Annyeonghaseyo Staff
Headlining this weeks BWB is the local screening of ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ this Thursday, 22 October, 6.45-9.00 at Mt Maunganui College Hall. According to it’s promotional material this “EDUCATION DOCUMENTARY, officially recognised at top film festivals, investigates the challenges and possibilities for preparing young people to succeed in today’s innovative world.
Why this film is a MUST see:
-Directed by acclaimed documentarian Greg Whiteley and named among “the best edu-documentaries ever produced” by Education Week.
-Its artistic quality is extraordinary, and the story it tells will hold your attention.
-It points to the critical issues affecting education today and conveys the urgency for moving our schools into the 21st century… but in an inspiring way.
-It poses questions rather than attempts to shove a point of view down your throat so you will be inspired about future possibilities.”
Wow – what a preamble.
Anneyeonghi gaseyo
Andrew
Google +: http://goo.gl/EwwPef PL website: http://goo.gl/qB0Uve
From the TBC PL Google+ Community
Monitoring student use of devices in the classroom
Is monitoring student use of devices an issue in your class? From time to time when I suspect a student is off task I ask to see their browser history – this can reveal a pattern of a student not being focused on a set task. Another way is how you physically set up your class – an easy solution is to have the teacher desk at the back (like R24 & R25) with the student screens easily visible. Also, just wandering around the class can help you monitor what students are doing (although they do have some cunning tricks of quickly switching before you arrive). As a school do we need to investigate tools like Linewize? This product offers a way to make it easy to monitor student use (check out the demo video). Is this a solution to a problem we don’t have or do you think it is worth investigating further? Let me know.
Modern Learning Environments
A recent article titled ‘Top Schools give multi-million dollar classrooms a fail grade‘ set the NZ educational twittershere a buzz with tweets for and against. I think the classroom environment does have an effect on learning – for example at one extreme we wouldn’t teach in a class room with defaced desks, bland walls and broken chairs (and you can also ask the techie’s how they are enjoying teaching in their new block). Also, if you are teaching from the front then a rectangular classroom with individuals desks is fine. But if the focus is only on the types of furniture and layout of the physical space then that takes away from the focus on the learning. Just like how technology and devices are an enabler of learning, not a driver – I think there is some validity in being critical about the implementation of MLE’s. Having said that, in my experience with the Inquiry class, having aspects of MLE (different level’s of furniture, flexible table arrangements, break out spaces) does enhance the learning. I’m interested in other perspectives – what do you think?
Tips, Tricks and Traps
Google Drive templates 
Another great feature of Google Drive is the template gallery. In a Google Apps for Education environment, you can choose to share any of your Drive creations (from the core apps) as templates within your own domain only or share them with the whole world. Check out this link for some examples for schools:
Make YouTube clips interactive with EDPuzzle
I had heard about this tool before and have taken the plunge and made a short Youtube electricity video into a quick formative assessment for my Y10 science class. Super easy way to ‘flip’ a classroom and the students found it useful. Find out more at the EDPuzzle blog or have a go at this basic EDPuzzle about polygons to get a sense of what it looks like for students.
More tips and resources @ TBC PL Website
Things that make you go hmmmm….
Breaking Traditional Moulds – Sam Sherratt – YouTube
This is a short 6 minute video that gives food for thought about the ways modern schools are structured.
