Teacher Talk-: January 2010

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Please post a message to our first wishwall.

Our first wishwall is up and running.
Wishwall is a new way to communicate.
It is an online Notice Board Maker.
View a demo wall @ Wallwisher demo

Please check it out and post a message. You could post your own message or work with your kids to post a family message @ Latest Happenings at Sandy Beach

Love to hear from you

Sunday 24 January 2010

Effective Teaching, Quality Instruction and Professional Development: My Learning Style

Teaching life's most important lesson...

Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can."
Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

Saturday 23 January 2010

Will Richardson discusses online tools, communities of learning and pursuing our passions.

Thursday 21 January 2010

2010 Year of the Girl Guide

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Have you tried twitter yet? Try it -You just might like it!!!

Monday 18 January 2010

NSWDET employs sledgehammer approach to change.

On his blog Parallel Divergence, Stu Hasic questions How many teachers are keeping up with the changes that are going on all around them?

Image via CrunchBase

"Everyday my email inbox alerts me to at least one teacher who has become a new follower on Twitter. Now while I’m definitely not the best ed-tech guy in Twitterland to follow, I like to think that for each of those emails, a light bulb has switched on somewhere and a teacher is working to change, or at least keep up with the change that’s continually going on all around them."

Stu Hasic

Will the sledgehammer approach work?

In a (wal)nutshell, the sledgehammer approach is:

1. Give computers to every student.
2. Build the expectation in the community that they will be used in school.
3. Shame teachers into action/change.

Read this blog and consider the many important questions Stu poses.

Stu points out that "Coinciding with Australia’s next (scheduled) Federal Election and only half-way into this four year “revolution”, there will be the evidence needed to either justify or pull the plug on this ambitious and much needed change in school education."

What do you think?

Connected Learning Awards

The Connected Learning Awards give students opportunities to design and create digital works for real-life purposes. Students develop skills in communicating, collaborating, self-directed learning, problem solving, researching and publishing their findings.

The Centre for Learning Innovation (CLI) has a 2010 flyer out entitled ‘WeCreate’ - a calendar listing its activities by term for students K-12 for 2010.

There are a number of activities that will inspire and engage your students – ES1 and S1 divisions are also included.

21st Century Literacies - Howard Rheingold

Howard Rheingold spoke about 21st century literacies

at the Reboot Britain event in London, July, 2009. (about 40 minutes)

We need to get beyond skills to literacies:Skills plus community=SOCIAL MEDIA

The five most important ones:
* Attention
* Participation
* Cooperation
* Critical Consumption (cr*p detection)
* Network Awareness

They all need to work together.