Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Quickly & easily create your own puzzles and interactives!

Sites2See: Creating puzzles and interactives

A page of selected links to sites with wizards and software (including freeware) to create puzzles, Flash activities and interactives for crosswords, word searches, logic puzzles, sudoku, maths puzzles, bingo cards, flashcards, charts, graphs, quizzes and questions and content display.

Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Australian teachers crazy for their teachmeets!!

Have you hear of TeachMeets? They are an International happening

TeachMeet Int'l - home

World Wide TeachMeets

Educators organising their own fun and learning

Have you attended one yet?

Sydney TeachMeet recently hosted a world record attempt and succeeded-
See post: TeachMeet World Record Attempt
Read what Marilyn Parker thought of the TeachMeets when she attended in Sydney:
Australian teachers crazy for their teachmeets | Daily Telegraph Maralyn Parker Blog

You were able to have Tom and Moby advertise your TeachMeet in the early days.

BrainPOP UK | The BrainPOP UK TeachMeet sponsorship package ...

Do we have an Aussie sponsor yet?

Lesson in numbers: TeachMeet aims for a world record

Taking the TeachMeets Online- International Online TeachMeet

Teacher Librarians are ready-Are you?

"Students’ success in today’s society depends on their ability to use information and communication technologies to access, evaluate, synthesise and present information to develop an understanding of the world in which they live and ultimately work. A teacher librarian is a significant contributor to the development and delivery of the school’s teaching and learning program through the distinct and overlapping roles of curriculum leader, information specialist and information services manager." Statement on School Libraries in Australia Librarians Are Ready Are You?

View more documents from Jennifer LaGarde

Statement on school libraries and information and comunication technologies

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Australian School Library Association (ASLA)

Teacher librarians recognise the ubiquitous and transformative role of ICTs in providing access to information both within and beyond the school community. A key focus of school libraries is to ensure equitable access for all school community members to engage in the world of technology-enhanced information environments.

School libraries embrace the continual development of new technologies and the opportunities they afford to improve efficiency and increase access to information and recognise the potential to foster lifelong learning, personal learning goals, inform decision-making, build knowledge capacity, innovation, creativity, inquiry and cultural continuity. School library programs are constructed with the knowledge that rapidly changing structures and the complexities of ICTs require learners to acquire and apply a range of multimedia literacies.

Teacher librarians will have the specialised knowledge, skills and attributes to utilise ICTs to:

organise, store and disseminate resources in multiple formats;
identify appropriate sources of information resources beyond the school;
provide equitable access to relevant quality resources;
shape the information-seeking behaviour of users in the school community; and
guide the development of information organisation, knowledge creation, and communication and presentation.

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Teach what you love.

You can choose from a few Specialist teaching areas including Careers Advising, English as a second language, School Counselling, Special Education, and Teacher Librarian.

Become a Careers Advisor
Several higher education institutions offer an approved course of study, such as a graduate certificate in career education, which prepares secondary teachers to be careers advisers.
Become an ESL Teacher
Become A School Counsellor

To become a school counsellor, you must have:

completed training as either a primary or secondary teacher
a current approval to teach with NSW DET
undertaken a psychology major approved by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) at a level that is required by Universities for entry into postgraduate study in psychology
demonstrated at DET interview with DET personnel successful teaching experience and the personal, professional and academic suitability to work as a school counsellor
cleared probity checks to work with students in a school setting
completed a DET and APAC approved postgraduate school counsellor training program which includes psychological assessment of school aged students, child and adolescent psychology and a DET approved practicum in schools
eligibility for registration (full or provisional) as a psychologist in NSW.

Find out more about retraining as a school counsellor.

Become a Special Education Teacher
The Department also offers retraining programs in special education for suitably qualified and experienced teachers

Become a Teacher Librarian
Teacher librarians must be qualified as either a primary or secondary teacher and have completed an approved course of study in teacher librarianship. This may be undertaken through either undergraduate studies or a combination of undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
There is no mention of retraining at this point in time.

Vocational Education and Training (VET)
Secondary teachers may obtain approval to teach VET courses by completing specific industry accredited training. Find out more about VET teacher trainingat the Department's intranet site.
. Find out more about VET teacher training at the Department's intranet site.

Saturday, 10 March 2012

SMART Notebook 11 is coming!!

Notebook 11 Coming soon

Visit SMART and discover all the features of Notebook 11.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

TEACHMEET WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT UPDATE

TEACHMEET WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT

As part of the growth of TeachMeets in Australia a new TeachMeet Australia website has also been born.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by rolfekolbe: http://flickr.com/photos/46210293@N08/6801633404/

Visit the Presentations Page where (hopefully) all TeachMeet presentations will be available to view.

TeachMeet Sydney 2nd March 2012 was a resounding success.

Sit back and watch the UStream

TeachMeet is a free Edu event run by teachers for teachers.
Still don't understand what a TeachMeet is? Read this description from:

TeachMeets will be meeting/un-conferences where teachers will share good practice, practical ideas and personal insights into teaching with technology.
All participants are encouraged to be ready to volunteer an idea, a tool or a website that they have delivered in their classroom.
Alternatively they can discuss a product that they believe enhances their classroom practice.
You have a chance to say what you want:
What do you want to get out of this TeachMeet?
New scheme teachers are encouraged to attend and learn.
The idea behind TeachMeets is hearing stories about learning, from teachers.
This is a chance for teachers from all types of schools to network and to hear ideas from each other.
TeachMeets are open to all and do not charge an entry fee.
Sydney Morning Herald reported on the event: Lesson in numbers: TeachMeet aims for a world record
One of the #TMWR2012 presenters, Dan Haesler , shares his presentation below:
On his page Talking Points Dan asked if

you’d like to suggest a topic for Talking Points please get in touch and he shared the next two videos meant to provoke some discussion.

If you’d like to suggest a topic for Talking Points please get in touch.

Edmodo for TeachMeet Sydney

View more PowerPoint from Henrietta Miller

(8) The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators! TeachMeet

Who is up for the Challenge?

Will you embark on the journey?

(8) The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators! TeachMeet by Shelley Terrell

Welcome to Cycle 3 of the 30 Goals Challenge for Educators: Dare to Believe!

Setting up a digital classroom can be daunting.

The resources in this post may help you get more understanding of what you may need to do to successfully set up a digital classroom for your students.
The 60-Second Guide To Digital Classrooms | Edudemic

Via: Accredited Online Universities Guide

You may also find A comprehensive list of digital literacy tools may be helpful.

Get the kids making the most of the tools available: 50 Great Chrome Extensions for Students - chrome extensions, chrome plugins, Education, guest-post, Students - Technically Personal!

If a classroom is not enough -try a farm-a digital learning farm

The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies

View more presentations from Doug Belshaw

iCLIPART for Schools - Millions of downloadable royalty-free clipart images, photos, web graphics, animations, sounds and fonts by subscription.

Opportunity for keen student writers.

2012 Storytelling and Story Writing and competitions for students in Yrs 5&6 and Yrs 7&8
Hosted by the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW)

Message from Christine Carlton
President - Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW)

Dear Librarians and teachers,

The Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) is a not-for-profit association dedicated to the development of and advocacy for oral storytelling, literature appreciation and creative expression through story creation and performance.

For Students:
Here is a wonderful opportunity for students to develop arts literacy skills, self esteem, win wonderful prizes and for the school to receive recognition for participation in worthy educational activity that supports development in skills across a number of Key Learning Areas.

What: 2 competitions for students in yrs 5 & 6 and Yrs 7 & 8
(i) NSW State Story writing competition
(ii) NSW State Storytelling competition

Prizes for each competition:
1st place -$300, 2nd place $200, 3rd place -$100

Also:
Storytelling finalists will be invited to share the stage with Australian and International professional storytellers and perform their stories to a family concert audience at the Sydney International Storytelling Conference Sunday 3rd June 2012
Story Writing Competition winners will have their stories published on the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) website

When: closing date Friday May 4th 2012

Conditions of entry and flyers for both competitions at www.storytellersnsw.org.au

For Teachers K-12:
Teachers may be interested in our 'Weaving Stories Together' - Sydney International Storytelling Conference to be held in Sydney June 1-3, 2012. See website for details www.storytellersnsw.org.au

Kind regards,

Christine Carlton
President - Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW)
ccarlton@cia.com.au
www.storytellersnsw.org.au
Competition Email: nswstory2@gmail.com

Monday, 27 February 2012

New teachers need support.

These web resources may be of help to any new teachers out there starting their adventure!!

During discussions on yammer some of the teachers were concerned about ways to help new teachers coming on to their staff. After some discussion and reflection I decided to compile the web resources that were suggested. I chose to created them in a livebinder: New Teachers Survival Guide

Livebinder tutorials are available if you are interested in learning how to use this great curating tool.

Recently I came across Discovery Education which has a great site for new teachers. The New Teacher Survival Central has lots of great resources for new teachers (and not so new teachers) on technology, parent communication, classroom management, lesson plan resources, and much more.

There are tutorials and training resources that will help new teachers adapt to their new career. The Survival Tool Kit has a best of the web section with links to great web sites for educators.

I have added these to the New Teachers Survival Guide livebinder.

To all new teachers out there: ENJOY and please ask for help if you need it!

Monday, 20 February 2012

Gonski Review is released.

Read the Review Panel's Final Report | Your School Our Future -The 285-page Gonski review, released today, proposes major changes in the way resources are distributed between private, government and Catholic schools.

In School funding needs big expansion Katrina Curtis stated: "It criticised current funding arrangements for being unnecessarily complex, lacking coherence and transparency and duplicating funding in some areas."

Noting that the performance of Australian students has slipped significantly based on international comparisons since 2000, the report calls for a "schooling resource standard" - the funding required to deliver a high quality education for every child. The final report of the federal Review of Funding for Schools suggests a new Schooling Resource Standard be established that would apply across the public and private sectors.

Public schools would be fully publicly funded under the standard, while there would be a minimum public contribution to non-government schools of up to 25 per cent of the standard per student.

Businessman David Gonski headed the independent review into school funding. Picture: James Croucher The Daily Telegraph

SCHOOL FUNDING NEEDS BIG EXPANSION: PANEL

The panel said "Private Schools that did not charge fees or took on students with very high needs could receive full government funding." Candidates for full funding may be special schools serving children with disabilities, schools where the overwhelming majority of the population was indigenous, and sole-provider schools in remote locations.

"The important issue from a national perspective is not who provides the resources for schooling for all Australian children but that they are actually provided," the report stated. I must agree!!! however, the proposals require an estimated $5 billion boost in funding. (The figure was based on 2009 estimates, meaning the cost in real terms would be significantly higher today.)

Where do we find that sort of money if all of the recommendations were to be considered and implemented?
School Education Minister Peter Garrett said this morning there would "absolutely not" be a multibillion-dollar cash injection to Australia's education sector as a result of the report. "For those reasons it is important that we take the next steps in this reform process thoroughly and with care . . . The Australian government is committed to returning the budget to surplus in 2012-13 and to ongoing fiscal responsibility," SADLY not to equity!!
See School Education Minister Peter Garrett's Funding Review Address (video)

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has warned any changes to school funding models must be sustainable and take into account the budget challenges of Australian governments.
The report also says all schools, especially government schools, should seek out philanthropic partners for money and expertise. I fear we will not find many who will rush forward with their hands in the air, waving bucket loads of money at us!

As many anticipated, not much will change to improve the equity in providing education to all Australian students in the immediate future. Bianca Hall,in Surplus before schools as Gonski report decries student disadvantage sums up: "Rather than commit to any of the recommendations or findings in the review, the government will instead embark on another round of consultation. This is in addition to the more than 7000 submissions received, 39 schools visited and 71 education groups visited as part of the 18-month review process to date."

SBS NEWS reports that :"The Australian Education Union has responded to the Gonski review by broadly supporting the recommendations."

PUBLIC VS PRIVATE ???

Will we ever get it right? Will the Government made the hard decisions necessary?

A once-in-a-generation chance to reform our education system is released.
Can you believe it? Australia is now the third worst country in the OECD for the proportion of our education budget we spend on public education. We must put more money into the teaching and learning that will help the kids who start out with less catch up." from Please, Prime Minister, More?In the article Private School Review Row Richmond MP Justine Elliot said the review would leave no private school worse off. “The aim of the Gonski Review of Funding of Schooling is to achieve a system that is transparent, fair, financially sustainable and effective in promoting the achievement and well-being of all students in all schools.”SAVE OUR SCHOOLS SOS - Fighting for Equity in EducationMedia Release School Funding Review stated: "It is absolutely absurd that the chairman of an elite private school has been appointed to decide the future funding of private and government schools. The conflict of interest is overwhelming." Gonski review: Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt on Australia’s problem with science educationThe Conversation spoke with Nobel Laureate, Brian Schmidt, about the state of science education in Australian schools and what impact the Gonski review can have on ensuring all students get the possible opportunity to learn. Schmidt states: "It is a big change and it is a hard change and we shouldn’t underestimate that. This is not an easy thing to fix and it is something that will take ten years to implement and get teachers through, but the benefits will last for 50 years." Schmidt also asks THE question, in my opinion: We are one of the richest countries in the world, why should we be mediocre in our education when the OECD says that is the best way to make a country rich?

Sunday, 19 February 2012

FREE classroom printables.

In this day and age there are so many kind and caring, sharing teachers..... Enjoy

Source: livebinders.com via Karen on Pinterest

#auedchat Australian Education Chat

#austl Australian Teacher Librarians

#nswtl NSW Teacher Librarians

#slansw School Libraries Australia NSW

#nswdec NSW DEC issues

#DERNSW Government issued DERvices to students

Mobile learning tags

#mlearning

#slide2learn

#ipaded

Thursday, 16 February 2012

NSW Draft K-10 Sylllabuses v2 out now!!

NSW Draft K–10 Syllabuses for the Australian curriculum in English, Mathematics, Science and History (version 2)

READ

The Draft K–10 Syllabuses are available in PDF (below) and interactive online format.

Draft Syllabuses (version 2)

Content Guides

Handy inclusion: Summary of changes to Draft Syllabuses (version 2)

RESPOND

Consultation round 2

The consultation period is 13 February to 31 March 2012.

Be involved!

Have your say!

Don't leave it until it's too late!

Check out the Table of consultation meetings: 4.00 – 6.00pm

Australian Curriculum site

Monday, 6 February 2012

2012 Safer Internet Day-February 7

The theme for Safer Internet Day for 2012 is
'Connecting generations and educating each other', encouraging users young and old to 'discover the digital world together...safely'!