Saturday ….
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So, it’s been 2 days, and I’ve already failed my self-imposed “blog every day” mission. Quite frankly, I’m not surprised – I don’t know what I was thinking!! But I’m back today. It’s been a quiet Saturday at home. After some early morning mum’s taxi duties, taking my son to rehearsals for a school show, and my daughter to gymnastics, I’m been pretty much neglecting all other parental/ domestic duties today. Washing? Sorry, can’t do it, I need to find some CC pics for my wiki page. Vacuuming? Wish I could, but I’m looking for the most user-friendly (read: easy for me to set up without ruining anything!!) platform for my discussion group to use on monday. Eating? Why yes, pass the freddo frog!!
So, the scourge all all procrastinators has hit me today. Twitter is failing to play nice, both on my DER laptop and my beloved iPhone. My first attempt at creating a google doc has disappeeared into the ether somewhere (or the cloud, as the case may be). And I’ve realised that my way or organising my links? Yeah, it’s not really working for me. I can’t find anything I want.
So, I’m resorting to blogging, on the premise that at least while I’m typing something I’m feeling marginally productive. In the hope that someone other than me, and possibly Damian, will read this, I’m putting a call out for your ideas.
Digital devices in the English classroom. What works? What doesn’t? What don’t we know about, because no-one has tried it yet? If you could choose ONE thing you’d like to try in your classroom, but aren’t sure how, what would that be? I’m looking for the answers to questions I don’t know yet. Help a sister out!!
K, off to make a coffee, harrass another freddo (don’t you love fundraising chocolate boxes????) and try twitter again. If nothing else, today has shown my how much a part of my working life that little blue bird has become!!
Take care,
Tamara
I’m HSIE, not English, but I’ve been really excited to see our new HT English encourage her students (especially reluctant or struggling readers) to download (free!) audio books to listen to while they follow along with their hard-copy of a classic novel. I think it’s a great way for kids to get their “ear” in to the language of some authors (I rememeber struggling to get into the rhythm of Austen when I was in year 11), not to mention helping kids who need it with written language that might be otherwise too confronting to tackle.
That’s a great idea!!! I did have a student recently tell me they got an audio file of Taming of the Shrew which helped her – I was a little ashamed I hadn’t thought of itmyself, but very proud of her for sharing it with the rest of the class.
I reckon that’s the beauty of the 1:1 shift, though… No longer are we teachers the Keeper of All Knowledge – it’s ok for us to not have all the answers. The digital revolution has given us more opportunity to learn from our PLN – and that includes the kids!
Yep – just read a tweet which said “It gets a whole lot easier when you realise that school is a place for educators as much as for students” …. plus, the idea that I’m supposed to know everything at the front of the room freaks me out a bit!!
Hi Tamara,
Understand your issues with blogging resolve… much easier to procrastinate! Also understand the “What housework?” thinking too!
As to your request… I’ve had a question for a while now and am no closer to a resolution. Not being an English teacher I was dumbstruck when a student last year asked me for help in her desire to “write a book before my 13th birthday”-quest! Got me thinking about how young students with such passion could be encouraged in their writing? and how the connectivity that provides an audience, should also provide some sort of mentoring/learning solution! She is a student at a DEC high school and it concerns me that a child with such a goal can’t find a mentor to help her in her journey. My support is encouragement and reading – and already her work is beyond me! Now I know this is probably outside the parameters of what you are looking for, but there must be a way to connect G&T students with a love of writing, across different school campuses, so that they can be helped by someone with expertise to pursue their passion for the written word… shouldn’t there?
That’s an interesting one Deb- I’ve got students working on fan fiction, and creating their own novels for e-publication. I’ll ask people in my discussion group on Monday- they might have some other bright ideas!
I can hear you re the scourge. Having creativity block atm too so I went and cooked 🙂 And so to English 1:1 – at first I thought things like helping with drafting/editing and feedback, (micro)blogging, a debate about 140chars and the “new grammar” 😉 and then I thought about the possibilities DER must allow for exploring all the various types of literacies? And then I realised you had me thinking on stuff outside my domain and how it had unblocked my thought process. Maybe use the reverse key – what advice would you offer to me about 1:1 Maths classrooms and it might start the flow … Anyhows, off to make dessert while I think thru my pecha kucha – Thanks!
That’s a good idea actually … some of my best “English” brainstorms have come from conversations with Maths colleagues. What’s for dessert?
Mains – spag bol and ging/hon/soy beef. Desserts – jelly and cupcakes. i also hit on 2 ideas – one crazy and the other not so crazy for my pechakucha. Now #pumped and #rockin along … Hope it went as #awesome for you … See ya Monday!
#uggies and #flannie ready
Hi Tamara … I’m thinking the same thing as I have to lead the 1:1 in the Language Classroom … Iam STILL YET to make my wiki too BUT have lots of ideas – IF I get to actually stop procarstinating and DO it!!! I was going to make my own wiki for our discussion and ADD all the things that I use eg. for speaking and listening, writing, online games (with links and examples so that people could see that .. BUT wasn’t quite sure how to COLLABORATE online ?? – make EDMOD group, use wallwisher, I never used google docs!!!.. still thinking…. GOOD luck with yours!!!
I’m still getting my head around the collaborating online thing too – going to try google docs because we used them pretty successfully at Inspire11 conference earlier in the year.
Hi, I’ve been trying lots of different things with varying degrees of success. We’re just starting a literature unit of work that involves lots of mini MI and HOTS projects. Students produce 5 (out of 20) products from Glog book covers to edmodo trailers which they embed in their wikis. Reflections done through forum posts at the end of each lesson ( on their wiki). Recent fail = using dipity for time lines and having inappropriate ads come up and difficult sharing options. You’ve got to give it a go at least once though. ( ;
Wow, you sound like you should be running a session! It just struck me how much our language about teaching has changed – read over your 2nd and 3rd sentences, and imagine a teacher even 5 years ago trying to figure out what you were talking about! Thanks for the feedback and info – I’ve had issues with dodgy ads coming up too!