Here’s the distraction He’s awesome! I hope you can forgive me!
You might have noticed that it’s been a little quiet here on Teacher Technologies.com. That’s because I’ve had a beautiful baby boy and, as you would expect, he’s taking up a lot of my time at the moment I’m still tweeting and Facebooking – 120 characters a few times a day is much easier than a whole blog post ;) – but it’s time to write a new post!
So, whilst Tristan sleeps…. let me share what I’ll be talking about at the SAETA conference on Saturday the 18th.
I was thrilled, and honoured, to be asked by SAETA to give the opening Keynote for them. They asked me to talk about the Australian Curriculum for English and how ICT fits within it. As you know, that’s a topic I could talk for weeks (maybe months) on! I’ve certainly helped to design modules of content on the topic and so, it’s really exciting to share some thoughts with the English teachers of South Australia It’s also challenging – I’ve got 50 minutes
I decided to focus on the idea of cultivation and growth. For some, the prospect of the Australian Curriculum, it’s general capabilities AND the National Professional Standards is incredibly daunting. It all seems brand new and a little overwhelming. In my talk on Saturday I decided to show teachers how if you think about your practice growing, rather than changing there’s a lot you can achieve with a relatively small amount of new learning. That, as teachers we all love learning but that sometimes we need to be brave, make a leap of faith and be ok with whatever the outcome! We expect our students to do this everyday and taking this journey ourselves can only make us better at what we do.
Of course, in my presentation I will be talking about what it is that is required through the curriculum and standards but I will also be sharing one or two simple tools that can be used (hopefully relatively easily) by teachers in their own classrooms – technology willing. Of course, the curriculum designers have mapped out where they think ICT fits nicely within the English Curriculum. However, to be honest, these connections lack imagination and although they are a great place to start, I’m going to encourage you to be creative and use your passions to drive your learning in what might be a new area for you. Use the suggestions as a starting point if you need to but don’t be restricted by recommendations – if you’re feeling brave go for it!
Whilst working on these links to ICT I’m going to ask you to ask you to consider the most important question we ask as teachers.
What is this bringing to the learning? Why am I using it?
There is, unfortunately, a great tradition of bringing technology into the classroom because we think we should (or heaven for-bid because we think it LOOKS good). I’ll talk about some of the traps to avoid before showing you some creative ways to use some easy tools in a powerfully pedagogical way. Of course, I’ll have to mention TPACK here won’t I! Together, we will challenge technocentrism and champion learning and teaching as the focus for the use of technology.
The Prezi below is what i’ll be using. I’m (to be honest) unlikely to get through it all. But that’s ok… I’ve planned it that way. It’s there as a digital resource. So, there are extra bits that you can explore after the conference – to expand your knowledge if you want to All the links you need are within it. Click away and continue exploring. Of course, you can use Twitter, Facebook and this blog to ask me questions. I’m always happy to help and to receive feedback
Now, just pray that Tristan lets me sleep Friday night! See you Saturday!
PS: I would suggest that you bring your smart phones, ipads etc and that you share what you’re learning through twitter. Use #SAETA and watch the learning grow. You won’t need to miss out on anything then Here’s why and HOW
I got an email from a lovely lady this week with a quick query about how she might set up a website on which she could share resources for a workshop she is undertaking. She wants to:
post electronic readings
Share websites
add comments and have participants add comments to documents.
In the past, I would have recommended using something like wikispaces. In there she could set up a whole site and set up an account for each of the participants of her course. They could then access the information that she placed up there as well as add to it. She could create a table of questions and ask everyone to write their thoughts on it, for example, or simple use it as a file sharing tool with links to outside resources.
However, recently, I have noticed a big move towards Google Documents. I know I have used it in my own courses at Flinders Uni as a tool for my students to collaborate and share information together. I first saw it being used really effectively by George (@gcouros) when he came to the CEGSA conference last July. He create a simple google doc with all of his links, resources etc. posted on it and shared the link with us. All he had to do was share a link with us and we could see the document. He has been using this same document to supplement the workshops he runs on Twitter all year. As a result, when I go back to it now, there are new resources being added all the time. I have access to his growing library of videos, websites and other helpful resources.
He chose to have his links page locked for editing. Meaning that only he could add to it. However, he also created other documents which were ‘open’ and could be edited by all. He used a Google form to collect answers from each of us. This mean that he could create a question in a document and ask us to answer it… all of us… all the participants answering collaboratively. He could then use this information to inform what we discussed and the direction of his workshop.
This is also possible with a standard Google Doc. You can create a scaffold – a blank table, some questions, a cloze… and have a group of people collaborate to complete it. This is the style of Google doc I have been using at Flinders and to great success.
How does it work?
Sharing your work with others and inviting collaboration:
Looking at that, you might wonder how that is (administratively) any different to a wiki. Well… actually, in my experience, you don’t actually have to send an email to all your participants. You can simply make the document ‘open’ and then share the link with who ever you’d like to edit it. The link isn’t advertised by anyone but you so, you have control over who has a copy of the address of the file. Social networking can then be a powerful facilitator to give others (those who were unable to attend the course in person) the opportunity to collaborate from where ever they are. In a recent Flinders presentation we had people from all over the world participating in a conversation.
Here’s an example of a Google Doc in which I explain how to change your sharing settings. I’ve given everyone permission to comment but not to edit this document - just as an experiment. If the link’s ridiculous size is bothering you, then don’t forget the likes of bitly as a means to make it shorter and easier to share!
Creating a Google Forms to collate answers from your participants / students:
This is a great way to measure prior learning at the start of a session, to establish what participants want to get out of your session or for evaluating their feedback at any point during your teaching. You might want to ask the same questions at the beginning and end of the workshop to see the progress made.
Sharing Links and Online Resources
To do this, simply create a document in Google Docs (or Drive as it’s now called). Just add hyperlinks into you document as you would if you were using word. Simply highlight the text you’d like to add to your text and then click on the insert menu to add your link.
You’ll also find options for adding images here too.
You can create your document in Word (or the wordprocessing program you prefer) add all your links, images etc and then upload it to you Google Drive. It will convert the file to a google doc and you can then choose how you’d like to share it and how you’d like others t work with it.
There are some great tutorials here if you need/want more info
How have you been using Google Docs /Drive ? Any tips you’d like to add?
There will be a fair few people who got shiny new computers/tablets/phones for Christmas and, as a result, they may have come across Windows 8 Those of you who follow me on twitter will know that, fairly recently, my PC died and I had to rebuild. I was, in truth, in Nerd heaven down at MSY whilst I bought all the bits to make my HD a SSD, went from a core processor to an i5… I also took the opportunity to install Windows 8
Being someone who goes about trying to encourage others to be brave, to dive in, to go beyond their comfort zone… I had to really didn’t I! It’s taken some getting used to but I am starting to like it. At times it feels like a half step between Windows 7 and something new (and that can be frustrating). However, what I am starting to realise is that it’s me that’s made the half step… I don’t have to use Windows 8 like I used Windows 7 but it certainly helps that there are some familiar things to cling to.
I first wrote about Windows 8 a while ago. When it was in beta. I downloaded a preview version and had a play and didn’t really like it. At the time none of the metro apps actually worked with the internet… not helpful when you realise that they are supposed to be about connecting and sharing!
How is it different?
We have new lock screens, no start button, the ‘metro’ style swipe screens and more. Navigation is different and can be completed using swipes and shakes. It makes me want a PC Kinect so that I wouldn’t be so tied to my keyboard and mouse but it is still perfectly use able with the ‘old style’ equipment. In truth, my experience using a MAC has probably helped me to navigate it’s new look and feel. Hot corners bring up different options and I find myself using a giant magnifying glass to search applications – just as I would on my MAC OS. There’s some great, step by step overviews of what you’ll find here on the GCF site.
Swiping to the top right brings up a “Charm Bar” from which I can access settings, search, a list of devices and the option to ‘share’. This is probably my most frequent action, swiping, clicking on that magnifying glass and looking for software to open. It’s replaced the start bar for me.
I have apps installed in metro and they, of course, work separately from the desktop. This has made things like Skype quite interesting to use. If I want to access my ‘desktop’ applications (surf the net, check what the time is on the clock etc) I have to leave Skype and move to another area of my computer. I can still hear the person I am talking to but there doesn’t seem to be any integration between the two areas other than that. I can’t see them in a small, floating window anymore. It’s like I’m on my iPad and I’ve placed them on hold. I don’t like that. I’m used to sharing screens, surfing whilst I talk etc and this new method means I can’t do that… of course, Skype have also changed their terms and conditions so you can’t actually share a screen without paying either (stupid Skype.. have they taken a look at Google+ recently?)
What I’ve learnt to love!
Here come those 5 (and a bit) tips!
Integration with Social Networks
Sending an email … I’m sure Tina won’t mind
I LOVE the integration that the whole system now has with my social networks. When I send an email Outlook now connects with the social networks I run with and shows me the latest information from that person at the bottom of the email. Of course, that’s partly down to the new and snazzy Outlook 2013 with Windows 8.
The integration between your software, your social networks, your physical hard drive and your SkyDrive is ace though! It makes file sharing and connecting much easier. Without Outlook, you still have the “People” app available to you which will enable you to aggregate your social networks into one place.
When I first came to Windows 8, i was thinking Windows 7. I went looking for desktop clients for Facebook, Twitter etc… I had Metro Twit etc… I didn’t realize that I needed to change the way I saw my address book and how I interact with my contacts. The People app enables me to do so much more! Take a look at the video below.
The People App
Navigation
Between open apps/programs
Yes. I have learnt to LOVE it! It used to drive me mad… but that was because I was thinking Windows 7. I am still learning little tricks about navigation in Windows 8. It’s certainly not always obvious how to get around quickly but here are some of my favourite discoveries.
If you go to the top left corner of your screen and hover there you’ll see a thumbnail of another active app/screen appear. If you keep left clicking in this corner you’ll swap between apps and the desktop. Much easier than having to go to the bottom left corner (where the start button used to be) and going to the start screen to re-enter an app that’s already open.
Of course, of you hover in the top left corner and then pull/swipe down you’ll be shown a list of everything that’s open and you can just choose from the menu.
To open new applications
This is where I use the charm bar, in exactly the same way I use the search on my Mac book. I tend to hover my mouse to the right so that the ”Charm Bar” appears and then click the spy glass. From here, I can type in the name of the app I want.
This is like, I guess, pressing the old start bar button and then typing in part of the name of the program I was after. I wish I knew how to get it to stop showing me software in alphabetical order though. I’d rather it show me my most used apps. It would speed things up heaps if it did. Does anyone know how to do that? I’d love to know if it’s possible!
Getting to the settings and Control Panel
This is really easy! From the Desktop, Just swipe to the top right of your screen, the Charm Bar will appear. Click the ‘Settings’ cog. From there you’ll find a short cut to all sorts of things, including the Control Panel.
Once launched, you’ll notice that the Control Panel hasn’t really changed. It’s very much as it was. Its from here that you can also find a quick way to access shutdown, restart and sleep.
Of course, another alternative way to get to the ‘goodbye’ buttons is to press and hold alt and F4. That will bring up a very familiar looking menu system for shutting down. I was getting really frustrated with having to swipe to the bottom left corner, click my name and log out and then click power to shut down… How many clicks?! I was very relieved to discover the Alt F4 trick!
Improvements to the Task Manager
The new Task Manager
These are just great! I have so many programs that want to begin on start up on my PC. I have four different IWB software packages (and their drivers) to start with! In the past, I’ve had to download an application from windows to run and edit the items in the start-up list. Not any more :) Hooray! CTRL+ALT+Delete will get you access to the task manager (as usual) From here you’ll see the “startup” tab. Not only does it show you what your machine is trying to load at start up, it also tells you how much of a drain on resources that app is taking. That makes it nice and easy to make decision about what you’d like to choose to manually start! It also makes it really easy to disable a driver or piece of software when you boot up. Just right click on the name of the application and choose disable. You won’t be deleting anything from your machine, you’re just telling it that you’ll start it when you need it. Windows doesn’t need to automatically open it for you just because you’ve booted up.
As I say, I’m still learning and playing and it wasn’t easy to start with. I had to feel my way around a fair bit. I’ve been frustrated and grumpy at times! What I have learnt though, is that I have to stop looking at Windows like I used to, stop comparing it to Windows 7 and MAC os and start thinking a little differently. I can’t wait for more programs to become apps so I can stack them side by side and not need my desktop any more. I’ve actually really come to like this Windows 8 business!
I’ve found a few articles around that have helped me to get to grips with it. This one by TechRadar is definitely worth sharing. The virtual Microsoft Academy is also worth checking out. Particularly if you’re a technician in a school and will have start dealing with questions, requests and implementations! They run some free courses to get you up to speed Also, I’ve just realised that one of my favourite FREE tutorials sites has a course on Windows 8 too! I’m really enjoying learning about this new operating system. I hope that the things I’ve mentioned above might help you too. If you know of any cool tips that you’d like to share then please do. I’m really keen to get into this Windows 8 learning and would appreciate your knowledge
It’s about time I wrote another -not so technical but very English teacher- post I did promise.
In this post, I thought I’d share some of the games that I’ve picked up over the years that are great for teaching (or reinforcing) linguistic devices.
Skittles:
Ask all of the students to stand up. They are now metaphorical skittles. They are asked to think of a literary device and hold it in their mind. Explain that you’re going to ‘bowl’ a device and if they’re thinking of the same one as you… well they have to sit down. That usually means that they might want to go for something a little different. All you do is start shouting out devices… “sit down if you’re thinking…” and watch the skittles fall.
As an extension you can ask students for an example of the device they’re trying to remember. That way you can make sure they actually know what the device is!!
Tennis:
Now, you can involve balls, beanbags.. something to throw but… to be honest I haven’t bothered with that little ascetic for a while! Those of you who know me, know that tennis in the real world is definitely NOT my strong point but English Tennis? I’m great at that!
How does it work?
Well… you need to split the class in half. Hopefully you’ll have even numbers. If not, then there’s a person who is ready to keep score for you (excellent!) Each half of the class represents a team (blue and read for example). Toss a coin to see who serves.
A serve involves a student stating a linguistic device. They might say “onomatopoeia”. The opposite team then ‘volleys’ by giving an example… “crash”. The orginal team has to reply again with another “pop”. This continues around the room until they can’t find an example. Students take turns in their team to answer. At some point someone will miss (by not replying). They will lose and the other team gets a point. Like this:
Team A (TO SERVE): “Assonance”
Team B (VOLLEY): “silent night”
Team A: (RETURN VOLLEY) ”I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed”
Team B:(RETURN VOLLEY) “she sells sea shells…”
Team A: ”ahhhh I don’t know!” - POINT TEAM B
So, as you can see, even though Team A thought they were being clever by picking something tricky… they lost the point because they could only think of one example!
Team B = 1 point Team A= 0
The winning team serves and it starts again.
Now, this game can be used for any number of things (not just in English). Try getting students to name a theme and then locate quotations (or words) as evidence. It’s a great way of getting them to source evidence for assignments before they start.
Literary Devices – Show and Hide – IWB:
This is something I open over and over again! It’s so worth taking the time to create resources like these! Below are links for a show and hide – matching game of literary devices. I’ve tried to include one for the major brands.
This came up in my Google+ feed late last night – That feed moves so fast I can’t flipping find the name of the original poster sorry! But, nevertheless, i’m really glad I took the time to hit play.
The video reminds me, a lot, of the Open Letter to Educators I first saw in July when George came to town. However, this guy isn’t talking about just university. He’s addressing our whole educational ethos. How we see it in society. What we believe ‘education’ will do for us. How we define ‘education’ in society. He seems to be telling us that we’ve got it wrong. That educated people are not people who have certificates and can show they are able to tick boxes to pass exams “and forget it the next semester”. Educated people learn everywhere. Of course they do
“So you want to get a degree… why?”
At this point, i guess, i have to admit that I have had this conversation with many, many, many of my high school students. Particularly the ones in top sets who’s only ambition in life seems to be to get the right grade to get into the ‘right’ uni, to do the ‘right’ course. The young man in the video is right when he gives his reasons for doing it. For many students, it’s because..
“It increases your chances of getting a job, increases your chance of being successful, you life will be less stressful.”
That really is what I hear a lot. What happened to…
“I love English, I want to know more so I’m going to do a degree. I’m hoping to get into Birmingham Uni because I am fascinated by Shakespeare and I would love the opportunity to take the course they offer at the Shakespeare institute in Stratford-upon- Avon. I just want to get close to those first folios?”
I never did get into Birmingham Uni – I did see a folio once whilst I stood in the newly reconstructed Globe theatre, London. But, my reason for studying English wasn’t because of the reasons he gives. Maybe I was naive ? When I was 18 I was going to study English, teach for a year or so and then work in the education department of the RSC…. That didn’t happen… but that’s ok. I grew in another way and I have NO regrets whatsoever
Of all of my closest school friends I think I can count two of us who actually do something related to the degree we studied. Myself, i ended up with a BA QTS (qualified teacher status) in English and became an English teacher and John, who arrived at uni and has subsequently never left! He’s now Dr John Clay, Medieval specialist man with books and titles and fabulous things (and he still owes me a viking by the way…) Then there’s Ant, who DID get into Birmingham Uni to study English and then became a computer programmer. Something that we all knew would happen. He’d been developing software since we were at school and he had (until only a couple of years ago) NO formal qualification in that area – what so ever.
Then, there’s my husband, who has a degree in Bio Chemistry and ended up working in IT in a law firm before we moved here and he started his own business. He hasn’t walked into a lab since he qualified. I even had to work hard to get him to collect his degree certificate from his mum’s house so we could bring it to Australia. He didn’t really care about it… He, like Suli Breaks, spent “countless nights in the library with a can of red bull keeping [him] awake… memorising equations, facts and dates right down to the letter. Half of which [he] would never remember and half of which [he'd] forget straight after the exam or before the next semester” He hated it. I remember! He felt very strongly that he just HAD to get this information to stay in his head. He wasn’t impassioned by it. His lecturers didn’t inspire him or even make him understand WHY he needed to remember. No wonder his brain lost the information so quickly. It had no idea why it needed to keep it. He, like so many others, was ‘playing a game’ – trying to get a good grade in something so that he could enter the graduate recruitment programs for some big shot company – straight off the bat.
“Because as long as you follow the rules and pass the exams you’re cool”
Maybe I should ask these guys their reason for studying what they did. I’m sure John would tell me about his passion for history (… and that lost quest to find me a viking) but I am not sure what Ant or my other half would say. Probably the same thing I wrote in the quotation above. Or, perhaps worse, something about parents and their expectations?
The other phrase that i banded around a lot in that video is “Education is the key”. Another thing we’ve grown up hearing! What’s interesting for me is the way that the young man in the video seems to be trying to get to grips with what education is, what it means. He mentions at one point that if
“education is the key, then schools are the lock”
I think, in the way he means it, he is suggesting that schools stop education. They restrict it, they reduce it to a box ticking exercise. He talks about how he suffered “3 years of mental suppression and frustration” to impress a mother who didn’t turn up to his graduation. How awful!
Why did he feel that way about his degree? What was the reason he studied? What did he study? What was this dream he ironically worked upon whilst asleep in lectures ( a result of too many late nights studying powered by red bull?). Was university the right place for him to start with? Did he go there because he was passionate and then had his passion killed or, is this video in which he asks us to
“understand your motives and reassess your aims”?
a warning to those considering higher education to reflect upon their choices so that they don’t end up where he was.
He is totally right when he tells us that “education is not just about regurgitation a book or someone else’s opinion to pass an exam“. As an educator, it has never been my aim to appear to be the fountain of ALL knowledge. To tell people what to think, to box their thoughts into clear RIGHT and WRONG columns. Once, I had a student tell me that they were under the impression that when studying at uni you should forget everything you know. Accept that you know nothing and take only the opinions of others into account. WHAT RUBBISH! Apart from the blatant disregard for prior knowledge, learning to build upon… How does that helps us to build on our collective knowledge to develop and move forward? Learning is NEVER a one way street! I long to hear the perspectives of my students, I LOVE debating with them and having an intellectual conversation in which we challenge each others’ thinking. That’s how I learn – through my passion for what I do. NOT through my subservience to the opinion of others.
I would hate to learn in a place or manner in which my mind was rarely ever developed “to the point where you can perceive red as green and continue to GO when someone else says STOP” I would never have achieved half of what I have done if I worked and learnt in a world like that.
I wonder whether the educators who worked with Suli were diminishers or multipliers His reflections and words speak volumes in that regard.
Another, important thought which popped into my head, was how clear, well spoken, confident and well-educated this young man seems to be. Perhaps, in some way, his frustrations have taught him something about life. Something incredibly valuable that he can now use to drive his own future as he “builds his own dream”. Perhaps, the education wasn’t in the books he studied so hard, or the lectures he slept through? Perhaps it was somewhere else. In relationships? In conversation? In the development of emotional intelligence whilst fighting for to achieve? Something clearly went right for him whilst he was at school. It certainly did for all those people I know who have never done anything with the content knowledge they acquired during their time at uni but have achieved a whole lot with the skills they developed.
If you were asked to define education. What would it look like for you? Is it the same as Learning? Success? Do they go hand in hand? Do you think schools STOP success? What key phrases or messages from his video stick with you? Have you considered why?
So many questions! So many thoughts! I LOVE videos like these! Thanks Suli!
He’s awesome! I hope you can forgive me!
I’m still tweeting and Facebooking – 120 characters a few times a day is much easier than a whole blog post ;) – but it’s time to write a new post!
Skittles:
Tennis:
Literary Devices – Show and Hide – IWB:
sorry! But, nevertheless, i’m really glad I took the time to hit play.
