Assignment 2 - started finally

Lots of people have been having lots of questions about Assignment 2. I'll be honest, I haven't done a lot of thinking about it yet - unfortunately other things have had to take priority - i.e. Learnlink. As I am also the IT coordinator, I have had a huge part to play in the transition from EduConnect to Learnlink in our school. After having to manually install IE8 on at least 85 computers with our part time techie (wouldn't install through group policy!) on Wednesday, we transitioned to the new system on Thursday. What this will mean and the troubleshooting it will involve will only begin coming to light on Monday when everyone goes to use it!!! The techie isn't back until Wednesday so you know  who they'll be asking! Fun!!

Anyway, I started to feel worried that I hadn't done much towards my assignment and so I have had a bit of a play in WikiSpaces and Weebly. I must say that, like others, I have found Weebly a little easier to play around with and modify and so I think I'll be going with that one. I have been looking to create it as more of a library online site and so will need to do some more playing to see if I can get it to work and still fulfill the requirements for the assignment. Tomorrow's job after doing last week's and hopefully this week's forum posts.

The information process

Thought I better do a post so I have pasted my activities from the week. I must say the NSW and WA websites that support TLs are great - nice to see TLs being supported in other states! 

Activity 1a: This may or may not be relevant but in SA, Year 7s are still in Primary School. No matter the age, I nearly always get students to brainstorm prior knowledge, ideas/questions for inquiry – individually, in pairs, small groups or as a class. With older classes I often get students to think, pair, share and then record key ideas on post it notes. Then they get into groups of 4 to combine ideas and group them etc. I use post-its because I find kids are more likely to record all their ideas and not feel as worried about spelling as it isn’t in their books. Also, it allows for easy movement and regrouping as they discuss their ideas with others. I generally take a photo of their work that they can put in their books as a record.

In terms of teaching them, early in the year I do a whole class brainstorm – either with post-its or recording ideas on the interactive whiteboard using Easiteach. (I have just been given a new board and now have Notebook but haven’t really played with it yet.) Once we have a whole list of ideas or words, we then go about grouping them – connecting ideas and creating sub-groups with headings. We also end up with lines joining similar or linked concepts.

I know that there are a lot of ways you can do this on computers but with our unreliable and frustrating computer situation at the moment, it is far more time-efficient and productive to either do a class concept map on the interactive whiteboard or use the post-its.

Activity 1b: Creating the questions prior to searching gives students direction in terms of the kinds of information for which they are searching. Experience has shown me that without questions, they just start to record everything. I think the questions or headings are important as they provide the map or directions for the search. Also, I get students to identify key words and then synonyms they are scanning for. Eg. eat, food, diet may be words that you look for to find out about what something eats.

When creating questions, I always involve students, no matter the age. Even JP kids have ideas about what they would like to find out about a topic. I then use their language and ideas within the questions that are required. Sneaky but it helps students to feel they have some say and control over what they are learning.

One way I try to teach students to create good questions is through discussing and modelling fat and skinny questions. I also limit the number of questions and so they need to gather as much relevant information as possible from each question. I also focus on the question words Who, What, When, Where, Why and How and also often start with the phrase I wonder . . .  This seems to help students to create questions rather than statements. We also do a lot of sharing and one group of Year 7s this year are really beginning to give advice to and support each other.

Activity 2: I haven’t really explicitly taught students about creating a search strategy. I guess in very general terms, I try to touch-base with students/pairs regularly to check where they are at, gaps in their information etc. This is definitely something that I will be looking to incorporate more next year - starting with the upper primary classes. At the moment I tend to give students at least 3 websites to start.

Activity 3: I have used hoax sites to identify the need to critically analyse the authenticity of a website. Earlier this year I used the Explorers one. I also expect students to record information from a variety of sources and so they have to cross-check their information. I also deconstruct at least 3 websites on the same topic - discuss pros cons, etc and then have ranking lines for most useful, least useful. Students have to justify their which always sparks a fierce discussion between students. I generally just prompt or guide the discussion. Very interesting and informative to see the weight students place on the appearance, amount of text, images etc as this guides me in how to support student learning. I also regularly model and talk out loud my thought processes when assessing a websites.

Activity 4: I have found that the range of ability for students to reflect on their learning and transfer to new situations is huge. It is an area that I think sometimes gets forgotten as we tend to finish the learning and then move onto the next thing. In saying that though, I have more recently been doing more short term inquiries – 1-2 sessions – and then noting and recording key learning both after that session and then again before the next one.  Still something I need to work on though.

Web 2.0

While I think there is great potential in Web 2.0 tools, issues with school computer infrastructure and filtering systems will need to be addressed before schools can truly explore these.

I also think it is crucial to keep in mind that like any resource, a web 2.0 is a tool and so its use has to be purposeful - it needs to be the best tool for the job. I am not into using technology for the sake of being able to say that you're using it.

Over the next few weeks, I am planning to explore edublogs and seedwiki to see if these better suit my needs - I obviously use blogger and have tried wikispaces without a complete success. I am not a big blogger and I feel it is not really my thing. I feel very disconnectd and miss the connection with and feedback from others (though I completely acknowledge that I am at fault here!) Also, I don't really think I have anything that important or exciting to share!!

As for some of the other tools, at the moment I am holding off to see what the new education department system/portal will have to offer. We are required to use it so it seems to me that it makes good sense to try to use it if it can do what I want.

One question that I have that is is a bit out there is whether some aspects of technology, is enabling people to disconnect with others - example of this is the many occasions when I have seen people 'doing lunch' but seems to spend most of their time not talking but mucking around on their phones or iPads. I am not anti these tools, not in the slightest, but maybe something to think about!

Effective Search Strategies

I hate to say it but Google has been more reliable in finding relevant sites.
I must admit that Google has allowed me to become a bit lazy when searching - I get hits even when I don't deserve to. While I am not really comfortable with Google developing a profile on the types of things I search, it does mean that I am more likely to get hits - sites appropriate for teaching and students.

One problem that we are currently having at work is that there seems to be a conflict with Google and our school filtering system (other schools are having the same problem) - we randomly get Error 403 or 404 when using Google or trying to open links off Google. Very frustrating!! This does open the door to other search engines though.

I had to do a similar activity when I did a Web2.0 online course last year. Here is the link if you are interested in what I found then.
http://sakepuss.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/week-8-syndicated-search.html

Website Evaluation

I have used Schrock’s 5Ws (modified to suit my students) with Year 4/5/6/7 students at school. It was a real eye-opener for me to realise that students just don’t even think to check whether a website is relevant. I think what made me start teaching website evaluation was when, many years ago when I was doing a unit on Australian artists, a bright Year 7 boy found a website on his artist Tom Roberts and diligently started to take notes from it. He didn’t even notice that it was a genealogy website for a different Roberts family and that this Tom Roberts was born much more recently. Amazing!

One way that I have highlighted the importance of website evaluation and cross-checking information this year was with the site http://allaboutexplorers.com/about/

This website has been created by teachers and has questions on different explorers and two information sources for each – with information than doesn’t match. It also has three reading levels which was a plus. I tried using it in a few different ways but the I found the best was when I had one pair using one site, and another pair using the other. The pairs then had to come together to write their answers. I thought one group was going to have a complete meltdown before I told them I had been designed that way on purpose. A very useful activity, but I won’t be able to use it again for a few years.

Another aspect of website evaluation I think it is also important to note is that not all teachers can confidently evaluate websites. I am finding that when I go through website evaluation strategies, processes with students, I often have teachers commenting that they hadn't thought to look at websites in that way. That's not to say that I am an expert - definitely a learner as well. I guess I find it interesting that teachers, who so carefully select print texts, don't evaluate digital texts in the same way.

Print and Electronic Resources

I have been a bit slack for this week's blog as I have just copied my summary from the forum.

Activity 1
* I think of reference material as non-borrowable materials that can be consulted or referred to but not borrowed - always available
* Digital resources - dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopedias that library owns or subscribes to could be included because they also loosely fit this definition - can't be borrowed and readily accessed

Activity 2
Wikipedia - I don't encourage use but know students will use it. I suggest to always check author and only record information seen in more than one place. Can be useful in giving general overview and help students identify key words for other searches.

Activity 3
Print-based dictionaries should be available
* access to digital resources in schools is often problematic
* often quicker to access print form
* easier to cater for range of abilities

ONELOOK Dictionary -
* wouldn't really use the specialised dictionaries - many links I tried were broken.
* general ones were better and could use these. Particularly liked Rhyme Zone.

Activity 4
Atlas -
Not much luck finding Australian.
* I liked www.factmonster.com/atlas - clear, informative but unfortunately ads
* google maps is also good as it is interactive but not sure it will get past our current DECD filtering system.

Biographies - More luck finding Australian sites. I wouldn't usually use a biography site though - would generally just do a search in a search engine.
* www.peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au has very detailed but think you must have to be dead first!
* www.australianbiography.gov.au - Excellent site if interested in the particular people listed.

Resource Provision Notes

Or maybe not later today!

Resource Provision: Thoughts on Week 1 activities

I believe I very much have a constructivist approach in my teaching. This is because I always do some kind of assessment before beginning new learning.  A pre-test, initial brainstorm, concept web are just a couple of ways I might use to find out what students know about a topic before I start.  From there, I then plan – with student input – a possible pathway for the learning so that students are able to develop the desired learning outcomes.

I like Bloom’s Taxonomy and often refer to it when I am planning. I found the list provided a little heavy and thought that there would be little chance of me successfully covering all questions.

 How do I plan?  

As I tend to teach inquiry-based units, I generally have an essential question or activity and then develop ways for students to build the background knowledge required for them to successfully complete the task or answer the question.

In terms of resourcing the learning, where possible I find a mix of print materials and digital materials, though I am finding that I am using images a lot more in my teaching. One example, with an Australian animal unit I co-taught earlier in the year to Yr1/2s:

          1. We looked at an image of the animal and identified features, particularly those that were unique.

          2. We brainstormed reasons why they might have those features, why they were important or useful.

          3. Only then did we start to look in text to see if it supported our ideas or gave other reasons.

The teachers commented how much more the students retained from their learning by approaching it in this way, so I think images are a powerful way to start.