Learning to be a teacher, one day at a time…
Video is a powerful medium for provocation. Images, words, music can help us visualize powerful concepts and support storytelling that explores big ideas. Traditionally, teachers gather the children into one group and all watch the video together. Yet during this process how much precious learning time is wasted: Organising the children to sit down in... Continue Reading →
If 2016 were a colour, what colour what colour would choose? If 2016 were a word, what would you choose? What symbol would you use to show that word? The kids then searched for an image online and used Adobe Draw to trace over it using iPads. They then added text using Adobe post. Like... Continue Reading →
Disclaimer: I stole this idea from Pana Asavavatana - please give her all credit. I had three kids start in my class this semester. Keen to get the new kids up to speed on iPad usage and also give some of my less confident kids a bit of a boost, I held an icon scavenger hunt. The... Continue Reading →
One of the challenges of teaching writing is that it can be challenging for children to see improvements day on day. They often zero in on surface features: spelling, the legibility of their script, punctuation as areas for improvement. One of the challenges for me as a teacher is to help the children catch that... Continue Reading →
At the moment my class is exploring how humans use clothing to express their ideas and beliefs. To tune into the unit we had a 'free choice' fashion day where the children could choose their own outfit to express their personalities. I did an initial fashion shoot with the children where I encouraged them to... Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago as part of a tuning in, the children answered a binary question on whether energy as dangerous. Because the kids had been on a 2-week holiday and then went on camp, I decided to do a quick diagnostic on what the next learning steps for the unit. After listening to the first... Continue Reading →
A Singapore Teach Meet presentation.
One of the joys of using iPhones and iPads in the classroom is the ability to make the unseen visible. At the moment the children are learning about the transfer of energy to different forms. These transfers can be almost impossible to see with the naked eye. While the children might have remember the large... Continue Reading →
Slide deck from my Presentation on using iPads to make thinking visible from the iPad summit in KL.
iPads are made to be taken outside. Children learn all sorts of places and contexts. They need ways to document their experiences, to remix ideas. Where the children are learning the devices need to follow. How are children to learn to care for technology if they are not entrusted with the responsibility? //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Teaching the Teacher 