Revising is a Crucial Step in Writing

A couple of tips from Michael at 'The Thinker Builder' blog

From Didactic Pedagogy to New Learning

From the website http://newlearningonline.com/  - lots of information and ideas about modern teaching/learning practices - based on the book by Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope:  New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education, Cambridge University Press, second edition, 2012.

A feedback overview

Courtesy of: the Australian Society for Evidence Based Teaching

iPads in the classroom workshop 31-07-2014

Some practical activities using iPad apps in the classroom...an e-learning workshop for teachers...

Remembering the SAMR Model...we will be aiming to be actively creating (modifying and redefining) our own products to share information with the ipads (rather than just "playing games" with apps)...

Today's task/s: incorporating maths, writing, oral language, visual language...

1. Use the camera to take 5-6 photos of 2-d shapes in the playground or classroom.
2. Use the Skitch app to label the photos. Then you can use the photos from your PhotoStream or CameraRoll to...

• Create a Tellagami in which you verbally describe the attributes of one of the shapes you photographed.
• Your Tellagami can be saved to use as a video file (to upload to Vimeo* or You Tube), or shared to Facebook, Twitter etc (if you have activated those accounts) or sent as an email for further sharing via a laptop.

• Create a ShadowPuppet presentation about your shapes. - this can also be saved as a video to be shared in various ways**

• Create an Explain Everything or Show Me presentation about the shapes - also make into a video to share.

• Create a QR code for one of your presentations and share it to a blog or send it as an email to print - the ipad has a QR Creator app as well as a QR Reader app.

* from Vimeo or You Tube the video can be embedded into a blog for immediate sharing, or the URL link can be copied to use in a document or website eg a Facebook post

** The pupils and I usually set a criteria for the work that is to be shared - this often happens during the writing process that occurs before the app is used - we use the appropriate text type features to suit the purpose of our video and the audience that will be viewing it. This means that the pupils write a draft and peer check it against both the criteria of the text type eg an explanation as well as then having a criteria of what needs to be included when the writing is 'published' via the video app.

• I usually also set a time limit eg for an iMovie they are only allowed maybe 30 seconds of completed/edited video in which to share their message (iMovies that are too long will clog up the memory space of the ipad account)

Filling the PVA bottles!

The PVA that we get is very gluggy and hard to our into the little bottles that we use in class. I mix the PVA with water to make it into a runnier consistency that pours more easily.

To fill 5-6 small bottles: mix 2/3 cup PVA with 1/3 cup of water in a jug with a pouring lip. 

Pour carefully into the little bottles. Keep the lids off until you are sure that any PVA on the rim is dry ( or next time you want to remove the lid you may find it is stuck in place!)

After the class has used the small bottles I always give each bottle a little squeeze to puff any glue from out of the exit hole so that it is not blocked the next time somebody wishes to use it.