Tech Tips Tuesday

Lego WeDo 2.0

This year I took on the role of STEAM facilitator for my area. This hasn't been too large a role, but has prompted me to pay more attention to what we are teaching and programming in the STEAM subjects. I have also been considering how to make connections between the STEAM subject areas, and how to set tasks for students that will involve them in solving problems using skills and knowledge from a variety of the subject areas. With this year's Science Week theme "Drones, droids and robots" we thought we would take advantage of this to get students involved in robotics.

Towards the end of Term 2 we purchased a class set of WeDo 2.0 Lego sets. With these sets students can build and modify a variety of Lego robots and programme them using the WeDo 2.0 app. I can't recommend these sets enough - they are simple to use, the app walks you through what to do and they don't take too long to build and enjoy! Students collaborate while working with them and learn to solve problems together, make adjustments and get creative in their designs. They learn basic engineering and programming skills and explore scientific concepts through experimentation.


Getting Started

When the sets arrived the Lego pieces arrived in their little plastic bags and needed to be sorted into the sections of the container. We had purchased 12 sets (a class pack) and so this was no quick job. I managed it by taking a few home at night and sorting while I watched TV! The benefit of doing this sort yourself is that you quickly learn where the pieces are stored and how many of each piece there should be. This means you are better able to help students find what they need when they get stuck.

In preparation I also charged up the Smarthubs and numbered each kit with a sticker for the lid and base. I followed the instructions from the manual (available on the website) to rename each Smarthub to make it easier for students to connect to the right robot. I learnt the value of this the hard way! I kept the cardboard boxes to store the kits in and found somewhere to store them.


Introducing the Kits

I introduced these kits to my students and walked them through the first couple of sessions to teach them the basics. They built their confidence with this and then I guided them in coaching the other Year 1 classes using the Kids Can Coach approach described here. I explained the importance of taking care of the kits and gave instructions on how to organise the workspace when using them and how to pack up properly at the end.


Science Week

Once each class had completed the basics with their coach from my class (1.5 hrs), we were ready to attempt another project. We found a project related to some science we completed earlier in the year, which involved building a tadpole and transforming it into a frog (1.5 hrs). Two classes paired up and went through the process together. I used the interactive whiteboard to walk students through the early steps in the project - thinking about the changes during a frog's lifecycle and documenting these changes - and then let them go when we reached the building stage.

The app takes students through building a tadpole and then adding the back legs. It is then up to them to consider what changes to make to turn it into a frog. It was exciting to see the variety of ideas students used for front legs and the modifications that were made as they began programming their robots to move. For those who progressed quickly through these stages I suggested thinking about how the robot could "see" (using the sensor) and croak (using the sounds available).  Students explored the programming side of things, initially beginning with the code provided and then making modifications to suit what they were wanting to achieve.

To finish off the week we had a timed challenge where 2 students from each class built and programmed a frog in 25 minutes and then raced them in front of the grade. The tension was great as the frogs raced off and classes cheered for their representative!


Going Forward

My plan now is to find opportunities where the robots will link in to the science units we are covering in class and to add it to the programmes for next year. We will also use the sets in our STEAM lunchtime program with students in Kindergarten and Year 1. Our students are very excited to use these sets and are benefitting from the learning experience.

Tech Tips Tuesday

Pair Programming

I have been further dabbling with code and programming in my classroom using Scratch. My students got on board and are enjoying trying it out and creating new things. They've taken to it quickly and have found ways to add complexity to their designs.

This week I wanted to have my students working with a partner on their programming. This was in part for the benefits of learning together, and in part due to the limited number of computers. I found this amazing video about Pair Programming at Code.org, that explains the process so well, and in terms the students can understand. We watched it through before I gave my students their task.


Their task in this lesson was to create an animated greeting card for Christmas. I admit, my idea for this was not entirely unique, but rather inspired by the Ted Talk by Mitch Resnick: Let's teach kids to code. Mitch Resnick went looking for a Mother's Day card for his mum on Scratch and found a whole collection students had created. I thought I would carry that across to Christmas.

Students enjoyed working in this way to solve problems and create something new. They changed "drivers" often, allowing each to have an opportunity to work the mouse for some parts of the process. It was great to see the collaboration, and watch the knowledge spread across the class between pairs. Someone would call out in frustration "Ugh! I can't get my penguin to talk!" and within moments someone from another pair was helping them out. They learn together.

Tech Tips Tuesday

Using Notability to Support the Teaching of Spelling

My current school uses THRASS resources to teach students to spell. Our methods work from a phonographic model, whereby the focus is on the phonemes (sounds) and the many ways these sounds can be represented in the English language. My class has been looking at the sound j like in jam, giant, cage and bridge. I grabbed a bunch of whiteboards and markers and sat down with my class ready to start a spelling activity, but then I started feeling guilty. Also beside me were the iPads we had used earlier in the day for research. So, instead so handing out the whiteboards, I handed out the iPads.

My first attempt was far from beautiful. I gave a brief introduction to Notability and then asked boys to simply write the four graphemes we had identified (j, g, ge, dge) and then type in words under the right  headings as I said them. I wished that I could set it up in a table, but in hindsight, I think that was just a bit of residual from years of working in a word processing environment. I needed to find the way to do this in a note taking environment.

I had a bit of spare time one night, so played around a little with it, and found a way to make it work well. This new method involves using a sticky for each of the graphemes. As I played, I also realised there was another common grapheme, dg as in budget - b like in bird, u like in bus, dg (like in budget), e like in garden, and t like in tap. When I taught my students this grapheme, they struggled to understand why it wasn't just dge, given that combination is there. What I needed to show them was that in this group of words the letter e had a different sound it represented, whereas in bridge the e doesn't represent another sound, so can be grouped with the dg. Tricky!

So....the steps are:

1. Students make a new note and change the title to something relevant by selecting the heading when in typing mode. 
2. Students click on the plus symbol and make a "typing" sticky for each focus *grapheme and label these. To change colour, tap away from sticky, then back on sticky, and option tabs will come up above. Choose "paper" to select the sticky background colour.
3. Teacher calls out words with focus *phoneme and students type these on the appropriate sticky.
4. Students share their work with a partner and discuss their reasoning. Students can make changes.
5. Teacher shows correct groupings. Students make changes as necessary.
6. Students use the highlighter tool to show the focus grapheme in words.
7. Students select a word from one of their stickies eg. Judge. They click on the plus symbol to add a figure and draw a relevant picture. They crop the picture and then select "done". They move it to the appropriate box and then tap on "Add a caption" to write a sentence about the picture (with appropriate punctuation). Repeat for each grapheme.
8. Students who finish early can record audio of them saying and sounding out words from their page.
9. Students share their work - showing iPad, using Air Play, printing screenshot, email...

*grapheme - letter or letter combination that represents a sound in a word

*phoneme - unit of sound

What's the point?

When I try to integrate ICT I often find myself asking, "What's the point?" Is there a significant reason for using this strategy over pencil and paper, or whiteboard and marker? Is this same old but just with fancier toys? I'm still not 100% sold on this idea, particularly because it takes so long I the early phases, but there are definitely some benefits.

Reasons I would do it:

• Next year my students will be required to bring their own iPads to school and will be using this app. By helping them grow accustomed to it now, they will be ready to use it independently in the future.
• My students are highly motivated when using the iPads
• Students are learning how to use technology to create documents to record their thinking  and learning
• The spell check function supports students with their writing and placement. If they spell a word incorrectly, they will have this information immediately and can consider other options.
• When you have students record their sounding out of words, it makes it easier to identify their errors with breaking the words down into sounds

Tech Tips Tuesday

Three Simple uses for iPads in the classroom

I've been trying to think of more ways to use the iPad in the classroom. We've had a great bank of iPads that have been useless because they can't be set up without the departmental passwords (which we haven't been able to obtain), and an additional small bank of iPads that were set up before the passwords changed. I don't really understand how that works, but decided to get started with the five that were available. I was also teaching some iPad demonstration lessons for teachers in my school, and some of these ideas were born from our discussions. I needed to use what was already available on the iPads.

1. Listening Post

This is an example of old ideas with new technology! The iPad can be plugged into a transmitter for a set of headphones so students can listen to stories without disrupting others. Obviously, students can listen to stories online, or read interactive book apps, but why not have students record their own stories or readers? I had one group record their reading of a reader for another group to follow along. The trick with this is to choose a book that the recording group should read fluently, and that the listening group will be reading at an instructional level. Our iPads didn't have an audio recording app, so we just recorded with video.

2. Graphing

Students worked in small groups to conduct surveys, collect and represent the data, and present their findings to the class. We had Draw Free, so I based the survey questions around the stamp images available in this app. Questions included things like: What is our class's preferred way to travel - car, train or plane? Students used the stamps in Draw Free to represent the data in a pictograph. We then plugged the iPads into the interactive whiteboards to display the graphs while students discussed what they had found.

Tasks for students

Students cut these roles into strips, put them in a hat and selected one to determine their role in this task

Example of pictograph

3. Story Making

Prue had a great idea to make stories with felt boards, take photos and have students write their story on paper. She then printed the photos and made them into books for students to read. We took this idea and explored it with the iPads. Again, students created pictures using the felt boards. They took photos with the iPads and wrote their story on paper. We then used a story making app - Story Creator - to make the 'books'. Students inserted their photos and recorded the audio for the story. We viewed the finished products on the interactive whiteboard.

Students working cooperatively on story making task

Example of felt board story page

Why use the iPads for tasks that can be done without them?
It's true that at times it takes more effort to organise lessons around iPads (or any other ICT for that matter) but using them increases student engagement in lesson content and gives students an opportunity to develop ICT skills. Due to the limited numbers of iPads, I feel that it also leads to greater use of collaborative tasks which help students to cooperate and share both ideas and resources. Outcomes in the Australian Curriculum call for greater use of ICT as a way of demonstrating understanding and creating content.

Tech Tips Tuesday

This Week's Tip: Livemocha

Julie Lindsay shared this link in her Across My Desk (Weekly), so I thought I'd check it out for myself...and now I'm hooked! Livemocha is a social network for learning languages. It makes so much sense that I wonder why it has taken us (well, me) so long to get to this point.

I've found myself being drawn to language learning at various points throughout my life so far. At high school I learnt bits of German and then a few years of Japanese. In Year 12 I learnt some Russian in preparation for some voluntary work in a Russian Summer Camp. While teaching at a school with Spanish as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) I did a basic course in Beginning Spanish. A couple of years ago, I did further study of Spanish at my local Technical College. And, yet again, I'm drawn to learning for two main reasons:

1. I'd like to be able to travel to Japan and REALLY experience it.
2. Should I ever have a child, I'd like to be able to bring them up bilingual.

So how does Livemocha work?
After registering for an account (I chose the free version and so far it is meeting my needs) I selected the course/s I wanted to work on and began my first lesson. The lesson content is the same for each language, just with different vocabulary (obviously!) The first part of each lesson involves seeing images, listening to the spoken language and seeing the written text (translation is available). At the end of this part you can choose to make a flashcard set from the vocabulary. The second part is a review quiz covering the content just seen. The third part is a written task to apply the vocabulary learnt. This is then submitted to the network (and this is the best part) for a native speaker to review for you! The fourth part is a spoken task, recorded with your computer's microphone, again submitted for review. Whenever you submit a task, you are invited to review someone else's task. You get Mocha points for completing lessons and also for reviewing the work of others.

Why I love it
The way I see it, this is collaboration at its best. We are all teaching AND learning at the same time. I need others to support me with Japanese and Spanish, others need me to support them with English. I understand the struggles of others as I struggle too. Helping others is easy, but the help of others is invaluable. It makes so much sense!

The not so good bits
Sometimes the vocabulary is inconsistent across the different parts of the lessons. For example, in my first Japanese lesson, there were new characters in the speaking part that weren't introduced in the vocabulary lesson.
Involvement can become time-consuming. I find that a lesson takes about half an hour from start to finish, and then on top of that I end up doing quite a bit of reviewing others' work. This hasn't been a problem while I'm on holidays, but once work starts back, I'm not sure how it will go.
Some of the written tasks involve divulging information about upcoming holidays, directions to your house etc. I am not comfortable providing this online to strangers, so change the task in order to protect myself. I'm also cautious of how this may be used by people to make connections beyond the language learning arena as I've already had a message from someone (not a regular user of Livemocha) suggesting we meet up.

How could you use this?
If you would like to learn a language this is a great way to do it, particularly if you have some prior knowledge of the language. I wouldn't suggest using this with students given my objections regarding personal safety/privacy.

Tech Tips Tuesday

This Week's Tip: Integrate ICT into Staff PD

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in expecting teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching, but failing to integrate ICT into staff meetings and staff PD?

Last week I pulled some strings to have the staff meeting in my classroom so that we could use the Smart Board. As part of my Microsoft Peer Coaching role I created some Interactive Whiteboard pages that teachers can use in day-to-day teaching. I also wanted to show teachers how they can access our My Classes Peer Coaching page.

On Wednesday I ran the Junior Professional Learning Team (PLT) meeting in the computer lab. I wanted team members to reflect on their learning from our recent First Steps Writing PD and determine where to take it next. We started with a public pad in EtherPad, where staff could write their comments on what they found beneficial in the PD. I had wanted to use Wall Wisher, but the lab computers didn't have the necessary requirements in web browser.

It was a fun introductory activity, but it wasn't long before discussion got off track! That always happens the first time you introduce something. EtherPad was a great tool to use because I didn't need to sign up for an account or anything. It was ready to go and easy to export to Word when we were finished. My only pointer with it would be to create a custom tiny url for your page so that you can give something easy to people to type into the URL bar.

Teachers then reflected on their current practice when teaching writing and considered how they will implement the ideas from the First Steps Writing PD. They filled out this form that I created. Under the heading "What's Hot?" teachers wrote the things they are currently doing that they are happy with and that tie in with the philosophy of First Steps. Under the heading "What's Not?" teachers wrote the things they are currently doing that they are not happy with or that don't tie in with the philosophy of First Steps. Under the heading "What's Next?" teachers wrote the things they would like to try doing next as they implement First Steps. And in the big arrow, they wrote the steps they need to take in order to do the things in "What's Next?"

Reflective Planning Tool 2009

View more presentations from pennyryder.

When it was time for team members to report back to the group, I used the Random Name Generator tool from Super Teacher Tools. Prior to the session I created a class list with team members' names and then used this list in the session to choose who would contribute their ideas. Teachers seemed to enjoy using this and jotted down the details to use with their own classes.

The session went well and I enjoyed being able to expose teachers to new ICT strategies whilst fulfilling the other requirements of my role as the team leader.

Tech Tips Tuesday

This Week's Tip: Collaborate and Share Ideas

Tom Barrett has been putting together collaborative slide shows that are built up of the tools teachers are using in their classrooms, and their tips on how to use them effectively. There are some fantastic suggestions offered, so be sure to check them out. And if you have tried something that hasn't been mentioned, email the details on to Tom so that he can include your suggestions too.

Interesting Ways to use Wordle in The Classroom
Interesting Ways to use your Interactive Whiteboard
Interesting Ways to use Google Earth in The Classroom
Interesting Ways to use Google Docs in The Classroom
Interesting Ways to use Pocket Videos in The Classroom
Interesting Ways to use Twitter in The Classroom

Enjoy!

Tech Tips Tuesday

No, I haven't fallen off the edge of the planet, I just had to re-prioritise last week in order to meet a bunch of deadlines and maintain my sanity! But now, I'm back and have much catching up to do.

Last week I began the Microsoft Peer Coaching Training and came up with a plan for how to support teachers in my school. Theoretically, I am supposed to be focusing on the Year 5/6 teachers in preparation for the introduction of the laptop program in coming weeks (or months!), however, I'd also like to help teachers in the other grades to try out some new things. I see some great possibilities given their integrated inquiry units. We've fallen into the pattern of using the World Wide Web as a resource - you know the drill, "Google it, then use it". But I want to help teachers to move beyond that. I want to help teachers to make REAL connections with REAL people and use this to enhance learning. So...

This week's tip: Connect with us!

We're looking for schools, classes and individuals to connect with. I'm going to give you a brief outline of what we hope to achieve, and if you know of anyone doing something similar, or want to connect up with us, please email me, tweet me or leave a comment on this post.

Our Kindergarten students are learning about "6 year olds around the globe". They want to learn what life is like for other kids. Some ideas I'm thinking of for ways to collaborate on this include a Flickr group, a Wiki, or emails between classes. I don't think we're set up for web conferencing yet, or Skype calls, but I could look into it.

Our Year Three students are learning about Australian Geography. They would like to connect with people around Australia maybe via postcards or email, but they're open to suggestions.

Our Year Four students are learning about "Textiles and Design". We hope to learn some of the skills needed for sewing, knitting, crochet and the like. As we teachers aren't so competent in this area (mending is as far as I go!) we are looking for online communities who can help us with this. We will be looking for tutorials on YouTube in the hopes that we will find something there!

Our Year Five/Six students are learning about Australia's relationship with it's nearest neighbours. While this unit will probably lean heavily on the historical and political aspects of our relationships, wouldn't it be nice to give students the opportunity to build some real relationships with other children and play a part in the future relationship between our countries? I'd love to set up student email in ePals in order to build these bridges.

So... do I have any takers? Please spread the word and help me in my quest.

Professional Learning Teams

Last night my hubby and I watched an ad on TV introducing the new contestants in the Australian Biggest Loser - couples. We were pondering what sort of team would be more successful - married couple, mother/daughter, co-workers, teammates, sisters? While we probably won't watch the whole season, we will be interested to see what made the winning combo.

Discussion around teams has also featured at my work this week as we are preparing for a new school year. My school has a collaborative focus and every teacher works in a number of professional learning teams (PLTs) throughout the year.

Types of Teams

We have grade level teams where teachers plan, teach, assess and moderate together. These teams are meeting continually throughout the week, both formally and informally.

We have P-2 and 3-6 teams for administration, professional learning and growth. These teams meet every 1-2 weeks and consist of about 12 people.

We have committees that work on school focus areas for the year - this year these areas are Enrichment, Curriculum, Sustainability and The Arts. These teams work together on a range of projects including policy development, school curriculum, whole school events, writing applications for grants etc. Every staff member is expected to select one of these committees to contribute to. There are also committees that don't fit into the focus area for the year, and these people meet together to consider the school's needs in ICT, PE/Health, etc. Involvement in these committees is voluntary.

This year we are trialling a Budget committee. Each year level sends one member to talk through the spending interests of the teams for English, Maths and Integrated Inquiry.

And then, throughout the year, there are teams that get together to prepare for special school events.

Getting Started

As a whole school staff, we spent about an hour this week working out an agreement for how these groups will function this year. We used our School Values acronym to guide us.

F-friendliness

R-respect

I- inclusivity

E-everyone cooperates

N-never give up attitude

D-diversity

S-support

We then moved into our P-2 and 3-6 PLTs to discuss and vote on areas we would like to develop further in the next 6 months. This will form the basis of our school-based Professional Development during this time.

Later in the day we moved into our grade level teams to begin planning and programming using the school's Integrated Inquiry curriculum and the ideas from the Quality Teaching Model.

Benefits of Teaming

As you can see, we have a lot of teams and committees, which for an outsider can seem overwhelming. When joining our school, the principal makes it very clear that you need to be a team person. So what good comes from all of this teaming?

• Teachers sharing ideas and learning from one another
• Interest and involvement in projects
• Everyone has a voice and can play a part
• Many leadership opportunities
• Talents of teachers are explored and used
• Good ideas become great ideas through collaboration
• Friendly and supportive environment
• Improved opportunities and outcomes for students
• Shared workload so everyone is able to achieve more

Final Thoughts

Teaming doesn't happen overnight. It takes commitment from everyone on staff. It takes a vision and goals toward this end. The physical layout of a school and it's classrooms plays a part in the success of teaming as well. Our open-plan classroom arrangement lends itself to team teaching where closed, single classrooms do not.