Fascinating Times

Technology can be very frustrating I mean FASCINATING! This week my computer had a hissy fit and would not connect to the server. Apparently I have lost it! My wireless connection, that is. Even with a cable attached [ the old fashion way] I still couldn't connect.  Myra kindly let me use her computer.  More fascinating problems.  I could access the server but not the blue book on her computer. Persevering with this [ it is our Big Idea this term] I used the PC in my class to get my daily messages.  So talk about musical computers.  I have been using one for the blue book, one to access the server and one for the internet.  Exciting, Fascinating Times.  Hopefully the computer doctor can solve my problems tomorrow.

Reflection of my I.C.T journey so far.

After two terms with an interactive work station in my room I have tried many ways to use it in my daily classroom programmes.  I have used the mobi pad during maths and reading and it is highly motivating fro the students.  During instructional group teaching of maths I have one child solving the problem on the board, one in the modelling book and the others in their books. They can compare their working out with each other. This works well as everyone gets a time to work on the mobi pad. They are keen to share their working out. Found a great website for understanding fractions and some great practice games to reinforce their understanding. Excellent for extension activities for the more able and many more for the children who need lots of practice.
Found a  great web site for writing, Jenny Eather, provides a clear outline of the genre being taught anf the levles within that genre.  Children can assess their writing against the different levels- helps give them an idea of what they should be working towards in their writing. Can print out a hard copy which is helpful. 

There are so many web sites out there that it is difficult to know which one to use.  After  our P.D  day at Southwell on I.C.T this was even more evident.  After discussing this with others we all decided it would be helpful to have specific websites that we use across the school so that we gain some consistency. Another great idea is to have the children investigate the websites and provide them with grephic organisers to help them work out the best sites to use.
Term two I would like to explore how to use student voice at the start,during and end of lessons as a way of assessing their learning.  I also would like to learn how to use the capture tool more effectively. I also want to explore some of the sites that I learnt about during our P.D day. I could go on and on as I have so much to learn but I am best to try a few things and master them before I get too carried away.  I know I need to keep trying new ideas and tools.  I am very lucky with the support Marcelle amd my team give me and the patience they show me.  Thanks Team!!

downloading music videos

Did I learn a valuable lesson this week or what!!  We downloaded a music video to go with our photo peach for our assembly.  Great  song-500 miles- upbeat and funky. At the last minute we added comments to the end of it.  This however meant that the music went on for longer. AND during these last moments there was a swear word on the song.  We hadn't heard it before as we hadn't got to the end of the song.  Very embarrassing and inappropriate.  We had a very in depth discussion about this in my class and of course deleted the music and downloaded one WITHOUT WORDS. Never again will this happen!! Lesson learnt!!

flip video lesson

comments on blogs

 Having my computer logged on as me and then commenting on my children's blogs makes it quick and easy.  It also means that the comment says 'Mrs.Williamson' so the children know who it is from. I usually manage to get quite a few comments written during my class I.C.T. time. The rest I can do after school or at home. The children really like reading my comments so the time spent is worthwhile. Also another time is the ten minutes we spend in our class at lunchtime.  Just another opportunity to write some comments.

Reflection on moderation meeting at Pukete School.

It is always refreshing to leave our familiar environment and visit another school.  It was interesting, after discussion with the Pukete teachers, to see that we had similar challenges when we were assessing children's writing. How do we assess the child who uses amazing language including detail, personal voice, language features etc but has 'appalling'[sp] spelling and punctuation? As far as moderation goes I think we were on the same page, however over all I thought we were harder on our pupils.  I think we focus more on the purpose of writing and the details used in a piece of writing since our P.D with Anne Grady. We link our writing to our Big Idea which gives it an authenic setting. Our increased knowledge of the writing process [ developing rubrics, analysis of data ] has enabled us to make a more informed decision about a piece of writing. Maybe we need to explore O.T.J.'s more so that we can use these to assess the child who does not fit easily into a level.

childrens blogs 2

I want to know if there is a quick way to acess my childrens blogs so that I can make comments.  Do I have to sign into each individual blog to make a comment?