#educampwelly

Oh wow.  I am still on such an amazing high after today's Educamp Wellington.

In October last year at ULearn, a few interested educators from Wellington got together informally to discuss making a more formalised connection.  From this WellyEd was born.  In November we had our first meeting and decided to host an Educamp.  We discussed the essence of what an Educamp was (free flowing, knowledge in the room, people connecting, discussions) and built our ideas on that. We spent the next few months planning and promoting the event proving that not only is it great to have a big team of people helping out but collaborating together is special all in itself. Today all that hard work paid off.

Full house here for #educampwelly pic.twitter.com/d7qspvwrgb
— Jess Weichler (@jlweich) February 27, 2015

To be honest it is always a bit nerve-wrecking when you are hosting an event. Especially one that has nothing planned!  The Smackdown was a great way to start firing up some ideas.

Then it was time for some effective use of post-it notes and a timetable was formed based on what people were interested in.

#educampwelly coming together! pic.twitter.com/DCwpxyM8Sb
— Welly ED (@Welly_ED) February 27, 2015

And then it was systems all go! The sessions that I attended were:

• Solo Taxonomy (lead by the wonderful +Sonya Van Schaijik)
• Minecraft (where +Steve Katene shared lots of his knowledge)
• Genius Hour (where I lead the discussion)
• Design Thinking (where I made +Matt Ives share all his knowledge)

Then we all shared some kai together thanks for Network 4 Learning (thanks +Tim Kong) and then hit the pub! The learning just never stops happening.  All those informal conversations you have with people are so valuable.

My takeaway things to go and implement from today are:

• To start using Solo Taxonomy in my class (thanks +Sonya Van Schaijik)
• To hunt down "Notebook How To" the book suggested by +Tara Taylor-Jorgensen about slowing down writing
• To access the crowdsourced documents that +Anne Kenneally has collated and that @jackbillie35 shared.
• Add a creative commons to my blog (thanks +Diana-Grace Morris)
• Watching some stuff on Cell Storming (thanks +Matt Ives) and make myself some hexagons, laminated of course (thanks +Paula Hay)
• Read all the links that people have shared with me.
• Confirm a date for the WellyEd end of term drinks with my co-conspirator +Rebbecca Sweeney 
• Organise a Maker Party for my class with Jess Weichler
• Start planning a road trip to #educampHB to see +Juliet Revell 

Woah a big list I know but hey it's good to keep the energy and the connections going.

Thanks to everyone that attended today and shared their knowledge.  Still the best professional development that money can't buy (because it's free!)

Is writing a neglected art?

Stephanie may have lived in a Full House but she still made time for writing

I have just finished 2 evenings of 3 way learning conferences for school. There was a similar theme that occurred when I asked the following question:

"Do you do any writing at home?"
"No"

I suddenly started feeling really sorry for writing. Poor neglected writing. Completely overshadowed by basic facts and spelling, sports practice, jazz ballet, swimming lessons and reading. And then I began to think about my own experience of doing this 28 days of writing challenge.  It actually took me a few days to get into the flow of writing. Once I had flow it became easier. Then I ran out of ideas and got writers block. Then I found inspiration again and now I am back in flow.

Maybe my students who struggle with ideas and writing longer stories are actually struggling with finding flow? And maybe flow can only be found through actually writing regularly?

The way I engaged my struggling and reluctant writers last year was through free writing opportunities.  They loved free writing.  They wrote with buddies, created all types of written work and got really creative.  Already this year with a new bunch of students they are asking for more opportunities for free writing. I am worried however that they only see their creativity being in this time.

So my questions to think about is how do I encourage writing as much as I do reading (which is my passion)? How do I get my students excited about teacher directed writing tasks as much as they do their own self-driven writing? How do I encourage them to write at home?

I have a few ideas... I want to utilise the blog as a way to promote audience. I want writing to be published and shared often.  I want to utilise technology to provide other ways to create writing. I am also keen to introduce something similar to #28daysofwriting for my students to help them get into their flow.

I am always open to ideas so please feel to share some with me.

You can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink

For me Twitter is an amazing resource. I have been using it for several years now to connect with other teachers, connect with new ideas, collect resources and get my thoughts out there.  Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for people who are not on Twitter. They are missing out on so much. I've tried to introduce a colleague before but without much luck.

Tonight I was listening to an EduAllstars podcast with Pernille Ripp as the educator being interviewed.  Pernille responded to a question by the host about using social media like twitter. She said

"social media is a journey you have to take on your own"

Yes! Yes! Yes! We have these conversations as connected educators about getting more people connected but actually they kind of have to do it on their own.  They have to have the drive to make things happen for themselves.

My use of Twitter is the reason why I am the e-learning leader at my school. Nobody told me I had to go on twitter or that I had to find my own professional learning network.  I believe my life is richer for it. And certainly my connectedness with what is happening in education at the moment is on the pulse. I want to inspire others to be interested in e-learning and to make connections but I certainly can't force them.

I also feel this way about Educamps.  Can you actually make somebody attend non-compulsory professional development? Will they really want to be there? Will they be able to contribute if they don't want to be there in the first place?

Connectedness is about being open. Open to new ideas and new connections.  And to tell the truth I am ok about that circle of people I am connected to being small. Although when I say small I am technically connected to hundreds of educators. I am also ok about nobody from my school going to the educamp. Of course I'd love them to come and they would be so much richer for it but it has to come from their own drive.

You can lead a horse to the educamp information but you can't make them attend.

Best Practice in Science

Slug on my garage wall - fascinating up close!

Tonight I took part in #scichatnz on Twitter. The discussion was around best practice in Science.  I always find these chats really worthwhile. They help me reaffirm my thoughts about the curriculum especially when I am unsure if I am looking at it from the right perspective.

I am a big lover of science.  Biology would be my area of most enjoyment. Plants, nature oh and birds!  I love native birds! I have a membership to Zealandia and I've also joined #birdclub to join up with some other ornithological minded people. I am always fascinated by my world around me.

My catchphrase in the classroom is "Science is everywhere". Because it is. It is growing, breathing, changing, developing and occurring around us constantly. It is not something that is hidden - it likes to show you all its magic tricks.

We can all be scientists because we can use our senses to observe. We can listen and look and feel and experience science happening. It doesn't matter if you are a researcher in a laboratory or a 7yr old in a classroom, the same principles apply.

One of my favourite places to get science information is on Twitter. @Runningwhio runs #SCIENTSSaturday and tweets about some amazingly interesting stuff.

They don’t bother disguising their eggs & will foist their eggs on just about any other bird species pic.twitter.com/S4Zyk0MS9p
— runningwhio (@runningwhio) February 22, 2015

I also enjoy RadioNZ podcasts "The World Around Us", The Moth Science podcasts, David Attenborough TV programmes and Masterchef.

Yes Masterchef!  Science at its best!  Cooking is great science.

I also learn a lot off my students who seem to be fact-finding machines at age 7 and 8. Today a student told me an interesting fact about the planet Titon in regards to us reading an article about glow in the dark ice-cream.  The kids always get books with facts in them out of the library. A book titled "Pestilence and Plague" is a favourite at the moment.

So best practice to me is about engaging students with the real world, with real people (can't wait for the chemistry lecturer parent who is coming in next term to make potions), and with real events. Let them lead with what knowledge they want to find out and most of all have hands on fun!  Learning is doing!

The purpose of planning

Finding the perfect planning template to me is like finding the Holy Grail. It just doesn't seem to exist. I have looked at so many different examples of people's planning and have tried lots of different ways but I am still not sure I am happy about what I am using. So I want to delve into the why part of planning. Why do it? Well there is the obvious things -
 1) So you know what you are going to teach that day/session and
 2) Evidence to justify what you have been doing with your class.

I am a big fan of the overview for planning. I think this is because I would consider myself a flexible teacher who prefers not to be too structured. An overview allows for all the ideas and does not fix them to a time or place. My writing overview from last year was so enjoyable to write. It included all the types of writing my class would do over the year. For me it was my philosophy of teaching writing all on 2 pages. So is having "Writing" written on my weekly plan enough??

Reading is also an interesting area to document. Does there have to be a focus in a guided reading session? Is it necessary to provide "time fillers" for after a book? I am really interested in self-directed learning and am going to try using Daily 5 in my classroom, first as rotations then into more student directed learning in Term 2. I really want the reading time I have with my students to be worthwhile but I wonder if it is totally necessary to prepare questions for comprehension before hand or note down decoding strategies for focus for those on the colour wheel?

NZMaths has wonderful numeracy planners that outline the key questions for each stage with links to resources. Is highlighting and scribbling notes enough or does there need to be a more structured day by day plan for each group?

I guess I am grappling with the need to be flexible with my teaching but also requirements that force me to be structured. My school uses Split Screens for planning.  This is from Guy Claxton and is about integrating dispositions for learning. I wasn't sure of the purpose at first because it wasn't explained very clearly to me. Then I had a go myself and I got it and it suited my style of teaching perfectly (that is going to need a whole other post). I'm still not sure if Split Screens are ok just by themselves?  Then we just got introduced to Concept based planning for our term long inquiry. This also sits very well with me.

What I am wondering now is with the move towards team teaching how teams plan together. What planning is necessary and how long should planning take? How many plans does one actually need and which is the most effective?

Educamp Rotovegas

Virtual connectedness never ceases to amaze me. Today I was in Wellington taking part in professional development that was happening in Rotorua. Not only did I experience it via Twitter but I also was able to listen and watch via a Google Hangout. I've also compiled the majority of tweets that accompanied the Smackdown part of this educamp so that I can revisit the session. I can access links and remember who said what.

I was also interested because next Saturday I am helping run an educamp here in Wellington. I do hope that some of the people who attended the Rotorua one are able to join us virtually too. Distance is no barrier.

Starting the VLPD

Yesterday I met my Mentor for the VPLD (Virtual Professional Learning and Development) programme on a Skype call.  It is always a bit nerve-wrecking when you are set up with a mentor. Is there going to be a connection? Are they going to understand where you are coming from? What support will they provide?

It is safe to say that my mentor Lorraine ticks all the boxes and after an hour of talking I felt motivated and inspired to start setting my goals for this year. My next problem is how to narrow down those goals to only a few.  I need a goal around my leadership in e-learning and within that there are two goals: the technology implementation and the pedagogical implementation. And yes I see them as being two things. Organising the technology itself is huge. Enabling others to use it also huge. Then there is me. I have so many ideas about what I want to implement in my classroom in my own practice. So perhaps I will need 3 goals?

The template for goal setting for this programme and the example given are very useful but I do think I will be requiring the guidance of a critical friend to help me make them manageable and measurable (looking at you +Rebbecca Sweeney). My mentor should then be able to also give me some guidance. I am still feeling the need for the critical friend part as my relationship with my mentor is new and I don't really know them yet. Sometimes you just need someone who knows you to give you a gentle push/shove/squash/reality check.

My mentor did give some good advice on linking my goals to my appraisal goals at my school. This means that there is no doubling of work.  I was a bit unhappy about my appraisal goal at the end of last year. My syndicate leader sort of made it for me (as opposed to it coming from me). We had just undertaken a new appraisal system (Triples) and to be honest I wasn't really sure about what was supposed to happen.  I am hoping I get to change my goal with my new syndicate leader and to have more ownership over the process too.