This is a guest post from Linda Foulkes from Elkanah House who runs a regular TeachMeet at Elkanah House every term for teachers around Cape Town. This post was on her blog so I asked if I could use it as a guest post. Linda’s students at Elkanah House have just won, for the second year in a row the 2014 Microsoft Office Specialist Championships and will be competing in the World Championships in Disneyland in july. Not only that her students have won the Adobe Certipot competition in South Africa. See more about these competitions here. Congratulations Linda!
Linda says: “It is a busy time of term, preparing, setting and marking exam papers, as well as invigilation…but also a perfect time to relax, collaborate, and rejuvenate with teachers from different backgrounds over a cup of coffee and some scones. . sound inviting…?
So, you missed the Elkanah House TeachMeet! But not to fear, the next meet will be held on the 30th August 2014 from 10h00 till 12h00.
After a quick roam around the popular Elkanah House Schoolyard Market, one could find oneself at the Library Media Center meeting new [and no so new faces] for a morning of catch up and integration chatter! You do not have to own a particular device, nor teach a certain grade or even be a teacher…just an interest in the use of ICT as a tool in education. You do not even have to stay for the entire duration – pop in an see what it is all about – it’s free!
At the meet last Saturday we were introduced to the following tools and resources:
Michele Botha
Michele Botha from Somerset House started off the session with an introduction to Kahoot. Kahoot is a classroom response system which creates an engaging learning space, through a game-based digital pedagogy. Michele visited her Kahoot at http://create.kahoot.it She asked the audience to use their devices [ipad, phone, tablet] to navigate to kahoot.it. Once we all visited this page using a browser, we were asked to enter a Game pin. Michele provided us with the game pin which we typed into the text area provided and entered our name. Michele then started her game for us all to interact with. It was so much fun, and we all learnt a thing or two from the general knowledge questions she through at us! After each question, we could see our scores on the screen and challenged each other to win the next question.
To sign up or sign in to Kahoot, please visit getkahoot.com
Karen Stadler
Karen Stadler from Elkanah House Senior Primary spoke to us about her iTunesU iPad course called “Getting to know your iPad” for teachers. One would need to download the iTunesU app from the App Store so that one can access a course, once created. To access information about iTunesU, visit this link
Karen recommends iTunesU as a method of PD for teachers. In a nutshell, she created a course to prepare our teachers for the 1:1 iPad roll out in July. There are 6 Modules covering General iPad Use, The iWork Apps, Apps for Teaching, Digital Citizenship, 1:1 teaching and Models for Understanding Technology Integration. The teachers watch videos, complete tasks with the specified apps, upload to Google Drive when completed and then fill in a reflection sheet for each module. They are currently busy with the Digital Citizenship module which requires them to do the Common Sense Media Digital Passport as if they were students, so they gain a better understanding of what Digital Citizenship is and what this programme teaches the students. Combined with hands-on sessions, an iTunesU course is a very effective way of covering the PD needs of time-constrained teachers.
In addition to the above chat about iTunesU, Karen spoke briefly about her Travelling Rhinos Project. The link to the rhino wiki is http://saveourrhinos.wikispaces.com. All the information is on the wiki. Karen Stadler is the recipient of this year’s ISTE’s SIGOL Online Learning Award. She will be sponsored to ISTE where she will be given recognition in front of 20,000 attendees along with other ISTE Award winners. Well done, Karen!
Fiona Beal
Fiona Beal from SchoolNet SA introduced different Digital Story Telling applications that she had recently enjoyed using in the classroom such as, PowToon , Google Story Builder, StoryboardThat, Quozio [Make Beautiful Quotes], the Bitstrips app, Pinterest, and last but not least, the African Storybook Project .
Fiona also introduced us to the Microsoft Educator Network. See below slide presentation of all the tools and resources one can benefit from: (Editor’s note – the full slide presentation can only be viewed on the original post)
Liz Broad and Linda Foulkes
Liz Broad and Linda Foulkes chatted about the use of Knowmia and the Knowmia Teach app, specifically with regard to the project which Liz had completed with the Grade 7 classes on Fractions. See previous post aboutKnowmia for more information.
In addition to lots of stunning, informative presentations in a very relaxed atmosphere there is also a chance for participants to win a spot prize or too. If you sign up as a Keen Bean [that is, the willingness to share something for 3 minutes] you will be rewarded with some Keen Beans 😉
Sign up for the next TeachMeet
We look forward to welcoming you at the next meet! Sign up HERE
