IWB support group

Thanks to everyone who attended today’s “walk through” of this blog site and the “Arthur” wiki page.

Hope to see you all at the next meeting: 11th June at 4.00pm.

Issue #1 (April) 2008 of the AGQTP NSW newsletter has its focus on Interactive whiteboards: connected for learning, and contains several great articles on NSW schools: 

* “Working mathematically with interactive whiteboards” at Illawarra Grammar School, Figtree (p 2)

* ”Not just all play” with Belmore South Public School and innovative ways to teach writing, especially narratives (p 3)

* “A catalyst for reflection and change” with St Canice’s Catholic Primary School in Katoomba (p 4).

The newsletter is a Quality Teacher Programme (QTP) project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace relations. The issue mentioned above is also available online.

Era Publications have set up ”Arthur online”.

You need to register at http://www.in2era.com.au/ by filling in the form at the bottom of the web page. You will be able to login and preview the book from 14th May in preparation for the National Simultaneous Reading event on 21st May. Great for large groups.

Welcome to our brand new blog at Edublogs. I’m your host, Ian McLean, teacher-librarian at Penrith Public School (NSW, Australia), representing the schools in our recently-formed professional learning group, known simply as “IWB2″ – until we think of a better name.

The purpose of this blog is to have a space where teachers, teacher-librarians and PSP (Priority Schools Program) consultants and committee members in our professional learning group can share the journey of our forthcoming adventure with interactive whiteboards (often known as IWBs). At the same time, we can become more familiar with blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 tools and ICT (information communication technologies), and gain insights into how to start using them in classrooms and learning spaces.

In the coming weeks and months, many of us will be grappling with preparations to integrate the use of interactive whiteboards into our NSW DET school programs. (Being the Internet, this blog may also end up with interstate and international browsers and contributors.) We know that interactive whiteboards have the potential to allow us to make powerful enhancements to programs and the learning of students, upskilling of teachers and new ways to communicate with our school communities.

I have organised this blog, and a wiki, for us to be involved in as part of our first joint IWB project. (The wiki is based on the picture book, Arthur by Amanda Graham and Donna Gynell, which is the book being used for the upcoming ALIA National Simultaneous Reading Day on Wednesday 21st May at 11.00 am (Term Two, Week 5). The Penrith Reading Project: Books from Birth group, another of the local PSP initiatives, has also been invited to join us for the reading.

I will be soon be showing representatives of the IWB2 PSP group how to access (and add to) the wiki site, and highlight some teaching ideas and interactive TaLe activities (learning objects) to support the book. Even if schools do not have interactive whiteboards available to them yet, the interactive activities can still be used on regular computers, or via projection devices. Please check your email for the memo from our PSP consultant, Michele Hedge.

Michele and I are looking forward to seeing you at the meeting (13th May at 3.30pm) to get our joint projects off and running!

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