Skip to main content

Why connected teaching is the way forward

The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured an Ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull Volcano over the North Atlantic at 13:20 UTC (9:20 a.m. EDT) on April 17, 2010. The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted Wednesday, April 14, for the second time this month. The volcano is still spewing ash into the air and the ash clouds are impacting air travel in Northern Europe. Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team To read more go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/iceland-volcano-plume.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/iceland-volcano-plume....</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

As a geography teacher it is really important that we cover what is happening now.  The recent events in Iceland are an excellent example of an opportunity to introduce ‘Floating Topicality’ (a term coined by Jeff Stanfield the Hampshire Geography Inspector) into the curriculum. This post aims to demonstrate that this is a relatively straight forward process if you are a connected teacher.  I define this to be a teacher that involves themselves in continuous CPD through online communities.

4534483100_baaafbc667_o

There are plenty of great resources being put together by teachers out there.  I had to focus on getting some guidelines for Controlled Assessment together so didn’t have time to find resources myself.  The lesson went like so:

image

As the class entered the room a Flickr slideshow of Iceland volcano images was playing.  In addition, a playlist of volcano related tunes were playing thanks to my Twitter network.  I also added a live feed via tweetdeck searches: #ashtag and ‘volcano stranded’. Notifications were set up so that they popped up during the photo slideshow.

 

 

image

Students had to guess the topic and discuss with a partner what they knew about the topic, for example, did any of them know someone who had been trapped.  This starter led to a number of discussion points, including translating tweets not written in English.  We also found out that Chris Moyles was stuck in New York.

These ideas were very simple and effective.  I give my thanks to:

I then recapped briefly volcanic eruptions to Year 9 (who had looked at volcanoes during the Autumn term) and introduced them to Years 7 and 8.  For this I used the featured video from the excellent BrainPop site. The video was just over 3 minutes, but allowed me to introduce the basic mechanism of volcanic eruptions and some key terms.  If you haven’t subscribed already I fully recommend that you do!

In the tracks

The rest of the lesson then centred around an outstanding resource produced by Rich Allaway. Rich contacted me through Twitter offering his creation.

So what lesson have I learned from being a connected teacher?

  • Nothing is ever great ‘straight off the peg’. Even the very best resources, like those above, need some adaptation. Whether that be for ability, local context, time of day, interest. If using other people’s resources I think that it is essential that they are adapted.
  • It’s important to acknowledge to the class where you have got the resources from.  I think that this is great modelling of collaboration to young people.
  • Within a small timescale, I had gathered enough resources to tackle this topic well.  Without them I would not have been able to deliver a quality learning experience.  In addition, I wouldn’t have been able to put as much time in the preparation of Controlled Assessment resources for the Geography team.
  • I am more likely to share in the future :-)

Photo links all used via Flickr and a Creative Commons Licence:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/4534483100/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/compleo/4531716139/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4530571303/

Labels:

Comments

  1. olliebray19 April 2010 at 21:51

    Sounds fantastic to me Dave! As always loving your work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. chris.b.thomson20 April 2010 at 11:47

    This is a great example of the benefits of combining great "class-craft" with the added power a network brings. I'll be showing this blog post to people whenever I can.

    ReplyDelete
  3. David Rogers20 April 2010 at 20:55

    Thanks Ollie - just remember that it's all your doing ;-)

    Electricchalk - that's good to hear and thank you for the kind words :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge.  I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post.  I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff.  If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been 
5 comments
Read more

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey.  As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others.  Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up.  I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions.  From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment.  From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die.  How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach?  Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound
4 comments
Read more

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options.  Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet.  Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco.  I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option.  The result? No egg on my face.  As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life.  It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon.  They may die or be seriously injured.  If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way.  There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious.  Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin.  However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal.  The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).
1 comment
Read more