edna.edu.au

Art made by the environment

This video from the Make blog got me thinking about projects for kids.  Imagine doing a weather chart in the same way with kids.  Each day dip a piece of string into some paint in different shades marking the amount of sunshine, stick the pieces of string onto containers and then looking at the results.  Technology, art, science, environment, literacy all in one.  I think this is what digital literacy is about.  Using all kinds of mediums and media to communicate messages large and small.  Very cool Thomas Traxier.

 

Thomas Traxler, Autonomous spinning wheel from robertanderson on Vimeo .[Read More]

Tags: video science literacy weather art
Posted at 08:13PM Nov 13, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  | 

Accelerated Literacy Program

How do we get students to write effectively?  

We often find that students may become good at decoding text through guided reading but that this teaching may not equip them to apply this knowledge in different context such as understanding the meaning of the text or developing good writing skills.

Accelerated Literacy - using the one text to teach lots of different aspects of literacy

•  Literate discourse or orientation, giving them access to all the tricks that authors use to engage us as readers
• Transformations - deeper understand of the text and why and how grammar is used
• Spelling - writing the words from the text, spelling rules from the text
• Writing - using the text to scaffold writing

The main things I took away from the session

• Don't assume that your students will be able to understand all the visual and textual clues when they are reading
• It's about explicitly teaching about everything within the text so that students have all the answers. Really providing carefully constructed scaffolds.
• If you explain things really really explicitly with all the background everyone in your class has a chance to succeed
• It does take time and effort to think about how you will teach in a lot of detail.

•  National Accelerated Literacy Program

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Tags: nalp literacy accelerated literacy progra
Posted at 09:29PM Oct 28, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  | 

Using Technology to Improve Outcomes

Today I had a really good session with a young person who struggles with reading and writing.   I introduced a screen reader to him and used this with an online bullying interactive activity.

Highs

I helped the student select an interactive resource on bullying from the BT BetterWorld website.  He watched a video and then used the screen reader to have the questions read to him.  Here are instructions on how to set up the screen reader. It was amazing to see him giving himself little high-fives as he worked independently and achieved perfect results. 

Lows

Trying to find interesting content on the Sydney Morning Herald website for some independant listening.  Websites are all about scanning headlines and dipping into things to get a feel before you settle into something you feel like reading.  It is really difficult for him to do this with a screen reader.  Search would probably work better but without the ability to accurately spell words this is also a challenge. It will be a learning experience for both of us to work out strategies so that he can quickly find articles or information of interest.

Do you have any interactive resources that are useful for dealing with bullying, drug education or personal development?
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Tags: accessibiltiy literacy learning difficulties screen reade bullyin
Posted at 11:49AM Oct 26, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  |  Comments[1]

Fun projects with a technology twist

Lately I have seen a couple of great examples of how to integrate technology with students in practical ways.  How we keep this and pass the knowledge around - mostly through twitter is almost as interesting as the projects themselves.

• I have been working on documenting procedures visually using cooking projects like Nonna and iMovie.
  
• Stephen Drummer is teaching his kids about the 16 Habits of Mind by getting them to blog about a burger.  Check out his blog at BurgerTeach.
  
• Jenny Luca's project is 25 Days to Make a Difference
  
• Tom Barrett (UK) has been working on visual instructions with how to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds.
• And of course my mum using Wordle to come up key words for learning themes.
  

It would be great to see how you are integrating technology into the curriculum.  Particularly if you're a primary school teacher so I can steal your ideas :).

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Tags: instructions fun showme technology literacy projects science teaching ideas
Posted at 05:31PM Oct 15, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  |  Comments[2]

Consequences lesson using GoAnimate

I made this animation using GoAnimate in about 20 minutes.  It's a fun, simple way to provide an alternative method of communicating ideas.   This should work in pretty nicely with our learning to accept consequences for actions unit.

Things to remember:

• The screen demo on the mainpage is good and give a good overview of features and how to use them and it has pretty exciting music
  
• If you want to add movement to an object you need to do it before you move it to the character
• There are some slightly undesirable actions but I think this can be managed through a quick laugh and letting the kids know it's not appropriate for the work we are doing at the moment
  

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Tags: literacy teachingideas showme socialskills fun interesting technology tips
Posted at 02:40PM Oct 10, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  | 

Aussie Sayings

This video is a great example of student work.  How many Aussie Sayings can you count?  Can you think of any extra sayings?

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Tags: language studentwor student content video work samples speeches laughter literacy
Posted at 01:39PM Oct 02, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  | 

Screen Readers = More Than Meets The Eye

Why it's important?

Ever since listening to Tim Noonan's talk at a conference a little while ago I have been on a journey of learning about accessibility.  I used to think of accessibility as a way to allow blind folk or people with disabilities to access our content.  Now I think of accessibility as providing alternative options for accessing information for everyone.

This blog post at iHeni alerted me to Glenda Watson Hyatt a blogger with cerebal palsy.  Watching her Youtube video I thought I too have been to a conference, too shy to say anything, feeling alone in a room of thousands.  For me as a participant in learning it made me feel better to know I was not the only one. 

Anyway it got me thinking about the advantages of improving accessibility

• It opens up the doors to more people from diverse backgrounds to connect with others from diverse backgrounds - this can only be good for learning and socialising
• It gives everyone more options for how they want to communicate and connect with the world.  If I'm a very good listener but a hopeless reader I can work with my strengths.  If I would prefer to listen to a webpage as a I work on an assignment or lesson plan I can.

Curriculum integration

• This term I'll be showing the kids how to use the screen reader. Which for my kids will potentially be a lifeskill that will enable them to engage with the world for their whole lives.
  
• Using a screen reader for web-based research.  Discussing what they have listened to.
• Using the screen reader as part of the audio track in movies that we make.  They can be shy.
  
• Writing text and having it played back to them.

Post your curriculum ideas in the comments.

How to do it

Apple accessibility features - select text to have it read to you on Mac

If you don't use a screen reader but have trouble reading text on your computer screen, you can have your Mac read the text you select. To turn Text to Speech on, open System Preferences, click Speech, then open the Text to Speech pane. You can even set up a keyboard shortcut to initiate Speech.

Tip: Tick the box marked 'speak selected text when the key is pressed'.  Then select 'Set Key' and choose a key to use.

Microsoft

• Accessibility features - Using Narrator
  
• Dictate text using e-Speaking

What are the challenges?

For me one of the big challenges is that by opening up opportunities for success in one area you may be taking away success in another area.  For example by giving students the opportunity to have a web page read to them instead of reading it themselves they may find that it is easier to intepret the text when listening to it but on the other hand they aren't getting the practice of intepreting written text.

Post your ideas in the comments.

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Tags: resource research screenreader teachingideas accessibility literacy showme
Posted at 12:33PM Sep 30, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  |  Comments[2]

I brought my Nonna in for show and tell

The students I teach on Thursday work on a modified curriculum.  It is designed to teach them life skills.  Who would have thought you could have fun, teach cooking, media and literacy all at the same time.

Step 1 - Video Explanation of Cooking Steps

Watch video of my nonna explaining how to cook spaghetti bolognaise.  I used the internal webcam and sat myself on the opposite side of the camera so that it looked like she was talking to me.  It's hard to get these kids to watch anything but they watched this and they asked questions about where my Nonna was from and how old she was.

Step 2 - Cooking

Take lots of photos of the cooking.  As long as you have at least 4 or 5 students cooking you can take turns using the camera and doing parts of the cooking.  Talk about which shots will work best eg close up. 

Step 3 - Cooking Procedural Recount

This was the first time for us using iMovie 08 so we did it together.  The students learnt quickly. The results are very good for a first attempt.

Next step

Web-conference Nonna live to give the lesson as the students cook.  The main issue here is someone has to sit beside her because she can't really work the mouse.

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Tags: lifeskills media pictures literacy vid recount
Posted at 06:17PM Sep 28, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  |  Comments[5]

Literacy Resources: Audio Books

After listening to Tim Noonan speak at a conference I became aware of the importance of accessability when designing websites.  I'm beginning to think that thinking about accessibility can also help us understand how to design learning activities that are suitable for learners with a diverse range of needs.  I work at a school for children with emotional disturbances and intellectual disabilities, it seems like a good idea to use technology to make learning easier for them.

Mp3 Powered Literacy

In our class we have kids with very different literacy abilities some can read and write pretty well, some are still at a basic level.  They are all able to think and respond verbally though.  So I have uploaded stories from the Libri-vox collection onto an mp3 player.  Libri-vox is a collection of books that are in the public domain that have been recorded by volunteers.  At this stage we have used Alice in Wonderland but I want to look through and find more books.  The player cost $30, copying the files are as easy as copying files to a usb drive. You can also purchase audiobooks, available as instant downloads from the iTunes or The Audio Bookstore.

Using this method some students complete a written comprehension and other students listen to a story and then answer questions orally.  For me it seems like a great idea, it still allows creativity, critical thinking and a different type of focus than for example watching a movie.  For students of all levels I think this kind of interaction with text can provide a way to scaffold deeper thinking about writing and a way to read above your usual level.  I recently listened to Stephen Hawkings The Universe In A Nutshell, I love reading but I would never read a book like this in the conventional way, listening to the audiobook was a really mind expanding experience.

How would you use audio books in the classroom?  What books would you recommend?

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Tags: allgrades literacy library resources librivox teachingideas links
Posted at 09:53PM Sep 24, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  | 

Year 1/2: Singing, talking and listening

I have been trying to find good songs to use with kids, to engage them in literacy activities with a multimedia angle.  I'm still learning but this activity seemed quick and successful.

Song: With My Own Two Hands (Ben Harper)

Possible activities/discussions:

• What things that can you do with your hands?
• What things can you do on your own?
• What things can you with others?
• Graphing common skills
• Graphing special skills
• Measuring things with hands

I only had an hour to do the activity and I used the song with a mostly ESL class so we focused on the things you can do with your hands.  Here is the result:

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Tags: singing showme talking and listening songs literacy
Posted at 06:14PM Aug 26, 2008 by Concetta Gotlieb  |  Comments[1]