Junior+Reflections

** Term One ICT Reflective Learning Journey ** ** Development of E-Pals. **

** Week 5 ** Initial email contact was made with a teacher from another school about coming for a visit to check out our Enviro School initiatives. This is to be timetabled in for later this term. We are planning to get the students emailing and sending photos to introduce themselves and get to know each other. It will also be important to snap pictures and send of our environment so the students can cope with the unfamiliar surroundings.

** Week 6 ** When we went to monitor and observe the changes to the plants in our butterfly garden and do a check on the chrysalises, the students were so very interested and wanted to make lots of comments. I grabbed the digital camera to start capturing their thinking and their voices. The battery gave up the ghost, so I switched to my own marvellous i-phone 4. The class decided to take the initiative and send these photos and videos of our butterfly garden to the other class. Every student talked to the camera about the caterpillars or chrysalises and they were excited to send these to our new e-pals which we have dubbed them. It was extremely easy to send them off singularly from my phone instead of having to download them first. I am loving the phone and the small portability of this technology! It is allowing for “anywhere, anytime, any place” to be truly realised! It is so easy and so manageable.

We had a dress up day to raise money for Christchurch. Of course we snapped lots of pictures to use. These we can use to print out or make into movies or slide shows later on. The students were keen to send these photos to their new e-pals too. They worked with me to send an email introducing themselves and sending the photos as attachments.

We received some photos of our new e-pals in their environment and I have printed them out and displayed them in our room. This helps the students to remember their names and feel connected to them.

I have suggested we try skyping and getting the kids to talk to each other in real time, which would be so much fun. James has to check with Management first!

** Week 7 ** This week we went on our EOTC “Two Big Days Out.” At Butterfly Creek the crocodiles were a big hit with the kids. Kelly Tarlton’s was amazing and sleeping over was awe inspiring! What a fantastic experience it was and great value for money! Having the whole place to ourselves to explore was brilliant. We couldn’t have asked for better service and attention. We have snapped our little hearts out and collected such a lot of photos and videos to be used for a variety of follow up work, including writing, poetry, digital stories/movies, class displays etc. The trip up the Sky Tower was fantastic too and they all coped very well and over came their fears and nerves! The whole trip was such a success and the kids are all buzzing about everything.

** Week 8 ** I have been slowly but steadily encouraging James to see about the skyping because I think it was be great for his kids and mine too. It would provide such a real and authentic context for learning and developing communication skills all around. We started skyping last year and this is something I want to maintain with the kids. The technology is amazing and the ability to connect so personally with faces and voices and real time is just wonderful! The kids of course just take it in their stride, but I am always excited by this and love supporting them to take risks and chat away in an appropriate setting.

The good news this week, is that James has had permission granted by Management to go ahead and skype. So we have set up a time. He has never skyped with his kids before so this is all new to him. I am glad he is so receptive to exploring this element of ICT learning.

**// Skype Message: //** // M - My kids love skyping....they are little and they get shy and don't say much...but it is all good for them. // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// J - My students are all NEW to Skype so should be interesting to see how they go. Should we try our first chat tomorrow? //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">The skyping session went very well for the first timers! We had some technical difficulties though. Our broadband is very slow and we lost video link, but we could still hear them! They could hear and see us! Our new e-pals had some pre-prepared questions for us to answer and the little kids responded very well and are behaving like skyping veterans!!! It was a good day and great session. We are definitely planning to skype further.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**// Skype Message: //** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// M - Well that went quite well for the first time skyping with your students. // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// _ was chatty! // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// Our internet connection was on a go slow...so that was why our image kept freezing and why we disappeared for a while. // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// But overall a great learning opportunity for all. My kids are getting a bit better at sharing. // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// J - Can you believe it as soon as we had finished chatting my webcam started working! // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// Will be better in our next chat to see more of our room. // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// My students loved it and we are now writing you and your students some little notes that I will email to you and your crew. Thanks so much for the awesome experience and wait till you meet live and in person! Cheers //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">** Week 9 ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">We are still sending lots of photos and videos through. Our e-pals loved seeing the videos of the sharks and fish at Kelly Tartlon’s. Our kids love getting emails and replying quickly. They are thinking about sharing their learning and experiences every day and are wanting to send lots of things through, including themselves singing the Kids for Kids concert songs! This is delightful and oh so funny, but we are limited by the size of the files we can send and have to convert them into much smaller files which renders the videos very small indeed! Feedback from James is that his kids are wanting to send lots of things through to us too and are pestering him to get out the digital camera, so they can take lots of photos and send them to us.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**// Skype Message: //** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">// J - Guys very excited and also very keen on getting the camera out these days which is great. So far a great success this E-pal business :) //

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">29/3/11 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Had another go at skyping today and the same thing was happening – losing the video link! Think we need to try a different time, not 9.30am when the traffic is at its greatest! Planning to try for tomorrow afternoon!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Skyped later on in the afternoon from my office to James – this was strange, because I hadn’t met him either, just heard his voice with his students during previous skyping attempts. Isn’t is interesting how face to face communication is so much more personal and emailing and messaging seems safe, but connecting via video link seemed a bit riskier! Just goes to show we are all learners after all, even the teachers! <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Skyping laptop to laptop from my office worked perfectly at this time in the afternoon!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">30/3/11 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Tried skyping in the afternoon from my office. That was fun. All the kids in the Principal’s Office! But we didn’t have connection difficulties, so this was all good!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">** Week 10 ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Our e-pals came to visit today and this was such a great time. The students have a range of disabilities, some quite severe, but this wasn’t a problem at all. My class showed them around our vegetable gardens and the worm bin. They got to take home two containers full of worms for their new worm farm. We took them on a tour of the school and some of them loved playing on the playground. We spent some time in the classroom and one of their students presented a slide show of photos of their school and surroundings. We had morning tea together and some of them joined us in the Life Education truck to visit Harold. We exchanged plants as gifts and had a lovely time together. The preparation we had done between classes with the emailing and skyping meant our faces and names were not a surprise and although we were meeting each other for the first time, it didn’t seem like it. This was another great day! This is what sharing and learning and inclusion is all about!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">** Week 11 ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">I have set up a new class blog and am very excited about all the possibilities. Established the blog on Wednesday last week during ICT facilitator visit and then went home and promptly started experimenting and uploading photos etc. I spent most of the weekend fiddling with it. I am loving this blog. It is so easy to do and such a nice result, especially with the multi-media features. The class shared the blog with our e-pals who were suitably impressed. I teased James and suggested he should set up one for his students too! I am keen to explore ways in which to get my kids regularly contributing to the blog. Of course they still need my support, but News time, first thing in the morning is an appropriate time to update. I am running into difficulties with the broadband, not being strong or fast enough. So I have resorted to saving their comments in a word document and then uploading them from home, which is much faster. This is not ideal, but at least I can capture their comments and voice all together.

<span style="color: green; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//**Skype Message:**// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - The blogging is easy...much easier than the wiki, so expect to see lots of things going on there.// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//Your kids can leave us messages on there too! And hopefully I will find out how to upload the videos so you can see us in a bigger size than that silly little song we sent this week!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//The kids and I really did enjoy meeting you all and are still very keen to send photos and emails...so all is good.// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//You know...if you set up your own blog, we could leave messages for you too!!!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//Digital learning is great!//

<span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//J - We were just about to try out your new blog.// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - : It is really cool...I am enjoying it more than I thought I would.// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//You could do this you know!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//Not difficult at all!//

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">15/4/11 <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">We had our last skyping session for the term. Now we really feel we know our e-pals, having met them face to face. We have no problems chatting away and when the kids lose direction of can’t think of anything else to say, the teachers can easily continue! My class love singing them songs unaccompanied and our e-pals are a very good audience and always clap!! We are planning to go and visit them at their school next term.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">Holidays – 29/4/11. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">I spent day with J and R taking them through the basics of blogging and setting up a new blog for their students. I am delighted that they wanted to learn and make one and have been motivated by seeing my class blog. I have been really enthusiastic about the blogging and am delighted to encourage them to have a go and see the learning possibilities.

<span style="color: green; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">**//Skype Message://** <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//J - What do you think about getting together in the 2nd week of the holidays to teach me about blogging? We have looked at yours and now I am very jealous....// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - I think that is a great idea...I had the help of our ICT facilitator...but I am sure we can muddle through and get something sorted.//

<span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - I can write this up in my milestone report to the Ministry...e-pals and networking and getting another teacher onboard with digital learning. All good!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//J - : Second week any day except Wednesday works for me Mentor M. Wow this gardening is sure taking me places I had never imagined!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - LOL! Yep...the gardening is all good and so is the skyping and the blogging!!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//I think your kids will love having a blog and sharing all the things that they do in an online forum! And it will be great for us to be able to leave you messages too on there!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//J - Real deal, E pals surfing the cyber web....// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - We are only novices really...but have come a long long way since last year! A class wiki and now a blog! Lots of videos and the kids did their own animations too! You would like them. Your kids could do that too...just need a web cam and some patience!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//J - Well we have the web camera and enthusiastic students now all we need is patience and practice from me!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - I am really enthusiastic and so are the kids so that is half the battle really! Glad you are interested in setting up a blog too. You know I was teasing you about it!// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//You will get there.// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//J - All good M. I am enjoying the whole experience so thanks for being willing to help us out// <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">//M - : Don't mind in the least. If you can set something up that engages and motivates the kids and keeps you interested too then it is win win for everyone.//