Digital Pedigree Licence

I like the new name.  My lovely boyfriend has coinned a clever new title - evokes images of a glossy Border Collie using a laptop but I'm going with it. 

I just had a whole day to stay at home and work on my DPL - supported by my school (love them).  I worked from 7:30 - 3:30 with an hour for lunch.  I wrote 2351 words and I more or less finished 1 of my 3 items.  I've sent it off to my poor coach who has to read it all and make sense of it.

I've found it very therapeutic though, it's like the clock has stopped for a day for me to look back at a unit and think about why I did and why it was good (or not so).  The hints they give you are very helpful but in the process of answering one I find 10 more unanswered.  Then there's the internal struggle between the teacher me and the graphic designer me - "I could make a cool diagram instead of writing this... just got to teach myself how to make a diargam..." 4o minutes later, "I'll get help on that later..."

I was looking foward to today, telling myself that it can't be that hard, surely you'll knock it off in one day but I was wrong!  It's going to take way longer.  I'm going to do it though, my goal: done by the end of November, let's just see if my Coach plays ball and gets back to me with feedback asap.

The World Wide Web is a Big Old Mess

According to my kids anyway! They have no idea how to research on the internet, this was really hit home when I caught one of them taking notes from a webpage made by Jack and Wendy from a local Primary School.  When I asked my student what year she thought they were in; 2 or 4? she said she didn't care.  Typical!

How can I fix this problem? It's way bigger than me, I don't have time to double check every fact I read in 27 animal adaptation reports.  I already talk to the kids about how it is important and that they should care about getting thier facts straight but it's not having much of an effect. 

I think the fix for them, for now is to explicitly teach them how to effectively search the internet.  Maybe if they can find the authentic information they require more easily the won't tempted to copy from a dodgy source.  So far this year I've worked with a few students one on one with their searching techniques, getting them onto Boolify has been helpful and improved individuals.  I'd love to have the time to tell them about the Boolean logic behind this search engine - next year I will make time.

I'm also going to have to work out Google Squared and make better use of Wolframalpha. 

ICT Certificate PD

Over the past few months I have been working on documents to support staff in completing their ICT Certificate as part of the Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework.  It has been very rewarding, colleagues have given me really positive feedback.

I wanted to design a template that would give people a headstart on the Certificate and I knew that once people started to work through, the majority would be able to fly through it.  So I used examples, the guidelines and the indicators and I designed a word doc for people to use.  I also designed a visual dictionary of the indicators - which I plan to continue and add to in the future, and a cheklist to accompany the visuals.  I found both very useful in explaining the indicators to people.

I thoroughly enjoyed the session. My resources:

Flip Ultra HD! Love it!

I love my Flip Ultra! I've had it over the weekend to play with and figure out how it all works - it's SO easy.  I  love the features of the accompanying software, especially the movie application.  I will be using it this morning when I make a last minute video for the Year 8 Student Leadership Program - I'm thinking a one word summary from all of my kids would make a great movie.  The kids are going to love the Flip - we might have to get more. :)