Mark+-+Korokoro

Hi there,

a very quick intro as I balance my wikipage update with overseeing USSR after lunch.

Mark from Korokoro here.

My 2008 ICT goals are the following (at this stage)....


 * to revamp the school website, almost done with the help of Spikeatschool.co.nz (quick plug). Decided they were a good option as all staff members can easily load content themselves, there are useful collaborative online workspaces, and it is fairly cheap.
 * Have another crack at digital portfolios with the class. This year we will be using iDVD. Reasons being we wont be tied to a host computer as we were with iWeb last year, the children will be focused for the most part on content then only at the last instant consume themselves with the overall look of their portfolio, and the end product will be played in the parents livingroom, not stored away in a corner of their house where the computer is kept.
 * On the back of the digital portfolio focus we will be doing all manner of publishing using mostly Mac compatible/designed software. Some highlights will be Mihimihi using garageband and keynote, Posters designed on Pages, School Journal Plays turned into Podcasts, Poetry and other descriptive writing loaded into Keynote, FairGo Ad entries produced on iMovie.

That's basically it for now, and the kids are getting restless, so time to sign off.

Cheers Mark

Good start Mark- USSR comes in useful! Any chance you could embed some of the examples of the work you have done on this page? aslo a couple of links to our spike site would be cool! Nigel

04 August - Quick Update


 * Website - Done and dusted, looks great (if we do say so ourselves) decided on a timeless scene of the Wellington Harbour (courtesy of artist Tracy MacDonald). Most teachers and staff are updating content on a fairly regular basis, also being used quite extensively as a learning tool in class. To check it out [|click here]
 * Still doing digital portfolio at end of year so presently driving a lot of children's published work into a digital format. Concerned with the fact that my laptop seems to export Keynote files into Quicktime with audio stripped out, but sure I'll overcome the glitch before we start putting a the portfolios together next term.
 * Most of the class has successfully published Mihimihi into Keynote (found it much easier to drop Garageband out of the equation and use the record function contained within Keynote). Finished turning school plays into Podcasts although final versions of a small number of groups were a little patchy.  FairGo Ad in the post last week.  Some, but not all, kids have begun publishing written work on Keynote.  We lost quite a bit of momentum designing Posters/Brochures in Pages, with only about half the class completing the task to an appropriate standard.  I'll embed a few of the better examples of all this classwork once Nigel shows me how (and I solve me Keynote to Quicktime problems).

Other initiatives to date are.....
 * Completing a Poetry/Songwriting Unit in next few days. Results will be published in Garageband, with some students extending themselves by making an accompanying "video" in iMovie and or Keynote.
 * Looking to do a Visual Arts Unit of work focusing on landscape painting/drawing. Considering tracking student progress and asking them to self evaluate by scanning their work and asking them to assemble images and add own comments about what they did and how they went using Voicethread application.
 * Kids really enjoying using TutPup.com to hone their basic maths and spelling skills.  Check the site out if you haven't come across it yet, they thrive on the competitive aspect of the site.

Perhaps not a particularly "Quick Update", but there you go.

Cheers Mark