Learning Twigs

What my kids teach me about elearning design

 

 

I reflected (or, more accurately, quipped) recently on social media about the benefits of being a learning designer for dads, as a follow up to the sharing of an elearning game I rapidly tossed together on a public holiday.

It was a quick sight words activity designed to help my 5-year-old daughter develop her reading skills, drawing on her passionate interest in the movie Frozen (and in particular her admiration for Princess Elsa and the song 'Let it Go!'). You can access the web version of the Frozen Sight Words game here.

This isn't the first interactive, media-rich game I've thrown together for my kids (my son, being a little older than his sister, has been lucky enough to get a few different customised Skylanders-themed games developed for him - one of which he did all the writing, image sourcing and audio-recording for and then blew his classmates away by presenting it at school for show and tell!). And, based on the fact that these applications were put together very rapidly (usually on a Sunday or holiday), in many ways I wouldn't be willing to say they represent my best work. The animations and media aren't always as high quality, smooth and as consistent as I would like, for example.

But then again, in other (perhaps more important) ways, these sample games for the kids may actually be some of my best work. I got to thinking about this recently, and here's why these quick home-grown elearning applications may have a lot more going for them than say the glossy, highly developed elearning activities I've developed as part of formal employment duties.

 

1. It knows its audience

You (hopefully) know your kids better than most other people in your life, and you know what makes them tick. Using themes like favourite console games and recent movies, the learning games are customised to their specific passions and they can't wait to try them.

 

2. It's rapid

Developed in less than a day, utilising media and themes popular this month, addressing learning needs and existing skills evaluated this week.

 

3. It's iterative

These applications are rapidly prototyped and tested and redeveloped several times in the course of a day or two. It's amazing what you can fix or add with such rapid here-and-now iteration.

 

4. It's personal

That might seem obvious in a game designed for a specific person - how can it not be highly personalised? And how could commercial, scalable elearning activities for large, diverse audiences hope to complete with that? Well, for the scalability factor (in terms of appeal), remember also that potentially (see next...)

 

5. It's social

What appealed to my son, and was developed personally for and with him, was a huge hit with his entire class. He not only promoted it to his 'network', based on their relationship with him they wanted to see and be a part of it as well. The Princess Elsa application also went slightly ballistic in a networked sense, using my social media circles. Via Facebook, Linked In and Twitter, it was surprising how many of my contacts jumped on the game and thought it would be great for a little girl (or little girls) in their lives.

 

6. Scores and grades don't matter

Take away the extrinsic motivational factors like getting a pass or a grade and it's quite interesting to see what makes a learner 'tick' and want to continue with an activity. It's also interesting to consider how much harder you have to think, plan and execute as a learning designer. In the case of the Princess Elsa game above, my daughter was caught up in the initial theme, but it was the gradual unlayering of a semi-secret (as in, she knew what it would be, but couldn't quite see it and desperately wanted to see it!) background picture that kept her guessing at each round of sight word prompts. The video of the theme song at the end was an unexpected but hugely satisfying reward for her. She wanted to play the game again, and again.

 

 

If you've followed the links above to the Skylanders and Frozen/Princess Elsa games, I'll bet more than a few of you will have thought one or more of the following:

- The microphone/recording quality could do with some improvement (bear in mind for the Skylanders game that my 6-year-old son at the time had no front teeth - an interesting challenge for any microphone!)

- Some of the question animations and formats are too monotonous

- It needs a lot more editing before I'd release this publicly

 

Hey, I know. Those were exactly my initial criticisms/concerns as well - as someone who 'does' the elearning thing for a living.

 

What's hopefully more than a little intriguing is that those criticisms haven't even remotely occured to my kids and their respective peer networks. They're too engaged to care.

That doesn't mean those sorts of issues ought to be overlooked or glossed over in professional elearning production. But it should prompt us to consider what really matters when it comes to genuinely effective elearning design.

 

I'm just thankful that, as a learning designer, I have such fabulous teachers right here at home!

 

 

;-D

 

          

E-Learning Design Matters (2): Facilitating discovery learning and supporting language/ literacy needs

 

In the learning material featured below (from a Physical Education course unit) you may notice and react to two key features--ones I personally think are extremely important--the notions of interactive discovery learning and embedded language support to cater to variable levels of literacy proficiency (in what is essentially content-based learning material).

 

 

 

Admittedly the facilitation of both discovery learning and language support in this particular resource is (at this early stage of development) a bit simple and limited (less kind readers with deep instructional design experience might even call it a little crude and one-dimensional). Then again, being geared at about Certificate II level, it's supposed to be reasonably simple and have an approachable 'rhythm' in terms of what learners are asked to do and show.

 

It is interesting (to me at least) how authoring tools for what are essentially 'pre-programmed' learning resources can be applied in ways to help the learners build and document their own learning about complex concepts from initial guesses to edited reports.

 

This online application, created in Articulate Storyline, was adapted from a more traditional paper + powerpoint resource at the request of the colleague who authored the core (content) material.

 

It was already set up as a limited 'discovery learning' activity, with learners looking at a table with three columns. The first column listed nine key aspects of fitness. The learners were asked to complete the second column (alongside each key aspect/term) with their initial guesses as to what they meant. They then watched a simple powerpoint presentation in class (or accessed it in self-paced mode from their Moodle course page) and wrote down the more formal/technical definitions for each term alongside their own initial guesses.

 

The online version applies this as well, with some important variations.

 

First, it begins with a visual guessing activity where the learners make as many attempts as they need to apply the nine fitness terms to appropriate pictures. I often like to start with something that is visual, guessing/trial and error, (inter)active and 'failproof.' Get the learners seeing things, doing things and experiencing simple success right from the outset.

 

Secondly, I thought there was too much pressure in terms of the request to 'punt' and then compare that punt to a very technical definition. I was also somewhat worried that learners might initially develop a 'relevance' resistance factor. So I built in some 'help' explanations to take the potential sting out of what the learners were being asked to do, and two more layers: (1) a chance for the learners to edit and improve their own definitions for the terms, and (2) a challenge to think about how the various fitness aspects could be relevant to their own work/work roles.

 

Third, there was the challenge of the technical definitions being not only miles away from learners' initial guesses, but also potentially intimidating based on the level of language used. From the language and literacy angle, rather than just 'dumbing it all down', I felt that--on the condition that the language was adequately explained and supported--this could be a chance to extend and consolidate language and literacy. Hence mouseover functionality was applied to difficult words to trigger simple definitions and explanations, drag-and-drop activities were added to reinforce those words and their meanings, and a help prompt added to the edit/improve layer to remind them yet again of those complex words (and to encourage the learners to try and use them).

 

So exploring ways to cater to variations in language and literacy proficiency or confidence was a priority, with the important condition that those who need it can access help and scaffolding, while those who don't can basically 'get on with the job.' There was also some deliberate restraint: despite all the different language and literacy highlights and interactive activities possible, it was important to keep things reasonably quick and short. Leading the learners into a forest of literacy with/after every slide could not only cause them to lose all sight of the fitness aspects, but also erode their willingness (or belief in their ability) to try and complete the overall resource.

 

Finally, I wanted more in the way of overall consolidation to show the learners their own work and development. A 'Learning Stage' summary was added after work was completed with groups of three fitness aspects. This summary lists the learners' own input in a sort of report documenting initial guesses, edited/improved explanations and their thoughts about how that particular aspect of fitness applies to real working life.  This in turn becomes excellent outlining/drafting material for a follow up written report.

 

 

So there you have it: some simple content and activities to address basic applications of discovery learning and language/literacy support and/or development. If you haven't already done so, you might like to work through the sample embedded above and look for some of those features in the learning material.

 

There's also a YouTube video about somewhere (at the time of writing, currently lost in the lands of uploading and processing) which demonstrates how I built out this particular resource and what I was thinking with each stage/tool. If you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll come back to the post later and embed that particular screencast.

 

 

 ;-D

 

 

Interested in (E)Learning Design and want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn 

 

 

Related articles

10 Tips for Effective Digital Instructional Design

Don Tapscott: Discovery Learning Is the New Higher Learning

Literacy: Freedom of choice can be complicated...

E-Learning Design Matters (1): Creating an Experience using Scenery, Sound, Self-Awareness and Scenarios

Taking your course online? Beware the belittling 'information dump'!

Technology - write way up or down?

 

 

I had a bit of a two-step epiphany recently as I was developing and experimenting with an online resource for a Year 12 literacy course, with emphasis on composition.

 

Putting Articulate Storyline through its paces, I found that I was able to set up a series of text input boxes (small ones, lined up next to separate parts of a video documentary) that sent any of the information the learners typed in individual text entries to a single slide that put all the entries into order in one text.

 

So, in other words, the learners could type six separate summaries as they worked through the six parts of the documentary, and this would all end up as the six paragraph body of a report text. They could then enter an introduction and a conclusion and this would also automatically adjust the combined overall text.

 

This is potentially very useful for the sort of cohort I teach. Ask them to write a page and they'll either give up on the spot or rebel.

 

Ask them to complete a smallish textbox (of about average paragraph size) and they're much more likely to give it a shot. With a task broken down into stages like this, they are both much more amenable to working through it and also pleasantly surprised to see a final result with multiple paragraphs and, overall, a significant amount of writing they wouldn't initially have believed themselves capable of.

 

So that's all good, except for one small problem: editing the final combined piece of writing.

 

I couldn't combine the input texts into another input text box (which would have allowed the learners to work with the combined text and send it along to another combined summary box). I also couldn't get all this input text into a summary text that could be copied and pasted (for example, to a MS Word document - where it could then be edited). And in a sort of 'three strikes and you're out' sort of way, I couldn't get the input text sections to drop into a quiz or survey essay box, from where they could then be submitted with one click into the LMS for a teacher to check and respond to.

 

No, if I wanted the learners to edit their overall composition in a format that could actually be submitted, it was going to have to be retyped from start to finish.

 

RETYPED?

 

I could almost hear the gasps of shock and dismay. Why on earth, given the wonders of modern technology, would you create a writing 'tool' which forced learners to completely retype something, when clearly with all the common programs out there you should be capable of simply clicking in and just editing the parts that need it?

 

That's when it hit me.

 

I remembered what I and everyone I went to school with had to do. Writing was pen and paper. You wrote out an essay, and generally it got feedback from a teacher. You would then re-write the whole essay as a second draft. And then possibly a whole third/final draft - or even more than that, if it was something you cared about doing well.

 

We certainly never had the option of just writing over the indicated mistakes with whiteout and a quick flourish of the pen (essentially the pen and parchment days equivalent of what something like a modern word processing program does).

 

Now I'll admit this process of re-writing whole essays multiple times had a negative impact on certain kinds of students when it came to motivation to write. The feeling of heaviness (associated with having to come up with a long essay) combined with the common 'where/how in heck do I start?' reaction didn't do wonders for some student's confidence and willingness to engage in a writing task.

 

But it also ensured that--with good teaching to help overcome the outlining and getting started gremlins--all writers, from poor through to outstanding, became better writers. You were careful about what you wrote, mindful of mistakes (perhaps thinking out your full sentences in advance before you wrote them down). You paid attention to feedback--at sentence, paragraph and whole text level--as you wrote out your second draft, and usually found a few others things you wanted to change based on thinking your way through the whole idea a second time around. The good paragraphs and sentences were retained and written again, solidifying them in your writer's brain.

 

Overall, writing something out from start to finish multiple times was what helped us become better and better at this whole writing and thinking gig.

 

Current learners don't want this, feel they don't need it and (increasingly) are never asked to go anywhere near such a process. Just type your essay out once and simply edit the words or sentences pointed out to you as being problematic. You probably won't even have to think about the whole text anymore--just the little parts of it that require corrections.

 

It is certainly convenient. Some would even say it is important for learner 'motivation.'

Perhaps because, in today's world, written communication is predominantly tiny fragments in the form of text messages or fashionably imperfect Facebook or microblog comments of 1-5 lines (lines according to Facebook's feed column width, anyway)? And that's the real world and all the real world really needs from them now and in future, right?

 

Unfortunately, given the bleak levels of overall literacy I see in today's teenagers, I can't help but conclude that there's no genuine convenience or motivation in reinforcing what are--overall--sub-standard literacy skills and awareness. Nothing I've seen in written Facebook interactions or text messages so far comes even remotely close to convincing me that these are the literacy skills that will suffice when it comes to producing informed and articulate members of a progressive, patient and thoughtful society.  

 

So many teenagers can't think or reason beyond a short paragraph anymore. It becomes too tiring or boring for them. Literacy and things like essays are only a symptom here of a broader malady. If you want a full scale topic, it will need to be a movie (or at least something in video format), because a written story or article will exhaust them too easily. If you want their attention or critical thinking for anything beyond 20 minutes, it had damn well better be visual and entertaining. Until all of the classic texts and stories come out as movie adaptations or comic e-books, then they couldn't possibly be relevant or useful...

 

So as a modern day literacy teacher, I have to admit this represents a quandary for me.

 

I know what they want/prefer and I do want them to feel capable and motivated. I also know that this current state of reading/writing is seriously dumbing them down and/or out. And I know the processes that helped my generation become at least reasonably literate across a larger percentage of the student population.

 

Perhaps a compromise could be forged here: I'll work the technology in a way that helps you build up larger compositions without the process feeling so heavy and impossible at the start. Then you'll retype a full second draft with changes and edits because I bloody well know that this is a process that helps you become a better and more capable writer over time.

 

Funnily enough, the bizarre epiphany here on my part was that it was a 'failure' in the technology to complete a process of convenience (the text boxes gathering into new text input boxes that can be edited, copied/pasted or directly submitted) that opened my eyes to something important I feel the learners are seriously missing out on.

 

And being convenient certainly doesn't automatically correlate to being conducive.

 

Or am I just be(com)ing unreasonable and old-fashioned?

 

 

;-D

 

 

The writing's on the wall, write or wrong?

 

Click here to see these posters in higher resolution

 

As you can see from the images, I've just completed first drafts of a range of text types I need to address as part of the Applied Learning program I deliver to Year 11 and 12 students. I'm not entirely satisfied with their accuracy or usefulness just yet, but they're a start (in the usual process that begins in late November to prepare curriculum and materials for the following year's enrolment).

 

It's been an interesting exercise, because as part of delivering the Literacy component of VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) the learners are required to address four broad domains with specific text types within each. These are:

 

Writing for Self Expression: Write a recount, narrative or expressive text

Writing for Practical Purposes: Write an instructional or transactional text

Writing for Knowledge: Write a report, explanatory or expository text

Writing for Public Debate: Write a persuasive, discursive or argumentative text

 

In all honesty, most of those text types come across as complete gobbledygook to not only my students, but many other teachers as well. It's not helped by the fact that there isn't exactly complete agreement across educators and education systems as to what each of those text types calls for.

 

Consider the Writing for Knowledge text types by way of example. Depending on whom you ask, a report, explanatory or expository text is basically defined and presented the same way: as an expository text. But just for some added confusion, it appears now in at least some parts of the officialdom of British and Australian education systems that an expository text is all about arguing a position.

 

Given we already have the persuasive, discursive and argumentative text types in Writing for Public Debate, we have a choice in the Knowledge domain to either stick to expository being essentially about information/explanation/description or making it about argument/debate strictly in relation to knowledge-based topics. I'm inclined to stick to the informative/explanatory application - that's what I was brought up to believe expository writing was about.

 

I'm also not satisfied with the bare bones interpretation of what a report should be about. Most guides present it in the same way explanatory texts are laid out, and it's pretty darned dry and boring. I've interpreted it the way I think reports helped me as a high school student: actually reporting something based on what I've been reading, learning, experiencing and thinking.

 

I'm still mulling over my own interpretations and recommendations, but it's clear that if writers and writing teachers can't quite agree on what the different text types are (and what they require), what chance do students have of getting it right?

 

I'm sticking to the notion of Applied Learning and focussing on how the texts can actually facilitate, describe and supplement students' learning experiences. If that means I am incorrectly interpreting some text types in the eyes of certain literacy experts, I'm willing to take it to the judge and hope its defensible!

 

 

;-)

 

 

Literacy: Freedom of choice can be complicated...

  

 

 

"Read THIS book."

"Today we're going to talk about THIS chapter."

"Here's your essay topic (that SOMEBODY ELSE decided was yours)."

 

For so many learners around the world, this is what English/Literacy courses are like. Pre-loaded.

 

When you get an opportunity to use an Applied Literacy program (as I have), with broad learning goals ready for rich contextualisation and personalisation, at a level that designates Year 12 as being a time for independence and leadership to emerge in one's learning, it can feel incredibly liberating. Learners themselves can choose what to read and what to write about.

 

Unfortunately, morbidly mesmerised by the English classes they've had for the preceding eleven or twelve years, this liberation can be a bit daunting for learners. Many of them have never really liked the food on their literacy platter, but have become very accustomed to having it served up to them. Taking them from the line up at a school lunch hall to a lounge with a BYO-style smorgasbord can be hard for them to swallow.

 

I've blogged in the past about this issue of the learner-directed literacy program (The difference between a syllabus and a silly bus?), and also the issue of utilising alternative methods of assessment to help in avoiding the burn after reading reaction, and some months on I have to admit the more emergent, learner-directed literacy approach is paying off very nicely.

 

However, for many learners, the whole notion of their own, self-directed literacy program can still be complicated, if not daunting. 

 

Grasping the formal outcomes is one complication, but what I'm starting to find is that learners lack models and contexts to really get a grip on how they might make their own literacy program work for them.

 

To that end, I've come up with an interactive set of literacy profiles and portfolios, featuring learners of different genders, interests and trade/career goals:

 

 

(You can also see the full online version here).

 

I used this with my Year 12 classes last week. They skimmed through the portfolios and completed a worksheet grid featuring all the formal outcomes, the actual context/task applied by each of the different profile students, and then drew arrows and bubbles to show how various outcomes had been combined or linked up via topical or situational 'sets.'

 

I was frankly surprised how well it worked. The learners really dug into it and looking at their completed grids and connections it was clear this made for a powerful discovery/noticing activity. Classroom discussion hints that the learners now grasp what this independent/applied approach to literacy is about a lot more clearly, and are more ready to give it a shot themselves based on the the contexts and samples they've analyzed.

 

We'll see what emerges, shall we?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Exploring a DIPA(CT) approach to teaching and learning

 

 

This is an online workshop resource I have put together, both as support/review material for attendees at a recent PD session I did at Gordon TAFE but also for people completely fresh to the notion of DIPA(CT) who might like to utilize the tutorials below for some personal professional development or just exploration of ideas.

 

DIPA(CT) is a personal and rather simple approach to teaching and learning, and while the examples provided here are meant for a vocational education context I daresay that the basic principles are at least reasonably relevant to almost all subjects and teaching/learning contexts.

 

For the sake of convenience, I have broken the workshop into separate parts, in order (though of course you may like to pay more attention to some over others).

 

 

 

PART 1: Introduction and Warm Up

 

 

 

 

PART 2: DIPA(CT) Defined and Explained

 

 

 

 

PART 3: DIPA(CT) in Action - Manufacturing Technology

 

 

 

 

PART 4: DIPA(CT) in Action - Applied Literacy

 

 

 

 

PART 5: DIPA(CT) in Action - Carpentry

 

 

 

 

PART 6: Wrap Up and Final Reflections

 

 

The two references at the end there are to this actual blog post and the extensive step-by-step tutorial I made some time back for screencasting - available here.

 

 

 

Hope DIPA(CT) gave you a few things to think about... thanks for watching (and thinking), if you did! And don't be shy in dropping any feedback or impressions in the comments section below.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

 

 

Avoiding the burn after reading reaction

 

 

I read an interesting article today, fed to me via my tweetstream, about what a massive risk Facebook's IPO could represent. Basically, the writer pointed out how seriously over-priced the Facebook stock was/is and how the only way for it to hold its value was for Facebook to maintain some very steep revenue growth rates with almost no major asset base. The general thrust? Another dot.com boom on the cards, but in this case on a scale that could threaten the world economy. It struck me as being a bit on the scaremongrish side of things, but some of the facts (comparing Facebook to Google, for example) made for pretty freaky reading. Personally I can't quite understand the high price of the Facebook stock and it worries me how unflinchingly people seem to be clamouring to get on the wagon.

 

What I've just told you there about that article is pretty much along the lines of what would happen if I were to meet you today and chat about this. You might present some of your own opinions or questions, or tell me about something else you read on the same subject.

 

I think it would be fair to say that I covered most of the main ideas or points from the article, even if the summary was through my eyes and what I personally respond to as being interesting or important. I think I've got a bit of a grasp about the overall purpose of the article, some of the supporting details, and I've certainly got my own (however uninformed) opinion about the general issue.

 

I daresay, if pressed, you would conclude I'd actually read the article and grasped most of it. I also presume it would take you and I about five minutes - give or take a few minutes based on how interested in the issue YOU were - to work through this process. And, this exchange would (or could) commonly happen through a casual conversation.

 

Okay Raven, what the hell are you getting at here?

 

Basically, this is how so much real world reading happens. We find and read the stuff that interests us, and if it is particularly interesting we may choose to discuss it with others we know who are (at least to some degree) interested in the same broad topic.

 

Why then, when it comes to reading and school, do we usually step completely away from this very natural process and put so many of our learners through the torture of demonstrating their reading comprehension by (a) choosing the texts for them, (b) having them 'talk' about them to an audience of 1 (as in, the teacher), and (c) making them write out laborious reports going over every nook and cranny of the text, whether or not it is of relevance or interest to the reader or anyone else within paper plane throwing distance?

 

No wonder so many learners are probably inclined to burn something after they read it at school - especially if it meant somehow that they could escape the mindnumbingly boring process of writing a big long report about it - that only one other person in the room is likely to read (and then only briefly, with the grading pen hovering above it, dripping threatening trails of red). 

 

One of the reasons we do this is because we are following a time-honoured tradition of making reading at school as laborious and uninspiring as possible. Another reason is because so many of us overlook or ignore other assessment tools available to us.

 

As a VCAL teacher, there is an assessment tool available to me for reading that I haven't made nearly enough use of. It's called an oral questioning tool. Funnily enough, combined with learner-selected readings (as I demonstrated in the post here), a casual style oral questioning tool comes incredibly close to the ambience and exchange I attempted to describe above for something I read today.

 

Here is an example oral questioning tool I developed for VCAL Literacy, adapting some excellent templates provided by the QA team at The Gordon TAFE. This particular one addresses the outcome Reading for Knowledge:

 

 

Basically, the learners source their own texts, I negotiate and verify for them if they are long and complex enough for their level as well as meeting the defined range of text types for VCAL literacy. They read them. When they're ready, they call me over and I bring my folder full of pre-prepared oral questioning tools meeting all the different text types and VCAL reading outcomes. We have a chat and I complete the checklist. They go over it with me afterwards and we both sign and date it. I do random recordings of these chats using my phone mic, just to back up my evidence if it becomes necessary for auditing purposes.

 

What this almost ridiculously simple and accessible process has done for my VCAL classes is genuinely hard to put into words. 

 

One, it could take up to 3-4 classes for my learners to prepare a written report for one text they had read, and even then there was no guarantee it would emerge complete or accurate. The oral questioning tool takes somewhere in the realm of 5-10 minutes, following (on average) 10-15 minutes to read the text.

 

Secondly, the learners enjoy it. They chat/talk better than they engage with formal report-style writing. We sometimes get 'banked up' (with 3-4 students waiting to check a text with me at the same time), end up sitting around a table together and suddenly we may have 3-4 people discussing the text and its content/issues (hey, they do have common interests as it turns out, both as teenagers but also within their trade groupings). Sometimes I don't even need to ask questions - the chat/banter draws enough out to demonstrate competence with the outcome elements and I can simply complete my check list.

 

Finally, and this is possibly the biggest development, the learners are naturally gravitating to more extensive reading. They shop around more texts looking for ones that really strike them as being 'talkworthy'. Not only does a 5-10 minute chat about the text remove the angst involved, it seems to motivate them to look for texts that are genuinely interesting to talk about. They're not interested in spending 10 minutes talking about a text that is utterly boring or irrelevant to them. Based on this engagement, many of them are happy to go above and beyond the 'minimum number' of texts or demonstrations of competence required for each outcome. 

 

I'm truly an idiot for not paying more attention to this assessment tool option in the past.

 

It changes everything.

 

It sort of, well... seems a lot more like reading (and what happens after or through reading) in the real world.

 

Fancy that!

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Meet the Cypher - Teen poetry in motion

 

 

 

This is a local group of lads calling themselves Geelong Cypher. My Year 11 VCAL student Caleb Toohill is part of the group and his part starts at 2.20. He's good!

 

Based on this, I'm going to give him an Oracy for Self Expression outcome in his Literacy program, and a Writing for Self Expression outcome as well if he goes ahead and puts his verses down on paper.

 

I'm also looking at embedding a new unit in our Intermediate Literacy online page, so the rest of the cohort can use this as an optional unit with a variety of VCAL outcomes (reading and writing for self expression, reading/writing/oracy for public debate, etc.). For Caleb, this unit can extend in all sorts of directions (for example, if he reads and writes about what he knows when it comes to rap/hiphop, how to build lyrics, etc).

 

Great stuff.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz: Funding spat puts kinder programs in jeopardy

 

 

If you find (as I have done) that many of your adult ESL learners in Australia are also parents to young children, you might find this reading/discussion resource interesting to take into your classroom or offer up as a personal selection for students.

 

It's based on news just in (at the time of posting) about a 'spat' between the Federal and Victorian State governments about public kindergarten programs, how they are to be funded and what they will/should involve in terms of number of hours provided. The source is an article that appeared in today's The Age newspaper:

Funding spat puts kinder program in jeopardy

 

 

Here are the English Oz learning activities to go with it:

 

3_VPAU505_EL1_Funding_spat_puts_kinder_programs_in_jeopardy

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Funding_spat_puts_kinder_programs_in_jeopardy

 

It's a good issue to explore and has some great language to showcase.

 

 

Certificate III ESL (Access) components targeted and tracked through the activities:

 

Unit C24 (VPAU505): Read and write a range of straightforward informational, instructional and other texts.

Element 1: Analyse a range of informational texts

Performance Criteria 1.1: Scan informational text and identify the context and topic

Performance Criteria 1.2: Identify the main ideas or issues

Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting information or examples

Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify conventions of informational texts

Performance Criteria 1.5: Analyse the structure and discourse features of the texts

Performance Criteria 1.6: Respond to the text, outlining any opinions expressed, and state own opinion about the topic

 

 

I would also imagine there are plenty of ways to integrate this with some conversation and/or writing elements from the same level.

 

The article and overall issue also provide a nice introduction or extenstion to four of the ESL Elective units, namely:

VPAM544 - Australian Government

VPAM546 - Education in Australia

VPAU557 - Use services in the local community

VPAU560 - Investigate current issues

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz Project: In the shadow of the red centre

 

 

The lucky country. Bright weather, bright people, bright future.

Those were the messages that were consistently drummed into me as a young person growing up on this island continent. But as Iva Davies would tell you, it can also be a prisoner island hidden in the summer for a million years.

For all its brightness, this is a country with a shadow; and nowhere is that shadow more evident in the geographical and spiritual red centre of things, in a town called Alice.

 

The English Oz materials and activities on this page represent a collection of learning resources that can hopefully bring this issue to the ESL classroom. You can cherry pick from them as you please, or tie some or all of them together to create a larger ongoing project. Generally speaking the resources are selected and sequenced in a logical way that helps explore what is a very complex issue via a series of interlocked steps.

The first three resources target listening skills and align well with Certificate III in ESL (Access) unit VPAU503 (Give and respond to a range of straightforward instructional and informational texts) - in particular Element 1: Interpret an informational oral text.

The three that follow that are geared towards VPAU505 (Read and write a range of straightforward informational, instructional and other texts), in particular Element 1: Analyse a range of informational texts. 

The astute teacher will also find ways to tie in speaking and writing elements from the various units in a nicely integrated way; the opportunities to do so are there in abundance.

At the very bottom of the page you will find a resource to facilitate the ESL Elective unit VPAU560: Investigate Current Issues, with the preceding materials and activities making for a nice resource list to draw on and (again) useful opportunities to extend out into speaking and writing elements.

All the relevant performance criteria has been built into the resource sheets, and you will find both blank versions for students and a TG version with some notes to help you scaffold the learners through the activities.

 

 

Okay, let's start with a bit of a contrast, shall we? Two very different sides to a red centre coin...  

 

 

 

 

1. Get ceNTred in the Red Centre

 

Nothing like a good tourism advertisement, is there? Present the following video to the learners and apply the activity resource that follows:

 

 

Learning Resources: 

3_VPAU503_EL1_get_ceNTred_in_the_red_centre

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_get_ceNTred_in_the_red_centre

 

 

2. Alice Springs in Crisis

 

Hang on... What happened to the lovely hot air balloons? And the glasses of bubbly and sparkling stars at night? And the amazing galleries of indigenous art?

Trouble in paradise...

 

 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU503_EL1_Alice_Springs_in_Crisis 

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_Alice_Springs_in_Crisis

 

 

 

3. The NT Intervention - Four Years On

 

So, poor old Alice is copping it because indigenous people can't drink out on their home turf and need to head into town... So has the so-called INTERVENTION improved the situation out in the camps, and was it worth the price of applying the equivalent of apartheid? 

 

 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU503_EL1_the_NT_Intervention_Four_Years_On

3_VPAU503_EL1_TG_the_NT_Intervention_Four_Years_On

 

 

 

4. Australia restores race discrimination act

 

So let's get closer to the bottom of this whole idea of interventions and race discrimination acts. The BBC are sure to be a nicely reliable outside impartial observer, surely...

 

 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10374060

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_Australia_restores_race_discrimination_act

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Australia_restores_race_discrimination_act

 

 

 

5. Abbott calls for new intervention

 

Evidently once wasn't enough. The leader of Australia's federal opposition party says he has the solutions...

(This resource is excellent because it features a recorded interview and the full written transcript):

 

 

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3168978.htm 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_Abbott_calls_for_new_intervention 

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Abbott_calls_for_new_intervention

 

 

 

6. The Dead Heart

 

A song by one of Australia's most popular bands of all time, whose lead singer eventually decided to go into politics... Spot the current Federal Minister for Education in the clip, but also look at the lyrics and take a journey into the dying soul of a fiercely proud people.

(Another good one for blending reading and listening, and your students might enjoy a song at this point if they've been wading through the texts and listenings above):

 

 

  

 

 

 

Learning Resources:

3_VPAU505_EL1_The_Dead_Heart

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_The_Dead_Heart

 

 

 

7. In the shadow of the red centre

 

So, what's the issue exactly? What is the significance? What do your learners make of it all?

Here's where you can tie on an ESL Elective Unit incorporating current issues in Australia, bringing together the 'research' conducted above and coming up with some conclusions. The material can then become a drafting process for a writing element or an oral presentation or discussion of some sort:

 

ESL_Elective_VPAU560_EL1_In_the_shadow_of_the_red_centre

 

 

 

 

As I said at the beginning of the post, lots to choose from or work through here, but there are certainly multiple opportunities to help your learners meet a plethora of their ESL outcomes through this sequence of activities.

 

More importantly, the dialogue about how Australia handles its indigenous people needs to continue. Goodness knows the locals (both newer and older) haven't come up with too many effective answers; perhaps the newest migrants of all might have some better suggestions...

 

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

English Oz: Top 100 apps

 

 

 

This marks the first (of what I hope will be many) reading resource I am putting together for my English Oz collection of learning activity resources for ESL classrooms.

 

Apps are pretty much an everyday thing now, so I think it's a topic likely to resonate well with a wide range of learners. I've sourced an interesting text from the Sydney Morning Herald with the title Top 1oo apps - the definitive guide.

 

The learning resources below are great for Certificate III in ESL (Access) and include both learner activity sheets and a TG version with instructional tips for using in the classroom and directing learners to the sorts of information they can include in each section.

 

 

3_VPAU505_EL1_Top_100_apps

 

3_VPAU505_EL1_TG_Top_100_apps

 

 

Just note for the main ideas and supporting details sections, the idea is for the learners to select portions of the text that interest them rather than the entire article - though there are different ways that overall main ideas could be identified and listed.

 

 

Certificate III ESL (Access) components targeted and tracked through the activities:

 

Unit C24 (VPAU505): Read and write a range of straightforward informational, instructional and other texts.

Element 1: Analyse a range of informational texts

Performance Criteria 1.1: Scan informational text and identify the context and topic

Performance Criteria 1.2: Identify the main ideas or issues

Performance Criteria 1.3: Locate supporting information or examples

Performance Criteria 1.4: Identify conventions of informational texts

Performance Criteria 1.5: Analyse the structure and discourse features of the texts

Performance Criteria 1.6: Respond to the text, outlining any opinions expressed, and state own opinion about the topic

 

Lots of ways this can be introduced or followed up via conversation and writing activities, as well.

 

 

For more ESL content and activity sheets, go to English Oz.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

 

The difference between a syllabus and a silly bus?

 

 

 

Last week I ran some sessions with my Year 12 Applied Literacy students based around helping them design their own curriculum. It consisted of a sort of open worksheet/grid, with the broad literacy outcomes listed in one column and three open/blank columns with the headings 'My Trade', 'GTEC projects' (meaning the projects they are involved in at or as part of school), and 'Personal Interest'. From there it was just a lot of chatting as the groups negotiated with me about what sorts of material would best fit where, some note-taking on the grid, then reviewing and typing out the self-directed learning plan and uploading it on their Moodle course page.

 

Here is a sample self-designed literacy curriculum made by a carpentry student:

 

 

And here is one designed by a heavy (diesel) automotive student:

 

 

 

They only need to meet each outcome through two separate tasks, so having three is a bit of a safety measure, bearing in mind that topics we think of today may not be topics we want to do in 3-4 months' time. They can change any part of the grid they want at any time (including the column headers), except for the Literacy Outcomes one -- which we are obliged by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority to address if we plan to hand out Certificates in Applied Learning at the end of the year...

 

Basically, now they work to their own plan at their own pace in the order they feel most comfortable with from one lesson to the next. They find their own texts using the Internet, or texts they already have access to (magazines, Trade School books, etc.), access a range of writing and reading report templates I've created for them, and from there my job is to just facilitate (especially with regards to the generic program outcomes) and then assess.

 

In other words, we have 47 separate syllabuses running for Year 12 Literacy at GTEC this year, and there is nothing frightening about that at all.

 

Funnily enough, towards the end of the week I returned to my desk after a class and found a publisher's brochure sitting there waiting for me. I glanced through and found a Literacy Skills textbook on offer. I scanned through the archaic looking list of unit and topic items there, thought about the 47 syllabuses we'd generated that week, and couldn't help but notice that this coursebook someone was trying to sell to me and my students only had something that looked like a single silly bus.

 

I couldn't for the life of me see that book, or any other single book, ever making the cut for the classrooms I work with now.

 

 

 

;-)

 

 

Reading and Writing for Practical Purposes: The Work Resume

 

 

 

Probably one of THE most practical/applied literacy tasks for late teen students irrespective of which course they happen to be doing: the resume.

 

Here's how we approach it at GTEC for Intermediate level VCAL Literacy (this is the unit walk through for students):

 

 

 

We have some follow up/integrated activities for Oral Communication as well, addressing interview skills.

 

Sharing the ideas; hope they help!

 

;-)

 

 

An applied literacy curriculum (Part 1)

 

 

 

Our Year 11 Applied Learning students have completed their intensive foundation literacy course in Term 1 (mainly geared around some literacy basics and integrated with tool and workplace safety considerations) and next week many of them will commence the next (Intermediate VCAL) level.

 

Based on a revision of what we did with students last year, and bearing in mind we teach 16-17 year old learners preparing for trades, here's what we have in store for them...

 

 

 

 

The learners read a complex text written by a teacher, talking about a particular skill or attribute he has. The text explores where the skill might have developed from (in childhood experience), how it helps in professional life now, and how it might be developed further for different future applications.

Following a range of comprehension tasks targeting purpose, main ideas, supporting ideas and effectiveness of the text, students then compare this text with one they did themselves last term listing their own skills and attributes (with the comparison being more about how the texts are organised and presented).

Students then write their own 'in the know' texts, talking about a particular skill or attribute of their own.

 

 

 

 

The learners work their way through an assignment that helps them identify all sorts of important information about their given trade and regulations governing apprenticeships. It features everything from trade-specific union details to government regulations and minimum wages for different years of an apprenticeship.

Based on what they find and read, the learners compile a detailed report to present the important information.

 

 

 

 

The learners read an advisory/instructional text from one of the country's most popular recruitment websites explaining what should go into resumes for school leavers. After demonstrating a comprehension of the text, they compare it to an actual resume made for an apprentice electrician and see how and where the resume applies the specific advice from the article.

Of course, from there the learners go ahead and create their own work resume.

 

 

 

 

The learners read two very different texts that both present information about they key (pun intended) tools for locksmithing. They complete comprehension questions and a detailed comparison of the two texts (particularly in terms of which would be more useful for a beginner level locksmith apprentice).

Following that the learners create their own 'tools of the trade' texts, targeting 4-6 of the most important tools they think new apprentices need to know about for their own trades and emulating the more informative of the two texts they read about locksmithing tools.

 

 

 

 

The learners read two different texts explaining how to do or build something. They demonstrate comprehension of both texts and compare them in detail, commenting on their effectiveness.

Based on the text they found to be clearest or most useful, the students then create their own how to texts, based on a process or outcome common to their personal interest or work experience to date.

 

 

 

 

The learners compose work journals based on a period of work placement, integrated with material they already put together for their Work Related Skills modules.

Following this they then look at two fellow students' work journals and complete some comprehension and comparison/effectiveness notes. This, in addition to comprising reading comprehension outcomes, becomes a feedback process for students to adapt and improve their own initial work journal drafts.

 

 

 

 

The learners read an extensive comment made on a forum about the topic of bullying apprentices at work (in this case an older experienced tradesperson reflecting on his own experiences and lambasting some of the comments from younger people on the forum claiming that bullying is just fun and games). They then compare this with a recent report on a news website explaining new laws and punishments for workplace bullying in the wake of the suicide of a young person who was bullied mercilessly at work.

Based on what they have read and explored, the learners are asked to respond to the question: Should workplace bullies be sent to jail? They have the option of completing an argumentative or discursive piece on the topic.

 

 

 

 

Students read a text from a newspaper about the issue of Lewis Hamilton being fined for 'hooning' and having his car impounded while in Melbourne for the Grand Prix a couple of years ago. In the same article, Mark Webber is quoted as saying that his own state (Victoria) has become a 'nanny state'.

This text is explored and compared to two other texts: one about a journalist who lost his own brother at a young age from a road accident (in response to Mark Webber's comment and quoting all sorts of statistics based on Victoria's TAC campaigns), and an obituary article written by our school's own principal following the horrific road accident death of one of our own students (weeks after he obtained his license) a couple of years ago.

Based on these readings, learners are then invited to respond to the question: Do we in fact live in a 'nanny state' in Victoria, when it comes to road rules?

 

 

 

All of this material is facilitated through our Moodle LMS, with both in-class and distance mode options available. And of course, in support of the 'emergent' curriculum, learners are free to replace any or all of these units with ones of their own design -- so long as they can show that they are meeting the VCAL Literacy outcomes at Intermediate level.

 

Later I'll present Part 2 of this applied literacy curriculum business and try to demonstrate how we do things at Year 12 level. Very different!

 

 

;-)

 

 

Who exactly is out of tune here?

 

 

 

LM is one of my brighter and more dedicated Year 12 VCAL Literacy students. He made tremendous strides throughout last year at Intermediate level and is now a very capable and confident VCAL Senior level reader and writer. From his particular trade group (Carpentry) he is probably one of the best performing students.

 

His Mahara e-Portfolio is looking great so far. He has finished the Writing for Self Expression outcome with flying colours, with two pieces of writing that really express him and the trade he is involved in. His first piece is a thoughtful presentation of how he believes his trade will change over the next 5, 50 and 500 years. Following up from that is an introspective piece about himself as a carpenter, where he has come from and where he plans to go in work and life. He wrote the second one using the second person point of view, which subtly changes the way certain things are expressed and come across to the reader: it's rather like seeing an articulate young carpenter writing on a mirror.

 

 

Now this is all great, but as I perused his online portfolio late last week I wandered over to the left hand column to check out the music clips he'd embedded there. What I saw and heard there had me scratching my head because it represents a bit of a dilemma.

 

Embedding favourite music clips from YouTube is something  I've encouraged all the learners to do, to make their portfolios their own and to create a space that expresses them as young people. The idea is to make the portfolio a place they want to visit and spend time in and, as we explore notions of audience, a place for friends and peers to visit as well.

 

The idea of audiences for writing has changed dramatically for our learners this year. No longer is writing about handing in something to 'please' a literacy teacher, cater to an audience of '1.8'  and simply 'get through' a VCAL-imposed outcome. Many of these young people, via their linked up e-Portfolios, are attempting to write for and entertain their peers.

 

I'm proud of and intrigued by this development. However, when I browse over LM's excellent portfolio and think about how it could be something brilliant to show his parents and potential employers, I get to the music clips and pause.

 

The Sydney-based hip hop group doing their moves there in the left hand column are actually pretty cool. The music gives the e-Portfolio a nice background sound which adds to the picture we get of LM as a young person (and young carpenter) in the world.

 

It's when the repetitive lines about girlies 'shaking their titties' and various acts of oral sex and more specific features of female anatomy start booming through your speakers that I, as a teacher, a parent and citizen, can't help physically flinching.

 

To be perfectly fair to LM, almost every single one of his carpentry peers has featured very similar 'bad boy gangster hip hop' music on his e-Portfolio page. This is what they listen to on their iPods and on YouTube at home or at parties, on the way to school and during breaks at work. And when you actually listen a little more closely, you realise the lyrics aren't quite as insensitive and throw away as they first seem. These artists are making a variety of points that reflect contemporary ways of self expression and it's not always as inherently shallow and offensive as us 'crusty oldies' tend to reflexively assume.

 

Let's face it, there was a time when the Beatles and the Doors had parents in uproar over their 'sexually explicit' lyrics. The stuff I was listening to as a 17-year-old had my parents frowning, too. I guess what tends to be hard is that over the generations music artists' lyrics have become progressively (some would say regressively or aggressively) less subtle and more direct.

 

This goes well beyond what I'm seeing in writing portfolios. I recently heard my (then) 9-year-old niece listening to the Katy Perry album she'd bought herself with birthday money and almost fell out the window in shock when certain lyrics came blaring out.

 

 

So, as you can see, I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands.

 

If these portfolios truly are 'theirs', and they want to feature music that reflects their tastes, what right do I have to say what is or isn't appropriate?

 

Okay, well these portfolios are being made at school as part of the school's pay-for e-Learning tools. I'm hunting around now for the school's official social media policies and requirements, and I'm pretty sure that (1) potentially offensive lyrics won't be part of the school's social media vision, and (2) the decision to keep these e-Porfolios in private group mode to start with was a very wise one!

 

And then there was the idea, mainly suggested by me, that these portfolios could be used to supplement work applications. I'm not sure, but I doubt any self-respecting carpenter in his 50s or 60s would be impressed by the lyrics coming out of these pages, no matter how interesting, articulate or trade-specific the actual writing is.

 

However, we've established that the portfolios can be just their own space, about them, for themselves and their peers...

And the school has an established 'youth engagement' policy...

And we pride ourselves on treating these 'kids' like adults, in line with our role as being a secondary provider in an adult context (and not a secondary school per sé).

And these songs and lyrics and artists give me so many insights into my learners, as well as valid talking points to facilitate debate and discussion...

And I seriously doubt many carpenters in their 50s or 60s (or even 30s or 40s) would bother to look at/for an online e-Portfolio when considering applicants for apprenticeships...

 

And yet, in the end they'll probably need to go, these YouTube clips.

 

I have a very good relationship with my students and I know they will understand. But there is a significant part of me that feels that I will be betraying them in a way, shutting down a very real part of them as well as the sorts of windows that shed useful light on how to engage a traditionally hard-to-engage cohort.

 

 

Can you see the dilemma?

 

How would you handle it? What would you say to LM, the articulate and motivated young carpenter who has shown you a very real side of himself as well as music his peers would all appreciate (as well as be willing to discuss and debate with some degree of genuine interest)?

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Always out of time as a teacher? Try bottling yourself from time to time...

 

 

 

To guide a single student through the multiple and occasionally complex procedures involved in setting up a Mahara e-Portfolio (according to the requirements I have created for our overall senior literacy course) takes something like 20-30 minutes.

 

I have approximately 50 students in the senior literacy cohort. To give them all the 1-1 attention to set up e-Portfolios would take around 20 hours.

 

Okay, admittedly there are more efficient ways of guiding groups of students through processes like this one.

 

I could, for example, work through the set up procedures on the wall screen while students watch and follow along and apply the same procedures on their own computers. Generally speaking, given the different pace of each student (for various reasons), the pausing and checking and fixing involved would probably mean something close to 1 hour to get a whole class up and running on Mahara the way I've planned for them to.

 

One hour is a lot less than 20. But given we have at least five Year 12 groups attending separate classes at separate times, the process is still going to take at least 5 hours. If all goes well and nobody is away...

 

So, depending on circumstances, let's conservatively estimate that getting 50 Year 12 students thoroughly set up on Mahara and submitting their literacy tasks there is going to involve somewhere between 5 and 20 hours of (my) overall classroom time.

 

Considering that I planned, rehearsed, recorded and uploaded a series of four screencasts demonstrating how to do this for students in a period of about 2 hours, and that every student has managed to follow and apply them (not always on the first try, but certainly by the second or third) almost fully indepedently, I have saved myself -- depending on how you calculate the alternative measures -- somewhere between 3 and 18 hours of overall classroom time.

 

If that isn't enough bottled time to impress you, consider the fact that I also use screencasts for a whole range of things from outcome overviews to practical applications and skills demonstrations, supported with a range of automated quizzes to check students' understanding... I'll do the math at some point (and perhaps, recognising my limitations as a mere English teacher, enlist the help of my Numeracy teacher colleague) but I figure that I'm firmly on track to make time something I have more of for the things that really count.

 

That's time I have been able to put back into the sorts of teaching/learning activities (getting to know learners as people, discussing and negotiating tasks, giving feedback on writing efforts, etc.) that make teachers indispensable in classroom contexts. 

 

Just as importantly, I think that 20-30 minutes each learner has gone through setting themselves up with an e-Portfolio is a crucial confirmation that they can do complex multi-layered tasks on their own at a pace they personally find manageable.

 

 

;-)

 

 

                    

VCAL Senior Literacy: Writing for Practical Purposes (Outcome Overview)

 

 

My Year 12 students are moving along to this outcome now in their VCAL Senior Literacy coursework, and I thought I would share the outcome overview video I have prepared for them as part of their Moodle course.

 

 

 

Based on the video, my students need to prepare a detailed report explaining, in a logical and concise way, what writing for practical purposes involves.

 

Sort of like writing about writing for practical purposes, for practical purposes...

 

 

;-)

 

 

The power of genuine integration

 

 

 

One of the great things about being a literacy teacher in a vocational/applied learning program is the regular opportunity to integrate literacy tasks with real world applications, but also to use literacy to reinforce knowledge or awareness about important considerations students really need take on board.

 

The example above shows how we have taken our students' Practical Placement Invoice Book -- a really crucial piece of documentation for our students' workplace experience blocks -- and reinforced students' awareness of it via an applied literacy task.

 

Leesa, our eminently talented ILO (Industry Liaison Officer), made good use of our GTEC team PD sessions last December (on how to make screencasts) to produce this very clear and professional screencast demonstrating how to complete the practical placement invoices and why various sections were really important:

 

 

 

[Note: Personal details in the screencast version of the form are purely fictional examples!]

 

This follows up from in-class demonstrations and instructions and one-on-one checking and follow up, but the aural as well as visual approach is really important in making crucial information accessible to the students in our particular cohort. And yet, there are still many individuals who forget things or don't pay attention when they really should...

 

... which is why a literacy task applying the video and asking students to write an email to a classmate explaining all the ins and outs of the invoice book can be just the ticket to check and make sure every student has really been paying attention.

 

Literacy gets a VCAL Foundation Writing for Practical Purposes outcome task out of it, learners get a real world application, and Leesa gets some reassurance that students are actually watching the video and paying attention to it.

 

Integration on multiple levels, if you asked me.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

VCAL Literacy and how I learned how to build a desktop computer today...

 

 

 

It's not every day you learn how to build a desktop computer from the ground up, and it's not every day you see a student sit there in front of you and write something like this out as if it is the easiest thing in the world to remember how to do (and how to explain).

 

 

 

 

I daresay this fellow has met the requirements for the Writing for Practical Purposes outcome in VCAL Senior Literacy...

 

He has uploaded this to his Mahara e-portfolio and plans to edit it a little (along with the inclusion of some instructional pics he hopes to take while out on work placement at a biggish computer store).

 

His e-portfolio has progressed to the point that we're ready to 'go public' with it, so once he's decided that's what he'd like to do I will happily link to it from this blog. This kid is quite a find, believe me.

 

 

;-)

 

                              

Rising above the bar of mediocrity with competency-based assessment

 

 

 

Evaluating students' work or activities can be a challenge, especially when--like me--you've never really liked summative assessment scales like A-F or 0-100%.

 

Last year, for the first time, I experienced an evaluation system that was remarkably simple compared to anything I had come across or used before. Student performance was either S (Satisfactory), NS (Non-Satisfactory) or NYS (Not Yet Satisfactory).

 

This scale, based around the central idea of whether elements or performance indicators had been met or not as part of general competence, was really quick and easy to apply.

 

Too easy.

Black and white, with no other colours whatsoever when it came to illuminating student performance.

 

Of course, formative assessment can help to add a lot more colour to the evaluation experience, but it tends to become rather like a weak watermark when the overall summative assessment process is simply heaven or hell.

 

Here is a typical exchange from my teaching experiences last year:

 

S: "So, get my final draft for that essay? Did I pass?"

T: "Yes, I've got it. It's not too bad, actually, but I think you could have supported your arguments with some more convincing real-world examples."

S: "Right... But does it pass?"

T: "Well, yes, technically--but I know you could probably improve it a lot by--"

S: "But it's a pass, right?"

T: "Erm... yeeeeees, but--"

S: "Great! Too easy."

 

 

Too easy indeed.

 

This is the real risk with simple black-and-white competency-based assessment. It creates a highly visible bar set perilously close to mediocre and erodes what I think is fundamental to any educational and evaluative process: creating incentives and illustrating clear pathways for improvement in one's performance.

 

As my boss recently quoted some famous educator as saying: "Education is 90% encouragement." When your assessment system only encourages a pass, 90% of the time that is the goal you're likely to foster in your students.

 

If I had to evaluate this sort of system using its own grading criteria, I would have to award it an NYS. Not yet satisfactory.

 

So I started a bit of an experiment this year by basically expanding on the S/Satisfactory element in the equation. Instead of S/N, this year I am using:

 

S1 = Satisfactory/Excellent (80-100%)

S2 = Satisfactory/Good (65-79%)

S3 = Satisfactory/Pass (50-64%)

N = Not (yet) Satisfactory (< 50%)

 

 

The Excellent/Good/Pass and 1/2/3 terms are important for adding some texture to the overall 'satisfactory' grade. You can pass something, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was "good", and two students can get a satisfactory result but at different levels or layers. The percentages included in the mix are there to create an alternative frame of reference which can also translate numerical results (from things like online reading activities or quizzes) into the simple S1-3/N scale.

 

Having applied and explained the scale to students, after three weeks' study I'm now in a position to sit back and reflect on what impact (if any) the different evaluation process has had.

 

In short, it's worked miracles.

 

The majority of students are now specifically aiming for an S1, not an "S". They are asking questions, when awarded an S2, about what they need to do to raise their work to an S1. Some students are still satisified/relieved with an S3, but they are also asking questions. Across outcome categories (which generate an average based on a group of related activities) in their gradebooks, students are noticing an average of S2 or S3 and seeing that it was on account of one or two poor performances across the category alongside some S1 assessments. This creates a basis for clear comparison between two similar tasks with different evaluations. Again, some students are asking if they can re-do the poorer work to help kick the overall category outcome up to an S1. 

 

Once I have students coming up with questions, I have the positive rhythm I need with learners to create forward movement. Even aspiration.

 

And I'll be prefectly honest, there are some students who are still content with S3 and may even be limiting their efforts to get to that bare/mediocre pass level. But I somehow feel more comfortable knowing that the grading system is rewarding those who try to do better and doesn't just lump them in a colourless 'heaven'/satisfactory category with anyone perfectly happy with a mediocre performance.

 

For those still happy with or specifically aiming at the bare pass end of the scale, I think special factors are at play. At least now I can see those performances and students more consistently and really think about what we need to try in order to transform the way they see their education.

 

'We' is an important word in that equation. I have to be very careful about identifying when satisfaction with mediocrity isn't facilitated by my instructional design, classroom interactions or one-on-one relationships with particular students.

 

In other words: If my teaching and teaching material is only realistically geared towards an S3 result (using my own assessment scale), then I deserve what I get from the students and they don't get what they deserve from me.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Exploring VCAL Writing for Self Expression

 

 

 

Of all the great things we experience as teachers, I think trying out new things and stumbling upon new revelations about what works and what doesn't would have to be right up there. In my field (literacy) with my learners ('disengaged' students aged 16-18 preparing for work in the 'hard trades' area), the challenges can be steep and the rewards quite remarkable.

 

Three weeks into a new term in a new year, I've really been enjoying VCAL Senior Literacy. The curriculum I inherited part way through the second term last year (when I commenced) ticked all of the boxes when it comes to overall VCAL cross-curricular integration, but it had been built from a teaching and teaching team perspective with very little input from (or scope for negotiation with) the actual students. The result was a constant struggle for traction on a track the learners found themselves slipping and sliding all over (if not off completely, with the muffled sound of crashing amongst trees in the wilderness), in the end made to happen/work through the painstaking building of rapport and trust with the teacher.

 

Let me just point out that these sorts of programs are not inherently poor. A lot of painstaking work and sincere effort goes into them. They occasionally feature real gems and meet audit requirements admirably. They just don't always work all that well, and sometimes--based on over reliance on and misplaced faith in design and documentation features--it is the learners who get the automatic blame if they don't perform all that well within certain parameters.

 

This year has been very different.

 

The first formal outcome listed for Senior VCAL Literacy is Writing for Self Expression. This can be a hard one to pitch to lads who are disengaged from the broader high school landscape and want to qualify themselves to become tradesmen. Builders don't generally want to 'write about me' and young plumbers and mechanics generally don't want to engage in any sort of storytelling that isn't strictly audio-visual and available on YouTube.

 

Despite those challenges, writing for self expression is actually working this year, and here's how it has gone so far...

 

 

 

1. Starting with and focussing on the outcome

 

In a move that some teachers might find themselves instinctively disagreeing with, this year I have avoided an attempt at subtle 'embedding' or 'naturalisation' of the outcome. I've approached the learners from the same perspective I find myself approaching courses I've recently done or am currently doing -- qualification stuff that doesn't always passionately interest me but has to be done if I am going to get through and advance my prospects.

 

Basically, that means explaining the outcome in formal and logical terms somewhat similar to the way it is presented and documented in the official VCAL curriculum guide. To successfully pass this outcome, you need to do a, b and c (etc.).

 

So we start with a short screencast explaining the outcome...

 

 

 

 

... which is followed up by an interactive quiz in their Moodle coursework page to check what they've understood and how they think the outcome might be applied.

 

So far so good. My learners always respond well to screencast tutorials, and they seem to appreciate having the learning requirements spelled out for them. I'm not hearing (as many) complaints about having to do tasks as part of this outcome, and this is very different from the cacophony of objections I heard last year about having to write a work journal entry or respond to an 'expressive' newspaper article nailed down and pre-embedded in the curriculum.

 

Which brings me to the next consideration...

 

 

 

2. Learner-selected topics for self expression

 

As nice as it can be to have a limited number of ready-to-use writing topics and tasks that address the outcome and help to tick off outcomes in other parts of the overall VCAL curriculum (and as convenient as it can be to look at and grade learners according to consistent topics across the whole cohort), I've done away with this completely and let the learners choose and negotiate their own topics.

 

Of course, this can result in the blank stare and despair of not having a clue what to write about, so what I have done is create an extensive list of thematically grouped writing topics which they can pick and choose from and adapt and negotiate with me. 

 

 

 

As you can see, this goes beyond a simple list of writing topic suggestions. It includes a range of suggestions covering things like titles, audience(s), purpose(s) and text types.

 

It also includes links to my own writing in response to some of these topics. Learners who really need samples to work through and emulate in terms of style and topical focus appreciate this, and I think most all of the learners appreciate the fact that the teacher is willing to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

 

So far, no complaints about not having a topic to write about (or not knowing what to write about in response to a topic), and that's a welcome change.

 

 

 

3. An emphasis on literary devices

 

Before the learners choose and write in response to topics, their Moodle course page includes an interactive tutorial about a small range of literary devices that can help make creative/expressive writing more interesting and effective. These cover, as a base, things like point of view, similes, effective use of adjectives and what I like to call 'expressive action words' (for example, saying a nailgun spat a nail into some wood, or a song roared out of the living room).

 

Extensive examples are given for each literary device, including ones from my own writing attempts (mentioned above) to help showcase them in the context of full length texts. The learners then need to create their own sentences applying each literary device via controlled practice and then an overall review incorporating them all.

 

Some of them have grumbled a bit about this, but most have had fun with it. The building and construction student who turned 'the hammer is old' into the hammer is as old as my grandpa's balls showed how creativity and vivid imagery aren't lost in/on trade students, but also sparked a useful conversation about the notions of audience, purpose and appropriacy...

 

Following first drafts I now ask students to point out the literary devices they've used. Some have had go back to the tutorial again to re-examine the devices and then make them the focus of an improved second draft. Most, however, are already using them quite readily in the first draft and can point them out to me on the page without hesitation.

 

Generally speaking, this emphasis on literary devices has resulted in far more creative and expressive writing right from the start (compared to what I saw last year).

 

 

 

4. Multiple text types and points of view

 

Given the outcome requires two or more complete writing pieces, I've asked the learners to ensure that each one applies a different text type and point of view (as in, writing 'voice' from the first, second or third person).

 

In essence, what the learners see and are expected to choose and plan their different pieces according to is:

 

 

So to meet the outcome, we need at least one of each text type, and one of each point of view.

 

To some degree the identification of text types in topic suggestions (see point 2 above) has helped the learners here, as has the emphasis and controlled practice with points of view (see point 3 above), but this has been a real revelation in terms of getting the learners to widen their writing experience and express themselves in different ways from different angles.

 

As an example, the plumbing student I have who always claims to 'HATE writing stories' found it was a bit of a different prospect to write one from the second person point of view. The challenge of writing the story 'to' a reader ended up capturing his interest and moving him away from his automatic dislike for story writing. 

 

Another student discovered how much more freedom there was in writing an 'expressive' piece from a third person point of view (rather than the first), as well as protection (he could make it not look or feel like a 'this is me' piece). A couple of other students have written some quite fascinating stories based on (or 'inside') songs and video clips, with different points of view resulting in very different effects. 

 

Some are struggling slightly with the two angles to consider, but the result has been a lot of questions and requests for confirmation in response to attempts to angle a piece of writing this way or that way -- not automatic or outright negativity.

 

I see more width and depth developing in these kids' writing (as well as overall critical thinking and empathy) based on different text types and points of view, and it makes my spirit soar. 

 

 

 

5. Published pieces of writing in an e-Portfolio

 

Last year completed writing work was printed and stuffed away into a folder. This year it gets published on the Internet in an e-Portfolio platform provided by Mahara, which allows them to integrate their writing with images and video clips.

 

First person narrative fiction...

 

 

Third person expressive/narrative based on music clip (featured alongside) 

 

 

I've written about these e-Portfolio developments elsewhere and it's a bit of an ongoing project I have going this year. Let's just say these notions of using technology and the cloud, applying multiple forms of media and actually 'publishing' finished writing are having a majorly positive impact on most of my students. 

 

 

 

So all up, VCAL Senior Literacy and Writing for Self Expression have progressed wonderfully for us so far this year.

 

More to live and learn in this process, of course, but I suspect a lot more to enjoy as well.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Oberon High 'Porn Teacher' to star in another Geelong classroom...

 

 

... only he won't be there in the (a-hem) flesh and the discussion will be about his actions, subsequent resignation and the rather startling relevation that the teacher who was exposed as a porn star was also a VCE Media Studies teacher.

 

You may not have heard about this (given the very wide world from which visitors pop in to visit this blog), and the snapshot is basically this: A teacher from Oberon High School in Geelong made a porn video with his girlfriend and sold it to a porn site for something like $1,500. It was discovered (presumably by one or more Oberon students) and distributed around Facebook, and in the process it was also revealed his girlfriend and co-star in the video was also his ex-student.

 

In the bonfire and subsequent investigation, the teacher resigned.

 

But this goes beyond just local news for us here at GTEC in Geelong. Oberon High School is one of our 'feeder' schools; many students move over to us to complete Year 11 and/or 12 VCAL.

 

Hence a lot of students had already seen the video on Facebook, and many of them knew the teacher personally. He was described, without exception, as a great teacher and many went so far as to say he was the best teacher at the school.

 

Of course, being 16-18 year-old boys, very soon talk about the issue descended into (a-hem) innuendo and humorous rebuke. But the issue seemed to strike a chord somewhere in many of them. This wasn't just any teacher up to no good on the Internet. This was a teacher many of them knew and respected. The general talk was that there was no way he should be forced to resign.

 

Following the interview John Walsh and his girlfriend Sarah Bradford did (see above) on Friday night, I see this as an excellent opportunity to really try to explore the issue in a mature way and knock over some of our Senior VCAL Oral Communication outcomes (especially Oracy for Self Expression and Oracy for Exploring Issues and Problem Solving).

 

Given that most of our students are preparing to become tradesmen, I was VERY intrigued by John's comment that, had he been a plumber, there wouldn't have been any issue. The message there is almost one of: unless you belong to a white collar profession, acting however you like on the Internet isn't going to affect you or your business. Let's see what they make of that...

 

Below you can see the scaffolding worksheet I have put together to help my Year 12 students prepare for the discussion:

 

 

 

Download GTEC VCAL Senior Oral Communication - Oracy for Self Expression and EIPS

 

We'll (a-hem) video record the classroom discussion, so that I can go back through it later and apply the outcome assessment elements, as per the form here:

 

 

 

Download GTEC VCAL Oral Communication Assessment Form 1-4

 

From there, we might see how the whole topic could be extended into reading and writing outcomes as well.

 

I'm looking forward to this, because it's not often you get a truly local issue as big as this... one that is guaranteed to get your students interested and talking. Given we are also embarking on Mahara e-Portfolios with their embedded social media elements, I think the whole privacy and the Internet issue, digital footprints, etc. will be really engaging to explore.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

GTEC Mahara e-Portfolio Showcase 1

 

 

 

In a recent post (E-Portfolios Away!) I demonstrated the initial building process for our VCAL Literacy e-Portfolios using Mahara.

 

I was very excited today to see several students go beyond those templates to start submitting full writing pieces, complete with images, using the writing work file in the margin to document their draft work. It was also a joy to see them start personalising their general interface, including favourite YouTube music tracks and images that have particular meaning or appeal to them as individuals.

 

Here's a small showcase...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the best thing in all of this was the buzz... the lads were seriously into it. Students still engaged in their draft work were glancing over at the Mahara portfolio pages appearing and getting into their work with renewed vigour in order to get them up to this 'publishing' stage.

 

This is SOOOO different from literacy work that appears as printed out pages of text to be filed away in plastic folders...

 

Disengaged students?

 

No such thing down around GTEC way.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

e-Portfolios away!

 

Having fun doing the same VCAL portfolio work I'm asking students to do...

 

 

One week into the new term at GTEC at The Gordon and I must admit that I am delighted at how well the e-Portfolio project I've initiated with our Year 12 cohort is turning out.

 

We're using Mahara e-Portfolios, attached to our Moodle coursework pages. I've written previously about the blogging with students initiative as part of VCAL Senior Literacy (part 1 and part 2), as well as the decision to broaden out the whole blogging idea into an e-Portfolio with Mahara.

 

It's been interesting to experiment and see what might best facilitate quick uptake of the e-Portfolios in terms of interest level, independent set up and then actual use. So far, the strategy of building a portfolio myself (applying the same literacy outcomes I am asking students to tackle--as demonstrated in the picture above) and screencasting each stage as a demonstrative tutorial seems to have paid off quite nicely.

 

 

Mahara set up and application screencast tutorials featured on students' Moodle course page...

 

 

In what I consider to be a masterstroke of practical forward-thinking, the education development team at The Gordon has created a seamless link between Moodle and Mahara applications. What that means is that students who have already been registered in Moodle as course participants get their Mahara account activated using the same user IDs and passwords. So essentially, we can link straight out of the Moodle coursework to their e-Portfolio accounts and they're instantly accessible at the click of a link.

 

Using the screencast tutorials for students to set up and format their e-Portfolios has also worked out well. Out of about 50 students, approximately half or so have managed to get the whole set up organised fully independently (including many who did so over at The Gordon library or at home). Of the remainder, about half managed to get most of it right but needed some assistance to tweak certain things into shape. The rest needed some active guidance from (either from teacher or fellow student), but even then the screencasts formed a background awareness that allowed the helper to just give oral instructions or gesture to parts of the screen; students were still building the e-Portfolio with their own fingers at the keyboard.

 

It's so important that, with about a dozen students needing active assistance, it was possible to have the remainder of the students going ahead and doing things independently while the students who needed the help got it, and promptly. Nobody has been left behind in the overall process.

 

Based on my sample e-Portfolio and the screencasts showing how I built it, all the students quickly developed their Mahara 'Views' into a basic template that looks like this:

 

 

Our basic layout template, with scope for individual 'decoration' in the left hand column...

 

 

The basic idea is to have profile and personal features (like pics and videos) in the left hand column, a 'blog' occupying the broader central column where literacy task final drafts are uploaded (with planning and drafts attached), and a list of blog posts and writing/reading work folders in the right hand column. The work folders have been set up in a way that means the attached planning and drafting files appear here in list format automatically, with coded abbreviations referencing specific VCAL Literacy outcomes.

 

 

 

An uploaded student blog post, with planning and drafting files attached and listed

 

 

I'm also very happy with the individualisation going on with the writing. Some pretty exhaustive preparation of potential writing topics has been done, with grouped themes and information about potential audience and purpose as well as writing prompts organised by text types. There has been no room whatsoever for the oh so common 'but I have no idea what to write about' complaint, and students are still free to adapt or work completely outside the suggestions given.

 

 

One of several thematic groupings of writing topics for 'Writing for Self Expression' provided to students

 

 

What we have going here now is a very effective tool for gathering and presenting literacy work, with lots of scope for individualisation and personal preferences via multimedia applications. In many ways it brings teenage literacy more into the real (contemporary) world.

 

It is also set up in a way that admirably covers our auditing and QA needs. Grades and feedback are delivered privately in Moodle, with direct URL links to both finished products and the files showing the process that built them on Mahara.

 

And 'literacy' is just the start... Once they've learned how to build all this for one subject, the other teachers will be encouraging and facilitating them to build additional 'views' (or other folios all linked together within the one overall e-Portfolio) showcasing things like manufacturing technology skills (CAD), tool skills, work experience, community projects, fit for work development, etc.

 

However, and this is where it gets intriguing, we are also now in a zone where intellectual property (one quick example is the covering of creative commons options for images and appropriate methods of attribution or ownership) and responsible use of social media can be tackled. 

 

At the moment, all of the e-Portfolios are in private mode linked only via the 'friends' option. Part of this course will be about how to analyse and differentiate between something like Facebook and a school/professional platform, and what is involved when it comes to certain (what I call) 'social media graces.'

 

Already we have a couple of Mahara pages that sort of resemble the grunt and grime of your average teenage boy's Facebook page. But it's there for us to see (within our private school circle), address, discuss and tackle from a social education perspective. And these are very much a tiny minority; already the vast majority of students (despite their so-called disengaged 'youth gone wild' reputations) are using these pages seriously and responsibly.

 

Eventually, when I and the school are satisfied an e-Portfolio is being used and presented appropriately, there will be the option to switch it over to public viewing and (we hope) as an online extension of the resume sent out to potential employers. Hopefully, we can lead the students towards these realisations and expectations through a process that involves individual development and judgment. 

 

The most encouraging sign in all of this has been the students' reactions. Not a single complaint or whine about 'having' to build an e-Portfolio. For most, they've taken it so naturally in their stride that it's been rather like handing an apple seed to an orchard owner.

 

One learner even suggested, enthusiastically and somewhat more than half-seriously, that it was about time we renamed this course subject 'Literacy ICT.' It got me thinking, because I honestly see them as (increasingly) seamlessly merged anyway...

 

 

Anyway, initial successes with the VCAL Literacy e-Portfolios at GTEC. Let's see where it heads from here.

 

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

All planned and ready (to fly by the seat of my pants)

 

 

 

After one of the most pleasant breaks I can recall, and then a deliciously frantic couple of weeks mastering a new online delivery system alongside all the content I needed to gather together, tomorrow morning I finally get to meet a new cohort of 60-70 applied learning Year 11 students... and welcome back a similar number of Year 12 students from last year.

 

The eve of a new school term always intrigues me. Non-instuction periods can often feel great in terms of having the time to really think your way through and around your course offerings, but it never really feels quite right. Over the years I've come to realise that, without the learners in the building and in contact with you from day to day, it's never quite possible to capture the pulse of what is likely to work well and why.

 

I mean, we can do our very best to be professional and prepared. Like this (the introduction to one of my courses, followed up with a quiz to see how much of it has been absorbed and then a needs analysis activity):

 

 

 

 

However, in my final checklist of what I needed to have ready and waiting for the first day back at school tomorrow (today, actually, as I write this post), I ended up visualising the seat of a pair of pants.

 

"Those'll need some wings," I thought to myself.

 

Then, finally, I felt prepared.

Ready.

Excited about all the things I don't know about the term ahead... Yet.

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Blogging with students (3): Going the full Mahara...

 

 

 

In a couple of previous posts (Part 1 here and Part 2 here) I looked at the rationales for blogging with students and what sorts of platforms I was considering.

 

In the end what I've decided to go with is Mahara, which includes a basic blogging platform but incorporates it into a range of features to build a full, highly logical and engaging e-Portfolio tool.

 

I think Mahara has enormous potential and given we have automatic access to it at our institute via our Moodle set up, I'm ready to give it a red hot go with our Year 12 cohort. As part of my preparations for the new school year I've gone into Mahara and made my own portfolio to really test it out, see what's possible and what could be potentially complicated or easy for my students.

 

The following screencasts have been put together to help get my students started with this e-Portfolio tool. Although they are obviously course and context-specific, if you're wondering what Mahara is and how it can be set up then these peeks might help to give you a better idea...

 

 

 

GTEC Mahara Set Up Tutorial 1

How to access the tool, set up a basic profile and get some file folders in order...

 

 

 

 

GTEC Mahara Set Up Tutorial 2

How to get a specific portfolio (or 'View' using the Mahara vernacular) set up...

 

 

 

 

GTEC Mahara Set Up Tutorial 3

How to select, store and apply images for some basic decoration...

 

 

 

 

GTEC Mahara Set Up Tutorial 4

How to 'show' the e-Portfolio by connecting with other users (teachers and classmates, etc.)...

 

 

 

 

GTEC Mahara Application 1

How to upload written work into a Mahara e-Portfolio in a way that captures final drafts as blog posts but also attaches a full file of all drafting work...

 

 

 

 

This is all for one subject (VCAL Senior Literacy) and Mahara allows for different Views/Portfolios for things like multiple subjects. It will be intriguing to see whether students and teachers go for it and add other portfolios for other subjects, and from there I will be interested to see how an e-Portfolio of this nature could be useful for things like job applications.

 

 

To be continued...

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

What could hobbits teach us about 'funds of knowledge'?

 

 

 

 

Funds of knowledge refers to those historically developed and accumulated strategies (e.g., skills, abilities, ideas, practices) or bodies of knowledge that are essential to a household's functioning and well-being (for details, see Greenberg, 1989; Veléz-IbáÑez & Greenberg, 1992; Moll, 2000).

 

Contemplating and preparing for 'funds of knowledge' can be an excellent way to start your planning for a new school term. Without knowing what the students already know or can potentially know (and teach us and others) based on their home, family and community contexts, how can we really have an effective plan?

 

Try googling 'Funds of Knowledge.' Everything I found on the front couple of pages there of search was interesting, appealing and helpful.

 

Realistically, not many of us have the time to go out and 'research' our students and their families in their homes and communities. Some might not even find that prospect appealing, for potentially valid reasons. However, it IS possible to draw on funds of knowledge to a greater or lesser extent through the curriculum itself.

 

With my new batch of Year 11 students this year, one of the first things I have to 'knock over' is a set of foundation literacy skills in combination with some basic OH&S priorities. This could, in fact, get done pretty quickly by just throwing the ready to roll OH&S documents, videos and worksheets at the learners.

 

What I have done is expand this considerably by beginning first with a series of FoK activities. Learners will be invited to talk and write about accidents and injuries they've witnessed in their homes and communities. How did these incidents happen and how did people handle them? They will identify and explain a variety of things they know how to do -- especially with tools, basic or complex -- and how they've learned to do them safely.

 

Using that as the nucleus, we'll expand out to look at what they need to know about workshop and tools safety. Hopefully they'll have the beginnings of some awareness, that they already know more than they or our program might haven initially given them initial credit for, but there is also more to learn (and it is important to learn).

 

When I was a language teacher, this sort of thing generally got labelled 'schemata' or 'schema activation.' However, funds of knowledge is a more robust and pragmatic way of looking at it, methinks.

 

 

Does funds of knowledge feature in your initial planning for coursework in 2012?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Blogging with students (2): Choosing a blogging platform

 

 

 

In my first post based around the idea of getting students to blog, I explored the important question of Why? Following that, and assuming we've come to the conclusion that there are some strong rationales for using blogs with high school literacy coursework, the next important questions become Where? and How?

 

As in: we've decided blogging can be a great thing for learning outcomes, but where and how are they going to do that?

 

The four most attractive free blogging tools for me appear to be Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr and Posterous (Spaces).

 

And of those, I have to admit I think that Tumblr would be the one that would appeal the most to my 16 and 17-year-old students. If fact, I've already heard some students talking about finding things on Tumblr, so perhaps there is already a link there. Posterous would have been an equal favourite, but their recent transition to something called Posterous Spaces does, I think, cloud their offering with a bit too much information and the potential for confusion or overload. 

 

In the end, however, I realised that the best person to evaluate and eventually choose the blogging platform for each student will be the student him/herself. In fact, this becomes a very useful way of making the blog platform selection a learning task in itself.

 

So basically, I think I will start by presenting the four free blogging tools above as initial options, give my own opinions about each, and then give the students an assignment to choose their own blogging platform (they may, of course, go outside the selections I've introduced) with some rationales for their choices.

 

Before my kids even blog, there are chances to make blog platform selection an active part of the Literacy and Oral Communications outcomes in our VCAL curriculum.

 

I wonder what they'll end up going with?

And I love not really knowing in advance!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

An embedded point of difference

 

 

 

Thanks to the very useful tutorial here, I learned how to embed YouTube videos directly into Microsoft Word documents. Gosh, what a great tool to have at your disposal.

 

In the example above (an application for a rather prestigious award one of my VCAL students asked me to help him out with), I was able to start his application with two videos covering a major project he accomplished. The first video shows him discussing his CAD drawings and rationalising his design alongside the first couple of planks of wood he'd prepared. The second video, from about six months later, shows his completed project in full action.

 

Given that his application is due to be submitted in Word format electronically, the first thing the judges are going to see is the applicant presenting himself in the flesh and a completed project from initial design to finished (and very functional) product.

 

I'm going to take this a few steps further next year. As we help our VCAL students prepare resume documents for apprenticeship and job applications, we'll be inserting two videos along the same lines as above. I think it's important in a CV (for a young person in particular) to show a bit of a quick journey and demonstrate their capacity to grow, learn and achieve.

 

This adds so much more texture and context to the rather bland document that a CV usually represents. It creates a real 'point of difference'; I mean, out of a stack of 50 electronically submitted resumes, tell me you're not going to remember the one that included quick videos of the applicant actually doing stuff and presenting themselves in person?

 

We can do this with PDF documents as well, but in that case the video file needs to be embedded lock step and barrel and it inevitably adds a huge amount of weight to the original PDF file size. The beauty with the YouTube-in-Word format is that it's basically just an in-built i-frame linking to the hosted video on YouTube.

 

Given I have a lot of teachers reading this blog, I think it's also something to think about adding to your Teaching CV as well. How about a quick self introduction, and/or a screencast of some of your materials and/or a video of you in action in a real classroom setting?

 

Create a point of difference. Be different by showing more of yourself in more of the real world.

 

In any case, I'm looking forward to applying this as a curricular tool with my students next year. I'll update you here later when I get some idea on how well it works in attracting prospective employers!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Blogging with students (1): Why get them blogging?

 

Image: Kristina B

 

 

One of my more ambitious and exciting projects for the 2012 school year will be to get my VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) teenage students blogging.

 

I would have started it this year, but I commenced my teaching role roughly mid-way through the year and it would have made integration of blogs into the curriculum somewhat messy. More importantly, I needed to develop appropriate relationships of respect and trust with the students before floating the idea of blogging with them. The response was very positive and I think I have the all-important green light from them along with the break between academic years to get it organised and set up properly.

 

At this very early stage, it feels important to establish a solid rationale for making blogging part of the Literacy curriculum. "Everyone blogs" just doesn't cut it (and it's obviously not true anyway: out of 100 VCAL students I informally surveyed this year, only one of them had and maintained a blog). The blogging rationale is crucial, I think, in selling the idea to all the different stakeholders in our VCAL endeavour: school, teachers, students, parents and prospective employers.

 

So here, in no particular order of priority, is why I'm really hopeful I can get my VCAL students blogging next year.

 

 

1. Blogging facilitates many aspects of the VCAL curriculum

There are eight specific outcomes involved in the Literacy part of VCAL alone, and of them things like Writing for Self Expression and Writing for Public Debate are almost taylor-made for delivery via personal blogs. Quality posts can also facilitate the mirror outcomes of Reading for Self Expression and Reading for Public Debate.

But it could, depending on the commitment and interest of the student, reach much further across the outcomes than that. Reading/Writing for Practical Purposes and Reading/Writing for Knowledge  can also be catered to via appropriately planned and delivered blog posts. 

Also, it needn't be limited to just Literacy. I see a lot of potential for blog posts to cater to VCAL's WRS (Work-Related Skills) and PDS (Personal Development Skills) units. Via audio and video postings (or just through discussion and response in class to various blog posts), we can also incorporate Oral Communication unit outcomes.

Unsurprisingly (remembering that blogging is about a platform and a mode), the composition and maintenance of a blog is potentially nothing short of a curricular winner, and I think it has the power to cater to pretty much any curriculum model out there.

 

 

2. Blogging encapsulates the notions of purpose, audience and public expression

My students are very capable consumers of Internet and Social Media, but not necessarily all that savvy in the way they use and contribute to these media. I see what they post on things like Facebook and how they respond to each other and, while respecting this mode of communication amongst their peers, I quite frankly blanch at times and realise that they are missing out on -- at a relatively crucial age -- some very important social skills which could very well become important in their adult lives.

Having them think about, plan, draft and produce for a potentially public audience represents a very important opportunity to rethink the way they communicate and express themselves. 

Beyond that, I think blogging is a unique opportunity to escape the audience of 1.8 (the writer him/herself and the teacher checking and responding to the writing). Not all of my students write well, but almost all of them have incredibly interesting things to say. It feels like such a waste for such textured and unique expression to live on paper that is very briefly read by an instructor and then filed away into oblivion. There is a potentially massive audience of peers who can benefit from and add to the issues and experiences my students are capable of expressing, but they are shut out if I continue to facilitate yesteryear's closed-shop approach to Literacy.

I think blogging can change that.

 

 

3. Blogging represents a chance to create a positive digital footprint

This is somewhat related to (2) above, but in this case I don't so much see blogging as a tool to rectify poor judgment on Facebook as a chance to (a) connect with other people based on mutual interests and (b) create a really positive stream of evidence that could become useful for future work opportunities. When you consider the weight given to blog posts in search engine listings, this digital footprint can become very rich in potential.

Looking at (a) first, if my students use their blogs to explore their personal interests (and these vary hugely) I think it becomes a great way to find others beyond their immediate location who like similar things. Relationships and recognition beyond the 'home town' can mean a lot to young people, especially if the situation in the home town isn't always all that rosy.

And as for (b), well I'm assuming that many of my students will be open to the idea of blogging about their trade education and work experience. If they can learn to be expressive but savvy about the way they portray and discuss this, the blog could make for a useful inclusion on a resume (or a useful thing to pop up when a prospective employer does an online search about them).

There are some risks here, as well, but I think learning about and managing risk is an essential part of progressing through teenagedom. My learners will have a mentor and a guide (me!) with their first forays into blogging, and I think that counts for a lot.

 

 

4. Blogging can showcase talents that lead to alternative opportunities

One of the biggest disadvantages of almost all education systems is that, to a greater or lesser extent, many young people become pigeonholed at a relatively early stage based on apparent skills and proficiencies (and bits of paper to prove them).

I have students who have really unique talents that would never make it anywhere near (or beyond) the qualification papers they currently have access to. This year I had a plumbing student who also turns out to be quite a brilliant amateur photographer with a targeted interest in cars. I had an automotive student who is an absolute gun online gamer, and a carpentry student who -- beneath all the gruff and bluff associated with his trade -- is one of the most eloquent writers I've ever come across in my teaching adventures around the world.

I think blogging can become an excellent way to encourage these extra talents to float up closer to the surface of things. They might even facilitate extra avenues to income, whether it is via being 'noticed' or just through advertising and promotions connected to future blogging activity itself.

 

 

5. Blogging can turn my students into trailblazers

Most of my students are involved in the 'hard' trades. They're school-based apprentices, or looking to get an apprenticeship.

I did some extensive searching this year, looking for blog posts written by and/or for teenage apprentices and it turned out to be rather futile. Searching even for just general teenager blogs can result in a very mixed and limited bag.

So perhaps my students can become relative pioneers in this space. If they blog about their trade education and experiences, the skills they are picking up, the transition from school to work life, etc., then perhaps they can start creating the content that future applied learning students will be able to access and benefit from.

And perhaps, just perhaps, this will motivate my students with another sense of purpose and worth.

 

 

 

Those are five of the areas that appeal to me most at the moment as I contemplate the hows and whys of blogging with teenage students. In your opinion and experience, have I missed anything? What else can blogging potentially bring to my students? In my enthusiasm and drive, am I overlooking any major caveats or risks?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

 

World Adventure Kids: Setting them free...

 

 

 

It's a complicated sort of decision, but in the end it wasn't terribly difficult to make.

 

The full 168-page digital version of World Adventure Kids is now a 100% free download. You can get it now by popping over to the WAK page on English Raven; look for the green bar inviting you to download the book for free. No strings attached.

 

I might blog in the near future about why I've decided to head in this direction, but for now let's just say that:

 

• I designed and wrote this because I wanted to enjoy the whole design and writing process. It was fun. Enormously enjoyable to make.

 

• I'm a truly lousy (and lazy) salesman. I honestly couldn't be bothered putting all the time into advertising and pushing it. I'd rather children just read it, liked it.

 

• It cost thousands to self-publish this sort of work (the illustrations alone put me back close to three thousand US dollars...), but it was bankrolled with part of the royalties from a massively commercial textbook series (and let's just say that, using that equation, I'm still well in front). 

 

 

There is the risk, of course, that offering something up for free means that people will be less disposed towards valuing and respecting it. We'll see, shall we?

 

 

;-)

 

 

 

Teaching is... Turning Corners

 

Image: Trey Ratcliff

 

 

 

I'm sure I'm not the first teacher who finds him/herself pausing from time to time to ask the question: Why do I do this? What keeps me in this profession?

 

It's certainly not the pay, is it? And the hours? For the dedicated and passionate teacher, the hours slip away into a stream, but when you stop to tally up those hours it can be a bit frightening to see how much of your life is given over to your 'work.'

 

Amongst a host of other rationales, I think one of the things that keeps me passionate about my profession is the sense of overcoming adversity. Wading through streams of can't and won't and emerging on the other side to find the negative suffix has disappeared and been replaced with an emphatic exclamation mark.

 

In essence, nothing fires me up more about my job than the sensation of having turned corners.

 

As the academic year peters out in my current (and new this year) teaching role and I struggle to cope with the exhaustion, there comes that warm glow as I contemplate the corners that have been turned.

 

I think about groups of learners approaching the Literacy classroom with expressions ranging from loathing to (much worse) complete indifference back in June, who last week walked in with friendly greetings, happy to be there and even happier knowing that not only have they passed Literacy but actually passed it quite well.

 

I think about those individuals who, in June (halfway through the year), did not have a single VCAL Literacy Outcome marked on their trackers, but now have 16-20 outcomes completed and a Year 12 High School pass as a result.

 

It is, I have to very selfishly admit, pleasing to contemplate that this time last year, of the failed students well over 60% of them didn't pass on account of a fail for Literacy, whereas this year the figure is going to be more like about 10%. 

 

Grades and bean counting aside, one of the most pleasing things about this year has been the transition in so many students from 'I want to be anywhere but here in this classroom' to 'I like being here'...

 

Watching learners turn major corners is probably the most exhilarating part of being a teacher, and knowing you played a facilitative role in that ought to (quite rightly) lead to a sense of genuine satisfaction and pride. Their corners as learners are linked ineluctably to our own as teachers.

 

There are always other corners to turn, however, and I sure as hell know what some of my more pressing ones are for next year. Some of the hardest yards have already been completed and that makes new challenges that little bit more exciting and interesting... Successful foundations mean that building can commence; survival and 'basic needs' have given way to more of a sense of aspiration.

 

That's why turning corners (and recognising that they've been turned) is so important. These become the catalysts and sources of energy we need to overcome the next obstacles, slip through or around other adversities, identify and chart a course towards turning those next corners.

 

 

I'm sure you've managed to turn at least a few corners this year... What were they?

 

And, just as importantly, which corners are you going to try and turn next?

 

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

What they win by cheating at THIS game...

 

 

 

Extensive reading...?

Intensive reading...?

VOLUNTARY reading?

 

These are terms you might have seen bandied about a lot of late. We do, of course, want our learners to read extensively, read intensively, and do so based on voluntary interest in what they are doing.

 

It's not always as easy as it sounds, especially for highly reluctant readers and/or those children who are reading (or being 'forced' to read) based on a study schedule where, despite all of our best intentions and slogans, the rewards for reading are more often extrinsically motivated than intrinsically driven.

 

These were the sorts of issues that inspired me, several years ago, to write choose your own adventure style stories that address the reader directly and focus on the idea of having grand adventures, and for it to almost feel like a game.

 

One of the most interesting aspects of this came in the form of 'cheating'...

 

With both the print and digital versions of World Adventure Kids, the narratives are divided up into chunks and spread at random around different page numbers in the book (with directions on which part to go to next, often with a choice to make).

 

A common result, as with the pages illustrated at the top of this post, is that the readers find themselves looking at one part of the story on one page but also get a juicy preview of another stage of either the same or a different adventure thread in the book. The temptation to at least glance over that facing page (knowing that it might inform you about what is coming up later in the your adventures) can be quite irresistable.

 

Hence the reader looks beyond the section of the story to other sections (extending what they read), and does so voluntarily.

 

A similar sort of thing happens when readers are presented with choices. The temptation to do a little cheating and glance over at the results of both choices before selecting one to follow is natural (with more opportunities for voluntary extension outside the bounds of a single narrative).

 

The facilitation of these forms of 'cheating' is deliberate on my part in World Adventure Kids.

 

The readers may be cheating a little when it comes to 'playing' this story as a game, but they are winning (without actually realising it) when we consider the extra reading and critical thinking they engage in quite naturally through this process.

 

So, dear younger readers of World Adventure Kids, cheat to your heart's content. I'm all for it!

 

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Exploring the write to read

 

Image: Quinn Dombrowski

 

 

 

I've just deleted a rather lengthy post on this topic with the expectation the depth and length would turn blog visitors off reading it properly and responding to the central issues explored.

 

So I'll put it to you as a simple notion instead...

 

Do you think texts written by students are potentially legitimate sources of reading skills outcomes for the other students in the class or -- by extension -- any other learners of the same age and/or level in a variety of other contexts?

 

In other words: is it possible or even desirable to use the texts our students write as actual reading texts for peers?

 

 

This is a question that has been brewing in me for almost a decade, and has come to a sort of head over the past six months in particular.

 

So what do you think?

 

 

;-D

 

 

Catapult! (Never underestimate your students)

 

GTEC Catapult Day, October 2011. Aden prepares his unique trebuchet for action...

 

 

 

I work in a teaching and learning environment which is special in all sorts of ways, but probably the most special thing of all about it is what our 17 and 18-year-old (so-called 'disengaged learners') manage to achieve.

 

Let me tell and show a little story about a student named Aden Nadoh, one of our GTEC Year 12 VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) Building and Construction students...

 

Let's start with a quick interview I did with Aden in June, as part of the Oral Communication section of his curriculum (Outcome: Oracy for Practical Purposes), when he was just getting into the workshop to actually start building the catapult he'd finished designing through meticulous work with CAD (Computer Assisted Design):

 

 

 

 

There were all sorts of other tasks integrated into this project across several subjects. In the Literacy strand (for example), the students needed to complete design briefs, essays about the history of various catapult designs, assembly instructions, safe operating procedures and evaluations, etc.

 

Anyway, back to the story...

 

Five months later, I watched Aden testing out his finished catapult in the school courtyard (with adequate safety precautions in place, of course) and made the prediction he would get a distance of 100-150 metres in the official Catapult Day competition our design and tech teachers had so painstakingly organised.

 

Brett Smith (one of our carpentry teachers) scoffed in the staff meeting when I announced this prediction, and enjoyed a series of jokes about how the literacy teacher had no skills in numeracy or estimation (hey: this is an Aussie staff room after all!).

 

 

Rightio Smithy... Watch and see what happened on Catapult Day:

 

 

 

 

 

125 metres on the full. Well and truly beyond 150 metres once the projectile had stopped rolling!

 

Not bad estimation skills for a mere literacy teacher, eh?

 

 

And I think this pic shows (in addition to the secret mechanism that makes Aden's catapult so effective) just how well our wood and metal teachers pass on skills to our students:

 

 

 

 

Anyway, congrats to Aden on a brilliant piece of work from start to finish, and congrats to the design/tech/wood/metal teachers who helped him achieve it.

 

 

Lesson?

 

Never underestimate your students!!!

 

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Exploring the 'values' curriculum

 

 

 

Rilla Roessel is one of those people you meet and work with in publishing who constantly surprises you and -- occasionally -- makes you realise there are people out there who see things you never even guessed at.

 

Rilla was kind enough to look over a very early draft of World Adventure Kids for me (I'd worked with Rilla extensively at Pearson through the whole process of making and then marketing the Boost! Integrated Skills Series) to give me some feedback and provide a few angles I might have missed.

 

She really liked what she saw/read, acknowledged that it ticked a lot of those boxes like CLIL, extensive reading, etc. and then made a comment along the lines of "another thing it really has going for it is that it has such a strong values curriculum embedded in it."

 

Values curriculum?

There was a new term to add to my thinking box...

 

Rilla is right, of course. There are a lot of different values and ethical or moral perspectives presented in World Adventure Kids. In fact, several of the decision pathway options in the reader-directed story deliberately target choices that could be said to embody ethical issues and 'values.'

 

I featured 'values' in this way in World Adventure Kids because it seemed to come naturally to a story for children -- young people still exploring ideas and choices in the world and trying to figure out what is inherently right or wrong about what they choose to do and why.

 

However, having identified (thanks to Rilla's astute observation) that my work definitely did have a 'values' orientation, I must admit that I started to feel a little uneasy...

 

Was I preaching at and attempting to moralize children in this story? In embedding a strong 'values curriculum' was I in actual fact falling prey to something more along the lines of the 'hidden curriculum'?

 

I looked back through the stories and choices again, eventually realising I was comfortable with the ethical choices presented. From the very start, World Adventure Kids are presented as having a very specific mission: to protect the world's environment, animals, people and cultural treasures. If you want to be a World Adventure Kid, lead a mission and use all the cool resources this mysterious movement has at its disposal, your actions and decisions need to reflect the values identified as being synonymous with WAK. 

 

Hence I feel quite comfortable with choices presented to young readers along these lines (warning: may contain some plot spoilers!):

 

 

Free the anaconda?

You've found an anaconda trapped in a cage in the depths of the Amazon Rainforest. Do you let it loose (which could obviously present some danger to yourself) or leave it right where it is (a course of action very enthusiastically supported by that member of your team who is absolutely petrified of snakes)? Should the fact that anacondas are illegally caught and sold as pets in other countries really matter?

 

Be the first to meet the Hi-Merima?

You accidentally stumble upon the village of the Hi-Merima tribe, an uncontacted people secreted away in the Amazon (this one is based on actual fact). Be the first modern humans to meet them and get your name in all the newspapers and research journals, or leave them alone? Does the fact the tribe is hostile to outsiders and at serious health risk based on lack of immunities (from things like the common cold) warrant consideration? What about their right to continue living their lives the way they always have, not bothering the outside world?

 

Touch the treasure?

After a perilous underground journey, you've finally discovered Pharaoh Sety's hidden treasure and it is truly SPECTACULAR! Haven't you earned the right to be the first to touch and examine it all, even if there is a bit of a risk that your inexpert hands might break something? And does the notion of the treasure rightfully belonging to the people of Egypt (first and foremost) really carry any water? Why is Tootenhootin in the British Museum, anyway?

 

Worth the risk?

This one is presented in World Adventure Kids in various guises in the face of different dangerous situations where a specific item of equipment hasn't been chosen by the adventurers and is necessary for safe navigation through the danger. Swim across a river full of Black Caimans? Sprint along a corridor despite a specific warning it needs to be walked in complete silence? What about your responsibility as team captain to ensure the safety of your team members and not take any unnecessary risks?

 

 

I'm not sure about other people's feelings on these issues, but I don't personally think these dilemmas represent ethical consideration that is inappropriate for children to tackle.

 

Yes, they do make an attempt at a set of values to be thought about and exhibited, and to that extent they perhaps do comprise a 'values curriculum.' But given World Adventure Kids are up front about what they expect from their team members, I would hardly say they form any kind of 'hidden curriculum.'

 

And in any case, the 'values' stuff isn't the only criteria for challenges and choices. Most of the other pathways depend more on critical thinking skills, which is something I will blog about in the near future.

 

Then again, isn't a values curriculum yet another way to encourage and facilitate critical thinking?

 

 

Mmmmm...

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Mantano Reader for Android: Great for reading World Adventure Kids!

 

 

 

When I designed and formatted World Adventure Kids, I saw it mainly as an e-reading text ideal for desktop computers, laptops, notebooks and tablet devices.

 

Trying it out on my Galaxy S smartphone confirmed my suspicion it wouldn't work that well on a mobile phone. The screen still feels too small for comfortable reading, and the Adobe Reader for Android (for some baffling reason) rendered out the interactive functions that make World Adventure Kids a fluid and pleasant touch/click experience.

 

As it turns out, it wasn't the smartphone (or its size) that was the problem; it was the e-reader app itself.

 

I uploaded a different e-reading app for Android by a company called Mantano (easy to find in the Android store connected to the phone) and I was blown away by what this reader did for an interactive text like World Adventure Kids. Not only could I now read and interact with the story on a smartphone, it was really clear and easy and... fun!

 

Mantano features excellent display properties (as well as customisation options for viewing the text) and I found WAK 2-1 beautifully clear and easy to read by turning the phone for 'landscape' mode. Scrolling down was easy, the interactive links to different 'next stages' in the story worked flawlessly on the touch screen, most illustrations fit perfectly on the landscape screen (and those that were more of the full-page format in size could easily be seen by simply turning for vertical portrait mode, before returning to landscape to continue reading text) and the colour and detail in the pics were wonderful!

 

There's also an excellent and beautifully simple bookmark function which allows you to save your current page, and unlike the crippled Adobe Reader app, Mantano automatically opens to your last viewed page if you happen to be returning to the text after a break of some sort.

 

But the Mantano Reader comes with a lot more than just a clear, clean and easy interface.

 

 

 

 

With a simple touch to the screen, the extra Mantano features pop up around your text. You get a convenient 'slider' to move back and forth across the entire book, navigation and display options, as well as really easy to use annotation and highlight functions.

 

One function I particularly enjoyed, however, was the TTS (Text to Speech) option, which when activated basically reads the text to you out loud. It does have that flat, somewhat expressionless monotone you expect from a computer-generated TTS function, but it was much better than I thought it would be and for the reader who enjoys the aural supplement I think it does a wonderful job.

 

Despite the fact that I actually wrote World Adventure Kids and must have read over the story a million times, viewing and reading it on my Galaxy S with the Mantano Reader app became almost an addictive experience! With a single thumb I was able to scroll through and navigate to next sections of the adventure, activating Text-to-Speech here and there to have my adventure story read out loud to me, and enjoying the full colour illustrations.

 

It felt much more like playing a game than reading a book...

 

I couldn't help envisaging kids in the car on a family trip, enjoying an interactive adventure on their parent's smartphone. A tablet device would probably make for an even more enjoyable reading experience, but knowing that WAK 2-1 really can work on a smarphone is music to my ears.

 

Just make sure you have a good e-Reader App, and Mantano Reader comes top of the list as far as I am concerned!

 

 

;-D

 

 

Getting Word Wise with World Adventure Kids

 

 

 

One of the most important parts of reading, from a skills and foundation point of view, is building vocabulary. This is particularly true for young readers engaging with texts in their second language, but is generally relevant to first language learners as well.

 

How robust the approach to building vocabulary is can depend on a variety of factors. Some readers can sort of 'absorb' new words just through the process of guessing from context and doing a wide range of extensive reading. Others can get by reasonably well enough by occasionally referring to a dictionary or asking an adult for explanation and elaboration when it seems called for. Some readers benefit from writing up word lists with basic definitions.

 

Working with learners of all ages in a context where English was a foreign language and a major priority of reading in English was to develop vocabulary, some years ago I developed a workbook approach to supplement reading texts called 'Word Hoard' (and later: 'Word Wise'). It worked so well that I thought it would be a good idea to apply it as an optional resource for the World Adventure Kids stories as well.

 

What follows is an overview of how to use the World Adventure Kids Word Wise resource (available as a free PDF download here) and what it covers and why. I've also included an introductory/instructional video specially made for the children-users themselves (though I'm sure teachers and parents could benefit from it as well!).

 

 

Basically, Word Wise WAK 2-1 is a 69-page workbook designed to be used in conjunction with the World Adventure Kids reading sets. It can be printed out and added to progressively as learners encounter and explore new words in the story texts. It caters to 8 'units' of 20 words each (hence 160 words altogether), but these numbers can be easily adjusted upwards or downwards based on reader and classroom preferences.

 

 

 

The first step involves the Master Wordlist at the start of the book. As learners read through and experience World Adventure Kids, the idea is that they look for words that feel new or that they would like to explore more. When a word has been chosen, it is entered first in the Master Wordlist at the front of the book (to create an initial reference point) -- the example used here is the word 'adventure'.

 

 

 

 

Each word is then placed into a special work grid, presented in the workbook as above, with three word grids per page and twenty per 'unit'.  This is where the word is going to be really worked with and explored in a much more robust fashion, and the video below explains and demonstrates how it all works (this was specifically made for young readers to understand the process, by the way!):

 

 

 

 

So, in essence, a word grid features the following exploration:

A. Listing the word

B. Translating it into a learner's first language (or writing a definition for it)

C. Writing the word out three times neatly

D. Identifying the word's part of speech

E. Finding words that represent related ideas (building 'convocation' and lexical sets)

F. Writing the word in context using the full example sentence initially encountered in the World Adventure Kids text

G. Writing the word in a new sentence of the learner's own creation, using it accurately in a new context and/or personalising its use

H. Drawing a sketch or diagram (or pasting on a picture) to help visually conceptualise the word

 

 

Having experimented with vocabulary development for children over many years, I've found this has been one of the most comprehensive when it comes to really exploring the notion and use of a word.

Note that the grid doesn't necessarily need to be filled out in that order, and I have in fact seen children complete the grid in all sorts of different sequences. Great! Let them find what works for them. I've also found that a basic dictionary, physical or online, is a great help for filling out some of these sections.

 

 

 

When a word grid has been completed (or completed to the best of the learner's ability), it can be checked by a parent or teacher (you'll probably find it easier to check several at a time) and have 'stars' allocated for each complete 'row' on the grid. There are six star rows in each grid, and many of them represent 'easy points' (for example, writing the word out, finding its part of speech, copying the sentence it comes from in the main text, etc.). This star point allocation is meant to be reasonably flexible; I have, for example, been willing to circle a complete star in cases where most of the row was successfully completed. 

 

 

The star points can be tallied on each page of the workbook (there is a space at the bottom of each page to do this) and then a points tally can be made for an entire 'unit' of 20 words. There are basically 120 star points per unit up for grabs, and I've divided them into grade rankings (not very scientific or statistical, mind; I've just found that this allocation tends to reward learners willing to put in the hard yards without slapping an unnecessarily shocking grade on those who aren't quite as dedicated!). 

 

There is also a chart at the end of the workbook that allows learners and teachers/parents to track how well they performed across all of the units.

 

 

 

 

The final part of a unit features an integration/use activity encouraging learners to write 'a report, article, short essay or story using at least 15 of the vocabulary items from the unit'. This is strictly optional of course, and one of the great things about this printable resource is that, if you feel this is going just that little bit too much overboard, you can always not include it!

 

The basic idea here is for the learners to do some extended writing of their own, using the words they've explored for a targeted writing purpose.

 

Here are just some of the ways this section could be used for readers of World Adventure Kids:

 

1. Write a quick report about what has happened in your adventure so far.

2. Write about some of the new things you've learned so far (World Adventure Kids is rich in subject-based learning, so this ought to be a relatively rich area to choose from).

3. Rewrite key parts of your adventure so far, using past tense (the adventure itself is written in the present tense, so this can be an interesting way to highlight differences between the two tenses).

4. Create a spin-off story (take one or more parts of the adventure and add new narrative to change or extend it in some way).

5. Rewrite the key points of the adventure so far from the perspective of one of the other characters (for example, pretend to be a different team member or even Golden Sky or a Jump Jet/Heliporter pilot observing the adventure from a distance).

6. Create a timeline or map with labels summarising the adventure so far (good for learners who aren't confident with extensive writing but may like more visual activities).

 

 

Generally speaking, I've found this section to be a great way to encourage reviewing and rethinking over what one has read so far, with the new vocabulary integrated into the process. There is a second listing in the summary at the back of the workbook which allows a score to be allocated for this writing section alongside the actual word building grid work.

 

 

 

So there is Word Wise for World Adventure Kids!

 

I've gone into quite a lot of detail here, which I hope hasn't been off-putting, but I would remind you that this sort of word work isn't a necessity when it comes to engaging with World Adventure Kids. For those who want to squeeze a bit more out of it, however, this can be a particularly rich resource.

 

Funnily enough, and despite the work involved, I've found that most children actually like the Word Wise approach and get into a nice rhythm with it. Many of them are very proud of the end result and get a real sense of having learned a lot of new things. And the pictures/conceptualisations... my goodness, kids are brilliant with that part and make us adults look very one dimensional indeed!

 

 

If you're interested in using the Word Wise approach in other sorts of language learning contexts, you might like to also check out my post here:

A Word Wise approach to vocabulary building and application

 

There is a more extensive instructional video there for teachers as well as adaptable open source versions of the Word Wise resource for you to download and use as you will.

 

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Reading expansion projects (Set 1)

 

 

 

Over many years of doing reading with learners of all age groups, I must confess that the actual act of reading something--while itself often very enjoyable--pales in comparison to what happens when we use that reading, or follow up from it.

 

Project tasks, either on an ongoing basis while a reading text is being engaged with or as a series of follow ups after the whole story has been wound up, are brilliant for encouraging a deeper layer of analysis and comprehension as well as taking full advantage of opportunities to engage in creative and critical thinking.

 

Basically, I think reading expansion projects (when done right) rock, and without them stories and texts only really capture a fraction of their thinking and learning potential.

 

My personal preference is to let the whole story be experienced first, with some 'in the margin' discussions if it is being scaffolded or shared with other readers, and then apply a range of small project options which will encourage the learners to go back over the text, look at certain parts of it more carefully, and then extend it (often in application to their own lives) in creative new ways.

 

In a whole-class approach to using World Adventure Kids 2-1 (as outlined on the blog here), however, it could be an option to apply mini projects in an ongoing way as in class or at home extensions between one part of the adventure and the next.

 

 

So here are four initial expansion projects for the first sections of World Adventure Kids 2-1 (before the narrative gets too deeply into particular adventures), which could be used as part of a re-reading/re-thinking of the story or as a series of challenges while the story progresses.

 

 

 

1. Secret Names

Part of being a World Adventure Kid is having your own secret name. 

A. What is your secret name and why did you choose it?

B. Look at other characters' secret names in the stories. Why do you think they chose those names?

 

Make a Secret Names File to help you remember World Adventure Kids' secret names and what they could mean!

 

 

 

2. The Next Secret Meeting Place

Golden Sky asks you to meet her in the tallest tree in the park near where you live.

But next time she wants to meet you in a different place. It needs to be secret, where you can meet and talk about new adventures in private.

 

A. Make a map of your neighborhood.

B. Choose and circle three secret places where you could meet Golden Sky secretly.

C. Send a message to Golden Sky and explain each meeting place to her (where it is and why you chose it).

 

 

 

3. Amazing Transportation Machines!

In World Adventure Kids 2-1, you get to travel in a Jump Jet or a Heliporter.

Apparently, these machines are completely quiet and produce no pollution.

 

How do you think these machines could work? How do they move so quickly? How do they stay so quiet? How do they avoid making pollution?

 

A. Draw a diagram of a Jump Jet or Heliporter.

B. Show how you think it works, drawing lines to different parts and explaining what they do.

 

 

 

4. Pilot Preparations

In World Adventure Kids 2-1, you meet and travel with two special pilots: Cumulus Swift from Malaysia (flying a Jump Jet) and Blue Stratus from Turkey (operating the Heliporter).

 

Would you like to be a World Adventure Kids pilot?

Well, there are many things to learn and do before you can become a pilot. Two of the most important are designing a secret place to hide your Jump Jet or Heliporter (called a hangar), and learning about all the different places in the world.

 

A. Design a secret hangar (in your house or somewhere close to where you live) for your transportation machine and send the design to World Adventure Kids. If it is a good design, they will send experts to build the hangar for you!

B. Make a list of the most important cities and places in the world. For each place, find out what country it is in and what makes that place special. (Look back at the stories and find the information Cumulus Swift and Blue Stratus have found out about the different places they fly to.)

 

 

 

Of course, this is just a small taster of possible expansion project ideas for just the initial parts of World Adventure Kids 2-1. You and your reader(s) can no doubt think of many more, and/or tweak the ideas presented here to help them better fit the interests of the reader. I think there are also exciting opportunities to integrate technology skills into many of the projects (for example, using Google Maps for projects 2 and 4, using something like Excel for projects 1 and 4, using visual design tools for projects 3 and 4, etc.).

 

 

I'll also be presenting other project ideas for World Adventure Kids here on the blog in future, so keep your screens (and adventure ideas) peeled!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Creating a collaborative classroom adventure

 

 

 

World Adventure Kids 2-1, like any reading text available out there, can be used in a variety of ways as part of a reading program. Aside from possibly the most obvious application (independent reading from individual children), I have been getting questions and suggestions from teachers of classes about how to best utilise WAK 2-1 for whole-class reading.

 

I am happy to say that the interactive, reader-directed format of World Adventure Kids actually makes it an excellent resource to use with a whole class for those contexts or situations whereby a teacher would like to apply it in a way that all the learners progress through it at the same pace. In fact, the role of decision making in the progress of the overall narrative really enhances opportunities for classroom discussion and debate (more so even than with a standard linear narrative).

 

 

To use WAK 2-1 with a whole class of learners aged 8-11, I would be inclined to apply it in the following way:

 

- Print out one copy of the whole book.

- Beginning at the start, take in one section of the story at a time, photocopying just that particular section so that each student in the class has a copy.

- Have the students read the section silently on their own (or out loud in turns if that is your context's preferred approach to 'reading').

- Elicit summaries of the section and explore key or difficult vocabulary as a class.

- (Optional:) Further explore any of the cross-curricular elements in more detail (for example, photosynthesis, an historical note, the effects of poisonous venom, etc.)

- If the section ends in a range of decision options, invite individual students to make suggestions and explain why they have chosen that option (alternatively: get the students into pairs or small groups and have them debate the choice together and then report back to the whole class). Then have the class debate and vote for the pathway the story will take next.

- If the section ends with a single link to the next part of the story, invite students to make predictions about what comes next and why, or to summarize their feelings about the narrative up to this point.

- (Optional:) Have students add an entry to an ongoing 'adventure journal' summarising what happened in that part of the adventure, how they feel about it and the decisions made as a group, and what they think might happen next.

- Based on the voted on decision or single pathway link, the teacher knows which adventure entry number to prepare and photocopy for the students for the next class. In this way, students add to their adventure narrative from one class to the next, perhaps filing the text (in order) in a folder of some sort.

 

 

 

 

Teachers may also be able to apply the same sort of process with digital versions of the material, by editing the main download and breaking it into discrete sections (the open source format in PDF facilitates this) which are mailed to or downloaded for students one bit at a time. The actual reading could even take place outside the classroom at home, with the checking, discussion and decision making happening in class before the teacher mails out the next part of the adventure.

 

Admittedly, an approach like this one really slows down the overall speed of the adventure experience, but it certainly does facilitate a lot more discussion, collaboration and analysis at each step along the way. It could also lend itself well to a syllabus whereby WAK 2-1 follows up other classroom learning in the first part of the lesson (or earlier part of the week), with 'adventure reading' being the reward at the end of the class or end of the week!

 

 

So, would World Adventure Kids 2-1 lend itself well to a whole-class approach to reading?

 

I certainly believe so!

 

 

And... another thing you might like to consider is the potential for you to create an ongoing reader-directed adventure for your students using the same basic principles. And from there, adventures written and shared by the students themselves! For some useful guidelines and even software applications on this front (as well as numerous other existing story resources), I encourage you to check out Larry Ferlazzo's outstanding The Best Places to Read & Write "Choose Your Own Adventure" Stories.

 

 

;-D

 

                                    

You've read the blurbs, but consider letting your kids start with the trailer!

 

 

 

 

 

Given that World Adventure Kids 2-1 is so rich in illustrations (one of a few reasons I am unlikely to ever make any profit from it--not for a very long time, anyway!), I thought I'd have some fun and make a bit of a movie trailer for it.

 

It turned out pretty well, considering my amateurish skills in this area...

 

But this also got me to thinking... In this day and age, I think children's books could really benefit from this sort of initial marketing. It's also a fantastic pre-reading resource that can help the children get an overview and start to make some predictions about what they are going to experience in text.

 

I did my best not to give too many plot secrets away, but I wonder how children will react to this. Only one way to find out!

 

 

;-D

 

 

The potential power of YOU in reader-directed children's stories

 

 

 

Yes, that's YOUR intention. YOU: the reader.

 

The use of the direct 2nd Person as the underlying narrative style in World Adventure Kids was a very deliberate choice on my part, with affective, interactive and linguistic rationales in mind.

 

For a start, this is a powerful way to 'insert' the reader directly into the story. It is appropriate for a narrative whereby the reader makes the choices and finds out where the adventures go based on his/her own decisions.

 

But I think it is an important affective device as well. For reluctant readers in particular, I think personal involvement (and a sense of freedom through the story options) can do a lot to pique their interest about what happens and why. I can recall my first experiences with Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy storybooks, at about age 10, and loving the sensation that I was in charge, that this was my adventure and not the far-fetched exploits of some abstract fabricated character I might never really relate to.

 

This format also allows for a deeper sense of interaction. The picture you can see at the top of this post comes from a section of one of the adventures where YOU have decided it could be fun or fame-enhancing to go and meet the Hi-Merima (a genuine Uncontacted People secreted away deep in the Amazon) and be the first modern person to do so. As you can tell, your team members aren't impressed with the idea. Panther Step warns it could be dangerous for you (the collective you this time) as the Hi-Merima have a fierce reputation. Think Sharp, your science expert, points out some of the risks modern humans pose for Uncontacted Peoples who have limited immune systems...

 

This is just one of a great number of interactions that take place in the stories between you, the reader, and the team members you go adventuring with. In a way it adds more life to the characters as well as the story. You get to see different sides of your co-adventurers and their personalities based on the decisions you make during the story.

 

And then there is your interaction with the story itself. Certain sections finish up with a direct question to you, and the options for going ahead are phrased in the 1st person.

 

For example (this was the text immediately preceding the scene depicted above):

 

 

It does, admittedly, put words in your mouth to some extent, but at least you get to choose which words they are, and you get to see what happens as a result of those words.

 

Last but not least, I like what this format does linguistically. The 2nd Person (combined with Present Simple tense) makes for beautifully direct and simple language. In my opinion, it helps to keep the narrative clean and simple, especially for struggling readers or second language learners. It also, to some extent, presents more language that is more relevant to spoken or personal English -- something that only happens in regular 3rd person and past tense narratives via dialogue sections.

 

Admittedly, those (more common) narrative styles yield a lot of precious language models as well, but I think the World Adventure Kids format makes for a valuable (different) supplementary model as well as a potentially rich source of comparison and noticing.

 

I might even venture so far as to say that narrative employing a lot of 2nd Person and Present Simple tense can facilitate easier access to reading, for those who might benefit from it. And the format of the reader-directed story means this happens in a way that feels natural, not contrived.

 

 

So...

 

What do you want to do now?

• I think I'll leave a comment here telling the writer what I think of his ideas

 

• I'll go back to my web-surfing now and look for something more worthy of my attention!

 

 

;-D

 

 

World Adventure Kids: They're here!

 

 

 

It's taken a while, but very pleased to announce that World Adventure Kids has finally arrived and is now available through my site.

 

Initial feedback has been very positive, including this from my 10-year-old niece:

 

Hey Uncle Jase,

One word: AMAZING! I can't wait to do the worksheets when Mum gets some more paper!

 

Given that this young lady is a pretty 'discerning' reader for her age and is never backwards in coming forwards to tell you what she's really thinking, hopefully I can interpret her analysis as being reasonably free of bias!

 

Here's a quick intro to the new book:

 

 

 

 

 

You can find out more about this 'adventure reading' approach and how to get your hands on it over on the main English Raven site here.

 

And... given there are several layers to the approach and design, I hope you won't mind me blogging from time to time about some of the things I'm trying to achieve via 'adventure reading'.

 

Oh, and thank you so much for all the very heartening well wishes and encouragement I've had today via Facebook. It took three years to build this boat, so it's wonderful to finally have it in the water... 

 

 

;-D

 

 

Do multiple choice questions epitomise the industrialisation of education?

 

Image: COCOEN

 

 

There is, of course, a solid rationale behind using multiple choice questions in educational materials designed to 'measure' what students 'know'. Actually, the description that accompanies the image above on Flickr is a reasonably good summary of some of the most important issues multiple choice questions address.

 

Over many years in education as a teacher and materials writer, I've used more than my fair share of multiple choice questions. It's what many teachers expect. My Boost! series has thousands of them (especially in the reading and grammar strands). I have folders with hundreds of tests I've designed for schools over the years, and multiple choice is a mainstay of the overall approach in many of them. An online reading program I acted as consultant to specifically asked me to format comprehension questions predominantly in mutliple choice format. The relationship with that company petered out when I refused to make the so-called writing section of their program all pre-set and multiple choice...

 

However, looking over some recent projects I've been involved in, I am seeing a huge demise in multiple choice questions. My online Trade-Lit program uses them very sparingly indeed, and mostly as a way to mix up the task work a little. I've been working on an online reading program for the English Raven site, and looking over the initial design I realised there are almost no multiple choice applications at all.

 

I've come to the realisation that they are just a very second rate means of facilitating and checking comprehension and critical thinking, no matter how scientifically you look at and apply them. They can never compare to short answer and open-ended questions, and reliance on them seriously blinds a teacher to what is really going on in students' heads and how to best address their cognitive and learning needs.

 

Admittedly, there is an exception to this rule: when students create their own multiple choice questions in response to a task or text. This can be a wonderful way for them to really think their way through content, analyse it and learn at a deeper level. But clearly this is a very different application we are talking about.

 

I also don't entirely subscribe to the view that pre-provided multiple choice questions save time for teachers. Sure, it can be much quicker to mark a test or task using multiple choice. But is that our job? Just marking tests? Allocating scores? I'm under the impression (and feel free to correct me if you disagree) that our job is to educate and really get to know what our students need in the way of strategies and tasks. Multiple choice is a dangerously enticing shortcut across a corner of a forest for a park ranger whose job it (technically) is to know the overall forest rather more comprehensively.

 

And anyway, these days I find myself reading and marking those short answer and open-ended questions at a speed not all that much slower than the time needed to sort through multiple choice answers. The difference is that the former inform me a lot more and in the longer run I think this enhances my understanding of learners and my ability to help them progress. Compared to the multiple choice application, overall I think this is saving me time.

 

Those arguments of mine all might sound fine, but we all know multiple choice will remain with us. The reason for that is very simple. Multiple choice removes the time required for analysis and thinking. It speeds things up and makes it all more convenient. Time is money. Multiple choice saves time and therefore ensures certain stakeholders make more money.

 

Personally, I believe multiple choice questions epitomise the extent to which education has become industrialised in the pursuit of monetary profit. I also believe the extent to which teachers become addicted to it embodies--to some extent--how much we are losing out as well-rounded, receptive and generally aware educators.

 

Avoiding the multiple choice temptation for Trade-Lit is fine, because it is a small program made for a small group of teachers. However, I feel a little grim when I contemplate the English Raven online reading program prospect. Just what percentage of schools and teachers am I potentially missing out on by refusing to use multiple choice and auto-correct options (that is, by making a program that requires teachers to actually check and think about the students' responses)? Such a program still represents the opportunity for profit, in my opinion. Profit more of the learning and not monetary kind, perhaps. But still: mouths need to be fed (and not just in my kitchen) and it can be a hard ask to stick to your principles.

 

 

So what's your take on the multiple choice questions issue?

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

Excellent authentic material for a language lesson: Active in Parks

 

 

 

I happened across this site (Geelong's Active in Parks initiative) while perusing my tweetstream yesterday and it immediately appealed to me as a learning resource for literacy and language learning.

 

My quick ideas (some or all or none may appeal to you!):

 

1. Discuss the notion of parks and community parks, what they're for, how many and what kinds of parks the learners have access to locally, etc.

 

2. Launch the website on a screen for the whole class to see and let the pictures run on auto speed. Get the students into teams and have them try to get a caption for each picture/section (great for reading and note-taking fluency, as the pictures skim through relatively quickly, but also very well supported visually).  After a set time, run through the pictures/captions again but leave the mouse hovering over the main picture each time (this will 'freeze' it) so that it can be adequately checked out, compared to the learners' initial notes, and discussed further.

 

3. In class (if your learners have access to computers) or at home, ask the learners to try and find the site using Google Search. Discuss which keywords would be best to track down the site.

 

4. In teams (in class) or individually (at home), have students choose and check out one particular park type they would be interested in visiting or exploring. They should research it, make a summary of the information, then present this to the class along with a quick rationale as to why they chose that particular park type. (Part of the research could involve finding and following @ActiveInParks on Twitter, looking at the tweets there and even asking the organisation some questions!)

 

5. Compare the Active in Parks Geelong initiative to parks and park activities available locally in the learners' own context.

 

6. Have the students write up a proposal for their local city council on ways they could improve park offerings, and/or improve the way local people could find out more and access their parks more effectively.

 

 

 

Got any other teaching/learning ideas for this sort of resource? Let's hear it!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

2.25 pm, according to the Sun...

 

 

 

I am regularly surprised by the power of my Samsung Galaxy S phone when it comes to the quality of the photographs it is capable of producing.

 

The above shot was taken today at ScienceWorks in Melbourne, with English Raven Jnr in the foreground pointing out the time according to the giant, vivid yellow sundial. The contrast of yellow against brilliant blue spring sky and the dark building -- gosh I love this shot!

 

This picture is one of many I took today and the collection will be used to generate a new audio/self-record book (The Science Museum) for the Little Readers section of my site.

 

 

Great fun... and great pics!

 

 

;-D

 

 

 

 

Watch Raven Play...

 

 

 

I've been a tad... well, productive, I guess!

 

All of the above is now available for free access and use in the new e-Learning section of the revamped (and revamping) English Raven website.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

:-D

 

 

 

Is Master Samurai Brent allowed in your classroom?

 

 

 

 

Well, he's actually listed as Master Samuri Brent and exhibits more of the traits of an overly ambitious Australian pre-teen ninja/gym member than anything else...

 

Anyway, as it turns out, Master Samurai Brent is now 16 years of age (he was 12-13 when he made this video) and one of my new students. Between literacy tasks on Trade-Lit, he was on YouTube looking for a new music track to play through his headphones while he went on to complete the next literacy task, and he recalled this video he'd made years before. He asked me politely if he could show it to me.

 

I watched it and absolutely howled with laughter. A few of the other fellows came over to see it as well, and some laughs were had all round.

 

In the aftermath I found out quite a lot of interesting information about Master Samurai Brent, like who the various family members in the video were and how the scene where he does a flying kick off the garden retaining wall actually resulted in him breaking his leg!

 

But mostly, I just got to know this young person a lot better. And he got to know that he has a teacher who is willing to get to know him, via windows he can choose and contribute.

 

 

Some people ask me what it is I do that seems to make teenagers comfortable, cooperative and productive in my classroom. I'm not entirely sure what it is that makes things work, but I daresay a little time and room for appearances like Master Samurai Brent makes a difference.

 

Is Master Samurai Brent (or your local version of him) welcome in your classroom?

 

I think he should be.

 

 

:-)

 

 

 

'You might see some trees... or some rocks!'

 

 

 

 

I'm positively delighted with this latest addition to the ongoing nest of experiments on the English Raven website.

 

The video above shows English Raven Jnr trying out my online Little Readers application, which basically allows kids to flip through a simple little storybook with text accompanied by pictures, audio and an embedded recording device.

 

ER Jnr's efforts, done on his own (as he often likes for me to leave the room while he tries out this stuff), showcase a couple of the ways this helps to build reading and pronunciation skills:

 

 

1. He can flip through and take on the story at his own pace.

2. He reads what he can out loud, but uses the audio provided in one part when he's not sure how to say the sentence precisely.

3. He records his own voice using the provided audio recorder and really looks forward to playing back his reading aloud performance while he flips again through the story and looks over the text.

4. He skips the review stuff at the end. He's had enough by that stage and just wants to hear himself perform the story. That's fine. He can use this the way he wants to use it, and for just the parts or ways that most interest him.

 

 

There are another four of these Little Readers stories already in printed format, but ER Jnr wants them loaded up on a screen the way this one is. I flinch at the prospect of another late night catering to his enthusiasm for this, but mostly I'm pretty darned pleased with myself...

 

 

:-)

 

 

 

Reflecting on Trade-Lit

 

 

 

Has the introduction of Trade-Lit changed the way you feel about learning literacy skills at GTEC? How and why (or why not)?

 

Write your responses in the comments section below.

 

 

;-)