Miss T's Reflections

Quality Commenting Update.

2012-02-15T18:11:00.001+13:00

In January I took part in a quality commenting meme started at the Langwitches blog. I returned to school in February with renewed enthusiasm to teach and support my class to write quality comments. I have not expected them at this early stage to write blog posts. Rather I have put my efforts into teaching about quality commenting. Many of the students have made a flying start - the experienced ones. I still need to support those less experienced.

I prepared the following slideshare, to use with my class. The slides I made contain comments from my students of last year. I am not sure if they were horrified to see them, but I was!

Commenting presentation

View more presentations from Miskaytea.

Here are a couple of comments left by students on the class blog. I am delighted with the stepping up that the students have managed since our exploration about commenting.

Great video Miss T! What movie making tool did you use? I guess I’m very lucky getting the opportunity to go sailing!

I was really surprised how easy it was to sail. I’m also glad there was two to a boat because it was really hard sailing back to shore with just me to a boat. I also think I was lucky that I was with Jordan because he was really good at controlling the sail. I got better at steering as the day went on and by the end of the day we could easily avoid crashing against other boats. (If we didn’t want to ram into them)

I’m also a little disappointed because for most of the day there wasn’t much wind so we had to skull. (using the rudder/steering to propel us along slowly) But when the wind picked up, Jordan and I went speeding across the waves.

Hope we can do more of the same fun activities during the year, Antonio.

Hi Miss T,
I really enjoyed the the Yachting yesterday. It was fun, and wet. During the day, I had 2 partners, Cameron (before lunch) and Neo (after lunch). I ended up in 3 yachts though. 1,6, and 1. I really wanted to go in a red yacht, but they were all taken, so I used 2 white yachts instead.

Dean was really fun, and enthusiastic about yachting. He made sure that he told us all the safety precautions, gave us all a life jacket, thermal under layer, and a water proof top.

I really enjoyed the Yachting and I really want to do it again.
Daniel S

Hi Miss T,
Nice video, I really enjoyed the yachting as well. I was quite surprised about easy it was to get the yacht going. I held the sail while Monique steered. The hardest part of the day was getting in a line and swapping boats in the middle of the lagoon. The best part was the two races because Monique and I came first in one and second in the other. During the boat swap the boat Monique got into floated away from the one I was in, so for the second half I was with Cameron.

The only negative of the whole day was almost suffocating in the terribly hot thermals underneath the bulky life jackets, and leaving to go back to school of course.

The instructor , Dean was really nice, he gave me a ride on his boat and did spins and stuff. He made sure we were all completely safe at all times.

The yachting was a great experience and I can’t wait to get the display up!

Have you ever been on a yacht?

Teegan

All comments are far superior to anything written last year. Thank you to the initiator of the meme and a special thank you to Kathleen Morris.

It's Monday - What are You Reading?

2012-02-13T16:53:00.000+13:00

Monday comes around fast. It has been an extremely busy week, so I only found time to complete one book. As usual I am joining in the blog hop over at Mentor Texts.

Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Blog.

The book I read was called Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer Holm. It took me a little while to get into it and orientate myself. Eventually I sorted out her many brothers and began to follow more easily.

It gave a wonderful historical perspective of a young girl growing up in Nth Western America in the early twentieth century. By mid-way through the book I was hooked and wanted to finish the remainder of it in one sitting.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

This week I am reading Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. Just started. I hope I like it, however I was never a fan of the Snow Queen so I am a little anxious about that.

Classroom Setting Up - Week One.

2012-02-06T19:41:00.001+13:00

I have a new determination to be a little more organised with the way my classroom has items organised. I want to do this for ease of access for myself and my students. So at the end of week one of year we are on the way to being organised and clutter free!

As we have no personal desk space, this year I have a bucket for each student. They can name it and carry it wherever they need to go. They have the option of removing the handles if they want. These were inexpensive - $2.18 each from Mitre 10.

In it they have the books they are reading, their reading notebooks and writing notebooks, pencil cases and headphones.
So far they are proving to be a very good option.

I also found exactly the same buckets but in colour at Briscoes, on sale they worked out at $1.75.
Each of these contains exercise books for such things as Maths, Religious Education, etc.

I have containers marked with pencils, sharpeners, scissors, pens, plasters, rulers.

The students have most of these themselves but every teacher knows that sometimes they don't!

Also it is where I dip into when I need things. So we share.

Notice student bucket being used!

Here the students have decided what genre books are in the green container. They are making a label for it and adding stickers to the front covers so that they can easily return the books to the bin when they have finished reading it.
It took us longer than I thought, however many hands make light work and it saved me a few hours.

We only have a small class library, however this will slowly be added to as time goes by.

We also access books from home, the school library, the local Kapiti library once a fortnight and the National School Library Service provides us with 30 books at a time.

All in all I am very pleased with my decluttering! I am working at present on my desk space, which is a small desk for my computer and a small table. I want to sort that a little more so that I can readily access what I need. Perhaps a few nails in the wall coming up?!

Its Monday, What are you Reading?

2012-02-06T17:48:00.000+13:00

We have returned to a new school year here in New Zealand and while the time allotted to reading has dwindled I still managed to read two books and finish an audio. Every little counts and as my goal is generally one children's book a week I am very pleased.
Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Blog.

I am continuing to read the Newbery books that I can lay my hands on. This is the 2007 award winner. I enjoyed it, although I wouldn't personally buy it for the class library. If a student wanted to read it they can access it from the local library as I did using my smart card.

This was my second book of the week, the 2000 Newbery award winner. This was the first Newbery book so far that I really liked. Bud was an endearing character and I wanted to pick up the book any spare moment I had so I read it very quickly. I chose it because I have The Mighty Miss Malone lined up ready to read in the near future.

This one is a young adult book and the first one in a trilogy. I listened on audio and well.... I actually loved it. It was a big stretch for me as a reader as I hadn't ventured into anything dystopian. I will be eagerly anticipating the second in the trilogy which I think comes out in May.

This coming week I hope to read Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer Holm and possibly Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu.

What My Teacher Needs to Know

2012-02-06T11:40:00.004+13:00

In response to a meme from Declairing It! Click on her blog to see the origin of the meme.

I need my teacher to know I like a safelearning environment.I rely on you to initiate that, we can work together to maintain and build asafe learning environment, but I need your lead. I need to know deep within me thatI can take the risk of being wrong and equally of being right. I never want to be embarrassed or made tofeel uncomfortable by the teacher or my fellow classmates.

I need boundaries set. I need my teacher to set boundariesthat will help us all to stay safe and make it easy to learn.

I need my teacher to be planned and prepared and to offer me an engaginglearning environment. I like to be included in the planningand I like help to set and meet my learning goals. I like those goals and the work undertaken tobe relevant to me.

I need to be respected as an individualand I need myteacher to really see me. I need to knowI am accepted as me and then to be challenged to be the very best me.

I need my teacher to be human and his/herself. I need my teacher to allow me to be a human. We are all at times tired, annoyed, or failto meet expectations. I appreciate an acknowledgement from my teacher whenhe/she gets it wrong. I am willing tomake allowances for my teacher and I would like that too from my teacher. I need my teacher to really enjoy being withme in the classroom – happy to come to school each day.

So what do you think a student would say that they need? This last week my class wrote our mission statement for the year. They certainly wanted to be accepted as themselves.

If you have a blog and are reading this I invite you to have your say.

It's Monday. What are you Reading?

2012-01-30T17:19:00.000+13:00

The Monday meme has come around very fast this week! We are returning to a new school year here in New Zealand and suddenly the time allotted to reading has dwindled. However every little counts and as my goal is generally one children's book a week I am meeting my quota.
Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Blog.

I read Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. This is the 2011 Newbery Award book. I read this as an e-book borrowed from the library. I won't be buying it for my class, while I enjoyed it I found it just didn't call to me to pick it up every spare moment. I liked the main character Abilene, her story was interesting. I found a few unexpected surprises at the end and some expected. As an adult I liked the book, however I cannot muster up the energy to 'sell it' to my class.

I also started to listen to Divergent by Veronica Roth. This is a new genre for me, and a little challenge to be divergent in my reading! This will take me awhile and will update when read! I also read another 15% of the The Story of Mankind.

Plans for the week coming.

15% more of The Story of Mankind.

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron.

Continue listening to Divergent.

and all going well even might get to begin...

Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Happy reading week.

Plans for 2012

2012-01-25T16:56:00.002+13:00

As I do every summer over the holidays I think about the coming year and what I want to aim towards. As I found last year, as well as setting those goals, I need to be open to what just suddenly inspires me and follow that track as well, it can take me down surprising paths.

However for now I am thinking just about from February to April - our first term. Term two will be a sabbatical term, and who knows where I will want to track after that. I find that writing and publishing my goals helps, it makes me more accountable. I have said it, and now I want to live it out.

At this time of the year this picture shows how my brain feels, getting something written helps to put some shape on things, and the picture more complete!

School goals

1. Read children's books, during school term at least one a week - leading to at least 52 in the year.

2. Encourage some of my students to join Goodreads where they can discuss books among themselves and keep track of their reading.

3. Teach students how to write once a week a reading response in the form of a letter that will provide ongoing discussion between them and me about what they are noticing in their reading. (see" Guiding Readers and Writers", Fountas and Pinnell.) My goal is to respond to each, one from each student each week. This will be rotated - 5 students per night.

4. Sharpen up my skills with conferring with reading conferences first and then writing conferences. At present I am reading "Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop" by Patrick Allen. I have used his form to make my conference form.

5. Use Evernote for recording notes from reading conferences. I am not sure at this stage whether I will revert to paper and pen, which for me is a lot faster, however I like the organisation that will result with Evernote. I have already drawn up a page for it. I was very pleased as once I had a master done I was easily able to put a copy in each student's notebook.

Screenshot from my ipad.

6. Give my more able Maths students more control over their own learning. So I am going to trial using a Maths Daily Five type schedule with them but modified to suit us. Hopefully they will be able to work at what they set as their goals and I will conference them individually once a week, and meet with them in smaller groups as needed.

I am going to give five options that they will engage in:

1) Maths problem solving and writing an explanation of how they solved it.

2) Maths with a partner - I will have some options for them, I think our Figure it Out series will be a good beginning.

3) Maths work by self - I will have a variety of text books that they can choose to use to practise whatever they believe they need within Number and Algebra for Term One.

4) Maths using technology - I will have some digital pathways from Digistore set up for them as a start. NZ Maths have it all well set out. I will set up a wiki where the students can easily access these learning objects. This slot could also involve making Showme type videos as tutorials for others.

5) Maths game with one or two others.

I have another group of students who will need a lot of hands on from me, and that is where I hope to spend the majority of my time.

7. Track and meet the commitments made for global connections. I have already made myself a page where I can see easily what projects we are involved in, who is running them, what we need to do when and a link to the web site. Now I am not holding it all in my head. I need to visit the plan at least twice a week to keep on track.

8. Improve the quality of commenting on blogs in my classroom. See my previous post.

9. Settle into a new classroom space. Adapt it as we need, explore the possibilities of it. Just moving to it has been a big job. Still not settled in there yet. However I am organising it more thoroughly than I ever have before. Organisation of things etc is not my strength - it doesn't come naturally.

What are your goals at the moment? Do you set goals or are you more of a let's see what happens person? Personally I think there is merit in both ways.

It's Monday - What Are You Reading?

2012-01-23T17:42:00.000+13:00

Last week I started to join in with this Monday meme and as I visited some of the blogs I was just amazed at the reading that is happening among teachers and librarians. It is inspiring, and while I know I will never be as passionate readers as they are - I certainly have no problem using my spare time to read.

Hop on over and join in at the Mentor Text Bog.

The first book I read this week was Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I had already

watched the movie thinking that would possibly be a quick way to 'read' the first book. However while I enjoyed the movie, I chose to read the book, and enjoyed it, especially the humour.

My next book was the 1968 Newbery Medal book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konisburg. I found a rather pristine copy in our school library. I'm hoping to make that look a little more hand used by the end of the year. I was immediately drawn into the story and enjoyed the word by-play between Claudia and Jamie. I identified early on with Claudia - page 10, "Claudia knew that it had to do with injustice. She was the oldest child and only girl and the only girl was subject to a lot of injustice. Perhaps it was because she had to both empty the dishwasher and set the table on the same night while her brothers got out of everything." I wasn't the only girl, but I was the oldest, so I was sympathetic!

I loved Jamie too, inspite of being a 'tightwad' he was very endearing and he was an excellent foil to Claudia his sister.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz was my next book. This book was the 2008 Newbery Medal book. I was a little dubious as I picked it up, I wasn't sure if I would like it. It is a mixture of prose and poetry and can be performed for an audience. In fact that was the purpose of the author. I soon became involved and enjoyed meeting the various characters. The stories are told with humour and compassion. It is set in medieval times and I can only say I am thankful I didn't live then. I would see this book as a very useful resource if you were studying medieval times.

Finally yesterday the graphic novel Babymouse Queen of the World arrived and I had my first introduction to her. I thoroughly enjoyed it and chuckled away. At first glimpse it seems easy reading, however I think the ideas the book explores will easily be relevant to my 10 -12 year olds. I have a couple more coming in my National library collection - yes New Zealand teachers the library has some copies. I look forward to introducing this to the girls in my class. Anyone had experience of boys reading them?

What's on my reading list for the next week?

The Story of Mankind - this will be a slow read, just a small diet each day! The aim is to read it eventually as part of the Newbery challenge.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool - also part of the challenge and just have it for the week as an ebook from the library.

The Higher Power of Lucky. Susan Patron - also Newbery medal.

If there is time I then intend to read Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. However this one might also be next week, as the count down to going back to school on the 31st January looms closer. And of course those staff meetings that come before that.

World Read Aloud Day

2012-01-21T17:30:00.000+13:00

World Read Aloud Day takes place on the 7th of March - a Wednesday. If you want to know more, click on the picture below and read about it on the LitWorld's website.

My class and I will take part, unfortunately Wednesday is a day when they go to a Secondary school in the morning for such things as cooking, metal work etc. So we will really only have the afternoon, and we will make the most of that. I will need to discuss with them what exactly we will do.

The thought of dedicating such a day has got me thinking about reading aloud. I believe it's really important and I have always read aloud daily to my class. While I never read aloud as a child to my younger siblings one of my sisters did and she entertained them with many a bed-time story.

When I went to primary (elementary) school in the '50's we had radio broadcasts. One such broadcast was a book that would be read aloud. Only excerpts, that would make you want to go out and find the book. I loved listening. I still listen to books on my ipod!

I have been teaching for around 37 years, so I guess that's a lot of books read aloud to my class over time. I don't remember most of them, although there are a few that stand out. Once when I was teaching 10 year olds, a girl brought to me a book called Momo by Michael Ende and asked me to read it to the class. I did that, we were all totally in love with Momo and I remember to this day the sense of togetherness we shared and I remember the student who suggested the book. She would now be nearing forty years of age!

Another time while teaching 8-9 year olds I read them The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton, one I had never read myself but one that my sister read to our siblings and they had all been enchanted by it. Remembering that I picked out the book from the library - lots of pictures- and settled down to share it. Not long into the book I had the children all inching closer and two of the 'tough' boys hanging over my shoulder ready to turn the pages. I know Enid Blyton is a frowned upon author, with good reason, however when I was growing up she was my main diet as there was very little else available to me in my small New Zealand town.

Last year I read aloud Because of Mr Terupt by Rob Buyea and again there was that anticipation each day as we began to read and groans and pleadings to continue when I put it down. I believe there has been mixed reviews to this book, however we are on the "we loved it" team. I think it may be one of those books that really works best when read aloud. We skyped the author and he read aloud to us the first page of the sequel. We will be among the first to buy it, and I am sure he was rewarded by the spontaneous laughter that erupted from the class as he read.

About ten years ago I had a class of 11-12 year olds who just didn't like reading, nothing chosen suited. I heard about this wonderful new book out - Harry Potter - so I hurried to buy it and began reading it aloud. About a quarter way through the book I had to abandon it. It did not take! I was so disappointed and for many years was mystified as to why such a popular book did not work. A few years back I read somewhere, someone writing that in their opinion Harry Potter was not a read aloud book. Who knows? It didn't work for me that year. I could count on one hand the books that I have abandoned over the years so I guess that is remarkable.

When school starts back on the 31st of January in New Zealand, I am ready to go. I can't wait to begin sharing with my class "Okay for Now" by Gary D Schmidt. I know my class and I know they will love this book as much as I do.

How about you? What book really worked reading aloud to your class? Do you have one that you remember that just did not catch fire?

A Born Again Reader.

2012-01-16T18:05:00.002+13:00

I have always been a reader, but not of children's literature. Since exiting childhood I left that genre of books behind. In fact as a child I was often mystified by my best friend's mother enjoying reading children's books. I have of course over the years of teaching read aloud many books to my class and have been touched by most of them. There is nothing better than to share a book with a class where everyone is totally engaged.

Last year I was introduced to The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller through twitter. It was then than I decided I could read at least one children's book a week, and set out to do so. I am pleased to say since about September last year I have honoured that commitment to myself. I began to read some of the books my students were reading, and I was able to share some suggestions of ones I had read as well. A whole new world began to open up for me and I became 'converted'.

During our summer break I have begun to follow the #nerdybookclub on twitter, and that has introduced me to wonderful possibilities in the world of book reading. These people are really dedicated readers and have a wealth of knowledge between them, I sit as a novice at their feet and soak in as much as I can. I have chosen to take part in the Newbery Challenge - see the link on the side bar. I am going to take it slowly, and I have decided that rather than begin with the first book, I will begin with the later books and work backwards. Not in order though, as I await books from the library I will take whatever comes first.

So each week I hope to take part in the What are You Reading Monday over at the blog Mentor Texts.

Last week I read Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher. This is about a class of students and how they act and interact when their substitute teacher does not show up for the day. They decide to run the class themselves and do so rather ably until there is a crisis. As it turns out they handle this well, and change happens.

I think readers in my class will enjoy this one.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt was definitely my favourite of the week. I read this as an e-book on my Kobo ereader, borrowed from our town library. That was a first for me too, as it is only very recently that our library has had this facility available.

This is the story of a middle grade boy who belongs to a poor family and has moved to a new area and school. Doug Swieter will remain with me as a favourite character of all time. I loved him and the book so much I have purchased it and intend it to be my first read aloud of the year to the class when we go back in two weeks. One small detail that entertained me was that the class at one time are set a project to do on New Zealand!

I loved this video which I watched after reading the book of Gary Schmidt talking about this book. He explains it far better than I could.

A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole. This is the story of a mouse and her search for a home and her friendships and challenges along the way. I had borrowed it from our local library via my Smartcard, again a new experience for me. Some of our local libraries have teamed up and books can be reserved and send to the library of your choice for no cost.

Needless to say I have since bought the book. There are students in my class who will love this book. Again here follows a short video that will show you some of the art work in this wonderful book.

The last book that I read this week was a first as well. My first graphic novel. Sure I have read plenty of comics in my time but no comic novel. Although that reminds me I have a Diana Gabaldon graphic novel sitting on my shelf that I must read. The book I did read was Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol.

Anya is a Russian American and struggles with who she is and how she is perceived. Falling down a hole she meets up with a ghost from over ninety years back who also fell down the hole.

They escape the hole and over time form a bond, until things turn somewhat black and dark. Finding her way through this darkness Anna also finds herself.

The art work is wonderful and the whole novel is well done. I am not sure if I should release it into my classroom, I think perhaps Year 8 girls would benefit from it with discussion. I have decided to ask our local town children's librarian to read it and give me her opinion. She knows my class well as we visit there once a fortnight.

So that was my reading last week. This week I have books on order for the Newbery challenge, but my experience is now that they take about a week to arrive. In the meantime I will read Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan. The boys in my class have been fans of these books and I have heard them discussing them often. I have read the first two in the second series but now feel compelled to go back and explore the first series.

Quality Commenting Audit Meme

2012-01-03T19:31:00.002+13:00

I have been invited to participate in the Quality Posting and Commenting Meme, begun at the Langwitches blog. Thank you Tracy for passing on the challenge, it has challenged me to stop and reflect on the commenting that my students engage in.

Commenting is an important part of blogging. At its best it carries the conversation on, adds ideas, enables others to think further about the topic, to agree or not agree with the writer of the post. It also allows the person commenting to give support and encouragement to the writer. Every writer likes feedback!

As teachers we would like our students to engage in writing quality comments. There are teachers out there that certainly model this and set high expectations. Two such teachers are Linda Yollis and Kathleen Morris. Although they are two that come to my mind readily, there are other teachers endeavouring to do the same with great success. For example, just read the wonderful posts linked in my first paragraph. These teachers challenge me by their professional approach and expectation of high standards from students. They awaken in me the need to reflect on my own journey teaching commenting to students.

As a class we have talked about commenting and together we have set guidelines. However as I reflect, I have not followed that up enough to ensure that quality commenting is taking place. We haven't examined quality comments enough, nor examined our own comments and worked on developing them further. Therefore it is very timely to examine the kinds of comments that are happening in my classroom and to plan for some intervention when we return to school in February 2012.

The two comments I examine below are really the pre-assessment. What is happening with commenting in my class? Let me examine that and see where I need to go. At the end of the term I am going to commit to another teacher post on this blog in April to reflect again on where my class is with the making of quality comments.

Commenting Guidelines

"It is better to make one quality comment than many poor comments"

Ø Be positive and respectful.

Ø Give details about what you agree with or like in the post.

Ø Write a comment that might make the reader of your comment think further, or connect to in some way.

Ø Share your feelings, opinions, ideas and questions in relation to the topic of the post.

Ø Make sure you write everything so that the person reading the comment will understand what you want to communicate.

Ø Use correct spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Ø Begin your comment with a greeting and end with a signature.

Ø Use formal language – think about your word choice, sentence fluency and paragraphing.

Ø Double check your comment before posting – reread it.

Ø Finally ask yourself how will the person feel when they receive your comment?

Ø Publish it.

Ø Remember to check back so that you can respond if the person you left the comment to furthers the conversation.

Ø Copy your comment into your word document, My Commenting, so that later in the term you can reflect on your commenting.

Tip: Clicking on each comment image will enlarge it for easier reading.

On the very first day back in 2012 I commit to sharing with my students a powerpoint that I have begun with the four slides above, we will revisit our guidelines and refine them if necessary. I am also thinking of setting some kind of challenge - for example make 15 -20 quality comments in Term 1. (10 weeks)

Your turn.

I would now like to nominate two more teachers to take a turn at sharing in a meme how they see quality commenting.

J Salsich on Twitter @jmsalsich

Stephanie on Twitter@traintheteacher. Stephanie I know you may not want to do this post straight away, but in your time.

Newbery Award Challenge.

2011-12-29T16:47:00.001+13:00

I have decided to take part in the following challenge being run by some teacher/librarians in the USA. One of my goals is to read more children's literature so this is just one of the ways that I can work towards that. The challenge is to read all the Newbery winners over the years.

The challenge can take a year or a decade, so that suits me as I don't want to limit myself to just these books. You can read about the challenge over on the blog MrSchu reads.

The Joy of New Learning!

2011-12-24T19:59:00.004+13:00

Some of my students do the ICAS Mathematics papers with the University of New South Wales. They just like the challenge and it’s a choice for them if they want. Those that are good at Mathematics generally like to give it a go.

The following question in the Yr 7 and Yr 8 paper had the better students in my class stumped. As their teacher I was totally lost as well. Teegan went home and asked her sister and she came back with an explanation that we couldn’t follow so being the end of term and year we left it.

However when the holidays came around it was something I wanted to find out about so I took the problem to my friend and a past Math’s teacher to help me. Here was the problem.

35. 4! = 4x3x2x1

5! = 5x4x3x2x1

Jess wrote the expression 20! – 19! on the board.

Which of the following has the same value as this expression?

(A) 1!

(B) 20

(C) 19x19!

(D) 20x19!

When first looking at it I thought maybe (A). I was applying the only background knowledge I had which was taking 20! – 19! = and thinking of it as 20a – 19a =. However having peeked at the answers I knew this wasn’t correct. I was worried by the top piece of information but I couldn’t find any pattern and in the end chose to ignore it.

However now I have new information! The ! is a special symbol, it stands for factorial. I hadn't known that. So 4! stands for 4x3x2x1. 5! as above. 6! would be 6x5x4x3x2x1. Factorial is related to the word factor. So 6,5,4,3,2,1 are all the factors of 6!

I now had some helpful information but it took me awhile longer. So….

20! – 19! = 20 x (19 x 18……x1) – 19x(18x17….x1)

= 20 x 19! – 19!

= 19 x 19! which is (C)

Factorial numbers get bigger quickly. 20! is 20 x 19! so if we take away one 19! we have 19 x19!

20! is 20 times larger than 19!

The part in blue took me a little while to get. Later in the day I went over it in my head and I said to my friend awhile later, “So I’m going over the factorial thing and this is what I think…

As he listened he said “I don’t think you have got this part, and he named the place where 20! is 20 times greater than 19!, so we chatted over that and finally I saw it. Or at least I did, until I sat down to write this and then I had to go to his paper to look at the notes he had jotted down and then it came back to me.

Now to those that did Maths for high school and college this probably is a no brainer. But for me who was told in Year 10 that girls didn’t need Maths (1960’s) this was very new learning. My love is reading and writing, however I need to teach Maths to Year 8 and I actually enjoy it too.

Why did I want to solve this problem? Well firstly I was driven by the fact that I wanted to be able to teach my students about it. That was my why. It has no other relation to my life, and I have to say it probably has little relevance to a large part of the population. So why would my students need it? Well obviously they are not going to get the message that girls don’t need Maths so it is a small step in the bigger picture. Now that I knew the word factorials I was empowered to search further about them. A video on You Tube showed me a little more.

I hadn’t seen them mentioned in Algebra at the Year 8 level but what’s the harm in going further? I was partly driven also by my need not to have my students say half way through the year “I haven’t learned anything new in Maths this year!” Now while it wasn’t Teegan who said this, or indeed anyone in my class in 2011, I know I will get great joy in sharing my knowledge with her and the others who are ready for it. Students who on the whole are showing through testing they are at Level 5 in the NZ curriculum but are still at primary school.

And learning for the sake of learning is actually very satisfying. Now I need to share it in a way my students will get it, so that one day very soon they can go beyond me. One thing I can predict is they are going to grasp this far quicker than I did.

Read the Book before the Movie.

2011-12-21T18:28:00.000+13:00

Today I finished the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. I have had it sitting on my table to read for a couple of months. One of my goals has been to read more books that my students are reading or might read. I have been aiming for one a week. With the holidays I want to increase that a little more.

It was a wonderful and touching story. It explored the relationship between horse and master, horse and horse. Morpurgo tells the story through the eyes of the horse in a way that reminds me of Black Beauty. It is a story of strong bonds, friendship, loyalty, commitment and kindness. And the futility and mindlessness of war. The main backdrop is World War 1. I loved it and found I needed to reach for the tissues a few times.

As I placed the book on my Goodreads page I noticed people talking about the movie that is due to come out. What a coincidence. I bought this book because I thought it would appeal to the boys in my class. Now I know after reading it,it may appeal to the girls as well. I do regret not reading it earlier so that they might read it before the movie comes out. It is due out in the USA this month, and if online sources are correct it is due to come out in New Zealand on January 12th 2012. I hope it carries the essence of the book. Get the book out of your library, read it and then go see the movie! You can also get it on Kindle, but this is one you will want to share.

One Step Leads to Another!

2011-12-06T19:43:00.001+13:00

As the New Zealand school year winds down I look back and think, another year much the same as any other. But in fact 2011 has been a great year of professional development and change. In January I did the Edublog's teacher blogging challenge and through that I learned about new tools and made new connections. It was well worth it. It lead to another fork in the road. Twitter!

As I did the Edublog challenge I began to realize Twitter might be something to explore. I did so a little reluctantly. It turned out to be the best professional development ever. I can pick and choose from all the wonderful ideas that educators are sharing. It’s awe inspiring. Twitter pointed me in the direction of Daily 5.

Over the January break I had placed the Daily Five and Café book on my Kindle, but they sat there in my TBR pile. As I became aware of the Daily Five chat on Twitter, I got those books upgraded to the front of the queue and read them. I was an immediate convert, and from mid-year started to implement it in my class. While the majority of people on Twitter seem to be mainly Junior school teachers, I was inspired by them and joined in with my Year 6 – 8. The students loved the choice of Daily Five and it wasn’t long before they were up and running. The Daily Five Chat on Twitter each Saturday has become the one chat I like to be there for. I have learned so many tips. The best part is being renewed and enthused by like-minded professionals who take part in this chat.

During the chat one Saturday, The Book Whisperer was mentioned. I had seen this book on Amazon, but had noted it with a maybe….sometime…. The chat again nudged me to read this book by Donalyn Miller and I found answers to some of my questions I had for my Year 6 – 8 class as I implemented Daily Five. After reading this book I made a goal to read one children’s book a week and I think I am on target. I started a little reluctantly but find I am enjoying the books. I also get a buzz from seeing a book I have read and given a Book Talk about being read by a number of students in the class. They get a buzz when I read a book they recommend. I will definitely continue with this into 2012.

Donalyn Miller mentioned the book Guiding Readers and Writers by Irene Fountas and Gay Pinnell. This is a rather large tome. I haven’t read it all but already it has been worth the money I spent. I did want to implement some of the ideas this term, but my plans disintegrated when my Principal had emergency surgery and I had to re order my priorities. I intend reading it further during our summer January break so that I am ready to hit Term One next year organised to go!

After reading Daily 5 and reflecting on the spirit of the book, I turfed out students individual desks and set up tables and a few desks. I no longer kept a teacher’s desk for myself. Today my relief teacher asked me “How is your free range classroom working out?’’ After a few laughs at the idea of my students and I running around like hens in a paddock I responded. “I love it.” I think the majority of my students do too. For a while they clung to their “own” space but as time went by that changed. I don’t have any custom made furniture for them to store their belongings so that has been an issue, but it’s not serious enough for me to abandon it.

We have a large open plan space on our school property that now functions nicely as a school hall. However at one side it has a long narrow space that was once a classroom. One of my colleagues was bemoaning the fact that she will have the largest class next year and is housed in the smallest room. After a few days of this, without much thought I said, “I’ll move out and you can have mine, but I am not moving into your small hole.” I actually rather like the room I am in! I decided to move into the space by the open plan, and merely informed the Principal that was where I was going. While he was still coughing and spluttering I called it a fait accompli!

I'm moving classroom. So between teaching only some days in my classroom and working in the office other days, I am also cleaning my classroom that I am moving out of, and cleaning and throwing out junk from the space that I am moving into. I am full of excitement. I met our local Resource Teacher of Literacy today, and told her where I was going next year; she responded “That will so suit your teaching style!” She should know, she has spent many hours in my room over the last number of years. Just quietly I am sure it will too and I am so looking forward to the possibilities. This year was to be one of personal voice - yes that's what I said on my Voki! Hmm, I think it's a wrap!

Using Digistore.

2011-10-23T16:26:00.000+13:00

If you are a teacher in New Zealand do you use Digistore? Until I attended Ulearn11 I have to admit I hadn't. I knew of its existence and had looked at it briefly last year. At least I knew my school log on and password which helped me, when I decided to explore it further, having attended the workshop about Digistore. As there is a copyright clause for it, only New Zealand teachers may use it. Perhaps in the future that will change.

To start with you need to log on to TKI using your sector service log on.

Once you are logged on to TKI scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the digistore.

The very first time you do this you will need to have your school log on details for logging on to the digistore. Once you have put this in, every other time you will only have to sign into TKI, and you will be able to access the digistore without having any further log on necessary.

Once there explore around, especially take notice of the wiki, which is a great place to go to, to learn various things about how the digistore operates.

After you have had an exploration time you can begin to build your own learning pathways that can later be shared with students. Today I have begun to do that, I was keeping in mind the needs of my students and the poetry topic we are going to be doing. I made a folder called Poetry and then I added various learning objects I found to the folder. These together make up my learning pathway.

Inside my learning path there are the learning activities for my students to engage with.

Before I added the learning activities I had clicked on View details to check it out, you do need to work through the activity yourself to decide on its relevance.

Having worked through the above activity, I am impressed and I know it will be a valuable addition to the unit of work.

When my learning path is ready, I post a link to the digistore on my wiki, on the poetry page, for the students. I have placed the pin there that they will need to access the learning pathway. They only need this pin to access it, they do not need to log on with passwords or emails.

I am now looking forward to trying out the learning pathway I have created with the students when the right moment in the unit arrives.

If you have not tried digistore then perhaps start with this slideshare presented by Suzie Vesper at #Ulearn11. She explains it all far better than myself! However I was practising using Jing rather than the snipping tool I usually use! Thanks Suzie for the enthusiasm and great presentation.

Using digistore

View more presentations from digiadvisors

First Taste of a ULearn Conference.

2011-10-22T17:46:00.000+13:00

I have just returned from an amazing three days of professional learning at ULearn 11. It was outstanding as a learning experience and sweeter still because I had chosen to do it myself. I mainly funded it myself, although my school did make a contribution which was gratefully accepted! To think a year ago, I had never heard of ULearn. Thanks to an Australian teacher who made me curious enough to find out more I entertained the idea of attending, and did.

The keynote speakers were all excellent, however my favourite one was Simon Breakspear and it is to his keynote that I will return. His ideas were inspiring, some of his imagery memorable. What an amazing speaker, he knew how to reach his audience and engage them. I felt he deserved a standing ovation! I should have stood and given him at least a one person standing ovation! I hope his speech will be put on Edtalks, I want to listen to it again and reflect further. In the meantime I hold an image of a dandelion in my mind. I will come back to it to a post all by its own.

In the breakouts each of the teachers presenting, were great models of organization and excellent presenting. I marked them all at the top of the scale: they had prepared, were articulate and had a worthwhile something to share. Well done to each of them. I listened of course to only a few of the many options. Not my first choices as I was about 36hrs late when the choices went live online. However I am sure I was not short changed. I look at my planner sheet of breakouts now, and I admit I am a little hazy as to what each speaker said. However my mind is brimming over with thoughts and ideas to use in the classroom or to think about.

I attended:

· 1. Our Journey and E-learning tools for pre-teens

· 2. Ingenious ways to use Google Docs in the classroom

· 3. iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, iLearn

· 4. Bringing Literacy to You: transformative possibilities for teacher professional learning.

· 5. QR codes for connected teachers

· 6. The e-Learning Classroom Project

· 7. The Digistore.

I went to the Digistore workshop by accident! It was the last workshop of the conference, I was in a rush, read the event centre incorrectly and found myself in the wrong place. I had been meant to go to Interactive Media – Gaming for Schools on the Cutting Edge (The Easy Way). I had chosen it because it was something I knew little about and thought it might push me! However I was very satisfied with the Digistore presentation, and have it as a top priority to use. It is copyrighted so it is only available to New Zealand schools. I knew about it, but had sort of ignored it, now I can’t!

I was inspired by the Literacy presentation – No 4 – and I will explore it further. There is professional development linked to it, if I chose, so I will think about it. Earmarked for another post.

No 6 -The e-Learning Classroom Project sounded amazing, and I was somewhat envious of the teachers who have grouped together in this project. This too is earmarked for another post.

All the other breakouts were at the least interesting and at the best inspiring. I know I want to take the time to go back and explore the notes online from each speaker, and refresh my mind on what I heard.

There were a huge group of people, over 1500 at least. I met only one person that I knew in that ever changing sea of faces! However as we sat on buses, queued up in lines, sat beside each other there was always someone to chat with.

The Book Whisperer.

2011-10-04T14:23:00.000+13:00

I have just finished reading this excellent book by Donalyn Miller. I found it easy reading, and was through it in a couple of days. However I am now intending to do a re-read and gather up what I missed in the first reading.

I grew up in the'50s where I was forever scrounging and seeking out books that weren't there. No town or school library, and a meager class library. Oh to have been in such a classroom as D Millers. She believes that students should have plenty of books available to them to read, and that they should be of their own choosing. She also believes that this type of reading can be done during the school day. Now that kind of thinking is not foreign to me, New Zealand schools have long been places where we could choose the materials we teach with. We have no prescribed basal readers or course that we have to follow. Just standards our students must reach. During my teaching career students have always chosen their own books to read in class. This said, D Miller is advocating more than that, and that is where I found her book helpful.

I have recently become aware of the Daily Five and Café books by the sisters Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, and have implemented their ideas as well as I can. Of course as always, it was a fine tuning of my teaching rather than a radical shift, especially with the Café book. However the Daily Five did involve some small radical changes – throwing out many desks for one! The Book Whisperer calls for more fine tuning, and it challenges me as well.

Daily Five is working well, its magic, as all of we teachers who have implemented it can attest to. In spite of this I still had a query in my mind as to the accountability of students in their reading. The Book Whisperer answers this question for me. If you are wondering about it then read the book, like me you will find answers.

I admit I have never been a great reader of children's literature, I enjoy the books I read to my class and there it stops. I now realise I need to read more of them, so I am starting with a goal of one per week. I have just grabbed from our school library Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. D Miller mentions it in her book; also one of my reluctant girl readers mentioned it yesterday as a favourite book for her. As this year has been a year of difficulty for me in trying to hook in some girls to reading, I thought this is a good place for me to start.

Some main points that I take from this book are:

· The students need a wide variety of books to choose from – as each student will have differing tastes. D Miller has her own vast class library that she has paid for. I don’t have the time to build that library – I retire in a few years – however I have some books in our class library, we have a good school library, we visit as a class the local district library once a fortnight and we can loan 30 books from our National library for a 6 week time period.

· She has a very good system for organising her class books. She does this according to genre and has a system of stickers and numbers that easily allow for additional books with no changing around of the books already there. I am going to organise the books I do have in the way she describes. It might not be until the summer break, but I will do it.

· She has high expectations for her students. She sets the goal at the beginning of the year for the students to read 40 books. Read that is! She allows that a reader will pick up a book and not like it and its okay to discard. ( I notice on Goodreads she has her own shelf for such discards.) Next term, is going to be short, I think I will set 7 -8 books for my class. In February as we begin our school year, it will be 40.

· She has an effective system of accountability. She has her students use a reader’s notebook and has a simple way of recording what they read. I like this and I am going to implement it next term. Once a week they write her a letter type response to the book they are reading and she replies to this. I need to explore that further in my second reread of the book.

· She reads many children’s books so that she can match a student to a book. I am sure that’s not the only reason she reads them, she is obviously a booklover full stop! For me this is the most challenging aspect. I am a booklover too, but prefer to read what I like in my own time. As a result of reading this book though, I am going to change that, as I mentioned above.

I highly recommend this book to all teachers, and as one teacher on Twitter suggests, all administrators!

#Daily5 in Action

2011-09-07T19:17:00.000+12:00

A video of my 10 to 13 year olds using the spaces made by throwing out some of the desks from the classroom.
I am really pleased with the space that has been freed up, plenty of space for individuals to spread out, and we have a large meeting area. I suspect I will never go back to a desk per student in a classroom.

Writing in the Classroom

2011-09-04T18:01:00.000+12:00

Recently I have been working on what good writing looks like, and what the teaching of that looks like as well. Last summer holidays,- overseas readers its just going into Spring down here- as teachers do, I was searching around for new viewpoints on writing. I came across the Northern Nevada Writing Project. It has some wonderful pointers on the teaching of writing in the classroom.

It takes the six traits approach to writing, and I find this really helpful in teaching the skills of writing. When I went to school, we didn't learn that much about writing. Once when my mother went to a parent interview the teacher said, "You would think her writing would be better with all the reading she does". My mother came home and repeated that to me, and it's a remark I've never forgotten. It wasn't that helpful, and if I was being myself now, I would say, "So teach me to write!" Back then, we were expected to learn about writing by osmosis perhaps? The Northern Nevada writing project which you can link to from the picture below, features children's books that can be a model for writing.

I noted this site, but it is only recently that I have returned to it and started to really make use of it.

There is also a Ning linked to this site, which again I joined but did little about until now. You can check it out through the picture link below. At present I am grappling with developing the skills of sentence fluency with my class. Another post on that later. Let us say I am coming to terms with the participle phrase, hoping that my students are at the same time.

It is said that what we need to learn, is best learned by teaching it. You see, it is not only my class that are developing their writing knowledge and skills, count me in too. At present I am preparing a guest post on books for another teacher. I just need the time to revise and edit it first! I want to put into practice what I am learning. Hope my class does too.

Were you taught about writing when you went to school, or did you learn by osmosis?

Class Engaged in #Daily5.

2011-08-30T13:50:00.000+12:00

My class have all voted in favour of the way we are managing the Literacy section of the day. I vote for it too!

Real Learning?

2011-08-29T20:17:00.000+12:00

I am really enjoying the experience of trying out Daily Five in my classroom. This system of structuring and managing my Literacy programme, along with the CAFE menu of reading strategies, is a way of teaching that is really resonating with me. I feel so energised still at the end of the day, I look forward to the ideas I am going to share and teach my class each day. Some of these things are new to me, I have just learned them and I delight in bringing them along to class.

Today I stopped by DR. He was working on a narrative piece of writing in his Writer's Notebook. I asked him about the last piece of narrative writing he had been working on when I met him last. He looked at me and said, "It didn't work out, I got muddled in the middle." I asked him what he had learned from the experience. He replied, " I realised I really need to plan my writing. So I am taking the time to plan this narrative in more depth, at the moment I am developing my characters so that I have some details on the kind of people they are."

Have your ever felt vindicated! (We are working at using words we come across in our reading, vindicated is one of those!) In that moment I did. Early in the year I had taken the class through a number of ways to plan their writing. In term two I was out of the classroom, on returning this term, as I circled the room I began to realise that as I asked about planning, many students owned that they hadn't planned. I felt quite downhearted. However I calmly mentioned and reminded again of the importance of planning.

Now, through first hand experience DR has discovered and experienced how important planning is in helping to structure a piece of writing. If I had continued to teach and support and gone back to Term one mode, DR would never have learned this for himself. There's a time to teach, and there's a time to give students the freedom to find out for themselves.

It was a great day!

Ten Week Paid Sabbatical.

2011-08-27T17:22:00.000+12:00

At the end of last week I found out I was one of the small group of fortunate teachers in New Zealand to be awarded a 10 week paid sabbatical in 2012. Half the time is for learning and half the time is for relaxing and living a leisurely life! I am delighted to be given the time. I really look forward to it.

My goal for my sabbatical is:

To investigate how I can use tools of the twenty-first century to develop in my Year 5 – 8 students, digital literacy and network literacy.

To investigate how I can do this in a way that empowers them to be intelligent and critical producers and consumers of a full range of media texts.

The questions I will investigate are:

· How can I effectively use digital story-telling, podcasting, vodcasting, voicethread and other tools to empower my students to be critical thinkers about what they and others produce?

· Are there benefits to using such sites as Facebook and Twitter in a primary classroom? What other ways are available for networking and collaborating?

· How can I develop the reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and presenting abilities of my students through these tools?

· How can these tools meet the diverse needs of students in our senior school?

· How can I encourage a process and product that empowers students to engage in work that has the mark of excellence?

I will explore:

How other teachers are already using these tools through reading about their experiences with them on their blogs and wikis and attending webinars. I will read books and articles from teacher magazines that refer to the literacies I am exploring.

A book called, Digital Storytelling by Richard Lambert and Adam Brice to develop my ideas and learn from the experience of those who have already been very successful in the digital storytelling field.

Each tool I learn about I will ‘play’ with, developing my own skills so that I can share them with my students.

Implementing Daily Five.

2011-08-21T17:46:00.000+12:00

Three weeks into the new school term and Daily Five is beginning to take shape in my classroom. I am still finding my way and I still have questions, however I think that when I begin to grasp the way it works and how I might operate within it, it is going to be all I hoped.

The actual design of the classroom, with many of the desks removed to the storage dungeon, on the whole is working well. The main drawback is that I have allotted places around the room for students to store their books and pencils etc., at times there are bodies all trying to get to the same place at the same time. So we are learning about waiting and taking turns, rather than walking on top of one another, ( as one student does)!

The students like the layout, and there were many dropping jaws and visitors from the next room coming in to see what had happened in Room four, on the first day back. Just a week ago, after school, Sandy, a teacher from the other end of our long corridor came in and exclaimed, “Where are all your desks?” With glee, I told her what I had done with them.

I now have Reading to Self, up and running successfully. This was not difficult as the students were already reading for 20 minutes of self-choice reading in the day. However I went through the Daily Five introduction and we practiced doing it correctly, incorrectly and correctly! Writing was next on the list and we went through the same process, followed by Working with Words.

At present I am working on Reading to Someone. We are at the stage of building the I chart and practising it. By the end of the week I hope it will be there as a choice. I am a little nervous of this one, as it will introduce more sound into the room, so I think I will need to take my time with it. At a class level where students are 10 to 13 years old perhaps it could be argued it isn’t a needed skill. That most of them are fluent readers. However not all of them are, and those that are, do not necessarily have the expression and variety of a good oral reader. I will probably request that it be chosen two times in the week and observe how that goes.

Listening will be introduced this week and up and running by next week. I am not going to make this a compulsory aspect as I think it will appeal to those it needs to, and less to those who don’t need it so much. However I do believe we all benefit from being read to, and I won’t stop anybody from making the choice. I have used Ministry listening materials, and have also collected some other places the students might go in my Livebinder. We have another time in the day when we all listen to a story together. At present we are listening to The Lion Boy by Zizou Corder.

This week I am aiming for four days using Daily Five. Because I am giving more time than I might normally to Literacy, I am keeping Friday to cover other aspects of the curriculum. I am giving a ten minute input, and then students choose what they are going to work on. On a good day I hope to have four input sessions, followed by four choice sessions. As all teachers know, not every day is a good day. Take tomorrow there are school photos! Tuesday the students are off to technology and so it goes….

The hardest aspect for me to organize I think will be how I spend that time while the students are involved in their choices. At present I am using it to Running Record some students to find out what would be good next steps for them. I am also meeting individually with writers, and I am beginning to grasp that. However once I start integrating group times, it will be something else to juggle. I want to use my time wisely and where it will make the most difference. I suspect this aspect of Daily Five is going to take the longest to implement effectively.

I am keen that students will be able to tell me what they are choosing to do and what their goal is as they leave the gathering place. Some students are well able to identify their goals, others are going to need more support.

I see how our key competency of self-management fits very well into the Daily Five. I have completed a taxonomy for students to place themselves on at the end of each session or day, in relation to this. Indeed I should do one for myself. With over 35 years of teaching experience it is very difficult to leave go my roving eye and word of caution, and allow the students to practice self-management!

My Classroom is Coming Together.

2011-07-27T18:51:00.000+12:00

Here is a video of what my classroom is beginning to look like. Most of the desks have gone. I decided I didn't want any student to have a tray in the desk, as I didn't want anyone to be able to claim a desk as "theirs". I had to do some problem solving with where the students would keep their exercise books, pencil cases etc. I am hoping my solution will work. A classroom always feels good before the students hit, once they are there it becomes quite different. So it will be interesting to see how we all fare in this new layout!!

So my classroom is almost set, now I need to get my planning ready to begin the Daily Five. Here is a short video to show some of my changes, forgive the rather inane commentary. I need to work on that.

Any suggestions you may have will be welcomed and listened to.

My LiveBinder for #Daily5.

2011-07-25T19:08:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I spent most of the day making my first Livebinder. I was inspired to do this when I saw Theresa's LiveBinders on her blog. As I was on holiday I wanted to explore how they might work. As I was reading and deciding to implement The Daily Five in my classroom I thought it would be a good supplement to my literacy programme. I can leave it on my classroom blog as a choice for students to explore during the Daily Five.

I tried to find material that would suit my class. They are 10 to 12 year olds. I do have a wide range of ability, from one student who is under the resource teacher of literacy to students who score at the top end of the range. At this point I didn't try to differentiate. I remember a few years back when I was teaching another student who was working with the resource teacher of literacy. I had him listening to various CD's and other listening and reading material provided to NZ schools for free. After awhile the others wanted to listen in too, and set themselves up!

My next goal is to establish a class wiki. I have signed up for one, but it may be awhile before I get to it with so much that I want to accomplish in redesigning the layout of my classroom!

#Daily Five

Redesigning the Layout of my Classroom.

2011-07-25T16:29:00.000+12:00

It is going to be a larger task than I thought. Before I get to the fun part I am going to need to do a major clean out. There are things that need to be thrown to the recycling or at least placed somewhere else, so that I can make room for new needs.

I had thought we had some tote tray storage but someone else is happily using them, so I am going to need to clear shelves so that students can keep their things there. In fact I don’t want anyone to have the tote tray in a desk. It might make them think it is “their” desk.

So tomorrow the big throw out begins!

Classroom Changes Afoot.

2011-07-22T18:52:00.000+12:00

Holidays are when ideas begin to mull around in my head. The summer holidays usually are the worst! I make huge plans, and then I return to school, and reality hits! It’s then I find the nitty gritty of implementing those plans takes a lot more than I anticipated in those lazy, hazy days of summer.

However, this isn’t the summer break, it’s the two week mid-winter break. Ideas of how I want to make changes are entering my mind. I am blaming it on the fact I sat in an office for last term instead of a classroom. Normally my mind is mush at the end of a term and ideas have fled. Oh, and the second culprit, Twitter. It brims over with such great ideas.

Firstly I got drawn in by the idea of the Daily Five. It’s a way to organize and structure the literacy programme, as shared by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser in their books, The Daily Five and The Café Book. I see there is a possibility of structuring Maths in a similar way; however I will leave that for the time being.

This structural idea appeals to me:

ü It encourages students to be responsible and independent.

ü It allows me time to work with individuals and groups.

ü There are also times when I can meet for whole class input.

ü Once I get organized each student will have their own goals that they are working towards.

ü The Daily Five ensures that students keep those goals before them daily. We have often previously set goals and somehow during the term they have been lost, only to be remembered when we reflect towards the end of term.

So that leaves plenty to get organized. And I also need to make a general large picture of the social studies unit to be entered into for the coming term. There are plenty of other ideas also rolling around inside. Not new ideas, others have all been there before me, but I am walking the path for the first time. Fortunately great teachers have shared places on the internet to explore and obtain more information.

Subsequently I looked at the two sisters website and noticed the designs of some of the classrooms. I heard in my head, “What if…..?” What if I made some changes in the layout of the classroom. (I am a structural control freak, you need to know that!) I decide where the students sit, I carefully craft a seating plan each term.

But what if…. Every student didn’t have a desk. Computers are wonderful in the classroom, but they take up room and they have to be where they can be cabled into the internet ports, although a wireless upgrade is hopefully coming very soon. I use a rather large kidney shaped desk, that I like but has a dangerous wobbly bit on it. So I am thinking:

ü Get a jelly bean shaped desk I can use.

ü Find a two seater couch

ü Rearrange the class library

ü Organise how to store student gear.

ü Remove some of my filing cabinets

ü Gather up some cushions

ü Make up some listening boxes

ü Put my dibs on a low table or two

ü Wonder how many actual desks to leave

My classroom is generally the last thing I organize. My walls are never anything to write home about. There are other things that take my time and energy. But this could make a difference to learning and I am rather energized by the thought.

There is a thought going around in my head about how students will cope with this. I am thinking that I will pre prepare but nothing too radical until the students return. Then I will get them to think about the classroom and what if…? I will ask them to come up with a design, and get their thoughts on how many desks we need, where we could place things.

I already have my jelly bean desk. I spotted it on Trademe, now I just need to organize the transport. I will be able to use it for working with groups of students and it can also double up as a working area for them when I am not using it. I have my eye on a 2 seater couch that will be local and easily picked up, and very cheap. Nice.

Creating the hub of my PLN

2011-07-10T19:39:00.001+12:00

How do I organize the way I can tap into my PLN and other places that I use frequently ? The hub of the network. That’s what PLN Challenge#6 is asking us to think about. At first I was going to give it a miss, however I decided to do a little “spring” cleaning.

I now have things slightly more accessible and I am happy with it. I think that’s the essential part, it has to work for you. That said if others post on this, I will be looking at what they have done, as something may stand out to me as a great idea.

This is how my homepage looked before the spring clean. It worked, however there were a few double ups and it didn’t have that kerb side appeal!

Now I have changed the classic theme and put in Ninety mile beach. Far more relaxing and refreshing to view.

I like to work with tabs so across the top I have:

Diigo

Hootsuite

My class and teacher blog

Igoogle (my homepage)

On the next line I have:

Evernote clipping tool

Bit.ly url shortner

On the next bar there is:

TKI (Website for NZ teachers)

My SchoolTube account

Ilearn (Collaborative website.)

NNWP writing lessons Ning

My You Tube site

My Glogster site.

I have now put two pages on my iGoogle site after reading the challenge post. I have shifted my personal interest links to this page. On the homepage I have added in a feed from my Google Reader and Facebook. I do have some educational links on Facebook, however family things also come in there and I like keeping an eye on it, so have given it prime real estate! I may add the Diigo bar as well later on, the problem when we have our laptops upgraded as teachers, is that it has to be set up again and some things get missed.

Now as I do this I acknowledge there are a few places in my links I haven't been to recently. Like clothes we don't wear I guess they should be deleted. However I am going to hang on to them for awhile longer and try them on again!

Now when I turn on my computer at school in the morning, a good cup of coffee and I will be ready to go.

Evernote - Teacher Helper.

2011-07-08T18:42:00.002+12:00

Evernote is a free web tool that I recently came across through reading Richard Lambert’s blog . Later I listened to a prerecorded webinar given on Wednesday eT@lking by Graham Clark.

Evernote is for

Ipad or Ipod Touch

Iphone or Android.

If you have it on two or more such devices it will sync automatically and notes you put in using your PC will be found on for instance your Ipad when you next open it up.

Evernote allows you to keep notes that include text, photos, and audio. I cannot see any way of easily creating audio on your PC, however on the other devices it is in the toolbar and is very easy to add a voice to the note.

If you pay $5 a month you can include all kinds of documents and video. At present I am only using the free tool, however as I begin to collect information I may move to the paid version. The free version allows you 60mb a month.

While I will use it to collect, sort and tag a variety of information I want to use it to collect data about students in one place so that it will help me to track what they are learning through the year. For example the class has just finished a Science Fair project. I have photographed these and put them in students’ notebooks.

Evernote can be downloaded from their website. Apps are downloaded from the app stores.

There is a web clipping tool which should also be downloaded. It sits on your tool bar and gives you the option of clipping the url, the whole article or the page.

If you set your preferences under Tools you will also be able to choose from a drop down list which notebook you want to put the note in.

A clipping tool is also added to your email and if you want to save a special email you can put it into you notebook. For example I just did it to remind me of a password I want handy for a website.

If you are on your ipad you can also clip to your notebook using the email address assigned to you by Evernote when you join. The following video shows you how to do this. I haven't yet mastered this aspect! Clipping from your PC is far easier.

If you are starting a new notebook this can be done from the tool bar at the top. Once the new notebook is made you are ready to start adding notes to it.

The new note can then be clicked on, a title given to it and it can be tagged. Some teachers choose to tag by student name within a notebook. I prefer to set up a notebook for each student. I then tag as well, so that I could for example find all science information if I wanted.

If students had their own devices they could have Evernote on say their Ipod Touch and they could track their own work e-portfolio style.

I like this free tool and I can see that it is going to be very useful. I am looking forward to using it next term when I return to my classroom.

If you don't already use it I suggest you give it a go. There are many uses for it outside of education. Try it.

Making Time to build Your PLN.

2011-06-30T18:46:00.003+12:00

When we are starting out to build a PLN the idea and task can be a little daunting. It did to me at the beginning. And really I still am at the beginning! It does take time, but it doesn't need to be a lot of time.

In the most recent Edublogs PLN challenge Sarah Poling mentions the idea of spending 15 minutes a day, which will over a period of time make you very competent at what you are learning. For myself I then take this and say well I will spend some time most days. Sometimes it will be more and sometimes less.

photo © 2010 Eric Lockheart | more info (via: Wylio)
I started out in a small way and joined the classroom Edublogs blogging challenges run by Sue Wyatt, for the last few years. I didn't realise at the time that I was beginning to build a PLN. I thought I was just getting into the world of classroom blogging and it was away to connect with other teachers and classes. My eyes were opened to the learning going on in other classrooms and I wanted that for my class too. At this time I was introduced to the use of Google reader, firstly to follow blogs in the challenge, then my student blogs and finally I now use it to follow teachers who I want to learn along with.

Earlier this year I joined the Edublogs Teacher blogging challenge and through that I found more teachers, learned along with them, or was amazed at what some of them were doing far beyond where I was. Through that I became aware of some of the webinars that were available from such sources as Techtalk Tuesdays and I have joined in occasionally with those. Recently I could not be at the live webinar but I connected in later to listen to an Evernote webinar. Afterwards I spent some time setting up Evernote to track my students, as I had seen suggested my Richard Lambert on his blog. He had presented a webinar on Digital Storytelling, I attended that, have since bought his book and want to start out on that particular journey.

During the Teacher Blogging challenge I decided to join Twitter. This came as a result of seeing how teachers in the blogging challenge were using it. I have started very small. I usually link into it quickly a couple of times per day. I am still learning the conventions of Twitter. I was working with a student recently, and was having to remind her about putting in full stops. During our last session she said, "Right now I put in a full stop." Then had to be reminded again later. I thought to myself why can't she do this all the time. However I was reminded of that little thought later in the evening when I sent off a tweet without the hash-tags it needed. I had used them properly in another tweet, but forgot again. I then understood where we both were in our learning steps! It helped me be far more compassionate towards both of us. Today I have been learning about the Structured Overview of Learning Outcomes (SOLO) and the experience made even more sense to me.

As you may be able to see, I think I am building a PLN in a way that is particular to me. I am finding that as I participate in something I am meeting up with people I have met up before so I am deepening links with some people. It is then leading to something new, joining up with something new. And so the journey goes on. One thing leads to another. I want quality rather than quantity. So my goals for building my PLN are:

1. Spend some time on it each day.
2. Comment on people's blogs that I follow.
3. Spend a little time surfing through the latest updates on Twitter.
4. Click on links that interest me in a tweet.
5. Connect with others on Twitter as I see the opportunity.
6. Each day spend time with one idea gleaned. Explore it and decide it I am going to depth it.
7. Recognise when I have a sense of fullness, small bites will be enough.
9. Track how gradually my PLN and my own skills and knowledge is growing.
(For example my New Zealand contacts have grown as I have consciously set about to develop this.)

photo © 2010 Hartwig HKD | more info (via: Wylio)

So what about actual time? Sometimes in the morning I spend a little time glancing at my Google reader or Twitter. In the afternoon/evening I might read on Twitter or engage in blogging. The weekend sometimes gives me some time as does school holidays as well. However I have less time for reading, watching TV, chores, and in person people time. It’s rather like budgeting with money, if you buy this then you can’t buy that..

To some extent what I choose is governed by what is going on around me or within me. However I find that whatever I am passionate about time isn't a big factor. I just need to remember I can't have it all. We are time bound creatures! However we have the gift of choice.

Technology

2011-06-26T20:13:00.001+12:00

Do you ever stop to reflect and be amazed at the ICT that we have available to us today? I do! I was reminded of it again this weekend as I introduced my 86 year old Dad to the Ipod Nano, 6th generation. I am not sure who was more stressed, him or me. Dad because this was so new and amazing to him, me because I had bought it for him and I wasn't sure if he would love it as much as I do! Dad said his Grandmother would roll over in her grave at the thought of such a thing!

photo © 2011 Jason Bache | more info (via: Wylio)
It is so small, and there it was dangling at the end of his headphones. No ear buds for him! He was worried he was going to lose it, because of its size. I thought, keep an eye on the headphones and there at the end will be the iPod. He loves to listen to music and was amazed that we could put a whole lot of his CD's on it and still have huge space left. I have put a few audio books on as well hoping he will get hooked into them. We shall see. He wakes in the night a lot and I am hoping that the iPod will be good company. I think he is getting the hang of it, I will check in for the next few days. I laugh at my own experience with this iPod, last year my 5th generation made awful noises and never went again. I got the 6th generation. For awhile I couldn't work out that I had to take the sticker of the front that showed the apps! And Dad is worried!!

I think back to the early and mid nineties when we had Apple Macs in my classroom and the one next door. The teacher next door, Vanessa and I, attended a course in Multimedia in Education at Wellington College of Education. Towards the end we had to present our own multimedia work. The two of us were using Hyperstudio, I had spent hours putting my presentation together, with cords everywhere linking to the TV etc. I finally finished it. But how were we to show it to the others? We had no way of getting it there. Think today of all the ways, there would be so many easy ways. We had to bundle up the monitor and hard drive and take the whole Mac Performa into Wellington. Believe me it was heavy. I think too of our school intranet. It rarely worked and I often ran down the corridor to jiggle a connection. The internet? Well that was very odd and I believed I'd need to be highly educated to understand how to log on to it! How technology has moved on!

I enjoyed watching a recent TV series, Downton Abbey. In the last episode the telephone had just arrived at the Abbey in England. The butler was practising answering it, and he wasn't very sure of it. It was very humorous. A little like Dad and the iPod Nano. I've told him about the iPad and I must show it to him some time. In another twenty years I wonder what the world will be using for ICT. Probably something not even imaged as yet.

What memories do you have of the early days?!

Twitter! Why Not?

2011-06-24T11:17:00.000+12:00

photo © 2010 Steve Garfield | more info (via: Wylio)
When I mention to others around me that Twitter is great for teachers they say, "No way!" and to some extent I can understand that. We already have very busy lives, get caught up in Twitter and there goes more time. I held out against Twitter for quite awhile. Turned a deaf ear.

However in January when I participated in the Edublogs Teacher Blogging Challenge I decided to dip my tootsies in. It wasn't that bad! Actually it was very good. A Twitter user only uses it as it suits them. You might just follow others and pick up ideas. That's one thing I do, I now have a number of people I follow who share great websites and ideas. I test the ones I like the sound of. Sometimes I click further onto the web site they are sharing. Imagine my surprise today when I clicked on a website and found a face staring up at me that I knew. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had taught with this Principal back in the days when he was a Deputy Principal at our school and I have a lot of respect for him. So now I have the link to his blog on my blogroll.

One of the reasons I followed the link was because I follow mainly Australian and American educationalists. They are great, yet I need a little more New Zealand in my diet, for the very reasons that TraintheTeacher shares.

Occasionally I share my own comments and thoughts on Twitter. Not often, I am still getting used to it. I occasionally retweet. Tweeting is like mini blogging. Ideas are shared very succinctly. You call in when you have time. Learn a little more about it when you have time. At present I am learning about #tags. I haven't got into any of the'live' chats because the overseas ones are on at a time when I am working or asleep. If you read this and have ideas on any good New Zealand Twitter people to follow let me know. Maybe if I Twitter about it I may get a response as well.

If you are not a Twitter user I encourage you to try it. Just small. Don't even tell others you are trying it. Find a few people to follow. See who they follow. Follow them. Start here and read Kathleen Morris' post about Twitter.

I Deleted my PLN!

2011-06-17T16:45:00.001+12:00

photo © 2009 Sarah | more info (via: Wylio)
With one swipe of my finger (accidental you understand) I deleted a number of blogs that I follow. These blogs I discovered while doing the Teacher Blogging Challenge earlier in the year. All I intended to do was some tidying up, as I begin a new challenge about PLN's. Memo to self, do not use my ipad2 to work on my blog. I can end up doing something I don't want!!

However it isn't as bad as it seems. You see I have other links to a number of these educators. I have some of them in my Google Reader, where I quickly can see there latest posts. On my iGoogle home page I have some more. And my final port of call will be Twitter. Well, actually there is one more. I can go to the Edublogs Teacher Challenges and pick up some there. So all is not lost. I can probably restore the ones I want to keep over the weekend. However one swipe of my finger on the ipad2 will take a little more time restoring on my laptop.

I want to continue developing my PLN. I like the idea of small is good. I find if I get too large I can't interact. How does a busy teacher get the time to follow what's happening on Twitter? There is so much excellent material being shared. I think this is a place I need to work on. I still haven't got a handle on the hashtags so that needs to be mastered. I don't use Tweetdeck and I am not sure that it would be of extra value to me. However I am prepared to be open about that. I don't use a mobile phone much. However soon I will need to upgrade because I have quite an old phone. I am thinking maybe wait to the iphone5 comes out. That may keep me more connected.

I enjoy learning from teachers around the globe. I can learn things that otherwise may never cross my path. I am a person who gets easily lulled to a state of boredom attending professional development that is not engaging for me. Yes I do attend engaging PD as well, but not all the time. What I like about a PLN is that I can engage with the ideas and learning that are relevant to me at the time. I may not know I want to learn about it until I see someone share about it. I love that I don't have to 'leave home' to do it. No travel! Now that's a bonus. I am presented with a lot of quality information, guidance, and good practice. It makes me want to strive to lift my teaching practice, it opens up doors and possibilities. Through the blogging challenge I began to keep an eye out for webinars that might give me new ways of seeing things.

So, blogging, Twitter, Google reader and iGoogle have been my main ways of developing my PLN. I look forward to this challenge as a way of becoming more active within it. I need to be realistic. I only have a little time and so I want to build the most effective PLN for me. I am also aware that I need to make time to contribute as well as learn.

Attribution:
Image from the Daring Librarian.
Image: 'PLN_DimSum'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43666171@N07/4806404770

Bullying in Schools.

2011-05-29T19:31:00.000+12:00

photo © 2008 Pimkie | more info (via: Wylio)
Last week the issue of Bullying seemed to stand up and confront me. A parent came to me to report an issue of bullying that her child had come to her with. That day Mrs S online asked for comments for a post on bullying that a student of hers had posted. At a Board meeting last week we read a letter by Anne Tolley our Minister for Education about bullying. On Friday I began investigating a bullying incident. Then on Friday evening I caught the end of an interview with a very articulate 13 year old on Close up. How proud she can be of herself. How proud her parents and teachers must be. The interview is worth watching, and you can link to it from here. It is Number 3 on the line up.

As I began to think about the issue of bullying that I am dealing with at present, I thought of the very serious incidents that have been bought to our attention in New Zealand schools. Surely it is an issue that needs to be addressed. It is easy to pay lip service to it. Why do schools do that? I personally think it is because they actually don't know how to handle it. We are educators, and like it or not, we need to educate our students to deal with bullying behaviour, whether they are the bully or the one bullied.

Schools of course can't do it by themselves. They need the support of parents, and sometimes services such as counsellors and youth aid officers. They need to support those bullied, help them to cope and take steps to prevent bullying happening to them. The school has to take steps as well to keep students safe. Schools also need to support the bully, letting them know they are accepted but their behaviour is not acceptable. This all sounds reasonably straightforward but of course issues like this are rarely straightforward. As I deal with the specific issue confronting me at present, I ask myself how do I best deal with this? How can I help get change in this situation?

Their often is a strange code of silence around bullying. The bullied of course often remains silent. What concerns me is that often others who witness the bullying do not stand up for this person, and I am coming to believe these people need to be awakened and faced with how they need to respond. Be they students or Principals and senior staff of schools. Giving lip service to the issue of bullying is not enough. Bullying is violence, be it verbal or physical.

Some websites that deal with bullying are:
Stop Bullying.
Bullying Prevention at the elementary level.
Bullying No Way an Australian resource.
No Bully. Resource from NZ police.
What's Bullying.

How do you deal with bullying in your school. What in your opinion is successful when it comes to dealing with this issue?

Loving My Ipad2

2011-05-26T21:12:00.000+12:00

photo © 2011 inUse Consulting | more info (via: Wylio)
Yes I am just loving the iPad2. It is a personal item, so thus far I have refrained from taking it to school. Well I did take it once. I have a student in my class, an eleven year old who is in the earlier stages of learning to read. I encouraged her by saying when she had a number of ticks for chunking through words, using the sounds and not making big, fat guesses, I would reward her with a story on my iPad. She worked hard and I gave her my iPad and she followed the story of Cinderella. Of course I sat along side her guarding my precious piece of hardware! The Cinderella app was not a fantastic app but we enjoyed the story and I already have another app waiting there for her when we make another page of ticks for meeting her goal. She is buying into it. I love it, because of course as a teacher I have a hidden motive. It passes more text past her eyes!

I love the way I can sit in my armchair, open the cover and there it is. No slow waiting for it to boot up. I barely got the cover off tonight when it started playing the video I had closed on the night before. Now there is a problem. I find my bedtime is getting later as I explore blogs, twitter etc on the iPad.

There are a wonderful array of apps to be explored. Some excellent ones for children. So far I have ignored games. Evidently Angry Birds is the in game! Where do people find the time?

As I read student blogs, it is easy to leave comments. I have tried writing a post on Edublogs with it. Didn't work but a plea for help to Sue Waters solved the problem. Write in the HTML tab and works perfectly. However probably the laptop is a lot easier for writing posts.

Watching videos on the iPad2 is a dream. What am I watching? Well, actually videos on phones!!!!! Yes I have decided now I want to buy a phone that will work for me in the classroom. After participating in a webinar on Tech Talk Tuesday, presented this week by Richard Lambert, I tracked down his blog. There he talks about the use of phones in classrooms. I'm sold!! I can't justify an iphone. Yes, I'd love one. However I splurged on the iPad2, so that's enough.

photo © 2010 George Kelly | more info (via: Wylio)
So android phones are my area of research at present. I have decided it willl be either a Motorola flip out, or a Motorola Milestone. I want something with a keyboard, (note-taking), a reasonable camera and video, a good internet processor. These two fit the criteria.

And while I was attending the webinar, the topic was digital storytelling. Now I am all fired up to go with that. I have ordered his book. Now.... what gadgets will I need for digital storytelling!!

An Ipad2 Initiation.

2011-05-09T18:22:00.000+12:00

Recently I received my Ipad2 that I ordered a few weeks back. I am not sure if I really needed it, but I did want one! I already have a Kindle and Kobo ereader and the Kindle3 is a great ereader and I would go no further than it. So I didn't need the ipad as an ereader.

However in the last year I have started to get The Reading Teacher magazine online and downloading articles as PDFs. I like the idea more, not so many magazines piled up on the bookcase! I have bought the PDF Pro Reader Editon app and this is perfect for reading these articles, the screen is not too bright and I can highlight etc. Possibly a little expensive as an app, but now that I have become skilled at using it I don't regret it. To show how green I am with an ipad I spent about 12 hours wondering how I could enlarge the print. The penny then dropped and I remembered how to make it larger. The downside of this, is now I am touching and swiping and expecting my Kindle ereader to act in the same way! Of course it doesn't!!

A free app that I have downloaded is Flipboard. That makes blog reading and other favourite places like flipping through a magazine. Fun. I have had a go at logging onto Twitter with the ipad. I found myself a little at sea there, finding myself doing things I just don't want. My favourite quote has accidentally changed and I have been in danger of retweeting tweets I didn't want to do.

To see what an upmarket magazine looks like on the ipad2 I tried the most recent Austalian Women's Weekly. Interesting but don't think I will repeat. It took awhile to download, and while the photos were sharp, there wasn't that much reading really in it for me.

I have noticed the finger marks quickly build up and the dust, even though I do have a cover. However all in all I know that I am going to build up my use of this interesting piece of technology.

As a teacher I will be wanting to know what apps are really good for education. I hope to be able to use it in class with a link to my projector. If you read this post and have used the ipad2 in education, please let me know what has worked well (or not!) for you.

Sype with author Rob Buyea - author of 'because of mr terupt'

2011-04-15T17:39:00.000+12:00

Over the last number of weeks I have been reading to my class, "because of mr terupt". The story is about some fifth graders and their teacher. A very special teacher. My class and I were enthralled by this book, each time I ended they would groan. I always seemed to end just at a place where we wanted to know what was going to happen! I didn't do that on purpose, I was reading the book for the first time along with the students. The book is written from the viewpoints of seven students, and it is only when each character's voice is heard that the reader builds up the story. This is just one very clever aspect of this book.

Where did I hear about this book? I live in New Zealand and this book is not published in New Zealand or sold here. This is where the beauty of the internet comes into play. I read about it on The Two Writing Teacher's Blog. That post and its links made me want to read the book. My next decision was would I buy it on Kindle, or as a hold in your hand book. As I know that students often want to read the book for themselves after I have read it to them, I chose the hardback version. Great choice!

Then today we were able to meet Rob Buyea, the author of this outstanding book. For a whole hour we were able to share with him our thoughts about the book and ask him questions. It was a magical hour, and a great end to our first term for 2011. I finished the day on a high. I owe my thanks to the Two Writing Teachers and also a teacher on Goodreads, who said he was open to skyping with classes.

To those of you who have had a skype with an author, I hope you share my excitement in our ability to do so these days, even if they live thousands of miles away, to those of you who haven't, do it, it is a wonderful experience. Hopefully it will switch my students into reading and writing even more than they are already.

Technicalities.
I did have some heart stopping moments as I am sure many of you identify with. Our internet was working at lower capacity and slower than normal. After sharing my anxieties with the Principal, we set up with his notebook, which linked with cable, rather than my wireless laptop. The video reception was not perfect, we could see Rob well although there was some breaking up of the picture from time to time. I had linked our computer to speakers so there was no trouble with sound!

There was some slight problems with accents. New Zealanders have a very odd way of saying the short 'e' sound. (Don't tell Australians I said that!). So we had a few laughs later about that. However we were delighted. I am still on a high!!

Vocaroo

2011-03-09T19:38:00.001+13:00

My class and I visited another New Zealand class blog yesterday. We listened to an interview that two of the students had done, they used Vocaroo. This is an extremely easy way to record your voice. I am amazed I haven't seen it on other blogs before this. So fuss free!

11 Things to Know about Commenting and Students.

2011-02-25T17:04:00.002+13:00

1. I have come to know that we need to teach our students the skills needed for commenting. I have been mainly guided in the last year or so by L Yollis and the work she does. Last week while attending the webinar run by Tech Talk Tuesday, I realised just how precise we need to be. If you weren't at it,
I advise you listen to the recording. The enthusiasm of the teacher and the modelling by the teacher is really important.

2. As a teacher encourage thoughtful commenting. How many times have you, on your class blog received a comment? "Your blog is cool, come and visit our blog." It's a start but there is no real engagement. So teach your students that they need to read the post and respond with a positive comment, perhaps a connection or a question, or added information or an opinion with reasons.

3. Many of your students may see commenting as something similar to comments they send each other by
texting! So commenting needs to be taught! So correct spelling, grammar and punctuation are important.

4. Students love to receive comments. Many of mine watch the count and celebrate with a post when they get to 75 or 100.

5. As a teacher value the adults who leave comments on your class blog or your students' blog. Email them and thank them.

6. Especially value other teachers from other classrooms who leave comments on your class blog or your
student blogs. Students feel very special when they get such comments. Once I left a comment on a student blog of a student in the USA. Later an aunt of his ( a teacher) emailed me to thank me, he couldn't believe that something he had written was read and responded to, from so far away.

7. As well as students loving getting comments from other teachers, as their teacher it thrills me when I see a comment from another teacher coming in for them. I feel like someone else is helping to develop them. It
seems to be like we are all fostering their writing and web 2.0 skills. I also love comments that tell a student their post is being used by a teacher in some way.

8. Teach students that pingbacks are something to savour as well. It means someone has valued their post and has linked to them.

9. Teach students about spam comments. Examine some together so that they know just to delete them.

10. Be aware there are various kinds of comments. Not all comments call for a detailed comment. Perhaps
it's just a short one. For example today on our class blog we got a query asking were we okay, because
of the recent earthquake in Christchurch. Or it might be a quick comment of some other kind. There is a time and a place for a variety of comments.

11. Yes one more, it takes time! Not all comments are going to be what you quite want, but what counts I think is the evidence that they are improving at commenting.

Memoirs of my Class Blog.

2011-02-15T18:59:00.000+13:00

My Class Blog
I began my class blog at the beginning of 2009 with Edublogs. It was a steep learning curve for me. Each evening I poured over Edublog video tutorials and written guides. I signed up for the class Edublogs challenge in March of 2009. This was a great choice as I learned from what others were doing, and I could ask questions of other people.

In the beginning, I had wanted to blog for two major reasons. A) To communicate with parents and to share with them some of the things we were doing in the classroom. B) To have a place to publish writing the students were doing. I signed up the students as users on the blog and they were able to log on from home and draft posts. I soon found C) To locate resources in a central area, another reason to blog.

As 2009 developed I began to see that blogging was also connecting our class to other classrooms around the globe. This was still low key, as we built up our skills, but it was great. I found a few class blogs in New Zealand and I unashamedly scrolled their blogs for ideas and to find out what we could do. We tried a little pod-casting as well. In about October 2009 I set some of the students up with their own blogs.

In 2010 I still had many of the same students in the class, I used the students who had already set up blogs to set up more students with blogs. Now that meant the class blog changed somewhat. Its main role became more a place where I alerted students to new tools, I alsol continued to share things so that parents could have a window in. 2010 saw far more interaction with other classes through blogs. We connected with a class in Israel, which was both interesting and exciting. We skyped with a class in Australia. We continued to take part in the Edublogs challenges. I was able to use other class blogs to teach and discuss. A case in point was the commenting video that Mrs Yollis' class made. As we saw quality work such as this video coming from other classes I wanted to involve students more. I began to develop video making skills with them.

2011 has dawned and again I am in the process of setting up students with their blogs. I now present homework on a page on the blog. This year I want to involve the students in making quality videos, to mainly share with their parents what they are learning. These will be shared on the class blog. Students no longer post on the class blog, they have their own. However I share the best of the week on the class blog. My google reader feed also shows on the class blog showing the latest student posts. We are taking part in the Edublogs challenge again. I will probably use more polls on my blog this year. Part of the class blog is that the journey keeps on going, and change happens!

A Digital Class and Teacher!

2011-02-13T19:05:00.001+13:00

This was one of the areas of exploration that took place as part of a webinar that Murcha alerted me to last week. Deciding that I could be brave and join in, I took part. My first experience of a live webinar. Of course the bravery came from the fact I felt very secure in the fact that after the teacher blogging challenge I felt comfortable with anything that Murcha would be helping to organise and moderate. I was amazed at the dedication of the teachers who joined from some late time zones. I loved the interaction of the webinar. As Murcha writes in her post just recently, and why wouldn't students be doing this too? My mind begins to tick over.

I already have earmarked the next one, when Linda Yollis will be the guest speaker. Over the last few years through the class and student blogging challenge I have seen the great work she does. I just know I will learn.

So back to the question about equipment.

I have 5 desktop computers and 5 laptops in my classroom. They have access to the internet and work of the school server.

I have a set of headphones for each computer.

I have my teacher laptop. It has a built in microphone.

I have a digital camera for photos and video clips. I am about to add another.

I have one simple free standing microphone.

I have a digital computer over my whiteboard.

3 of the students are trialling using their own ipod touches for classroom use.

This is more than adequate and I am grateful for what I have. (Of course I dream of ipads etc!) Our policy is to have the hardware in the classrooms rather than as a school suite. I am a fan of how we do this. We are too small, just over 120 students for a dedicated suite and ICT coordinator.

Each year I have grown as a digital class teacher. The edublogs challenges have largely been resonsible for this. The other part of the equation is that I have an interest and belief in it. Well, I love it, actually. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to learn and share with other teachers and students around the globe. All the time new doors are opening.

There is one disadvantage to all this as far as I can see. I have things to do outside the digital community! Yesterday, being Saturday, I had a NO COMPUTER DAY! It was great, time to do the shopping and housework. Then time spent with a friend walking and swimming at the beach, with dinner later. Yes definitely important for me to stay away from it one day a week!

So how about you? What kind of digital equipment do you have to use as part of your daily teaching? What do you dream of having? What exciting new learnings are opening up for you? And do you ever factor in no computer days for yourself?!

Add a picture/ link in your side bar.

2011-02-06T21:00:00.001+13:00

Recently one of my students, Teegan, intrigued me with a link in the side bar of her blog to our class blog. It had a picture of the blog. Last Friday she shared with me what she had done. It also gave me a chance to try out the new Snip It tool I have, since our teacher computers were updated to Windows 7.

1. Step one was to capture a screen shot of the blog. I used the snip it tool, I would suppose you can use any capture tool, or even just a simple screen shot.

2. Place the screen shot into Paint and resize. Click on pixels. These are the dimensions she used. You will need to experiment and see which size fits your side bar.

3.Save it as a jpeg or some other suitable file.
4.Then upload it into a post in visual editor, before placing it in the post, change the link url to where you want the picture to link to. Then insert it in the post.

5.Change to the HTML editor. And copy the code!
6. Depending on the blogging platform now place it in a text widget if you use Wordpress/Edublogs. If Blogger then into a HTML/Java gadget. And save.

If you then see that the sizing does not fit, change the sizing in the html code, and it should be good.

I like this if there is one or two special blogs you want to link to. For example on my class blog when the student challenge starts in March this will be the way I will place a link to it.

Encouraging a Reader to Read my Blog.

2011-02-04T18:17:00.001+13:00

Without a doubt every blogger that has a public blog would like people to visit and read their blog, and as well perhaps engage in dialogue through comments. As others doing the teacher challenge have pointed out, there may be readers even though they don't leave comments. I notice some of the big blogs don't actually have many commenting, although readership is in the thousands. I think of Richard Byrne's blog as an example, I read most of his posts and occasionally feel motivated to leave a comment. So readers and commenters may form two different groups. It is for each blogger to make their choice and then develop as best they can the kind of reader they would like.

As a teacher beginning out on developing my teacher blog I think I would like to have readers that leave a comment. At least some of the time. Why? It's affirming and supportive, encourages me to keep going and also a comment may lead me off on a path I have not thought about. I recognise that as teachers we are very busy, and reading other teacher blogs at times will not be a high priority. However I think its part of being part of a learning community, and I intend in 2011 to be active in this. Like Britt Gow, I think it is a PLN that I want to be part of.

The following are tips for myself or for you the reader if you find them helpful.

# Read and comment on other teacher blogs.

# Post consistently, and persist.

# Make the effort to share with others. Write a post about it.

# Be yourself. While you may like to have readers it is of little use to twist yourself into somebody you are not just to impress them.

# Join networks such as Twitter.

#Post on Facebook. While I use this mainly for family I do have teacher friends!

# Reply to the comments that you receive.

# Network in person. Go to an IT conference! I now have Ulearn11 in Christchurch, New Zealand as a possible conference. Thank you to Britt Gow for making me think about this, through the post she wrote.

To conclude I would like to add in this slideshare that I viewed. It was Richard Byrne who posted about it on his blog and I read it and loved it. It is by Sacha Chua. I have added her to my Reader. I love this slideshare because I am an introvert and it is in relation to the final tip!

The Shy Connector

View more presentations from Sacha Chua.

P.S I am going back to read all her slideshares. I had never heard of her. She does fabulous work.

Image: 'web2.0 party'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32066106@N06/3431508742

So You Want to Widget?!

2011-02-01T19:59:00.000+13:00

Widgets are fun! I think they just brighten up your blog. I remember back to when I put my first widget on my classroom blog. It was a major piece of learning. I think I made it a lot more difficult than it needed to be! My students love to widget. One of the widgets that caught on with them was changing the cursor to a little animal!

My class blog is with edublogs. It is very easy (now!) to add widgets to an edublog. Blogger is good as well. Wordpress is not so easy because it won't take flash type widgets.

So I am looking around at some other blogs and what they have on the side bar. Of course there is the danger that you overload it, and your blog becomes too busy! So a spring clean every so often is a good idea. I think I must suggest that to some of my students.

The first blog I want to share is Teegan's blog. Teegan is a student in my class this year, and from half way through last year. She has a lot on her side bars, possibly too much. However what I really like is the way she has some blogs and websites put in the side bar with pictures. I love that. I am waiting until we go back to school and she has time to show me how she did it!!

Mrs Yollis has in her class blog a widget that shows her class Twitter news. Now if you are a Twitter user, that would be a good idea. I am not sure if I am that in to Twitter yet, but a class Twitter account as opposed to a personal Twitter account is a good idea I think, with the teacher's Twitter posts showing on the widget.

Laurie Fowler, one of the teachers doing this challenge has a personality badge that she has done after doing a test on a web site. I like that, I have that bookmarked and I intend adding one to my teacher blog!!

Here is a class teacher here in New Zealand who always has a very alive classroom blog, and when I was beginning blogging I used to watch to see what he was doing. I see while visiting he won a major New Zealand prize for his blog for 2010. He has a poll in the side bar, another great idea for a widget in a side bar. I will be taking time to think through a poll, to leave on the side bar of my teacher blog and class blog.

The last blog I think I like the best of all the blogs I visited to do this activity. It is another class blog here in New Zealand that I keep an eye on and drop in to visit every so often. I like the weather map on this site, in fact I think I will add one to my teacher blog. I like his world maps that track visitors, he has a number of interesting ones. While I wouldn't have that many I still like them. He also has a link to You T ube, Twitter etc. He has also included a picture in the side bar of their digital learning sequence. That's a great idea too. Yes I definitely like the side bar on this blog!

Lastly I like the idea of making a badge for my blog. However this will go onto the backburner until I have a little more time. Perhaps my students can make one too, and we can all have a go together. They of course will have far better ideas than me, and I will just pick their brains!! As all teachers are geared to do.

Image: 'desktop130306'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74314314@N00/128057969

Embedding Video in Posts.

2011-01-27T17:41:00.065+13:00

Where were we in 2010?
I have used video to embed in my class blog in a low key way so far. We have a Canon digital camera per class for photo taking and video clips. It works well and as a low budget option it is very good. I might take clips of an event and choose clips to put together using Windows Moviemaker. This works reasonably well, and a title, text and music is able to be added. This year I have bought another low budget Canon digital camera as now students are beginning to include the idea of some simple video making into their reportoire. Here is one example of what some of them did in December.

I have used Photostory to put photos, voice and music together to make a simple video. Many of my students used Photostory in 2010 to make book trailers. These worked really well. However getting round some roadblocks slows down the process. We do have a small room the students can use for recording, which is helpful, but using one computer and one mic it takes awhile to process through a class with 30 students. I still believe it was worthwhile and will do it again. Photostory is a great free piece of software.

Occasionally I embed video that we have not made but is worth embedding. Last year I found an excellent video made at School Tube on using Glogster. This had been made by another teacher, and was perfect for the purpose. We watched it together, then students could go back to it as needed. I have also embedded a video on cardmaking by a teacher in Greece, from You Tube. We then made some similar cards, organised an animoto with them and alerted her to come and share our success.

So what of 2011?
This year it is my main goal to make and embed a variety of video. Firstly I want to make some video myself to share with parents some of the changes in learning since they were at school. I have a Canon DSLR that I want to use for this, I just need to learn how to use it properly first! I also intend using some software that gives me a lot more choice in editing. At this point in time I am veering towards Vegas Movie Studio.

I also want to include the students in helping me to do this. Firstly I will include them in sharing Maths learning with parents. If anyone has seen Mr. Salsich's videos, these are the ones I hold up to myself as a model. I want the students to prepare these, getting them thought out first, writing scripts and then shooting and editing them. I am really looking forward to trying it.

That's my starting point! Who knows where we will end up?

Please fill out the survey. I am very interested. Also any hints that you have, I would be very interested to hear.

Images

2011-01-24T15:08:00.007+13:00

by Thomas Hawk

Images? Images are great to use in a post. I like to use an image to liven it up. I like it to point to something in the post.

When I first started blogging I didn't know anything about creative commons and using photos correctly so I have done my share of using images incorrectly. However through the Edublogs students challenges, I have a far better understanding. When I begin blogging with students now, one of the first sessions will always be about the use of images. Otherwise it is more difficult to break the bad habit of just using what they like.

If you are still unsure about this, Henrietta Miller a teacher from Australia on her blog, Techiebrekkie has an excellent post on creative commons, and includes wonderful links. There is a lot to explore and learn in this post. I have spent some time on this post and will be going back for more.
Richard Byrne also has an excellent post.

I keep a list on the side of my class blog of places where the students and I can go to get images we can use. I recently was alerted to Site point , which lists a number of places that include creative commons. Some of the following come from this, and I will be adding them to my class links.
Open Clipart
Animal Photos
Creative Design Elements
Explains Creative Commons
Attribution on Flickr Search
Veezzle

Image Coder is something I had not come across before. I have not explored it very much, but have tried using it for the image at the start of the post. When you put the url for the Flickr photo, it gives you a code with the attribution. When you then click on the photo it takes you to the actual Flickr photo. Maybe I will use it again!

I know another controversial topic around images is how we use images of students in posts and in blogging. We have a broad policy at our school, we can use student images with parental permission. We just endeavour to ensure that no students name is linked to a photo. Once last year when I was naming some students who had been selected to participate in a district challenge, I put their avatar pictures.

In my classroom last year we used Photostory 2, free software where we were able to place our photos, add voice and music. It is a very easy piece of software to use for the students, and we made good use of it. One of the activities we did was to make book trailers. I won't put the examples here because I think we should have put attributions at the end and we didn't. It's all a learning curve, and when you do it, you can then look at what needs to be improved. Following is a short piece of work some students and I put together in October last year.

You will notice this is on You Tube. We do have You Tube open at school, to staff and students, however I now use School Tube.

Finally I had a little quick fun on Animoto, which I also use at times in my class, the Education deal is very good! Free! And you can link a number of students through your account.

Avatars.

2011-01-20T13:56:00.000+13:00

Maybe? Maybe Not? I have made a different Avatar made in abi-station.

I rather like it, it has slightly messy hair, which mine can become in class, however I will be keeping the avatar that I use around the web.

So what are avatars you ask? Well they are digital images that depict us, an image of ourselves that we use consistently around the internet when we are commenting on blogs etc. While some people use their real photos, often people in education use an avatar. I use such a one because for safety reasons we encourage students to use an avatar. Besides that its rather fun! I like them because they're wrinkle free!! I recognise other peoples avatar if I see them often enough. One such avatar is Miss Wyatt's avatar. What a funky avatar. I envisioned her in her 30's. It wasn't only her avatar but her energy in edublogs challenges that mislead me. I found out just a few weeks ago she has just this year to retirement.

On this blog, the one I use is both my blog avatar and comment avatar. As far as I can remember I made this in Moeruavatar. On my class blog it is my comment avatar; I have my actual photo for my blog avatar. I have used this avatar consistently over the last two years and it feels me! It shows up on all Edublog's blogs. Also it links to my email, I registered it somewhere so that if would do so. I am sorry but what I did has sunk into the mists of time!

My students have their own avatars too. Some of them changed them the second year around, but this year I think I will be encouraging them to keep with what they have, because after awhile I begin to recognise avatars as I do names. My avatar is dressed in yellow because its one of my favourite colours; I drive a yellow car! I wear glasses all the time, even though I sometimes take them off in photos!

My user name around the internet is Mistea, if it hasn't been used when I join up. Although in commenting generally I use my own first name Kathryn or Miss T, when commenting on student blogs. I drink numerous cups of tea in a day, I have my own teapot at school, because I drink more than one cup in a sitting, hence my username. Another username I occasionally use is Katenz. That one should be obvious.

RSS Feeds? I use a Google reader. I have set it up to feed in all my students posts, and they also show up in a widget from my google reader on our class blog. I also have other envelopes for some favourite blogs. I keep it reasonably simple, I don't overload myself. I also have my iGoogle home page with feeds there. I keep this for my top blogs, the ones I instantly want to know about when I log on. So for example at present the Teacher Challenge is sitting there at the top of this page. It shows the first three posts links on that blog. Very handly.

One Word Summary for the Year.

2011-01-20T09:17:00.001+13:00

Gretchen Rubin has an interesting video out this week. She suggests that we have a one word summary theme for the year. So I am thinking about mine. One possibility is personal voice. I need to think about it a little more. If you had a one word summary, what would it be?

Setting up Pages on my Blog.

2011-01-18T17:49:00.023+13:00

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the staircase." Marting Luther King.

My blog now has two extra pages. When I began the teacher blogging challenge I had no About Me page, nor did I have a contact form. I see these two new pages as being obvious ones for any blog. Now it is going to take me awhile to think of what other pages I need or want to add. Hence the Martin Luther King quote, in honour of the date yesterday/today!

I did have a brief About Me on the sidebar. I have done a little spring cleaning to that. I have changed the words About Me, to read Welcome. I have also shortened what I have placed there. Instead I now have a full About Me page. I have chosen a few photos that give a brief overview. I note to myself that I prefer to be behind a camera, rather than in front of it. This year I think I will make sure that I get some more, so I can put a few of me in the classroom, into my About Me page.

I did some thinking about a Contact Me Form and decided to give it its own page. To have this somewhere on my blog is important. Last year I missed a comment from a teacher who was inviting our class to join The Bloggers Cafe. We had skyped earlier in the year, and H Miller was inviting us to some more collaboration through this blog. I missed the comment of invitation, it went straight to spam and I only found it a few weeks ago. Fortunately we can join in this year, but I can see that a Contact form is vital.

On my classroom page, pages were made naturally as the need arose, over the last few years. I think it will be more difficult to decide the other pages on my teacher blog. I have a few ideas, possibly a page on the kinds of tools I have explored in my class. Another page could contain my goals for 2011 and so on. I think both those pages would be of benefit because it would either strike a spark for other teachers that they might try something similar. Or they may have some pertinent advice to give that would save me a lot of mucking around in my learning. Self taught is great, but sometimes not the most economical!

Image: 'El cañon del Antilope, Antelope canyon.'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29059230@N00/4017213798

How I Found Out I Can Set Target Links to Posts!

2011-01-15T19:43:00.105+13:00

Since I began the teacher blogging challenge I have been learning some new things. I have found out it is helpful for your reader to have a window close if I have directed my reader to another blog post on another site. When the reader has read it, they can just click it away.

How did I learn this, well one of the teachers doing the challenge suggested this helps make an effective post. I never even dreamed of that one! It has shown me yet again, that visiting other blogs is a very important part of this challenge. I learn from it. Not many mentioned this aspect of a post. It wasn't until I happened in on Mel Cashen that I began to go on this mini exploration! Thanks Mel.

I have seen that done but I didn't know how to do it. I went on a rather long mission, tried various things suggested by people that didn't work for me. Well then I went to Blogger help. Of course, I know that should have been first port of call.

I then did some reading by Kay McGriff and she has a post on better blogging. She makes some good points. And she has her links opening in a window that closes!! Kay has obviously been blogging longer than myself. Or is just somewhat more savvy! At first I did the link using the link button but it was rather odd. However I tried it again without the button, just put in the html code and it was great. I have another new skill.

I wish I could go one step further and show the html for this, but I can't get it to stay in the html coding, it turns itself into text! Anway it can be found at Blogger help. Yes I could have linked but Blogger is being difficult and I am outa here!
Attribution:Image: 'link' http://www.flickr.com/photos/8344872@N05/4116728906

Seven steps to an effective post.

2011-01-13T19:39:00.006+13:00

Are you a blogger/teacher that has an idea that just comes and then you write a post and publish it?

Or are you a blogger/teacher that takes some time to think about how your post can be a really effective one?

If you come in the first category then you are like me, a little harried as a teacher and just to get a post published is an achievement! However like myself you may want to fall more and more into the second category. Er.... and as a teacher wouldn't you just love to see effective posts from your students on a very regular basis. I have listed some steps that I want to incorporate into my posts to make them more effective.

Decide on your audience.
We teach our students in their writing to name their audience. We need to know who we are writing it for as well. This could be:
                                              Students
                                              Parents
                                              Other Teachers
                                              The Wider Community

Know the Purpose of Your Post.
Once you have decided on your audience, you are then going to need to make sure you write your post so that the people you write for are either enriched, entertained, or shown how to do something. Then again it might be you are giving them the opportunity to share in an experience that you have had, which may touch them or that they can connect with in some way. Possibly they may strongly agree or disagree with you. If you manage to have them disagree with you then that may open up a whole new dialogue.

As teachers I would like you to know that for many of us we spend much time alone in the classroom and we don't see what other teachers are doing. So there you have a purpose straight away, there are nosey teachers like me who want to see a little into your experience. It inspires and teaches and possibly you didn't even set out to do that, but it does!

Have Something Worth Sharing.
If you value what you want to post about, then it is highly likely in my opinion, that it is worth sharing. For example on a classroom blog it may be to share something that you know parents will enjoy seeing or will learn from. From the recent blogs that I have visited some teachers are very generous and share their ideas and resources. As part of the teacher blogging challenge I visited many blogs that had so much to share. Here is one, a relief teacher, willing to share his ideas and resources.

Let Your Personal Voice Come Through.
Do you love a piece of writing where you really get to hear the personal voice of the writer? I can forgive a post that might fail in some of the other areas, but I just love a post with personal voice. I have a student in my class and her posts ooze personal voice. Each one of us is unique, we each have a perspective that no one else has. When we express it, healthily and respectfully, we enrich others. Go for personal voice. Your reader will connect with you. Here is a story I connected to with my heart, just yesterday, as I perused posts from the teacher blogging challenge.

Put Some Thought into Layout.
A bunch of text all squashed together is going to put your audience off. So taking some time to think about how it will be easier for your reader to follow is important. Included in layout is the heading. Put some time into a heading that will draw your audience in. Use bold text for sub-headings. Perhaps a little colour. Make sure though, if you use colour, use one that is easy to read! Before you publish take some time to re-read! Yes out loud!! Take the time to push the preview button. Yes, teachers need to do that too!

Include a Visual.
A lot of text can be off putting. I like to include a photo or clip-art when I post where possible. If you are using someone else's art or photo, just make sure you have the right to do that and show attribution if it is available for your use. The other thing you can do is include a video. Perhaps the video is the post. That can be hugely effective in itself. Here is a post that I find highly effective, its about how to leave quality comments. Thanks to Mrs Yollis' class, my class and I were able to learn from this very informative post.

Draw your reader into dialogue.
Recognise that your reader will have viewpoints, reactions, questions...... so encourage them in some way to express them in the comments, so that the post can become enriched by them. One way to do this is to respond to readers comments, that they have taken the time to leave.

Lastly a question I leave to you my reader. Do you think there is a place for a teacher post that has the 'self' as audience? I didn't include that in my list of possible audiences, is there a place for the post that has 'myself' as audience. Leaving aside of course the fact often many of us only have the self for audience!

Teacher Blogging Challenge 1.

2011-01-11T09:41:00.003+13:00

My Life as a Blogger

When did you start blogging?

I began with a classroom blog in 2009. I started that blog in edublogs and it is one I pay for. I started this teacher one a little while later, to find out what blogspot was like in relation to edublogs. I also started a personal blog in wordpress to see how that operated.

What did you learn about the different platforms?

Edublogs is my first preference. I like the way it operates very much. I don't spend enough time looking at the ins and outs of blogspot, so I can't say I am any expert in it. It does the basics for me. The Wordpress one is fine, because edublogs uses wordpress. What I don't like in wordpress, my one, is that you can't post videos unless you pay, and you can't put in other flash type widgets. So I found out I had made a very good choice using Edublogs.

Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging because for a number of years I had wanted to publish student work on line. Eventually I decided blogging would do that for me. I explored blogging a little and set up an edublog during our summer break in January 2009.

So how did that go?
Well it was a very steep learning curve setting up that blog. There was no one at my school who blogged, nor anyone that I knew anywhere. I spent hours reading edublogs tips etc! Each time I mastered something I felt really good. When I noticed a challenge in March 2009 I joined it and sort of did it. I began to learn about widgets etc. I can remember the first time I tried to put in a pet widget, I spent hours! Eventually I found a post on a student's blog from Miss W's class that gave the instructions in enough detail for me to be successful. I blush now to admit how hard it was. Now my students do it in a blink of an eye. I began to want to add videos. Again that was a steep learning curve, as I tried out Windows Movie Maker. I got there. I am someone who perseveres!

What was your most exciting moment?
I am not sure of this one, there were many mini exciting moments! First of all the pride in mastering each new step. However as the first challenge went on, it was things such as making contact with teachers in other countries. Learning from them. Last year I got a huge buzz out of the fact I could show Mrs Yollis' video on commenting to my class. While I had started blogging initially to showcase my students' writing, I now realized that blogging opened me and my classroom up to the world.

Any other stand out moments?
We have been able to keep in contact with students who went to Australia, to Washington DC and now one is going to Tonga. They all went because of Dad's jobs. These students have kept in contact through the blog and a little skypeing!

What motivates me to blog?
I have a belief in it. It has come from myself, no one else has said do it. I like it. I don't post so often on this my teacher blog. However I intend to remedy that this year. Up until now much of my time has gone into the classroom blog and student blogging. Now I have a team of students who can help others so now I am free to pursue my own interests!

So what next?
In 2011 I intend continuing the class blog, and setting up new students with their own blogs. For this blog I want to track my development of my writing and reading programmes in my classroom. I also want to make some videos for my classroom blog to share with parents about our learning in Maths, Reading and Writing. And talking about parents. Well I would really like to try and get them interacting more with the class blog. I had about 3 interacting last year. I want to up that!

What advice do I have for teachers beginning to blog?
Get in there and do it. Ask for help. I would ask around when I began, on other teacher's blogs. Mostly I got answers. Occasionally I didn't. Learn as you go. You don't have to do it perfectly. There are still things I don't get perfectly, but from others you eventually pick it up. One such instance for me was attribution of pictures. Thanks Miss W. who did a great job there, educating us. The other word of advice is read other class blogs. That is another place I learned. Oh, they can do that? So I can too! Be a copy cat! Kids get so upset when others copy them! I see it as a way to learn. Of course I am not talking about out and out copying word for word. But getting ideas.

What am I most proud of?
My student blogs! Some of them have taken blogging to a higher level than myself! I think of Teegan who entered my class after the middle of the year. She took to blogging like a duck to water, it was a joy to behold. Some of them haven't got that far! It's okay. I am still reflecting on boundaries for my students with blogging. I want it to be their own, where they make most of the choices. However I also recognise it is a student blog and they have certain responsibilities and tasks to accomplish. I am still working on that one. Also some of them get their blogs so full of bling that it is overkill. My pet hate on my students' blogs? Sounds that keep going when you arrive on the blog. I HATE THAT!
So what is your pet hate?

Assessing Writing.

2011-01-06T15:25:00.003+13:00

What do I want to do to assess writing?

* I want it to be simple and manageable.

* There will be the times of school formal assessment and we are using e-asttle for that.

* Each conference will provide formative assessment, plus checking writer's notebooks will add to it.

* As the year progresses I will endeavour to use this assessment material to guide some of my teaching.

* Each time I start a new unit, if I have students write a before piece of writing, and check then on how they developed over the unit, with a piece of writing that is similar. Both these pieces of writing will be done without the aid of a teacher or peer, and have a time limit.

* Have students reflect on finished pieces of writing, with three or four questions to guide them with this.

Conferencing in Writing.

2011-01-05T12:31:00.004+13:00

This is one area I really want to improve my skills in this year. As well as reading Day by Day I have been reading Lori Rog and various web sites.

One insight, long overdue, that came to me is that I shouldn't follow one person's recipe. I can read around and then decide what I will do. I don't want to make someone else the guru! I guess we are fortunate in New Zealand, generally we don't have anyone saying 'you must do it this way.' As well at our particular school we have a Principal and staff who are open to each teacher exploring their own pathway.

At this point in time I think I will use a notebook with a pages for each student. I need to record the date, compliment, and teaching point. Also the topic and genre. I think I will need a one page at a glance sheet as well where I can check that I have met each student for some type of conference each week. I think some conferences will be more check in, quick ones, so this would be a way of recording that. I do not want to tie myself up in knots!

Ayres and Shubitz discuss the choice of words spoken by the teacher in conferencing. I think they have a point, and once I get going I am going to reflect more on that. At this point I think I will need to record myself to check up on what I am doing well and what I need to develop.

The other part of conferencing is the peer conference. I want to make this useful and meaningful. I will take it slowly but will start it off in the first unit. The unit I think I will start with is a routines and organisational unit, maybe two weeks long, that will get these things set up. I think I will partner the students, (dicey!) and perhaps to begin with have them stick to the same partner for a month. I will need to do the partnering, otherwise leaves it up to friends choosing friends. I think I will have three peer conferencing places, so if they are being used, others will need to wait. They can do something else in the meantime. At another time I will think through how to model this for the students. Mainly I think it needs to be kept simple, and go with the compliment, possibly asking a question, and giving one idea for developing the writing.

After reading Chapter One. Day by Day.

2011-01-03T14:41:00.001+13:00

Yesterday evening I read Chapter one of 'Day by Day' and found it really useful. I am good with routines for my class but picked up a few tips. So I plan to:

Give my class the three guidelines from Ch 1. 1) Become a strong writer. 2) Be respectful. 3) Come ready to learn. I will get them to discuss in pairs and then back to the larger group. We'll come up with a fleshed out list that they have decided.

I think setting deadlines for work to be complete is important to... will need to think that through. I need to set deadlines and so do the students!
Boundaries - setting them and adherring to them will be important too. So where they work, how they converse, how they move about need to be covered.

One point I really liked was that the students take time before they leave the class lesson to plan how they are going to spend the writing time. At least 3 ideas. It makes them focus. Definitely going to try that one.

The sharing time too is important. I will begin with getting them to share with partners. Sometimes with the whole group. Eventually there will be published work that will be more formally shared. At this point when we share with whole class I will get the combined group to come up with a compliment and a connection and something that has inspired another class member. Later when we get to peer conferencing I can move that on.

At first I was not into the celebration part of sharing the published writing, however I might try something at the end of our first term, (10 weeks). Low key, but I think the students might appreciate it.

Anyone would think I never taught writing before. I remember back in the '70's and '80's process writing was the thing! But somehow it never worked. So many students wrote rubbish! However I can see there is the possibility with the right routines, boundaries and input from the teacher, this way of approaching writing can be very motivating and successful.

Most schools in America seem to run writing workshop. I am not sure if New Zealand schools do? Or do all American schools do it? Maybe not.

The Writers Notebook was a mystery to me. Since reading this chapter I have done a little exploring on the web, see sites below, and along with Chapter one of this book, I am growing in understanding. Up until now I have had a draft exercise book. We would publish on paper or on student blogs. Now I think I will have a writer's notebook, I'll use one of their exercise books for this. I think we will split it into five sections:

an artifacts section - photos, bits and pieces etc.
a craft section - where they can try out things they are learning about, revising a sentence or paragraph, various leads for a piece of work, etc.
an observation section - for questions, memories, feelings, reactions, concerns, comments, lists, drawings,
a mentor/model section -here they can place leads, endings, sentences, words ...from authors that they read. They can then use these to craft their own, modelled on the authors. I think I will have a vocabulary part to this, where they gather words, that they then endeavour to include somewhere in their own writing.
assigned tasks by teacher, plus own tasks - I envision this as something where after the mini lesson they may have some task or practice to do. Or they may have a few paragraphs of something of their own.

Or thinking the next day, perhaps it would be better to have these five types of entries all following on page after page. Artifacts in the back.

At the front of this notebook will be a sheet glued into the inside cover that will list expectations for this notebook. I like the idea of rotating various students notebooks for sighting by the teacher. So I will see five a day. 25 students = five days! Oh what bliss, only 25 this year - I hope!

I will keep to what we have always done and have a draft exercise book. We will keep that for drafting. I will set up spots for them to drop their writers' notebooks into, and draft as well. Two for that, one for the first conference and one for the polish conference when they are publishing.

2011. It's here.

2011-01-01T11:16:00.019+13:00

So today is January the 1st. It's traditional to make resolutions! Well I don't do them well, however I have some intentions for the year related to teaching.

I intend:
To develop my teaching of writing further. I intend to document it in some way, perhaps by recording it on this blog. I want to explore using writer's workshop, but I won't actually call it that, nor will I adopt all its aspects immediately. Go slowly will be the motto. I have found some excellent writing websites.

The Two Writing Teachers. They also have a site here. They can also be found on Facebook. I must add them to my page.

The Northern Nevada Writing Project is another rich resource that I will use. Through it I also learned aboutThe Writing Fix is a website linked to the Nevada project, so I will give it its own link.

Corbett Harrison and Dena Harrison. Both of these are literary educators and have work on the above two other blogs that I will add in to explore.

Deb Renner has a site called Writing Every Day Works. She has co authored a book with P. Cunningham about Beyond Retelling that I would like to read.

I will also reread some of the books I have already read on writing and at present I have done a quick skim through of Day by Day. Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice. By the Two Writing Teachers. This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. However its full of reflective discussion and I will use it through the year. However it is just that, a guide for reflecting on one's own teaching of writing, it's not a book I could use to teach lessons. However there are plenty of books and websites out there that do just that!

So that's just the writing side of things! I also want to build on the reading programme I ran last year. I want to introduce the whole class to reciprocal reading. The way one group worked with Jill Eggleton's Connectors was an indication to me that this can work! So at present I am reading Reciprocal Teaching at Work. This is by Lori Oczkus. I am finding it very helpful and interesting. Again I won't use it totally the way its presented. I will use what will work for me out of it. However its packed with great tips and ideas. I hope through beginning in Term 1 with reciprocal reading, that this will really help comprehension strategies be developed. Especially by those students whose comprehension puts them at risk. In term 2 then I hope to springboard from this into working with other strategies. (Reciprocal reading develops mainly 4 strategies).

I want to make some simple videos on reading to put on my class blog, mainly for parents at this stage, to let them know what we are doing. Maybe if that goes according to plan I may make some writing videos. Firstly I have to master a new camera! How to use it and how to use Vegas studio software. Up until now I have only used windows movie maker. However my new Canon 550d camera doesn't relate to that! So that is going to be a steep learning curve first!

What Makes a Life Long Learner?

2010-11-02T08:17:00.007+13:00

Recently on a blog I follow we were invited to fill out comments about whether we saw ourselves as life long learners. Today there is a post with them all, the blogger chose five he specially liked. Mine is there! Number three. I'm flattered! You can link to the post here. The name of the blog is Blogging about the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom.

A Good Laugh Makes the Day So Much Brighter.

2010-09-09T19:01:00.009+12:00

With the earthquake in Christchurch making quite an impact on our minds, in class we have been exploring the effects of an earthquake on a city. While we are in the North Island we are well aware of what is going on down south and we are learning so much.

Today we were in groups listing what we should have in our emergency earthquake kits. (I don't have one, but starting this weekend that is going to be remedied!) When each group had a list we shared and combined it into one. (I have quite a bit of gathering to do to build one.)

As young 9yr old M... went out the door she giggled and told me in her group they couldn't quite bring the word 'kettle' so they wrote down 'wireless boiling system'. I laugh each time I recall it, it is only today's child that would come up with that. Well yes, I do have a 'wireless boiling system' i.e. kettle. So at least I do have one thing on the list.

Now I need to purchase the item that will provide the heat to boil the water.

Technology

2010-09-07T08:04:00.006+12:00

I love technology, but it does take up an amount of my time. In New Zealand we are provided with laptops as classroom teachers by the government and school funding them. These days we couldn't do without them.

A week or so back my computer was changed. So it took some backing up of things I had got lazy about backing up. Then I dumped a whole lot on the school server and vowed I would go through and tidy it up! I have yet to do that. It looks a little like my book shelves in the classroom, badly in need of a sorting through, because I have forgotten what I even have.

As I am a keen reader I bought a Kobo ereader when they first entered New Zealand. Then on Sunday it just died. The screen went black and no amount of trying to reset or recharging worked. So now its sitting in a package to be returned!! They said they would replace it as it's still under warranty. Fortunately when the Kindle3 from Amazon became available for our country I got one and I love it. It is superior to the Kobo, I love its ease of use.

I also recently bought an ipod nano 16gb as my trusty mini ipod was running out of space. Also I have to admit while I didn't totally need one, its capacity was too enticing. I don't listen to music, rather I enjoy listenting to audio books downloaded from audible.com and have done so for a number of years.

Now that many in my class have their own blogs that takes a certain amount of time to monitor. They are doing really well and I am very pleased with the way most of them are creating them and posting on them. At present I need to take the time to set them up with their own accounts on a web site that makes Animoto videos. I have a special code for that and it gives them all access rights. So thats my next job. I wish when I went to school many years ago that I was able to present my work in all these interesting ways. I wonder what it will be like in another fifty years!

SRA

2010-08-02T19:11:00.007+12:00

This term I have begun using a SRA reading laboratory where the children take cards at their level and answer the comprehension and vocabulary questions, then use an answer card to mark it.

It is rather American in concept, however as teachers we remember them with nostalgia when we were students at school, and so we were keen to have one. We are into our second week of using the lab, and I think it is quite popular. Of course it is not a complete reading programme and I recognise that. We will use it as a supplementary addtion to the class programme. I am looking forward to hearing what the students think of it in another few weeks.

Reciprocal Reading

2010-06-24T19:34:00.007+12:00

This term we were able to buy some of the Connector series by Jill Eggleton, published by Scholastic. They are an excellent resource and I believe they are good value in the classroom. While I have long understood and known the ways reciprocal reading can enhance a reading programme in the classroom, it is only with this series of books have I felt confident enough to try it out.

The two groups of six that I have been working with on it are doing very well. I spent a few sessions introducing it to them and then let them organise it themselves with the guidance of the books. Jill has thought this out so well, and it works. I am not exhausting as yet all her suggestions but I do intend to work with more of her ideas next term.

The books themselves are very engaging. The students thoroughly enjoy reading and discussing them. Any interested reader can read more about them and watch her video which explains it so well.http://www.scholastic.com.au/schools/education/connectors/reciprocal.asp

From Organised to Stressed in a Blink

2010-06-22T13:53:00.006+12:00

All in a matter of minutes. I thought I was well organised, and then boom, I couldn't find the Australasian Spelling tests I was about to administer to a group of students. What made it worse was the students were to be out later in the day so the pressure was on.

So while my class did an assignment I searched. I felt really pressured. I know I had them yesterday. After 15 minutes of looking, I found them, put away by accident with something else. So in a flurry I started to gather the students who were sitting. The tests were at different levels, then I found I had more papers than students!! More panic. I tore down to the office and got the updated list and called in the final student.

Ah, organised at last. We got the test done and the class was sort of getting settled into normalcy. Test done.

My class had then gone off to do orienteering and while I was 'sitting' a younger class I did the checking on the spelling. ARRRRRRRRRHHHH!! I have mixed up the tests given the Year 5 tests to the Year 6's and vice versa. Some rubbing out, and now we will have to redo them.

Some days might start well, but they can turn to custard and slide downhill very quickly. I am an organised person but today I'm not showing up as organised. I could feel my self really pressured, I am sure the blood pressure I am trying to lower was way higher than it should be. I believe next time I lose something I will say to myself I will let it go for now and come back to it later. But I hate losing things.

A Week of Professional Development.

2010-06-20T14:32:00.008+12:00

Last week, four out of the five working week days I spent on Professional Development. The first three days I spent over in Masterton, the Principals and Directors of Religious Education of Wellinton Catholic schools were attending a seminar run by Elio Caprio, from Australia. The first two days were mainly about keeping the catholic character of our schools alive and having a sense of the sacred in the hurly burly of every day living.

To be truthful I don't remember very much of it, but I did come away from it feeling more enthusiastic. The presenter was Italian, although he has been in Australia for many years. What I particularly liked was his sense of humour and the many jokes and comedy videos he shared. He also had a appreciation of artworks and Michael Leunig cartoons. All of which made for a pleasant few days.

The third morning we had a different presenter sharing with us how to present the story of Zacheus in a million and one ways. Well it seemed like a million and one! Anyway it was very good and some day I hope I can use some of it.

Thursday I spent teaching. Trying to grasp where I had left off and where I needed to pick up! Glimpsing over what my relief teacher had taught while I was away, I was delighted to see it was so relevant and gave up any small guilt still lingering for being away.

Friday I attended a meeting for the local Deputy and Assistant Prinipals. They meet regularly once a term in our local area. The first presentation by a local DP was on dyslexia. She had attended a workshop run by Neil Mackay from England. Her summary of this workshop was excellent and I picked up some tips that were helpful. I came away more aware of little things that can help. Over the years I have had a number of dyslexic students. It is always a challenge to support their learning and it is something I enjoy doing.

In the afternoon we had J Allen from the Ministry of Education. She spoke passionately about focussing on student learning and lifting achievement. She also listened to the comments we had about the professional development we had had for the new national standards. When we voiced our dissatisfaction with it, she asked us to list them and send them into her. As she said they are putting in considerable taxpayer money (and that's me and you) into the professional development. Our last part of the day was spent doing just that.

Next week I have a full week of teaching!!! However it's week 10 and I feel enthusiastic. Normally at this part of the term I am wilting. With a good heart I spent 3hrs prep time this Sunday morning. A change is as good as a holiday.

Yard Duty.

2010-06-04T08:12:00.005+12:00

Of all the aspects of teaching the one I dislike the most is yard duty. Just when I'm looking forward to a break from interacting non stop with 30 children and I'm wanting a break, it's yard duty time. Teachers envy those out in other jobs who can take a leisurely lunch break all on their ownsome.

Generally its pretty much a non event. However last week I had this interesting by play with a 5 year old. I saw him throw some very heavy punches into the solar plexus of another 5 year old. So I went over and told him I was removing him for some timeout. On the way to timeout he informed me that he hated me! That moved me not, this little individual had no personal relationship with me. Our first time meeting.

I sat him out, outside the office and said I would be back in 5 minutes and I would release him then. As promised I returned, I asked him to stand, so that I could speak to him. "Whatever", was the reply. Somewhat taken aback I went down on one knee and met him on his territory. "We don't speak to teachers at this school like that! And we don't punch people either". He looks up and says, "So this school isn't a boxing school?"

"It most definitely isn't" And I sent him back out to play. I wandered away bemused. A five year old with an eleven/twelve year attitude. I thought to myself I think I need to dig out some old "The Nanny" shows to brush up on technique. Its obviously getting harder if the 5 year olds are anything to go by!

Links to cardmaking blogs.

2010-04-16T18:10:00.003+12:00

I have added this here because my own blog won't take it, eventually I may change that to Blogger as well, but in the meantime I rationalise its presence here because it is something I am learning about and also I am the boss of this blog! So I say I can do it!

National Standards for New Zealand.

2010-03-02T19:06:00.005+13:00

Here in New Zealand the National Government has introduced National Standards. They have done this with the expectation that if standards exist then students will achieve, with appropriate teaching the standard for their class. The standards are set in Reading, Writing and Maths.

However I believe there are too many factors involved to make this fait accompli. Actually wouldn't it be marvellous if it happened. Students arrive at school with different levels of readiness, they come from a background that has encouraged them to talk, explore and experience or they have come from a very limited background. They have varying levels of parental encouragement and support. They each have their own attitude towards learning and intellectual capactiy.

We already can identify those in our class who lag behind, who haven't grasped Maths concepts, who struggle with reading and writing. We seek as teachers to support them and coach them, but we are limited human beings, there are many of them and one of us to each room. Those who need a lot of help need individual teaching. This is where the government needs to step up and fund for far more Resource teachers of literacy, and to initiate Resource teachers of Maths. Teachers who have a few schools that they travel around to, teaching the students who need that one on one attention.

As a syndicate in my school we have been examining the writing standards. These, along with the learning progressions map out for us what is expected at each level. We have identified the skills our students will need if they are to meet the standards. They are daunting. So far we have decided to list all the skills we will need to target if our students are to reach the standard for their year level. We have decided we will try introducing various skills in our classrooms and share how we got on at our next meeting.

One of the hardest aspects I find, is inspite of setting next steps with individual students they still hand in work that shows little evidence of revising or proof reading. I think it is going to take awhile for students to realise they are going to be held more accountable. Yet I don't want them to experience writing as something tedious and to be dreaded.

However it is a joy to read the writing of students that show personal voice and so many other things that good writers do. I sometimes wonder to myself what would it have been like if I had received the targetted teaching in writing that children do today. It certainly would have made university work easier later in life.

It will be interesting as the year progresses, and the years progress to see if the standards make a difference.

Friday: Staff Day. NZ Curriculum.

2010-01-31T13:55:00.009+13:00

On Friday we met as a staff to take the next step in implementing the NZ Curriculum which as 2010 begins is now the official NZ Curriculum. It is an excellent document, it looks to now and the future. As our facilitator we had one of the people who worked on this curriclum and we had an excellent morning with her. While the curriculum is there as a national document each school is able to take it and implement it in their own way according to the make up of the school communitiy. So as a school we have to decide the weight we give to some of the learning areas as we can't give equal emphasis to it all, there isn't the time. We have to take into account our vision and values as well as the national requirements for Literacy and Numeracy.

This document also names 5 key competencies that every student needs to develop to grow into successful learners and people. For those of you who would like to read about the five key competencies you can visit the NZ curriculum site. These competencies thread all though the day and are part of every learning area and activity. These key competencies are not new! Any adult will recognise them as important aspects of living and working in todays society. However they are so important they cannot be left to chance.

In term one as a school we will continue to explore Thinking, with an emphasis on the reflective and critical and responding aspects of thinking. We will also be focussing on participating and contributing. From managing self we have highlighted the importance of high standards and setting personal goals. Other key competencies of course are still being developed, but if we don't highlight some each term its easy to forget about their importance.

I Have a Webcam.

2010-01-07T17:52:00.002+13:00

Today I bought a webcam. Stella in Australia tried to send us a comment last term, from Brisbane, would have been good it it worked, but we were only able to see her, not hear her. In chatting with Kim in Washington DC over the last few days, via comments, we have decided to try making comments via camera.

I got the camera in a sale. Great, love sales. Too busy to get it organised as yet. Hope it works. Will be fun if it does, and when my class gets back in February, there may be other ways to use it too. Hmm. Good day, and thanks to Kim for getting me started down this track.

Today I have meandered!

2010-01-06T15:11:00.002+13:00

Today I have figured out a little more how Blogger works. I am still inclined to like wordpress better for blogging, but after I figured out how to configure this page a little better, it's growing on me. Of course the big plus is there is no cost! I will still renew my subscription to my class blog this year in edublogs, especially as I have most of my last year's class returning.

I have spent quite a bit of time mucking around on the internet, I have a few blogs I like to visit, I sent a reply back on our class blog to Kim, who has moved to Arlington, Washington. She has been sharing a little about what it will be like in school over there. When she starts I hope she will tell me more. One of the advantages of blogging is that students who move to another country can still keep in contact for as long as they want. Stella moving to Australia is another.

I found a teacher's blog in the U.S.A that I enjoyed reading. My Reading Today arrived in the mail and I browsed that, but I don't want to start thinking about going back to school yet for at least another week!

Christmas Play December 09

2010-01-05T16:25:00.000+13:00

At present I am testing out Blogger to see how it is the same and different to Edublogs and Wordpress. So far I like the way it presents a video. That is one advantage over the other two.