ICT 2009 NEW IDEAS

[Julie Ann Brown]

Hey fellow evicts, I have successfully moved my staff along in ICT this year. Most of us are at the stage of looking for ways to implement ICT in the curriculum as part of their programming and planning etc etc... there seems to have been some sort of a paradigm shift in the mindset of most. I have a one hour time slot on our SDD in 2009. Has anyone got ideas for invigorating and enthusing my staff. I have covered so many areas in various PD'S this year, interactive whiteboard, learning objects, visual literacy etc plus run some one on one teaching sessions in using some peripherals. I am looking for new ideas. Any suggestions.

[Fleur Jones]

Hi Julie Ann
Although I attended the SLICT group in 2007 I did not end up in the role for 2008 as being a temporary teacher I only had 2 days work for the first semester and then another 2 at another school in second semester. One of the things that I have found exciting and fun and not too hard for teachers to do is using photostory to encourage childrens Narrative writing. What ever theme you are doing the kids make big backgrounds and then staple and stuff characters. They then use these characters to write their stories then take photos. I also have set up a Publisher template for them to type up their story into booklet format and import their photos into these. They then import photos into photostory, tape voices etc and the results are fantastic. I have also done stop start animation with my year 3s using Media Player with great results.
Regards Fleur Jones

[Julie Ann Brown]

thank you Fleur I appreciate any ideas at this stage. I just want to inspire my staff to try really worthwhile stuff incorporating ICT

[Jean]

Hi Julie Ann
I am a great fan of the 23 Things program http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/ . This is the direct link to the 23 Things page http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/

Perhaps you could set up something like this - but on a smaller scale :)

[Tomaz Lasic]

Hi Julie Ann

I recommend having a look at John's (Larkin) blog post and his "rule of thumb" when it comes to starting/engaging people with tech in class:

1. Choose an aspect of the curriculum with which you hold a passion.
2. Choose an online tool with which you feel comfortable or ‘clicks’ for you.
3. Steer a simple, straightforward path at the outset.

These are SO SPOT ON. You may want to tickle JOhn (he is an EVICT after all :-) about that, he is a super-expereinced national and international presenter from NSW.

While I understand you need to plan things a bit, I still reckon the best "PD" is the one where people choose things themselves and what/how THEY would use rather .... Since your time is limited (1 hour) I thoroughly recommend an expo (you can have a look at how we ran ours at our school this year - very well received), where people simply become aware of things 'they can do', perhaps help them along with ideas then get them to in a way commit to work on at least one aspect of using tech in class which will make them proud of their effort by the end of the year (even a term sometimes).

It's hard to put myself in your shoes because I don't know the context of your school but for my 20c - a well organised and run expo (ours could have been done better, ran out of time & learnt from it...) is a winner in the 1-hour-stakes. Let me know if you want my list of 'stands' and accompanying material - might save you some time and digging around.

Hope this helps.

Tomaz

PS Need to ooh-and-aaaah about Croatian coast with you soon. Been there/lived there many times & I know it/love it well.

[Tamara]

Hey Julie Ann,
I like Tomaz' comment about choosing an area of interest to you. I also see the benefit of selecting something that's in line with your school's focus or SDP for 2009. I found our staff was more receptive to the idea that it wasn't ANOTHER bunch of stuff for them to have to take on, rather it was support for them to implement something in the School Development Plan. For example last year our school focussed on Reading so I created resources for guided reading activities, supported them to become familiar with open ended software they could use for comprehension instruction and book reports and supplied them with a list of online activities.
Have Fun!

[Helene Markmann]

Hi there,

This year three of us have three separate one-hour PDs (concurrent) just to give staff a taste of what software we currently have at school (heaps); what forums and teacher resources are online (EVICTS, Edna, Digital Chalkie, etc) and specific learning area/useful websites.

We're going to start with a presentation of the Australian version (thanks, Tomaz) of Shift Happens - a seminal video (c. 10 mins) on the impact and educational ramifications of digital technology, then show a video of pieces students have produced using the software and technology we have at school.

I'm going to run a PD on useful websites that can be employed in different/a range of areas. I am preparing a list of less than twenty (don't want to overwhelm people) and will probably demo ten or so on the digital projector with the group. I will also introduce Delicious as a tool for bookmarking by actually using it to go to the sites for the presentation. I plan to give out a list of sites during/after the PD along with a questionnaire for staff to indicate sites they were interested in and what topics they would like to find out more about and how I might specifically assist them day to day (it's a way to capture their interest and offer support from day one.)

Another of us will PD on Net Support a class monitoring tool which is fantastic for one to one teaching as well as seeing what all your students are up to on one screen (the teacher's preferably).

We're trying to keep it light and inspiring to get ICT into the mix right from the start and encourage people to incorporate just one ICT element in their teaching this year. I will also be trying to make the link between digital technology and literacy development - how there are so many great resources to aid literacy development.

I hope this is useful. I'm also happy to get any feedback comments on this little programme...

Best regards,

Helene

[Jean]

This sounds great Helene. The staff at your school will be off to a flying start for the year :)

Jean

[Helene Markmann]

Thanks, Jean.

I still don't know if I've retained my ICT coordinator job either - but I thought I'd think positive.

Did you know that Tomaz has been put back full time in the classroom - unbelievable.

Anyway, I hope you have a great year.

all the best

Helene