With ‘no fixed abode’ I have come across one major draw back; the issue of my ongoing Professional Development.

As scathing as I have been in the past regarding the value placed upon my own ICT PD (It being one of many, many foci) I am now in the rather unique position of having NO PD outside my ICT focus. This has come about by me not being attached to a particular school for half the school year, and now having the majority of my teaching in a school with very little left in the PD budget.

So I have taken the bull by the horns and ‘affiliated myself with the school I teach at on Wednesdays and went along to my first ESAS (Inquiry Learning) session this week.

ESAS officially stands for ?????? none of the teachers I asked could tell me.

Emily effectively introduced and directed us through the “Sharing circles” – 42 of us into 4 groups.

Here are some rough ideas and notes from my time with them.

Before we broke into groups a helpful list of purposeful ‘rules’ for sharing were discussed and I figured that I might just use them for when I am introducing “Thinking Buddies” next week to help students open up and share their ideas with each other.

Purposeful Sharing

Deep Respect

Light Spirit

Inquiring questioning

Non judgmental

Affirming

and Confidential

Emily spoke at some length about each of these but I couldn’t keep up. Having said that I feel they all speak clearly enough for themselves.

Typing in Inquiry Unit into Google (apparently) is not a bad place to start. It’s where one staff member found the link to Wanganui ICT cluster . There are a great number of helpful templates their all adaptable for the general Inquiry Learning process.

There are a key key features in the Inquiry process

Provocation – This is the catalyst event or statement that gets the ball rolling, the two examples given in our session were “Art- Just a pretty picture?” and “Is all rubbish really rubbish?”

There should also be Big Questions which give the Inquiry purpose and direction.

Some teachers found that they had to generate a large number of the question for the Tuning In portion of the Inquiry, so that the students where able to get on the right track for the Inquiry and tangents were minimized.

WOW nz-interface are running a competition and want you to participate. It is calling for entries into the INTERFACE AWARDS 2008.

It appears there are two categories

BEST USE OF ICT IN TEACHING

And

BEST TEACHER BLOG

It is this second category that got me thinking… There are so many different teacher blogs out there written by New Zealanders or at least folks like me who reside on these fair shores. How are we choose, let alone judge? How can we compare one with the other?

For example how can fair compare the weighty matters of Artichoke , with the reflective practice of Marnie , with the oh so helpful links and tips of NZChrissy , or Greg with his links to thought provoking/ amusing/ novel YOUTUBE happenings… to name but a few? Its not really apples and apples is it. I find each blog I read useful for the content found therein, for a whole raft of reasons.

Even those blogs I have mentioned are interesting and varied in their content on one level or another and should not really be pigeon-holed as I have done.

Then there are the student blogs / wikis/ podcasts that have so far gone unmentioned.

But it’s a starts, so let’s support this, even in its infancy, besides I might even win myself a laptop

Breakfast for the NZBlogger/Tweets is now being served on 7am, 9^th October 2008 at the Decadence Cafe

71 Victoria St, Christchurch. Ph (03) 377 8944

I currently have the following people attending:

Barb

Jane Nicholls

Lenva

Jamin Lietze

Heymilly

E Freeman

AllanahK

If you wish to be added to the list please leave a comment below.

It’s just around the corner from the Conference Centre

Here is the breakfast menu

Just cos it made me smile…. Thanks Ewan

Greg points to the ongoing, somewhat emotional, discussion on SpeedofCreativity about the IWB’s. There are several points that I want to make regarding the use of the IWB in the classroom.

You don’t necessarily have to lay out for the IWB. There are cheaper alternatives – slates; the Nintendo Wii

Far too many schools have, and continue to, pour thousands and thousands of dollars into creating ‘digital classrooms’ by merely providing the hardware and letting teachers muddle, ‘saving money’ by by-passing the PD required. The reality is that quality PD is cheap compared to cost of purchasing and installing boards. Without such IWB training we should not be surprised if teachers will naturally use the IWB like a chalkboard or an OHP because they are familiar with the function and use of such devices. There are a great number of ways of using an IWB effectively in the classroom. If teachers are to be expected to show proficiency in their use then opportunity should be provided to allow them to share ideas, deepen and broaden their understanding of their use. Sitting in the passenger seat for 10 years does not make you a driver when you sit behind the wheel, you need lessons. Equally, we should not expect teachers to know how to use the IWB effectively in the classroom just because “they use their laptop for everything, they know heaps about computers”.

Whose responsibility is it to ensure professional development occurs for those teachers with IWBs. There are firms out there who either have in-house training provided or contract out for it. Schools should make a point of asking about that provision. ‘PD on the IWB’ is not and should not, simply be a sales rep coming in and saying “Here is the tool bar, now off you go”.

Finally, IWBs are by their nature presentation tools– they make presenting information be it by students or teachers – powerful and interactive. I don’t believe that an IWB in you classroom makes it a ‘digital classroom’. Having said that, IWBs are a powerful centre-piece for a digital classroom- For example, I my students produced a newspaper in 3 hours. With 8 computers and the IWB networked, research was done, stories written, graphics created…. All saved centrally on the server for the ‘editors’ to pull up and manipulate at the IWB.- “This is just like a real newsroom, eh?” (student comment to me)

-

Saying that there is a lack of research in the effectiveness of IWBs is not quite accurate. Peter Kent, for one has provided a wealth of material during his time at Richmond School.

They can also be used for small group work but this is really a byproduct of what they were developed for. In this day and age, teachers and students should have access to an up to date means of presenting and sharing information – and the IWB is an easy to use answer to that need.

IWBs are simply one answer to the need for a projection device in the classroom.

Professional Development is central to the embedding of any pedagogical shift – which is what is required with the IWB if constructivist theory is to be followed. It IS a presentation tool and DOES require a conscious mind shift to ensure the teacher remains the master and the IWB the tool.

Check out this wiki for some challenging ideas