#teachmeet

1) DIRT - Ben - Allowing students to reflect on their work and enhance it - students keep going over their work with green pens!!

2) Blogging - me

3) INTO FILM - intofilm.org - using films for SMSC/discussion

4) Katie - Learning Grids (see resource) - using grids and dice to ensure students are using key words/topics

Need:
A grid with keywords/key topics
Foam dice

5) Who's that tweeting? - Students have to guess who the Tweet is from - good for a starter / revision for Year 11 

Example:
Sitting under a tree and an apple fell on my head #ouch

6) English favourites

Using yarn for discussion
ABC
Shallow/Deep/Profound

7) Point and Development - Katie 

8) Tom - Getting students to choose 'off the menu'

Starter: Give them a 'taster menu' for them to choose from for the lesson!

9) Bay House - Independent learning - See resource

10) "If X was a biscuit - what would it be and why?"

FlipIT for the Staff

Where we started

I went back to my first ever blog post and it turns out that we have been using blogs in ICT for just over two years. 

The students come into lesson and have been programmed to head straight to our blogs!

As the students were a little bored of the PowerPoint presentations...

And we were fed up with our files on the desktop/read drive/new school pool/home PC/memory sticks/hard drives...

                         

This way, everything is in ONE place

You can embed your YouTube videos onto it, link a Google Drive file to it...

If you create a blog, the students will instantly recognise it from their ICT lesson

Of course you can blog or you can not blog - it's up to you.

And sometimes you DO need to give the students information. And you DO need teacher talk. And possibly the odd Powerpoint or Prezi. And that is fine.

But does it need to be done at the start of the lesson? By you? In person?

Last year I joined Katie and Javi's FlipIT SIG with Ben and I looked at setting students tasks to complete at home that were NOT homework. They were tasks I would sit them IN lesson. The idea was that they could then improve their technique/ideas/etc once they had learnt the basic/initial stage.

They had to look at my blog post for the task (which they were now used to doing) but rather than complete the homework on there, they had to prepare/research/complete something ready for the next lesson. 

The first 'flipped' lesson

There were two videos to analyse with regards to target audience:

These videos would normally be viewed in lesson and we would have a class discussion. Then students would type out their answers to their questions on their blogs.

This way, the students watched the videos in their own time, at their own pace and they then had to blog their answers/thoughts.

So who completed this? Half the class!! Their excuses? "I couldn't find your blog!" "I couldn't remember how to blog!" "My computer has a virus!" - I wasn't sure about any of these excuses and they COULD have been genuine but I gave the students alternatives - use of a computer room in the morning if needed, use the library, etc. The number of students improved by the next lesson, and the next until...

Below was a slightly different flipped lesson:

Now to see if the students actually completed the task! For this task I didn't need any evidence, so this was a bit risky... No paper... No blog post... How did I know if they had done what I asked?! Even the nicest kid could say they had completed the task without doing so. And I wouldn't have a clue!! 

That was when I used the coloured cards approach. I had used the coloured cards since my training days but I now started to use them not only to measure progress INSIDE the classroom but progress OUTSIDE of it too. Instantly, I could tell which students had spent the hour on the Decoded website learning how to code, which had given up halfway and which did not complete the task at all through the different red/amber/green tasks during the lesson.

Final thoughts

The flipped learning made a huge difference to this class and I am continuing to use it with all classes.

The flipped learning approach means that the students appreciate the need for learning outside of the classroom - especially when they can see their peers are rewarded for moving onto a 'green' task in lesson!

This strategy - although sometimes time consuming for us - will enable students to learn how to be more independent. It will also enable teachers to differentiate further within lessons rather than set homework which can sometimes simply add to a students' workload rather than develop their knowledge of a topic.

We ensure that students set up a blog as soon as they start Wildern so they should be familiar with the use of Blogger if you would like to try it in your lesson! See one if ICT to help!

Related Blog Posts

Flippin' Mocks

Final Thoughts

IBM CV and Interview Workshop

Today we got to head back to IBM but this time we made CVs and were interviewed by the IBM crew!

First we started making CVs.

Here we are in the CV and Interview talk..

Some of the IBM team talked about their first jobs and how they came to be at IBM.

Once we'd been prepped, we had our interview round.

We came away with a better knowledge of what a CV was - as well as some great interview experience. 

Can we go back to IBM soon please?!!

From the Year 10 IBMers :-)

Curriculum Workshop

CATs graphs - use these to help plan/deliver lessons
Success Predictors for Year 11 - hand these out and discuss with students
ELCS - Look through ELCS Practise Papers and copy ready to deliver next week (try with 10m/Is6 first Tuesday)

Top Marking Tips

Wildern Radio Training with Russell Prue - 'The Tech Bit'!

Speakers/mics:

Speaker volume adjuster ONLY adjusts the volume in the studio

Leave them on (blue light = okay!)

Only move the microphone via the silver part (NOT the orange part!!)

It is a sensitive microphone but keep 10cm away from it

Jingles: 

The iPad is running iJingle Pro (you can download the free version to play around with at home!)

no limit to the amount you play simultaneously (but not too many please!!)

Once a jingle is selected the dialogue box tells you how long you have ... Hit it again and the jingle will duck

Press and hold the button to get to the Advanced Mode

Looping jingle - for a news jingle / weather jingle perhaps

Intros can be used for outros

The desk:

There are nearly a THOUSAND features but you will probably only use FIVE!! 

Dual CD/MP3/USB desk

Put music into 'Music' folder on USB stick - with NO intro/talking etc 

The deck will automatically look for the first thing it finds. Re-index 

Software:

Shoutcast - streaming software

EdCast - encoding software

Shoutcast only needs to be ran ONCE - DO NOT press the cross  as this will NOT close it down - therefore opening it will open a SECOND copy

Edcast will save a copy of the stream to the hard disk - mp3 broadcasts 

The audio is sent from the laptop via a lead

How to access the broadcast:

Icon on the desktop for teachers to double click 

Recording the show:

Be careful of feedback!! Ensure that you have headphones on and that the sound is NOT coming out of the speakers. Your audience will not tune in again ...!

Compressors on the mixing desk

0 is the 'normal' broadcast level

Press Mic 2 ON and POINT to the interviewee so that they know that it's their turn

Use first names of students and surnames of parents when interviewing!

T=Telecom 

T1 = for a PFL (Pre-Fader Listen) so that you can hear 

ST3 = iPad and can be left ON all of the time

S=Stereo (these talk to 1/A (left) and 2/B (right) on the desk)

Press ON on S1 - the track will start from 1/A on the desk

Bouncing onto yellow = good level

MIC LIVE = Microphone Live!!!

Keep the room quiet! Say "Quiet in the studio" so that people know to be quiet before the MIC LIVE goes on (M1 pressed)

BED = perfect to talk over the top

How to disconnect:

kill the server - -> disconnect USB Audio CODEC --> press reset tablet

Non-verbal signs:

Circling hand = wind it up (you have 10 seconds until the next event) 

Hands moving further apart = stretch it out (someone isn't ready - don't panic! improvise!)

Tips:

There are 3 steps to an introduction 1: Salutation ("Hello") 2: Introduce yourself 3: Introduce your topic/what you're covering/what you'll be playing

Ensure that you structure sentences - no one wants to hear UNLINKED WORDS

Jingles are short pieces of music which punctuate your vocal performance - this also ensures that you are not speaking all of the time

"Matthew's got some great Sport News" - it doesn't matter if he hasn't! Give people want to they want to hear

Headphones MUST be positioned like this!! Down onto the table..

Count down - 5 (voice), 4 (voice), 3 (voice), 2 (fingers!), 1 (finger!)...

DO NOT turn to look at guests - no one cares what you LOOK like in the studio - they only care about your voice

To Do:

A volunteer? ... To borrow an iPad and make a tutorial on how to use the radio kit

A Quick How To:

1. Check that ST3 is ON (this can stay on)
2. Have EdCast/ShoutCast/Audacity open on the laptop
3. Ensure that 'USB Audio CODEC' is selected and a new Audio Track has been created
4. Ready to record? Hit Record on Audacity
5. Press a jingle
6. Ready to speak? Hit M1
7. *Speak*
8. Want to play some music? Get your track ready ...Then hit ST1
9. Ready to fade out? Fade out on ST1
10. *Speak some more*
11. Finished? Say your goodbyes and turn off M1 and then press stop on Audacity
12. Want to hear it all back? Press T1 and open the recording from MP3 Broadcasts folder

Year 9 MentorPlace Scheme with IBM: Final Event!

On the final IBM event of the year we were back in Hursley. We worked on our team skills and practiced how to work through a problem efficiently.

Each of us are paired with a mentor who were there to help give us advice on careers and be there for us when the possibility of choosing collage options arrives.

We learnt about how people at IBM communicate during projects and how everyone will have a different job.

We found out there are many varieties of planning and we dabbled in each of them which gave us a broader range of ways to plan our ideas in the future.

However for most of the day we applied these skills to creating a new way for mentors and mentees to communicate with each other through the MentorPlace Scheme which resulted in most groups creating apps. Here are some snippets from the day...

Here is one of our starter activities which was fairly simple. We needed to work in our group so we could make a marshmallow stand on top of a sculpture without it breaking. We needed to try to make the sculpture the tallest but it could only be made from a metre of string, some tape and dry spaghetti!

We could then apply these skills when planning for our app.








We then stayed with our groups and used post-it notes to broadcast ideas around the idea that the mentors and mentees needed a better way to communicate. After previous planning we had decided an app would be the most plausible solution.

Here are examples of different groups' work and how it had all been set out. We were looking for ways to make the communication less confusing and easy to use. We came up with a lot of good ideas and no matter how strange the ideas were we kept them for this part of the day.

The post it note here shows a design idea for a home page of an app for the MentorPlace Scheme website.

Next it was time to analyse the work we had and remove the same type of ideas and organise the others. We did this for quite a long time until we broke for lunch (it was great!).

After lunch it was time to present to mentors and other groups. We worked out all of our ideas together and set up how the app would work by drawing out each page the user would open. Then we taped them together in an order of how they would open up. After this we cut out an iPad template and removed the screen part so we could see more realistically how it would work.

We presented and everyone had incredibly good ideas.

Luckily at IBM they do make apps and they clearly want to improve the MentorPlace communication. Today has given them the leverage to do so and hopefully talking to mentors will be very simple and quick once these new ideas are in place.

*Note: Also, the biscuits were tasty

Article written by Lisa Barnes

Well done to all of the people involved:

Charlotte Ettridge 9P2

Gemma Bone 9B2

Elizabeth Fletcher 9D2

Darcey Betteridge 9S1

Hannah Bray 9J1

Katie Smitheram 9J1

Lisa Barnes 9D1

Ellen Pitt 9J1

Brianna Norman 9D2

Anna Watters 9B1

Emiley Hinton 9S2

Miss Rymill

Python CPD

We learnt how to program in Python - here are some resources from the day:

Python Quiz here

Instructions here

Our Task: 

Open the quiz in IDLE and edit the code using the instructions above

Homework: 

Use http://www.codecademy.com/ and http://www.codeskulptor.org/ to edit Python code

Next Steps:

Liam and I are setting Year 8s the Introduction to Python challenge to see how they get on!

Final Flipping Thoughts

After two terms of Flipped Lessons as part of the SIG, here are my final thoughts...

What motivated you to try the flipped approach? Having used a teaching blog for the best part of two years, I wondered if it was time to try putting it to use with flipped classes

How will/has 'Flipping the Classroom' impacted student learning? The students have become more independent. They have learnt to try something without my help. When facilitating in the classroom, students tend to rely on me - when they are learning at home they are not afraid to try to work something out themselves. An example of this: Rather than setting the task of 'learning how to code' in lesson and me facilitating, I set them off on decoded.co. The students had to work their way through the 16 steps to coding on their own and then report back to me next lesson. Some completed the task, most only got to Step 9 of 16 but more importantly all attempted the steps.

Flipped Resource

What has been the student reaction/feedback? The students have mostly found the work enjoyable - although some have said that the task has taken them an hour to complete, whereas the 'usual' homework would only take around 20-30 minutes! 

Examples of Students' Flipped Work

How will/has 'Flipping the Classroom' impacted your teaching? It has made me think about the resources I use within lessons - and encouraged me to set tasks which I would normally set within lesson outside of the lesson instead. It has also encouraged the students to complete their 'Prep Work' at home - as this determines which colour they start from in the next lesson.

What are your thoughts on this strategy for the future of education? This strategy - although often time consuming for both teachers and students - will enable students to learn how to be more independent. It will also enable teachers to differentiate further within lessons rather than set homework which can sometimes simply add to a students' workload rather than develop their knowledge of a topic.

Anything else you would like to share, include as your final evaluative thoughts? I will continue to use these Flipped Lessons but now I will extend it from year 8 to all year groups.

Visit to Riders Junior School - 6th June

I spent the day at Riders Junior School to see Russell setting up the new kit - the kids had lots of fun and I got to see how it works!

Need to know:

• Equipment/software specs on AndertonTiger.com
• Trainer: @RussellPrue
• Example shows: SoundCloud.com/RussellPrue

What they have:

• Live ‘around the world’ within 2 weeks with training!
• Training took around 2 hours
• Space - enough to set up three microphones - see photographs (right) for the ‘guest studio’ set up! The other side of the desk is for guests who are not part of the editing. Q: Do we need more room? Russell can come and set up in the Recording Studio and see what the room looks like.
• Riders Junior have the full kit with monitors (one with touch screen)

What it can do:

• Add a variety of jingles to the show
• Play purchased music through a memory stick
• Mix/edit using Audacity etc
• Broadcast the show live through school speakers and across the internet
• Use Skype to communicate to others through the show

Tips for the trial ‘live’ show on Monday 23rd June:

• If you forget what you are talking about then use an ‘emergency fill’!! “I’m sorry but we’ve lost ... So I am going to update you on the weather instead!” - improvise.
• Language - think about the language you are using - who are you talking to? Think about how you are structuring your next sentence - is it an informal conversation? A serious interview?
• Only stop a jingle if you can get away with it!
• A list of banned words on the wall? “Like” / “Err” / “Good”

Other:

• @ianaddison brought the HUB to Riders Junior School and it would be great to work with them in the future!
• Sound technician at Park Community School - Nathan Ethengton nathan2411@hotmail.co.uk 07976577989 - who is assisting with the radio set up at Riders and would be happy to come to our school and share his advice

Our next steps:

• Our students will be trialing a mini-broadcast on Monday 23rd June and the show will be shown through WildernRadio.co.uk - so check it out!
• I think that this is the kit to buy - the year long training combined with some excellent kit means that students can be trained and live in 2 weeks!

IBM MentorPlace Scheme

On Monday 31st March I took ten Year 9 students to IBM Hursley as part of the MentorPlace Scheme.  

The scheme allows the girls to be paired with an online mentor, who guides the student through some STEM-related tasks.

The day itself was split into three activities: Mapping/The Four Colour Theorem, Bridges and Presenting Networks. The girls had to work with students from two other schools and enjoyed the team building aspect. 

Brianna and Ellen formed part of the overall winning team for the 'Presenting Networks' presentation but all girls enjoyed the experience.

Enjoying the sunshine on a walk around IBM Hursley

Four Colour Theorem

Presenting Networks

Group shots

Best Presentation

Roll on the next event! 

Year 9s involved:

Charlotte Ettridge 9P2

Gemma Bone 9B2

Elizabeth Fletcher 9D2

Darcey Betteridge 9S1

Hannah Bray 9J1

Katie Smitheram 9J1

Lisa Barnes 9D1

Ellen Pitt 9J1

Brianna Norman 9D2

Anna Watters 9B1

My BETT 2014 Highlights

Heading to BETT via the DLR...

BETT: The view from above

Education and technology in 30 years...

Can technology ever replace the classroom? Closing debate in the BETT arena

Plants Vs Zombies on the big screen!

Visiting my friend Ian at the BrainPop stand

Visiting the Punnet stand

Other stands visited:

Russell Prue / Toshiba Radio. Listen here: http://www.andertontiger.com/listen/

Synergy (looking at some cool kit for Wildern Radio!)

For more information on BETT visit:

http://www.bettshow.com/