Teachmeet North West

I’ve wanted to go to a Teachmeet for ages, but somehow other things kept getting in the way. Last Friday, I finally made it.

(If you are thinking, ‘What’s a Teachmeet?’ then click here)

A few friends and colleagues clearly thought I was a bit mad (You’re driving to Manchester? The rain! On a Friday? The traffic!), some others thought I was a lot mad (You’re meeting people from the Internet?), but I was really looking forward to my very first Teachmeet. I wasn’t disappointed.

I went armed with laptop, netbook and dongle, but a long day, followed by a long drive (‘they’ were right about the traffic – and the rain) left me feeling a bit tired. A couple of hours looking at a screen didn’t appeal – not even if it was attached to one of the super cool Macbooks that we were encouraged to borrow. It was the low-tech option of notepad and pen for me. Here’s my slightly-belated notes from the evening, with a few musings about some of the ideas I was left with:

[nb. Anything in italics is my own ramblings/commentary - if it's wrong, it's my fault, not any fault of the presenters!]

21st Century Classroom

Katherine Howard introduced us to some of the work done at our venue for the evening, the BBC’s 21st Century Classroom in Salford. It was a fantastic venue for a Teachmeet, with some really interesting student and teacher workshops on offer. (It sounds like these fill up quickly – especially the student ones. Book early!) Katherine showed us lots of examples of projects that the 21st Century Classroom had organised and hosted.

Boolify

John Sutton gave us a demo of boolify.org, a site that allows you to build up Boolean searches like a jigsaw. Very nice for teaching students about web searches, but there are a couple of disadvantages: it doesn’t work too well with older versions of Internet Explorer (<IE6) and there are no quotes (yet) so “World War II” becomes World + War + II.

It’s a great looking site which I’ll definitely use, but the lack of quotes seems like quite a big drawback to me. Teaching students the difference between using AND and searching for an exact phrase is important. Hope they address that soon.

Google Wave

Dan Stucke gave us a quick demo of the much hyped (but still rather exclusive) Wave.  He started with text, which appeared letter by letter as he typed – something that everyone participating in the wave can see. He showed how easy it is to add maps, pictures and so on. Dan also demonstrated how things get very messy very quickly. There were a few ‘Oohs’ when we discovered that it’s possible to edit other people’s words.

Dan recommended a YouTube video (about an hour long!), not sure if it’s this one, but it seems to fit the description. [By the time I write this, it's this rather shorter video that seems to be the one that is currently doing the rounds.]

I’m still undecided about this. I can see that Wave has real potential, it’s a much richer environment than, say, Twitter, with the maps, photos and other media all integrated, but I’m not won over (yet). I can see that real-time typing can remove the stilted nature of IM/Twitter conversations, but personally I’m uncomfortable with the idea of people seeing what I’m typing in real time. I like to think, reflect and often redraft. Text doesn’t convey tone the way voice does, so I tend to weigh my words with care. Maybe I’m just over-cautious. I’m rather alarmed at the idea that other people could edit my words – without it being clear that they have done this! However, since I’m not yet invited to the Google Wave party, my concerns are academic, so I’ll take the wait and see option.

Games Based Learning

Tom Sale presented lots of great ideas that he has used to motivate and inspire his students:

• Using Samarost 2 as a stimulus for creative writing. [nb: Chapter 1 is free, the full version costs $5. There are some Google ads, at least on the free version] It tells the story of some aliens who visit a planet and leave with the inhabitants’ dog. An adventure to rescue the dog ensues. It’s very nicely animated and can be used as the basis for descriptive or imaginative writing.
• A new version is expected soon, there is also Samarost 1, but this contains characters smoking hookahs, so might not be suitable for use in school!
• tutpup is used for maths and spelling, students compete against others from their own school or from around the world. Teachers register a class code, then students register as an animal, colour and number. No personal data or chat so is secure. There are lots of rewards: a hall of fame/medals/badges. It’s also useful for assessment, eg can easily see which students have mastered number bonds to 10.
• Talked about his school’s use of 15 DS Lites. Brain Training has proved popular. Picture chat has worked well with those who don’t like to put their hands up, although Tom would like to move away from pictures and txt speak over time. Dawn Hallybone has provided some advice and support – is a Teachers TV video featuring her that’s worth watching.
• iamlearning.co.uk [subscription required] asks students to practise skills in the context of a game. Lots of different games eg football based.
• One from the audience – Tom Barrett [proclaimed King of Teachmeets by Mr K - I can't disagree!] was in the Flashmeeting and suggested www.mangahigh.com

Keep track of future developments at http://meresideblog.wordpress.com/

I tried using Manga High with Y6 on my weekly visit to primary school. They loved it, to the point that we had difficulty prising them off the PCs at playtime – especially the boys. Tutpup is next on the things to try list.

Geovisitor Widget

Peter Rafferty demonstrated the Geovisitors widget on his school blog. He talked about the way they had used it to show where visitors had come from – often being able to show an actual house. Spooky! Not as spooky as the visit from Southport beach when the tide was in though. [Mind you, when I tried it from home in Sheffield, my location showed up as being in the sea off Hove. I guess locations aren't always accurate!]

Blogging in Primary Schools

James Maloney talked about his school’s blog (hawes-side.org.uk). Blog used in lots of ways. Children were involved in blogging, at first through the creation of a news team. e-safety issues addressed – a password protected page was used, children were told ‘never look at the SPAM queue’ – and they didn’t.

The blog has been a real success with 44K visits in 1.5 years! Next step – using a campus on Edublogs to run unlimited blogs. Children’s blogs will be monitored.

Sadly we didn’t get to see the nice Prezi for this presentation (Prezi.com is blocked at the 21st Century Classroom), but you can find it here.

Wallwisher

Steve Kirkpatrick demonstrated Wallwisher.com (nb site doesn’t run well on older versions of IE – needs IE8). It’s basically a set of post it notes that Steve used a s a ‘learning wall’. Steve talked about using it to introduce a topic on dinosaurs, asking students what they thought they would learn. See more on his blog.

I like this and really want to try using it. One room that I teach in is a converted corridor with no projector, just a distant whiteboard, I can see that this site could be particularly valuable in that environment. I need to find out more about making it ‘secure’ though, my school will almost certainly block it if we get undesirable post its from people outside the classroom!

Google Forms

Dan Stucke talked about a lesson he did when interviewed for his current post. He used Google forms to set up a survey and asked his network to complete it. Students were hooked by the sudden appearance of their own data. Once exotic locations from around the world started to appear there were oohs and ahs! Forms and data were used to generate discussion about quality of questions etc.

One disadvantage – pupils can put rude words in and there’s no way of checking who it was.

Forms are also good for pupil surveys.

Read more – Dan’s original post about using this in his interview lesson is here, his post about the presentation is here.

I’ve always felt that teaching students about questionnaire design is one of my weak spots. I’ve tried various approaches over the years, but I’ve never really felt that the students have ended up with anything other than a superficial understanding. I’ll definitely be trying something like this next time.

Developing a Transformational Learning Test Bed

Daniel Gould talked about developing a transformational learning test bed. His school is moving into a ‘radical’ new building [which seems to be just a set of boxy classrooms] and is considering how to use the space. They have involved the children and asked them what they want.

The space that they have developed includes flexibility in the form of breakout areas (both indoors and out), an outdoor plasma screen (in a very secure case) and an absolutely enormous SMARTboard made by mounting two boards next to each other.

Mapwing

John Sutton showed us Mapwing, a tool for creating a virtual tour. On the right is a map or plan – or anything else you care to use, with a series of red dots. Click on the red dots and images appear on the left. The idea is to create a virtual tour, but there were lots of other possibilities already occurring to me: a treasure hunt, a virtual maths trail, a guidebook of Paris….

John showed us some examples from aintreedavenhill.net [beware - loud music! - just click the next link to bypass the musical homepage and see the tour ->] (this one was a virtual tour of the school) and yearsix.horltonparkblogs.net (a virtual tour of Europe, with PowerPoint slides for each country created by students).

Mapwings can be embedded or on a page at the Mapwing site. The images can contain hyperlinks to other sites and pictures.

John suggested that a family tree could be placed on the right hand side (eg Henry VIII and his six wives) with the red dots linking to slides about the various people.

There is a free version, but once created, the Mapwings can’t be edited. There’s also a premium account which allows editing.

I’ve been looking for something like this to create a virtual maths trail. Perfect! It’s also just what I need for a tour of the maths department on our fledgling e-portal. Then there’s our planned trip to Paris, which is crying out for a guidebook. Think I’m going to be busy.

Myths and Legends

Steve Kirkpatrick returned to show us myths.e2bn.org. Features include a myth map showing myths and legends from around the world. It is also possible to create your own story using images on the site or by importing your own.Great for digital story telling – or writing a story book.

Mind Mapping Teacher Tools

Steve Kirkpatrick then presented a mind mapping tool (www.mind42.com) that he is using to create a resource showing stuff that’s useful for teachers – with links to more information.

Email Steve (mrkp @ mrkp.org.uk – but obviously without the spaces) to collaborate.

Santa Chat

Dughall McCormick is Santa! He offers local primary schools the opportunity to video conference with Santa. He dresses up, stands in front of a suitably snowy scene, hooks up the video link and answers their questions. Brilliant!

e-learning with nursery and reception

Sallie Lumb from Netherthong School in Kirklees showed us the VLE she is using with the youngest children in the foundation stage. It’s really child friendly with an easy interface and the ability to draw messages. The VLE is provided by dbeducation (also known as digitalbrain). It looks like a brilliant platform for young learners.

Wordle

Samantha Lunn outlined lots of interesting ways to use Wordle:

• To introduce a topic
• To compare two or more texts
• To teach students how to do a presentation without a script
• To encourage students to vary their vocabulary (a comment was made about ‘said’ appearing in large letters when students analyse their own creative writing)

See the presentation here on Samantha’s blog, or read about 23 ways to use Wordle in the MFL classroom.

I’m going to try producing a Wordle from the syllabus before my Y10 class start revising for their next module exam in January. It will be interesting to see how that comes out.

Simple Science

Tom Sale returned to the podium to introduce us to www.simplescience.net. It’s aimed at KS2 science and covers the QCA units for KS2.

Each section is split in two: the science and the song. The songs are designed to help children remember the key points from the science. They are very catchy and Tom told us that his students enjoy singing them.

It’s a great site, but (how can I put this tactfully?) the songs could drive me a bit mad. I’m still going to recommend it to the science department though.

Etherpad

Steve Kirkpatrick told us about how he had used Etherpad. It is an online collaborative writing tool (in fact by this point, several people at the Teachmeet had started an Etherpad and were using it as a backchannel).

Up to 8 people can write at once; each person’s contribution is highlighted in a different colour, so it easy to see who wrote what. There is a chat window at the side, also colour coded. There is a time slider that can be used to see how the writing developed over time.

Steve played an animated Batman clip from YouTube, students were split into groups and asked to describe short sections of the clip (it’s only one minute long). The clip is full of action and vivid imagery, so it’s an ideal stimulus for descriptive writing.

The students collaborated on Etherpad to produce the written work. The teacher can enter the Etherpad and check/correct work – with their contribution clearly highlighted.

Issues:

• Need to check that Etherpad actually works – some firewalls block it.
• The pads are public, so in theory anyone can enter the discussion.
• It is possible to run this from your own server – but there is a cost.
• Can have groups on a private pad, but only free for up to three users.

Read more on Steve’s blog here.

Using audio in the MFL classroom

Isabelle Jones talked about creating audio in/for the MFL classroom. She had lots of ideas, including:

• Encouraging staff/students to start by using headsets and the recording function in PowerPoint
• Moving on to use Audacity with digital recorders/Easi-Speak microphones
• Sending recordings to students’ mobile phones via Bluetooth – then they can listen to a variety of voices and accents
• Using Voki.com to read text – this can be a bit ‘robotic’ but does allow choice of accents and for students to hear pronunciation
• Using Odiogo.com to create podcasts by converting text – eg blog posts – to audio

You can find Isabelle’s presentation here on her blog.

As a maths teacher, I’m really interested in the idea of converting text to audio – this could really benefit weaker readers.

In my capacity as a student, I will be definitely be trying some of these ideas – I think they could really help me with my French course, especially since I’ve signed up for modules that concentrate on spoken French this year.

Animoto

Super-presenter Steve Kirkpatrick returned to the podium again to demonstrate animoto.com

He showed us a section from his school’s Y6 leavers presentation. It looked really professional, see it for yourself here.

Nice – I’ll be playing with this one!

Scratch

Simon Haughton demonstrated Scratch, an amazingly powerful tool that is free to download. The first thing I wrote down was ‘like LOGO’, but actually it does a lot more than any version of Logo that I’ve ever encountered. Simon showed us a series of photos as a slide show:

• Character can be moved around the screen, experiment with commands
• Character can be changed to own drawings
• Can make it respond to arrow keys
• Designing an Etch A Sketch game
• Asking students to change the picture to a car, draw a track and drive the car along it
• Asking students to design their own challenge, eg a bee flying to a flower, a spaceship travelling to a planet
• Putting a timer on screen for more confident children
• Using keyboard buttons to control speed
• Making a Pacman style game in an IT club

See all of Simon’s Teachmeet NW links here, on delicious.

I know what I’ll be experimenting with at half term. Logo type programming can be a bit dry, but this looks like huge fun. Designing Pacman games would be a great activity for our STEM club, especially since they could download Scratch at home.

Spezify – and Screenr

Dai Barnes demonstrated two tools at once as he presented via the Flashmeeting: he used Screenr to create the presentation, but told us about Spezify.com.

Spezify allows the results of a web search to be displayed graphically: pictures, photos and snippets of web pages appear. Of course some of these may not be suitable for school – Dai uses this as a teaching point and discusses what should/shouldn’t be clicked on, but obviously teachers should do the search and check the results before they use Spezify with a class!

Write Rhymes

Tom Barrett recommended writerhymes.com, which does what its name suggests: finds rhymes for use in writing.

Inanimate Alice

Steve Kirkpatrick rounded off the proceedings by telling us about inanimatealice.com. Really good for digital storytelling, students can discuss what is happening, predict what will happen next, talk about the images or discuss the choice of music. They may even be inspired to create a story of their own.

From the coffee break conversations:

There was some talk about how difficult it is to recognise people from their online avatars, especially when the avatar is a cartoon (oh dear, I’m guilty as charged) , or disguised.

There was lots of interest in John Sutton’s blog hosting packages. Edublogs has a rival!

Other links:

The fruit machine name picker is at http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine/

Re-live Teachmeet North West on the Flashmeeting: http://flashmeeting.e2bn.net/fm/ee2a9f-7274

Teachmeet Northwest’s wiki: http://www.teachmeetnw.pbworks.com

Tim and Moby from brainpop.co.uk explain what a Teachmeet is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlSQYSnPUQY

Find out about other Teachmeets: http://teachmeet.pbworks.com

Some debate about widening the audience at Dan Stucke’s blog: http://www.mrstucke.com/2009/10/04/teachmeet-north-west-expanding-the-audience/

…and finally, some random thoughts:

I dithered for ages about whether to offer to present something, but in the end I merely lurked. I need to change that next time – the whole point of this was to exchange ideas. Bit of a one way process in my case.

The only downside to the evening was that the planned Teacheat didn’t happen, but since that was largely down to the fact that as a group we failed to make a decision about where to go, I can’t complain! Still, it’s a good job I didn’t encounter any passing horses before I tracked down some food, I was hungry enough to put them in some danger…

Well, that was possibly my longest ever blog post – you can see why it took a while to appear. If you made it this far – I’m amazed! Right, now I’m off to try some of those ideas.