Sunday 28 February 2016

Online Portfolios

Having used Seesaw (an online portfolio site) with a small group last year I decided I would definitely roll it out to everyone this year.

It is such a clear interface and very easy to learn how to upload examples of work and explain the learning it is evidence of. 

After just ONE week of signing the kids up and having a 'practice' session with everyone, many kids are now understanding the power of being able to identify the learning which is important to them AND the purpose for uploading and sharing. It is very exciting to see kids grasp the idea of an online portfolio and who are now making their own decisions about what to take a photo of and share.

Here are a few screenshots of some recent examples...





Those of you who are already using your portfolio regularly... what is it which makes this something you are motivated to do? What advice have you got for others who are not so self-motivated YET?



 

Thursday 25 February 2016

End of week reflection

In theONE6 we are working on embedding reflection into everything we do. It is such an important part of the learning cycle - the ability to think about what we have done, haven't done, why something didn't go the way it was meant to, what made other things successful, and what we are wondering about. 

Thinking about thinking is called being 'metacognitive'. 

ONE way we reflect is through a tweet consisting of 140 characters. This is a skill theONE6ers' have been learning since week 1. There is a real skill in composing your tweet to ensure it includes the appropriate hashtag, your name, and of course your question or message which needs to be clear, concise, with the right amount of detail BUT at the same time uses only 140 characters.

This week's Tweet Task was to ask a question AND think about your own response to it... all in 140 characters.

Here is the storify of the kids tweets...


Monday 22 February 2016

#KIDspeakNZ

Today in theONE6 some of us participated in out first #KIDspeakNZ chat.

#KIDspeakNZ is an initiative which was started by myself and 6 other teachers around New Zealand to show our learners they have an opportunity to 'share their voice'. That if they have questions they want to ask of other kids their age...why not ask through a Twitter chat. If they have issues or topics of interest and want others opinions... why not run a Twitter chat.

Today's questions came from students at Bohally Intermediate in Blenheim. They were keen to ask others about collaboration, connecting, and school values.

Well done to a number of students in theONE6 for participating... your voice DOES matter and these are terrific 21century literacy skills you are developing:

a tweet summarises your thought into 140 characters

participating shows you are building skills of connecting & collaborating

tweeting gives you a chance to voice an opinion or something that is important to you

Below is the STORIFY of our chat today...

 



If you enjoy participating in Twitter chats... tell me WHY in the comment box. If you don't enjoy them I would love to know your reasons too:) Reply in the comment box please.


Friday 19 February 2016

#studentvoice

Something REALLY important in ‪#‎theONE6‬ is ‪#‎studentvoice‬

I am of the belief that for a classroom to be student-centred the kids need to know "their voice matters". It is one of our mantras! So in #theONE6 the kids talk more than me! 

Something else REALLY important in theONE6 is REFLECTION. We have briefly discussed why reflection is important to embed into the learning cycle. One way we reflect in class is via Twitter. Doing it this way means I can capture their 'reflective moments' in 140 characters. Doing it this way means I can 'storify' the tweets or take screen shots and share them and use them for my own observation of my learners' thinking.

Below are some reflective tweets which some of the kids did last week where they share why they think their voice is important.














Thursday 18 February 2016

FRIDAY FUN






Habits for Success

This week our focus has been on 

HABITS

We begun by talking and sharing what 'habits' are ...


and the kids had some great suggestions for this... showing they had some understanding of 'bad' habits and 'good' habits as well as habits that are just 'interesting'...


then we came back to this the next day and I asked them... what might be some habits which could enable you to be successful? They did well and came up with a lot of great ideas...


The next day... I explained we were going to put together a bag. The bag would be filled with @theONE6 'Habits for Success'.


I asked for suggestions about 'metaphors' and we came to the understanding that they are when you say something is something else...or when something represents another thing. I explained that we were going to put together a bag of 'Habits for Success'.

This idea has come from Art Costa's Habits of Mind which he describes are 'intelligent behaviours' we display when we are faced with challenges, problems, and uncertainties.

My 'Habits for Success' is a way to engage kids in understanding these behaviours and how they can look in a classroom context.

So without giving the kids too much... I would write up the 'behaviour' and see if they could think up what the 'metaphor' would be... remembering that it had to small enough to put in our little paper bag.



The kids did well with this and eventually we covered the 8 'habits' which I think are most important for us. Each item was passed out and added to their bag. The kids have said that they think it will be easier to remember the habits by thinking of its metaphor... we will keep checking this over the next few weeks:)

After the kids had decorated and named their bag...we pegged them on some wire where they can be seen all day as a way to remember them:)


Here is the STORIFY of the kids tweets as to which habit they think they need to work on...




Which of these habits do you think will be the EASIEST for you to display? Why do you think this? 

Reply in the comment box...




Thursday 11 February 2016

Why Reflect?

This morning in theONE6 we had some sharing and discussion around 

REFLECTION.


In theONE6 reflection is embedded into what we do. It was important that the kids know WHY reflection needs to become something they do when they are learning. So not just at the end of a day or week... but all the time. 

I was really happy with the ideas which came up after the kids had done some of their own thinking. They really managed to cover ALL the important points...

to see progress as this builds confidence * to know where we went wrong and to come up with a strategy to fix it * to think about what I have understood and what I need help with * to share our new learning with others * to refresh in our minds the learning just done * to SHOW that we are thinking about our learning.


Have you done some thinking about your learning today?

Share it in the comments section:)



Wednesday 10 February 2016

The Present

Check out this short animated film...The Present.

“The Present” is based on a comic strip by the very talented Fabio Coala and was adapted and animated for screen by Jacob Frey for his school thesis. It’s been screened at over 180 film festivals around the world and has won 50 awards.



To practice your 'blog commenting/replying' answer this question...

What do you think is the MAIN message in this short film? What is the creator trying to make us all think about?

You should click on the 'comment' tab and reply to me with your thoughts:)

FM to GM

This morning we made some inferences about 

FIXED MINDSET


Then we discussed these FIXED MINDSET statements we hear from people sometimes...


Then the kids set to work in groups to come up with some alternative GROWTH MINDSET statements we want to make sure we are using instead!


If we want to embed this mindset into classroom these need to be heard regularly... and I already hear it happening amongst the learners. (They keep saying 'sorry' when they hear themselves commenting in a 'fixed mindset'!) and then change what they have said! 

Nice work today theONE6 whanau...AND a Tweet Task which wrapped up our learning today! I loved their summary of Growth Mindset in 140 characters! Here is the Storify of their tweets...