Using YouTube & Google Docs to Teach Recount Writing

For writing this term, our main focus is on Recounts.  I am trying to make my lessons more engaging and meaningful for my learners.  After using YouTube for poetry & learning about acceptance, I decided to use videos as inspiration for recount writing.

We have covered the language features used in recounts and we have learnt the acronym TREE to remember the structure of a recount. So this week we have narrowed our focus to the first paragraph of a recount - the 'Reveal' paragraph.

I chose to break my teaching down like this as I have found that the majority of my class struggles with writing. My thinking is that breaking down a recount into more manageable chunks will allow them to have a deeper understanding of each section. I also choose to break up my class into two groups.   This is because I want to make sure everyone is participating in the sessions.  Oftentimes, certain learners will share and contribute while others will remain quiet.

This week we used Google Docs and YouTube to learn more about the 'Reveal' Paragraph.  To start with we discussed the key components of a reveal paragraph - a hook to grab the reader's attention and the 5ws. Then we had a go at identifying the Ws and the hook in an exemplar paragraph.

First up, a vlog!

click here go to group 1's collaborative Google Doc

Then, we turned to the interesting bit! We used Google Docs as an online form of a modelling book.  Each student had their Chromebook and editing rights.  First we had a go at writing a reveal paragraph as a class.  I chose to use a vlog about her first bungy jumping experience.  We watched the first minute and discussed what we saw. We brainstormed as many answers to the 5ws as we could.  Then, we worked together to write our paragraph. Lastly, we added our 'hook'. After sharing each other's 'hooks' we combined the best ones and added to the beginning of our paragraph.

click here go to group 2's collaborative Google Doc

The Present: pair paragraphs

Next the students worked in pairs to write another 'Reveal' paragraph. I chose to use The Present. I felt that the students would find it easier to write about The Present because we have already used The Present to learn about acceptance (& more). Since we were only focussing on a 'Reveal' paragraph, we only used the first 30 seconds. Again, the pairs brainstormed 5ws and then began writing their paragraphs. I decided to get my students to choose the Ws that they felt was important with setting the scene.  I have found that sometimes recounts can get a little boring, as there is too much focus on addressing all the Ws (ie On the 21st of June on a cold afternoon, I was playing PlayStation... boring!). Instead, we chose fewer Ws and also elaborated on some of  ideas.

Going it alone

Lastly, students had a go at writing their own Reveal paragraphs. I was able to get up to this with G1 but am planning on finishing this lesson with G2 next week.  I was pleased with the quality of the paragraphs.  Students were also adding in interesting hooks, which helped to grab the reader's attention.

Pair/individual follow up task

The follow up task was Revealing Paragraphs. This involved a number of steps.  First, students had to unpack a reveal paragraph by identifying the Ws. Next, they added in an interesting title.  Lastly they found ways to improve the paragraphs by making them more interesting by adding in a hook and some extra description.

Summing it up

Overall I am pleased with how this went.  Both groups were able to create some interesting reveal paragraphs.  I think using YouTube really helped, especially with my lower writers. It was also important that the students planned out the Ws before writing their paragraphs.

Using Google Docs was useful as all students could collaborate on the same document during our guided writing session.  I had the Doc projected up on the SMART board, so was able to discuss the paragraphs as well as address any errors. It will also be something that we will be able to return to, unlike writing on whiteboards that will disappear after the lesson.

I did notice that my class struggles with correctly using dialogue.  I will work on this next week before I continue onto teaching the 'Events' section of a recount.

Wherever possible, I will definitely be using Google Docs as a form of modelling books as well as using YouTube to help students in writing.

Reflecting on my First Year as a Beginning Teacher in the MDTA

It is crazy to think that I have almost completed my first year as a beginning teacher in the MDTA.  I have learnt heaps and grown a lot.  Here is my doco where I talk about my beliefs, the MDTA programme and how I use Manaiakalani's 'Learn Create Share' pedagogy. Thanks to Dorothy Burt, Anne Sinclair, Fiona Grant, the MDTA BTs and the team at Glen Innes Primary who have helped me on my journey!  I am looking forward putting my learning into practice into my own class next year.

When the Learning Keeps Going: Ubiquitous Learning

The 'learn' component of this weeks digital immersion was all about ubiquitous learning. This is about ensuring that our students can access their learning anytime, anywhere and any place.  E-Learning and the use of Google Sites (that are open to anyone) allows for extended learning times. 

How learning is ubiquitous for my students

Class Site

As we are a part of the Manaiakalani cluster, all schools and classrooms are required to have a Google Site, which is accessible to all. In Manaiakalani schools the expectation is that learning is visible.  This means that every link needs to have the sharing permissions as "anyone with the link can view".  To make this easier we create a main folder in our Google drive that has the permission "anyone with the link".  This means that

Screencasts

I have recently created a Google site for reading and writing. To help ensure my students understand everything, I have included a range of screencasts.  The screencasts help to the explain tasks and reading comprehension strategies

Teaching DLOs 

I always ensure my teaching DLOs are linked into our class site.  These DLOs are quite comprehensive and cover everything I am planning to teach. This enables my learners to revisit the learning anytime they need.

'Modelling Books'

They are not quite modelling books, but they are my take on it.  Whenever we are learning something, I take photos of the students work.  This is then uploaded onto a shared folder onto Google drive, which the students have full access to.  A next step would be for me to add these folders to the site.

Six Month Reflection

It is hard to believe I am already halfway through my first year of teaching.  When I began in February I quickly realised that there was a lot for me to learn. University had left me feeling pretty under-prepared, as learning about something in a lecture room and actually putting it into practice are very different things.  This is one of the very reasons Manaiakalani created the MDTA, as it would better prepare beginning teachers for teaching in an innovative digital learning environment. I feel very privileged to be a part of the MDTA.  I have learnt so much from my mentor, post-graduate studies and digital immersion days.

Fast forward to July and I have come a long way from when I first day as a teacher in February. Here is a honest reflection of my first six months as a teacher.

Where have I come from?

• I had a lack of content knowledge in mathematics and reading.  This came as quite a shock and had meant I spent much more time planning my LTPs as I had to get my head around the learning areas and what they entailed
• For a while I lost my confidence in my teaching and my capabilities
• I felt that as a BT I didn’t have anything to offer to my colleagues - what possibly could a BT know that an experienced teacher doesn’t?
• I was always thoroughly planned, well in advance.
• My lessons sought to use digital technologies to get my learners enthused about their learning
• I didn’t have much of work/life balance.
• I was also a massive worrier - What if this doesn’t work? How do I teach this? Am I actually helping my kids achieve? Am I making a difference?

Where am I now?

• I have more confidence in myself, what I know, how I teach and what I can offer to my learners and colleagues

• I feel I have more of a voice, and I know that I have a place in my school and that I can help contribute to the school.  
• I know that I can make a difference and I am armed with so much knowledge about how to help engage learners.
• I have the confidence to share my ideas with others.
• I have seen the positives and negatives to a MLE.  It works for some learners, but not all.  
• I have much better work/life balance - knowing how much work to do and where to draw the line.

Where to next?

• Continue to find new ways to use technology to engage my learners and enhance my teaching,
• Work more closely with my target learners.
• Share my digital learning with my work colleagues on a more regular basis.
• Find more ways to implement digital tools in my classroom.
• Continue to build relationships with my learners and their whanau in my new school.
• Reflect critically on my lessons and teaching on a more regular basis.

MDTA 6 Month Reflection

And here it is!

 This is my reflection of my experiences as a BT in the MDTA so far. I had wanted to create a reflection which portrayed my personality and experiences honestly and accurately. I had decided to not use a script when filming, as I wanted it to appear genuine and more conversational rather than interview-like. However I had forgotten to mention a lot of things, so I had to film some more this weekend (which explains the change in camera angle and different background).  A big thanks to Juliana who helped me film.

I am thoroughly enjoying being in the MDTA and have learnt so many new things which I have been applying in my teaching.   I'm looking forward to continuing to learn how to use digital technologies to accelerate my learners and get them excited about learning.

Getting Creative

Our focus for our Digital Immersion day last week was 'Create to Learn'.  We were tasked with creating an 'explainer' video to show our inquiry focus.  I chose to create something similar to RSA Animate, but I was cheeky and found images online as I cannot draw to save myself.  It is not perfect and I have noticed that I need a question mark on the first slide, oops!  However I really enjoyed this task.  It was quite time consuming! I saved a ridiculous amount Google Draws as JPEGS and imported them all onto iMovie.  Then I had to decrease the time for each frame and change the cropping from 'ken burns' to 'fit'.  Following that, I recorded the voice over.  After a few touch ups of the timing of the frames (so they matched the audio) I was finished!

Enjoy...

I am a Google Certified Educator

I may be a little late to the game, but I am now a Google certified Educator! On Friday I sat down at my computer and began the daunting 3 hour level one Google exam.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I knew!  I can definitely attribute that to my learning during digital immersion days with Dorothy. All our learning about Docs, Sheets, Forms and Sites came back to me, and made the 3 hour ordeal much less challenging than I had expected. I also think teaching (and continuously learning) in a digital classroom for a term has given me a better understanding of how we can use Google to engage and accelerate our learners.

Digital Immersion: Critical Thinking, Sites 101 & Multi-Modal Learning

Critical Thinking with Caleb Allison

Today during Digital Immersion we were fortunate to have a visit from MDTA Alumni and Tamaki College teacher Caleb Allison.  He spoke about building critical thinking in our learners within the context of Current Events.  It has been noted that teachers are not making the most of their teaching time to challenge students to think more critically.  Critical thinking involves challenging students to think beyond themselves.  Caleb uses SOLO Taxonomy in his Current Events lessons to encourage critical thinking.  Caleb's Current Events programme got me thinking about how I could implement something similar into my reading programme.  I am looking forward to giving it a go.

Here is an infographic I created which shows the progression from surface to critical thinking about Current Events, using SOLO Taxonomy.

Sites 101

The digital component of the day was about learning the basics of creating and designing a Google Site.  We each created a 'sandpit' site, where we created different pages, played with the layout and adjusted the settings for our site.  It was a great opportunity to develop our understandings of Google Sites.

Multi-Modal Learning

In the afternoon we had to create a multi-modal learning site, which would help learners to explore and develop their understandings of a fairy-tale. Multi-modal learning is related to Gardener's theory of 'Multiple Intelligences'.  I chose Three Little Pigs and set out to find resources which would cater to all student's needs and learning preferences. I found a YouTube clip, a story that had a 'read aloud' function, a YouTube clip featuring a student's summary, a text version and a short summary of Three Little Pigs.  Here is a screenshot of my site:

Here is a screenshot of my multi-modal site for the fairytale Three Little Pigs.

 I am looking forward to implementing what I have learnt today into my classroom.

Digital Immersion: Day Two

Our second Digital Immersion day started with a little learning about the origins of Manaiakalani.  Dorothy talked us through Manaiakalani's conception,  beginning days and where the cluster is at now.  Once again I was reminded of how lucky I am to be a part of an innovative cluster that is making a real difference to the lives of our learners. 


Today's digital learning was about Google Forms and Google Sheets.  Again this week I was surprised at how little I knew about these apps.  Dorothy talked us through the Self-Paced Check with Dave Winter. Dave's Google Sheet was really useful as we could go through the YouTube clips at our own pace (as the name suggests) and fill in any knowledge gaps we had about Google Spreadsheets.


Next up we learnt about Google Forms. We learnt by doing as Dorothy guided us through the process of creating our own Google Form. I created mine on Sentence Structures, as this is a lesson which I enjoy and am passionate about teaching. We also learnt about the Google Sheet's add-on Flubaroo. This add-on enables you to transfer your responses from your Google Form onto a Google Spreadsheet. You can then grade your responses. Here is a Google Draw I created about my learning: