The children new very early that their main outcome from the book would be to create their own digital versions of Fa Mulan. We started by using talk for writing strategies before using digital cameras to capture their group in a series of still images depicting the story. They then manipulated these in Photoshop Elements to reflect the emotion of Mulan as her story progressed. Finally the imported the finished images into Windows Movie Maker, added a narration of the story from their own head rather than with a pre-prepared script and matched up the images with the narration. Here is an example of the Audio and a couple of still images:

(to come)

Whilst creating their digital books, we examined the role of women in the story, the traditional and contemporary role of women. The children then discussed as a class what they aspire to.

Guided by the children’s interests, we then focused on Japan rather than further exploring China. They decided on a specialism and developed human and physical geography skills. Their specialisms ranged from Sumo and Samurai to pop culture to volcanoes. They created Prezi and paper based presentations and shared them with each other.

One of the highlights of the theme for the children was to create their own papier mache exploding Mount Fuji’s. We researched the volcano and the children put mini flags with facts about Mount Fuji (made from cocktail sticks and paper) in the sides of their volcanoes. After painting them (with varying degrees of accuracy!) the children erupted their creations when parents were invited in to share what the children had been learning about during the theme.

Click here to see one of the volcano erupt

The highlight of the theme for me was a combination of Art and DT units. We dabbled with some child friendly Manga style cartoon drawings but then focused for a whole week on designing and creating Japanese style fighting kites. The children looked at Japanese clothing, culture and Mulan to find the style of design they were after. After creating a final design they turned their attention to the style of kite, how they would attach the string to fly it, how they would fix the dowling rods. The kites took a lot of fiddly sowing but almost all the children loved the repetitive process, almost like a less messy version of papier mache (?!). You can see some of the kites on display below. I was particularly impressed that the final kites clearly reflected the final designs and the stages of development. Even more impressive was that most of them actually kind of flew (well, when the children ran with their kite on three meters of string anyway!).

Calculation – Addition

Calculation – Subtraction

Calculation – Multiplication

Calculation – Division

If you would like to directly embed any of the tutorials, click here for a full list and embed links.

Phil Bagge has also created a large set of Maths video help files along with his host of other help files. Click here to visit.

Shared Writing with DIMDIM from Peter Richardson on Vimeo.

The video shows how the writing process can be modelled but with the added benefit of allowing for a simultaneous triangle of communication between the pupil, their peers and the teacher. When trying this, apart from creating a buzz around the room due to the novelty of being able to be at a computer rather than watching a big screen, then participate afterwards, the pupils were able to be active throughout the process whilst still benefiting from the modelling. It’s great for ‘stealing ideas’, real collaboration between pupils during the ideas and sentence development stages and giving more reluctant writers a vehicle to speak. If you have tried doing something similar, or have used Dimdim or Twiddla for another purpose related to developing writing, please add to the pad below or click here to add to the pad.

Firstly, we stopped our subscription to the fantastic Bett award winning Mathletics website. This was due to increased subscription costs, the need for pupils to remember multiple usernames and passwords and the admin of running multiple usernames and passwords.

Then our school’s chosen learning platform, Studywiz, went into administration and went through a management buy out, my understanding is this was due to a rapid expansion coupled with the worldwide economic troubles.

Whilst all this was going on I was continue to experiment in the classroom with web tools such as Storybird, Wallwisher, Twiddla, DimDim, Voicethread, Primarypad/Ietherpad, Prezi, Audioboo, Dabbleboard and Timetoast. Then Storybird announced the ability to create class accounts.

Then it was announced that there would be a Google Teacher Academy in the UK. I was in the middle of multiple crises at the time so couldn’t apply but keeping a close eye on the back channels through Twitter and blogs during and after the event confirmed a lot of my thinking.

Subsequently, I discovered the expensive (for 1 account per pupil) but rather impressive looking Myonelogin when cruising Google Apps Marketplace.

Then, this morning I was given access to Aviary’s suite of tools for education (currently in beta) which has similar class account facilities to Storybird and at first glance offers fantastic opportunities for integrating into the classroom.

Phew! Glad that’s over. I realise it may be a bit odd mentioning the past in a post called the future but bare with me…

The starting point for the future has to be where do we want to go? What do we want children to be able to achieve? What effect do we want to have on children’s motivation and enthusiasm? My answer to this has not really changed. I want children to become equipped with the transferable skills, in any curriculum area, that will help them be happy and succeed in education and in life. In my opinion technology plays a key role in this. Not just through ICT subject skills but in supporting learning and enthusiasm across the curriculum and beyond.

Taking that as a starting point, what is the best match with this philosophy out there? Well, as every teacher and every pupil is different, I would say as wide a ranging choice of tools for learning, leadership and management as possible with as simple and controllable administration as possible that each school can tailor to their own requirements.

Getting down to practicalities, looking at the possible tools and associated costs, what is the best combination or outright winner? Well, having moved away from Google Apps for Education in 2009 with a learning platform sitting alongside (I have written about this in a separate post), I think I have a decent perspective on the positives and negatives of running it and running a learning platform. However, cue a Godfather like “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in” for Google. The possibilities for cloud storage, sharing and collaboration was the primary reason and is something I have been trying to solve for the last couple of years (previous post about my experiences here). Indeed, a primary reason in the choice of learning platform when moving from Google Apps was because of the promise of added functionality to the very clever ‘eLocker’ file storage system that Studywiz employs (coupled with excellent useability, cutting edge ideas and a good range of learning tools). If you could access and edit documents online it would make the product more complete, although the cost comparison with Google Apps is a no brainer (Google Apps Education Edition being almost free). So with Google Docs pulling me back to Google we could ditch 95% of our school network and move it online, allowing for anytime, anywhere access with privileges.

It’s important to note that if we ditched the school’s learning platform in the future (not happening any time soon) we would be without the learning tools that were the main reason for the move to a full learning platform in the first place. I still believe that even in it’s current state, Studywiz’s tools and useability puts it head and shoulders above its commercial learning platform competitors. The other big arguments I have always used since moving from Google Apps as a reason for deploying a full learning platform is the easy management (some now integrating automatically with SIMS) and the ability for non-ict specialists to create activities for pupils to use, for me the single key reason that a learning platform is necessary.

However…

All the mentions of web apps that can be used in the classroom at the start of this (increasingly mammoth) post, got me seriously considering my opinion about ease of use for non-ict specialists. Most of the web apps outlined are incredibly simple and intuitive to use and will only become more so as time and technology progress. Therefore, what is stopping schools moving to a Google Apps for Education system for communication between staff, with a range of web apps adding functionality and learning tools?

Well one thing really as far as I can see…

Logins.

It would be completely unfeasible to create individual accounts for more than two or three web apps and expect the teachers and children to keep track of all the usernames and passwords, even setting them the same on each account would prove problematic due to the ability for users to change passwords. It would (and has) been manageable for me as an individual teacher to do this for one class but it is no use as a whole school strategy. Therefore the only option going down this route would be to use some kind of single sign on system, such as the one mentioned at the top of the page. The two issues with this would be cost and availability of the web apps through a single sign on system. Our school has 350 pupils and at a cost of $30 a year per user that’s converting to roughly £7000 a year for all pupils. Clearly not good value for money in terms of impact. Now you could say ‘well foundation don’t need access’ etc to get costs down but that really defeats the entire point of having a whole school plan, and my belief is that there should be ample opportunities for children in foundation to use tools as they do in year 6, just different ones. So what is left? Well why not consider a class or year group account that can be shared across the class? With 14 classes, the class teacher responsible for accessing their class, each with their own unique single sign on, that would be less than £300 a year. Tasty. It obviously doesn’t have the same privacy and security due to the shared nature of the account but personally I think it would still be at a secure enough level as long as pupils didn’t have images and video of themselves on the web apps without the correct permissions. I don’t know about other people’s school servers but ours is shared between all pupils and I can only think of possibly one example of a pupil deleting someone else’s work in six years.

As a word of warning, web apps could disappear at any time, especially free ones, so it would be important to plan what to do in case of this occurring if this method was to be considered in school. In my case, I would train and describe web apps in terms of the tool they provide rather than the actual site. For example, when access to Wordle was temporarily taken down, other ‘word clouds’ were readily available.

Perhaps in the not too distant future a single sign on system will be shared between web apps creating suites of compatible tools. Who knows. For now though, after all the above, my long term direction for use of technology in school in order to fullfil the philosophy outlined towards the start of this post is:

Use Google Apps for Education at the system for communication for all staff. That means email, calendars, docs, sites (for the school website – which would also act as a repository of sites for parents, pupils and staff).

A single sign on system is then used to create accounts for each class. Some tools that right now are available are WordPress (class and school blogs), Animoto , Ning even Google Apps itself so classes could have a shared area for online document creation, for example. The myonelogin website says there is a bookmarklet to add your own. I’m not sure how the whole system works and so can’t comment on the extent of additional functionality, but it could be massive! **Updated** I’ve tried out the demo account and the way the system works is you can basically add any website (apart from ones that have flash logins like Voicethread) and you just add the username and password details in the main myonelogin console area. It has a couple of small niggles but it really could actually just…well…work! I have also tested an alternative system (Onelogin) which is significantly cheaper opening possibilities for individual user accounts. Imagine the possibilities with just a few other tools added such as Edmodo, Storybird, Avairy you really would be able to offer pupils a great set of tools for learning and beyond.

Cost wise, with Google Apps only needing a domain name and hosting, the cost for lets say a one form entry primary school of seven classes you would be looking at a base cost of less than £250 a year. Compared with a full vle that’s just insane. Yes it doesn’t offer the same unique login for each pupil but within each tool they still have the ability to show their individuality, use learning tools and develop E-Safety skills (including respecting each other and their work). At that cost, individual schools could pick and choose any commercial sites that they really wanted to push, affording them flexibility without having to pay over the odds for things they just won’t use.

I’d be really interested to hear what other people think. This whole process has been bumbling around my head for a long time now. I’d be particularly interested in hearing what people think about the ‘class’ login as opposed to the ideal solution of an individual login, particularly with regards security. I’d also really like to hear from anyone who has used a single sign on system successfully and really any comments on anything i’ve mentioned!

Image courtesy of Laurence Whittmore.

Having said all this, there is one huge feature missing from our learning platform that I see as integral to any digitally aware school, the ability to access and EDIT documents securely on the web so that teachers and leaders can access 24/7 (replacing the school’s network). The learning platform does feature uploading and downloading of documents, but not in a way that makes it usable as a complete network replacement.

I originally tried testing this system of working using Google Docs as part of Google Apps in 2008, however it quickly became clear that without folder sharing (therefore having the possibility of sharing multiple documents and permissions already set based on the folder) and the ability to upload other file types (such as PDFs, images, smart notebook files etc) it would not be able to replace the school’s network, and that is not even mentioning the large number of security scare stories on the internet that were (inevitably) circling at the time.

During 2009 I tried out Box.net, which allows for document upload of pretty much any file type as well as online document creation. I love the way it integrates with other web systems, such as Zoho, which allows documents uploaded to be edited online. The possibilities seem endless and it’s close to my vision for cloud computing where systems interlink seamlessly as if part of the same system. Unfortunately, for use inside school there were three drawbacks at the time. Firstly, despite several hours on the phone, our LA filter was still blocking elements of Zoho which made editing documents online unusable. Secondly, Box.net makes sharing files almost too easy to make it secure for school staff (1 click slightly in the wrong place and your file is shared to anyone who knows the link). One way around this would have been to pay for interlinked business users which would allow for password protected files. Whilst Box.net offered us a generous educational discount for 5 business users, I was reluctant to commit to another yearly outgoing on top of Knowledgebox Online and our learning platform, especially as I still felt online document editing should be a key part of any learning platform system.

Later in 2009 I tried out Dropbox as well as several of its competitors (e.g. Sugarsync). I went through the checklist that had previously proved the downfall of Google Docs and Box.net. Security (check), gets through filter (check), cost effective (check). I was concerned about the ease of deleting things with one shared account, and multiple accounts for each year group or user seemed like lots of admin time and support for the less ICT literate so I purchased the Pack-Rat (unlimited backups). With all the above secured, I put a test in place with 4 users in school for a couple of months. Everything worked brilliantly, suddenly the possibilities became a reality. The next step was whole school rollout, which in the first couple of weeks was as smooth as silk with our entire curriculum network moved online. Even the less ICT literate staff members, whilst initially moaning about the introduction of another ICT system for them to learn, soon saw the benefits. I thought I had finally cracked it. Then the unthinkable occurred. Somehow massive amounts of the files were deleted. I initially thought someone had done this, however the files were from random folders rather than all in the same location. I put everything back using the Pack-Rat and looked into the filtering issue again. Everything seemed fine. The only possibility I felt that was left was that either a combination of our proxy server and/or the fact that we were simultaneously syncing multiple laptops (15) with the same Dropbox account. A few days later unfortunately the same thing occurred and again a few weeks later. On the third occasion I decided to pull the plug. I was left with the option of creating multiple accounts all linked with a shared folder but I wasn’t convinced that the filtering/proxy issues were not part of the problem and one I would not be able to get to the bottom of. I also thought that ordering multiple Pack-Rats / Pro accounts started to become messy and less good value for money.

Over the last few months, since staff’s eyes were open to the online possibilities, our learning platform’s online storage has been used more for sharing templates, systems documents etc. However this is still very hit and miss and it is currently blurring rather than helping communication (some documents put online, some on the network, some both etc). I have been keeping tabs on all the previous systems looked at for online viewing and editing and there having been two significant developments since the start of the process to find this ‘Missing Tool’. Firstly, the filtering system used by our LEA (Lancashire) has changed, offering far more control at school level. Secondly, Google Docs has evolved. It now offers far more sophisticated sharing options (folder sharing, 1 click sharing across the domain, hierarchical folder privileges) and the ability to upload other document types. Coupled with the ability to use https to increase security (and therefore comply with recommended security levels) and the cost effectiveness, I am becoming increasingly confident that my original starting point could very easily become the answer to the online document editing problem. The only practicality standing in the way is that whilst fairly straightforward once you get used to it, Google Docs like most of Google’s products, has a few nuances to get used to in terms of useability for those less ICT literate and complete online docs is a step further into the unknown for some users over Dropbox. The only other concern would be that because we have tried an online system before, there may be significant reservations from key stakeholders.

Finally, I am aware of Microsoft’s live@edu but think that it makes more sense to stick with Google due to the previous positive experience of it by the school.

So I ask the question: Is Google Docs of 2010 the missing tool that should be adopted as a network replacement for our school? I would love to hear anyone’s answer!

Image courtesy of Pixie Led.

When I first trialled using it I initially let the children play and they loved the freedom that Storybird gives them, whilst still supporting them structurally through the artwork on each page. For frequent classroom use however, it needs to be used for more than just a creative outlet.  It needs to support objectives and skills development. So I used it myself to create a whole class text to try and see where it could be used in the classroom. Here is the book I created:

I found it surprisingly difficult to structure the text as its very nature is a page by page story that doesn’t necessarily have a way of creating a story mountain type structure etc (this makes sharing a story between collaborators easy to continue). However, this actually offers the opportunity for a great position in the classroom for Storybird. To be used as a tool for children to practice a developing skill. During the book I wrote, I tried to pack it with as many adverbials as possible as that is currently our sentence level focus in Year 4. Over a few days, during whole class sessions we worked on how to start a sentence with an adverbial clause. I then set an assignment related to adverbials, instructing the children to try and fit in an adverbial to each page. I deliberately didn’t give them any more structure as we were at the stage where they just needed to practice the skill. Using Storybird allowed this to happen but in an engaging way for the children. Here is an example:

Beyond writing, Storybird has fantastic potential for MFL. @lisibo has written several Spanish stories and converted them into video files here with her reading out the story in Spanish – How awesome is that?! @wizenedcrone has created a fantastic resource which is a collection of MFL storybirds here (French, Spanish, German and Italian).

If you have any other ways you have or are thinking about using Storybird in the classroom I would love to hear about them, please leave a comment below. If you are thinking about using it, give it a go – it’s well worth the effort!

Please add to the pad below or Click here to add to the pad.

The starting point for the theme was taking what worked well during last year’s units of work on rivers and habitats together with evaluations carried out by last year’s class. Whilst teaching rivers, habitats, explanation texts and control had built a solid, coherent theme it hadn’t engaged and motivated the children particularly well. I needed to consider how my current class’ interests could be used to enhance what did work well from last year and in doing so, it was clear they had an untapped love for animals, nature and the environment.

It was at about the same time that I quite coincidentally discovered two resources that would heavily influence the planning for ‘Wild Earth’. The first was this incredibly inspiring recording of Tim Rylands, presenting at the hand held learning conference in 2009. Tim talks about using the Wii game ‘Wild Earth: African Safari’ (about 3 minutes in) to immerse, excite and impact on children and their learning. He goes on to use a variety of web tools and a jungle from the PC game ‘Myst’ to showcase a range of different directions that could develop.

The second was the blog posts and twitter messages by Tom Barrett related to the fantastic ‘Sealife’ theme he introduced for his class. Tom used the Wii game ‘Endless Oceans’ as a central resource which clearly immersed and motivated his class. What I love about both ‘African Safari’ and ‘Endless Oceans’ is that both games go beyond simply immersing and motivating children. There are plenty of learning opportunities within each game, for example ‘African Safari’ gives a huge amount of detail on the animals and their habitats which could have easily been used during last year’s habitats unit.

I think the metaphor ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ is quite apt for core ideas that have led to the creation of the ‘Wild Earth’ theme. Below is an outline of the plan for the theme.

• The Wii Game ‘Wild Earth: African Safari’ to be used as a central resource throughout the theme
• Focus of the theme to be on the Serengeti National Park
• Explanation Texts (including river courses, food chains)
• Stories From Other Cultures (African based)
• A focus on habitats and rivers to be merged together, linking with the Zanbezi river, a variety of habitats focusing on those in the Serengeti, playing the Wii game. Lots of opportunities to extend Literacy skills such as note taking, speaking and listening, drama etc
• Control and DT: Children design and create a working prototype damn system to minimise flooding (researching the Thames Barrier and using Lego NXT)
• Art focusing on the work of Stephen Njenga (particularly his Picasso esq portrayal of animals)
• Music and Dance: Children create their own African tribal composition, in dance mixing creative and instructional styles (instructional element based on this)
• Class Novel: The Last Leopard by Lauren St John. Chosen after discussion with Nicola Stables who has also used African Safari in her classroom.

I will be flexible in the content when the theme moves from Explanation Texts to Stories From Other Cultures. We are lucky to have a day with a creative practitioner where we will be creating imaginary creatures that could live in particular habitats that we focus on. If the children are inspired by this then we will continue down an imaginary creatures line of content, otherwise we will revert back towards the animals of the Serengeti, or perhaps a different direction, dictated by the children.

A few of the online resources I am looking forward to possibly using are:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/africam—nkorho-pan

http://ecodazoo.com/

http://www.switcheroozoo.com/

http://www.tomscott.com/weather/starwars/

http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

A complete set of online links related to ‘Wild Earth’ are here.

Finally. I’m hoping to deck out the classroom in some fabric to mimic a Serengeti woodland area and visit to the local Cuerden Valley Park with the class to investigate a local habitat and river.I will hopefully be writing regular blog posts, updating on what is happening during the theme, reflecting on what has worked and what has not been effective. I can’t wait to find out!

Image courtesy of MazetMan.

I’m talking about giving children opportunities to flex their personalities, shape their identities, think creatively and communicate across their entire network of friends.

As a consequence, supporting an in depth program of E-Safety becomes of paramount importance as it would be irresponsible to open a whole host of possibilities to children without supporting their understanding of appropriate use. Equally, we should not be ‘filtering the world away’ blocking anything that vaguely fits into a set of automatically flagged types of website.

The most recent example of children’s voices in our class as been in the use of Prezi. Using a free educational account, our class used it to present on specialist areas of Egyptians. Hardly revolutionary, but the mere fact Prezi is web based and the children absolutely loved using it led to a completely child led snowballing effect. A couple of days after watching each other’s presentations, a couple of children asked if they could use Prezi to do their homework. I said “yes, you don’t need to ask to use it, it’s there for you”. Over the next few days word seemed to ripple around the class and every time I went back onto the account to look at the homework, more children had created Prezis. But they were not on homework. Far from it. We had Star Wars, a wedding, rugby, space and a variety of animals:

Prezi is just one of an almost unlimited choice of tools that can be used to not only support children in their learning but give them the opportunity to find their voice. Even then, there are fantastic ‘hidden gems’ to uncover such as the short poem in the example Prezi by Holly below.

I hope that from this post, the screenshot and the example Prezi, it will encourage teachers to investigate and explore technologies to use in and beyond the classroom to help give children a voice.

#writingmod is teachers sharing, discussing and levelling individual examples of writing (it is suggested that APP or level descriptors are used as the guideline). It could be used to:

• Inform or support a judgement
• For CPD
• To share and celebrate a piece of writing

To participate in #writingmod all you need is a free educational Voicethread account, then click ‘Browse’ in Voicethread and search for ‘#writingmod’. Below are 2 video tutorials explaining how to search for and comment on a #writingmod voicethread and how to create one yourself.

Click here to be taken directly to the #writingmod search results.

If you create any #writingmod voicethreads, please leave them open indefinitely so that an archive of moderated writing can be developed. If you wish to create the voicethread on an account set up for this purpose rather than your own, please direct message me on twitter and I will send you the email address and password required to login.

Once you have created a #writingmod voicethread, please announce it with a link on twitter.

Image courtesy of Sarah Deforche.

To set up Voicethread for your class, I would recommend creating a year group educational account and sharing the log in details with the children. Under settings, create an ‘identity’ for each child.

You can add multiple pages, such as in this peer review example. To play each page, click the right arrow (bottom right) and then press play (bottom middle). Alternatively, once on a page with comments, you can jump to a particular person’s comment by clicking on them.

Below is a video example of using Voicethread in the classroom to support writing:

Peer Review from Peter Richardson on Vimeo.

Please share how you have used Voicethread in the classroom to support writing. Was is motivational? Was there an impact? What worked well? Would you use it again? Would you do anything differently? What other areas could you use it? Were there any technical problems?

Please share your use of by typing into the pad below or click here to add to the pad.

Useful Links

Interesting ways to use Voicethread in the classroom

Voicethread and peer reviewing blog post

Quick video on the use of Voicethread in the classroom

There are several other sites that offer the same or similar functionality. For simplicity, I would recommend worditout or ABCYA Word Clouds or tagcrowd.

Education uses of wordle

Interesting ways to use Wordle in the classroom

Please share how you have used Wordle in the classroom to support writing. Was is motivational? Was there an impact? What worked well? Would you use it again? Would you do anything differently? What other areas could you use it? Were there any technical problems?

Please add to the pad below or click here to add to the pad.