2014 Term 2, Week 5

eLearning Availability

I will be available during the following periods to support staff with their eLearning requirements.  If you or your department would like to discuss, develop or learn something new then I am available either formally or informally.

If you want to book a time just email me and let me know in advance otherwise I'll be available at my desk for a drop in...

Week 5 

Thursday Pd 3

Week 6 

Thursday Pd 3

Friday Pd 1

Friday Pd 2

What is the School Portal?

The school portal is available to staff and students as the main school location for learning resources. It is the school website where staff should be locating resources for students, as with 'My Classes', and it is also the location where staff can find learning resources for their own CPD.

Every subject has its own page and every class has its own page. You have been given editing writes to your department pages, so go ahead and start uploading your teaching content. Make your classroom resources available to students 

24-7, by placing them onto your subjects class webpage.

The web address for staff is:  www.tinyurl.com/bcstaff

The web address for students is: www.tinyurl.com/bcstudents

Learn about.... how to find the school portal and what it is

Dan Meyer Is Awesome Part 2! 

Dan Meyer introduces some more ideas for introducing engaging, authentic learning into high school lessons using technology.

Stay Classy Bethlehem...

(Ron Burgundy)        

2014 Term 2, Week 4

eLearning Availability

I will be available during the following periods to support staff with their eLearning requirements.  If you or your department would like to discuss, develop or learn something new then I am available either formally or informally.

If you want to book a time just email me and let me know in advance otherwise I'll be available at my desk for a drop in...

Week 4 

Friday Pd 3
Friday Pd 4 

Week 5 

Thursday Pd 3
Friday Pd 1
Friday Pd 2

24 - 7 CPD

Bethlehem CPD is available 24-7 through the use of the school staff portal. Its also available 

24-7 for students using the student portal.

The Google Cloudshare tutorials page contains an ever growing library of short video and paper based tutorials for a variety of Google skills. If you are keen to learn how to do something using docs, sheets, sites, presentations, videos, Teacher Dashboard, ePortfolios, etc then check out the portal.

The ICT Help page, also available on the staff portal and the student portal, is a growing library of advice on how to use ICT in order to create GOOD presentations and videos along with student research skills.

Learn about.... quickly emailing classes using Teacher Dashboard

Dan Meyer Is Awesome! 

The first time a saw Dan Meyer I thought he was awesome and no matter how many times I watch the same talks that he gives, and I've watched them a lot, I feel the same.

His use a technology to complement his subject and his teaching is fantastic. He presents real world problems that require higher order thinking skills in order to engage his students. Every time I watch his videos it leaves me thinking about how I can incorporate some of his methods into my own lessons.

Take care of yourself..... and each other.

(Jerry Springer)        

2014 Term 2, Week 3

eLearning Availability

I will be available during the following periods to support staff with their eLearning requirements.  If you or your department would like to discuss, develop or learn something new then I am available either formally or informally.

If you want to book a time just email me and let me know in advance otherwise I'll be available at my desk for a drop in...

Week 3 

Thursday Pd 3
Friday Pd 1
Friday Pd 2

Week 4 

Monday Pd 5
Friday Pd 3
Friday Pd 4

Getting Students To Be Reflective

Self reflection is a vital part of everyone's learning.

It allows the learner to consider what has happened, why it happened, what they have gained from the experience, how they could use this information in the future, would they do it the same again, would they do it differently, is it relevant to them....

Through this reflection the learner has been given the opportunity to make sense of the learning experience.

As teachers the process of self reflection is almost automatic. We constantly reflect on our lessons in order to consider what went right, what went wrong, what did we cover, what do we need to cover again, what would I do the same/differently next time? Therefore it is easy to assume that this self reflective process is automatic for everyone, but it is not.

As a Teacher I know that the information that I gain is relevant to me as I made connections between topics required from the syllabus content. I also know that I will definitely require this information again, whether that be next week, next term or next year. Therefore if something goes well, or badly, I will learn from this in preparation for the next time I teach the lesson.

Is this true of our students? Can they make connections between the content and skills they are learning across the range of subjects that they study everyday? Are they aware of how this learning is relevant to them? Whether they will need this information in the future? What the next step of the learning may be?

Allowing students the time to regularly self reflect within subjects helps to solidify what has been learned in the subject area as well as allowing them to make connections between their subjects. This means that learning within the subject is strengthened.

Below are a set of questions that allow students to reflect on their learning:

• What did YOU do?

• What did YOU learn?

• How does this relate to YOUR world?

• What did YOU find challenging?

• What could YOU do to improve?

• What were YOUR strengths?

• What is next for YOUR learning?

• What questions do YOU have?

Year 7 ePortfolios

Year 7 students should be completing their ePortfolios during lessons at least once a week in Maths, English, Science, HSIE and Learn 2 Learn. Their reflections will then be a topic of discussion during Pastoral Care lessons once a cycle.

Please ensure that you are giving the Year 7s the opportunity to be reflective in your subject area.
If you or your department require any support with ePortfolio usage or self reflection then please either book a time with me, see my availability at top, or take advantage of the school's Professional Learning Library on the School Portal using this link.