ChicMeek in the Press

Sharing practice in the teaching world requires one to keep on top of blog posts, tweets, facebook groups and that isn’t really scratching the surface. There is so much to share however more importantly, there is so much to learn from what other educators are doing in the classroom. Just yesterday I found a great tweet by @neilhopkin about using Evernote in the classroom for formative assessment. The tweet included a video and then when I looked closer I saw the idea had first been released in 2012. 2012! How could I have missed this? Then I realised how much learning I am missing out on a daily basis. Mental note: check Twitter at least twice a day.

Thinking about this more, I then considered whether I was doing enough cross promotion. Not only is cross publication one of the easiest and often most successful marketing strategies, from a teacher’s perspective, it is a means of sharing practice further afield. So on that note, I leave you with some recent articles in Education Today magazine including my past two columns on technology in education.

June 2014 Integrating Apps into Education

April 2014 Tips on using technology in the classroom

Blooming APPspiration

Want to see how Windows 8 apps can support Blooms Taxonomy in the classroom? Then look no further.

In light of it being the new year and with a whole many more exciting Windows 8 apps on the scene, it is about time that there was something which clearly organised them into how they can be used in the classroom, depending on what you want your children or students to be learning. I am not claiming to be inventing the wheel here, instead I have taken a great diagram which was put together for iOS and adapted it for Windows 8. It is a work in progress so take a look, see what you think and send me feedback! Or better still come and see me on the Toshiba stand at #BETT14 next week. There’s plenty more apps to be had.

Getting App HAPPy in the classroom #Win8

This week was a busy one what with Windows in the Classroom training as well as a trip to Havering HSIS (Hsis) with Rob Cox, from Toshiba, to promote CPD courses on Windows 8 and Office 365 in the classroom.

Staff at Hartsbrook School learnt how to navigate their way around the Windows 8 platform effectively picking up some new shortcuts along the way. Sharing ideas for practise, exploring the effective use of ICT in teaching and learning,  as well as having a discussion on teaching with technology versus teaching through technology, staff were then able to research the range of Windows 8 apps available and come up with innovative and creative ways to use them in the classroom. In a week’s time, the staff will be submitting their plans fully trialled and evaluated to share with everyone at Hartsbrook E-ACT Free School. In addition these plans will be available to educators locally, nationally and globally on the Partners in Learning network. I look forward to cross-promoting some of their ideas on my blog too so keep your eye out for future posts.

Travelling over to Romford to share the range of CPD courses I am offering in conjunction with Havering School Improvement Services (HSIS) and Toshiba was very well-received by schools in the Havering area. Starting from Spring Term, I will be running Windows 8 in the Classroom, Win8 Apps in the Classroom and Office 365 in the classroom. All three courses will be run in the Spring and Summer term and we are looking forward to being able to offer more courses in 2014 and beyond. While I was there I was also able to gain a valuable insight into the amazing work HSIS are doing for schools in their area, with particular reference to Dave Smith and the ICT team. It is clear how having an ICT vision from the top is invaluable in developing the ICT & Computing skills of our students today.

As a Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator, I am available to offer a range of courses on Windows 8, Office 365 and teaching through technology. All courses provide the opportunity to earn badges which not only gives you recognised and reputable CPD certification but which build capacity of your school thus in turn positively impacting upon the use of technology in teaching and learning and the development of students’ 21st Century Learning Skills. To find out more please contact me at beckhursteducation@gmail.com or tweet me @CharBeckhurst

On top of Havering and staff training at Hartsbrook, there is still the Win8 App Lesson Planning Competition to be launched, posts to write for the Microsoft schools blog, a movie storyboard to be written for a technology company and of course teaching my students. It’s definitely busy being (a) M.I.E.E!

If you or your school are interested in finding out more about the Microsoft Expert Educator program, then just have a look here 

Sharing Innovation

A new school year and it is time for Windows 8 and Office 365 and computing innovation at Hartsbrook E-ACT Free School!

Having just put my action plan together for the year ahead I will be focusing on facilitating the on-going professional development of our staff and implementing an e-safety program within the school. I have shared my action plan below in case there are teachers and subject leaders who are in similar positions to me and are looking for ideas to build technology and learning in their school.

Action plan

Last year saw the development of my Year One students’ technology skills including the use of a range of Windows 8 apps, Office 365 and SharePoint. At only 6 years old, their ICT skills were parallel to many adults out there; with most of the children going home to teach their parents. This year it is my responsibility to cascade the teaching and learning of technology to the staff through training, mentoring and coaching on the integration of Windows 8 and Office 365 into our curriculum.

As a Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator (M.I.E.E), I am able to deliver Microsoft training to teachers and schools. So to kick the new year off with a bang, next week I will be putting Hartsbrook staff through their Windows in the Classroom Badge. This workshop provides teachers with the tools to improve students’ learning by delivering more powerful and engaging learning experiences. We will be looking at the research undertaken by Innovative Teaching and Learning Research, exploring Windows 8 in more detail and trying first-hand at planning a lesson using a Windows 8 app!

As you can see from my action plan, this is just the first step towards developing staff capacity in ICT to positively impact on children’s learning experiences and to move towards innovation throughout the school, not just in one classroom. I will be keeping you updated on our progress.

If you or your school are interested in any Microsoft training for your school, please do get in contact at beckhursteducation@gmail.com  or tweet @CharBeckhurst

Scott Lock, National Zoo App Developer

“Touch and natural user interfaces are the way our children are growing up with technology.”

Scott Lock, Windows 8 NationaL Zoo App developer and co-founder of InfernoRed Technology, shares with us today his beginnings and experience of app development, his vision for the future of technology and of course a little bit about himself.

Windows 8 National Zoo App
What inspired you to design you National Zoo?
My kids, no doubt. They wanted to take the zoo cams with them wherever they wanted to go. We love the zoo and there was no app out on any platform at the time for National Zoo. I am also a big fan of Windows Phone and (Read more here)

Microsoft Kick Off 14

On Friday I had the privilege of presenting at Microsoft Kick-Off 14. Presenting to the whole of Microsoft Public Sector, I was able to share the direct impact of the Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator (M.I.E.E) Program on learning as well as building capacity amongst educators.  Being a M.I.E.E enables me to share the teaching and learning taking place at Hartsbrook E-ACT Free School at events such as Kick Off 14 and to demonstrate how Windows 8 and Office 365 is being used in education as well as the importance of the M.I.E.E program itself.

At Microsoft Kick-Off 14, I was focusing on the importance of integrating technology into the curriculum and developing 21^st Century Learning Skills. Since opening in September 2012, Hartsbrook students have been using Office 365 and Windows 8 to develop their digital literacy skills. However, the difference is that the students have been learning ICT skills through areas of the curriculum such as literacy, maths and humanities; rather than focusing on the ICT skills as stand-alone components. To put this into context students learning about forces and recording science investigations,  undertook  a class tug of war, took photos with one device, accessed them from SkyDrive on another device, downloaded what they needed and then used the photos to make a Photo Story. The technology here has supported and enabled the learning through collaboration, communication, a shared purpose and responsibility and problem solving.

Integration with the curriculum extends teaching and learning opportunities. It opens up a world of possibility for utilisation of Win8 apps to be incorporated with curriculum. I was able to share our 6 week scheme of work entitled ‘Journey Around London’ to illustrate how Windows 8 Apps can be used to develop literacy skills as well as historical, geographical and cultural knowledge and understanding. You can access the scheme of work on my Resources page to find out more.

As an M.I.E.E educator I am now a Microsoft and Partners in Learning trainer which means I am able to deliver Microsoft courses and workshops as well as design bespoke training according to schools’ needs. I am also working in partnership with Toshiba to support teaching and learning on Toshiba devices. Some key projects which I am focusing on for the new academic year are:

–          Windows 8 Lesson Planning App competition 2013. For both secondary and primary schools, this competition is open to teams of students who wish to design a lesson which incorporates a Windows 8 App. Entrants will come together to present/teach their lesson at a day event in November/December. If wish to know more about this, please contact me at beckhursteducation@gmail.com

–          I will be doing a number of presentations within Havering, Brentwood and Waltham Forest schools community. For further information, please contact Havering School Improvement Services, ICT Team.

–          As a member of staff of the E-ACT schools groups, we will be running some professional development days involving teaching with technology and Windows in the Classroom badge.

 

Please get in contact if you are interested in CPD for your school.

 

365 as easy as 123

One, two, three….

We all learn to count at a young age but is a class of 20 five and six years olds going to find Microsoft Office 365 just easy or perhaps even easier? This is what I asked myself a few weeks ago when I came away from the Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator Induction (MIEE). I had been using Microsoft Office 365 for around seven months and was still uncertain about what I was exactly doing. Yet I had to go to my classroom and think about how I could use it to enhance the learning in my class.

 

One. Day one. Two. Day two. Three. Day three. This is the beginning of our, my class and I, journey in the world of Office 365.

 

Day One

Over the Easter holidays I set up a new Office 365 environment for the sole purpose of learning in my class. Although we use Office 365 as a school I wanted to use Wave 15, which is being rolled out as we speak, and explore the possibilities it has to offer. Within Office 365, I made a One Note for my class with individual sections for each child. There is no sharing required and each child is able to access and edit the notebook on their screen. They also are able to see changes made by their peers and the teacher. My main purpose for the first session was to get the students logged in, finding out where they need to go and being able to write in the One Note. The children were asked to do independent writing within the One Note and as a class, they were then able to peer assess the writing. I did this during the plenary, whereby the children gave me their feedback and I typed it in so they could see. However with time, peer assessment will be undertaken both verbally and physically by the students themselves.

Day Two

The One Note I set up has now become a journey of learning for our topic this half term, entitled Artists We Love. The topic will last six weeks whereby at the end, the students will be holding an art exhibition for parents, carers and the rest of the school. Office 365 will be accessible and linked to the interactive whiteboard and students will be able to take their parents to the device and show their own learning as well as the collaborative learning in the class.

 

Within the notebook, I have made a class section where children will work collaboratively to share ideas. After a brainstorming session using M8, a Windows 8 app, about what art is, the students were able to complete a carousel of activities exposing them to different viewpoints of art. One activity involved the students logging into Office 365 and on a page I had entitled, ‘What is Art?’ students were able to search in the internet for what they felt art was, find a picture and copy and paste it into the One Note page. The children were able to scroll through on the same page and see what other pictures, their peers had contributed. It was great for discussion in the plenary. I was also able to create a page with some links to YouTube videos of artists which the children could click onto and watch. These will be stored here permanently and can be used as an extension or time filler to any other work in One Note. They can also be added to as and when needed.

 

Day Three

Within the Class section of the Notebook, I wrote content for an introduction into Henri Matisse, which was shared at the beginning of the lesson. This included pictures, information and links to websites. Once the students had logged in they were able to access this content to help them with their learning. To learn about different artists and their work, each week the children will be introduced to a new artist in the class section and they will be asked to undertake their own research and create their own page on the artist in their section. Last week the students were asked to find  a painting or drawing by Matisse they liked and write a sentence about him. I was able to add in the learning intention and success criteria quickly and easily into each child’s page and then give feedback after the lesson.

 

 

The journey so far has been an exciting one. The students are really thrilled to see their work appear amongst others and like to be able to access their peer’s work as well. Is 365 as easy as 1,2,3? Well I guess for some 1,2,3 is not easy however once you can do it, the world opens up to so much more. Office 365 seems to really be opening up the classroom and creating a brand new learning environment.

 

The key benefits I have seen so far are:

 

1. Office 365 provides a truly collaborative learning environment. Using Notebook as a journey of learning means that the students have a shared responsibility towards the creation of a product.
2. Office 365 is a great assessment for learning tool. Students are able to access their peers’ work and assess according to the success criteria. Feedback can be discussed and given during the plenary or during the lesson to enhance the outcomes of the task/activity/project.
3. Office 365 is extremely time-efficient as a teaching tool. The students work can be accessed instantly, marking and feedback can be provided much quicker than going through books and the sharing the content within the Notebook makes resourcing for the lesson much easier.

 

The challenges thus far are:

1. The time it takes for my students to log on. Some are still learning capital letters and the log-on address is rather long. This is something however which can be sorted at set-up or changed later on.
2. Someone did delete my content at one point and I had to write it again. I think this is just a case of the students getting used to moving around in the environment and an awareness of being careful with other people’s content.

 

Microsoft Office 365 has many other aspects which my class have not yet even had an opportunity to explore. Notebook has so far been an asset to my classroom and I am looking forward to seeing how their skills progress over the next four weeks. Tomorrow we will be using it to document their Matisse art interpretation of, The Snail, and describe what they did. Stay tuned to hear more about my journey with Office 365.

 

If you are interested in other educators experiences with Office 365, please check out these fabulous blogs below.

 

Ben Rouse: Making Windows 8 and Office 365 work for MEE

Scott Wieprecht: The Offperts

Charlotte Coade: Digital Leaders exploring Windows

Richard Burgess: Office 365 in Edinburgh Schools

 

And don’t forget to keep up to date with what else is happening in schools and colleges around the country with the Microsoft Schools Blog

 

 

 

National Zoo Win8 App

This will be my first review of one of the Top 10/20 Apps as recommended by M.E.E in March. I wish to share with you my intentions for these reviews to provide you with a background to your reading and considerations.

I intend for these reviews to provide an overview of the Win8 app and how it was used in teaching and learning. However, primarily I want to look at the impact on my Year One students and their learning of 21st Century Learning Skills. Furthermore I intend to use the framework written by the Innovative Teaching and Learning Research project as a way of critically analysing the impact Win8 and Office 365 have on the teaching and learning in my classroom. In other words I will be looking through the eyes of the 21st Century Learning Design Students Rubrics on my student’s learning. Further information on the rubrics can be found here.

The National Zoo Win8 app provides its users with live webcams and pictures of the animals at the zoo. The most engaging feature of the app is the live webcams of the animals, in particular the panda’s enclosure where you are able to view the panda throughout the day and night.

My students have found this app exciting and love to check in regularly to see what the panda is up to. The app has provided the class with many topics for discussion including what we know about panda’s, zoos versus natural habitat and comparisons between a panda’s life and our own. For this particular blog I am looking at learning in literacy and writing recounts. A brief lesson outline can be found on my Resources page as well as on the Microsoft Partners In Learning website.

1. Collaboration – Students worked together as a class to keep an on-going daily schedule of the panda’s activities. In pairs they were able view the panda at hourly intervals and write down on a shared sheet of paper what the panda was doing at their given time. They had to make a decision to decide what to write down and how to form the sentence. This record of observation was only complete once each and every student had contributed and this was then used to form the basis of their recount, the following day. While the National Zoo app has the potential for further collaboration to be undertaken, for example, plans could have been discussed with the class as to how often and for how long the observations were to be carried out for (linking to Self-Regulation too), the collaboration level for my class was sufficient at this time.
2. Knowledge construction – The following day, students took this information and considered how to use it to write a recount. Through modelled writing, we looked at how to convert the information into sentences using the time as well as how to change it into past tense as it had already taken place. They then had to write a recount of the panda’s daily routine.
3. Problem Solving and Innovation – This particular activity seemed to lack a real-life problem to give purpose to the learning. However upon reflection, they could have used this information to write a time table/daily outline for the zoo keeper. In doing so, the students would have been able to come up with a design or solution for others.
4. Use of ICT – In this particular instance the National Zoo Win8 app supported knowledge construction. Without the app students would not have been able to gain information about the panda’s daily routine.
5. Self-regulation – Students were made aware at the beginning of the teaching and learning what the learning outcomes and success criteria were. At the end of the second day, students were able to share their recounts with the class and peer assess  according to the success criteria. For older students more planning and monitoring opportunities could be incorporated throughout the observations such as reviewing each observation as it was written to scaffold the next pair of children’s learning. E.g. If one pair wrote a sentence without a full stop, this could be highlighted to support the next set of children’s writing.
6. Skilled communication – The  ITL research writes that communication needs to be extended and multi-model however for Year One students and in particular my cohort of Year One students, extended communication will look extremely different to students in Year 3-6. To give you an idea of what my students were able to produce, the higher ability students were able to write 5 sentences and my lower ability were able to verbalise a sentence about what the panda did at a specific time and use their sounds to write 2-3 word sentence. Communication was also multi-model in that the observations were recorded in a table format and then this information was recorded in a written recount format. This could have been extended to re-write a copy using One Note or children could have sent an email to the Zoo Keeper with his daily outline.

 

This app has lots of potential for all ages of students from reception all the way through to Key Stage 2 and possibly beyond. You can download it from the Win8 app store and do let me know if you come up with any other learning opportunities to use it in your classes. Stay tuned for another review of the M.E.E’s Top 10/20 Apps by me soon.

Top 10/20 Windows8 Apps as chosen by M.E.E.

Here are the Top 10/20 Educational Win8 Apps recommended by Microsoft Expert Educators. During day one of M.E.E training, we earned our first badge; Windows 8 in the Classroom. As a group we split into two groups and each came up with the Top 10 Win8 Apps for the classroom! It was declared a tie, although we both know who really won.

You will find these Top 20 Win8 apps are a mix to suit both primary and secondary with many spanning across both, such as Flip Boom Lite and the QR Reader/Generator. They have the capability to enhance the teaching and learning taking place in both Literacy, Numeracy and other subject areas.

Each App will shortly be available on www.pil-network.com with a learning resource to accompany it written by M.E.E.ks. Check them out to get some great ideas for your classrooms!

1. Movie Edit Touch
2. Music Maker Jam
3. Flip Boom Lite
4. National Zoo
5. QR Code Generator
6. Animal and Bird Sounds
7. Nsquared Herding
8. Abc phonics
9. Fresh Paint
10. Time Lapse
11.  Puzzle Touch
12. Physamajig
13. Paint a Story
14. World Explorer
15. Brain Pop
16. Sequencer
17. Play and Grow
18. Win TED videos
19. My Study Life
20. My Baby Piano

 

Check back in for regular updates on these apps, lesson ideas and reflections on teaching and learning right here and on twitter.

Geek to M.E.E.k

The idea of a GEEK, these days is changing. It is now more trendy, cool, maybe even ‘hip’ to be a Geek. Being ahead in the world of technology is something to aspire to, a place where we want our students to be, something which is usually just out of our reach as before we know it technology has changed, advanced and become even more innovative.  I am a bit of a GEEK not your stereotypical geek but the more recently found chic geek or rather in my case I am the new ‘ChicMEEk’.

Writing this blog has been something in the undercurrents of my thoughts for a while and finally I was able to concentrate on M.E.E and put my thoughts into action. It is time for to hear all about my journey with M.E.E. Thus Geek became M.E.E.k.

That’s the Microsoft Expert Educator program. An exciting new program for a select group of teachers to be trained up by Microsoft new technologies such as Windows8 and Office 365. Who, while undertaking a series of badge completions, will be responsible for creating and developing innovative practice within their school and classroom to engage ever student at their own pace and in a way to achieve their greatest potential through using technology. Not only that but these people will be sharing their practice to build capabilities of other educators worldwide. And I am thrilled to say that this includes ‘me’.