(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).

Outline for the evening

I will speak about my use of Edmodo, Animoto and Voicethread: Sam (teacher in same school) speaking about using Edmodo and her SMARTboard activities with Y6

As you can see it is very brief but it’s a start. Not many teachers here are aware of the online tools at their disposal and I am using the event as a demonstration of what is possible even if they are limited to a single classroom pc. I will fully respect the TeachMeet ‘rules’ and there will be a TeachEat during and later, with a definite visit to the bar next to the beach to watch the sunset.

If you don’t already know what a TeachMeet is then be sure to check the link

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

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.

I wanted the class to explore the use of descriptive language in the game and then collect synonyms for use in their own writing. I have never seen a class so enthusiastic to use a thesaurus! Children were calling out a rich collection of vocabulary that they frantically scribbled into their Myst diaries for future reference. I then described that this vocabulary was important as we would use it for the next step in our Literacy – creating a voice over for a Myst Trailer.

Mark Warner has used this approach to great effect and these videos demonstrate this quite vividly. I showed the videos to my class and explained that they too would create their own voice over for Myst V. I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s start on the voice over writing and I will continue posting what happens and hopefully provide a few excerpts of the children’s discussions. I have also explained to the class that I will post the trailer for Myst V on our space in Edmodo so perhaps some children will already have made a start by class tomorrow.

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!

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.

Day 1

I decided to play the initial part of the game ‘blind’ with my class as I wanted to experience the same sense of wonder and excitement exploring it for the first time as they would. However, I had asked the class to bring in a diary to use over the next 6 weeks for the literacy work as I knew the game would be a source for a lot of creative writing ideas.

We began the game apparently trapped in some underground room and the atmosphere and tension we felt as we explored a way out produced a wonderful speaking and listening activity. I stopped the game to the annoyance of the entire class who had been completely engrossed in it up to that point, and I asked them simply what there initial thoughts were about the game. Their answers were fantastic as my class are all second language children and the vocabulary they used was surprising and thoughtful. They wrote these initial thoughts into their diaries (I will use Wordle in the coming lessons to produce a word cloud for display work) and we progressed further into the game. We were introduced to our first two characters ‘Yeesha’ and ‘Esher’ and again this triggered off much discussion and questioning.

Initial thoughts

Although we are only at the very beginning of the game, my class are absorbed in it already and I can’t blame them as it is truly amazing. The level of questioning and the responses they give back is wonderful. Their writing will be a focus over the coming lessons and I am looking forward to exploring it and the game with them.

Unfortunately I now have to play the game on my own so I can prepare activities to be used throughout the next few weeks as we delve deeper into it, but I can safely say that I will enjoy every moment of it.