Stage 1 students are media stars again! The full article by Jessica Aquilina is HERE, courtesy of today’s Penrith City Star newspaper. Above photo courtesy of Gary Warrick, Penrith City Star.
Our digital stories are here:
Champions read!
Superheroes are champion readers!
How the whale got a hole in his head
Selby licks a lollipop: a Candyland adventure
Lovely library limericks
The elephant’s child
The three little pigs
Announcing another Stage 1 digital story based on the Book Week 2012 slogan. As mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m spending two weeks with each class group (about twelve selected students), identified by each class teacher, for 30 mins per day. In this particular example, the teacher wanted every student in her class to have the experience, so Year 1 students of a composite class started a story (theme, character building, some photos) and the Year 2 students finished it (more photos, sequencing, caption writing, editing, etc).
Here is their effort, “Superheroes are champion readers“, hot off the virtual press:
photopeach.com/album/78xb36
Superheroes are champion readers!
Remember that Photo Peach requires the latest version of Flash to view the digital story.
ABOUT PHOTO PEACH:
Please remember that Photo Peach is blocked for student use by the NSW DEC’s web filters. For good reason. It has some very unsavoury stuff on it. Similar to Youtube, no one rates the material. Search “What’s popular” or “What’s new” on the site and you’ll find lots of other… inappropriate stuff. Just like Youtube and other Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis and blogs.
Every time I’ve used the Photo Peach site, it’s under MY username and (secret) password. We work on brainstorming and storyboarding offline, then upload photos or graphics under my direct supervision, edit in small groups, and view our finished products the same way. My username and password, and no one else can change it. No open browsing. Unless you close off open comments, these, too, have to be previewed before each use with students if you notice a new comment has been added.
I’ve written several articles about strategies for use. Click HERE to download a PDF from Scan teacher librarians’ journal (NSW DEC).
or our Guided Inquiry site, featuring lots of Stage 3 persuasive slideshows
or other articles ‘iInquire… iLearn… iCreate… iShare: Stage 1 students create digital stories’ in Scan 30(2) May 2011, pp 4-5.
or a similar idea using PowerPoint instead: ‘Have blog, will storyboard!’ in info@aslansw Issue #2, May 2010, pp 5-8.
Recent NSW DEC book raps have excellent online instructions for using Web 2.0 tools with students. Scroll down on the PDF linked HERE.
On the “Guided Inquiry” site, I have the following warning:
“Teachers and parents: By the way, just a few points to consider with Photo Peach: Use it as judiciously as you would a series of Youtube clips. Don’t permit students to do open browsing; Photo Peach is a Web 2.0 facility that is open to anyone, and the slideshows are ‘unrated’. Also, if you notice that new comments have been added to a slideshow you’ve made, please preview the slideshow again before using it with students so you can monitor (and moderate/remove) unwanted comments. (Or close off comments altogether.) Consider a subscription to Photo Peach, which enables you to add your own or Creative Commons music, a wider range of transitions, and the capacity to download slideshows to your hard drive, web space or a CD.”
While there is some inconvenience with using Photo Peach, it’s still an amazing resource and the benefits outweigh the problems. Small group work enhances opportunities for talking & listening, negotiating and other skills.
About a year ago, I started hearing references to QR codes, and noticed the distinctive, square barcodes turning up on advertising posters, business cards and websites. I did a little further investigation when I received my upgraded iPhone4 in late 2011 – and even uploaded a recommended QR code app, I-nigma, from iTunes – but, apart from a few tests, I haven’t really done very much with this aspect of technology.
But it certainly seems to have some clever possibilities.
In preparation for my presentations at Friday’s MANTLE conference, I created QR codes for the websites I would be referencing in my talks. For example:
Booked Inn blog
GoldQuest blog
Penrith PS Library wiki
My PhotoPeach profile page
PMBW TL professional learning group
NSW DEC CLIC raps and book raps
Stage 3’s Endangered animals: beyond the rainforest
Pic by Gary Warrick. Penrith City Star‘s coverage of my John H Lee Memorial Award for “excellence in leadership in innovative and collaborative teaching practice through the integration of learning technologies”. Presented jointly by School Library Association of NSW and Charles Sturt University. See the full article HERE.
Today, our whole school participated in the annual ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime with a reading of Nick Bland’s “The very cranky bear”.
The hearing support unit used a Youtube presentation in Auslan. It was so well done that, after I’d read the book to the Stage 1 group who’d used the school library as their venue today, we decided to play the Auslan performance as well.
National Simultaneous Storytime is an eagerly-anticipated annual event!
Ian McLean, Stacey Taylor, guest speaker Maurice Saxby, Paul Macdonald and Alinda Sheerman at the School Libraries Association, NSW Awards at The Children’s Bookshop, Beecroft, last night. Paul is the proprietor of the shop… and so much more! He was receiving the inaugural Maurice Saxby Award.
The John H Lee Memorial Award is for a teacher-librarian who demonstrates “excellence in leadership in innovative and collaborative teaching practice through the integration of learning technologies”. Presented to yours truly. Many thanks to Linda Gibson-Langford who nominated me! This is a joint award presented by SLA NSW and Charles Sturt University. Ashley Freeman presented me with the award.
Uncle Al Cameron, Ian McLean, Aunty Pat Cameron and my special guest, Janette Mercer, who was my inspirational primary school teacher-librarian at Arncliffe Public School in the 1960s.
Maurice Saxby is sharing a poem, chosen at random, from a well-loved book he received at age five. Captivating! (Even the bear was mesmerised.) Maurice described that magic moment where a child is immersed in reading and suddenly gets a cold chill at the back of the neck. CS Lewis called this unique sensation “Surprise by joy.”
Teacher-librarian Jenny Scheffers (Caddies Creek Public School), Ian McLean and the School Libraries & Information Literacy Unit’s Colleen Foley at The Children’s Bookshop. Book rappers extraordinaire!
I have been invited to present at the 2012 MANTLE Conference in June, speaking on two topics: “Engaging students through Guided Inquiry” and “How to promote your school library on a shoestring budget”.
Both topics will have some added tweaks to presentations I’ve done before, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge of the conference, and meeting teacher librarians of the Newcastle, Maitland, Taree, Lake Macquarie and Central Coast districts.
I haven’t had a chance to post pics of the new items that have recently taken residence in the school library to kick off the 2012 school year:
A chair that is a perfect match for the deep teal colour of our fabric-covered walls. I inherited this from my parents’ place.
An old study chair that someone tossed out for recycling.
Newly-stickered (with ubiquitous round yellow dots on the spine) “Quick read” books on the old spinner rack.
A footstool from my parents’ place that is proving popular with K-2 browsers.
A little recycled hamper basket now keeps the ever-popular Jokes & Riddles books from cluttering the Non Fiction shelves.
My ergonomic chair has now been joined by a co-teacher chair for team-teaching.
These stackable photo frame cubes also hold little artifacts (currently holding some small plastic animals and a few wayward Smurfs).
Paddington Bear, donated by Mrs Newbold. Found in a second hand store at a bargain price!
Stage 3 students will be undertaking a Guided Inquiry exercise this term on the topic of Antarctica. For most classes, the science & technology aspects will be part of the work taught by Ms Stockton, the RFF (Release-from-Face-to-Face) teacher, so the library sessions will emphasise the achievement of HSIE (Human society & its environment) outcomes, and will complement the field knowledge being developed in S&T.
The following useful resources were invaluable the last time the curriculum cycle visited “Antarctica”.
Antarctica (Flickr slideshow), images courtesy of Mrs Coote’s brother
Introducing Antarctica (Youtube clips)
Mawson 100421 around station
Antarctica: Being there (TaLe)
As with last year’s Guided Inquiry units, the brief clips and links will be discussed and consolidated after considering the students’ “Plus, minus, interesting” matrices, which will continue to develop the students’ note-taking skills.
Dear Ian
RE: John H Lee Memorial Award 2012
On behalf of SLA NSW [formerly ASLA (NSW)], we are delighted to announce that you have been selected as the recipient of the John H Lee Memorial Award for 2012.
This is a joint Charles Sturt University (School of Information Science)/School Library Association of New South Wales Award presented to an individual or team of educators who is/are able to demonstrate excellence in leadership in innovative and collaborative teaching practice through the integration of learning technologies.
We extend our congratulations to you on this outstanding achievement…
Yours faithfully,
Ms Nicole Deans
Chair, Awards Committee
SLANSW [School Library Association of New South Wales]