Linda's Meta-learning Journal

I decided a couple of weeks ago to see how many people read my blog. My feeling was that it was read by just a few people, mostly from the community or Ultralab North or South. So I decided to put an invisible stat counter on my blog. This counter gives more than just page loads, it gives details of where people came from, what country they are in, how long they stay, what system and browser they use. Interesting stuff.
The initial result was a bit of a shock. The first week most people came from google searches for all sorts of things. A few people in New Zealand came from the Ultralab feed and a couple must have bookmarked the blog as they have no referring link. A couple of people in France - ditto. They may come from a group who are looking at blogs as learning journals about whom I've heard a little. Some people from the USA are regular visitors. Most of the UK ones that didn't come from Google I knew who they must be. These were the people I'd expected to be readers. It only took 5 days to reach the 100 visitors mark.
My first reaction was to feel quite uncomfortable. I took my photo off the blog (a recent addition that I wasn't sure I was going to keep anyway) and generally de-personalised it. The readers that confused me were the ones who'd come from random google searches once but then came again from a bookmark. So my blog isn't quite the cosy space I had imagined. It's better to know this and to understand who it is that reads what I write. Obviously though this must have an effect on my content.
So this link comes with a warning - use it if you like but be aware it might change how you see your blog.Stat Counter

I've been looking through my whole blog archive today and asking myself "What exactly is this blog for? What is it's purpose?"
It started off in February as a place to to replace my JellyOS guest book. A sort of virtual meeting space. That didn't really work too well. I got a few comments from friends but I found myself writing longer entries and it started to become a sort of meta-learning journal. A space to work out what the modules were about
Recently someone pointed out that 2/3rds of what I'm posting is about school and it's become my actual learning journal. I'm less happy about that. I keep a private Learning Journal on my desktop (voodoo pad wiki ) and that should be where the bulk of this stuff goes. I am going to be more careful about this in future. I need my LJ to be a more private space and this to be more public.
So more Ultraversity stuff less workplace. Bit difficult when this is a workplace degree but I need to do this, I think.

We had a visit from the mobile planetarium yesterday. Good fun was had by all - especially a couple of yr5 children who are space obsessed (one boy one girl).

As part of my new module I'm auditing my use of technology in my job role. This has given me a bit of an incentive to make sure I have something to write about lol!
All week one child has been having real problems grasping fractions in Maths and I remembered a really good game on-line that might help. Luckily I'd stored it as a favourite on the classroom computer so a quick word to my class teacher and the child was whisked over to the computer.
The game is called Fraction Flags . Anyway thinking about what Andy said recently about "Can problem solving be taught?" I explained briefly that the challenge was to colour the flags half one colour and half the other. I didn't say how to do it at all and left him to get on with it.
Within five minutes he'd worked out how to use the game and moved on from doing the obvious (all one side green all the other side red) to making quite complex patterns. This involved him carefully counting the squares and working out how to even them up. He even worked out for himself how to use the white "paint" as an eraser so that he could correct errors. He also worked out that he could print the flags and soon he had a lovely collection. (I can feel Andy cringing at the thought of all that coloured ink!)
He proudly showed off his work to the class teacher - who was suitably impressed. We've been trying to get fractions across to him all week!
Tomorrow he's going to show the rest of his group how the game works, and then I'm going to challenge them to make as many different flags as they can, using all the levels of the game. We'll show the results in Good Work Assembly on Friday and I'll make a display of them.
We'll also challenge the more able group to come up with their own flags to show different fractions but they will be doing it by hand.

I went up to Lake Windermere yesterday. I was hoping to go for a ride on the steamer up to Ambleside but got there just too late. Just after these photos were taken there was a downpour and I got soaked !

First a little background:
Last Year our Network Learning Cluster held a 'Pupil's Voice Day' which brought together pupil representatives from all 6 Primary schools to put forward children's answers to the question "What makes a good literacy lesson?" The main conclusion from all the schools was that children wanted a practical approach and enjoyed lessons which were not just 'talk and chalk'. We decided as a cluster to act on this and have been collecting examples of best practice to share amongst ourselves.Find more about my school's approach to this here Or add your own experiences to the PracticalLiteracy wiki page.
Today was an example of best practice which I'd like to share. I will eventually add the details to my Firstclass site but for now here's a brief outline.
We divided the class into mixed ability groups and gave each group an aspect of harvest to focus on. We brainstormed words about harvest and Autumn. I pinned up some interesting pictures and the children described what they could see. The class teacher then read a poem written by another yr5 class based on Kit Wright's poem "The Magic Box." The groups were then given white boards, asked to choose scribes and asked to come up with a verse based on their topic. The teacher and I went round the groups helping by asking questions about how things made them feel or what things looked like. We didn't provide words but encouraged them to choose carefully. When they were happy with their verse They wrote it onto A3 paper.
This was going so well, productive happy groups engrossed in making poems, that with my encouragement, my teacher abandoned her maths plans and we carried on after playtime. The children took great pride in making illustrations for their work with oil pastels and the finished products are lovely. (Photos tomorrow)
Teacher comment "This is what teaching Primary used to be like!" followed by wistful sigh from both of us.
Each group then shared their work with the class and we (as a class) agreed the order of the verses.

Our Harvest Basket

Each group then started to learn their verse by heart to say in next week's Harvest Festival. I typed the poem out for each child to take home and learn.
Finally, at 11.30, we got out the maths books and they did an hours' work in 30 minutes!

I went on a day out to a Nature Reserve with yr4 today. We did Pond dipping in the morning and then after lunch went for a guided walk. The kids enjoyed the pond dipping, found lots of beetles, a couple of tiny fish and even a leach! We saw a fine heron, many spiders and some wonderful toads. But the highlight of the day for my group was this little wood mouse. There are only a few seconds of video of it and the quality isn't wonderful but I think you'll get the general idea.

So a lovely day out? Yes and no. The nature reserve is in the grounds of a nuclear power station. I found it quite difficult to be there at all having been a long-term opponant of all things nuclear. Also there was a very strange 'double think' process going on when they lectured our kids about the problem of waste and recyling!

I went for a walk by the canal today. It was lovely, fresh and sunny. The trees in Thwaite woods show no sign of any colour but green. The only autumn colours I saw today were on this rather wonderful moth

I never know what's coming next in my job- (lol, you may have noticed!) I just spent the afternoon at a meeting of our Network Learning Community. To cut a long story short I have some new responsibilities:

Practical Approaches to Literacy

1. I am co-ordinating the collection of a data base of practical approaches to literacy in use in the six schools.
2. I am leading a group of research assistants to work out how best to document these approaches (use of digital images, video, interviews with pupils and teachers have all been suggested.)
3. I will then be involved in placing the results on line so that all the schools, and other networks, can access them.

Conference Stand

There will be a county-wide conference of all the Network Learning Clusters in Lancashire in late November.

I am co-ordinating the collection of the evidence of everything the 6 schools have done so far.

I am running a meeting to agree and plan our conference stand.

I am then going to be responsible for the design, and presentation of the stand.
There are lots of other things too numerous to mention!
All this for £6.50 an hour! Am I crazy?
Anyway I should have no trouble finding material for the modules for the coming term. Time to do them might be more of a challenge.

This slightly boring movie was made this week to show some yr5 children what a level crossing looks like. We were doing "contols" in IT and talking about things that are worked by computers. The children were incredulous about the existence of level crossings so I made this little film about the one near my house. I thought I'd use it as an opportunity to try out Quicktime pro for editing rather than iMovie. Given the debate about using transitions going on on Andy's blog I thought I'd keep it as simple as possible.

So is this what is meant by auditing technology in the new ILP? Perhaps I could monitor my use of technology in school (must find a good definition for that!) over a set period.

I also used my camera last week to take photos of yr5 which now adorn the French display, edited them in iPhoto and then burnt them to CD to transfer them to the Windows machine - each child having written "Je m'appelle....." and their names underneath.

I also made them into a screen saver for the classroom computers.

I've been asked to take photos of another group of children for the SEN teacher.

spent some time looking for and printing off photos of French speaking footballers also for a display. This one will ask children (in French) to try to identify the footballers and then can lift a flap to see if they are right. (interactive,visual and kinesthetic!)