Tech Tips Tuesday

This Week's Tip: Use Charts to Visualise Your Thoughts

As I plan for next term I have lots of ideas floating around that I need to pin down on paper. This week I decided to do this using Smart Art in Microsoft Word 2007 and a Gantt Chart I created using Microsoft Excel 2007.

Smart Art
I am trying something new for my Literacy unit this term, which will allow for a lot more student direction. As is always the way, when a lesson involves greater student direction, a great deal of teacher preparation must take place before hand in preparing a 'map' for students to work with. I found the Smart Art feature (in the Insert tab) very useful as a 'map' making tool.


There are a number of choices for chart type, and they are very easy to insert and use. You can see a sample of the pop-up box here:


Smart Art allowed me to create visually appealing diagrams that should help students to comprehend the information and their choices more effectively. I was excited by how quickly I could create "professional looking" diagrams. Here are a couple of my samples - the content is still in draft form, but I wanted to share some examples of how you might use these.


Gantt Chart
I wanted to make a project timeline to show the steps and progress involved with introducing a laptop program in the Year 5/6 classrooms this year. This will help me to monitor the process and ensure that key items are happening at the required time. A quick Google search led me to this You Tube video attributed to rrphillips:



I followed the steps to create my own Gantt Chart. (Again, the chart content is still in draft form, only offered as an illustration of how a Gantt Chart can be used.)


I rarely find time to pretty things up, however do enjoy a well presented document. These were great tools, quick to insert and very effective. A nice addition to my teaching tool kit without additional software, downloads, uploads etc.

Creativity

Last week I mentioned my new interest in crochet, particularly amigurumi. I've been playing some more with the idea over while creating my own crocheted creatures. I looked at a couple of patterns and was dumbfounded by all the crochet jargon for the instructions. It left me thinking, 'huh'? What I WAS able to decipher was that amigurumi are made by a spiral. So, I searched on YouTube for how to make a crochet spiral. There were some great videos there about how to start a spiral when making a beanie. She also gave some instructions on how to increase and decrease the amount of stitches. Armed with this, I had a go, and here's what I've come up with...

A bunny. (My sister in-law wants me to make one for her, too)


And a Frilled-Neck Lizard. (He's a little hard to make out, given the camouflage, but I thought it wasn't too bad for an early attempt!)


So, whilst making these, I did a lot of thinking about creativity and my own response to tasks, and what I like to see my students doing. I don't generally like to stick to a set pattern - I usually like to add my own twist. I take the main idea, learn the basic skills and then shape it to suit my own interests. And I like to see my students doing this as well. When I set a task, I don't want to see 30 exact replicas - that only shows me that students can apply the things I teach in the one way that I have suggested, and under my supervision. I want to know that students can apply their learning to their unique situations.

I do realise, however, that sometimes we need to practice the 'traditional' way of doing something before we are ready to bend the rules to make it personal. We need to have the opportunity to learn the essentials before we can play with the non-essentials.

As I approach the next unit of work (Textiles and Design), I'm trying to balance things in my mind in order to provide the required amount of guidance paired with the desirable amount of flexiblility. I need to find a way to teach my students to take the creative approach.

When I was a kid, I wanted to get everything 'right' and if I dropped a stitch, I panicked and couldn't figure out how to resolve the issue. I don't know how or when the shift happened. Somewhere along the way I must have realised that there were times when 'my version of right' was actually valued more by my teachers than the set pattern they put before us. I don't think I've actually let my students in on that secret yet!

How do you bring out your inner creativity? What things enable or disable it? How did you learn to let your creativity shine through? What do you like to create? Please share your thoughts below.

7th Teaching K-6 Carnival

Welcome to the July edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival. This month I've had a number of posts relating to professional development for teachers - with plenty of opportunities to expand your skill base during the Northern Hemisphere summer months. Because of this, I've included a "Reflect and Rejuvenate" category this month. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, you might find something here to inspire you to keep on powering through those wintery blues!

Reflect and Rejuvenate

Not yet a teacher? Considering it as a career option? Alvina Lopez shares Where Can I Find Teacher Scholarships? posted at Smart Teaching. Want to explore the world while studying? Anne Simone presents 100 Free and Useful Web Tools for Students Abroad posted at Best Universities.

If you're yet to discover the wonders of TED Talks, don't wait any longer. There's so much great material here that's easy to watch and very informative. Emma Taylor has sifted through these and offers 25 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life posted at Online Degree Hub.

If you're up for a bit of self-reflection, Susan White has the place for you at 100 Free Quizzes for Your Self-Improvement and Awareness posted at Online College Reviews - College Ratings. Take it a bit further to improve your health with Pankaj Gupta's 10 Little Known Ways to Improve Your Health posted at Best ultrasound technician schools.

Brain Strain

There are many differing opinions on the way that we coax certain behaviours from children. This month Keith Tusing shares his views on Rewards & Bribes posted at CM Buzz. Be sure to share your opinion and keep the discussion rolling. While you're over there, also check out Who is Your Target? to read how Keith is keeping children K-6 engaged in his Sunday School program.

In a knowledge society, lifelong learning is more important than ever. Brooklyn White presents 9 Tips for Being a Lifelong Learner posted at Accredited Online Universities. Reflect on how you're going with this, and consider how you can support the children in your class to become lifelong learners.

At times we all struggle with time management. But how do students learn this all important skill? This month Meaghan Montrose shares Effective Learning Strategies and Study Skills- Part 4 posted at TutorFi.com.

In the News

Mathew Needleman has written some informative posts about our roles as educators at Open Court Resources.com Blog. In It’s Not the Curriculum, It’s Us he reminds us to quit shifting blame, and to take responsibility for creating engaging learning experiences. In Copyright for Teachers: Persistent Myths he gives a few tips on what we should and should not be doing in terms of copyright in the classroom.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

Skype has opened up numerous options for communicating across the globe. This month Emma Taylor presents 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom posted at Teaching Degree.org. This is a comprehensive resource for teachers who have access to Skype in their classrooms.

Innovation is not just about technology. In creating an engaging and dynamic learning environment for our students, we should be drawing on a range of resources and learning experiences. Wendy Piersall shares Plant Life: How Do Plants Grow? posted at Craft Jr., which provides hands-on activities for students to explore the life cycle of plants.

Over at Teaching Degree.org Anne Simone shares 100 Terrific Cheat Sheets for K-12 Teachers.

Look No Further

Here are a couple of iPhone related posts that might be useful for educators with iPhones:

Alvina Lopez presents iKnow: 100 Best Reference Tools for Your iPhone posted at Online Degree Hub.

Emma Taylor presents 100 Awesome iPhone Apps to Work and Study from the Beach posted at Online College Reviews - College Ratings.

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

The Teaching K-6 Carnival is posted monthly on the 7th. I am collecting submissions throughout the month, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch. For full details, please read my call for submissions.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of teaching k-6 carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

Tech Tips Tuesday

This week's tip: Taking it further with video

I've been playing around with the Flip Camera in my classroom for about a term now. I've also started sharing it around with other classes for special occasions. I took it along to a School Board meeting and to a P&C meeting and showed them a little video of how we have been using it. I thought this was important as our P&C purchased the camera, and may want to purchase more for other classes now that they've seen how it can be used.
Some of the ways we've used it include:

• Recording discoveries on excursions and camps
• Recording reflections and opinions
• Recording team work
• Recording special events and activities
• Recording performances for self-reflection/self-assessment
• Recording homework instructions
• Recording speeches
  

So, where to next? Now I'd like to provide opportunities for students to delve into digital-storytelling or video production as a form of communication. I would like for students to use video to communicate a message in place of the pencil and paper method. But this is all new to me! Fortunately, someone else has already paved the way, and today I'd like to share some resources with you in case you are heading along this track also.

Picture This offers step by step instructions on how to get started with video in the classroom, with the all important reminder to begin with the areas that students need to work on - hence making it relevant!

The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling provides an introduction to digital storytelling along with examples and tools.

Another post full of digital storytelling links can be found at Making Teachers Nerdy.

For those of you asking "What is a Flip camera?" here's 7 Things You Should Know About Flip Camcorders.

If you've been working with video and digital storytelling, please let me know what's worked for you and what you'd suggest doing/not doing.

New Gold Mountain #3

Unfortunately, I found it too difficult to keep up with regular posts about our unit on the book "New Gold Mountain" by Christopher W. Cheng. Instead, I am offering some suggestions for the activities that I found useful. Please also check New Gold Mountain #1 and New Gold Mountain #2 for earlier posts.

Learn to play Fan Tan - The Chinese miners regularly played Fan Tan, a card game, and often gambled away their new-found wealth. We had a few games and came to realise how noisy the game could be and how easily it could lead to frustration and arguments - especially if money was involved!

Letters back to China - In the book one of the characters writes a letter back to his village in China. He doesn't tell the truth about his situation given that he has gambled away all his gold playing Fan Tan! Students wrote two letters back to China: one painting a rosy picture of the situation, and one giving a more honest account.

Character Comparison - As a class we made a Venn Diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences between Rowan (of Rin) and Shu Cheong. Students became really engaged in this activity and sought out lots of great examples of similarities. When we had finished brainstorming, students wrote the comparison in essay form. I gave them an introductory paragraph and then helped them to work through a structure for following paragraphs. We thought of some useful phrases for beginning paragraphs: 'An important similarity is...' 'Yet another similarity is...' 'Both Rowan and Shu Cheong...' We also thought of some comparison connectives (I'm sure they have a proper name) like 'whereas', 'while', 'however', 'although', 'but', 'and', 'whilst'.

Historical Diary - I already mentioned that students created a diary entry from the perspective of a convict. Later in the unit we repeated this activity with students writing from the perspective of an explorer of their choice. I borrowed a huge pile of non-fiction texts about explorers from the library. Students were given about 30 minutes to research their explorer and take some notes. They then moved into small groups focused on the same explorer to share the knowledge they had uncovered. After this sharing time students went back to working independently and created their diary entries. They were given more time to work on this in future lessons.

Final Weeks - In the final weeks I wanted to give students a chance to take charge of their learning and self-manage their tasks. Students needed to complete the reading of the text and review, edit and publish one of their written pieces from the term so that we could compile them into a class book. Students responded well to this and most completed both tasks by the due date.


Thoughts on the unit...
This was a great book to use as part of our study of Australian History as it helped students to consider the non-European perspective. It provided us with an opportunity to discuss racism and to form arguments against racism.
I enjoyed introducing students to historical fiction and found the diary format an easy way for students to dabble with writing historical fiction for themselves.