Clarinda's Connected Contemplations

Not all by myself #tmsydney #FTW

Clarindab — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:45:48 +0000

I am attending a TeachMeet Sydney event this afternoon at Crestwood High School. Those of you on Twitter, you can follow or catch up later on the backchannel via the #tmsydney tag. This will be my fourth TeachMeet. They are a fantastic space for educators from all sectors and settings to share ideas via Pecha Kucha presentations, 2-minute mini presentations and inspiring informal discussions. Here is my mini presentation on a few things, that I am very proud to say, I am no longer doing all by myself.

My presentation will take the form of a mini Pecha Kucha - six slides, twenty seconds each in the hope that I will be able to stick to the two-minute time slot.

Many things that have inspired this presentation. Over the last twelve months, there have been many changes trialled and implemented in my school. The most inspiring part - the uptake by others and the momentum which has been gained and continues to roll on. Here are five examples from my presentation:

Edmodo

My school has now been using Edmodo as an eLearning platform for twelve months
We now have 75% of staff using it with the majority of their classes; 50% of staff use it at least three times per week
Students and staff are accessing Edmodo during holidays and on weekends
Staff training sessions have occurred on school development days, after school and during lunchtimes. A workshop on the newer features of Badges and Quizzes was part of the most recent school development day at the start of this year. The best part – it wasn’t me presenting. Two other staff members organised and delivered this session to the whole staff in a hands-on workshop – very proud of them!

Classdojo

A fairly new discovery. I have been trying it out with my classes, with an emphasis on positive points and tying in behaviours with our Positive Behaviour for Learning program.
After sharing it with other staff, it is now being used in over ten classes across three faculty areas.
Students are loving the real time change of score and staff are enjoying its user-friendly interface and positive impact in the classroom.

iPad and Apps

We began with one in the school last year and now have seven across four faculty areas.
Initial training with staff has made them in charge of their device with their own itunes account.
While classroom implementation is in varying stages, staff are well on their way. Ideas for uses and sharing of new app discoveries are coming thick and fast on email between staff and further sharing sessions are being held and initiated by them.

Kinect

The PDHPE faculty purchased two Xbox Kinect consoles last year to enhance elective courses and to offer a greater variety of options for wet weather and dance lessons using games such as Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports and Dance Central.
The consoles have now been used in two other faculty areas and are now part of the school Recreational sport program and have also been used in Staff Professional Learning activities

Social Media

Cumberland High School now has its own Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube online spaces.
Staff are now getting into the habit of requesting updates to be placed on Facebook/Twitter (which are linked to auto-update) but having two other staff members request to be administrators of these and actually begin posting themselves is great to see.
Messages have maintained consistency in tone and students and parents are getting in the habit of checking these spaces as well. Now if only they were all unblocked at school to staff and students….

Although still small changes and early days for some of these, sustainability is definitely in the air.

#FTW

Hoopla or Habit?

Clarindab — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:35:34 +0000

The start of a new year is always an exciting time to kick off new ideas, start new programs and begin new habits. Whether professional or personal, new goals are always on our mind at this time of year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntr23/4545975787/sizes/m/in/set-72157623793156013/

I have written before about the concept of a 30 Day Challenge, on the basis that you need to something thirty times for it to become a habit. The idea is to establish a positive behaviour as part of your practice or lifestyle by either subtracting a negative behaviour or adding a positive behaviour, for example:

Personal Challenges

Exercising
Avoiding a particular food
Eating breakfast

Professional Challenges

Checking your Reader everyday
Going paperless in your teaching
Trying something new every day in one lesson/activity whether it be with a device, an app or a great web tool
Spending time engaging with and developing your PLN

When something is new, different and unusual, we tend to make a big deal of it. This serves a few purposes.

Firstly, we are sharing our enthusiasm and excitement with others. This can help keep us on track, assist with motivation and provide the opportunity for others to engage with the concept also.

Secondly, we tend to give the idea great importance. We acknowledge it as a high priority and will make sure that it action is taken for its success.

A finally, it gives us the chance to evaluate and to discern if it is just a fad or a sustainable change that we can adopt long term.

A colleague recently posed this question on a company social networking site:

In an educational context, this is an interesting thought and one which is holds alot of truth. However, there were times when these were all new ideas too. When we became caught up in the excitement of the innovation. And there are more people everyday experiencing that same notion of discovery and combined with fresh enthusiasm.

So when does something evolve to be less hoopla and more habit?

Many of us cannot imagine life without our smartphones, teaching without an elearning platform such as Edmodo or Moodle or not having access to the Internet each and everyday.

In my opinion, until it becomes such a normal part of your daily routine or practice that you don’t even think about it as being something other than just what you do.

And the more people that can bring innovative practices into teaching and learning, the better.

But if you are in the habit phase, keep trying to find those strategies that bring you back into the hoopla phase – as it is where so much valuable learning and reflection will take place.

So what will your Hoopla or Habit dilemma bring for you this year?

Embed Encourage Empower – #DigitalCitizenship in My School

Clarindab — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:03:51 +0000

Today I will be in wonderful Byron Bay at the invitation of the Principal of Byron Bay High School, Peter King to present on the Digital Citizenship program that has been implemented at my school at a joint School Development Day with Mullumbimby High School. The day is off-site at Lake Ainsworth Sport and Recreation Centre, Lennox Head and is a beautiful venue for team-building and kicking off new ideas.

My ‘Embed Encourage Empower’ Pecha Kucha presentation

The aim of the program is to develop students’ skills which will allow them to participate safely, productively and respectfully in an online environment whether they are at home or at school. The online world is very much part of their world and it is essential that they are aware of the expectations, responsibilities and opportunities associated with this involvement.

Key features of the Cumberland High School Digital Citizenship program:

Student-led workshops
Whole-school approach
Year-specific activities
Topics covered include safe texting, use of social media, protecting privacy, online profile safety and transacting online

A variety of resources used in our program are available for use including:

Links to key sites
Lesson outlines
Useful video resources

All my resources for Digital Citizenship in My School are housed in their own blog.

October Halo-Halo

Clarindab — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:33:20 +0000

We are finally now getting into halo-halo weather! Halo-halo means “mix-mix”. So here is my monthly mix of my favourite sites, tools and ideas which are definitely quite random this month – a trend that I’m sure will continue as we head towards the end of the year.

Image URL: http://365greatpinoystuff.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/halo-halo.jpg

Pearl Trees

A fantastic content curation tool. Pearls are web links and Pearl Trees act like folders for your pearls. I particularly like the “team” function which enables you to collaborate with others to create Pearl Trees.

They can also be embedded and shared and you can search through the Trees that others have created and “pick” pearls to add to you trees.

I have recently introduced these to my students and they love them!

They can also be embedded into Edmodo and Posterous beautifully (though ironically not into WordPress) and shared and you can search through Pearl Trees that others have created and “pick” pearls to add to your Trees.

I have recently introduced these to my students and they love them! Here is an example of one that three of my students “teamed up” to create together.

Slideshare

I know it’s been around for a while but it has become even easier to use. Changes have been made to navigation options and embedding presentations, particularly in WordPress, is painless – even for a HTML noob like me. Love the changes and my use of it has been reinvigorated!

: Ease of embed options – http://www.slideshare.net/

iPhone Funky Fun

It’s flippant but funny and awesome all at the same time. Would love to get my students to create something equally as wacky with our iPod Touch devices.

What has been your favourite site, tool, idea or awesome discovery this month?

Enjoy the halo-halo!

3 Blogs, 2 Minutes, 1 TeachMeet #tmsydney

Clarindab — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:09:10 +0000

I am attending a TeachMeet Sydney event this afternoon at Oakhill College. Those of you on Twitter, you can follow or catch up later on the backchannel via the #tmsydney tag. I am really looking forward to catching up with colleagues, meeting some people in real life for the first time – having only previously met them on Twitter and seeing some fantastic Pecha Kucha presentations and just enjoying sharing of new ideas. Here is my mini presentation on Blogging in my Classroom

My presentation will take the form of a mini Pecha Kucha - six slides, twenty seconds each – on three ways that I am using blogging in my classroom. All three examples use Posterous as this platform is so user-friendly and versatile.

1. Class Blog with Edmodo RSS Feed

This main reason I set up this blog was to allow me to schedule posts into Edmodo. Some of my students go straight to the blog as well when they forget their Edmodo login details. I love the fact that Scribd automatically integrates any documents into a post and embedding videos and other media is also so easy. I am the only one that posts to this blog but comments and feedback functions are open to students.

2. PASStheCupcakes Class Blog

This is a blog which I set up for one of my classes as our next project following our Pecha Kucha experience. Many of the girls are fans of Tumblr and wanted to have something similar for the class. They selected the blog name and are all able to post to the blog via email and I moderate posts and comments. An RSS feed links this blog to our Edmodo site and they are also encourage to post videos and images relevant to our topics. Although Edmodo is primary class space, we have also been experimenting with embedding various types of media into the blog. The class have one specific blogging task per fortnight.

3. Blogging for IRP Project Diary

As part of the Independent Research Project for Community and Family Studies, students have to prepare a Project Diary where they document their research, data sources and reflections. In promoting a blog as a possible method of doing this, we discussed the opportunities that an online space would offer including posting video and images easily from mobile devices. It is alse very difficult to lose a blog, as opposed to a notebook diary. One third of my class have decided to blog their IRP journey. Each blog is private but other member of the class can read and comment on their posts allowing for fantastic peer review and collaboration opportunities.

Blogging assists in the development of a deep understanding of areas such as digital citizenship, plagiarism and content curation and allows for creative expression of ideas, thoughts and feelings with minimal resources. Hopefully, some of my students will branch out into their own blogs in the not too distant future for their own purposes but at least they have dipped their toes into the blogging ocean.

Bloggin Equipment image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124485144@N01/178734272/

Pecha Kucha Finale – Part #5

Clarindab — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:48:23 +0000

This post is unbelievably behind schedule but explores the final part of the Pecha Kucha journey undertaken by my class. After four lessons of preparation, pondering and photographing – the day had arrived where my class would be presenting their Pecha Kucha presentations.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrovezini/

So we have arrived at PechaKucha day. Have my students actively engaged with this unit? Has the Pecha Kucha experience been beneficial? Have I provided an opportunity for the construction of deep knowledge and meaningful learning? Or, have I simply created another vehicle for angst about speeches, bullet points and PowerPoint?

Here is a quick re-cap of the experience up to this point. The topic for the unit was Fitness and the aim of developing a Pecha Kucha presentation (20 slides each for 20 seconds) was to encourage creativity, deep knowledge development and meaningful exploration of the topic. With this in mind, the activity parameters needed to be flexible but we established a few guidelines as a class:

- Presentation may be developed individually or in pairs

- At least TWO different areas of the topic are to be covered

- Students need to include at least TWO images they have created themselves (photos, drawings, graphics, etc.)

- A soundtrack may be included

- Keep text to a minimum

- This is NOT about writing a speech – selecting images that are meaningful will assist with the words flowing during the presentation

Every group of students had completed their presentation and most had already uploaded it to our Edmodo site. The range and depth of topics covered varied considerably from each group but all presentations were packed with fresh images and focused discussion about each. I recorded a few of their presentations using Audioboo, although I did forget about the five-minute maximum initially. Here is an example of the Pecha Kucha from two of my students.

Pecha Kucha – Fitness by Amber and Bec

Audio Recording via Audioboo

http://audioboo.fm/boos/398286-amber-bec-pecha-kucha-part-a

http://audioboo.fm/boos/522080-amber-bec-pecha-kucha-part-b

At the end of each presentation, each group had to reflect on the task and we had an informal PMI discussion (positives, minus, interesting).

Positives: creating the images, using their laptops and mobile phones in class, choosing the focus for the presentation, working together
Minuses: worried they wouldn’t be able to talk for twenty seconds, applying transitions in slideshow, selecting images
Interesting: enjoyed the freedom of the task, liked hearing others presentations, too many images to choose from at times

The discussion also turned to what we would do the following term for our next unit. They all love Tumblr so our next adventure became a class blog titled PASStheCupcakes. This is now linked into our Edmodo site and the students post to it via email. More about this in a later post.

And now to my own reflection on the task – why are we doing this? What do I want them achieve from this? Have I pushed them a little too far out of their comfort zone?

I was determined to do things differently in this class and to experiment with more authentic ways for students to engage with content. I love the passion that drives the Pecha Kucha concept and how the meaningful nature of the images should be what drives the presentation. I know that all of my students enjoyed parts of the process and certainly took a more active role in their knowledge development than they would had we worked through this unit via more traditional means.

I wanted my students to achieve a sense of understanding about elements of the topic that mattered to them. I also wanted them to explore their creative potential in constructing images using whatever means available including their laptops, mobile phones and resource both inside and outside the classroom. The collaboration that took place on this front was fantastic! The students were helping each other every step of the way with using Bluetooth to get images on to the laptop, exploring photo editing apps, acknowledging image sites and sources and teaching each other how to use various software programs to generate their presentation.

I certainly did push many of them out their comfort zone with this task. But now they don’t want to go back.

Four months on and our class blog and Edmodo site are both going strong with not a single piece of paper in site during theory lessons.

So my Pecha Kucha project finished with a flourish and has certainly set the scene for many possibilities for these learners.

Food for Thought – Reflecting on #PDHPETA2011

Clarindab — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:03:58 +0000

Generally, weekends are a time to relax and unwind. A time to try to not think about work 24/7 and to catch up on “life”. As a teacher, we tend to relish these two days which, although often packed with sport, events, family and a multitude of domestic duties, help us reconnect with ourselves. Take a day out of the weekend for a work-related event and resentment accompanied by exhaustion is rarely far away.

Except in this case.

I have just spent Friday and Saturday at the NSW PDHPE Teachers’ Association Annual State Conference 2011. This was my first PDHPETA conference and my mind has been buzzing since the conference opened on Friday morning and provided a wonderful smorgasbord of opportunity for two days of reflection, networking and planning.

Specials of the Day

A Master Class in Change Leadership - Ben Jones and Brendan Jones http://bit.ly/PE-change-leadership
Focusing on Feedback – Brad McAllister

On the Menu

Encouraging more PDHPE teacher to get involved in events such as TeachMeets
So many formal and informal discussions about the use of tools such as Edmodo, blogging, peer assessment, Pecha Kuchas and Web tools. There is a need and a market for professional learning opportunities to be embraced here which accommodate various levels of knowledge. Although many of us already use these on a daily basis, there are always benefits to sharing best practice and revisiting the basics.
The establishment of a PDHPETA Wiki or Blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter presence in conjunction with the PDHPETA website would provide another communication channel. It would also enable regular and real-time support of teachers throughout the year.

Take-Away

Fantastic opportunity for PDHPE teacher from all sectors, from all levels and from all career periods to meet each other and to network and share ideas on all aspects of the profession.
I have been on Twitter for a little over a year now and the #PEGeeks network is one of the main reasons that I became involved. The conference provided the opportunity to meet some more tweeps in real life and to introduce others to the Twitter PLN as well.
To now act on these reflections this week. In closing the conference Ellie Donovan, PDHPETA President, mentioned how acting immediately on ideas or skills developed during the conference would make them stick. So with that in mind, Operation iPad/iPod Touch begins officially tomorrow.

So in summary, I am heading into the coming week wanting more than ever to bring some of my ideas to fruition and with a renewed energy to continue to network and collaborate with others.

I feel reconnected.

September Halo-Halo

Clarindab — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:40:44 +0000

Another month, another halo-halo. Halo-halo means “mix-mix”. So here is my monthly mix of my favourite sites, tools and ideas with a definite light-hearted and fun tone this month in celebration of holidays. Warning – procrastination tools ahead!

Image URL: http://365greatpinoystuff.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/halo-halo.jpg

Posterous Spaces

Such a fantastic blogging platform has been improved even further. Posterous was already very user-friendly and super-accessible from mobile devices but the changes have added some fresh features.

Find popular or interesting spaces to follow
Easier to network and find friends also on Posterous
A new dashboard interface to manage multiple blogs
Tracking activity on your blogs or ones you follow straight from the dashboard

So many new features on the site and app will keep the unpacking process going for a while!

Visual.ly

If you love infographics, you will love this site. It’s packed full of awesome infographics and has some great features.

Search by topic
Rate infographics
Share your favourites via Facebook, Google+, Twitter or Stumbleupon
Embed them into your blog or website

Angry Birds App on Chrome

Such a super-addictive game! But no longer will I have to strain the eyes playing on the iPhone now that it can be downloaded as a Google Chrome App and played online or offline.

If you haven’t tried it, give it a go! Unbelievably satisfying to use a slingshot to fling the birds around.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37357703@N08/5914370830/

What has been your favourite site, tool or awesome discovery this month?

Enjoy the halo-halo!

August Halo-Halo

Clarindab — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:59:21 +0000

Another month, another halo-halo. Halo-halo means “mix-mix”. So here is my next monthly mix of my favourite sites, tools and ideas!

Image URL: http://365greatpinoystuff.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/halo-halo.jpg

Using Posterous to Schedule posts into Edmodo

Edmodo has changed the way I organise and teach my lessons. Establishing a link between a Posterous blog now means that I can schedule posts into my Edmodo course via an RSS feed.

1. Create blog post including any links, documents or images.

2. Schedule the post. It will remain private until the time specified.

3. Link to post will appear in Edmodo course when it goes live on the blog.

I am currently using this with two Edmodo courses. Each has to have its own blog for the unique RSS feed to work withe the course.

TeachMeet Sydney

I attended my first TeachMeet Sydney event today – TeachMeet West held at Colyton High School. An unconference-like meeting of teachers from that area. Here is a description of the event from the Wiki:

What is TeachMeet Sydney

will be a meeting/un-conference where teachers will share good practice, practical ideas and personal insights into teaching with technology.
All participants are asked to be ready to volunteer an idea, a tool or a website that they have delivered in their classroom.
Alternatively they can discuss a product that they believe enhances their classroom practice.
New scheme teachers are encouraged to attend and learn.
The idea behind TeachMeets is hearing stories about learning, from teachers.
This is a chance for teachers from all types of schools to network and to hear ideas from each other.
TeachMeet Sydney are open to all and do not charge an entry fee.

This was an inspirational afternoon of enthusiastic and motivated educators looking to share ideas and strategies. I have only very recently found out about these fantastic events. I shared a pecha-kucha presentation and enjoyed the other PK’s that were presented as well as the two-minute micro presentation sessions.

Check out the details on the Wiki and try one for yourself!

Musicovery.com

Need some tunes to suit your mood? This site was recommended to me by @townesy77. It creates a music selection for you based on your mood and your genre preferences. Kind of like a mood ring playlist!

What has been your favourite site, tool or awesome discovery this month?

Enjoy the halo-halo!

Challenge Time!

Clarindab — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:59:05 +0000

We all need a good challenge to keep us motivated, focused and energised! Some challenges in my sphere at the moment

The Marshmallow Challenge! on Prezi

Can’t wait to see which Executive team is on par with the Kindergarten students in this challenge.

My own #30daychallenge

A colleague has inspired me to take on a personal #30daychallenge – adopt a positive behaviour for 30 days straight. Hers is to give up caffeine. Mine will be to kickstart my fitness regime again with 30 days straight of a minimum of 20 minutes exercise. Currently at Day 10 and feeling fantastic!

Can you do a #30daychallenge? Pick a postive change to your lifestyle and away you go!

DIY Challenges

Gardening, concreting, drilling, changing washers. I am becoming quite proficient in this area – and surprising myself too! Amazing what you can achieve with a bit of elbow grease and YouTube.

http://youtu.be/SR6vnfNLr-8

Love a new challenge!