Is all this technology making us antisocial?

During today's all staff PLD about sharing, we were asked to make a blog post about :-

"Is all this technology making us antisocial?"

I agree but in a different meaning to antisocial. We are all talking to each other online and responding to each other's posts but it is not in a very supportive way. There are too many "keyboard warriors" ready to jump down the throats of anything they don't agree with. We need to "listen"more and judge less

 

Manaiakalani Hui 2018

This year at the Manaiakalni Hui, the CoL teachers had to create a 1 minute video to introduce their inquiries and then host round table sessions for people to find out more information.

Here is my round table session.

Here is my 1 minute introduction to my inquiry.

Look for more information about this on the "Inquiry" and "Literacy" tabs on my blog

Check out the introductory videos of the rest of the Manaiakalani CoL teachers on this link and check out all of the blogs of the CoL teachers on this link to see their inquiries in depth.

Literacy Activity with Year 7 and Year 8

With my intermediate Technology class today, I wanted to start off the lesson doing a short literacy activity where we look at the difference between 2D and 3D shapes and forms. We would also be looking at what various geometric shapes and forms are called.

We had a whole class discussion to start with where we were talking about what different things were called.

• A square is 2D and a cube is 3D
• A circle is 2D and a cylinder and a sphere are both 3D
• A triangle is 2D and a pyramid and a cone are both 3D
• a rectangle is 2D and a cuboid is 3D

The students were good at coming up with these words themselves. I wasn't telling them as we had Google images open in front of each student so they could research as we were talking.

This is my very messy board as we were talking.

We then talked about what everyday things that they knew that were the same shape and the same form of the things we were talking about.

I then wanted them to find some pictures of these shape, forms and things to illustrate a table on a Google drawing.

Here are some examples of the work produced by students today.
They were enjoying doing this so much we over ran my plan for the lesson quite a lot!!

Student Voice - Feedback about Design Project

My Year 11 class have recently completed AS91067 where they were using the influence of a designer on their own design work.

These are the questions that I asked the students to think about. I purposefully did not send them a Google Form with options to tick as I wanted them to think and give me their ideas in their own words.

Chair Project Feedback

What new drawing skills did you learn during the chair project? I have learn exploded drawings, cross sectional drawing, learnt how to do parallel & perspective drawings, also rendering colours, texture & material. Rendering with different colours on drawings. I learnt how to draw in 3D.I also learnt how to render the looks on my chair. I learnt how to how to draw ergonomes, cut through view, and exploded drawing.

What did you think of all of the pair and team exercises that we did? I feel like there wasn’t enough pair and team exercises for me to decide on how I feel about them. But the activities that we did throughout this year we very eventful and joyful and I think there should be more of that so we can bond more with different peers. It was fun and pretty cool to work others that I wasn’t close with. I think that they were good because a lot of the skills came in handy n the individual work on my final design. I thought they were quite enjoyable because it helped us gain experience of working with other people.

What did you think of having someone else come to teach us about literacy? I think it was a good idea, because the teacher who taught us had good tips and feedback for us. Alright, it felt normal. I think it was alright but it could have been taught better by Ms Ferguson. Having someone else come teach us about literacy allows us to gain better writing skills when working on our chair project and helps us get to that higher achievement standard.

Did you learn any new literacy strategies during this project? What were they? Yes, I don’t exactly remember what the literacy activities were could but the helped us how to structure our sentences properly, by doing analysis breakdowns. Analysing our work and explaining to our audience. Not really but i did learn how to make a little booklet.I also learnt how a few language features and some techniques for my paragraphs. Indeed, I learnt how to describe my chair design by making a statement then follow it with a reason, opinion or judgement.

Did you find it easier to write the analysis of your designs after we had practiced and learned some new ways of doing it? Yes it definitely did. Yes. Yes,because i struggled a lot with some better words to use for my analysis so it was good to practice and learn better language that suits my chair. Yeah I found it easier after practising writing my analysis because it helped me get used to what sort of information I will need to provide in order for me to achieve an Excellence.

What do you need in future projects to help you to achieve? Just keep practicing on writing analysis. Someone explaining the steps to me and a lot of practice. For future projects, I think I would like to have more fun activities that will help me understand the project better.

What do you learn in other lessons that can help you in DVC? (don’t just think about the “Subject Content” but the way that you do things) In english learning about language technique could benefit me in DVC as it does involve literacy. In BCATs when I colour and render my drawings and also shadowing. In other classrooms, we do quizlet lives and kahoots to help us understand topics better.

Do you feel that you were supported enough during this project? If not, please give some ideas of how this could be better. Yes I do feel like I was supported. I was well supported. Yeah I feel like I was given enough support I needed for this project because I managed to get work completed with quality.

If you were to plan this project for next year, what product would you suggest designing instead of a chair? Maybe a desk design… I’m not quite sure Maybe a table. I would like to design cars, computers and sports balls or superheroes.

Is there any other comments you would like to make about this project or how we did it? No from all

My take outs from this :-

• Getting expert input into the strategies we have been trying, both in school and from one of our local primary schools, has had a bog influence and the students have appreciated it.
• Breaking Down Literacy Strategies
• Writing Skills
• Explanation Writing - Analysis of Structure.
• The students have appreciated the amount of work we have done on literacy strategies and feel it is helping them with their analysis work.
• Breaking my Inquiry Down ...
• Literacy Strategies with Year 11 - Updates
• After reading this feedback and talking to the Technology specialist on PD recently, I think I will give the students a selection of different things to choose from to design for this standard.
• Group work has been popular so I need to work more of that into my planning.
• More light hearted activities to cover / revise the content at times would be welcome.

Whole Staff Priority Student PD

We had a whole staff PD this week where we were looking at the priority students from Year 11.
We had a set of students to look at and the criteria for selecting these students was that they will have achieved in some lessons but not others. This was so that the teachers where the students were not achieving could talk to other teachers about strategies they could use that were working.

The tables in the staff room were set out with a student name on each and we "bus stopped:' our way round the students. At each table we met with other teachers of that student and compared teaching strategies. Those teachers who were achieving with the student gave advice about what strategies they were using that were working.
Also at each table was a scribe so that they could take notes about the conversation for later referral by the teachers of that student. This was so the focus could be on the chat and not the note taking.
Here is a blank of the layout we were using. These were all on the same presentation so all the information for all the students was in the same document.
We were set the task of trying one strategy with one of our students and feedback on the next staff PD session to say how it went.

My Take Out

What I took away from this session was about a student who was doing really well in Science but I was yet to manage to help her finish her first project from the start of the year even though she has been coming into the Wednesday after school catch up sessions that I have been running.

After talking to her science teacher, he explained what he did was to keep on at her every 10 minutes or so, checking on her, making sure she knew what she was doing and keeping her on track. I had made the mistake of presuming she new what to do as she spoke a good story but didn't produce the actions.

I have tried this during this week's lessons after the PD session and it worked really well. She produced much more work than usual in the time.

I have fed back to her science teacher that I took his advice and was pleased with the outcome.

Manaiakalani Class OnAir Lesson 8 - Final Chair Designs

Link to Manaiakalani Class OnAir to see the whole team.


Direct Instruction

The instruction to the whole class was quite brief as it was reminding them of all the elements that needed to be included on the their final design sheets. I had prepared the board in advance so they could see the layout I wanted them to follow. The rest of the instruction through the lesson was on a one to one basis depending on the needs of the students.

Here is some of the ongoing lesson

Reflection

This work was a culmination of a much longer series of lessons based around analysis, design and literacy. I feel that the students did well as they were pulling everything together that we have been looking at over my inquiry.

Link to inquiry literacy strategies .

Class Site Content

Link to examples on class site

This is a diagram explaining the input the students have had from my inquiry about subject specific literacy.

Learner Generated Content

Extended Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic :- Final Chair Design Sheet
Year Group :-  Year 11
Learning Outcome	To be able to use all of the skills regarding drawing, rendering and analysis to produce a final chair design presentation sheet.
Success Criteria Using SOLO	Uni structural Multi structural Relational Extended abstract Students draw a 3D final chair design. Students identify the main parts of their design. Students draw a 3D final chair design and can render the design to enhance the 3D qualities using tones. Students can describe their design using noun groups. Students can relate their final chair drawing to the materials it would be made from by using rendering techniques to show those materials. Students can link a statement about their design to a reason by using a linking word. Students can create a design that is inspired by their chosen architect and render it to look 3D, like the material it is made from and position it in space using shadows. Students can reflect on how their design relates to the work of their chosen architect.
Links with the New Zealand Curriculum	NCEA Level 1 - Curriculum Level 6 Outcome development and evaluation Critically analyse their own and others’ outcomes to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake ongoing experimentation and functional modelling, taking account of stakeholder feedback and trialling in the physical and social environments. Use the information gained to select, justify, and develop a final outcome. Evaluate this outcome’s fitness for purpose against the brief and justify the evaluation, using feedback from stakeholders.
Key Competencies	Thinking - using all the drawing, rendering and literacy strategies we have been working on all together to produce the final design sheet. Using language, symbols, and texts - writing the design analysis and using visual techniques to simulate 3D forms and surface finishes. Managing self - completing a finished final design sheet ready for assessment. Participating and contributing - Relating to others -
Prior knowledge	We have  done a series of literacy exercises to build up to this point. Link to diagram showing flow of activities covered We have done sketching and rendering techniques in 2D and 3D. We have done research about materials. The students have produced design developments in relation to their chosen architect.
Lesson Sequence	Session Outline Student Activity Teacher Activity Sit round the front table and listen to teacher input about how to layout their final design sheet. Prepare the board with layout example. Discuss the potential layout with the students so they know what to include on the their final design sheet. As the lesson is going on, do one to ones chats about their analysis writing, using questions to the students to get them to think and answer. One to one / small group help with rendering skills and detail drawings. Students to work on their individual presentation sheets to show :- Rendered 3D drawing of final chair 2D cross sectional view 2D plan, side and front views Analysis notes using the structure we have worked on Work will be photographed and shared in the class community for all the class to see each other’s work. This is the final work for this project so will be included in their sketchbook of evidence for the freehand sketching external - until them they will be displayed on the classroom walls.
Resources	A2 paper Drawing pencils Coloured pencils Graphics marker pens Pastels Link to examples on class site
Next Steps	Next Lesson This task will take longer than one double period, so it will need time in following lessons to complete everything. Further in this project This is the end of this project, but all of these skills will be used in the next one.
Reflection and Analysis
	What went well. Lesson Content :- The students knew the main bulk of what they have to produce for this activity as it is a continuation of both the project they have been working on and the skills they have been covering. Lesson Pacing :- I knew this was not going to be complete in a double period so the pacing is as expected. Lesson Delivery :- My introduction was uncharacteristically short but I think this is because it was just a sum up of what they already knew. The delivery throughout the lesson worked well on a one to one / small group basis as needed. Student Outcomes :- The outcomes are of a pleasing standard and clearly shows what they have been learning. What still needs work. Student Understanding :- I still have students who were in the lower ability class in Year 10 who are having difficulties understanding what we are doing at the moment. I do not have a specific example for this layout produced, just the individual things on the class site and the layout sketch on the board, so this would probably have helped. Having examples of 3D rendered products for them to refer to would help too as their understanding and visualizing of what their design looks like in 3D is a problem.