A Learning Odyssey

Determine Reading Age of Websites for your students

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:56:00 +0000

Early last year I wrote a blog post about how to analyse text and websites for reading age using Lexile Analyzer. It is a Lexile Text Measure based on two predictors, word frequency and sentence length, of how difficult a text is to comprehend.My tests showed it to be reasonably accurate, however the downside is that it is it not simple or quick to use.

One of the hardest tasks for me as a teacher is finding websites for my students that are at an appropriate reading age for them, especially when the range of those ages is large. Depending on your students reading and comprehension ability, it is usually better to provide website links for your students to visit, even when they are doing inquiry research.

Yesterday I discovered, via the blog The Daily Cafe, a site called Twurdy; a play on the words "Too Wordy" but somehow reminds me of Disney's 'Tweety' bird (Tweety & Sylvesta). The web is becoming a bit of a flock!
Twurdy search engine (powered by Google)
analyses the text on each page, it displays the results of each page shaded with their peachy colour code system. I did find it a bit hard to distinuquish between the colour shades, yet I found the readability level key easy to read. Actually I enjoyed the Twurdy's simple design, pleasant colours and ease of use.

Although this site is much easier to use, you will need to have your ever present teacher judgement at hand. As you can see from the results above a Wikipedia page got a 8-10 age range (wrong) yet in another search Wikipedia rated 18+ (believable).

I choose the text from taitokerau.co.nz/matariki.htm and used the Lexile Analyzer and Google Reading Levels to compare.

Lexile measures 1050L which is a reading age of approximatly 13 years old.

Google Reader Levels (found under 'More Search Tools' ) gives it an Intermediate Reading Level. I could not find a qualification for actual reading age. Intermediate in schooling usually refers to age 11-13 years old

Twurdy shows this website reading ages at around 15-18 years old.

Google Search 'reader levels' seem to be more reliable for now, although Twurdy is powered by Google they not not seem to use the same ranking system.

Below is my screen-cast on how to use Google Search 'reader levels'. I would love to hear whether you use any of these websites and which you think are most effective.

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Adding the E to a lesson

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:14:00 +0000

One of our wonderful RTLB teachers has been running new some lessons on self management aiming to teach children how to recognise their emotional levels, and strategies to help them cope. We run the lessons every few weeks, although truthfully it has been hard to engage the kids, if fact some downright hated it. We started co-teaching but the delivery was well a "delivery" at a wall or bored 13 year old's who were not relating to all this emotional talk or the style of delivery either.

The night before our most recent lesson I was doodling on the lesson plan I had received, trying to see where I could add some spark, and of course e-learning. To the left is an image of my scribbled thoughts.

I created the Google Docs table below and shared it with the group leaders, it was also projected on the whiteboard so everyone could see it being created collaboratively. The groups were mixed ability with student leaders who are still learning to lead groups. Each group of six sat together with one laptop and were assigned an emotional level to focus on. The leaders typed as the groups shared ideas. They then sent two students off with another laptop to take a photo of what a person may look like at that level. Those students then had to email it to the leader who inserted the photo into the table. The leader was expected to manage all their team members, as well as their part of the shared document.

The other three teams members went off to make up role plays of situations where students are at these different emotional levels, and how they coped with it. They then presented them to the class, and I recorded them for our wiki. Many students discovered they giggled when they got worried about people watching them act, they didn't realise they were at that level themselves. We discussed how as spectators we could support them by being an attentive audience.

The classroom was a hive of noise, discussion, laughter and students talking, showing, playing and creating the concept of managing self. Everyone participated and we not only learnt about this important key competency as a deliberate act of teaching, but the students practiced it by virtue of being fully immersed in collaborative learning, catering to multiple intelligences.

I believe e-learning help to engage with the use of technology, but it also provided a structure for collaboration and creative critical thinking.

Ministry of Education on TKI offer some suggestions for recognising and monitoring key competencies that I observed during the lesson.

learners performing real tasks in real contexts
learners interacting with others, rather than working in isolation
teachers monitoring key competencies with students, rather than ‘doing monitoring’ to students
formative opportunities that enable responsiveness, rather than summative
self and peer-assessment, rather than just teacher judgments
teachers reflecting on overall student performance in a task, how it might have enhanced content learning and determining areas for future focus

Take it from the top

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:10:00 +0000

After a recent discussion about finding information in the mountain of Google. I learnt how to do an Advanced Google Search and taught it to my students (see a copy here), luckily it also tied in well with our reading learning intention which was finding key words and phrases. About five of them got <10 results which was amazing, but still everyone got below 5000 results, which meant they were more likely to be relevant websites. Next time I want to introduce WonderWheel search which I believe will help my students focus their questioning as well as developing good key phrases.

Additional responsibilities seem to bring additional PD days away from the classroom, and with a sick day included my presence was not very strong in the classroom the last two weeks. I missed my students but found that their self management had gone haywire and behavior issues were rife. I had to put very structured routines in place, and get back to some early term one basics. I now see that although some students are ready, most of them need more scaffolding and modeling in order to develop their self management. I have used this opportunity to share more of my planning with them on our wiki, they can see their activities for the whole week, along with explanations of their tasks. I have gained inspiration from fellow e-learning teachers, and being part of a PLN with like minded teachers helps challenge and extend my own teaching practice.

This week along with my principal, I attended a PD for Principals using web2.0. It was fantastic to see so many schools leaders who are willing to lead change. It turned out I am more well known by my Twitter username (MrWoodnz) than I realized, branding really does work. It was hosted by the principal of Summerland School who is enthusiastic about elearning. On a classroom walkthrough it was evident that the school had a culture of e-learning that was inspired and modeled from the top. I am hoping to get some photos to add to this blog as they had specially design mobile and flexible furniture that suited the spaces of e-learning very well, including being bright, comfortable and fun. All available from local suppliers too.

My principal was overwhelmed by some of the content, but completely sold on how they used wiki's for their Board of Trustees. I am proud to say he created his first wiki for our BoT, and is excited about taking on this new challenge. I particularly liked the way Summerland School used Google Docs within the management structure, from managing relievers to shared planning.

Along with David Kinane who is giving us PD on e-learning, I am leading our syndicate teachers on a e-learning journey. I am very proud of the progress the teachers have made and their growing enthusiasm is exciting to see. They all created their first wikis and even reflected on our e-learning wiki using Vocaroo. So my reflection for that part of the day will be audio below.

Refecting on Week 6

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:38:00 +0000

My week started with the teacher who has my most of my students from last year asking me to help her add her latest assessment data to the Google Docs spreadsheet I left her. I was excited that she is seeing the benefit of using and sharing student information on Google Apps, using it as a Learning Management System (LMS) which is one of it's many benefits. As I have had to hunt 'High and Low' for last years assessment data on my students, I can appreciate how good it would be to receive it all presented in a spreadsheet. My favourite function is being able to sort columns sequentially, which allows differentiated grouping with a click. I hope she passes her spreadsheet onto the next teacher and my Student Data System will spread like a virus (he cackles madly, rubbing his hands in glee).

This week we had our first e-learning PD with David and we all came out of our sessions enthused with ideas and more aware of the need to adapt our teaching to meet the needs of 21st Century learners.

With the cold weather of Autumn settling in, I discovered only 3 students had brought togs for swimming, instead we played softball. I split them into teams and appointed a referee because I don't know much about sport but also I wanted to see how they collaborated outside the classroom. I sat under a tree and watched, what I saw was all students taking part in the team work, students giving each other strategy advise. Rules that managed the game play were accepted by all and followed by all students. I saw empathy when a student encouraged another back into the game after she had walked off upset. I was proud of my students, they were self managing and showing all the key competencies without me doing a thing, well except observing.

This week I tested my mixed ability groups doing a quick inquiry to help them work cooperatively as a team and to use the inquiry process. They only had two days to inquire and create a presentation together. Four out of the five groups worked fantastically as a team, however one had leadership issues, however in the end they produced a good product. I will mix up the ability groups next week to see how the leaders cope with a new mix of peers.

Reflecting on a hard week

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:59:00 +0000

My successes this week were:
- My students guided with my assistance, the Red & Black Mufti Day to fundraise for the people of Christchurch. As a school we made over $800. Now they are planning their own school event, a great inquiry that crosses curriculum areas and full of HEART (our school values + key competencies).
- We had our first e-learning meeting with David our guide. Although their was was some initial concerns, everyone was open to discussion and we ended the meeting on a positive note.
- We had our first Skype with a high school in Illinois, USA. Although we provided scaffolding the conversation was very stilted, due to both student uncertainty and poor connection. See my students class blog post here.
- During our e-learning meeting we had spoken about allowing students to learn to do what we cannot and learn from it. I decided to give my students a challenge with no instructions. They had to use the laptop webcam to take a portrait photograph and then print it out. It turn out to be an engaging afternoon with students experimenting and teaching each other.

Some difficult parts of my week have been:
- Arranging the Soap Box Derby team and activites. I hate cars, grease etc yet got hooked into managing this. It is stressful doing something you don't like or know anything about, which made me think about what I ask my students to do in class every day. When do they feel like this?
- I have also begun my two Post Graduate Diploma papers and finding the extra workload very hard to keep up with during this busy term. I must just keep at it and hopefully term 2 will get easier.

A Week of Tradegy

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:13:00 +0000

This week has been consumed with daily assessments and the endless marking and analysis that goes with it. An interesting aspect was that our elearning class had to be assigned another classroom for the assessments as the 'good ole fashion' desks in rows were required and our spaces was not setup for this style testing. I wonder if we need to consider this for the future or perhaps change the way we assess?

The Christchurch earthquake disaster struck on Tuesday and even though I am safe in Auckland, I have still feel a state of shock and saddness as I watch helpless, feeling useless. Luckily my friends there are safe but being my old home town, I feel for them. It is hard to imagine what they must be experiencing. Being a teacher I decided to throw my current unit study out and focus our inquiry on this tradegy. I think I need to know more and express my feelings about it, plus I believe my students feel the same and cetainly can befit from talking about and dealing with loss and destruction. We started with 'White Hat' factual thinking that same day. We are recording much of our inquiry on our blog and also plan to create a website about it.

My students have been asking many questions as part our our inquiry, and what has made me really proud was the ones asking, "How can we help the people of Christchurch?" We plan to run the National Red and Black mufti day on Friday as an inquiry learning experience, plus my students are generating other ways to fundraise.

We are gathering website resources to aid your inquiry and teaching on our wiki. Please feel free to use our links and to suggest more. Some sites that really stand out are the visual quake map and the site for children who experienced this and need to write about their experience, 'When My Home Shook'.

Some positives of my week have been that I was made the e-learning lead teacher for our school journey along with a management unit which is great recognition for all the extra work I already do on this project. Secondly I got an email from a parent of one of my top students thanking me for engaging, inspiring and challenging her child, she is apparantly loving the learning. So a positive way to end a difficult week.

Riding the Wave

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:22:00 +0000

This week it felt like I was riding a wave, it was an exhilarating and exciting ride but there were a few rough moments I felt like it was going to be all head over heels. I have had some success this week, the first was that I eventually got going with #365classes photos (my student version of 365 photos). The great part was I have got two struggling boys hooked into taking daily photos and they seem to love the process and of course the comments. Next step is to build the literacy around them. I was hoping to get more students from other schools involved and commenting, like we do the 365 Photo group does. Still interest may grow over time, or perhaps I need to try provide another sharing platform other than Flickr but not sure how that may work as yet. Below are some of my students photos.

As part of our unit study we have been exploring Recycling City and the students have been answering questions in their books on about the site which requires a sort of scavenger hunt search. On the second day I decided to try liven, and speed things up by doing an oral scavenger hunt. I asked a question based on the site and small groups raced each other for the answer and they then got a chance to ask their own questions. The success for me was the amazing engagement and quality of thinking as the students tried to give the class hard questions.

This year is the first time I have really used an Interactive Whiteboard as a serious tool. Last week I had a group memory/mix & match type game, while this week was a board game show below. It is freely available from an excellent site called Super Teacher Tools, which I also use to generate random groups. I had to stop my group teaching to take a photo of the great mathematical talk and engagement from students who don't usually get focused.

Meet the Teacher evening was held this week and I only had parents of five students visit and was encouraged by the understanding and agreement I got from those parents when I explained e-learning and the journey we were on.

Another great literacy tool we have been exploring is the comic site Strip Generator. It is an incredibly simple site to use-engage-telling stories and I made a screencast to guide students, most preferred to figure it out themselves. Cyber bullying was the learning context but I am hoping they will be whipping up stories and comics throughout the year as their confidence grows. This is a first time student effort below.

cyberbully by anonymous

I got a new girl student who I sat with a group of girls. They squashed around the table and eventually asked if they could rearrange the desks and seemed amazed when I encouraged them too. I have been struggling to get students to move away from 'claimed' spots, perhaps one way is to give them more ownership.

Today our school was accepted into the EnviroSchools program, which was through my inquiries to them. To their credit they took the initiative and arranged a meeting with our principal and our new Enviro Team. I like it because they take a no pressure approach, and show how easy sustainability and environmental action can drive student inquiry learning and real change at school and in the community.

Finally I have reached the end of the wild week, and it's time to relax and reflect.

Collaboration Rules the Day

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:28:00 +0000

Last week my students took a statistics pre-assessment to help them plan their goals and for me to plan my teaching. I noticed across abilities my students seemed to get a simply tally chart question wrong. The question asked them to tally hexagons, pentagons and octagons, it turned out they just were confused about the difference. Strangely the year I had named the groups using these terms.

I created a Google Docs page with a table for each 2D shape and put the students into random groups. Each group of 3 to 4 students had a notebook and were assigned a shape. I was sharing this document with the whole class so each group was collaborating within their team and each group with the class. The live document was displayed via projector on the whiteboard which allowed for discussion and scaffolding.

My ulterior motive was to get them using their new Docs accounts and get them to explore ways of finding information on Google and bringing it together in a meaningful way.

I was amazed and proud of the way they worked together and in half an hour created this resource below. The Google Drawings are not showing because the students drew them in their accounts and they have not Shared the Drawing. Even my most unengaged kid was fully into this learning.

The second success was helping a fellow teacher in my syndicate who has gone from e-denial to enthusiastically suggesting new ideas. I manage a wiki which accommodates two Year 7 and two Year 8 classes, plus blogs. Today my colleague became an 'editing member' of our wiki, and she created her first wiki page to guide her math groups. It is a wonderful thing to could see the spark of understanding and possibility light up a learners face, at any age.

I feel like I made a difference today, a seed has sprouted.

E-learning: beginnings

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 22:18:00 +0000

Week one was a busy time getting to know the students, creating treaties and expectations in my first Year 8 class. The first week never seems to follow the standard timetable, however I used short activities to teach classroom routines, transitions and group work. Even though they are year 8's, many still need lots of work managing themselves and their time. I also noticed some some of my higher group boys giving me Level 2 writing. I need to work on this and perhaps find more engaging writing tasks?

I explained that our classroom is free seating although the students seem to be struggling with the concept and have mostly 'claimed' spots with a boys side and a girls side! Argg, should I change tables around every week? I also realise I need to develop my understanding on how spaces should work with the daily learning, at the moment some areas feel abandoned, ownership may be the key.

Next week:
I am trying out Workshops seriously for the first time, as opposed to standard group teaching. I plan to remove myself (and Workshops) from the group task tumble of activities (maths and literacy). I have been reading "Teaching without Telling: Computational Fluency and Understanding through Invention" written by Daniel Heuser, who says that workshop structure has four elements: hands-on-instruction, problem solving, choice and reflection. He also give an example of how he breaks down a maths lesson which has given me some confidence to try it out.

What are your Worksop experiences?

Technology vs ICT; are we talking the same language?

mrwoodnz@gmail.com (MrWoodnz) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:26:00 +0000

Photo by lgb06

Terminology can be a barrier in any language, however in the changing landscape of education and the web, teachers like myself are often left feeling we aren't talking the 'right' talk.

Based on my experience in primary schools, the meaning of 'Technology' and 'ICT' are very different. Technology is usually based on Inquiry Learning and involves creating a product or process that fulfills a need. In Intermediate Schools (age 11-13) this involves the students usually going to specialised teachers. Projects I have seen regularly across NZ are cooking, woodwork, making mosaics and wooden jigsaws, Trash to Fashion, electronic toys, etc.

TKI - Technology is intervention by design: the use of practical and intellectual resources to develop products and systems (technological outcomes) that expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities.

ICT is often viewed as anything done in the class computer suite time. A more accepted view is ICT or Information and Communication Technology as anything involved using technology (computers, cameras, audio recorders, mp3 players) to record, communicate, manipulate and create information in multimedia forms.

However the online education community and within my Twitter PLN, there seems to be more blurring of the meaning of 'Technology' and 'ICT'. When you are reading blogs and twitter conversations, be aware that most of the time when the author says 'Technology' they mean 'ICT'. You can usually tell by the context and content of the sentence.

I think it would be easier for everyone if we agreed on the meanings of 'Technology' and 'ICT' and started speaking the same language. What does 'Technology' and 'ICT' mean to you and your school?

Are we talking the same language?

My Edublog Award Nominations

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:51:00 +0000

My Edublog Award Nominations

It is always so hard to choose amongst some many fantastic people. However here are my nominations for 2010.

Best individual tweeter: @tombarrett
Best resource sharing blog: http://ilearntechnology.com
Best Educational Technology Support Blog: Speed of Creativity
Best school administrator blog Principals Page: The Blog
Best class blog: http://super7scoopers.edublogs.org

A Vision of 21st Century Learners

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 10:18:00 +0000

The race is on and already many schools are competing to offer laptops and e-learning at school to attract students. Many schools are already planning to move towards 1:1 laptop or iPad programs, and parents are sitting up and noticing. Now this tells me parents are very aware of what opportunities their child needs, but do they know what know what a 21st Century student is? More importantly, do they/we know what 21st Century teachers look like and what do they do?

Watch the two videos below; if you were a parent checking out the local schools, what you would expect 21st Century teaching to look like?

A Vision of 21st Century Students

A Vision of 21st Century Teachers

Day in a Sentence

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:49:00 +0000

Thank you all for participating in Day in a Sentence, I even got my principal to join us this week! I also discovered that DIAS is not only a great reflective tool but a fun literacy activity for your students too.

Day in a sentence

Three of my students are finalists in the TVNZ6 NetGuide Multimedia Challenge, and I am a proud teacher! - Shaun Wood

As I revamp some of my curriculum to focus more on literature and reading skills, I feel like some of my more interesting writing projects and activities may be slipping away from me; I need more balance. --Kevin

I'm excited on my 4th day of National Novel Writing Month and I just finished a digital piece that I'm feeling good about: http://vimeo.com/16273829 - Bonnie

After much indecision I have decided to do a PhD, it will be a good 3 or 4 years study but at the end I will become a Doctor :) - Jared

I was surprised to hear a chorus or requests when I reflected, "I wish we could write all day."- Eric

This last month of spring started well for me; its blue skies, days of sunshine and lengthening warm evenings are this year's promise of a wonderful summer. - Blogger in Middle-earth

School has been hard, but the days are beginning and ending with spectacular sun performances, so I believe it'll all be okay. - Lynn Jacobs

More than half of what it takes to be an effective teacher is simply showing up everyday. - Ben@TIC

This week was wonderfully successful, as our school partnered with the University of Ballarat and Country Education Project, to trial virtual teaching rounds with three student teachers - amazingly successful from all points of view with great teamship, student engagement, technology use,virtual classrooms - a glimpse into the classroom of the future. - Murcha

I was away from my class for 4 days this week and they kept blogging without me... very proud! - Ms B

Being apart of my students lives makes my heart sing, I love being a teacher. - @melaniem8

Over the past several weeks Bailey Road School has been recognised in the press for several outstanding achievements, I am proud to be leading such a hardworking and innovative staff. - Derek Linington

Our science topic in class inspired me to plant my own garden and what a buzz I get from it. - MrsTorrey

Authentic Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 22:11:00 +0000

Reading the online guardian.co.uk a few days back, a headline caught my attention "Class blogs: a better way to teach" by Judy Friedberg. I was amazed to find a reference and link to my own class blog here, "Here's a class in New Zealand making short films about how earthquakes happen."

Aside from being flattered, it made me realize a few things. Firstly if my class blog is an example then I must be using blogs in an appropriate 21st century way. This is thanks to all my PLN's class blogs that I follow who inspire and encourage me. Secondly, teachers also have a need for an authentic audience, we also get engaged and excited when our work is recognised and commented on.

Judy interviews a classroom teacher who blogs, he says, "It gives them pride in their work, acknowledgement of their worth, and some understanding that there is a big wide world out there and people are listening to them." It certainly does, and it applies to teachers too. While on the subject of empowering kids to blog by commenting on their blogs, visit http://comments4kids.blogspot.com and find out how you can make a difference.

Day in a Sentence

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 01:36:00 +0000

I have participated in Day in a Sentence (DIAS) for over a year now and I still love the way it gets me to stop and reflect. So it is a great honour to be allowed to host DIAS on my blog this week.

So please come and share a reflection of your week with us, in just one sentence. Use the comment field below to submit your sentence and I will compile and publish your words at the end of the week.

My own week began with good news, and we need to celebrate our successes. Come join us and celebrate your success in a sentence.

Three of my students are finalists in the TVNZ6 NetGuide Multimedia Challenge, and I am a proud teacher! - Shaun Wood

I shared DIAS with my students and they decided to add their own reflective sentences.

Changing Education Paradigms

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 01:21:00 +0000

I found this presentation by Sir Ken Robinson on the education system and creativity on Derek's Blog. I had heard it before and thought it was really good, however I had never seen this animated version by the RSA. They create an animated mind map as he speaks, which created a picture of understanding in my head. I am like many of my students, a visual learner. I REALLY got all of Sir Ken Robinson's talk this time around, I could see what he meant. I agree we need a revolution in education, and I think there are already many teachers out their starting to make that shift. It starts with us asking why?

I just started teaching mind mapping to my students this week and have been amazed by their engagement and enjoyment, turning thinking and learning into mini artworks. I am using Mind Maps for Kids by Tony Buzan. I have found the simple structure, colour and images allow for creative thought and rich brainstorming.

So finding this presentation is a bonus, I can share it with my students as a model. As well as showing them real life examples of how I and other adults are really using them too. Of course as Derek mentioned it makes a great discussion piece at staff meeting.

Blog Action Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:44:00 +0000

Blog Action Day is an annual blogging day to inspire discussion and action on a global scale. The topic for this year is water. You may wonder "why water?" As I am practicing creating infographics in order to teach my students, I decided to use the opening paragraph of the Blog Action Day website to create a visualization of why water is such an important issue.

Charity Water is a link worth investigating that provides more facts (an infographics) about the water issues and statistics around the world.

Netsafe's LGP initiative

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:31:00 +0000

NetSafe has been a favourite primary school safety guide and programme of mine since I began teaching. I have used Hector the Dolphin every year to teach internet safety to my students.

NetSafe has just launched their new Learn: Guide: Protect collaborative website. I found it quick and easy to sign up and within minutes started creating new Bits and Remix other Bits to put together a Collection of Bits that I would use to teach Cyberbullying next term.

A Bit is any website link, video or other media related to internet safety. It is like a post on a blog. This is an example of a Bit I made about a website I wanted to add. You can see how many Views and Recommendations a Bit has had, plus you can Recommend and Comment on any Bit yourself.

A Collection is a grouping of Bit's that may be ordered for teaching purposes like my Cyberbullying Unit here. Or just as a bookmark type collection, either way useful for other teachers looking for similar things.

NetSafe have built a fantastic framework to support internet safety through the feedback and collaboration with the education community. The site design is clean and refreshing and surprisingly simple to use. I did find the Classifications slightly daunting and may have categorized a bit incorrectly ('bit' humour always seems to come up when discussing this site.)

Their Twitter and Facebook widgets were not working for me but you can follow them on
Twitter @netsafenz

5 Smart Ways To Get #Comments4Kids On Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 01:57:00 +0000

#Comments4Kids is a Twitter hashtag started by @wmchamberlain aimed at promoting more comments for class and student blogs. It mostly relies on teachers to provide these comments. Comments4Kids Blog is the new home of #comments4kids, where you can add your class blog to the database. It also has some suggested rules for commenting and a cool badge for your blog.

1. Get comments on your blogs by using #comments4kids hashtag in your tweet.

- classblogs: a summary of what they are learning then the url for the blog post e.g: Student writes about Flax Weaving, please comments4kids http://goo.gl/muIh (Tweetdeck shortens my urls automatically but you could use goo.gl)

- if your blog contains multiple student blogs like our student blogs then expect you may only get comments on a few of the lastest blog posts. I usually choose students who have not had any comments yet. Commenting on 25 students is a big job for a single teacher, but a small one for another class of 25 students!

2. Follow #comments4kids in a column in your TweetDeck or equivalent tweet software.

3. The Rule of Return

For every comment you get on your class or student blog's, give one back to someone in the #comments4kids community. It doesn't have to be the same class/teacher who commented on yours. This is the least we all need to do for #comments4kids to flourish, and for all our students to get that buzz of excitement when they get a comment on their blog, you know the one, I do!

4. Get your students engaged in #comments4kids, let each of them make a comment or two as a computer time starter. This is how I do it http://brs-team17.wikispaces.com/ICT+Skills. Look down the page for Comment4Kids Thursday subheadings. It is a great chance to teach; model; review; or assess commenting skills, language skills, basic computer skills, etc. Sometimes I have the whole class read and comment on one class blog, or to a class with individual student blogs. Other times I send my reading groups to different blogs aimed at their level.

5. Leave your class blog link when commenting, e.g: http://baileyrdteam17.blogspot.com

If like KidBlog.org the comment field does not offer this option then just paste it into the comment field. We love to know where our comments come from so we can also reciprocate the comments. If you use KidBlog.org or similar get all students to leave your class page url. Have the url in you blog or for students to copy and paste.

We use Blogger for our class blog which is easy to manage a range of comment functions. However here are some things that I have found to be barriers when leaving comments :

When I am choosing who to comment as (see first image) I do not want to have to log in with Google, LiveJournal, etc, etc. This usually brings our commenting to a stop as 25 students try log in. I try avoid class blogs with this problem.

Below left, is the best situation where my students are able to put in their own first name and our class blog url. Below right, is a Word Verification window which I personally hate. I know many of you disagree because of security, but if you are moderating all your comments why is this extra barrier in place?

Now it is your turn! Promote your class and student blog's with #comment4kids. Have fun getting comments but please make comments too. Blogging and commenting are both great literacy activities that offer many teaching moments based on real communication. I enjoy reading about what all those creative classes are doing. I get inspired to teach new ways, try new web 2.0 tools, and build wonderful learning relationships; all thanks to #comment4kids.

Have you tried #comments4kids? Do you have any other ideas to add?

A Journey with Inanimate Alice

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 09:13:00 +0000

I can say with pride that

inanimatealice tells a digital story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.

This is our journey . . .

this is what we discovered and created.

What is 21st Century Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:28:00 +0000

There have been many great videos that attempt to explain what 21st Century learning is. It reminds me why we as educators and learners ourselves need to review what teaching and learning should look like in the classroom. However without education and school management support and understanding of these concepts we will not be able to take these steps as a community. Here is another video to inspire.

ePortfolios

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:23:00 +0000

Eportfolio, e-portfolio, or ePortfolio? I have used all and seen all versions used. I have started using ePortfolio after seeing it spelt that way on Mr Lietze blog. Perhaps it is a new form of contraction/capitalisation or just iPhone mania.

I started this ePortfolio process for the first time this year with my Year 6 class. My belief was that it provided an engaging 21st century alternative to the old plastic folder. As the only teacher who did digital work I turned to my online PLN for some guidance. I began by researching many blogs, case studies and engaging in discussions with other educators on this journey. I discovered that their are many different opinions and ultimately like all teaching, it needs a purpose.

My purpose for developing ePortfolios in the classroom is to allow my students to engage and reflect on their own learning. The process of creating their ePortfolio's, talking about it, and visualising their learning achievements and progressions, makes them more aware of themselves as lifelong learners.

This blog post by Nick Rate has two graphs that really show what ePortfolio purpose and ownership in our primary school may look like. I think it shows nicely how ePortfolios should/do start as a showcase for student work in the lower years. As they progress through school it becomes a process to show learning, with goal setting, reflections and feedback. Accountability becomes increasingly important as they reach secondary school and onwards. To me this means that we as adults and professionals should be accountable for our own ePortfolios, are you?

I started out using a portion of our computer suite time, as everyone was on a computer. I created an example ePortfolio and taught / modelled the steps that took us to where we are now. I have used the old paper portfolios and my own judgement on the contents. Through my sharing and learning about ePortfolios from other educators and especially seeing their work, I realised there is a next step for me.

Our ePortfolios use a range of web 2.0 tools to add interest and engage in multiple modes of literacy. I am a visual person and so to are most of my students. They often find it easier to visualise their progress when they can see it on a chart. Students track their Literacy and Numeracy assessment scores as well as adding samples of their work. They add their goals and are beginning to add Key Competencies. They have scanned handwriting samples, a Maori, ICT skills, Topic and Sports, ICT pages.

We reflect on our learning in our blogs and have created a link to these on our home pages. I believe that ePortfolios in our digital world does not mean everything must be contained in one 'folder' or ePortfolio site. ePortfolios are the source but also a gateway to our works and reflections online.

What platform to use for your ePortfolios is a difficult choice. Their are many types such as http://myportfolio.ac.nz advocated by Nick Rate. It has a free trail period then you pay monthly. It seems to have many advantages, except for the paying bit. When so much is free it can be hard to get a school principal to part with money from a tight budget. Wiki's are a good option which I have been using for my personal Teaching and Learning ePortfolio and I have heard of Ultranet and KnowledgeNet used by other New Zealand schools. I still need to learn much more about the platforms available however it is no reason not to start the journey using free options like Sites and Wikis. A big issue for me with managed learning environments (MLE) like Ultranet and KnowledgeNet is that their environment is closed. See Ewan MacIntosh's blog: ePortfolios & Learning Management Systems: Setting our default to social, for more on this.

In the end I choose Google Apps Sites for my class as our school like many others had adopted Google Apps. Our school account of Google Apps provided a platform that allowed secure sites for our ePortfolios as well as transferability as the student moved through the school, or even if they left. In it's present form it is a bit limited and restrictive in allowing the user to change page layouts and add widgets.

My Next Steps in the classroom ePortfolio journey are to develop next step learning, providing evidence of goals achieved, Student/Teacher/Parent Comments, Achievements, Awards, more own of their own choice?

Should teachers also be required to have ePortfolios too?
I followed discussions like these on Twitter and various blogs and they led me to ask that same question of myself. My answer is, yes! We are learners too and as part of our reflective thinking we should be using as a showcase of good work, a sharing resource for other teachers and place to grow as a professional. This is mine.

Done school wide it offers more possibilities for peer mentoring, moderation and stronger professional community conversations. Done country wide, who knows? Of course to compensate, we do need to let go many of the paperwork shackles that we seem attached to.

Some worthwhile reading on ePortfolios:

Dr Helen Barret: researcher and blogger on ePortfolios.

VoiceThread as a Digital Portfolio

A number of ePortfolio curriculum stories on TKI
Jamin has done some good research on ePortfolios recorded on his blog.

Nick Rate's blog in filled wit ePortfolio advice.

http://eportfoliosnz.wikispaces.com

Reflecting on an eTAP's eRegister Trial

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:51:00 +0000

eTAP's eRegister and I have had an up / down relationship for almost a year now, which has been complicated by pRegister [p=paper] who just wouldn't let go.

I have been trialing the eRegister for my principal while still keeping the pRegister that is the school system. However as the pRegister was the official one it always got filled in before teaching took over the day. The eRegiter however often got put on the To Do list. I was lucky to get some initial training from my PLN, many thanks Allanahk.

I am please that soon our whole school will be using the eRegister, despite my manyFrustrations there are many Positives. I am sure using only one system, along with good PD and support system for the staff, the eRegister will be a great success and another step into the 21st century for us all.

Have you got any eTAP stories or advice to share?

Thanks to my Twitter PLN for sharing some of their experiences.

*****************************************************************
Frustrations I had with the eRegister: *The Key Codes not always suited and/or too many choices. Need a shared understanding. *Cannot enter bulk students present then make adjustments. *Wireless issues or relieving teacher, need backup systems. *Hard to undo Code error, must go ? (unknown) then reload. *No training, online video / screencasts. *What useful info can a classroom teacher get from the reports?

Positives with the eRegister. *Easy to use, everyone has instant access to info. *Big range of reports. *No counting crosses and adding totals. *Reminds you if are not on today but easy to move to other days. *Reminds to to fix ?. *? allows you to wait for correct information.

**************************************************************************
Below are some screenshots of the screens you will encounter.

Response to comments below: Thank you I have figured out how bulk marking works. You need to start by only marking all entries EXCEPT those present, then Save Changes. The next screen shown below allows you to bulk mark all other pupils as present.

Students Podcast on Own Initiative!

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:16:00 +0000

On the weekend I was going through my camera looking for my 365 photos when I discovered some student video on it. This was no surprise as I give my students fairly free access to my camera. After a long week I initially felt annoyed, 'kids playing with my camera during lunch, grump, grump' then I watched their video. And my frown turned upside down!

My students had created their first podcast news and it was about our learning. As I watched with a smile on my face I realised my student were displaying 21st century skills. They had created (on their own initiative) a podcast that required a range of skills, including ICT and collaboration. I love hearing our learning shining through and their pride in both their culture and learning.

My own iMovie editing skills are still basic, so the video is a bit rough around the edges. However I have an expert student from another class who will teach me some iMovie tricks, the students teach the teacher!

I am hoping they will make this a weekly journey of their own where I can be the quiet guide on the side and see them taking their own learning to a next level. Your encouraging comments will make the difference as they need an audience, so please leave a comment on our class blog here. They and I both need advice and assurances.

Should we be broadcasting our podcast elsewhere?

AnswerGarden - Plant a Question, Grow Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Mr Wood) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:30:00 +0000

Today during our computer suite time we were exploring past winners of the TVNZ6 NETGUIDE SCHOOLS MULTIMEDIA CHALLENGE As we are planning to enter we wanted to see what made them great websites. Then we got to use the very cool new tool AnswerGarden to share ideas about what we needed to build our our websites. AnswerGarden was enthusiastically embraced my my students who loved seeing their ideas bloom.

As you can see below it is a great tool for brainstorming and sharing information. I am sure there must be many more creative ways to use this tool. I would love to here some of your ideas.

Thanks to Fiona who introduced this at the EducampNZ 2010.

A Learning Odyssey

Determine Reading Age of Websites for your students

Adding the E to a lesson

Take it from the top

Refecting on Week 6

Reflecting on a hard week

A Week of Tradegy

Riding the Wave

Collaboration Rules the Day

E-learning: beginnings

Technology vs ICT; are we talking the same language?

My Edublog Award Nominations

A Vision of 21st Century Learners

Day in a Sentence

Authentic Audience

Day in a Sentence

Changing Education Paradigms

Blog Action Day

Netsafe's LGP initiative

5 Smart Ways To Get #Comments4Kids On Your Blog

A Journey with Inanimate Alice

inanimatealice﻿ tells a digital story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.

This is our journey . . .

this is what we discovered and created.

What is 21st Century Learning

ePortfolios

Reflecting on an eTAP's eRegister Trial

Students Podcast on Own Initiative!

AnswerGarden - Plant a Question, Grow Answers

inanimatealice tells a digital story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.