What do National Standards mean for kids in Kiwi schools?

So who knows what national standards are? They kick in this year and the concept now influences how teaching and learning are developed in this country, despite warnings from abroad that the idea doesn't work. Opinion is divided.
Here is an interesting article on the Ministry of Ed's website comparing the idea of National Standards and it's "Evil Twin".
In reading the comparisons, I can see that the intentions in this country are firmly set on the positive potential of the concept and hopefully we Kiwis will take the noble path. However, if you line teachers and/or schools up and compare them based on test data certain behaviours, such as teaching to tests, may occur. I guess it will come down to how talented our school leaders are at managing it all.
I think NZ students are very fortunate to be learning in one of the world's most caring and enlightened educational systems... by comparison to others at least. 
Enjoy learning, kidlets! You are very fortunate to be living and learning in this great country of ours at the bottom [or is it the top?] of the world. Let's hope we don't stuff it up too much for you.
:-)

National Standards Road Trip about trialling standards before trialling them on kids      

NZEI website re standards being implemented

NZCurriculum online info about standards

Digital Storytelling

You must have been miserable with me gone ;-)

[I hope your science fairs are ready. I hope all your sustainability arguments are done.]

I have been doing a digital storytelling workshop with special people. It was amazing! The stories they told were so moving everybody cried :-)
We can do digital storytelling in our class. Do YOU have a personal story to tell? Something honest and poignant that can be told in a few minutes with still images and a voice over/narration?
It may seem hard, but with help, it is easy. Your own stories flow from you once you start.
You can leave comments here with ideas if you like.
Some new friends touched my life this week and I hope we can all benefit from the experience.
See you tomorrow!

SIFE Survey for worm farmers

Survey Monkey is a cool way to do online surveys.
Here is one from our friends at S.I.F.E.
It's part of our learning regarding worm farming as a business.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Dq0U1_2f5gCjYpwHy9AbY_2bWw_3d_3d

To blog or not to blog

Should Room 18 students be allowed to blog? Should Room 19 be able to use it's fabulous wiki? Is it of benefit to you?
The Ministry of Education believe we are doing a good job but also think maybe we shouldn't be allowed because we are too young.
What do you think?
Check out who is first on their TKI website blogroll...

http://softwareforlearning.tki.org.nz/Managing-Software/Social-Software

the affect [- or is that effect?] of one noisy group

We are currently gathering more data on factors which affect our learning.
In our splendid class we have table groups. One particular group is quite often noisy and disruptive. They claim that they are on task, which often they are. What I am interested in finding out is how does it affect the rest of you? Can you explain in polite terms how it affects the working environment in the class? Maybe it has a positive influence by adding amusement or perhaps it could be like the music and somehow create positive working energy. Maybe you find it wastes time and creates negativity. Possibly it could be a balance of the two and it may depend on picking the right time to chat and share a laugh.
Feel free to add your hypotheses [- the plural of hypothesis, KarateKid].
:-)
Also please explain what hypothesis means.
And if you don't know, add it to your word study list.

N.B. I really enjoy the vibrancy of the people involved. I am simply concerned about the disruptiveness.

p.s. Can anyone tell me what N.B. stands for and what it means?

How does raucous music help us learn?

Today we did an experiment in class.
To investigate how music affects our ability to learn, we tried performing standard classroom learning tasks whilst listening to drum n bass [by Concord Dawn]. Secondly, we added a movement factor for kinaesthetic learners. Trying to "drum" in time on our desks was the next phase.
Describe here how it affected [or is that effected?] you as a learner.
Can you suggest other learning activities to try with music to add more result data to our investigation?
Thirdly, as a learning experience, was this useful or memorable? Please be specific as to why/why not.

Look back through the posts to find...

Your task, Woodmonstas, is to find the post with the discussion about our assignment to do with ourselves as learners. We must hit the ground running with it when we return from camp. Sadly this term is disrupted heavily with conferences, camps, testing and getting to know one another [- okay, that last one is very important and enjoyable].
Mostly, the research is into how we learn, starting with the habits of mind work we did, then moving onto the nervous sytem and the brain investigation. Soon we need to investigate our personal learning styles through the various systems that are available to help us understand our learning styles. We are all different and "one size doesn't fit all". Can you explain what I mean by that?

For now, in your own blogs, I would like you to create a post about an artist you like. Show some examples of their work that you enjoy.
Do you know how to upload pictures to your blog? I have demonstrated in class and will again. Post links to websites that you think are valuable for anyone wanting to learn about them and any url's of places you have found information. And make a personal statement about why you enjoy their work.
I will post an example above this post.

Okay?
[This is why it is important to access the blog and to try to do what I ask - it is part of your class work. I am not just trying to amuse myself whilst sitting at home. Some of you are doing a GREAT JOB! In fact, several of you even seem to have an international following already. Well done!]

Why is blogging valuable ?

Some people wonder if blogging is little more than a meaningless medium through which children might simply bully each other or waste time that they could be using more productively.
Thankfully, my students have been very respectful, mature and diligent in using the blog as a way to communicate, inform, connect, research, share products and collaborate in class discussions beyond the school day.
If there are any students or educators out there who could support my use of public blogging as a means to enrich learning please comment here.
:-)

Online Learning Communities

Blogs, Wikis and Microblogging are proving to be useful learning and teaching tools for me as a learner/teacher. My colleagues Heheboy and Efreeman are particularly helpful in designing amazing online learning resources and sharing ideas online via Twitter and so forth.
http://collaborativelearning.wetpaint.com/
http://fairfieldintermediate.wetpaint.com

Spelling is important, butt...

Do you get my joke/pun?

Anyway, my wife always tells me I am not funny, so don't worry if you don't get it.

Here is an interesting spelling thing from Cambridge University in England:

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The

phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if

you can raed tihs psas it on !!

Psas Ti ON !

[Thanks To "Adnerw" for showing us this]

how does our nervous sytem help us learn?

So what is this thing we call a nervous system? Is it something we need to look after? Does it have delicate sensibilities? How does it work? Can the thoughts in my head really be the result of biochemical reactions in my brain?
Maybe we should try to understand our brains better... afterall, we use them every day of our lives.

[and is that correct grammar? - "we", "them", "lives"]

Here are some links to online learning resources:
http://www.instructorweb.com/lesson/nervoussystem.asp
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw1.html
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/experi.html
http://www.cln.org/themes/brain.html
http://www.google.com/Top/Kids_and_Teens/School_Time/Science/Living_Things/Animals/Mammals/Humans/Nervous_System/
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/brain.html
A movie about how the brain works
and this last one is gross, but possibly educational :-)

By the Way - there are at least two homework projects secretly embedded in this post...

[here is one]
- follow the link on the previous brackets to see examples of kid's brain art - you will need to make a poster relating your brain to learning, keeping it healthy, or something similar