Reaching Out

I have had the most amazing 3 days with 13 gurus/geeks of ICT. We moved into a hotel in Auckland and have spent 3 days exploring, talking, playing, talking, creating, talking, developing and talking.
I have learnt so much as I have had time to think and talk about what we do, why we do it and how we can do it better.

Photo attribution - Fiona Grant
Wordle of our notes:

Thank you everyone

Get your twitter mosaic here.

I found a very handy site the other day.
I had been emailed some old files that were in Publisher. Not only do I not have Publisher on my home pc, but I was also working on a Mac at the time, so I had no way of opening them.
Then I discovered PDF Online





I uploaded the Publisher files and within minutes I was emailed them back as PDFs - fantastic!!
This site will also convert pdf to word, documents to pdf, and a widget to save your blogs and websites to pdfs.

I was sitting talking to a group of students on Friday, the last day before the holidays, and the conversation turned to their teachers. One student commented that there are certain things that teachers need to know. Never one to miss an opportunity I took out my ipod and started to record what their thoughts on what is important for all teachers to know.
Here is the result...

Holy Catfish! I just climbed out from under my rock and realised I have not updated this since petrol was cheaper than a bottle of Grange!... You would not believe how heavy that rock really is. Please don't abandon me!.

I am flat out like a lizard drinking with an awfully big adventure, selling my soul to Google, just generally being asleep, dreaming and chancing to every man and his dog. My day is passing in a blur from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster to the point at which I fall asleep on the couch.
I am not being a whinging Pom or anything. Life happens.

I will try to remember my blog password more often in future.
No, really!

Unless of course the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!.

by courtesy of

This is the message from Gever Tulley from the Tinkering School.



When you think about it there are many real truths in this message.

The warning labels on most toys overlook the real dangers, and here are the labels that Gever thinks should be used!!

Saw this on Twitter and just loved it - critical thinking skills teaching resource!! But still a great gag for Y7/8s.

Wordle is a cool little app that turns text into a cloud. You can customise it to your own liking.
Here is what a statement on Pythagorus theorum looks like as a wordle.


Lots of fun.

For the past two weeks, I have been privileged enough to be part of the RED/Apple North America Schools Tour. I visited 10 schools in USA - mostly Apple Distinguished Schools or Apple Distinguished Educators - and now I need to make sense of all that I have seen and work out the implications for my own school and practice.

When I think back on what I have seen, four major themes spring to mind.

1. The 1:1 laptop scheme and the impact it has had on student learning. Before this tour I wasn't convinced of the difference it would make to learning, but having seen this scheme in practice, I now have changed my mind. Seeing students totally engaged in their learning and then able to take it all home on their laptops gave them ownership and control of their learning 24/7. The learning definitely did not stop at the school door. It also enabled the families to be involved in the learning and to celebrate the achievements of the child.

2. The creation of media to show and apply learning. The media creation was amazing - video, audio and podcasting to the highest standard, giving the student voice and success.

3. Global collaboration. Many schools were involved in collaborative projects not only within USA but also with the rest of the world. Students were excited and engaged and were totally involved in real, authentic projects.

4. Passionate teachers who loved teaching and were willing to put in the extra mile. I saw many teachers who loved their jobs and their students. Many took groups after school and on the weekend, many used their own money to resource their classrooms (especially in some underprivileged areas), and all were totally 100% committed to their students' learning.

These are only my early initial thoughts. A lot more will obviously be forthcoming over the next few days and all the ideas gel in my mind.

This blog has been sadly neglected over the last few weeks, but I haven't been idle. I have been busy writing a 'how to blog' blog for the teachers of my ICT Cluster.

You may find it interesting and in some cases helpful - take a look at
Cogs for Blogs

and feel free to ask questions or leave comments.

I am passionate about learning.

My love affair with ICT is because I truly believe it really does enhance learning and allows students different learning styles to experience success, which hopefully will lead on to higher self esteem, empowerment and a love for learning knowing that they will succeed.

I have been thinking about how this relates to student blogs and blogging in the classroom. For some time now I have been looking for examples of blogging in the classroom, especially looking for those with real and full evidence of classroom learning. As I read student and class blogs and I have to say that in many cases I have difficulty identifying the learning involved. I always ask myself what is the learning here, and often I am stumped.

I believe class blogs should have real purpose and that the owner of the blog (usually the teacher) is quite clear as to the purpose. I can really only think of 2 purposes - 1. to celebrate learning and 2. to show process, progress and achievement of learning.

It is easy to find blogs in the first group - to celebrate learning. These are the blogs serve the purpose of a digital newsletter to that show what has been happening in the school or classroom during a particular period.

However, to find blogs that show process, progress and achievement of learning is a little more difficult. An adult is able to make links between posts and to develop an issue across several posts. I'm not saying that a child cannot do this, but in many cases the blogs deteriorate as the child is unable to focus on the clear purpose of the blog.

In order to help students focus on the learning, the blog should have a clear and defined purpose and once this purpose is no longer needed (the unit of work is finished, the learning has moved on to a different area) then the blog should also finish. An example would be a student who was investigating a topic for science fair or conducting a novel study. The blog will show the process of the investigation, the progress of the learner and the outcomes of the learning, but when that investigation finishes and reflection is complete then the blog sits idle.

It's all about purpose for writing - a very important deliberate act of teaching.

An entertaining but awfully true message set to music by John Rockwell

Thanks to Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach for finding this one.

Great video by Jackie Halaw
3 steps for 21st century learning
Step 1 - teach creativity
Step 2 - teach skills of competition and co-operation
Step 3 - introduce collaboration with global peers
- it all sounds easy enough

At last - finally found some time to update this blog. After 6 weeks overseas on holiday, then preparing two presentations for the Learning At School Conference in Rotorua, attending to my other duties in my school, reconfirming the direction for the ICTPD cluster, and now attending the conference, I really have let things slip in the blogging department.

Learning At School Conference - another fantastic conference and another success story. The keynotes, as usual, have been fantastic - Jeremy Kedian talked about, and Julia Atkin's was a little controversial, thus I really enjoyed it. She talked about a 7,000 year old error in the way schooling has developed. I love a challenge and she threw plenty of them at us, including to see with fresh eyes, to acknowledge mistakes, and to escape mental ruts.

One workshop I attended was run by a really passionate teacher, Barry Musson. I would love to be a kid in his class. The session was on thinking - Habits of Mind and thinking maps. He obviously loved his job and loved learning. There was very little in the way of technology, but if all teachers had a small portion of his passion and enthusiasm, we would be in a very good place. I would imagine he would be one of those teacher that you never forget.

• I hope that this inspires other grown ups and kids to make a difference in their communities too, by doing little things. For this reason, I am challenging everyone who reads this blog to TRY to do something every single day during the holiday season to make a difference in his or her world. Even if you can’t do something every day, you can do one small thing to help make your world a better place.

All power to you Laura.

It's been a while since I last posted - I have got seriously caught up in the end of year panic - milestones, variations, reports, annual reviews, etc, etc, etc.

I wanted to share this video on 'Blogs in Plain English' by Lee Lefever. It is great for pd with beginners. I used it with a group recently and and it really set the scene.

We are lucky in the teaching profession as we all have these moments from time to time.
Recently, I was facilitating a session on digital photography in one of my schools. After the session I had a visit from a little 5 year old girl, carrying this big poster that she had made.


Translation of text (spelling is mine):
'Today we went to Room Seven. The teacher was called Mrs Shearing. We are learning digital camera. We first put on the rope and then we press the power button and the digital camera is on and we take our picture and then if I want to look at my picture press this arrow.'

So cute!

Just take a look at some of the photos that were taken by these 5 and 6 year olds. They are stunning.

I have just put together a website in which I have indexed all the Web2.0 tools that I have found useful in the classroom. I made it in weebly which is a nice web page tool and easy for kids to use.
I have used this site for many staff meetings. Please have a look and let me know if I have left anything out.
If you find it useful, feel free to use it.

The Evolving Web - click here to look

'Kids these days are not taught the same as I was when I was at school'.
Thanks goodness for that!!

I am sitting in the keynote presentation by Yoram Harpaz at Navon2k7 in Sydney. He has started out with the big question - What is the aim of educaton of the generation.com?
He is saying that education is the only field in which the means or journey has a connection to the end.
He is saying that educational theories are ideologies and that every ideology has a utopia, a diagnosis, a strategy and a collective. The utopia is the perfect world, the diagnosis is the world as it is, the strategy is how we are going to get to our perfect world, and the collective is who is going to do it.
A good thinking process to apply to our school vision.
He talks about the 3 meta-idelogoies of education - socialization (career and skill based), acculturatisation (values and citizenship) and individuation (self fulfillment). He said we practice socialization, we talk acculturisation and we think individuation.

It's not often you find something on the web that immediately excites you about how it can enhance student learning, but I just found one. It's called sketchcast and it took me a few seconds to draw this picture of my dog who is looking at me quizically at this moment.

I'm no artist but honestly this took me about 30 seconds. And you can add audio as well.
All sorts of uses in the classroom spring to mind, and the kids will just love this one.

I'm looking for a free application to make a movie by screen capture, for a mac. You know, the type of thing you see on Youtube and Teachertube where there is a close up of procedures on a screen. Preferably I want one that is easy for kids to use.
Does anyone know if there is one available somewhere?
If there is nothing free, what do others recommend I pay for?
Thanks so much

Aaaah, holidays! Well it should be anyway. Time to relax and forget about school for a while?
No chance! I am off to Navcon2k7 conference in Gosford, Sydney, next week and I am still tutuing around with our (Gail and me) presentation. Trying to get last minute things done and worried about the time it's going to take. Also our presentation slot is the morning after the night before (conference dinner night) - oh dear.
Still, I'm really looking forward to the conference. I find them so inspirational and I always come home full of ideas and enthusiasm.

As I have been looking for a resource on the web, I have been back to this Google Educators site. There are some great ideas there.

Also I noticed that think.com is looking at opening up to New Zealand schools. I hope this happens soon, and why hasn't it happened before. Surely in a connected world we should not still be handicapped by location.

I love playing with this stuff. I found these great web graphics and am just testing them out. The kids are going to love them.





I am on

I'm probably the last person in the world to see this video, but I only stumbled on it today. As a dance teacher, I think it's brilliant. Who said creativity is dead? Certainly not these four.!!

Here are my five postings for Blog Day.

1. Sheryl's Nussbaum-Beach's blog - I love this blog. Sheryl always has something interesting on the go. A must for all teachers.
2. Jane's e-learning pick of the day - a great place to find new and interesting sites and tools.
3. Travel blog on Bali - my home away from home. I must start one of my own.
4. Poetry blog - some great poems and discussions on poems.
5. Mr Random's random blog - with lots of quirky discussions and interesting points. A good place to get lost on a Sunday afternoon

We have YouTube and TeacherTube, and now we have SchoolTube. This is a site where students and teacher can upload their videos for sharing and using in Web 2.0 tools.

Some teacher have expressed concerns about directing students to YouTube when they want to upload videos for use in the classroom or eportfolios. SchoolTube is a safe environment in which to do this as all videos are monitored.

Here's my Meez - lost again as usual

I have been reading Marc Prensky's blog and his post on the NSBA Study On Online Behaviors caught my eye. This study discusses how teenagers use such sites as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook and if these sites have any place in education.

In this study, Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association (USA) states,
“There is no doubt that these online teen hangouts are having a huge influence on how kids today are creatively thinking and behaving. The challenge for school boards and educators is that they have to keep pace with how students are using these tools in positive ways and consider how they might incorporate this technology into the school setting.”

In the study Peter Grunwald of Grunwald Associates says that
"In the future, schools that incorporate social networking tools in education can help engage kids and move them toward the center of the learning process.”

The study points out that much of the social networking is centred around school, schoolwork or assignments.
So it is okay for kids to network to complete and discuss assignment out of school hours, but not in school hours???? It doesn't gel with me.

I find this very interesting as I was speaking to a New Zealand educator only yesterday who stated that there is a concern that our kids want it all and want it now, and we should resist this. Why? Surely here is an opportunity for us to model excellence in learning which includes excitement, engagement and relevance.

I agree with Marc when he states that many of our educators are
"deathly afraid of ...“The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native” because it is something they don’t understand. Rather than asking the kids about it (say in regular meetings) their typical attitude it to disrespect it and the kids."

I read with interest Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's article on Building and Sustaining a Learning Community.
It is discussed here that purpose and common interest are perhaps the two essential ingredients to building a learning community and I am discovering that the principles applied here also relate to the use of Web2.0 in the classroom. The interest in, and the use of the tools (blogs, wikis and podcasts) must be sustainable. As I work with middle school students, I have found the best way to do this is to ensure that each wiki, blog or podcast has an authentic theme or purpose and once that is exhausted, then the blog or wiki is complete and doesn't need to be added to unless something else crops up.
Wikis are very exciting, and we are experimenting with some different ones at the moment but all have clear purposes. These wikis have been especially set up to address a need and will exist for as long as the need is there, and their use is essential to the learning of the users.
One group of students are working on collaborative stories.
They work from home or anywhere, meeting only at school to discuss twists and turns in the plot. They are totally motivated for the course of the story, but once it is finished the wiki will lie dormant (although read by others, so perhaps not so dormant).
Several class groups are working on an inquiry into human rights and community rights.
This one is completed at school in a collaborative environment using the inquiry approach.
Last term we used literature circles blogs as part of a novel study. These blogs were so successful that many classes want to try it for themselves. A couple currently underway is a literature circle on Goodnight Mister Tom and a novel study on Boy Overboard.

At last - at Bucklands Beach Intermediate School in Auckland, New Zealand, we have started to podcast some of the work by our students. I see this as a great way to engage the students and to give them a real audience.
Our first podcast series will be some of the myths written by our students in the style of indigenous Maori myths.
Here is our first attempt -

Click here to get your own player.


We have used the podomatic site because of it's ease, but if anyone knows of a better way I would be very interested.

Been a bit quiet lately, as I've been sunning myself in Bali (like a lizard) and not missing the terrible weather we are having in New Zealand.
But all good things come to an end and now I'm back at work and Bali is becoming a distant memory.

At 'my' school, Bucklands Beach Intermediate, in Auckland, there is great excitement. We have been working to set up a local radio station. Our students are aged between 10 and 13, and we have been training them up to be DJs, interviewers etc for the new radio station 'The Wave' (we are by the beach). We have a license for limited live broadcasting and a area radius of about 5kms.

Here is an extract from a local newspaper - Howick and Pakuranga Times

'Students at Bucklands Beach Intermediate are making waves as their new radio station goes live to air each day.
Year 7 Bucklands Beach Intermediate students (names removed) know how to work the mike at the school's new radio station.
Term two saw the launch of The Wave 88.1FM, a radio station operated by student DJs and technicians.
“The DJs talk and the techies control the volume,” says technician (name removed), aged 11.
“We play a lot of music and we do jingles, narratives and stingers.”

Year 7 pupils write scripts for shows, which run 8-9am and 12-1pm daily.
“They do the top 10 music list, a comedy section and we do celebrity gossip.
“Some times we go through notices,” says technician (name removed), aged 12.
“We have different themes because there’s different people on each day, so we might have joke day or Kiwiana day.”

Teacher Mr Barrow developed the radio concept to boost student confidence.
“They pretty much run the whole thing and I just oversee it. It’s good because they do all the talking and prepare all the scripts and they bring in all the songs. I just look after all the licences,” says Mr Barrow.

The station can be received on radios up to 5km from the school.
“It all depends on if there are hills in the way,” says Mr Barrow.'

It is yet another way to engage our students and switch them onto school.

I have been investigating the learning behind the blogging experience, and using blogging to support learning. In the course of this study, I have been trying to find excellent examples of student blogs, especially with younger students. Many examples I found were really chat sessions and often not containing very good examples of excellence in English.
We decided to try our hand at creating our own, and came up with the idea of blogs to support our reading programme.
The students are working in Literature Circles and these are published to a blog for a real worldwide audience. Much excitement buzzes around the classroom whenever anyone receives a comment and the clustr map is eagerly checked every morning.
The children do publish all the blogs to a secure site first, and then the teacher loads them onto a blogspot site. (We are still a little nervous about privacy and net safety).
If you are interested take a look at our current blog listed below - and many more to come soon.
I would love your feedback, and thanks to all those who have given feedback - you have really made a child's day!!!

The Diary Of Anne Frank

After this positive experience with this group of students, I was thrilled to discover that some had taken on blogging into other realms of their learning.
Just take a look at Cheyenne's Science Fair blog. Here is a young lady of 11 years old who is recording her progress and process of her science fair investigation in a blog. She has done this completely on her own, at home, without the assistance of (but of course with great encouragement from) her teacher.
Please take the time to leave her some feedback.

Now the challenge is to find blogging ways to support learning in other areas.
I would love to hear your ideas.

I found this on Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's blog. The funniest thing I've seen for ages.

Announcing the second annual "K12 Online" conference for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! This year's conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a preconference keynote during the week of October 8. This years conference theme is "Playing with Boundaries." A call for proposals is below.
OVERVIEW: There will be four "conference strands"-- two each week. Two presentations will be published in each strand each day, Monday - Friday, so four new presentations will be available each day over the course of the two-weeks. Each presentation will be given in any of a variety of downloadable, web based formats and released via the conference blog (http://adifference.blogspot.com/www.k12onlineconference.org) and archived for posterity.
FOUR STRANDS: Week 1 Strand A: Classroom 2.0 Leveraging the power of free online tools in an open, collaborative and transparent atmosphere characterises teaching and learning in the 21st century. Teachers and students are contributing to the growing global knowledge commons by publishing their work online. By sharing all stages of their learning students are beginning to appreciate the value of life long learning that inheres in work that is in "perpetual beta." This strand will explore how teachers and students are playing with the boundaries between instructors, learners and classrooms. Presentations will also explore the practical pedagogical uses of online social tools (Web 2.0) giving concrete examples of how teachers are using the tools in their classes.
Strand B: New Tools Focusing on free tools, what are the "nuts and bolts" of using specific new social media and collaborative tools for learning? This strand includes two parts. Basic training is "how to" information on tool use in an educational setting, especially for newcomers. Advanced training is for teachers interested in new tools for learning, looking for advanced technology training, seeking ideas for mashing tools together, and interested in web 2.0 assessment tools. As educators and students of all ages push the boundaries of learning, what are the specific steps for using new tools most effectively? Where "Classroom 2.0" presentations will focus on instructional uses and examples of web 2.0 tool use, "New Tools" presentations should focus on "nuts and bolts" instructions for using tools. Five "basic" and five "advanced" presentations will be included in this strand.
Week 2 Strand A: Professional Learning Networks Research says that professional development is most effective when it aims to create professional learning communities — places where teachers learn and work together. Using Web 2.0 tools educators can network with others around the globe extending traditional boundaries of ongoing, learner centered professional development and support. Presentations in this strand will include tips, ideas and resources on how to orchestrate your own professional development online; concrete examples of how the tools that support Professional Learning Environments (PLEs) are being used; how to create a supportive, reflective virtual learning community around school-based goals, and trends toward teacher directed personal learning environments.
Strand B: Obstacles to Opportunities Boundaries formalized by education in the “industrial age” shouldn’t hinder educators as they seek to reform and transform their classroom practice. Playing with boundaries in the areas of copyright, digital discipline and ethics (e.g. cyberbullying), collaborating globally (e.g. cultural differences, synchronous communication), resistance to change (e.g. administration, teachers, students), school culture (e.g. high stakes testing), time (e.g. in curriculum, teacher day), lack of access to tools/computers, filtering, parental/district concerns for online safety, control (e.g. teacher control of student behavior/learning), solutions for IT collaboration and more -- unearthing opportunities from the obstacles rooted in those boundaries -- is the focus of presentations in this strand.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: This call encourages all, experienced and novice, to submit proposals to present at this conference via this link. Take this opportunity to share your successes, strategies, and tips in “playing with boundaries” in one of the four strands as described above.
Deadline for proposal submissions is June 18, 2007. You will be contacted no later than June 30, 2007 regarding your status.
Presentations may be delivered in any web-based medium that is downloadable (including but not limited to podcasts, screencasts, slide shows) and is due one week prior to the date it is published.
Please note that all presentations will be licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
As you draft your proposal, you may wish to consider the presentation topics listed below which were suggested in the comments on the K-12 Online Conference Blog:

» special needs education
» Creative Commons
» Second Life
» podcasting
» iPods
» video games in education
» specific ideas, tips, mini lessons centered on pedagogical use of web 2.0 tools
» overcoming institutional inertia and resistance
» aligning Web 2.0 and other projects to national standards
» getting your message across
» how web 2.0 can assist those with disabilities
» ePortfolios
» classroom 2.0 activities at the elementary level
» creating video for TeacherTube and YouTube
» google docs
» teacher/peer collaboration
KEYNOTES: The first presentation in each strand will kick off with a keynote by a well known educator who is distinguished and knowledgeable in the context of their strand. Keynoters will be announced shortly.
CONVENERS: This year's conveners are:
Darren Kuropatwa is currently Department Head of Mathematics at Daniel Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is known internationally for his ability to weave the use of online social tools meaningfully and concretely into his pedagogical practice and for "child safe" blogging practices. He has more than 20 years experience in both formal and informal education and 13 years experience in team building and leadership training. Darren has been facilitating workshops for educators in groups of 4 to 300 for the last 10 years. Darren's professional blog is called A Difference (http://adifference.blogspot.com/). He will convene Classroom 2.0.
Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, a 20-year educator, has been a classroom teacher, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member teaching graduate and undergraduate preservice teachers at The College of William and Mary (Virginia, USA), where she is also completing her doctorate in educational planning, policy and leadership. In addition, Sheryl is co-leading a statewide 21st Century Skills initiative in the state of Alabama, funded by a major grant from the Microsoft Partners in Learning program. Sheryl blogs at (http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/). She will convene Preconference Discussions and Personal Learning Networks.
Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent. With respect to school change, he describes himself as a "catalyst for creative educational engagement." His blog, “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” was selected as the 2006 “Best Learning Theory Blog” by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education. He is the Director of Education Advocacy (PK-20) for AT&T in the state of Oklahoma. Wes blogs at (http://www.speedofcreativity.org/). Wes will convene New Tools.
Lani Ritter Hall currently contracts as an instructional designer for online professional development for Ohio teachers and online student courses with eTech Ohio. She is a National Board Certified Teacher who served in many capacities during her 35 years as a classroom and resource teacher in Ohio and Canada. Lani blogs at (http://possibilitiesabound.blogspot.com/). Lani will convene Obstacles to Opportunities.
QUESTIONS? If you have any questions about any part of this, email one of us:
» Darren Kuropatwa: dkuropatwa {at} gmail {dot} com
» Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach: snbeach {at} cox {dot} net
» Lani Ritter Hall: lanihall {at} alltel {dot} net
» Wesley Fryer: wesfryer {at} pobox {dot} com

For some time now I have been looking at how blogging can support and enhance learning.

I have started a blog for a group of Y7 (10 year olds) who are studying The Diary of Anne Frank in their class.
They are using literature circles to read The Diary of Anne Frank.
During the course of this literature circle, students will take on the roles of:

Discussion Director
Summariser
Character Mapper
Creative Connector
Word Wizard
Illustrator
Correspondent
Travel Tracer

They meet regularly to discuss and debate issues and understandings from their set reading. They will take a different role after each literature circle meeting.

This is very new to them and they need a lot of support and scaffolding, but hopefully by the middle of the year they will be able to produce their own blogs in an authentic classroom context.

You can find their work on thediaryofannefrank.blogspot.com

They would love to get your feedback.

I was reading Will Richardson's blog entitled Technology is the Devil in which he referred to a Time magazine article on Web 2.0. This article gives data on the low participation in Web 2.0 websites such as YouTube and Wikipedia as compared with visitors who are passively reading those sites. I'm not concerned with numbers of people who upload. I don't think you need to be an active uploader to participate and collaborate. If you are reading blogs or wikis, or are viewing videos YouTube you are part of the collaborative community. Not everyone needs to post their thoughts and ideas on the internet. Reading a blog has lead to many animated and intense discussions in the staffroom and therefore is making an impact and facilitating change in the way people think and act.
I don't think that reading has to be a passive activity. The thoughts and ideas formed from reading can lead to action and big changes.
I don't think it is imperative that we write blogs - but it do think it is important to read them.

I was looking on the net at the School for the Future in Philadelphia - where they have no desks, but use podiums with computers on and the floor. In this way, they say they can improve the fitness of their students while they learn.

My principal is on the Board of Trustees for a new middle school yet to be built. The other day, he asked the question "If you had a blank canvas, what would a school for the 21st century look like? (We are talking about physical buildings and classrooms, not about equipment and technology).
In effect he does have a blank canvas. What an exciting position to be in!

So I am setting the challenge - if you had a blank canvas, what would your school for the 21st century look like?

I have been watching the development of the Wikipedia entry on the VT shootings over the last week. Surely this is collaboration at it's best. It is more up to date and maybe more accurate than my local newspaper. I certainly read reports in Wikipedia that were not reported or reported incorrectly in the newspaper.
It makes me wonder about what is around the corner. What will be the state of journalism and the future of journalists when we can use our tv's in a collaborative wiki format?
It is now imperative that we teach our students how to critique, synthesise and analyse, and they must learn how to ask the hard questions.

on this sad day of the funerals for many of the victims of the VA Tech massacre. I am thinking of you all today.

I am enjoying our break after Term 1, and tryng to get some work done. I have started some blogs with my students (10-11year olds) and have had some mixed results. It seems the higher achieving students thrive in this medium, but I still have some problems with the quality of the language in some cases.
Does anyone know of any research done it the area of blogging with younger students, or know of any young students blogs I could read as examples.
I think with me it is the case of wanting too much too soon, and we need to take time to learn what is quality work and what isn't.

Marc Prensky spoke at the ICP conference yesterday. His message was 'get the students involved in EVERYTHING you do'.
He spoke about getting a balance in our schools - not top down, or bottom up,- but a true balance where the students are involved at all levels including working with BOT, Principal, Teachers and Parents.
He gave some great ideas for using internet and technology tools in the classroom, and how to embrace technology like mobile phones instead of banning them.
He also talked about using gaming rules for engaging students. These included the rules of goals, decisions, connectivity, co-operation and competition. In February I attended a workshop with David Warlick where he also spoke about the engagement of gaming and how to use these rules and concepts in the classroom.
Very interesting stuff.

I love this video

Today I was lucky enough to attend the ICP conference held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. The highlight was listening to Ken Robinson. He really is an entertaining speaker and his message was to foster and cherish creativity in our students. He spoke of change in our schools happening at the economic and cultural levels. We have to not only think differently about how we use our human resources but we have to do things differently. He said that creativity and intelligence are linked and that currently we are only educating our children from the waist upwards, with the focus on the head! Some of his key ideas on creativity fit in nicely with my thoughts on inquiry, and I must re-examine our school vision in this area later next term.
All in all a thought provoking and very enjoyable session.
I was heartened to listen to Steve Maharey, the Minister of Education, reinforce Ken Robinson's points and refer to him during his speech. I thought education may at last be in good hands.
A very stimulating day, and travelling into the city and back by ferry on the spectacular Auckland Harbour is always a bonus.

I introduced my maths class to classblogmeister. I found it a little difficult to set it up, but through trial and error I managed. The kids loved it - they were so engaged. We used it today for reflections in problem solving.
I would love to know how other teachers use blogging in maths - there must be some great ideas out there.

Well today marks the day of my very first blog entry.
I need to thank Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and David Warlick for getting me motivated enough to do this. For a long time now I've been a blog-lurker and finally I'm making the commitment to get up and just do it.
Thanks too to Sheryl and David for the inspirational keynote address at Tuanz07 and Learningatschool conferences.
You will be hearing more from me now my lurking days are over.