Consider the boy in my class who cannot read.  He cannot communicate in writing.  He can write by copying symbols but cannot make sense of them after they are drawn.  He can write his first name because he is familiar with what it should look like.

Then consider a site which will give him oral instructions, explain questions out loud whilst highlighting the same question on screen and finally gives him the opportunity to say the answer out loud.  This site will congratulate him when he is correct, learn his weaknesses and help him to move forward.  If anyone knows of such a site with a focus on maths I would appreciate the URL.  I already use some which learn the users and help them to consolidate work which they find difficult, some which use oral commands and I have heard of voice recognition programmes which I am sure will be developed in the near future.  This is my ideal programme though – if it is available I haven’t seen it, if it isn’t then perhaps it’s not too far off.

Now consider the girl in my class who was convinced that 5+1 = 51.  She logged on to www.worldmathsday.com on Friday and answered 10 mental maths questions correctly in 1 minute.  She was 13 (in a UK S1 class normally aged 12 at this time of year) and entered as an 11 year old to participate in this worldwide challenge but she was unaware of this.  She was so delighted that it took me a while to pull her back down from the ceiling.  Her maths is no more accomplished now than ever before but she will enter my classroom on Monday with a positive attitude, thinking that she is now good at maths and that will make learning so much easier for her.

This has nothing to with the girl’s learning style but the work on the computer in just one day has increased her confidence more than any good exam mark could have done.

So let’s look at my S5 class.  I’ve spent many long hours on www.edu20.org creating a VLE for my fifth year class.  The topic I chose to cover as my experiment was spreadsheets, a very small part of their course but one which I felt they would recognise as a benefit to them in the world of work.  I told them about the site 3 days before we got near a computer in school - 3 out of 14 had logged on before we got there.  Now is not the time or place to discuss the motivations of the class but I can tell you I was impressed by this.  When we did all get logged on together the pupils worked away without question or quarrel.  I have no doubt that the dynamic nature of the work, the instant feedback, the ownership of their online profiles all contributed to their enthusiasm that day.  Time will tell if their good will persists – about a week in fact which is when I have set their assignment due. 

In short, the VLE can provide a more personal learning experience.  If the pupil want audio instructions, they can go find them.  If they need a demonstration they just need to find the correct keywords to search.  As a class teaching presenting a lesson I can only try to suit every different learning style and hope I am at least touching on them all. 

Technology can meet the needs of specific learning styles more effectively that a classroom teacher meeting the requirements of a class of 20 but we’re not quite there yet.

Consider the work involved to tailor VLE’s to every course at every level – I find it impossible to imagine how much time that would take.  Would it be worth it?  If that boy can take one more step to understand his maths or if that girl can win one more competition then my answer is a resounding – Yes!

There’s a little bit of everything in all of us!

I’m fortunate in that I never score highly in any one particular area in these tests.  From experience I know that I have to understand the bigger picture before I can begin to comprehend the details of any learning task and that I only retain information that I have had the opportunity to experience physically.  For example I can tell you what squadrons operate from RAF Kinloss, their roles, numbers, aircraft details, etc because I have been there, talked to the crew, sat in the planes and worked with personnel on site.  10 miles down the road is RAF Lossiemouth and I could just about find my way there but that’s all.

So I guess you could suggest that I am a kinasthetic learner – I must “do” to learn – but I recently learn all about building a website by reading information online.  I still have no idea how the whole thing works but I followed the instructions and advice I found and hey presto – www.sdisbury.com was born!

The benefits of multi-style learning seem obvious -whatever you throw at me I should be able to pick up - but I’m not convinced of this.  You may be able to play squash, tennis and badminton but you’re probably not very good at any of them – that’s how I feel about learning – jack of all trades but master of none.  The problem is that no matter how information is presented to me I always have to work at it to make any sense of it.

How does that translate into the classroom – I think everyone would agree that we have no choice but to accommodate all learning styles in out classes and that the trick is to incorporate them all and often to suit most of the pupils most of the time but by being this jack of all trades are we actually failing each and every one of them?

Perhaps I should try harder to identify my own personal style but the simple fact is I get bored with a single way of learning.

If it was as easy as pigeon holing each of us into Visual/Auditory/Kinasthetic learners then we would have been streaming classes this way to their benefit since educators first pronounced it.  Of course nothing in education is black and white so let’s move forward keeping learning styles in mind but not letting them rule our lessons.  No doubt if I am bored then the pupils will be.  I’ll aim to stay motivated myself and that should be a good start!

At the beginning of the year I decided it was about time to get up to date with technology and 6 weeks in I reckon it’s time to reflect on some what I have learnt.

Firstly, this is a blog post, not a wiki entry or a moodle module or a ning.  Actually I still don’t know what a ning actually is.  Apart from this blog I have purchased domain names and webspace and I am now responsible for a personal website, an unfinished VLE and a wiki for the department at school.  I will tweet about this post once it is finished so that people know it’s here and it will automatically link to my RSS and my webpage. (I think!)

Anything too long to tweet should be a blog post.  If it’s something you want to be permanent it should be a blog page or permanent web page not a blog post.  If it’s not related to your page, start a new something altogether!

Now, did I get all that right?

The thing is, there is so much information that it’s getting harder and harder to know where to start.  I reckon the best thing to do is pick a username and password and have a look at everything you come across.  Read the forums and sign up for everything.  Just like learning a new sport, you’ll pick the rules and tricks up as you go along and the more you take part, the more accomplished you become.

I enjoy most things that involve meeting new people and sitting down so this mini adventure has been great for me.  Lots still to learn – how to add a hyperlink to my blog header for starters, after that I want to actually understand my website – grimacing at the thought!

Have a go, give it a try – now just to decide what will be useful in the classroom…..

www.prezi.com takes you to a new era in presentation software.

At last there is a user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing and very different alternative to power point.

Now I have been a fan of PPT since I could open Windows so I was a little skeptical that anything else could offer all of the above and I’m not ready to throw Office out just yet – regardless of which version is enforced upon me.

Any application that does not have standard microsoft protocols unnerves me a little – I like to know that I can always right click for options or cut and paste using the ctrl key.  So Prezi took a little bit of time to get the hang of.  That said, although I did manage to complete the tutorial before I got started I never looked at the help file.

The software is very intuitive – click once – if it didn’t do what you expected, click somewhere else until it does.  The themes are straightforward and uncomplicated and although there may not be enough variety to keep everyone amused for too long there is plenty for now.  No doubt the developers will add more as time allows.  The current options keep presentations clear and uncluttered of unnecessary formatting.  Having created and seen some very colourful disasters in the past I like being forced to focus on content instead of format.

Moving around Prezi presentations is very flexible.  Either use the arrows to follow a preset order or zoom out and jump around at will.  This will be incredibly useful in the classroom – instead of directing classes I will be able to follow their path through topics, ensuring that all learning outcomes are met but in an order that the class choose.  This allows the pupils to take more control (feel more in control??) of their own lesson without me jeopardising the learning intentions.  I like to be able to build upon pupil responses in class discussions and Prezi allows me to do this without suggesting “we’ll come back to that later”.

In a similar way Prezi will be a very useful tool for brainstorming topics.  I can’t wait to try this out on the whiteboard tomorrow – the simplicity of the construction may make it viable to use as a tool which the pupils can interact with in the classroom.  The application window has no toolbars so I’m unsure how it will interact with tools such as the whiteboard keyboard  – will post a wee update as soon as I get a chance.

Prezi won’t replace Power Point in my classroom but I can see it playing an important role in the future.  I am delighted that I have found this software and look forward to playing more with it!

See my first presentation about vocabulary for Int II at http://prezi.com/9412/

So I broke my school laptop.  That was just the beginning of my wasted time this week.

I’m a teacher – the majority of my work is directly with the pupils that I am entrusted with – sharing knowledge with them and helping them to fit it all together in a logical way to solve problems.  I can do that without my class laptop albeit it can be a little awkward presenting anything on my little whiteboard that the pupils can see.

My problem was, however, comounded because the pupils were not in school.  A day for staff only – hoorah!  The snow had finally hit Thurso with a vengeance and the pupils were told to stay home.  Right – to start all those jobs that have piled up since last August.

1.  Complete CPD reviews - can’t - form saved in email somewhere.
2.  Complete CPD targets for next year – can’t – last years saved as word file and on GTCS website.

OK - forget CPD – what about Duke of Edinburgh admin I never find time for.

3.  Complete application for adventure training – can’t – all done online, half completed and saved on desktop
4.  Evaluate training programme for Easter camp – can’t – saved in email, not yet even downloaded.
5.  Contact SSPCA and local Police about volunteering opportunities - can’t - previous contact details logged online.
6.  Set up eDofE password for pupil – can’t – name says it all, need to be online.

OK – DofE will have to wait until I am back online too – let’s try reporting.

7.  S5 Reports  already started, great opportunity to get them finished – can’t – where do I start, I’ve saved them in My Documents instead of on the network and I’ve saved them (despite several warnings) in Word2007 which I can’t open anywhere else in the department
8.  Can’t  start S2 reports because I don’t have a copy of the template.

I have now wasted about an hour getting started and failing.
OK, look around the classroom:

9.  I can get the classes chapter aims written and up on the wall – can’t – they are all written from class discussion on the whiteboard and I have no access to my IWB files.

To be fair, I have now lost the will to do anything at all.  Any CPD I would care for can only be done online, I could consider sorting out my paper intray or sharpening all of my coloured pencils but I would much rather go home and turn on my own laptop so that I can express my distress at becoming ICT-less at school.  Now don’t shout at me for being negative or offer me any of a thousand suggestions of productive ways I could spend this time – the simple fact is I felt like both of my arms had been cut off.

Such is my reliance on technology that I have no idea how to organise my life without spreadsheets, a folder called resources and the internet.  Is this healthy?  Actually I have no issue with this but I struggle with the idea that I found it so difficult to function without.

In the end I had to survive for less than a day before my laptop was safely back in my hands.  It then took an evening – well 4pm til after midnight to reinstall the correct software so that it looked and worked the same as before – job done.

So is my life any richer for having the laptop back?  Well I have now completed my reports but I consider that just to be a bonus.  I feel whole again. 

Technology is a part of my life which I cannot and do not wish to ignore – but I must learn to harness my own affection of ICT and turn it into meaningful learning for my students.  Learn myself where I can cut it out completely and always have a back up plan – no-one should ever get too reliant on anything that we ultimately have very little control over!

This is a collage of funny posters from all over the internet that have made me laugh – or giggle at least!

Again, I must apologise for the lack of references – if you spot your work please feel free to contact me about it!

maths-funnies 

Eg:

I was sent these last year sometime at the beginning of my first year teaching – had a quick look through for a bit of moral encouragement myself at times!  In a more productive manner I get the kids to recite them and next year will ask them to choose a favourite as a class slogan!  This will go up with their class aims for each topic – going for the belonging idea in the classroom to see if they will be more productive in the long run.

Sorry I can’t reference where they originally came from but if you recognise them then Thank You - I owe you cake!

positive-posters

My favourite and current class motto:

“ The only thing ever achieved

without effort is failure!”

Saturday pm

So we made it to Lagganlia in one piece after a rather hairy drive in the snow in a rather slippy people carrier.  Turns out I chose the right road avoiding the actual bridge at Feshie and hence, the very icy corner just before the centre.

My first observation of the course and the pupils is that, despite the good craic and normal appearances everyone here is more knowledgable and enthusiastic about maths than me.  It’s not that I’m not passionate about the subject but I’m always more pleased by the sense of achievement at completing a problem than talking about it.

So I’m a little out of my depth in the snow before I arrive and intellectually when I get here.

The first night passed in the only manner a room full of teachers could manage – we put the curriculum to rights.  No doubt we will have a solution to implementing curriculum for excellence before the weekend is over.

Our guest speakers have been fascinating – I failed to realise the potential and indeed, the necessity of maths behind the Typhoon – having visited Selex in Edinburgh several years ago I thoroughly appreciated the engineering input today. 

Prof  Miles Padgett from Glasgow University spoke to us about waves and posed very interesting problems in physics and philosophy – my head will never accept waves as a physical phenomena and I found his talk all the more amazing for this.  My intelligence was being seriously assaulted by now – cue Prof Adam McBride – mathematician extrordinaire from University of Strathclyde.  Adam offered up some of the most curious maths – fantastic number facts and challenges which everyone could take part in and puzzle over.

Sunday pm

Our last speaker was Heather Reid, the BBC weather forecaster.  Her story brought a little glamour to the weekend and something new to the pot for me.  The combination of chaotic data, technology and human interpreation make me nervous.  The sheer volume of possible outcomes is too much for my binary driven output valve.  Takes a much braver person than me to predict the weather.

In addition we did manage to consider the maths and physics of friction, aerodynamics and gravity whilst flying down the ski slope in the back garden today.  It was surprisingly difficult to get air on that last jump.

I feel inspired by the people I was fortunate enough to spend time with this weekend.  Enthused and ready to face pupils with new ideas and a renewed positivity.   I’m not sure how to measure the value of the learning experience for the pupils who attended.  Smiles all weekend and yawns all the way home are good indicators but I feel the real value will be realised some way down the line when these students are making choices for life.

A great weekend overall and my lasting impressions - choose maths when you understand the influence it has on everything and never never use trios while skiing!