Sharing my thought process.

A question was asked by another student about how to interpret and apply the criteria from QCAA Standards Elaborations  in a unit plan. I get what they mean, you are not alone.  It’s always good to see examples or, as I did here, I worked through the steps provided even though I wasn’t sure I understood them, but I found this helped me understand it more. I don’t know if it’s correct, yet. I will have to wait for feedback but the instructor asked if someone would put up their hand and share. I don’t know if I’m a “brave soul” and a guinea pig isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of bravery, but what have I got to lose? We learn by making mistakes. (It also gives me something to put in my blog to meet my weekly target – shhhh.)

 

“Guinea Pig” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  Christopher Schirner 

 

Task:

Year 9 English – constructing knowledge objective.

Language variation and change – Understand that Standard Australian English is a living language within which the creation and loss of words and the evolution of usage is ongoing (ACELA1550)

Criteria:

Receptive modes (constructing)> Evidence of listening, reading and viewing> Language features, text structures, ideas and information in texts.

Productive modes (transforming)> Evidence of speaking, writing and creating> Text structures, ideas and information in texts.

Source: https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/p-10/aciq/standards-elaborations/p-10-english

Connections/commonalities between words in the Standards Elaborations and my selected strand:

The word Language appears in both the criteria and strand sub-heading so this is the first one that made sense – ‘Language features’. The standards relates to how images, vocabulary choices and language features achieve different purposes and effects.

Part of this strand would involve understanding why language changes and as the selected criteria above relates to purpose and effect it also connects with the ‘Text structure’ criteria.

This then connects to the ‘Productive modes – text structure’ where standards address use to achieve purposeful presentations.

However, as this strand is about understanding, I can eliminate ‘Productive modes’ as that is to do with creating.

So, I chose between the two ‘Receptive modes’ above.  The word understanding in the strand connects with both but ‘Language features’ would be my first choice as students will be starting by looking at ‘images, vocabulary choices’ rather than ‘text structures’.

I’ll keep you posted.

Doing the Hoki Voki

Hoki is what I had for dinner but Voki is what I re-discovered through Denise’s blog – I forgot I had seen it before and saved it somewhere…  I’ve hedged my bets and saved it to a few locations.  Students may create an avatar, add a voice, contact each other and share using this technology.  When I see ICT that can be used in the classroom, ideas start to gather, but I’m not at that stage yet and there are other things I need to tackle first.

I am in the pre-amble stage of developing a unit plan through backwards design. I have selected three learning objectives, two constructing knowledge and one transforming knowledge.  Part of the process is deciphering the new curriculum descriptors as being the former or the latter. I believe the ones I selected fit the brief and compliment each other in the learning process.

I am tackling year 9 English as I’ve had some experience with this on professional experience and I’m trying to imagine new ways of using ICT that can amplify learning, and possibly, if I squint and try really hard, may transform learning.

Juggling.

Focusing on ICT then switching to unit planning requires me to introduce another object into the mix. I have to draw on my previous learning about lessons, units, and work programmes. I have to recall the difference between all of these and create a scenario for an imaginary school context. And while I’m searching my memory for that additional object I may neglect one of the original items in the mix and drop the ball, so to speak.

“Five Salty Balls” (CC BY 2.0) by  Gabriel Rojas Hruska 

Then, I’m searching the Australian Curriculum for objectives – but it’s not the full curriculum, yet. We still have some smoothing out to do so we have some Queensland variables to factor in.

Meanwhile, my 22 imaginary students are just sitting there, in their private, rural school just waiting for me to tell them what they are supposed to be doing. Hang on, talk among yourselves for a while.

Mission Impossible (Imagine Theme Tune because it’s copyrighted)

Challenge accepted. And completed. Ahead of schedule, no less. Phew!
This seems to be the feeling this week, with others feeling under the pump and I’m seeing similar expressions to my own, like Wow! I only had the second part to do, filling in a spreadsheet about the lesson plan I had referenced, and wasn’t sure how much time this would take me (because recently what seems like a simple task has become a time-consuming mountain of a project).

Ah. The lesson plan. I got permission from the source. Twice. Because in my haste I didn’t notice it was a unit plan… Take Two. Found the lesson plan but I’m still second-guessing myself as to whether it is sufficient. Of course.

They were marvelous and I even recommended them to someone else because of their prompt reply. I apologise for ‘harassing’ them the second time as I hadn’t heard from them and the weekend was looming.

With one job completed though, we then need to catch up with last week’s course work. Ah, well, it’s all part of the plan.

Transforming RATs

The RAT model or framework is useful in considering whether ICT is beneficial to a lesson and in what ways. This helps determine if the ICT acts as a Replacement for other means of transmitting the instruction, if there is Amplification in efficiency, effectiveness or productivity, in the instruction, or if there is Transformation in the learning, curriculum, or instruction.

“Seems too good to be true” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by  mattymatt 

Just like Cinderella one would wish for the transformation but in all likelihood this is just as elusive as the owner of the other shoe in that story. It may happen, but just like Prince Charming, we should consider other possibilities in front of us, such as Amplification. The ugly sisters are the Replacement. It’s not something to strive for. This is summed up beautifully by my fellow blogger.

And so, I have saved some great links to sites that provide opportunity for students to use online programmes that immerse them in inquiry learning and why we shouldn’t dismiss the benefits of gaming and the like.

It’s a balancing act searching for a lesson plan that matches the criteria.

I got it.

1. Find a plan that has some ICT included in it.TICK
2. Ensure there is a URL for others to access it. TICK
3. Check it is a quality lesson that could be used in a school. TICK
4. Make sure it supports a formal curriculum. TICK
5. It should meet copyright laws to share it. TICK

What’s that? I should only have one lesson plan? Mmmm… therein lies the problem.

I know what I’m looking for but ‘never the twain shall meet’ as they say. I think I’ve got the licensing part all sewn up, and there are lots of plans out there to view online, such as Australian Curriculum Lessons, that also support other factors I’m looking for, but so far, the match-making eludes me. Find a plan that’s available to share, can’t find an attached curriculum. Find the plan, no sharing allowed. The next step is to contact the owner of the work for permission. Okay. How do I ask to share the work on a fictional ‘commercial’ site or do I ask for permission for commercial use, regardless? While I wait for an outcome, Christmas is coming…

 

How to get 100% wrong on a quiz:

To be honest, it was just one true or false question about modern technologies making us anti-social. I have heard the go-to response from so many people over recent years as ‘yes’. That was my final answer, too. But I hesitated. I’ll explain why.

There were different elements within the question that I examined for a while before making my selection and I still felt uncomfortable with my choice when I hit ‘submit’. There were two statements, one about pervasiveness and people being anti-social , and another about people ignoring others in social situations. To support the statements there was an all too familiar image of people in a restaurant all using their phones and making no eye contact or conversation. The very nature of being asked just one question, combined with these other elements, made me suspicious that I was being led to answer ‘yes’. I also disagreed with the first statement and agreed with the second because, whatever our personal opinion is about internet friends being real or fake, the fact is that online gaming and social media has people making connections. Pokémon GO is also a new phenomenon that has people becoming more social.

“Lost Adelaide” (CC BY 2.0) by  Vintuitive 

The answer, as it turned out, was neither ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and addresses perceptions about the impact of technology on our world but also how ICT use should be carefully chosen for purpose. A multiple choice response would have been better suited with an option of ‘neither’ or ‘both’ or perhaps a selection of statements to choose from to best suit the individual’s views.

Ashleigh weighs in with her views on the generation gap contributing to this negative view of technology and some positive points about its use. The image above is an example of a ‘self-guided walking tour’ that uses your location to provide a historic image of the area. Tell me that’s not a conversation starter!

 

“Paradox” AKA “Supporting Evidence”

In reasoning as to why (not) teach ICT, not as a specific subject but as a way of teaching and assisting learning, we need to provide supporting evidence. A natural progression when executing an assignment, right?

This requires looking at empirical evidence and theories that support its use and the benefits to student learning in the classroom. No problem. Wait, yes there is a problem. Just like finding a lesson plan that has been successfully used by another teacher (ethically sourced for sharing, of course) or a behaviour management technique that has been recommended for use in specific arenas, there are factors that will effect the success of its implementation. Affordance.

Affordance = environment + object + actor.

What does this mean? It means that using an object is dependent on the person using it and the circumstances in which it is used. The outcome will vary every. Single. Time.

The same thing applies to using theories to support your argument. You may present a context in which it worked but are we able to duplicate all the factors at play? It seems, just like science experiments in a laboratory, the application of these in the real world may not have the same outcomes. If every theory can present evidence for it being correct how can they conflict with each other? Therein lies the paradox. Further reading about how the changing nature of theories and our own beliefs drive the way we teach may be found here.

Science is ever evolving and so too is education, teaching and learning. We all have our own beliefs based on theories and our own empirical evidence. Don’t get me started on dietary guidelines!

Caravaggio, ‘Supper at Emmaus’ (1601)

 

What makes a lesson one of the ‘best’?

Geography class.  Most recent Professional Experience (PE). Year 8.

I sourced images online as it was easiest for me to quickly source them, knowing what I wanted, and I could search by place name, formation, examples. I was drawing on my own experiences and knowledge of the world. The school used an in-house programme whereby the students accessed all their lessons and homework on their laptops, perfect for them with catching up, revisiting, or getting ahead. I could create the lesson using the textbook and prepare my own mini-tasks and PowerPoints which they could follow on the interactive whiteboard and/or on their laptops. They could type notes direct onto the information on their laptop and it engaged the students in participation, sharing ideas, and interpreting images with schema.

I inserted images that exemplified the terminology in the textbook so that students could practice identifying certain features, such as man-made, natural, or cultural-overlay. It was interesting to see the transformative learning taking place, moving from theory to practice.  What made the lesson one of the ‘best’ learning experiences I had designed was due to the discussions that ensued – I merely instigated it, the rest was down to the individuals themselves.

Some images were tricky to categorise and students were able to justify their reasoning for their decisions. Included in the images was one of historic Sutton Hoo in England that was incorrectly identified by almost all of the students as natural, with one or two leading the others to re-investigate the clues.  I further prompted them providing hints and starting a new discussion about early invasions. This is a burial mound, and it was a perfect segue to considering assumptions, the use of schema, metacognition, and questioning.  Hearing satisfying ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, and some students proceeding to address misconceptions about Viking horned helmets, made this quite a successful lesson. I could not have predicted, but only hoped, that this lesson could motivate and instigate such a great discussion and one that lead to higher-order thinking.

“Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!”

Finally, I  completed another week of study although it’s a week behind where I want to be. *sigh*

Then we discussed copyright. Oh dear. Okay, so most images found on the internet, such as ones used in memes and shared on Facebook, don’t have any authorship located on them or are not attributed to anyone. This does not mean that they are for public use, they have just been dispersed by others who have not given credit to the creator. Anything created more than 70 years ago is usually safe to use as the copyright is likely to have expired and is considered in the ‘public domain’. The creator of a work can choose whether or not it is for commercial use and there are ways to check for this, but it requires some investigation and a. Lot. Of. Time.

Some options are:

Creative Commons that provides information and resources for images.

Flickr has a collection of images for different purposes.

Image Codr allows you insert a Flickr image and will provide the correct attribution to the author.

I like images in my blog. I am a creative person. An artist. Yes, I could create my own images from scratch but that is not the purpose of the blog or the subject. The visuals are not intended to promote my artistic skills but to reinforce my message about ICTs. As an exception, here’s one I made earlier: