Virtual Learning Network

Thanks David

Your reflection indicates an openness to realising when things are not going according to expectation, and to analyse why this is the case. As you so correctly discovered, each cohort is different, and while we might expect the same skills set to be in place with the new learners, this is not always the case. A positive from this is that you were then able to work on “plugging these gaps” and up skill the children prior to the next topic for study. I appreciate the honest candour of this reflection.

David 

Hi Jo

Your class has come up against the two most confounding issues associated with digitally publishing their work i.e. the challenge of not knowing how to use a keyboard quickly (something I still have issues with), and spelling / typo errors. ActivInspire does have a spell checker, but I have found it to be very poor in practice. For example if I type the sentence “the dog waked in the gras” (should be “The dog walked in the grass.”) all that is picked up is gras with a suggestion to capitalise it! A possible solution for your students in class might be for them to create and spell-check their text in Word, the cut and paste into Inspire.

The use of technology across the gardening programme is fantastic! Your students are using a number of different ICT tools very effectively in an authentic learning context. This is technology use as it should be, with students using the appropriate ICT tools to make recording, publishing and communicating their ideas more effective and to a wider audience. I would love to see this become “second nature” in all learning settings across the school. Similarly with Sketch-Up, you have really hit the nail on the head in your final sentence, “Technology is driving the creativity and is providing a real tool in which to understand scale, area, volume and shape.”

Keep up the great work Jo. Great things are taking place in your classroom with regard to ICT use.

David

Hi Clare

Thank you for this fantastic reflective summary. It is very thorough, and would provide a great starting point for any other teacher considering trialling something similar with their children. The children’s work samples are great, and show progression of skills development over time. This is great to see, and is a prime example of how mathematics learning can be both engaging for all children and a lot of fun.

Keep up the good work.

David

Morningside School Principal

Hi Raewyn

Thank you for dropping this onto the T Drive. It is gratifying to read about teacher growth and new or changed classroom programmes following professional development opportunities, and even more so when a group of teachers then get together of their own accord to share ideas (apps) and grow and learn together. The “crown jewels” are when this is then taken into the classroom and used to further engage and motivate our students and empower them further in their own learning.

I also appreciate your sharing the class Blogging experiences. While not as successful as the iPod experience, you have reflected on why this has been the case and on the things that need to be done to enhance this project.

Hang in there and keep up the good work.

David

Morningside School Principal

Hi Robyn

Thank you for completing your reflective summary and saving it to the T Drive.

It has been very gratifying to observe you coming to terms with using the interactive whiteboard in your classroom over the last year. The growth in your confidence and in the quality, relevance and content of your flipcharts has been very evident over this time. I have also enjoyed sharing your continuing achievements in using the IWB for presentations at our school assemblies over this time. You have come a VERY long way, and all this is evidence that you are a teacher who is willing to take risks in moving outside of a comfort zone, and who consequently is seeing greater success for students and yourself. Well done!

You very correctly point out the relevance and importance of using visual images to support learning for today’s students and I have seen ample evidence of this happening in your classroom. The children’s photo stories are a great way of developing this as a means of recording their learning. I look forward to seeing outcomes of the next stage of this; where the children themselves are taking the photos and using these as a basis for their writing.

Well done and keep up the good work.

David

Morningside School Principal