iPad File Management

If you require your students to transfer work back and forth between the school server and school iPads then you need to use the app File Browser. Below is a poster which you can download for yourself and your students as well as a video taking you through the steps to use File Browser.

The poster specifically shows how to move photos and video from the iPad. File Browser allows other files including Pages, Keynote and Numbers to be transferred off the iPad. Just tap the share button, tap open in another app and select File Browser.

Download classroom poster – Filer Browser: Shift photos and Video from the iPad

Stratopherix

Stratopherix provides a range file transfer apps for iPad and iPhone including the original File Browser app that we use at PBAS. File Browser is not just useful in a school setting. If you want to connect your iPad and iPhone to your PC, Mac computer, stream music from devices or connect with an Apple TV then check out the range of apps provided by Stratopherix. These apps make it easy to manage files between all your devices at home.

Click here to view all the Stratopherix apps including File Browser (connect all your home devices including PC to iDevices), File Browser for Education, File Browser for Business, File Browser for TV (use with Apple TV) and Music Streamer (live stream your music from your computer to you iDevice).

I learn best when my teacher…

When I asked my Year 9/10 Pastoral Care class what were three things that their teachers did to support their learning I was suprised there was not a more diverse range of responses. Student responses fell overwhelmingly into just 3 categories.

NB – I did not provide them with any examples of what they could write. They were asked to write three responses to the statement “I learn best when my teacher…”.

Category 1 – Task explanations and support

By far the biggest group of responses. Students want clear task explanations, examples to refer to and support in their learning. Maybe not surprising but certainly an overwhelming indication that we need to understand very clearly what we want students to learn and how we are going to support them to do this. To be effective in this area it also important that we can explain concepts in a number of ways to help improve student understanding. Presenting a key concept in a variety of formats for example, video, class discussion and think pair share is more effective than presenting in a single format like an isolated Power Point presentation.

I learn best when the teacher…

  • gives me an example of what to do.
  • explains the task clearly.
  • offers help.
  • explains the task in a way I can understand.
  • provides me with an assessment rubric.
  • explains things properly and does not hand us the task and expects us to know everything.
  • gives me a task sheet and example.
  • explains what I have to do.
  • is helping me.
  • explains the task in depth and gives sufficient help.
  • clearly explains and demonstrates what we have to do.
  • helps me when I am in need.
  • says things in my language, sometimes I don’t understand the way they explain it.
  • explains the task well.
  • makes sure we understand what we are doing.
  • explains and go’s through the task thoroughly.
  • helps us out with what we are doing.
  • gives me a task sheet or an example of what to do.
  • explains really well what the task is what we are learning and what all the requirements and expectations are.
  • gives me an example to refer back to so if I get stuck I can look back at it and remind myself what I have to do.
  • helps me when I am in need.

 

Category 2 –  Too much teacher talk

The second biggest response centred around teachers talking for too much of the lesson. While clear explanations of tasks are important students obviously feel that at a certain point they just want to get on with it. Despite our good intentions talking for too much of a lesson is likely to lead to students tuning out. Click here for an interesting article about teacher talk time.

I learn best when the teacher…

  • doesn’t talk for half the lesson.
  • doesn’t talk all of the lesson
  • doesn’t talk all through the lesson
  • doesn’t talk about the same thing every lesson and take up all the class time.
  • only talks for a small part of the lesson.
  • doesn’t talk the whole lesson.
  • doesn’t talk all lesson, about things we already know
  • only talks certain amount of lesson and lets us complete work.
  • doesn’t talk all lesson.

 

Category 3 – Teacher organisation 

It is not a surprise that organisation is a quality that students recognise in good teaching. When teachers are organised it makes it easier for students to be organised. If we are unsure of our direction and what is happening lesson by lesson how are we to expect our students to know what they should be doing at a given point in time.

I learn best when the teacher…

  • is organised, does not forget things and sets a good example for us children.
  • is organised.
  • is organised and doesn’t forget things because it becomes annoying if you’re always organised and they are not.
  • is organised for the lesson.

 

Category 4 – Other

These are things students wrote that didn’t fit into the above three categories. The “not looking over my shoulder” comments are interesting and were mentioned by three different students. It is a fine line between helping a student and constantly invading their personal space making them feel uncomfortable.

I work best when the teacher…

  • doesn’t look over my shoulder.
  • doesn’t constantly look over my shoulder.
  • work best when the teacher doesn’t look over my shoulder.
  • keeps me on task.
  • listens to me.
  • lets you work at your at your own pace.
  • enjoys what we’re learning about too.

Now that I know this information I intend to make a small survey for my 9/10 students to seek their feedback about how I perform in these areas.

 

You Tube

You Tube is one of the greatest free sources of educational material that we have access to on a daily basis. Want to know how to program your TV, fix an issue with your computer, learn a new language, improve your maths? Then go to You Tube. The list of things you can learn is seemingly endless.

I have previously posted (see below) about how useful Twitter and Facebook can be in the classroom and for professional development and thought it would be useful to look at You Tube in more detail.

Firstly create an account for You Tube. Obviously you do not need an account to access You Tube but if you want to subscribe to other people’s channels or post your own videos it is necessary. Click here to create an account.

Once you have an account you can:

  • Subscribe to educational channels – keep up with latest videos posted by these channels. They are there ready to use when you are doing a related topic in your classroom.

The image below shows my subscriptions down the left hand side.

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  • Create playlists of your favourite videos. Place videos from different channels into a single playlist. The one below is a playlist I made of videos on body systems.

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Created playlists appear in your account – see the centre row of the image below.

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Create your own channel. Do you want to create your own educational videos for students? Do you want to get your students creating their own educational videos to demonstrate their learning or to teach their peers? You can use your channel to post and share these videos. Click here to create your own channel. If you don’t want to make your videos Public there are other options when you upload a video including Unlisted and Private.

Here are some You Tube channels to explore:

The Khan Acadamy – The Khan Academy has multiple channels. Go to their main channel and then click on the ‘channels’ link to access specific channels in a variety of subject areas.

Bearded Science Guy – Amazing science experiments.

Bill Nye The Science guy – Range of science topics.

Veritasium – Veritasium is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science (check out their cool slinky video).

TED-Ed – Lessons created by talented teachers and professional animators.

The Great War

Crash Course  – Courses on: Anatomy & Physiology; Astronomy; U.S. Government and Politics; Economics. Playlists for past courses in World History, Biology, Literature, Ecology, Chemistry, Psychology, and US History.

MyPEexam – Senior PE concepts explained

PhysEd Games – Simple PE games

ThePhysicalEducator – ThePhysicalEducator.com is an online professional development resource for physical educators.

AITSL – The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) provides national leadership for the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments in promoting excellence in the profession of teaching and school leadership.

Edutopia – Edutopia creates videos about what’s working in K – 12 education.

Teaching and Learning in South Australia – This channel features videos related to teaching and learning.

BBC Earth – You’ll find 50 years worth of astounding, entertaining, thought-provoking and educational natural history content on here (short clips from TV shows like Deadly 60 and David Attenborough documentaries).

National Geographic – Inspiring people to care about the planet.

Bio – Short biographies on famous people. American centric.

Smithsonian – Smithsonian Channel explores the history of our planet, life and culture.

ThinkEdAust – Resilience, Optimism & Confidence for Kids through Education.

Babble Dabble Do – Combining science, technology, engineering, art and math. More projects can be found on http://babbledabbledo.com/

Tinker Lab – Hands-on activities for kids that encourage creative and critical thinking skills. The projects lie at the intersection of science, art, and technology, and are fun, simple, and use basic materials.

 

 

 

Teacher Learning

It is great to see PBAS teachers engaging in classroom observations as the term progresses. So far I have had the opportunity to have one of my 3/4 PE lessons observed and been privileged enough to observe two others. It is also encouraging to see teachers supporting teachers in this process. While line managers are available to observe lessons and support teachers it is outstanding that teachers are working with other teachers. Two examples that I have heard about are Jackie supporting Justin with his development of reading groups and Jackie supporting Tanya with Anne Baker concepts. What is really impressive is that we have the year 3/4 teacher supporting two 7/8 teachers in their development of teaching strategies. It says a lot about our staff that we are open to learning from others who teach in completely different sections of the school.

It has to worth our time

Classroom observations have to worth our time. We have to come away from an observation knowing something we can use to improve our teaching. This puts considerable pressure on the observer. The observer needs to:

  • Be clear about what the teacher wants observed.
  • Take detailed notes during the observation. Make sure that critical feedback is provided along with positive feedback.
  • Meet with the teacher after the observation.
    • Ensure notes are clearly presented to the teacher.
    • Before discussing observer notes ask the teacher how they thought the lesson went.
    • Discuss observation notes and clarify any misinterpretations.

“…it is least successful when a peer observes a struggling teacher who doesn’t know how to benefit from the process, especially if the observer isn’t adept at identifying his or her colleagues’ needs. Teacher observation works best when expectations are clear and participants understand how to use and benefit from the process…” Stephanie Hirsh, Executive Directer, Learning Forward.

The observed teacher also needs to want to find something that they can improve. This is why the discussion after the observation is critical. This discussion will support the teacher in identifying an area for development.

“No teacher is so good they can’t get better.”

Dylan Wiliam

 

You thought you’d been to bad T & D before

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Watch the short video showing Chicago teachers in a PD session. The way the consultant is presenting could be taken in one of two ways:

  1. The presenter is modelling a teaching method pretending that the teachers are students. If this is the case I’m pretty sure there are a number of effective pedagogies ahead of mindless robotic parroting.
  2. Or the presenter is actually trying to teach adults using this method. If this is the case WOW!

You Tube description of video content: “This presenter was one of several consultants flown in from California and the United Kingdom for the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Strategic School Support Services’ special network. This is a professional development for teachers of Saturday ISAT preparation classes.” 

Source: Washinton Post