What can I say Wow. This was a great success and before I go into details about the speakers. I just like to give a big thanks to all those involved in organizing this day.
First up
Alan November - I'll be honest before today, other than Anthony Evans telling me about his book, I'd heard very little about this guy.
To put it simply his 2 part talk was amazing. He talked in depth about Web Literacy and made me rethink what I knew about the Internet and how it should and could be used.
He started simply by saying, how would you go and find information about him. the response was or course Google you. So he did it and he appear in the top 5 or 6 hits. Try it.
Then he asked us do you know who wrote those pages, what do you believe? Of course they are all his site written by him so he can say what he wants people to believe.
He showed a site called technorati.com which is a tool to search blogs, photos and videos. The hits on the name Alan November where all people commenting on him, he has no say in the content. Try it. (Sandra when I tried this your brand new blog was right at the top.)
What he was trying to get at is that we as teachers need rethink what tools we are teaching children to use. We need to teach the correct tools to search for the right information.
Different sites give different hits. His message is that we need the right tools, most people only use one search engine, only look at the first page of results and don't really understand how the order of the hits work. This gives those pages that appear first a lot of power over the casual reader. He compared it to only looking at the top shelf of a book shelf in a library.
He went on to ask do you know how Google sorts its hits. Because his site is second out of 81,700 sites on the web. This was eye opening as I realised that I didn't have a clue how Google searches worked, yet use them all the time. The short answer was that it is based on how popular a site is, as in how many links lead to it, his site is high because he has alot of incoming links from big company's and universities. To a lesser extent it also has to do with his url and the name of his page being in the search string.
He talked about a guy called Marshall McLuhan who in 1964 coined two prases that you may have heard of, 'Global Village' and "medium is the message." Basically this guy talked about the multimedia revoution we are currently going though back in the 60's. He was saying that if you change the medium in which information is presented, from paper to on screen, all those critical skills that we use to look at paper based text are lost when we look on screen.
When we get a book we ask, who wrote it? Why don't we do that with webpages? Good question and one that is important to do, as there are some sites out there that questionable authors. This site http://www.martinlutherking.org/ seems to be about Martin Luther Kings but if you look into who owns the site it is by Stormfront, which is a group of white supremacist's. Quite shocking. easywhois.com is a site that tells you who owns websites. Check it out. Why don't we apply the skills we use with books onto the web.
We need to be teaching Web Literacy Skills. The real revolution is INFORMATION not technology. We need to be thinking about how to critically look at and use information.
His site has a whole section on how the web works and grammar of the Internet and how to search effectively. He told us all that you need to get hands on to truly understand all these concepts, "you need to own it." So click here to try them out, he had activities that demonstrated all the ideas he discussed. http://www.novemberlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=160 - It would take too long to explain, but I was very eye opening, definatelty something that needs to be consistered in year 5 and 6 to searching the web effectively for information.
He has an interesting comment on filtering in schools, as that changes search engines behave in school. So searching at home will give different results to searching at school. He also demonstrated how easy it is to get round filtering if you know how. (Lots of kids do, I've seen it happen.)
He said that there are 3 things to remember about learning on the web.
1. The Grammar and Syntax of the Internet needs to be taught.
2. The structure of information need to be taught.
3. Children need to have the capability to think critically.
Using the tools about the grammar of the Internet. He conducted searches to find opposing points of view on various topics. Like the differences between the English and American takes on The War of Independence. It has a way of motivating children, because it challenges what they know or think they know. How about getting information about Hiroshima from website in Japan? How would the bias be different? Using these searches it is fairly easy to discuss and find sources from around the world.
The role of the teacher is changing, and the classroom is becoming a global communication centre where critical thinking is essential.
Alan took a break here, but I'll continue with part 2.
Back to communication, he showed a great tool, which allows you to look at a website in the past. archive.org. This allow you to role back the click and see what a website looed like years ago. So there is no such think as a deadlink anymore, with this tool it can be retrvied. Making children aware of this could make them much more aware of what they publish, as it could come back to haunt you in 10 years.
Blog's then took centre stage, I'm blogging right now, so I'm one who understands some of there power, but Alan when on to explain the motivational drive they have for children.
Some kids are unwilling to accept criticism fro teacher and pupils in the classroom, but he finds that comments from blogs children are happy to listen to and accept. Your role as teacher changes as you are now helping the student to make sense of the criticism. Its is anonymity used for good.
Children making podcast knowing that others will hear it, dramatically changes there motivation in the work. But its not about the technology it's about the audience.
Before you think blog are bad and can expose children who aren't that confident with their work to start with to negative commnets. Ask the children do you want you work on the internet where people can see and comment on it?
It does call for a shift of control in the classroom, because instead of my class, my lesson. The classroom opens up to a much wider commiunity where children (and adults) reflect and interact in new and exciting ways.
del.icio.us was another site, which I already use, where you can set up social bookmarking, where groups of people can all contribue to a shared collective of resourses. Pupils can contribute to the resourses that teh teachers use in lessons (more secondary and university i'd assume)
Now that about wraps up the main points, but i coould go on.
To summarise
1. Web literacy is key, and we need to apply our paper skills to the web.
2. The classroom now is becomming the centre of a global communications network.
3. Children's audience is becoming alot wider than the class they are in.
4. The rules are changing
When should all of this happen? Not overnight. We as teachers need to retool ourselves but over the next 10 years. The new Liteacy Framework, with all its talk of podcasting and blogs allows for scope for some of this in our classrooms. Me, I came away very excited by this and its inspired me to get a class blog going.
Tune in next time for part two - David Ware from Little Heath School
PS Buy his book, I just have.
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Sunday, 13 May 2007
Pay Attention
Taken from Anthony Evans Blog - This video gives, "a strong argument for the use of new technologies in the classroom." Check it out.
Friday, 4 May 2007
Control: LEGO Logo and Logging in KS2 ICT
Hi all,
This week I had the opportunity to attend a great course on Control Technology.
Here is a brief rundown of the day and the key messages that I took away from it.
I was run by a great speaker called Garry Stevens from a company called onefourseven.
Over the course of the day we looked at control progression from Year 2 Up to Year 6 and focused on Logo and Robolab as programmes to achieve this.
Generally the group that attended had a wide range of experiences with Control, but it seemed to be common place that people had 'some pieces of kit' but where unsure of how to deploy it in class. "The Robolab has been stuck in a cupboard," seemed to be a common issue.
We started by looking a Logo, and we used a free program called MSWLogo.
This has the scope to teach Control from end of year 2 all the way to year 4. From extending Roamer work in Year, to allowing children to make their crystal flower in year 4.
Year 3 was discussed as a problem as there is specific no control unit. But it was suggested that some year 4 objectives could be brought down and through numeracy use Logo to explore 2D shapes and thus bridge the gap between year 2 and year 4.
We where also shown a great add on for Logo which allows you to simulate traffic lights. This seemed like a great way to introduce control in year 5 by using a program that they already have experience with. E-mail me if you would like it.
After looking at Logo we moved onto Robolab as one solution for teaching year 5 and 6 control. The program is, once you have played with it for an hour, very simple and had many different level settings. You don't need to really go beyond the (basic) pilot level, unless you have some real high ability children.
An issue that alot of us had with Robolab was, that you need models to use it right?
We were reminded that building models is not control, its DT. Any models you might have it school could be useful and it was suggested that they are built and glued together.
We looked at simulating traffic lights and for that all you need are 3 light bulbs. We continued with the simulation of traffic lights as it is something that the children could be familiar with from year 4 and Logo. In year 5 you only need to worry about outputs, like bulbs turning on. Which is why traffic lights work well. In year 6 the change is using an input, a sensor. Now we all seemed again though this meant a temperature sensor or a light sensor, but the advice was keep it simple, a push switch is a sensor. With that in mind use the traffic light model again and in year 6 create a programme that will control a pelican crossing, using a push switch.
My key Ideas I took from the day where:
- Children need to go through a planning, testing and impoving process in Control. Just playing with the programme or robot does not encourage children to plan and predict enough. Children should be making notes throughout
- Control does not have to be flashy and complex in order to teach the requirements and get children achieving an appropriate level. Keep it simple and achievable.
- Control is basically turning children into programmers, they are making desired things happen. (Making a roamer or a beebot move)
For control to happen you need 3 things.
1. INputs and outputs. (Sensors and things that happen)
2. A interface (A control box like the lego RCX)
3. A software package on the computer.
To investigate further check out www.comotiongroup.co.uk - as it had allot of the equipment we used for Robolab on there.
I'd like to thank Garry Stevens again for a fun and enjoyable day.
This week I had the opportunity to attend a great course on Control Technology.
Here is a brief rundown of the day and the key messages that I took away from it.
I was run by a great speaker called Garry Stevens from a company called onefourseven.
Over the course of the day we looked at control progression from Year 2 Up to Year 6 and focused on Logo and Robolab as programmes to achieve this.
Generally the group that attended had a wide range of experiences with Control, but it seemed to be common place that people had 'some pieces of kit' but where unsure of how to deploy it in class. "The Robolab has been stuck in a cupboard," seemed to be a common issue.
We started by looking a Logo, and we used a free program called MSWLogo.
This has the scope to teach Control from end of year 2 all the way to year 4. From extending Roamer work in Year, to allowing children to make their crystal flower in year 4.
Year 3 was discussed as a problem as there is specific no control unit. But it was suggested that some year 4 objectives could be brought down and through numeracy use Logo to explore 2D shapes and thus bridge the gap between year 2 and year 4.
We where also shown a great add on for Logo which allows you to simulate traffic lights. This seemed like a great way to introduce control in year 5 by using a program that they already have experience with. E-mail me if you would like it.
After looking at Logo we moved onto Robolab as one solution for teaching year 5 and 6 control. The program is, once you have played with it for an hour, very simple and had many different level settings. You don't need to really go beyond the (basic) pilot level, unless you have some real high ability children.
An issue that alot of us had with Robolab was, that you need models to use it right?
We were reminded that building models is not control, its DT. Any models you might have it school could be useful and it was suggested that they are built and glued together.
We looked at simulating traffic lights and for that all you need are 3 light bulbs. We continued with the simulation of traffic lights as it is something that the children could be familiar with from year 4 and Logo. In year 5 you only need to worry about outputs, like bulbs turning on. Which is why traffic lights work well. In year 6 the change is using an input, a sensor. Now we all seemed again though this meant a temperature sensor or a light sensor, but the advice was keep it simple, a push switch is a sensor. With that in mind use the traffic light model again and in year 6 create a programme that will control a pelican crossing, using a push switch.
My key Ideas I took from the day where:
- Children need to go through a planning, testing and impoving process in Control. Just playing with the programme or robot does not encourage children to plan and predict enough. Children should be making notes throughout
- Control does not have to be flashy and complex in order to teach the requirements and get children achieving an appropriate level. Keep it simple and achievable.
- Control is basically turning children into programmers, they are making desired things happen. (Making a roamer or a beebot move)
For control to happen you need 3 things.
1. INputs and outputs. (Sensors and things that happen)
2. A interface (A control box like the lego RCX)
3. A software package on the computer.
To investigate further check out www.comotiongroup.co.uk - as it had allot of the equipment we used for Robolab on there.
I'd like to thank Garry Stevens again for a fun and enjoyable day.
Monday, 5 March 2007
Graphic Novels, the new Literacy Superheroes
Read a very interesting article today from the culture section of this weeks Sunday Times.
It was discussing the impact and popularity of graphic novels.
For those of you who don't know a graphic novel is basically a comic book, but the story is more self contained a complete, unlike a monthly comic book.
The most interesting point was in the final paragraph and I thought was very relevant in light of the new strategy and multimodal texts.
"The visual arts are booming. The screen fills our lives through television, cinema and computers. Thanks to computers, even when we are obliged to read words, we expect them to be arrange into helpful modules, with plenty of graphics. The computer normalises the graphic novel as a form. The graphical user interface may one day be seen as the most important invention of our time. Through such devices, the imperial image reigns and is more successfully than ever before, invading the book" - Bryan Appleyard Sunday Times 4th March 2007
Definitely has some interesting points to consider.
We have been saying for a while about the impact of images in the classroom. Perhaps we can look even further into it?
Nic
It was discussing the impact and popularity of graphic novels.
For those of you who don't know a graphic novel is basically a comic book, but the story is more self contained a complete, unlike a monthly comic book.
The most interesting point was in the final paragraph and I thought was very relevant in light of the new strategy and multimodal texts.
"The visual arts are booming. The screen fills our lives through television, cinema and computers. Thanks to computers, even when we are obliged to read words, we expect them to be arrange into helpful modules, with plenty of graphics. The computer normalises the graphic novel as a form. The graphical user interface may one day be seen as the most important invention of our time. Through such devices, the imperial image reigns and is more successfully than ever before, invading the book" - Bryan Appleyard Sunday Times 4th March 2007
Definitely has some interesting points to consider.
We have been saying for a while about the impact of images in the classroom. Perhaps we can look even further into it?
Nic
Google News
Again a great site function I stumbled across today.
IN year 5 we have been finding newspaper articles. I bought papers at the weekend to go through. While checking them out with the year group thought I'd have a look online and low and behold. I discovered google news. Its one of the tabs at the top of the main google site.
http://news.google.co.uk/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q
IN year 5 we have been finding newspaper articles. I bought papers at the weekend to go through. While checking them out with the year group thought I'd have a look online and low and behold. I discovered google news. Its one of the tabs at the top of the main google site.
http://news.google.co.uk/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q
On the side bar give you options to look at different types of news stories. What is cool though is that at the bottom of each link is one which takes you to all the related articles.
These are all links to official sites all over the world as to what they reported. Some are online newspapers only but others a papers like The Sun and The Times.
Made the rest of the article finding easy after that.
Nic
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Explantatory Texts
In year 5, we have been looking at explanatory texts.
Of course Dorking Kidersley books are a great resourse for this. But I discovered by pure chance that on their website you can view pages from inside their books.
Choose a book, then click to look inside. Most pages are big enough to read on screen and some you could print and read.
Great for lots of quick examples.
Check it out
http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/
Of course Dorking Kidersley books are a great resourse for this. But I discovered by pure chance that on their website you can view pages from inside their books.
Choose a book, then click to look inside. Most pages are big enough to read on screen and some you could print and read.
Great for lots of quick examples.
Check it out
http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/
Friday, 2 February 2007
Updates to bookmarks
I've just updated the delicious links page
http://del.icio.us/nightingaleprimary
Click on the Art tag on the right, and you see the new sites.
Also check out this http://redbridgeprimaryit.blogspot.com/2007/01/literacy-mini-clips.html
Some very nice ideas for story starters.
Nic
http://del.icio.us/nightingaleprimary
Click on the Art tag on the right, and you see the new sites.
Also check out this http://redbridgeprimaryit.blogspot.com/2007/01/literacy-mini-clips.html
Some very nice ideas for story starters.
Nic
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