Collegial Learning Part 2

We all have something to share!

My personal story about collegial learning. 

Those of you keeping an eye on our PD opportunities will have noticed that more than one member has been used as a presenter and there's more coming in the future.

We started off with Peter Klein and admittedly Peter is a talented guy!  He's a teacher, a poet, a musician and has more than one children's book published!  He also has a history of presenting to classes in schools as "Captain Pete" and he easily used all that background experience to turn it into something for teachers.

I delivered my "Literacy Games" workshop last week and I'm a little different than Pete.  Although I am the Wodonga CRT Support Network coordinator I certainly don't have a list of qualifications and talents a mile long like Pete does!  All you have to have to qualify for my position as a VIT CRT Network Coordinator is to be a VIT registered CRT and have a bit of a passion for making sure CRTs get all of the opportunities that full-timers do!  Other than that all I have is strategies and resources that I have collected due to the experiences of my 8 years as a CRT.

From the feedback between the 2 videos I'm sure you can tell that my presentation wasn't as fun as Peters but those attending still liked hearing what I had to say and found it practical and useful.

My transition from CRT to presenter wasn't an easy one.

I had the mindset that I am a CRT, that's what I do and that's what I'm good at.  While I'm good at it I'm just one among thousands, I'm not the best or the brightest or the most experienced.  My way to give to the CRT community was to run the Wodonga CRT Support Network to allow other, more experienced and qualified, CRTs to come together and teach others like myself the "tricks of the trade".  It took a long time to realize that not being the best, the brightest or the most experienced didn't really matter.

All that mattered was that I had something to say that someone else wanted to hear.  My husband broke it down to a "mathlike" equation a while back and I'll take this opportunity to share what he said:

"You as a unique individual + your unique 8 years of experience = unique solutions to problems that no-one else will have thought of".

Of course I thought he was just spouting supportive comments to help me get over my nerves though I should have known better.

It wasn't until we started resource/strategy sharing sessions at monthly meetings that I began to understand precisely what he meant.  I was busy leading up to a resource sharing meeting so I left selecting resources until the last minute.  Having put myself under the gun I brought in one of my "Literacy Games" one night to share with the group, thinking that if nothing else by bucket of pegs with stuff written on them would be a fun diversion for a couple minutes. 

What I thought would be pretty "no brainer" stuff turned out to be something special.  People were right in there playing with the pegs, all the while commenting on how simple it was saying "why didn't I ever think of this"!  Grown adults having fun with my particular take on "Look, Cover, Write, Check".

I genuinely couldn't comprehend what was going on.  Something that I thought was so basic, so natural and bound to be all over the place, which just brought in as a bit of light fun for a couple minutes...  I don't even remember most of the questions people asked I was that stunned.

What's the point here?  Apart from my passion for my network I'm not really anything special in the Teacher department.  I'm considered good at my job and have a reputation for dealing with difficult classes but I don't have a bunch of qualifications or letters to put after my name.  Yes, I have skills I have acquired in my 8 years but most of them are the same skills anyone will acquire in 8 years.  But there's a couple instances where me as an individual + my unique experiences have created something that people think is special.

YOU, no matter how ordinary you think you are, will have something just as unique and just as special that you have created.  It might be a resource, a lesson plan, a behaviour management strategy or something else entirely, but it's there!  

Even if you are fresh out of university and think you have nothing?  Think of how much Teaching has changed in the last 20 years.  The last 10 years.  Even the last 5 years.  You are able to pass on the latest teachings from your Uni course that those of us out there for years didn't learn.  We learnt other stuff based on the "current practices" when we were still in University.

Every CRT has something to share!

Back to the Bill Gates video.

So, harking back to that "It takes great teachers to make great teachers" quote?  I'm not the fanatical believer I was not so long ago.  While I still firmly believe that Great Teachers should be in there up to their elbows  passing that knowledge on to the rest of us?  You don't have to be, or consider yourself, a "Great Teacher" to have "Something Great" to share with your peers.  Something that is going to impact resoundingly with the other teachers around you.

In my presentation I showed my "Memory Bottles" lesson plan and I thought I was doing well to get 2-4 hours out of a book incorporating literacy, maths, and crafts.  Then I handed out other books to those attending and gave them 15 minutes to come up with a lesson plan of their own as an exercise to help the ideas I'd delivered to stick.  Not one group of CRTs around a random book wasn't able to use my theories to come up with hours of inclusive, individualized, cross-curriculum lessons.

A group of 3 teachers discussing one book came up with 3 solid days of education out of one single book in a quarter of an hour.  Having a listen to them tell us all about what they came up with simply blew my socks off!

My ideas and experiences combined with their ideas and experiences took the whole thing further than I ever could have on my own in each and every group.  I was supposed to be providing Professional development for them and I guess it worked because they all schooled me in return.

It was one of the most satisfying moments in my Teaching career.

If you are ever in doubt about how much you can contribute in a collegial atmosphere?  Remember this story.  All it takes is one great idea and you can improve the educational options offered of 1000's of students making sure they all have a more engaging and fun atmosphere to learn in.

Also on the way;

• Part 3, Collegial Learning from CRTs Vs other teaching professionals.
• Part 4, Getting in on collegial learning.

Regards,

Mel.

Collegial Learning Part 1:

The Technical Side of Collegial Learning.

Today I thought I'd start a new string of posts about one of the current "buzz words" floating around the teaching arena, "Collegial Learning".  We've probably all heard it and many of us have been doing it for years.  Schools have team meetings and the like for a reason and this is why.  I will admit though that I never understood what massive learning potential was locked inside that phrase.

Now I've looked at this before, launching from a TED video from Bill Gates (the actual TED video this time, the Teacher part starts at about the 8 minute mark!).

Oh No!  She's harping on about THAT video again!

Particularly the quote "It takes great teachers to make great teachers".  Although I have to admit that I've recently had to re-evaluate exactly to what extent I believe that quote and I'll deal with it in a follow-up post.

At this stage of the game , I'll add in a "technical document".  It took no time at all to find, I just Googled "Collegial Learning" and looked at stuff for a few minutes until I found one that said what I needed it to.  It's not the best, it's not the most comprehensive, it was just the first one that laid the groundwork for what I needed to say.

Collegial Learning and Collective Capacities <- Click to follow the link!

Looking through that one you can also pick out the other associated "buzz word" of "Collective Capacities", "Collective Learning" and others if you wish to google further.  You can also add in all those terms that you know which mean basically the same thing like "Team Teaching" and others where researchers have given it a new name to show it's their personal spin on the basic concepts involved.

Whether your state or country calls you a Casual Relief Teacher, an Emergency Teacher, a Substitute Teacher or any of the other names out there for us?  Collegial learning from our casual/emergency/substitute teacher peers is just as important as any other collegial learning we can access.  

It gives us direct access to years of knowledge, strategies and resources that directly relate to what we are going to experience as CRTs.  To give you some idea of how much?

Out of idle curiosity I've been asking off and on how long many of our members have been teaching for, whether it be CRT teaching, Full Time teaching or occupying a leadership position in a school.  Thinking back to our last meeting, adding up just the ones I know (which was less than half), there was over 100 years of CRT experience (over 200 years of teaching experience) sitting in one room.  Everyone in attendance was eager to participate, sharing resources and strategies or helping to create new ones to solve new and unique issues for those in the room!

The Collegial Learning in that meeting was a proverbial gold mine for the education of the Teachers present.   So many years of experience and so many different viewpoints all targeting and solving the specific issues of others. 

This is precisely why the Victorian Institute of Teaching started it's CRT Network Initiative and having been in it for a couple of years now I often wonder why other education departments aren't following their lead.  In Victoria it was recently released that 12% of all teaching in classrooms is done by CRTs.  That's a pretty significant chunk and, while I can't state percentages for other states or countries, it makes it pretty important for us to be as good as we can be!

Collegial Learning is one of the foundational tools that will help us get there as quickly and as easily as possible.

Also on the way;

• Part 2, my personal story.
• Part 3, Collegial Learning from CRTs Vso ther teaching professionals.
• Part 4, Getting in on collegial learning.

Regards,

Mel.

The "Literacy Games" workshop was successfully run on Thursday 21 June 2012.

The feedback on the workshop from those in attendance were very positive and spirits were high for the duration.  Thank you to everyone involved, those of you attending included, for the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the workshop!  We hope you had a wonderful time!

Estimated Cost per Head value: $85.00 - $125.00 (based on similar commercial PDs)

Cost per head we paid: $10.31

Cost per head for CRTs?   Gold coin Donation!


Offering this PD would not have been possible without some help. We'd like to thank:

• The Wodonga South Primary School for the venue.
• The DEECD for the CRT Professional Learning Support Initiative and the funding it provides
• VIT for starting and helping to maintain 24 CRT Networks across Victoria.
• and everyone who attended!

Regards,

Mel.

Dreading drama.

I was booked to teach an early primary class and I was sort of dreading it.  It was on a day when they usually have drama and some of them really look forward to it but my drama resources were getting a little thin...  I was dreading having to skip it or repeat some of my old lessons with a new spin.

I was elbow deep in the dinner dishes when my 3 year old daughter walked up and tried to hand me a pair of scissors and something she printed out from the NickJr website.  It was from one of those flash games that keep her entertained while we are all busy doing adult things.

It was an Olivia cutout (from the children's show of the same name) with a ball gown and tiara to cut out and dress her up with.  I sent her to my husband who dutifully cut it out and assembled it for her and she was happy.  5 minutes later she turned up with it again and I thought "Oh no, she's going to keep printing out the same thing, make us cut them out and stick the dress on until she's got an army of Olivias.  I'm going to have to wake up tomorrow and go out and get a new printer cartridge." 

"Daddy will cut it out for you".

Again my husband dutifully cut it out for her, assembled it and stuck on the dress and tiara.  The third time she just went straight to my husband who again picked up the scissors.  Then something unexpected happened.  He said "Oh wow bubby!  Pirate Olivia!  AAAAArrrrrggghhhh me maties!"

Wait... What?

I dripped dishwater and soapsuds over into the lounge room and sure enough, there was Olivia in a ballgown, Olivia in a tutu and now Olivia in a pirate outfit.  Over the next hour she also got Olivia in a geisha outfit, a space suit complete with bubble helmet, a painters outfit complete with beret and an Egyptian pharoah costume.

What I didn't realise is that it also prints out backdrops like a stage, a desert, the beach with a sailing ship and others as well as other fun things to go along with it like a dog, a camel, a treasure chest, a piano and many others..

Costumes?  Props?  Stages? That sounds an awful lot like there's a drama lesson in there somewhere!

http://www.nickjr.com/kids-games/oliv-dressup-with-olivia.html

Wow, classroom resources can appear when you least expect it!  What a marvellous idea!

I printed out an Olivia with costume, covered Olivia with a blank piece of paper, scanned it and had my husband add in a "person" outline in Olivia's place so the students could draw in their own actors.

I printed out all of the stages, and most of the props until...  well..  I wasn't wrong about going to buy a new printer cartridge in the morning!

Most surprisingly the kids picked up a lot more about drama than I had expected them to.  I got asked all sorts of questions I should have prepared myself for!

"What's the person called who looks after all the costumes?"
"Who moves all the things on the stage when it changes?"

and the like.  I also got some great comments like

"Wow, real people must have to change clothes really fast!"
"Actors need to know a lot of stuff besides the words."

as examples.

If you do this I do recommend taking in a few of the Olivias.  It helped them make some great leaps between what happens on TV or the stage and Drama giving them that direct example.

Regards,

Mel.

Network Update.

Hello everyone,

Things are ticking along nicely!

Network Purchases.

As you probably know, we charge a booking fee for PD Workshops.  We use this money to add to the DEECD funding to get PD workshops that are a little out of the price range offered by the DEECD and to purchase items the Network needs or would make the overall experience better.

We have recently used these funds to purchase a capsule coffee machine and milk frothers to provide a better grade of coffee at Meetings and PD workshops.  The caffiene addicts out there seem well pleased with this move and the Hot Chocolate drinkers don't seem to mind either!

June Meeting

 A reminder that this month's meeting will be replaced by my "Literacy Games" PD workshop.

PD Workshops.

As you may have noticed on our PD Information blog we have most of our our PD for term 3 applied for, approved and booked.

Many of you have been asking for Holiday PD instead of Saturdays and we are now supplying one.  Karen Starkiss's Dyslexia PD in Week 2 of the Term 2 holidays.  Please be aware that this is a "trial run" and attendances need to be acceptable to continue offering Holiday PD.

We are also putting the finishing touches on the application for a full-day PD in Term 4 and have a full-day PD for Term 1 next year in the works.

Non-Wodonga PD workshops.

We are looking at running PD workshops outside of Wodonga for those who have a hard time attending because of the dustances and travel time involved.

If you are a VIT registered CRT in the upper Hume region we would love to hear your feedback on whether you would attend more PD if we could reduce the travel times for you!

Please email wodongacrt@vit.vic.edu.au and let us know what you think OR leave feedback here on the blog!

Regards,

Mel.

Technology - Disconnecting the classroom?

Here's an interesting fact for you;  Did you know that there is more computing power in the average pocket calculator than was used to put the first humans on the moon?

It seems like each passing minute results in something in the techology world being invented, made better or made smaller. Mobile phones are now a computer in your pocket, the internet gets quicker and hands-on learning applications have taken the world by storm. Every classroom I walk into either has an interactive whiteboard, COWs (Computers On Wheels), one-to-one computers, OR a combination of all three. Ipads and other Tablet PCs are also slowly appearing.

The 21st Century classroom is here and students are taking every opportunity to engage, learn and explore every aspect of this technology they they can. (I would too if I was a student!) But is all this technology a good thing in every aspect of students' lives? The below video by TED opened my eyes to how technology is affecting students and the social aspects of growing up.

I attended a CyberSMART PD back in 2009 and certain figures astonshed me.  Children as young as year 3 and 4 had a mobile phone in working order.  Sorry I should point out that this figure didn't amaze me, but the fact that some of these children had more than one working mobile phone did.

Figures like most year 5 and 6 students have more than one email account.  The figures on the use of programs like Facebook and Skype are high enough that they have become "normal".

As an adult and a Teacher I admit that I use technology on a daily basis.  When I sat back and thought about it though, I still don't consider it "normal".  I consider things like the computers, Tablet PCs, interactive whiteboards, the internet and mobile phone networks as tools that make my life more managable.

Students today view these things in exactly the same way as we used to think about riding a bicycle when we were their age.  Did you ever consider a bicycle a handy tool for transport?  I certainly didn't, it was just "my bike".  Riding a bike was just something that everyone I know did as a normal part of life.  That students today are placing their bike and the internet on roughly the same level of "normal"?  That is kind of mind-blowing...

I do wonder sometimes whether traditional pen and paper exercises are becoming more engaging in older classes simply because of the novelty value. 

Did You Know? - An interesting video on some technological facts

As Teachers it's getting more and more important to keep up with these technological wonders.  If not?  We run a genuine risk of becoming disconnected from the students we teach.  If they relate to technology like we related to our bike?  How can we hope to understand what's going on in their heads and plan based on the teaching strategies that will engage and educate them?

And don't look to me for answers, I have some problems with this one myself.  If you have any handy hints and tips?  I'd love for you to leave them in the comments!

Regards,

Mel.

Inspire Magazine; June 2012 Edition

Here is the June edition of the DEECD's Inspire Magazine.  Clicking on the picture will take you to the online version of the magazine.

Alternatively you can download the PDF version on the following link;

http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/inspire/inspirejun2012.pdf

Happy reading,

Mel