As many of you will now know there was a bit of a quake in Christchurch yesterday. (Non-kiwis need to understand that we understate things a lot – it was a 7.1 quake.)

While I actually felt the quake, the epicenter was quite some distance from home.

I felt it as a long smooth roll – something similar to what I’d feel if the cat jumped up on my bed in the middle of the night – except it kept on going which was what alerted my sleepy brain to an earthquake. However, it wasn’t enough for me to do anything more than turn over and go back to sleep. An hour later (5:30am) I was up taking my daughter to work and she mentioned the quake and damage but I still didn’t take in what she was talking about. It wasn’t till around 8:30am when I was woken again by several texts coming through on my phone. The first one was from Twitter – a DM from a friend in England asking if I was ok. My first thought was to wonder if it had been too long since I was on twitter and she was missing me. That thought vanished when I saw the second text – from my best friend in Montana – asking if me and the kids were ok. At this point I realised that there must have been some real damage happen with the earthquake and I turned the TV and computer on to check.

I lived in Christchurch for 13 years – all through my 20’s and early 30’s; both my kids were born there and I have very fond memories from that time. I’m also due to attend a conference there (as are many of my TwitterPLN) at the beginning of October. So I was glued to the pictures – there were places I knew well – destroyed some of them; others were fine – such random damage. I was also glued to twitter and facebook – there was so much information coming out via those two social media sites – I still haven’t heard from a couple of friends but everyone else posted via one of those two places that they were safe – shaken, stirred but safe.

And they’re still being shaken! Take a look at this screen grab of the McQueen’s Valley Quake Drum from this morning – it doesn’t have the big one on it but check out all the after shocks!

The Power of Social Networking

This earthquake and the response to it has been an amazing example of social networks in action. The first photos coming out were via twitter – in fact many of the photos shown via conventional media were from twitter. People were checking in via twitter and facebook – I guess check in once to FB means lots of people can be reassured in one go.

Hashtag power was at work too – want to check the latest – search using the #eqnz hashtag:

Google search
Twitter search

How about this screenshot of a headline for an online paper in Canada:

Check out also “The Twitter #eqnz Daily” with a mixture of links to videos, photos, blogs, twitter stream etc.

Wikipedia

Sometimes Wikipedia gets slammed as being not accurate enough or not reliable because ordinary people can edit and change the pages. I disagree – I think it’s powerful because ordinary people can edit and change the pages. I doubt very much that a group of paid professionals could/would have produced this page, with this amount of information, this quickly: 2010 Canterbury Earthquake.

This is the power of social networking at it’s best (if ordinary people can have a hand in editing it’s part of social networking IMHO).

This is history being written as it happens – via Twitter/Facebook/Wikipedia/Youtube/Blogs!

• For a start I can wander around the classroom and refer back to what’s showing on the screen without moving back to my laptop – that keeps me in contact with the student or students I’m working with.
• It takes me away from the “front” of the classroom. (I don’t have a desk but I do have a seat beside my laptop which is connected to the data projector.)
• It puts the mouse control into the students’ hands especially when using interactive websites.
• If I’m working with a small group and want to refer to something on our class, maths or literacy wiki I will be able to do that and not lose continuity with the work we’re doing.

But does it do away with the IWB?

I don’t think so – I think students will use the trackpad to manipulate IWB notebooks (as well as interactive websites) but I doubt they’ll be able to write using the trackpad or use the popout keyboard. (I haven’t tested it on my students BUT I can’t write with the trackpad!)

I’m also not sure if it’s compatible with PCs. Sad for PC using teachers but good news for Apple using teachers. I wonder if any other teachers are using the trackpad?

I have a Mimio in my classroom – it works alongside my traditional whiteboard and is on the cheaper end of IWB products. I like it because there’s not a lot for kids to damage (I heard one teacher say at a conference that his kids had to stay at least 1 meter away from their IWB in case they damage it!) and it’s easy to set up and use.

A. Just as long as it takes for the box to be opened, software update to take place and the teacher to connect the device.

This morning one of my parents arrived with a present for our class – an Apple Magic Trackpad! Not to borrow – to keep. This parent is a fellow machead and we often talk about how various devices might be used in the classroom but the gift was still unexpected.

Actually connecting it to my MacBook was easy but I had to do a software update in order to use all the functions (click the tap/click etc). That required a little more time (30 mins once I’d disconnected the data projector cable) but still not too long. Once I had it all connected I tested the distance I could go before losing the bluetooth connection – I didn’t actually find out what that was as it remained connected everywhere in the classroom and even out in the corridor!

Maths was the perfect time to test it out. I stood at the back of the students (who were sitting on the mat) and opened up our class wiki then our maths wiki and went to our probability page. From there I first went to Mr Anker’s Probability page and got the students to pass the mouse around the class as they answered the questions. Then I opened up the BBC Fish Tank activity, zoomed into the activity section and got the students to pass the mouse around again answering questions. This was a little harder as they had to figure out how to scoop the fish into the net and then release it – as expected they figured it out before I did.

Check out this video of it in action.

Next plan will be to test it out using the mimio and maybe some drawing programs.

Setting it up was a piece of cake except for 1 issue of trying to transfer my notes from the iTouch to the iPhone (in the end I sent the notes to my Evernote account). I decided on a clean installation for the iPhone which meant that things like the Notes didn’t transfer. (There’s also nothing like a technology spring clean every now and then to clean all the unwanted/unused stuff off your device whether it be a mobile one or a laptop/desktop computer.)

Camera Function
One thing I’ve been used to doing with my Nokia is taking photos and videos so that was a function I particularly wanted to test. The Nokia has a 2MP camera and the iPhone has a 3MP one.

This is a photo I took yesterday.

And I’ve been experimenting with the video function as well. The first video is shot in portrait orientation and I trimmed it before uploading to YouTube.

The second is shot in landscape orientation with sound (via the headphone/mic) and untrimmed.

Initial impressions -> I’m very happy with the quality of photo/video. I also have a ‘real’ camera but as someone once said the best camera in the world is the one you have with you. I also like the fact that I can upload directly to Flickr or YouTube.

WiFi
The iPhone is integrating seamlessly with my home wifi – using that function rather than the Vodafone network to do all the uploading etc. There is a builtin Usage Meter that gives some helpful and handy information.

Speed
I had lots of fun testing my iTouch and iPhone side by side. There’s a remarkable clarity difference in the screen resolution of the two devices – possibly because the iTouch is older. Apps open much faster on the iPhone which is also great.

I’ll post more as I use the iPhone during the week. Battery life will be interesting (already I can say way better than the iTouch but probably not as good as the Nokia – although I’m using it more than the Nokia because of the different uses.)

To the students from EDM310 who visit – welcome.

Thanks for taking some time to read and comment on my blog. Please feel free to ask me questions about anything you don’t understand – even if it’s why I’ve done something in a particular way. I don’t have all the answers but what I do have is a wide group of people who are my PLN – I communicate with them through blogging, twitter, email, skype etc. Collectively we work together to be the best, most passionate teachers we can be.

I hope your Summer course is one that will be life-changing for you. I look forward to your comments/questions/blog posts.

Perhaps I should explain the ‘dragonsinger’. Many years ago, before the internet was around, I was an active participant on BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and needed to find a nickname. I had been reading the Anne McCaffrey series ‘Dragonriders of Pern‘. Menolly is the main character on the ‘Dragonsinger: Harper of Pern‘ book. She is a woman, singer, musician and teacher. Because I fit all those characteristics I realised that I’d found my online nickname.

Evernote
Evernote is one of my absolute favourite apps around. I have a desktop version and an iTouch version (and when I get around to buying a iPad I’ll have an iPad version too). I also have the paid version of Evernote. I thought I’d post some ways I use Evernote:

• When I travel I keep copies of my travel docs in Evernote –  the new offline sync means that whatever is in a particular folder is automatically synced and available offline.
• I keep confidential notes on Evernote – I have a link to them from my Google Docs planner – but only I can access them via the online/cloud copy of my Evernote account.
• I save tweets to Evernote via the iTouch Seesmic app. They are automatically tagged with my twitter name as well as a number of other tags making them easy to find via Evernote Desktop.
• I can do the same with documents/emails – basically anything that can be printed can be sent to Evernote (I think this is something I set up myself).
• I take photos of all Travel-bugs that come my way – and note what happens to them (this is for Geocaching).
• I take photos of things I don’t want to forget – for instance I took a photo of my printer ink cartridge and saved it – I’m forever forgetting what I should buy and now I don’t need to worry because it’s there in my Evernote.
• And I can’t forget the simple web-clipping that is a standard for Evernote – I can save excerpts or whole pages or links to pages via Evernote’s Chrome extension (or Firefox).
• I can also take notes, record a voice message, use my iSight to take and save a picture straight into Evernote; send a photo from my cell phone directly to Evernote; and even send a note to myself via evernote’s twitter account.

Differentiated Instruction/Learning
I’ve seen a number of blog posts around from educators talking about differentiated learning. Not quite sure why all the fuss because that’s the norm for NZ education and educators. (Well – it’s supposed to be the norm!)  In my class I cater for students with a range of abilities – it’s been part of my teaching since I first started teaching. Maybe it’s not such a big deal for us here because it is a norm and is something taught as part of teacher training.

During one of my trips to the USA I visited some junior classes in a school and was told about their reading programme they were running where students were mixed around different classes so that each teacher was teaching students at the same level – “…because it was too difficult to cater for a large range of reading levels in one class…”.  Reading levels are a little subjective depending on the type of levels that you’re using but if I were to look solely at students reading at their chronological age then you’d find many classrooms where the reading age range could be as little as 2-3 years or as much as 7-8 years (I once had a class where my lowest reader was reading at a 5 yo level and my highest reader was reading at a 13 yo level). The expectation is that we will manage these students – hopefully providing the lower readers extra help depending on funding and resources – and that all readers will show improvement at the end of the school year.

(I’ve used reading as an example because it’s often the one area that is pivotal to all other learning – my higher ability readers tend to also be the ones who are able to do independent research and who learn new skills more rapidly.)

National Standards
NZ educators have been heading into an abyss aka National Standards. It’s been written into law and so schools/teachers are now supposed to be reporting to parents in plain language (huh – what’s going on here – my reports have always been written in plain language and parents have always been able to understand them!) and assessing their students against some (mythical) National Standards. I am very thankful I’m NOT a principal having to steer a school through the piranha infested rapids that is National Standards. The media reports of bully tactics on the part of the Minister of Education (and the first hand reports that I’ve heard from principals) are not doing us any favours either. I’m yet to see any sign of professional development from the MOE – I mean – come on – NCEA teachers had years of PD – how about some real PD for us! And how come the draft Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori (Ngā Whanaketanga) was developed by Māori-medium leaders in te reo matatini (literacy) and pāngarau (numeracy)? And is being trialled!! IF National Standards are to remain then:

• National Standards need to be developed in consultation with teachers (just like the NZ Curriculum was)
• National Standards needs to be trialled (just like Ngā Whanaketanga)
• PD needs to be provided for the implementation of National Standards (just like the PD for NCEA was)

eLearning
I’ve had a rough week – which actually began the week before with me getting a cold that went to my chest & started affecting my voice. I took Monday off and went back to school on Tuesday – didn’t have too much time in the classroom which was very good as my voice was getting worse; went to school on Wednesday and again on Thursday but just couldn’t make Friday. However on top of my not being well our power at school and our school network were also not well! AND to top it off I had a visiting teacher in my room on Thursday who was there to see how I manage my eLearning classroom – something that becomes a little difficult when the power comes back but not the network!!

Which made me think. eLearning classrooms, while they usually involve high use of technology, must also be able to run when there is no tech available!

What was supposed to be happening in literacy time was:

• 3 pairs of students editing stories from St Clairs School in Dunedin in Google Docs
• 3 students editing their own stories in Google Docs
• Others working on some other stories for a competition in their draft books
• 2 students working on an online questionnaire about the book we’re reading as a class
• (the last three rotating during the lesson)
• Other general activities like spelling

What actually happened was:

• 3 pairs of students editing stories on paper (I’d had the forethought of printing out a copy of the stories)
• Others working on their competition stories
• Spelling

Surprisingly we were actually doing some what we should have been doing – but not all. Because I had printed and photocopied the stories for editing we could have done this even with no power (as had happened the previous day). (Things weren’t helped by me not having a voice either!)

I’m thinking of submitting a preso for Ulearn10 about eLearning – but not just a show and tell – also looking at how to choose what you do; what some of the choices are; and what to do when things don’t work type of thing.

Potpourri
I guess that’s the end of my potpourri of thoughts. Feel free to comment on any or all of the subjects.

The next step for me will be an ipad (July? Come on – why are you making us wait??) and possibly even an iPhone (to replace my itouch).

Mobility makes communicating current and relevant.

Something I just discovered when trying to publish this post is the ability to write a local draft and publish when you want (even post dating it). Very nice!

At the beginning of the year I bought myself an ITC Innovative Teacher Planner. It’s quite neat. Every second double set of pages throughout the book has thinking strategies and examples. There’s lots of space in the planner and it’s spiral bound and stays together very nicely.

BUT …

A paper based planner isn’t me. It just doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve persevered with it all through Term One and the first few weeks of Term Two but no more.

This weekend I sat down and used my old Google Docs based blank planner to set up weeks 4-11 of this term and then to plan this week in more detail. I feel happy. I’ve got my hyperlinks where I want them (cut and pasted into my plan) – I’ve linked to my maths weekly intro Google Preso – and I even have some YouTube video links.

Having my planning in this format means that my kids see what I’ve got planned (well – they do this anyway via the class wiki) but that’s ok – there’s no secrets to my planning. If I need to make confidential notes I do them in another place (another online secure tool – Evernote). The beauty of this type of planning is being able to add/cut/copy/paste etc as you go. Why plan my literacy & Maths for Tuesday-Friday until I’ve seen how much actually gets accomplished on Monday? (And actually I set up a weeks work for my kids and they choose the order they work in during the week – all that I set in ’stone’ is reading groups.)

And you know what? I feel at peace with myself. This week I’m happy with my planning – not anxious at all.

This is what’s been missing from my teaching life for the last term.

(If you’re a paper planner type person then check out these planners ‘cos they’re very cool!)

(And for those wondering about access to my plans – I embed them into a daily planner section on my own wiki – that way any of my senior teachers can check them whenever they want/need to.)

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

3. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

4. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before.

5. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

6. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

7. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

8. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

9. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

10. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.

11. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

12. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

13. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

14. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

15. Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

16. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

17. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again.

18. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

19. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy fridge.

20. It’s not the jeans that make your bum look fat.

21. If you had to identify, in 1 word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, & never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings”.

22. There is a very fine line between “hobby ” and “mental illness”.

23. People who want to share their religious views with you never want you to share yours with them.

24. You should not confuse your career with your life.

25. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

26. Never lick a steak knife.

27. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

28. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers and have a sense of humour

29. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

My personal tribute to ANZAC Day

I was browsing through some blog entries tagged “mum” on my old livejournal blog and came across a post entitled “Lessons I learned from my mother” so I thought I’d repost them here.

• You’re never too old to do something new
• Always try to do the thing or things you’re passionate about
• Don’t give up just because things seem impossible
• You don’t have to be young or a male to influence other people
• People aren’t important because of possessions or money, they’re important because they’re people
• Music is a universal language – you don’t have to understand the words to feel the emotion
• You don’t have to stop working just because the government says it’s time for you to stop
• Even if you can’t travel you don’t have to remain ignorant of other peoples and cultures
• You can’t judge something you have no experience of
• Rules made by men are not necessarily the same as what God would say
• You’re never too old to be a rebel

I am the product of two people who shared their passions with their children. There’s so much that is “me” that I can trace back to my parents. The sci-fi geek me comes from dad; the passionate reader me comes from mum and dad; the music loving me comes from mum and dad; the passion for teaching comes from mum. I would not be the person I am today without the influence of my parents.

Thanks.