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...

TED-Ed is not something I was aware of until recently. It is a "an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas" and allows users to "take any useful educational video, not just TED’s, and easily create a customized lesson around" it. TED-Ed houses a  library of lessons  that are "carefully curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed platform." Types of Lessons Creating an account is easy - if you are already registered with TED, you can use the same one. It will require some additional information such as the ages and subject you teach. Once registered, you are able to search existing content by filters such as subject, content, student or duration. Once selected, you can customise the lesson by adding "context, questions, discussion items, and follow-up suggestions to any video on TED-Ed or YouTube" to personalise the learning...

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.

Marshall McLuhan (1969) claims that, as humans, we are only aware of changes to our environment when the new “supersedes” the old and that we are actually “always one step behind”. If our survival is “predicated on the understanding of new media” (McLuhan, 1969), we have a responsibility to consider the future of educational learning within a digital realm and make learners aware as much of the medium as we do of the message. Often, we are presented with a dichotomy of Utopian and Dystopian representations of technological advancement, and McLuhan’s assumption suggests we may be doomed unless we adapt to new media. If we can do what all good pedagogy does and bring what we know to the table as a starting block, we can draw comparisons between the unfamiliar and the familiar, and the abstract and the concrete, as a way to try and understand the assumptions made about new media and ways of delivering learning. A Utopian perspective presents technology as our salvation - transformative a...

"The educational system is moving with monolithic slowness in this [visual literacy] area, still persisting in an emphasis on the verbal mode to the exclusion of the rest of the human sensorium and with little sensitivity, if any, to the overwhelmingly visual character of the child's learning experience." D. Dondis . (1973) A primer of visual literacy. Cambridge: MIT Press We have just arrived in another new country to start a new life and work in a new school (see Global Living and Connection ). Due to Visa rules and restrictions, I am unable to start work until next term, which gives me more time to sign up to complete TWO modules of my Masters in Education. I must say, to a learning junkie like myself, the idea of studying 'full time' over the next few months is really appealing. My Masters focuses on technology in the classroom and this semester, I will be studying how to use technology for instructional improvement - using tech for AfL essentially - ...

Trackers (Book 1) by Patrick Carman I am currently planning an inquiry based unit asking learners to think about the future of fiction. Where fiction is going is of great interest to me. I own a few Kindles, though personally, have not fully integrated myself into this realm. I love the fact I can have a book in seconds - but, I still go out and buy the 'real' version of any I read and love on my Kindle. I do not think you can beat the feel and smell and sound of a brand new book. Geek that I am, nothing excites me more than an hour or so to wander around Kinokunyia  (Singapore hosts the largest store outside of Japan), or the lastest  arrival from Amazon, of a stack of books for me to explore and lose myself in. Kinokunyia , Ngee Ann City, Singapore Throughout my MEd ., I have been focusing on where reading and writing might be going for learners growing up in a digital age. I wrote an essay about Kindles , exploring whether they may re-engage le...