Google Teacher Academy Video
Having used and blogged about using Google tools in the classroom, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to attend the Google Teachers Academy (GTA) in Sydney. It's the first time that it is being held outside the US and only 50 places are available Australia/NZ and Asia wide. So its going to be tough. One of the application requirements is to compose a 1 minute video about motivation and learning. Having just invested in a Android Phone I thought it would be a good idea to record all audio and video on it. The students were all actually using the tools that they mention. It was the last week of school and I had given them some free time to use a creative tool of their choice.
Garageband The Perfect Tool For Student Composition
Every year I write at least one blog post lauding the brilliance of Garageband as a creative tool for students. Again, I cannot speak highly enough of the power of GB especially when it is used as a tool for student composition. The underpinning philosophy that Kynan Robinson and I have is that we believe in empowering the student as the composer and creator. One of the many things I have learnt from working closely with Kynan is the concept of 'demystifying the role of the composer'. It is expected in an art classroom that students will practice their creativity. The same should apply to the music classroom. Students should be given the freedom to compose and test out their musical ideas. Garageband is one of those tools that empowers the students to achieve this.
After two terms of learning to compose on Orff and untuned percussion instruments. Grade 5 and 6 students have been given the task to demonstrate the skills and creative ideas that they have developed to compose a piece of music using GB. Similar to last terms composition task, Kynan and I set some parameters. The students had to compose a piece that consisted of a Bass, main melody and accompanying harmonic melodies. The piece had to be in either binary (AB) or ternary (ABA) form. Existing Loops inside GB were to be used to create the bass and accompanying parts. However, they had to use a Midi Keyboard to play and record their main melodic ideas. This provided a great opportunity to discuss the concepts of Midi and dive deeper into some of the interesting features of GB. For instance creating your own midi sounds, manipulating their melodic ideas, using the editing tools and notating tools.
A Teachable Moment
Just had one of those wonderful teachable moments. The whole class are currently researching about the solar system in order to find a particular place to build a biosphere that will sustain life. The image I took below are of three boys who are doing some research about one of Saturn's moons (Pandora). As you can see one is on the iPad via the NASA app, one on a Macbook looking at Wikipedia, the other a book from the school library. The boys had come across some conflicting information from all three sources. This was the perfect time to stop the class and discuss some critical literacy skills. After a short class discussion on the validity of each source we came to the conclusion that the NASA App on the iPad was the more reputable source because of its connection with experts in the field of astronomy and space science. The students were aware that anyone can add information to Wikipedia and therefore providing information not necessarily from an expert making it less credible. When questioning the validity of the library book most students assumed that it was from a credible source. However, when the question was posed 'How did they know for sure?', they found it difficult to answer. Eventually the students recognised that the Author needed to list their scientific expertise and or sources of information that enabled them to write the book. We found that the book was lacking in this information and hence making it a less credible source. You could see the light bulb switch on as students moved to gather a number of differing sources of information and comparing their facts.
Why I Will Miss Google Wave
Google wave had been on my radar for quite some time. It was on the ever expanding list of Web 2.0 tools to check out. When I finally did get to it, Google had just announced that it was opening it up to everyone and enabling access via Google’s suite Education Apps which our students at North Fitzroy Primary enjoy using. This was perfect timing as it was the beginning of the school year and so I quickly dived into the ‘mind bending’ world of the Wave.
At the same time Google had also updated their Docs enabling real time collaborative editing and chat functions to most of their tools. My students love the chat function built into their email. Having the chat function built into their Docs was going to be a real plus making it possible for them to use the chat for collaborative purposes rather than just a social communication tool. Some of my students were quickly onto this feature and have been collaboratively writing some amazing stories which they are now doing in their own time for enjoyment. The new additions to Google Docs helped ease the students into some of the “free flow” architecture of Google Wave. At first they treated it like another chat tool and some soon realised that the conversation didn’t just disappear into the ether like their other chat tools.
During term holidays we usually set the students a blogging challenge. Last term this was changed into a ‘Web 2.0 Challenge’. The challenge was a series of online activities the students needed to complete. Some of which were 4 Google Waves. Each Wave contained a controversial question that the students need to answer. For example ‘Should school require students to wear a uniform?’ (North Fitzroy Primary has no school uniform requirements) and ‘Does television have a negative influence on society?’. Each question was designed to elicit some discourse between students using Google Wave. There was some great discussion between those students who participated and some convincing arguments put forward. Each argumentative Wave also contained a poll however, I found that some of the students tended to just answer the poll rather than join the discussion.
Examples Below.
Persuasive writing Wave
Persuasive writing Wave 2
In term 2 I had the pleasure of working with a group of grade 5 boys using Scratch. Part of our role in the Achievement Improvement Zone (AIZ- a Northern Metropolitan Region initiative) we are focusing on engagement in grade 5 boys. Data from our student surveys indicated that some grade 5 boys expressed a diminishing interest in learning and school. Introducing gaming and game making was seen as a strategy to help lift engagement with this cohort. Along with playing games like Civilization IV during our rich task unit, this group of boys will also start creating games using scratch. Looking for a platform where all the boys could meet, collaborate and communicate, Kynan Robinson and I decided that Google Wave would be the perfect platform. Google Wave became the place where the boys could share their ideas, thoughts, reflections and importantly create their own help desk. It also became a place for them to share their finished games by simply creating a link to their Scratch page.
Our Term 3 Extend Your Talents (EYT) group has has been a load of fun to work with. Kynan and I wanted to get a bunch of students together to test, review and use some Web 2.0 creative tools. Again we used Google Wave as the meeting place. Click here to view Wave. (this is a copy of the original Wave demonstrating the task) The project was based around 11 online web 2.0 creative tools. Kynan and I had tried a few but not all. We wanted the students to test drive each one and rate it. After they had reviewed each tool the students had to choose at least one to create a work of art to post on their blogs. Google Wave proved to be the perfect platform for such a project. Each tool that was listed was allocated a poll so that the students could rate each Web 2.0 tool as they went. The Wave was also used as a communication tool allowing students to instantly post their thoughts, ideas, successes and failures.
The students have really enjoyed this project. The main factor for this was the self directed nature of the task. Kynan and I basically left the students to their own devices. We merely facilitated the project. The students had to attempt to trouble shoot any issues themselves before they came to us. The collaborative nature of the Wave, which was mainly used for communication, and Web 2.0 tools promoted student engagement. The students really enjoyed being able to chat and express themselves. Sometimes things got a little messy as some of the conversations were off topic. However, I found this not to be too much of a distraction as the students were totally engaged by the creative nature of their task.
Below are some blog posts with student finished work. The online tools that the students used and reviewed can be seen in the ‘Wave example’ mentioned above.
http://fer0001.globalstudent.org.au/
http://cha0006.globalstudent.org.au/
http://har0057.globalstudent.org.au/
http://col0006.globalstudent.org.au/
The Potential For Using Google Wave During Shared Reading Time
This is a copy of a wave that I have set up for my 18 month old son and his Grand parents who live interstate. He loves being read to especially from his grand parents. (Noisy Train is one of his favourite books) I set up this wave to enable this to happen. He is not old enough to operate the slide show controls but using the video chat extension below he can hear them whilst I change the slides. They are still able to ask questions about the book and he reacts just like the in the same room.
Being a teacher this got me thinking of the potential for Waving in the classroom. In the Early Years curriculum we often have parent helpers assisting students with their reading during the Literacy hour. Imagine the potential of using a wave to do the same thing. Your parent helpers wouldn't need to be in the classroom. Time poor parents would be able to login during the Literacy hour from the office and participate. There is potential for schools to link up with elderly residents of retirement homes. Student multi aged shared reading activities could take place as could collaborating with students from other schools.
Google wave has loads of potential in all areas of the curriculum. Its potential for collaboration is immense. Especially as more extensions and robots are developed to enhance the wave experience.
VideoChat test
Read the wave;-)
Ultranet Down!
More than 1600 Victorian schools are about to get the Ultranet - an online portal and ''virtual classroom'' Education Minister Bronwyn Pike championed and promised that it will transform the way students learn (The Age 16 March 2010).
I have just finished the first two days of training as an Ultranet Lead User along with 4 of my colleagues (my Principal being one of them). Here is my reflection and initial thoughts and why there is no way the Ultranet will 'transform the way students learn'.
As soon as I had seen the first Power Point presentation delivered to Ultranet Coaches and Principals by Dianne Peck (Business Owner, Ultranet), I was wondering how the Ultranet was going to work. I couldn't believe that the main premise for its construction was around safety and that this would be provided via a closed environment. How is this possible? We had just adopted Globalstudent across the school as our main blogging tool - an online live digital portfolio and a portal into the classroom of every grade in the school. Every student from grades 3-6 has their own personal blog. This wasn't a closed environment but open for the world to see. Why would we want to use the Ultranet? One of the main benefits of using Globalstudent is the authenticity of having a live real audience view your successes. It is possible for Gllobalstudent users to set their permissions to private and/or save their work as drafts? This can be easily done with three clicks. Ultranet users will be confronted with a confusing array of permission choices as difficult as Facebook's (see image below). At our school we take Digital Citzenship and safety seriously. We teach students strategies for staying safe on the internet and we guide teachers and parents on how to best deal with internet safety issues. I believe it is best to teach children how to operate safely in a real life cyber environment rather than restricting their experience in the name of keeping them safe.
I have often been asked the question- is this technology 5 years too late? My reply is yes. My school was part of the original Ultranet trial. Yes, it was a resounding failure. We invested a lot of time and thought trying to apply it to the primary school context. The technology was clunky and it didn't work. The technology just wasn't there. However, we all could see its potential and really enjoyed engaging in conversations about teachers collaborating and sharing ideas and students accessing learning tools and also sharing ideas. That's why we spent the next 4 years looking for alternatives. In fact our Ultranet coaches encouraged us to do so. Hence, the Globalstudent blogging tools and our use of the Google education applications. The teachers and students at our school have taken to these applications like ducks to water. Teachers use the Google docs folders and applications to plan and share, and the Principal is invited to collaborate. The Principal has access and can contribute to the team/teacher folders and can view all the term planning. Students take notes whilst watching documentaries and share them in our class folder for all to view. They can upload their Powerpoint presentations to Google Docs and grab the code and embed it into their blog. Google has just released a major update for all their Document tools which includes Google Drawings where students will be able to create mind maps and/or flowcharts, to just name a few. Will this technology exist in the Ultranet? Will the Ultranet continue to have regular updates to keep up with emerging technologies? (as I am writing this into Google Docs a colleague is reading and editing). One would hope that Victorian teachers and students weren’t short changed. At this stage, I have only seen wikis, blogs, slideshows, the potential to embed video (tried, didn’t work) and the ability to upload documents which cannot be viewed inside the Ultranet. Unfortunately, the Ultranet is 5 years too late. Why should we be burdened with this?
Creativity is essential for both teachers and students. Teachers need to be given the time to think creatively about their planning and how they can deliver their lessons. Students need to engage in their learning through their inventiveness. Whilst we were waiting to get onto the Ultranet, there were many discussions about how it was going to help with teaching and learning. I was trying to ascertain where the creativity would happen? What is the purpose of uploading photos (one at a time) to create a slide show? Surely having the students capture the images in context of the task, is the most important element of creating the slideshow? Especially if no one can see it. Do we need to rely on the Ultranet, the ‘network’ to be able to create something? To quote Gary Stager at ACEC 2010: “If we don’t have an effective network or access to fast broadband or a creative learning program underpinning the network then we should ‘cut the cord’. Computers are still extremely useful without the network. Maybe the “network” ie the internet is getting in the way of constructive learning.” (Thanks to Steve Collis you can see and listen to the complete Keynote at Happy Steve's blog)
Access may be a real problem for schools that haven’t yet engaged in a 1 to 1 program. I am a strong believer in the power of 1 to 1 in the classroom. However, schools may feel that to take full advantage of the Ultranet that they need to fast track a the 1 to 1 developments and purchase substandard machines. The jury is still out on whether netbooks, for example, are the appropriate machines for creative learning environments. There has been some questions asked as to whether there will be a ‘hand held’ device interface developed for the Ultranet. With so many schools using these where will the Ultranet fit in to their profile?
My first experience of the Ultranet wasn’t a pleasant one. After being bitten once before during the first Ultranet trial, I was hoping it would be more positive. I am acutely aware that I am part of cycle one of the first release and glitches are to be expected. However, one would expect that we would at least have access for more than a few hours during the first two days of training. One hour in the morning before it went down on the second day is not good enough. For the complete array of applications to be not ready and not fully functional is not good enough. I cannot believe that for the past 4 years I have acted as an agent for change (still am) and now I find myself in a position of reaction. It is unfair that DEECD and the State Government has foisted an unfinished product upon us. Especially when many schools have worked tirelessly getting themselves Web 2.0 ready only to be given the bare bones. This is purely a political decision and a bad one.
Gaming In The Classroom Civilization IV Pt 2
The students and I have been champing at the bit for the past couple of weeks because we have missed a few of our Civilization IV sessions due to public holidays. We have however, been able to concentrate on some of the accompanying learning activities the form the rest of the rich task.
Apart from actually playing the game, we were hoping to get the students to develop hypothesis that would then help them to think about various strategies that they would employ to win the game. These would then need to be supported with real life historical examples of civilisations that 'have stood the test of time'.
So the students are now beginning the research component of the rich task. They will need to find out
What do you think has made civilisations great throughout history? Do you know examples of some great historical civilisations? Your task is to undertake a research assignment. There are two options from which you can choose:
Option 1:
Research two or more great historical civilisations and identify features of them that made them successful
Option 2:
Research two or more features that made various civilisations great throughout history.
Accompanying each option is a range of sub questions to help guide the students in their research. The enthusiasm for beginning the research was awesome. Clearly, playing Civilization IV had influenced the level of engagement with this assignment. The students knew that any information they could gather was going to assist their game play.
I wanted to mix up the sources of information for this assignment. Obviously the Internet was going to be their major source as well as various reference materials from the school library. Showing a documentary on the beginnings of civilisation would be a welcomed alternative for the audio/visual learners in my class. Guns, Gems, and Steel was the right choice. Jared Diamonds hypothesis as to why the Papua New Guinean Tribes didn't modernise at the same time as the European/Middle Eastern countries was a compelling one based around geography and animal husbandry. The students could see the correlation to real life historical theories and what was happening in Civilization IV.
I had seven capable students taking notes straight into Google docs that are going to be shared with the rest of the class. We discussed the notes that they had taken. You could see the penny drop for most when the students began to discuss strategies such as building more farms or how do I acquire sheep and or other domesticated animals, crops and fresh water. Where they settled their first city became a hot topic. Suddenly, they were discussing the importance of geography and other resources that would assist in the growth of their Civilisation.
Students Favourite Video Games And Why
Trying to put the finishing touches to the school ICT newsletter I need to find out what games students liked and why? I was trying think of a way to collect this information when I had a brain wave. Lets just use the ipod touch and record their thoughts whilst they were at recess.
Reflections of the first days play with Civ 4
Today was the first day of our Rich Task unit where the students are going to play Civilization IV and use it to stimulate further learning. Kynan Robinson and I have been looking for a way to introduce games based learning into our classrooms and when I brought this up with my Level 4 team mate and colleague Peter Olm he suggested Civilization IV. Peter's knowledge and enthusiasm for the game was infectious and as a team it was quickly decided that this was going to be the bases of our unit. Civilization IV is a turn based game where the player/students will take charge of a beginning civilisation at the beginning date of 4000BC the aim is to build a civilisation that will 'stand the test of time'. The game requires deep level thinking skills and strategising as well as building a knowledge of historical events that enable the students to create a civilisation that will ultimately be successful. The students will also need to develop an understanding of government, economy, foreign relations, managing of resources, development of cities, scientific research and technological advancement, improvement of infrastructure and so on.
What is a civilisation? What are the characteristics and traits of civilisations?
· What are the different eras and prominent periods in the development and existence of major civilisations? (Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Industrial and Modern)
· What discoveries have been crucial in the advancements of civilisations?
· What factors influence the progress of civilisations over time?
· What factors might make civilisations successful or unsuccessful?
· What are some of the benefits or negative side effects of civilisations?
· How do our understandings of civilisations influence the decisions we make and the way that we live our lives today?
· What does it mean to be a historian? (Using historical reasoning to interpret accounts of past events and make judgements about how to act in the present day)
·
What are some of the problems with accounts of history?
Official Google Docs Blog: A new Google Docs
Carmela Guglielmino (the excellent teacher that I share my grade 5 class with) and I like our students to create a set of personal goals each term. They can range from academic to sporting goals and don't have to relate to their classroom learning.
We have decided that the should publish their goals on their personal blogs encouraging the students to share them with their parents. They will also be reflecting on their goals at the end of the term. These reflections will be attached to their semester report and will be used to generate discussions with students and parents during end of semester interviews.
The students can present their goals in anyway they want but most have chosen to present them as mind maps or concept maps. Originally I suggested that they use buble.us which is an excellent online collaborative mind mapping tool. However, Google have recently updated their suite of Documets tools (Google Docs) to include Drawings. Having just watched the above video and had a little play I am now going to suggest that they use Google Drawings. We subscribe to Google Education Apps as part of our email system and this is a welcome addition.
I am also looking forward to using the new Google Docs layout tools when planning with the team tomorrow. The live document editing viewer is going to be very useful. So too will the inbuilt chat function.
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