Check out this from Boston.

A school district in the US who have run out of money so are dropping their Arts and PE curriculum off completely.

check out this link for a good video about how the internet ‘works’ and the challenges it faces coping with increasing bandwidth demands.
Chime TV seems to be an online “Apple TV” …. aggregating video from lots of sources into one place. You can make your own channels etc.

Maybe good for storing stuff for school …??

Got this from Will Richardson’s links leading here
Some very interesting trends emerging here:
* joiners tending to be slightly older than creators. I was surprised about how yong the main group of creators are. Implications for those of us in schooling here!
* interesting how low the use of RSS is!

So it seems I am statistically a bit of a freak

I have been clearing my bloglines tonight and here is more from Bruce Hammonds on how to assess the physical environment in a classroom:

Assess your class/school using the criteria below. Which ones do you agree with?

Mark your own class out of 10 (10 being fantastic). Remember it is only my point of view and a rather ideal one at that! Many schools have ‘walk and talk’ staff meetings once a term to observe consistency throughout the school, to note individual creativity and style of each teacher and to celebrate and share good ideas.

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1. The overall ‘Wow Factor!’

First impressions count. Even a quick look around lets you know this is a fun place to be. The walls and blackboards/ whiteboards indicate a rich learning environment. Quality work is everywhere .The ‘Wow!’ factor flows from all the points that follow.

Comment: Most school are’ patchy’ and the ideal would be to have consistent quality environments through out the school. As well it is important for each room to be different and reflect the individual creativity of both the teacher and the students.

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2. Can you ’see’ evidence of the student’s voices and identities - their personal ideas, questions and ‘point of view’?

I look for evidence of student’s personal world as expressed through poetic writing and art. With class studies can you see their questions and their ‘prior idea’ answering their questions/? When you read student research on charts etc can you recognize children’s voice and not ‘copied’ material?

Comment: Too often students are set tasks rather than being asked to express their own ideas. The beginning of literacy could be the ‘focused’ oral stories of the students and their immediate families. This poetic approach should continue through a student’s school life, all too often reading of literature replaces this powerful form of identity and motivation. The rooms of teachers, who value student experiences, also exhibit poetic writing about environmental experiences and environmental art.
This is an area many teachers could take greater advantage of? It is not as common as it used to be.

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3. Does the classroom both Inform and Celebrate the curriculum in action?

As you look around can you see explicit evidence of a range of curriculum areas? Can you see evidence of maths studies, the current and past class studies, language and art etc? How the art is presented is a good clue to quality. Has the teacher made an effort to add captions, headings, questions, possibly criteria etc so a visitor can see why and how things have been done. Can you observe use of higher order thinking ’scaffolds’ such graphic organizers, thinking hats etc.

Comment: Too often work is displayed with little thought to displaying it to best effect (design aspects) and even if it does celebrate student creativity it does not inform as to how it has been done or why. With regards to thinking scaffolds it is how they are used (seen by quality results) rather than that are observable.

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4. Does the current study topic have pride of place in the room?

Does the current study provide motivation for a range of integrated activities? Does it have clear heading written possibly as a provocation or question? Are there ‘key questions’ displayed to focus student research? Is there any indication of the recognition of student’s prior ideas? Is there work in progress and examples of quality researched questions? Has ICT been integrated into the study? Is there a list of criteria for students to assess their research? Are the examples of creative art and language and maths related to current or past studies?

Comment: In creative classrooms the current study provides motivation for range of integrated activities as well as research in the area. To be successful teachers need to do fewer studies per year and to do what they do in real depth As far as ICT it is important to see how it has been integrated into class activities.

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5. Looking closely at student work on walls or in books.

Is it evident from the work on display (and in bookwork) that the students have been taught design skills to ensure their work is well presented? Does the student book (in all books) work show qualitative improvement from the beginning of the year? How has ICT been used? Are there criteria on the walls, or pasted into books, outlining presentation expectations or criteria?

Comment: All too often students are given little guidance about how to present their idea and this is a vital means of introducing visual design. All students need some simple guidelines (or ’scaffolds’) to present work in their books and on charts. Some schools have negotiated agreed presentation standards for each level. As students gain experience they can learn to be more creative and innovative. It is a useful idea to paste expectations, guidelines or criteria on the front or back covers so students can refer to them enabling them to self assess their own work. Criteria should cover quality of ideas as well as design.
If the above ideas were to be implemented then student book work could replace portfolios as they would show to both students and parents improvement. If computers are used extensively the work can be displayed in clear folders.
This all sounds rather ‘old fashioned’ but schools that have implemented such ideas can show impressive quality improvement and students personal pride.

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6. Classroom management and organization.

Consider if you were a student (or a relieving teacher) what evidence can you see on blackboards, whiteboards, or on the wall, to ensure students know what, when and how they are do class group or individual tasks?

Is the class daily programme to be seen? Students need to be give safe and predictable learning environment so they can get on with their learning tasks. Is there evidence that the day starts with a reflective period (to discuss the days expectations) and end with a ‘wrap up’ period to reflect on the days programme?

Are the group tasks for reading/language and maths block clear? Is there a similar group organization for the current study (the afternoon programme)?

Is there any idea for fast finishers to work on?

Comment: It might seem to be working against ideas of creativity and spontaneity to require such detailed organizational patterns but experience show that too many students waste too much time trying to figure out what is expected of them. As well, once such learning patterns are in place (possibly by mid tern two,) then teachers can focus their energy on quality teaching and feedback.

source and related blog post

I really like these criteria! I like how it is learning and child centred. The focus on quality and presentation/design is great too.

an interesting post from Bruce Hammods:

It seems, these days, new ideas come along, pushed by their enthusiastic supporters, which inadvertently make teaching more complicated.

All too often these ideas are not that new and are often already in place in many classrooms without teachers even knowing it. One such idea is ‘learning styles’.

All sorts of ‘learning styles inventories’ are ‘peddled’ around schools simply adding more confusion to what already is a difficult job.

Teachers of young people have aways known that their students are all different but as students go through the system they are increasingly treated as if they have more in common with each other. Those who don’t learn, it’s their fault, they just didn’t have what it takes - old fashioned exams proved this!

But if we want all students to realise their full potential ( usually written into every school’s charter) then their individual talents and styles need to be recognised. A standardized system ‘one size fits all’ does not fit anyone. All too often school failures are students whose learning styles have been ignored or neglected.

Most teachers use for literacy ( and often numeracy) a four group rotational system which allows them to work with small groups while the other students get on with their assigned tasks.

It turns out such teachers are using the major findings of learning styles thinking.

full entry and more here and here

I have done some work with Bruce in the past and had a great time visiting schools in Taranaki with him a couple of years ago and loved finally ’seeing in practice’ the things that I had been thinking about for ages.

from Pedalogy blog:

cf. http://classes.cnet.com/?tag=navtab

Here you will find at least 50 courses, which are free to sign up for. I’m sure that the quality and availability of such courses will explode in the next year or two, so indigenous course development will have to focus on the ‘value-added’ aspects, the local application and the way that courses A B and C might apply in my personal circumstances, rather than course designers having to design a complete course from the ground up.

Here’s a few sample course titles:

* Combat Spyware & Adware
* Create a Budget in Excel
* Create a Scrapbook for Your Digital Photos
* Digital Music in the Home
* Digital Music Made Easy
* Digital Photo Basics
* Digital Video Basics
* Fix Digital Photos
* Fix Your Flat-Screen: LCD TV

Bain taithneamh astu

Life is very busy in education and the temptation is always there to opt for the quick fix solutions to those issues that periodically raise their heads.

I have had discussions recently with a number of people who have opted for outside providers of programmes where:
* there is no valid data to show that the programme even works or achieves what it claims to
* much of the content is actually taken from other peoples work - with no acknowledgment of this in any ‘documentation’ provided.
* the very children the programme claims to remediate often get little benefit from it as it is developmentally too difficult for them.
* it is a whole-school programme and works to overtly ‘teach’ children things most would pick up as a normal part of their development anyway.
* the provider of the professional development does all the testing and and then reports on the results - which are without exception positive (what a surprise!?)

so … my point?

We would not expect the used car salesman to provide us with advice on which car to buy and how to drive it without getting an AA check and doing our homework …. why do we hand off responsibility for our school programmes to those with a vested (financial) interest in what we choose?

My argument is that we need to:
1. Ask the hard questions about what proves that any changes we are making are going to be for the better - not just different, BETTER!
2. Make sure the development is addressing needs we have actually identified in some formal, data-driven way. Also that the programme or changes we make will actually address that specific need.
3. Ensure we are getting value for money and not just following fads. Just because other schools are doing something does NOT mean is is worthwhile and needed in our school.

I believe we need to be very critical of the plethora of professional learning opportunities that are being touted around our schools. NOT provide cash cows for the slick marketers of the quick fix.

Your thoughts?

I think I must be jinxed!!
I have just completed an online order for an external monitor for my laptop. A very nice looking 20″ DELL.
Now comes the fun bit …. I checked the radio button for paying by cheque, as it is for school and this is way easier. As instructed I printed the form that “Must!!” be with the payment and completed the order. Now with the pop up window closed all I have to do is whip back to the Dell site to find a postal address for Dell NZ ….. whip back to the Dell site to find a postal address for Dell NZ ….. whip back to the Dell site to find a postal address for Dell NZ ….. whip back to the Dell site to find a postal address for Dell NZ …..
mutter mutter mutter!!

Well call the 0800 number … customer support will be able to help!

HA!! 30minutes later of talking to someone in Delli, three different people and lots of “you will be served by the next available ….” messages on hold and I am beginning to loose my patience.

Does no one in this place know where Dell NZ is????????

FINALLY the overly helpful wee man comes back to the phone with the address.

Come on DELL - get your act together. Print the address on the invoice! Put the address on your website ….
How hard can it be to think this stuff through??!!

Life can be so frustrating in IT can’t it
A good Chardonnay is beckoning ….
(and I get my laptop back tomorrow - YAY)

Interesting week!
My new Macbook Pro has melted down for the third time since I gt it less than a month ago and I’m back, again, to running off a firewire drive. Arghhhhhhh!!!!
Apples build quality is not what it used to be