Teaching and Learning – Page 5 – ibpossum takes on tech

On St John’s people and the ‘power of one’

Over the holidays I have taken great pleasure in 1) having a holiday and 2) reading lots of books as I unpacked the last few boxes from our shift last October. One of these books was the Power of One by Bryce Courtney – an old favourite. But (as with all good books I guess)Continue reading “On St John’s people and the ‘power of one’”

‘Wasting’ a friday afternoon

It is period five on a Friday and I have my Chemistry class. They are super engaged, collaborating, being creative and not doing any Chemistry. The trigger was these kinex kit carousels that the year 7 class had made. They are doing a simple machines unit, and so had made the carousels to investigate gears.Continue reading “‘Wasting’ a friday afternoon”

Sharepoint update – interactive unit plans

This year the Science department took a leap of faith and started using Sharepoint to store thier files and organise things. Along with Technology, Science really are leading the school in their use of Sharepoint to manage workflows, store data and organise bookings. It has been a real collaborative effort, but Kevin and Ryan hasContinue reading “Sharepoint update – interactive unit plans”

DNA sways

I have really only dabbled with Microsoft sway as I find I use OneNote and Office Mix way more often. But with the new addition of Microsoft Classroom and being able to just add links into the files for students to review, it is a little easier than before to share. So I am revisitingContinue reading “DNA sways”

Using Microsoft Office Mix

It is nearing NCEA exam time in my world. And so I have been busy making exam question walk through using Microsoft Office Mix and the snip tool on my surface pro 4. Office Mix is a super handy add in for powerpoint that lets you make video tutorials with ease. The surface stylus just makes writingContinue reading “Using Microsoft Office Mix”

A new topic is like clean sheets…. HEAVEN

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE clean sheets. That laundry powder smell, crisp smooth feeling, snuggly pillow cases. HMMMMMMMmmmmmm. Sadly, I am not a domestic goodness, nor do I know what the publicly acceptable sheet changing ratio is, but for me clean sheets in a Sunday night ritual. Fresh starts and all that.Continue reading “A new topic is like clean sheets…. HEAVEN”

Getting started with Microsoft Classroom

When I first heard that Microsoft was bringing a ‘classroom’ option to the Office 365 suite of educational software, I was a mixture of excited to see what it looked like and worried it would be just another add on. I had also had a play with the teacher dashboard which was nice but aContinue reading “Getting started with Microsoft Classroom”

Do some work

For context, I am writing this post in a unit in the Gore camp ground. Metservice tells me is 2.5 degrees C outside (feels like 1 degree C) and I have a heater on a timer…. so it is going to be chilly. While the students are in shared bunkrooms (4 per room) their heatersContinue reading “Do some work”

Office 365 as a learning management system update

Late last year I wrote a blog about how we were planning to use SharePoint and the office 365 environment as an LMS and as a ‘T drive replacement’. After 2 terms, I have been thinking about what different teachers are doing with their classes or with their departments and how things are fitting together. ItContinue reading “Office 365 as a learning management system update”

Reflections from the PPTA ICT meeting

I was very thankful to be invited to the PPTA ICT committee meeting last Friday. It was a REALLY worthwhile trip and I enjoyed the whole experience. Thanks must got to the PPTA (and hence every PPTA member) who paid for my flights etc so I could attend the meeting. Also a huge thanks toContinue reading “Reflections from the PPTA ICT meeting”