Monthly Archives: January 2016

#HacktheClassroom

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#hacktheclassroom was a professional learning session organised by Microsoft On January 30th PST. This would mean 5.00am NZtime on January 31st.

The event had attracted over 13,000 educators throughout the world and was hosted by experts leading in their field. The 2 hour session comprised of Hadi Partovi (founder of Code.org), Leah Obach (1st grade teacher and code user), Rafranz Davis (minecraft in classrooms), Jeff Kash (Onenote in classroom) and Dale Daugherty (makermoverment founder).

Each speaker challenged my thoughts to how I embrace 21st century learning within my classroom, something I have been reflecting on during the summer break. These are some of the questions I have been asking of myself as a teacher.

What content am I delivering to my students?

Is the content relevant to their daily lives?

How can I ensure that content delivery and student engagement is achieved effectively?

Why should I use digital tools if pen and paper would give me similar outcomes?

Coding or Computer Science

Computer science has been an area of lack in NZ universities for some time now. Computer science is a subject not offered as such or I may not have come across it yet. Coding came into the language of 21st century teaching and learning and something I looked at with much skepticism. Why should we even teach coding? What is so exciting about coding?

I was heartened to hear Hadi the founder of code mention that it is not coding that we need to be teaching our students but rather computer science? What is computer science then? It would involve skills from a wide variety of fields such as maths, science, technology,etc. It will equip students to live and work in 21st century jobs. Where does coding fit in? It is everywhere around us. It is basic instructional knowledge that will become a necessity for understanding for our youngsters joining the workforce who will need analytical skills.

As educators it then becomes our responsibility that we start early, early as year 1. Leah Obach inspired me when she demonstrated how her students used coding in the classroom without a digital device. Anyone can code (code.org) especially if year 1’s can do it. A take home for me would be to learn this and maybe translate this into some basic chemistry skills. I have much to learn in this domain but looking forward to the challenge. It is encouraging to hear President Obama address this.

Minecraft (Rafranz Davis)

The ability to relate to students daily lives can have significant impact on how they learn. Rafranz shared how her love of minecraft together with students opened new possibilities for teaching, learning and programming. Code.org has resources on minecraft and coding which you might want to check out.

Onenote (Jeff Kash)

Onenote is my all time favorite tool. I discovered it in 2007 and have watched it grow from strength to strength. It enables teachers to better organise lesson plans, assists students with writing difficulties, translation, video, audio capabilities together with real time feedback which helps gain back instructional time. I am looking forward to using Onenote classnotebook this year with my students to better manage my time, resources and feedback to students.

Maker Movement (Dale Daugherty)

Making is a skill that allows students to think as they problem solve details around what they are making. It is meant to be playful, experimental, expressive, silly and fun, hands on, reflective, joyful and edgy. When hands are engaged in the making process minds become engaged. Students learn by doing. Maker fair teaches students to be producers not just consumers. This got me thinking about science fair in schools which students absolutely dislike. What if we were to have a maker fair instead. Our students engage in market day activities at year 10. What if we brought maker fair, science and technology together?

Useful links: makerfair.wenachee.com, makerfair.com/schools

http://makerfaire.com/

It would be a real challenge to pursue all the neat ideas picked up from this amazing 2 hour session but will be revisiting over the course of the year…one step at a time. 2016 here we come:)