Blogging and Commenting

Connecting with other classes in New Zealand through QuadBloggingAotearoa has been extremely beneficial for students this term and it was another great opportunity to teach my students on how to leave good comments.

This is a lengthy process with my pre-readers and writers and we always commented together as a group as I saw this process a necessity for my students.

We brainstorm some 'rules' to follow when leaving comments. They are:
1. Greet the other person/class
2. Say something nice about the post (what did we like?)
3. Make a connection (think of something it reminds us of). This is a skill we are just beginning to learn.
4. Ask a question (what else were we wondering about that the writer has not put in their post)
5. Re-read our comment (check for spelling mistakes or if we need to change something)

This pattern will be followed for months to come and students will learn the necessary skills to comment on their own. I will then officially ask all of the students to try to make a comment on a blog of their choice closer to the end of the school year. I will however stay close by to assist students whose spelling skills are still developing and make a note in brackets to show that this was done with teacher help.

It will be a long journey to get them to follow the pattern that we have practiced together. Just as learning to read and write takes some time, learning to comment when you are an emerging writer does take some time as well.

Why would I go through this lengthy process with my 5 year old students?
The satisfaction of seeing a student who is beginning to understand how to interact and having a conversation with others in a social media situation, is worth this long journey.

As part of our reflection on our experience with QuadBloggingAotearoa, we discussed some benefits of blogging and although there are many more, here is what we thought to be important at this stage.

Should I... or should I not?

Although earlier QuadBlogging interactions with other schools around the world were quite interesting, I had to make a big decision this term about enrolling this relatively new class of 5 year old students.

Pondering for weeks over this, I've came to the conclusion to give it a pass.

Little did I know....

I find out about QuadBloggingAotearoa shortly thereafter while browsing my Twitter stream one evening.

Excitement galore!!! Our own QuadBlogging for New Zealand schools, started by Barbara Reid (a BeL facilitator).

And I did it again, enrolling my students for QuadBloggingAotearoa! What a fantastic three weeks we had so far, connecting with schools in New Zealand. And needless to say, my students are having fun and have again amazed me with their enthusiasm with commenting on other class blogs.

And that's the wonder of teaching - Watching caterpillars become butterflies!

Engage students and make a difference

After following the first live TeachMeetNZ presentation on Twitter, I had been contacted by the organiser of this New Zealand event, asking if I would be interested in presenting at the next TeachMeetNZ.

Without thinking, I accepted this invitation.  I saw this as a personal challenge, as I am not fond of presenting in front of others, and never had in such a formal way.  This meant that I had to get right out of my comfort zone.

In the time leading up to the presentation, there were days that I had reservations about this, especially as I had to miss the first testing as I was at EduCampHB.

The second test run was nerve wrecking, but went well and I was ready.

Presenting live at TeachMeetNZ was an amazing experience and I feel proud and very special, after receiving my TeachMeetNZ participation badge from Sonya.

Excited to be a teacher and learner

Despite a full on couple of weeks with lots of meetings and PD, I was looking forward to another EduIgnite evening on Thursday.  These evenings is invaluable to me as it helps me to better myself and provides me with an opportunity to look at lots of things differently and also enables me to put them into perspective.

I think teachers of today have one the hardest jobs in the world, with all the trends currently in education and most of the time we don't value ourselves as we should.  Why could this be?  Do we concentrate too much on all the things happening, which we might perceive as 'negative'?  Would that  change if we only concentrate on what we can do for our students, how we can improve ourselves and how we can make learning experiences the best ever?  I do believe so.      

I am excited to be a teacher and learner.  I love to 'hang out' with other teachers on Twitter.  I love the sharing, collaboration and support of teachers coming together and how it enables me to stay informed.  I love how I empower my students to share and collaborate through #kidsedchatnz and their e-portfolios.

Although I was not present at the following EduIgnite talk, I am again inspired.

EduIgnite Talk Highlights

Another EduIgnite is just around the corner! How that snuck up on me.  I am still relishing in my previous, first experience of an EduIgnite evening!

Some of the highlights for me from last year was:

Mary-Anne told us how to ignite the brain using thinking skills.

Ignite Talk | Mary-Anne Murphy from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.


Barbs told us about learning and one of her favourite things: geocaching

Ignite Talk | Barbs Reid from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.


Dave talked about why we do what we do, and how technology can make a difference in the world.

Ignite Talk | Dave Winter from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.


Great stuff!! Looking forward to my next learning experience.

What is happening?

This term is moving forward with some speed that actually left me with feeling a bit flustered and with a feeling that no significant progress has been made in any areas of the deliberate learning acts for my students.
This has lead to me to feeling frustrated as I have never felt before at this time in a first term.

Time was needed to reflect seriously as to what the reason for all this might be and I came to the following conclusion:
* Harold the Giraffe from Life Ed was at our school - time out of class
* Sport BOP 'leg it' programme - out of class for an hour each week for 3 weeks already (3 more to come!)
* School Triathlon/Duathlon day
* School Swimming Sports day
* New students arriving - enforce class routines time and time again.

All these took time away from establishing a stable learning culture within our class.  I don't think  for one second that these activities are not deemed valuable, as they are equally important in creating other learning experiences for students. 

On a more positive note, as I want to make sure that my students are getting the best individual learning experiences possible, I have created their own ILP as mentioned in my Professional goals earlier - which seems to be working well.  And I do see accomplishements in learning, no matter how small.

So what now?  Now I just need to move forward and follow this 'advice'.

"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." - Henry J. Kaiser

EduCamp Rotovegas

EduCamp Rotovegas hit off today at 10.00am in Rotorua and was the first of it's kind for this year and as usual, did not disappoint with a 'full house' of 30 participants!

The sharing and collaboration from all were amazing and I loved it when Annemarie started with a video on Inspiration: Be agents of change.  Lots to be taken away and fantastic to meet and greet new and 'old' PLN friends.

Rotovegas Google Doc  &  Presentation

No doubt that this EduCamp was a huge success thanks to all attendees, the sharing & organisers.