezi where he catalogues folk music recordings and a blog on food. He has experimented in writing in the style of his favourite authors and write his own stories inspired by folktale, myths, legends and history.
jam-jartrifle.blogspot.com
Lucy is 9 and following her brother's footsteps! also enjoys writing in PowerPoint, where she has recently created a detailed and fully illustrated Christmas list. She is also a master of Prezi.
I'm proud of my writing family and am inspired to make writers out of many more children and young people.
http://classroomtalk.com/?p=729
Peter is at university studying politic and communications. He went to university following a Btec course and is on a steep learning curve regarding study skills and academic writing but has admirably risen to the challenge. More importantly he is active on a team writing for his church website and it looks stunning.
http://www.riverchurchliverpool.com/
Edward has a blog where he creates fabulous illustrations of readings from the Bible. I'm also impressed with his stories presented in PowerPoint using animated gifs to illustrate, a technique he has devised himself.
http://jamesoneversetwo.blogspot.com
Jonathan is a prolific writer and keeps notebooks. He throws himself into writing school assignments but also pursues personal writing projects with enthusiasm. He has an amazing Prezi where he catalogues folk music recordings and a blog on food. He has experimented in writing in the style of his favourite authors and write his own stories inspired by folktale, myths, legends and history.
jam-jartrifle.blogspot.com
Lucy is 9 and following her brother's footsteps! also enjoys writing in PowerPoint, where she has recently created a detailed and fully illustrated Christmas list. She is also a master of Prezi.
I'm proud of my writing family and am inspired to make writers out of many more children and young people.
http://classroomtalk.com/?p=729
Friday 18 November 2011
Tom learns French
Great buzz in the library yesterday after school. Staff were given their iPod Touch 2, ready for next weeks inset where we will be looking at how the device can be used in class to promote greater enjoyment and engagement and better learning.
Even better news was that this evening I spent some time with our MFL specialist talking about using the iPods in French. She is keen to get started and had cited improved use of digital technology as one her targets for the year. She does not currently use an IOS device and I applaud her willingness to experiment.
So, our plan isn't anything super technical and it maybe sounds a little tame to those of you doing the cutting edge stuff in the classroom. It does however, focus on the learning and gives pupil's that vital opportunity to listen to themselves and make some decisions about how they are progressing. I have often felt that in speaking exams our pupils lack the confidence they need to be really successful. I hope this will strengthen their ability to speak out in a foreign language and make the necessary practice much more fun.
She is going to teach them some simple questions and resposnes in French so they can make a short video. I took her through how to use the camera to video and how to share a video using email. I shared my experience of working with the class helping them produce meaningful paired discussions for recording.
For example, I find they need well structured questions and they need their time divided into suitable chunks for each stage of the process. I usually model the expected outcome from the front of the class so they can see what a good interview looks like before we begin. I look forwards to seeing how the learning turns out.
And if that sounds a bit boring we then moved onto the possibility of using Talking Tom Cat for more speaking practice. If you don't already know Talking Tom Cat, it is a great free App with a fun cartoon cat who copies everything you say in a comedy voice. My colleague and I are especially excited that you can record what Tom says and share it using email. I know the kids will love hearing Tom's amazing French.
Even better news was that this evening I spent some time with our MFL specialist talking about using the iPods in French. She is keen to get started and had cited improved use of digital technology as one her targets for the year. She does not currently use an IOS device and I applaud her willingness to experiment.
So, our plan isn't anything super technical and it maybe sounds a little tame to those of you doing the cutting edge stuff in the classroom. It does however, focus on the learning and gives pupil's that vital opportunity to listen to themselves and make some decisions about how they are progressing. I have often felt that in speaking exams our pupils lack the confidence they need to be really successful. I hope this will strengthen their ability to speak out in a foreign language and make the necessary practice much more fun.
She is going to teach them some simple questions and resposnes in French so they can make a short video. I took her through how to use the camera to video and how to share a video using email. I shared my experience of working with the class helping them produce meaningful paired discussions for recording.
For example, I find they need well structured questions and they need their time divided into suitable chunks for each stage of the process. I usually model the expected outcome from the front of the class so they can see what a good interview looks like before we begin. I look forwards to seeing how the learning turns out.
And if that sounds a bit boring we then moved onto the possibility of using Talking Tom Cat for more speaking practice. If you don't already know Talking Tom Cat, it is a great free App with a fun cartoon cat who copies everything you say in a comedy voice. My colleague and I are especially excited that you can record what Tom says and share it using email. I know the kids will love hearing Tom's amazing French.
Friday 11 November 2011
It's Blocked
The biggest frustration we've had so far on the iPod project is the local authority connection blocking so many of the things we would like to access. But a solutions is in sight and I realised quite early on that it was better to adopt a problem solving attitude and try and find a way round the obstacles in our path, than to stress about it.
Despite this I have been frustrated today, no Flikr in school and no obvious solution of how to curate the pupil's pictures for their art project on pattern.
That's not to say I'm not in favour of blocking things. The iPods went home today and not before I had personally been through each and every one of them to alter the restrictions and make them as 'safe' as possible. This is what parents have asked for and we value our partnership with them. In addition to this we have disabled Safari and have loaded an App, K9 that acts as a browser with filters. Strange icon, but seems good. I am working towards developing these young people as responsible and proactive digital citizens, but for now they need some help in staying safe.
I started this project enthused by the idea that pupils would have access to ICT twenty four seven. Following that I was wow-ed by the Apps, mainly content based Apps. I soon realised that Apps that allowed pupls to present their knowledge and understanding in new and creative ways were much more exciting than content based Apps and now I am at the stage of feeling enormously excited by the possibilities of social networking and seeing the pupils become creators in their own right. In fact I'm more and more convinced that the future is connectivity and collaboration through social media.
Unfortunately, it's blocked!
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