Teacher reflection mid project
BMW sum up the experience of being in this Global challenge in their very first Wiki entry...
"I like to eat apple"
It feels like we're in the "Education Edition of the Apprentice"
and any moment Donald, George and Caroline will fly in on their helicopters!
It's exciting to have the opportunity to empower students with a really powerful and reliable tool.
As an ICT teacher..I feel I'm finally working as a facilitator rather than the 'fault finder" at emergency central.
The teams have grown in their authentic learning by having to interview members of the community.
True team work has evolved and also true questioning skills have been refined and expanded.
Deeper learning....is taking place...ICT is finally breaking thru that skill based mentality....
The wiki has been the next level of authentic platform..
Reflections into the wiki from the interviews are starting to take shape..and that's where the wiki has also helped me gain a sense of where teams are at...
It's a shame our team pages are all over the site!
It would be great as a teacher to have some editing /merge tools.
It would be also great to have a chance for all schools to chat with each other...
We can learn from the older kids..and they mentor younger kids..
For instance my students love Pivot man and are always creating response work to their classroom learning...
it doesn't involve language....and it's fun to share... The same students who struggle with this challenge are the most eloquent animators....` shame there is no Mac version for Pivot man yet ;)
Some teams made their intro videos as soon as they were asked to..before the lap tops even arrived..
but we can not upload even the smallest of videos.
Please respect our situation and consider for future projects a student/team and teacher profile template...
and understand that the wiki exchange is a really powerful community and entry level for a developing educational community.
Using and giving access to a wiki is a major shift for even leading British schools still getting their heads around the unauthentic email buddy/pen pal model....
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Language as a barrier..
Dual language students need time...
It makes me sad to think the wiki doesn't reflect the true application of tools and higher ordered thinking that is taking place in my classes.
but we have the material on the laptops and we'll get it all in for their final project presentation and I've factored this all into the time frame...
bu dan xin...
From this week on...we're editing and focusing on the presentation skills required to show our final solution and action plans..
Final presentation/ movie will be limited to 7 minutes.
We will archive all interviews.
I challenge this challenge project to remain available and accessible to all members of this community
in the spirit of sustainability and student voting up until Chinese New year and discussion is open ended...
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BEST TOOL
1, Students
Garage band was a HUGE hit, we plan to have a Theme tune for each team
One of the teams that struggles; interestingly they are brilliant musicians..
Yet Garage band is too messy/complicated for them...
I keep thinking about how fantastic it would be to have a GOOD microphone in a Challenge pod to 'lock down' their theme tune using the entry level skills required of Garage Band...
2. Teacher
Photo booth wins hands down..
Students are interviewing using Photo booth
it's a really effective as a teacher tool to conference with pupils and teams..
especially midway thru the project.
Guest speakers really enjoy the individual time with each group..and have been kind enough to agree to ask
teams what their solutions are and make students put into words their understanding of concepts.
Photo booth is convenient..an external mic would help yet our interviewee's are relaxed, it's informal..it's less threatening for the small groups to talk... They can choose the location.
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FAV WEB 2.0 Tool
I've used Delicious to introduce concepts and daily/week focuses..and ideas for final solutions.
I am not a home room teacher, so it's a handy tool to back up any wiki or face to face discussions I have with whole class or team members.
Students have learnt to tag and part of the tagging I have asked they enter their team names.It has really helped me with real evidence of their 'student inquiry". They are also providing me with fantastic evidence of how they are actually organising their learning; they have book marked this site, and other commonly used sites they use.
Global community education
sustainable
learners for life~ let's work towards making it happen
best wishes
Louise