Writing Motivation within an authentic situation

 Last year Countdown did a promotion where you could get free items (through purchasing groceries) to fill a supermarket. You needed to purchase the Supermarket base ($15) and you could buy other accessories which included a home delivery truck, a truck and trailer and an EV car. What came free with grocery purchases was what could fill a supermarket like shelf units, checkouts, trolleys, people, groceries etc.

I saw one set up in a Year one class today. It is one of their favourite activities. What was interesting about this story was that this is a school in the Far North, where they don't have a Countdown but someone had purchased it for the teacher. Even though this school is isolated children can still relate about going to the supermarket. One particular child who has anxiety issues found playing with the supermarket relaxing and soothing as it was something that was part of her real life. You could hear the students talking about what they were doing and what they were changing in the scenario they created. Other students would want to play with it all the time so the teacher had to put it away and bring it out at certain times.

This is perfect for writing prompts as all students could relate to the authentic, real experience of visiting a supermarket. They could set it up the way they wanted to view it and write about it. Photos could be taken and used for final publishing.

Older students and younger students with support could use the supermarket in stop motion, it could be used with a green screen and movies could be made. More writing could happen around this. 

Beginning the year activities for your students

I had a few teachers towards the end of last year that asked me for some ideas of how to start the year with their students. Here are some of my ideas.

1. Create a Google Form ‘All about Me’ graph the results. Here is an example.
2. Make changes to photos, cartoonise them and use them as avatars 
3. Use the Concept Cartoon idea to discuss contentious issues or to set class rules. If you would like a copy of this email me info@jsharp.co.nz 

 4. Use Adobe Draw (or any other drawing programme) on iPads to draw their self portraits, (make sure the last layer is transparent) find photos of places of where they would like to visit or favourite places they have visited and then add the downloaded image .

5. There are many different types of digital cartoons, use these for setting rules and routines of the class.
Storyboard that

or Make Beliefs Comix

6. Make an iMovie where students prepare questions at the beginning of the year for each other (these could be their goals for the year, what they think the year is going to be like) and then do one at the end of the year and make a comparison or talk about if you achieved your goals for the year. Students will get a great kick out of seeing how much they have changed in a year.

7. Pechakucha for presenting to class about themselves, 10 slides 20 secs each all about them, pictures only.



8. Students can create a Time magazine cover about themselves. I would recommend that you find examples to show them yourself and put them together in a presentation. When you search for 'Time' covers on Google you can view some that are not suitable for students. With this example below, you place your photo so it covers the grey box, then you move it to the back so that the text comes forward. If you would like a copy of this email me info@jsharp.co.nz 

Junior Writing Idea for when students forget what they want to write

Use the Explain Everything app.
Use the Audio tool from the + menu.
Students record what they want to say.
When they stop talking they stop the audio.



If they think of another idea they record again.
They listen to the audio when they are doing their writing.
This will remind them of what they want to say in their story.

Split screen and Slide over on iPad

Split Screen and Slide over on the iPad is one of those hidden gems that most people don't know about. I had a teacher tell me today that she had one child who completes 95% of his work on the iPad because of his dysgraphia condition. But he also needs to use 2 devices particularly if he is researching as he finds it difficult to switch back and forth between apps, so he uses the iPad for his recording of information and a Chromebook for his researching. I showed them today how they could use 'Slide Over' and 'Split Screen' and only use one device.

The Slide over works on most apps
but allows only a slim view of the other app

The Split Screen works on only some apps and gives 2 apps
half the screen each 

Swipe left from the right hand side of the screen and this will show the 'Slide Over', tap and hold on the handle in the middle and drag to the middle of the screen and this will be the Split Screen. You can see both screens and work independently in each screen at the same time. If you want to choose a different app, swipe down from the top 
You can't do this in all apps but there are loads you can split screen like... Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Safari, Chrome, iBooks, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Photos, Drive, Explain Everything, Dropbox, Calendar, Canva, Classroom, Edpuzzle, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Inspiration, iTranslate, Mail, Maps, Notability, Notes, Padlet, Google translate, Twitter, Youtube and many more.

I was disappointed you couldn't use Split Screen with Kindle but what you can do is open the Kindle app, do the Slide over and open Docs, Slides, Word etc. If you want to copy some text, do the highlight - copy on the Kindle (the Slide over will disappear) and then do the Slide over and paste into the Doc.
I can see so many applications for this functionality. Be aware though that Slide View works on iPad Air, iPad mini 2 and up and the Split Screen works for the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 and up.

Experimenting with Rocketium

Rocketium is very easy to use. The only thing you can't do is adjust how the graphics appear with a free account. Make sure you make all graphics landscape rather than portrait, as you can see in mine that some of the portrait graphics are cut off. This is a great tool for younger students to use when publishing their inquiry or writing work. It could also be used as a great reflective tool.

Writing Motivation idea with Google Slides

I was working with some teachers on a Reading workshop today and we came up with this idea for writing motivation using .png and .gifs.
.png files are graphics with no backgrounds and .gifs are animated graphics.

Follow the steps in this slideshow to make an animated writing prompt. This works in slides on iPad as well, but you will need to collect your images and save to your camera roll.

Using Google Slides for Writing Motivation

This was an idea that I used to do with PowerPoint. Now I do it with Google Slides. It is a mixture of digital and analogue technologies. Students can create their own authentic writing motivation by taking photos of their environment and then using graphics to make a fictional imaginative montage. Change the view of the slide into Notes, add some lines and print out. Student's then publish their writing under the picture. See instructions below

Tools we have used and forgot about #3 Telescopic Text

In my wanderings around classrooms I have seen a lot of teachers working with students on developing descriptive writing and expanding sentences.
I find Telescopic text the best way to show students how to expand their writing. I demonstrated to a class the other day by showing them the 'I made tea.' first.

Next I showed them the Telescopic Text Write site. We typed in one of the simple sentences their teacher wanted them to expand around their poem  'My mother saw a Dancing Bear.'

As a class we started to add words to the sentences learning how to insert text, and fold and unfold. The students were going to carry on the next day in teams of 2 or 3 for 15 minutes, expanding that sentence and then eventually sharing their sentences with each other.
I have tried this several times with students from many different schools and it has always been very successful. Their general writing improves because they become aware of how to make sentences more interesting.

What to do with extra screens in the classroom?

A couple of my schools are experimenting with having an extra TV screen in their room. One of the schools has 4 e-Learning rooms with 1-1 iPads, 12 Chromebooks and 10 Laptops. They have a projector, a large TV and a small TV. The other school has two TVs, one large and one small.

I first came up with this idea last year when I did some demonstration teaching at Alfriston School in a Year 5/6 class. The room had a projector and one TV. I had picked up a 21 inch TV with an apple TV so I thought I would try it as an independent centre. Students were using it for peer editing and collaborative games. So now the class had a main TV for a teaching station where groups would come for their instructional teaching, and a smaller TV that students could use themselves.
Clevedon has put a smaller TV in all their e-Learning rooms and the following are suggestions of ways to use them.

Ways to use the 'extra' small TV in the classroom

It is best placed on a large table that will fit at least 6 students around 

Work Station

• teacher starts an online modelling book with students and then leave them to continue with activities

Writing peer editing group

• students share their writing with each other, five minutes reading and commenting, then use the TV to look at the comments and the author can improve writing discussing comments with others

• collaboratively write one piece of writing and use TV to view with all students contributing ideas

Workshops

• have one computer or iPad mirrored with problem to solve or game to play

• students collaboratively solve together, using other iPads/laptops/maths books to record
• start a workshop or online modelling book with a group and leave them to continue

Games

• one iPad or laptop mirrored, game is passed around with others offering advice

• work through a coding project with a group (students will need to work out their codes on paper, or whiteboard table or whiteboard app

Research

• collaborative research with students looking up information and filling in graphic organisers (students can be using their own devices to look for information and add to collaborative document, collaborative document can be on TV screen for all to see)

• TV screen can be used to show mindmapping, one student typing up what other students are suggesting

Reading

• students sitting reading through text, adding words to collaborative doc, then searching for definitions after the reading

Fourth and final day of 'Walk the Talk' Alfriston

Today was the last day of my Walk the Talk. The students know the drill now and settle down very quickly to all of their tasks. Writing still seems to be their favourite and we are receiving some wonderful writing from them. The following are examples of writing that is still being edited

And another
and then there was the 'Peer Editing'...

The students sat at the 'Teaching and Learning Station'  table with their Chromebooks reading, suggesting, commenting on one student's story that had been shared with them. The story to be edited was also mirrored to the TV through my Mac Laptop. Here are examples of students commenting on student work (Note the last comment in the first example 'Athens (capital dude)'
The students knew what their Learning Intentions and Success Criteria were and used that as the basis for most of their comments.

 

 

This was a great way for students to be part of the editing process, and they were all learning at the same time.

At the beginning of the Writing session I also pointed out the Different Ways to Publish your stories on the wiki.

Once the Students have finished their publishing, they will start the whole process again but with a myth of their choice, starting off with the Graphic Organiser.

Reading

The Novel study groups have been reading their books on the Kindle either on the Chromebooks or the iPads.

They also have been working on their Vocab logs as they read their novels.

 I use the Vocab Logs to teach from. We choose a word from the lists they have made, we go to Kindle, search for the word, read it in context in however many hits of the word we get. Then we tap and hold on the word and get the Dictionary meaning, and if it is a suitable word for it, we tap on Wikipedia or Google to find out more information about the word. Then we bring it all back to the context of the story.

They also have to keep up with their Chapter Title Assignment of Predictions and Adjustments.

The Journal group are learning to skim and scan a play

Maths

The changes to the workshops worked well with me being able to leave the students to keep on doing the learning themselves without me. I used Thinking Blocks Fractions app

with these students. One boy who had been having difficulties, really responded well to this app and completed a page of work, and was so proud that he now understood how to do Fractions of a number now.

Student are managing their Google Maths Docs well, they

•  have highlighted the WALTs they need to work on
• are copying/pasting the activities they are doing to their timetables. 
• are recording examples and totals they have achieved in iPad games or Internet games
• they are reflecting in their maths book about how the activity went

I have suggested to their teacher that they record in their timetables when they have attended a workshop as well.

Mixture of bookwork and computers

Teaching improper and mixed fractions using a game on a website, students look at the problem, solve it in their books, discuss, argue, agree and then check answer on screen. I left them after the first 2 problems, they were sorting the learning out for themselves.

Inquiry
Today the students started writing their Research question. The first steps to designing a research question is to write down what we already know. I introduced them to the Graphic Organiser
Writing Questions. They went to the Wiki Research page and clicked on the link to open it and then they made a copy and saved it to the Room 9 folder so that I could access it.

This took them most of the session. Some of them still need to work out which one will be their research question. Once they have an idea,  I would suggest that they use the 'Big Wide Question' graphic organiser, that I made specially when I observed some students in another school trying to develop their questions.

Once they have developed their question they will need to identify what their keywords will be. With all of the work we have done with keywords this week, they should be able to manage that part of the task easily.
Now it is time to look for the information using the keywords, collect and store which they can do in this Google Doc.

I have had a wonderful 4 days working with Room 9 and co-teaching with their awesome teacher Bonnie.
The successes were:

• the large TV with an Apple TV, iPad and Mac laptop. I was able to use both my Mac and iPad to teach from
• the Learning station with the small TV for students to mirror what they were doing and have other students peer edit, comment, solve problems etc
• Google Docs, all student work was shared in a folder to me, so when we wanted to peer edit, I opened on my mac, mirrored to large TV and they were able to edit on their Chromebooks, and all could see at the same time on the large screen
• TV was great for playing Youtube movies on Egypt, excellent clear picture and great sound
• Chromebooks worked well for all students, easy to use and access
• using iPad apps as teaching tools i.e. Explain Everything
• kids teaching kids, I could start them off and leave them to it
• kids not wanting to stop writing, and letting them do just that...I called reading groups as I wanted and the others could keep on writing
• the self pacing maths doc, kids working at their own speed on activities that they wanted to do
• kids making choices about their learning
• kids knowing what they were learning and were able to articulate it when asked

And probably a whole lot more that I will remember later. The only 'not so successful' was

• getting Chromecast to work, but hopefully that will be solved soon
• the occasional internet slow down but that could be due to all the devices being connected and used at the same time (along with all the teachers who were visiting and their devices that they were using courtesy of the school's Daily Passcode)

All in all, a great few days for the students, teachers and myself!

Day Three 'Walk the Talk' Alfriston School

It was another great day in Room 9 at Alfriston School with motivated, industrious students!

Writing
Writing time was phenomenal today. The students did not want to stop writing. Most are writing their stories using their frameworks for reference. Some are at the editing and proof reading stage. Reading generally follows writing so today we said to the students, you can continue writing during reading time if you wish, except for the group I need to see for a reading workshop. All chose to keep writing!












I started a workshop with another group today. Here is the Writing Assessment Checker.

And this is the Workshop. I started them on the 'Telescopic Text' which they had already used with their amazing teacher Bonnie. I gave them the sentence 'Prince Theseus went to Crete' and guided them through expanding and making the sentence better. Their goal is to improve at least 3 sentences in the same way.


 The second workshop was with  a group who is working on paragraphs. One of the student's said he was ready to conference so I was able to go through the Writing Assessment Checker with the whole group. He soon realised that he needed to proof reading his writing again!and here is the workshop. The students played a paragraph game and then we mirrored one of the student's narratives up onto the TV. I encouraged the students to critique and peer edit his work, looking at their Writing Assessment Checker to proof read and edit his story. After a short time l left them to it. After his story was checked, they looked at the others in the group.


 Reading
I met with the 2 journal groups that I started with yesterday and finished the workshop and shared their final activities.
I then met with the 'Percy Jackson' reading group. This was the first time that students had worked with me on this book. We looked at their Vocab Log. I chose a word from one of the student's logs, and showed them how they could use the Search function on Kindle, how to find a dictionary meaning, and how to read in context. That is the focus for their reading from now on is to work on their Vocab log.

Maths
The students now know that straight after morning tea, they come straight into the room, get their books, a device and start on their Maths task Doc. There is no fuss and no time wasted, they just get straight into it. I call a workshop, name the targeted students and allow an open invitation for any others who want to attend.
Today I briefly saw the 'Finding fractions of a number' group. They all knew how to solve fractions of a number, we looked through the rest of the workshop which they said was too easy! So they moved off to work on their Maths Task Doc. I have set myself the goal of finding some harder activities for them.
The second workshop today was improper fractions. The first couple of slides of the games I chose confused them, so I have removed them and found new ones to use tomorrow. Over half of the group got the strategy, I will work with the rest tomorrow with the new activities I have found.


 Inquiry
Today was still about keywords. We looked at Slide 6 and discussed the number of hits.

On slide 8 the students were in groups and used the keywords to see how many hits they got, they recorded these in their topic book, one group recorded on the whiteboard table. They did really well thinking about something they would like to research and coming up with appropriate keywords.
After  that we talked about internet addresses, domain names and URLs

Day Two 'Walk the Talk' Alfriston

This was the first day of teacher visits to observe 'Walk the Talk' in action. The students were not phased at all and worked extremely well all day. The teachers were most impressed with how they were working and how they knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing.

Writing
The children got back their printouts of their Inspiration or Google Doc Narrative frameworks. Their task was to now write their own version of 'Theseus and the Minotaur on Google Docs, using the framework they had worked on yesterday. During this time I took two writing groups.
This is the first group's Writing Assessment Checker...

And this is my version of a modelling book - A Writing Workshop. This is a work in progress, I add slides as I work with the students and identify what they need to know and what resources I can find to support that. In the example below, we are working on structure, looking particularly at Opening statements.



This is the second group's Writing Assessment Checker



And the Writing Workshop. In this workshop I have started off with some websites to see how well the children do with full stops and capital letters. They managed quite well with these so I will look at Slide 5, apostrophes, commas, speech marks. I will add some slides once I have looked at their writing, copied their writing and use that as a teaching slide.



Reading
Today I worked with the 2 journal groups. The first group's workshop was about summarising ideas in text. This workshop goes over 2 days. The reason why I do this is because we look at other resources at the same time, articles, news reports, factual information from the internet that has something to do with the story we are reading. If a country, city, town is mentioned in a book then I like to show where it is in the world and compare where NZ is in relation to the country we are looking at.



The second group was looking at skimming and scanning.

This is my version of  a 'Modelling Book'. I add slides as I work through the Journal stories with them, if I see a teachable moment, I include it in the workshop. If I can find a youtube movie or an internet page that relates then I add that as well. In the above workshop you will see that we looked at the Parthenon and the Acropolis by using the Tools - Research in Google Presentation, this showed us the pictures and gave us more information about them, that we couldn't get from the journal story.

Maths
Today I ran the equivalent workshop again and the students showed they understood everything they had learned so I sent them to the Whiteboard table for 10 minutes to play the game.
Everyday Mathematics - Equivalent Fractions App. They took one iPad and used the whiteboard table to reduce fractions they weren't sure of.

The second workshop I ran was Finding Fractions of a number.

This went really well with students coming with no idea of how to solve the problems to successfully solving them in minutes. The youtube movie on the second slide did a great explanation and then students started doing the problems I had added to the page in their books. I passed around the iPad and everybody had a turn at solving it while the others wrote in their books. They were sent off to continue with their Maths Tasks doc.
While I was taking the workshops the rest of the students worked on their Maths Tasks Doc, choosing their own learning for the day, recording  and reflecting on what they had done.

Inquiry

Today we worked at the Redefinition stage. Students went to the Inquiry page on the wiki, they clicked on the links to open up the individual Google docs, they made a copy and then highlighted all the keywords that answered the question at the top of the doc.

At the same time they also had open the Class Collaborative Doc and added their keywords to the columns, they had to ensure that they put in new keywords, there were to be no repeats. They did a great job on this and now they have a doc that they can refer to when they plan their own research question with lots of keywords to choose from.