Mushroom Learning

I began this blog back in December 2009. I think it might hold some sort of record for the “Slowest to get going” category in Blog History. I have come a long way in my ICT journey since I rushed into making it in a fit of frustration so long ago. I have maintained  our original Visual Arts @Taylors Lakes Primary School Blog which has had over 50,000 visitors.  I have tried various incentives to encourage students to visit the blog , play the games and make blog comments but it seems to be a slow road to travel.  If we  further developed encouragement for the use of Learning Technologies in  all classrooms throughout our school I predict we would find our students and School Community would become increasingly engaged in  their learning and develop increased Global awareness.

How can we help develop Global awareness in our Primary students?

–   Staff Professional Development – Read such articles as this one from The Guardian.

– Whole School Theme – e.g. “Where on Earth are we?” for a Semester running as a background to the  AusVELS themes we need to cover.

–  Use of  existing websites and Apps to explore countries e.g. Google Maps

– Encourage and recognize the use of Class websites and blogs –  Edublogs and Weebly are great starting points and we should encourage blog reading and  good quality  blog commenting.

– Cultural/ International Day  – dress up, international foods, games, displays of student projects, decorated classrooms etc. 

We say we should raise Global awareness in our students at the start of each school year. In 2014 let’s ” Just Do It”.

Time seems to have flown since  I began this blog back in 2009. Maybe that’s because one blog is a lot to manage let alone two. My aim was to share all the wonderful  Web Tools I was discovering. This year I am resolving to add at least an entry per week. That should give us 40 great Web Tools, Apps or links to use in our learning. During the time which stood still in this blog and I was busy with our Visual Arts Blog others were busily adding enormous lists of resources. One of my aims is to direct readers  to them via posts or the Blogroll.
Today I am suggesting a visit to Larry Ferlazzo’s Best Of Website and then on to his ideas for What to do on the First Day of School. I hope you find some valuable ideas and possibly follow Larry on Twitter as I do.

 

On the 12th of December 2009 I was reflecting on my love of Blogging via our Visual Arts@ Taylors Lakes Primary School blog and I wondered how I could share that enthusiasm. I wanted an avenue to share with my fellow staff members and those teachers  and others out there who perhaps feel a bit overwhelmed by current technologies and how best to use them with students. I went straight to Edublogs, began a new blog and then came to a halt. I took a break thinking that the introduction of the Ultranet run by the Department of Early Childhood Education here in Victoria would be the answer to this need. But that hasn’t happened.We haven’t received enough Professional Development and the Ultranet is not as user friendly as it could be. My aim is to provide this blog as a learning resource.