Brighton University Seminar 15.4.15

"On Wednesday I was delighted to welcome Sue Perry from Brighton University, who presented and took questions from M5 and DP students on the process of applying to the UK, and in particular Brighton University. She also gave an overview of the study programmes and life at Brighton University, and the new methods that they have developed to support students through their degree and into their future careers. I was impressed with the modern methods that Brighton University uses, that are very much in line with our educational practice at SIS. For example turnitin.com the plagiarism checker is at the heart of the Universities academic rigour, mirroring our use of Managebac with turnitin. The move to online support sites in their VLE with the resources for each course, also mirrors our teachers work in developing google sites. Finally the support for their students to establish internships and work placements whilst still at University, in part through their Ambassador programme, is in line with our programme of Conventions that allow students to make connections for M5 work experience. Thanks goes to Sarah Burgess for making this link, and we look forward to seeing Brighton University return for seminars in the future." Jason Munges U&C Coordinator

Career and University Convention 19.3.15

“On Thursday over 40 organisations representing both careers and universities assembled in the cantina for the Career and University Convention. The aim of the convention is to bring the world of work and university study, into the School and stimulate thought and discussions amongst our students, as part of a process that will enable them to prepare for their future. All M3 to D2 Students were able to attend from 3-5pm, giving them an opportunity to connect to the wider world of work, and study. Concurrently with the convention a number of seminars took place in the theatre and adjacent rooms, giving a more in depth look into particular career choices and the university application process. These seminars proved highly popular and informative, with a lot of very positive feedback from those who attended. There was also a lot of very valuable feedback from the participants in the cantina, who noted how inquisitive and prepared our students were. A large amount of the material that was available at the convention will be added to my website which is linked here University & Career Site. Thanks again goes to all the staff, external guests and students who were part of a great team  effort in providing support for the Career & University Programme.”

U&C Coordinator

Dp2016 history trip

Article for history trip:dp2016

Early On Saturday morning we departed for London. We arrived to beautiful weather and after checking in to our hotel, at lunchtime we then headed off to visit the British museum and then did an extensive walking tour of London, taking in the river, parliament, buckingham palace and back through Leicester square to covent garden. On Sunday we visited HMS Belfast, the refurbished imperial war museum and then the natural history museum. The first two being integral to our course in 20th century history. The quote of the trip was then given to us by Franco. In his words,"

This is mind blowing, i never knew dinosaurs really existed" on entering the natural history museum! Monday started with a visit to the cabinet war rooms and Churchill museum followed by a visit to Madame Tussaud's and then the academic bookshop for research into the students internal assessments. The evening then ended with a regular visit on the history trip to China towns  Wong  kei's restaurant! Tuesday comprised a day of history lectures on the Cold War from eminent historians at British universities. Wednesday will see us travel back to Spain, after an enjoyable and informative trip.

BETT 2015

Betts 2015: notes taken from a variety of seminars.



Day 1

DIGITAL LEADERS

A Big idea: that we develop a group of students titled digital leaders. These students would develop sites as resource areas for teachers. The history Archive structured by me and my web collection is part of this process but we can take this further. This in turn links back to many of the speakers ideas about empowering students to become teachers themselves and to step away from content driven "flipping". Some of the ideas were focusing on redressing what it means to "flip" the classroom and how to avoid bad practice: the 3 sins of extending the curriculum from the classroom rather than innovating with new pedagogy.

This question is one we could all ask of our students and flip that to what do they want to develop. Many of the student presentations were innovative and creative. Student led: what do I want students to develop? What do they want to develop?

My areas of development to franchise out:

1:U&C site. Pages. Student developing.
2:TOK and history development.

Then there were some new apps and plugins not used but they seem really good.

• Flubaroo is a plugin that auto marks
• TeachEats is a blog. We at SIS ought to have a blog for teachers to share good practice
• Action: make a Blog for all teachers
• Why? Sharing good practice
• This platform might do this for us: Teach meets.

I went to a presentation on students making: Online video tutorials made by students for safety on the Internet. We could do that. (delivered session on internet safety post BETT 2015)

Links with kindred project possibly: The business portal: student subject area all developed by students: google classroom used

Other ideas: Morning email notes / Teacher tool kit

Day 2

TWITTER IN THE CLASSROOM

Twitter @KiraOConnor

Tips for Twitter

Using history or political accounts
Paradoy accounts
@KingHnryviii Henry Tudor

Need to create research group to find relevant Twitter accounts

• Tweet pals
• Ask questions
• 140 summary sum up books etc concise language set as hmwk task
• Breaking news
• Netiquette engage with parents get parents to follow me
• Exchange ideas @teachingideas
• #elemchat
• Vine mini films need to look into this
• Create # for university and career info
• Using to learn English
• Following celebrities to correct English   Red balloon school

GOOGLE CLASSROOM

Session using google classroom

Digital leader group
Creating student digital leaders

Survey of the use of IT amongst staff
Student made tutorials
Need to do this for university

Google classroom app
Use for u and c classes by country (Done: we now have a U&C google classroom for every secondary year group)

PODCASTS IN THE CLASSROOM

Using podcasts in the classroom
Spreaker dj
Audioboom
Book creator
Creative book builder

Video collaboration in the classroom
Morfo booth
Lego movie creator (make history revision)

Robotics in the classroom
Sphero
Ozobot

Documents in the classroom
G docs
Post-it plus

Curation in the classroom
Pinterest (all teachers should use)
Pearltrees

Explain in the classroom
Explain everything (not free) 1.50
Tellagami

Back channel in the classroom
Twitter (make a hashtag for your classroom)
Todaysmeet

Digital leaders in the classroom
Promote students in these roles

Support digital learners
Dlchat Twitter

Learning together
Google +
iTunes U

Marki
Padlet

Righting the wrong flipping classroom

Dr Ashley tan: Education consultant

Using a backchannel is good: set this up ( discuss with colleagues ) Link about using backchannels

• Flipping is not about changing homework. Thinking about flipping is an Opportunity to question why we are giving homework.
• Voice thread: Perception of flipping can be to extend curriculum time. A bad idea.
• Flipped presentations made by students in advance for peers ( making students teachers)
• Learners as content creators: externalising using internal schema
• Learners as teacher: teachers become better at their content by teaching it, thus teachers should get students to teach
• Vertical learning: an SIS example would have been the core celebration.
• 3 sins of bad flipping: Same thing, question nature of homework, extend the curriculum

• Fostering student collaboration
• Active inspire software
• Collaboration ideas

Using mobile phones in the classroom.

• Ambit tac
• BYOD strategies
• Use of mobile phones
• Contradictions in school rules
• Use of mobile phones by adults setting examples
• Rethinking to allow them and teach students how to use them
• George c Marshall example

1/focus on pedagogical values and responsibility
2/Encourage but respect privacy rights
3/Students learn how to use them

Protocol discussed with staff

A code access with permission
R code recreation
P code prohibit exams
S code external use

Rethink

Student involvement
Visual information

Create school apps by students
Parents using phones and QR codes around the school

LINKS
http://www.teachhub.com/how-use-cell-phones-learning-tools
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/sep/10/mobile-phones-classroom-teaching
http://gettingsmart.com/2013/01/part-1-44-smart-ways-to-use-smartphones-in-class/


The power of blogs for problem solving

Ken Robinson

Pisa program international student assessment

The last presentation today is by Sir Ken Robinson

National education systems worldwide are being reformed to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. As a respected adviser to governments in Europe, Asia and the United States, Sir Ken argues in this powerful presentation that many countries are pushing reforms in the wrong direction. Drawing from his groundbreaking book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, he explains why too many are locked into a model of education shaped by the Industrial Revolution and a narrow idea of academic ability. Urging schools and colleges everywhere to rethink their basic assumptions about intelligence and achievement, Sir Ken focuses on the vital questions: Why is it essential to promote creativity? What's the problem? Why do so many adults think they're not creative? Most children are buzzing with ideas. What happens to them as they grow up? What should be done? Is everyone creative or just a select few? Can creativity be developed? If so, how? In exploring these questions, Sir Ken argues for radical changes in how we educate all students to meet the extraordinary challenges of living and working in the 21st century. Takeaways include: How education wastes more talent than it saves The three core objectives of 21st Century education.  Why we're all smarter than we think. What schools and colleges should do, and how governments should help

WEB 2.0 My Sites and development

This is the top end of a link to my various sites

Theory of Knowledge

History

University & Careers Diploma Year etc

Diploma Programme

The development and raising of awareness of Sociocratic methods of organisation will be part of my agenda for this coming academic year. Examples to draw upon this method of organisation are within the DP teachers Leadership team, Advisory team, vertical articulation groups in DP and the working groups within my TOK and History classes.

To read more about Sociocracy as a democratic method for organisation check out this link http://sociocracy.co.uk/

Extended Essay in History

Results are back regarding the recent EE in History grades and it is clear that criticl analysis and source evaluation are crucial once again. The Dp2014 students produced 3 high B´s and 1 excellent A. The difference was regarding critical analysis and the holisitc grade. This is worth 4 points and to an extent has an element of subjectivity about it. the critical analysis requires joind up thinking and rigorous debate within the essay.