Mantar Cluster's blogs
Had an interesting discussion with our BOT chair and IT techie (also BOT member) around the SNUP deal. We are now eligible for it. HOWEVER - part of our e-learning vision is to incorporate more mobile-learning, laptops etc so want strong wireless capability. We have a good server and sound cabling already, also wireless that's ok but not overly reliable and probably won't handle a lot more mobile devices when we get them.
My question is - do we spend the money (20% contribution) on the SNUP, or do we invest in a top quality wireless set-up?
We are due for the UFB roll out mid year sometime too. I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts and input on this one.
As part of my lead teacher role I have been working with the junior team to get their blogs up and running. All the teachers have done a great job and the class blogs are looking very good. I worked with Mary in week one to upskill myself in using vimeo to import/export movies and post them onto the blogs so that is a bit of a focus for me at present.
Today Mary came to spend some time with us all. Mary spoke to our teachers individually. We saw today as a sharing day, where our teachers could share what they are doing, where they have come from and where they would like to go next. Our teachers were keen to share and in particular about our TeKids programme. Both our students and our teachers are positive about this programme and we all see the benefits from the time and effort we have all put in to make this a success. It was heartening to see our new staff member sharing what she has already achieved in such a short period. For me, as LT I found today to be reaffirming. It was an opportunity to show the collegiality we all share with each other and how important it is to support each other on any learning journey. Our school motto is "Letting Kids be Kids" and this is reflected in our classrooms, playgrounds and in ICT. Our students have had the opportunity to play, to work through the novelty stage of a new 'tool' and then they apply this new knowledge to their learning - this is afterall how children learn best!
We have decided to take time out of our staff meetings to reflect and celebrate what is happening in our classrooms. This can be checked out in our AOKteacher group blog /pg/groups/52477/aokteachers/
The second year of our ICT contract has seen the settling period over. We have worked through the 'novelty' stage and have integrated the use of ICT into our core programme. Our students' already have solid literacy skills but we are now seeing our students being writers, editors and publishers. This next layer of learning has increased the 'width' and 'depth' of learning. Students are using the thinking strategies of synthesising and evaluating in this process. Along with this our strong focus on Inquiry has also taken a new path. This has extended to our Gifted and Talented group of writers where students are using ICT tools alonside traditional writing methods.
I have just had a worthwhile session with Mary Rivers and used this time to revisit some of the web2 tools currently being used in school. We also had an interesting meeting with the tekids who have stated that they are bored with the cluster meetings. they feel that they are filled with talking and not enough input by them, they would like to see some fun stuff being done. We got them to do a bubble map using spicynodes of their thinking which we have placed on the mantar wiki. What are your thoughts on this, do you have the same issues within your schools.
Today we had a visit from Nick Rate our National Facilitator. It was a valuable, relaxed visit with good discussion, reflection and a tour of our classes. The Principal Robyn, other lead teacher Louise, and myself were at the meeting.
We started off by reflecting on the recent impact of our cluster within the school. We reviewed topics such as the fact that elearning is now an integral part of the school charter, goals, action plans and planning. This was not a focus previously. The word 'quality' came out when discussing the school goal of ICT integration - not just integrating but ensuring 'quality' elearning is happening, not just the showy surface stuff! Also we discussed other improvements in schoolwide elearning over the past 2 years and availablity to internet, hardware and training for both teachers and students. It was valuable to take the time to reflect on the leaps made, rather than continually focus on where to next! (Although this is never far away from ones thoughts!)
We outlined our recent success with the Computers in Homes programme- from a community partnership aspect as well as elearning. The fitting of interactive whiteboards to each class and the benefits and opportunities this has allowed was also discussed.
Our cluster focusing more on Thinking and Inquiry Learning is also a very timely shift for our school and recent PD from Lyn Ross has been relayed to staff here and the ball has started rolling with the schoolwide development of a thinking toolbox - with the focus on 'schoolwide' and consistency. We talked about the need for the school to be collectively moving forward with elearning, regular sharing of our successes and failures, the outlining of clear expectations and the establishment of more robust support in school. We looked at our roles within the cluster and school and where we thought we were at as well as the opportunities for both formal and informal staff PD and dialogue that we do have in place.
We wrapped up with a reflection of the cluster as a whole and Nick allowed us to think ahead and discuss what we would like the cluster to either continue to provide or look forward and think about what else we would like to see happen in the cluster.
Thanks Nick for your time and thought provoking questions and comments!
Reflecting on Mantar Cluster's TEKids Inquiry based session last term (term 1). Went well and sparked interesting observation/discussion amongst teachers that lots of children chose Word, Publisher, Ppt... to present their findings - not a lot of web2.0 tools used... Maybe easy, quick, reliable given short time frames..? Follow up session this term - will ensure support Lead Teacher asks children why this was the case!
Today's session was a follow on from a previous session. Children were using web 2.0 tool to publish their research. One of the important aspects from today was that children realised that they couldn't just use any old web 2.0 tool. They needed to be selective. Children realised they need to manage themselves and save their work as they go along, and remember where they have saved it. Children also commented in their PMI that they needed to be more specific with thier questioning and searching. All these are important skills that need to be taught in the classroom.
Sometimes saving these blogs can be a challenge
