Wednesday 26 November 2014

A great day of sharing and learning - educampchch 2014


Saturday 22nd November was a very hot sunny day here in Christchurch. And at the St Margaret's College Library,30 enthusiastic educators braved the heat to share their ideas, facilitate workshops, and network with others like-minded teachers.
Then later in the day some of us headed down to #Brigettes in Merivale for lunch and more networking. If you didn't make it to #educampchch this year, don't panic, your name is probably on an email list. If you haven't signed up on the Christchurch Connected Educators data base then sign up now HERE

Here's a glimpse of what happened...
Allana Taylor from Springston Primary share tips on creating a class blog. Here's
Allana's brilliant class blog

Blake Luffy @blakeluffy (Amuri Area School) and Jill Pears@jillpears (Linwood College) ran a workshop on  programming using Scratch.
Bridget Compton-Moen @BridgetLCM (Selwyn House) shares how she uses Twitter with her students to share their book reviews and contact other enthusiastic readers. She has helped her students set up #kidsbookchat where they share their reading choices and ask for other students' opinions.

Matt Nicoll @mattynicoll(St Andrew's College) also showed how he records his lessons and then upload the videos to his blog. Fantastic example of rewindable learning.  Here's a link to Matt's blog.

Need more ideas? Here's a link to the SMACKDOWN and the Storify of all the tweets.




Monday 24 November 2014

Congratulations Clever Christchurch Educators!





Congratulations to the following Christchurch Teachers who have been nominated for Interface awards for their use of technology in their classrooms. Have a look at the links and then vote.

http://interfaceonline.co.nz/interface-awards-2014-vote/       

Nick Leith and the students of Room 5 -Casebrook Intermediate.
In Room 5, a Year 8 class, we had been studying how societies operate as part of an inquiry into the forming our own 'Utopias'. The students investigated how NZ was formed, the Treaty, and our society as we know it in 2014. Then we investigated the 'less successful' ones that have made an impact on history such as Nazi Germany and Communism in Russia. We had a visit from police to talk about law and order and looked at the efforts to rebuild Christchurch in creative and innovative ways through a visit to the city. We also investigated the new subdivisions being created in Christchurch and world wide and how they attract people to buy property in their communities.

The students created their own wikis and blogs to 'sell' their Utopia (individual group choice). We housed the links on a wiki that included a google form to enable parents, teachers and other students to cast their vote for their favourite utopia. Results were fed back to the students and they advertised their websites in the school newsletter and on our school webpage.

The students overwhelmingly enjoyed the context to write persuasively and the peer influence on the quality of the writing was a real benefit. They learned how to create on the web, modify HTML code and identify what pulls in viewers in relation to design.

Please follow the link below and then click on the flags to visit the various utopian societies formed:
www.aroomfiveutopia.wikispaces.com


  Kellie Knight and Karen Mckinney , Room USB - Lincoln Primary School.

Room USB is a collaborative class with 43 year 1 children. We create a class that encourages collaboration, flexibility and personalisation around the children' s learning. We use our iPads to enhance  the children's learning. We collect and share this work through our individual e-portfolios.
We use the SAMR model to create activities where the children can share, create and explore.
As a result of our eLearning strategy the children of Lincoln Primary School are explicitly taught the skills, values and attitude to become a digital citizen.

http://lincolnprimary.ultranet.school.nz/ClassSpace/168/


Kerry Poulsen, Room LC10 - West Melton School

LC10 are a bunch of energetic, innovative Year 3's. LC10 have embraed the use of iPads and app smashing which is the use of multiple apps with the focus on creative thinking. We used a variety of apps to create and and then share our work with the school assembly.

Kerry Poulsen, West Melton School, Canterbury – Assembly iMovie








Thursday 20 November 2014

Educampchch14 - More brilliant free PD!





What's all this buzz about educampchch?  What is an educamp anyway?

I'm glad you asked...

Educamps are a great way to meet like-minded educators, passionate about teaching, learning, innovation and also willing to share their knowledge. They are teacher-led, informal gatherings with lots of coffee, sharing, learning and networking.

There are educamps happening all over NZ and anyone can run one. Fiona Grant (@fionagrant) set up educampnz and oversees them all, helping teachers who want to get one up and running.

What's this "smackdown" thing?  A smackdown is a quick fire way of sharing ideas from anyone who wants to participate and share their ideas via the google presentation.
Ideas/tools/tips/apps/blogs/resources etc. Tell others about this great teaching idea in 2mins.  Here's the educampdunners one.

Don't miss out! educampchch, Sat 22nd November at 
St Margaret's College Library  INFO HERE

Looking forward to seeing you there and bring a friend,
Pauline, Allana and Bridget