Our third pre-assignment has been to find out about and prepare for a TeachMeet. When I was preparing for a 'PD in your PJs' talk recently I came upon this concept of TeachMeets and EdCamps which are apparently taking off in the USA, and now I will be involved in one! It is an explosive way of sharing integration-with-Technology practices, teachers teaching teachers about ideas that have worked for them. In Britain it often happens from - 7 informally in a pub! The time is set - ours is to be 3 minutes and we will be presenting these ideas to the 100 United States innovative Teacher competition finalists in Redmond. (The finals takes place while we are in Redmond).
Here is the video we have been asked to view before we gt to Redmond:
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Microsoft Partners in Learning Institute #3: 21st century learning and teaching
A second pre-assignment for Partners in Learning is to research and write about our views on 21st century learning and 21st century teaching, and to submit an artefact that demonstrates this. Well, I am very aware that we are living in a digital age where our students are incredibly digitally-minded, and of course education will have to start incorporating this more and more if it wishes to impact this generation. I am going to put an artefact here in the form of a You Tube video. This is the type of learner we will be dealing with in schools soon ultimately.
When I think of 21st century skills I think of core curriculum expressed in collaborative learning, project-based learning, with connections to the community, research-driven, using technology and multimedia. higher order thinking skills, interdisciplinary... I think ISTE's NETS STANDARDS sums up the required skills so well. http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx
To me 21st century teaching is about being relevant in the age in which we live. It is the social networking age, the age of collective intelligence that takes us so much further than we can go on our own, the age of giving, sharing and collaborating. Thus our education system needs to integrate these values and technologies with the curriculum and prepare our digitally-minded students for their future in a rapidly changing world. I have used this Ted video in another post previousy, but to me it just sums up our age so well, that I am adding it again!
http://www.ted.com/talks/gel_gotta_share.html) .
These twenty pointers from SimpleK12 come from one of their articles entitled ‘Are you a 21st century teacher? Find out”. I think this is a very thought provoking summary:
http://blog.simplek12.com/education/21-signs-youre-a-21st-century-teacher/
We are really living in exciting times!
When I think of 21st century skills I think of core curriculum expressed in collaborative learning, project-based learning, with connections to the community, research-driven, using technology and multimedia. higher order thinking skills, interdisciplinary... I think ISTE's NETS STANDARDS sums up the required skills so well. http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx
To me 21st century teaching is about being relevant in the age in which we live. It is the social networking age, the age of collective intelligence that takes us so much further than we can go on our own, the age of giving, sharing and collaborating. Thus our education system needs to integrate these values and technologies with the curriculum and prepare our digitally-minded students for their future in a rapidly changing world. I have used this Ted video in another post previousy, but to me it just sums up our age so well, that I am adding it again!
http://www.ted.com/talks/gel_gotta_share.html) .
These twenty pointers from SimpleK12 come from one of their articles entitled ‘Are you a 21st century teacher? Find out”. I think this is a very thought provoking summary:
http://blog.simplek12.com/education/21-signs-youre-a-21st-century-teacher/
We are really living in exciting times!
Microsoft Partners in Learning Institute #2: I am off to the inaugural Microsoft Partners in Learning Institute in Seattle
The fifty teachers from around the globe who have been selected to attend the inaugural Partners in Learning Institute at Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle have been announced, and I am one of them! Whoopee!!!! What can be more exciting than that to a Cape Town teacher! There are THREE of us from South Africa which is even more exciting, as I know the other two teachers, and we will be spending the last week of July in Redmond, Washington. The fifty of us have been communicating and getting to know each other on the Partners in Learning Network, and we have also have four pre-assignments to complete. Mine are done fortunately and I am going to write posts about them. (That is the beauty of blogging – you can post things here and have them at your fingertips). So, USA, here I come!!!!! For the next while I will be writing posts under PIL institute #1-? to record my experiences.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Southern Stars
This is a guest post from Deb Avery. Since it mentions me I thought I would add it here!
SchoolnetSA has encouraged some superstars to shine over the past few years. With support through training and access to innovative practices, several teachers have had the opportunity to shine on the international stage.
At the moment, there are 3 such “Southern Stars”
Hlengiwe Mfeka’s story is found on the Case Studies page of the Blog. She and 2 learners are off to Santa Clara, California on the 2 August to attend the Adobe Youth Voices Summit. Hlengiwe’s mentorship has helped learners at Mconjwana High School in rural KZN to produce a very thought provoking and moving movie on Street Children.
Another Southern Star who has just returned from dazzling teachers in the Northern Hemisphere is Warren Sparrow.
Warren is a previous Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum winner. His “Veggie Man” media project has been selected to be showcased as part of the Adobe Youth Voices Festival. This project will be screened with other projects during the International Education and Resource Network (IEARN) Conference in Taiwan. This conference was held in Kaohsiung City (2nd Largest city in Taiwan) and the theme was Green Tech, Green Life, Green Era. SchoolNetSA staff felt it was a bit sad for his media piece to go to Taiwan without him, and managed to find a sponsor so that he could accompany it! We look forward to hearing Warren’s reflections on the IEARN conference. You can see his video at http://www.schooltube.com/video/58be1f70e1973c694fad/Super-Veggie-Man
The other three “Southern Stars” are on their way to Washington USA right now.
Fiona Beal, Ngaka Ralekoala and Cheryl Douglas. They have been selected to be part of the inaugural Microsoft Partners-in-Learning Institute week at MS Headquarters in USA. The Partners in learning Network has identified the top innovative teachers in the World, and Fiona, Cheryl and Ngaka are amongst the less that 500 teachers globally who have been invited to join the circle and the even more exclusive group who have been invited to attend the workshop. All three have been winners in the South African Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum in the past. We look forward to profiling them and their excellent work soon.
These are all exceptional teachers – but all Premium Members have the opportunity of becoming exceptional. SchoolnetSA is committed to helping all teachers grow to new levels of innovation. Being involved in PM interventions and entering the Innovative Educators Forum competition next year is a good place to start.
SchoolnetSA has encouraged some superstars to shine over the past few years. With support through training and access to innovative practices, several teachers have had the opportunity to shine on the international stage.
At the moment, there are 3 such “Southern Stars”
Another Southern Star who has just returned from dazzling teachers in the Northern Hemisphere is Warren Sparrow.
The other three “Southern Stars” are on their way to Washington USA right now.
These are all exceptional teachers – but all Premium Members have the opportunity of becoming exceptional. SchoolnetSA is committed to helping all teachers grow to new levels of innovation. Being involved in PM interventions and entering the Innovative Educators Forum competition next year is a good place to start.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
PIL Institute #2: Fun using photosynth
Photosynth is a free Microsoft graphics programme that I have only just started to get to know. It is so simple to use yet it is so amazing to see how it seamlessly connects all the photos you take in a 360 degree turn. One of our pre-assignments for the Partners in Learning Institute is to create a photosynth of our schoool location. Today I sent students in pairs to select a location at the school and take lots of photos just standing in one spot and turning slowly full circle. They loved the experience. I have been uploading the photos to the photosynth site and am excited to see that you can also embed them in a blog. That's what I am going to try now:
Wow, look how nicely it embeds. I think this is a great programme and must definitely incorporate it in some of my lessons.
Wow, look how nicely it embeds. I think this is a great programme and must definitely incorporate it in some of my lessons.
Monday, July 11, 2011
An unforgettable conference
I have just attended a most memorable SchoolNet/Intel “ICT in the classroom” social-networking national conference hosted at St John’s School in Johannesburg last week. The Conference was held in the heart of winter and who would have thought Johannesburg could be even colder than Cape Town, but it was! I really appreciated the lovely St John’s school venue, as everything was so close and it was easy to navigate oneself around.
The hostel was right there in the middle of everything, and it used fingerprint recognition for entrance, so one didn’t have to worry about keys! The beds were ever so comfortable and the underfloor heating in the rooms made such a difference. I gave four presentations at the conference, and it was great to discover my venues were just ‘down the passage’ from the hostel, so to speak. Speaking of presentations I think I will add mine at this point from Slideshare so that I have them all in one place.
The Conference itself was very well-organized by Gerald Roos and the SchoolNet team. Everything seemed to happen seamlessly without a hitch, as far as I could see. The presentations looked very interesting and there was a great variety to choose from. The online booking that took place before the conference left everyone knowing exactly where they stand. The door keepers did a good job in making sure that only the people who had booked were the ones who were allowed to enter the sessions. In the keynote sessions Dezlin Jacobs, one of the SchoolNetters, held us spellbound with her housekeeping antics.
The keynote speakers were absolutely superb. They were well-known presenters from around the globe – Naomi Harm (http://blog.innovativeeducator.us/), John Davitt (http://www.davittlearning.net/), Jane Hart (http://janeknight.typepad.com/) and (Shelee George King via Skype). Wow their sessions were SO good. I managed to go to two of Naomi Harm’s classroom presentations as well, and wouldn’t have missed those for the world. The one on Google has left me itching to get back to the classroom next week to try out everything. Naomi Harm is an incredible presenter and so generous with everything. I couldn’t believe how she just gave us her Box.net link containing all her presentations she delivers around the world. It was like being given an overflowing treasure chest. She really epitomizes the sharing nature of the present age. I loved the one Ted video that she showed in her keynote, all about sharing. Here it is: (http://www.ted.com/talks/gel_gotta_share.html) .
I for one have been inspired to adopt this giving approach as fully as I can. What a great way to enhance the furtherance of ICT integration in schools.
Talking about sharing makes me think about the age in which we live – the social-networking age. It’s the age of collective intelligence that takes us so much further than we can go on our own. SchoolNet epitomized at the conference by embracing the help of local volunteers who are known experts in social-networking. Maggie Verster (http://maggiev.edublogs.org/) maintained an amazing conference blog (http://schoolnetsa11.blogspot.com) which kept us all very much on track and in touch. She made sure that:
SchoolNet’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/SchoolNet-SA/125361914200052 ),
their Diigo bookmarks (http://groups.diigo.com/group/school_net_sa),
their Slideshare page (http://www.slideshare.net/Schoolnetsa11/presentations) for the presentations, and of course the designated #Schoolnesa11 twitter stream all worked together perfectly in true social-networking fashion. She was ably assisted in the Twitter backchannel by Arthur Preston (http://headthoughts.co.za/), a Worcester headmaster who had not even heard of SchoolNet till a few months ago. I have to admit that I have come away absolutely more enthused and excited about social-networking than ever before as a result of the conference. It was, after all, a social-networking conference and it certainly showed us how it all works together.
I loved the way the conference delegates also observed the Awards Ceremony for the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum as a natural part of the conference. What a treat! I think that many of the teachers watching were unaware that such a great competition with such amazing prizes exists. Next year should see a growth in entries as a result.
Last but not least was the opportunity to meet up with Conference buddies from past years and exchange notes and ideas. This networking is always so priceless. I have already signed up four teachers from schools across South Africa for a Grade 3 ‘Flat Stanley’ Literacy project starting this term. The Conference Dinner where we socialised even more was excellent and exuberant. Whaaahooo!!!! (the conference expression of great joy!)
I think this conference has definitely done its bit for the furtherance of technology integration in education. It has shown the amazing thing that teachers are doing in the classroom as they incorporate technology. It has even inspired teachers beyond our borders. I’ll never forget the teacher from Zambia running after me when the conference was over to ask for my presentations. I was able to say to him “Conference blog….Slideshare”, and he knew exactly what I was talking about.
The hostel was right there in the middle of everything, and it used fingerprint recognition for entrance, so one didn’t have to worry about keys! The beds were ever so comfortable and the underfloor heating in the rooms made such a difference. I gave four presentations at the conference, and it was great to discover my venues were just ‘down the passage’ from the hostel, so to speak. Speaking of presentations I think I will add mine at this point from Slideshare so that I have them all in one place.
The Conference itself was very well-organized by Gerald Roos and the SchoolNet team. Everything seemed to happen seamlessly without a hitch, as far as I could see. The presentations looked very interesting and there was a great variety to choose from. The online booking that took place before the conference left everyone knowing exactly where they stand. The door keepers did a good job in making sure that only the people who had booked were the ones who were allowed to enter the sessions. In the keynote sessions Dezlin Jacobs, one of the SchoolNetters, held us spellbound with her housekeeping antics.
The keynote speakers were absolutely superb. They were well-known presenters from around the globe – Naomi Harm (http://blog.innovativeeducator.us/), John Davitt (http://www.davittlearning.net/), Jane Hart (http://janeknight.typepad.com/) and (Shelee George King via Skype). Wow their sessions were SO good. I managed to go to two of Naomi Harm’s classroom presentations as well, and wouldn’t have missed those for the world. The one on Google has left me itching to get back to the classroom next week to try out everything. Naomi Harm is an incredible presenter and so generous with everything. I couldn’t believe how she just gave us her Box.net link containing all her presentations she delivers around the world. It was like being given an overflowing treasure chest. She really epitomizes the sharing nature of the present age. I loved the one Ted video that she showed in her keynote, all about sharing. Here it is: (http://www.ted.com/talks/gel_gotta_share.html) .
I for one have been inspired to adopt this giving approach as fully as I can. What a great way to enhance the furtherance of ICT integration in schools.
Talking about sharing makes me think about the age in which we live – the social-networking age. It’s the age of collective intelligence that takes us so much further than we can go on our own. SchoolNet epitomized at the conference by embracing the help of local volunteers who are known experts in social-networking. Maggie Verster (http://maggiev.edublogs.org/) maintained an amazing conference blog (http://schoolnetsa11.blogspot.com) which kept us all very much on track and in touch. She made sure that:
SchoolNet’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/SchoolNet-SA/125361914200052 ),
their Diigo bookmarks (http://groups.diigo.com/group/school_net_sa),
their Slideshare page (http://www.slideshare.net/Schoolnetsa11/presentations) for the presentations, and of course the designated #Schoolnesa11 twitter stream all worked together perfectly in true social-networking fashion. She was ably assisted in the Twitter backchannel by Arthur Preston (http://headthoughts.co.za/), a Worcester headmaster who had not even heard of SchoolNet till a few months ago. I have to admit that I have come away absolutely more enthused and excited about social-networking than ever before as a result of the conference. It was, after all, a social-networking conference and it certainly showed us how it all works together.
I loved the way the conference delegates also observed the Awards Ceremony for the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum as a natural part of the conference. What a treat! I think that many of the teachers watching were unaware that such a great competition with such amazing prizes exists. Next year should see a growth in entries as a result.
Last but not least was the opportunity to meet up with Conference buddies from past years and exchange notes and ideas. This networking is always so priceless. I have already signed up four teachers from schools across South Africa for a Grade 3 ‘Flat Stanley’ Literacy project starting this term. The Conference Dinner where we socialised even more was excellent and exuberant. Whaaahooo!!!! (the conference expression of great joy!)
I think this conference has definitely done its bit for the furtherance of technology integration in education. It has shown the amazing thing that teachers are doing in the classroom as they incorporate technology. It has even inspired teachers beyond our borders. I’ll never forget the teacher from Zambia running after me when the conference was over to ask for my presentations. I was able to say to him “Conference blog….Slideshare”, and he knew exactly what I was talking about.