Projects, planning and provocation

enGauge 21st Century Skills

Four weeks of school are over! I know that some teachers will be up to their necks in assessment, others will be doing their best to get to know their students and some will be doing Keeping Ourselves Safe or other such topic because that fits with building relationships. Like all teachers, we've been trying to create expectations, understanding and excitement in the class, we want our learners to be engaged, inspired and innovative.

As part of this we utilise project based learning focussed around three core themes each year and the NZ curriculum is then moulded around these themes. The themes are incredibly broad, Inventive Thinking, Digital Age Literacy and Effective Communication. In 2016 we've commenced with Digital Age Literacy first. Specifically, we've chosen to focus on Scientific Literacy, with Basic (numeracy and literacy), Media, Information and Visual Literacy.

For my colleague in LC4, Nicole, I imagine this has been an eye opening experience. Its her first term at HPPS and after being in her shoes this time last year, its quite daunting; new documents, systems, learners, colleagues and school culture. How newbies make their way in this is clearly up to the individual, I found it difficult to adjust to all the challenges and am relishing my second tilt at the wheel.

When teachers discuss passion-based learning they often fret about students concentrating on the bunnies, sports and video games. Passion-based learning can lead to learners building depth in one small area and not necessarily enjoying the true breadth of the NZ Curriculum. Prior to our students beginning projects we invest time and effort into an Immersion stage. Our aim is to introduce students to a "world they don't know". An immersion activity can look like anything, a workshop, hands on activity, workstation, video, app, event, trip, expert etc. Last year I ran immersions in Lego, cooking, infographics, science, Google Doodle Competition and many others. During an immersion it is important to observe/notice what the students are up to, their questions, wonderings and responsive workshops that may be required for their learning. Projects are co-constructed with the children at the completion of immersion.

Last year, establishing how to record their wonderings was a learning process. I'd had a couple of goes at adventure learning at my previous school, but this was on a whole new level! Our first couple of immersions this year have been interesting, a video on the way the brain makes connections certainly excited our students and some activities to make them think about their senses and memory also provoked some thoughts for possible projects. But Nicole and I were clear that we wanted some more focus, and were considering contestable/challenging ideas (vaccine debate, genetic modification, climate change etc) but were naturally worried about how all learners might access these ideas. I approached one of our DPs for warm but demanding feedback, "good theme" I'm told (Prove it) "but you might want to consider an enduring understanding to provide more focus".

With this in mind we're focussed squarely on “Scientists analyze and interpret evidence to solve problems and make decisions.” But when we utilise our original idea of the misconceptions of science, we've got a huge array of scientific immersion activities that can be considered. This American list provides a number of starting points for any science learning as we move into our second week of immersion.

But immersion activities also need to challenge students, excite them and make them wonder.

Nicole and I had been considering introducing the students to Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. I was aware that the proportions were accessible online, that the notion of symmetry and proportion key to this art piece and theory would challenge our students understanding of the human body. Previously, we'd observed students struggling with time and how the use of technology aided in the growing understanding of the human body. It might provoke many to grab rulers and investigate Da Vinci's theories. However, we had some reservations. Firstly, could we find a child-appropriate image and would they react positively, or were we barking up the wrong tree? We decided to park the idea.

At our Tuesday staff meeting, we'd been challenged as a staff to really examine our immersion activities. What modalities of learning were we catering for? While we always looked to make activities fun or provoke feelings and often had actual experiences for the student, often we weren't integrating much learning in the activity. As a staff, we were asked to ramp up the learning quotient of experiences. Challenge accepted.

Reflecting on management's challenge and trying to find a way to put an exclamation mark on the week, we reconsidered our Vitruvian Man activity. I found an appropriate image and a few extras for a laugh, a suitable video explaining Da Vinci, and sourced the proportions/measurements.

You can imagine my anxiety levels prior to the lesson - apart from 2 of our girls I'd never heard any mention of Da Vinci or the Vitruvian Man. This was definitely taking a risk as far as creating and sequencing a learning experience.

A small slideshow, the proportions listed out, making sure we have the rulers sourced, a plan of attack for observing and noticing what our learners got up to and we were ready. As they listened to the my quick introduction to Da Vinci we saw a few interested learners, then a video, a few more still, then Homer, Batman, Garfield and a Stormtrooper - lots more. Then the magic words - "we need rulers so we can measure these things!" They were intrigued, curious and we'd sparked their imagination. "Can we make a hypothesis?" says one, and gets nods of approval from some of her peers.

The questioning, curiosity, engagement and effort that went into the next 30 minutes was outstanding. Most investigated the proportions and tested (with varying degrees of accuracy) Da Vinci's theories, we spent our time recording questionings and comments from our learners or redirected them to their immersion tracking sheet as they looked to finish. All learners were introduced to something new, many were able to record quite interesting wonderings and possible projects. Not all had projects which came directly from the Da Vinci exercise, one was more interested in some of Da Vinci's other inventions and how these are compared to objects today (tanks, helicopters and catapults). Others started wondering about the human body and differences/similarities. While we had imagined that many would go straight to the rulers and the proportions, a handful went straight to devices to investigate more about Da Vinci and is an appropriate response to such a provocation, especially given our overall aim is to introduce the students to a world they didn't know.

As well as recording their noticings, wondering and questions Nicole and I were observing for teaching points for particular students. Some students were having trouble with rulers, converting measurements, working out fractions of a number or had difficulty calculating numbers. All this information was recorded to become responsive workshops for different learners. Nicole ran one such workshop today, the students with some targeted support around measurement all achieved more success using the same Vitruvian Man context. To allow student voice, we also invited students to submit requests for responsive workshops, if the students identified something they'd like to learn.

Our students finding projects isn't the only learning that comes out of these experiences. For some students, it is challenging to work with new or different people, they were actively encouraged to find someone to work with from outside their comfort zone. Others, have need support communicating their ideas, for them this was another opportunity to work with some scaffolds to find another way to share their ideas. Similarly, leading a group or being a follower is another disposition that is appropriate for some of our learners to consider during an experience such as this.

Towards the end of the experience I was buzzing, we'd achieved what we wanted when setting out but we'd done this in a way that met the criteria management had outlined in their challenge to us. I felt we'd lifted the bar for ourselves as a new team at the school and for myself personally when running immersion activities. The true test of this immersion activity, though, will come when we conference our students to co-construct their first round of projects.

Will the Vitruvian Man, or any project derived from that experience, feature amongst the children's thinking?

Perhaps, it doesn't matter as they've still been introduced to a world they didn't know existed.

Modelling failure and learning

I recently ran a workshop with some children to assist them on reflecting, in talking about photos and their purpose within reflection I mentioned Thinglink. These learners appeared interested, so I quickly showed them the front page and their interest grew, so I resolved to introduce them this afternoon. 10 children attended the workshop at 1.40pm today, with no inkling of the disaster that would evolve in front of them.

I've used Thinglink with previous classes and figured that as long I knew where this was, today's session would be fine. Hence, I too wandered into my own workshop feeling sure of myself.

Thinglink generated email and passwords.

I'm using a free education account on Thinglink, this entitles me to have students loaded into a class channel using either a Thinglink generated email address and password or students can create accounts using a special code, their own email address (we are a GAFE school) and password. For whatever reasonI decided to pursue the former, within a very short space of time the learners were resplendent in a chorus of "Reid, Reid, Reid". It was reminiscent of a great 'Finding Nemo' scene and a signal that I was heading down a slippery path. They were getting mixed up between their own gmail addresses, different passwords and the Thinglink email. 

Rather than dig myself deeper, a feat I didn't think would be appreciated by the students or the observers visiting HPPS today, I decided retreat was a better option. 

I explained to the group "I knew there were two options for creating student accounts on Thinglink and I should have chosen the other option. Their calls for help signalled the first path wasn't working and I was getting into a learning pit. We need to stop and take the other path".

"We teachers also make mistakes, but it is getting out of the pit that helps us grow. If anyone feels comfortable with this job, you could go to our Learner Profile statements and pick one that you think I need to work on based on this."

A student returned with this:

When asked where I sat on this continuum, she replied that I needed more support! She was right on the money.

With some great conversation to supplement our learning, I had all the students return to the login screen to use the Class Code (right top. But the damage had already been done, the students were still confused and tried using the original Thinglink passwords with the new code, or combinations of Thinglink and their own details. Of course these combinations returned error messages similar to the picture (right below). The chorus started again and I realised I'd just run a complete disaster with very little effort. 

I gave up on the Thinglink aspect of the lesson. There was a bigger lesson occurring.

"Can everyone close their screens please. You are doing everything right but are getting error messages, it is like when a cook follows the recipe but something goes wrong.

We have two options. We can quit, go to our next jobs and forget this ever happened. Or, you can head off to your next jobs and I promise to go away and do some testing so that I can run this lesson again next week. We need to learn from our mistakes so that we can move forward in our learning. What should we do?"

Reassuringly, they all wanted to have another go.

I asked "Have you ever made mistakes and then thought it was easier to give up?"

Unsurprisingly, many of them silently nodded.

I know of many ways that I can make this lesson more successful and deliberate (within the Thinglink aspect).

1. Run the tests myself using a dummy email. √
2. Test with one student before running the full lesson.
3. Write a step by step guide for logging on using the best method. Alternatively, a video would be quite useful also.

I'm hoping that the real lesson was in the workshops failure and not its success. We ask our students to reflect on their learning, its only fair that I write this reflection in acknowledgement of my own.

Innovation - Term Reflection

"HPPS - wow!" you exclaim.

One of my first thoughts on heading there was how I would be able to push my creativity and innovation in the classroom. Naturally, I would look to include innovation somewhere in my personal goals. We have several goals to set, so within my own Personal Professional Development I decided that I would "Evolve my teaching through innovative and responsive practice".  I could achieve this through the following: 

• Attend regular professional development in numeracy and literacy.
• Implement and reflect on innovative teaching practice.
• Regular professional reading.

I completed all my Individual Education Meetings (IEMs) on Monday and naturally teacher brain decided to redirect its energies rather than relax, reflection on innovation became the focus. How might I have been more innovative? What if this had been my previous classroom? What barriers had I perceived/removed/battled? How might I change my practice in term 2? It is also worthwhile to think about what innovation means, for me it is not a synonym for technology in the classroom. I recently stumbled across a definition (battling to find the reference right now) that included all the 'radical or incremental change' stuff that seems to be always present but for the education context included the important addition that it would add value. 

During reflection I became dubious as to whether I had been innovative and responsive, or more importantly had I added value to Learning Common 4 (LC4) or any other part of HPPS. I decided a good old fashioned stock-take was needed. I needed to simply evaluate each and every tool or idea I'd used this term and make a judgement on whether it has added value.

Kidsedchatnz:
Have introduced twitter in the classroom to LC4 and LC3. After 1 term students now opt-in on the Wednesday as part of their independent learning activities. There are some regular participants, a few who have decided it isn't for them and for some it depends on the topic. I have remained very hands-off with Kidsedchatnz this term to allow for student voice (a concern I raised in an earlier post) but am needing to check-in with participants early term 2 so they can identify some purpose for their Kidsedchatnz participation, be it literacy, dispositional or topic focussed. 

Immersion Workshop:
Week 5 we held our immersion workshops where all of our staff ran a small workshop to give students an insight into a world they didn't know. This is to help our students find their passions for the Project Based Learning. This term we were focussed on Inventive Thinking. With Caine's Arcade in my mind, my workshop was construction we had Lego, wooden blocks and stacks of cardboard boxes. My workshop was targeted for our Y0-4 learners and from the looks on their faces they had a blast inventing some pretty cool things, including tanks, time machines, boats, mermaid robots (who knew?) and towns. Construction has continued as a theme for some learners as they have created projects inspired somewhat by these early steps. Learners in LC4 also had my lego out for a time which has led to great discussion and writing.




Food Tech Workshops - Burritos & Kebabs
I blogged about this experience elsewhere but since then several projects have been initiated where food is part of the solution. I was also quite proud to hear some students talk about my food tech workshops in their celebrations for the term! 
term! 

Cricket World Cup
Heading into the CWC I had identified that there were many possibilities for integrating this into LC4. I waited to observe that I had students interested before using this in any way. I initiated a workshop early on that several boys opted in for, we brainstormed ways that the CWC could be utilised as a learning experience. They were particularly interested in bowling speeds, average speed of a bowler, the impact of technique and the variabilities created by the type of ball that is thrown. For me, new to HPPS, this was an exciting moment. Student voice, responsiveness, integrated & authentic teaching, what an opportunity! Sadly, in the hustle & bustle of HPPS and the learning journey that I was on this didn't go much further. The students managed 1-2 independent time slots focussed on their CWC work before it fell on to the back burner as they entered the immersion and design process phase for their Inventive Thinking projects. This was definitely a missed opportunity for innovative and responsive teaching, it required more steering by me but I was busy trying to juggle my first term requirements.

Design Process 
Early on Amy and I discussed using the Design Process for forming our project groups in LC4, I was excited by this as I had not used as a teaching tool nor been part of the process in any other organisation. Here was an opportunity to make additions to my kete of teaching tools while in the classroom, surely a bonus of team-teaching. I read about Amy's Design Process work with LC2 in 2014, and readied myself for learning. We took several days to move LC4 through the various phases but they came out the other end with their projects and a good understanding of why they were doing their projects. Some students even celebrated various aspects of the Design Process in their IEMs, whether it was their contribution to the ideation, the solution they'd formed as a team or how their dispositions had been challenged or grown. I see this as my first iteration through the Design Process and could write a post about it, but I think this should wait until I have taken more of a leadership role in its use in LC4, that will come when we head into our second lot of projects late term 2.

Reading Opportunities - 40 Book Challenge & Book Chat
Working with several of my readers I identified that they needed some challenge for their reading. They are all very keen readers with well developed reading ability but all tend to read within 1-2 genres. I've talked with them about a 40 book type challenge, emphasis on reading not numbers. I've used the 40 Book Challenge in class before and know it can provide some of the impetus required to take a look at different genres, thus growing our reading skills, vocabulary and general understanding of the world around us. We haven't worried about a way of monitoring the challenge because its the reading that is uppermost not writing about our reading, although Amy and I are wanting to implement some ways to provide some evidence of learning within reading. The 40 Book Challenge awaits as an untapped tool that I have introduced to LC4.

A colleague in Christchurch has developed a twitter-based book chat with her students. I had two of my students participating last year as it provided them with an opportunity to regularly discuss the books they were reading and expand their reading horizons. I have mentioned the existence of this bookchat to some of my students but need to facilitate their participation early in term 2. 

Where to next:
As we reviewed Term 1, I shared my frustration with my self-diagnosed lack of innovative teaching. I knew that my first term would be challenging in a new school but that I didn't feel I'd met my own expectations. The conversation took an interesting spin as we considered the impact our planning had had on this. We'd started with the lofty goal of having every week well planned in advance but ended operating on a just-in-time model as we responded to the needs of our learners. We discussed how this would have a large impact as more planning equates to a longer lead-in time and therefore more time for innovative teaching. Twitter chats, food tech lessons and construction workshops all necessitate preparation and use of any technology is enabled by more prep time also. However, directing a child to a website or app upon a teachable moment doesn't require much prep, just that the tool is top-of-mind at the required point in time.

During these discussions I was reminded of a blogpost that our principal shared with us in our innovation community. It centred on the importance of finishing, that completing a process or inquiry of learning is powerful and allows the learner to practice, develop and understand the various components required for mastery. It provided a challenge, the idea that innovation can lead to lots of uncompleted pieces of work. This reading summed up a conversation I had with another colleague about artistic endeavours that can lead to vast quantities of half-finished work, and frustration for a teacher that the true learning hasn't taken place yet.

In the last week of term 1 Amy was busy downloading information to me that may be helpful in term 2. Learning to operate our robots and what she had done for Coding within HPPS was high on the priority list. It was exciting being the learner again and in the short space of time we spent on this, combined with the reflection about my own innovative practice I felt invigorated. 

I'm still not sure if this was just my own self-doubt created by higher expectations, but the goal deserves the honest reflection and now I have a clearer pathway for term 2. Student voice, innovative teaching practice that adds value, advance planning and all tempered by a renewed emphasis on finishing experiences fully. 

Interview process = Professional Development

"We'd like to offer you a job...."

The words I'd been dying to hear since completing an interview with Daniel Birch, his staff and students at Hobsonville Point Primary School (HPPS).  A statement that signalled the journey I'd travelled and the slightly overwhelming one that was to begin. The application process was one of the most rigorous I'd undertaken and even if I'd missed the job it could be seen as great PD.

The application process included many aspects:
1. Information Evening
2. Application form, notably including 1 page to comment on the statement: “No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age as the current generation”.
3. Observation of you teaching in your own classroom.
4. 5 minute Ignite-style presentation about you as a teacher, presented to audience of other shortlisted candidates, HPPS staff and selected students.
5. Hermann's Brain session with staff and students at HPPS.
6. Teamwork & communication exercise with staff & students.
7. Formal interview.

Even on the face of it the HPPS application process (the high school follows a similar system, I believe) is quite exhausting and no doubt puts many potential applicants off. In my third year at Henderson North, I'd decided that this was the year to watch for schools where there would be significant learning for me as a teacher, this definitely fulfilled all the criteria. I wasn't going to be put off by the application process although once I was shortlisted I quickly recognised how daunting it was going to be.

As a relatively new teacher my first wake up call was when I approached my principal to ask for a reference. While she supported my journey, she was sceptical if I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. Had I checked out the school? Did I want to take some release time to spend some time there? I was convinced as I'd already spent time there during the BYOD 2014 conference, an Ignite Evening and the #Edchatnz14 conference, as well as having attended an information evening. I can understand why a member of an SMT would express scepticism, naturally they don't want to lose people for any number of reasons.

Once shortlisted, I approached my principal to discuss the request for some release time to complete tasks 4 - 7, and permission for the observation to take place in my classroom. I wasn't aware about tasks 3-7 when I began the process, naturally I'd assumed that an interview would take place but the rest was a complete eye opener. Imagine my surprise when I told my principal, she was wowed by the lengths HPPS went to, as in her experience many schools wouldn't go to that length for any position other than a principal. As it happened I was incredibly lucky that my principal was very accommodating, permitting the in-class observation and the release time. During the appointment process to fill my position and others at HNS, as well as my own journey, we discovered that not all principals were as accommodating.

Being a typical teacher, I over-planned the observation that would take place in my own classroom at HNS. Daniel's emails outlined the purpose of the observation, the relationship between teacher and students. I believed that it wasn't quite so simple, I was inviting my prospective employer into my space so anything could influence their impression of me (I'd been in interview-mode since the moment I attended the information evening). This had me critiquing my wall space, desk and many other aspects of the class. I was also being mindful of everything in my digital profile, as I knew Daniel followed my twitter account. For the record, the observation went fine from my perspective, my kids showed their charm and the wifi went a tad slow.

Like most people I get a little nervous before speaking to an audience of peers, but these were genuine competitors for something I wanted.  Extra pressure wasn't difficult to find! I managed to find myself presenting last too which just ramps up the nerves. The presentations were definitely a mixed bag and highlighted the need to practice, manage your time well and be confident with technology. The purpose for the presentations was that HPPS have hosted over 1000 visits in the short time since opening, if you aren't comfortable with being watched, teaching there may be difficult.

Next step was a small Hermann's Brain Analysis together with other candidates and students of the school, clearly this gave you a chance to relate with other people including children. Hermann's Brain takes quiz answers and uses them to illustrate your thinking preferences. As groups, including students, we sat down and talked about the results.

The small group exercise followed, groups of teachers working on an effective communication unit. Brainstorming ideas, thinking about assessment and teaching points, most importantly I felt this was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the HPPS way.

Then a formal interview with senior management, I hardly remember the questions now but I always find that I indulge in a lot of post-interview self-analysis. It has never been worthwhile as it leads to a lot of soul searching and 'what-ifs'.

Evidently, I must have gone ok as I secured a position.

Whilst I think some readers will benefit from understanding just how complicated some employment processes are becoming, I don't believe that HPPS is indicative of other schools and it appears that you really have to be prepared to put yourself out there. All opportunities to engage in PD and share your own learning are helping you towards that next position, I'd delivered several presentations by the time I delivered this one so it wasn't as daunting as it may have been. For new teachers especially, I think being involved in an interview process such as this has to be beneficial, it definitely challenges you and demands the growth mindset that we ask of our students.

If I hadn't secured a position there would still have been benefits for my PD:

• Casting a slightly different critical eye over my own classroom and its machinations led to some changes in wall displays, teaching styles, and classroom management of some students.
• Representing myself as a teacher in a presentation was challenging. What do you include (or not)? In hindsight it was a great reflection tool and it was no wonder that it took ages to prepare.
• Visiting schools is always valuable, this process involved time at HPPS with and without students, did I have more ideas for my classroom? Absolutely. 
• The Hermann's Brain analysis was interesting, although we didn't complete a full diagnostic test it did help me to understand my own thinking and that of others slightly better. HPPS use a full test to help staff but that's another whole post! 
• Writing on the Industrial Revolution helped cement some of my own views on current teaching practices and made me question the direction that some units/topics take within the classroom.
• On a personal note, I found it invigorating to refresh my CV, meet others who were challenging themselves by applying and just talking with these people. 

So I have a new job, I began the induction process shortly after being told I was a successful applicant as Daniel shared some suggested reading lists.  We then spent two days doing induction during term 4, as well as a meeting or two after school. There are high demands, but that was part of the attraction. My growth mindset is definitely switched on! 

EducampMinecraft - It's just a game

When #educampminecraft arose, I instantly knew I would be attending, the format, attendees and topic would all make it an excellent day. I consider myself pretty literate with digital tools but my experience this weekend has left me feeling a little like the pixelated animals walking around Minecraft, I was an easy target for any gamer who needed fed. Having had 24 hours to reflect on my learning, I am very thankful for my colleagues and the students that were at Mokoia Intermediate, its possible that my Minecraft health rating may have increased which can only benefit my students. The best explanation lies in comparing my Minecraft status before and after this PD.

Pre #EducampMinecraft
I discovered that my 2014 class liked Minecraft at our first meet the teacher, so this year I made sure that we had the Pocket Edition installed on the iPads. I had the motivation to try to integrate but I lacked the skills, experiences and to put it bluntly, I didn't know what I didn't know!  I investigated MinecraftEdu but didn't want to invest the money blindly.

Early in the year, I had an opportunity to integrate Minecraft in a lesson, we had asked children to design their ideal garden for the school. Nearly all were engaged in either writing or drawing their ideas, but 1 particular boy didn't appear interested, until offered the opportunity to design his garden using Minecraft. His 'health rating' shot up and he was engaged for the duration of the task. My first integration successful, I was looking for genuine opportunities from then on but have stumbled around a little.

Since then learning opportunities have looked like this:

1st attempts

• Some writing about Minecraft - narratives, information reports and even some persuasive writing where several students outlined the benefits of Minecraft in the classroom. All good pieces of writing that demonstrated the value of an engaging topic for a student.
• Attempts to design explorations from the First Crossing TV series, I think the students were motivated but battled with some direction. In trying to give them direction, I was ruining the task enjoyment.
• More recently, 6-8 students have been recreating the NZ parliament buildings. The first attempts didn't impress me at all and spoke more of their willingness to play rather than engage in a genuine learning experience. I suggested that they weren't achieving the high standards of which they were capable (I'd seen what they'd created in their own time). I directed them to a virtual tour of the parliament buildings, and at the same time purchased 2 of the Minecraft books. All of a sudden the buildings really developed, they had valuable research and assistance with how to create the things they were seeing. A true learning experience had been created, but we still struggled with some digital citizenship problems, both within our own class and with others.
• I host several boys for half of Friday lunchtime, my job is to give them something to do so they don't find their way to trouble. We started out coding, but recently have just been playing Minecraft, their ability to relate to others, contribute and participate within this context is quite interesting. I need to explore how this can be translated to the real world. 



Post research & reading

• More writing has taken place, several children are working on M is for Minecraft - an A to Z format book. This shows real potential and we've attacked it as more of a project.

I hadn't really engaged in any PD surrounding Minecraft, I had several of my PLN who I knew could assist in several areas but that was the sum of it. I was still struggling with how to display the work going on, we've got some photos on the wall that came from screen shots but I really wanted to see some video work and wasn't completely positive on how to achieve this. I sat down with my class pre-educampminecraft to discuss issues I might be able to investigate, I was pleased with the types of isuses they wanted to explore and experiences they imagined

My prediction for EducampMinecraft proved very astute, the day has been blogged by Sonya van Schaijik and the EducampMinecraft wiki, is of course a great resource.

Witnessing the potential of minecraft being realised, having this potential explained by both educator & student and listening to all of these experts I have a long way to travel before I can consider myself more of an expert.

Post #EducampMinecraft
1. I need to implement a treaty/code of conduct/class rules.
Why? It was naive to not have one of these for our minecraft work. Even though my class talk about digital citizenship regularly, we never expressly outlined how this might look within Minecraft. Our school uses PB4L and I believe my kids could easily transfer this model into our 5B's (Be Safe, Friendly, Respectful, Responsible and a Learner). We've had some digital citizenship issues, but this would set up expectations rather than being reactive.

2. Forget trying to learn to play Minecraft.
Why? The students have this aspect covered and can teach me far more than I could ever hope to teach them. Student voice at Mokoia proved this beyond doubt. I would be far better exploring having our students at HNS teach the teachers what Minecraft is all about as @MrRuddtheTeachr and I had believed.

3. I need to look to extend literacy within and about Minecraft.
Why? I was aware that Minecraft could be used to further the children's literacy. Having them read & write about Minecraft was pretty awesome, researching what they're creating isn't too bad either but this can be so much more. @MrWoodnz and @Steve_katene were discussing reading and writing books within Minecraft. If that's not engaging!

4. Understanding/Implementing the correct platform - Minecraft Servers, MinecraftEdu or Minecraft PE
Why? Steve and others shared so much knowledge about what can be done, while I would love to have a class server I don't have the technical know-how to do this. I currently don't have the ability to get MinecraftEdu either, but I don't believe this is now an issue. @Teachernz and Steve were accomplishing so much through just the pocket edition. Given my level of integration, this is certainly enough for now. I've plenty of potential to explore without worrying about servers.

5. Class displays & presentation need to be more innovative.
Why? As outlined earlier I wasn't feeling satisfied by how my class was displaying its Minecraft work. Steve was using Aurasma, an Augmented Reality tool, to display both static and video images. I've wanted to extend what I was doing in terms of displaying the children's work and video was a large part of this plan, I just hadn't settled on a workflow that worked. My indecision was partly due to lack of of inspiration - well now that's solved...

I was seriously blown away by the potential that Minecraft offers and still have plenty of questions, one I'm particularly keen on investigating is the use of Minecraft within science. Someone over the weekend was talking about removing the laws of physics within the game, but I wonder where else you could go in this game.

Reflecting on my own practice in such a way is refreshing, I've plenty to learn but its vital that this I recognise this. Most importantly, I know who to ask to help me learn!

Thanks Michael for creating and sharing this.

Why the board games?

I'm in charge of @kidsedchatnz for week 6 T3. My class had been wanting to talk about gaming, minecraft and other "fun" activities for a while, so as a class we co-constructed a list of questions and a few tasks for more of a flipped lesson. The #Edchatnz conference had really motivated me to pursue gaming as I blogged about here, so this was an opportunity to investigate, get student voice and put some energy into the "What, How and Why" of gaming.

Late last week we got out the post-its and shared what learning we thought we could get from playing games (for our task this was defined as board, dice and electronic games but did not include PE/Fitness games). There were lots of ideas, but generally they were broad ideas of Maths, Reading, Writing, Science or ideas around the theme of cooperation/teamwork, some children did recognise that survival, strategic thinking, cyber safety and taking risks could all be learned through gaming of different formats, the latter ideas were rather enlightening for a teacher about to embark on a week of gaming in the classroom.

This week I took Risk, Monopoly and Yahtzee into the class, we already had Scrabble, Once Upon A Time and ipads with Minecraft on them. I must admit that the Why is rather tenuous. They are embarking in authentic language experience that they can then use within a Kidsedchatnz topic where their literacy skills will be engaged. They've supplemented this with a small piece of writing before yesterday's game session on what they expected to learn from the games.

It was hardly a surprise that the kids engaged in the games, Risk, Monopoly and Minecraft being the favourites. There was plenty of amazing communication, teamwork and the odd dispute!

Today, in our second session, I asked them to self-monitor the Key Competencies using a simple tally chart. As they engaged in the games there was a notable shift in the discussion and atmosphere. While the competition was still evident, there was more assistance with rules as children tried to help each other out, take more care of their role in the game and generally try to be better participants. As I tweeted a couple of quick reflections/photos I was prompted by a colleague to look deeper.


Mark is right, we'd discussed with @Gingamusings and many others at her gaming session that the "Why" needs to be uppermost in a teachers mind or I'm just providing the kids with an excuse to muck around.

We're studying the geography of NZ at present and that is shifting this week to Election 2014.

Monopoly contains obvious links to maths and oral language. Here are some possible ways to build on this in other areas of the curriculum in different year levels:

• Social Studies: Game scenarios that might include rich vs poor; who is in charge of the money; equity & fairness; financial literacy; investigating the significance of featured places to NZers; locating the places on maps; identifying how these places may be chosen or even what a future edition might include. The selection of the NZ edition featured a lengthy voting period before the eventual choice of Pukekura Park in the "Mayfair" position. I did locate two websites that used monopoly in a rigged format to explore social inequities in the US, the second is certainly quite well thought out.
• Literacy: as hotels/houses built investigating the roles of people involved and their respective feelings. 

Risk also has its own unique set of maths links but probably can be adopted further to assist in the teaching of probability, ratios & proportions as well as the key competency & oral language links that any game necessitates. With its obvious 'conquer the world' theme there are many links to politics and power also. Extra ideas could include:

• Social Studies: Risk could be manipulated to investigate/replicate/stimulate ideas on many AO's from the social studies curriculum,  and when combined with The Arts or Literacy many differing viewpoints could be explored. This could be about about cultural change, how the past is recorded/remembered, leadership, access to resources, or the cause and effect for different events.

I'm sure there are many more ways that these two games could be adapted or integrated into different aspects of the NZC and there are always going to be the skills and values that come out of participating in games within the classroom. Although the curriculum links are not as strong in this instance, I've been impressed by the children's engagement and believe that the use of both games for a more deliberate curriculum choice would be advantageous. Mark's respectful questioning was justified and prompted some useful reflection and it does make me wonder what other resources or uses teachers have for these or other games.

#Edchatnz - so what?

The night before the #Edchatnz conference I was a ball of energy, with a hint of nerves! I was presenting for Kidsedchatnz and my brain was racing as I wondered what the next two days would bring. Last night was a complete contrast, the realisation that Friday would be 1 week on from was quite a comedown, there would be no F2F with my PLN no, no passionate learners sharing their knowledge, no hanging out with some of the most amazing teachers.

We all knew that taking this conference home , continuing the revolution, was a large task. After 4 days, I know I've achieved a lot.

I've purchased "Once Upon A Time". This is a storytelling game recommended by @gingamusings. We were investigating narrative storywriting, its been a tad silo but I'd been using context to make it engaging with lots of minecraft, Call of Duty, visual prompts from Write About This on Pinterest and plenty of free choice. But this week, we've added "Once Upon A Time" to the mix, as well as StoryCubes (Verbs) and Scrabble.

• Why? Oral Language is the foundation of story telling, some of my kids need help just getting their story out, others need to work on the flow/structure and for some just thinking about vocab and spelling is a big step. Its been full of "buzz" this week.

Collaborative writing: Having played "Once Upon A Time", 3 of my girls wrote a collaborative recount of their experience on GoogleDocs. We also took part in a small collaborative task started by @PascalDresse a round robin story using GoogleDocs, 10 classes writing 1 sentence each. I've posted more about this elsewhere.

• Why? The girls wanted to share something about Once Upon A Time and they asked - I knew they would be writing, in terms of Key Competencies alone I was happy with this. 10 Sentence story children were all chosen as they have problems with stories flowing.

Choice: We had the computers for two sessions, 1 each for Maths & literacy. During Maths I took a risk with the blank canvas & conveyed that to the children. I asked each of them to write their learning outcome for the lesson, they shared this with me through Socrative where I was able to download the spreadsheet of responses. Each child then attempted to learn using their own methods with the computer, I had kids visiting lots of sites for strong math games (with their goals in mind), kids on Khan Academy and other YouTube videos. All were engaged and most confessed they had actually made progress towards their learning goal. The literacy session was much the same, children spent their time blogging, publishing, commenting, creating & sharing.

• Why? This was a great chance to try the blank canvas for me but for the kids I know that everyone of them has different learning needs in maths, this was a chance to personalise the learning. I viewed it as a success.

Sharing HookEd.com: @CaroBush laughed at my gobsmacked look as Pam Hook shared with us during Edchatnz. I've shown several people the Rubric Generators on Pam's site HookEd.com they've given me the same look.

• Why? Because some of our mapping meetings have tedious merry-go-round conversations about what skill or verb should be included because some are too hard for different levels. SOLO and the rubric generators makes this argument go away!

Our principal was talking about digital learning, professional development and shifting your thinking. A great discussion and was supplemented with a model outlining reluctance through to innovators. I was asked to add my thoughts. I talked about three things: What, How, & Why. It's easy to find a new toy/gadget/app to play with but that it is understanding Why you have included it in your learning experience that is the real question.

• Why? It should be central to your thinking in all planning. Why does the student need this tool, this experience, what will be the outcome for their learning.

I've purchased the book Key Competencies the first book recommended by @Edubookchatnz which was launched at #Edchatnz, I didn't go to the session but I am definitely keen to take part in this awesome journey. They're recommending professional reading and providing a chat to share the learning, consider it an online book club for teacher twitter geeks like me.

• Why? Because professional reading is an important method to improve my teaching & professional practice.

Friday afternoon, @MrRuddtheTeachr and I are providing some PD on collaboration, connection & constant learning (aka TWITTER). I am a huge advocate of Twitter as a teacher & in the class and we also have 5-6 who are on Twitter but not very active, some are eggs because they don't have profiles & some chicks as they're not very active tweeters. But most are real eggs, they're not even on twitter. Its time for some to change that.

• Why? Connection, collaboration, constant learning, PLN, need I go on?

1 week on, I'm feeling pretty relaxed about continuing the revolution and most importantly that I've truly engaged with the Professional Development I got at #Edchatnz

Connection, PD & Ako

EducampAKl was a complete revelation for me, attending for the first time I had a strong preconceived notion of what was ahead. I'd followed a couple through the twitter feed and had even contributed from afar. However, I had no clue of how much I would get from a day's free PD.

On a personal level, I got to catch up with several colleagues who I always enjoy chatting with and they always have something interesting for me to reflect on. Classroom twitter accounts was one such topic that gave me a lot to think about. PD these days is always an opportunity to get put a face to name and it was a pleasure to meet two of my fellow Kidsedchatnz coordinators. Juliet & Marnel, I look forward to the next time we can meet and hope there is a time shortly when all 7 of us coordinators can sit down to a coffee.

Watching and taking part in the Smackdown I still wasn't sure what I options I would choose to learn about. So I wandered off to the Code Club for Teachers module - fantastic choice!

An hour later, I'm part of a Google Community and have made more connections with teachers all facing the same issues and wanting the similar support. Plus we have some enthusiastic colleagues to help us with our support needs and they're setting us some deadlines for Code.Org! I made light of the fact they wanted an hour of my time over the next month (my wife argues I already spend too much time working).

A week hasn't elapsed yet and this is a summary of progress that occurred because I made a worthwhile choice:

• I've completed 2 modules, including learning in front of my class who have all spent some time with me on Scratch earlier in 2014.
• I've sat down with my self-assessed technology-challenged ex-Mentor Teacher and worked on creating a cool little block of code (results in the video). I love it everytime I engage him in an eLearning task but coding I never would have thought.
• Demonstrated to my class that I can make mistakes, keep learning and fix them.
• They're all interested in doing what I am and so as the final bell went we set up a class code so they could all join Code.org also. 
• One of my boys is already on Code.org so I hope he's prepared to help me learn too.

Lesley, Tanya, Alyx & Sonya thank you, I was on the coding journey but now I have direction, support and best of all motivation as my kids and I will be learning together.