Cool Tools for (English) Teachers

On Monday I am hosting the Mid North Coast English Teachers Combined Staff Development Day at my school. It promises to be a great day.

Prue Greene from CLIC is our keynote speaker as well as running workshops on the Australian Curriculum and Creative Writing using ICT tools. As well, Bianca Hewes (@BiancaH80 on Twitter) is attending as a guest to enthuse English teachers on the use of Edmodo, Diginarratives and Project Based Learning in the English classroom. Bianca coming to present at our conference is even more amazing when you know that she only arrived back in the country today after several weeks traversing America after attending the ISTE2011. Both are inspirational and I am looking forward to working with them.

As well, local English teachers have put their hands up to run workshops on a wide variety of topics including Accelerated Literacy, Smart Notebook, New Ideas for Assessment, Creative Writing in Stage 4, Assessing Year 10 and Raising the Bar in Stage 5. It has been fantastic to see so many teachers willing to share their ideas with their colleagues.

The first workshop I will be presenting is on “Cool Tools to Use in the English Classroom”. I have had a great deal of fun researching and and trialling a new range of web tools and websites this year and thought it only right that I share them with everyone else. To present them I used two old favourites – Prezi and Glogster. The final results are posted below. Update! @CarleleeB has generously shared her resources as well so check out the links to her great resources as well below the Prezi. Thanks, Carla!

The second workshop is on “Deconstructing Shakespeare” and will be the focus of my next post which hopefully will be finished this weekend.

If you are part of DEC, I hope you have a stimulating and exciting Staff Development Day and don’t forget to thank the people who have given up their holiday time to prepare the workshops and activities that you will partake in. It is a labour of love but a “thank you” is always appreciated!

Glogster – Cool Tools for English Teachers

Prezi – Cool Tools for English Teachers, Part 2

Carla’s Symbaloo for English

Carla’s LiveBinder

From little things …

I have the pleasure of teaching the Year 8 Extension English class. While they aren’t all truly truly talented English students, they are enthusiastic and willing learners that brighten up my day.

This term we have been studying poetry, particularly Australian protest poetry from the likes of Oodergeroo and Paul Kelly & Kev Carmody. They embraced every poem, pondered every concern and hope, and were perceptive beyond their years with their analysis. Their sympathy of, and empathy for, those that are marginalised in society makes me proud and hopeful for the future.

Last week we worked at creating their protest projects. Moving between their classroom and the computer lab next door the students set about writing their own protest poem/s and making a movie out of one of the poems we studied.

Their poems were great. They protested about a myriad of issues and topics including the media, advertising, treatment of the disabled and refugees, destruction of the environment, whaling and even protest poems as homework. They used a variety of techniques to convey their ideas and experimented with form and structure by mimicking the structures of the poems we had studied.. Finally, they performed them for the class and fhey spoke with passion and flair.

And how were their movies? Pretty impressive. They reflected their understanding of both the poem and the issue through their choice of images, music, colour, font etc. The result was some pretty impressive social commentary.

To say I was proud of them would be an understatement. They cheered and praised each others’ work, discussed the importance of the chosen issues and expressed their love of poetry.

This is what we go into teaching for – to pass on our own love of learning and to help guide the future in a positive way. My Year 8 class symbolise the wonderful power of embracing every opportunity to build skills and understanding. I know I started the weekend with the warm glow that comes from a successful unit and lesson and I am pretty sure many of them did too.

I will ask their permission to share some of their poetry and films with you. As well, I have entered their poems in the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition and will upload them to the school’s website.

Hopefully their concerns will resonate with others and encourage a change in the way we treat others in our society. As Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody said, “From little things, big things grow”.

When was the last time you felt that way with one of your classes? Was it from how they embraced the topic, in what they created or in how you taught it? I would love to hear of your own experiences, if you are willing to share.

So How Did It All Go?

For those of you that read the last two posts, you will be aware that the focus for this Staff Development Day was looking at the generational divide. How were our messages received? Did staff enjoy the day or did they see it as a waste of time?

The whole school attended the  first session on Generation Y and the Paradigm Shift. I have to say that the presentation was really well received and Lynda (my co-presenter) and I were happy with staff’s engagement with the topic.

They loved splitting up into their generations to brainstorm what their collective values were and much of what they presented was spot on with what the research listed as their key characteristics. They made really good observations on how these differences would translate in the classroom and you could see the internal ticking over of what they could be (should be) doing differently to better engage Gen Y in the classroom.

Unfortunately, due to the engagement of staff, we didn’t get to finish everything we had planned to present. I was only able to briefly touch on Mark Treadwell’s new paradigm shift (see presentation in earlier post) but again this was explored by some teachers later in the day. The key message though was achieved – ICT, multimedia and conceptual learning are the ways of the future and we need to embrace the change so as to provide the best possible education for current and future student cohorts.

The comments at morning tea were really positive but it was also interesting to note that, true to their generation, they still though their values etc  were the best (correct) ones! We might not have changed everything but we certainly got them talking and thinking and that has to be a good thing.

In my later session, Engaging Students of Today, the discussions continued as we looked at practical ways to engage and connect with Gen Y and Z. The main ones I focused on were building relationships, telling stories to connect their learning to the real world, and stepping back to be facilitators of learning and regular positive feedback. (see presentation in earlier post)

There was some lively discussion and some were looking dubious about focusing on relationship building at the expense of content and information. However, they acknowledged the need to try new things to better engage their students – after all that was why they had chosen my session.

My challenge to them for the term was to:

* Find out something new about as many students as possible and take an active interest in their lives outside of the classroom

* Actively plan where they can place stories into their units of work

* Think about the concepts they want them to achieve and the questions they will ned to pose to head them in the right direction

* Regularly, and appropriately praise the students

Teachers stopped and talked to me, and the other presenters, about how much they enjoyed the day (even if they didn’t get much individual planning time) and how relevant they though the sessions were. The discussions continued on over the rest of the week which was fantastic to observe and, as I wandered some of the corridors, I could actually hear teachers engaging their students with some of the suggestions we had made. The students and their teachers were engaged, laughing and focused. Nice.

The New Learning Paradigm

The other focus area for tomorrow’s Staff Development Day flows on from our exploration of Gen Y and looks at how this generation (and the ones that will follow) learn best.

Again, initial inspiration came from the North Coast Quality Teaching Conference via Mark Treadwell’s keynote address on the new Learning Paradigm. Mark Treadwell’s work can be found here.

Interestingly,  today I was encouraged to read Anne Knock‘s open letter to the Minister of Education via twitter today which urges the education system to change to meet the needs of this new paradigm. You can find this letter here.

The thrust of Mark’s address was that the time for reading and writing to be the key source for learning has had its day and in its place there is a new paradigm – multimedia formats and conceptual learning. Mark talked about how quickly we can learn a concept eg driving a car compared to learning the mechanics of reading and writing. As well, once we have learnt a concept it become automatic “like riding a bike’ whereas reading and writing has to be continually practiced and revised.

Of course, we still need reading and writing but it is how it is used that needs to change. Instead of merely for the learning of facts, it should be to highlight achieving a concept and be presented within a multimedia format. This is, after all, the medium that Geny Y and beyond will be most familiar, and comfortable, with. It also puts the focus on the end product rather than the process of getting there (see my notes on Gen Y to see why this is important).

This new method means teachers need to be facilitators and mentors rather than the fonts of all knowledge and many Baby Boomer teachers, especially, will find this shift challenging (as they already are). Teachers need to actively encourage students to collaborate, communicate and create. They need to step back and let them find their own ways to achieve the ultimate goals of greater understanding, appreciation and knowledge.

The DER is step one in achieving the shift but it is only going to be fully successful if teachers (and the systems they are in) embrace the laptops, web 2.0 tools and collaboration as well as concept learning as the new paradigm.

There are pockets of change happening in mine and every school but I am not confident that we represent the majority of teachers at this time. It will happen and one of the ways to encourage it is through presenting this new research at Staff Development Days.

Some how I think my staff will be more keen on the Gen Y session than this one….

Anyway, here’s the presentation I will be doing on the Paradigm Shift.

The Paradigm Shift

The Generational Divide

After two separate stints as relieving deputy principal, as well as my full time role as teacher and Head Teacher, it is increasingly clear that there is an expanding rift between the generations to be found within the school community.

Teachers, do these sound familiar?

“These kids just don’t show any respect”

“These students are just not interested in anything we do”

“Kids just want to take the easy route and are just lazy”

Are you engaged in these types of conversations in your staffrooms? Are you saying similar sorts of things to anyone who will listen?

As relieving deputy I was constantly dealing with this frustration from teachers and the fallout in terms of poor behavior and conflict. Talking to the students during these encounters it was also just as clear that the students were equally frustrated with their teachers.

“He doesn’t show me any respect so why should I respect him?”

“She doesn’t care about me and what is happening in my life”

“Its so boring, all we do is write notes off the board and have to listen to her talk at us”

“All we get is teachers yelling at us and saying how bad we are”

So what can we do to improve the situation for both the staff and the students? How can we create better teaching and learning environments so everyone comes away feeling better, feeling respected?

Some of the answer came to me at the 2011 North Coast Quality Teaching Conference when I was listening to Michael McQueen’s keynote on “The New Rules of Engagement”. This brilliant presenter talked about the differences between the generations and how that if we don’t understand what drives us there can be very little successful interaction.  Check out his website, The NexGen Group, for more information.

This is what was happening in my school. Over 70% of our staff are Baby Boomers and there are some huge attitudinal differences between this group and our students who are Generation Y.

If we are going to turn things around there needs to be a greater awareness of what drives us and what we see as important. Teachers need to gain a better understanding of the motivating factors for Gen Y (and Gen Z) and, the students also need to know how to connect with what is important to Baby Boomers and Gen X.

Okay, but not every Baby Boomer or Gen X teacher has problems so how does this fit into this scenario?

There are always people who, through their personality or teaching style etc, will not have the same problems in or out of the classroom. They have, perhaps instinctively, learnt how to transcend the generational divide to both the benefit of themselves and their students. We can learn from them as well.

So, one of the main focuses for our Staff Development Day at the start of Term 2, 2011 is to raise our awareness of the generations and how to engage Gen Y so as to create a more positive teaching and learning environment. Hopefully, teachers will take on board the information we give them and embrace the activities so as to take the first steps towards a greater appreciation of what makes their students tick. And from there, I hope they will modify what they do and how they engage in the classroom. If they do, it will be a win-win situation.

I have attached the presentations if you would like to look at them and extend your own understanding of Gen Y.

GEN Y

Gen Y Notes

Engaging Gen Y Students

Supporting Beginning Teachers – What do they need?

This year I have agreed to take on the role of Supervisor and Mentor for our latest batch of New Scheme Teachers. While the school has had beginning teachers previously we haven’t had very many due to our North Coast location – more a place to finish your career than start it – and the supervision in the past has been quite ad hoc and dependent on who the supervisor was. Add to this a lack of understanding of the requirements of The Insitute of Teachers and the accreditation process and you can see why someone needed to volunteer to get the whole process organised.

So, first up, I went trawling to find out what was out there. Naturally, I started with the Institute of Teachers which I found had a great many resources and templates to download. Next I visited the DET ‘s Professional Learning and Leadership Directorate and found even more great material. In fact, I wish I had looked through this site much earlier as it has so much information and so many great resources to assist any teacher in their professional awareness and development.

From there things have got trickier. There is very little else out there to support New Scheme Teachers or their supervisors. Most frustratingly, there are very few examples of the accreditation report that each teacher needs to complete. The report samples on the Institute site haven’t changed much since it was launched and anecdotal evidence suggests that things have changed re the amount of evidence etc teachers needed to support their preofessional competence.

I have created a Moodle course for NSTs and have placed everything I have found in it so at least they can find what they need quickly and easily. I must admit I did get this idea from a research report I did find on the internet from Scots College – one of the few useful additional resources I found. In the Moodle Course I have added all the relevant Institute and DET policies, guides and templates as well as list of resources dealing with Quality Teaching and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Feel free to check the course out at http://coffsharbourhighschool.com/moodle/index.php. It is currently in the “unassigned” section and you just need to login as a guest using the password – NST. I would gladly welcome any suggestions and ideas on how to improve the course.

So all that is done and I am now thoroughly versed in what the New Scheme Teacher has to do to get accredited etc BUT what else do they need? What is it that will make the life of a beginning teacher, in particular, easier? What do they need support in on a daily and/or weekly basis?

Of course, there are the usual old chestnuts – classroom management, lesson preparation, time management etc – but what do they need support with in the first few days at the school, in their first week etc when everything is so new and the reality of school life is finally hitting home? What did you need that you either got or wished you had recieved?

I would really like to set up a calendar of workshops and topics to work through with the new teachers and am keen to hear how other schools and teachers have approached it. I have no access to HT Mentors as the numbers of new staff in our area is so low and most schools in my region are in the same boat re getting organised. Again, the DET has some policy documents but they are very general in nature.

So I am looking to you to make sure I hit the ground running with my first batch of beginning/New Scheme Teachers.

If you have run induction programs before:

* What did you do?

* What were the keys for making it a success?

* How did you present the information?

If you have recently been a NST working towards accreditation of professional  competence and have been a beginning teacher what did you need support in? What questions did you need answering? What worked well and why?

I will be interested, and appreciative, of any advice and suggestions. 😀

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday: In 2010 I was put in charge of Teacher Professional Learning and as part of that responsibility I ran a regional project dealing with the use of technology in the classroom. Specifically, the project aimed to make more efficient and effective use of IWBs and OneNote.

Step one was to have participating schools nominate at least one teacher who was keen to learn how to use the IWB for more than a video projector and glorified whiteboard. The next step was to bring them all together for a day to show them what was possible and get them started on creating a resource for a unit they were going to do in Term 4.

By the end of that first day, all participants had the start of a resource that they could use with an IWB and/or laptop. Many were beginners in terms of the technology and all wanted to focus on a different function, tool and purpose. The individualised nature of the second half of the workshop was what made the whole project a success. It meant that everyone left with the start of a resource THEY wanted and since they wanted it, they kept going and finished it.

There was support along the way – edmodo, email, after school support groups and video conferences – but the key factor through it all was that because it was directly relevant to THEIR immediate needs it was a success.

Today: All of the participants completed their projects AND used them at least once with a class or classes. We had OneNote units on Romeo and Juliet with embedded Smart Notebook activities, IWB units on Shakespeare, World War One, Poetry and Aboriginal Language. We also had OneNotes on HSC PDHPE and Marine Knots!! The enthusiasm and pride in what they had created was wonderful to see. One participant even said that as a result of that workshop his whole method of teaching had changed!

All of these units were shared with their faculty and others started using them. Then they started asking HOW they did it and that started the next stage of the project – Paying it Forward. Every teacher has started to mentor at least one other teacher on the tools and software they used in the creation of their resource/s. Their enthusiasm and excitement about their new found skills has been infectious and today we have had other units and lessons being created as a result of that one teacher eager to try something new.

As well, the units were shared between schools and this has also introduced the software, tools and concepts to new faculties who are following their example and creating their own resources.

Surveys have shown that the use of IWBs has increased, the use of technology has grown and that both staff and students are more engaged as a result of the new lessons and units.

Tomorrow: I wonder how many of those teachers have continued to play and create over the holidays? I know of at least two who have since they keep emailing me and asking how do I ….? This is great and it shows that now they have mastered that tool they are thinking about what else they would like to be able to do with technology.

With the 2011 school year about to start it is time to think about where to go next. What other tools can we teach to staff to engage our students? How can we keep the momentum going? Whatever we decide to tackle next, one thing is sure. Make it relevant, make it individualised and we certainly have a greater chance that what they learn will become part of their teaching repertoire rather than just being notes that gather dust on the shelf.

All in all, I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Interactive White Boards – Are they worth the investment?

 There has been a lot of recent discussion on whether Smartboards and Panaboards are worth their cost, especially in a high school setting. Have a read of some of the following discussions occuring on the value of IWBs:

http://tinyurl.com/yz4erol

http://tinyurl.com/3yr9qc
http://tinyurl.com/yfzl3zl

http://tinyurl.com/28h2cbz

Anecdotally, at least, it would seem that most teachers are using them for little more than large projectors for PowerPoint presentations and videos. If that was the case, wouldn’t a data projector do they same thing at a far cheaper cost?

Other teachers say that the interactive type lessons you can create using Notebook or Activstudio are great for revision, recall and gimickry that is suitable for our lower ability students but have no application for higher order thinking and skill development.

Oh, and the lessons take ages to prepare, at least for beginners, and who has the time  when the benefits aren’t that great?

I LOVE my IWB but I have to admit that some of what other teachers have been saying is valid. I know I certainly don’t use the interactive features as much as I did in the beginning (unless I am reusing a Notebook I have already created) and that often it is little more than a glorified projector. I feel guilty that I am not using it to its full potential when so much money has been invested into putting it into my classroom.

From all the discussion it is obvious that to make the IWB revolution a success we need to allow time and support for training as well as teaching teachers how to use them as a quality learning opportunity. As was said it is not the tool itself that is valuable, it is what happens because of it that is important.

With all that in mind, I am running a project for high schools on the Mid North Coast on upskilling teachers on the use of IWBs. Teachers from the different high schools will come together to create a series of interactive activities/lessons/units that make use of all the features of Notebook. They will have training in Notebook, have a resource pack full of “how tos”, and most importantly time to play, experiment and create valuable resources. The focus will be on creating quality lessons that challenge and extend the students.

The teachers will also have mentor training so that when they get back to school they can support other teachers to not only use the resources they created but also teach them how to make their own.

Hopefully, the project will start to see a more meaningful and consistent use of IWBs across the region’s classrooms. Mine included. I will let you know next term how it all goes.

I would love to hear your comments on the pros and cons of IWBs. How are you using them in your classroom?

PS – here are the draft pre surveys we are using to gather data for our project. They might be of use to you.

IWB SURVEY     Student IWB survey

Extension 1 & 2 – materials from SDD

Here are the first of the resources from Jonathon Hart for the Extension 1 & 2 workshop.  The other material from the session will be added soon so check back in a week or so.

This workshop, from the feedback, was really well received and it is obviously an area that English Teachers in the Mid North Coast see as needing exploration and support. Jonathon and  I are talking about trying to organise an Extension English Day to allow greater discussion and resource sharing. If you would be interested in attending such a day please add a comment at the end of the post or let your HT know of your interest.

Crime writing

Extension 1 English Workshop[1]

Sample Introduction HSC 2009

Staff Development Day Feedback & Stage 4 & 5 Resources

Hi all.

Thanks to all for what was a very successful first attempt at holding a combined English Staff Development Day. There were some really good suggestions for how to improve on the day if we get to have another one. Importantly, if we do have another one we need YOU to offer to take workshops – the more who volunteer, the more choices to choose from. As I said in my sessions – sharing resources is vital if we are going to work smarter and work easier.

From the feedback it was also clear that some of the messages didn’t get through to everyone for example about bringing their laptops and getting blogEd unblocked. These issues, and the fact that we held it on the the first day back after major works occuring during the holidays which dropped out the server etc and so a very tight time frame to fix the problems, meant that some of the computer based sessions didn’t work as well as we would have liked. All we can hope that these issues are reduced next time around…

Many people want to keep the communication lines open – so this blog is one way to do that. Feel free to add a comment, ask for some advice. I have also emailed a list of presenters and their schools to each of the Head Teachers so you can contact them directly to follow up on a session you attended.

Here is the information from Simon’s Stage 4 & 5 workshop:

units that work Stages 4 & 5

I will add the others as they get sent to me. Happy teaching!