Government

In term 3 our Inquiry Studies unit in Year 6 was government. The initial thought of the students was this unit is going to be boring ( and sometimes this is the reaction of the teacher as well). Anyhow the unit was rewritten and reworked to make sure it was more of a true inquiry unit and one that would appeal to the students.

We broke the unit into the following categories:

1. What does a government do and what would occur if we did not have a government?

This provoked some interesting questions and discussions amongst the class with the students thinking deeply about their responses.

2. Different types of government.

In this section we looked at democracy, communism, dictatorships and monarchies. Students were divided into groups who had to do a short presentation on their assigned topic. The students used http://www.glogster.com/ and http://www.wallwisher.com/ for their presentations. I was most impressed with the quality of what each group presented. Whilst the presentations were occurring the rest of the class were on their laptops taking notes using a live chat on www.todaysmeet.com This was excellent as the students took terrific notes which I believe they would not have done if using a pen and paper.

3. Taking a Stand

This was probably the most impressive part of the unit. Basically students had to choose an issue that interested them, research so they were fully aware of all aspects of the issue and then take action and make others aware of the issue. Some of the topics chosen by the students were children in detention, live cattle export, pollution in Hong Kong, shark finning, coal seam gas mining, the use of horses to pull carriages and the right to vote in Hong Kong to name a few. Some of the associated activities to spread their message was done through twitter, creating online petitions, creating a facebook page, designing posters and building a website. I was so impressed with all of the students and what they did in this section. They now have the awareness that they can make a difference in a democracy.

4. How an Australian Election takes place.

The students were fascinated with the election process and also how preferential voting works. We conducted an election based on favourite foods and this was given to all students in Years 2 and 3. During the voting count informal votes became clear as did how a second and third preference can truly count.

5. How the Australian Parliament work?

The structure of the current Australian parliament and the independent members holding the balance of power made this section very interesting. We redesigned our classroom to resemble the House of Representatives and this showed the students how it all works so to speak. The biggest issue in Australian politics during this unit was that of refugees being sent off shore and the high court ruling this illegal. This issue led to numerous questions from the students particularly on what Julia Gillard needed to do to make this a law.

Overall I was thrilled at the way this unit worked. I was thrilled with the interest shown by the students and the manner in which they participated. I look forward to teaching it again in the future.

IWB Masterclass

It is wonderful to have reports out of the way. One of the positive points of this onerous task being completed is that I will now get time to blog more often. I do feel that I have neglected this task but I do have to complete everyday non-negotiables before embarking on enjoyable tasks such as my blog.
Anyhow…………………….

Between Thursday June 16 and Saturday June 18 I was fortunate enough to attend the IWB Master class at Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. This conference was directed towards those ‘seeking peak performance in using digital technology in the teaching and learning process’.
The Master Class took the form of 2 keynotes, 5 cohort sessions and a series of ‘unconferences’. An unconference is where delegates meet and decide what topics interest them and if there is enough support the topic is discussed further by a group of people who share that particular interest.

Interestingly enough the first key note speaker was Steven Bradbury, the first Australian to win a gold medal at the winter Olympics. Whilst I am familiar with his story I still thoroughly enjoyed his talk about the trials and tribulations of his career. I was very impressed by being able to hold his Olympic gold and bronze medals. For those not familiar with Stephen’s miraculous victory in Salt Lake City in 2002 check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=112CTYh05hY&feature=related


Chris Betcher (@betchaboy) was the second keynote speaker. I first met Chris at the Learning 2.010 conference in Shanghai last year where he was my cohort group leader. I am always impressed by what Chris has to say and write about the place of ICT in education. His keynote was informative, thought provoking and highly entertaining. Chris’ blog has links to the presentation he made at the Master Class. http://chrisbetcher.com/

I was involved in the 21st Century Teaching and Learning cohort ably led by Bruce Fuda (@Bruce1979). Early on there was some terrific discussions with fellow cohort members before deciding on a focus which we were to work on during the later sessions. My focus was on setting ICT benchmarks for staff members at AISHK. I appreciated the support Bruce offered as I attempted to construct a template for what I believed would be ideal for our staff.
I attended unconferences on the following subjects: vod and pod casting, creating IT monitors at school, social networking and 1 one 1 lap top programs (of which I was the facilitator).

So the question remains, what did I take away from this conference:
• At AISHK we are doing many things in the right ICT direction.
• An increased Personal Learning Network.
• The opportunity to talk and discuss with like minded educators.
• Some great ideas that I am keen to trial and implement: Compulsory social networking and web safety lessons for Year 5 students before they collect their new HP lap top, asking for donations of old digital cameras and ipods to gather class sets together.
It was a worthwhile conference. I was pleased at the level at which it was aimed. It was a master class and I will be encouraging colleagues to attend in the future (particularly if it is in the same beautiful location).

Maths Olympiad

The number 111 111 is the product of 5 different prime numbers. What is the sum of these 5 prime numbers?

This was a practice Maths Olympiad question that I gave my Maths class last week. Have a think about it and I will give you the answer at the end of the blog (This truly is one of the hardest questions I have seen in the Maths Olympiads since my students first started undertaking them in 1998).

The Maths Olympiad is a problem solving competition that is held each year. On 5 occasions throughout terms 2 and 3 where the students have to answer 5 questions. Problem solving has always been an area where our students have traditionally struggled. The number skills and recall of these students is outstanding but problem solving is a whole different situation. Having to extract mathematical information from text can trick even strong mathematicians.

I start each maths lesson with an Olympiad question from a past paper. In one of the first maths lessons of the year I take the students through a number of strategies that will assist in answering these questions. Some of these strategies include guess and check, draw a table or diagram, work backwards, solve a simpler related problem and look for a pattern just to name a few. Armed with these tips the students tackle the daily questions and the Olympiad papers.

I have never had a student answer all 25 questions correctly in an Olympiad year. Hopefully this year this may occur. 6 students received a perfect score in the first paper which is very positive.

Worked out the answer to the opening question yet?

71

The 5 prime numbers are 3, 7 ,11,13 and 37.

Twitter

On Monday at the school ICT Futures Committee meeting I am going to ask the executive to lift the ban on Twitter at school. For some unexplained reason this year Twitter has been blocked on all computers at school. I do presume that it is primarily because of the lap top program we now operate. This is unfortunate for both students and teachers but I will get to that later.
So what is Twitter? Basically it is a 140 character micro blog. What particularly appeals to me about twitter is that there is no room for waffle. You can't mess around with what you need to say when you only have 140 characters to say it. Launched in 2006 and according to Wikipedia (they're always right!) Twitter now has over 200 million users and 65 million 'tweets' a day are sent.
Why do I like Twitter? Sure I follow rugby, basketball and general sports news but it is professionally that I find Twitter invaluable. I follow 501 people and it is my Personal Learning Network that is a huge benefit to me professionally. Through this PLN I gather information that assists me in the classroom and also in my role as Primary Learning Technologies leader. This may seem a little like spam email but as I have mentioned before you don't have to spend long reading 140 characters. Quite often with a tweet there is a link that if you have liked what you have read you can read on.
How do I use it with my students? Instead of emailing students I will often post a message to twitter for them to follow. In 2008 and 2009 the school was closed for a period of time due to an outbreak of an illness. During this time I communicated with students via phone, email and online chats. If the school ever has to close again I will definitely be using Twitter to communicate. With Twitter students and myself do not always have to be online at the same time like we do in a chat. I will enter a hashtag with something like #6S2011 and everyone who enters a tweet and uses this hashtag can go and check out tweets from myself and their classmates.
I am pleased with the manner in which the students have adapted to using Twitter. They follow their classmates and myself but they are also following their sporting heroes and other entertainers. I believe Twitter is a safe medium and I have have explained to the students that they are not to follow or let anyone follow their tweets who they do not know. Of course they may not know the likes of LeBron James, Pink or Katy Perry but following people like these is quite harmless.
So I am hoping for success with the school executive on Monday and twitter will be opened up at school. Get tweeting!
Follow me on twitter @spainyhk

Tomorrow When the War Began

This term I will be reading to the students the John Marsden novel Tomorrow When the War began. A captivating title and a book that I am excited to be reading to the class.
Tomorrow (I think I will abbreviate the title) tells the story of a heroic group of teenagers who wage guerrilla warfare on an unknown army who invade Australia. The book is exciting, adventurous and will enthrall the readers.
I first read Tomorrow in 1999 when teaching Year 6 at Canberra Grammar School. I was immediately hooked and couldn't wait to read any sequel. I shared this enthusiasm with my class and they were also incredibly eager to read the series. The discussions we had that year on the books were interesting, thought provoking and mature. The final book (at that point) was being released in the 3rd term holidays that year and it was a race by myself and the students in the class to make sure we had it finished by the time we returned to school.
Yes the book does touch on mature subjects but I believe Year 6 is an appropriate age level at which to read it. The main characters are teenagers so it touches on subjects that appeal to teenagers namely the opposite sex and generally breaking rules. However the book does show teenagers in an incredibly positive light and highlights what they are capable of achieving.
I have met the author John Marsden and mentioned to him that one of the points that impresses me greatly about the Tomorrow series is that females are the the central and most heroic characters (The narrator of the series, Ellie, is amazing). I spent 7 years teaching at all boys schools and I found the heroic females very positive for these adolescent males to read about. I still believe this point is true but for both male and female students as much of what they see in movies or read these days centres around a male being the hero.
There are now 10 books in the Tomorrow series. Marsden initially planned on ending the series after the third book, Third Day the Frost, ( a great title) but the demand from young readers was so great that he reopened the series with book number four Darkness be my Friend. The books ended with number 7 in 1999 before the Ellie Chronicles started in 2003 and featured 3 books. This is one of the reasons I choose to read Tomorrow to the students. If they enjoy it greatly there are 9 more titles to read.
The release of the Tomorrow When the War Began movie last year has opened the book to whole new group of readers. I loved the review the movie received on Triple J radio in Australia when it was described as 'Neighbours with explosions'.
I am very excited about reading Tomorrow this term and I certainly hope the students of 6S share my excitement.

Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of a new school term. There is usually a cacophony of emotions as students make their way back to school after their break. There are students who would still rather be on holidays (and possibly a teacher, especially after the holiday that I have had), some who can't wait to see their friends again but they all generally share the feeling that they are not in the mood to get working right away.

This is where I come in!

I am of the belief that it is imperative to get students working right away. I start day 1 by asking students what they did in the holidays (usually no more than 10 minutes) before a discussion on current affairs and what is happening in the world (this was quite a long discussion yesterday due to the demise of Osama Bin Laden and the royal wedding). After this it is open books and start working.

Why do I do this?

• To refocus students.


• Let them know that holidays are OVER.


• It is a short term; time cannot be wasted.


• I have a job to do.

Also homework begins in week 1. This helps reinforce to students that holidays are definitely over and to quickly establish routine again.

I am sure students don't agree with my day 1 theory but I believe it works.

Jordan Easter 2011

I recently celebrated a milestone birthday. I did not want any elaborate party; all I desired was a trip to a destination that I had never been before. I was mulling over Nepal or Sri Lanka when the idea of Jordan entered my mind. After a little bit of research the trip to Jordan was booked.

Now this was in December 2010 before all the events in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Syria took place. It has been a nervous wait to see if Jordan would fall along the same lines. Whilst there have been a number of protests (usually on a Friday) take place there has been nothing major so off to Jordan we flew on April 15th via Bangkok and Dubai.

After spending 10 days in Jordan I must admit that it was truly one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. Every place we visited was outstanding. The Roman ruins of Jerash, Amman the capital city (probably the only so so place on our trip), the Dead Sea (yes one can truly float on this body of water), Madaba, Petra (breathtaking), the deserts of Wadi Rum and finished on the Red Sea in Aqaba.

I was struck by a number of things whilst on the trip. The friendliness of the people was just one area that struck me. Yes there was always people wanting to sell you something but their final words to you would generally be 'Welcome to Jordan". The determination of the people to not let their country go down the same path of other Middle Eastern countries was also evident. Jordanians are very proud of their country and Thailand is the only other country where I have been that loves their King as much as they do. They trust that their King will serve the country in the best possible manner and act in a way that benefits the people.

Unfortunately tourism in Jordan is down 60% due to the issues in other Middle Eastern countries. This is such a pity for the country but also the people who have cancelled trips to this beautiful country.

Jordan is a magical country and this was a trip I will always remember.

Why Blog

This term sees the start of my new blog. I have changed to the blogger platform so that I can expose my thoughts, writing, views etc to a wider audience (hopefully).


Blogging can be a powerful tool. I have been thrilled with what the students in 6S have done with their OLP blogs this year already. It is a very handy reflective practice as well as an online journal for the student.


My blog entries will primarily revolve around the world of education and issues that arise in this area that I would like to voice opinions on and share with others.


So here is my first (very basic entry). It is my commitment that I will update this blog as often as I physically (and time permitting) can.


Enjoy!