DVD Reading

What I did:

I have been trying something different in class lately. DVD reading. I bought a documentary by David Attenborough on insects and showed it to my kids. The catch was I put the subtitles on and asked a range of questions to encourage the kids to read along as well as challenge their vocab.

The kids were put into groups (oral language groups) the groups

were mixed ability. They would sit in their groups while we watched he DVD. With one member jotting down the answers. I would play the DVD for a couple of minutes then pause it and ask a question. then play it again.

The idea was that the kids would quickly discuss and answer the question then move on. Much like a PUB Quiz.

The questions were things like:

What was a the last word the main character said? How do you spell minute (small)? What was the pronoun in the last sentence? What was the beginning word of the last sentence? What was an antonym for ....? Expand the contraction in the last sentence? What is a synonym for that word beginning with...

After ten questions we would mark and record the scores. The whole topic was very competitive as I offered a pizza to the winning group at the end of the unit.

Why I did it:

1. With low readers, approaches involving shared reading have been recommended.
2. It involves low risk on the individual while at the same time they are involved in the story and class.
3. I have a lot of boy's boys in my class and felt I needed to do something to increase their engagement around reading.
4. My class had been very serious in the previous term and I wanted to bring back some of the enjoyment of being at school

The results:

Most of the kids loved it. To fairly evaluate it I surveyed my class using google docs. The results were as follows.

What motivated them?

Instructional Writing

We have been having tonnes of fun lately in class working on procedural writing. We have been using Scratch to support our writing.

As Teachers we have all looked at recipies, done the oragami thing, or the numerous other activities around procedural writing. This software has numerous connections all while the kids are making games! The Game factor has been a huge draw card for my kids who have been programming their own games relentlessly since I introduced the software to them.

They develop the scripts required for their game to work by thinking about sequencing, giving clear instructions to the software, and using coordinate geometry. For my reluctant writers who can find it hard putting the sentences together, they have really enjoyed using the drag and drop feature of the software to do all the written work.

After the scripts are complete and the game is working and published onto the site (all free) my class then have had to write instructions for users. Yes more instructional writing. I am in love with this software and I know this post sounds like a sales pitch I encourage you to try it in 1:1 programs.

As always simply giving this type of task is really not going to work and the kids need the explicitly teaching. Once the kids get started though they can use youtube to find all sorts of tutorials

I challenge you to try it and make a better game than my one below!

Learn more about this project

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Well I am one term in and the class is really starting to hum. Inquiry is huge and continues to challenge me and my traditional views of what a teacher does. I have started to develop learning contracts with my children and have found this really effective in helping me keep informed about what they are doing. It has also been really good in helping focus those children that have difficulty setting goals.

Letting the children go is hard and at times very scary but I am getting there.

My big question at the moment though is reflecting on blogger and Mahara. The children are loving the class blog and at the moment are at that ego-centric stage they often go through when they just want to post about themselves. Next term we will look at developing community online. Posting comments, following blogs, building networks etc.

The class next door has seriously got the blogger bug and it is starting to catch on to my kids too with all the kids wanting to develop personal blogs. So I'm just going to share the pros and cons of Blogger and Mahara. I would love peoples thoughts on this as it is something I am working through at the moment.

Blogger:

i.e. two personal blogs per child - one a showcase of learning (the flashy stuff for everyone) - the other a journal of goal setting, with feedback and feedforward (private)

Pros:

Blogger is free

Blogger is part of the apps suite so everything is connected

Blogger is easy to upload content with videos etc.

Blogger can be passed on to a Private google account/ i.e. not a school one at the end.

Blogger can last forever

Blogger can be shared with friends and family's google accounts

Blogger is easy to use

Cons:

Blogger doesn' have the same levels of security as Mahara

Blogger isn't ministry recognised/compatible

Mahara:

Pros:

different levels of security

Can be removed once the child leaves

Can be uploaded to hardcopy

Can be transferred from other schools with ministry compatible LMS

Mahara is free?

Cons:

Not as easy to share material with parents and grandparents

Doesn't last forever

1 month in!

Well I have started work at Ross and am 1 month in. Wow what a change.

- New Year level

- New institution

- New School

- New Teaching philosophy

Its a lot of changes but so exciting. my big problem at them moment. Changing my teaching ideas and practices to fit the truely digital environment that I am working in.

The problem. The kids are too bloody engaged! They all want to take their work home, work for 5 hours straight and finish it that night. It may be a simple as a basic reading follow up activity like what I gave my kids today. I explained to them the follow up today so they could do it tomorrow (something that I have always done). Now (4:30) i'm getting emails of the kids finished work. What am I going to do with them tomorrow when I want to read with the other group?

The digital environment is definitely engaging the children. The problem for me now is changing my practice away from the largely teacher centered program (a traditional kiwi classroom) into a much more student centered program. This change I feel is the only option in a program where the children can and will work in their own time at home.