Make Create Educate

This post considers the online NAPLAN writing test using the public demonstration test . In this example the year 5, 7 and 9 writing tests for the narrative and the persuasive are the same question for all years. The main consideration for student success for an online writing test is their typing speed. Regardless of year level students must be able to type as fast as they can write. As they get older their typing speed must increase with writing speed. This means students should be taught to type from lower primary to ensure they have an acceptable typing speed and technique. Word processing skills are mentioned in the English curriculum documents across the country from years 1 to 4. Familiarity with using punctuation is also crucial for the writing test. Students must be able to locate and use: touch typing at the speed they can write - or faster capital letters full stop (which can be activated by pressing space twice) get to a new line using the enter or return key exclamation ma...

  Teaching online safety is an important component of everyone being online. Below is a range of resources for teachers and school aged students K-12. Teacher Resources https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators/classroom-resources https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Activity-for-Goldilocks-A-Hastag-Cautionary-Tale-7269548 Games https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/interland   https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-passport   Books https://makecreateeducate.blogspot.com/2020/07/picture-books-to-teach-digital-safety.html https://thetweetinggalah.com/collections Fact checking sites https://www.snopes.com/   https://toolbox.google.com/factcheck/explorer/search/list:recent;hl=en Educate yourself Cybersecurity and Awareness - Free course from the University of Adelaide you will need a gmail

What are Sustainable Development Goals ? The 17 sustainable development goals have been set by the united nations as goals to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs are global goals set for various areas including humanitarian, environmental and economical. These goals are a great way to give purpose to student projects so they can address real world issues. Resources Song Ted Talk Introducing SDGs to students  To introduce SDGs to a class and ask them to research one each, then create a page in a floor book. (A floor book is an A3 sized page where student represent their findings, it is then compiled into a bound book and available for students to read).  Each time the class does research, or investigations asked students to identify which sustainable development goal the project is linked to. Books Greta and the Giants  by Zoe Tucker and illustrated by Zoe Persico is a fiction book about one girls fight again giants who are ruining the world. This story is based on Gre...

How do you change the way you teach? It is a slow process but it is possible. When a new curriculum is implemented how to you integrate it? When a new pedagogy is doing the rounds even if it is a rebranded old idea how do you implement it? Should you adopt every idea?  Goals! What are your goals, both personally and for your class? This question can't be completely be answered until you know your class, your school, your parents. What are your professional goals? After reviewing your personal, professional goals and those of your school community write them down. Mine are: Continual growth and learning for my students and myself Enjoyment of learning and relationships Real life learning for students Academic improvement Research Now you have your goals consider the different pedagogical styles and how they might help you achieve your goals? There are so many pedagogical styles and educational theories. How do you know which one is right? Many of the teachi...

What does Possum Magic by Mem Fox have to do with computational thinking and digital technologies? Possum Magic by Mem Fox is a story about a magic grandma that makes her grandson Hush become invisible. To solve the problem they travel Australia looking for ways to make Hush visible again. Luckily the problem is solved for Hush as he consumes classically Australian foods. Strangely they need to travel to most of the capital cities to do it.  Getting children to visualise a journey and translate what they hear into a concrete experience requires computational thinking. 3 activities to integrate digital technologies in a literacy lesson. K-2 Beebot Activity Create algorithms to follow the trail of the food that Hush eats. Educational content Algorithms Procedural texts Recounts Integrating digital systems Recounts Resources Beebots or bluebots Clear mat  or cardboard ruled up with 15min grid. Pictures  of the foods consumed by H...

This post is for Maths teachers who teach fractals and assumes knowledge of Fractal theory. Fractals and Recursion Recursion is a recurring function that calls or refers to itself. A function is a name given to a series of steps and is used to simplify programming by referring to or "calling" the function. https://guide.pencilcode.net/edit/functions/ For example the code below is to draw a square. The first part defines "square" as a function and tells the program what "square" means and then uses to the word "square" to draw multiple squares of different sizes and colours without the need to write all the code. square = (size) -> for y in [1..4] fd size rt 90 pen red square 80 jump 15, 15 pen firebrick square 50 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal A Fractal is a curve or geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. They are useful in modell...

#AISDigiSTEM17 conference 23-24 October 2017 The 2017 conference for Association of Independent schools focussed on future applications for technology. One theme was drones. Dr Catherine Ball was the keynote on Day 1 and spoke of future applications for drones and gender equity in education Jackie Slaviero and Bob ran a workshop on Drone safety and regulations. Summary of the Drone Workshop with Jackie Slaviero and Bob Carpenter from One Giant Leap Australia https://twitter.com/JackieSlav http://onegiantleapaustralia.com/ WHS and Legislation CASA owns the airspace from the grass up Can’t fly over people ever Drone must be in visual line of sight at all times unaided - no goggles Must be 30m away from people and buildings Only fly one drone at a time Must not fly if within 5.5km from all airport or airstrip or helipad as of 20/10/17 Must not fly near emergency operations or somewhere with public safety. Public schools students under Year...