Exploring Learning

I have just started a new MYP Language and Literature unit called It's a Kind of Magic with my Grade 7s. To begin thinking about the concepts , they conducted some research on the genres of fantasy and magic realism using Multi-Media Text Sets that I created for them. They then taught each other about the genre they had researched and completed a Venn diagram about the similarities and differences of the two genres. Using this knowledge, they then wrote their initial thesis on our statement of inquiry: Fantastical fiction helps us to understand complex, real world ideas and issues. A few ideas about what creates scary atmospheres (Gr7, Jan 2017) Next, we moved on to exploring setting and how writers craft effective and evocative atmospheres. I began by asking learners to describe the scariest place they had ever been to their partners. I asked them to try to recreate the feeling they had using description (which we worked on in our last unit, Scraps of Me...

This year, I have been a little slack on updating my blog. However, it is with good reason! This year, I have the utmost pleasure in establishing a media studies department. It is challenging to set up and run a department single-handedly, particularly when compounded with technical issues that arise from working for a company that has very tight security and imposes extreme limitations - think 'exercise yard' rather than 'walled garden'. These restrictions have resulted in a school that has been protected from the advancements afforded in more liberal environments, which proves very challenging to a subject that requires access to online resources for success. In addition, the requirements of media courses now are much more demanding than my earlier experiences, particularly in technical aspects, meaning I am on as steep a learning curve as my AS learners in taking a subject for which they have no prior experience. All this compounds to formulate a very trying term. ...

snapguide.com Explain Everything is an app I downloaded onto my iPad probably two years ago... I had a tendency to get very excited by new tools and not allow myself the time to trial them properly - this was one such victim of my over-zealousness. But, now, I have the opportunity and a great excuse to have a proper play! I found that I had to refer to the tutorials and help quite a lot to do what I wanted to do - which meant, perhaps, it was not particularly intuitive. It also took me about an hour to create a seven-slide presentation, which I am sure would become quicker with time. I do like how I can customise and add handwriting etc., and there is so much more potential to it than a regular presentation, so I think it is something I will continue to explore. I have recorded my presentation for you to see - however, the microphone on my iPad Mini was not picking up sound effectively meaning I need to send it to my MacBook Air to add the audio, or use and external microphone...

For my current MEd. module, I am exploring Web 2.0 tools that can enhance learning. WebQuests are characterised by inquiry-based learning activities often involving an element of collaboration. I decided to look for tools in this area, as successful well-designed WebQuests address essential twenty-first century skills, such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity, and are a way of bringing together the most effective instructional practices into one integrated student activity. The first WebQuests were used in 1995, by San Diego State University’s Bernie Dodge and Tom March. They developed a type of lesson plan that incorporated links to, from, and along the World Wide Web that they termed a “WebQuest” (Zunal, 2001). I first studied WebQuests in a previous MEd. module and used Weebly to develop a scavenger hunt using a WebQuest structure called, ' The Hunt for Dracula ' (Fairbrother, 2014). I found that successful WebQuests should engage learners in p...

For the current module of my MEd., I have to identify six Web 2.0 tools that could be used in my classroom to enhance student learning. I have searched the Internet and resources provided by my professor, and have made a preliminary list, which includes:- Zunal TED Ed Pinterest TiddlyWiki Bubbl.us Grammerly Explain Everything My focus is going to be on my Media Studie students, as this is a subject I have the fortune to be teaching again. They have to be able to gather and organise a lot of information and present their learning on a blog. I am interested in finding ways to help them manage this work flow and build a successful multi-media coursework blog. Over the next two weeks, I will explore these tools and think of ways they can enhance the learning experience of my Media Studies students.

This week in my MEd, we are exploring the heady world of infographics with the objective of learning how visual representations of data can enhance and distort data. The aim is for us to think carefully about the use of graphics in our teaching in order that we use visuals to effectively deliver information rather than distort it and confuse our learners. After reading three articles by Edward Tufte, I summarised some basic principles to form the basis of my explorations and use them to evaluate the infographics I found. According to Tufte (1983), graphical excellence happens when graphics: show data make viewers think about content not presentation/design avoid  the distortion of data present many numbers in a small space make large data sets coherent encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data reveal data on different levels - from broad to fine have a clear purpose: descriptive/ explorative /decorative/ tabulative be closely correlated with s...

Year 8 have been working on a unit about customs and traditions around the world. Final Preparations on the Exhibition The unit stems from the novel Ties That Bind, Ties That Break  by Lensey Namioka, set in China in 1911, about a young girl who fights the tradition of foot binding. China In addition to reading and talking about the issues raised in the novel, learners have also worked collaboratively to research customs and traditions of a country of their own choosing. In teams, they decided on a country and set off to find out about it in order to produce an exhibition at the end. The unit has covered essential information literacy skills as learners explored strategies about how to search for information, as well as how to evaluate the information they found. They also explored how they best take notes, and how to use and reference the information they find. Mexico In order to present their information clearly, learners also looked at how to use ...

Creating an interactive book using iBook Author, Makey Makey and Scratch. In January, I wrote a post about a unit I was planning that would explore the Future of Fiction with my Year 7s. We have just come to the end of this great unit, and the work they have produced is amazing. Creating a story to record on iMotion This post outlines what we did and what the learners achieved. It also links to the learning site that I built to deliver this unit, which was successful in teaching not only story elements, storyboarding, drafting and creating, but also problem solving and critical thinking. Our aim was to try to re-tell a story using a technological tool, to see if we think technology can help tell a story. Ultimately, we  were trying to decide  where we think the future of fiction might be going. We began by learning about the elements of stories and then used the classic book  Where the Wild Things Are to learn about the story m...

To practise  the great work we have done lately on figurative language , I decided to use the website Build Your Wild Self hosted by New York Zoos and Aquariums. Learners had to create a Wild Self from the myriad possibilities of the selector tool. They then had to write a detailed description that would allow someone else to try to recreate the avatar they had designed. This meant they had to employ their newly polished descriptive writing skills. Once they had written their descriptions, learners were put into pairs to read out their descriptions. Their partner had to draw what they heard and then compare to the original to see how well the descriptions had been written. I enjoyed the cries of, "I used a simile Miss!" when they were drafting their descriptions and the results were incredible. The accuracy of the representations is testament to how well my learners are developing as writers from the opportunity Spilling Ink gives them to explore and play...