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Category Archives: Physical education

Skills and Tactics – from paper to practice

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Physical education, Technology .

I’m working on a Year 10 PASS theory unit on Improving Performance. One of the topics we cover is using skills and tactics as a way to improve individual and team performance.
In planning the learning for this, I wanted to made the learning real and visible, not just theoretical and abstract. I came up with something that could be done in one lesson, maybe two.
1. I started with a quick introduction – a Google Presentation about what we were doing in the lesson

2. Then I showed a stimulus video on strategy and tactics in a Netball setting

2. We had a quick discussion about the difference between a tactic and a strategy

3. I then got the class to form groups of 5 (maximum), and using mini whiteboards, they devised a tactic for basketball, rugby league or football

Rugby League Play

Football Play

Basketball Play

 

The students transferred these group ideas to individual sheets for their portfolio

4. We then went out to the courts and the students rehearsed the tactic (it was raining, which stopped us using the fields for the football groups)

5. I started to film the group performing their tactic for their portfolios. (I’ll include some in a follow up post)

OK – I missed completing the whole thing in one lesson (i.e. filming every group) by about 20 minutes, and the groups could have done with more rehearsal time to perfect the movements, but we got close to going from paper to practice in 5 steps in about an hour.

The take away for me was the enthusiasm the students showed in being given the license to create their own scenario and solution. The elegant way that some groups went about devising their solution was inspiring.
So much better than reading about someone else’s plays, or copying down notes.
Never underestimate the ability of students to ask good questions and find great solutions.

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#pegeeks Mythbusters

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Physical education, Popular culture, Technology .

I’m teaching a unit on Improving Performance with my Year 10 students at the moment. They choose a sport they want to investigate (ideally the one they play at the moment) and come up with a personal improvement plan for themselves. The aspects of the investigation are up to them, but we talked through some options as part of the orientation lesson. One of the things we discussed was the effect of skill or technique modification and what sort of things might make your performance of a particular movement better.
There is a bit of a back story I need to recount at this point. Last year, when we had done a unit on golf, a lot of students wanted to try a “Happy Gilmore” drive off the tee. My risk management instincts kicked in and I wouldn’t allow it. My excuse (based on what I believed to be true) was that the notion it would add to their driving performance was a myth. This was somewhat grudgingly accepted as the truth because, hey, “he’s the teacher”.
Cut to this year and as I looked for some stimulus material for our Improving Performance unit, I discovered this great video from the Sport Science show on TV. Low and behold, it dealt with whether a “happy Gilmore” swing actually works. In the words of the Mythbusters TV show, myth busted!

Now this made me think. I was guilty of perpetuating a myth and the video debunked that in a really entertaining way. It also occurred to me that the idea of debunking myths would be a fantastic way for students to inquire about improving performance. They could devise ways to prove or disprove their chosen myth and then present their thinking as a reflection of their understanding and learning.

Here’s how I see it going. As a group we collectively come up with myths or stories that are out there to do with improving sporting performance. Ethical and non intrusive ones, of course! Students in teams could then devise ways of testing these myths, recording and presenting their results. In fact, the “Happy Gilmore” video would be a great template to use. It had hard research mixed with entertaining banter. The students would need to explore skill video analysis, storyboarding, video production, script writing and presentation of data amongst other things as part of their inquiry. They could end with an evaluation, based on their findings just like the Mythbusters show – “Confirmed” “Plausible” or “Busted”.

This is just a nebulous idea at the moment, and needs plenty of refinement, not to mention a systematic upskilling program for both the students and I. But I think it has great merit and I’ll be working on it over the next while.

PS. If you want to see a “Happy Gilmore” drive performed by mere mortals, along with the type of video that students are likely to produce, here’s one from the Slow Mo Guys:

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MasterCoach Mystery Bag Challenge

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Physical education, Popular culture .

I’ve been playing around with an idea to get  my Year 10 students to think about games and how to run them.
I’ve always been a fan of inserting popular culture references into my teaching, and one particular TV show captured my attention last week. Master Chef Australia is on at the moment, and it saw a segment that inspired me to try something new (for me, anyway).

I call this the MasterCoach Mystery Bag Challenge, based on the MasterChef Mystery Box Challenge.
Not seen MasterChef?
I’ve Tube Chopped a short video to give you the idea….

What I do with the kids is get them to work in groups of 2 or 3. I grab a bag of random sport gear. Markers and bibs are standard. It has to include an item for moving around between the players (ball, frisbee, bean bag etc) and some props (hoops, speed ladders, etc) that may or may not be used. I then give the bag to the group.

A MasterCoach Mystery bag

The group then has the time it takes for the rest of the class to clear the change room and have the roll marked to set up their activity.  Based on the Mystery Bag contents they can use what they want, and devise a set of rules as well. They usually have between 5 – 10 minutes to get set up.
When the class comes to them, they have to explain the rules, run the class through a warm up and basic intro to their game.

The instructions are given

The game they devise runs for 20 minutes – during this time they can modify games aspects of the game or rules where necessary.
During this time, I ask the group members Game Sense style questions (What would make this work better? What would you change if you started over? What did you find tricky?). So far some of the conversations have surprised me with the depth of understanding and thinking from the kids.

The game is played

I also had a thought. This could be made even more interesting by using Jarrod Robinson’s Spin It app. You could give the group a chance to spin up random warm ups or activities to be included in their session. You could do this well in advance or for extreme planning stress, just before they start.

Give it a crack – I’d love to hear your stories on how it went for you, or about variations of the activity that work for you.

Jonesy

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GoPro in PE

Posted on by Posted in GoPro, Mobile technology, Physical education, Technology .

I have played around with a few gadgets in class over the years to try and mesh tech and the outcomes of my PE programs. I played around with cheap GPS data loggers and found they could be useful for analysing player movement in a game situation, just like the pros., for a fraction of the cost.
I’ve owned a GoPro camera for a while now and I’ve used it mainly for recording my cycling adventures. In the process of using it to help make a school promotional video, I discovered that the GoPro had potential in PE class for studies and analysis from players POV (Point of View).

Most people have access to a recording device of some sort, so a GoPro isn’t a prerequisite, but the development they have put into into the mounts make it a very usable device for physical activity. The footage from a chest mounted camera is pretty raw and unscripted, but it gave me a few ideas on what it could be used for. I’m thinking  – part of a student portfolio that demonstrates their participation in not just school activities, but long physical activities outside school.


How do you think a GoPro camera could fit with enhancing your PE program outcomes?

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Reflections and crystal balling

Posted on by Posted in Games for Learning, Inquiry, Leading, Learning, Pedagogy, Physical education .

This will be my last post for 2013, I think.
With the school year finishing in under a week, I’ve been reflecting on what has happened in my classroom, with my faculty and with my online communities that I interact with.

Looking Back…

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by Blake Danger Bentley: http://flickr.com/photos/blentley/4472514575/


At school, I’ve struggled in a lot of ways. I struggled returning to school after being away in an office, doing something that I initially thought was going to be a valuable resources for teachers, but unfortunately PLANE has withered into nothing. I learned plenty though – about ways of teaching, and about leadership (done well ,and very poorly too).
Returning to school was tough – I felt like an inexperienced teacher in front of my classes, and I knew staff were checking me out too. By year’s end, I felt I had my “mojo” back and was part of the team at Erina again. I think that mainly came about by keeping busy, trying new things, taking calculated risks and making wise (not always popular, though) decisions.
In my classroom, I’ve tried things that I always thought would make learning more authentic. Inspired by Mark Treadwell, Andy Vasily and others I wanted to base a lot of what my classes do on Inquiry learning. I really wanted to avoid spoon feeding students, and I’ve made some progress but there is a long way to go yet. Part of the battle is convincing students and  staff to bust out of the “spoon fed” paradigm and try something new or different.  I’ve documented this  through the year, so check it out.

My Year 7 class and I tried Minecraft and I was very encouraged by the experience of using a disruptive platform like game based learning to approach mainstream health topics like relationships. I learned a lot from a group of educators that play together in Minecraft on a Monday night – @fedsie @NBooth005  @SCU006 @VivienTuckerman @nickpatsianas
Not all of these educators are teachers – but they are educators none the less.
If you want to read about what Year 7 and I did – check it out here.

My online connections have provided some fantastic learning and its been great to watch PEPLC and PEPRN grow and stimulate global thinking and collaboration. I haven’t contributed as much as I should, but watching the community grow has been a buzz. It has taken the hard work of people like Andy Vasily (again) and Dr Ash Casey to show that research can exist in our classrooms, in the hands of everyday practitioners, and not just pronouncements from ivory towers. I congratulate Andy and Ash along with @PENathan @phys_educator  and @kellyannparry (amongst others) for advocating for praxis in Physical Education research and practice

The tag #pegeeks has had an interesting year. There was a vigorous debate about what it stands for. Personally, I think it has been diluted by brand builders that have hopped on a successful vehicle and used it for their own purposes, but there you go. I just know that where I used to watch it avidly, I now just check in from time to time, and often leave shaking my head. I find more value in the #pechat tag, which is probably a reflection of my interaction with Twitter more generally.

Looking Forward

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Mark Skipper: http://flickr.com/photos/bitterjug/870861414/


On reflection, my work and what I post about has definitely taken a turn into new territory – I used to focus on tools, rather than teaching. I reckon I’ve flipped that on its head – tools are fine, but good teaching and learning environments are key. And that’s where I think 2014 will be taking me.

Next year is shaping as scarily big. My school is adopting a BYOD / eTech model for the entire Year 7 cohort. That will be a post for later on. In a nutshell, we are recycling DER laptops to work with Google Apps for Education.  My part in all this is PL and pedagogy support for teachers involved in the program, ensuring that the focus is not just the tool, but the adoption of effective teaching and learning supported by the tools.
Inspired by incredibly passionate operators like Bianca Hewes and her husband Lee, I’m seeing the natural dovetail of our E-tech program with Project Based Learning as a crucial factor for it’s success. I’m an enthusiastic amateur with this approach, and selling it to staff will be a challenge. But I’m confident that their desire to make a difference will make a different way of doing things seem more attractive and worthwhile.

In 2014, my focus will be learning, not just the tools from spruikers that don’t understand classrooms offer as solutions. My passion for PE remains undiminished, but I think my worldview has become just that – whole school rather than just faculty based. My passion for engaging kids in PE is as strong as ever and making their learning relevant is my core business. Student voice and student choice will all be a part of that.

So cheers, thanks for reading in 2013, and see you in the New Year.

Jonesy

 

 

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Marking and feedback in PE

Posted on by Posted in Physical education, teacherstuff .

I recently wondered about the sorts of thing PE teachers did when it came to marking and feedback as part of their day to day work.
So, harnessing the the #pegeek tag and Google Forms, I created a survey for PE teachers worldwide to respond to. I then turned the data I received from the respondents into a visual representation, using Spicynodes. Spicynodes is pretty cool – clicking on each node gives you a connected narrative type effect.
Unfortunately (in a glass half empty view), only 14 PE people worldwide responded to the survey 🙁

Happily, though, (in a glass half full view) I got some response to the questions 🙂

Interestingly, there seemed to be not a lot of data about about whether the task, homework or tests were from practical or theory classes (probably due to my poor survey construction), and that might be the subject of a further survey in the future. But it appears plenty of marking and feedback is happening, mainly in theory classes. As a response to this post it would be great to hear about how people mark and feedback in practical lessons, especially if students are using apps and devices as their work tools.
Click on the image below to check out the Spicynodes visualisation. I’d love to hear what you think.

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From No Spoons, to ladles, and in between

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Learning, Pedagogy, Physical education .

I’ve been prompted to revisit the original post “No Spoons” and give an appraisal of where it got our class. I can honestly say it’s been a difficult 9 months (there could be an extended metaphor on pregnancy in this, maybe), but in reflecting on the experience I have some good leads on where to go for the potentially more scary HSC year.

Peppercorns cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Dennis Wilkinson: http://flickr.com/photos/djwtwo/7312515190/

What happened?
The structures I set up had varying degrees of success in the way they were received and worked in the classroom teaching and learning setting.
Tools
Much of the “infrastructure” I set up was viewed in different ways by different students. Some embraced the OneNote notebooks enthusiastically, but I was disappointed that it was impossible to make them “live” notebooks via syncing through the DET wireless network. They ended up becoming individual notebooks, with the students responsible for their upkeep, which created an inequity of access to information as a result of inconsistent levels of student commitment.
The blog was dependent on the students submitting work electronically. This worked pretty well, but I needed to stay on top of the posting, which I didn’t. The students were offered roles as contributors, but saw that as an additional work load that they didn’t want to take on. One of my resolutions is to be more diligent in publishing out work over the next 12 months.
Textbooks – the students are so wedded to the idea of having a text book that it became a major distraction when we didn’t issue one to everyone (even though I knew some kids wouldn’t even open them over the course of the Prelim year). So I resorted to sharing snippets of textbooks that enabled them to work on the set tasks in class. This is linked to their use of laptops – digital texts were available, but not everyone valued them as much as paper texts – go figure.
The student use of laptops remains a frustration for me. Whether it’s the hardware, or the perception that bringing one meant they had to do work  – it resulted in an inconsistent approach and another equity issue. You can’t expect everyone to be on the same page if they don’t have the book, so to speak. However, the final tool in my toolbox did actually result in a reason for using laptops that most students engaged with.
Edmodo worked really well, most of the time. Submission of work, homework and quizzes were consistently completed by the majority of the class, but not everyone – it’s funny how you always seem to get one Luddite in a class these days, even amongst the technology immersed generation we teach these days! Online conversations, however, were not a strong point of our Edmodo experience – which is surprising, because the conversations in class were often of high quality and vigorous. This will be an area of development in the HSC course – I found this interesting article that hopefully will guide my implementation of the course on Edmodo this year.

The Concept
I have to say I’m still committed to the original concept, but I quickly realised that the way I went about it was obviously too much of a pedagogical shock for the kids to handle. Let’s face it, junior high school hasn’t prepared them for the sort of thing I wanted to them to do  – think for themselves about their formal learning.
As a consequence, we swung from pure inquiry (which they weren’t ready for, and rebelled against), to a pseudo spoon feeding situation that pleased them, but almost killed me. By the end of the Prelim course, the pendulum had swung to somewhere in the middle, which we both seemed to be happy with. I was getting them to think, and they were ticking their information boxes. The Learning Cycle I used in practice sort of still looks like the original, but I learned that you have to be adaptable in the  timing of it. For example, sometimes the discussion works better in class for somethings, but online for others. The recognition that discussion is an integral part of the process, however, is the non-negotiable.
I also made sure that the lesson delivery was varied – there was no way I was going to lecture. I made sure we had had stimulus material as the basis of lesson “hooks”. I also made use of the social strengths of the class, and planned to have lessons that were solely group work exercises designed to have the class mixing their knowledge and ideas to promote a deeper understanding. Some of the best feedback I got from students in the Prelim course was regarding “the classes we get to talk to each other”.
Another thing I started to use that made a difference was the Cornell notes concept.This video, although a bit cheesy, is a great intro into how to use the system. I had been worried that their note taking was not reflecting the learning in class, so I spent some time aligning our syllabus with Cornell note templates. The students were introduced to the note taking technique, then given templates to fill in during class. This allowed us to do more inquiry based work in class, and they were given reflection time to compile their notes. This certainly ticked the equity boxes, and provided collaborative opportunities for the kids to build their notes together. This is a useful template to see what it’s all about.

The HSC
Just typing that gave me a gut clench. I know the students will be under pressure for the next 12 months to perform to their best, not just in my class, but in all 12 units. I will be under pressure too – I am still committed to getting the students to think about my subject, not just regurgitate in an exam. But they need to to acquire course information, and be able to use it. So my plan includes:

  • A real life approach to the learning – I’m going to create a teaching program so that where applicable the syllabus “Learn To’s” will be positioned as real life scenarios – this will be to create that climate of imagination and thinking through options. For instance,  the first “hook” lesson for Core 2 ( Factors Affecting Performance) will be a hypothetical that will set the scene for what we have to learn, but position it in a believable case study or project for them to investigate.
  • Cornell Notes – provide structured templates for the students to build a solid body of notes. Each template will be based on the critical questions in the syllabus, and the “Learn To” dot points. I’ll provide examples as I create them, but here’s one from the Prelim course to show you what I mean.
  • Edmodo – I’ve played with it for long enough to know that it has a powerful place in my classroom. Combined with our school hosted Google Apps, I intend to create an “anytime, anywhere” learning environment.
  • Make the lesson delivery as vibrant and engaging as possible. Rather than lecturing, I intend to find stimulus around us that means something to the students. Students asking questions and answering each others questions will be an indicator I strive for.
  • Quality exam preparation, where the students are adept at thinking on their feet, and not rely on preparing a stock answer, will be my goal.

I’ll endeavour to update as we go along. It’s going to be an interesting ride. But I’m feeling more confident that I can pull this off. Hell, it might even be fun.

“Twisted” cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Beyond Neon: http://flickr.com/photos/kungfuji/230461728/

 

 

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Looking Forward, looking back

Posted on by Posted in Inquiry, Mobile technology, Pedagogy, Physical education, teacherstuff, Technology .
cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by brefoto: http://flickr.com/photos/breff/3568711214/

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo by brefoto: http://flickr.com/photos/breff/3568711214/

I haven’t written much lately – I’ve honestly been smashed off my feet being back at school after a time away at PLANE.
I did write a couple of posts earlier in the year about some ideas that I’d used in my teaching – an Inquiry approach for my senior class (“No Spoons”) and a little project based lesson in Year 10 Road Safety (“Road Safety Film Festival”), and its about time to update what happened there. I’d also better mention a video portfolio idea that came to fruition as well with my Year 9 Physical Activity and Sport Studies (PASS) class.
I’ve also got some plans for this semester as well, based on where I’ve come from so far, and where I’d like to go. The name of the post “Looking Forward, Looking Back” is based on that idea, and is coincidentally a Slim Dusty song. I hadn’t really listened to it before this post was written, but it actually mentions poignantly some of the ideas I’m covering. Give it a listen!

Looking Back
“No Spoons” was all about trying to avoid spoon feeding my senior class content for the HSC in PDHPE. It was clear that there was resistance to a change in what the students considered to be “good teaching” (i.e – content driven lecture style delivery with pre-made notes given out to complement the lecture). Our school has two PDHPE classes in the one cohort and comparisons between the teaching styles of both teachers were inevitably made (i.e some students observed that the “good” teacher was the one that taught in the traditional way, and I wasn’t – teaching in the traditional way that is, or good, apparently. That was a blow to my self esteem). Having to think, source their own information and answer questions was beyond some students right from the start. On reflection the way I went about introducing this method probably needed more thought, as what I ended up doing very well was instill a sense of fear in the students via the “change” in the un-negotiated, unilaterally imposed learning environment I created (as discussed in the paper “Managing Resistance to Change” – fear is a significant blocker to change occurring). Since the start of the year, I’ve probably swung too far back toward the traditional style I was hoping to replace as a way to placate some of their fears. My goal will be to achieve some further state of equilibrium that meets both our needs. In fact, in future I’d probably start “traditionally” then ease into an Inquiry based approach, introducing questioning and reflection skills as course method gradually- thus trying to manage the fear of the students that their preparation for HSC exams was in jeopardy.

Road Safety Film Festival was a project idea I had for getting my Year 10 PDHPE class to think creatively about road safety as well as producing an artifact that could be used in future as a resource and timulus for following cohorts. In the end I got one video back from one group of students – in the grand scheme of things, it was a failure. There were some great teaching moments that occurred, but the final product was lacking. The class is possibly my best thinking and motivated class, so their attitude was OK, but it didn’t catch as well as I thought it would. Reflecting on the process and outcomes, I had to admit some blockers had cruelled the idea. Firstly, I only get to see the kids once a fortnight in the classroom and time designated as “production” time – this is too long between lessons to maintain continuity. Secondly, the use of mobile devices to produce the video was problematic. We have mixed messages at my school about student use of mobile phones in class – officially mobiles are banned. This creates suspicion and confusion amongst the student when they are asked to USE them in class. Some kids use the school rule as an excuse NOT to use them for a project like this. We don’t have school owned cameras to fill the void. This was very frustrating. This situation is a work in progress for me.

Sport Academy Portfolio
I haven’t posted anything about this. In Year 9 PASS, we had the students produce a video application for a fictitious Sport Academy. Shot on mobile devices, the students were given a set of skills that needed to be showcased in a video evidence reel.It was left to them to work out the logistics of shooting, what they shot, and the final video production. Some chose to do all their shooting at school, some did it after hours.
This was a bright moment last semester, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the Year 9 PASS class wanted to use their phones and actually produced some quality work.
Secondly, another member of staff worked with me on this idea, and as a result they appreciated the potential that this sort of idea provided. Too many of my ideas involve being a “lone wolf” – doing it on my own, separate from the faculty, but this one was significant in the way the someone else came along for the ride, and is now an advocate for this sort of work. On reflection, a different cohort of students produced a much different result to the Year 10 group who produced almost nothing. My job will be to work out what conditions existed in one productive setting, and not in the other, and use that as part of my “Looking Forward” planning for the upcoming semester.

As for the “Looking Forward” new projects for semester 2, I think I’ll need another post to describe them. But I know that the valuable experience of trying, failing, reflecting and modifying has to be cycled through continually for ideas to take root and flourish.

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No spoons

Posted on by Posted in Change, Inquiry, Pedagogy, Physical education .

The story so far…
I returned to school this year after about 18 months working in an office helping to build PLANE – a cross sectoral professional learning community.
I always intended to return – many thought I wouldn’t. But I always thought that to keep something like PLANE (or any sabbatical) real, it has to have a practical application. Otherwise it remains ethereal learning – a vapour that swirls and adds atmosphere, but doesn’t add to practice.
One of the coolest things I was exposed to during my time with PLANE was the idea of Inquiry. I worked with a great Inquiry thinker and do-er Mark Treadwell, and the conversations with Mark I remember most clearly when it comes to putting some theory into practice.
I found that I’d been allocated a Stage 6 PDHPE class – senior students studying for the HSC. I’ve never been a fan of the “senior circus” – it was always about Bands, and ATARs and exams. And learning was framed in the end result that was the HSC exam mark.
I always figured there had to be a better way. So I took a chance and decided to move away from the “lecture” model that had so often been promoted as best practice, and do something different. Well, different to what I’d seen around the traps.
I don’t doubt that other people do what I’m trying to do much better, and I don’t claim to be innovative to the extent that it’s unique. To me the big thing is that I’m trying something new, and not falling back into formualaic content driven spoonfeeding.

So, what does it look like?

The Concept
This is what I envisaged the aim of the concept to be.

CC jonesytheteacher

PE Inquiry Cycle

Starting with a question, we look at what is already known, find out more about what we don’t know and then share our findings. All the while, the central focus is reflecting on the process and  learning.

Rather than me pile content into them, I wanted the students to LEARN about my subject. I stated from the outset – I won’t be GIVING you the answers. I still have to honour the syllabus and its concepts and content. So I thought of a different way to get there. I created a process scaffold that described our weekly Inquiry cycle. It was given to every student, and is referred to consistently.

cc jonesytheteacher

My Learning Cycle in PE

I would start and finish the week with concept introduction and a concept wrap. The OneNote has the “mini questions” as a starting point. During the cycle, the students would investigate, research and discuss these smaller questions. These questions focused on the dot points in the syllabus. The information the students gathered answering these questions would be the basis of their notes. These notes in turn helped them answer the weekly question. Each Wednesday, the students would submit their responses to the weekly question. I provide feedback on their writing. And the cycle starts again. (While the cycle indicates where all this will happen, that was a starting point. There is no reason why any part of the cycle has to take place in one venue only. And as I found, the feedback isn’t just my domain)

In the early stages, class time activities are structured around presentations from me (in the form of asking questions), discussion time where we work through the questions and student research on answering the questions.

Tools:
Edmodo
I wanted to blend digital with traditional. You can’t escape traditional in the HSC. I wanted somewhere the students could access resources and each other, whenever they wanted. We use Edmodo as our 24 hour classroom. Here the students can share, connect and contribute. All the official documents are here, along with other resources. Powerpoints of my weekly concept intros and wrap ups are left here as well. They submit their weekly writing tasks and notes here.
OneNote
I needed a way to present the “big picture” – the entire Core 1 with guiding questions and interactive resources. My aim was to have a synchronised OneNote via Skydrive so that as we found things they could be added to build a rich resource. That failed as the students were blocked access from school to the shared document. It became a date stamped file transfer.  I may have to reassess this for next time

cc jonesytheteacher
Blog – we decide we would publish one student’s work each week. I set up Full Class Press for this purpose – check it out and comment.
Laptops
These students have the Green DER laptop. It has the capability to use all the tools we need. Our TSO has undertaken to provide a pool of returned S2 laptops for my room so everyone has access to one.
Textbooks
I tried SO HARD to use a digital text, but in the spirit of equity and a blended approach to using technology and tradition, we have a pool of paper texts to use for those who need them.

My verdict so far?
I was amazed at the resistance some kids offered from the start. They WANTED to be spoonfed. Staff looked at me like I was mad when I shared what I was proposing.

But wonders of wonders. The student writing is improving (in my opinion). The students are starting to ask their own questions. They are also organically forming their own discussion groups and working together to solve problems.  Edmodo has 100% usage amongst the students with working laptops. Laptop usage has increased – although non functioning laptops are a massive frustration).

Apart from a few technology fails and some horse trading on how to submit work, I have to say I’m encouraged, feeling enabled and emboldened. And glad I left the spoons on the sink.

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DVR Glasses

Posted on by Posted in Physical education, Technology .

I recently bought some DVR glasses from Kogan. I thought they might be an interesting experiment for a PE classroom.

This test was with my son sitting in the front seat of our car, on the way to his school. I noticed the .avi video quality was much better viewed straight form the memory card. Uploaded to YouTube, it seemed to lose some of it’s clarity. He was a bit quick with his movements too, and that would be a user technique to refine in the future.

Uses?

I reckon they could be good for video explanations of work done or skills learned from a performers point of view (POV).

I’ll take them to the cricket nets next. I’ll try riding my bike with them as well.

What do you think they could be used for?

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