September Meeting Details

Hello everyone,

Our last meeting for this term is approaching quickly.

Date: Thursday 3 September
Time: 4.00pm - 6.30pm
Venue: Wodonga South Primary School Library
Cost: gold coin (to help cover afternoon tea)

Topic: Minimal resources, effective art activities.  Bring along your ideas to share with the group.  For those times when you have an hour spare and want to keep the students from climbing the walls!  :)

You can find full details here:
http://wodongacrtsupportnetwork.blogspot.com.au/p/hi-everyone-next-wodonga-crt-support.html

Please RSVP to Mel at wodongacrt@vit.vic.edu.au at least 2 days before.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Regards,

Mel

August Meeting details

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy start to the term and our second meeting for the term is coming up.

When: Wednesday 12 August 2015
Where: Wodonga South Primary School Library
Time: 4.00pm - 6.30pm
Cost: Gold coin

Topic: Inside activities for this cool, wintery weather to replace outside activities.  These might include sports games, classroom activities to keep students engaged and moving. 
Bring along activities and ideas to share with others.

Full details can be found here:  http://wodongacrtsupportnetwork.blogspot.com.au/p/hi-everyone-next-wodonga-crt-support.html

RSVP to Mel at Wodongacrt@vit.vic.edu.au

Hope to see you there!

Mel 

July Meeting details now avaliable!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to term 3.  I hope you have all had a wonderful and restful holiday break and are ready for a busy term.

Thursday 23 July is the date for Term 3's first meeting.

We have a guest speaker from North East Water joining us for the first hour to run us through some information and activities around water and sustainablity.

You can find full details of the meeting here:
http://wodongacrtsupportnetwork.blogspot.com.au/p/hi-everyone-next-wodonga-crt-support.html

I hope to see you there!

Regards,

Mel

Production of a new online course is underway!

As some of you may know, I produce online courses for ClassCover's Relief Teacher Association.  Our next course is shaping up well and we thought it was time for a bit of a preview.

Let us know what you think!

Regards,

Mel.

A clever look at one of the aspects of a CRT's day!

Here's a clever animation by Suzanne Cronin found via a Facebook group I'm in.

View this video on YouTube.

It perfectly sums up one of the daily activities of Relief teachers, - waiting for the morning work call!

I really liked this one and hope all of you do too ;).

Regards,

Mel.

Something very cool: The Coriolis effect.

As many are getting the idea of now, I've dabbled in a YouTube Channel and am also now creating online Teacher PD courses for ClassCover's Relief Teacher Association.  My research takes me some interesting places as I try and find ways to make my online courses as engaging and useful as my live presentations.  In my wanderings I came across Derek Muller (who did his PhD in making educational science videos) and his "Veritasium" YouTube channel.  While I'm not a science teacher, some of his videos have inspired me to test my limits when making video for my courses.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths some people go to on Youtube to make engaging educational videos and Mr Muller has surprised me again with this project on the coriolis effect.  I so want to use this in my classroom!

Which way does the water go down the plug hole in the different hemispheres of our planet?  Is the coriolis effect real or is it a myth?  This is a pretty cool way to find out....

You need these two videos:

This video on YouTube.

This video on YouTube.

I synchronised them by having 2 browser windows open and some clever clicking.  The Veritasium video (top) needs to be on the right and the SmarterEveryDay video (bottom) on the left.

Otherwise you can use this ready made page (which I found out after I actually watched it using 2 browser windows...):

http://www.smartereveryday.com/toiletswirl

That is a very clever and very engaging way to produce a pair of educational videos don't you think?  It's not something I can use in my courses but it's an excellent example of a high quality and highly effective engagement strategy. 

So why did I post this one?  Well, I juat HAD to share this because it's pretty cool in and of itself as a classroom activity but I guess what I'm trying to do by exposing people to this one is to encourage them to be just as inventive with their engagement strategies in their classrooms.

I hope you all get some of the inspiration from this that I did!

Did I mention that I REALLY want to use this in one of my classrooms?

Regards,

Mel.

PD announcement - MoneySmart Teaching (Albury)

Hello everyone,

We are pleased to announce we have organised and opened bookings for the MoneySmart Teaching PD in Albury.

This will include content on Financial Literacy via the MoneySmart teaching program - a cross curriculuar program including literacy, numeracy and other subject areas.

Cost:  FREE.
Date:  18 July 2015
Sign-in:  10.45am
Duration:  11.00am - 2.00pm (3 hours) - certificates supplied via post after presentation.
Venue:  The Hovell Tree Inn, 596-614 Hovell St, Albury

Full details can be found here:

http://wodongacrtsupportnetworkpd.blogspot.com.au/p/moneysmart-teaching-professional.html

Regards,

Mel.