Catch the Wave

Here are some photos I took on the way from my motel to the main conference venue. (See post below.) It was the last morning (after the conference dinner the night before!!) and I was on my way to my first ‘unconference’. I had been asked to contribute to a session on ‘effective cluster/school management of the ICT contract’. Four of us attended (all facilitators) and although we swapped a few ideas the session didn’t turn out as I had imagined it would … there was no-one who was really there to learn. Perhaps everybody knows the answers already (or think they do!) Another possibility is that because there were so many unconference sessions there was no-one left to come to ours. The other possibility is that many delegates were sleeping in after socialising the night before. So I’ve yet to find out what a successful unconference session is like.

Web 2.0 tools are fantastic, however on one of my pen drives I have a folder called ‘Software’ which contains the setup files of the PC freeware I think a teacher needs on his/her laptop and might not have. The list is pretty basic, but I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve used it. In the folder are:

Audacity An easy to use sound recorder which is so useful in the classroom.
Lame 3.97 Enables the export as MP3 function in Audacity. (Without Lame you can only export as a .wav)
uLead Gif Animator Makes a series of graphic files into one .Gif file. This version dates back to when it was freeware.
Image Resizer Powertoy A useful Windows add-on.
JPG4 Email This resizes photos in bulk. Great for adding photos to your blog.
Photo Filtre The free version. You can create some neat effects using the filters.
Umajin Creative You can blue screen and save as a .jpg using the trial version.
Picasa3 Try out the collage function.
Photo Story 3 A freebie and a goodie.
Switch Converts sound files in bulk e.g. wma to MP3.
Tux Paint A neat little drawing program for junior students.

Some of these are available on my website - the others you’ll track down easily on the Internet using Google.

Elements of good photography

• Varying the angle – taking photos from up high, down low, through something

• Having elements of people, line, colour and light
• The thirds rule. The viewers eyes are drawn to where lines intersect, so the main subject(s) of the photo should be on one of these spots – (not in the middle!)

• Using the Macro Function for close-up focus

Student Activity

Take photos which show elements of:

• Line

• Colour

• People

• Light

• Looking up

• Looking down

• Looking through (frame the shot)

• Macro function (close up of something)

• Make a folder in My Pictures

• Download your photos

• Share with the class as a slide show explaining the elements in your photos

• Using your new photography skills, take photos to support learning or to record class events

Make a PowerPoint or Photo Story compilation of your students’ best photos and share it at school assembly

This is a very engaging way of teaching your students (or your own children) multiplication facts … and you might even enjoy playing it yourself!
To escape from the castle dungeon your avatar must explore rooms and corridors, find hidden doors and overcome monsters. And knowing multiplication facts is the key to success! To get playing, download the software programme from the Big Brainz website. The 2 – 12 times game is free, however you can purchase the full version. The website has a video tutorial telling you everything you need to know. Trust me, this game will be an instant hit with your kids!

Schools are interesting places – and I should know. During the last 7 years I’ve worked in twenty one of them in my job as an ICT Facilitator. At the moment I’m writing feedback/feedforward reports for the six schools I’m currently working with and this has led to a great deal of thinking. (It’s also made me look for a diversion – like writing a blog post!)

Perhaps the most successful schools are those where the leadership knows that their school is a business. Their product is the promotion of and achievement in 21st century teaching and learning. They know that the success of their business depends on having a dynamic vision, good planning and clear organisation. They know to employ the right people. They manage the finances well, budgeting the right amounts in the right areas. They develop a good team spirit making the employees feel skilled and valued. These leaders are aware of the need to ‘move with the times’ and continually research and seek advice to keep the business relevant and up-to date. They know that new learning is the key to future success. However, being a continual learner can be a difficult thing to master, even for leaders in education.

I’m rapt to have the opportunity to nominate a blog for The 2008 Edublog Awards. As an ICT Facilitator, my job is to work with teachers and provide professional learning in ICTs and teaching & learning. So I’m often asked to help set up blogs and to show teachers how to use widgets and other web 2.0 tools. It’s a big help to have a good blog to share … one which contains lots of neat ideas to really engage learners. Stephen Baker’s class blog is my favourite for this – so when it came to nominating a blog for the awards, the choice was easy!

My nomination is:
Best Class Blog: Stephen Baker ‘Room 5 @ Work’

Recently I attended the uLearn Education Conference in Christchurch, which is a very beautiful city in the South Island of New Zealand. I took this photo from my hotel window.

The theme of the conference was 21st century technologies and how they allow us to voice our opinion, to make a difference, to connect, collaborate, network and learn. ‘The opportunities go far beyond the simple ability to publish to the web, far beyond the simple use of tools. They revolve around connecting, forming groups, creating personal classrooms and networks.’ (Will Richardson)

Here’s something to have fun with! I made this poster online using ‘Wordle’ www.wordle.net The number of times you write a word dictates its size in relation to the other words – however the word will only appear once.

To save it as a .jpg I took a screen shot (using the PRTSC key), pasted it into Photo Filtre and then cropped and saved it. Make sure you change the file type to .jpg

Sandy and her Year 5 and 6 students at Ohope Beach School have made this Habits of Mind Poster on a display board in their classroom. This is next to the mat for handy reference and reminders. Its a great way for students to learn about the Habits of Mind and how they weave together to form a set of successful learning and living behaviours.
Do you like this idea? Use it yourself!

Zoho Creator is one of the ‘Zoho Work Online’ applications and it really is fantastic! It’s an online data base and form creator and is so useful for easy data collection. If you need to collect any sort of information from your principals and teachers, why not walk the talk by using the Internet and online resources to do this? Zoho Creator has many uses and the extra bonus is that teachers are developing ICT confidence and skills at the same time.

Recently, in preparation for a cluster trip to Palmerston North, I added a trip registration form to the eBest ICT cluster website for the teachers who were going to add their details. I alerted the ICT Lead Teachers to this form by email. The first photo shows the form and the second is a part of the spreadsheet of collected data. I then exported it into Excel. It worked perfectly and saved me a lot of time. And no, I didn’t lose anything! Click on the graphics for a bigger view.

Zoho Creator is easy to use and free. (It has been so far!) You simply drag and drop the fields you require from the selection (see below) and add your questions or choices. The result looks really professional and has many uses for principals, teachers and students. Try it out.