Blogging

And so it begins!

I spent a couple of hours over the weekend logging in to each boy's blog to make sure they they could and to get the URL of their blog. That all worked apart well from one boy for whom I was given the wrong log in details. Some of the boys had not written on the blogs at all, or didn't have one so I quickly made one. I need to become aware of the school policy on commenting on the blogs- many of them could only be commented on by logged in Google users which IMHO opinion is a bad thing as it puts a barrier in front of parent or child commenting. I am a little old school though and like comment moderation on. For me, if this feature isn't applied then I need to get notification of comments in an email so I am aware of the traffic on the blogs and can quickly sort it if there is a problem.

I then listed them on the main class blog so the boys could access them easily. Fortunately really some of the boys in each group were absent cos they were at swimming so I only had a small group. Everyone got a short sentence or two on their blog and a photo so that was all good.

To get to the blogs we used the Safarai web interface on the iPads and that seemed to work OK. One later in the day used the Blogger app which I actually prefer but hadn't asked specifically to have them on the iPads so didn't realise was there.

When I got home I went through each of the boy's blogs to make sure that each one had an encouraging comment.

I am looking forward to more of the boys getting into it and exploring the depth and richness of collaboration that blogging can allow.

I wonder if we can get a hold of some of the Chromebooks and use those as well to allow a choice of devices.

I wonder also if I should bring along my own multi-box and extension cord for all the dead flat iPads that come to me on a Monday morning!

Resilience

Today's start to the new term was more of a lesson in resilience- for me- I think the boys didn't notice.

I had a plan that involved going outside the classroom and taking photos. It was raining. Hard.

I had a plan that the boys would use their iPads- they were flat after the holidays.

I had a plan that the boys would use the text feature of Tellagami- that feature didn't work today- there was an encoding problem.

I had a plan that the boys could all Flick their videos to me- Ethan's refused to.

We boxed on and made it work- as we do.

The boys wrote their stories into Tellagami text- I took a photo of the text on my phone- and the boys read aloud the text from my phone.

Not exactly what I had in mind but most of the boys had something to show for it at the end. The time frame is very short and I am a bit concerned that the boys are only writing very briefly in the time we have for the lesson.

I am going to see if a combination of blogging and images provides more opportunities for writing next week but most of the boys don't know their log in.

I will go through and log in for each boy and see if I can log in on their behalf so we don't stall before we even start when we try to blog next week.

AR Dinosaur

This week we had lots of fun taking dinosaur photos of ourselves using the iPad app AR Dinopark. You get the app for free but you have to pay $1.29 for each extra dinosaur!

Here is a slideshow of our images - set to some scary dinosaur music using my favourite slideshow app- Photopeach.

Here are some of the short stories inspired by the dinosaur images...

My favourite dino is the velociraptor. They are big and ferocious. They are meat eaters and have sharp teeth.

The famous dinosaur hunter got a phone call in 1914 about a triceratops in the Chinese jungle so he went out in his camouflage truck and began his search. Four hours later he began to hear a loud roar so he was close to it. He was actually scared.

1982. Me and my two brothers were out hunting in the jungle. We had just caught a 150 pound boar. It attracted a pack of velociraptors. Me and my brothers were fighting for our lives. One survived the fight but my brothers were killed by the vicious velociraptor so I fought that last one with my bare hands and killed it. "That's for my brothers. You beast!!!"

This was a great last day of the term activity and I really would have liked to have spent more time talking about how to compose the snapshots to make them look realistic. Forty minutes seems long enough but by the time we round up the forgetters, sort their flat iPads, set up the lesson, compose the images and do some writing the time is all gone. I am wondering if we need longer next term.

I gave the boys a short survey for the end of term which took time in this session too. I asked the boys what they learnt about learning this term. I was impressed with some of their answers. If they really did learn never to give up then that was the best thing!!!

What have you learnt about learning this term?

• writing faster
• writing about ourselves,
• how to use apps
• sharing things
• never give up
• to have fun
• write with describing words

I also asked what they might change next term. Apart from one who wanted hamburgers instead of Subway lunches here are some other suggestions...

What would you change for next term?

• more games
• more hunting and fishing stories
• more people
• sharing more
• happy- I would change nothing!
• once finished you get free time on the iPad
• write longer stories on the laptops too
• to make a movie on the iPad

I was unhappy to note that when I asked who they had shared their learning with most just said me, a couple said their parents and a couple said their peers.

Next term I want to really push getting that authentic audience- to let the boys know that people a re reading their writing.

Using ColAR

This blog post from Mr Parkinson about he used the Augmented Reality App ColAR has given me some ideas for next term- getting before and after data on using these sort of apps not for writing with particularly, but to inspire writing. 

http://mrparkinsonict.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/can-augmented-reality-improve-writing.html 

I think I will give this a go and report back.

Exploration and Sharing

Today we began looking at a new app- Book Creator. I have the paid for version but you can also download a free version in which you can only make one book.

If I could only have one app on my iPad it would be this one. It has such potential for writing and sharing.

I showed the boys the very basics and let them explore adding images, video, photos, writing freehand, typing and adding audio to add as much as they could on one cover page.

There was much hilarity as the boys recorded and inserted video selfies. It was interesting to note that some boys were happily clicking everywhere to see what would happen and others were quite hesitant,  concerned about making a mistake.

I was also very proud of one of the boys who took it upon himself to show his classmates how to use Tellagami. This is what I wanted to see happen- the boys taking on positive 'schooly' leadership roles.

To share the app I used Reflector.app to mirror my iPad onto my laptop whcih was then projected onto the home class display screen.

Reflections

• I purposefully didn't 'teach' the app to the boys. I wanted them to go exploring themselves- to see what that the features and the limitations of the app were. I want to build resilience and problem solving in the boys- not leaping in the sort out problems for them.
• I think the exploration phase was good and certainly produced lots of laughter. We need to have a discussion about what is acceptable in the way of filming other people and deleting images and projects after recording so as not to fill up the iPads with practice photo and video.
• We used the free app Flick to 'throw' images from my iPad onto other iPads and my laptop. It was evidently 'sick' which is a good thing!!!!!!!

Using Aurasma and String Augmented Reality Apps as a prompt for writing.

I put a link here to Daveyhulme School blog post about combining Aurasma and String as a prompt for writing and I don't want to forget to have a go at it. I reckon it would be great to have some physical places the boys could go to see their work. QR Codes and Aurasma seem the obvious choice.

http://mrparkinsonict.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/using-augmented-reality-to-inspire.html

Aliens in the Classroom!

Using the App String, children were able to scan a picture and see an alien moving around the classroom - an amazing WOW moment! String is a AR showcase app, there are plenty on the app store and they really inspire some great writing opportunities. To see examples of this - click here.

Inquiring into my Teaching Practice

If improving outcomes for students is not the purpose of professional learning,... teachers are likely to default to the position that gathering information about students is about students and not about teaching or themselves as professionals.

Evidence about students' engagement, learning and well being needs to be:

• High quality
• Fit for purpose
• Valid
• Reliable

In relation to this boy's writing inquiry- what is engagement?

• That the boys want to come to the workshop?
• That they want to write more?
• Do they want to write on a device?
• Are they writing more compound sentence?
• Is their handwriting neater?

Best when done in collaboration with others so that...

• There is someone to challenge my assumptions.
• There are others to feed in their opinions.
• I can get/share resources with others.

I have to think of not only the students learning but also my learning.

Teaching developing learning goals- questions

• What knowledge, skills and attitudes do I, as teachers need to meet the needs of our students?
• How I have contributed to existing outcomes?
• In what areas and with whom am I effective and why?
• In what areas and with whom am I less effective and why?
• What do we already know that I can use to promote valued outcomes?
• What do I need to know about to promote these outcomes and waht are my learning goals?
• What sources/knowledge can I use?

So am I asking enough powerful questions of myself as a teacher?

Realizing the Power of Professional Learning - Extending Educational Horizons

Timperley pg 26