Time for my Blog to feel some love...

Wow. No blog post from me since April. Possibly no-one noticed (or cared?). I changed jobs in June and have been busier in my new job than ever, right up to the end of term.
On a positive note, next year I have a few lessons a week to devote to R & D on e-learning, and that is exciting. I even get a (small) budget - not enough for a set of Glass... :( However, might get a go at Cardboard, and there are a heap of tools I want to try out, such as Splashtop (already trialed this and found it great) and Air Parrot 2. I am specifically looking for ways to mirror Chrome and Android devices to my PC and thus the projector. I am looking for a bit of freedom from the front of class, and no, I won't just buy an iPad...

What a year this has been for Google and related stuff for education:

The Education Directory  lists all the GCTs, Education Trainers and Certified Trainers around the world, a great starting point if someone needs a little help.

Google Education Groups (GEGs) were launched and GEG NZ is off to a fine start, with several Hangouts On Air and one face to face meeting carried out. Again, good idea sharing, and more connections and networking.

Google Classroom has proven itself to be useful already, with one update fairly quickly implemented. I'm looking forward to seeing a way to organise the shared items better as another new feature soon.

The launch of more Nexus devices (yes please... I'll have a 6 and a 9 if possible) and Lollipop (although I love this, still needs some bugs fixing).

Just this week, Google announced merging cells in tables within Docs. It might seem like something small, but this could really nail those "I can't do without Microsoft Word" kind of arguments we hear from some people. Waiting patiently for our domain to get this update.

And of course, who could forget the Google Santa Tracker which lets you know where the big fella is. Very cool.

There are so many cool things I want to check out, and now I might have the time to do this (and get paid for doing it as well). 

I will be looking for advice and recommendations of other stuff I should check out - leave a comment if you like. So, suggestions please. What should I be trying as part of this role?

Oh, and a New Year's Resolution (starting from when we go back to school, end of January)- as I try things, I aim to update this blog at least once a fortnight (gulp, based on my track record...), Tweet and post to Google+ five times a week, and make this a part of my reflection on what I find out. Talk about unattainable targets!

Bio trip to Rotoroa.

For those of you not blessed enough to live in the gorgeous city of Auckland, it is situated on a huge harbour with loads of interesting islands and beaches to explore.
Rotoroa is one such island, tucked off the side of Waiheke in the Hauraki Gulf. It used to belong to the Salvation Army and was a secure environment used for helping addicts recover from alcohol and drugs. So why did we go there?
Well, the island has been handed over to be repopulated with native and endangered NZ species which might include tuatara, kiwi, takahe amongst others. Auckland Zoo are running this programme, and have been taking groups of students over to learn about the regeneration of the island.
As the students were older, we arranged to meet them at the local train station. This is always a moment of stress for me as we get to the stage where students leave it to the very last minute to turn up, or buy their tickets!
Somehow we managed to get onto the ferry on time, once biosecurity checks were completed (checking for mice in bags etc!). Rotoroa has been cleared of pest animals (bait drop of  brodifacoum in November) such as rats and mice. New Zealand has a real issue with introduced pest species and fat, flightless (and presumably tasty) native birds, most of which are critically endangered. We are overrun with pests that make life difficult for these birds, such as rats, mice, stoats and possums. The idea of the island is to make a sanctuary where native species can translocated to in safety.

The students were shown around by Tali and Rich from the zoo. Part of the day involved checking tracking

tunnels (real and set up for us to see). The purpose of these tunnels is to record in ink the footprints of species wandering in to have some of the banana or peanut butter used as baits. We encountered no 'live' prints, so it was probably good we had some set up ones to give the students an idea what animals could be present.

We also were given the chance to use telemetry equipment, admittedly we were tracking native animal toys as there is little other than weka (a type of rail) on the island already.
The final checks we did were on tree wraps and pitfalls looking for native or invasive fauna. Rich was demonstrating one wrap when a large weta that was hidden inside dived down his shirt (in case you have never seen one, have a look at this!) He managed to keep a straight face and not look bothered in front of the students! Well played, that man!

Rotoroa is going to be beautiful once the native plants have grown up and native animals are released. It is a privilege to see this kind of offshore island at this early stage of its restoration, and is somewhere I will return, as hopefully will the students, to watch it grow and develop. It will be another place where human activity is being rolled back to allow for a return to what New Zealand would have looked like before humans brought rats, stoats and possums (amongst others). Looking forward to more island sanctuaries and invites to come and see releases onto Rotoroa in time!

Totally doolally?

I was watching a quite old but mildly amusing film (The Englishman Who Went up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain if you want to know specifics...) when one of the characters described someone as 'doolally tap' and this drew puzzled looks from my better half until I explained. It got me to thinking about the use of Indian/ Hindi/ Sanskrit/ Urdu words that are used in the English language. Okay, I know I am a science teacher, but the British period in India is one of my subjects of interest; my family were part of the Raj and we have a lot of connections with India, and five generations were born, worked and died there.

So, I know the Brits in India was not always a harmonious relationship, but there have been some good things to come both ways through the few hundred years since "Johnny Company" schmoozed their way in. Language has just been a small part of this, with the language of Indian government being English as it unified all of the regions who speak many languages and thousands of dialects. However, this was not a one-way process; there are lots of  words appearing in English from the sub-continent.

Lets start with doolally, or doolally tap to give it the proper name. Deolali in India was a transport camp, and the word tap comes from Sanskrit tapa  meaning fever. It meant madness through being in the heat of Deolali waiting to be sent to station somewhere else, so someone goes a bit doolally, they are a bit 'fevered'.
Other words, some you might know, some you might not are in daily use.

One might inclined to slip on pyjamas, which the lightweight trousers worn by men (one still buys a pajama suit, in fact I have a couple..). These are worn by men and women all over the region. Then you could leave your bungalow (originally from Bengal, a style of house there), and sit on the verandah. While there you could watch Avatar (avtar is Hindi for a form of God).

Even a catamaran comes from Tamil (originally kattumaram meaning tied wood), and of course settling down for a curry (kari / karhai) with a mango chutney (mangaai, chatni, meaning crushed) is a nod to Tamil.
Star Trek has also used Hindi / Urdu words, I suppose they sound sufficiently unusual: Ferenghi actually means foreigner, and Jemadar was a rank in the Indian army.

These are obviously very limited examples, there are actually hundreds of words, some obvious, others not so obvious (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Hindi_or_Urdu_origin), and of course many other languages have contributed to the language. Apparently the letter J did not even exist in English until the French invaded.

I have been delving into the world of the British-Indian relationship as I am researching some of the history from a genealogical perspective, but I find the deeper I dig, the more interested I get in all things about this. Sadly my granddad died when I was 10, and I missed the chance to ask him about his experiences, and my grandma was gradually afflicted with dementia before I became interested in this part of their lives. I am putting bits and pieces together, and my ultimate goal is another trip to India, particularly to Bellary, where my great-grandparents are both interred, probably in a 'plague pit' as they died from cholera. I hope some people will find my posts about this sort of thing as interesting as I do! More to come.

And now, the end is near...

Wow. 2013 academic year and my part in the MITA academy (for now!) are drawing to a close. Being a part of the academy has been an interesting journey, and I have had the opportunity to try out using Google + with my classes.
I have posted about this work from time to time (intermittently if I am being honest) on here, and of course there are posts on Google + from my students to show that there has been some buy-in from them as well. It has been good to have had the time to look into what social media work well with students, especially as they are all very into Facebook, so trying a new tool was going to be a challenge.
In summary, my students are still not regular posters on Google +, nor do they all regularly check their accounts or respond to posts. Having said that, when they post, they are getting good at leaving comments and are happy to post pictures. Positive points though; they have learned how to use it, despite the classes trying several other means of communication prior to settling on G+.
My future intentions are to carry on using G+ with students, but I plan to make it an integral part of my classroom practice right from the start of the year, with lessons on how to use it properly and also about putting people in circles, to avoid the issues that we have encountered this year. There are going to be instructions and how-tos for all aspects of Google + so that my classes are used to the idea and using it right from the off. I suppose it still isn't Facebook, something I am glad about, but the students are maybe not as keen yet. It IS still a relatively new social media and many of the students have not been exposed to it, especially as it was not enabled until this year on our domain.
I like the idea of putting resources onto the discussion part of our communities, as well as having stuff on my site. I also want to try putting up exam-style questions and getting the students to answer and refine each others answers to develop their skills in answering NCEA questions - all to be continued next year.

I stand by my choice of Google + still, mainly because it is a good set up, is flexible and there seems to be a huge number of teachers already using it. I meet people who use Facebook with students, but that makes me uncomfortable. I have a page/ group (not sure which!) for the Envirogroup, but I really don't want to go down that route with my classes, especially as it is blocked at school. I now know the areas I have to watch, specifically who students add to their circles and DEFINITELY who they share posts with...
Now I want to also have a look at how Google Hangouts could further be used to enhance the learning going on with my classes - there are people all around the world we could be communicating with, experts, biologists, other students... it really makes everything possible doesn't it?
I'll still continue posting, probably as irregularly as this year, but you'll mostly find me on Google+!

Those last few weeks of the year...

I've done it again. All through the year I think to myself "I'll go through my paper resources and either scan them or throw them away". Then we get to the stage where we are marking heaps of NCEA work for classes and trying to push them to study for exams (22nd November for my Level 2 biology students!). The next thing the senior prizegiving has come around and the year is almost done. "Great, once the seniors are gone, I can get on with XXXXXXX..." (Insert 1 of 3 or so million things that need doing here.) The reality always trips me up; this time of year is SO BUSY! I should know this by now...

Of course there is all the paperwork to make sure kids get credits for the work they have done, then there are all of the PD opportunities and clusters that come up because nobody has much to do at this time of year, do they?

This week we had the 6th annual Manaiakalani Film Festival which was wonderful, and an awesome way to celebrate the fabulous stuff our cluster is doing. Sixty two movies were shown, on 2 screens during the day with 2400 students of all ages coming to see their work on the (incredibly) big screen. The films cover everything, from a cool Dr Who from Tamaki College, with some great special effects (tardis) and some Oscar-worthy acting from one of our deputy principals (video here) to a video that Somerville Special School created to show how they deal with the changes involved in having a reliever in their classroom (video here).

The other demands on my time are mostly to do with planning for next year. It is not confirmed yet, but I might be doing the Level 3 (year 13) biology as well as the Level 2 course, and also I have been given the green light to run a Level 2 Education for Sustainability course as well. The latter has caused me some issues as I have never taught this subject in NZ before (I did a few months with a year 13 course in the UK, and I have done papers etc, and my masters around the subject). The main issues have come about because the curriculum is being re-aligned for 2015, which means I have been working to set up a course which will need big modifications after one year. Thankfully, it looks like I might get to use the new standards as part of the pilot programme but, these are currently under consultation.

What this means in practical terms is we get a really short period of time to go over the new standards in very thorough detail and propose any changes. And we have found a few. We have all learned from experience that sometimes moderators expect the exact letter of the standard to inform the task, so we need to make sure the language used allows this to be as painless a process as we possibly can.

All of that aside, I am still excited about the prospect of running this course as it is so new to me. It is going to present students with an opportunity to learn more about sustainability; something I am very passionate about as it is. Perhaps it will lead to a chance to create a film for the next Manaiakalani Film Festival, although I am NOT making promises here!

Now, next week we have junior exams, then into activities and camp, as well as marking for the external Level 2 biology Cells paper starting on the 30th. So actually, there really isn't any time left. Again.

Well, I now have about an hour to go through those boxes of resources. Or maybe I really should just bin them (in the recycled paper bin, of course) and move on. My policy has been if I haven't used it in a year, it's no good, but I still have paper resources from my practicum (some of them that unusual shade of grey achieved by multiple photocopying!). Maybe I can deal with it in February when we get back from the summer hols. Maybe...

Phew. One week away from the end of term 3 (actually into the holidays by the time I completed this post!). Just where has the year gone? And, why has it taken until now for the Year 11s to start worrying about their credits and doing work? In the past six weeks, they have been churning out work (well, some of them have...) and gaining credits. Why not from the beginning of the year?
One thing is for sure though, Google Docs / Drive makes the process so much easier. A few years ago, I would have taken in a large number of written assignments, made comments, returned them to their creators with Post-It suggestions, hints etc. Now, they submit regularly by sharing their work with me via Drive, or they just drag them into their Science folder created by #Hapara as part of their Teacher Dashboard. I comment, make suggestions and berate them for copying and pasting in the comments, and they fix things up and pass it back for me to look at again. It is amazing to have discussions with students about their work at 10pm, when I am busy checking emails or otherwise doing something other than work! Also, during class time there is a regular queue of students who want me to check their work RIGHT NOW, and again this can be done so easily.
Some observations I have made about my teaching this past year ( I actually stopped to reflect recently in a rare minute of peace... ) which I thought worth noting.

1. I don't badger kids to be working in class if I know they work at home at 10pm. Let them organise their work-flow to suit their personal timings. As long as they are not going loopy in class, I tend to leave them, unless they don't work at home either, of course!

2. Any form of device is okay with me. I think this was something I learned at the Google Teacher's Academy. Our students (and me) have a variety of devices and do not specifically use one for everything. Therefore, I do not berate students for listening to music or fiddling with their phone (although rules as above...). Apparently, some teachers don't like phones or other devices to be visible in class, other than the device they are supposed to be using. Why? Seems mad to me, although obviously if the teacher is talking, it is manners. But the whole lesson?

3. My initial thoughts about using social media (Google + actually) were that it could be a good means of having discussions with my students about their learning. It seems that certain groups have taken to it more readily than others, but generally the students have worked out the basics, and we do have learning conversations.

4. Next year, there are going to be more procedures related to using Google +, in terms of creation, posting, communities etc. right from the word go. It is actually going to be an implicit part of my teaching.

5. There is going to be a lot of time devoted to working individually and learning to research for my students. I will show them the way on this at the start of the year. I want my learners to work their way through things without asking me everything. BUT, I am also going to teach them about plagiarism, validity and reliability of information (this is actually worth credits in L2 bio too!).

So, now we are on the downward slide, more revision materials and past exam papers need to be uploaded to my site for my L2 bio class. Also, I have to consider what I intend to teach for a L2 Education for Sustainability (EfS) course that I am hoping to run in 2014!

My challenge now is going to be to write another blog post by the end of week 1, term 4! You can all hold me to it...

Some Google + findings

So, I have now narrowed down my search for the social network I want to use with students and Google + has made the grade.

All of my students are able to have a profile, although not all of them have done so yet. Some are not bothered about it one way or the other which is fair enough. About 98% of my year 10 students have activated their account, 100% of my y12 biology class, and about 85% of my y11 science class.

There are several students who could be said to have mastered the use of G+, but today I decided to have a look through the posts that my classes had made so far, and discovered a few interesting things about their posting.

1. A lot of them have never bothered to check who they are adding as friends.
2. They do not seem to have created circles to put specific people into.
3. They share stuff very widely, without looking who they are sharing with!
4. Several students are quite happy to post publicly  rather than in our closed community (this is a good  point!)
5. They have not learned to comment appropriately / +1 / share their work effectively yet.

This leads me to some conclusions, specifically things that I might have to change next year:

1. I need to give explicit instructions to all classes about creating the account, and how to use it from the start of the year (as I was still refining my ideas for the start of 2013, we missed this out). This will include compulsory joining of the communities! I will also show them how to check their notifications and how to use G+ effectively.
2. Sharing will be something I give far more instruction on!
3. We will still have closed communities for each class, but I will still encourage students to post publicly their work AND to comment on each other's posts in a polite manner, like they are used to doing with blogs. (Many of these students have come form schools where they were blogging, and don't seem to continue with this practice once they get to us. Something additional to think about?)
4. Google + is still a good way to have learning conversations with my students!

I like Google +. I have been using it right from the very start, and I think once students really get into it, they can use it as another communicational tool that could be useful.

I would find it interesting to hear from other educators who have started using Google + with classes; other people's experiences are useful ways to learn of course, and part of the reason I am doing this is to enhance my ability to discuss learning with my students, especially outside of the classroom.