Addendum

A few more things that I have in the works for 2012, in no particular order of achievability (well, it's a word now!):

- participating in one/some of the Intel Teach online courses available at http://www.intel.com/about/corporateresponsibility/education/programs/elements.htm

- investigate the Google Educator online sessions (may be applicable to the USA only, and require some face-to-face contact)

- the OpenCourseWare section of MIT has published some online courses for programming featuring an introduction to short programs and coding using Python (http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/), (http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-189-a-gentle-introduction-to-programming-using-python-january-iap-2011/)

- starting 2012 off with Stanford University's free online Computer Science 101 course (http://www.cs101-class.org/).

In recent reading I have also come across GameStar Mechanic as advertised in the STEM Challenge website, and the Alice programming language that can be a useful precursor to other languages such as Scratch.

I feel like I need to get started on this fifteen years ago...

A micro-break

Returning to the semi-public forum of reflection after a week or so reflecting on the progress of my students during the second half of the year... feeling a bit rusty, bear with me.

This end of the year seems to be evaporating with even more vigour than previous years. There seems so much to do, so many plans to put in place, and yet no time in which to do these with any real success.

Aims for next year, teaching in a new area of the school:
- reflection as part of the weekly (if not daily) curriculum, as captured by blog. Am undecided if I will pursue the Ultranet for this or another forum such as this fine one right here.
- using Evernote as an observation tool, with thanks to @piratepete.
- collaboration by students using Google Docs to work together on a task, with thanks to @rmbyrne (follow this guy on Twitter, and his Free Tech 4 Teachers website) among others.
- explore more rich tasks such as responding to blog posts, online setting and submission of learning tasks (when Ultranet is 'fixed'), and having students set their own questions
- digital forms of assessment such as videos and narrated examples, will be investigating VoiceThread for this.
- the Big6 research strategies for better searching of the internet rather than relying on Google's first two pages of results.
- define and develop a Scope and Sequence chart for ICT skills at primary school that both incorporates VELS and has useful skills in a Web 2.0 environment.

So... simultaneously thanking and cursing Twitter - there are so many great ideas out there, that in a given day I am able to collect only a sample, read and investigate a fraction of these, and implement only a couple of that smaller subset.

Still - one step forward is still an advance. I will be relating my progress as it happens or doesn't happen. Keep me honest!

Video - curse of the talkies

Trying to get a quick snapshot about what a few students thought about using the Ultranet this afternoon, and I got what I asked for: should have asked for something insightful and personal, with a bit of reflection and purpose to it.

Mental note - encourage thinking and note taking to prompt replies, and check my questioning. Because the video clips I have gained to promote the Ultranet are almost recommendations for awarding those students lower results than were awarded for Thinking and Speaking & Listening last term.

Still optimistic about raising the bar - just need to coach the volunteers a bit more...

The fear of the known

A room full of adults tonight reacted against using social media to promote the activities happening in the school, immediately after the sharing of Google analytics website statistics showing an increase in traffic to our site, including international hits.

Can something be done in a proactive way so as to reduce the fear of what might happen? A public forum that many parents would be utilising could be harnessed for good, at least as an experiment. Surely there are other schools who have experienced success in promoting their activities using social media as a form of contact with the wider community...

The gate and the horse

I have recently found out what area of the school I will be teaching in next year, and at least one of my colleagues for the entire year (more to follow when the knowledge is a little more public - so no spoiler alert necessary!).

While some may think it overkill or a tad premature, my immediate thoughts went to collaboration using technolo, and setting up a grade Ultranet space without a single student being enrolled in the class yet. And with some of my professional reading on Twitter recently, my brain started overclocking.

Thanks to @piratepete's blog, I had already re-established my long lost connection with Evernote. He posted about making observations on each student in one notebook, the beauty of which is that it is constantly able to be accessed from such a range of platforms. Seeing that I have diversified my daily load of laptop, netbook and iPad into my backpack and a satchel this seems like it will be very useful indeed.

A return to OneNote was inspired too, involving a heady bout of problem solving and importing. This was the result of my User Profile on my laptop being deleted, and all settings therein also being dematerialised, so after a lunchtime switching between users and notebooks, all seems the way it should be (with OneNote anyway - haven't risked Outlook yet!).

And what about joining a buddy school for some Skye projects? Squeezing a few more SMART boards into the budget figures and seeing if it flies? Using one of the vacated classrooms as a filming studio and investing in some green screen gear?

The best laid plans have yet to be written, but the idea shed is very well stocked - Santa would be jealous.

The sifting

Another day has lead to more opportunities to find out more about using technology to engage students, and at the same time forces me to realize that it often comes at the expense of something else.

One student and a friend were ecstatic to be able to use the Computer Lab at lunchtime today. Instead of games outside, they build grandiose mansions using Google SketchUp. The conversations were creative, drawing on other knowledge and outside sources, and incorporated pop culture references and developing jokes. 'Release the cats!' was heard a number of times, and followed through until the end of the day. Motivation, entertainment, conversation and product rolled into one.

Due to an online interactive seminar via TechTalk Tuesdays, I also put in an apology for the Staff meeting to learn more about open source tools for collaboration and sharing. It was highly useful, and has given me even more to add to the 'must look at that' list (long, very long list).

My thoughts for the day, while not revelations, are that interest is key, and striking while he Kronos hot needs follow-up to cement the learning in strong foundations. What I have struggled to find out and problem solve in Excel last week is in danger of being forgotten because of what I am trying to do today on another platform. Strike according to a plan, but keep the plan flexible for spontaneous outbreaks of awesome.

A fresh start!

To begin the ball rolling, I wanted to gauge how the class feels about the uses we have made of technology in learning. Mainly I am after their opinions on what we have done this year. A fair amount of time has been devoted to skilling up, and then using these skills to present learning. I am curious about whether they see value in this, and whether their focus is on the ICT tool or the content that it conveyed or that they created.

In stepping up my own learning, I have experimented with a Google Docs Form and embdedded it into our class Ultranet space. The blog on the main page gives a closing date of this Friday, so I will wait patiently (drumming fingers...) for the responses to come flooding in.

In the beginning...

My passion in teaching is ICT. This seems fairly obvious, even to the casual observer. In fact, as soon as I get to school I'm unloading my laptop, and my netbook, and syncing my iPad while seeing if I have any new texts or emails on my iPhone. It either falls into geek or OCD.

The joy I get from discovering new tools to use, new skills to try is in using them with my students. Working with these kids to set up new apps or spaces on the Ultranet enables them to try it themselves next time, and teach someone else when it has become second nature to them. The joy of working with the 'digital natives', although I'm still not sure how I feel about that term.

While I believe that it fits and is apt for who it describes, it can also work just as well as a term for exclusion - an excuse for not practicing skills or attempting something that may be a close neighbour of someone's comfort zone.

So, what's this all about? I want to keep track of what I'm trying for a record of my personal learning - it took me only a few minutes to rack up a full page of weblinks from a day or so of Twitter activity, and it would take me the full day to read them all and check out what people are suggesting. This is where I aim to keep what I've found, make note of my progress, and keep finding out what other people can teach me - so I can continue to lead my students and colleagues.

Feel free to tag along as I follow that mouse where the Web 2.0 can lead!