Classroom Displays » Environment Display - Antarctica

I’ve been blogging about the environment over at the Classroom Displays Blog because today is Blog Action Day

Today’s classroom display has an environmental theme in honour of Blog Action Day. I love this project which was done as part of the International Polar Year .

Dee, the teacher writes:

I began with a classroom standard, a KWL chart. On the KWL chart, students first listed what they knew (K) about Antarctica. Next, they listed questions they wanted (W) answered. Eventually, they would list what they learned (L) on the last part of the chart. The students asked some very good questions. Where do icebergs come from? What do blue whales eat in the waters surrounding Antarctica? How tall are emperor penguins? How did Shackleton and his men survive being trapped in ice? Why don’t fish freeze in the cold waters? What’s on the ocean floor? These were just a few of the questions they listed.

This was such a great project I’d been waiting for a good excuse to write about it and this seemed an ideal opportunity. If you are at all interested check out the post for more details of their classroom field trip and how it came to life for them because of an expedition blog.

Booruch
Education Podcast Reflections #44bThis week, I am in conversation with Linda Hartley, a former Teaching Assistant, who runs the Classroom Displays Flickr Group and is introducing a variety of other Web 2.0 tools for sharing and collaboration between Teaching Assistants and the wider education community.

It hardly hurt at all

Marcia McGowan’s first grade class used their self-portaits to create some online fun. She’s also involved in lots of internet exchange projects and I love her quote:

This is purposeful, authentic, engaging work that begins to prepare today’s learners for new literacies in the technological world of today and tomorrow.

Now I wonder if she blogs……and if she’s got any nice photos of classroom displays?

Using Flickr photos from the Classroom Displays Group I made this in 30 seconds. Neat. It uses the Flickr slideshow format and you can post it to Facebook too.

Following on from Will’s post comes a suggestion of another route to teacher and headteachers grasping the power of blogging.Monkeymagic

A different way, which might be easier, is to reverse that. By doing so, the teachers and staff can learn from the ways the children use the technology.

I think this can happen too, especially with teachers who have the confidence to let the children become the experts.

Piers (MonkeyMagic) set up a blog for the children at his school to use with litttle or no teacher intervention beyond a little initial “hand-holding”. He didn’t publicise the blog in any way but handed ownership over to the children. Wow - powerful stuff ownership Their byline “Our News. Our Views” says it all.

..one boy called Max had done a little ‘viral’ marketing campaign round the school. He printed out some stickers and stuck them on friends jumpers, asking them to pass them on to a friend.

The blog started to get comments from teachers, pupils and parents.
Now here’s the crunch:

By watching how the children were using it day to day, it was much easier for staff to translate research and factoids about social computing to ideas for integrating it into the classroom.
And the big result was one of Roberta Linehan’s comments.

“I think this is a great site! Can teachers have one too?”

Roberta happens to be the head teacher.

On a side note Piers also says:

Ali Lim, the art teacher, has begun to use Flickr as another way of displaying the children’s work.

I know! I know! I saw it when she first started posting. They just happen to be members of Classroom Displays Group too For a real treat have a look at the slideshow of their vision of London in 2057