Educating the Dragon

David Hill is a wonderfully natural story-teller. He has just finished a series of visits to schools in the Hawkes Bay, finishing here at Hastings Intermediate .

I would love to tell you of the great tales he told, but I really couldn’t do them justice. He first tried writing when he was 16 or 17, trying to impress a girl. Then he leaves it alone for a decade until he finds some old notes he made…. Now 23 chapter books later and still writing, in fact we were honoured with the first public reading of his, yet to be published, next book.

If you ever get the opportunity to invite David Hill to your school, take it. He is well worth listening to.

I have been really finding the teaching of oral Language skills difficult over this term, particularly in the ‘using technology to enhance…’ sort of way.

But today I was teaching in an Intermediate (Y8) class today in Hastings, New Zealand who were working on ‘projects’ on oral language-

One group was practicing and a play, another looking a Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But the group I was most interested in were considering Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. They have to go on Youtube and listen to the footage then they accessed the ‘script’ via the web.

They had to identify the techniques MLK used in his speech to connect with the audience and then answer some questions independently.

They needed to find out about:

Ku Klux Clan

‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’

Rosa Parks

Segregation

Civil Rights

Slavery

All through the web and then present their findings.

If I were doing this with my class I’d have them use photo Story or Voicethread to make the final presentation.

What a fantastic use of technology in the classroom context.

I must confess this session was not my creation but the teacher of the class. Well done.

Have you seen this story about Waiuru College?

A student at

Waiuku
College was attacked after school on the first day, a bottle was involved.

It appears from the interview that Stuart Harrison, the principal is very much on the defensive, though from what I actually heard him say the school handled things well, apart from not informing the victim’s family regarding the return of the attackers to the school.

Good on the victim for standing up in assembly. In my day I would never have done that.

There are several questions that I feel arise from here, and I love to hear your thoughts about:

Stuart mentioned such programmes as Peer support, anger management and the installation of cameras, but

what is an appropriate response to bullying and what measures are suitable for a school to have in place?

Our school has been battling with the issue of cameras (to deture vandalism- not bullying) for some time and as yet we have not installed them, I sense the day is not far away.

There is a wider issue at stake: what should parents reasonably expect from their school.

We are already educators, social workers, welfare officers. We run homework club after school.

Breakfast club before school

Cricket/ baseball/t-ball/ netball/ rugby soccor (Delete as appropriate) on the weekends.

Now are we to be police, judge and jury? 

What are governments recommending? Did hear that on the news reel, did you?

Well it actually worked, I can,t really believe it. And I wouldn’t if it were not for the fact I was stood right there when I said.

David was taking about the LEVEL BOSS at the end of video games and that the kids are having to beat the level boss…here’s what i did with my 7 year olds- xbox, playstation gurus all.

It was the beginning of my writing lesson this morning and they have been writing a proceedure about crossing the road. They’ve been working on it all week and they were up to the editting part where they have to underline possible spelling errors and write them in their ‘1st try/2nd’ book (dumb name i’ve always thought- but that’s what it is) Anyway…

A couple came to me and said- “Haven’t got any mistakes”- And they haven’t.

What’s gonig on here i think. So I stand up and address the class. I tell them that even I make mistakes in my writing(anyone regularly reading these posts can testify to how terrible it is at times-please don’t) and I say Writing is like a game. We’re at level one now and level two is where you are able to use some really big words like compelling or Fantastic or anticipate, the level boss needs to be defeated and the way you get to the end of the level is to attempt to use, in your writing some descriptive words, adjectives, adverbs that you are trying out and you haven’t used before. i said the level boss needs to be blasted and your only ammo are the words you are trying. it’s ok because you have the cheat book right in front of you. (waved   ’1st try/2nd try’ book in the air0 Isaid its fairly empty and the moment but i’ve got all the cheats, the right spelling in my head and i can put them in your cheat book after you’ve had a go yourself.

I am now the Games Master and they possess a cheat book. They lapped it up. now they all want to be on level 2 writing really cool stories to share with their Skyping buddies.

I am well chuffed.