Monday 22 November 2010

My Edublog Award Nominations

My Edublog Award Nominations

It is always so hard to choose amongst some many fantastic people. However here are my nominations for 2010.


Best individual tweeter: @tombarrett
Best resource sharing blog: http://ilearntechnology.com
Best Educational Technology Support Blog: Speed of Creativity
Best school administrator blog Principals Page: The Blog
Best class blog: http://super7scoopers.edublogs.org

Saturday 13 November 2010

A Vision of 21st Century Learners

The race is on and already many schools are competing to offer laptops and e-learning at school to attract students. Many schools are already planning to move towards 1:1 laptop or iPad programs, and parents are sitting up and noticing. Now this tells me parents are very aware of what opportunities their child needs, but do they know what know what a 21st Century student is? More importantly, do they/we know what 21st Century teachers look like and what do they do?

Watch the two videos below; if you were a parent checking out the local schools, what you would expect 21st Century teaching to look like?

A Vision of 21st Century Students


A Vision of 21st Century Teachers

Sunday 7 November 2010

Day in a Sentence

Thank you all for participating in Day in a Sentence, I even got my principal to join us this week! I also discovered that DIAS is not only a great reflective tool but a fun literacy activity for your students too.
Day in a sentence
Three of my students are finalists in the TVNZ6 NetGuide Multimedia Challenge, and I am a proud teacher! - Shaun Wood

As I revamp some of my curriculum to focus more on literature and reading skills, I feel like some of my more interesting writing projects and activities may be slipping away from me; I need more balance. --Kevin

I'm excited on my 4th day of National Novel Writing Month and I just finished a digital piece that I'm feeling good about: http://vimeo.com/16273829 - Bonnie

After much indecision I have decided to do a PhD, it will be a good 3 or 4 years study but at the end I will become a Doctor :) - Jared

I was surprised to hear a chorus or requests when I reflected, "I wish we could write all day."- Eric

This last month of spring started well for me; its blue skies, days of sunshine and lengthening warm evenings are this year's promise of a wonderful summer.  - Blogger in Middle-earth

School has been hard, but the days are beginning and ending with spectacular sun performances, so I believe it'll all be okay. - Lynn Jacobs

More than half of what it takes to be an effective teacher is simply showing up everyday.  - Ben@TIC

This week was wonderfully successful, as our school partnered with the University of Ballarat and Country Education Project, to trial virtual teaching rounds with three student teachers - amazingly successful from all points of view with great teamship, student engagement, technology use,virtual classrooms - a glimpse into the classroom of the future. - Murcha

I was away from my class for 4 days this week and they kept blogging without me... very proud! - Ms B

Being apart of my students lives makes my heart sing, I love being a teacher. - @melaniem8

Over the past several weeks Bailey Road School has been recognised in the press for several outstanding achievements, I am proud to be leading such a hardworking and innovative staff. - Derek Linington

Our science topic in class inspired me to plant my own garden and what a buzz I get from it.  - MrsTorrey

Authentic Audience

Reading the online guardian.co.uk a few days back, a headline caught my attention "Class blogs: a better way to teach" by Judy Friedberg. I was amazed to find a reference and link to my own class blog here, "Here's a class in New Zealand making short films about how earthquakes happen."

Aside from being flattered, it made me realize a few things. Firstly if my class blog is an example then I must be using blogs in an appropriate 21st century way. This is thanks to all my PLN's class blogs that I follow who inspire and encourage me. Secondly, teachers also have a need for an authentic audience, we also get engaged and excited when our work is recognised and commented on.

Judy interviews a classroom teacher who blogs, he says, "It gives them pride in their work, acknowledgement of their worth, and some understanding that there is a big wide world out there and people are listening to them." It certainly does, and it applies to teachers too. While on the subject of empowering kids to blog by commenting on their blogs, visit http://comments4kids.blogspot.com and find out how you can make a difference.

Sunday 31 October 2010

Day in a Sentence

I have participated in Day in a Sentence (DIAS) for over a year now and I still love the way it gets me to stop and reflect. So it is a great honour to be allowed to host DIAS on my blog this week.
So please come and share a reflection of your week with us, in just one sentence. Use the comment field below to submit your sentence and I will compile and publish your words at the end of the week.
My own week began with good news, and we need to celebrate our successes. Come join us and celebrate your success in a sentence.

Three of my students are finalists in the TVNZ6 NetGuide Multimedia Challenge, and I am a proud teacher! - Shaun Wood
I shared DIAS with my students and they decided to add their own reflective sentences.

Saturday 16 October 2010

Changing Education Paradigms

I found this presentation by Sir Ken Robinson on the education system and creativity on Derek's Blog.  I had heard it before and thought it was really good, however I had never seen this animated version by the RSA. They create an animated mind map as he speaks, which created a picture of understanding in my head. I am like many of my students, a visual learner. I REALLY got all of Sir Ken Robinson's talk this time around, I could see what he meant. I agree we need a revolution in education, and I think there are already many teachers out their starting to make that shift. It starts with us asking why?

I just started teaching mind mapping to my students this week and have been amazed by their engagement and enjoyment, turning thinking and learning into mini artworks. I am using Mind Maps for Kids by Tony Buzan. I have found the simple structure, colour and images allow for creative thought and rich brainstorming.

So finding this presentation is a bonus, I can share it with my students as a model. As well as showing them real life examples of how I and other adults are really using them too. Of course as Derek mentioned it makes a great discussion piece at staff meeting.

Blog Action Day


Blog Action Day is an annual blogging day to inspire discussion and action on a global scale. The topic for this year is water. You may wonder "why water?" As I am practicing creating infographics in order to teach my students, I decided to use the opening paragraph of the Blog Action Day website to create a visualization of why water is such an important issue.
Charity Water is a link worth investigating that provides more facts (an infographics) about the water issues and statistics around the world.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Netsafe's LGP initiative


NetSafe has been a favourite primary school safety guide and programme of mine since I began teaching. I have used Hector the Dolphin every year to teach internet safety to my students. 


NetSafe has just launched their new Learn: Guide: Protect collaborative website. I found it quick and easy to sign up and within minutes started creating new Bits and Remix other Bits to put together a Collection of Bits that I would use to teach Cyberbullying next term.

A Bit is any website link, video or other media related to internet safety. It is like a post on a blog. This is an example of a Bit I made about a website I wanted to add. You can see how many Views and Recommendations a Bit has had, plus you can Recommend and Comment on any Bit yourself.

A Collection is a grouping of Bit's that may be ordered for teaching purposes like my Cyberbullying Unit here. Or just as a bookmark type collection, either way useful for other teachers looking for similar things. 


NetSafe have built a fantastic framework to support internet safety through the feedback and collaboration with the education community. The site design is clean and refreshing and surprisingly simple to use. I did find the Classifications slightly daunting and may have categorized a bit incorrectly ('bit' humour always seems to come up when discussing this site.)



Their Twitter and Facebook widgets were not working for me but you can follow them on 
Twitter @netsafenz

Sunday 3 October 2010

5 Smart Ways To Get #Comments4Kids On Your Blog

#Comments4Kids is a Twitter hashtag started by @wmchamberlain aimed at promoting more comments for class and student blogs. It mostly relies on teachers to provide these comments. Comments4Kids Blog is the new home of #comments4kids, where you can add your class blog to the database. It also has some suggested rules for commenting and a cool badge for your blog.

1. Get comments on your blogs by using #comments4kids hashtag in your tweet.
- classblogs: a summary of what they are learning then the url for the blog post e.g: Student writes about Flax Weaving, please comments4kids http://goo.gl/muIh (Tweetdeck shortens my urls automatically but you could use goo.gl)

- if your blog contains multiple student blogs like our student blogs then expect you may only get comments on a few of the lastest blog posts. I usually choose students who have not had any comments yet. Commenting on 25 students is a big job for a single teacher, but a small one for another class of 25 students!

2. Follow #comments4kids in a column in your TweetDeck or equivalent tweet software. 

3. The Rule of Return
For every comment you get on your class or student blog's, give one back to someone in the #comments4kids community. It doesn't have to be the same class/teacher who commented on yours. This is the least we all need to do for #comments4kids to flourish, and for all our students to get that buzz of excitement when they get a comment on their blog, you know the one, I do! 

4. Get your students engaged in #comments4kids, let each of them make a comment or two as a computer time starter. This is how I do it http://brs-team17.wikispaces.com/ICT+Skills. Look down the page for Comment4Kids Thursday subheadings. It is a great chance to teach; model; review; or assess commenting skills, language skills, basic computer skills, etc. Sometimes I have the whole class read and comment on one class blog, or to a class with individual student blogs. Other times I send my reading groups to different blogs aimed at their level. 

5. Leave your class blog link when commenting, e.g: http://baileyrdteam17.blogspot.com
If like KidBlog.org the comment field does not offer this option then just paste it into the comment field. We love to know where our comments come from so we can also reciprocate the comments. If you use KidBlog.org or similar get all students to leave your class page url. Have the url in you blog or for students to copy and paste.


We use Blogger for our class blog which is easy to manage a range of comment functions. However here are some things that I have found to be barriers when leaving comments :
 Below left, is the best situation where my students are able to put in their own first name and our class blog url. Below right, is a Word Verification window which I personally hate. I know many of you disagree because of security, but if you are moderating all your comments why is this extra barrier in place?
 

Now it is your turn! Promote your class and student blog's with #comment4kids. Have fun getting comments but please make comments too. Blogging and commenting are both great literacy activities that offer many teaching moments based on real communication. I enjoy reading about what all those creative classes are doing. I get inspired to teach new ways, try new web 2.0 tools, and build wonderful learning relationships; all thanks to #comment4kids.

Have you tried #comments4kids? Do you have any other ideas to add?

Wednesday 29 September 2010

A Journey with Inanimate Alice

I can say with pride that iTeach Inanimate Alice

inanimatealice tells a digital story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.

This is our journey . . . 

this is what we discovered and created.

Sunday 12 September 2010

What is 21st Century Learning

There have been many great videos that attempt to explain what 21st Century learning is. It reminds me why we as educators and learners ourselves need to review what teaching and learning should look like in the classroom. However without education and school management support and understanding of these concepts we will not be able to take these steps as a community. Here is another video to inspire.

Saturday 14 August 2010

ePortfolios

Eportfolio, e-portfolio, or ePortfolio? I have used all and seen all versions used. I have started using ePortfolio after seeing it spelt that way on Mr Lietze blog. Perhaps it is a new form of contraction/capitalisation or just iPhone mania.

I started this ePortfolio process for the first time this year with my Year 6 class. My belief was that it provided an engaging 21st century alternative to the old plastic folder. As the only teacher who did digital work I turned to my online PLN for some guidance. I began by researching many blogs, case studies and engaging in discussions with other educators on this journey. I discovered that their are many different opinions and ultimately like all teaching, it needs a purpose.

My purpose for developing ePortfolios in the classroom is to allow my students to engage and reflect on their own learning. The process of creating their ePortfolio's, talking about it, and visualising their learning achievements and progressions, makes them more aware of themselves as lifelong learners.

This blog post by Nick Rate has two graphs that really show what ePortfolio purpose and ownership in our primary school may look like. I think it shows nicely how ePortfolios should/do start as a showcase for student work in the lower years. As they progress through school it becomes a process to show learning, with goal setting, reflections and feedback. Accountability becomes increasingly important as they reach secondary school and onwards. To me this means that we as adults and professionals should be accountable for our own ePortfolios, are you?

I started out using a portion of our computer suite time, as everyone was on a computer. I created an example ePortfolio and taught / modelled the steps that took us to where we are now. I have used the old paper portfolios and my own judgement on the contents. Through my sharing and learning about ePortfolios from other educators and especially seeing their work, I realised there is a next step for me.

Our ePortfolios use a range of web 2.0 tools to add interest and engage in multiple modes of literacy. I am a visual person and so to are most of my students. They often find it easier to visualise their progress when they can see it on a chart. Students track their Literacy and Numeracy assessment scores as well as adding samples of their work. They add their goals and are beginning to add Key Competencies. They have scanned handwriting samples, a Maori, ICT skills, Topic and Sports, ICT pages.

We reflect on our learning in our blogs and have created a link to these on our home pages. I believe that ePortfolios in our digital world does not mean everything must be contained in one 'folder' or ePortfolio site. ePortfolios are the source but also a gateway to our works and reflections online.

What platform to use for your ePortfolios is a difficult choice. Their are many types such as http://myportfolio.ac.nz advocated by Nick Rate. It has a free trail period then you pay monthly. It seems to have many advantages, except for the paying bit. When so much is free it can be hard to get a school principal to part with money from a tight budget. Wiki's are a good option which I have been using for my personal Teaching and Learning ePortfolio and I have heard of Ultranet and KnowledgeNet used by other New Zealand schools. I still need to learn much more about the platforms available however it is no reason not to start the journey using free options like Sites and Wikis. A big issue for me with managed learning environments (MLE) like Ultranet and KnowledgeNet is that their environment is closed. See Ewan MacIntosh's blog: ePortfolios & Learning Management Systems: Setting our default to social, for more on this.

In the end I choose Google Apps Sites for my class as our school like many others had adopted Google Apps. Our school account of Google Apps provided a platform that allowed secure sites for our ePortfolios as well as transferability as the student moved through the school, or even if they left. In it's present form it is a bit limited and restrictive in allowing the user to change page layouts and add widgets.

My Next Steps in the classroom ePortfolio journey are to develop next step learning, providing evidence of goals achieved, Student/Teacher/Parent Comments, Achievements, Awards, more own of their own choice?

Should teachers also be required to have ePortfolios too?
I followed discussions like these on Twitter and various blogs and they led me to ask that same question of myself. My answer is, yes! We are learners too and as part of our reflective thinking we should be using as a showcase of good work, a sharing resource for other teachers and place to grow as a professional. This is mine.

Done school wide it offers more possibilities for peer mentoring, moderation and stronger professional community conversations. Done country wide, who knows? Of course to compensate, we do need to let go many of the paperwork shackles that we seem attached to.

Some worthwhile reading on ePortfolios:
  1. Dr Helen Barret: researcher and blogger on ePortfolios.

  2. VoiceThread as a Digital Portfolio

  3. A number of ePortfolio curriculum stories on TKI

  4. Jamin has done some good research on ePortfolios recorded on his blog.

  5. Nick Rate's blog in filled wit ePortfolio advice.

  6. http://eportfoliosnz.wikispaces.com

Sunday 8 August 2010

Reflecting on an eTAP's eRegister Trial

eTAP's eRegister and I have had an up / down relationship for almost a year now, which has been complicated by pRegister [p=paper] who just wouldn't let go.

I have been trialing the eRegister for my principal while still keeping the pRegister that is the school system. However as the pRegister was the official one it always got filled in before teaching took over the day. The eRegiter however often got put on the To Do list. I was lucky to get some initial training from my PLN, many thanks Allanahk.

I am please that soon our whole school will be using the eRegister, despite my manyFrustrations there are many Positives. I am sure using only one system, along with good PD and support system for the staff, the eRegister will be a great success and another step into the 21st century for us all.


Have you got any eTAP stories or advice to share?

Thanks to my Twitter PLN for sharing some of their experiences.


*****************************************************************
Frustrations I had with the eRegister: *The Key Codes not always suited and/or too many choices. Need a shared understanding. *Cannot enter bulk students present then make adjustments. *Wireless issues or relieving teacher, need backup systems. *Hard to undo Code error, must go ? (unknown) then reload. *No training, online video / screencasts. *What useful info can a classroom teacher get from the reports?


Positives with the eRegister. *Easy to use, everyone has instant access to info. *Big range of reports. *No counting crosses and adding totals. *Reminds you if are not on today but easy to move to other days. *Reminds to to fix ?. *? allows you to wait for correct information.

**************************************************************************

Below are some screenshots of the screens you will encounter.

























Response to comments below: Thank you I have figured out how bulk marking works. You need to start by only marking all entries EXCEPT those present, then Save Changes. The next screen shown below allows you to bulk mark all other pupils as present.

Monday 2 August 2010

Students Podcast on Own Initiative!

On the weekend I was going through my camera looking for my 365 photos when I discovered some student video on it. This was no surprise as I give my students fairly free access to my camera. After a long week I initially felt annoyed, 'kids playing with my camera during lunch, grump, grump' then I watched their video. And my frown turned upside down!


My students had created their first podcast news and it was about our learning. As I watched with a smile on my face I realised my student were displaying 21st century skills. They had created (on their own initiative) a podcast that required a range of skills, including ICT and collaboration. I love hearing our learning shining through and their pride in both their culture and learning.


My own iMovie editing skills are still basic, so the video is a bit rough around the edges. However I have an expert student from another class who will teach me some iMovie tricks, the students teach the teacher!


I am hoping they will make this a weekly journey of their own where I can be the quiet guide on the side and see them taking their own learning to a next level. Your encouraging comments will make the difference as they need an audience, so please leave a comment on our class blog here. They and I both need advice and assurances.


Should we be broadcasting our podcast elsewhere?


Thursday 29 July 2010

AnswerGarden - Plant a Question, Grow Answers

Today during our computer suite time we were exploring past winners of the  TVNZ6 NETGUIDE SCHOOLS MULTIMEDIA CHALLENGE As we are planning to enter we wanted to see what made them great websites. Then we got to use the very cool new tool AnswerGarden to share ideas about what we needed to build our our websites. AnswerGarden was enthusiastically embraced my my students who loved seeing their ideas bloom. 

As you can see below it is a great tool for brainstorming and sharing information. I am sure there must be many more creative ways to use this tool. I would love to here some of your ideas.

Thanks to Fiona who introduced this at the EducampNZ 2010.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Students ICT Skills Survey

In the past this ICT survey had been been in a printed format. The ICT Skills Survey had a check list of skills expected at each Year level. I am not sure if it was ever successfully used.

Our ICT team put some work into rewording it to better suit our students. I then converted twoYear levels into my beloved Google Forms and convinced the team to assist me to create an online survey for every Year level. The aim is for each teacher to walk their students through the survey.

On the left is a snapshot of part of the survey. The questions are not perfect and I would love to see more questions about collaboration, multimodal  storytelling, maths game scores, etc. but it is a start.

My students had little difficulty and the result were worthy of reflection. Future teaching needs became clearer, although whether I can cover all gaps in two terms is another matter.

Being a visual person I love graphed information (see my students blog on class culture) and find it easier to interpret them. That is another reason I love Google Forms.


Below are the results of just my class. For me this is a valuable student self-assessment that can help inform me of my classes ICT strengths and needs. I won't interpret it for you as I think the whole idea is that visuals allow you to make your own quick evaluation. When all the classes have done this it will provide a decent set of results for reporting to the school board.

Have you done anything similar or can offer some ways I could improve this next time?








Saturday 24 July 2010

Virtually at EducampNZ 2010

One of my less useful super powers is getting lost anywhere, which I did remarkably well today. I was planning to attend the unconference EducampNZ 2010. I went to last years one and it was a great place to meet PLN's and share our learning. However, I first managed to get onto the wrong highway then eventually to the right area, but after an hour and a half I couln't take any more traffic and decided to go home.

Dispite my frustration I could not help but do as many others were doing today and attend virtually. These were the options:
- Follow and join individual conversations on Twitter hashtag #educampnz
- Read their wiki page
- Share ideas on the wallwisher
- Or say how you felt about it using AnswerGarden

Nothing can substitute for being physically at a conference but here are my thoughts on what it was like as a virtual participant. I got some great ideas from the sharing on the wallwisher, particularly AnswerGarden which I thought has lots of potential in the classroom as a brainstorming tool. The wiki page was an essential gateway and reference point although was not an active virtual environment.

The main virtual involvement was via the Twitter hashtag #educampnz which you can still search and follow the conversations of the day. However the online conversations were few, mere tantalizing glimpses into the subjects being explored. It left me wondering how we could plan for and ensure a more active virtual presence at conferences like this, so people who cannot physically attend can take a bigger part in the sharing and learning. Any ideas?




What did you think of Educampnz 2010... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Sunday 13 June 2010

Unpacking the Labels

At my most recent beginning teacher professional development day we were lucky enough to have a lecture by Dr Frances E. Steinberg on identifying, understanding and some practical solutions for children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HA), Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Autistic Disorder and Asperger's Disorder.


There was much discussion at this point about the different diagnoses teachers had in their classrooms, some even having students diagnosed as both AD/HA and Asperger's, which we learnt is not possible. The outcome was we started to realise how little we knew about these disorders and we were not alone as there are many mis-diagnosed children in our classrooms. One interesting reason for this is that there really are no clinical laboratory tests that can be done to ascertain these disorders. They require a checklist of criteria as well as some exclusions to be assessed. Even with a sound understanding it is a judgement call in the end.


An interesting facts about AD/HD is that their behaviour is always impulsive, therefore if a child can "pause" to check their audience then they are NOT AD/HD. They will often have a range of processing difficulties in one or more combinded modualities e.g: visual/audiitory.  Often a key to engaging them is integrating what thye are good at into curriculum areas. She then went on to discuss AD/HD in more detail along with many practical ideas to implement in the classroom.


When we starting learning about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), I was amazed and horrified to discover it ONLY TAKES ONE DRINK during pregnancy to give your baby this disorder, ONLY ONE! The photos of a baby's FAS brain compared to a normal brain of that age, explain everything. This is probably something we can all expect to see in our classes, and understand along with some practical strategies are the key to helping them learn.


I couldn't begin to cover the extent of ideas and information I gained on this day but I do feel more confident in my own ability to discuss one of these children's condition and learning requirements with professionals and parents. The bottom line for me is as a teacher I  must understand my students to plan to meet their learning needs. 


Do you have any experience or ideas to share?


Photo by crowolf

Wednesday 9 June 2010

The Education Revolution

One of my favourtite blogs for inspiring range of classroom ideas is iLearn Technology which now has a TED Talk Tuesday where she will share an inspiring TED Talk. It is a blog worth following for just that reason. If you don't know about TED, it is non-profit organization that brings together people from a wide range of professions who have one thing in common, and that is to share ideas for a better world.

This TED Talk is Sir Ken Robinson’s latest TED Talk, "Bring on the Learning Revolution." I share his ideas of change and believe that even though we are caught in the gripping flow of this old education system, each one of us can start to make tiny ripples of change.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Mind42 is Magic at Mind Mapping

Thanks to Jacqui Sharp I discovered Mind42.com which allows you to easily create neat looking mind-maps along with links and images. You do not seem to be able to upload images from file, url only. Also I haven't been able to resize the images, so you would need to plan your images for this. 


I love how you can collaborate on a mind-map; this functions reminds me of EtherPad. The best part by far is that you can embed it on blogs and wikis. Unfortunately it will not embed on Kidblogs yet as they are still working on allowing iframes.


I am already using this with my students to plan, and my next step will be to use it collaboratively. I was also thinking of using it alongside net research as a guide and note taking place.
Do you have any other ideas on how to use it in the classroom?

Thursday 8 April 2010

Dennis Hong: My seven species of robot | Video on TED.com

This is an inspiring TED talk by Dennis Hong where he introduces seven all-terrain robots. I had no idea how far robotics had been taken and the robots are fantastic. The part that made me think about sharing this with my class, was when he spoke about the five creative secrets to his lab's success. He talks about the kind of brainstorming I try to encourage in the classroom, perhaps a real life example will inspire my students onward. Dennis goes on further to say that creativity itself is not enough, to support it and follow through you need the learning; lots of maths and science.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Pixton Click-N-Drag Comics


Pixton Click-N-Drag Comics is an amazing online comic site with a huge range of characters and editable features. You can resize, rotate and change clothes, colours and even move individual limbs on the characters. Backgrounds and objects seem just as versatile. Most comic formats from one row to twelve rows are included as well as a poster format. This is really click and drag storytelling that allows the story teller to explore the visual elements of storytelling.

I am impressed with the easy of use and versatility of this site. I especially like how easy it is to embed your comic creations on your blog or share on on social sites. All this is free, although Pixton also have a pay version with extra features.

While sharing this on Twitter @wmchamberlain mentioned that with the free version students had to be 19, or have parent permission to sign up their own account. There is an education version which bypasses this, but it is not free. As I don't like my students being asked for emails, I plan to use my usual option of opening a class account that we all can use.


Some other comic options are:
Creating Comics in Word written by Jacqui Sharp
Speak Up: good for bully stories and have a downloadable option.
Zimmer Twins creates digital movie stories.
Make Beliefs Comixs
Toondoo
PikiKids uses photos like creating comics in Word.
Myths & Legends 
Comic Creator by ReadWriteThink allows you to create comics to print out and colour. You cannot save or embed though.

Have you use an online comic creator with primary school students? How would you rate it?

Wednesday 31 March 2010

Who owns your class blog?

I sometimes feel guilty that my personal learning blog posts have dropped to about two a month. On the other-hand, my class blog has grown in number of posts and comments. At the end of term one we had 36 posts and and amazing 320 comments.

So who is in the driving seat?
In the beginning of the year my students were new to blogging, so I started them off slowly but consistently, using it in our daily literacy programme. I wrote all of the first posts. I started off getting them to comment on a post, "How was your 2009?" was a fun slide-show and a chance to talk about themselves. Safety and responsibility online are always in our discussions.

Writing a positive and helpful comment has been our goal for term one. As part of the Edublogs Challenge we also commented on many other class and student blogs around the world. It is great see the progression of comments, the student 'comment conversations' on posts has been an extra wonderful surprise. Inspired by this I have now started exploring with my students what a blog comment conversation might look like. I am also considering making a  student the official class blog commenter, they would track all new comments and ensure they got answered.

Looking back, the posts have changed through the term. I am still driving the class blog and posting in fun ways like Animoto. The content however is driven by my students learning. Groups and pairs  often blog samples of their learning, then competed for comments. Comments really do make blogs an inspiring literacy experience for students, especially when coming from other kids. Twitter teacher group #comments4kids has been incredably supportive in giving comments. There are some amazing teachers who also let their students do the talking. Their wiki is Comments4Kids.
I had been concerned that I owned too much of our class blog? I manage the set-up, change the layout and do the actual blog posts. With 320 comments however, it suggests that my students are owning the conversation about their learning. Our class blog is becoming a literacy voice, a story that we are creating together. It is also a stepping stone towards their own personal blogs which they will get next term. Team 17's Class Blog

So who owns your class blog? You or your students?

Photo by plasticrevolver