This wiki by Anne Davis has an extensive collection of resources, ideas, examples and software for blogging in the classroom. Worth taking half an hour or so to have a good look through this.
There are lots of good ideas here!
http://adavis.pbwiki.com/

Thanks Tessa for this!

“This is fabulous free software to support teaching and learning.
It is so simple to set up a survey, and allows intelligent gathering, analysing and exporting of data.
It is easy to see how Survey Monkey can enhance the conditions of value in teaching and learning when ???students are researchers???
The software allows you to:
Design Survey Using just your web browser, create your survey with our intuitive survey editor. Select from over a dozen types of questions (single choice, multiple choice, rating scales, drop-down menus, and more…). Powerful options allow you to require answers to any question, control the flow with custom skip logic, and even randomize answer choices to eliminate bias. In addition, you have complete control over the colors and layout of your survey.
Collect Responses Tired of shuffling papers or poring over email responses? Simply cut and paste a link to your survey that you can post or print anywhere. Use our popup invitation generator to maximize your response rate, or use our automated email notification and list management tool to track your respondents. Collecting meaningful information has never been easier!
Analyze Results View your results as they are collected in real-time. Watch live graphs and charts, and then dig down to get individual responses. Securely share your survey results with others. Powerful filtering allows you to display only the responses you’re interested in. If you’re a statistics nut, you can even download the raw data into Excel or SPSS.
Cost A basic subscription is totally free and includes all of the basic features of SurveyMonkey. It’s a great option for individuals, students, and anyone who doesn’t need the advanced features of SurveyMonkey. Unlike other services, there are no annoying banner ads on your surveys. In addition, all of your survey responses remain absolutely private. Please note that basic subscribers are limited to a total of 10 questions and 100 responses per survey.”

The big news of the past week for me has been that I have been successful in winning the position of Principal at Outram school in Dunedin. This will begin just after I finish with CORE at the end of January.
A very exciting move for me, to a much bigger school and one that has already “well down the track” with the kinds of things we are focusing on in the ICT PD programme.
The drive is quite a bit further, but only about 5 minutes longer in traveling time. They have been doing a lot of development work over the past year or three having been in a network review as well so there are new buildings and spaces galore. Very exciting!!

This is a REALLY handy tool for anyone who uses html code or particularly blogs. To use it you simply copy the text you want to format > click on the ‘B’ that the software puts on your top toolbar > choose the operation you want to perform > and then paste into wherever you need it.
Simple and very cool for those of us like me who can never remember how to get html to work!
You can add in technorati tags (etc) as well too …. YAY
should save a lot of time ….

http://www.dejal.com/blogassist/

I use iChat all the time and if you have a PC getting an AIM account means you can readily chat with someone with an iChat account on their Mac. I am sure there are other options but this one works well.

http://info.aol.co.uk/aim/

On Thursday last week we had a great hour long audio conference with the facilitators from the South Island. Some great ideas and sharing of resources. A big thanks to everyone who phoned in …. and for the ones who couldn’t make it remember there is the Writeboard we have used for minutes.
e-Mail me if you need the details again.
I would be interested to know what people think about podcasting the next one and using my blog to post show notes with links etc to things we discuss. Please leave comments with your thoughts on this one.
thanks
Greg

These are my notes from the second day of Jeni?s two day seminar in Balclutha hosted by the Big River Cluster. Taken ?on the fly? during the sessions today so please excuse any formatting and spelling errors. Italix are my thoughts and ideas ….

The Five Whys:

focusing on one aspect of what the person says to ask a ?why? question about. Eliciting a further response to clarify what the person is saying. this fits well with the questioning stuff that we were hearing about the other day ?. the why questions focus on the speaker and the speaker has control over the direction of the conversation. A good strategy to find out the depth and bredth of what kids (or anyone!) knows.

• leaving responses at the first one is not functioning at the same depth as probing further.

whole class discussions not as effective at engaging people as 1:1 or smaller groups

as you ask more ?why?? questions they get skinnier and more refined/specific

the questions are tending to be content focused and not at all social

this strategy forces the listener to ACTIVELY listen.

observer a valuable role to have as well.

We need to ask ourselves ?what sort of thinking do we want?? and use the answer to this to determine what tools and skills we focus on in our planning and consequently what we do in the classroom.

• so what does an effective thinker look like? What are their characteristics?
• important to give the chidlren the language to describe, explain, be metacognitive. Language helps you to think! this fits well with HPP stuff and research with early literacy skills ? for most people language is HOW we are thinkers, not just an aid to it.

Broad categories of thinking:
1. Reflective/Metacognitive (questioning, connecting, identifying, challenging)
2. Creative (dreaming, imagining, visualizing, generating)
3. Critical/Logical (sequence, compare/contrast, reasoning, prioritizing, analyzing, evaluating) - easiest to assess etc, highest valued in schooling!

Reflection:
* involves a lot of different things and aspects and CAN lead to goal setting.

Metacognition:

definition: ??. an individuals awareness of their evaluation of and their ability to regulate their own thinking.? Flavel ? focuses on task, strategy and person variables.
• impt to note that metacognition is about the self ? you cannot be metacognitive about someone else!
• can be used ? for good or evil?
• awareness, evaluative and regulatory aspects of metacognition impt to be aware of
• tracking someone elses thinking is reflection NOT metacognition children need to be at the cognitive developmental stage where they are ready to be an observer of themselves and their own thinking. Younger children may not be ready for this and there is a challenge here for teachers of younger children ?.
• Ron Ritchhart(2002) ? intellectual dispositions. Difference between abilities and actions. Handout has list in childrens language ? being ?precise and systematic?, ?open-minded and curious?, and ?reflective and metacognitive? has draft of sheets to share with children ? be good to follow-up when published!
• changing the words from adult language can sometimes loose the meaning. Think about using the correct terminology!
• activity ? using physical objects as anologies for how the kids are thinking. ?my thinking is like a ?. because ??

  Questioning:

• ref handout/s
• Blooms has gaps! ? affective? Justifying a position? etc ?
• open questions and various other types types - all ned to be born in mind. Teachers need to have knowledge of them!
• the way we question has a direct effect on student participation and thinking. Eg asking children to give examples to satisfy a criteria rather than simply providing a ?definition? of a criteria as a task ? promotes deeper thinking and engagement. Links well to Inquiry!
• children HAVE to feel they are capable of achieving success - essential influence of engagement and motivation
• kids have to be able to make links between their prior knowledge and outcomes/learning
• question cubes as eg of possible activity ? marked difference between throwing both or one at a time in terms of the sophistication of the response required.
• reflection cards - these would be good to have as part of the ?key-kit? for each class.


Examples of activities:
? ‘Lotus diagram’
? ?and the answer is?? Getting gps of people to formulate the best possible question to get the whole class to give a specific answer.
? Traffic light reflection tool? ?one thing you would stop doing, start doing, slow down and think about some more ?? This would be a good technique to use with adults as well as kids … for workshops?

What an amazing facilitator! This is one of the best teacher development sessions I have been to, certainly focusing on thinking. We looked at the theory in detail as well as lots of practical ideas and activities. Well paced and yet very (suitably) challenging at times. The learning goals have been clear and we have been moved systematically towards them in small steps. A very high level of engagement in the group too.
Lots of strategies modeled; with effective facilitation strategies as well.
I found the day really very useful ? especially the clarity for me around what exactly metacognition is and how we can promote and stimulate it in the classroom. I liked the ways Jeni kept things simple and managable, and yet there was a tremendous amount of content

The following are the notes I made at a workshop this week with Jan Robertson on ?Coaching and Mentoring? as part of the Lead Teacher/Principal development programme of the Tai o Rapuwai Cluster in Dunedin. My notes and ideas are in italix. This has lost the formatting a bit - sorry

Introduction:
? Convergence of devices ? teachers don?t have all the knowledge any more. Also relates to David Warlicks concept of Flat Classrooms from his blog! Teacher not the centre of the knowledge or the relationships in the classroom
? Coaching/mentoring/etc ? concepts and words interchangeable depending on the context. Eg in US
? ?Critical Friend? ? reflect on what you model for those around you ?.
? Efficacy ? belief you can make a difference. needs to be modelled too!
? Agency ? ability to do it.

? Coaching = support + challenge (and need both). Takes commitment over time.
o Focus is on learning and achievement ? need to strongly focus on this. Difficult to maintain this focus with the reality of the day-to-day.
o Book has activities to follow up on. be interesting to see how this compares to the PLOT model. Sounds like there are big overlaps.
o Not all about providing answers as much as asking questions. Builds confidence and competence in others. Enabling people to find the answers for themselves. Ownership and responsibility of both problems and solutions.
o Probing into the why as much as the what. Not just about the summative but also about the process.
o INET ? international network of educational transformation. Promoting the sharing of the ?pockets of brilliance? in schools.
o Children as holders of the knowledge. Sharing the learning process WITH children. Parallels with adult learning ? she is podcasting her lectures would be good to find them and see what she has to say!
o Trust ? is measured by the level of control that is exerted over the learner/?mentee?. Build capacity of those who are on-board and the others will follow ????? really???? This is an ideal picture and success story. Some schools have the well-poisoners and those not willing to change.
o Vertical and horizontal levels of trust.
o ?Using ICT effectively changes the way you work?
o Responsibility and awareness are critical. Coaching promotes this awareness. Change happens one step at a time. Need to have faith in the ability of others to succeed. very positive view of improvement and capacity of others ? great to see!
o Sensitivity and honouring people at the personal and professional level. Celebrating diversity. Important to care about people it would be hoped that people in education are caring ?
o Lifelong learning and constancy of change. Jukes and Prensky stuff. Also focusing on the concept of a community of practice. Important to model the behaviour/attitudes/etc you are looking for.
o Reflective Q - What sort of climate/leadership do you create around yourself as a leader? As a teacher? What do you need to develop? What has challenged you? How do you get effective, evaluative feedback?

? Key aspects of the Coaching model:
o Active listening
o Reflective interviewing
o Self-assessment
o Goal setting

? Important questions to focus on for teachers
o This is what I believe?.
o This is why?.
o This is the impact it will have on children and learning?.

? Effective questioning is built on effective listening.
o Levels of questioning ? clarifying, purposes, educational platform/goal
(why ?.., what ?.., etc?.)
o Linking to vision and educational philosophy

? ?Possibilising? important ? opening peoples eyes to the possibilities.
? Ownership and power changes in this model. Decreases dependency.
? Teasing out key words for more explanation ?.. as part of the coaching session.
? Goal Setting:
o GROW = Goal setting, Reality setting, Options exploring, Wrapping up. ? refer handout!
o SMART = Specific, Measured, Achievable, Relevant, Timed

This has been an interesting day. I must admit though that I am struggling with coaching as a model for professional IMPROVEMENT ? I would see it more as a vehicle for REFINING SKILLS a person already has. ?You don?t know what you don?t know?. I am not sure how a person can be coached to find their own solutions and pathways if they don?t know what the possibilities actually are or what best practice could be.
However in conjunction with other strategies enabling the ?coach? to feed in ideas and provide quality feedback, point the person in the direction of their next leaning step, question to extend thinking and so on, it is a valuable part of the toolkit for any professional leader.
For me it reinforced the concept that Joan Dalton and David Anderson (PLOT PD) talk about as the difference between ?listening to listen? and listening to talk?. It is surprisingly difficult to simply listen to someone sharing their thoughts etc without offering any thoughts of my own for even the 2 minutes we did as part of this exercise. As educators we are great talkers aren?t we!
The challenge is to listen more and ask the ?right? questions to prompt and extend the thinking of the person I am listening to rather than feel the need to provide them with any solutions at all. That?s my challenge anyway ?.

From a recent BusinessWeek article - some intriguing statistics:
* Last year we produced more transistors than grains of rice (and surprisingly, we can produce a transistor at a lower cost than a grain of rice)
* Over 2 billion mobile phones are in use worldwide, compared with 820 million PC’s
* Online activity is fairly level until the 65+ age category, where it drops from 74% to 32% (the highest is the 19-29 age group, at 88%)
* In the US, the size of the blog-reading audience is at 20% of the size of the audience of newspaper readers.

desktop sharing software - a real must have!!
I have only had a very quick play with this but it seems to do all that it claims. Great tool for your next workshop or seminar or …. even …. classroom. Especially the ability to swap and share whose desktop is the one being viewed on the network. Best of all its free and works on both Mac and PC!
(I got this from the freemacware.com RSS feed I subscribe to in my bloglines)
Tiffany Screens