Changing Education

In the past year I have found that I have been moving towards a more paper free way of of working, relying more on the files on my laptop and iPad. The main reason is very practical: I lose pieces of paper. I put down the page that I need to use and its not to be found again until 6 months later under the cupboard next to the broken pens and old rubber, gathering dust. My intention is to be completely organised but reality dictates the success of this at times: I can be frustratingly disorganised. Putting that aside, its time to start again! With the new year having started, comes a sense of new possibilities and fresh starts. It is also a time to consider the plans for the coming year: What will I do? Where will I head to? What worked well? My goal for this year is to be more organised regarding my program, lesson plans and student files. It has been a  bit haphazard up until now. Evernote  is an online file system, where documents, notes, pictures, sound files can be r...

The current trend in education has been moving away from the pass or fail mentality. It is no longer enough to give a grade or a brief comment at the end of an assessment task and feel that the task is done. One thing that has been something that I have found to be something of a weakness in my teaching is giving effective feedback,  the sort of feedback where students will take note of it and act upon it. Feedback helps provide direction so that they can move forward and grow. It should also affirm our students towards the best achievement that they have within them, while also continuing to seek their engagement in the learning process. Communicating feedback requires a greater effort to reach our students and meet their needs. At a recent teach meet, the App "Explain Everything" was used  as a way of providing feedback to students. The way that the app was used was to annotate the work of the student, while recording the thoughts of the teacher as they were annotat...

Augmented Reality apps are making their way into education.They take something that is real and adds another dimension to the reality through the use of technology. Things come alive, videos start, people talk when a digital device is pointed at a real image. I came across Two Guys and an iPad website who are doing some wonderful things with integrating Augmented Reality apps into their curriculum. One app that they used was  colARapp . It is using simple colouring in sheets which the child can colour in. Using a digital device, the pages come to life. To integrate this into English, The Guys had their students write about the picture that they were colouring in. The students created a narrative about their picture. Other text types could be applied such as a description of the picture. We used it recently as part of our Book Week activity. The level of engagement with this App is immediate. The students engaged trying out the different colouring in sheets. This...

Awards are given when points are earned As a teacher, you are always looking for something that is easy and effective to use as a behaviour mangement system in our classrooms, that allows that flow to happen in the classroom. I have been using ClassDojo for a year and for me it has been a good way to manage behaviour in my classroom in a way that the students respond to as well. The one big advantage I have found is that all the behaviour is recorded of each student. At the end of the day, when the opportunity or necessity arises, feedback can be given to students about their behaviour. This year I started the year off with all of my students using the same avatar. It seemed to be a great incentive to earn points, particularly after showing them the range of avatars that there are. I have prizes for each 10 points they achieve. The prizes include changing avatars, sweets, free time etc. which my students have really enjoyed and are always reminding me when they have reached ...

We have been looking at 2D shapes in our classroom. Everyone got into groups and create 2D shapes with their bodies. Can you guess what shapes we made?

In drawing, there exists the world of space, both negative and positive. Positive space is the objects that we identify clearly as being an object, such as a chair, a table or person. Negative space is the space that surounds this object. One study we had while I was at university was to draw jumbled chairs, or rather the spaces between the spaces of the chairs. It was a unique perspective I had never thought about before. This week my oldest son had to write a speech about perspective and how a novel can help us see what another persons sees through their eyes and with their thoughts. Children who need assistance regardless of ability, who need someone to help and guide their next step towards understanding a little more. Parents, who love their children and want to support them in as many ways possible. It's important to listen to them and know where there perspective lies. quietenening the noisy, supporting the hurt and injured, listening to both sides of the story and applyi...

Taking up the digital and technological challenge of using technology in my classroom, I am constantly looking for ways to use technology to help manage the assessment of students. I was looking at using Evernote, but that seemed only practical when I had access to an I-pad. What to do? I am using OneNote that is connected to Microsoft Office, purely because its practical. Its already on my computer, I know how to use it and I can link computers and upload documents. I am always concerned that things will start to spiral out of control, so my aim here is to keep it simple