Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

With the advent of the Scoop It! pages and Twitter updates, I decided to make this blog more of a reflection and comment blog about topics to do with education, ICT or library related.

Today I attended the final session of a peer mentoring session and it really highlighted for me the importance and value in sharing ideas with colleagues. We took on the role of acting as mentor for a fellow colleague using an existing assessment task with a view to improving it.

The conversations had in the group and the active listening process used was a wonderful way of bringing about real change in a non-judgmental setting. It made me think that all units could probably do with a critical friend/mentor to challenge our thinking and ask some deep questions including but not restricted to:

Will it engage and challenge the students?
Is the task accessible to all students?
Will any student be disadvantaged by the task in terms of access to equipment, technology etc.
Is the task too complex for the time frame or curriculum requirements?
Are ICTs integral to the task?

There is nothing to lose and everything to gain with a sharing of ideas and gaining new insights into your own subject area when you collaborate with someone who has a different and fresh perspective!

Try it with one assessment task and you’ll be converted!

Cheers,

Linda

Aug

2013

Weekly Scoops and Links

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

I hope your week is going well.

This week celebrates a year of blogging for me. The blog has had over 1072 visits from 26 July 2012 to 6 August this year so that’s wonderful. I know that some of the links are then passed on to others and from them to others as well, so it’s a wonderful way to share information.

This week in Science there are Scoops about dolphins recognising a friend’s whistle from 20 years ago which is a follow on from an earlier scoop about them answering to their names; an article on the real benefits of meditation; research that says that having more meaning in your life is healthier for you than just being happy without meaning; and Arctic sea ice loss creates a ripple effect.

This week in Education there are Scoops about Australian School Reforms and deals with the Government. Plus a great story about Comics Education and Multiple Intelligences which is must-read; along with another great story about spotting the blind spots in your classroom.

This week in eLearning there are Scoops about: Is your private information safe on social networks? How Google Apps are Infiltrating Education; Will MOOCs destroy deep thinking? Your Smart TV could be hacked to spy on you!

This week in Libraries there are Scoops about Libraries in Laundromats; and a great Library Impact Study, plus great blogs to follow.

The Brainy Qu barbaragrizzutiharrison126375 ote for this week is very colourful.

Cheers,

Linda

Jul

2013

All Scooped Up and Ready to go.

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning site is wonderful, and the tabs across the top hold a wealth of fantastic information for teachers. I often Scoop separate posts from this, but the actual site allows you to search on a whole host of topics. Bookmark it and save time.

SCOOP IT! Links

In Science, there are links to being outdoors and reducing near-sightedness in children, how moon cycles affect sleep,empathy as a choice, Alzheimer’s news, and much more.

In Libraries, there are links to the 8 roles of the 21st Century Librarian, the 25 most popular apps used by Librarians.

In eLearning, there are links to what happens online every 60 seconds, Apps for Inquiry Learning, 7 ways to get more out of Twitter and a Teachers’ Guide to Evaluating web content for classroom use.

In Education, there are links to Joyful Education and teaching the whole child, no evidence of rich genes, work-life balance in New York (who needs it?), and 21 things that will be obsolete by 2020 (I don’t agree with all of them).

In Somewhat Quirky, you’ll find exactly that.

Cheers and have a great week,

Linda

Jul

2013

Working in the new library

Posted by msdenty

Hi everyone,

I am really enjoying working in the new Main Street Library now it’s all finished and sparkling new. How fortunate is this school to have two libraries, two Librarians, plus support staff in the form of fabulous Library Assistants?

Sadly the Tour de France has ended but the Tour Down Under is something to look forward to in Adelaide, January 2014 for anyone else interested.

This week in Science there are articles on sleep, the idea that dolphins may have individual names and the vitamin myth.

In Libraries, there is a fabulous infographic about book lovers, a sad story about Lonely Planet laying off guide book writers and contributors, and the question of whether future libraries will have books.

In eLearning, we have visuals on educational iPAD apps, are kids really motivated by technology? Plus a piece on Media Literacy and close reading.

In Education, we have a piece on whether the face to face lecture is dead, protest over Qld school closures, and some brainy approaches to learning.

This week’s Brainy Quote:

Have a great week.

Linda

Jul

2013

Scooping weblinks

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

In another great week, I have scooped some really interesting content for you all under the topics, Science, eLearning, Education and Libraries.

Under Science I have been scooping geography links as well. Other subjects I find interesting links on I am adding to either eLearning or Education depending on where the focus is.

As the most recent scoops are always on the top, it makes it easy to work out what’s new for each Scoop topic.

I am looking forward to seeing the school’s production of “Oliver!” on Friday night and wish the cast, orchestra and everyone else involved in the musical all the very best. I’m sure it will be a resounding success.

And a Brainy Quote to lighten up your day:

Cheers and have a great week.

Linda

Jul

2013

New Links via Scoop.it!

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

Over the holidays I kept updating my Scoop.it! pages and have decided that I will trial just using those and my Twitter Account to share links and interesting snippets about education.

I would be very interested in your feedback as to whether you prefer the blog or whether you enjoy the Scoop.it! links better. They are essentially the same, but more visual and organised into topics.

The Advantage of the Scoopit! pages is that I update them everyday so there is always something new to find out.

I have a free account and can have five topic pages and here they are if you would like to bookmark them:

Somewhat Quirky – this is the page I put the unusual stuff on that doesn’t seem to fit elsewhere.

If you are a Twitter fan, then you can follow me Linda Denty @TullyOne.

Have a terrific week.

Linda

Jun

2013

Tantalising Tuesday Topics

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

Congratulations on surviving a long term with assessment and reporting as well. I hope you enjoy your term break and come back revived and energised.

Having completed a great Professional Development session with Judy yesterday, I thought I’d better start getting my act together so I now have a ScoopIt account and have set up my ScoopIt page for eLearning. I hope you find it useful. Most of the following links on today’s blog are also now in the ScoopIt page, and because it is so visual, I think many of you will like the format of it. It was so easy to set up and start scooping, if any of you think it might be useful to you, have a go. It’s free.

I’m going to keep the blog going as it serves a number of other purposes too.

Popplet. Great idea for all your ideas. You can create galleries, sort out ideas, collaborate and more.

Great link to a wonderful popplet on Classroom Reflections.

Pixntell is a great photo and story telling tool that you might like.

Fantastic visual of learning theories, with a zoom function which is great.

How to create better eLearning by knowing a bit about human psychology.

Should we rethink our approach to education?

Many teens are tired of their digital lives, according to a US survey.

Summer reading of creative tools with links.

Those of you looking to holiday locally might like a reminder of local attractions:

Those going to Brisbane can look here for information.

Anyone lucky enough to be going to Melbourne, I envy you.

Anyone heading to Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, NT, Canberra or Tasmania, have a wonderful time.

A great Brainy Quote to send you on your holidays with.

Cheers,

Linda

Jun

2013

Tantalising Tuesday Topics

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

A long weekend and an earache have caused delays this week. Apologies.

SITE OF THE WEEK:

This website, “Greater Good” from Berkeley University in California might be a good one to keep up with as its core themes of gratitude, altruism, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, happiness and mindfulness fit in well with many of our school’s aims. It’s a wonderful site full of information and the tab on Education is well worth a look with many great ideas to perhaps try in your classrooms.

Scrible is a free online tool for saving, organizing, annotating, and sharing websites for online research projects and web quests. Looks like an interesting app to download and it’s free. Some of the students may find this useful for helping with project and assignment work.

A neat looking iPAD app called “Explain Everything“. Good value at $2.99 and might be a good solution for some.

TileMill also looks a great download for those cartographers amongst us with many layers and features.

Ten creative ways to use Google Tools.

Comic Master might interest your students or yourself in the world of cartooning. Ready made templates, characters and backgrounds make it fun to create and publish your own comic.

This is a wonderful blog post on the Edudemic site from Jeff Dunn looking at motivation in education. It provides a wonderful visual that is fully hyperlinked and starts from the middle working outwards. This is V3 only just published so if you think you’ve seen it before, you haven’t quite.

Spigot

Ever wondered why it’s easier to remember a face than a name? Let Science Friday enlighten you.

This is a neat chart of critical thinking skills. Might be good to display in a classroom.

And a Brainy Quote for the week:

Cheers,

Linda

Jun

2013

Tantalising Tuesday Topics

Posted by msdenty

Hi everyone,

The wonderful Good Reading magazine this month has some wonderful stuff within its covers, but two things in particular I wanted to share.

Jeffrey Kacirk has written a book “The Word Museum: The most remarkable English words ever forgotten” which, quite apart from its fantastic title, has such gems as:

ABRACADABRANT – marvellous or stunning

AFLUNTERS – in a state of disorder. E.g. “Her hair was all aflunters”

BEGRUTTEN – showing the effects of much weeping

BIBLIOKLEPT – book thief

CHATTER-BROTH – tea

CHYRME – as applied to birds, it denotes the mournful sound emitted by them, especially when collected together before a storm.

DEVIL’S SMILES – gleams of sunshine among dark clouds

DOATTEE – to nod the head when sleep comes on while one is sitting up

SPERMOLOGER – a picker-up of trivia, of current news; a gossipmonger, what we would today call a columnist

TYROMANCY- divination by observing the coagulation of cheese

WONDER-WENCH – a sweetheart

Some people in the States have come up with a wonderful idea called “The Little Free Library” which involves communities building their own mini libraries (much like a large letterbox really) on street corners or similar and filling them with books that the community can borrow from and replace with other books. It has really taken off and you can download plans for the boxes and get all sorts of ideas off the website.

Conductive paint.

This is an interesting ScoopIt! Page not only for the content but for an idea to do yourselves to keep all your links handy.

Geoguesser: This is a great geography quiz game where you are randomly given a photo from somewhere in the world and you have to work out where it might be. Great for general knowledge.

All Science teachers could probably be inspired by this young bloke whose aim in life is to make science fun and interesting and therefore something to be delved into more. Tyler Dewitt has an impressive biography and if you watch his YouTube video via the link, it’s wonderful.

This might be nice to share with some of our younger students.

Where do essential questions come from? By Grant Wiggins

Anyone needing a short video explaining DNA may like this.

Digital Literacy in the classroom. There’s a Ted Talk for that. This link takes you to a list of Ted Talks, some of which I have linked to before, but others I have not. I was taken with the one about what happens to your social profile after you pass away. Anyone know???

Cheers and have a fabulous week. I’ll leave you with this week’s Brainy Quote.

May

2013

Tantalising Tuesday Topics

Posted by msdenty

Hi all,

Another week has passed us by. A question for you to ponder please. Would you like me to add curriculum links to this blog in the sidebar? Just leave a comment below this post or email me with comments.

Wonderful, wonderful You tube clip about Chicago kids and digital media.

Amazing blog. How to use Google Docs for Research. I know Daena posted this in an email but I’m just adding it here for quick reference.

This might be a good Android alternative to the Apple IOS compatibility issue in schools??? Unsure of Australian availability.

Those of us who love Evernote will like this updated list of tools to use with it.

Integrating technology into the classroom

This makes for interesting reading as to what teens actually share on social media.

Even digital natives need to learn respect and responsibility.

Great chart explaining the difference between projects and project-based learning.

An interesting take on being a life-long learner. How many careers have you or will you have?

And with assessments looming everywhere, I hope you get a laugh from this week’s Brainy Quote.

Cheers, Linda.