NZ ICT Edublabberings: Rachel Boyd

State of the Internet

2010-02-27T14:13:00.003+13:00

The Internet continues to astound me with the increasing way it is embedded in our daily lives. A brand new video from Jesse Thomas, made from multiple sources, highlights remarkable figures about the Internet as we know it today.

Some of the amazing facts and figures from the video include:

There are 1.73 billion Internet users worldwide as of September 2009.
There are 1.4 billion e-mail users worldwide, and on average we collectively send 247 billion e-mails per day.
200 billion of those emails sent were spam :(
Facebook (my online home) gets 260 billion pageviews per month, or 6 million page views per minute and 37.4 trillion pageviews in a year.

From http://mashable.com/2010/02/26/state-of-internet/

Individual stats like Facebook passing the 400 million user mark, Twitter hitting 50 million tweets per day, and YouTube viewers watching 1 billion videos per day are impressive on their own, but what if we looked at Internet-related stats collectively? Jesse Thomas did just that in his video State of the Internet.

Have a look at the below video and be amazed. This would be a great resource video to show to staff about the remarkable ways the Internet has grown and shaped our lives.

A Peek for a Week - Inside a Kiwi Junior Classroom

2009-11-30T15:23:00.000+13:00

If you've read my earlier post about the 2009 K12 Online Conference, you'll know that I am absolutely HONOURED to be keynoting the "Week in the Classroom" strand.

Below is the finished presentation (not perfect, but finished!)
It was a huge task trying to assemble one ACTUAL week of learning into a virtual presentation for a worldwide audience. Huge thanks go to my class Room 9 for all the help they gave me with the planning and videoing of what was to go on our presentation.

I hope you enjoy taking a Peek for a Week inside my Kiwi Junior Classroom...

K12 Online Conference 2009

2009-11-26T16:59:00.013+13:00

If you haven't taken part in this wonderful learning experience before, you're in for a treat!

The K12 Online Conference is a totally FREE international conference open to anyone from around the globe. For educators by educators if you're interested in integrating technologies into classroom practice you'll LOVE the conference. View and learn from international presenters all from the comfort of your armchair - now that's great professional learning!
Check out the conference teaser below for details of presentations:

I am also honoured and excited to be among the fantastic presenters at this year's K12 Online Conference. My presentation "A Peek at a Week - Inside a Kiwi Junior Classroom" is the Keynote for the Week 2 "A Week in the Classroom" strand. Check out my teaser below for a sneak preview...

You don't have to wait until November 30th to begin the learning. Take a look into the treasure trove that dates back three years on the right sidebar of the K12Online site.

Catch you at the conference (well virtually anyway!)

UPDATE:

Now Live!

Check out my ACTUAL presentation here!

For Kids - By Kids: Nelson Kids' ICT Expo

2009-11-25T16:32:00.015+13:00

...a powerful concept and one I was only too proud to be involved with last week as my ICT Cluster hosted the 2nd Nelson Kids' ICT Expo.

The expo was a wonderful 2 days of busy, exciting and intriguing action! 8 out of our 9 cluster schools were involved and all had a wide variety of different technologies and uses of technologies in teaching and learning to show and demonstrate. Over the 2 days over 2,000 students from all of our cluster schools visited and got to 'have a go', see what the other schools were up to and learn from other students.

Take a look at the video below that I made with my class to see what it was like at the expo:
(We luckily chose a not so busy time to film!)

Personally the most powerful part of the expo was having nearly half of my year 2 students (6 and 7 years old) presenting and demonstrating at the expo. It truly has been a highlight of year for these students and they made us all so proud!

Demonstrating and teaching like professionals; between the 12 of them they demonstrated and taught their way through over 2,000 students ranging in age from 5 - 13 years old!

Two of the stations were good old 'have a go' set ups where one student was in charge and assisted other students. We had a Kidpix art station where kids could come and create something awesome and a Tutpup station where students could come and challenge themselves in mathematics. The Tutpup station was an absolute hit with the students as it appears my school is one of the few in our area to be using it with students. Teachers' comments like "I've never seen my students so excited about maths!" flew during the two days.

One of the best initiatives we introduced this year was my class handing out small cards (like business cards) to students after they'd had a go at something completely new. These cards hadall the information and detail on them that they'd need to access the tool when back at school or home. You can see the cards as pictures here (click to enlarge).

Our third station my students ran was more challenging. They were demonstrating how to use the site xtranormal to make a animated movie based on their Inquiry learning topic about healthy streams.

I had used xtranormal with my class earlier in the term to introduce the topics we'd be learning about in the coming weeks, it was an absolute hit with my class! When it came time to think about the Kids' Expo it was an obvious choice.

I "sold" it to my group as their chance to be a movie director, writer and producer... they would get to choose their cast, setting and write the script for their movie. I also showed them the "Magicam" button which was the true trick to success for my 6 and 7 year olds - it automatically controls and varies the camera angles to make the movie look interesting.

After a basic introduction and some experimenting I gave my students a project brief to guide them. I also spent a a few lunchtime sessions with my group asking them questions that would most likely be asked by students and teachers at the expo. After less than 2 weeks they were ready. Take a look at one of the results from two 6 year olds:

It has been truly amazing to watch the growth in confidence and the huge amount of bravery shown by my group of 6 and 7 year olds. With good scaffolding and structure coupled with good preparation and support from whanau they have been able to step out of their comfort zones and truly teach and help other students.

This morning at the Techie Brekie session that I run weekly they taught the teachers!

Wow, it's been a while...

2009-07-31T19:07:00.008+12:00

It's been over a year since my last edublog post (this is sounding like a confession)...

With so many professional projects on the go both with my staff and class, coupled with my personal life, it's been hard to justify or find the time to spend writing a post for my edublog. That's not to say that I've not had many, many thoughts about writing a post however...

This year I've continued leading staff at my school in their eLearning PD. It has been so rewarding to see the change in their pedagogies over the past 2 and a half years. The 'shift' has been made by many of our teachers, now when we introduce a new tool they are able to creatively use it appropriately in their teaching to enhance learning/communication/sense of community.

The resource I've built up with my team over the past 2-3 years can be viewed here: http://nelsoncentral.wikispaces.com/

I'm also, of course, still teaching full time year 2 students. They're such a neat bunch of 26 kids who take everything in their stride and lap up all the scaffolding I provide for them. They are developing such independent skills and love being able to use all aspects of technology in their learning. They amaze me everyday in the way that they seamlessly use digital learning tools with growing confidence and fearlessness.

Our Class Blog can be viewed here: http://room9nelsoncentral2009.blogspot.com/

Our Class Learning Hub (wiki) provides much of the structure throughout the day and allows even 6 year olds some independence when navigating the web for their learning: http://room9nelsoncentral.wikispaces.com/

I've also had plenty of time this year to work with other teachers from other schools and clusters. Meeting a variety of teachers from around the country is always exciting and the discussions that flow always rewarding. In the recent school holidays I was invited to do a keynote presentation and workshop at the Eastnet Cluster Expo, this proved nerve-wracking but was most definetly a rewarding professional experience being only my 2nd keynote speech/address.

Coupled with all this exciting stuff, I was absolutely amazed and honoured a month ago to have been asked to present a keynote for the 'Week in the Classroom' strand of the 2009 K12 Online Conference. Stay tuned for more on this!!!

So yes, still very much in the scene, still learning, unlearning and relearning and hopefully helping others to do the same!

Keep an eye out for me :)

______________________
Image attributions:
'In Search Of Lost Time' www.flickr.com/photos/28548387@N00/556656621
Keynote photo by @heymilly

How to explain Twitter

2008-03-09T11:31:00.004+13:00

I often get asked to explain what Twitter is and "why would I bother twittering", especially at a conference where this a large amount of newby tech-users like Learning@School.

Finally now there is a new Commoncraft video to help me do just that:

Twitter in Plain English.

This simple video will hopefully explain it a bit better whenever I get asked next. Oh, and you can even follow me (@rachelboyd), or @leelefever (the creator of the Commoncraft video below) on twitter too!

The video is embedded below, or you can view it here.

See you around the twittersphere!

For more info about Twitter, you can also check out my del.icio.us links and resources that I've gathered on the topic here.

This one by EDCAUSE: 7 things you should know about Twitter, is a goodie too. You can download it from this link.

Update: Check out Dean Shareski's latest post linked to this Commoncraft video... Why you can't explain Twitter in 140 Characters.

Happy World Maths Day!

2008-03-05T17:03:00.004+13:00

All classes at my school for the past 2 weeks have been participating in trialing Live Mathletics to celebrate World Maths Day (today - 5th March).

It has been a huge success with my class and definitely a favourite. The children have loved having their own log on names and passwords (although with 5 & 6 year olds logging in has proved testing at times)... but mostly they have loved playing against children from other countries.... Spain, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom to name just a few.

It has brought out the competitive side in most students and really challenged them to race against the clock to improve their maths basic facts.

In the past few weeks we have had students playing both at home and at school. Marnie in Auckland is my personal Mathletics expert as she has been using the entire programme in her mainly year 2 classroom during 2007. Our decision now is do we want to continue with the programme as a school, or just offer it to families...

Here are some thoughts on Live Mathletics from the 5 & 6 year old in my class.

You can view them on the embedded slideshare below or click here.

| View | Upload your own

Happy World Maths Day to you all :)

Blogs in Plain English

2007-12-03T21:32:00.001+13:00

Finally it is here... the long awaited Commoncraft video "Blogs in Plain English".

I have been hanging out, eager to find out how it would be presented and keen to also use it in any presentations or with professional development I do with teachers.

So what's the big deal about blogs???
Watch and enjoy....

(video embedded below)

ULearn Visual Dictionary of NZ Bloggers

2007-10-05T21:56:00.000+13:00

OK, drum roll please.... this is my

Visual Dictionary of Fab NZ Edubloggers....

Hopefully you will already know them all and read them regularly like I do, if not, stick them in your aggregator NOW!

Almost of these fantastic educators I had the pleasure of meeting f2f @ ULearn.

(Oh and a warning..... yes I am in lots of photos with the blogger, so you'll be seeing A LOT of me - sorry) Plus, I'm going in alphabetical order by first name just to be different ;)

Click on their name or on the photo to go on a tiki-tour.

A
Allanah King, Nelson

C
Chrissy Hellyer, Napier

D
David Kinane, Auckland

Derek Wenmoth, Christchurch
Image Credit: Uploaded on October 3, 2007 by Edublogger

F
Fiona Grant, Central North Shore

G
Greg Carroll, Dunedin (we missed you @ ULearn!)

J
Jane Nicholls, Dunedin

Jamin Lietze (class blog), Tauranga (I will send you a chocolate fish when you finally start your edublog Jamin!)
Image Credit: Uploaded on October 5, 2007 by Edublogger

Jedd Bartlett, Christchurch

L
Lynne Crowe, Te Awamutu (we all missed meeting you f2f Lynne!)

M
Marnie Thomas, Auckland

N
Nigel Frater, Wellington
Image Credit: Uploaded on October 5, 2007 by Edublogger

Nikki Gemmell, Auckland (great to see you back blogging, great to meet you properly)

S
Simon Evans, Hastings

Suzie Vesper, Wellington

NZ Edubloggers @ The Bloggers' Cafe
(thanks Jane for all your organisation)

Image credit: Uploaded on October 5, 2007 by *** ICT U Can!

Day One of ULearn07

2007-10-04T07:56:00.001+13:00

Day one of ULearn07 was such a buzz. A day full of new adventures, experiences and things to challenge and ponder in the mind.

Meeting several NZ bloggers has GOT to be one of the highlights.... you converse, share ideas, skype chat, email, read blogs etc etc with these people and it is such a great experience to finally meet them f2f.

Ewan had hinted in his keynote that f2f conferences aren't needed so much anymore (and I agree that this should not be our sole PD)but these experiences have been gold for me; nothing like finally meeting someone in the flesh, after ever only seen one headshot photo of them in your entire life (or for people like Teaching Sagittarian, having NEVER seen a photo of her at all!)

Derek gave the welcome message on behalf of Nick from CORE and Allanah and I even got an anonymous mention each with stories from our Twitter... now we KNOW you read your twitters Derek! (even if you are somethimes very quiet)

What a fun experience just a little later to have twittered away and then got into a several way skype chat in the middle of Steve Maharey's talk... a little naughty but skyping with Jane, Chrissy, Simon and Allanah (later also with Durff) ... we had LOTS of jokes and were able to 'further discuss' the 'pertinent points' Steve was making to the audience on a much 'deeper level'... ok, well that's not quite true, but that IS my story and I'm sticking to it!

Finally it was time for Ewan's keynote, and luckily Chrissy and Jane's batteries died and so we soaked up all Ewan had to offer. His keynote was great, inspiring but also challenging... and the wonderful Scottish accent only added to the charm.

My notes from Ewan's keynote can be read here; I shared them on twitter too and got a couple of replies from people like Lenva (who is over presenting @ Navcon) and Simon May (in China). Glad they found them useful.

During Ewan's keynote I skyped in Sue Waters (Sydney, Australia) who listened as best she could for about 15 minutes, before Ewan's accent was just too difficult to follow ;) and later Durff (America) joined us briefly via Skype

..... with the powers of wireless internet what a connected world we live in!

Image Credits:
NZ Minister of Education - Uploaded on October 2, 2007 by Edublogger
ulearn07 001 - Uploaded on October 2, 2007 by teachingsagittarian

Challenging and thought-provoking

2007-09-25T15:52:00.000+12:00

Starting October 15th (just over a week after we return from ULearn) is the K12 Online Conference.

The “K12 Online Conference” is for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice!

At the moment presenters are giving us 'tasters' or short movies/presentations of what they'll be presenting on.

I particularly liked the clever and exciting use of animoto to promote Kevin Jarrett and Sylvia Martinez's presentation on “Second Life: K-20 Educators Exploring Virtual Worlds - Panel”.

One presentation teaser that caught my eye today was from fellow NZder Derek Wenmoth. His challenging and thought-provoking teaser is a preview to his keynote presentation on “The Promise of ICT: How Can It Be Realized”I highly recommend you check it out: you can either view the presentation above by clicking on the link or view the embedded video below. This has certainly made me very keen to check out his actual presentation and has also got me thinking. (good thing it's the holidays here in NZ!)

You have been told!

2007-09-03T18:59:00.000+12:00

Last week my class just finished our giant (for 6 & 7 year olds) digital stories. It's taken a while but we are all very proud of the finished products and I thought share with you all and have a bit of a brag!

We took our persuasive arguments (written collaboratively last term) and used a combination of Kidpix, Movie Maker and voice recordings to complete our movies.

The result is just gorgeous! It was the first time my students have used Movie Maker independently but they found it relatively easy. Our major trick was having all files etc well named and all stored in one folder on our school server. It was a little hard for them to line the audio up with the correct slides, but with many brains together in the one group, they were able to be victorious with a huge feeling of achievement and accomplishment.

So have a view of one of the eight videos (embedded below)....
the students are quite persuasive & convincing-
so just remember - you have been told!

(Update: The TeacherTube embedded video wont load for everyone so I'm trying our Blogger embed above - fingers crossed)

Times they are a-changing.....

2007-08-28T22:05:00.000+12:00

A positive sign that times are a-changing.....

One of the latest Education Gazette vacancies for the Nelson region:
(I get these via email; subscribed last year when I was seeking new refuge - still get them now even though very happy - NO am NOT seeking a new job! - I'm just nosey!)

Nelson Intermediate

Scale A Y7–8 permanent position. Commence term 1, 2008. Current
roll 378. We seek a motivated and enthusiastic teacher to join
our vibrant school.

Applications close 14 September. Applications can only be
downloaded from www.nis.wikispaces.com

Fabulous... a school using a wikispaces in addition and as an extension of a school website - and using it to host job application info for download....
who says we need tech geeks to do all that stuff for us!

Wikis are just so useful and empowering!

Well done Hugh and team @ Nelson Intermediate!

(Hugh is NIS' new Principal this year - I was fortunate to have worked with him for two years at Mapua School - I KNOW he has and will make fabulous changes)

Action Research, Reflection and our ICT Cluster

2007-08-27T21:08:00.000+12:00

Currently the Time4Reflection Online Seminar is on in New Zealand.

This seminar supports New Zealand schools currently involved in an ICT Cluster with the data collection and review process.

The goal is to assist clusters to undertake review processes with their schools and with all stakeholders as part of the ICT PD contract. The seminar is also designed to help clusters develop evidence based practices which show shifts and progress, and can be used to inform:
current teacher practice

future implications for delivery

development of ongoing action plans
milestone reporting to MoE of the benefits of the programme
The seminar will mentor clusters in reflective practice through provision of:

workshops, podcasts, vodcasts, notes

thought leader discussions

effective practice examples

resources available for use by the clusters

Our ICT Cluster, Nelson City Schools, consists of nine city and rural schools; eight of which are primary and one which is an intermediate. We are in the first year of a three year professional development contract with the Ministry of Education.

Last week I interviewed our Cluster's Director (and also my school Principal), Paul Potaka, and made a podcast on the action research process, reflection and development our ICT cluster has/is undergoing.

Paul's contribution to the Time4Reflection Seminar is embedded below in podcast form... Sorry but I cannot locate the process diagrams that he references but it is still a very interesting interview in which you can see the journey our cluster has been on
.... oh, and you can also hear me struggling to produce my best "teacher voice" even though I have a cold!!!

Lost in translation...

2007-08-20T19:05:00.000+12:00

Google Translate is a handy tool to use, (it can translate an entire web address if you enter the URL) although of course it's not perfect.

I just have to wonder how much gets lost in translation!

This post references my 'Why Let Students Blog' presentation (which is thankfully currently undergoing a 2.0 remix - the more I see it the more I dislike it!)
.... cue Google translate and you get this (French to English) which most of you will actually be able to read!

Here is the translated text:

The need to write is a curiosity of knowing what one will find. (Alain)
Just in time for the school re-entry, I discover this video of Rachel Boyd who enumerates the reasons for which the pupils would owe bloguer (T-Notes: Why let students blog?). I particularly retain the reference to convince my pupils of the utility of the school blogists, knowing that the image has a considerable teaching impact. In this time of total communications, the word of a professor, very factitious that it appears in the class, unfortunately lost of its gloss.
One will reproach the video for missing glare, just as the stepping of certain ideas. A criticism received well by its author who works with a version 2.0. While waiting, and always to exploit the force of the image, here a translation of the evoked reasons (click on the image for an enlarging):

The post and the comment supporting it (translated version below) makes me wonder has the message been lost in translation??

I do not know why I remain perplexed vis-a-vis the enumeration of all the these “advantages”.

If I arrived with that to convince Profs to leave the pupils bloguer (or webber!!! , because one can remplaçer the blog by the clavardage, the email, the creation of Web pages, the exercise of the wiki, etc), it seems to me that they would accomodate the whole politely, but they would remain about it there. The Web has been there for more than 13 years, and the school does nothing but consume it.

The problem, these are not the advantages that one withdraws to be in a state of training (it does not matter what one learns), but the fact that the school is not perhaps any more the place where really significant trainings make…

Where are the pupils who, a few years ago, bloguaient like, for example, the small carnetiers of the Duty?

The school blogist? BOF… it is worthwhile right if one removes the “school” word i.e all that is attached to a ridiculous evaluation/tri measurement/.

At this beginning of re-entry, I do not have too the heart with the rejoicing.
By Gilles G. Jobin August 19, 2007 12:41 PM

I left MY comment (twice actually - DUH!) on the site seeking clarification and stating my actual intentions:

Hi there,

You have written an interesting post. However, it is a little hard for me to completely understand as I have had to use a translation tool to assist me.
http://translate.google.com

You are right that I am working on a version 2.0... am I correct in thinking that you do not like the way the images have the colour reduced?

I have never been happy with my choice of text for the presentation as it is hard to read. My initial thoughts were to tone down the colour in the images so as not to detract from the message.

I would be interested in your opinion.

The argument is not for blogging to replace teachers, nor good teaching.... rather to allow students the opportunity to share their thoughts, opinions and more with an authentic, world-wide audience.

Kind regards,
Rachel Boyd, New Zealand

But one has to wonder.... will THIS message also be lost in translation from English to French??

Slideshows will never be the same again...

2007-08-18T17:28:00.000+12:00

I was delighted to come across this gem of a site this morning in my del.icio.us network and haven't stopped playing with it since!

Animoto.com is a fabulous new site that allows you to make a slideshow like you've never seen before! (actually like a slideshow on steroids!)

Using Animoto you can make your own 30 sec 'photo video' (or movie trailer for your pictures) for free - just upload up to 15 of your own pics (or tell animoto where to find them on the Internet: ie Facebook etc.) and then either choose their music or upload your own! (There is also the option to pay to create longer videos with more images.)

The great thing is that animoto is automatic and it customises the video to your chosen music. You just choose and upload the photos and then choose some provided music or upload your own (ensuring it doesn't breach copyright!) Every video made on animoto is different and you can even choose to remix your video to create a slightly different show as well.

Check out these two animoto photo videos (original and remixed version) embedded below of Kia Ora Kiwi's adventures down south in Invercargill and Riverton, New Zealand. Kia Ora Kiwi is an established member of our class and is destined for international travel shortly.

If you're a keen spotter, you may even see NZ famous mayor Tim Shadbolt, a real (and not so real) tuatara and even the bike from 'The World's Fastest Indian' as seen at the Southland Museum.

Original:

Remix:

Now that I have finished playing and have finally got to read my feeds, I've discovered Ewan and Paul H have also been enjoying having a play!

PS- Music is 'Flash60' from Freeplay Music

AHHHH Teacher Tube!!

2007-08-16T21:05:00.000+12:00

Hmmmm... I suspected something was wrong with Teacher Tube yesterday when my class and I attempted to watch 2 videos from Teacher Tube yesterday... and they weren't there or wouldn't play!!

Today I logged on and to my absolute horror was greeted with this cheery message:

It certainly makes you think about the longevity and importance we place on these sites to store our "digital stuff"!

For me personally, this month and a half of missing Teacher Tube videos, spells disaster not only for the videos/presentations I've uploaded, but also for the numerous videos I may have embedded from the site during the past month and a half.

Now I guess it's a matter of checking through and ensuring all videos play.... and then encouraging people (like David) to re-upload their videos so we can all enjoy them!

My Teacher Tube Lament:

Dear Teacher Tube,
I am distraught over the loss of all these videos and presentations uploaded over the past month and a half; and exhausted at the thought of having to check through all my recent video uploads and embeds
... BUT...
I DO still feel that you are an amazing free resource for the professional development for educators; and so I will forgive you (just this once!)
Kind regards,
Rachel :)

On a lighter note, check out this presentation (embedded below) by lmacdonald that actually does work ;) It looks to be a good conversation starter.

A NZ Bloggers' Cafe!

2007-08-08T21:18:00.000+12:00

Jane Nicholls is amazing!

I am so excited that NZ is to have its very own Bloggers' Cafe at the Ulearn07 Conference in October. There were some whispers early in July from Jane that she was keen to assist in organising it, and after some fantastic feedback, she's gone and done it!

The below is from Jane's blog: ICT U CAN:

Hey all you NZ edubloggers out there, want to put a face to the blog? The NZ Bloggers Cafe is happening this year at ULearn 07. Come along and engage with other bloggers in some lively debate about life, the universe and everything. This would also be a great place for 'budding bloggers' to come and learn some tips and tricks from 'blooming bloggers'. The cafe will be open during morning tea and lunch breaks so come along and join in the discussions. The venue will be advertised in the conference handbook and I am told there will be some aromatic coffee available!

Well I WON'T be coming for the coffee (I can't stand the stuff!).... but I WILL be coming for the fantastic conversations and to meet in person so many NZ edubloggers I 'know' through their blogs and even some new faces!

Can you tell I've got my macbook back?

2007-08-08T13:32:00.000+12:00

I've just gone back through my last 2 posts and plugged in what seems to be at least 20 hyperlinks as well as formatting etc!

I have been without my MacBook for the past week (it has been at 'the doctors' having very minor work) and although I was able to borrow a white macbook from work (my saving grace) it only had Safari as a browser.

After nearly a week I have now come to the conclusion that Safari is simply rubbish when it comes to blogging! - No handy toolbar to add formatting like colour, bold, italics etc and no hyperlink button! Plus it's a pain when editing in Wikispaces.
I have wished for Firefox SOOOOO many times over the past week except I don't have administrator privileges to install it on the school computer- I just had to "deal" with Safari. I will definitely be asking for Firefox to be installed on the mac pod/cow of laptops at school.

But now my MacBook is back and I am once again happy with everything in its rightful place and Firefox as my browser....
makes me realise all over again how much I love Firefox! :)

So as Lee LeFever would typically say in a Commoncraft presentation:
Safari......boooo!
Firefox ..... yeah!!!

(NB: strangely these 'trademarks' of the Commoncraft Show were left out of the latest presentation: Social Bookmarking in Plain English.... want to complain about the lack of boos and yeahs or make a compliment?? - click here and comment like I did!)

Social Bookmarking in Plain English

2007-08-07T23:35:00.000+12:00

Well the Commoncraft folks have done it again!!!

Hot off the Press and from the brilliant Lee LeFever that brought us RSS in Plain English, Wikis in Plain English and Social Networking in Plain English comes....

Social Bookmarking in Plain English!

This video focuses on using one of my favorite tools: Del.icio.us!

Enjoy with the embedded video above or by clicking here.

Also see my del.icio.us links in the sidebar and feel free to add me to your network so we can begin to be 'social' together ;)

A Random Meme

2007-08-07T21:30:00.000+12:00

Tagged Four times!!

So I’ve been tagged by Jane Nicholls, Graham Wegner, Rachel from Bard Wired and Gabriela for the 8 random facts meme. I guess I'd better answer!

First, the Rules:
1) Post these rules before you give your facts
2) List 8 random facts about yourself
3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

Hmmm so here we go....
I've been thinking about this one and have decided to give you the extended/interesting version (!)
Read on if you dare...

~ Random Facts about Rachel Boyd ~

1) I am an only child but I was always well socialised, plus I spent my final 3 years of school as a boarder at Nelson College for Girls.

2) I was born in Australia (to Kiwi parents) and lived there (in Sydney) for the first 14 years of my life. Consequently I hold dual citizenship: Australian & NZ.

3) One of my most secret passions is drag racing - I have even been awarded with a "Fastest Female" trophy (!). My husband and I are huge 'car enthusiasts' and we have a "small" collection of classic and modern Mazda Rotaries (the oldest being made in 1969)

4) One of my finest moments as a child was dressing up as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland and bellowing "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" to the teachers while pointing at them with my wand. Even though I had two working parents as a youngster Mum still went out of her way to make costumes with me. I was also famous for having fabulous themed birthday parties which Mum and I brainstormed and planned intricately when I was 10 - 14.

5) My husband, Lewis, and I have been together since I was 16!! (We only got married in January last year)

6) When I was 15 I painfully built my own website with Geocities using HTML coding (I had too much spare time in the school holidays) - I remember finding the site 6 years ago and showing it to my ICT lecturer at Teachers' College but can no longer find it since Yahoo has bought out Geocities out :(

7) Originally "Rachel Anne Shirley" my middle name was taken from the most famous Shirley worldwide - Anne of Green Gables. Also, I grew up as a baby wearing a lot of yellow as my gender (by choice) was a kept as a surprise for my parents.

8) Previous talents in my life to date have included playing the recorder, the clarinet (yes I played in a band!), performing in Stage Challenges and being a dance teacher of children and adults.

So now I tag:

Fiona Grant - Virtual North

Simon - Educating the Dragon

Melanie Holtsman: Once Upon a Teacher

Chrissy - Teaching Sagittarian

Lyn Ross - Catch the Wave

Paul Wilkinson - 24 Learning

Lynne Crowe - Rambling Reflections

Mark C - 21st Century Skills

Blogging Styles

2007-07-25T22:24:00.000+12:00

This gem of a presentation on Slideshare contains a compilation of the 25 different styles of Blogging.

Very useful to look through to get new ideas for your edublog or your classroom blog. Ignore the commercialised parts of the presentation (eg "buzz index" and "max times per week) and use the ideas to springboard off and think of how they could apply to you in your setting ;)

Ones I am liking and thinking of trying in some capacity are:

LIST blogging - out of blogs I read the Cool Cat Teacher is the queen of this!
LIVE blogging - no I haven't done this yet.... yes Durff you can expect some of this direct from ULearn!
BRIDGE blogging - "writing for an audience outside your everyday reality" - I'm going to see if I can specifically apply this to my class and their blogs.

Interesting also to look through your posts - you can see which ones of these 'styles' your posts align to. Check out the presentation below!

Have you heard??

2007-07-21T10:51:00.000+12:00

This from Greg Carroll via the New Zealand Principal's Federation (NZPF)

Have you heard??

Next Season on Survivor
(Rewritten by G. Lovegrove)
Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in a primary school classroom for 6 weeks. Each business person will be provided with a copy of the school curriculum, and a class of 28 students.

Each class will have five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three will be labelled with severe behaviour problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organise, or create materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, conduct assessments, complete report forms, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent interviews. They must also supervise morning tea and lunchtime breaks and monitor the entrance foyer.

In addition, they will complete drills for fire, earthquakes, tornados, and shooting attacks. They must attend workshops, (100 hours), staff meetings, union meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings.

They must also tutor those students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient in English. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, maths, science, technology and social studies into the programme. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times.

The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch (raw vegetables and water) will be limited to 20 minutes. On days when they do not have playground duty, the business people will be permitted to use the staff toilets as long as another survival candidate is supervising their class.

They will be provided with two days per term of Classroom Release Time, during which time they must maintain all individual assessment checks, running records, numeracy tests and keep all health and attendance records up to date.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials at this time. The business people must continually advance their education on their own time and pay for this advanced training themselves. This can be accomplished by moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with money.

The winner will be allowed to return to his or her job.

Pass this to any friends who think teaching is easy.

Know anyone else who has this amazing job description?!

Thanks Greg, what a great find... thanks for sharing - its made my day!

Happy Blogiversary to you!

2007-07-19T18:57:00.000+12:00

"It's been 10 years since the blog was born. Love them or hate them, they've roiled presidential campaigns and given everyman a global soapbox."

The above, from the Wall Street Journal... Isn't it amazing to think that blogs have been around for 10 years now!!

This is my second year using blogs in my classroom and it's actually hard to look back at a time when I didn't use them. Especially this year, blogging has changed the whole tapestry and fabric that my classroom is made up of (and for the better!)

I now teach a class of students that are highly motivated and enthusiastic when it comes to I.T., they understand more about the world around them and they feel like their ideas, thought, opinions and learning are truly valued by others (I could go on and on here...).

And as for the effect edu-blogging has had for me on a professional level.... the connections with wonderful and talented educators I have made across the globe speak for themselves! I have grown through sharing my learning and ideas, become more confident in my "online life" and clarified, enhanced and cemented my ideas and thoughts. However, most importantly I have come to the understanding that even 'little-old-me' has something to give and share with the world that is of use to others:)

So "Happy Blogiversary" to you all!
[You can read the rest of the Wall St. article here where they interview people from all walks of life about their favourite blogs and the role of blogs in their lives]

Image Source
Image Source

And I am gobsmacked...

2007-07-14T20:48:00.000+12:00

(Please excuse the late posting of this... it was hiding as a 'draft' when I'm sure I published it!!)

*******************************************************
Last night, at a very small cocktail bar in town, started out so well... and ended up with me ranting and raving to Lewis (my husband) all the way home!

I met up with a friend I've known since high school and she brought along her brother (to be named "X") who's currently studying a Bachelor of Computer Science at a NZ University. Eventually the conversation turned to him and his studies and I expressed and interest in what his qualification was teaching him (javascript, CSS etc).

But the conversation turned when I mentioned blogging, podcasting, use of wikis and skype etc in education.

And the response.... you would have honestly thought I'd just invented the concept of educational blogging, podcasting etc!!

His first reaction was "What! for recreation and leisure??" to which I answered "No.... for education and learning".

Hmmm... this did not go down well!

To X's credit I WAS given a few minutes to justify my use of these "silly" tools... and he listened politely.... but nothing I could say could convince! I listed benefits, gave examples and really got on my high horse.... to no avail.

I was just banging my head against a closed door.

This really got me thinking on the way home (out loud unfortunately for my hubby) .... do lots of the computer 'geeks' of the world think blogging etc is just the people's way of ranting and raving about useless, unintelligent subjects.... or are they just unhappy that the web has opened up to the ordinary Joe or Josephine of the world???

image source

On a journey to ULearn

2007-07-14T20:19:00.000+12:00

The countdown to ULearn 07 is on: from 3rd to 5th October in Auckland.

I am excited to have been selected to facilitate two workshops: "So you've got a blog - now what??" and "They're FREE and on the Internet: Harnessing the power of educational games using social bookmarking".

I'm also delighted to see other great educators I know who are also presenting workshops - Allanah, Jane, Simon, Suzi and many others! It will be great to meet F2F many of these educators that I know well through reading their edublogs.

Highlights I am looking forwards to at ULearn07 would have to be the keynote by Ewan McIntosh from Scotland (who's blog I have been reading for a little while now) and the Bloggers Cafe that Jane suggested!!

See you there :)

WOW2 close to home

2007-07-12T20:57:00.000+12:00

School holidays are great!

I raced home yesterday to listen to my first WOW2 show (I managed to catch the last 1/2 hour) - and a show very close to home indeed - "Over the top Educators from Down Under"

Featured speakers were:
Graham Wegner - Teaching Generation Z - Judy O’Connell-Hey Jude, Jo McLeay - The Open Classroom - and Jason Hando - Clever Learning.

Women of Web 2.0 (WOW2) is run by Cheryl Oakes, Jennifer Wagner, Sharon Peters, & Vicki Davis. Show topics vary and there is always great speakers featured as well as WOW sites to check out.

It was great to hear the aussie accents and the chat function that we had going on was great to be apart of. I "met" many educators whose blogs or wikis I have been frequenting for some time now.

Many thanks to Chrissy - Teaching Sagittarian for posting the NZ time (1pm Wed) of the show as I needed that prompt to ensure I was around. I am now going to use Time Zone Converter on the World Clock site whenever I need to convert an overseas location time into NZ time.

I am also going to try and listen to the first half of the show each Wednesday during lunchtimes when school is on... what a great idea Chrissy!

To catch up with the show check out the recording here and go here to find out about future shows.

PS - is this the part where I admit to being born in Australia and actually living there for 14 years??!!

image source

A 7 year old and SKYPE!

2007-07-09T21:00:00.000+12:00

Today I sneaked back into my classroom to grab my school computer (PC). While there I took a quick glance through a few of my students' books... namely their reflective journals (these records of their learning are often shared and are not private).

This short piece of reflective writing stood out to me:

"Today I learned that a class can talk to another class in New Zealand or in a different country using a computer."

See... a 7 year old can understand the power of Skype to enable communication with others within New Zealand, or indeed worldwide!

We have been using Skype to communicate with our Auckland buddies who are our EXPERTS on reducing, reusing and recycling which is the topic we are learning about.

We have had many 'dry run' Skype calls with our buddies during lunchtimes over the past 2 weeks (in preparation and sorting tech probs) and many students have enjoyed dropping in to have a quick chat and to check out the action.

Our first "official" Skype call took place last week (our last week of Term 2) and proved a bit of a technical nightmare. Skype was thoroughly overloaded and neither party could place a call all morning long. Marnie and I even had to resort to cell phone calls to each other to see what the problems were!

The afternoon proved better (probably the rest of the world was asleep) but the connection was still not great and our buddies couldn't hear everything- so we just had to do an "introductions" session. Bless these students who are so adaptable... they threw away their pre-planned questions and found something to talk about!

We are looking forwards next term to asking our experts all of our questions we have about reducing, reusing and recycling... their school is Gold Enviro Award winners and definitely EXPERTS on this. We have lots to learn!

It seems in NZ the afternoon is the best time to use Skype due to less people being online. Has anyone else found this?

Enjoy this video if you're interested - highlights of the "introductions" between our classes of 6 & 7 year olds!

Thanks Marnie for all your patience... I look forwards to linking up again and hope Skype will cooperate this time :)

NZ Teacher Trainees need YOUR HELP!

2007-07-04T10:46:00.000+12:00

Through my presentations on Time4Online and on TeacherTube I have reconnected with my lecturer/teacher of I.C.T. from Christchurch College of Education that I had when I trained to be a teacher!

She taught me a lot about the basics of HTML, webpage creation and webquests; knowledge and skill of which was instrumental when I first started edublogging and blogging with my class @ Mapua School last year... Before the "new blogger" I was SO grateful to have that knowledge of HTML so I could "pimp", format and make my blogs exactly how I wanted them to be.

It was nice to know that Di has put my presentations on the College Intranet for teacher trainees to see an example of what a current classroom teacher is doing. However, she had an important question to ask of me:

"Did you find that the IT stuff did help with integrating ICT when you became a classroom teacher? What other things do you suggest we do with our students?"

My teacher training in ICT was really good, I believe (for the time), I had a good general computer knowledge and a great bag of skills on various programmes. I had millions of ideas on how I was going to integrate I.C.T. into my classroom programmes... and that I did.

When I look back at my last 5 years of teaching; the things I am doing with my class today is (thankfully!) VERY different to what I was doing four or five years ago... you could say I have learned a few tricks on the way!

With the way that technology is rapidly changing "What other things do you suggest we do with our students?" is a difficult question to answer. We can't just teach our teacher trainees how to use 'programmes' any longer, nor can we soley teach them specific web2.0 applications/tools because by the time they graduate and actually get to use those tools in the classroom things will have moved on yet again!

Please post any ideas/suggestions you have in the comments below.
I have emailed Di and said I would leverage the power of "the experts" (you guys!) and know that she would be very grateful for your ideas... these can be used to further develop teacher training in NZ.

How addicted to blogging are you?

2007-07-03T21:09:00.000+12:00

So how addicted are you?

What if you had to put it into a percentage?
What would be your blogging addiction %?

Just for fun, try this site, I was very pleased at the outcome for me (glad it wasn't 100%!) and was able to happily wave the results under a very surprised husband's nose!

80%

One Simple way to motivate...

2007-07-03T09:46:00.001+12:00

Isn't it funny how you don't realise that something you've naturally implemented in your classroom for sometime could be of use to others?

Just last week a teacher @ work came into my classroom and noticed our "How many hits on our class blog?" poster that we have been using for at least the past two months. She instantly wanted to do this in her class too .... something I'd not yet considered as the idea didn't seem too innovative or new to me.

So I thought I'd make a mention of it here for any of you that also might find it useful!

It's not technologically flash, but it IS particularly useful if your students don't have a lot of access to computers on a daily basis
(like in my classroom - we only have one class computer to use daily).

How to motivate your class' blogging: one simple way

In my classroom each week students take on jobs around the classroom, we call them "responsibilities"... and one of these is the "Hit Counter Monitors".

These two children are in charge of monitoring the hit counter twice a day (once in morning at start of school, once in afternoon just before end of school) for the entire week.

So for their job they have to log onto the blog and check our hit counter in the sidebar. Then they use the numerals to make the number on our chart so the whole class can see. (see this example from just before we got 2,000 hits a month or so ago)

Every 2,000 hits we have a big class party so the class is very eager to see the numbers of hits climb.

Each morning we examine our new number and work out how many more hits we need until we reach our target by adding in parts up to the nearest 10, then 100 etc (see me sneaking in a bit of maths there!). At the moment we are trying to make it until 4,000 to reach our next class party.

For my class, this is a brilliant motivator for our blogging, (along with all the marvelous comments we get) on a daily basis where not all students have access to the computer at school on that particular day - it helps them to still stay in touch with the happenings.

... it shows these 6 & 7 year olds that people ARE actually visiting and reading their work... that they ARE reaching a real life audience and that their learning, thoughts and experiences really IS valued!

If you think this might be beneficial in your class, you can download a PDF copy of the poster I use and the numbers to stick on from below.
Download "How Many Hits on our Class Blog?" poster
Download "Numbers for How Many Hits" poster

You Tube and PD

2007-07-02T09:45:00.001+12:00

Holiday time... and I have not much planned.... a truly marvelous feeling.

So far I have enjoyed a few geeky pleasures like joining Facebook (after receiving my 4th invite from friends) and finally becoming a Second Life member (KatarinaMay Capalini) although I haven't yet logged on properly to SL. Allanah warns me that I may spend a wee while in SL bumping into walls and doorways so I am saving that pleasure for later on this week!

Something I am currently working on at the moment is our ICT Cluster website (on Centre4) where I am an administrator. I found a neat flash widget that lets you display your You Tube playlist that I have added to the front of our cluster page.

So, for the past week I have been searching for those MUST SEE You Tube videos that would be good for either motivational/inspirational/instructional PD purposes for teachers in my cluster.

These are the ones I've got so far:

The my newest vid being this one I found today on Suzie's Cluster Blog... a very entertaining look at blogs vs wikis!

I'd love to hear if you have any other ideas for You Tube videos that I should add to the growing collection!

Social Networking in Plain English

2007-06-29T21:15:00.001+12:00

From the fabulous folks at Commoncraft comes the latest in the "Plain english" series of videos... this one is on Social Networking.

To catch up with the other great Commoncraft videos on Wikis and RSS in "Plain English" click here.

Cool Cat Award!

2007-06-18T21:34:00.000+12:00

I was inspired today by Teaching Sagittarian's kind words today on Vicki Davis' blog...

I'm sure you'll all agree with me when I state how truly helpful and inspirational Vicki's Cool Cat Teacher blog is... I have been an avid reader for over a year now myself... if you're not a reader you should definitely go and check it out (especially check her archives and most valuable posts).

This post by Vicki and the associated comment by Chrissy led me to put into motion Chrissy's wishes to award the Cool Cat Teacher the:

"Most Inspirational Educator of Educators Around the World Award"

So we hope you enjoy it Vicki!
You have even reached, encouraged and inspired us here down here in New Zealand :)

PS - if you haven't checked out the Custom Sign Generator page yet - it's quite a hoot - you can make stuff like I have made above ... and TONS more! Great for when you just want a visual for a blog post or you just want to make someone laugh... check it out!

How vibrant is your workplace?

2007-06-13T23:22:00.000+12:00

Miguel (Around the Corner) and Scott (Dangerously Irrelevant) have both been talking a lot lately about CHANGE.

A book that Scott has recommended and Miguel has just purchased looks like an interesting one for analysing and reflecting upon YOUR situation in your workplace.

Apparently, the strength of a workplace can be narrowed down to twelve questions that measure the core elements needed to attract, focus, and keep the most talented employees.

When you look through these questions, ask yourself, how would I respond to these?
Scott also asks the question:
How strong and vibrant is the workplace that we create for most educators?

(click to view it larger)

Now for a revealing moment for me... I can honestly say that my current workplace meets 11 out of 12 of those aspects ... and I feel very privileged for that! It is also very confirming for me considering the permanent change in schools/workplaces that I made at the beginning of 2007... especially when I would say my previous job honestly only fulfilled 7 of those aspects.

On a further note, a comment in Scott's blog the first time he mentioned this book in 2006 noted:

"As I read this list I wasn't thinking of myself. I was thinking of our students..."

So we could also apply this criteria to our students:
Do we give our students the opportunities to do what they do best everyday??

The Importance of Comment Moderation

2007-06-13T09:39:00.000+12:00

Regarding a conversation I've had recently I thought I'd make a posting on the importance of enabling Comment Moderation for your class blog (as well as the how to).

Comment Moderation is where all new blog comments get 'moderated' and approved by the class teacher before they go live and get published on the Internet. You will get an email and a note will appear on your dashboard letting you know that there is a comment awaiting approval.

Comment Moderation is an absolute MUST if you are blogging with students!

Teacher laziness is not a good enough excuse for possibly allowing negative or spam/advertising related comments to get published on the class blog.

Imagine the trouble that would start for your class and your school if a student clicked or read something inappropriate in a comment!

To Enable Comment Moderation in Blogger:

Log into Blogger with your user name and password.

In the Dashboard click on: Settings

Once in Settings; click on Comments

Scroll down until you see: Enable Comment Moderation:

Click yes and enter your email address: this is the email where you will be notified of new comments that are awaiting your approval before going online.

Lastly, don't forget to press: Save Settings to make sure your changes have been saved!

Now you can enjoy the comments as they come in and ensure they are positive before allowing them to be published on your class blog!

How lucky are we?

2007-06-08T17:53:00.000+12:00

An interesting article today from The UK Guardian [via rbvandijk] that should make us all appreciate the freedom we have to express our opinions, thoughts and feelings on our blogs...

Want to start a blog in Iran? Then you'll have to register it with the government - which has recently begun to require that all bloggers register at samandehi.ir, a site established by the ministry of culture of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.
All you need do is give your personal information, including your blog's username and password - otherwise it will be filtered and blocked so that nobody in Iran, and perhaps outside too, will be able to access it. This has led to an outcry among many Iranian bloggers who consider the net an independent and free forum for expression.

Food for thought....

You can read the full article from the Guardian here.

My new Favourite Tool - iShowU

2007-06-02T21:42:00.000+12:00

iShowU is my new favourite tool!

I used this tool extensively for my main presentation for the Time4 Online Conference and I don't know what I would have done without it! It allowed me to show exactly what the kids were talking about for each part of the presentation. Seeing the blogs etc in action as we were talking about them was really useful and also provided interesting visuals for people who have never visited our sites before. I also showed how everything we do is linked to our main class blog so there's only one URL needed to access everything.

iShow U is fantastic as it "allows you to capture and record anything you can see on your screen, along with audio from a compatibe source (like a microphone) as well as any audio from the mac itself." (yes it's mac only) The resulting files saves as a Quicktime movie which you can use in a multitude of ways.

I had previously tried the free version of iShowU - where you get to try it but GIANT green lettering appears over your movie. I liked it so much I decided to bite the bullet and buy the full version of the programme - only to find out how surprisingly cheap it was (it was only $28.40).

Now I really enjoy it because when people ask me to help them with something I can create a quicktime movie to SHOW them rather than typing a huge response or making a help sheet. Very useful and something I think is going to save me a lot of time. I see Greg from Outram has also discovered the joys of iShowU.

If you're on a mac and wish to be doing things like this... definitely check it out!

Potentials of Web2.0

2007-06-02T20:24:00.000+12:00

It seems everyone is starting to wake up to the potentials of web 2.0 :)

Over the next few months I am hoping to start an exciting project with some RTLB's in Nelson to develop a wiki and blogs to support their work.

For those of your from outside NZ - RTLB stands for "Resource Teacher of Learning & Behaviour". These extremely skilled teachers "work within schools around the country to provide advice and guidance to teachers of students who are at risk of low achievement due to learning and/or behaviour difficulties. This may include direct teaching, demonstrating practice, and providing teaching strategies so that students receive appropriate learning programmes and behaviour management on an ongoing basis." (Info from Min of Edu site)

Currently these very computer competent teachers produce an attractive booklet-type newsletter once a term that goes out to all the schools they are working with. Their newsletters contain great tips, ideas and links that are also useful to the general classroom teacher. Currently, however, these newsletters barely get shared around. These Resource Teachers are hoping to hook into the power of web2.0 to share their knowledge.... exciting stuff huh!

So, anyway I am starting to gather resources on wikis etc. This video by Commoncraft (people that brought us the great RSS video) is a great one to start learning about wikis... Wikis in Plain English (seen below)

PS - if you currently know of any RTLBs in NZ that are currently using blogs/wikis etc... I'd love to know so that I can share these links as examples. Thanks :)

Learning, Sharing & Connecting Online with 6 & 7 year olds!

2007-05-30T00:02:00.000+12:00

How do you like my post title!... pretty long huh!
That's what happens when you just can't decide on the right words to title your presentation with... in the end I just chucked ALL the words in together!

This little video is the main part of my presentation for the Time4 Online Conference that is on right now! The section I'm involved in: Student Voices doesn't go live until the 31st May in a few days.

The 6 & 7 year olds in my class worked really hard to assist me with this video; they thought long and hard about what they wanted to talk about and we wrote a big plan from their list.

Luckily, I was given an ICT planning day (Thanks Paul!) to record and videotape my students for this presentation. They will be really excited tomorrow when I show them the finished product (although two students ended up on the 'cutting room floor' and got chopped out due to time constraints).

The video is under the section: Globalising and Personalising Online Learning - from Student Perspectives on Time4 Online. The presentations I've already seen on the site under: Collaborative Online Learning and The Collaborative Cauldron: Blogs and Wikis have been top notch and very interesting... if you haven't been to check them out yet, I highly suggest you do! (NB: open entry to other educators from around the world)

Presentation Blurb:

Take a tour through the 'digital side' of Room 9 at Nelson Central School.

Let these 6 & 7 year olds educate you about blogs and blogging and show you what they're doing with podcasting, wikis, blogs and more everyday in their classroom. Also, see the effect these "cool" tools have had in enhancing the home/school relationship.

These students may be young, but they're connected worldwide!
Share in their learning & experiences!

Actual Presentation:

Intro: What is a blog? Why do you like having one? - Answers by 6 & 7 year olds

How to Customise your Blogger Header!

2007-05-25T19:51:00.000+12:00

Last week I spent some time on my latest "Digital Candy" favourite site: Cool Text.

I used Cool Text to create the image for the funky text header for this blog (boo hoo no one has commented on how nice it looks yet!).

I had planned to this weekend blog some instructions on how to customise your blogger header and add an image similar to what I've done.

But... don't you love it when someone else does it for you (and in a better format than you would have ever had time to make!).

Ryanne has made an excellent screencast (featured here) demonstrating exactly how to customise your blogger blog header and add an image.

The only thing I would suggest is that it takes a bit of playing around with to get it looking "just right".... and with some pictures a good image compressor wouldn't go astray either.

Go on:
Unleash your creativity!

Comment in another language!

2007-05-25T09:54:00.003+12:00

Today I got my first comment in another language! - Spanish!

(See how having a translation feature on your blog is good!)

Naturally, I wanted to know what it said! It reads:


Rachel tu blog y el de tus niños y niñas es muy bueno me gusta seguirlo
por que me parece formidable la utilización que haces de este medio con
alumnado tan joven.Seguiré visitando estos blogs.

The only words I could read was "Rachel" and "blog" (my spanish is definitely not up to scratch!) I copied the text and googled to find a translator... to my surprise.... all translators are not created equally!

Alta Vista's Babel Fish translated the text as: "Rachel your blog and the one of your children and children I am very good likes to follow it so that the use seems to me formidable that beams of this means with pupils so joven.Seguiré visiting these blogs."

That clearly wasn't the best translation, so I tried another.

Free2Professional Translation translated it as: "Rachel your blog and that of your children and girls is very good i like to continue it because formidable the utilization seems me that you do of this middle with alumnado so youth.continue visiting these blogs."

Hmmmmm......

Lastly, I tried good old Google Translate: "Rachel your blog and the one of your children and children I am very good likes to follow it so that the use seems to me formidable that beams of this means with so young pupils. I will continue visiting these blogs."

Hello... that reads better!
Should have tried good old google first!

Student Voices: Blogging

2007-05-23T20:01:00.000+12:00

Let my 6 & 7 year olds educate you!

Today I asked my students two big questions:
"What is a blog?"
"Why do you like having a blog?"

We produced this nearly 3 minute podcast -
totally unscripted & very candid....
just 6 & 7 year olds speaking their minds!

I am using this as an introduction piece for my contribution to the New Zealand Time4 Online Conference. It's primarily an AUDIO piece as I didn't want to detract from the student's voices, but I have uploaded it to TeacherTube for flexibility of sharing - you will just see a few static images.

Enjoy... no doubt you'll have a few laughs :)

Online Learning Spaces

2007-05-19T10:05:00.000+12:00

I have just read this post from David Warlick (as it's the weekend I am catching up on some of my blog reading). It's about the UK's Building School's for the Future Project.

This project " is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over a 10-15 year period."

Curiously enough amidst this huge project is quite a substantial goal hidden as commentary note 63 (viewable in the download here):
[Note the report is dated July 06]
This strategy describes the use of digital and interactive technologies to achieve a more personalised approach within all areas of education and children's services. It is an ambitious strategy covering all sectors for the next five years and beyond. An example of a specific aspiration is the target for all learners in every school to have access to a personalised on-line learning space that can support an e-portfolio by 2008

So my question is what do you think of this? Is this a worthwhile goal and realistic goal, and how long do you think this would take to implement?

Please participate in the below polls to let your views be known!
I'd also be interested in your thoughts via comments regarding this!

What can a teacher make?

2007-05-15T18:25:00.000+12:00

I got this great message forwarded to me in a bulk email today from Phil, our I.C.T. Administrator. Normally I don't read these spammy bulk emails, but this one was fabulous... I don't agree with every point (specifically the "make" kids read and write) but you get the drift. Hope it brightens your day!

Always remember that you DO make a difference..

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.
He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided
his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:
"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher,
Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied,
"You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second,
then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their
parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube
or movie rental...
You want to know what make?"
(She paused again and looked at each and every person at
the table.)
I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to write and then I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need
to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts
they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts,
they can succeed in life.
(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)
"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make,
I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they
are ignorant...
You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
What do you make?"

THERE IS MUCH TRUTH IN THIS STATEMENT:
"Teachers make every other profession "

Update: Check out this video on You Tube:

Ever get this feeling?

2007-05-09T09:00:00.000+12:00

Paul, my school principal, used this video this morning at our Lead Teacher meeting. It relates really well to what we're trying to do with I.C.T. in our cluster.... sometimes it really does feel like we REALLY are trying to building a plane in mid flight!

... and that is ok!

Hosting your files on your blog

2007-05-07T23:29:00.000+12:00

Box.net is one of many great sites to host your files on. Essentially, it is a virtual storage place for your files! For free you get 1GB of storage.

A great feature is that you can also create a great widget to put on your blog to share your files with others (see my box.net widget in the sidebar).

It's reasonably easy to join and upload your files. I suggest if you are interested in a widget for your blog that you join and upload your files all on the one page here at the Box Widget page.

Once you have browsed and chosen your files, create a box.net account using your email address. You can then upload your documents and grab the code to put on your blog.

In Blogger blogs go to Layout>Page Elements>Add Page Element>HTML/Java script and paste in the code to add the widget to your sidebar. You can then save and view your new box.net widget and files on your blog!

Another popular hosting site used by educators I know is esnips which gives you a much greater storage (5GB) although you don't get a widget that is quite as good to add to your blog. Wikispaces could be yet another option! (if you want a wikispaces account for educational use click here)

It's really handy to have some of your important files hosted online, either to share or just to have access to your most used files across a variety of computers. As a teacher, you could also host documents for parents and caregivers to access, like notes to help with homework or documents for how they can help their child with their reading etc.

Please feel free to browse my Box (in my sidebar), currently it's all blogging related. I'll continue to add to it with more documents over time! If you find any useful, please leave me a comment :D

Who Moved My Cheese?

2007-05-06T12:11:00.000+12:00

Thanks to Jane @ Central I have recently been introduced to a fantastic book that has been around for quite some time (since 1998).

"Who Moved My Cheese?" by Dr. Spencer Johnson is a fantastically simple book written as a parable. It is both amusing and enlightening and is the story about four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy.

The "Cheese" in the story, of course, is a metaphor for what we want in life - a good job, great relationship, possessions, money, health etc. The "maze" represents where we look for what we want - be it an organisation/business, or the family or community group we live in.

Four characters are featured that certainly encompass the majority of teachers that we come across, especially when trying to educate teachers to embrace technology as a positive change and incorporate it in their teaching.

Two are mice named "Sniff" and "Scurry" and two are 'little people' named "Hem" and "Haw". The funny thing is when you get to know these characters, you actually look at the people you know and see which character in Who Moved My Cheese that they most are like.

"Sniff" is able to sniff out the situation and see the changes early.

"Scurry" goes into action quickly to make a change.

"Hem" wants to stay in familiar territory and doesn't want to deal with the change (ignores it) - either is too uncomfortable or too scared to change.

"Haw" initially hesitant but eventually sees what he's doing is not working. Is open minded enough to learn something new, act differently, visualises the changes and make the change.

In the story, Haw, goes through the biggest learning curve to find the "new" cheese. This picture is of the major points made throughout the book. We all need to anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to change quickly again and again. A pertinent message for teachers and I.C.T. in these incredibly changing times.

Another pertinent point made is "If you do not change, you can become extinct". It sort of reminds me of another saying along the lines of technology will not replace teachers, but teachers who know/use technology will.

The question is:
How can we get our teachers to behave more like Haw and less like Hem?!

You can also read a summarised version of the Who Moved My Cheese story here at Wikipedia.

Teachers will do anything for chocolate...

2007-05-02T19:24:00.000+12:00

Ok, so it turns out teachers will do anything for a chocolate sweet fix!... how different my life may have been if I had only figured this out earlier!

After my late night challenge (read about it here at the end of this post) to our teachers I arrived at school at 8:20am after having a much deserved sleep in only to find...

... 6 emails from excited teachers who had gone to the wiki, read the information and corrected the spelling mistakes. My favourite emails I got were from Neroli & Viv; they read:

Hi Rachel,
Just to let you know I think I might be a bit of an 'expert'. I corrected 'computa' to 'computer'!!
Cheers
Neroli

Hi Rachel, This is a good game.  I edited the ing on or off really on data
projector.
Cheers Viv

This excitement is great because it assures me: that they checked their emails; that they visited the wiki; that they read through the wiki and that they had a successful experience of editing a wiki!

I will leave the thought of wikis with staff for a few weeks; now that they've seen one and edited one, they might be able to think of a way that they could be using these in their classrooms.... what fun!

Our New "Other" Blog

2007-05-01T21:36:00.000+12:00

Having worked hard with my students (6 & 7 year olds) during last term on the basics of blogging they are now ready to be set loose on their own!

They have learned how to independently make a new posting, add a title, write a post and include our names as a label (tag). Later we will be building on this, adding more formatting and layout to our text and inserting pictures/photos too!

A new blog has been born... it is the "Room 9 Writing Spot". I had originally envisaged doing this on Class Blogmeister, however the students had just come to grips with competently using Blogger so I decided not to throw a "spanner in the works".

The Writing Spot is to be totally student run.... with only troubleshooting advice from me... they really are venturing out on their own! I will, however, add a hit counter and a clustr map later if they ask for it. We will continue to add to our existing Class Blog as usual also!

During writing time each day one child will be making a posting on the blog, so theoretically we should have 4-5 posts per week which will be great. They are adding their names as labels (tags) and we have displayed them down the sidebar - this is great because effectively (once there are more posts) it will allow each child to "virtually" have their own special writing page with only their posts on it! I'm sure this will be a hit with parents too!

I have made a conscious decision not to correct the students' punctuation, spelling and grammar. The posts will be as they intended. I am also not providing any guidance as to what they should write when it is their turn on the computer... although we have talked about writing about our personal experiences and more importantly, our reflections on our learning (this will probably take some time to develop).

This is an exciting time for both myself and my students.... I am enjoying seeing what they are choosing to write about and seeing their confidence develop. Please feel free to pop over from time to time and have a visit!

"Oooooh.... look at our Clustr Map!"

PS: We will also continue posting to our Class Blog as usual :)

A "Pay Attention" Staff Meeting

2007-04-30T22:34:00.000+12:00

This afternoon we had a great ICT PD Staff Meeting @ Central.

We started off on the right foot by viewing Darren's "Pay Attention" movie (click here if you haven't seen it yet). We set the scene by explaining it was made for a US audience and that most of the facts and figures related to the US... we challenged our teachers to view the video and reflect on "how does this relate to us in New Zealand?".

We had what I believe to be an absolutely fabulous reaction from staff. There were loads of heads nodding throughout the video; lots of thoughtful "hmmms" and a few spots of laughter as well. It really set the scene well for the next part of our meeting which was to celebrate all of the fabulous blogging that has been started since my PD session on March 12 this year. Our teachers have come a long way and this was a great chance to acknowledge the efforts they have put in and to celebrate their successes. I am really proud of them :)

We then moved into cooperative groups and brainstormed the ways that we could keep our blogs current with less teacher effort... this is the next step for most teachers.

I have collated all of our staff's ideas onto this wiki page. You might like to view it and see if you get any new ideas for integrating blogs into your classroom and keeping them up to date.

Teachers have also been set a challenge tonight in an email I have sent:

All of our ideas for keeping blogs current are now displayed on a wiki space. Please visit and see if there's an idea there that you can implement in your classroom.

http://nelsoncentral.wikispaces.com/blogging

Extra for Experts: There are 6 spelling mistakes on this wiki page (on purpose!)

The first 6 teachers to edit the wiki and change ONE spelling mistake will get a sweet treat. [Click on the "edit this page" button on the top right of the page to correct one spelling mistake - make sure you also let me know it was you!]

This will be both fulfilling for your sweet tooth as well as giving you an experience in editing a Web 2.0 collaborative wikispace! Enjoy!

I wonder what the response will be?!

My PC pet peeve

2007-04-28T20:55:00.000+12:00

For the last week I have had my class using my school Toshiba laptop. This seemed like such a good idea and I thought that it would be great to give my own macbook a rest from children's grubby hands. Boy was I wrong....

My students are simply not used to all of the PC's security alert warning screens popping up ALL over the place: asking to say yes or no when working on the web. I'd basically told my students to just click "yes" most of the time but when working with Blogger the other day they seemed to be inundated with them all. Then the computer had installed some updates and wanted to restart every few minutes. It REALLY annoyed all of us. Especially since I had just got my students working independently making posts and comments on the blog. It seemed that every few minutes there was a "Rachel!" called out from a student on the computer... and I really can't blame them! It is totally annoying!

Maybe I have been working day-to-day on Apple computers for too long and have been enjoying the luxuries? I'm just not ready to go back into the PC World!

This movie is an excellent demonstration of my frustrations, it's one of the "get a mac" adverts. Enjoy, and in the meantime I'll be tweaking that PC's security settings to see if I can improve things!

Oh, BTW I should mention in case you don't already know, that I teach 6 & 7 year olds who aren't capable of reading security warnings; and no my PC isn't running Vista like mentioned in the movie. Ta :)

A new feature - translate my blog!

2007-04-23T15:37:00.000+12:00

You can now view my blog in 10 different languages!

I have installed a new widget in my sidebar! It uses Google's Translation Services and converts the whole page into the desired language. I have this fantastic blog to thank for my new gadget.

I spent about 10 minutes "googling" a widget to put on my blog and this was one of the best that I found to translate the whole page without having to copy and paste the text over to a translation page.

Two reasons I have installed this translator are:

The State of The Live Web, April 2007 report showed that only 36% (down from 39%) of all blogs are in English - Japanese is currently the top blogging language @ 37% (click to enlarge graphic)

I stumbled upon a link to my site on this blog in some foreign language (maybe Spanish?) and thought it only polite!

... go on, try the translator for a laugh... you know you want to! :)

PS: If you haven't already read it I suggest you read the State of the Live Web (April 2007) report here.
Click here if you want to copy and paste the code to get a translator on your site :)

A new blog to the public arena!

2007-04-20T15:27:00.000+12:00

If you haven't seen the "Pay Attention" video yet.... YOU NEED TO!

I blogged about it just over a week ago, you can view it here if you missed it.
It was created by Darren Draper to "motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching"... and THAT it really has done, except not just for the Jordan School District that he made it for... it has made a ripple throughout the world (yes, even reaching us in little old New Zealand) where I KNOW it will be invaluable for staff development.

Last week Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher) had asked Darren if he blogged... and the answer was that he didn't blog publically (personal blog and school blogs were kept private)....

Well in response to all the fabulous attention Darren has achieved through his brilliant video, Darren has now created a public blog. I encourage you to visit and subscribe to his blog... he is one to watch out for!

Thanks Darren for making your great stuff accessible to all of us!

Oh, and just another plug... check out this site Darren's created on "How to become a better teacher" for fantastic info and resources.

Why let our students blog?

2007-04-19T12:39:00.002+12:00

I have made a presentation on "Why let our Students Blog?" and hosted it on Teacher Tube (also viewable below). I have been meaning to address and this write a post on this for a while: to identify the benefits and reasons why we should have students blogging in our classrooms.

UPDATED 2008 VERSION 1.5 VIDEO

When I viewed Simon's (Educating the Dragon) great response to "Why Teach Technology?" I realised that writing about the benefits of student blogging was not the only way I could present my ideas. I am currently on school holidays so I have put together this presentation inspired by Simon's!

Movie/video is such a powerful medium. I created the presentation on good old PowerPoint and uploaded the jpgs of each slide to imovie. I've kept the transitions to a very basic cross dissolve mostly to not detract. The music is nothing flash - "English Channel" from Freeplay Music but it does the job.

Hope you enjoy it - it's only my first "draft" so please feel free to leave comments and mention anything I've forgotten or need to include :)

The Power of Wikipedia

2007-04-17T08:43:00.000+12:00

I am absolutely astonished at the incredible power of Wikipedia (or rather the people who are editing it). I have been following the horrific Virginia Tech shootings that occured on the 16th in America.

As it is a piece of breaking news on Wikipedia I have been able to see the huge changes the page has undergone just over the last half hour while I have been doing my normal romp through my blog subscriptions through Blogarithm.

I guess because previously I have been working, I have never seen an event unfold and be reported so quickly and accurately on Wikipedia. There are so many people out there truly dedicated to ensuring it is up to date and referenced to the hilt. The page has changed so much even in the half hour I have been viewing it.

Looking through the history I can see the first page edit was at 15:16 on the 16th (US) and it comprised of this:

Obviously as more news, facts and figures became available the page evolved into what I can currently see (which will be vastly different to what you'd see if you checked it out now)

Here's 2 small shots of what the page looks like as I view it now (21:01 on the 16th US):

This really shows the power of collaboration and how amazing wikipedia is - paper resources (ie newspaper etc) would have long been out of date by now.

It is truly heartbreaking stuff to think that so many lives have been lost and that this all occured in a school/polytechnic where students and staff are supposed to feel safe,

Our hearts are with you Virginia as you attempt to pick up the pieces.

Bloggers' Choice Awards

2007-04-16T19:17:00.000+12:00

Currently the Bloggers' Choice Awards are on and a category struck my eye: Best Educational Blog.

David Warlick's 2 Cents blog is one I of the top 20 nominated in that category that I recognised. Currently he has got 7 votes - compare this with the currently leading Educational Blog Mom is Teaching with 51 votes!

Head on over and make your vote!

EDIT (Tues): Have just checked today and David's blog is no longer there!?? Perhaps he's asked for it to be removed from nomination?? Anyway still worth the visit.

Other categories to check out are: best blog about blogging & best blogging host.

The Power to Change the World

2007-04-16T18:32:00.000+12:00

Iain from over at Edge of the Seat has started a fabulous Ning project that you might want to consider contributing to.

"If I could change the world" has been set up "with the idea that this could be a place where children could raise their voices."

From the website: "This is a global project where children from around the world can submit artwork and writings outlining their own ideas for making the world a better place. The submissions from this project will hopefully be made into a book."

This fits really nicely with our school's theme for the year "The Future Starts Now!" and is something I will be getting my students to be involved with next term.

Topics selected so far are: poverty, pollution and violence.

We will be creating original digital art and creating our online art gallery. Time permitting, I'd also like the students to create a short video that addresses the pollution issue.

Brilliant idea Iain! Head on over to this site if you think this is something you'd like to be involved in!

Digital Learners

2007-04-14T17:44:00.000+12:00

Pay Attention!

This is a fantastic video created by Darren Draper from the Jordan School District. His aim was to motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching.

It is a goodie and has already been viewed thousands of times at both You Tube and Teacher Tube. I will certainly be showing parts of this video at one of our staff meetings next term. Definitely inspiring, motivating and thought provoking!

Topics covered:

Multiple intelligences of the students we teach - they are also digital learners
Statistics on these "digital learners" use of technologies
Blooms' revised taxonomy and how important it is to have students creating
Using the technology that students' love to: create/teach/reach/engage students more effectively
Using the power of the internet and cell phones in teaching

Plus: check out the link provided at the end of the video for links to fab resources!

How we rely on aggregators...

2007-04-11T22:52:00.000+12:00

Not a great start to my morning! As it's school holidays I had a leisurely breakfast while I checked my email for my latest "blogmail" from Blogarithm. This is one of my normal morning routines (it's just rather nice doing it at 8am rather than 6am!).

The email was sent properly but when I opened it the logos were obscured and said "click here". When I went to click to visit one of the blogs that had been updated I was redirected to a site saying Blogarithm's domain name had expired! I checked and checked but no luck, even after trying numerous links.

All I could think about was that all the addresses of all the blogs I subscribe to would be gone! It would take me hours and hours to compile such a list again from scratch... made me wish that I'd somehow saved my links or backed them up!

On this site I found an email link to the owners of the site and immediately sent a "HELP!" email. I was pleasantly surprised when within an hour I received this helpful reply:

Hi Rachel,

I'm sorry about the expiration. It will be working again soon.
There was a mixup with our domain registrar.

Yours,
Andy MacDonald

Well done Blogarithm! Having checked now I can see the wheels are in motion as the page I am redirected to is different... at least the page is parked now.

I can't wait until it's back up and running.... can you guess what the first thing I'll be doing is??!!

Worldwide Blogging

2007-04-04T23:08:00.000+12:00

If you're not convinced that blogging is worldwide and used in areas other than education you need to view this great Slideshare presentation by user mjamesno that was uploaded a week ago.

Click the forward button to advance the slides.
BTW you can easily upload your PowerPoint presentations to Slideshare and embed them on your blog as I've done here if you didn't already know that.

UPDATE:

I have just found this out: Sony's new corporate marketing strategy incorporates Blogging! The company "has made it obligatory for all senior staff at both Columbia Records and RCA Records to start blogging actively". Read more about it here!
I wonder what staff will make of this?

TeacherTube

2007-04-04T17:25:00.001+12:00

YouTube vs TeacherTube

I have been thinking seriously lately about my use of YouTube for uploading and sharing student's videos. Since we only shared one video properly on our blog last year in my class at Mapua School the use of YouTube was a non-issue.

This year, however, as I can see my students making lots of mini videos to share and showcase their learning and reflections on learning I have been having a closer think. In most schools overseas YouTube is blocked, and indeed it also is in many New Zealand schools.

My first alternative to YouTube was investigating Google Video. But then Google went and bought out YouTube! So Google Video is now filled with the same random and often bizarre and crazy things that YouTube has on it!

Today I tried an alternative that I've been quietly finding out about since its launch on March 6th 2007. This is TeacherTube.

It also is completely free and allows you to upload your video and get the code to embed it on your website/blog etc just like YouTube (see my test below). The benefits are that if students click on the TeacherTube logo they are taken to a much safer site. TeacherTube's aim is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos.... a much safer forum.

I found TeacherTube easy to sign up to, easy to upload to and it plays just as nicely in your blog as YouTube does. I will definetly be using this as an alternative in the future... a great find and a growing community that we need to support.

FOR teachers, BY teachers... got to love it!

Managing ICT in the classroom

2007-04-04T09:33:00.000+12:00

I am currently at the Nelson City Cluster ICT PD Lead Teacher's Day.

We have just had a sharing time and questions have arisen about how we manage ICT in our daily classroom programme. I thought I would take a back to basics approach to describing how ICT is managed in my classroom currently and how my students produce the work that they do! (apologies if this is boring for you!)

My student's skills at the very start of the year:
My students have come to me with very basic Word formatting knowledge but no typing skills. Some can insert photos into Word. No one has any experience with blogging/wikis/podcasting etc. They had minimum exposure to the Internet/Internet games etc.

For ICT I have spent all of Term One teaching my students digital camera/photo skills and routines, skills for using equipment. It has not been the end product that is important, and it's taken a term to get the "end products" - our first video and our first podcast.

Routines we have established are:

computer/ICT buddies - mixed abilities
rotation system for taking digital photos - buddies goes out, take their shots (4 of each), come back and "silently" tag the next pair who goes out and takes their pics - the rest of the class is working as per normal and I am uninterupted to teach the class - it takes no effort from me because I have put in the hard yards to teach them the skills and the problem solving aspects.
I teach one capable child the skills, they teach the next, that child teaches the next.. the trickle down effect. This allows me to keep teaching our general classroom programme.
A "C3B4ME" policy if you have difficulty with the computer during the normal class programme.
I want to set up an "experts" list later in the year so that students will know who they can go to for help.

How we manage the ICT component: the doing:

Children take the photos, I upload them to my mac, children browse iphoto library and select best photo from the 4 that they chose. This is the photo we will use later.
The children do the brainstorming, drafting and writing, currently I do the typing. It is not practical for my 6 and 7 year olds to do the typing, but they do type up short sentences themselves.
We have a computer suite with 11 PCs. Our library time is the same time as our ICT time. Half the kids are upstairs in the computer suite; half downstairs in the library borrowing books and doing literacy activities. We have a support person, Monique, who can "teach" the class for ICT but I use her to support my students in their learning activity - roaming up and down and assisting students. We have been using Kidspiration, a web 2.0 speech bubble site and Tux Paint this term. View these posts on our class blog for what the kids have done: here and here.
In class we have lots of mini programmes going around blogging and podcasting. We do all of these with my mac and my digital camera. We only have one computer in the room!!

These are the things we have covered so far this term in ICT teaching (that I can remember):

What is a digital camera? What does it do? How do we hold it safely?
How do you turn on the camera? How can we take a photo?
What do we do if the screen goes black or if I have a problem?
What do I do when I've taken my photo?
How do I turn the computer on? How do I turn on the monitor?
How do I open programmes?
What do we have to do when we are being videoed? - how do we look/speak/act?
What is a blog? What is the Internet?
Why are we going to have a blog? Put on your thinking hats - What could be the good/bad/creative aspects of having one?
How can we access our blog from home?
What is a podcast? Why would we want to do a podcast? What should we remember when doing a podcast? (voice, expression, pausing, tone etc)

Generally the general classroom programme keeps running! I do not designate and do a full day of just ICT! We integrate it seamlessly into our programme. We only use the ICT as a tool to share, celebrate and display our learning. Children go off individually or in buddies to my "teacher corner" to do their recording or insert their pictures. I need only to show one capable child ONCE... they then can teach another child.. and then that child will teach the next!

Behind everything we do on our class blog and our podcasting sits LOADS of teaching and student's work! For example, every story you read on our class blog or read aloud on the podcast has been brainstormed, drafted and edited by the students. We are still doing the reading, writing, maths etc... and LOTS of it! The ICT is used to bring the students work and learning to life and give the students ownership of it. It also shares learning with our parents/family members.

Please post any comments or questions you have below, I'd only be too happy to help!

Our first Podcast for the year!

2007-04-03T22:06:00.000+12:00

Well it is another time for "firsts" in my classroom with ICT this year!

One of the reasons for this is that we have had a 3rd year student teacher teaching in our classroom for the past 5 weeks. Another reason is simply that the students haven't quite been ready for it all!

Now we are all settled into our routines within the classroom, I am back teaching full time and it is nearing the end of the term. We have walked hard for the last 9 weeks to settle into our new classroom, get to know each other, as well improve our writing, reading, maths and oral language skills (including listening!).... and it shows!

Today we talked about the word podcast coming from the words "ipod" and "broadcast" - we talked about ipods being to do with music and broadcasting being to do with the news and radio - so basically talking. We listened to some taped stories and thought about how we were going to speak when our voices were recorded.

We decided our voices had to:

sound interesting
sound exciting
be loud
be not too fast
be expressive!

Last week we wrote some brilliant stories about our favourite places at Nelson Central School. Today most of the class brought our stories to life by recording us reading them using "Garageband". We then took digital photos of our buddies around the school in the favourite places that we wrote about! We added these to our recordings on Garageband.

Click on the badge below to listen to our AMAZING PODCAST (vodcast)... great for a first attempt for the year I think. Will have to think about better recording equipment for next term, we used my macbook and its internal mic. At some points the class was quite noisy as they were involved in group work and individual students were recording.

Our first class video for the year!

2007-04-01T13:23:00.000+12:00

On Thursday last week my class made their very first proper video for the year!

We have been lucky enough to have a 3rd year student teacher, Nicky, with us for the past 5 weeks. She has been great and the students have really enjoyed her teaching.

We used our class digital camera (nothing flash) - a Canon Powershot to record very short goodbye and thank you messages to Nicky. The sound quality, however, was not flash and we had to record the videos just outside our classroom as otherwise it was too noisy. It's still a little hard to hear some parts of the video due to background noise but it's a fantastic start!

They practiced very hard in pairs what they were going to say, but still many students were affected by "stage fright" but I'm very proud of their first effort! May there be many more throughout the year :)

BTW: I had to remove one short clip as that child does not have permission for her image to be shown on the internet (we included it in the real video that we gave to Nicky in DVD format however)... a small price to pay, but I should have considered her poor buddy who she did the filming with... now she has been cut out of the online version too! Will have to take this into consideration next time.

Silent Reading 2.0

2007-03-25T11:53:00.001+12:00

When I first read this post on Mark Ahlness' blog it struck me as an odd idea... silent reading 2.0.

Mark came up with an idea to revamp silent reading in his secondary classroom. He used his SSR time to get his kids reading BLOGS instead of books! Blogs written by kids... for kids! This was not a time for students to be "creating" or commenting on blogs, rather a time purely for reading them.

When I actually think about it, it's easy to see how my own personal reading habits have changed over the past months. I still consult "books" to get ideas for my teaching and units etc, but when was the last time I actually read a physical book?!! I believe I now read more than ever, but it's a different kind of reading, a kind that is constantly up to date and written by ordinary people.

This quote from Mark's blog also struck me... could this be the future for our kids?

"By the time they grow up, I bet their reading preferences will be worlds away from where they and I are now. My hunch is it will not be cuddling up with a chapter book."

Perhaps before then we'll need more computers in our classrooms!
Do you think we'll ever find cuddling up to our computer in bed to read as comforting as cuddling up to a good book?

Comment away!!!

2007-03-21T23:30:00.000+12:00

Thank you so much to those of you who have started making comments on my blog!

For a while now I have seen that you have been reading and no one has been brave enough to start leaving comments.

It's great to have that interactive part of the blog going through commenting, I really appreciate your ideas and responses to my postings and I enjoy meeting people with similar interests.... so don't be shy!

Kind regards, Rachel :)

Is your mac hot??

2007-03-19T22:51:00.000+12:00

Does your mac (specifically macbook) get really hot with use??

Mine certainly does... actually to the point of lightly burning my skin if I am using it on my lap wearing shorts etc.

Recently I downloaded smc Fan Control. It is a tiny but great free programme that lets you increase the minimum fan speed to make your mac book run cooler. It works like a charm and within minutes the mac is running cooler and no longer is a danger to me.

Recently I have also added this application to my start up list so that it automatically loads when I start my computer. I am finding that setting the fan control to "higher RPM" is proving beneficial too.

Smc Fan Control now just runs seamlessly in the background and displays a reading of the temp and rpm that the fans are running at.

Sorry macbook... you're not so hot anymore :)

Off to ischool!

2007-03-19T22:28:00.000+12:00

Well I certainly am getting my fair share of ICT PD this year!

It seems I have just got back from Learning@School and the Nelson TUANZ Conference only to be out again (for 2days) at ischool in Nelson (not that I am complaining!).

I have been really looking forwards to these two days at ischool as they are specifically Apple based and I can get to work really using my apple to its full potential.

I have chosen a one day course on Kidpix in the Classroom and one on creating digital movies and portfolios. Jane from Nelson Central is going to the podcasting one tomorrow which I normally would have gone to except I already have done a 1 and a half hour workshop with Kirsten Beggs when I was at Learning @School.

Anyway, REALLY excited about ischool tomorrow and Wednesday... I have always wanted to go to one of these courses, but haven't been lucky enough to be allowed to go until now!

I am looking forwards to taking all my ideas back into the classroom and planning lots of interesting and rich things for my students to do. Nicky, my 3rd year teacher trainee finishes her teaching this Friday and then we have only one week left of school until the holidays. At least I will have a bit of time to hatch my plan...

Are you blogging this???

2007-03-11T19:40:00.000+13:00

Only web 2.0 and blogging could have it's own song!

And only some geek out there could ever think of scripting, editing, performing, videoing and uploading such a video to You Tube.

I really like this video made by user daweedrex. See if you can see how many web 2.0 tools you can recognise in the video. I've also included the lyrics to the song below!

Here's the song:

My picture is flickring around technorati.
And I just discovered I am such a newb, I'm on YouTube

Are you blogging this?
Delicious myspace then tell me with meebo
Drop my feed into bloglines, I'm so web 2.0

Are you blogging this?
Blogger blummy skobee ditto seekum suckingfish
Auctionmapper frappr zoomr feedwhip blish
Rollyo seekum previewseek swicki wink
Flickr scanr talkr cheapr soonr kitchen sink

All Ourmedia's confusing me
Maybe I need to read a Wikipedia entryAre you blogging this?
Google froogle blogger SketchUp calculator talk
Code news catalogs academic search
Finance images video alerts
Mobile SMS picasa translate search

How can I EVER get bored now.....

2007-03-11T08:12:00.000+13:00

StumbleUpon is fantastic!

How can I ever get bored now when I have a few minutes to rove the net! Forget about "googling" the web and thinking up keywords to search for!

When I signed up to StumbleUpon (free, quick and easy) I simply considered a whole lot of options/topics and checked those that best applied and interested me.

I also downloaded the add-on for Firefox and now have a tiny button underneath my navigation toolbar that will transport me to a random site that suits my preferences and interests.

So, now whenever I have a few minutes to browse, I'll be surfing through this, seeing what interesting things come my way... I'll post the good ones to my del.icio.us.

I love this.....

2007-03-10T19:11:00.000+13:00

10 Ways to a Killer Blog

2007-03-10T17:44:00.000+13:00

I stumbled upon this interesting Slideshare presentation today by user yizmo. It is actually 15 ways to a "killer blog" not 10!!
It was used at a business seminar/conference in 2006 apparently. Has great cartoons and some important points to note about blogging.
This one, however, struck me....

It is true that edublogging requires a bit of the old passion and authority.

Passion to maintain your blog even when the going gets tough and stressful at work.
Authority to make your views known to the world and to make controversial points at times.

You can view the rest of the slideshow below. Enjoy :)

UPDATE: Cartoons used in the above Slideshow are from Gaping Void (thanks Graham for that link). There are some really witty ones if you wade through the crude and odd ones :)
The other Blogging cartoons that I LOVE come from We Blog Cartoons.

TUANZ Audioconference

2007-03-07T10:55:00.000+13:00

Yesterday from 4-5 an audio conference was held on Elluminate for presenters at the TUANZ 2007 conference.

The US keynote speakers Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Miguel Guhlin hosted an online discussion about technology issues facing New Zealand teachers. That was where my disasters began...

Firstly I couldn't join the conference on time due to a syndicate meeting... so I raced back at 4:30 to participate... and then my school laptop decided to have a complete paddy and pack up several times! I was able to hear a lot of the conference but could not speak at all, the pages on the screen refused to load, yet I was able to hear the audio. During one time I was able to use the chatboard section to participate but this was short lived!

My favourite part (ie the most embarrassing part) was when Sheryl tried to involve me in the audio and I wasn't able to speak!!!! There were two incredibly long pauses while they waited for me to take the mike... however I couldn't even get the screen to load correctly let alone press the onscreen button to be able to talk.

This leads me to one point............ should have used the trusty APPLE - my Black Macbook is my new best friend!! [Although it isn't yet connected to the school network as it is my personal computer] I am going to send my Toshiba on a holiday to the computer doctor soon!

Luckily the conversation was recorded so I have since caught up on what I missed :)

You can watch/listen to the conversation/screencast here.

Just for Chrys - how to make links to older posts

2007-03-04T16:41:00.000+13:00

What a wonderful comment I received today on my "test dummy blog" that I used to demo for my Learning @ School presentation on blogging.

Hello Rachel!
My name is Chrys and I was most fortunate to attend a course run by you recently at the Learning@School conference in Rotorua.
I am most interested, after viewing your Mapua log, as to how you go about making all your older posts as links, (not in the archive section) but on the front page. I would also like to know if I am able to contact you for help or tips!
Kindest regards,
Chrys

Chrys has made an amazing start to her class' blog at Reporoa Primary (sorry won't give out that web link until I check it is ok with their school policy etc)

Here's the easy answer:

For my L@S presentation I wanted people to be able to quickly see at a glance a selection of different posts that we had made last year on the Room One blog. I can't expect people to sift through nearly 100 posts just to find the dynamite ones!

In the Posting Section>under Edit posts (when logged into Blogger) you will see all of your posts listed separately like in the photo below. If you want to link to just ONE of those posts for whatever reason click on VIEW next to the post. You can then copy the link in the browser and hyperlink it in another part of your blog. This will bring up only that post on the page.
It may be useful if you have an older post, for example "About Us" that you want people to be able to look at throughout the year. This might be great if you put a hyperlink in the sidebar of your blog!

******EXTRA*****

My other secret is that parents aren't often "computer literate" and have no idea that in a blog pages get archived quite regulary unless you opt otherwise. I find that often parents think that only what is on the main page of the blog!!

Under Settings>Formatting you'll see a section called Show. It is here that you get to specify how many blog posts will appear on the front page. For the purposes of showing our Room One Mapua blog I changed this so it would show 20 posts. You may like to choose only 10 or 15 for your blog however.

Hope this helps, happy blogging and many thanks for your comment Chrys!

Please post any questions you may have as a comment below :)

A new look for my blog

2007-03-04T12:05:00.000+13:00

Well this morning when I had a little time on my hands I finally transfered this blog over to the new blogger. I was reluctant to do this before now as I had customised my blog so much and couldn't be bothered going through and putting back in all my 'added extras' like my Clustr Map, Clock, hit counter, delicious tags and more.

But now it is done! I also had fun playing around with my template colours. Here's pics of my work in progress:

My OLD blog look: dreary and boring I think!

This is what my blog looked like when I chose a new pre-made template:

AND THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW!!!
(no I'm not going to post a pic! you can look around for yourself!)

:)

Day 2 - Learning @ School Conference

2007-02-22T21:15:00.000+13:00

Today started with a fantastic Keynote by David Warlick: blogging and ICT guru from America. This was a wonderful experience to hear David in the flesh for me as I regularly read his blog 2c Worth.

One of the great points I took out of David's talk was:

For the first time in history we are preparing students for a future that we can't clearly describe.

Children these days are:
* connected globally - no barriers
* can teach themselves new skills
* learn new skills because they are connected - can seek out others
* part of a community of other learners and teachers
* have invented new grammar
My two other workshop selections were great also: Forget the Platform and Sorry my Homework was Fragged.

You can view my online notes that I took for these workshops and David Warlick's keynote here.

Wired up from Learning @ School Conference

2007-02-21T00:54:00.000+13:00

Had a great today at the Learning @ School Conference in Rotorua. Had four breakouts today, two of which were fantastic.

Have been really wired tonight with millions of thoughts and ideas swimming around in my head..... all good stuff, but not when it leaves me up until nearly 1 in the morning furiously bookmarking sites from breakouts I didn't get to visit! I won't go through and list them all here - I've boomarked them in my del.icio.us - most of them I have only had a very brief look at and have just bookmarked for later purusal.

Very hot and muggy today and with four breakouts to do it seemed like a lot to ask.... was glad I wasn't presenting today as it was very full-on. Have a neat day tomorrow with two spotlight workshops and Dave Warlick speaking as Keynote, which I am sure I'll enjoy.

A new year... a new class blog!

2007-01-05T11:54:00.000+13:00

Here is the link for the new class blog I have set up for my year 2/3 class at Nelson Central School.

Room 9 Nelson Central's Blog!

I will slowly be introducing them to blogging over the first term, mainly posting under my name. I hope to have THEM posting during the second term.

I've set up two "contributors" to the blog: being both myself and "Room 9 Kids" so hopefully you'll be able to see when this change-over occurs :)

My big change

2006-12-24T16:31:00.000+13:00

I've just spent the last two weeks (part time) and the past four days (full time) cleaning out two year's worth of mess, junk and.... let's face it CRAP out of my classroom at Mapua School.

Next year I am having a big, but a very positive, change and I'll be working at Nelson Central School (as seen in the photo). Some things never change however and I'll still be teaching the same year group (year 2/3) so at least I'll be able to use some of my best resources again if needed. It's actually quite exciting to think of all the new faces and personalities I'll meet within the staff, teachers and students.

Nelson Central is also part of a new ICT Cluster that is being formed with Nelson Schools beginning next year. I am looking forwards to this as I've got a lot out of being part of the Discover IT Tasman ICT cluster this year. I hope to not only gain new skills, but to continue to enhance other teacher's skills throughout the year. And of course I'll still be available to folks from the Discover IT cluster if they ever want me to come back and help them out at all!

Yes, of course I'll be starting a new classroom BLOG and I'll make sure I post that web address up as soon as I've started it. It will be quite fun introducing another bunch of "little people" to blogging. I've had a lot of successes this year with my class (Room One) and I can't wait for the many benefits to start filtering down to the fabulous new bunch of children that I'll get.

Hope everyone has a FANTASTIC Christmas and New Year period filled with pressies, good food, good company and lots of laughter!

Edubloggers Frappr Map

2006-12-22T19:11:00.000+13:00

"Frappr! Maps are like a triple mash-up of an online guest book, a hit log and a map -- three services that, combined, create a fun and visually appealing environment that will keep Web site visitors coming back for more.. "

-- Kun, Frappr! co-founder

Today I stumbled upon the Frappr Map of Edubloggers all over the world. It's a really neat world wide map that you can add yourself to and browse and meet other teachers/educators with blogs from around the world. A lot of people have posted their educational blog websites also, so I'll have to spend a little bit of time browsing through these over the next few weeks.

On my home dial-up connection it took a little bit of time to load but it's reasonably easy to navigate once it's all loaded. You just hold your mouse over the little markers to find out about each person. It's also very easy to feel like we are located "down under" when you have to move the map so much across and down just to find little old New Zealand and Australia!

It would be great to get lots of other NZ teachers with educational based blogs onto this map..... it's looking a bit sad in our part of the world as you can see.

Add yourself now!

Fun with Photo Booth

2006-12-19T19:50:00.000+13:00

Today we had fun in class with one of the new Apple laptops with the built in "isight" camera. We used the programme Photo Booth to capture end of year FUN and QUIRKY photos of all of us!

Each child took a photo of themself using their chosen photo effect: either comic book, thermal, glow or coloured pencil. We then took some group shots. I am going to make all the photos into a slideshow, set it to music and add it to the end of year DVD that I have made for my class.

Check out some of the neat photos we took!!!!

End of Year DVD

2006-12-18T20:17:00.000+13:00

Last Wednesday night my class and I held a very special "Room One Afternoon/Evening" where we invited all of our parents/caregivers and family to watch a special show we were putting on.

The children presented stories, plays, magic acts, a dance, poems and songs that they had been working on in either a group or with the whole class. They were absolutely amazing and organised everything, I just provided them with a few afternoons to plan and practise.

At the end of it all I presented a slideshow I had made of our amazing year. It was photos dating right back to February and everyone enjoyed remembering our fabulous trips, activities and experiences. I made my slideshow in iphoto but added reference slides that I made in Kidpix, these were simply to segregate the photos into experiences, see below for an example. This made the experience better as everyone knew which photo was what. I also put them in chronological order. I also set my slideshow to my funkiest itunes tracks like MC Hammer, Don't worry be happy, Manama Na and Remember the Days. At the end of the evening we all had Fish and Chips as a big group. It was a really neat way to round off the year.
All the parents & rellies absolutely loved the slideshow and I had numerous attempts to provide it to them. I sent my iphoto slideshow to idvd by choosing share>send to idvd. Making a class DVD was great because I also put on some of the movies we've made over the year as well as some other fun stuff.

Going completely over the top (like usual) I also used Comic Life to make a cover for the DVD. I think they turned out great. It certainly was also worth all the effort, the parents love them and they'll be something my students can treasure for all their lives. I'll definetly be doing the sharing evening and the DVD again at the end of next year.

BTW: Here's what the CD cover turned out like... aren't they cute!

Discover IT Tasman PD Day

2006-12-07T23:34:00.000+13:00

Tomorrow afternoon we have our ICT Cluster PD Day.

I am presenting a workshop for teachers on how to Enhance your Classroom Blog.

It's a hands on practical session where we will be using popular web 2.0 tools to enhance existing class blogs. It should be great to work personally with such a small group of innovative teachers.

Here's a simplified slideshow of my PowerPoint Presentation that I've used Slideshare to host.

Great Blogging Video

2006-11-15T15:41:00.000+13:00

I've just discovered a really neat video on blogging called "Blogosphere".

You can view it here at Teachers' TV.

It is 15 minutes long (obviously recommended for viewing with a broadband connection) and I have included the synopsis below.

Please note mac users: you may have to download a plug-in to be able to view the video. It is Windows Media Player for Mac. I got mine for OS X here.

HERE IS THE SYNOPSIS OF THE VIDEO:
"Blogging is now a worldwide phenomenon with weblogs reaching a potential audience of hundreds of millions.

Blogs have been described as the ultimate in publishing for the people and have been used to challenge governments and the press.

Steve O'Hear, one of Britain's digital evangelists, explores how blogs can be used in schools. Steve finds some enthusiastic primary age bloggers and sees how it helps in literacy, ICT skills and a range of other subjects.

He finds many of the benefits extend beyond the curriculum. Blogging can help pupils:

Develop confidence
Improve their self expression
Get a real sense of fulfilment from publishing their work

In West Blatchington School in Hove, blogging is practised by everyone from the head down. Steve visits the school's after-school blogging club, a special bloggers' assembly and sees weblogs being used in the school's autistic unit."

A Favicon for your Blog!

2006-10-21T10:57:00.000+13:00

I had so much fun today adding a Favicon (short for favourite icon) to my class blog, thinking skills blog and this blog!

If you look above in your address window you'll be able to see exactly what a Favicon is!
It's that cute little picture up there where the "B" for blogger used to be!

Why do I love it.....?
Well it adds a bit of personalisation and professionalism to your page.
Plus if you're using Firefox (which you should be!) the favicon will also turn up on your tabs.... how's that for cute!
Note: Favicons only turn up in Internet Explorer if the site is in your bookmarks.

How to do it!

Upload the picture or photo that you want to use as a favicon to this site

Follow the directions and ransform it into an ico file

Grab the favicon.ico and get it hosted to the internet somewhere: I used Ripway

Get the full URL address where your favicon is hosted

Use this code and replace what's in the red with your URL (there's two to replace)

In your Template place the code next to the head code.

Fabulous Interactive Maths Website

2006-10-20T21:46:00.000+13:00

Rainforest Maths is a fabulous Interactive Maths Website that is great for children.

It covers many parts of the mathematics curriculum like:

number

algebra

measurement

space (geometry)

I am going to introduce my class to it next week; I am sure they'll really enjoy it.

A class Del.icio.us!

2006-10-20T21:09:00.000+13:00

Today I set up a del.icio.us account for my class.
I have been contemplating doing this for a while but was given the prompt after Allanah (from Appleby) and I had a chat about it all the other day.

This should be very useful and allow parents to have a more secure way of their children browsing the internet. They now will just have to open the del.icio.us page and know that each website has been vetted by myself. It also means that game posts from our class blog will be easily able to find.

I will promote it with the students and parents next week... I hope it proves to be a hit!

Make your own Newspaper Clipping!

2006-10-16T20:20:00.000+13:00

I've just come across a great website, featured on this blog, that lets you make, and personalise, your own newspaper clipping!

It is easy to use and lots of fun. Just type in your text and click 'generate'

Click here to make your own newspaper clipping at the Newspaper Clipping Generator.

Check out this example I made to celebrate my class' achievements at our Masked Parade:

Keeping Track of Blogs

2006-10-10T18:45:00.000+13:00

Well I guess it's about time to explain how I keep track of the 46 blogs that I read on a regular basis...... hmmm that sounds rather a lot doesn't it once I count them all up..... :)

I use a blog tracking internet site called Blogarithm to track all those blogs that I read. On a daily basis I get sent a morning email (BlogMail) listing the blogs that I am subscribed to that have been freshly updated.

Blogarithm can track ANY website or blog. It does all the hard work and will email you to let you know when they have been updated.

This GREATLY improves my social life as I physically don't have to check each of those blogs. I know when each one is updated and only have to check those blogs if I find the short description something that interests me. This way I never miss a post from one of my favourite educational bloggers from all over the world.

Get your own Blogarithm account here!

Some of my favourite blogs I read regularly are:
* Greg Carroll - ICTPD National Faciliator from Core Ed (NZ)
* ULearn Blog - News and Info on the ULearn Conference held in Oct 06 (NZ)
* Derek Wenmoth - Director elearning Core Ed (NZ)
* Teaching Hacks - teaching with technology
* Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Slideshare - It's like FREE PD!

2006-10-08T17:40:00.000+13:00

Yesterday I was introduced to Slideshare by Derek Wenmoth via his blog.

It's in the stage where you have to be invited to join but I found it didn't take long until I was allowed through the gateway.

Joining has to be one of the best things I've done this holidays!
WHY???

Because Slideshare is basically FREE Professional Development!!

There isn't too much online now at the moment because it has only been operational for less than a week, however there are still gems to be found!

Check out this one that I found by using the tag: education

I will definetly be contributing to this when I have useful Powerpoint presentations! Let's all pool our resources and make this a neat community.

Click here to request to join!

Getting rid of the Navbar in New Blogger

2006-10-06T10:58:00.000+13:00

Phew!
Well got rid of that nasty navbar at the top of blogger again!
WAS going to look later for the hack.... but it turned out I had to do it immediately as it was bugging me...... yeah what a geek right!

Anyway the hack is here at Blogger Templates. It's actually where I got the original hack from, great to see that it's been updated to combat the New Blogger problem.

Just be careful if you're cutting/pasting/tinkering with your blogger template, one false key stoke can change things hugely. Always "PREVIEW" your changes first, because you can always undo the edits you have made if it made your blog go all crazy.

Any probs give me an email and I'll do what I can to help you rid your blog of the navbar! (PS - own risk as it is apparently a breach of TOS??)

This link here is a download to a step by step Word Document that I have made.
It may help you, depending on which Blogger Template you are using.

Just switched over to Blogger Beta!

2006-10-06T10:35:00.000+13:00

Reluctantly, and with my eyes squeezed tightly shut and my heart praying I've just switched over to blogging in Beta.

Not too many scary things to report as of yet and the change seems to have gone smoothly.
My page still looks the same and all my template changes seem to have taken the move well. Will have to check, however, that all are functioning correctly.

One thing I HAVE noticed is that my NAV bar is back! grrrrrr!
I was NOT impressed to see this, especially since I hunted out a hack to get RID of it, perhaps Blogger Beta is immune to the hack! Will have a hunt later and see if there is some kind of "fix" or hack for this.

I wasn't willing to take the jump to Beta on my class blog, it is far too precious to go experimenting with, and I have spent FAR too many months perfecting the template to risk it all. Will see how this beta-blogging goes on this blog first!

Social Bookmarking: it is del.icio.us after all!

2006-10-03T10:19:00.000+13:00

Yesterday I sucumbed to Social Bookmarking!

Social bookmarking is a web based service, where shared lists of user-created Internet available bookmarks are stored and shared. You can find out more about it on this wiki.

I was initially not interested in this as I didn't like the idea of other people looking at what I was looking at, perhaps a paranoid privacy issue I have (!) Instead, I have now used it to display and share just a select few of my bookmarks.

The process of social bookmarking starts with choosing a service, and there are many out there. I chose del.icio.us as it is getting more popular in the educational field. I simply signed up and dowloaded a tool for my browser - Firefox - (which I suggest you use too with Blogger). This del.icio.us icon sits on my navigation bar in Firefox and allows me to tag pages as I see them to my own personal del.icio.us page. I then choose the categories I want that web page to be located under. For example if I put this webpage in I might choose the category tags: blog, blogging, classroom and web2.0. It will then file my page under each of those category tags.

The advantages of this type of bookmarking is that no matter what computer I use, my bookmarks will be available to me, simply by navigating to my del.icio.us page. It also allows me to see popular options that have been saved by lots of other people, these sites are more likely to be useful.

I also created a del.icio.us cloud which you can see in my side bar. That provides direct links to my shared bookmarks.

SO GO ON, TRY OUT SOCIAL BOOKMARKING - IT'S DEFINETLY MORE DEL.ICIO.US THAN YOU'D THINK!

An RSS Calendar addition

2006-10-01T14:22:00.000+13:00

Today I created an RSS Calendar for my Thinking Skillls Blog.

This will allow me to share the content of each thinking group session with parents/caregivers. They will be able to see at a glance what session is coming up and what the content is. It allows them to click on the title to read additional information also.

First you register and put your events on the calendar. In "publish" it then provides you with a simple code to copy and paste onto your template or blog post.

See below for my what my calendar looks like:

Could be very useful if you want to upload specific information for students/parents/caregivers etc, maybe could also be used for detailing homework tasks perhaps? If you find an interesting use for the RSS Calendar in the classroom please let me know!

Creating Comics - Easy as!

2006-09-25T21:09:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I downloaded an amazing mac only programme that helps you to create neat comics easily...

Comic Life is absolutely amazing, very user friendly and it allows you to quickly create a comic page using your digital photographs. It linked automatically to my iphoto and displayed all the pictures from my iphoto library. I simply chose a template for my comic and then dragged the pictures into the spots.

Check out this example that I made...

It's a shareware programme so you can use it for 30 days before registering it. After that you can still use it but apparently it will display a watermark on your work. However if you really like the programme registration costs just over $40NZ for a single non-commercial user.

Try it for yourself and download it from here!

A CLOCK for your blog!

2006-09-23T12:59:00.000+12:00

Today I put a clock showing the current New Zealand time on our class blog. This should be really useful due to the high amount of visitors we are getting from overseas.

I believe the clock will allow the visitors to "connect" with us on a more personal level as they'll be able to know what time of the day it is in New Zealand. I chose an analogue robot clock (same as the one I've put in the menu bar of this blog - or see below) which although doesn't show am/pm certainly is cool :)

There are so many other free clocks to use on your blog. You just select the one you want and copy and paste the html code into your blog. In Blogger go to Template>Page Elements>Add Page Element (on the sidebar)>HTML/Javascript. Then paste the code in and save.

Check all the clocks out here at Clocklink.

Webnotes for Children!

2006-09-22T12:37:00.000+12:00

A week ago I created a Webnote area to be used by my students. It is basically digital sticky post-it notes. I plan to put a link to the webnotes on the blog during the school holidays. I hope the students will leave little notes detailing what they have been up to in the school holidays.

Here is a link to my class Webnote page.

Very easy to set up and could be quite a powerful tool if used by students, they can change the colour of the sticky notes and move them around on the screen. Looks like FUN!

Recording voice to share on your blog

2006-09-19T16:12:00.000+12:00

In the weekend I set up a podcast for my class on the Podomatic website.
I planned to use it next term when I start investigating podcasting with my class.

However..... today proved much too much of a tempting opportunity...... a child approached me and said he had a whole bunch of his own jokes that he wanted me to write up for him on the blog..... what better an opportunity than to get the child to record themselves saying their own jokes!

Tait found it very easy to record his voice, sitting in front of the laptop is fine as the ibook G4's have built in microphones. I showed him what to press when he was finished and left him to it! When I came back he'd done a fine job but there was a lot of background noise. We sent some children outside to play (this occured before school) and he recorded again. It worked perfectly.

Broadband is obviously advisable for listening to podcasts, I found it quite difficult at home to listen back to what I had recorded through dial up internet.

Should be lots of fun next term!

Listen to Tait's joke podcast here!

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

Update: Listen to my class' 2007 podcasts here!

We are using Garageband to record, edit, mix and put together our podcasts. Podomatic is ideal for hosting your podcast so you can share it with others.

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