A few weeks ago, I was listening to Chris Betcher on the Virtual Staffroom podcast interviewing Helen Otway. Helen is an inspiring leader at a Victorian P-12 school. Many of the topics Chris and Helen talked about struck chords with me including the idea of developing a more thoughtful approach to teaching and learning through […]
Teaching
Top 10 Twitter Tips!
Without a doubt, Twitter is my number one form of professional development and I am always recommending it to other educators. I first joined Twitter in early 2009 although I didn’t start using it daily until early 2010. I find Twitter to be a one stop shop to meet like-minded educators. It is a place […]
Two Victorian Conferences
My team teaching partner, Kelly Jordan, and I have been accepted to present at two conferences in Melbourne in May. As many of you know, Kelly and I have been blogging with our primary classes since 2008 and it is something we are passionate about after seeing so many benefits. In our presentations, we plan […]
Are you a Learner or Learned?
Today I attended the first session of PLP ConnectU project. This project, sponsored by the Victoria Education Department (DEECD) is run by Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. The project offers year long, job-embedded professional development that helps teachers to re-envision their classrooms, schools, and their roles in education. Five reasons why I enjoyed the day… […]
Tech Tools for Teachers is Back!
ABOUT TECH TOOLS FOR TEACHERS Simon Collier and I began a free e-newsletter for educators called Tech Tools for Teachers in January 2010. Each edition of the e-newsletter highlights an online tool or site that can be used in the classroom and provides step-by-step instructions on how to use it. Tech Tools for Teachers is […]
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Standards for Graduate Teachers in ICT
Today I was lucky enough to be part of a small group of innovative educators from around Australia at a focus group in Melbourne. We were reviewing the Graduate Teacher Standards of the National Professional Standards for Teachers and elaborating on these in regards to ICT integration. These standards were developed as part of a […]
Five Steps to Starting a Class Blog
The school year began in Victoria, Australia last week. Many teachers have been thinking about the benefits of having a class blog and are keen to start their own class blog. I’ve been getting lots of questions about the process of starting a blog so I thought I would write a post to help get […]
2011 School Year Begins
Today was the first day back at school for teachers in Victorian Government Schools. All schools are spending the first three days on professional development and planning. This year my school is focussing on in-house professional development. Each Monday night teachers will be presenting on Literacy, Numeracy and ICT. I am in charge of ICT […]
Goals for 2011
The school year begins for us in Victoria, Australia in a few weeks time. 2010 was a steep learning curve for me; I started to do a lot of things differently and this has influenced how I plan to approach the 2011 school year. I am again teaching Grade Two and, like 2010, I will […]
Getting Parents Involved in Blogging
Note: since writing this post, I have created a more detailed guide to helping parents connect with your class blog. Find it here on the Teacher Blogging Challenge site. *************** One of the many benefits of having a class blog is the strengthening of home-school relationships. A class blog can provide a virtual window into […]
Could You Teach Without Technology?
In November last year I wrote a blog post about how I was missing my interactive whiteboard (IWB). My projector had broken and I was without it for all of Term Four. My classroom program suddenly became less authentic, less personalised and less engaging for both the students and myself. Ironically, the same thing has […]
How Has Teaching Changed?
If you’re a teacher who is trying to encourage other staff to use ICT, you have probably heard this before? When do I have the time to learn about this? Learning through Twitter, blogs, online conferences etc is just part of my day-to-day life as I have described in this post. This is extremely foreign […]
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RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms
Last year, Sir Ken Robinson was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal by the Royal Society of Arts in London. Accepting the award, he gave a talk on Changing Paradigms in Education. The RSA has produced a animated version of highlights of the talk. This is a video I had heard about on Twitter and on […]
Editing Students’ Blog Comments
Recently, a teacher asked my opinion about editing students’ writing on blogs She said “We are having a debate in our primary school at the moment – to what extent should we correct spelling/grammar in posts or comments by students? Our principal sees the posts as a finished product which reflect on our school, while […]
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Google Doc: Incidental ICT Skills
My last post was about ICT Skills that can be taught incidentally. Ian Guest left a terrific comment with the suggestion that I make a list of these incidentals that people can contribute to. I have started a public Google Doc spreadsheet with the “incidentals” that I suggested and others suggested in comments on the […]