November+2011

November 18, 2011
The pace of life is such that I can see how it is easy to let blogging slip as a regular discipline. It's not that there isn't anything to say, it's just that there isn't enough time to say it. Yesterday I had the good fortune to have [|Darren Kuropatwa], [|John Finch], and about 20 other folks from [|MAETL] come and visit my grade nine class as we worked through an "in character" on-line conversation hosted within our class sharepoint site. Fun was had! The MAETL folks were at our school to check out how our student-owned 1 to 1 program is going. Honestly, it is going really well. It was fun to have a bunch of Provincial Ed Tech leaders stand around and ask my group of confident & capable (but not hand-picked) grade nines all about what it's like bringing a computer to class every day. The more I work in a student owned 1 to 1 environment the more I realize how hard it would be to go back to "traditional" teaching- all that 'sage on the stage' stuff.

The sharepoint assignment seems simple enough to me- divide students into groups of three, and have them develop an on-line conversation thread as though they are three characters from the novel we're studying. In this case, it was Mattie, LaBoeuf & Rooster from [|True Grit]. Students have to wrestle with what kind of a premise they'll choose, and then they have to try to keep the conversation rolling. it went well.

Next week our school has a 2 Day inservice event. Looking forward to hearing from the 30 or so teacher in our school who have volunteered their time to present to their colleagues on literacy, the inquiry cycle, and all things 21st C learning. Yeah, I'm presenting too. I'll help our our Divisional Library coordinator with a session on Inquiry based learning on the first day and then do a hands-on session fro teachers wanting to develop their classroom websites.

The old idea that the fish isn't really aware of the water is starting to apply in my teaching context. When knowledgeable teachers from outside walk into my class and remind students about how lucky they are to be getting a chance to learn this way I'm reminded that although 1 to 1 is normal in my class, it is still pretty exotic in most locales.

Like I said- it's not that there isn't anything happening. Life is full and busy. As I punch this out on the keyboard at home, the snow is falling outside, a student is taking piano in the room below me, and my kiddos are writing on the whiteboard in the dining room. Finding time to collect it all is the continual challenge!

November 25, 2011
Just finished up about 90 minutes of playing "Name That Tune" on [|#ds106radio] with [|Dean Shareski] hosting. Makes for a decent at-home Friday night. I sense that what Dean is doing is just a little magical- broadcasting on [|ds106radio] while monitoring the Twitter feed to see who is first to respond. I guess it is telling that I'd do this for 90 minutes on a Friday night, but with kids sleeping upstairs it still seems more redeeming than T.V.

The past two days at work have been invigorating- two days of seminars and presentations on inquiry learning, literacy strategies, computer applications for learning, hardware like [|Mimio] pads, and this whole conference happened [|at my school], and over 30 of us on staff were the presenters. Not sure where to start with this- the planning was pretty clean & purposeful, the agenda was flexible, and the seminars really helped teachers to tailor their own 2 day PD experience. We are light-years past "sit & get" PD. I hope we stay in warp drive for a while yet. Kudos to [|@joelshimoji] for coordinating the 2 day event!

Now into the weekend, with little to no snow on the ground. I have to update my kid's [|Weebly] site. Do a few errands about the house. Buy some Christmas gifts. Watch the [|Bombers] try to beat B.C in B.C. Good luck, Blue & Gold!