PGCE Presentation

Today I had the privilege of doing a presentation about blogging and social networking, with some extras such as the MFL Resources forum and diigo, to a group of MFL PGCE students. It doesn't seem like all that long ago that I was in the very same room and about to go out on my second placement, although it also seems like a lifetime ago, when I stop and think about all that I have experienced since then. Not only in terms of the wonderful schools that I have taught in, but also re how much my teaching has evolved over the years. I look back and wonder at all that I do now compared to what I did then. And yet at the time, you were still forward-thinking and innovative.
In particular, my teaching and the pupils' learning has moved on rapidly in this academic year. Yes, there is still room for 'chalk and talk' and getting back to basics, but it is the combination of that with the web 2.0 tools that I adore that makes it such a pleasure to be a teacher.

PODCASTING AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

We had a staff training day today, and I came away with two definite visions of how we are going to take podcasting forward in our department.
Firstly we are going to use podcasting with Form 2 (aged 12-13) to create role plays with a partner 'En el café'. With the new reporting coming in at Key Stage 3, pupils be assessed on Communication, Maths and ICT spread over a variety of subjects. Spanish is being used to assess Form 2 (Year 9 in Northern Ireland) in ICT. To that end, we are keen to introduce a variety of Common Assessment Tasks (CATs)over the course of Second Year Spanish, including Goanimate and podcasting.
Secondly, a meeting today with outside agents sees us signed up to an initiative in MFL and ICT, whereby we do tasks with pupils, reflecting on each stage, and evaluate at the end. Again, podcasting is the area I have chosen to focus on. I had already set my Lower 6 the task of creating revision podcasts, each taking a different grammatical point. They can also work in pairs, but must then cover two topics. I now intend to get them to also create podcasts for KS3 and KS4, in terms of vocabulary, grammar and study skills.
Let's see how we get on..

Animoto

First play!

Self help guides

After a mixed bag of results in the Christmas exams, my first year Spanish class and I sat down to look at where some of them went wrong, and how they could learn from their mistakes. They ended up making some excellent contributions and we compiled a series of advice sheets which 3 pupils then typed up and we posted them to our wiki, http://spanishingrosvenor.wikispaces.com
I enjoyed the input from the pupils, and the fact that they were so keen to learn from their mistakes and improve. What started as a sponatneous feedback of the exam papers, ended up as a very worthwhile exercise and a perfect example of the Revised Curriculum in action!

BLC 08 "PODCASTING WITH A PURPOSE" BOB SPRANKLE

Blogging about Adam Sutcliffe made me think back to Bob Sprankle who first introduced me to the idea of doing my own podcasts in the summer, with his website www.spranklepodcastblc.wikispaces.com. Bob has a lot of practical advice to give, and I have summarised it below:
• Podcast = living portfolio, archived, shows growth over time, available 24
• VERY Revised Curriculum with peer evaluation, group work and it's real life!
• Subscribe to podcasts you like through itunes rather than the sound file on a website
• Use the microphone on your laptop or mobile - you don't need fancy equipment.
• Use a blog to leave comments and engage your pupils.
• Set questions, which the pupils answer through the podcast
• Communication to parents
• Pupils become Global citizens/learners
• Constantly reflecting with larger community
• Self-directed learners
• Ask questions e.g. “How are you self-directed learners when you podcast?”
Reflecting on learning
• Who should be working hardest in your classroom? Reward students who really own the work/outcomes. Democratise your classroom - give power to the pupils!

HELP WITH PODCASTING

I have been toying with the idea of podcasting for a while but as yet had not done anything. Then came the push I needed through the MFL Resources forum, with a post by the fabulous Adam Sutcliffe. He has created a series of videos on podcasting for the Learning and Teaching Scotland site http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sharingpractice/p/podcasting/introduction.asp For those of you who are unfamiliar with this site, it is an excellent site full of great ideas for enriching the curriculum and your teaching.
Adam's videos talk about the reasons behind podcasting, as well as giving specific advice and practical help.
The most helpful section for me was the video on ideas and practical examples for podcasting. Here they are listed below:
Vocabulary lists
Verb drills
Pronunciation practice
Grammar explanations , whereby you get pupils to produce explanations of the grammar point in their own words
Songs & poems created by the pupils
Exam practice – record model questions (& answers) or even an actual exam
Guided tour – use a site for text to speech such as readthewords.com for pupil scripts
Radio show on a topic pupils are studying e.g. Leisure
Conversations with/by FLA
School news in the target language
Cross-curricular collaboration

With the suggestions made in "Podcasting 3 - Ideas and examples" I now have the inspiration I needed, so off to Audacity I go. I will keep you updated with mine and pupils' creations.

BLC 08 DAVID TRUSS "THIS MY BLOG HAS TAUGHT ME"

WED 16TH JULY SESSION 2
“THIS MY BLOG HAS TAUGHT ME”
DAVID TRUSS www.pairadimes.davidtruss.com


David's talk included how you should consider the following when you have a blog:
• Leadership
• Audience
• Podcasts
• Learning
• Blogrules – what pupils are expected to do
• Web 2.Oh yeah – students sharing ideas and thoughts with the teacher coming in. Bear in mind that the teacher intervening in a dialogue can sometimes stop conversation, but that they should be there to ask a question in order to steer the dialogue in the right direction, or to intervene if necessary

What did David learn in the first year or so of having his blog? He made the blog a private and sheltered environment. He created Wikispaces – http://sciencealive.wikispaces.com, where the kids like to see cluster maps of visitors from around the world.

If we consider Bloom’s taxonomy, whereby
Higher order 6 Create
5 Evaluate
4 Analyse
3 Apply
2 Understand
Lower order 1 Remember
then using a blog and a wiki are excelllent tools for creation and experiment by the pupils.

Other ideas to arise out of David's excellent talk included:
• One pupil’s idea may trigger someone else’s e.g. blogging about science experiments
• Eduspaces – forum for social networking for teachers
• TakingITGlobal – online community for youth to get involved in local and global community
• Encourage contributors – check profile. Allow them to do assignment on paper if they want

Why blog? It is where we do most of our learning, connect with other educators, challenge ourselves to improve and link with other people

It is BLC 08 and in particular these 2 talks by Ewan McIntosh and David Truss, that I credit with the creation of this blog and my Spanish wiki http://spanishingrosvenor.wikispaces.com
Here's to connecting with others and pushing ourselves further in 2009!