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Posts tagged ideas
Set Your Compass: Share Your Direction
31 week ago
All too often we don’t co-construct our curriculum with the children in our class. What occurs is a complete lack of clarity about where, as a group of learners, we are heading. In fact the direction we are going in is all too often very much laid out for the learner – the route is set by the teacher and the outcomes are already known.
Curriculum planning in this vein doesn’t cater for the tangent or the divergent thinker- well it might entertain it briefly but will eventually settle back on the steady path to where we were always going.
Curricular of this ilk are not setup for serendipity. If I knew exactly the music that was going to be played on the radio all of the time, well in advance and had no control over it, I would miss out on those beautiful moments when you hear a wonderful track that hasn’t been played for ages and there you are in that completely unexpected moment savouring every note.
Much of this is to do with teacher control and the lack of willingness to let go of the reins and venture from the path a little. But it is also to do with a lack of ambition about what we plan, many models of curriculum, as well as units of work, are legacy systems:
A legacy system is an old method, technology, computer system, or application program that continues to be used, typically because it still functions for the users’ needs, even though newer technology or more efficient methods of performing a task are now available.
If the direction of a unit is already laid out, involving the learner in the direction is fruitless, for the learner at least, for no alteration can be made anyway.
In his book How Children Fail, John Holt reflected in 1958:
It has become clear over the year that these children see school almost entirely in terms of the day-to-day and hour-to-hour tasks that we impose on them. This is not at all the way the teacher thinks of it. The conscientious teacher thinks of himself as taking his students (at least part way) on a journey to some glorious destination, well worth the pains of the trip.
He continues to explain that he recognises a disconnect with what we as teachers perceive as a learning journey and how children truly see this. How many schools do you think could still be described in these terms?
At one of our partner schools in South London the pupils of Rosendale Primary School negotiate their learning. They have a clear direction and input into the course that is going to be set – not only that they have the ability to define how they get there. The pupil’s prior knowledge, skills, interests and passions are the starting point for much of the project learning that takes place.
With a vested interest the pupils at Rosendale have a much clearer understanding of the learning as a journey – they know what needs to be done and have made choices that help to define this and make it real and meaningful to them. It is not simply a set of tasks imposed on them by a legacy system.
Most of the time with these more open models we have to set our course into the unknown a little, we have to be willing to take the path less trodden.
When the teachers and Year 3 and 4 pupils of Thorney Close Primary School took on the challenge of running their own TEDx we didn’t know if we would be successful, there were a great deal of unknowns. At one point we didn’t have a venue because Take That were playing at the Stadium of Light!
With uncertainty often comes failure and we felt that for real and so did the children, but would they learn from it – absolutely!
Here are some reflections on the process by one of the teachers involved:
I learnt to trust the children and to let them go in the direction they want, trust that they’re going to make the right decisions with a little bit of guidance but not as much structure as we normally would give. So to sit back more and to listen more, and just ask the odd few questions – without waiting for that answer that the teacher wants to hear.
One of my favourite ways to describe this sense of a general direction, unclear and yet thoughtfully open, is the idea of a “fuzzy goal”. Taken from the opening to the wonderful book Gamestorming by Sunni Brown, David Gray and James Macanufo – a fuzzy goal can both describe our philosophical approach to change as well as the direction of a student led unit.
Like Columbus, in order to move toward an uncertain future, you need to set a course. But how do you set a course when the destination is unknown? This is where it becomes necessary to imagine a world; a future world that is diferent from our own. Somehow we need to imagine a world that we can’t really fully conceive yet—a world that we can see only dimly, as if through a fog.
Pic navigation (cc) by marfis75
Google Earth: 1 Billion Downloads and So Many Uses in the Classroom
74 months ago
by tombarrett
in Google Earth
Google Earth was one of the very first pieces of software that I began to create educational resources with. As I put it in one of my first ever blog posts 5 years ago: ”This app won me over straight away.” The engaging environment really struck a chord with me and I remember fondly my first forays into using it to support learning.
It has developed so much over the years – I remember using it for a Geotweets lesson, when we had to track down people replying to us on Twitter and find their exact location in Google Earth.
It feels like a true Autumnal day today in England – despite the temperature anomaly we had just recently – which again reminds me of one of the first resources that I thought was truly magical from the Forestry Commission here in the UK. It was a network link in Google Earth that showed the colour of leaves at different sites around the UK and the icons would change colour accordingly. I loved how the information was live and changing constantly.
Nowadays the Forestry Commission has moved the Autumn Leaf colour project to the Google Maps platform which is similar to what I did with Maths Maps in the end.
I found this old image of Google Earth which was the starting point for Maths Maps years ago – a car park in Las Vegas. The original resource in Google Earth explored the rudimentary 3D shapes layer as well as webcams that could be viewed to count the frequency of cars on Las Vegas highways!
Google Maps in the end added the collaboration that I was seeking, that made it much easier for people to add resources and ideas – and to share amongst a class. Google Earth kmz files were much more complicated to work with. And so I moved the Maths Maps idea across – you can see them all here or use the link at the top of the page.
One of the most fun uses of Google Earth is the Monster Milktruck. I used as a starter to a maths lesson exploring different types of 3D shapes which we spotted as we drove around San Francisco.
Another memorable use of Google Earth and a successful writing project in my class was creating an escape story based on James and Giant Peach (make sure you follow the links to the other 4 posts). I found that so many children found it much easier to write about what they could see as they navigated around our story location in Google Earth. The engaging visual imagery helped them make a start in their story and seeing the progress or journey of our character reinforced the story structure.
Before the Roald Dahl inspired piece, I was using it to plot the course of diary entries we wrote with a Year 6 class as they took on the role of Mina Harker from Dracula who set sail from England to track down her stricken husband Jonathan in the depths of Transylvania. I later used the story maps idea in my session at the Google Teacher Academy in London.
One of the most impressive resources I have seen was the Ancient Rome 3D model that you could download and explore in Google Earth – allowing you to explore the ancient streets and buildings. I recall one morning starting the day by exploring the 3D model of the Collosseum and drawing lots of wows from the class. A stunning resource that brings the ancient city life for students.
I also really enjoyed the 3D Google Earth model of the tomb of Tutankhamun, which was the first time I think I saw the textures being rendered on the shapes – again such a rich resource for helping children better understand the topic. We of course used the models of pyramids well in our lessons on shape properties in maths too!
It is great to hear that Google Earth has been downloaded over 1 billion times – amazing.
Designed By JESS3 from visual.ly
You can explore all of my archived posts I have written about using Google Earth use in the classroom here. And don’t forget to explore more ideas for using Google Earth in the classroom in the Interesting Ways presentation – as well as the Google Maps version too.
Protect the TeachMeet Format
1211 months ago
by tombarrett
in Teachmeet
A TeachMeet is an informal gathering of educators curious about other people’s ideas on learning. Educators are a nosey bunch! We love the chance to look around other people’s classrooms and to use ideas that have had success elsewhere.
When we attend a TeachMeet or any professorial development event the currency is ideas, we are dealing in ideas. We go with our own and most of the time we are up for trading them with those from other teachers. Broadly speaking whichever course we are attending we hope there is something that we can take back and apply to our own classes.
I think the emphasis on real, practical ideas and stories from the classroom is great but I think we must always remember that the format they are delivered in must be nurtured too.
One of the main reasons people don’t attend such an event cold, (ie. never attended before, not heard of it before) is the assumption it will be like 95% of all professional development teachers have had since university. Basically an expert, paid, invited, revered (?) speaker telling them how it is / was / should be.
The style of TeachMeet breaks that mould. The people attending are all experts, there is a relaxed approach to learning. We all understand that some of us prefer to flit between things, some of us prefer to become engrossed. Some of us stand, some of us sit, some of us Tweet. And that is all OK.
One of the reasons we don’t present is that so many of us believe our own ideas are not going to be good enough. That MY IDEA + CONFERENCE + PRESENTING = DOOM. But our own ideas are ones we have already committed to – so often they are successful little sparks that have been brilliantly useful in our own spaces. Growing into glowing flames in our classrooms. How do we get beyond the thought that sharing the flame might extinguish it?
Perhaps we need to organise smaller TeachMeets.
If I attended a meeting with 20 educators and I took away 19 practical classroom ideas – I would be really happy! Are those 20 people going to be more willing to share their ideas in that smaller group – probably. Are those 20 teachers going to return to their schools ever so slightly more willing to speak up in a staff meeting and make their voice heard and to share an idea they got from elsewhere – hopefully.
So the very nature of the event needs to be nurtured so that it is not what you might think from a conference. That old assumptions have to be disbanded from the outset. After all a teachmeet doesn’t need a sponsor, technology – it just needs us to bring our ideas and be willing to make that trade.
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Pic – TeachMeet at BETT 2010 by Mr Ush
4 Crowd Sourced Topic Ideas
01 year ago
So far The Curriculum Catalyst has explored 4 different topics, it is all about crowd-sourcing curriculum ideas (recorded in a simple way) that can be developed further into curriculum planning.
Here are the 4 topics so far and a selection of highlights. Make sure you follow the links to the actual documents to see the full extent of the ideas.
Endangered
Tag >> #endangeredcurr
- IT checking sources, can you believe what you read online: Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
- Discursive writing - role of zoos in helping save endangered species – is this a good thing?
- Literacy/IT – what does endangered mean? children brain storm what they think is endangered in the world – not just animals – what about languages? e.g local languages in this country.
- Non Native Species – do these endanger native species ? Are they useful to control endangered species ? Animals such as Beaver and Boar were originally native to the UK, should they be re-introduced ? Can the current eco-system sustain them?
Survival
Tag >> #survivalcurr
- Survival Exercises – A variety of tasks based around choices in a survival scenario. I’ve personally used the NASA and the ‘lost at sea’ one with year 7, and the ‘who would you save’ with year 12 -http://wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/SurvivalScenarios.html
- Rescue Services – find out about the variety of different emergency services that often work in collaboration in any given situation – there are some excellent first hand images here http://globalrescueservices.org.uk/index.htm
- Making animals – Design an animal which would survive in e.g. Desert link directly to work on adaptation in science. Could take theme down fantasy route, linking with Imaginary Creatures Curriculum Catalyst http://bit.ly/bDKP30
- Saltwater - Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink! You are surrounded by saltwater on your island. Your challenge is to find a way of making drinking water. Provide children with a range of items they could use to invent a contraption. Model the science involved. Science SC1 (i.e. create a contraption to gather steam when the salt water is boiled).
Sealife
Tag >> #sealifecurr
- Choose your most amazing Ocean Road Adventure. There are many famous Ocean Road journey around the world – for example, The Great Ocean Road in SE Australia or the roads along the coasts of California and Norway. Choose some of these famous routes to investigate, compare features, find-out what people think about them. Try typing `Ocena Road Journey’ into your favourite search engine. Vote on your favourite – the one you’d most like to experience (say why).
- `Little fishes swim along’ Steve Grocott has produced a fantastic set of action rhymes on a CD. My grandson loves this one (we sing it while watching a slideshow on Flickr or Picasa) – we took the song to India with us when we went on an educational visit and the children their loved it too. http://bit.ly/aweCmu
- Make your own ‘Aquarium’ from boxes, write labels for the fish you put in, a map for visitors, a leaflet to get people to visit, a quiz for people to do as they go round, a cafe and a gift shop…
- Comparison – whale sharks are the largest of all sharks but live off of a diet of small fish and plankton. To help students appreciate the largeness of this shark and the smallness of its food, on blacktop draw a 12 meter line with chalk. Have students sit on the line and draw a whale shark outline around them. Finish with small “fish” and “plankton” around the outline.
Imaginary Creatures
Tag >> #imagcreaturescurr
- Spore 2D http://www.spore2d.com/ (Based on a Nintendo DS game, lets you create creatures online)
- Fantasy Stories in Y1 – explore imaginary creatures and monsters using The Gruffalo, Where the Wild Things Are and Moshi Monsters (adopt a monster online). These stimuli can also be used to compare fanstasy settings for imaginary creatures. Children then create their own “monster” (paint and add different textured materials such as leather, fur, etc.). They describe their monster and then finally write a story about meeting their monster using Where the Wild Things Are as a model.
- Monsters Inc. – A combined Art/ICT project. The idea of animation is discussed with reference to Pixars ‘Monsters Inc.’ Children design a character and storyboard their short (silent or scripted) story, they then use plasticine to create their own monster and props. A visualizer/web cam/digital camera is then used along with stop motion software (I Can Animate or Monkey Jam) to capture the animation.
- Build Your Wild Self – Get students to use this site to create a human mix animal creature, you could also draw them. Print them out and get your students to write character descriptions of their Wild Self.
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I am sure that you will find some great ideas from the work of all the great educators who have contributed an idea or two. It seems to me that the need for grass roots, crowd sourced resources for curriculum design has never been greater – and which will only become even more heightened.
I hope that the documents prove useful, if you feel like contributing the documents are all open to edit. Make sure you look out for the next topic soon to be catalysed, if we all make a small contribution we can produce great things.
Superhero Ideas That Didn’t Make It Through the Revolving Doors
91 year ago
Earlier this year we completed a very successful Superheroes topic in school. However many of the initial ideas I had never made it out of the revolving doors, so to speak.
One of the biggest influences for ideas and content was discovering the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company and the spin off thoughts that occurred. The Superhero Supply store is a real shop in Brooklyn which sells all sorts of hero paraphernalia, from capes to muscles in a tin. Behind a swinging bookcase is of course a secret lair, a children’s writing and tutoring workshop.
The Superhero Supply Company is part of 826 National a non-profit organisation in the US to help support school children with homework and writing. Established by Dave Eggers it now has “stores” across the country with a simple aim:
Our goal is to assist students ages six to eighteen with their writing skills, and to help teachers get their classes excited about writing.
Of course what struck me about the concept and especially the Superhero online store, was the level of meta fiction that could be explored. This topic can easily focus on the comic book fiction but the mundaneness of shopping for a suitable replacement cape struck me as such a great idea to work with.
- Turn your classroom into a store for Superheroes.
- Try and find a mannequin that you could use to show a superhero outfit.
- Use the Pixar film The Incredibles.
- What happens in the everyday life of a Superhero?
- In drama explore everyday routines with a superhero costume on – queuing for a bus, picking up some milk from the shop.
The online store provided me with a rich vein of ideas for writing beyond children’s own fictional heroes.
The persuasive language used to sell the special products on offer would be a great text to unpick. For example on sale at the online store is Item No. 2503 - STANDARD 58″ SUPERHERO CAPE.
For over two centuries, the BSSCo. Standard 58″ Superhero Cape has been the industry standard in fly-wear for professional heroes. Every cape we ship meets all Superhero Alliance and FAA regulation requirements, and is specially designed for maximum flight control and resistance to air burn.
If you’re a working, flying superhero, the Standard 58″ Superhero Cape is a must-have. Because let’s face it. Without one, you’re just some guy who looks like he’s falling.
Available in a variety of colors.
The act of exploring the sophisticated persuasive devices used in the short product descriptions would be an excellent class activity.
- Develop your own online Superhero Supply store.
- Invite children to bring in toys and gadgets that could be rebranded as hero gear.
- Model how to write a similarly persuasive piece for their own gadgets.
- Children could role play the real life store or an order by telephone- Superhero and sales assistant, “I’m looking for something a little darker…”
- Develop a customer newsletter from the store or a flyer.
- What other things might we find in tins? Muscles, gravity – create your own Hero Basics range
- Script a radio or TV commercial as a Superhero endorses the store.
Further to these ideas we looked at how the children could design and make their own superhero costumes. This could be done so that they could wear them and then use them in subsequent drama and fictional work.
On reflection we did think that full size costumes for each child might end up quite a complex operation, so considered three alternatives. (1) To buy lots of dolls that could be dressed in miniature (2) Invite some local fashion design students to help (3) Creating a utility belt may be a design project that would allow children to work individually.
Accompanying these little design and make projects children could provide instruction manuals for the products that are created, such as the functions of the belt or the unique features of their cape.
Of course the stores have real products and their sale raises money for the 826 tutoring programmes and running costs. Each store has a different style as explained on the 826 National web page:
San Francisco’s pirate supply store sells glass eyes and one-of-a-kind peglegs, 826NYC’s Superhero Supply Company offers custom-fit capes, Seattle’s Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company sells all your space commuting appurtenances, 826michigan’s Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair Shop specializes in must-have mechanical conveniences, while 826LA features a time travel store, there’s a secret agent supply store in Chicago, and the Cryptozoology shop in Boston is now open!
Spend any amount of time browsing the products available in the online store and you are bound to be inspired.
It is unfortunate I never got to put some of the ideas I have outlined into action, but I hope that sharing them here may give you the opportunity.
Pic: Jeffrey O. Gustafson
The Curriculum Catalyst – Stage 1 – Add your ideas and votes
191 year ago
It is clear from our collective efforts as an education community we can create some excellent resources. The “Interesting Ways” series has illustrated how single contributions to a collective can be extremely useful. This has been underlined by the “Maths Maps” too.
The “Interesting Ways” series has focused on single tools and how these can be implemented in different ways in the classroom. I think we can do the same for curriculum ideas around a single topic.
It is one thing seeing individual ideas in the above presentations or in blog posts from teachers who share them, but these are often less accessible to the majority of teachers than we think. They are either too tool-specific or in the case of reading ideas in blog posts they can be difficult to apply to the general classroom.
The Curriculum Catalyst is about crowd-sourcing topic ideas – creating a resource that can be printed off, yes printed, to form the basis for more detailed planning. With the English primary curriculum in a period of flux we are in a great position to push the creative agenda more and more – online networks allow us the opportunity to collaborate on a simple resource to support this.
Stage 1 of this is about gathering topic ideas. Of course these can be ones that already exist that you have in fact already delivered. Perhaps it is a book or film, a subject topic or historical figure. They should not be fixed to an age group so the process is broadly applicable to as many classrooms as possible.
To contribute your ideas we will use Google Moderator which allows for a community to contribute and then vote on different items. Please have a look at The Curriculum Catalyst series over the next few weeks and “submit an idea” or vote for the ideas already contributed.
After a period of voting we will then take the top topic, Stage 2 will be about adding your ideas to support or engage learners within that topic. I don’t have any set ideas for which tool to use for Stage 2 and so would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. Ideally anyone should be able to see the document and print off a copy in it’s present form.
I hope you can help with the first stage of this new project by contributing your ideas and votes. Crowd-sourcing education resources has become a genuinely valuable process. Our collective efforts should be able to generate some great curriculum ideas.
