The idea of this morning's Flashmeeting was to give colleagues who had attended The Isle of Wight Conference 2007 an opportunity to reflect on what they had learnt and to discuss how the event could be improved for next year. As you can see from the summary and show notes below, we covered many different topics in our two hour conversation and lots of interesting points were made and developed.
My personal highlight was learning more about one stop animation and the amazing site BrickFilms and in particular France & Alex.
Thanks to everyone for their different contributions. I hope you find the links useful and that they lead to more learning and collaboration in the future. Let's meet up again soon.
Download IOW_Conference_2007_and_beyond.mp3
Summary
- Introductions
- speaking at RSG meetings
- some top tips for using puppets
- choosing two puppets with mouths so you can use them to model pairwork or let the pupils do a performance
- deciding on your puppets' personalities and being consistent
- choosing a puppet that makes a noise
- using finger puppets so every child can have one
- making your own face masks by sticking well known character's heads to a stick
- drawing faces on pupils' fingers
- building up sock puppets bit by bit (antennae, pipe cleaners, eyes, pompoms, lollipop sticks, bits of fabric, feathers, sequins) for good target language use
- going to car boot sales for finding resources for the classroom
- Jo proves she is a rotter by lying about her own birthday!
- Jo's example of how puppets encouraged an elective mute to speak
- videoing pupils holding puppets instead of the pupils themselves to protect their identity
- using video, still images and comments in VoiceThread for pairwork
- upgrading to VoiceThread Pro for free for educators by signing in, clicking on Go Pro! button on the homepage, clicking K-12 educators click here, filling in a simple form and click Apply
- receiving a VoiceThread Educator email and clicking on the link to confirm your teacher status
- coping with pop-ups in IE or FireFox by temporarily allowing them or holding down CTRL key before clicking on the link
- hearing about the possibility to add webcam comments in VoiceThread from Allanah King's tweet
- discussing high points of the Isle of Wight Conference 2007
- seeing everyone in the hall
- networking at the MFL Show and Tell
- the drag and drop PowerPoint macro being a highlight for Jo
- Chris Fuller's session and seeing teachers sharing their ideas with each other being a highlight for Wilma
- coping with blocked websites and contacting LEA to try and unblock them
- the MFL Show and Tell and keeping an informal atmosphere being a highlight for David
- being asked to speak, networking and receiving positive feedback from other ICT enthusiasts being a highlight for Lisa
- going to the eTwinning UK Professional Development Workshop 2007 and animating with Oscar Stringer
- encouraging creative colleagues from around the UK to attend and share their ideas
- discussing funding issues
- finding time to implement ideas
- rescheduling the MFL Show and Tell for the Saturday 25th October 2008
- having the same number of sessions, but with more time to breathe, staggered starts and break out sessions
- combining a sit down meal with time to network for the Show and Tell
- limiting the numbers of presentations
- using a wiki to let people sign up
- learning from this year's Show and Tell and limiting the time for speakers
- have self-running virtual sessions at the conference for those people who signed up late
- organising break out sessions
- having a laptop screen throughout the conference with an Isle of Wight Conference Twitter feed to meet delegates needs and let them give feedback as a backchannel
- sending tweets via mobile phone
- tracking other people's twitterings by pasting the RSS feed from your Twitter account into Google Reader
- finding out the latest news on podcasts, publications, posts, Flashmeetings etc
- listening to audio on the move and moblogging with a USB modem
- getting confused between David Jakes and Alan Levine!
- encouraging more UK colleagues to start Twittering
- explaining EdTechRoundup start up
- discussing the blend of ICT and non-ICT content for next year's IOW conference and catering for the less ICT savvy colleagues
- implementing Sharon Balch's excellent ideas on Assessment for Learning
- making notes available as downloadable pdf files prior to the conference rather than printed copies which may not be used
- including the names and location of schools on a wiki so colleagues can share lifts
- being environmentally sensitive but offer appropriate multi-modal support
- not scaring people with too many technical terms so they turn off
- having support 'on tap'
- chatting with Wilma Clark and Drew Buddie at The Language Show for 2 hours of excellent CPD
- giving colleagues appropriate training on PowerPoint, IWBs etc for those who aren't naturally curious and who like a challenge
- being able to drag and drop in PowerPoint as you would in IWB software
- explaining PowerPoint drag and drop letters idea with associated sound to help spelling
- grouping phonemes, graphemes and rhyming boxes
- building a class story book with drag and drop word phrases
- Animoto idea adapted from Esther Mercier's inspiration
- making Animoto video clips available as 3gp files via Zamzar for mobile phones
- being able to make a new clip while another one is rendering
- Lisa's various eTwinning projects
- Richard Copsey's new Spanish blog from Dame Alice Owen School
- Lisa's new blogspot blog
- removing the Next Blog button from Blogger blogs
- finding Podomatic is proving a popular choice amongst language teachers
- making the link from producing mp3 files with Audacity to podcasting them via Podomatic
- putting the Podomatic player on your blog
- pasting your RSS feed from your Podomatic page into a thinner Podcast Pickle player for your Typepad sidebar
- using Grazr to show what feeds you like reading the most
- sharing feeds on your blog via Google Reader
- adding a VodPod widget to your blog
- receiving error messages through too much 'Bling for my blog'
- avoiding the Mickey Mouse effect by adjusting your sample rate and bit rate in Audacity by clicking on Edit/Preferences and then the Quality and File Formats tabs. (I always go for 44100 Hz and 128 kbps = CD Quality)
- creating WeeMees and Vokis to protect the identity of your pupils
- using PrtScn (Print Screen) to copy an image, resize it in Paint and embed it on a blog or wiki
- coping with primary pupils not having email addresses
- discussing ways of making the Animoto word quizzes more effective and time-efficient
- sticking to the twelve frames per second rule
- using Lego for one stop animation
- adding subtitles in MovieMaker or text, voice or video comments in VoiceThread
- animating figures from The Early Learning Centre in groups of 2-4 pupils
- pupils creating their own backdrops based on a 12 scene storyboard they complete as homework
- combining the different scenes into one film edited in MovieMaker
- animating lettered plastic building bricks to build words stuck together with blutack
- storytelling with plastic objects such as food
- using animation for an eTwinning project where different schools take charge of different steps of the film-making process
- using the Doodler feature in VoiceThread to make a shared storyboard
- using Eyespot to make a collaborative video remotely
- using £80 Nsis 6 digital video cameras to shoot video, take still images and record audio as well as Logitech mirophones and MovieMaker to edit the resulting film
- putting pupils in groups of five where each pupil has their won role (director, producer, cameraman etc) and rotating them over the five lessons it takes to make the film
- letting pupils make their own films by putting all the clips, still images and audio files into a shared folder that they can then all access and interpret in their own way
- giving pupils 5 hours for preparation (flicker book, role play, backgrounds etc) which meet the English grammar requirement and 5 hours to make the film to meet the ICT requirement
- filming a tour of your school without including the faces of any pupils to protect their identity or using puppets for the same purpose
- requesting some examples on DVD
- reflecting on what had been covered in the Flashmeeting
- thanking Wilma for her contribution in her first Flashmeeting
- Wilma's proposed case study of the IOW conference 2007 for an academic journal
- the forthcoming SSAT Languages Update including an article about the conference too
- finding time to edit the video and audio from the conference
- enjoying a weekend on the Isle of Wight and looking forward to the big 40 next year
- encouraging other conference organisers to podcast their sessions
- delegating editing duties
- final thoughts (two days, food, helpers, streamlining booking procedures)
Show Notes
Isle of Wight MFL Regional Support Group
Trains, ferries, buses and Ford Anglia's - the IoW conference
MFL Show and Tell and pictures
Drag and Drop PowerPoint macro created by Hans Werner Hofmann and Ute Simon
Opportunities for Using ICT in Primary MFL Teaching
eTwinning Professional Development
eTwinning UK Professional Development Workshop 2007
Animation in Education - Oscar Stringer
Embedding YouTube and Google Videos into PowerPoint
Twittervision (Mac only)
50 Web 2.0 ways to tell a story
Guess the family member Animoto style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Somos Lo Que Celebramos - Lisa's eTwinning project from Whitehouse Common Primary
Teddy Bears Around The World Project
Europando from Magazine Factory
Hands across the World from Imagiverse
Getting rid of the Next Button in Blogger
Podomatic proves popular for podcasters in the 24/7 MFL Classroom
Errors With MP3 File Playback / Fast Speed
Sharon Tonner's pupils as avatars using WeeMees and Vokis
Animations from the eTwinning UK Professional Development Workshop 2007
Headteacher at Sackville School, shares some reflections on the e-twinning project
Lisa as a cat and other pictures of The Isle of Wight Conference 2007
Mark Pentleton on the power and potential of podcasting
'They' are calling in Conversationalism. Whatever; FlashMeeting is a powerful way of delivering and supporting CPD. I think that yesterday was the best example that I have seen so far. Just look at the enormity of what was covered!
Posted by: David Noble | 18/11/2007 at 09:37
Wow - weren't we productive! It was a great meeting, Joe - thanks for organising it (and summarising the content for easy and quick reading).
Posted by: Wilma | 18/11/2007 at 10:05
Thanks as ever for sharing this ... really good idea to have a written version for us to skim. Helen
Posted by: Helen Myers | 18/11/2007 at 16:13
Sorry I could not make it. I have enjoyed listening to the Flashmeeting. I will follow some of the threads especially Animoto. I have so much to learn. I think that your alphabet idea is wonderful Joe. I have a powerpointy where I have recorded the letters if you need more than one native speaker.
As I've said before I enjoyed the conference a lot, I have started blogging and am planning to podcast. I have also enjoyed the Show and Tell and all the networking. You are doing a wonderful job for MFL profile and are always ready to help. HAPPY BIRTHDAY next week, you are so young!!
Posted by: Marie-France | 18/11/2007 at 16:38
Oh Boy! Did I miss out on both occassions!! At least I can still read the Blog.
Thanks Joe,
Jen
Posted by: Jen Sutton | 18/11/2007 at 18:07
Hi Joe
Great meeting and so quick to blog it all - as usual ;o)
good job we can go back over it all at our leisure - ideas were flying thick and fast, weren't they?
Lisa xx
PS think Jo has hit upon a great idea - I'm going to have a proper birthday and a Facebook birthday - if it's good enough for the Queen... ;o)
Posted by: Lisa | 19/11/2007 at 11:09