TeachMeetGC’09

(I’m looking for participants to pre record a presentation that I could use during #tmgc09? Let me know if you’re keen on Twitter @kvnmcl or my contact me page)

I have been organising a ‘TeachMeet‘ to be held here in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria next week 11th June. A TeachMeet is a place where like minded teachers can get together and find out about the use of new technologies being used in the classroom. I attended TeachMeet Midlands using FlashMeeting and I was excited and inspired enough to try to recreate or at least try to put together a TeachMeet here in Gran Canaria. It hasn’t really been easy but it hasn’t put me off and the event will be held next Thursday from 6pm to 8pm in the comfort of my own flat next to the sea!

Unfortunately due to bandwidth issues I will not be able to hold a FlashMeeting during the event but I do promise to keep everyone informed through Twitter, video highlights, and by posting back here (or hopefully through the TeachMeet  pbworks pages).

Myst V – Day 5 The first Trailer

Today’s lesson was fantastic. The children knew, just as I did, that it was going to be a good one. They had finished writing their voice over scripts yesterday so they only had to edit them, tweak them into 30 seconds and rehearse performing them. It was an intensive lesson with lots of speaking and listening, probably more speaking come to think of it! But the end product was worth the extra work that they put in. They also had time to write their first rough draft for a descriptive poem based on Tim Ryland’s brilliant work.

This is the first trailer so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The other trailers can be viewed on my blip.tv page

Tools used to create the trailer

• Audacity for the voice over
• Animoto for the initial video
• GarageBand (Mac only) for editing video and audio into a trailer

Myst V – Day 3

The excitement and anticipation that this game has brought to my class is truly an inspiration. Before we had even gotten into the classroom children were asking me when we were going to do Literacy. It’s become their favourite subject with no exceptions.

I set up two chairs for hot seats and asked the class to recap on yesterday’s events. I use hot seats in the way wrestlers use their partners – children can tag others to get into the seat to talk and since we started using Myst everyone wants to talk. It’s a busy 5 minutes and the conversation is wonderful; I will have to record one session for you to listen to so you can experience the intensity of discussion.

Myst V – Day 2

Wow! What an amazing lesson we had today. The collective sigh of extreme disappointment that the class let out when I had to stop the lesson was felt around the room.

We picked up from Friday’s first exploration by discussing what might happen next, who we might meet and the clues we have found. I provided my class with a template to work from and they discussed the following questions with their buddy (working partner).

• We have met two characters – Yeesha and Esher, both have stories to tell. But do you trust one character more than the other? Who do you trust? Explain your answers.
• What is Myst? Can you describe the world that we have encountered so far? What other places do you think we might find?
• What are your thoughts and feelings so far about Myst?

The children sat working diligently for 20 minutes as I walked around joining in on conversations, asking questions and listening to their responses and explanations. I have only witnessed this level of interaction from my class when we have been on excursions or during Science experiments but never in a Literacy lesson. The level of anticipation grew as I invited buddies to speak to the class.

And then the windows were closed, lights switched off and the door firmly shut so that we could continue on our quest.

Amazing!

Myst V – the beginning of our adventure

I have been reading all about Mark Warner’s uses of Myst in the classroom over the past couple of weeks and I just had to buy a copy of the game and find out what all the fuss was about. As soon as I installed it and started to play I immediately saw why it has been given such a positive response by many teachers as an inspirational teaching and learning tool.

Over the next 6 weeks I will provide a daily account of how I have used the game with my class, what skills they have developed from using it, the lessons I have taught and the work they have done so that you too might just decide to take the plunge and try it with your own class.