Teachers
Want to share ideas about raps? Hop in any time!
59 Responses to “Teachers”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Wilfrid rap blog
Discussion for the book rap hosted by School Libraries & Information Literacy Unit
Want to share ideas about raps? Hop in any time!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
February 14th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Hello Teacher Rappers!
Welcome to the “Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge” Book Rap! My name is Ian McLean, teacher librarian at Penrith Public School. Together with Jenny Scheffers, teacher librarian at Caddies Creek PS, I will be coordinating this book rap. We also hope to hear from other members of the Book Rap team, such as Cath Keane (Editor Scan) and Colleen Foley (Manager, School Libraries and Information Literacy unit) as the Rap unfolds.
We hope you enjoy taking part in this exciting learning experience, the first of its kind to use blogging tools and wikis (instead of an email listserv), to share the responses between participants in the rap. We hope that the blog format will have many advantages over a listserv, so please think of this as a learning adventure.
This Teachers’ area is to support the learning of the adult learners as we all gain more confidence with Web 2.0 facilities. The FAQs and “beginner’s guide” at http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/beginnersguidetoraps.htm should prove useful. You can also leave messages here with questions that the coordinators, or other participants, will address.
This book rap is aimed at students in Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) and includes outcomes from the NSW English K-6 syllabus. The Rap is live for viewing and subscribing (at no cost) the week of 18 February 2008. The Rap itself starts 25 February 2008.
During that first week, please post to the Rap Blog (under the tab called “Introductions”), one short introductory post from the class group. In the post, describe the class group participating in the Rap and give brief, interesting details about the school. For example, you may wish to tell us about the size and location of your school, the uniform and emblem, or any special facilities.
As you are reading other schools’ Introductions during the next few days, your class may wish to plot the locations of other book rappers on a Rap Map, templates of which are available on the book rap site.
Teachers are encouraged to visit this Teachers section regularly. We look forward to rapping with you all!
Ian McLean and Jenny Scheffers,
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge Book Rap Coordinators
February 14th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Logging in to Edublogs
When teachers and teacher librarians first log in to the “Edublogs” site, they should be aware that the user name they choose for themselves will appear each time they post a blog message. For example, my “Edublogs” user name is “ianmclean”, but I could have chosen “mrmclean” or “class2z” or “penrithbloggers” instead.
“Edublogs” is a free blogging service from “Wordpress” for legitimate educational purposes. “Edublogs” suggests caution if using a school-related email address, because you’ll need to acknowledge receipt of your welcome message before your first post; sometimes that email may be blocked by a firewall. School email addresses have been unblocked for NSW DET schools; in those schools, if your receipt goes to a free email address, such as “”Hotmail”, that mail service may well be blocked by the firewall.
Please let us know if you have any difficulties.
February 17th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Thank you for your timely reminders about logging in and choosing a username, Ian.
If anyone has any problems activating a username and /or posting a comment please let me know.
cath.keane@det.nsw.edu.au
I hope you enjoy the Wilfrid activities. Your students now have a wonderful picture book to discuss as well as having a purpose and audience for their responses.
Cath Keane
February 17th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
For those starting to grapple with the method of joining “Edublogs” for the NSW DET “Wilfrid” Book Rap this week, here are my (successful) experiences.
It was very easy to get myself a new, separate “username” identity today for the class groups to use. Firstly, I went to:
http://edublogs.org/wp-signup.php
Even though the online message reads: ” ***NB: Please try not to use aol.com or school email addresses as filters can stop emails from us… please use gmail, hotmail, yahoo or other email accounts instead.*** “, I was successful with my regular “@education.nsw.gov.au” email address, which was allowed to pass through okay.
Remember, you’ll receive your receipt by email and if you can’t access the chosen mail server at school (ie. Hotmail from NSW DET schools), then you won’t see your emailed receipt or get the required code to answer until you get home.
You’ll also be offered:
* gimme a blog!, or
* just a username, please.
I chose not to get a blog at this time (you don’t require one for the “Wilfrid Book Rap”, just a username) and I chose “penrithpsrappers” as a generic class group usename.
I was then informed by a webpage message:
“penrithpsrappers is your new username
But, before you can start using your new username, you must activate it. Check your inbox and click the link given. If you do not activate your username within two days, you will have to sign up again.
Activate your usename by clicking the emailed link. After you activate, you will receive *another email* with your login.
Your account is now active!”
The message came through immediately and my class group’s account is now activated. I’ve been able to add my class group’s introduction message to the rap blog in the “Introductions” section. It will soon appear when it’s been moderated.
(PS. Sometimes a big blue rectangle warns about Cookies needing to be activated, but that message seems to appear on some browsers even when everything is okay. Under the warning frame, simply click the link that says “Back to..”.)
Please let us know if you have a problem.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Hi All,
Go to the Welcome message on the Home page for instructions on how to sign up for the blog.
The numbers are growing – great to have you on board from Penrith, Queensland and Dee Why.
Cath Keane
February 19th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hello Ian and fellow teacher-rappers.
I am a teacher-librarian, currently on Long Service Leave, but I could not resist the chance to blog with my colleagues, especially when the focus is learning through literature! What a great focus – and one which is dear to my heart.
Although I will not be able to respond to the rap with a class, or classes, I will be reading developments with interest, and as time permits, perhaps even contributing to this teacher blog.
Happy rapping to you all,
Wendy
February 19th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Hi Teacher-Rappers,
I’m the T-L at Shalom Christian College in Townsville. We are an independent school with a student body which is 100% Indigenous.
I had some difficulty subscribing , because ours must be one of those schools which doesn’t allow messages from edublogs. However, I managed to sign up through my home isp and received the activation email seconds later. It must be that our school’s filtering system will not let edublogs through. I can access my home email account via the isp’s website (tpg) from school, so all should be well I think. This may help others who have had difficulty subscribing.
The students with whom I’ll be working on the rap are a little older than recommended in the information, but their teacher and the students themselves are very keen to participate. It will be a great learning experience for us all. None of us has paricipated in a book rap before.
Can’t wait until 25th!
Annette.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Well done Wendy and Annette! Welcome aboard!
Some FAQs (”Frequently Asked Questions”) from this morning’s emails:
Are responses to other schools typed in this same place. ie are introductions and responses typed into the same place?
Yes, you are most welcome (and encouraged) to respond to other schools’ introductions in the “Introductions” section. Use the tabs along the top to ensure you’re in the right place.
Also with the Rap Points 1, 2 etc. Are the responses to the points typed into the same place as you would type in a comment about another school’s Rap Response to that particular Rap Point?
Yes, if you’re responding to another school’s Response to Rap Point 1, you would do that in the “Rap Point 1″ section. It keeps the discussion under the same topic. Again, use the tabs along the top of the page to ensure you’re in the right place.
Sorry, but I can’t see an empty box to post my Introduction message
If you go to http://rapblog.edublogs.org/about/ then you’re already in the Introductions section. Scroll all the way down the page. If you’re not logged in, you’ll see: “Leave a reply. You must be logged in to leave a comment”. Click the hyperlink to log in.
The page refreshes. Scroll down to the bottom of the page again and, if you’re correctly signed in, you’ll see the empty rectangular frame ready to type your message into. Then press the button labelled “Submit comment”. You should see your message appear on screen under the previous entries, but yours may not be available on other computers until the moderator approves the message.
Regards, Ian.
Please keep your potential FAQs rolling in!
February 20th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Can someone help me upload a new avatar? I have chosen one, cropped it and uploaded. I can see it in the profile space but it is blank when I return to the blog.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:46 am
Another FAQ
is it possible to be a late starter on a book rap?
People join raps at any time along the continuum. Even the Introductions can be posted at any time. The pages just continue to grow as new schools come on board. Each week brings a new Rap Point, but often two or three weeks after the rap the final entries are still popping in.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
FAQ: Avatar creation
There are two types of avatars, but you can use the same image for both.
When I go to the above link called Click here to change your edublogs comment avatar the message says, “This is your ‘user’ avatar so it’ll appear whenever you leave comments, post in the forums and when your popular posts are displayed around the site…”
However the message continues, “… once you’ve uploaded it please also upload your ‘blog’ avatar which will show when your blog is listed anywhere (for example, on the front page of the site).”
If you’re only seeing an avatar on your profile page, and not comments, then you haven’t yet selected a “comments” avatar. You can have a different pic if you wish, but “only jpeg and png files are allowed.”
February 21st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hello,
My Name is Kerrie Smith and I am a Year 1 teacher at Jindabyne Central school. This is my first ever attempt at blogging and rapping so I am nervous but excited at the same time.
I will be supported by our wonderful teacher librarian Julie Ware, who is encouraging me to be a cutting edge educator who is able to intergrate technology into the classroom.
Can’t wait to begin!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:28 pm
My name is Dianne Hill and I am the teacher/librarian at Berry Public School. I am looking forward to this rap so that I can learn something about blogs. I have rapped before but realise that there are many things out there for me to learn. Thankyou
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 am
Great to have you on board, Kerrie! Nervous excitement is mandatory for your first book rap.
And way to go, Julie!
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 am
By the way, my second group of Stage 1 students were reading all the Introductions today and asked me, “How come some of the book rappers are bald?”
Time to try making a personalised avatar, folks! (Oh dear, look at the time; what am I doing awake at this time?)
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
Good morning everyone,
Welcome new bloggers from near and far. It is a learning experience for all of us.
Thanks for the start of a great FAQs list, Ian. It is probably timely to add a few shortcuts.
To scroll to the end and leave a reply, just press Ctrl and End keys at the same time.
To return to the top, press the Ctrl and Home heys at the same time.
When trying to set up the blog avatar for Wilfrid, many of my attempts were rejected as they were in the wrong format. I then decided to use the one you see on each page of the blog as it is a jpeg. Unfortunately, size was a problem and even the cropping option didn’t allow me to crop the bits that I wanted. Alas, poor Wilfrid has no mouth. I did intend to put aside some time to experiment – that hasn’t occurred and Ive now grown accustomed to his face!
Keep the comments rolling in.
Cheers,
Cath Keane
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Thanks for all the help wtih this, it will be fun I am sure. I am wondering about the appropriateness of putting another year level in as well with 2 classes in Qld’s Yr 3. These children will be turning 8 this year. I have 2 classes of Year 2 in , but can see great benefits from putting in my year 3s if possible. Wendy
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Hi to Dianne at Berry! I missed seeing your message last night when it was still in the moderation queue. I’ve been blogging for about 18 months and I learn new things about it every day. What I found out early on was that becoming a blogger is the only way to learn about blogging.
Cath, Colleen, Jenny and I are having fun trying to make this experience as user friendly as possible, and it’s great that so many educators are taking the plunge with us. Blogging responses to book rap seems to have many wonderful advantages over listservs.
And Cath, the students here at Penrith PS think that your Wilfrid avatar is perfect. He’s peering over the fence to look for Miss Nancy!
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 am
Hi,
My name is Fiona McKay (Mrs Mac at Warilla North PS where I’m filling in for Mrs Mac the appointed TL). ICT is still high on my priority list for professional development this year and the rap is already providing me with lots of learning! My students are also excited to take part – although we’ve got a terribly big group to manage, but that’s another story.
I couldn’t find the page with the list of Rap terms, but presume that ‘avatar’ is the little pic. that some of you clever people have displayed with your messages. I have our school logo ready and waiting but when I ‘Click here to change your edublog avatar’ I get told I can’t, there’s an error.
Do I just cross my fingers and try again another day, or am I misguided and on the wrong track?
Thanks,
Fiona
February 25th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Welcome aboard Churchie Rappers, and also to Mrs Mac at Warilla North PS! Congratulations on getting here successfully.
It should be fine to have some Year 3 Churchies on the rap. You might want to adjust the suggested programming outcomes to suit each group.
Fiona, the list of book rap terms, which we’ve tweaked a little to complement raps done in a blog format, is about halfway down the page at http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/beginnersguidetoraps.htm
We hadn’t thought to add “avatar” to the list – it’s more of a a “bulletin board service” (bbs) and “web blogging” term, rather than a rap term.
I actually tried to switch avatars yesterday, using my iMac, and received the same error message – and yet, today, on the library PC, it seems to be working. Too bad I forgot to email myself the avatar jpeg I was working on.
It could be that Edublog avatars only work on certain browsers, or it was simply a temporary glitch. It’s often a good learning experience to test out such things on different types of computers and browsers. You’ll be amazed at the format changes that can occur as different browsers react differently to various codes.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hi everyone,
I have been attempting to blog for the past 6 months…but time just escapes me. This activity gives me a good excuse to make it happen – for myself and the students.
I am thrilled to see that there are so many participants in this rap (the last one we did had only 2 other schools) and from far and wide.
I had no problems with getting set up. Hopefully everything will run smoothly from now on.
Rap point 1 – here we come!
Sue
February 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hello Everyone,
I’m the teacher librarian at Newtown Public and will be coordinating the rap with two very keen colleagues. Both classes are year 1/2s.
This will be the third rap I’ve been involved in and am looking forward to using the blog technology. Am hoping it removes some of the technical hitches I seemed to encounter during my previous raps.
We’re currently drafting our intro messages and hope to post them by Thursday.
Have fun
Anne
February 26th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Hi Fellow Rappers,
We are class 1/2A from Ingleburn North P.S. There are 22 students in our class. We have 9 year one students and 13 year 2 students. We are a small school with about 146 students in the whole school.
We are located in South West Sydney in between Campbelltown and Liverpool. We have a huge oval to play lots of sport. We have many wild rabbits, a couple of snakes, lots of crows and one baby kitten who lives in a tree.
This is our very first book rap and we are all very excited even though we have read the book before. We are doing the rap with our class teacher Ms Attard and our Teacher Librarian Mrs Wyber.
From 1/2A
February 26th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Hello, have just updated our Avatar and wanted to send a message to see what it will look like on the rap.!
Thank you… Emily Williams (casual librarian)
February 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
The best short cut for adding or changing the “avatar” seems to be to go to sign in, then click on the “My Dashboard” link at http://edublogs.org/ , then “Profile”, then “Your Avatar”.
Strangely, the link at the top of the page, “Click here to change your edublogs comment avatar” often gives an error message.
Regards, Penrith PS rappers.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
A teacher asked me how to use their “Word” graphic of the school crest, usually used to create letterheads, etc, into a gif or jpeg to create their avatar.
This may not be very high tech, but here is my simple solution: I ended up printing off our incompatible graphic on a colour printer, then rescanning it, changing the image size in a photo manipulation program, and saving it as a jpeg.
Or, you can simply put a metal prefect’s badge, a school library bag or Tshirt – ie. something with your logo – onto a flatbed scanner. Save as a gif or jpeg.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Hi rapping colleagues
My name is Jenny Scheffers and I’m working with my teacher librarian friend, Ian McLean, as coordinator of this most exciting online program! Thank you so much for joining us.
There is most exciting news – the rap blog is now unblocked for NSW DET students. Students should be able to access/view the blog, using their DET portal log ins. This is particuarly useful for the older Year 2 students and better readers, who can access and select which messages they’d like to read. For example, working in pairs, students can be given a set time to browse the postings then report back to the class about their favourite / most intersting messages.
Using a data projector, computer and screen , a whole class can view , read and discuss the rap messages.
Please share any of your “rap success stories” with your fellow colleagues, by reporting back to this Teacher Blog.
I look forward to reading the postings from both you and your students!
Happy rapping!
Jenny Scheffers (Rap Co-ordinator)
Teacher Librarian
Caddies Creek PS
February 27th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Hello everyone,
Was asked to try this from home….
Julie – it works! Had to create my own account, or enter under the school’s log in.
See you next week.
Emily
February 28th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Ian, can now log in and comment in the introductions. thanks. Nowra PS
February 29th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Hello everyone,
Jenny Scheffers and I had ‘warning, failure’ messages when posting comments today.
The system was a bit slow, as a forums space is being added to the parent site. Just ignore these sorts of messages as they don’t prevent your messages coming to me for approval. Your ‘waiting for moderation’ message is the best clue that all is well.
Rap point 1 has now been added. There is a link to the programming and planning activities page on the rap website. Using a wiki is mentioned and I’m trying to find the most accessible way to link it. Ian has created the wiki – thanks Ian – and this is a great way to have your students jointly constructing text. Let’s give it a go and, who knows, you may soon be using wikis in your day to day teaching. Imagine using an IWB to make the process readily accessible for the class.
Cheers,
Cath Keane
February 29th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Hello everyone!
Thank you for all the great introductions you conjured up with your class groups of rappers! New technology can be a steep learning curve, and you’ve braved the slippery slope. Well done.
“Edublogs” seems to have been revamping the main site this week. I noticed today that instead of the “Click to change your avatar…” link, it said “Grab your own edublog to have an avatar”. Maybe they are restricting the number of users having avatars?
Nowra rappers: I’m glad you solved yesterday’s problem with logging in. Your lyrebird avatar is working! Some avatars are still showing up here as a solid black square. Maybe some schools aren’t using the right kind of jpeg or gif? (There’s a warning on the avatar page that animated graphics don’t work. Neither do many graphics designed to use in word processing documents.)
Also, sometimes you may need to refresh a page to see all the new messages. Just now over on “Introductions”, my browser was showing only up to yesterday’s messages, but when I finished logging in and refreshed (ie. hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard while pressing “Enter”), all the new messages appeared down the bottom of the page. If you can’t see the rectangle to write your message in, you’re not logged in properly.
Don’t forget to click on the tab called “Rap Point 1″ at the top of the web page to start entering your responses to Rap Point 1. Happy rapping one and all!
Ian McLean,
Penrith PS
February 29th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Now we come to Rap Point 1. Click on the tab at the top of this page that says “Rap Point 1” to read the Rap Point questions about memories.
Use all three dot points to brainstorm your group’s jointly-constructed reply, or perhaps focus on one section. It all depends on how much time each week you can devote to book rapping. Make sure to edit your group’s work before pressing “Submit Comment”.
As the responses grow over the week, your students might have time to post another blog entry from the group, perhaps replying to their favourite Rap Responses of the other school groups.
There will soon be a link to a special Wiki page, where you can have a go at adding your group’s favourite memory item to Wilfrid’s basket of memories. This is an additional activity – but, for now, just concentrate on your jointly constructed text. We can’t wait to read your groups’ ideas.
It’s never too late to add an introductory message to “Introductions” , as new schools will hear about the rap and want to join in the fun. Remember that the Rap Blog is now also available to all NSW DET Stage 1 students via their “Kidspace” portal. They may enjoy re-reading all the introductions from other schools, and finding their own to show their family and friends.
Ian McLean,
Penrith PS
February 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
St Johns Park Public School is in the south west of Sydney near Fairfield and Liverpool. There are around 780 students at our school. This is the first time that we have joined a reading rap and we are really looking forward to joining in.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hi online rapping colleagues
Just a suggestion that if you are fortunate enough to have access to an interactive whiteboard (IWB), you might like to integrate it into the upcoming rap point teaching and learning activities.
Some of the supplied rap sheets can be easliy adapted for the IWB software programs. The IWB is especially useful for whole class brainstorming activities and for small groups reporting their findings back to the class and collating the class findings. Tally scores may be kept as students vote on the class’ most popular memory or character etc.
Please share any of your rap initiatives and success stories with us by posting them on this teacher blog.
Don’t forget to also share your rap adventures with other teaching colleagues and your school community through the school newsletter and at staff meetings.
I look forward to sharing an exciting second week of our Wilfrid rap with both you and your students.
Happy rapping!
Jenny Scheffers (Rap Co-ordinator)
Teacher Librarian @ Caddies Creek PS
March 1st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Hi all!
Here’s the link to Wilfrid’s Wonderful Wiki, a bonus online activity you can try out during the week after your rap group has decided on their memory objects! When you have voted to select your group’s favourite memory object, add it to Wilfrid’s basket of memories on the wiki page. The special “invite key” (or secret password) is wilfridwiki – make sure to spell Wilfrid’s name correctly when typing in the password.
Cath, Ian and Jenny.
March 4th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I am having such an extreme learning curve with blogging and now wiki-ing!
Thank you for the opportunity to develop my ICT skills as well as introducing the kids to a new activity.
They are having such a ball … and yes, so am I!
Sue
March 5th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Thank you Sue of St Luke’s Grammar School, Dee Why, for the great comments – and congratulations on being the first group to tackle the wiki page activity.
A key to learning about (and using) any new ICT is purpose.
Last year I attended two short presentations on how to use wikis in the classroom, and I kept telling myself I’d use a wiki when I felt I knew all about them. At the end of the second event, the two presenters challenged us to say how we might use a wiki or a blog in the next week. I realised that a storybuilding activity I’d been doing orally with Kindergarten would work just as easily on a wiki as the butcher’s paper I’d intended to use. We wrote our four joint constructions onto some wiki pages, and edited them and added graphics, over about eight weeks of short twice-weekly lessons. The students were thrilled that they could read their day’s work from a home computer, and the parents were amazed that their children could read such complex sentences in a joint construction.
I’m looking forward to seeing what next appears over on the Wilfrid wiki.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hello and welcome to all the new schools who’ve posted introductions recently. More schools for your rap maps!
We are glad to have you all on board.
Regards,
Ian McLean,
Penrith PS
March 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Hi rapbloggers,
The Jindybats are having a great adventure exploring our first book rap with everyone but we were so disappointed when the wiki came up as a blocked site this morning. Is anyone else having this problem too?
regards,
Julie Ware
Jindabyne Central
T/L
March 6th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hi Jindybats,
The wiki page shouldn’t be blocked when you enter under a teacher’s password. The very first day I ever tried to use pbwiki here at school, I received the blocked site message, but I tried a second computer and was able to get in easily. Then it started working on the first computer.
If you continue to have a problem, please try sending the URL via the “Request to unblock a site” facility on your Portal. But it should already be unblocked for Staff.
For those who have had a peek at the wiki page, don’t forget to return every so often, as amazing new entries keep getting added. It’s like a communal graffiti wall – and should be having your minds racing as to the ways you might incorporate wiki technology in your classrooms.
I’ve had a little tinker with some of the formatting, to keep all the matrix cells looking consistent, in case you notice your entry looking a bit different. Also, the coding may look very different on various web browsers, operating systems and brands of computers.
Regards,
Ian McLean
Penrith PS
March 6th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Hi everyone
Congratulations to those teachers and teacher librarians who have been “brave enough” to attempt the Rap Point 1 Wiki! I know I felt rather nervous using the wiki for the very first time myself.
The wiki display of class memories is growing and looks wonderful! So if you haven’t yet posted your class’ favourite memory and symbol please have a go. If you need help just post a message on this Teacher blog. (Some schools have started adding images by selecting “Insert image” from the wiki’s horizontal menu banner and following the instructions to “Browse” the image’s location and “Upload”.)
Thank you all for your great enthusiasm and efforts with Rap Point 1. I can’t wait for next week’s activities and responses.
Happy rapping!
Jenny Scheffers
Rap Co-ordinator
Teacher Librarian @ Caddies Creek PS
March 10th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Hello all,
Some fascinating items to report re the Wilfrid’s wonderful wiki site today.
Firstly, I just received this notification from the NSW DET’s Web Filtering Team:
“Your reported Incident has been resolved with the following resolution: Following examination by the Web Filtering Team it has been decided to initiate action to unblock this site for all [NSW DET] students. If you have subsequent problems with accessing this site, could you please advise by email… Thank you for advising us about this site.”
Prior to this, the wiki could only be accessed with a teacher level username and password. (I know Cath Keane had sent a similar request last week, but I sent my own over the weekend when I noticed the access was still Teacher level only; thanks go to the Filtering team for the speedy reply today.) Schools in other states won’t be affected by this recategorising.
Secondly, one of our schools working on the wiki left it open too long (over lunch?) on the Edit this page function, and it suddenly appeared that all the HTML coding so far had been lost. Panic no longer! Wonderful things that wikis are, all I had to do was “steal” back the password (this is how the wiki instructions described the action! – very exciting!) and restore the last-known save. It took mere seconds.
My action may mean that one school’s work today was not saved to the wiki – I received no email notification – but nothing else should have been lost. (If it was your school whose contribution has seemingly vanished, please re-enter the data. Your only error was in not closing the page again after editing.)
I’m feeling quite chuffed that I was able to discover how easy it was to restore the page to its previous edit! This type of easy uploading/editing/restoring was not possible pre-Web 2.0! pbwiki retains a copy of every edit we do, thus all points along the continuum are possible to restore!
Finally, to Parramatta East PS: your text entry on the wiki page has worked out perfectly – you posted before the other school tried to edit the page – but the two images won’t show up on anyone else’s computers. It seems your selected graphics are not actually uploaded to the pbwiki site. To get technical for a moment, when I checked the HTML coding, the (automatically generated) URL was for your own computer’s C drive. You can re-upload the graphics to pbwiki by clicking on the “Insert image” icon on the wiki’s menu. Or you may email them to me if you are still having problems.
This bonus activity is upskilling us all in the ways of Web 2.0! What fun!
Regards, Ian McLean
Penrith PS
PS. Glenhavenrappers: I love your animated bottle graphic! Well done!
March 11th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Hello all!
Ian McLean has just added a new bonus activity, which supports the activities for Rap Point 2. Your rap groups may like to add some descriptive words for Wilfrid’s elderly friends on the latest wiki page!
Have fun!
Regards,
Cath Keane
March 12th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Clever Parramatta East PS yesterday found a new use for Seven Hills North’s boardshorts on the wiki for Rap Point 1! Notice how schools have been able to resize their graphics to create different effects.
I found them a great Easter eggs graphic and added it to Parramatta East’s cell.
I am curious who added some rainbow-striped knitting to the graphics file during the week? If you need help resizing that image, please let me know. It’s a beautiful image, but hidden from view until someone adds it to the basket. Maybe Miss Nancy lost her knitting and can’t recall where she put it?
What challenges will be met by the Rap Point 2 wiki page, I wonder? Keep up the great work!
Regards, Ian McLean
Penrith PS
March 13th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Thank you to the rap groups who have had a turn adding descriptive words about Wilfrid’s friends to the new wiki page. I love all the different font styles, sizes and colours you have added.
These wiki matrixes have been a great experiment, and I’m learning more about how they work every day. It can be very effective to have the wiki page displayed on several computer screens at once, then make the editing changes on one computer with the password. Then refresh the browser frame of each other computer – and see how the changes are suddenly noticed by each browser.
I assume that pbwiki’s server is located in the USA. The students will be amazed that their changes on one computer have travelled via wires, telephone cables (and satellites?) to the USA and back again seemingly instantaneously.
Regards, Ian Mclean
Penrith PS
March 14th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Greetings teacher rappers!
Here we are at Rap Point 3 already! The home stretch is in sight, and so are the Easter holidays!
It’s been wonderful reading all the schools’ responses to Rap Point 2, plus all the new Introductions (welcome aboard!) and responses to Rap Point 1. As you would have realised by now, the students’ messages you read on the rap blog represent only the very tips of the icebergs of impressive teaching and learning that is going on in every school involved in the book rap. The high calibre of these completed texts tell us that there is some excellent collaboration and higher level thinking at work, not to mention all of us being upskilled by the new ICT challenges set by blogs and wikis.
This week, we are looking at how Mem Fox introduces each elderly character in her picture book, and we challenge the students to use Mem’s writing style to introduce a brand new resident of the retirement home.
Perhaps the students might start by drawing a picture of this new resident. (I’m thinking I might get a volunteer to lie on some chart paper on the library floor, and we’ll cut out a life-size silhouette, and decorate our new resident.) Ask your students to discuss what this resident likes to do best.
Please don’t worry if Harmony Day (dress your new resident in orange?) and Easter activities distract you in your rapping this week. You can still make a blog entry to the appropriate section whenever you can. Similarly, if your Term vacation is approaching earlier than NSW, we will have the Rap Wrap Up uploaded earlier than advertised.
Remember the programming and planning has already been done for you, and you are free to select the activities which best suit your needs.
Onwards and upwards!
Regards, Ian McLean,
Penrith PS
March 16th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Hi All,
First a question: Is there an easier way to access the wiki than opening up this teacher’s section and scrolling down until you see the wiki link in a post?
I would love to have it added to the title page, IF that were possible.
Secondly a confession: ’twas I who added the photo of the striped knitted (sock) fabric but found it too big and couldn’t reduce it. I was trying to be clever and save time using an image I already had rather than finding another (I’ve discovered some clip art don’t want to be uploaded) and thought it could stand in, giving the impression of wrapping paper for the Warilla North’s comment. Wrong!
Still learning,
Fiona McKay….aka Mrs Mac (or Mad)
March 17th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Hi Fiona!
Yes, to find the Basket of memories wiki page easily, it’s actually hot-linked in the Rap Point 1 questions at the top of the Rap Point 1 section. Last week’s Wilfrid’s friends wiki page is hot-linked from the Rap Point 2 questions at the top of the Rap Point 2 section. The links aren’t on the front page mainly to (sort of) obscure the (so-called) secret password.
You can also save the wiki’s URL – ie. http://bookrap.pbwiki.com – as a bookmark or “favorite” on your browser. (Those wiki links weren’t there on Day #1 of the relevant Rap Points, but were added once we were confident the particular Rap Point was well underway, and that groups of rappers wouldn’t overlook the need to do their joint-constructions for the rap blog itself.) If we go ahead with another wiki page for Rap Point 3 this week, we’ll link that at the top of the Rap Point 3 section.
Don’t worry about the knitting! The wallpaper image worked out fine. (If you check the wiki page, you’ll see the cleaners found Miss Nancy’s knitting under the couch. I even resized it for you!) Yes, it’s a journey of discovery working out which images are more suitable to upload, how to resize (there are several methods) and even what colours and fonts will work. As I said in a previous post, wiki pages can look very different from browser to browser, and some cells are more unstable than others.
Hope you’re having fun. (Says me at 12.38am on a Monday morning!)
Regards, Ian McLean,
Penrith PS
March 18th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Hello all,
Everyone seems to be having fun with Rap Point 3. Just wait till you meet the new resident my students worked on today! We haven’t finished writing up our narrative about her yet but, thanks to a roll of orange Brennex paper and a student volunteer, we now have a silhouette of old Mrs Harmony Day, who loves wearing orange clothes.
While we traced the outline of her body. the students sat in a circle and, one by one, suggested something about this new resident’s likes, dislikes and hobbies. I am thrilled by the way they fire off one another’s ideas. (”She likes going shopping” led to “She likes skipping”, which became “She used to be a champion skipper”, which led to “She’s also a racing car champion”, which led to “But not any more” and “She must have a treadmill to keep fit” to “She still owns her racing car, but she doesn’t race it any more” and then “… so she uses it to go shopping!” Full circle.)
Hopefully, when tomorrow’s Harmony Day activities are over, you’ll be able to meet her. We will post a picture of Mrs Day when we’ve finished making her and writing about her.
Best wishes, Ian McLean,
Penrith PS
March 19th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Hello Ian,
I love that idea of drawing around a body to make a new resident. Do you mind if I steal the idea? We are a week behind with the rap points because I was away last Tuesday when Miss Gray and her class come to the library (they didn’t want to go ahead without me).
I still haven’t been able to get an avatar up. I’ve uploaded it to the place in My Dashboard, but can’t find where the comments avatar uploading thingy is.
Happy Easter to all Wilfrid Rappers
Annette
Shalom Christian College.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Hi Annette,
Most definitely! Steal away! That’s why I posted the idea.
It occurred to me that while I drew the resident’s outline around our volunteer, the students would be already sparking ideas off each other. And it worked! (We did our second outline today.)
I’m hoping to photocopy some large elderly faces later today (oops, look at the time! Eeek) so the students can select an appropriate face for their new resident. We’ll probably add some grey wool hair, as well.
I make a point of jotting down their banter for use in writing up our rap responses. When I write fiction texts myself, they are always much too wordy and complex. I just love the natural language of young students and I find that their scribed sentences have an economy of words and a unique spontaneity that sounds just like a picture book.
Re the avatars: there are two types of avatar. The site allows you to have an avatar for a blog page (if you have one) and a second avatar (or a repeat of the same one) for making comments. Try clicking the hyperlink “Change your comments avatar”.
(PS. Ah! I see that it’s working!)
Have fun!
Regards, Ian McLean
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Hi everyone!
What a great job you’ve done with your students creating fascinating new characters for Rap Point 3.
With the interruption to school because of the Easter holidays, many groups may not yet have posted their Rap Point 3 responses. Don’t worry – there is no strict deadline so just post your message to the Wilfrid blog when you find the time. We’d love to hear all about your new characters.
We are also looking forward to reading your groups’ Rap Wrap Up comments, on the Rap Wrap Up page, over the next few weeks. It’s very important that the students have an opportunity to to reflect on their learning. We’ve all come so far in just a short time. Just think back to what you and your students knew about blogging, wikis, book raps, picture books and memories just a few weeks ago.
Teachers and teacher librarians can also post their personal reflections, and suggestions for improving future raps, below. Your feedback would be most appreciated please.
Happy Rap Wrapping everyone! Thanks for your support.
Ian McLean and Jenny Scheffers
Rap Coordinators
March 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Hi Ian and teacher rappers.
I’ve been fiddling around with the wiki page and I’ve added a pic to the others in the list…. but it’s really huge and I don’t know how to make it smaller or even how to remove it from the list! Sorry. It’s named Koori Xmas Tree and it’s a pic of a tree we made last year out of cutouts of our hands. We had traced the hands onto painted sheets of past copies of the Koori Mail newspaper. We thought it would help Miss Nancy to remember Christmases when she was a little girl.
Miss Gray and her class have gone on an excursion today, but I’m hoping we’ll get time later in the week to finish Rap Point 3.
Miss Annette,
Shalom Christian College.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Hi Annette!
Well done on uploading such a great pic!
I’ve used my limited knowledge of HTML to shrink the size of your graphic so that it appears the same size as all the other images. (Actually, I noticed it was of similar dimensions to that elusive knitting graphic, just switched around the other way, so it was an easy calculation to make.) I’ve added your contribution to the basket of memories wiki page.
The other way to have done it – without needing to know HTML coding – would have been to shrink the large rectangular image to about 85 x 45 pixels, ie. a “thumbnail” version of the original, in an image manipulation program (such as Photoshop), and upload that result.
Mind you, when I created this wiki exercise I had no idea that schools would be game enough to add images – otherwise I might have set out the steps needed to make images happen, but so many people were braver than even myself!
Yes, don’t worry about rushing Rap Point 3 and the Rap Wrap Up. I have one group which is unavailable to complete Rap Point 3 until tomorrow, and none of my groups are ready to Wrap Up yet.
Regards,
Ian McLean
Penrith PS
March 26th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Meet Mrs Curl!
Students at Caddies Creek PS have sent artwork of their Rap Point 3 new resident. Meet her under the Home tab. Scroll down until you see her.
If any other schools would like to post pics send Mr McLean an email at: ian.mclean7@det.nsw.edu.au
The Coordinators
March 31st, 2008 at 8:45 am
Hi everyone
If you haven’t yet posted your class’ / group’s Rap Wrap Up message or any of the Rap Point responses don’t worry – you have until the end of this term (11th April). We would love to read your students’ creative ideas and reflections about the book rap.
Jenny Scheffers
Rap Co-ordinator
TL @ Caddies Creek PS
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Mr Gilchrist has joined Mrs Curl in the Gallery – and, tomorrow, lots more new residents are arriving!
Meet Mr Gilchrist under the Home tab. Scroll down until you see him.
If any other schools would like to post pics send Mr McLean an email attachment of your work at: ian.mclean7@det.nsw.edu.au
The Coordinators
April 7th, 2008 at 11:20 am
You may be amazed to know that almost 90 class groups have participated in the Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge rap! The responses have been many and varied, but the overall enthusiasm for using blogs and wikis as communication tools is unanimous.
Ian has given you his address for sending artwork or you can send it to me, Cath Keane.
I saw Mrs Curl when I was visiting Jenny Scheffer’s library – she’s large and glittery. I must pay another visit to see the life sized Mr Barden ‘in the flesh’.
We hope to run another primary school rap in term 3, based on the CBCA Book Week titles. Check Scan and the School Libraries and Information Literacy website for updates.
Thanks for joining the Wilfrid rap, and many thanks to Jenny and Ian, our wonderful coordinators.
Cath Keane
April 10th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Hi everyone,
The last of my rap groups finished off their elderly resident outlines yesterday – last week was frantic here, with Book Fair and Grandparents’ Day – and I’ve just taken digital photos of their work, which I’ll add to the Gallery tonight.
The whole school community is celebrating their love of reading this afternoon with a reading picnic – a great sight to behold: 400 students, their teachers, students’ parents and toddler siblings, spread out in groups scattered throughout the school playground, enjoying books and nibblies in a picnic atmosphere. These celebrations have become an end-of-term tradition here at Penrith PS over recent years, and they are so effective at bringing a community together with a literacy focus.
Thanks to all our participating schools for making this book rap such a memorable experience. Lots of you were first time rappers and you launched into this with so much enthusiasm.
I presented the rap blog and wiki to a group of our parents on Tuesday night and they were surprised/enthused/fascinated at how we had harnessed the capabilities of Web 2.0 to share such meaningful learning and teaching, especially that their children had been communicating with students all over Australia and even Vietnam. While preparing my talk, I re-read those early introductory messages again this week, and it was a great reminder at how far we’d all come in such a short time! Great work, everyone!
Thanks also to Jenny Scheffers at Caddies Creek PS, Cath Keane and the team at Ryde State Office (NSW DET) for making sure it all came together.
See you at the next rap!
Regards, Ian McLean
Rap Coordinator,
Penrith PS