Ulimasao

My Twitter History

2011-11-12T21:32:00.001-08:00

http://twopcharts.com I have been investigating my twitter history and came up with some interesting memories.
My first tweet was sent on 25 Oct 2008. Therefore I have been using twitter for 1,136 days.
The first account I followed was @nzcurriculum. I do not remember why I chose them first. The first account to follow me back was @CherylDoig and it was through her that I began to build up my followers. So far I have not quite broken sending 1000 tweets but I know I have read more than that as I regularly pop on to follow the breadcrumbs of other educators.
When I first began using twitter just over 3 years ago, I was number 16,581893 user. My stats say that I have been on Twitter for 55.07% of its existence. I began by following television stars like @Oprah and also a few preachers as I was interested in how they used this medium to communicate with their followers. I used to follow a few singers. I won’t name them here but you know who I mean. I soon became irritated by the hogging of communication. So now I dump twitters who hog the timeline. Every so often I have a clean out and find out who is not using twitter regularly and they get filed. Sometimes I check out who is following me and usually look for ‘julia’ type profiles that do not fit my educator profile.
I do not know who introduced me to twitter, but I think it was at the time of @BarackObama and his presidential campaign. So it might have been the hype around his use. I witnessed his campaign using twitter and from then on I was hooked. Barack introduced me to the concept of real time technology as I watched the twitter timeline and the live video streaming of his win.

For the first year using twitter was a lonely existence on the ground and yet really exciting up in the twitter cloud. I did not find discussing my use easy, as other educators around me were not ready for this social medium. But what I now find is that I have made some great connection. One of these was hooking up with the efellows. The list of 2011 efellows twitters can be viewed here on https://twitter.com/#!/dragonsinger57/core-efellows-2011.

Great excitement happened when our principal took her initial twitter steps @newmarketschool. The URL had been booked for over a year and then last year she began to follow and then start post and respond to posts. However the greatest enjoyment I have had this year was when three of our teachers began to use twitter. @oprubyslippers, @MissNWalden and @Kyliegeddes.

At this stage I use twitter to amplify some of the exciting learning that happens at Newmarket School. I do this by retweeting and adding users who I know will retweet the message. Every so often I might use it for advertising or to share a link.
But it is the following of breadcrumbs that I enjoy the most. I have learnt so much using twitter and my wikispace http://www.ulimasao.wikispaces.com is the evidence of what I learn.

Where to next, I really need to sort out my list and I will use @justadandak idea of sorting his followers into lists. I already have one list of Pacific Islanders on twitter and I set that up in the early days. What I find is that some of my favourite tweetchers are being buried in the online noise. I hardly see @arti_choke anymore unless I really go searching for her. I am getting better at using @ and # to amplify my tweets. I use my tweets for microblogging and when I am ready, I write a blog entry.

So share with me your twitter history so that I may make links with my own learning about my twitter history.

Keeping track.

2011-10-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

One of the changes in my thinking that has taken place over the past few weeks is about online work. I have so many learning sites that it is a challenge to keep track of them all.

One way I do this is to create a list using my wikispace. I do have a delicious account for keeping track of websites however my online spaces have a different purpose. I have two different personas. One persona is as a teacher and online school administrator and the other persona is for personal learning. Sometimes my spaces merge between the two personalities and sometimes I feel that they need to be kept separate. I also want a third online personality for keeping my digital photos and videos tidy and out of my computer. I am struggling not to create another space.

So here is one way I have chosen to show my learning self and that is using http://flavors.me/ulimasao.

I place this link onto twitter. Initially, I added my personal youtube video space and picassa photo folders. However when I was checking out information, I realized that the sites chosen did not match my twitter persona. So I adapted and merged my teacher sites with my personal blog. Even that does not feel correct as I have been channeling our teachers learning onto our school youtube account. A few of the videos are not ones I have created.

The second change in thinking is regarding online writing. Initially I wrote for an audience and was hesitant about publishing. But realize that writing for myself is a more powerful tool This came about with myportfolio work with teachers who do not want anyone reading their work or seeing what they have been doing. I teased them and said good luck getting anyone coming to read your work. Because I know that unless teachers live on social broadcasting sites like twitter or blogger how are they ever going to channel traffic to read their work.

I use blogger and myportfolio for my reflections. Personally I enjoy myportfolio as this is my teacher self shining through. At the same time I like using blogger because the site looks better.

When I reflect using SOLO taxonomy I know that making connections is relational thinking. Therefore I think my blog writing often sits at relational thinking because I use my writing to make connections with my own learning. In order to shift my writing to extended abstract I need to shift to the next level and give feedback on other peoples writing. So in relation to what I have been doing this term with teachers my next steps include encouraging them to blog about their learning and give them written feedback on what they are doing. I also can write about my new learning.

SCPlus Hot Seat- Hyperconnectivity

2011-08-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday 15th of August 2011
Venue: National Library of New Zealand
Purpose: To connect online schools face to face. For teachers and children to work collaboratively, for invited guests to network, to launch a New Zealand author on Superclubsplus and to raise global awareness about the International year of forest and birds.

On Monday the 15th of August 5 Auckland schools who have been using Superclubsplus for teaching and learning gathered together to meet face to face. One school joined the session via skype. The five Auckland schools were St Ignatius, Rosebank School, Blockhouse Bay Intermediate and Newmarket School. Raumati came in via skype. Each school has a very different background. Our school Newmarket is an inner city small school.

The children and teachers in these schools have been using Superclubsplus for teaching and learning and how to be safe and respectful online.

Most of the teachers and invited guests involved used twitter to communicate about the upcoming event. The Hot tags chosen were #scplushotseat We also used Titanpad to share information and wikipages to coordinate timetables and a place to keep information together.
For the Hot Seat project, schools were chosen who proved that they have been actively working with their children about using the internet safely. So the teachers and children who came are already active users of Superclubsplus.

The school came together to be involved in an author Hot seat project where we launched a New Zealand illustrator and author onto Superclubsplus. Sandra Morris was in the Hot seat. We chose Sandra as this is the UNESCO International year of Forest and Birds. Sandra’s specialty is New Zealand birds. We used real time technology for learning such as skype, email and forum. We took lots of photos and the children are writing an online article about their experiences.

This link will give you highlights about the schools, teachers and invited quests involved. http://newmarketenviro.wikispaces.com/scp_highlights

Each teacher was given a designated task to do to help ensure the smooth running of the event.

After the event a picassa folder was set up to put in any photos. We look forward to the children’s articles.

Hyperconnect using elluminate

2011-08-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Using elluminate http://www.elluminate.com

Be aware of time difference http://www.timeanddate.com/

I had the most interesting experience on the weekend. @CliveSir on twitter called for people who could help answer some elluminate questions. I put my hand up and before I knew it I was asked to be a moderator for http://reformsymposium.com/

I was co-moderator for @krivett1 as she presented ‘Literacy in the Digital Age’. @mrsdkrebs was the main moderator and I learnt from watching her.

I had been a participant several times during elluminate sessions but when the message came via twitter for helpers for rncons3, I agreed to help to see what it would be like and to find out more about the global free conference. Now the conference itself would be another whole blog. This time I just want to focus on the tool because it was one of my personal goals this year to find out more about elluminate.

Some of the things I learnt about elluminate was:

How do I set up a poll? I still have to work on that.

2x Elluminate windows should not be open- so look at the bottom of the screen. This causes echoing. As a moderator- sign on early and set up your profile so that participants can learn more about you. Add a picture. Communicating on line requires a personal touch.

Always have a map for participants available as it is interesting to see where everyone comes from. It took me a while to figure out how to add a map. One neat idea was having little smiley faces that people could plot onto the map. Get the participants to test that you can be heard. Use the smile to indicate whether you can hear the presenter. Then have participants use chat to inform what the time is, and what the weather is like.

Have a video start to introduce yourself and then switch it off to save bandwidth.

As a mediator, I noticed that more tools show up. I have set up my own room and here is the link. Unfortunately you can have a look and if I am not there nothing will be happening.

https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2011061&password=M.0082D0676989571ACCF2B8F57DA4D3

When you sign on as a participant to an Elluminate session use your twitter name like @vanschaijik. That little gem took me a while to figure out.

When presenting- get the audience to add a smiley, or a hand clap to give a sign of participation. The chat can be quite distracting so if you are presenting focus on sharing. The mediator will be interacting with the participants for you.

Use images and simple phrases- do not use lines of text. Because the audience is hearing only a voice, reading the screen- becomes death by powerpoint. Think of how Lessig presents. Single words and images. I am going to have to redo some presentations. The computer screen can be shared if you want to have a look at some websites, but again band width can be an issue. So upload your presentation to the system and try and have links available on a word document to copy and paste into chat. You can copy and paste URLs onto a working sheet. Hyperlinks and animations do not work.

Remember to thank the moderators after the event.

Get on early and test everything before participants arrive and do not leave. When you exit the room you loose all your slides and have to start again. Room settings cannot be saved.

I have been involved in a few elluminate sessions but tonights by @shellterrell was one of the best. She obviously had presented via Elluminate several times and I learnt heaps from just listening. She spoke about setting 30 goals.

If you want to read about other moderators experiences with elluminate then have a look at Jo Harts blog. http://johart1.edublogs.org/2011/07/17/reform-symposium-presenter-training-overview/

She writes about some of the challenges that can be encountered when being a moderator.

#RSCON3 set up a google doc and had presenters ask questions and Chiew @aClilToClimb proved to be a mine of information. Here is the list of questions and answers that were helpful. https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ysUifJoANnf1ELq9UeFPeEZ6QYJM3XHoNpcTEpoKeo/edit?hl=en_GB&pli=1

Chiew took the questions and answers and created this self help document. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hREOuQBdusNamC0_pR2vq_TpUNL7_KSbDGWeUKM4bos/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

Finally if you want to have a play and create your own space. Then here is the link to create your room with 3 participants and no recording facilities. You can pay for the upgraded version and more participants. http://www.learncentral.org/

efellow 2011

2011-06-12T01:16:00.000-07:00

Vaka Tele Leaving Auckland

2011-04-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

vakatele

Click to go to photos taken when the vaka tele left Auckland.

These link to videos on youtube of the vaka tele leaving Auckland

Gaualofa on Deck

Uto Ni Yalo Leaving Auckland
Gaualofa Leaving Auckland
Haunui Leaving Auckland
Te Matau a Maui Karanga
Te Matau a Maui Leaving Auckland

Pacific Voyagers

2011-04-17T01:24:00.000-07:00

Gaualofa

Today I had the most amazing experience.

I took my parents down to the viaduct to see if the va’a tele were there, as I knew that they had returned to the harbor awaiting better sailing weather.

We arrived and saw the wooden masts above the modern boats. The masts stood out distinct as two straight thick poles.

As I approached the Floating Pavilion I saw to my delight the Gaualofa, the Samoan va’a.
She looked absolutely beautiful and my heart swelled with pride just looking at her. My parents and I waved to the crew and I called out to them in Samoan and asked if there was there a chance that I could bring my parents down for a look. Not only did they let us on but invited me to be with them when they took her out for an afternoon sail.

Wow a bucket list opportunity. Never say no. Of course I said yes. I waved my parents off and settled on board getting to know all the crewmembers.

I met Lole, Fialelei, Fani, Kalolo, Koleni, Brynne, Marc, Bruce and Malua

Marc skippered us out onto the Waitemata Harbor where we learnt about reading the winds and how to raise and stretch out the boom to guide the mainsails when needed.

As I looked around the va’a tele. I could see the double hull shaped like a catamaran. The outside was painted in traditional Samoan mamanu or patterns. The sails or ‘la’ were triangular shaped and also featured traditional Samoan mamanu but when they were hoisted and shifted to catch the wind, the boom was lifted and stretched out. The decks covered the flat of the va’a. The rear end housed the gigantic ‘fue’ or paddle which was used to steer the va’a. Above the fue were solar panels to harness the sun’s energy. Around the edge of the va’a I observed the lashings had been carried out using ‘afa’ or woven coconut sinnet.

Marc directed us when to gybe which is a sailing maneuver when the va’a is sailing in the same direction as the wind. When he called out ‘gybe’ we would loosen the la and some of the crew would tighten other ropes. The la or mainsails were pulled into the mast and would cross the centre of the boat, then flicked out under the other guide ropes. We would then rush to retighten them. He would call out if they were not flapping to leave them alone.

We also tacked into the wind. This is a maneuver that would turn the va’a into the wind. Again we would shift the la so that they were sailing in the same direction as the wind.

Marc read the current and stated at one stage that the current was swift. I looked over the side but did not know how he was reading the current. I would have liked to have asked heaps more questions but was conscious that I was there observing and helping without getting in the way of the afternoon.

As I helped Koleni with the fue I learnt that the paddle worked in reverse of a car. You turn right the wheels right. But with a fue, we would push it left to turn the boat right.

Sailing along, Lole was busy preparing the evening meal and it smelt delicious.

We raced along catching the wind and headed towards the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Suddenly disaster struck. A windsurfer appeared out of our left and sailed straight into our path. Marc called out we tried to avoid him and he continued straight into us. Straight up the middle of the va’a and under the hull. Marc called out and we released the sails and pulled them in. There was a sickening crunch. The crew opened hatches and the wind surfer appeared. He was yanked up safely onto the deck but was calling out for his wind surf. I was thinking of the crew on board whose lives were endangered. The surfer, who could have been killed, but was luckily unscathed. Thank goodness for the experience of Marc and the crew.

We tacked back and picked up his small vessel and hauled that onboard too. The motors were checked and one was damaged so that might affect the departure date.

Then we were instructed to pull down the main sails and to motor back to berth in the Viaduct.

So we did. The mood going back was somber and quiet. As an observer I thought how patient the skipper and the crew had been in regard to the event of the afternoon. However the positive sign was the seeing of a double rainbow appear in front of us. The ‘nuanua’ was a beautiful sight and the mood lifted.

Everyone helped prepared the va’a for berthing by tidying the deck, putting away the sails and coiling all the ropes. We pulled up beside the Tovuto Ni Yalo. The Fijian crew helped us berth the Gaualofa.

I was content and excited at being part of something so big. I am aware I was privileged to be part of this amazing sailing team if only for a few glorious hours. They will leave Auckland and sail for Tahiti. This is the first leg of their epic journey. The voyage is used to raise awareness for the Ocean. They want us to think about the growing noise pollution in the ocean, acidification of the ocean and about anoxic waters and how this is changing the balance of the ecosystems within the ocean. They seek the wisdom of our ancestors and the knowledge of scientists to keep the Pacific healthy and give our grandchildren a future. More information can be found by visiting their website http://www.pacificvoyagers.org and helping them spread the message globally.

Soon after we were tied up securely Te Matau A Maui motored in beside and I made contact with Cecile who had sailed with her Maori whanau and was seeing off her sister who is part of this epic journey. She agree to give me a lift back home. The crew of the Gaualofa kindly asked me to stay and share a meal with them which I would have loved to have done. However family responsibilities were calling. I bade all my new friends soifua ma manuia i le latou malaga and left with Cecile. When I return to school next term I will make use of this personal experience. We are studying Tangaroa as a focus for Matariki.

E-Fellowship

2011-04-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

This week I received exciting news of being awarded a Core Education e-fellowship. I think of all the support that I have received to make this possible. So if you are reading this I am saying thanks.

In my application I had many ideas and I know that this opportunity will allow me the chance to choose one area and develop it further.

I spent some time reading what previous efellows have achieved during their year. I am excited by the opportunity given.

Don’t get caught by the big PHISH.

2010-02-27T00:33:00.000-08:00

I have had a first hand account with phishing. I hope I have survived it.

What alerted me to the fact was the strange web link. Three of my inbox people I would have trusted. One being a school principal, the second being a Deputy Principal and another being an ICT lead facilitator. (Refer to the second image.) I would have opened their links immediately. However one said: I have been having better _ _ _ and longer with this link here. The other two said: Haha- this you??
Being unsure, I visited the victims twitter page instead of opening the direct link.
The same message was there. I then visited their blog pages and the twitter message was broadcasted there too because their twitters feed their blogs. Just like mine do. I visited one school site and could not get email contact. I searched white pages so that I could alert one of them but he was unlisted, as principal generally do. Luckily I remembered his old Deputy Principal online CV and located a cell phone number. The total time took me half a day. One’s educational reputation can be easily tainted.

To find out what was going on I searched Twitter virus, February, 2010. Phishing came up. Something else came up too, called Direct Messaging. That is the first image on this blog.

As a school what would you have done if your school twitter page started block sending lewd emails to everyone on your followers list. Your followers sign into twitter to see what you want and a DM comes up asking for confirmation of email and cell phone details. Both of which are correct. The Direct Message looks legit and gives a link to a fake Twitter login page. your follower clicks “Good to Go.” They are phished.

According to Twitter’s Blog: Phishing is a deceitful process by which an attempt is made to acquire sensitive information such as Twitter usernames and passwords.
The bad guys masquerade as someone you trust, eg: School Principal, Deputy Principal and a Leading Auckland ICT educator, may send you a Direct Message with a link.

As educators we have to be always aware and up to date with what is happening. We cannot leave our online reputation to chance. Some of the steps I regularly take are
1) Be active online and if I see something new- learn about it.
2) Regularly search my name using google to see where I am online.
3) Always be cautious with block email sends. I usually just bin those.
4) Practise Zip, Flick, Click-
a. Zip my personal details and keep them close.
b. Flick of weird emails and do not open them.
c. Click a search engine and keep up to date.

Now to learn about Spear Phishing.

Loburn Family History

2009-10-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I awoke to a windy south wester coming through Ferndale where I was staying.
After breakfast, I drove back through Rangiora and revisited the graves.
From there I traveled over the Ashley bridge heading North into Loburn. I stayed on the min road and passed Leigh Camp where I had stayed while attending Kirkwood Intermediate. From there I revisited the Grandma and Granddad Saxton’s Orchard on the corner of Barwell’s Road and the main road. The place seemed to have evidence of sheep the only life I saw was a HUGE dog so I did not drive up the drive. There were a few fruit trees left as the only evidence of our ancestors. Following the main road I counted 6 orchards left out of 56 from Gerald Ward’s Book: A Bit of Godzone-Fruitgrowing in Loburn Canterbury, New Zealand 1914-1945. They cleared the plot and planted the tress. Documentation showed that they owned the land from 10/05/1921 until 02/12/1953. Then Uncle Her and Uncle Les took it over from 13/09/1957. Then Uncle Herb on his own until 10/11/1964. Documentation also has Granddad as a part of this but it is not clear.
Talking about feeling nostalgic and emotional, I felt happy and incredibly sad at the same time. Following the road north, I guestimated where Great uncle Lesley’s orchard was, plot number 31 owned from the 10/10/146 until sold 13/03/1949 and then Grandma and Granddad Reynolds orchard plot number 29 from 24/05/1921 until 22/12/1943 when he sold it to Elsie Jane Watson. This one still had fruit trees BUT they were being pulled out this week because of age and disease. Talk about timely. I asked permission from the current owner and then walked around the old flowering fruit trees and thought about granddad in his world war 2 uniform pushing Dobby the plough horse around the gorse filled paddock clearing and then planting these same trees.
The main road is now mostly clear of tress and has cows, sheep and lots of horses grazing the land where the orchards were. I took a photo of the gorse hedges to show where Grandma and granddad Saxton camped under until the farmer burned them out. This is a story I heard from dad but am unsure if the boys were with them. My question is why were they there in the first place because they were supposed to have money from selling the pub in England.
Coming back I drove out to Oxford and had lunch at Jo Seagers restaurant and was delighted to see that they had whitebait on the menu so had whitebait patty in fresh bread sandwich. DELICIOUS. I thought about Granddad who caught so much in the early days and used it as garden fertilizer.
I then came back into Christchurch and visited with my boy’s grandmother where I also met up with their great aunty. Then headed out for Redcliffs to meet up with a dear friend and one of my goddaughters. I was hopelessly lost when I found myself in South Brighton looking over the estuary to Redcliffs so had to back track and try again. Finally I was at their place for the night. We caught up and as usual it feels like I have never been away from them. We just pick up where we left off. We had a lovely meal of fresh pan fried flounder, rice and green salad. This was accompanied by a bottle of beautiful red wine. I then helped my Goddaughter prepare for her upcoming trip to Antarctica by creating a blog and a wiki.

Christchurch day 1

2009-10-03T00:54:00.000-07:00

Last night Craig and Jacinta picked me up from the airport and took me to their place for the night.
I am still having challenges with logging on my laptop to a hotspot.
Today, I awoke at 4.00am for my balloon flight with Up, Up and Away that did not eventuate due to a Northwester coming through Canterbury. That bucket list item will have to wait for another trip.
However I got myself up and rang the number given. When there was no response I went anyway to the destination meeting place in Merivale.
Instead, I visited Maarten in Traituer and had a coffee with him. The shop is looking fantastic with lots of their delicious specialties.
I met up with Brigitte and the children and together with my two boys William and Francis, we had a cooked breakfast.
William then took me for a techy tour of all his jobs so we went from Kaiapoi, Riccarton and then into town for lunch.
From there I drove out to Rangiora where I tracked down the Saxton graves. I rang Kathy and Dad and was tearful. Then I travelled onto Pete’s Farm Stay where I met up with Pete and Gayle my hosts. They chatted to me and when they found out that I was on the genealogy trail, Pete kindly offered to take me directly to the Saxton Orchard location. We went and found the orchard easily. I felt nostalgic and sad. There were less than six orchards left from the original 56 and even then, those did not appear to be full orchards.
We returned to the farm where Gayle had cooked a lovely dinner of salmon, cooked and fresh vegetables followed by home made cheesecake.
Tonight I intend to be in bed early as I want to revisit the family places tomorrow.
Hope you are all well.

Creating Uvatars

2009-07-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

I love working with children because they teach me so much. For example http://www.befunky.com/.

One student shared this link with me and I have been having fun uploading and recreating images using the web tools. The opportunities for art skills are developing as I have been experimenting. For example uploading photos and then rendering them using the charcoal tool will enable a great sketching lesson as the lines are clear to follow. Images can be adapted for uvatars which will enable a cartoon effect for online presence. Backgrounds and clothing can be added as well as some celebrity presence. At this stage, I see that if children uploaded their own images, it is possible to locate the link of the photo. The site does not need a sign in account for general photo editing but one is required for uvatars.

I use a dial up account with a 56k modem and yet still found that uploading and downloading the graphics was not too time consuming.

Thinking maps

2009-06-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.mapthemind.com/aboutus/bio/hyerle.html
I was remembering the work of David Hyerle when I was a Diploma of TESOL student with Sue Gray. I had read his previous work on Thinking Maps: Tools for Learning so was researching further ideas he might have that would help me further my understanding of HOT maps. David is the developer of the Thinking Maps model. I really like the way that the Hot team have take the Thinking maps and levelled them against SOLO taxonomy. Now when I look at a thinking map, I can see how to make modifications in order to raise the level of cognition and even how to have children help me when we co-construct our success criteria rubrics. Further on in researching I found this little gem of a website that takes some of David’s ideas and has a variety of maps that can be used some of the thinking process. For example: for compare and contrast. http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/graphic_organizers.htm
Then taking what I am learning with SOLO from the HOT team, I have applied all this to help me construct my learning intentions for each of my own maps. I know that these will evolve as I put into practise some of these ideas. I am creating a mapping resource that can be taken and easily modified for teaching and learning. I discovered this little tool in Power Point that has enabled me to quickly create some thinking maps.

My next step is to modify the assessment rubrics from the HOT team to fit my current unit of work.

Reflecting on practice

2009-06-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

A while back I had downloaded a reflective survey on how we are using SOLO from the Hooked on Thinking website and when I punched in the title into google so that I could reference it for my wiki, I ended up on Wesley Fryer’s website.
I was blown away by his creativity and dedication to teaching and learning. One important gem I picked up was placing a disclosure policy on my blog. I read with interest his extensive work over the years using web 2 tools. I liked the way he regularly records his thinking and reflection. He had heard Pam Hook speak at a recent conference about reflective practice. Again reflective practice keeps surfacing.

I was mentoring a young teacher recently and we were discussing the importance of ongoing reflection and having the opportunity and time to do this is so important.

(Wendy, have I said thanks again for giving me this opportunity this year.) I have currently cut back my hours so that I can reflect more on my own teaching and learning. I feel energised and remotivated with children’s learning. The upside is my own learning has exploded.

So back to completing that reflective survey. The current way of completing this survey would be to create a wiki for my school in preparation for our next milestone report and link our 5th wall evidence to it. I will think more on the process of this.

I keep reading about Technorati so must find out more about what this is. I also keep reading about moodle, I want to also understand tagging and labelling my pages better and finally this week I must follow up with wall wisher as was blogged by Dorothy, Bring on Wallwisher . Hey Luke, you really did bring tears to my eyes with your blog on Teachers can be the worlds best coaches. I always enjoy reading these two educators' blogs.

Disclaimer

2009-06-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.
This policy is valid from 05 June 2009

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Sonya (van_schaijik[at] hotmail[dot] com.)

This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. I write for my own purposes. However, I may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.

The owner of this blog will never receive compensation in any way from this blog.

The owner of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If I claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I believe, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

The owner of this blog would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals’ blogs that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog. I consult with: HOT and I are employed by Newmarket School.To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org/

This week in reflection

2009-06-01T03:25:00.000-07:00

I have been away for a few days yet my mind is continuously drawn back to what I have been working on electronically.
I have been monitoring RSS feeds on my wiki so that I may better understand the relevance in teaching and learning. In doing so I noted that 2 blogs that I regularly followed had had updates so I read Onemanuprising’s blog on Good Leaders and how well they know their staff. He spoke about their EHSAS funding being cancelled half way through their contract and funds redistributed. I agree with the idea, that we can be sitting at the bottom shaking the trees, however school leaders have an enormous impact on the success of student achievement. I read with interest as Manaiakalani blogged about the gains made by their Maori students in asTTle writing only to have their EHSAS funding cancelled from the end of 2009 and redistributed for other MOE projects targeting Maori students. I then followed Artichoke’s blog on disparity of student scores and the discussion that followed about having ideas challenged by others reading them and that educators belonging to an institution can have their views blurred by their positions within institutions. I had just been researching teachers at a local secondary school and reading what their students thought about them on rate my teacher website. Artichoke is correct in stating schools do create links to ERO reports yet hesitate at linking to a site where the client discuss teachers in such a clear way.

I was having challenges creating student accounts on our school’s ultranet. So I ended up using a wiki instead. In one afternoon, I had created all students log in names and passwords and using a template idea from Constructive Alignment wiki, I had created each student a page for them to begin with. Unfortunately with all the preparation, the afternoon was taken up with cross country practise and the class wiki will have to wait until next lessons.

Earlier in the week, I watched with pride as teachers shared with their team what their children had created using SOLO taxonomy during blocks of ICT time in the classroom. Two of the teachers shared their pages created on the school ultranet.

We had an amazing turnout on Tuesday evening to the school’s parent mathematics evening. We had confirmation of attendance from 70 parents and nearly 120 turned up. For me it was wonderful seeing our teachers work together to create an evening for our parents. Parents are also busy. When thinking as a parent it is wonderful to see the school organisation to ensure that parents had an evening to remember about their children’s stages in mathematics. A lot of sharing took place with what could be achieved at home to help with the development of number knowledge.

I had a morning with our SOLO facilitator and our Assistant Principal planning our next term’s school unit. All I can remember of the experience is how easy it was to create our unit using a database to enter into the main sections of the planning. It was neat to be working with like minded educators co-construct an outline for teachers to work with next term. I was chatting later with our SOLO facilitator about the importance of teachers having the time to reflect on what they are doing. This year, I am having a huge buzz with what I am doing and the major change for me this year is having the time to reflect on what I am doing. Sometimes as teachers exhaustion and trying to keep on top of the workload can be so overwhelming, that reflection does not happen.

Using Audio

2009-05-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

I am finding that the more I am teaching using the structure of SOLO taxonomy, the greater results I am having with my students. When I continually think ahead of an audience, I find that my teaching has clarity in procedure.

This week, I audio taped some children’s Maori Pepeha.
To be at extended abstract we agreed that presenting to an audience and having all the other success criteria in place would enable a student to achieve at this level.
( I need to check this out when Pam next comes for a visit.)
Creating the audio allows the flexibility of hearing our pepeha again. The children can then reflect on the sections missing or that can be added to.

We used a microphone and
Microsoft movie maker.
(Download how)

When Narration is stopped, work can be saved in any folder.
On personal reflection:
When I think of all the ways we could use this little beauty in web 2 tools
-.Audio blogs- http://www.audioblog.com/tour/tour01.htm/
-Class radio- http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
-Slideshows with photos- http://www.youtube.com/
Children can be recording their reflections on SOLO. They can prepare a piece of reading aloud as part of their reading activity.
The beauty of audio is that the size is not as great as video.
From personal experience highlights of an event using photos and audio is a lot quicker to edit and create than video.
I found voice thread great yet was not what I wanted to achieve with the audio. As teachers, time is limited so we want something that is at our level of skills. This would be like a pre voice thread activity or a pre video activity.
Yes I love equipment with all the bells and whistles; yet I do believe in exploring the tools we have before going out and purchasing a lot of new equipment.

My next learning is this: I could load the audios straight up. But where and how should the page look like. That is where having continuous dialogue with teachers at my school enables this thinking to take place. I saw, our AP with her thinking in a visual way spread out over a large table. And I thought yes, I can do that too and would like to spread my thinking out electronically. So if people come to see what I doing electronically- my thinking is continually evolving and like Twitter, they will receive a glimpse of where I am on my journey in this space of time.

Learning and Mangroves

2009-05-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have been reading Ann Pendleton-Jullian Design Education and Innovation Ecotones and reflect on what she has written. That twenty first century learning environments are about learning that extends far beyond the classroom (it scales), which in turn promotes elasticity and agency. The assumption is that we need to prepare for futures in which the specific things we will be doing, and specific stuff we will need to know, do not yet exist. Implicated in an education for the twenty-first century are all sorts of new mechanisms—cultural, social, and intellectual mechanisms—that are either directly or indirectly affiliated with the digital age as a global phenomenon. I like the learning link with mangroves and how they manage the air-water interface, which is one of the most complex transitions to overcome. In addition to negotiating an environment of difference, they are also subjected to continuous disturbances both cyclical (tides) and event-driven in nature (typhoons). As such they have developed unique characteristics of adaptation.

Welcome

2009-05-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have had this blog spot for a while. So now will use it for my thinking and to reflect on readings.
I have been dabbling in web 2 tools for nearly a year.
But it was only by attending the Unconference at Pt England School that I was able to clarify my thinking and how I would use these tools.

My wiki will be used as my central system from where all my other learning will come from.

I am sad to say that Ulimasao was originally created for the Ulimasao Bilingual Educators as an association for Bilingual teachers to come together and be supported in what is sometimes incredibly lonely work.

Ulimasao came from the Samoa legend of Nafanua. I would like to think that all the volunteer work was not in vain and to let the teachers know that I still have it all saved. I might even place it on the wiki in a dormant way.

I think that if we were together now, we would be able to use the net in a powerful way as together we would create the resources that is so desperately needed when one is a bilingual teacher.

I have created a you tube account too.