Reflection...Final days of Eastnet

Today is the final day of the eastnet cluster and out very final lead teacher day :-( So many positives to reflect upon, and the easiest way I can think to sum up 3 years is to do a PMI.

Let me just do a little introduction first...

My name is Bridget and I started my teaching career in July 2005. I started teaching a lovely year 6 class and although I loved all things computer previously to starting, my class had already been set up and all my ICT passion couldn't be implemented due to the fact I was a BT, terrified of making changes and the class had one ancient computer! I made a huge mistake by trying to fit into a mould and doing the job of a teacher who was nothing like me! She was much older and not interested in anything technology. The school didn't communicate with emails or anything... some days I had no reason at all to turn on a computer and all class work was done at home on my own computer.

So 2006 begins and I have the confidence behind me to make room 20 my own. I begin adding my personality to my new class and getting the children rotating on the lonely computer doing mostly publishing, power point presentations and search engines for their action learning (a way of teaching that was being implemented into the school on my arrival).

2007- and teaching a year 5 and 6 class now I decided to purchase a laptop of my own to use in class and get more rotations going on the computer. I continued to buy CD's for children to save their work on. We showed our work to other groups, but never to whole class and I stayed safe using publishing in word, power point and search engines- although the laptop didn't have internet so children who wanted to use search engines had to wait until the ancient box in the corner was free....

2008-Year 5 class- The Eastnet cluster was introduced at the beginning of the year and in a staff meeting teachers were asked who was interested and to apply to Bruce. This was my chance to get on the ground floor of something fabulous and something I loved doing!

I applied- and missed out :-( I was gutted!

After the first term a lead teacher got a job in another school and an opening for a new lead teacher was going up for grabs- I jumped at my chance! So my journey begins- Bridget Smith- Lead teacher!!!!!!!

I felt like I spent the rest of the year catching up (The other had already been to a conference in Rotorua and returned jam packed with fabulous ideas) I felt a little less confident- and took a bit of a backseat waiting to find a program or website I could use with my kids.....

I began implementing things I had taken away from our lead teacher days- the kids could do it- and they loved it! I was feeling passionate again!

Laptops were intoduced, wireless networks, digital cameras (although shared).... and I moved up from CD's to a memory stick! PS I also welcomed a mimio and projector into the class :-)

2009- A move to the middle school and teaching year 3 and 4's- could they do ICT being so young??? A wiki site was set up by the lead teachers- my job was to search and find interactive websites aimed directly at the middle school. So ICT began to flood through the door... we began blogging, using interactive websites, web2 tools, you name it.... we were doing it!

2010- OMG I AM NOW THE HEAD OF ICT!!!!!!! Can you believe it? What a huge shift, and a great experience. A busy year running a class full time, doing action research, writing milestone reports and learning the ropes of systems, training experts, running a team, and running staff PD.

So begins my PMI to sum up my personal 3 years experience.....

PLUS= So many positives!!! Computer programs, websites, search engines, web2 tools, interactive sites, mimios, projectors, action research, meeting new people and visiting new schools, being on the ground floor of introducing inquiry, projectors, flip minos, digital cameras, easispeaks... you name it BDS now have it and we are active!

I cannot thank Belinda enough for helping me in my career. I have learnt so much from her but more importantly and above the thousands of new programs I can and o use.... the students in my class love school and learning!

MINUS= I have one negative and that is the workload- Running a classroom full time and doing all of the other responsibilities I have in the school- not related to ICT (like magazine and Dance group) I really really struggled sometimes to feel passionate- as is evident in my reflections throughout my lead teacher blog posts.

INTERESTING= I found our lead teacher days inspiring and the conferences interesting. You become a better teacher when you leave your little box and visit other schools and grab new ideas. When you challenge and force yourself to implement something new into the classroom quickly to retain that new knowledge from a lead teacher day- even though you feel so tired and overloaded with work- you know the rewards of watching the kids be so excited will wipe away that initial "I can't be bothered attitude" and you can can go home knowing- you made a difference today :-).

What an experience- I am so happy to have been a part of watching that huge shift in our school, and I am a better teacher for it. Very pleased that we will continue to meet next year- it's all about sustainability!

OMG I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by!
I am so pleased with the outcome of my action research, it's my professional goal next year to continue with it. Staff are looking forward to having an active year 5 and 6 ICT expert group in class and staff meetings! I also had another idea.... make each Teachno Ranger have a learning blog of their OWN! to write their reflections- log their learning and collect ideas of what we do in Techno Training sessions.... hahahahah can't wait!
Looking forward to catching up on Wednesday Lead Teachers, it's our last official catch up so lets make it a great one :-)

Action research blog

View more presentations from Br1dget.

Cluster Share

Last night we met one last time as a cluster to share our school inquiry, lead teacher action research and what we are generally proud of achieving. It was so nice to see everyone and get a good look at how far every school has come since being on the cluster. Huge Thanks to Belinda! Many schools were so grateful at her imput into bringing their school so far in ICT and inquiry. It was really sad knowing that it was the last time we'd meet for the year and I hope with out being on the cluster, we will stay in close contact and share these fabulous experiences.
Well done everyone :-)

Action Research

YES!!!!!
I am back on track! (Thanks B2) I have completed the training for the Techno Rangers. They have the "how to" sheets ready for the staff meeting and I managed to work screen shot... its just fallen into place, I'm so excited!
I have made an excellent start on my presentation for the next cluster share (Emailing it to you soon B2)

A great start!

Where did this term go?!?

CRAZY! Somehow I have managed to get to week 7 with my blinkers on! Seriously how? lol Its been a productive start to term 3 (Start- listen to me! we're over half way through!) I have had regular meeting with the ICT team, we have been very supportive to staff by running lots of workshops. I ordered the remaining classroom mimios... yes thats right ALL teachers have a mimio. With new mimios comes PD- so the supprotive ICT team have been busy in classrooms helping teachers set up their new "toy" and show them through the basics.
Still manage to get lost in the job list- Ive realised that if I take the job list after morning tea on a Thursday before our technical support arrives- and visit teachers I can almost halve the jobs and we can finish them... for a while there it seemed like the jobs were never ending and arrows would appear all over the page to push them through to the following week!
Struggling with the admin and jobs and general demands that ICT brings- and only having half a day release make getting things finished difficult.
ICT leaders were sent to syndicate meetings with questions about how well staff utalised and enjoyed having the extra laptop in thier classroom- general response... they love it!
We have just finished maths week- so they were in great use- also I believe it gave teachers an in sight of how well they work in the maths programme. Mathletics in the school has also pushed for integrating maths on computers.
So what has been happening...
We started the term with our Cluster Expo. It was amazing. Belinda as always had planned a wonderful interactive learning evening. Great feedback about the workshops and guest speakers. Fabulous food (only I would comment on the food!) super company :-) that took care of week one
Then it was parent interviews week 2... dance evening at Elim over 2 nights week 3... Sick week 4 (Damn cough!)...senior syndicate dance evening week 5....(my dance group performed- so back to being a make up artist)... Room 20 presented assembly in week 6 oh and YAY we have reached this week!
Belinda has been running PD with the staff at BDS on define maps and solo.... My kids had previously had trouble understanding the concept... today I think I had a break through by building a house (knowledge) lets see if you get it!
1. Pre structual.... BARE LAND
2. Uni Structual.... Foundation/floor goes down
3. Multi structural.. Frame of the house goes up
4. Relational........ Walls- decor- curtains/carpet-Fill your house with all the things that make it a home and add art work, family, etc....
5. Extended abstract.. Get to know your neighbours and community!

So anyway... if the whole teaching thing doesnt work out... I could try a career in building?

So we have 4 weeks to go... 4 weeks! Oh actually I have 3- I'm in Fiji for week 9- Jealous much??? So much to do and so little time. Watch this space :-P

Until next time
B-) x

ICT Lead Teacher Day 11/08/10

What a fabulous hands on day!
The morning started with watching one of B1's famous funny/inspiational you tube clips... this week, an inspiring woman in her 100th year using an ipad... I kid you not! An ipad!
We then got into our school teams to discuss our action plan for ICT/Inquiry and review this year to date and our next steps (very productive).
We spend some time looking at the plan for our milestone 5 report in our teams which was very clear and gave us an insight of what to expect in the report and the evidence we need to collect.
We had a devine morning tea made by B1 herself (Need that recipe for the spanich and feta creaps btw) and bach into school teams to discuss the difference between Inquiry teaching and action research.... OMG we had SO MUCH FUN making a presentation. We did ours on The Big Bang Theory. Collecting photos of Sheldon typing in his journal and teaching Penny the difference between Inquiry learning and action research and being a reflective practitioner. It was great fun and really nice to do something productive with collegues and have the time to enjoy it!
Our presentation isn't quite finished... we want to tweak a few things, but i'm sure when you see it, you'll understand why we enjoyed this hands on process :-)
Thank you Belinda- You think you worked us to the bone, but you kept us busy and on task... I had a fabulous day!
Until next time... B-)

Inquiry Learning

Look at inquiry through a different lense. Working through solo taxonomy (pre-structural -->Uni Structural --> Multi Structural --> Relational--> Extended Abstract.
E.g. Science.. Materal world Lvl 1 Properties of change and matter. Observe, Describe and compare physical and chemical properties of common materials and changes that occur when materials are mixed, heated or cooled..

Define- Properties (Physical/chemical/material/mixture)
Describe the above
Sequence
Classify
Compare and contrast
Explain the causes
Predict what might happen
Generalise

OUR NEXT TOPIC!
Understand how belonging to groups is important for people
Understand that people have different roles and responsibilities as part of their participation

Pre Structural
Uni Structural-Define belonging Identify groups you belong to
Multi Structural- List groups you belong (Family/sport/religion/school/community etc)Describe what groups have in common
Relational- Explain why people belong to groups (compare similarities of groups) Classify different types of groups.
Extended Abstract Predict what the world would be like without groups.

Pam Hook returns!

Teacher only day 1/07/10. Solo Taxonomy- Botany Downs Primary welcomed Pam Hook and Julie Mills. A whole day finally with the staff being on the same page! We started thinking about and wanting solo at BDS when we met Pam and Julie a few years ago at our ICT lead teacher day. On returning to school and being part of the think tank team- we took these ideas and began constructing our inquiry model (Hook, wondering, Creating, Planning, reflecting). Wanting the staff to share in our enthusiasm with inquiry we bragged about these two!

They're here! The staff are being hooked before my eyes :-)

A fabulous TOD!

ICT

I am loving the feeling of being motivated and organised!! Go ICT!

Lots to do

Action research, e-learning plans, milestone reports... lots of cool things to brag ab!

LOVE Scribbler

http://www.scribblar.com/rooms/index.cfm?r=k3kmscu

I forgot all about scribbler! this is cool for sharing ideas :-)

Link to vote

http://h30476.www3.hp.com/media/10139257-sex-in-the-city-comp

Adding a link isn't working so just copy and paste the above :-)

VOTES VOTES VOTES

I am involved in a Sex and My City comp! I used my ICT skills to create a cool photo and kick butt movie :-) Its tops! Im so desperate for votes how ever- I need to come in the top 5 to go to the judges panel and im coming 6th!!!! NO!!!!!! So Im begging... I mean pathetically begging.... PLEASE VOTE FOR ME :-)

Class blogs

Oh no! It was all going so well last year! I admit... I have not yet started my class blog... (smack smack) I do plan to... really I do, Its on the same list as getting ontop of my action research, doing more ICT stuff, and creating a filing system that works for me! Did I mention I also run a class??? hahahahaha Its been busy --> Im GOING to remain positive and keep smiling.

Getting Organised

Yippee!!! I'm well underway with a new filing system at BDS for ICT! I love stationary :) I have different coloured folders... and i'm in the middle of creating "How to" sheets for systems at the school, passwords, contacts etc... This will help who ever steps into ICT... incase i get hit by an ice cream truck (Touches wood!)to continue running it smoothly.

Ive also extended the "how to" sheets into programmes used in class... so teachers and ICT expert students can use them and photocopy them.

Just need ALL staff to pull together and create a how to sheet on the programme they work confidently in..... hmmmm there lies the tricky bit... no response from my email even after asking ever so nicely :-(

Looking forward to the cluster share tomorrow... my speech is all prepared!

Staff presentation and Lead T day

A variety of ideas for grouping children

Syndicate
Year Level
Birthday month (continum)
Cards with stickers
Favourites- chocolates- All the people who chose a picnic go together
Things that go together
Animals (All the people who own dogs, go together)
Ability groups- experts....
across teams/with in teams
decades you were born
coloured cars- all the people with a red car..
Countries
favourite food
Name badges- different stickers on the back
Walk in an area... call out numbers- "2" find a buddy, 5... grab groups of 5 etc
Jigsaw-- Pictures- piece them together
letters to make a word- words written on board
colour groups
Continums height/ability/birthday month etc
Animals pictures: Make the animal sounds- find the group that makes the same sound....
Pillow case over head- sensory- find the animal making the same sound...
Self selected/ Teacher selected
Table groups
Match the celeb

Room 20 Possible Action Research

I may get room 20 looking into the variety of search engines available, pushing them and me out of our comfort zones of just using www.google.com
Other search engines available are (TAKEN FROM EASTNET.WIKISPACES):
GOOGLE ADVANCED SEARCHES

Google Tips

Tips_Tricks_17x22.pdf

Advanced Tips

Once you know the basics of Google search, you can try Advanced Search, which offers numerous options for making your searches more precise and getting more useful results.
Go to Google (www.google.co.nz) and click on the "Advanced Search" link.

The Advanced Search page looks like this:


With Advanced Search, you can search only for pages

• that contain ALL the search terms you type in
• that contain the exact phrase you type in
• that contain at least one of the words you type in
• that do NOT contain any of the words you type in
• written in a certain language
• created in a certain file format
• that have been updated within a certain period of time
• that contain numbers within a certain range
• within a certain domain, or website
• that are available for anyone to use, share or modify, even commercially
• that don't contain "adult" material

wikipeida for kids http://schools-wikipedia.org/

Yahoo for kids http://kids.yahoo.com/

Ask kids http://www.askkids.com/

Any Questions http://www.anyquestions.co.nz/

Kid Rex http://www.kidrex.org/

Kids Click http://www.kidsclick.org/

Quintura for kids http://quinturakids.com/

Boolify http://boolify.org/

I'm adding these to our school wiki now!

Action Research Planning Process

How to Get Started on a Project

Borrowing heavily from Hollingsworth (1994) and Hopkins (1985) I offer the following practical suggestions for the teacher research process:

1. Decide on a focus
   • Start with autobiographical data by locating your best professional self. Some questions you might ask - What are your broad interests in teaching and learning? What are your specific interests? What are manageable questions? Choose something you feel passionate about.
     
     
   • Justify that the project is your best solution to the problem.
   
   
   
2. Develop a plan to gain insights
   • Develop a time-line to gather evidence or data to examine what you are trying to accomplish/resolve/do in light of "what you do not know yet".
     
     
   • Decide what evidence you want to collect. Evidence includes such things as questionnaires/surveys, observations (video or written notes), collaborations ( i.e. video or audio tape of meetings, peer coaching) interviews, tests and records, student work, video and audio tape transcripts, personal journal, library readings, etc.
   
   
   
3. Analyze the data by looking for patterns, or themes across the evidence
   • keep logs and journals, periodically read over the evidence, code data from themes and patterns, draw or chart patterns, try to summarize what you have learned as you go, by noting images, metaphors, and any new questions.
     
     
   • check out your understandings by triangulating evidence (same theme, code, pattern appears in more than two types of data), and by talking to peers, students, friends.
   
   
   
4. Report on what you have learned
   • to your colleagues, to parents, at conferences, in journals.
     
     
   • summarize what you learned -- in an essay, narrative, poster, video, . . . poetry.
     
     
   • tell how the problem changed, didn't change, or became worse because of changes in your practice.

A key component of Action Research is sharing what you have learned. A number of techniques ranging from videos to formal presentations have already been suggested, but consider the following as potential audiences as well:

1. Colleagues at a staff development day
2. Parents and students
3. Email discussion groups (see On-line Resources)
4. Publications from professional organizations
5. Journals such as "Teacher Research: The Journal of Classroom Inquiry" - a journal by teachers, for teachers. Brenda Power

Once teacher research is shared it allows for further action on the part of the teacher, or the broader educational community to continue. The educational community has become increasing supportive of teacher research. At a recent meeting on science education in California that I attended Bob Polkinghorn, the Director of the Statewide Subject Matter Projects in California called for the documentation of evidence of change in practice at the classroom level by teachers. If you have not undertaken teacher research in your classroom now is the time to try!

This is directly taken from http://www.accessexcellence.org/LC/TL/AR/
9/03/10

Action Research- Long but great!

This is a very good explanation on Action Research. What it means and where to from here. Its 10 minutes long, but well worth watching if your feeling a little lost about what it is and what is involved :-)

Richard Sagor- Action Research

Action Research- USA

Model of Action research (Wikipeida)

Action Research Definition

Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research can also be undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies, practices, and knowledge of the environments within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its work practices (Center for Collaborative Action Research). Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term “action research” in about 1944. In his 1946 paper “Action Research and Minority Problems” he described action research as “a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action” that uses “a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of the action”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_research
9/3/10

Working in ICT

ICT at BDS has become very busy. It seems that many items decide to stop working at the same time! We have our phone system out of use, our server kept playing up and to add icing to the cake the internet seems to be getting slower!
On a positive note... we have been gifted 3 extra mimios from the PTA! Its very exciting :-) Our "huge "to do" list seems to be heading in the right direction.
Anna and I are presenting on Tuesday following our ICT conference in Rotorua, so i'll let you know how we get on.
We have our first ICT lead teacher day at Elm Park... more blogging then I see!!
See you soon, enjoy your weekend
B-)

Reflection On L@S

I Loved this conference... It was my goal to attend workshops that used resources readily available and i could implement into the school asap.
I have done a power point presentation with Anna to share with the staff using Kid Pix. We had a fabulous time!
I enjoyed my breakouts (although one (The games we play) I arrived at 11am had changed locations- to Novatel and the bus had left :-( So I decided to gate crash a key note on top ten trends.... I loved it!!)
I managed to get get alot out of this conference.... I'm looking forward to sharing it with the staff.
We decided (Margaret, Anna and I) That the breakout "Put Yourself in the Picture"... would work better if senior children learnt it and went to teach the juniors (www. paint.net ) We found it fiddly... and cant see how juniors could follow the instructions.
Overall a very good conference x

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Cloud computing logical diagram
Cloud computing is a way of computing, via the Internet, that broadly shares computer resources instead of having a local personal computer handle specific applications.
It is an Internet- ("cloud-") based development and use of computer technology ("computing").[1]
In concept, it is a paradigm shift whereby details are abstracted from the users who no longer have need of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.[2] Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.[3][4]
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents.[5] Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.
A technical definition is "a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."[6] This definition states that clouds have five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.[6]
The majority of cloud computing infrastructure, as of 2009[update], consists of reliable services delivered through data centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers and typically offer SLAs.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Derek Wenmoth- Top 10 Trends 2010

Top Ten trends 2010



http://www.core-ed.net/

www.2020.org.nz/template/ict

http://www.blog.core-ed.net/derek

http://www.edutopia.org/daring-dozen-2008





Derek Wenmoth discusses elearning "activities from exploring the innovative use of the latest technologies and researching elearning practices, to helping establish policy and strategies to enable the implementation of elearning" L@S definition



1.Internet capable mobile devices for learning (netbooks, phones- Used for learning)

2. 2. Ubiquitous Learning-
Learning anytime, anywhere, anytime! I pod touch, wireless, home/school/community all become learning environments.
3. Cyber Citizenship
http://blog.netsafe.org.nz/2010/02/22/is-digital-citizenship-just-marketing-spin/
What are the issues? Look at the modeling and connection… Kids are growing up in a digital world… you can’t stop it! (CONFIDENT/SAFE/RESPONSIBLE) Shift the FEAR FACTOR!
4. Digital Literacy
What are the required skills/knowledge and literacy’s needed?
5. Open Education Resources
Unlimited online resources… no waiting time, it’s at your finger tips! Check out wiki educator (J )
6. Cloud Computing
Once you’re on the network, you’re in such high speed…. What would it be like to not have all the infrastructure? It’s coming soon!maintaince/disaster recovery/back up/updates//back ups/storage
Google docs/Google Mail/ etc…. all cloud computing (Commerical, communications, educational, administration)
COMMON SERVICING! LMS--à LIBRARY SYSTEM---à STUDENT RECORD SYSTEM (BDS have all of this! Yes even the air con!
Check out 8 ways cloud computing might change schools… GOOGLE CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud Computing Explained…
7. Learner Experience
LOVED this workshop!!!!!
Very interesting I wish I could have stayed to get the last 3 Key points… but my laptop battery was going to die in 3 mins…. And the plug in the conference room didn’t work!!

ARGH Crumbs… but please check out Derek’s blog… and I’ll grab the L@S information from it as soon as it hits the sites

Alan November-Boston USA

The engaging culture of teaching and learning
Lovely presenter, lots of technical difficulties i'm feeling a little confussed at the moment, I'm not too sure what the LO of this presentation is yet..... ive read the blurb on the presentation and its not yet matching.....

Alan talked about google searches... check out
www.stormfront.org
www.easywhois.com
www.archive.org (Way back machine- history of a website)
November learning website containing teacher resources,
www.allaboutexplorers.com

Will check these out... may offer more information as i'm struggling to take any notes.....

TTFN

Engaging Community Through Digital Story Telling

Digital Story Telling
Audience- Who are you creating the digital story for? Parents? Whanau? Children? Teachers? Schools? wider community?
Why? Purpose? To engage parents in curriculum? or to enhance oral language?
Content: "A story should be remembered for its soul, and not the bells and whistles" The content of the story is the MOST essential
Voice: Whose voice is heard? the voice of children, family and teachers.
Technology: Using a variety of technological tools to create and publish and publish digital stories.
Connections: Using digital stories to make connections. Stories connect people. (Blog, Email etc)

Very informative, great interaction, a friendly, bubbly presenter, loved this class! I'm off to play AGAIN :-) Can't wait to share this with the BDS staff xx

Put Yourself in the Picture- Breakout 2

Put yourself in the picture is a FREE software!!!! It is an image and photo editing software for computers that run windows.

http://www.paint.net/

Why use it???

It covers ALL the key competencies! Thinking, Relating to others, Participating and contributing, managing self, Language symbols and texts.

Yes I said it covers it all!

Reconstruct your favourite nursery rhymes... get kids to write text to match the image... take photos of doors when knocking on the door a forest when walking through the forest... you could even add in your "paint pictures onto of the images.... or just use paint to create the whole image!

I have a CD that you are welcome to use... its all ready to go, with images to play around with and everything!

We had a look around what other schools have been up to with http://www.paint.net/ I love FLAT Stanley, an introduction to school life... blogging, friends, classroom location, school trips etc... its a great way for parents to see what happens in classrooms and a great way to include children who are not allowed in photos.... Stanley could take their place, and the children wont miss out.

Loved the Te Tiri O Te Waitangi using "flash" to reconstruct their understanding of early New Zealand... alot of research goes into these presentations alot of thinking, learning, reflecting and sharing is involved before you can present your ideas.

I'm off to play!!! Will post my image shortly xoxox

Learning@Schools Rotorua Pam Hook- Solo Taxonomy

"Hooked on Thinking"
Learning to Learn
Solo Taxonomy incorporates what we currently do in the classroom including all thinking skills and questioning skills that normally stand alone, and link it together to get a deeper understanding. Students are able take ownership of their learning, show "top end performance" by looking at all angles of their inquiry.

Prestructural- No Knowledge
Uni Structural- Know limited informational- yes or no answers
Multi Structural- Knows multiple things
Relational Can relate information and make links
Extended Abstract- Can generalise and think outside the square (complex, think of something as a whole and take it apart-change it)

A great way to interact with the person next to you and go through the steps of solo taxonomy. We were asked to explain to the person next to us "our super hero" and work through the stages.

Goldilocks and the three bears...

Whose house did Goldilocks go into?
What are the 3 aspects about the way the bears live...
Goldilocks does horrible things... what kind of person is she?
Why do nursery tales allow animals to act in a human fashion?

Learning to learn
1. Learning process
2. Learning Language
3. Learning Interventions
4.Learning Pedagogies

(See wikispaces for These Presentation Notes)
www.hooked-on-thinking.com

www.hooked-on-thinking.wikispaces.com/tag/view/pam+hook


BLOOMS TAXONOMY is THINKING.... it is not focussed on learning outcomes...


What do Primary school students do???
Use words
- give them the language of learning!

Learning@Schools Rotorua! Dr Stuart Middleton

What an amazing Keynote speaker! I loved his metaphores to teaching and learning (The statistics of Swine flu compared to education today) and his Iceberg teaching and learning with bilingual and multi lingual students.
A fabulous presenter, very engaging and humorous :-)

Welcome to 2010

A busy busy year ahead! I'm the new ICT lead teacher at BDS!!! I'm working closely with L to help me transition into my new role, there is so much "stuff" to learn! I'm looking forward to having my own system that works well for me, and I can't wait to have a routine where all the new knowledge i'm currently drowning in has finally sunk in and i'm more able to find stuff... especially passwords!

Not too many sleeps to go until we go to Rotorua, Learning @ Schools! 9 teachers will be going from BDS and I can't wait! Bring on new innovative ideas :-)