• HOME
  • Exploring
  • Growing
  • Creating

snag a shelly  

14/3/2017

0 Comments

 

The importance of working with your peers to grow understanding in a way that suits them 

Picture
One if the first tasks I had when I started in my new role was to help staff use the school LMS. The staff were familiar with it and had been using it for about 18 months however as their thoughts moved to the upcoming year ahead it was timely to revisit their use of it.

However I was brand new, no one knew me and importantly I did not know much about the staff. This meant running formal workshops or mandated sessions based on things I thought were useful was not going to be a good way to approach this. So Snag A Shelly was born. Announced at morning briefing to many giggles staff could book me for 30 minutes at a time where they could work 1:1 or with a small group of their choosing to have their questions answered, to have specific help setting up pages or time to explore how elements can be used for and why/how.

Into every pigeon hole went a Snag a Shelly advertisement and sessions ran in the main staffroom, a visual reminder and access point frequented by staff. The result was a busy 2 weeks of meeting staff, getting to know them and helping them grow their LMS capacity. Often staff left with a short screen recording also so they could recreate what we had done on their own at  a later point and they were the greatest advertised I could have asked for - the more people started speaking about the LMS the busier I became and the more people thought about planning and using the LMS.  

In this case taking a light-hearted yet meaningful approach worked in supporting staff to seek help in a personalised, timely manner which then paved the way for more targeted, wide scale growth and change one I understood more about the staff and their needs. ​
0 Comments

Games in and as Learning 

6/3/2017

0 Comments

 

Starting the Chinese language faculty on a journey to gamify their lessons

When the Head of the Chinese Language faculty approached me with an idea it was pretty exciting. Her team had allocated some time at the start of every lesson to do some engaging, fun language activities that got the students engaged and ready to launch into their learning. The idea was to use that time to connect with digital resources.

So we started by introducing staff to 3 tools they could build games, quizzes and activities in - Quizlet, Kahoot and Blabberize - with a key feature being that they could all run in Chinese. This meant the staff could explore ones of interest, making and sharing resources between classes.  The next step was to teach the students to make resources so they could start adding to the games available - all whilst practicing and refining their Chinese language skills! 
0 Comments

are we really that different to our ipads? 

7/4/2016

0 Comments

 

CSER F - 6 Australian curriculum Digital technologies mooc 

After developing courses that embedded the Australian Curriculum Digital Technologies across faculties in the Middle Years I decided to complete the CSER MOOC exploring the F - 6 course to help me understand the context of the Middle Years course. 

The process of completing a MOOC was interesting in itself - this one connected you to a Google Group and part of the requirement of the course was to share ideas and tasks and reflect on your peers submissions. The final task is included below and outlines  and it was great to bring together the things learned in the course. I must be honest, when completing a MOOC I had to set my own due dates and timeline to ensure I made it through - it's easy to put it on the back burner as things get busy! 

An overview

The task involves a series of 4 activities that occur over 1 day that enable students to answer the central question  Are we really that different to our iPads? They include 
  • Learning Activity 1 - Robot Teacher. Learning Intentions  include to simulate the process of making steps, evaluating and refining them for clarity and to explore similarities and differences between human behaviour and algorithm behavior 
  • ​Learning Activity 2 - Imagine if… -  in Science. Learning Intentions  include introducing the concept of branching in context of current learning in Science
  • Learning Activity 3 - Tic Tac Toe - in PE. Learning Intention is to introduce the concept of iteration
  • ​Learning Activity 4 - Hopscotch coding - bringing the day together. Learning Intentions focusses on students working in Hopscotch to draw together the concepts of steps, branching, iteration and  coding    

Each activity has reflection prompts for the students to completes. The key Learner Profile attributes developed are knowledgeable, thinker, inquirer and reflective. 


Access the Learning Activity outline here
Access the science data gathering form here
Picture
0 Comments

STEAM & the VCE - why not? 

22/2/2016

0 Comments

 

valuing engineering and Mathematics through arts in vce 

STEM, or STEAM as I know it, has a firm place in the VCE.

It is not the sole responsibility of Science, Maths, IT and Arts teachers to explore, innovate and embed practices that reflect the changing and valuable nature of STEAM education.  Nor is it the responsibility of Middle Years Teachers to excite, engage and hopefully entice students to see the value in STEAM areas only to have learning and content compartmentalised and in many cases the passion lost for it in the final years of schooling. 

So as  a Visual Communication Design Teacher I tasked myself with challenging my learners to embrace the engineering and mathematical concepts associated with industrial design - all whilst satisfying the Study Design requirements. 

Enter Russell Gallagher - Chief Engineer on the locally conceived, designed and built FR1 concept car. 
Picture
Access interview notes here
We invited Russell to Skype with the VCD class . After showing us the car (he was in the workshop, we were in the classroom)  and explaining the innovative use of carbon fibre the students asked him questions generated prior to the meeting and were able to access the design documents of a real life project.

The ideas in this Skype session  were then used by the students to explore their responses to Unit 3, Outcome 2 in VCD. The insight and real life application meant the students responses were rich and there was evidence of real engagement with the engineer and subsequently the concepts meant so much more. 

See task outline below

What happened next is important 

The students wanted to know more. So they arranged themselves to go to the Ian Potter Gallery to see the concept car. They then contacted Russell and we (12 out of the 20 students)  travelled to the Fox Car Collection Garage   to see the car, the clay models, the carbon fibre process and the machine that printed the key parts.  We got to see the car in action and push it back when it broke down on the test track... And then reflect on the importance of mathematical accuracy in engineering and design.  We got to see the designs that did not work, discuss why and pose ideas and solutions. 

Students realised engineering and VCD do relate and they can explore these things they liked. The maths requirements of VCD that usually brought groans and eye rolling became essential aspects of art and design. The surge in VCD enrolments, particularly of students engaging in Science based programs increased.  The diversity of what students explored for their folio  increased to include more engineering styled design. VCE students were engaged in their learning,  connected to the real world STEM concepts and still satisfying the course requirements.  
Picture
Interestingly Russell Gallagher Chief Engineer had a team of capable, interested and talented young designers to bounce new ideas around with in Melbourne, Australia. In a place where the car industry is in decline  a generation of learners who understand the impact of carbon fibre, understand the implications of sustainable and technical design processes and can be inspired to contribute to this process gives some hope to future innovation in this field. ​
0 Comments

Create a culture of exploration

23/6/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Want your staff to start building on each others capacity? What about dedicating a 10 minutes section of a regular staff meeting to a new digital champ. Staff can sign up to share a digital triumph, an idea, using the format above. Suddenly your staff are empowered to share their learning, staff get to see technology tools being applied by a range of users and new conversations may start for the ideas proposed. 
0 Comments

Talking about the tough stuff

26/4/2015

0 Comments

 

Boys, mental health, footy and getting the conversations started.

Recently I have been working  to curate resources for local high school staff to help them access and use up to date, engaging, real life content and digital tools to enhance their learning and teaching practice. Working with teachers to look at what next in terms of content and topics a young male teacher spoke of wanting to use his Year 7 English and Humanities classes to explore mental health - though he was not sure where to start or even if this was suitable.  This teacher wanted to take all the boys whilst another teacher took all the girls for a series of workshops. Part 1 of the journey involved curating some resources suitable for 12 year old males to get the thinking rolling. So we started with the recent Mitch Clark, AFL player for Geelong Cat's. Clark quit football in 2014 struggling with depression but has returned. It was reported that in April 2015, Clark received on field sledging in relation to his mental health. We used the connect - extend - challenge scaffold for our planning. 
CONNECT 
Using the Learni.st board (now deleted) we set out a series of videos, Instagram posts, news articles and other relevant resources that the students can explore. They can target a media and lens to look at the issue from based on personal interest. The students could pick 3 resonating images, words or statements and add them to the class padlet anonymously. 
EXTEND
Using the anonymous, resonating ideas from the connect phase teachers can build the next phase of the learning - in this case it pointed us in the direction of what mental health actually was - and why is was viewed as it was in media and sport. Following a class circle time discussion with the class split into 2 smaller sub groups (with norms decided by the group, see left),  the students could develop an exploration based on a connect idea that resonated with them. They then create an infographic using Piktochart that summarised their findings and post these online for an e walk and gawk feedback loop. Piktochart is free (limited projects) and helps students organise visual information. A time frame of 70 minutes to do this works well if they are only required to use one source. See an example to the right. 
Picture
Above - Quick 5 minute class discussion norm list based on usual classroom expectations

Right - A sample of student's Piktochart summary  
Explore piktochart
Picture
CHALLENGE 
The final phase to share with the learners is the challenge stage - in this case they will be working in teams to explore an initiative or part of one that targets mental health in schools and they will be responsible for working to making it visible and alive in the school. This section is still in development but stay tuned!

Some groups are already exploring the resources at; 
https://www.ruok.org.au/inspire-conversations/ruok-at-school 
http://www.youthbeyondblue.com/
0 Comments

not underestimating our youth - some ideas Round 1

5/4/2015

0 Comments

 

Empower all voices in the class  - #onebeautifulthought

Sharing and discussing a topic, an idea, a piece of inspiration can be tricky with 24+ students - all with unique opinions and personal learning styles. Some students throve in class discussions, others hesitate, some disengage and there are those so disinterested they can not add to the conversation at this point in time.  Furthermore some of the most engaging and provoking resources can make the teacher or students uncomfortable, may challenge us in unexpected ways or may require time and space to reflect on. Why not use some savvy tech to help!  

Dove has long been known for its hard hitting, provocative advertising campaigns. "The aim of the campaign is to celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Campaign_for_Real_Beauty, 4 April 2015) To use these to create discussion and prompt thinking can be challenging. So to help I want to show you how to create a space for conversation using free, online technology Padlet based on the Dove #onebeautifulthought campaign 

Original Clip

2 minute guide 

Suitable for: Years 9 - 10 , males & females 

Brief AusVEL's links: 
English, The Arts, Health & PE 
Communication, Thinking Processes & Interpersonal Development 

What makes it empowering: 
  • accessible any time, any place with internet  - gives time to think, reflect
  • gives voice to those who may not often use it 
  • can be anonymous or comments owned by authors
  • collaborators can record their discussion and post it if that is how they want to learn
  • collaborators can type their responses if that is how they want to learn
  • collaborators can respond using imagery if that is how they want to learn
  • hesitant learners or disengaged can comment & contribute when ready, with extra assistance through an additional prompting question or image 
  • collaborators can add links to other relevant sites, videos, images and build their own topic resource centre 
  • collaborators can only edit or remove their own posts and they do not need an account or email to use. 

Rad skills also fostered: contextualising  different perspectives, ongoing, growing learning grounded in real life and encouraging empathy.  

Tip:
Set up expectation of how to behave in this learning space in line with your physical classroom expectations 

Read and understand - together

Providing engaging, real world and challenging texts for readers can be a monumental task - how do you provide something for everyone - the strugglers, the creative thinkers, the bored, the high achievers, the under the radars and the list goes on?! What about every so often tackling a challenging, provoking, imaginative or optimistic or funny reading together using technology to empower learners of all sorts using Diigo. 
Explore diigo here
What is Diigo?
Diigo is a cloud based, free tool that allows learners to annotate websites, PDF's, JPG's  online adding colour and notes to help them develop their understanding and to engage with content. Annotated notes are them stored for later reflection and development and can be shared between users. 

What do I need to set up before using it in class? 
Each student needs to set up an account (free) using an email and password. This will need to be verified so students must use a valid email. They can use it on Chrome or the App or another tablet. Just search Diigo extension on the device and install it. Setting this up could be a good 1 minute legend task. See this post http://www.whatnextshelly.com/explore/1-minute-legends 
Picture
Source - Dumbo Feather Conversation - Julian  Burnside, Nov 2013 
Access reading here
Option 1 - read, annotate, share 

Set up students in Diigo and use a prompt screen like the one below to guide them through the tasks you want them to do. 
Picture
Tips: 
  • quantify the minimum points on tasks you want the students to engage with 
  • set up groups prior to setting the tasks - mixed groups work well when you want to encourage readers and similar ability work well when you want to target and work with a specific group 
Option 2 - read, think, grow 
Set up a class Diigo link and share. Then you can work together through the task! Students work collaboratively on a single document, highlighting terms and ideas they want defining in yellow, responding and building capacity using post it notes to respond to these yellow terms. Thinking prompts are in green and are input by the teacher prior to sharing the resource. Students respond using post it notes as well. All work is attributed to the student user automatically. Students can also add personal thoughts and private musings for themselves whilst reading. And bets if all all the notes, ideas and discussion points are saved for future reference. Check it out in action below. 
Tips:
  • show students how to share some things and keep others private and set expectations around what you want shared/private 
  • students may want to complete  a reflection after the reading collaborative session - why not include the link and a piece to camera reflecting on what challenged them, what they connected with and what they now want to explore to support the learning 
Suitable for: VCE, males & females 

Brief Study Design links: 
English & EAL - AOS 2 in Units 1, 2 & 3 
Global Politics - AOS 1 in Unit 1  

What makes it empowering: 
  • thought provoking, up to date reading
  • provides at passionate, intriguing viewpoint
  • local viewpoint about a global issue
  • students work to scaffold and support each others learning  in real world contexts 

Rad skills also fostered: empowers readers with metacognition strategies to problem solving understanding roadblocks, lends itself nicely to reflection, provides challenge in terms of vocabulary and content  and is grounded in real life.  
0 Comments

Tell me a story - by engaging and listening 

30/3/2015

0 Comments

 
I have long been fascinated with the art that is involved in story telling. As an eLearning nerd I use countless Apps myself to tell stories - Steller, @tramblings twitter handle, Snapguide - but have been moved recently by a new one - Story Corps. 

Story Corps is a free App as is the genius of David Isay. It empowers users to record stories and share them globally. His story of how this evolved is intriguing and inspiring. 

Most importantly ISAY helps you have engaging conversations and highlights how essential it is to listen

The App also scaffolds the thinking and planning that goes into an interview - the why, the how and the what - along with providing some inspirational, humorous and thought provoking interviews to get excited by! 
Get STORY Corps
View the TED resource hub here  
http://www.ted.com/participate/ted-prize/prize-winning-wishes/storycorps-dave-isay 

It is important to note the ideas and planning resources contained in the App are suitable for use by primary aged students, and the idea of collecting and sharing a story is highly appropriate.  The content contained in the App is not always suitable for younger explorers. It is still a hugely valuable tool, however perhaps thinking needs to be done prior to using the App around who can post stories and how the resources can be adapted for use by primary and middle years students. 

WHAT NEXT?

I want to capture my excitement for this project with learners - young and less young -  sparking curiosity with their stories, the stories of those they know and  to help build Isay's idea. I want to help others discover, create and share stories -  because we are important, because we are powerful and because we exist. Anyone up for an e nerdy session? 
0 Comments

thinking about why we use ICT 

24/3/2015

0 Comments

 

DIscussions with peers about pre and post numeracy tests, socrative and why some things need to be hand written

Recently I was discussing with a colleague how they could work smarter - they had so much testing they did and whilst the data helped them inform their teaching, the corrections detracted from the time they had to prepare for the next phase of learning. So I worked with them to explore the possibility of using Socrative to run pre and post numeracy tests. We selected 2 tests from different topics and got started exploring. 

Click on an image above to view the tests we explored - Place Value & Money 
visit socrative.com
Take a numeracy place value pre test
To start the test enter the following room number 55ced47a
What is Socrative? 

Socrative is a free web based site (and there is an App version too) which allows teachers to create and administer quizzes online that where appropriate correct themselves. Teachers need an account and form that get a room number for students to "enter".   

Teachers generate and account and create quizzes. They can then run these quizzes at their pace, student pace, allowing for automatic feedback or extra hints or even as a game to exit the class. 

Once a quiz is stopped the teacher can receive the feedback as a coloured coded,  Excel spreadsheet.  Very quickly you can see patterns in responses and typical errors. Multiple teachers can share the one quiz. 

Students log into the teachers room (they don't need accounts) and complete the quiz.  They can not see their responses or those of others.  
Peer reflection - audio coming soon 

Discussion prompts

What do you like about using Socrative?

What challenges  do you for see?

Will it improve student learning? How or why not?

Why does the Money topic not work as a Socrative quiz?

How does Socrative fit in with the assessment as – for -of thinking?

0 Comments

1 minute legends

20/3/2015

0 Comments

 

Quick things to do with an iPAd to get your students creating 

App picker using Random Name Generator Lite (free) 

When enhancing learning through iPads in the classroom there will come a time when the students will get so savvy they won't know which App to use for the task they have been given - they will be confident across many! So to help I created a very simple App generator based on the type of tasks the students were doing so they could use this to quickly pick an App to use and get moving with their learning.  

The App can also be set up to randomly generate writing topics, circle time topics,  activities for reading journals etc 
Get Random name generator
Picture
1 min experts - students teaching students (and the teacher!) 

When using an App for the first time I often ask the students to become 1 minute experts. They have 10 minutes to explore an App or in some cases an aspect I want them to find out more about in a particular App and then they have 1 minute to share what they know with their peers. They use the Apple TV to flip their screen up to show us what they know either as the do it in the App or to flip up their notes or ideas they identified. Here is an example of the task Year 5 students completed earlier this year using Lino. 
Ask an expert board - created using Padlet 

A great way to empower students  as facilitators of learning for themselves and others is to set up an expert board. That way when you discover students who are excelling at using a certain App or who know when or why to use it they can be called upon for this. I ask any student who thinks they are ready to be an expert to summarise in 1 minute what they know. If they showcase  a solid understanding they go onto the board. If they do not they get to have another go in a weeks time. There is no reason you could not add teacher to this as well - then teachers could call on other teachers to help them explore and learn! 

This idea also has the added bonus of providing students an audience to present to thus developing confidence in their ability to communicate and also empowers learners in the classroom to be more active in their problem solving rather than just relying on the teacher. And what a way to make the classroom learning student centred! Sitting with this kind of set up are some circle time discussions about how we ask for help, how we support others (learn with rather than learn for) and when we ask peers vs when we ask teachers. 

As a side the board is created using Padlet and only the owner of the board (in this case the teacher) can add/edit names. You can make this accessible by embedding it in a class Edmodo or as is the case for this one via a QR code.  That way when students need help they can scan the QR code, find out who can help them and visit them - and they already have their iPad with them! It is another way students can interact with their learning space. 
Picture
Picture
The QR code to the left is live - scan it and you can visit the padlet or use the link below
Visit live board here
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Shelly Casey
    Curious.
    Creative.

    iLearning.

    Archives

    March 2017
    April 2016
    February 2016
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Apps
    Classroom Ideas
    Modification
    Professional Learning
    Redefinition
    School Wide Ideas

    RSS Feed

get in touch

  • HOME
  • Exploring
  • Growing
  • Creating