Transformation Teachers Programme

I’m finding it difficult now term’s started to manage to experiment with some of the technology I’ve been given – it was pretty hard to find the time even at Easter and I’m amazed by participants like Sue who seem to be managing to try something new out at least twice a week!  I’ve been reading Sue’s blog and she’s been using one of the DigiMemos we were briefly told about at the last session: http://skambalu.edublogs.org/category/digimemo/

I was taking in too much new inforation at the time to really latch onto what they were all about, but reading Sue’s blog I can see how they work and am keen to try them out if I get a chance. 

What I’m thinking might work is to use them with exam classes – for example, recently I did some work on how to write effectively about sentence structure in texts with my AS language and literature class.  I then got them all to try and write a paragraph based on what they’d learnt, share them in small groups and then nominate some particularly good ones, which i took and photocopied, stuck on a sheet and photocopied again, before giving back to them all.  This was all very laborious, especially as it involved 2 trips to the photocopy room, and also frustratingly delayed the ability to share the work collectively (we read some bits out, but many people (myself included) find it hard to focus just on words without something to look at as well and I could see the faces glazing over!)

So my idea is that, as exams approach, it would be great to use DigiMemos with my 2 AS groups, to do that sort of shared writing – I’m assuming it can then be loaded onto an IWB screen and annotated to show good features and things that could be made even better.  It sounds from what Sue said that you can then convert the handwriting into text, in which case it could be put into a Word document and even loaded into Fronter if one of the pieces was a good exemplar. 

This could be anytime in the next 4 weeks but after that wouldn’t be any good as they’d have gone.  My only other idea would be to do the same with my year 10 as preparation for their summer exam, but there are 27 of them and a few more hairy characters, so I’d be more comfortable with my AS groups of 9 and 14 relatively sensible individuals!

Judy/Sue – it would be good to hear your thoughts on this – knowing the equipment, whether you think that would be a good use for it – and Judy, whether there’s any scope for me having access to a set.  With the numbers in my groups, a half set might even be enough.

Transformation Teachers mind map

Originally uploaded by T Ware.

I’ve been playing about with OpenMind today – I’m not sure if we have it on the school computers but I’m pretty sure we have FreeMind, which must be similar. I thought that if I was learning to do it, I might as well use it to map some of the software and hardware we’ve been given on the programme, so that it helped me get my thoughts in order too!

It’s not finished, but I’ve used all the ideas in the quick start guide in the software. One aspect I really like is the way you can export out of the software. So this was exported as a picture and then I uploaded it to Flickr (I’ve just spotted the zoom function above the pictures in Flickr – so you’ll want to click on that to view this properly). But potentially more useful, they can be exported into Word and PowerPoint, a process that preserves the links made in the map. So in Word, it all comes out with a contents page and then expanded sections below, and on PowerPoint, each slide is a new subheading. I’ll need to fine-tune that export process, but I’m thinking students could use this for essay planning, then export, helping them to go from non-linear to linear, which many find hard. My only concern is it doesn’t then help them to see the correct order of ideas, which is the bit I think they find hardest.

You can also export into Html, which makes it all look like a cool webpage – but I’m not sure how you would then put that up on the web – is that easy or difficult? I guess it relies on webspace being available, among other things.

It would be great to be able to create collaborative mind maps, though I think that would be harder. I assume you couldn’t have students all working simultaneously on one map, but you could have pairs or groups filling in a different branch in turn, and adding links where they saw them. This would be logistically more difficult, but still possible.

I haven’t blogged for a while, as I’ve had a bit of a stressful time flathunting and helping my younger brother do up a pub he’s just bought in Oxford!  So my laptop’s been confined to its bag, but I’m feeling a bit more energised today and checking out other people’s blogs to see what I’ve been missing!  It seems like the communication element of this course is one of the most useful elements, yet one that is taking a lot of my time – probably because I’m an English teacher so communication comes more naturally to me than experimenting with ICT and by the time I’ve chitchatted away, there’s no time left!  But it would be a very lonely experience without the ability to learn from each other in this way, which is a strength we should definitely be utilising for our students as they sit at home, struggling with whatever task we’ve set them!

 A couple of questions I’m hoping someone can answer:

1. Internet.  I’m still not connected to the internet on the laptop, which is partly because I’ve been lazy, knowing I can just put stuff on the USB and transfer it.  But it’s starting to annoy me now.   I don’t really want to crawl under the computer desk at home and unplug the ethernet cable every time i want to put the laptop on the internet – is that my only option?  Can I buy a second cable and attach it to the modem using a splitter of some sort?  Should I buy a wireless router and connect it to my modem so my partner and I can both be on the internet at the same time on different machines?  How much is one of these?  Lastly, is it safe to just use an unsecured wireless network?  There always seems to be one available when I log on but I suspect it’s risky… The others that come up always require access keys which I don’t have!

 2. Video.  I haven’t really done any yet – well, I’ve taken some bits, just to see how it works, but nothing teaching-related.  How are people using video?  What ideas do people have for using it in the classroom?  And where should I be putting it when I’ve made something useful?  Is googlevideo the best place?  Someone mentioned making a podcast using it… Ideas please!

Hope everyone had a good Easter weekend…

comic life drawn effect

Originally uploaded by T Ware.

This looks more similar to the original but still more like a comic…

comic life grayscale effect

Originally uploaded by T Ware.

This is my first attempt at blogging from Flickr. Hopefully the picture will come up – as Judy suggested, I found the filters section on Comic Life and played around with making this look more like a comic. Another one on the way if this one works!