eReaders in Literature Circles

One of our strategies this year to further promote a reading culture at our campus, was to trial the use of ereaders in our Year 7 Literature Circles Program.The chosen group for this trial is "over the moon" and it has been fantastic to hear their comments like "this is so cool","I seem to be reading quicker".Students have enjoyed  using the dictionary  and highlighting function on the ereaders and flicking back and forward to various pages. Discussions have also been lively and in this instance technology seems to have brought the passion back in reading!

10 Truths About Video Games

As mentioned in a post last year,teachers are realising the potential of games for learning and we are increasingly seeing them being  used in our classrooms.Yesterday at lunchtime in the ISC, I quietly observed some of our Year 7 boys playing an online game.They were enthralled and enraptured.They were'nt at all concerned about improving their problem solving skills.That was happening regardless.It was  learning by stealth!They were having so much fun.The article I came across today from Mindshift  therefore interested me and I thought it was worth sharing with you.Paul Gee, a leading USA authority on literacy identified these 10 truths at the Learning and Brain Conference in 2011.

 10 Surprising Truths About Video Games and Learning

You might also like to watch Daphne Bavelier's Ted Talk called "Your Brain and Video Games"

Schools in the Clouds

Educational researcher,Sugata Mitra's TED Talk about the future of schools has just won the TED Prize for 2013.Not surprisingly,he states that schools as we know them are obselete and outdated. In "Build  A School In The Cloud",Sugata talks about how children can explore and learn from one another, without the input of a teacher.In 1999 he conducted the "Hole in The Wall" experiment where he dug a hole in a wall,installed with an internet connected PC, in a slum in New Dehli. With the help of a hidden camera he was able to see children teaching themselves how to go online.

Using Twitter in Education

 

 

 

There has been much discussion and awareness about how Twitter can be a powerful tool in  developing professional learning networks.Although we are not using Twitter in our classrooms at the moment, below  is a link to the website elearning Industry that has identified  18 useful youtubes  about using Twitter in the classrooms.Click on the link below:
elearningindustry