| synonyms: | widespread, prevalent, pervasive, rife, rampant, epidemic; |
I was in a state of panic yesterday.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/difference-between-epidemic-and-pandemic-2615168-01-c829c2e4591f47f9a3e5cd39687be4a7.png)
Italy has become the new epicentre of the virus. It is awful to think of the beautiful places I travelled to and visited in 2018 having their beautiful people getting sick and dying from this disease. Apparently the canal waters are clear. The sediment has not been disturbed. Fish and swans can be seen in and on the canal waters. Even dolphins have returned.
Had a really cool session today with 10SciX - a colleague had asked me to do an elearning session with his class last week but we had to move it today. Then he remembered that he was out with PLD today.
Anyway - it went really well - I gave them the Google Drive cheat sheet I'd made. Got some great responses on it - with one student saying I needed to make it less wordy. Was trying to cater for those audiences where I wasn't there to show them what to do... and she suggested more infographic style where there are pictures showing where to go rather than so much description. So need to up my game a bit!! :)
Got nearly all of them onto the platform. We did quite a bit of discussion around appropriate behaviours online and showed a few some new techniques when they were researching - like Ctrl+F and Ctrl+V once they'd copied something... also dragging pictures onto the doc from a source and cropping it to make it fit on the page.
With those that had used the platform already with their digital tech teachers it was easy enough for them to follow on.
Think I got some students side tracked though when they showed me how much writing they were reading... I asked them why they hadn't found the same info in a video first. Lightbulb moments... halfway through I went back to see how they were going and asked them how much they'd learnt. They told me verbatim heaps of ideas... I asked whether they'd written any of it down... nope. So they began.
Had a couple students share their docs with me so I could show them how the commenting permissions worked. They were impressed that I could see their work at the same time.
Had them share their documents with their teacher and will catch up with him tomorrow.
Hoping that this kind of Lightbulb learning continues throughout the year and hope more students get onto the platform by the end of the year so that we have a more simplified process with the Y11s next year. Am betting that it will be way more effective when they are using their devices for their writing at the very least.
Not that surprising today that there were the usual issues of no logon servers or needing to remember passwords... but was quite surprised by the overwhelming silliness that ensued while using the Google doc!
Picture this:
Class using the COWs for the second time this week and using their logons to go to a link I'd written on the board. Some students listened to the instructions well and carried on with the task (Complete a 2 minute google form survey). Others had issues with logging in to the computers, other computers weren't charged and some just forgot their passwords again.
It was chaotic because I was needed in about eight places at once and couldn't conduct or facilitate. I had to be the guide on the side - and while this is great - the skill level isn't there enough for our students to be able to do this without me yet.
Students were all on different tasks - some had finished the Form and were waiting for the next instruction. Others couldn't get on to the Form because they'd typed the link wrong. Others were apathetic and didn't have a go.
I had to stop the class a few times - to get their attention I actually had to have them look up from the screen and look at me - like primary school.
When some students were finished the Form I got them to type their names in alphabetical order down the page. Chaos ensued once more. I had written a tip at the top but they either hadn't read it or they had deleted it before I saw it. It simply said do not overwrite someone and to avoid this, push the space bar down a couple of times so that you're in a different line.
Having so many students working on one doc was chaotic. But it was a brilliant way to quickly assess their inappropriate behaviours, time wasting issues and more importantly their overwhelming silliness.
To counteract this I changed the sharing permissions to view. Got them to refresh the page. Went to revision history and went to the last time I wrote something and restarted it. I reverted the sharing permissions back to edit for the students and they refreshed so that they could try the simple task once more.
A similar thing happened. This time with less silliness but still with many Anonymous animals typing.
I stopped them again and asked them to login to their Gmail accounts and refresh the doc.
Still they were deleting what others were saying. I changed the sharing permissions once more. Talked to them as a class about expected behaviours and showed my surprise that they were behaving so strangely as they are normally quite a mature bunch of kids.
We started again. This time I added a table where they had their own space. I scrapped the alphabetical idea and just got them all to write their own names in a box each. Still anonymous animals but more student's names this time.
They began checking out the fonts, sizes and used this as a teaching moment to discuss the best font size - we didn't go down the controversial font type discussion though - and changed colour and backgrounds for their own names.
I then got them to highlight their names and add a comment as to a struggle and area they enjoyed that session. Some silly behaviours then too but it's all a learning lesson at the end of the day.
For what was meant to take five minutes - it took the full hour. But jeez it was good to deal with that silliness now and get it out of their systems. Because that kind of collaboration, participation, managing self and relating to others is critical.
The main issues were the fact that they were all collaborating in one place. It was noisy and it was a novelty. I can only imagine what the backchannel was like in the chat... Some strategies I've thought of include:
1) Get them to sign in to their Google Account first before doing any GDocs stuff. Avoids the silly Anonymous Tuatara stuff... and creates more accountability on what they're writing and who they're writing on top of...or deleting as the case may be...
2) Write instructions in a clear space on the board until they get into the habit of finding the work they need. Make each task simple until they become self-regulated.
3) They need to learn some basic workarounds - like using the ethernet cables or grabbing the power cable when the laptop is dying or dead, instead of just putting the laptop back and getting a different one.
4) Limited computer skills - typing and completing tasks online isn't as easy for some students.
5) Digital Citizenship and Key Competencies - need to be discussed and embedded. Absolutely critical. Because what happened today was a clear indication that they didn't have those skills sorted. We need to keep working on this.
Yesterday I reflected on the fact that I didn't give them the Drive Cheat sheet I'd made. I printed it out today but they didn't use it or didn't try it out properly.
I still need to look at the responses for the Survey...
I'm absolutely adamant now that our students need upskilling just as much as our staff.
Since I last did a proper update there hasn't been much visible progress however there has been a lot of work done in the background, working strategically to put systems and the right people in place, to ensure things move smoothly.
I'm still aware that I'm still doing a lot of work without any real recognition. This is part of the reason I do it though so that I'll hopefully gain the recognition and a possible role where I'm more able to help support and encourage LWDT in class.
I've mentioned before that my DP Donella supports me and has been happy and impressed with my work so far. I honestly would not have been able to do anything thus far without her ongoing support and I truly appreciate that she's in my corner, as much as I back her as well. I've learnt so much from her already particularly in her leadership style, the way that she is strategic, her organisation skills and how she prioritises every thing and spends adequate time on each when needed - all aspects that I admire and hope to grow in myself.
Am patiently waiting on the next email if there is one from MindLab and I truly can't wait to start the next step in my learning journey. I was congratulated by another DP yesterday who also mentioned again the quantity of work it will be. While he's completely correct, I've always learnt better when I'm interested and when I can directly apply my learning. So that's a work in progress at the moment.
Anyway - since I last wrote about elearning a few important things have happened. We've had a massive eLearning meeting with as many stakeholders as possible - whanau, students, teachers, IT staff, BOT reps, NPeW reps and of course our Senior Management Team members. It was an amazing opportunity to be in that room and hear so much passion. To know that there are others who understand and are keen was eye opening and I really look forward to seeing what they think may be the next steps.
From then til our next meeting we need to gather data to create a plan moving forward with NPeW and Excel Rotorua.
The day after the meeting I'd thought some things through and I'd gone to an exam supervision with ideas buzzing in my head. I managed to jot down a few ideas and then typed them up. Ideas for a strategic plan for elearning - at least the first six months really.
At present my mind and heart is only allowing me to think up til six months purely because we haven't yet been able to get past - what I have thought were the basics - but are essential if we are going to see any real learning or change in mindset taking place.
I shared it with Donella and with Anne Robertson from the Connected Learning Advisory (CLA) to get a few more ideas on the next steps.
I still need to add more sections in around the learning and particularly the change in mindset and practice.
I'd really like to see our school making that 10% shift on the dial and it's definitely possible - if we work together and if we allow our students to have their say on what works, doesn't work and needs altering or changing.
Today in preparation for some Google Drive lessons I am going to help take I created a Google Drive Cheat Sheet - probably too wordy but definitely easy enough to follow. Both purposeful and informative.
It's a bit frustrating that sometimes I can be incredibly focussed and get a task that I'm working on completed in an hour when sometimes I can't barely think clearly or process my ideas into words orally.
Next steps:
- Get feedback of ideas list for strategic plan
- Develop a collection of resources fof staff and students to use
- Research into the job descriptions of LWDT facilitators and think about what skills I need to develop to be better at the role.
- Get some sleep...
Just thinking about a moment today while helping one student with his assessment on GDocs.... he kept telling my other student to jump on the computer too to type her work up but she was happy writing het draft in her book first.
Another student who I don't teach but have talked with and inquired on her learning during exam time, came over to watch what me and my student were typing and marking and fixing on his work. She said, "That looks so cool. Can I have a go?" Or something to that extent. She did - I got her to share a doc with me and she began typing her work up.
Soon enough - I was marking both of their work and we began talking as we were working. She wondered why all teachers don't do this and we talked about the big elearning meeting we were about to have and how it's important to understand where some of the teachers are at the moment with tech stuff and how doing this could help us all.
Had just finished telling them both how proud I was (and am) of them looking at just the sheer amount of work and effort both of them put into their work. So stoked. The fact that my student had done more work in 20 minutes on GDocs compared to the majority of the term was astounding and he was impressed with himself too.
I was commenting on bits and pieces between both docs and then she said, "Miss, we need to have more teachers like you." Told her that her comment made my heart sing.
Beautiful. And with that... I'm off to sleep again. Awesome elearning meeting btw... update to come on that soon.
This will be an ongoing post:
- SD created a Google + community for her chem class and realised she had the privacy settings too strict - at the moment our students don't have domain email accounts. She'd wanted to create a classroom but that wouldn't have worked either. She asked for help - we sat down and went through basics of posting on G+ and using Drive. Uploaded her first ppt file and converted it to a Slides file so we could add the link to her G+ post. She too was annoyed that we can't let students into the one she originally created yet - but agreed it would be a great place for the future to use it when they do have the emails. She said she was too eager. Love this. :) She's now created another community with easier privacy settings and has invited me to the group. Awesome!
- questioned about being a teacher but adding self as student when we created the classroom for TOD. JS came to me after going to the IT guys and CS and I couldn't fix the problem as I didn't have access to the admin console. Emailed the IT guys and said that I didn't have access and sent them the link to get it done. Then all of a sudden I had access to the Google Groups for Classroom admin and also JS was a teacher again. :)
- questioned about notifications from G+. Made a screencast for staff. Sent it out in last email with G form for feedback. Hopefully they get it :) It all comes down to how they organise their gmail accs though. So hopefully they fix it.
- questioned about one on one tutorial. Offered but we got our times mixed up.
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Although I am very much against levels and labels - and think it's condescending if I group people myself or even as a committee - I think it would be beneficial for staff to have differing groups and areas that they personally can choose - all on one particular platform where staff can search out information when and where they want development.
Tired. But considering our day today it's fair enough. Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing whether there is a reaction from the kids. Finally put bits and pieces on the walls thst I've been procrastinating doing. Still have a few pieces of marking to finish that I've been lugging around too. Need just a night to do it all. Or even a day. A day off from everything would be awesome.
Where did my #YesYear energy go?
I'm now typing stream of consciousness...
Obviously tired.
My amazing and inspiring friend Ros just tweeted this to me:
https://twitter.com/rosmaceachern/status/598381347770470400
http://dianerevoluta.tumblr.com/post/50880057344/the-myth-of-inspiring-women
Don't have the energy to read it and take on board the whakaaro right now.
Am stoked with how our Rotaract meeting went tonight. Loads of really cool events coming up.
Couple of issues at school today during duty. Think I dealt with them okay... teetering on the balance between maintaining trust and whakawhanaungatanga as well as ensuring safety.
Finally tidied the two areas in class that have been bothering me: my desk (mountain of paper) and the shelves at the back with the kid's posters... another shelve of paper and needed organising and things chucked. A whole box of screwed up paper later... and with each scrunched ball I felt guilty for the tree. Doing sustainablity in Social Studies at the moment..
Still need to tackle the in class library shelves and sort out why they think it's okay to put their rubbish in the shelves or behind curtains. Mainly laziness. If I put a bin at the back would they use it? Experiment time I think.
Also... need to find a time to tackle the back cupboard. After having to move out of my last class and into the one I'm in now... I'd expected the back cupboard to be as empty and immaculate as I was leaving my previous one. No. I'd spent the better part of two weeks during the holidays sorting it out after Xmas and the teacher leaving spent an afternoon. So... yep.
I didn't have the heart or the state of mind at that time to re-sort another back cupboard... so my stuff was just chucked in there. So frustrating. What I'd like to do is get a few students to help and delegate roles to them - de-hoarder, paper chucker, organiser of single copies of work, digitiser and dj.
There is a cool bookcase in the back cupboard that I'm not using that I used to use for my students work. Now that I've got the big shelves at the back - I can use the other one just for teaching resources.
Been thinking about my teaching lately. I've relied too much on the digital space I've created and not continued teaching how I normally do. The digital space should be a complement to my normal blended teaching - not as a talking point or the sole focus. So now I'm back to myself and just need to figure out how I'm going to use it effectively as well as use the learning that we've done to ensure that students are ready and what else needs doing to move forward. Because yes the Site is cool. But more cooler is how passionate I am about what we're learning about.
Hmmm.
Still stoked about the last meeting for eLearning and the possibilities and opportunties. Looking forward to taking the PLD at Heights on the Teacher Only Day on using GAFE. Think that having someone older, male and paid to do it would make a lot more people listen and go with it.... rather than me. I worry that people feel intimidated or that I'm just some young girl who doesn't know anything.. Gah. Anyway.. bedtime.
For a wee while now I've been toying with the idea of literature circles. I did them in my first year of teaching without even knowing it was called literature circles. Back then I just figured I was doing something a good teacher would do - offer options and create strong analysis skills in her Y10 students.
Ever since, I suppose the idea of lit circles has been one that I have tried on and off with different classes. I've often tried to use lit circles in order to build a reading culture like with my extension class when I first started at Heights.
This year though - with such a big Y12 class and knowing we had so many new dystopian genre books at Y11 this year - I wanted to try it again. Full throttle.
I'd done quite a bit of research over the summer holidays, read up on different strategies and how to further enable my students to build strong individualised learning skills as well as collaborative and cooperative learning skills.
Links here:
I'd decided that after the two assessments my Y12 (Pink) class would study the three novels we had in the dept by John Green: Looking for Alaska, Papertowns and The Fault in our Stars. Having read all three at the beginning of Term One while still on my holiday reading buzz - I quickly and assuredly decided that my Y12s would definitely be reading these as literature circles.
I gave out the books to students about three weeks til the end of Term One with the expectation that they would be read by the beginning of Term Two. Most students have done so which has been great. While they continue working on the last assessment from last term - those who have finished have begun the analysis.
The clearer focus we have in Y12 has reminded me how I wanted to conduct the literature Circles in my Y11 class.
We initially started the literature circles mid way into last term. About two weeks was given for reading in class because unfortunately, a lot of kids just don't read at home. They're too busy, they are physically unable due to situations at home and sometimes kids just don't like reading.
After that we began the analysis of at least one main character and we learnt basic essay structure with SEXIST paragraph structure and for the last part of term we wrote that essay as part of their ongoing writer's portfolio for the year.
This term we started out okay where I explained that they needed to get back into groups and analyse the main characters again. Some students moaned because they had done this last term. Yes - I assured them - but now after the holidays they would have more to analyse about particular characters as they should all be nearing finishing the book.
On Tuesday, with an excited rush, rather than do the analysis first and then edit on the site the following week, we brought in a few of the COWs and set up students on the site:
That was a huge issue because of technical issues where I couldn't add students onto the site. They could see it and they could understand what they were looking at but couldn't access it to edit. I asked students to give me their emails and for those who didn't have one to set one up. Part of the issue is that we do not have our students gmail accounts enabled within our GAFE platform - something I've been trying to change since middle of last year.
On Wednesday, after the happy arrival of the new projector the night before, I was able to show them how to edit the pages on the site. For those that continued to have issues logging in or accessing the site - I logged them in with my password. Some students were able to enter their work - others still not.
We discussed some of the digital citizenship skills that they needed to be aware of when using the site also and when using the COWs.
Still though - some were having basic issues with understanding what it was I was trying to get them to do. A lot of my time was taken up by students who simply refused to even try and others who had continued technical and comprehension issues.
Finally, by Thursday of this week - our last session for Y11 for the week - I had finally accepted the fact that the way I was trying to get them to do it wasn't working. We hadn't set up collaborative skills and while I was trying to be patient with them - it just wasn't working. Knowing that it does work and it wasn't really the student's faults I had to really critically examine what was working and what wasn't.
Some students had figured out what I wanted them to do because I had worked with them one on one. Other students just didn't know what it meant to analyse a text.
So I went back to basics. I had apologised throughout the week with the issues around the technical aspects (because by Wednesday afternoon I'd realised that the reason they couldn't access it they way I'd set up the settings with was because they didn't have school emails for GAFE to work right) and also because I hadn't set up the collaborative skills side too.
This time I wrote up the different books we were all studying and went through four different areas of possible exam questions. We brainstormed the different themes, main characters, symbols and settings. We talked about the fact that each one has significance and needs to be further developed.
I set up the four aspects into a grid with the texts - with the idea that students would put their name by a different area they were going to work on today. I added quotes up as well.
Pic -
Finally - I think they were starting to get it. With our amazing teacher aide Marie, I was able to move around the groups a hell of a lot easier because she was working with the one student who was obstinate and needed full on one on one to motivate and continue working.
At first I was going to get students to do their analysis just in their books as originally planned - but agreed to have some students working on the COWs again. Somehow - the settings I'd changed again and again made it so there were no technical issues other than server logon issues which were fixed by the lifesaving blue ethernet cable.
Moving around the different groups, each student had a particular focus. It's easier to recognise the students who haven't done enough reading because they sit there idly not being able to contribute or work individually. I was able to work with one particular group more easily where we wrote on my DIY whiteboard table (clear duraseal on the table) and were able to identify a more focused understanding of the two main characters in Divergent.
I still have two, maybe four groups who I need to further push but we're finally getting somewhere.
I just wish I'd thought that through a bit more clearly but am glad that it was only a week of technical issues rather than the entire unit of struggling.
Because Thursday was a definite hum.
Explaining to Marie the reasons why I'm doing literature circles with this class reminded me too it's not just about offering options. It's about 21st century pedagogy. The need to practise my knowledge around building collaboration and individual learning skills. The need to enable our students to be ready for a new and exciting life ahead of them. For them to be ready -we practise til we're right and then continue to hone our skills.
Am incredibly thankful to the MLE Collaborative group on Facebook, to the collaboration korero we had on both #EngChatNZ this week on Wednesday night and the #DojoChatNZ as well. To my amazing Y12 students who worked with me collaboratively straight away and to my problem solving brain who hunted for different links and idea generating tools for my classes.
Looking forward to next week now! :)
Yesterday I opened the session for the first time. Was pretty cool actually.
It was even cooler to see real collaboration happening in real time. People were sharing, learning and teaching each other skills and concepts within areas they wanted to focus on.
For me, I helped Vicki Needham start up her blog: vickisteachingreflections.blogspot.co.nz and helped to redesign, change the layout, add widgets etc.
I think the best thing about last night's session is that we were able to have a play and have some time to ourselves to try new things, create and collaborate - which we don't often have the time to do.
I added and continued to update my Badges page on my digital portfolio. There is just so much more to do with both it and my class page that I actually have accepted the fact that it is constantly going to be a working document. It can't be completely finished or perfect because then it wouldn't show my learning and understanding as time progresses. Sure it will become better as time goes on - but there will just always be something else to add. Eventually my portfolio will have a huge selection of my years and years of teaching practice on it.
What I'd like to do is spend time adding RTCs to my blog as tags and as a page with links to my blog posts on my portfolio site.
What I actually need to do this weekend is different - watch my mate and our Heights students participate in the Longest Day where they essentially have their longest day and pull a fire engine down the length of Fenton street. I also would like to spend some time at school marking and finalising changes and adaptations to my classroom and making more resources and stapling short stories etc. I'd also like to go back to Morrinville and spend some time with my nan too - looking at the range of possible housing choices in Rotorua for her.
Am so happy we had such a good session last night. I wonder though whether we can begin learning new things ourselves too rather than being the teachers and supporters to everyone else. I think the discussion we had last night around the need to bring everyone up to where we are and move together is important. However, doing those side courses on GAFE has been helping hone my understanding. Perhaps my next step is to push myself into doing GTA (Google Teacher Academy)... I need a serious amount of time to get to where I want to be with my digital skillset.
I need to carve some more time out... somewhere.
Maybe if we had a day doing it rather than a few hours it would be less stressed and more focussed? Though I'd probably end up procrastinating anyway.... like right now when I could be doing that stuff!
Keeping my blog up to date is important... but I wonder where all these site hits are coming from... 200 yesterday? Where from? And at what posts? Blogger analytics aren't specific enough to show the details for what I think I want to see and analyse. Maybe it's just not important? Maybe the writing is.
Anyway - thanks again to everyone who came last night and hope you all come again with more people too :) Spread the word!! :) #ConnectedRotorua
Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa
