ActivTeacher ANZ 4pp issue 2:Document 1 14/09/2009 15:39 Page 1
Train to gain Making interactive technology a seamless part of teaching pedagogy Page 2
In the classroom with…
Top tips for ActivInspire
Faraday Pang from Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Sydney Page 3
Software tips by Promethean’s Teaching and Learning Advisor, Kate Bonica
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ActivTeacher ANZ Technology for empowered learning
Issue 2 September 2009
Australia & New Zealand
•Email: activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com
Lessons in social media With technologies playing an increasingly fundamental role in today’s classrooms, more teachers are turning to social media to enhance their teaching and to connect with their students. ActivTeacher ANZ explores this issue. Social media is an umbrella term for the various activities that integrate technology and social interaction. Often referred to as the ‘digital natives,’ today’s generation of learners have spent their entire lives immersed in the internet, games consoles and mobile phones. Technology and social media are a natural part of young people’s lives - it’s how they communicate and potentially how they learn too.
21st century learning Importantly, incorporating interactive classroom technologies into teaching and learning is a form of social media in itself, as it involves user generated content and participation. It also helps students to acquire the basic skills of 21st century learning - communication, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving. Teachers use interactive whiteboards to create their own lesson content,
incorporating a range of media, and utilising a variety of on-screen tools. In turn, students become active learners, using the interactive whiteboard to take part in classroom activities and contribute their own content by writing, manipulating objects, recording sound, and even uploading their own images and videos. Furthermore, by integrating Learner Response Systems, teachers are able to mirror the instant and enjoyable nature of communication their students experience using mobile phones, games consoles and social networking sites. Furthermore, these tools improve student-teacher interaction while giving teachers valuable insight into their students’ understanding and progress.
Inspiration and support The rise and increasing use of educational technologies has led many teachers to look to the internet to share ideas, advice and resources with
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their peers. There are now a number of online teaching communities that allow teachers to do just this, and the teachers who use these sites say that they really value the support they can get online. Many say that the sites have helped them to save time during lesson planning and inspired them to be more creative with interactive technologies in the classroom. Promethean is very active in this arena. Promethean Planet (www. PrometheanPlanet.com) is the world’s fastest growing interactive whiteboard community, with over 380,000 members worldwide. Teachers can participate and share best practice via the ActivEducator blog and discussion forums. They can also access thousands of adaptable resources and flipcharts, as well as upload and share their own interactive lessons with other Planet members from across the globe. In addition, the ActivLearning section of the site offers a variety of online professional development courses and training materials for teachers looking to enhance their interactive technology skills.
ANZ have also created their own profiles on these sites. By becoming a Facebook friend or follower on Twitter, teachers can receive regular updates and tweets, telling them about the latest resources and offers to land on Promethean Planet, new tips for using Promethean’s ActivClassroom technologies and ActivInspire software in lessons, and upcoming education technology events in their area.
Social networking
Global classroom connections
Responding to the growing populari t y o f F a c e b o o k a n d Tw i t t e r, Promethean Planet and ActivTeacher
Connecting with students In addition, many students have their own Facebook or Twitter page and a high percentage actually spend more of their leisure time interacting via these sites than they do watching television. As students are clearly very engaged by the medium, some teachers are testing the use of social networking platforms in the classroom, via their interactive whiteboards. This enables teachers to respond to current concerns surrounding online safety and cyber bullying by teaching their students how to use the internet safely and responsibly, and raising awareness about online privacy issues.
Finally, some teachers are using their interactive whiteboards to connect
and share their lessons with classrooms in different parts of the world teaching students about other cultures, and helping them to practice their language and communication skills. Promethean Planet’s ActivRoom section offers a number of features to help teachers achieve this. For example, Teachers can set up a free Vroom, a virtual classroom and online meeting space that allows them to connect to their classroom with other users via their interactive whiteboard and internet connection. From here, classrooms can communicate live, share flipcharts and create joint lessons. If the classrooms taking part have their own web cameras, they can even interact with each other via video. Bringing the concept of pen pals into the 21st century, Promethean Planet also enables classrooms to collaborate by becoming FlipPals, whereby each participating class prepares and sends flipcharts to the other. Alternatively, teachers can create a ‘Travelling flipchart’ that other classes can add to, sharing experiences and perspectives on a range of topics. For more information, please visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com/Activ Connect
Now you can keep up to speed with the latest news from ActivTeacher ANZ by becoming a Facebook friend or follower on Twitter. To receive updates, simply visit http://www.facebook.com/activteacher or http://twitter.com/activteacheranz
Published in association with Promethean
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Promethean in the APY Lands All schools in the APY Lands (Aboriginal district) in South Australia follow an ‘Accelerated Literacy’ programme, designed to enhance students’ literacy skills, which consists of a cluster of literacy teaching strategies that are taught each day for 60 – 90 minutes. For Aboriginal schools, where student attendance is a key challenge, familiar routines are useful in that they provide students with support, motivation and familiarity. To date, nine schools in the APY Lands have implemented Promethean ActivBoards and are actively incorporating the technology into lessons to support the programme. Helping teachers to use the ActivBoards effectively within the classroom, Promethean’s Teaching and Learning Advisor, Kate Bonica, has been travelling around the Lands to observe the ActivBoards in use and to deliver bespoke training programmes. Kate tells us about her recent visit to Mimili Anangu School.
Five days of training Located in the remote Mimili community, approximately 70km west of the Stuart Highway and 380km south of Alice Springs, Mimili Anangu School is a small school of approximately 75 students, aged three to 17, and six teachers. “I spent five days at Mimili, working with teachers to help them immerse Promethean technology into their into their daily teaching practice,” Kate says, “It was clear from the rapport teachers had with their students, that they all really enjoyed their jobs and had a passion for teaching. There are a number of new teachers at the school this year, so this was their first Promethean training session. During my visit, I presented a number of after school training sessions teaching both core and advanced skills. I also introduced the teachers to Promethean’s ActiVote Learner Response System.”
Enthusiasm in the ActivClassroom She adds: “As the school is relatively small, I was able to spend time with each teacher. I met with them the evening before their individual training sessions so that they could outline their teaching objectives and we could then work together to plan the lesson to maximise the use of the technology. The enthusiasm of teachers to experiment with the technology in the classroom was great, while students were really engaged in their learning and enjoyed having control of the ActivPen. Teachers would present an introduction to the lesson, and then the students would work at the board, operating the technology for themselves. Many of the students at Mimili have hearing impairments, so the ability of lessons to become more interactive and practical has been a key benefit.” Kate concludes: “During the training, I saw teachers grow in confidence. Some were using the ActivBoard and software to digitise the focus text and present it to the whole class. Others encouraged students to use the technology to recreate narrative onscreen, using the ActiVotes for decision-making and interaction. Teachers enhanced their Accelerated Literacy lessons by showing their students how to use the software’s Sound Recorder function to re-enact passages from their focus texts. Lessons were further enhanced by having students take photos of themselves and adding them to the flipchart, before playing back what they had created.”
Train to gain Today, more than ever, teachers are challenged to create lessons that excite learners. With education increasingly competing for students’ attention over video games, the internet and TV, teachers must ensure lessons capture and, moreover, retain the interest of learners. One way to achieve this is by bringing the technology used by students on a daily basis into the classroom, and making interactive solutions a seamless part of pedagogy. As interactive technologies have evolved, the types and availability of training have too, and Promethean is making it is easier than ever for teachers to get to grips with the latest solutions, without breaking the bank.
ActivBoard User Groups Join or establish an ActivBoard User Group in your local area, and you can:
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Network with other interactive technology users
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Share useful tips and skills to make classroom life easier
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Get to grips with the latest Promethean products and software For more information, please contact activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com
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Local training options Promethean’s partner companies in Australia and New Zealand are fully accredited to deliver comprehensive in-school training programmes. Promethean’s dedicated Teaching and Learning Advisor, Kate Bonica, is also on hand to provide advice and support in your region. In addition, Promethean and its partners arrange regular ActivBoard User Group meetings with the involvement of teachers from across Australia and New Zealand. Held once a term at a host school, these meetings bring like-minded teachers together to share ideas on how to make the most of interactive technology in the classroom.
Virtual learning Virtual learning environments are an ideal supplement to more formal training delivery. Promethean’s online training portal ActivLearning (www.PrometheanPlanet.com/Activ Learning) for instance, offers teachers access to a comprehensive range
of courses from free introductory programmes, through to trainer level options for more experienced technology users. Completed online, at a time and pace to suit you, these accredited training programmes are also eligible as evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). On a more informal level, Promethean Planet, Promethean’s online teaching community of over 380,000 members, features top tips for using interactive whiteboards and ActivInspire software, which are less training based and more focused on inspiring teachers to discover what they can achieve with the technology in lessons.
Endless benefits Taking a proactive approach to interactive technology training is critical in creating classrooms that enrich and enhance each student’s learning experience. By becoming confident and competent users of collaborative learning solutions, educators will be equipped to develop creative and inspiring lessons that capture students’ attention, and at the same time, benefit from time-efficient planning, effective lesson delivery, and the competitive edge when it comes to career progression.
Ways to train: Complete an in-school training session – please contact your local Promethean partner for more information Sign up for a free ActivInspire introductory or migratory course at www.Promethean Planet.com/ActivLearning View video tutorials and top tips on Promethean Planet, and get best practice advice through the site’s online blog and forum Join a local ActivBoard User Group. Information about existing groups can be found on the Promethean Planet website at www.PrometheanPlanet.com Alternatively, please contact Kate.Bonica@promethean world.com for more details
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Planet’s top themes Looking for inspiration? Want to get ahead with your lesson planning over the coming months? Well, ActivTeacher ANZ has drawn up a list of top themed events, along with some suggestions of supporting materials that can be downloaded from Promethean Planet.
In the classroom with… Faraday Pang from PLC Sydney
October
New Zealand Book Month International School Library Month
Get your students excited about reading with Planet’s ‘Literature’ theme. Here you’ll find lessons covering a variety of famous works such as The Pearl, Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm. 4 – 10 October
World Space Week Planet’s ‘Space’ theme includes a variety of materials to bring your science lessons to life, including the ‘Planet and the Solar System’ resource pack, the Mars themed DK Eyewitness ActivPack, and a series of exciting flipcharts such as ‘History of Space Travel’ and ‘Phases of the Moon’.
Faraday Pang has been a teacher for 16 years and has held her current post as Chinese teacher at Presbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC Sydney) for eight years. Faraday is also an active member of the Chinese Language Association of New South Wales and was elected Relieving President earlier this year. One of the four Asian languages currently being promoted by the Australian government, Chinese is being introduced in more schools each year. Faraday offers her views on this issue and shares her experiences of incorporating interactive technologies into lessons.
Tomorrow’s global citizens
20 November
Universal Children’s Day Bring some fun into the classroom with learning games and activities from Planet’s ‘Games’ theme. 26 January
Australia Day Planet’s ‘Australia’ and ‘Heritage’ themes are packed full of useful materials to help you celebrate the national day with your students. Resource packs include ‘Australia: Scenes and Photos’, ‘Australian Food, Clothing and Activities’, ‘Famous Australians’ and ‘Australia: Maps’. You’ll also find a number of ready-to-use flipcharts such as ‘Australia Day’, and ‘Australian Native Animals’. 6 February
Waitangi Day, New Zealand Planet’s dedicated New Zealand page has a host of New Zealand-themed resources to help you celebrate this historical event in the classroom. For even more ideas, visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com to access thousands of lesson resources that can be easily downloaded in an instant.
Languages are an important part of our curriculum at PLC Sydney. Although we are a school with a history of over 120 years, we are also preparing tomorrow’s global citizens - teaching our students to become confident communicators and developing their understanding of other cultures. Chinese is an elective subject – Junior School students (Kindergarten to Year 7) can choose to learn Chinese or French, and in Year 8 students must study two languages, choosing from Chinese, French, Japanese, Italian and Latin. In Year 11, students have the option to study an additional language, either Indonesian or Japanese. Chinese has been taught at our College for 15 years. China is Australia’s biggest trading partner and the Chinese people are our children’s future partners in all fields, so I think it is appropriate that more students are being given the chance to learn this language at school.
I started using Promethean’s ActivClassroom technologies when they were first introduced at PLC Sydney in 2004. Since then, nearly 60 ActivBoards have been installed and we also use a variety of other ActivClassroom tools, including ActivSlate and ActiVote. We are planning to introduce ActivExpression later this year.
Chinese in the ActivClassroom Some students find Chinese difficult because the grammar and structure of the language are very different to English. Occasionally students believe that only ‘the super smart ones’ can do well. Therefore, it is crucial to keep students motivated during lessons and to make my lessons attractive to students who are deciding which languages to study. From my experience, I have found that in conjunction with a teacher’s enthusiasm for the subject, Promethean technologies can significantly help students to find Chinese
lessons innovative and meaningful. The ActivBoard allows me to fully utilise the CD-ROMs that accompany the textbooks I use with my students. When I am doing reading comprehension exercises with my older students, I pass the ActivSlate around the class - students can use it to click on a particular sentence that appears onscreen to hear how it sounds or to figure out its meaning. I also use the ActivBoard to access online dictionaries and websites, and all of my students enjoy using the ActivPen to practise Chinese character writing. In addition, I have found Promethean’s ActiVote Lear ner Response System to be a great tool for capturing the attention of the whole class. I use it for interactive games and quizzes to help reinforce new vocabulary and grammar.
‘Activ’ beyond the classroom As an experienced user of interactive technologies, Faraday also enjoys sharing her ideas and skills with other teachers. She has given demonstrations at several schools and universities over the years, presented at a number of teaching and educational conferences, and is an active member of teacher networking sites, including Promethean Planet and other interactive whiteboard discussion forums.
Competition To celebrate the launch of new premium Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness ActivPacks on Promethean Planet, ActivTeacher ANZ is giving you the chance to win accompanying illustrated reference books from the original DK Eyewitness range. To enter, simply send your answer (A, B, or C) to the following question to activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com, stating your name, and the name and address of your school. ‘Mammals’ is one of the latest DK Eyewitness ActivPacks to land on Promethean Planet. What is the term for mammals that lay eggs? A. Placental B. Monotreme C. Marsupial All correct entries will go into a prize draw and the winner will be announced in the next issue. To preview ‘Mammals’ and other DK Eyewitness ActivPacks, please visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com/dkeyewitness DK Eyewitness ActivPacks are exclusive to Promethean Planet and can be downloaded from just $7.50 (US)
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ActivTeacher ANZ
What’s new on Planet Here are some of the latest resources, applications and competitions to land on Promethean Planet (www.PrometheanPlanet.com) ‘Trees’ are just some of the latest additions to the DK Eyewitness ActivPack range, each containing around 20 ready-made lesson activities.
• Culture in the classroom: Help your students to understand their heritage and reinforce their cultural identities, as well as learn about different cultures from around the world, with Planet’s new ‘Heritage’ theme. This new theme brings together a variety of exciting resources, including weblinks, images and lesson flipcharts, plus advice on using these resources in the ActivClassroom. • Even more to explore: Promethean has extended the range of Dorling Kindersley premium resources available on Planet. ‘Artic and Antartic’, ‘Insects’, ‘Mammals’, and
• Planet in your pocket:- Planet in your pocket: Now you can connect to Promethean Plant wherever you go with the all-new ‘My Planet’ iPhone / iTouch application. This free, simple download allows you to instantly view Planet’s latest news and events, forum posts, resources, software video tutorials, and more, using your iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Where’s Flippy?: Use the map at www.PrometheanPlanet.com/flippy to zoom in and see where fellow Promethean Planet members are located around the world, and while you do keep a look out for Planet’s new character, Flippy the travelling flipchart. To help you find Flippy, the Promethean Planet team post regular clues. When you’ve found Flippy click on him to reveal a challenge and download the flipchart provided. Create your own lesson that answers the challenge and submit it to enter the monthly prize draw for a chance to win a choice of three prizes, selected each month by the Planet team. In addition to the monthly drawings, there will be a Grand Prize Draw in December to win a complete ActivClassroom.
TOP TIPS with Kate Bonica In the last issue, we gave you some advice for getting started on Promethean’s new interactive software, ActivInspire. Now that you’ve had time to explore ActivInspire for yourself, Kate Bonica, Promethean’s Teaching and Learning Advisor, offers some further ‘top tips’ for creating exciting, interactive lessons, ranging from basic functions and new software features, to sophisticated tips for more advanced users.
Drag and drop ActivInspire enables users to have a number of flipcharts open at once in different ‘tabs’. As well as making it easier to go between multiple flipcharts, it also means teachers can quickly drag and drop information from one flipchart to another.
Take a picture One of the most exciting new features of ActivInspire is the clever camera tool. Using this feature it is now possible to take a still image out of a moving clip. Simply click on the camera on the toolbar and select what you’d like a picture of, and where you’d like to still image to go.
To find out more visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com
Extracting text
Promethean’s ActivBoard was the star of the show in a recent episode of popular Australian reality TV show, Random Acts of Kindness. The ActivBoard was donated by A u s t r a l i a n p a r t n e r, E m p o w e re d Learning as part of the makeover show
that focused on The Shack Community Centre on the Sunshine Coast. The production team surprised Pastor Dale Dowler, who runs The Shack with his wife Donna and a team of volunteers, with the new-look centre, which includes a state-of-the-art media suite, featuring a Promethean ActivBoard.
The grand unveiling of this new facility included a brief demonstration of how to use the ActivBoard, and to help The Shack team to unlock the potential of the accompanying ActivInspire software, Empowered Learning has since returned to the centre to provide free on-site training.
Diary Dates
To help you keep your diaries upto-date, here’s a calendar of some important educational events taking place over the next few months Date(s)
Event
Location
24 – 26 September First International Australia and NZ IWB Conference Auckland 1 – 2 October
Qsite Conference
Gold Coast, Queensland
7 – 9 October
ULearn09
Christchurch
15 October
Teacher Timesavers – Literacy IWB and Literacy in the Early Years
Hackney, Adelaide
16 October
Teacher Timesavers – Literacy IWB and Literacy in Middle and Upper Primary
Hackney, Adelaide
21 October
‘Back to Basics’ ActivInspire Training Course
Kent Town, Adelaide
22 October
IWB Professional Development Workshop: Google Earth on the IWB
Plaistowe Mews, West Perth
26 October
‘Next Steps’ ActivInspire Training Course
Kent Town, Adelaide
5 November
‘Advanced Skills’ ActivInspire Training Course
Kent Town, Adelaide
23 – 25 November
VITTA (The Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association) Conference
Melbourne, Victoria
26 November
IWB Professional Development Workshop: Bringing Literacy to Life
Plaistowe Mews, West Perth
28 – 29 January
Inspired Impact Teachers Conference
Palmerston North
23 – 26 February
Learning@School ’10 Conference
Rotorua
In addition to the above events, there will be a number of ActivBoard User Groups taking place at schools throughout Australia and New Zealand over the coming months. For more information, please contact activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com Page 4
Labelling A function exclusive to ActivInspire Professional Edition is the ability to edit the caption of an image. Simply select the image and go to labelling settings in the Page Browser toolbar. Here you can adjust the font size, background, and even alter the behaviour of the label. With ‘tooltip’ for instance, the caption will appear every time the user scrolls over the image – a great tool for revision sessions.
Discover ActivInspire
ActivInspire
As seen on TV
Highlight key words from a paragraph of text in another document or from the internet. In a paragraph, simply select the word you want to pull out, right-click and go to ‘extract’. This function offers a great way to highlight key points of long paragraphs, and is especially useful for analysing language in literacy lessons.
Have you discovered Promethean’s latest software, ActivInspire, yet?
Download ActivInspire today from www.PrometheanPlanet.com/ActivInspire and benefit from: • Two interface options – primary or secondary
• Innovative toolbar that updates automatically with your most frequently and last used tools
• Easy integration of media players, images, audio and existing resources
• Instant connectivity with Promethean Planet, the world’s largest and fastest growing online interactive whiteboard community
What’s more, ActivInspire is also compatible with any brand of interactive whiteboard, and can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.
Wh en you h ave fin ish ed with th is magazin e ple ase r ecycle it.
ACTIVTEACHER