Modern Learning Environment - Change the pedagogy & change the space

A modern learning environment goes hand in hand with changing your pedagogy.

I learnt this on #ulearn13 when I went to Mark Osborne's presentation on MLEs.

I took  a lot of key ideas from his talk and then was able to consolidate them through the #edchatnz topic of modern learning environments last week. 

When I got back from conference I started a Google Doc and had my class collaborate on what they perceived a modern learning environment to be and what their dream classroom would look like. We then brainstormed what could we do with the space and furniture we have. We decided to downsize. We got rid of bulky cabinets, desk and went and found some funky chairs from various rooms around the school and borrowed some bean bags from another teacher who isn't using them.

We then designed our ideal classroom on Minecraft. Students created our current layout and trialed where the furniture would go before deciding on the final outcome. This was great because instead of physically moving it, not liking it and causing chaos, they were able to work together and have the trial and error period virtually. This created a safe space for students to share their ideas and justify why they believed it should be their layout that was chosen.

 P3 decided that they should be able to sit where they like as long as they are on task. I posed the question 'how will you ensure no one is going to be left out?'. They couldn't answer this right away but asked me if I would let them show me. Giving them this ownership has worked well so far and I am seeing more leadership qualities emerge in my students. They are becoming more independent and reflective learners and are beginning to use their initiative. 

I then ran this lesson with two other classes with my class as the tuakana-teina. The purpose was for the two other classes to begin to use Google Docs and Minecraft as an effective tool in their learning. I look forward to seeing the other two classes final products and how their rooms change based on their student's needs. 

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My dream spaces can be found on my Pinterest board - Modern Learning Space

Gamification - What is the learning?

+Annemarie Hyde asks on almost a daily basis "What is the learning?"

This is a simple question. As teachers when we teach something we always have a learning intention/objective in mind, that we want our students to achieve. When teaching in a digital classroom, this is no different. Yet it seems that as a digital teacher we are having to justify our tools and learning more often. 



Ken Shelton in his Keynote at #Ulearn13 discussed the concept of 'Transformation'. He posed two questions:

1. What does it mean to transform?

1. What does it look like to transform?

The message that I took away from his talk was to embrace the opportunities that technology provides us, and the ways we can utilize these within our teaching practice and education. Transforming is about changing our practice and not about replicating things we already do by substituting our old ways. 

I loved his video he used on the 'Fun Theory'. I am firm believer that student's are going to learn more and be more engaged if we can make the learning fun. This is evident in the two videos below.

In my current teaching practice I am trying to prepare students for future learning by teaching students think for themselves. This to me means, not standing at the front of the room and delivering the curriculum but having students take an inquiry approach and think for themselves. In doing this students would be selecting the appropriate tools to research, collaborate, communicate and present their learning. This is something that would need to be facilitated by the teacher and set up as a classroom culture for learning. 

This leads me into Gamification. I am so passionate about this, that I get so frustrated with having to constantly justify its merits. I was very thankful and felt privileged to attend Stephen Knightly's talk on 'Game-Based Learning' and come back with concrete evidence of the relevance and learning that can be had through games within education. 

Stephen's messages that resonated with me:

"If you are teaching students mathematics then teaching kids to code would validate that mathematics like you wouldn't believe"

"If you want higher order thinking - make a game! Have your students create the content instead of just consuming"

"Games we deem invaluable like GTAV still have their merits. Games like this teach economics - I wont buy this gun, I will save up for the better quality more expensive one - delayed gratification" 

"GTAV is the most sophisticated city ever created in a game. It has more working parts than the space station. You could spend 200 hours exploring one small corner of the city before engaging in any illicit activities" 

"The video game cycle is a recipe for self motivated learners - Clear Goals --> Right Tools --> Challenge --> Feedback" 

"If students aren't engaged in a game, it isn't because its not sexy, it is because it is dull and boring"



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Games are good at creating behavioral and attitude change. Ecological, educational, mental health, political messages and challenges have been addressed with games.  There is a growing field of research into the psychological and social principles underpinning effective games.

Gaming in the classroom definitely has its merits. We can use Ken Shelton's idea of transformation to underpin our curriculum and values. I firmly believe in teaching the 'whole' learner and not just delivering a curriculum. 

Below are some Ted talks that a pro gamification:

Ulearn13: Notes, Tools & Tweets

How can it be over already?

It feels like it was over before it began!

My mind is blown and I don't even know where to start. I almost need another week to digest everything and be able to communicate what I have learnt. I am going to use this post to organize all the tweets (notes) I took and the tweets from others. I will further reflect and share on this as the term goes on but at the moment my head is swimming.

In a nutshell the conference for me was about connecting, collaborating, sharing, and inquiry. It has motivated me to continue to push the boundary and go after my passion of gamification (I will definitely be doing an in depth post on this later). I want to continue using Twitter as a platform for improving my pedagogy and challenging myself and students.

The Breakout Notes:

Breakout 1: Game-based Learning #Gamification

Breakout 2: E-Learning...10+ Magic Moments

Breakout 3: Why Writing is More Exciting in the Digital World

Breakout 4: Putting the 'E' in Assessment

Breakout 5: Ulearn Unconference Smackdown

Speed Geeking

This was an absolute blast! 

I presented (very briefly) on how I have used Minecraft in my class to engage students and enhance their learning. It was very cool to receive feedback and share my experience. I love seeing other teachers become passionate for what I am passionate about. I have now connected with various teachers on Twitter that I am going to work alongside with to create a Minecraft Curriculum and possible present at a conference in the future. 

Breakout 6: The Story of Mark Oliphant College: Apple Distinguished School in 18 months from opening

Breakout 7: Modern Learning Environments: Machines for Learning

Keynotes:

Keynote 1: Ken Shelton: Inspire and Motivate Through Transformational Teaching and Learning

Keynote 2: Mark Pesce: The Sharing Nexus: Connecting, Learning and the 21st Century Educational Environments

Keynote 3: Dame Anne Salmond: Knowledge is a Blessing on your mind

Learning & sharing that was occurring throughout the Conference: 

Tools and Apps I want try:

• Mystery Skype
• Dragons Box - App
• Coding an App
• Making a Game
• Continue to Quad-blog in NZ - expand to international
• Work alongside my students to create our own assessment and learning programme

The Power of Twitter

I connected with more people this Ulearn than I could have ever imagined possible through the power of Twitter. I felt like I was at more than one breakout at a time, because as I was engaged in my session, I was actively learning and participating in discussions about another. I was able to share and receive resources and notes and even make plans for future meet ups and learning.

I was pretty impressed with myself to be able to get myself on the top tweeters list - @kasseylee11
It is definitely going to force me to step my game up and keep a presence on social media.
We teach our kids not to consume but to create, this is my goal for Twitter and the VLN.

Watch this space for how I implement the ideas/tools I learnt into my classroom this term.

Now I need to begin writing some reports. 

Interface Awards - Best Teaching with ICT Finalist

Wahooo!

I filled out this lengthy application at some ungodly hour of the morning before school a few weeks ago, and completely forgot about it until this morning. I woke up to a text from my DP saying congratulations and then lots of tweets from my PLN celebrating my success.

It is very exciting and I feel very proud to be a beginning teacher and have my work recognized on a large scale. I look forward to hearing the results and pushing myself further and pushing the envelope with ICT in education.

Best Teaching with ICT finalists:

Stephen Baker (@PalmyTeacher) & Pascal Dresse (@PascalDresse) - KidsChatNZ on Twitter
Kassey Downard (@kasseylee11) - Minecraft
Tim Gander (@nzteachnology) - Improving social responsibility with Google Drive
Marion Kirby (@kirbyme) - Learning to Read
Gala Kirke (@GalaKTimaru) - Stand up to Cyberbullying

Don't Forget to Vote!

E-Leaders Face 2 Face Day

Agenda

Google Hangout 

Guest Speaker: Karen Melhuish Spencer

Presentation: Leadership forum - Planning and Strategies: Connect to Lead

Sustainability of E-Learning:

1. Connected Vision
2. Connected Systems
3. Skills Connected to Practice
4. Connect to Role Models

Takeaways:

• Know who you are leading - Their strengths and concerns
• Know why you are connecting
• Know how to foster growth
• Design what will take people through each step

Establishing Relationships

#ELEADERSNZ

Whats going on in other schools

Individual Survey Responses

School Survey Responses

Building Online Communities

"It is lonely being an E-Leader in your school"

"We need to get savvy and cleaver in the way you use technology to connect with each other"

Sharing Time:
Only 2 Clicks - Website to load in websites for the class
Scoop It
Paulaspages.wikispaces.com
Scratch App Inventor
Pow Toon

Identifying needs in schools: What are our needs?


Needs and Strengths of our Schools

Where do we go from here:

Become familiar with the communication tools we have used today (Skype, Google Hangout, VLN)
Build connections and start collaborating
Be active in the online community
Build E-Capability



How to participate and contribute in online environments: All on their own devices

VLN - Central North Region: Effective E-Learning Group

• Log in
• Profile
• Dashboard
• Making Friends
• Navigate Group

What do I need to do to be connected?

Identifying ways of working together: What have we learned to use today? Tools?

My First VLN Discussion Post

Next Steps

Do we want another F2F day?
Discussion thread to put together the agenda on the VLN


End of day reflection

Pros:

Networked with lots of people
Going to be a more active voice on the VLN
Had discussion and sharing time with like minded people
A day out with my staff
Relaxed and allowed a lot of exploration

Cons: 

Didn't get many resources, a lot of today was things I was already familiar with and tools I am already using.

Minecraft: Puzzle Maps

Puzzle maps has become the latest craze in my classroom.
They are maps created for single player mode. Players have to manipulate their way through obstacles and challenges to complete each map. In order to complete these challenges players have to follow instructions, rules and use logic and items collected to win!

I wanted to find a way these maps could be utilized in my classroom and across the curriculum.
I decided a great way to engage my boys in writing was to have them write a review on a map that they played or create a hint guide for solving the puzzles/challenges.

Initially students were overwhelmed by the choice of maps and spent too much time attempting to complete them. Once students got past this they were able to begin taking notes on each map to form their writing plan. Students are still in the planning process and some are further along than others. Our topic has come to an end and I wanted a fun way to wind down the term while still meeting our reading and writing criteria.

To extend on this some students have already started planning out their own maps and the puzzles they want to include once they have finished their writing task

Some of the maps students have attempted:

Temple of the Sun

The Ruins of Kegrin

Escape Jail

The end of Ember

The book is over and our movie day is complete!

Nooooooooooo!
This was the reaction as I read the last paragraph on the last page.
"How can the book end there? It just got to the good part!" - AJ
P3 somehow then convinced me to continue on and read them the first chapter of the second book so that they could have some peace of mind.

'The City of Ember' is an amazing novel study. It has encouraged a lot of my less avid readers to continue reading the rest of series and some have even rushed out to buy it so they can have it immediately.

P3 spent all term looking forward to being able to end our unit with a fun movie day filled with tons of snacks and sore tummys. They have had extensive discussions, create Ember in Minecraft, created a 3D mural for our wall and many more engaging activities.

We joined up with another class in our learning center and spent the first block and half of the second block viewing the film today. Students had two activities to complete while watching the movie. They had to complete a compare and contrast chart between the book and the movie. They also had to complete an excitement chart. Every ten minutes I would pause the film and the students had to write a descriptive sentence of what was happening in that scene and give it a rating based on how exciting it was. Students will now take this data and at some stage next week create a graph about how exciting the film was.

In the afternoon we broke down and analysed the work we had done together, we discussed and shared our excitement levels and why this was so varied. We began putting together a venn diagram between the book and the movie that will be going on display in our learning center.

Overall students have achieved great success in this unit and have thoroughly enjoyed the range of activities and tasks they had to complete. I am looking forward to 'Ancient Civilizations' next term and the new novel we will be reading.

Sample of student reflections on the end of the novel study:

Kayleigh - End of Ember Reflection

AJ - City of Ember

Natalya - City of Ember

Manaia - City of Ember Movie

Moenah - The End of Ember

Staff Meeting: Mathematics - Unpacking Geometry

Unpacking Geometry

Contributing staff: Liana, Te Aroha,  Rachel & Myself 

Activity One:

Piece all of the pieces in the envelope together.
NZ Mathematics Standards cut up into end of year 6,7 & 8.
Highlight differences between the three years.

End of Year 6

End of Year 7

End of Year 8

Activity Two:

Given the activities that align with the end of year 6, 7 & 8

Had to match them under their specific headings

This was to help with understanding what needs to be taught and how it can be taught.

When we come to getting our OTJ we need evidence.

Triangulate the evidence. 

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I shared the 'Interactive Maths Journal' with my staff and how I have used it in my classroom.

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Te Aroha shared how she plans for her classroom (full immersion Maori) & the amount of extra work that has to go into planning for her class.

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Rachel shared the NZ maths website and how to use it to extend students and for if you are stuck for ideas

Ulearn2013

I can't believe it has been a year since I went to the last Ulearn in Auckland. I am so fortunate to be able to go again. Last year when I was choosing breakouts I was a novice at incorporating ICT into my classroom effectively, this meant I chose a lot of beginner breakouts. This year I feel like I am an effective digital teacher and my main goal is to network and continue to inspire and motivate my students with new ideas and strategies. 

This year my breakouts I have chosen are:

Breakout One: Game-based learning: Don't eat chocolate coated broccoli
Breakout Two: E-Literacy... 10 plus magic moments
Breakout Three: Why writing is more exciting in the digital world
Breakout Four: Putting the 'e' in assessment: Blending the use of technologies into collating evidence of student learning
Breakout Five: Ulearn Unconference
Reflection: Educafe
Breakout Six: Apps for Inquiry
Breakout Seven: Coding, the wizadry of the 21st century: Learn how to create a computer game!

I am excited to share what I get from the conference back with my staff and my students.

Watch this space in October for exciting ideas! 

Latest Minecraft Mission

Walt: Collaborate and use the school values within Minecraft to create an online community.

Success Criteria - We will know we have achieved this when we have used our school values to create an online community/city that reflects these.

Goals:

1. Create a working city
2. Build my dream house
3. Build a place of work - e.g. - If you want to be a Vet build a Vet Clinic
4. Create a set of laws that each citizen/class member must abide by (these are to be written in a book in the city library).

We are using the chat function within Minecraft to collaborate, plan and create together.
Things to consider: Signs, roads, rivers, footpaths, trees, parks, schools


How we did this:

• P3 used the chat to discuss where they wanted to have a city, they discussed mainly the type of land (they wanted to be surrounded by lush green grass) and the location (they wanted it to be in a corner of the large map so no other classes would be able to grief buildings on our server).
• Dylan (our Minecraft expert) used a mod that he had to flatten a large area for the class to use for our city.
• Some of the other boys then took turns helping people to get to the city by giving explicit instructions of where to meet and then leading the way.

The beginning of the cities roads

Street Lights

An Ice Rink

Inside Ash's home

A Blacksmith -Ash's places of work

Antonio's Lounge - A TV surrounded by books - Sounds like heaven

The front of Antonio's and Zac's house

Natalya's House - Very colourful carpet

The start of the river that will run through the city

Manaia's house 

Roads complete with give-way lines and stop signs

We have been working on this for 30 minutes of class time in our PB4L slot and the students have been working on it before school and during their lunchtimes. 

I will keep you updated on how our city turns out!

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Students have just finished reflecting on our previous Minecraft mission: The City of Ember

I am so pleased with how in depth some of their reflections are.

Natalya's Reflection

Kayleigh;s Reflection