Say no to drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and...social networks?

It is interesting to me as a parent to see the change in the dangers we need to warn our children about.  When I was at school it was all about drugs, then it was smoking and more recently the ads on TV about alcohol and not introducing it to kids too early.  


I now have a teenager in the house and a pre teen, and the one thing that I am being told to talk to my children about...the danger of social networks and cyber bullying. 


The experts are right, we need to talk to our children about this, in fact all the above mentioned dangers need to be openly discussed, but how do we go about it? How do we prevent our children from falling prey to any of these dangers without sounding like over protective, boring parents?


I say go where the kids go - YouTube! There is a wealth of videos out there aiding parents to deal with these issues. Many produced by government bodies designed specifically for parents and teachers.


Here is one that has caught my eye a couple of times, for some reason I can't seem to embed it but click on the link and that should work.


How Cybersmart are you?

Google + what's the fuss?

I have been caught up in the wave of Google +, after my friend John mentioned he received an invite (after pestering many people), I couldn't help but get one too.  The fact that he was promoting this on Facebook had us all giggling a bit.

What is Google Plus? Well, Google + is Google's version of Facebook.  Yes, another social media tool for us to follow, join, tweet about and endure.  But I like it! It seems that those in education, who are into such tools, are happy about the fact that it offers more privacy and security and therefore may be more suitable for a school environment.  One aspect of t Google + is the ability to categorise people into different circles and thus not sharing everything with everyone.

Doug Peterson talks more about it here and it's implications for education.  There are many people tweeting about this and the reviews are positive for the most part. I have been enjoying having a look see but Jeff Gibbard's article Google Plus (Google +): The Painful Realization highlights to me some issues I had yet to realise.

I can see that if my friends and family made the move, that Facebook may play second fiddle to Google Plus but as Jeff points out that requires their family and friends to move as well.  

We will have to wait and see...in the meantime watch the promo video from Google.

Minecraft in education?

My son LOVES playing Minecraft and now I have heard about a teacher in the US who uses Minecraft in the classroom, aptly named the Minecraft Teacher.  


@heyjudeonline retweeted the @edtechcrew who have just published a podcast on their website about Minecraft via an interview with the Minecraft Teacher, Joel Levin.


Interestingly, when I was at Sam's recent parent teacher interview, I suggested to Sam's geography teacher that if he taught mapping, direction and the other skills he was trying to teach, through Minecraft that Sam, and no doubt the other students, would be so engaged and would be able to apply these skills in the game itself.


Have a listen to the podcast, you don't have to listen very long to get some ideas from the Minecraft Teacher about how to incorporate this into your school computer lesson.



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Technology update with a twist

I am in the process of upgrading to a smartphone.  This is actually taking me way more time than I thought it would and eating up quite a bit of my download allowance.  An iPad is on my horizon as I can see so much potential in the classroom and if I want to be a teacher with today's generation of students then I need to be on top of all things techno and I see the iPad as my vehicle.  


However when it comes to phone choice I face a dilemma, I would love to just say iPhone 4 is for me and that is what I am going to buy.  But there is so much talk out there about problems with it that it made me look at the alternatives.  HTC Incredible S being one and Samsung Galaxy S II being the other.  Samsung I am afraid is out purely on battery life, so that leaves me with two.  My heart says just go with the iPhone and be done with it, my head says consider other options, do your research, read reviews etc etc.  Well I have done all that and it really comes down to Apple or not, you are either with them or against them.  So no decision!


I was also hoping to find out if one brand was more ethical in it's manufacture than another but my trusty Shop Ethical app does not yet include smartphones, or any phones for that matter.  Love it for lots of other products, but I digress...


So here I am stumped, feel free to offer your opinion, I may not listen but hey I just might! 

3things

While reading one of my favourite magazines Peppermint I came across a campaign run by Oxfam Australia called 3things. It is a wonderful initiative where people are asked the question What are 3things you can do to help change the world? The 3things can be very simple from riding bikes, taking public transport, eating organic, being nice, listening, recylcing - anything to make the world a better place.  Everyone is encouraged to add their 3things to the website.  You can also view other supporters pledges.  


I thought this would be a fantastic project for children to become involved in.  3things states that they are challenging the perception that young Australians are self involved and chained to their mobile devices not caring about the world at large.  I think if we use this initiative in classrooms we can start the ball rolling in the mind of our students and the future custodians of the globe.


Think HSIE, Science, English so many ways we could use this in a positive way in the classroom.


So check it out www.3things.org.au

Great minds...and the wonder of the web.

I am always amazed at how quickly one can navigate the worldwide web, I start reading a blog of a fellow crafter which leads me to a teacher blog which leads me to a twitter recommendation.  And from there I start following someone who points me to a new discovery, it is not a vicious circle but it is a circle that you can roll around over and over again finding new and wonderful things.


I am following the twitterer @TeachingIdeas and they like 'providing free ideas, resources, links and news to teachers around the world.' They tweeted today about an article at Teaching News. The article discusses the top five teaching discoveries of the week.  Interestingly I too have made a couple of these discoveries recently, both image related.  Dear Photograph and Pinterest.  Pinterest is a virtual pinboard and I have been using this for a variety of reasons for about a month now, one of the reasons is there are often great ideas for teacher resources pinned on the boards of other pinners.  

I discovered Dear Photograph only 2 days ago and it is such a wonderful idea, it is a blog of photos of photos taken in its original location showing changes over time and as Teaching News suggests it could easily be used in a classroom environment and as a series could be made into a digital story.

And how did I make this discovery? Twitter of course, but from a scrapbooker I follow.  This web truly is a wonderful place!

To blog on or not - is that really the question?

I have been watching many a vodcast of late and one that stood out to me was Gemma's . She asked the question whether her pre-service teacher colleagues would continue to blog now that it is not a requirement of our PE3 subject?


I think the answer must be yes!  I have found this to be such a great tool in not only reflecting on what I have learnt but also helping me fully understand the content. I am able to read others insights and in some cases change my opinion about certain subjects.


I have enjoyed reading other teachers blogs too, those already out there doing what we hope to do very soon. If we want to weave technology into our everyday classrooms then we must keep up with the latest and greatest.  We should read articles, blogs, follow links via twitter and search YouTube for related videos.  There is a wealth of knowledge out there being graciously shared by experts and we should take advantage of that.


So I, along with Gemma, intend on blogging my way to graduation and beyond.  I hope you will join me on the adventure!



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The total package!

Here is my first video blog, I hope you like it!

Final two days of practicum.

Due to my son being sick during prac I had to complete my last two days of prac this week. I was really hoping I could do something techno and fun with my class, but alas this was not going to happen.  As much as I liked my teacher and I believe her to be a good teacher, technology did not figure into her day, and not just the days I was there.  Unfortunately I did not get to Web 2.0 with my class, I barely got to IWB with them.  I know I have written about this before but after a semester of learning about how to incorporate technology into the classroom and making it meaningful I am disappointed that I could not put any of this new knowledge into practice. 


I can see how easy it would be for teachers to keep doing things the way they have always done them, but is that really an excuse?  My prac teacher said to me on the first day, don't do anything overly exciting as they are a noisy class and anything out of the ordinary just gets them over excited.  This flabbergasted me and made me wish for a teacher who said something more like, they are a noisy class but try whatever you like - you never know what they might respond to.  How great would that have been?

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ePortfolios or just Portfolios...

Helen Barrett's article Balancing the Two Faces of ePortfolios outlines the uses of eportfolios as a way of preserving, reflecting on and showcasing a learning journey.  Lydia, Janna and I used a PowerPoint presentation to enlighten our PE3 class to the benefits not only for us as teachers and our own journey but also as a replacement for the paper portfolios that many primary students bring home at the end of each school year.


The reflection of the journey should be the key feature of any portfolio and will enable us to get the most benefit from the process.


Being a new member of the Web 2.0 revolution PowerPoint does seem a little rudimentary now after all we have learnt this semester but sometimes you just have to get the information out there!

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Budd:e_ducation

My eyes were opened a whole lot wider in class this week.  Internet security is something that, I must admit, has not been that high on my priority list, I guess I have paid it lip service and that is it.  I mean I do have a virus scanner on my computer and I do block my children from getting onto any of 'those' sites but I haven't really educated myself or them about what it is ok to do online and what is NOT.


Budd:e is my new best friend, this site has been set up by the Australian Government as a part of their e-security initiative and in their blurb about it say that this internet based program is part of an education package.  This is where it gets important, yes show your students these sites but not before you explain why you are letting them play.  Use budd:e as part of an education program about the internet and how to be safe while using and enjoying it.  


I will be delving further into this site in the very near future, I did check it out briefly and I have already learnt a lot.



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Copy, right??

We had a very interesting discussion about ethics in our PE3 class today.  Our teacher showed us a couple of case studies and asked our opinion.  One of the case studies referred to copying software to use in the classroom if your budget is limited. It was basically asking us if we would overlook the law in order to provide the best for our students.  


This one question divided the class but not equally. Interestingly only a few people said they would not copy the software even if they felt their students were being disadvantaged.  


I was one of the few.


This is not something that I need to even think about - it has come up many times in the past in my life in regard to DVD and CD and PC game copying in particular.  And a much as I think sometimes the really large companies out there are making a fortune from sales, I have to think about the author or artist or owner of the information, words or music. 


However, my good friend Kate did question me about other things such as pictures for this blog, or print outs from the internet for practicum, it is certainly something the think about...where do you draw the line?



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Thank you Monday morning guest!

It is always hard to get back into university life after having a long break, in this case our three week practicum, then you add to it being 9am on a cold Monday and well it wasn't looking good.  Then our guest lecturer began to speak and the morning got a little brighter!  I am not writing this post to suck up (grin) but merely to highlight the fact that if you have an interested teacher standing out front who is engaging you in conversation then you are going to learn.


In class on Monday, we looked at the concept of the digital divide - what is a digital divide? The class brainstormed and came up with the following ideas just to name a few...

• have versus have not 
• understand versus no idea
• face 2 face versus digital
• innovators versus resistors 
• boy versus girl

It was interesting to think about my practicum school in light of these issues but also think about my children's school.  Where do they fit in this comparison and where do I fit in - am I a resistor?  I hope not, I hope that my practicum experience will spur me on to learn more, not only more tools but more ways to utilise them and to enhance the learning experience of my future students.
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Not so webspirational

Sometimes you go forth thinking that you will be able to use what  you have been learning only to be halted by outside forces.  I felt a bit this way with my practicum. My class, in fact the school, I was attending was not very tech savvy, sure they had the 'appliances' but they really did not put them to use, good or bad!  


My classroom had an IWB and three computers, they even had computer monitors (as in students that were part of the class jobs roster) to start up the computers every day, however I never saw them used, the computers that is and my cooperating teacher only used the IWB once the whole time I was there.


After being so fired up about Web 2.0 and all the tools available to us as pre-service teachers, it was disappointing to see the tools of this school going to waste.



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Good morning 2J

Well I have started prac, I have a lovely cooperating teacher and a class full of lively 7 year olds.  Day 1 - Observation and the kids had their computer class which I was excited to see but sadly very disappointed with how the class was run and what the kids actually got to do - not much.  I am starting to see that we as future teachers are going to have to push hard to make ICT a better learning experience for our students.  Something more than log on, click here, finish up and sit on the mat!  


The upside is there is a IWB in the classroom - the downside is I have not seen it used yet.  I really hope that next week I get to see some ICT used effectively in the classroom and maybe work with the kids on something fun and interactive.  


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Sharing is GOOD!

I have many wonderful colleagues out in cyberspace right now blogging to their hearts content and one of the benefits of this is that we are all sharing our new finds, our ideas and suggestions.  One such colleague is Janna, in a recent blog post she writes about not knowing how to put a little 2 in her equation, you know, as in metres squared.  Well it is funny because I had the same issue with the division symbol - you know the one with - and two dots.  Gotta love Google and sharing and collaboration. This is how I am making it though the maze of technology and for that matter university as a whole. I am guessing that collaboration and sharing and if I am honest, Google, will all be a part of my life as a teacher.  It is through this cooperation that I will benefit most.


The word cooperation is a funny one for me as it always reminds me of Sesame Street - they were big on cooperation when I was watching as a kid in the 70s.  It is a wonderful thing and it has stuck with me all these years.   I digress slightly but it is all about learning and retaining and little kids can retain an awful lot if we go about imparting knowledge in a meaningful way.


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From one learner to another

My colleague, Lydia, talks further about Constructionism in a recent blog post. The article she refers to takes the idea of constructionist learning and applies it to something that most kids love - gaming - on the computer, game consoles, iPods - you name it and kids will be using it to play games.  I witness this all the time with my own children and my friends children.  And as a parent, I often wonder, are they learning anything? Is this ok? Can this much computer time be good for my child?  It is a problem that many parents face but looking at this from a different perspective I can see the possible benefits.  In some of the games, children can design what happens, where it happens and how it happens. Surely these experiences are of benefit.


By allowing our children and students to make the games they want to play, we allow them to learn the ins and outs of games but also the process and logical thought that goes hand in hand with making a successful game.  Students will have to offer feedback for others games and in turn make improvements.   All skills that will be valuable for life not just school.



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The new generation of software engineers.

Constructionism: Children learn best when they use computers in a way that puts them in the active roles of designer and builder.


So what does this mean?  How can I as a future teacher use this in the classroom?  Is it just the process that makes the learning happen or the sharing of the learning?


In this article, Idit Harel, shares with us the theory of constructionist learning developed by Seymour Papert in the 1980s. Here Harel uses the example of when we as adults need to impart our knowledge to someone else, by teaching we learn the subject very well.  My friends and I have discussed this before as one of the ways we learn.  It is the same for children.  If they work hard and learn and then share that knowledge with others it will stay with them for a very long time, maybe even for life.


As teachers if we encourage students in creating their own cyber space (whatever form that may take) and have them decide what they put in their space and then share it with a community, we can not only expand their knowledge but cement it firmly in place.


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Lifelong learners

After reading the article Digital Video Goes to School by Hoffenberg and Handler, one thing that stood out for me was the reference to lifelong learners.  As it turns out I am becoming one of them.  It is a term that I have used many times in my past as a sales rep for educational books. Back in the day, the books I recommended to parents were the ones that engaged children, offered hands on activities and were visually stimulating.  I encouraged parents to instill the love of learning into their children from an early age, I truly believed and still do that if our children enjoy the learning process then the learning will come more easily.


The article states 'the use of digital video is a powerful way to motivate students, energize teaching and link to community.' This is what we must do!  If digital video that is created, edited and presented by the students can achieve this then do not hesitate in using it.  


I have discovered from my son that this is so true - he has started blogging, he is using video, he is loving the process - not for homework, not for an assignment - he is doing this for fun! But I bet he is learning too!


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The wonder of technology and the digital story

Today in class we had a guest speaker, unexpectedly she was a guest via video conferencing.

Our guest, Carmel, is a teacher who specialises in ICT, she is a Maths teacher and uses digital story telling with her class.  It was eye opening to think about using digital story telling in KLAs such as Maths and Science.  I have had very little experience with digital story telling so far however I can see that it could be a valuable tool especially for upper primary.  I will be in a Year 2 class for prac this semester so it is possible I could do a digital story with them. 

Matthew has just posed a question as I am typing this post - how do you deal with fast finishers or children who are struggling to get the work finished?  Well I think one possible solution would be to get the fast ones to help the not so fast ones.  Carmel told us that kids love to help their peers, this could be a solution to both issues.  Great presentation even if it was via Skype!

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Please tell me another story

My children, when they were younger, would always ask for just one more story.  We all love stories, whether they are in books, being told or in a movie. There is something magical about story telling.

In class last week we learnt all about digital story telling and making.  I have had no experience with this before, it was something that I thought only really clever techno folk could produce.  Well, thanks to the wonder of Photo Story 3 I have produced a digital story.  It has pictures, words and music - how clever am I?  And apparently it is up for an Oscar!  Well truth be told the whole class has the opportunity to win one of the few awards available - but who knows early next week I could be holding an imaginary gold statue in my hands!  "Oh I think I am going to cry, this is so unexpected!"                                                                                                                                                   Image Source

So here it is, enjoy! 

Too drab to learn?

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A couple of times this week, the learning environment has been brought to my attention.  Firstly Matthew has blogged about it in this post. Matthew pointed me to this article by Denise Ryan about the design of learning spaces. Here, the schools that are being praised for their design incorporate "easily altered spaces, with hands-on and outdoor areas integrated into the learning spaces". My guess is they also look good.


During my Research in Learning class on Tuesday this same issue was raised after a speech on the topic, a few class members commented on how uninspiring our classroom was.  It did feel that way.  Sitting in a drab environment, desks in rows, that are too close together, with insufficient air flow is not conducive to knowledge acquisition.

Where we learn greatly influences how well we learn

Sitting here typing this from the sunroom of my house, overlooking a view that most would envy, I can only agree that our surroundings influence the way we work.  Sitting with nature in full view, sun shining in and the deep blue sea on the horizon, I am happy, I feel good and I am inspired.  


Bring on the knowledge!


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Here's the scoop(ville)...

In class today we learnt about the Web, not just any web but Web 2.0. I am old enough to have experienced Web 1.0 and will no doubt live long enough to see many future versions. What are Web 2.0, Web 1.0 and while we are at it Web 3.0? This was asked of us today, thankfully, even though I may not have known it, I have been an active participant for a number of years. 

So Web 2.0 tools are what we will be using with our future students, today's students are more than likely already using these tools and I can see from today's class that I will be a facilitator and I am very much looking forward to it - this is fun. Overwhelming but fun!

Below is a video that we watched today.
WARNING: This video will make you crave ice cream :)

World Wide Web no longer...

Read/Write Web is the way of the future apparently. Every week articles are uploaded for us to read as a part of the blogging process, and this week I managed to read all of them.

Firstly, Brian Lamb spiked my interest on the first page of his rather long and somewhat overwhelming article. We have been discussing the 'interactiveness' of technology and the idea of technology as partner in class and I referred to it in this post - anyway I am getting away from my point, Sir Tim Berners-Lee who invented the World Wide Web stated "I wanted the Web to be what I call an interactive space where everybody can edit. And I started saying ‘interactive,’ and then I read in the media that the Web was great because it was ‘interactive,’ meaning you could click. This was not what I meant by interactivity." This challenges my way of thinking about the web and no doubt will become more relevant to me as my education continues.

Will Richardson's article was a much kinder read, he defined for me what wikis are and how we might go about using them in our own education and when we are educators. Stand out points in this article are the idea of "consumers of Web content need to be editors as well as readers" and how our audience may change the way we write and the fact that something I write can go from being for my teachers eyes only to being published.

All from the comfort of my living room.

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2 Ps in a PODcast

I am not new to the world of blogs, I have listened to a fair few podcasts and vodcasts in my time but I have never starred in my own.  Well this week in class we were required to create a podcast. This may sound simple enough and quite frankly it was.  We played around in Garage Band in the Mac Lab, we found cool tunes to use with our own words, we had written scripts, practised them, we even recorded them. (Not so great in a room of 30 other people all trying to record their own tracks!) I then came home and did it all again in Aviary (PC user not a Mac in sight) just so I could hear only my voice.


For our podcast we could choose from a few different prompts - being the movie lover I am I went with the one about 3 inspirational movies for preservice teachers.  Yay - I got to watch movies for my homework!! 


Anyway what is all this leading to you may ask? Well, my very first podcast!  3 Movies is the title - catchy I know! So here it is for your enjoyment.


3 Movies



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How can IT be meaningful?

After reading Belinda's insightful post about Jonassen's meaningful learning article it made me wonder how can we, as teachers, incorporate IT into our classrooms without it just being a gimmick?  I really like the idea of using technology in the classroom, however as with everything else in life, how do we make it count? Sure my kids love using the computer but does it make them learn and if it does, is it meaningful, does it make them THINK? Jonassen talks about technology-as-partner and children learning with technology and not from technology - this is our challenge and no doubt it will be an ongoing one.  


So far in this subject there have been many questions raised and many challenges set.  I keep asking myself questions and hope that over this semester I will find at least some of the answers.  If I use Jonassen's Characteristics of Meaningful Learning model as my guide I may just make it - remember active, intentional, constructive, authentic and cooperative.  


Will your learning be meaningful?

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Don't hesitate, accelerate!

This catchy title is from a video created by Amelia Caldwell that I discovered while reading Matthew's blog. One of our tasks for Professional Experience 3 is to respond on our blog to readings, classes and other people's blogs. I must admit that I didn't get very far into Matthew's blog before I watched this video and it got me thinking, how am I to keep up, let alone accelerate, my learning in this field of technology? It seems that if you have a passion for it then you know about the latest and greatest.  I mean, my 12 year old son just seems to know stuff - how does he? Where does he learn it? How can I learn it at the same pace?


This may be an issue for many teachers and student teachers - children seem to learn this stuff by osmosis yet for me it doesn't come so easily.  Friends of mine may argue with me and think that I am quite technologically advanced (for someone my age) but I really need to accelerate if I am ever going to catch up with my own children and my future students.



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These are a few of my favourite things...

Every blog needs to reference The Sound of Music at some point, so I am getting in early!  Many of my favourite things are other peoples blogs, I have been a blog hopper for about 5 years now and have discovered so many talented people from hopping from one blog to another.


In class this week my eyes were opened to a new way to save or bookmark my favourite websites.  I had no idea there was a site I could join that would keep all my fave's in one place, that would allow me to access them from anywhere and share them with others- fantastic news!! If only I had known this last August before I had my two laptops and external hard drive backup stolen!  One of the most frustrating things was losing all the bookmarks I had accumulated over the past 4 years.  I still have not found them all - it is a BIG web after all.

So Delicious here I come with my favourites in hand ready to streamline my blogging world yet again.

New technology, new thinking

Having grown up in an era where the technology we used in school was limited to a calculator, I am constantly amazed by the technology that my children are using as part of their everyday school life. I have recently read the article  Computer as Paintbrush: Technology, Play, and the Creative Society by Mitchel Resnick.  One aspect of the article that resonated with me was the finding that children become most engaged with new technologies when they work from a place of personal interest. This is evidenced in many parts of life and not limited to children, education or technology.  From my own experience if a child  is interested in a topic, the learning and discovery will naturally flow and when this can happen in the world of technology then you are on to a winner.

The challenge for teachers is to engage children in areas where perhaps their interests do not lie or where they lack confidence.  As demonstrated in the article, the use of technology in conjunction with low-tech supplies can lead to outstanding results not only for the student but the teacher and school as well.

The article also comments on the tendency to lump all technology into the one category - one with little student control and interaction.  This has been shown to be incorrect but some may always feel this way.  This type of thinking is not limited to technology, as witnessed in my practicum last year, students' creativity can equally be stifled when using crayons and paper.

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About me...

Hi and welcome to my blog, probably the most used first sentence in the blogoshpere. Oh well.

So a bit about me.  Married to Pete for way too long (just kidding), have two awesome sons age 9 and 12,an annoyingly cute dog called Rosie and a fish whose name no one can remember!  I have just started my 2nd year studying Primary Education.  Had an absolute blast in first year, met some fantabulous people and managed to get through all the subjects.  And hanging out with these fab people brings my age way down too - well in my mind anyway.

Interestingly I have just read my good friend Miss Coulson's blog and she has summed up pretty brilliantly how I feel about technology. I think I am pretty good - but really I know very little. Or I know how to do a few things well and that makes me seem less of a technophobe.  I wonder how many made up words one should put in a blog post!

Signing off for now.
Jane :)