Exploring Short Stories

Stories remain a popular unit with all age groups and I have stumbled across an engaging site that covers the five essential elements most of us use in the classroom. The comments below the clip indicate that it has been extensively used with upper Primary but I am sure it would be equally effective with years 7 and 8. It enables you to download the clip and the lyrics and even offers some very simple templates to use as follow-up. So if you are looking for a way to liven up your short story unit with the juniors, have a look at a rap version of the five key elements of short stories. 

http://flocabulary.com/fivethings/

ICT in the Classroom

It is a long time since I posted but with Term 4 looming large, I thought I had better explore how I could best integrate more ICT into teaching and expand my own limited skills in best using technology to maximise student learning. There are increasing pressures for using the vast range of tools that are available but many teachers are still hesitant for a number of legitimate reasons, myself included, to really embrace what is on offer. For ICT to be really effective as a teaching and learning tool rather than gimmicky, support needs to be offered at the school and professional development level. 
ICT Tool lists such as the one I have put together for blogging are available but they take time to investigate and some are certainly easier to handle than others.

Micro-Blogging Tools

Micro-blogging enables users to publish brief text updates such as Twitter. The simplicity and ability to post frequently are attracting users. A close competitor to Twitter isJaiku but a range of other similar tools are also available.

Pownce - Allows messaging as well as easily shared links, files, or events

Tumblr –is a similar but slicker micro blogging platform which allows users to share text, photos, quotes, chats and even video.

MySay is verbal rather than textual, allowing people to listen via phone, e-mail, or the web.

Hictu uses webcam to create videoposts.

Emotionr gauges and shares happiness ratings on a sliding scale with those around you.

Using Blogging within the classroom

Teachers have come up with a host of inventive ways to use blogging with students and I will endeavour to explore some of the ideas outlined on the following sites as time permits. 

Have a look at some of the following sites for possible ideas to use:

http://edte.ch/blog/2010/09/25/10-ideas-for-class-blog-posts/

http://classroomblogging.wikispaces.com/Blogging+Activities

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/

I hopefully will extend my ICT skills in the next few months but I think some valid points have been raised on the following science teacher blogsite. He has extensively examined the role of ICT in the classroom and the website has a lot of material.  

http://didascalic.wordpress.com/category/ict-in-education/page/2

'The incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the classroom, it is increasingly important that teachers are able to use these tools effectively.

In 1999, a study done in 1999 (Cox, Preston & Cox), interviewed teachers in the UK and found that the most common obstacles to implementing effective ICT in the classroom were the ICT literacy of the teacher, interruptions to classes due to technical issues and availability of resources (p3). These are summarised in the diagram below, where the advantages of using ICT in the classroom are shown in green, and the disadvantages in red: