Day 20 - Curation of Work

Sharing and celebrating the learning of your class is an important aspect of learning however sometimes never gets any further than the walls of your classroom.

Technology has been one way to curate students work and as it becomes more and more accessible the limits is becoming boundless.  Over the years I have experimented with Wiki's, e-portfolios, and last year with a class Weebly.  To be honest, a person who isn't ICT challenged, I found it like putting another subject into my classroom that I didn't have time for.

This year, with the new found motivation through my lovely LwDT teachers Leigh and Barb, I have started up a class blog through Blogger, as we are on the Google platform, to each child having their own blog.  The children are starting to want to blog things about their learning.  

Now the next step is how to build our audience!

Day 5 - Picture of my Classroom

Had one of those moments when driving home this afternoon where I got half way there and remembered I forgot to take a picture of my learning environment!

I will upload a picture after looking around in my many photos folders I discovered no pictures of just the space however once I upload the photos you will see what I mean!  Hopefully this will happen on Sunday as I am going to see the children off who are traveling to AIMs for the week.  So, in essence they're coming!

**UPDATE!** Pictures are in below, I will take some when the children are in use.

What do I see?
A some what modern learning environment, with a range of furniture, open plan (being the middle class of 3), flexible space where multiple places for learning.  It's light and airy - huge bi-fold doors that can be opened out onto the deck to continue the learning there.  Has no traditional teacher desk. 

The lovely little boy in the picture is my son - he loves visiting mummy's classroom.

What it looks like in the weekend when there are no children.  Will take some when it's in action tomorrow.

As the pictures I will post have no children in it and of course it is all closed up for the weekend, so a bit of imagination is needed, when it is a hum of learning you will see children working on the ground, up at tables, sharing documents/learning asking for feedback, children working individually, and of course children talking (some on and off task!).  

You would normally find me either sitting at a table with the children talking, helping, or trying out something different.  I tried 81DASH with a small group yesterday and discussed the pros and cons - looking further into it.  The other place you'll find me is taking a workshop either directed by the children or by me.

Something I don't see but would like to
Learners - more cross over in groups to find the experts within the classroom for them to seek help/feedback.
How?  Have toyed with a few ideas on how to make this happen whether it is through a visual aid

As a physical environment - less tables and chairs, a whiteboard somewhere else in the classroom on the wall for another learning space.
Why? Another whiteboard, not a fan of the small workstations as I prefer to stand when I workshop, to create another space for groups whether if they are working with me or each other.
Less tables and chairs - I feel my classroom is crowded by furniture, crazy I know!  When I removed a lot of the furniture in my room one year a funny thing happened - the children talked more, interacted more!