Well, it’s time to welcome another set of students and begin another exciting year of blogging. Last year was such a great success that I’m hoping the new students will take to blogging with the same enthusiasm. Of course, it will take a little time for us to get used to the set up and to get things organised, but hopefully over the next few weeks we’ll begin to see a whole new series of student names appear on this blog. Good luck to everyone and I look forward to another great year.
Well, it’s that time of year. The students are leaving and the blogs for 2012 are about to be closed. This has been my first year of blogging with students and I can honestly say that, regardless of my own perspective on blogging, without the enthusiasm and dedication of the students the whole project this year would have failed. A special mention to Jasmine for a great and varied blog and for blogging right up to the end. Also, a mention to Tahlia for being the most prolific blogger. My class has been exceptional this year and I am proud of the progress and achievements they have made. So, from me to you – a huge “THANKS” and have a great holiday. Everyone from LA19 I will give you until the first week of January when I will delete your blogs and also your access to Edmodo. Sad, I know, but I have to be ready for the new students in 2013.
A note for any educators out there, if you’d like to connect and collaborate next year drop me a “Hi” and we can get something organised. Be aware, though, that we are Australian and our school year goes from February to December.
Well, you never know when you do these things, but I was thrilled that this one succeeded. We listened to the audio book version of the novel, Mr Stink, by David Walliams (from Little Britain fame – it was read by himself and Matt Lucas) and completed a long series of activities to develop our comprehension and listening skills. You can see the book on our bookshelf and on the Class News section on the links to the right of this page. One of our activities took us into letter writing and as an incentive we wrote to David Walliams to say just how much we loved the book. Well, to his eternal credit we received a letter, a signed photo and another of his books for the class to read. The students were thrilled, as you’d imagine, and so was I. Real world tasks are especially purposeful when they are rewarded in such a way.
This one’s for the students. While I’m in Vietnam I’ll post photos on the Edmodo Vacations group for you to see. Pass to the other teachers if you wish or get Mrs Brayshaw to put them on the whiteboard.
The class has produced some excellent claymation movies this term. In addition to producing the claymation on computer, they also created their own music on Garage Band with iPads and added it to their movies. Here are two great examples. Well done Jasmine, Ashleigh and Dom.
Blogging – has it worked for you?
This year LA19 was the first class in the school to be given blogs. Your task this time is to write about your experience of having a blog. Has it been a good experience? Has it had any educational value for you? Have you enjoyed it? Has it helped you learn how to be safe online? How has it been different to the normal writing we usually do at school? Write what you think (after all, that’s what the blogs are for) and give a review of your year of being a blogger.
Malala Yousafzai, the young girl shot in the head by Taliban attackers is beginning to show signs of improvement in a Birmingham hospital in the UK.
This excellent speech from Sir Ken Robinson questions our motivation for the current direction of education. It goes for around 20 minutes but is very worthwhile, so stick with it.
Airpano.com is an excellent site that can be used easily on the iPads. It offers panoramic scenes of major cities and sites around the world via overhead, 360 degree views. I’ve used it as a motivation for students writing a compare and contrast text. The students had three columns to fill with dot points: the left column for Hong Kong, the right column for St. Petersburg and the centre column for features similar to both cities. Choosing two cities such as Hong Kong and Saint Petersburg in Russia allows for a variety of features for the students to consider. However, a bonus for me was the stimulation for descriptive oral language which came out of the activity. This makes me think that it could be used for lower age groups for viewing/language lessons where writing isn’t the focus. Where writing is the focus then it becomes quite an inclusive English activity.
Make sure you click on the iPad option to view each panorama if using the iPads.
Thanks to ICT Magic for the link.
I have been very impressed with the opinions of the students in LA19 on the Malala issue. In particular, I think Jaycee’s piece was extremely well written and a mature perspective on this tragic event. Well done everyone.