I want to be honest here.

I am in my third year of teaching and love it. I feel truly blessed to have found a profession which I am passionate about. I am fascinated by the challenge of engaging students with a desire to learng from history.

Within my staffroom there is diversity regarding the approaches towards teaching. By this, I mean there are younger teachers, open to technology, and then there are those teachers who have not adopted technology for various reasons, and then of course, there are those teachers who are in-between.

Although it is not necessarily healthy to compare against others, as a new teacher I compared myself against those that are experienced, as I looked to them as a benchmark for where I should be. At times I have felt inadequate because I have not necessarily had as many powerpoints, or have not demonstrated as much up front talking knowledge. Yet, as I engage in the wider educational community, I see that there is a shift regarding the role of the educator. To be engaged in learning, students need to be participating. The role of the teacher is to assist the student within the discovery process.

I had a moment today, after lunch, when going to class I had very little to take. No big textbooks or mark books etc. I had my ipad and laptop. That was it. I marked my role on the ipad, and then directed students to a post on Edmodo which then connected them to an open Google document which they collaborated with. The task required the students to support each other in completing the task. To be done successfully they needed to discuss and work together. The students loved it! It is true, we learn through doing. It is strange, when reflecting I feel that I should be more organised, be doing more up front teaching, more notes in their “notebooks”. Why is this? Does this reflect true learning?

Interestingly enough, I have found a couple of my senior students surprised by this shift. I think they are not sure how to take it. For so long they have been taught to copy and remember “information” that when given freedom to explore and build their own learning experience, they are somewhat unsure.

Despite this, I still believe that inquiry based learning is what makes learning engaging. Overall I have had positive feedback which encourages me to let go the reigns of assumed teacher pedagogy and embrace the evolving world of 21^st century learning. 

Image accessed from:

http://www.cigamit.com.au/web/education

As I have mentioned in a previous post, historical literacy is a skill that must be developed within any study of history. Thus, students need to develop a framework for analysing a historical source. I have created a Google Doc which will provide you with a list of questions that I use with my students to help develop an inquiring mind.

A Diigo list of websites that I am collecting related to a study of the Peloponnesian War. 

When investigating the wars of the 20th century, the home front is a critical element. It raises different, yet equally important, issues and allows historians to create a complete picture of the war in question. A great website has been developed by the Queensland Government looking at significant places during WWII within Queensland. 

As quoted from the website:

Discover the places in Queensland that had military significance or supported the war effort during the dynamic years of World War II.

Not only this, but you can also access newspaper articles from the time which provide a fascinating primary source. The website looks to have a lot of great resources for investigating operations on the home front. 

The website can be found here.

This photography is amazing. Roman Arena in Nimes, France.

Facebook, twitter etc. and now Google+.

Social networking is big within the lives of our students. Everyone acknowledges that this phenomenon needs to be integrated within our pedagogical process. Our school has a strict policy regarding social networking at school and between teachers and students. Thus, all public social networking platforms are not allowed within the classroom. Edmodo, however, has steadily increased its influence throughout our school due to its educational “purpose” and accountability.

At this stage I see edmodo as having many positive features that replicate the social networking experience for students within the educational context. In conjunction with edmodo I have used TodaysMeet to incorporate a “twitter” like experience in certain circumstances.

My question, to  the educational community, what advantages do you see in using a commercial social networking platform over edmodo? Given its educational intent, is this not enough to be using within the classroom? Why would you not use it? 

Your thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Rowan

cattion:

Karakoram Range (by toufeeque)

experiencehumanity:

Ta Ta Ta Taaaa… (Petra) by Leo Druker on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
JORDAN: Petra

PARENTS might label it a waste of time but the hours spent surfing the internet, chatting online, and even on the dreaded Facebook appear to improve children’s reading skills.