In my twitter feed this morning, I came across this tweet about flipped learning for professional learning. This has great potential but obviously required innovative thinking and ability to adapt. I believe that this concept would be embraced by teachers!
Students have been asked to ask me their questions (about anything) and I will endeavor to find an answer. Part of this process will be also demonstrating my research to find this answer (or answers).
STUDENT QUESTIONING
As a PYP school we encourage students to ask their questions and to direct their own inquiry.
One concept based on student questions is the PASSION PROJECT and GENIUS HOUR.
TEACHER QUESTIONING
Jamie Mackenzie has many books and blog posts about types of questions and how to formulate the right questions. This is the link to his QUESTIONING TOOLKIT.
This approach to developing effective questions is often coined as ungoogleable and it is essential that we support students “move beyond the cut and paste“.
RECOMMENDED READING – THE LIGHT BETWEEN THE OCEANS
ANZAC DAY
At this time of year, we reflect upon the sacrifices made by the diggers for our freedom. I personally love the many picture books that have been produced in the past few years that allow us to teach about ANZAC DAY with deeper meaning for younger students.
As a young adult I was introduced to Fly Away Peter by David Malouf. It is one that still invokes powerful memories for me. I suspect that this week’s READER FEATURE will be similar.
This week’s READER FEATURE has been written from the perspective of a returned solider.
iRe@d – READER FEATURE this week – The Light Between the Oceans by M. L. Stedman
The main character in this Australian novel is Tom Sherbourne, a returned solider who takes a job as a lighthouse keeper in WA.
This READER FEATURE is recommended by Lisa Roper (teacher).
“A decorated, but world weary war hero returns to Australia at the end of the First World War. All he hopes for is a quiet existence as far from the traumas of war as possible. A job as a light house keeper seems ideal, and he is satisfied – almost at peace.
And then life becomes more complicated. At first for the better, with a loving wife, and eventually a child on the way. But challenges, and difficult questions on what is right and wrong follow.
This book is evocative of the era and the place – a lighthouse off the coast of Western Australia. The pace moves along deceptively well, and the style is smooth. The reader’s connection with the characters is patiently and well developed, and the reader is swept up into the emotional ambiguity of the circumstances.” Review by Miles Roper.
Yr 4 has been using SYMBALOO to easily share their resources with the students. This is another example of a bookmarking tool.
GENERAL SEARCH ENGINES
GOOGLE
An awareness that Google is not the only search engine is important. Each search engine has a different purpose (such as wikipedia). Later in this post are some examples of search engines for younger children.
WIKIPEDIA and its usefulness
Wikipedia can a starting place to get an general understanding of a new topic or concept. It is now improved in its quality control (as content needs to be substantiated) and often can be the most current source of information on a topic. Weblinks and references to supporting information can assist students to explore more deeply about a topic. It is a springboard tool in my opinion.
Like all sources ACCURACY of content needs to be assessed and this is a skill that students need to develop.
Some teachers are still concerned about using wikipedia, but it should be viewed and assessed like any information source for:
CURRENCY
RELEVANCY
ACCURACY
BIAS
One way to do this is using RADCAB – an acronym for Relevancy, Detail, Currency and Bias. This is an excellent online tutorial for students designed to teach them about these key aspects.
Understanding how to research and locate relevant information is a life skill. Students need to understand how different search engines work in order to be successful and efficient in their searching.
When searching students (at the very least) need to understand the following
– Key words and designing a search query
– Identifying what they need to find!
– Relevance to inquiry
– Ability to scan and re-assess the research process.
OTHER TIPS & TRICKS
Using simple ‘tricks’such as usingCONTROL F – to find a key word in a webpage or a lengthy PDF saves time and can be helpful to analyse the usefulness of a resource to the current inquiry.
Designing a search query is also where some students struggle. This tutorial explains how to do this.
Additionally, the following video looks at the importance of key word order when searching in Google.
Introduction To The FlipMany educators are beginning to become aware of the growing teaching method referred to as “Flipping The Classroom”. Simply put… the teacher provides videos for homework, while traditional home work is done in class under teacher supervision. Unfortunately this might be just too simplistic of a definition. Possible this is why using the words “simply put” may not be the best practice in explaining anything.Higher Level Thinking Skills… Two Way Interaction…. Formative Learning… 21st Century Skillsaction based authenticconnected and collaborativeinnovative high level engagingexperience basedproject based inquiry basedself actualizing
