Change

27 Jan 2012 | 1 Comment »

P1000022About a year and a half ago I wrote a post about moving to Scotland.  It’s time to revisit the idea of change as I prepare to move back to Canada.

A year and a half of the hardest lessons, life challenges, and growth as a teacher.  Moving was easily the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.  I never expected to move to a country which I thought was similar to Canada in terms of language, culture, and being part of the “Western World” only to find it so radically different.  I was completely lost from not having any idea what to buy in a supermarket to not knowing what any of the stores even sold to having no sense of where anything was, and not even knowing what it was I was trying to find.  A culture with different expectations, a different set of meanings and connotations, and a different way of looking at life was a shock to the system.  I’ve never felt so completely alone, uncomfortable, and out of sorts. 

Don’t get me wrong I’m a very adventurous person who will take on anything and loves to try new things and visit new places, but when you have nothing that feels comfortable and no support it was something I never thought would be so difficult.

But it was a discomfort that with friends, finding a place in a school, and getting away on my own that started to become a place I loved and a place that will always be a part of me.  Teaching in an entirely different system and curriculum has brought out frustrations and challenges that have forever made me a better teacher.  I had to look at classroom management in an entirely new way.  Curriculum design in a skills based, open, learner centered system has opened up they way I plan thematic learning and look at creative topics.  A look at the Alberta and Scottish Education system has been in the works for a while, the finishing touches are coming along – a future blog post.

Sometimes you just know it’s time.  Time to move on.  An amazing new opportunity has come my way.  In two weeks I start as the Special Project Lead in Emerging Technology for Alberta Education.  I’m going back to Edmonton, a city I went to university in, a city I haven’t lived in for 10 years, but a city which might be the only place that feels like it might be home. 

It also means I’m leaving the classroom – for now, for ever?  I’m not sure but it feels right to take on a leadership role and see what impact I can have from a policy, management and leadership point of view.  I’ve always tried to create impact and influence from a ‘shift disturbing’ classroom viewpoint. I’ve done what I felt was right for my students and shared my experiences in the hope that maybe I’m doing something right and someone else might find value in my experiences and ideas.  I’ve never been an expert, just someone who likes to take on challenges and try something that might just be a little bit different and a little bit innovative. 

I want to take a perspective of listening to my new job.  I don’t want to be the person out there standing on a soapbox telling others how it should be done.  I do want to be able to add my diverse perspective and experience, but I’m not an expert, just an educator.

Category(s): Reflection

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Create You Own Geocaches

26 Jan 2012 | No Comments »

I set the students a homework task of creating their own geocaches and I was thrilled with the result.  They had to think through hideability, camouflage, waterproofing, and general hardiness.

Enjoy the results!

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I wanted to share the creation our own geocaches as part of Danny Nicholson’s Blog Carnival.  I’ve used geocaching with students many times – for more posts about ideas on how to use handheld GPS to create treasure hunts for students have a look at the archive here.

This video explains the basics for geocaching in the classroom:

Category(s): geocaching, GPS Project

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Timeline Geocaches – WW2

17 Jan 2012 | No Comments »

100_0734We were learning about the major events of World War 2 and needed a hands on way to organize the events to see not only the progression of the war, but just how long it actually was.100_0724

We used caches the students had made to hid 36 major events.  They had to go around to six different caches and find events.  As they went they started to put them in order as they searched.

After collecting all of them they spread out the events using pegs and started to organize by year.

Then we spread then out along clotheslines so they could discuss, confer with other groups, and start to put them in order.

100_0729The clothes pins meant they could move things around.  It seemed that at times all 31 students were working together, even though we had six different groups.100_0727

The collaboration and conversation was amazing.  A group who was further off even moved their clothesline to be closer so they could work together.

Category(s): geocaching, GPS Project, history

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Interesting Ways to Use Nintendogs in the Classroom

14 Jan 2012 | No Comments »

Nintendogs is a fantastic game to use with early years.  It is available on the Nintendo DS platform and there are several versions of the game, including one with cats!

In the Style of Tom Barrett’s Interesting Ways Series – a collection of Interesting Ways to use Games in the Classroom. It is still a work in progress – many more ideas and presentation to come on this page of my site – but please add your ideas to the presentations. Interesting Ways to Use Nintendogs – please add to it – it is very much open and can only get better with more ideas

Category(s): Games Based Learning, Interesting Ways to Use Games, Nintendo DS

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Interesting Ways to Use ScribbleNauts in the Classroom

08 Jan 2012 | No Comments »

The Next game I’ve work with in my classroom is Scribblenauts. It is a Nintendo DS game (and now and IPad/Itouch App) In the Style of Tom Barrett’s Interesting Ways Series – a collection of Interesting Ways to use Games in the Classroom. It is still a work in progress – many more ideas and presentation to come on this page of my site – but please add your ideas to the presentations. Interesting Ways to Use Scribblenauts – please add to it – it is very much open and can only get better with more ideas

Category(s): Games Based Learning, Interesting Ways to Use Games, Nintendo DS

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Interesting Ways to Use Kinectimals

07 Jan 2012 | No Comments »

Next in the Series – Kinectimals using the Kinect and the XBox.

It is a game aimed at early years learners – it is very engaging and beautiful!

In the Style of Tom Barrett’s Interesting Ways Series – a collection of Interesting Ways to use Games in the Classroom. It is still a work in progress – many more ideas and presentation to come on this page of my site – but please add your ideas to the presentations.

Interesting Ways to Use Kinectimals – please add to it – it is very much open and can only get better with more ideas

Category(s): Games Based Learning, Interesting Ways to Use Games, xbox

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Interesting Ways to use Endless Ocean

07 Jan 2012 | 1 Comment »

I’ve embarked on a project to capture and share all of the ways I use games in the classroom.

In the Style of Tom Barrett’s Interesting Ways Series – a collection of Interesting Ways to use Games in the Classroom.

It is still a work in progress – many more ideas and presentation to come on this page of my site – but please add your ideas to the presentations.

The first – Interesting Ways to Use Endless Ocean – please add to it – it is very much open and can only get better with more ideas

Category(s): Games Based Learning, Interesting Ways to Use Games, Nintendo Wii, science

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Endless Ocean–a Polar Expedition

18 Dec 2011 | No Comments »

IMAG0631With my P7 class our first topic this year was all about the North Pole and the South Pole.

We used the second version of the fabulous Nintendo Wii game Endless Ocean 2: Blue World (Adventures of the Deep in the UK) as a stimulus and thread to the entire unit.

We did all sorts of activities as we journeyed to the ends of the earth and I wanted to share what a polar exploration unit might look like.

 

 

 

 

 

000_0002Ecosystem Study

Who’s Eating Who – The Mystery of the Disappearance of the Krill examines the food web in Antarctica by setting a fabulous mystery based investigation into the disappearance of the krill.  The suspects are all identified and you get to learn more about all of the different animals in the Antarctic food chain, establishing that there are way more that just penguins in the Antarctic (although they are the prime suspects…)

The class was split into groups and each had to investigate how their group of animals (Flying Squad, Mr. Bigs, Slippery Characters, Feather Fiends, and the Low Life!) was part of an interconnected ecosystem underpinned by Krill.

We created a giant food web we related back to all the time as we studied Antarctica.

100_0423Explorers

From the earliest explorers to modern day expeditions, the students were fascinated by Arctic and Antarctic explorers.

We looked at many firsts.  In a Today’s Meet chat room students posted two interesting firsts in the race to the poles, whether it was first to get to the pole on a motorcycle, first woman, first person with dyslexia, they enjoyed finding all sorts of creative ways people have made it to the north or south pole.  After they had posted two way they started to find videos and pictures and started to share these as well.  The lesson took on a life of it’s own as students found everything from stories of daring rescues at research stations in Antarctica to videos of cute penguins!

We spent a lot of time looking at Ernest Shackleton and his failed attempt to traverse Antarctica, and the amazing story of survival on Elephant Island, and the journey by boat and trek across South Georgia Island to the whaling station.  It is a story of leadership, perseverance, and what a human is really capable of.  The images from the journey are worth a look.  They had a photographer on the expedition and the story of survival was captured with great detail.  The students on the left are organizing a timeline of the events of the Shackleton expedition – from leaving the UK, to being stuck in the ice, to fleeing to Elephant Island, to the daring journey to South Georgia, they did well!  There is a great series of videos on youtube about the 1911 Endurance expedition.

@Mr_McLaughlin shared a great video about the race to the South Pole on the 100th anniversary of the Amundson expedition – the entire reason I choose this topic this year

Being a Canadian we also had a look at the Franklin expedition – a doomed attempt at sailing the Northwest Passage.  The students enjoyed learning about the failures just as much as the successes!

One of my favourite ways of learning about an ecosystem and biome is to use Survivorman.  He’s Canadian Les Stroud and he goes and lives with no support (or cameraman – take that Bear Grylls) for seven days.  He had a fabulous Arctic episode where he lived way up on Baffin Island, was stalked by Polar Bears, ate seal blubber, and attempted to build a iglu (it didn’t go well!)  We watched it and used Today’s Meet again to backchannel and share – more information on backchanneling during videos here!

Harry’s Arctic Explorers provided a modern look at Arctic exploration.  The BBC aired the program about four war veterans, with various serious injuries and their journey to the north pole.  We watched it looking at the equipment and gear needed to survive in such a place, to look at the landscape, and to see the struggles of dealing with injury.  It was a nice tie into our second topic, World War II.

Science– Ice is fun! We have more planned as review exercises, but we looked at melting points, what can speed up melting,  buoyancy, and properties of fresh and salt water.

Most of our time in the area of science was looking at Global Warming and the impact on polar regions.  We looked An Inconvenient Truth, the Google Earth layer showing the impact of ocean levels rising.

We are going to be doing more with science aspects in our term 3 topic, Science Fair as a way to revisit concepts and tie them into scientific investigation. @LiteracyDave shared a great idea to create invention or idea to help the environment – to be presented Dragons Den style.  We are going to make it part of our Science topic.

IMAG0616Art – We really enjoyed using the images of creatures from the Endless Ocean game to create our own murals.  We have windows on both sides of our room, so one side was the Arctic , and the other the Antarctic.  I loved this particular window with polar bear stalking a seal and an Orca and a Narwhal below!  It made the entire classroom glow blue when the sun was out – very calming!    The students included the northern (and southern) lights, animals and landscapes.

It really stood out and brightened up the school!

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frozenFrozen Planet

BBC put together an amazing series on the North and South pole just as we were finishing the topic so it has been a great way to review and come back to revisit aspects of our studies.

Seven amazing episodes covering seasonal changes, exploration, and climate change – I can’t say enough about how fabulous it is and the timing was – perfect!

 

journeyPeople

We were looking at contrasts between the North and South Pole and found the presence of permanent residents of the Arctic region being a major difference.

We studied the Inuit people using Journey to Kitigaaryuk It was especially good as it was about a visitor from the UK to the Arctic and contrasted now with the past.  An interactive story – excellent literacy ties.

This resource compares and contrast the Inuit with the Haida.

 

 

100_0415Endless Ocean

The game itself provided great learning opportunities.

You start in the South Pacific – we went for a swim there to get used to the controls and to set up the contrast.  The South Pacific is full of large plants, coral, and brightly coloured creatures.  When we got to the North Pole we saw a stark contrast in the colours of the creatures.  It was a grey, white, and blue world in the north.

You have to play through the various locations to unlock the next spot.  The first is the South Pacific where you meet a humpback whale and tango with a tiger shark.  Then it is off to the Mediterranean to explore Ancient Greek ships and temples.  I played through this part without the students for the sake of time, but you find Octopus and Great White Sharks!

Next you are off to Japan to an aquarium to talk to a Marine Scientist about ocean research – quite cool.  Then it is off to observe polar bears in the North of Canada.

100_2166We found seals, narwhals, walruses, and even a Greenland Shark!  We swam about finding all sorts of creatures.  You can go up on to the ice to see polar bears, seals (even the cute white fluffy pups).  This prompted discussion about the Seal Hunt in Canada – a great resource for learning more about it from CBC.

We recorded the length of all sorts of animals and set out into the school yard to measure them.  We used meter sticks, trundle wheels, and our trusty GPS to mark out how large the animals we were discovering actually were.  It was a great measurement and visualization exercise.

The Antarctic swim has five different types of penguins, a bird trying to steal penguin eggs, the cutest baby penguins ever, all sorts of fur seals, a southern right whale, and spectacled porpoises.  You are on the hunt for a strange sound which turns out to be a trapped spectacled porpoise.  You have to use a whistle to get an aggressive leopard seal to help break through the ice.  Each area in the game has some sort of predator you have to watch out for.

After the polar swims you can also visit the Amazon (great freshwater/salt water contrasts) and the Red Sea.

Part of Endless Ocean is map which you uncover as you explore.  As we explored the Arctic and the Antarctic we would draw the animals we found in our jotters.  We used the map to record the coordinates of each animal to find them again.

Other Resources:

My three favourite sites which we explored thoroughly!

Discovering the Arctic – great for teacher ideas and students self guided exploration

Discovering the Antarctic – fabulous little interactive activities and a great overview of the all areas covered.

Beyond Polar Bears and Penguins

Some previous thoughts and a video of my class back in Canada playing with Endless Ocean.

And finally the Interdisciplinary Topic Plan – It’s based on the City of Edinburgh planning templates – it’s not perfect – but it’s a start!   Jen Deyenberg – IDP – North&South Pole

Category(s): Games Based Learning, geocaching, Geography, GPS Project, Language Arts, literacy, Math, Mathematics, science

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Wii Sports–Adding, Subtracting, Equivalent, and Reducing Fractions

07 Dec 2011 | No Comments »

101_0656We had great fun in my mathematics lesson when learning all about fractions using Wii Bowling.  I used Wii Bowling when multiplying fractions when I was in Canada, but today we were adding, subtracting, making equivalent fractions, and reducing fractions, all while playing!

The idea was to have a fun stimulus for creating and working with fractions.

101_0657Each student had a small whiteboard to record their answers and work.  A student would go up and bowl a frame – knocking over 7 pins – we would then have 7/10 to make equivalent fractions of or to draw a picture of what 7/10 looks like.  We would practise saying the fractions as well as we talked about how many pins were knocked down.

On the second roll we would knock down 2 more pins – then we can work on adding 7/10 + 2/10 to get 9/10.  Working on how to add fractions, and drawing a picture of the addition sentence.

This went on with different combinations of numbers.  We worked on reducing fractions we could turning 6/10 into 3/5.  The students were 101_0655eager to show their answers and eager to giving bowling a go.  It was a great introduction to working with fractions because the numbers were with 10, nice simple numbers to focus on working with fractions. 

It was hardly a class of students hunched over paper.  It was students laughing, sharing, working with numbers, and feeling good about what they were doing.  After ten frames we added up how many pins out of 100 we had knocked down and compared that with our score to talk about how strikes and spares change the total.  A great discussion about numbers in a real world context.

Category(s): Games Based Learning, Math, Mathematics, Nintendo Wii

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Why I love my IWB

07 Dec 2011 | 1 Comment »

Interactive whiteboards (IWB) often get a bad reputation, but its a tool I have always found immensely valuable and an essential part of my classroom.   I`ve always used a Smartboard, not due to preference, but due to what is hanging on the wall of my classroom and I really like both the hardware and software associated with them, so as a result activities and ideas are based around the Smart platform.

100_0365Small Group Work:

I often assign a small group of students to use the IWB.  I premake activities using the flash based tools (a complete list and description of each here).  The conversation and interaction that happens around the board with 3 or four students is quite amazing.  They take turns, talk to each other, help each other, and aren`t afraid to make mistakes.  It takes the risk out of trying things as you can easily go back and try again, and it isn`t `permanent`, it`s fun!

Smart Notebook is great because you can pull in swf (shockwave flash files) and games.

If a swf file is on a site with ads and other distractions, or is blocked by school filters you can extract the swf file from the site and insert it into the Smart Notebook software (like the photo to the left).  To do this you can clear out your cache, then refresh the page, the go into your temporary internet files and find the file with the swf extension (works well with Microsoft Internet Explorer).  With Firefox after you have visited the page type about:cache?device=disk in the address bar.  You get a list of direct links to files – use the CTRL+F function to find swf files, or the name of the site to search for the proper file.  When you find the swf direct link click to go into it, the you can right click on the link and choose save file as to get the swf itself.  A more complex flash based game will have more than one file, so it may not work, but you can call up the website on the IWB.

My favourite interactive small group games and activities:

Factory Balls (2, 3, and 4) – a visual problem solving game where students have to match the design of the ball

BBC Bitesize

Grammar Ninja – working on parts of speech

Teacher LED – a set of interactive whiteboard ready activities.  There are a few spelling and geography activities, but the mathematics activities are by far the best on this site.   I like the 2D shape reveal and the fraction comparison!

Starfall – My P1 class loved this site, on individual computers, but more on the IWB.  They could drag letters and sounds around, dance along with the songs, and match the jolly phonics actions with the letter sounds.  They would play for hours if I let them.  A few would play and then wander away to play with someone else, then another few would join.  It was great because they could watch and learn on letters and sounds they weren`t as sure about and join in to move things around when they felt confident.

Class Activities:

100_2185It`s all about visualization and manipulation.  When students can see things, easily move and compare things, and be able to see a model of a process they can make connections they might not otherwise see.

100_0648It`s great to be able to put up a picture of anything and have students measure it, trace it, or pull up something else right beside it to be able to compare.  The IWB  allows for easy magnification, manipulation, or annotating.  I can pull up a map, add extra information with a pen, use the magic pen to draw a rectangle and zoom in, draw a circle to blank out everything

Editing Writing is especially enhanced through the use of an IWB.  You can easily highlight, annotate, move pieces around, and show students how to make their work better in a concrete and visual way.  Students can really see the difference when you use tools which resemble the ones they are using whether its a pen or a keyboard.  Younger students can see exactly where letters and spaces should be.  Older students can see the effect of some effort and changes can make to the drafting process.

Not turning you back is priceless.  Being able to just walk by and move the screen without hunching over a computer is fabulous.  You can rotate, expand, scroll and much more – 5 cool tricks here – 5 more tricks here  I’ve had a tablet PC for two years before I had an IWB.  Unfortunately I was tied to the projector in the middle of the room, not wireless, and I liked the tool, but I didn’t find the interactions and conversations I did with an IWB.  You don’t have a group of students hunched around a tiny screen, you have a group standing in front of a full sized picture then can change and manipulate, it’s better in a primary setting.

Additional Support Needs:

My students love to use technology.  I have a few students who struggle to listen to directions, but if they can see the directions, they get it.  If they can try it out themselves, even better.  They give it a go in a interesting space, and they can make mistakes, because they are just trying.  They build confidence because they can repeat a process they`ve just seen demonstrated for them.  They can see it, it large form.

I had a student who was in a wheel chair.  She also had a standing frame, but didn`t like to go in it because it hurt her legs (that was the point, it was about stretching and using her leg muscles).  Her previous teachers and myself would use the IWB to give her a reason to stand.  She loved to draw, trace, move shapes and respond to games on a surface she could manipulate.  With her disabilities she struggled with fine motor control, but the IWB pens were big enough she could easily write with them.  Her touch was picked up without having to push too hard.  It was a very motivating and engaging tool for her to stand and interact with.

100_2187One of my students likes to use the IWB to create his art or visual work because he can easily make changes.  He likes things to be perfect.  On the IWB he can use ink and coloured tools, but still rub them out.  Where normally he would scrunch up a paper  and get frustrated if he made a mistake he couldn`t rub out, on the IWB he could easily make changes, then when he was done put his work on the class blog or could print it out to display with the rest of the class.

Category(s): IWB, Smartboard

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World War II Geocaches

10 Nov 2011 | 1 Comment »

My pupils have been learning all about World War II, so I designed a geocaching activity to review and reinforce some key ideas and put a few new ideas into their minds to spark some curiosity.

100_0654I arranged the activity with caches around themes.  In each cache they had to pick out three correct answers from a pile100_0651 of incorrect answer mixed in!

The six themes were:

Axis

Allies

People

Places

Objects

Causes

 

100_0646The students had to select and record the correct answers from each cache.  It meant conversation, discussion, and thinking at each stop.  I often saw them huddling in groups around the cache to see if the group could remember together, and they all did very well!

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This cache is a student designed and created model, it’s a case from a Nintendo DS game, with camo tape – of course!

The idea is quite simple, pick the correct out of a list of choices, but taking it outside to a place where they have to discuss (and panic when one of the right answers goes flying over the fence!), means they work with each other to remember and build understanding.

Category(s): geocaching, GPS Project, history

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Basemaps for Garmin GPS

31 Oct 2011 | 2 Comments »

contoursIt’s easy to use GPS on compass mode having students follow the arrow as the distance counts down in the units of your choice, but GPS has great potential for mapping and orienteering skills, you just have to have the right basemaps and software.

GPS come with a basic basemap with main roads and towns, but not many geographic features, topographic lines, or anything useful for orienteering.  When I lived in Canada I had fabulous (but expensive) topographical maps of all of Canada from Garmin.

I’ve been trying to find good basemaps of the UK that aren’t really expensive but detailed enough to be useful.  The OS survey and Garmin UK Topo maps are really expensive, so I went searching for other options, and found two great choices!

The Scottish Mountaineering Club put together a set of Contour Maps for the UK which are free and easy to download, organized in zip files of the region of your choice so you don’t fill up the memory of your GPS with the entire island.

img2gpsThey come up as img files – to get them on the GPS use Img2gps – a great piece of software to easily transfer files without converting them.  The waypoint and mapping software that comes with GPS is great for transferring waypoints, routes and geocaches, but not great for transferring maps and the compatible file types are limited.

The topographical maps have great contour lines, but not that many landmarks or marked locations, but the mark function on the GPS allows the students to add these details with all of the proper orienteering symbols quite easily.  The students can map their own communities and locations of class trips

openstreetmapThe other great option for maps is OpenStreetMaps – an open course mapping database, much like google maps.  The Scottish Mountaineering Club maps don’t have streets or locations, so in a urban setting this is a great alternative. Choose .img files when exporting the maps to easily to upload using Img2gps to base units.

Get students mapping and exploring outside!  The good news – the geocache symbols show up on the maps so you can find your caches on a basemap, not just with a compass arrow!

Contour Map image from Scottish Mountaineering Site

Category(s): geocaching, Geography, GPS Project

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Biodiversity in Antarctica–Wikis, Webs, and Penguins!

21 Oct 2011 | 1 Comment »

When asked to look at Biodiversity for a lesson, I thought looking at an ecosystem where it often thought nothing, or very lives, would be an interesting focus for learners.

Antarctica is way more than just penguins!  I put together a wiki based investigation into the wonders that are Antarctica to give students a case study based look at biodiversity.

eatingWho’s Eating Who – The Mystery of the Disappearance of the Krill examines the food web in Antarctica by setting a fabulous mystery based investigation into the disappearance of the krill.  The suspects are all identified and you get to learn more about all of the different animals in the Antarctic food chain, establishing that there are way more that just penguins in the Antarctic (although they are the prime suspects…)

The activity was great, and the pdf information sheets and set up in the site are fantastic, but I wanted groups to be able to add to the Antarctic food web all at once and build a picture of the biodiversity in Antarctica.  A collaborative mindmap would be a great way to build the links and connections in a food chain.

I embedded a Mindmeister mindmap into the wiki.  Mindmeister is free to make up to three mindmaps (if you scroll to the bottom of the sign up page and look at the very small print under all the places trying to charge you money).  I like Mindmeister because I can have all of the students log in at the same time (after I created them accounts) and edit at the same time, and can embed the live, updating as we go mindmap on the wiki so the information is always at their finger tips.

I then added a Lino-it sticky bulletin board to the wiki to give students a place to post any animals or plants they read about in the activity to build a picture of the vast numbers of species which live at the south pole. 

antI also linked to the Discovering Antarctica site, which had another tool to build the Antarctic ecosystem (always give students multiple tools and multiple ways of looking at a topic!)

This interactive activity is great to simplify and review the food web.

The entire discovering Antarctic site is fantastic with interactive activities and information about a wide range of topics about the continent.  It gives students a look at the human element which plays at role in the biodiversity and threatened biodiversity of the region.

All of these tools and resources came together on the wiki to provide a place for the students to add to the discussion tabs, link to sites, and review information.

Category(s): science, Web 2.0, wiki

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Wikis and Writing–Fortunately, Unfortunately

21 Oct 2011 | No Comments »

Wikis are a fantastic forum for writing.  I first discovered this 3 years ago working with Darlene and Shelley from Southern Alberta on a project called Fortunately, Unfortunately.  Darlene Hubber, proposed a fantastic idea of using the Book Fortunately, Unfortunately by Remy Charlip to inspire the students to build stories in a good news/bad news format with students from different towns alternating adding sections to their stories. 

planIt was such a great idea I took it to the students in Northern Alberta, adding a planning piece using mindmeister.  Mindmeister is a mindmapping tool, but with the fantastic feature that multiple people can edit live, all at the same time.  You can also embed the mindmap.  This was great as the students could not only brainstorm in a live environment, but it is easy to get back to their ideas as it is in the same site.

In the original project the students each just worked on one story with two of three other students, but I changed it up to have it so everyone could work on all of the stories.  Students then had to spend a lot of time reading the story prompt and what others had written before they could edit and add a pair of events, one fortunate and one unfortunate.

In an wiki it’s important to remember that a page can only be edited by one person at a time, so students signed up to what number they were working on, and I have more stories than students so they could spread out, and not end up waiting, or overwriting someone else’s work.  I set up embedded Dabbleboard pages to sign up for wiki pages, but with a small class it was easier to just write it up on the board in the classroom.

The students did very well.  They worked hard reading, writing, and editing.  Most importantly, they were writing together.  They weren’t their stories, they were the classes’ story.   They read each other’s work, they fixed each other’s work, and they built upon each other’s work.   It was a social collaborative project that could easily be expanded across classes or schools, but is also great at the classroom level for building a collaborative classroom climate.

It wasn’t a huge daunting writing piece because we had done some  planning and brainstorming, and they were writing in small chunks.  The stories were funny and were turning into quite the tales of adventure.  I was even chased by a Snake…..

snake

Category(s): collaboration, Language Arts, Web 2.0, wiki, Writing

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Wikis, Tagxedo and Science–A Forest of Words!

20 Oct 2011 | 2 Comments »

tree6Tagxedo is a site to make shaped word clouds (similar to wordle, but with a shape) The words are still made larger with frequency, so it is a cool way to represent something with not just words, but create a picture.

In this case we were creating trees!  Students had to choose a tree from Alberta (great resource page here) and create a tree shape using words that were characteristics of the tree.  tree5

Lessons Learned:

1)Using the ~ (tilda) symbol between words will connect them and keep them together in the word cloud to allow to phrases

2)Numbers have to be turned into words

Students created their trees and we could have ended the lesson there, but using a wiki, each student posted their tree on a their own page.  The other students then had to go back and look through the tree information to identify the trees of others in the class.  We used the discussion tab which is a part of each wiki page to collect and respond to answers.

discussion2The wiki made this a collaborative, social learning activity instead of just a static creation project.  The students loved it when others left guesses on their tree page, and they were quick to respond.  The students had to review the information and learn about the characteristics of many trees, instead of just the single tree they created.  A student even started using the CTRL + F find function on the information page to search for unique characteristics in the word clouds. I shared this tip with the entire class to show how clever a search technique it was (and how clever the student was!)

Giving students an audience means they have incentive to work even hard to create top quality work.  Use Web 2.0 tools such as wikis to provide an authentic audience for students!

Category(s): science, Web 2.0, wiki

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Wikis as a Review Portal

19 Oct 2011 | No Comments »

In a Science class today I was given a range of topics so I created a wiki with embedded activities, links to games, videos and other resources to give students a range of tasks and ideas to choose how to best review materials.

A wiki was a great way to easily compile everything in one spot.  You can easily embed, link, add pictures, and each page automatically comes with a discussion forum. 

Some of the tools I brought together to form a review portal were:

Discussion Forum – This feature is built right into wikis.  I’ve been using Wikispaces.  They are easy to create, modify, and use.  They are also add free for education!  Nice!

The discussion forums are tied to a page, but they are easy to post and view threads in.  You can easily have multiple forums, just create another page!

I create a forum where they had to respond to a specific question.  A second form had the students posting their own review questions for other students to answer!

LinoIt – Students add sticky notes.  You need an account to create and embed the virtual message board, but students don’t need an account to post.  You can post text, photos, and videos.

lino

Wonderville – A resource site from Science Alberta.  It is a fabulous resource for interactive science activities, games, videos, and comics.  They align with the Alberta science curriculum, but science topics are universal.  The materials cannot be embedded, so I just linked to it, to open in a new window.  After they played the buoyancy game (aimed at a lower grade level) they had to explain under the discussion tab how the buoyant force and neutral buoyancy played a part in the game.  The wiki allowed to the students to explore beyond the site, but then come back and interact with the teacher and the class.

wonder

Classtools.net – A site to create interactive games, activities, graphic organizers, and much more.  I used the arcade games to review the vocabulary for the unit.  The games can be easily embedded.  Even better have the students create and embed the games in the wiki for each other.  Just a copy and paste of the embed code in the other widget box.  You don’t need an account with classtools to create the materials.

classtools

BBC Bitesize – BBC has all sorts of great review videos, activities, and games in short ‘bitesized’ chunks. They are aligned with UK curriculum (and Scottish at least for the Highers…) so you have to know that Key Stage 1 is early years, Key Stage 2 is Primary, Key Stage 3 is Upper Primary and Middle, Key Stage 4 Junior High and Secondary.  You can embed some of the activities, but can easily link to others.

particle

Brainpop – a fee based site (some free movies!) with movies, quizzes and more which are great for review!  You can’t embed resources, but can link to it, and students can email their quiz results to the teacher.   I assign videos and quizzes for homework!

brainpop

The wiki became a collaborative, self guided review space.  They could work on it in class or at home.  They could choose the materials and pace which worked for them!

Category(s): science, Web 2.0, wiki

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Wikis and Wii–Bowling for Fractions!

19 Oct 2011 | No Comments »

Today I was ask to give a different take on multiplying and dividing fractions.  I decided that an activity using some games based learning and a collaborative portal would add a different take on what a math (maths…) class might look like.

wii_bowling

The idea was to using Wii Sports – Bowling to collect data and look at fractions.  Bowling is perfect for fractions, you have instant access to how many pins are knocked down out of a total – 7/10, 8/10, etc.

The students were looking at multiplying fractions by a whole number and by other fractions.

They had some previous instruction in how to multiply by a whole number, but not by another fraction.  Because there was a new concept one of the pages on the wiki was resources on how to multiply fractions.  I put videos, games, and some easier fraction activities for those struggling a bit to build confidence and basic skills.

Students took turns having a turn at bowling a frame, then took the numbers they created from their turn and turned them into a multiplication question.  They then put the questions on the wiki for others to answer.

bowling

bowling2After posting several questions they could then go into the discussion tab and try their hand at answering the questions.  They were working in pairs, on one computer.  Students took turns bowling, while the others were posting questions, answering questions, or working through the other games and activities.

They had to work out how to multiply fractions with the materials, with the examples, and with the work of the other students.  It wasn’t about the teacher standing to deliver instruction, then students sitting quietly to work out answers on paper.  Some choose to work on paper, then post on the wiki, some didn’t, they had the choice!

The work was very collaborative, the work was very fun, and the students were learning to multiply fractions!

Category(s): Games Based Learning, Math, Mathematics, Nintendo Wii, Web 2.0, wiki

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Persuasive Writing and Web 2.0–Wikis and Wordle

18 Oct 2011 | No Comments »

Writing online is not about just posting work that was completed by using a pencil.  It’s about creating work online using tools that change the way we write.  Tools that allow us to plan, create, edit, revise, share and get feedback in a whole new way.

The lesson I shared with teachers in High Level, Alberta was all about Persuasive Writing.

The task:

The students were to write a persuasive paragraph.  The topic I gave them was to persuade readers if the legs; driving age should be lowered, raised, or remain the same.  The topic can be varied, what is important here is the process, and that all of it is on the computer, not just pieces.

Planning:

I used an interactive planning map from Read Write Think to help build their arguments.  It allowed the students to think through their arguments, build a bank of thoughts and examples, and they could save it as a pdf to easily refer to, or add as part of the wiki to show the entire process of their writing.

thesis

Writing:

I had the students construct their writing online.  When they write directly on the computer they can easily flip back to the planning, or many pulled it up side by side with their wiki.  Writing online gives direct access to spell check functions, instant publication, access to instant feedback, and easy revision.

Analyze:

I asked the students to use wordle as an analysis tool.  The idea was for them to paste their paragraph into wordle to see what words where coming across as important or repeated.  This student was really noticed the word might coming across in the wordle form.  Might is not a very strong word for a persuasive piece of writing.  It gave her some guidance of where to start the revision process.  This step in the writing process is one I haven’t put into writing before using technology to facilitate writing.  Writing on the web is different than writing with pen and paper.  You have more tools and options at your disposal, teach your students to use them to be better writers, not just better publishers.

wordle

Revise:

On their wikis I asked the students to leave their original paragraph, but copy it and make changes in a version below it.  This inspired them to make actual changes.  If it looked exactly the same it was very clear that they weren’t actually revising.  I am always sure to give editing criteria (specific to the needs to the learner).  The criteria can be looking at changing the beginnings of sentences, adding figurative language, adverbs, or adjectives – as appropriate to the topic!

Share:

The students wrote directly on a wiki.  This means they are instantly publishing and sharing.  Built in discussion features of a wiki allow places to leave feedback and comments.  Writing online gives that extra added incentive to polish and give more effort – anyone can read it!

Category(s): Language Arts, literacy, Web 2.0, wiki, Writing

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Cash Caches

01 Oct 2011 | 2 Comments »

IMAG0648IMAG0654An activity that I’ve done several times with classes in Canada and several schools in Scotland is Cash Caching.

The idea is that you put coins and money based math problems in the geocaches.  The students work together in groups to solve the problems and bring back the correct answers in money.

IMAG0661IMAG0651I organize the activities with a recording sheet for each group to work out the answers on.  Each clipboard also has baggies for each student to bring their answers back in, this way the students not only have to work out the answer using numbers, but also bring back the coins to represent the answer.

I originally got the idea from educaching.net – a fantastic resource that got me going.  I’ve extended the original idea by using coins from different countries.  I’ve given my Scottish pupils Canadian coins.  The denominations are different in Canada – 1, 5, 10, and 25 cent, 1 and 2 dollar coins.  In Scotland – 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 pence, and 1 and 2 pound coins.  Asking them to think to make combinations with different coins than they are used to makes them think differently and have to talk out answers in their groups.

 

libbyI also had the students working on spatial thinking and distance estimation by intentionally placing caches on either side of a very narrow section of the school in alcoves, only about 20meters apart.  This meant they had often went to the wrong location and stood looking up at the wall with around 20 meters to go trying to figure out where the cache was if a building was in the way.  It forced them to think about the layout of the school and what there was on the other side.  It also gave them all sorts of exercise when they went to the wrong spot and had to run all the way around the building!

 

 

 

My class from Canada two years ago–Cash Caches in the wind!

Category(s): geocaching, GPS Project, Math, Mathematics

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Nature Art Geocaching

24 Sep 2011 | 1 Comment »

100_2126100_2200While my class was on their residential camping trip one of my students picked up a pine cone and commented that it looked like a paint brush.  He told me that we should do a lesson painting with things we find outside.  Brilliant!

I decided to set it up as a geocaching activity.  I found locations in the school yard that had various items that might work as paint brushes and left clues in the caches with instructions on how many of each item to collect.  They also had the option to pick up any other items that might be useful along the way as they found them.

 

The caches in this case were traditional containers to find, but they only had a single instruct, so they were more about the location they were placed in, no about what was in the geocaches themselves.  The instructions just gave students guidelines to pick up 20 pine needles, so they didn’t spend all day collecting every pine needle they could find!

IMAG0643

The students found feathers, rocks, pine needles, sticks, leaves, twigs, and grasses  which they were excited to use to create their projects.  The theme was nature as we were using natural materials.  The students created fantastic projects and used the natural materials in all sorts of creative ways. 

100_2210100_2242

Category(s): geocaching, GPS Project

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