Mute lapping - (Solo-Kagan-Socrative/Digital leaders-Classdojo-window writers)

This is a quick overview on what I'll chat about at #TMhum. I'll upload to this site the presentation in advance of it for you all to have a butchers at.

My whole teaching method at present is all about me doing very little and the students learning for themselves and collaboratively. I am the last port of call. So if they have a question they have to ask the others in their learning quad or around the room.

I provide a 2-4 week project based learning pack for each group. The students compliment this by using iPod touches, iPads, laptops (BYOD) for research and an avenue on how they want to present their learning.

Students also have learning packs (these have digital device weblinks, guides on how to use learning app/programs created by my Digital leaders team and are growing all the time) and their quad groups to use Kagan activities such as all write, pair, share to provide feedback/up and forward on how to develop their learning.

Throughout the lessons the Digital leaders run some Kagan led Socrative feedback questioning to check the learning progress of the class this is displayed on the whiteboard. Each group discuss in their learning groups and feedback via one person (different person each time) using the devices they have for the whole class to get a feel for the learning the other groups are doing so when they get onto that aspect of the learning they have a mini light bulb at the back of their mind ready.

The PBL packs all contain mapping/place activities, describing, explaining, opinionated, aspects. These generally are split up in the quad groups one each. Therefore the next lesson when the groups switch they have a partner who can give some feedback/feedforward.

My time is purely spent lapping the classroom and using my iPhone adding learning points to Classdojo that will be up on the whiteboard for students to see how happy I am as an assessor to everyone’s learning.

At the end of each lesson students evaluate where they are on the solo taxonomy path of learning and they know where they are at and the learning theme they have to develop the next lesson to complete a specific aspect of their projects. I am developing a solo geography skills ladder path so that students can easily decipher where they are and where they’ll take their learning.

The start of the next lesson students will think, pair, share the learning that they gained from the previous lesson. Ones from each group will spend 5 minutes each week getting together to discuss their learning progress and as a Q&A time. Twos, threes and fours do likewise.

During the lesson each group will write the learning paths that they explored (successes/problems on the windows in their learning room for the other classes that I observe to get some hints and tips or to explore ways to overcome problems that the other groups have had and give them a helping hand. Each window is split into 4 for this for the different aspects of the project.

So my role in the class is to be as Mute as possible and simply lap the room, listening and observing the learning.

Mission:explore Genius bar

I'll have the mission:explore books and the website that i'll run through and show how we are looking for schools to sign up to it and create their own mission based learning. This is something that can be cross-schools based. 

Scoop.it 2 min nano presentation

With the great Theo Kuechel I am running a Scoop.it research project with my students.

This is a site where you can curate on a given topic and have the site search different sites for items on your chosen topic on a daily basis. You can add the suggested content and add sites that you want the site to search each day. You can add bookmarklets to sites and then this will link that site page straight to your scoop.it page. Just by the click of a button. Once you install the bookmarklet to your bookmark folder this will be open for any site you look at. You can even do it on your iPhone so I'm constantly updating.

I have used this with 6 form and each student uses my account and they add content to it as they come across research that they find useful. The classes have all found that it speeds up research and created a turbo charged depth to their reading by the site doing it for them! I'll discuss some issues that students have had with it.

This site has meant that I now rarely update my further reading blogs for students to read up on different topics. Students also use the app.

I might add a little on zeebox on how I'm using this with students to cut down in class video watching time as we do it in the comfort of our own homes.