Educon 2.0

I like the sound of their principles for 21st Century Education...

The Axioms

Guiding Principles of EduCon 2.0:
1) Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members
2) Our schools must be about co-creating -- together with our students -- the 21st Century Citizen
3) Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4) Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
5) Learning can -- and must -- be networked.

Globalisation and Peace

Hey kids - how important do you think world peace is for Globalisation?
I just read this morning that US soldiers and Apache attack helicopters just wasted some supposedly civilian buildings in Syria - no doubt the military knew more about the intended purpose of those buildings as potential points of operation for some potential terrorist activities [or something like that].
This raises my tricky question: Is violence and small scale military activity justifiable in order to help contain greater threats ? Or is that just an excuse for certain countries to do what they need to do to protect their own interests and keep themselves at the top of the pile? [- think about America's outrageous attack on Iraq against United Nations advice...]
The reason I find this interesting is because I once went an international relations lecture by Doctor Lou Fretz at the University of Waikato. I found it incredibly interesting to hear about the history of military intervention in different countries in order to maintain overall peace. There is a concept known as "The Balance of Power" which is worth trying to understand.
The threat of nuclear war was a very real fear that hung over us as people growing up in the 70's and 80's. Some claimed that that very real threat meant peace was assured as no one would dare to risk war with nuclear weapons. Globalisation was well and truly underway then. It is firmly entrenched now and means the world needs to develop new ways of interacting.
What are our moral reponsibilities in a globalised world? First we need to try to understand how the world works. That isn't easy and it also depends on who you ask. Hence I try to help you to become independent, self-reliant, critical-thinking, open-minded, curious people who are keen to learn.
Here is a peace for kids site that may have interesting stuff in it.
Tell me what you think about peace.
How about fair trade?
Have you considered your moral responsibility in terms of your "carbon footprint"? [calculate yours here]
What else is relevant to this discussion?

PE at the "Wonderschool"

Kerli made a comment about more PE but of a specific kind - she hasn't elaborated yet but will hopefully do so here. Please add your two cents worth....

My fave PE thing this year has been teaching scrummaging, rucking, mauling, passing and kicking for rugby. Cece was my most inspirational learner cos she was right into the rough stuff due to her dad having been a prop once upon a time.  Very cool. 

At my new school PE would be based around achieving the skills and fitness levels necessary to achieve cool goals like walking a gnarly tramping track, or sailing, kayaking, fishing, tenting, fire making, etc to be able to manage ones own needs on a long distance over night trip somewhere. Bush survival skills. Navigating. Trying something different like a range of martial arts. Snorkelling and then SCUBA diving when old enough. Building things. Making and racing fast things.  Entering a school team in something with tournaments far afield.   

Quidditch? [i guess that's stretching it, as i really am serious about the other stuff]

   

Enjoy your Camp

:-)
I hope you all have a really cool time on camp.
Please don't break yourselves or annoy your adults.
Remember you are representing Peachgrove.
Be positive, try new things and push yourself out of your usual comfort zone.
Come back to Room5 safe and sound after next week with loads of stories to tell.
:-)

This post is only for people who want to be involved with the new school thing...

okay?

and what do you imagine?


[p.s. you can't be wrong]

Twitter question

post your questions here and Room5ians may answer them.

or not. it's an experiment really...

what would you really like to find out about ???

"FindOut RedOUbt"

From Twitter:

mrw00dy i find asking questions is a good way to find things out - let's try an experiment... http://peachgroveroom5.blog... less than 5 seconds ago from web

can we hold back the future? Actually it's already here [for teachers]

Are you a visionary, an early adopter, a blocker, or something in between?
What are your fears/hopes/dreams? Do you have ideas on how to move forward with the meaningful integration of ICT into learning so we can engage our students in their world, with their future in mind?
Please feel free to share here, and don't be afraid of the fact that my students will be reading this - it affects them too, so they may as well be part of the debate. It's their learning afterall...even if they don't always get it [- do you Room5ians!!!] ;-)
I have been inspired by "Tonitones" [eFellow of Twitter fame and insightful blogger] to work towards a positive goal, rather than being held back and disheartened.
Hold on to your passion. Find solutions. Be positive. Set some achieveable goals and work towards. Share and celebrate your achievements - don't be shy. Take a risk - you may inspire someone else.
It's a pretty cool challenge actually - almost like being a learning activist - LoL :-)
Hooray for Tonitones!!! A young woman with much wisdom.

[- get the feeling I'm talking to myself here? C'est la blog vie ;-) ]

Edmodo groups

For your collaborative project with M3...
Sign up to Edmodo groups with your new codes. Use Edmodo to communicate with the M3 kidlets.
Edmodo is microblogging

http://small-world.wikispaces.com/

Also use our Small World wiki to collate and share information.

Your first step is to understand what Globalisation is and to help the M3 students ... or maybe they will help you understand!

:-)

YouTube

Mrs R is going to arrange for us to have Youtube unblocked for me to use so we can continue with our collaborative assignment with M3.
I have created a class account for us to use - "Room5iansRule" - I will give you the password in class so you can access it to post your work once it is completed.
I have been enjoying watching kendo movies on there - You can use Youtube to learn so many things.
Please get your parents permission before using Youtube and follow normal cybersafety rules.
Have fun Learning!
:-)

Public Speaking

Well done Room5ians for being masters of public speaking!
You have achieved an incredibly high standard and I was delighted by the broad range of topics and the quality of delivery that was displayed. We have some dark horses in our class who really know how to perform when put in the spotlight!
I was very imprssed by the sharing of speeches with M3 class via skype - what a neat idea! And many thanks to M3 for being such an excellent audience and providing feedback via our various speaker's blogs :-)

Are we aliens?

Is there such a thing? Can we prove it? Are mitochondria evidence of alien intervention in our cellular make-up?

What on earth is mitochondria? Have you heard of mitochondrial d.n.a. ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondria

Next week I shall propose that aliens helped make the pyramids...

Is Mechboy correct? Have we already discovered single cellular organisms on other planets?

Please write your opinions here and also create links to some facts that you believe are reliable.

OOOh! Miss Lewthwaite just dropped in and told us that today is supposed to be an alien visitation day - how coincidental!! Can you find any evidence of this theory on the net or in the papers?

Freaky...

WHO or WHOM?

Who is correct?
Yes, though it may depend on whom you ask!


Dearly beloved, let us take this day our dose of gramamatical edification...

Can any of you explain the correct time or manner in which to use "who or "whom"?

I can't explain it, although I think I usually use them correctly. Well, at least some times.

I asked my clever Twitter teacher friends to help and within minutes two of them came up with this:

http://web.ku.edu/~edit/whom.html

Its a small world afterall! - globalisation

Term Four collaborative project with M3. Discovering what globalisation is all about and how it affects us...
Also, check out their Kenyan project - very cool to actually make a difference.
:-)
Maybe My Teehan's class might join us, and perhaps the Teaching Sagittarian's new class in Bangkok could be involved? Anyone else keen?
Let's change the world a little bit at a time!

We will work together using blogs and wikis, Edmodo for microblogging and much more

And don't worry Mudpies - we will work out how to mummify chickens in relation to this, i promise!!!

Check out the Movie - The Corporation - and how it got some students interested.

Marvin session at Ulearn08 by moblog

This is a mobile blog of our session done while we worked... sent from Miss Perry's phone Visit PXT World to find out all about PXT and create awesome picture messages!

Interface Blog Comp

Cool! We Room5ians have made it into the Interface top blog competition!!!

Go to the site to vote for our blog so we can win a prize :-)

And Vote for Erin Freeman in the other section - she is an innovative and talented teacher. Her class is collaborating with the blessed Room5ians on various assignments.

http://www.nz-interface.co.nz/vote.cfm

It's great mag and features our school and some of our achievements and things that we are doing.

5,000,000 hit challenge

Hey kids - try this out. Watch this guy's video on Utube and then create your own video, post it and see who can get the most hits. Sound easy? You will have to come up with an idea that really grabs the imagination and attention of a potential worldwide audience.

Is anybody up for it? Make some magic happen...

[from "YouTube's greatest hit: One man and the web's most watched video"]

- idea courtesy of Tony Ryan - inspirational Aussie conference speaker and author

Raglan Area School Enviro stuff

I'm at a cool presentation about doing inquiries about environmental education.
The following site is their knowledgenet with interesting resources to check out.
username "teacher3" password "a"

There is info to make you think about issues relating to the recent Olympic Games

Ulearn08 Inquiry Learning with ICT Integration

This is for the teachers at Ulearn, kids... but you are most welcome to leave relevant comments.

"...compared to that, we (bloggers) are just a cult.
I think that what we are doing is extraordinarily important. We are drilling through barriers that insist on keeping things the same. But the barriers persist. Too many schools still can’t view blog pages, podcasts, or other social sites. Most teachers have no time built into their work schedules to participate in these conversations. Way too many children do not have access to the technology they need to become in any way acquainted with today’s information landscape. The concepts of Web 2.0 remain couched in tech-speak that is either to esoteric for many to understand or it down-right turns people off."
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/


But back to me - I find blogging to be incredibly valuable as a tool that provides my yr 7 GATE students with a forum for their discussions, an outlet for their passions, ideas and creativity. Within the online forum it provides the students get to feel their work and ideas are important, valued, interesting and worth sharing.

By not making it private and "secure" students are able to experience the thrill of making new friends, sharing thoughts and questions with an exciting and fresh audience. We now have friends all around the world who add interest and vitality to our blogging world. Our Clustermap has registered nearly 8000 hits worldwide since March this year.
[See example: Mr Teehan and his class in New Jersey - blogging, skype]

In our inquiry unit we used our personal blogs to compile information and images which were relevant to our study.
[See Mudpies, Kittymilo, Snowgirl, Hamiltron, Roo, Rosiegal, etc. for examples]

The HCC communications manager, Agent S, as she is known to us, was delighted by our use of ICTs and became our very own mobile blogging agent during the Hamilton400 street races.

As we took field trips and attended City Expos as exhibitors, we noticed we have a graffiti problem. We met Constable Craig and competed in an anti-graffiti poster competition.

We met the directors of the city museums and libraries and discussed ways in which we coudl become more involved in creation of 21st century spaces and exhibitions.

Digital story telling - MARVIN

Interwoven threads...
Kids use Blogger, and Glogster to create and share content. They embed polls, hyperlinks, mobile blogging images and text. They debate, argue, support, affirm, question, share, create, enjoy and work things out.
Why stop them? If you are not an expert, it doesn't matter.
Remember what Prensky told us - they are the Digital Natives...let them play :-)

Room5ian Blogging Tips:
How to get a Clustermap in your blog
How to mobile blog

Marshall's Photo Entries

Marshall has used Glogster to showcase his field trip photos - check it out and keep in touch with him...
ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION!!!

http://themarshall.glogster.com/walkingtripphotos-macros/

Room5ian garden in spring

Well, I better go into the greenhouse today to check your seedlings.
Mine are not spouting at home becuase its too cold. I will take some to school to compare the results when placed in the greenhouse. It will be a kind of fair test as I have used the same seeds, same soil and seedraising mix. I'm trying to start a crop of really hot chillis and delicious old-fashioned [heirloom] tomatoes.
Have you seen Rosiegal's amazing Room5ian Garden Logo?
Here it is:

See if you can match it. Let's make it a competition. The winner gets used as our class garden logo. Maybe the newspaper might publish a wee story about us and use the winning image...

finally Flickr

Hey ROom5ians - get your sociable selves out of glogster and come check out our field trip photos in flickr...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7123217@N02/2906208314/

Also - who can tell me who the dude is represented in the maori carving photo I took - you can find it - he has his name written beneath him. He is VERY important.

Charlotte's Web

I've seen many very cool spiders this week and dreamt of them too.

When I was younger I really loved Charlotte's Web. Here is Mrs Freeman's class book review site thingy...

http://charlotteswebm3.wetpaint.com/

fabulous field trip

I really enjoyed our field trip to the gardens to visit the sustainable backyard, the theme gardens, the cemetery, the river path, etc. It was cool to go tui spotting with you and to find the whole family of three at the gardens. I loved seeing the giant frog in the English garden. I'm glad you enjoyed running through the bamboo in the Chinese garden. Too bad Hamiltron got sick rolling down the hill.

I will post more pics to flickr and put a link here once i've managed to do it.

Keep taking shots for the photo comp - Mrs Freeman's class is snapping away too during the hols.

opinion versus fact

the argument continues...

;-)

SKI TRIP!!!

Wow - what a great trip. I'll post pics here and on Flickr [That's me above]

The trip was fantastic - day one was overcast but we had to stay in Happy Valley anyway. Days two and three were brilliant, sunny days with the whole mountain covered in snow.

Sasha and I got good enough to ski from top to bottom with confidence and the kids progressed fantastically too. Luckily for them the Rock Garden had heaps of snow in it this year and was great fun with many different runs to explore.

One of the highlights for me was filming "Logon" skiing after me at high speed, scooping up snow balls to hurl at my head. Great Stuff!!!

How was the songfest ?

Who has the budgies?

Where is the rat food?