Navitar Nibbles at PowerPoint

Now I love a well-made Prezi presentation as much as the next fluffball, but when it comes to practicality, you can’t beat PowerPoint for helping with little classroom tips and tasks. You don’t need a login or internet connection, you can keep it private or upload to Slideshare, and you don’t need to be a creative genius (thank goodness!) to fill those inviting little oblongs with fun stuff! Just make sure you don't OVER-fill them with boring sentences you don't need.

I’ve made a handful of screencasts to accompany some classroom ideas for PowerPoint, which you can find on www.screenr.com/user/Navitar. They’re pretty simple things like inserting speech bubbles to make a handy cut-up you can use for warmers or playing with the timer and animation/reveal function to jazz up a gapfill or revision game (not all my own ideas originally - I 'crowdsourced' them!). You probably know how to do most of them already (well done you!) - maybe help out a fluffy friend if you do!



Sometimes talking face to face is still best :-)

What I found most interesting was that although PowerPoint is meant for presentations, it’s actually really useful for things that are not presentations! After all, English teachers don’t do much presenting but they do use lots of things like visuals and timed activities to keep students interested and get them to practise language in the classroom.
Want to make your own screencasts? I used Screenr.com which is free and you can sign in with a Twitter account or Facebook (you can see my Screenr account at www.screenr.com/user/Navitar). Best thing? You can download the screen recording as an MP4 video when you’re done – which means you can use it anywhere! More on working with audio and video soon I hope…

5 (and a half) resolutions for 2012

In my Christmas blog I had a think about what I want to do better in 2012. I’ve racked my dusty brain cells to whittle everything I want down to 5 resolutions, so here goes!

1. I will try to balance input and output

Sometimes I find myself reading and dreaming, and 3 hours later I’ve done nothing but got screen-ache and 79 websites on my screen! I’m going to keep reading and listening and watching, but also writing and chatting. You know the Joan Didion quote, “I don't know what I think until I write it down”? Well, quite.

2. I will not get sucked in

Not by a vacuum cleaner, or ‘just one more link’, or by the amazing Technicolor all-singing all-dancing techno-thingy that’s going to change my life. Because there isn’t one.  Fact.

Even clones can't do everything!

3. I will do less, and focus more.

I think I’ve said a billion times how overwhelming everything is in my fluffy world. I want to do everything, but it drives me nuts when I try. Do less, do better will be my mantra for this year.

4. Zoom in, zoom out - like a Prezi!

Prezi is something I want to try, and I think some like it because you can focus in on an idea, then pan out and show it’s part of a bigger picture. That’s what I want to do with all my ideas: look at the detail, then work out where it fits into other stuff I know.

5. I will keep my feet on the ground and in the classroom

I haven’t really been in classrooms much ever since I got stuck to a shoe. By watching what teachers and students are doing in classes I can make sure I don’t get carried away in my ivory tower (ok…dusty corner…) – and maybe I’ll get some new ideas too.

Finally, (resolution 5½ cause I kind of made it last year too) I’m going to be as ‘zen’ as I possibly can about this whole thing.  This scene isn’t slowing down anytime soon, but there’s no way I can run and keep up with it – I mean, have you seen my post-xmas fluff after all that pudding??  

When it all gets too much, I’m hitting the ‘off’ button and shuffling out for some fresh air.

All I want for Christmas...is YOU!

So I was enjoying a bit of festive fun with Mariah Carey on YouTube the other day (again! I need to re-visit my musical tastes…) when I started to think about what a little fluff ball like me might want for Christmas.  I wonder if Santa will even make it to my dusty computer?  If he does, I’d be stoked if he left me an iPad, or a mini video camera, or a new smartphone, or an interactive whiteboard to play with. Or at least maybe a few software upgrades?

But then I got to thinking about what I’ve done this year without much of this new stuff at all - in fact mostly with just a normal computer, free software, websites and a quite leisurely internet connection!  I’ve tweeted over 220 times, followed almost 100 people and been followed by nearly 80 (fluff only knows why!), uploaded 10 videos to Vimeo, blogged 14 times and started a Facebook page. Once I started sharing ideas, I learned how to record my screen, make videos, share videos, connect with new people online and made heaps of mistakes along the way!

So what now? I want to get better at it. I want to see what happens more in classrooms, and why technology does or doesn’t fit in different situations. I want to keep things simple, but not lose sight of the important details. I want to listen more carefully to advice and ideas and think about the best ways to share them. If Santa brings me new gadgets that would be fun, but I don’t think they’re as important as making connections with people and ideas. As my friend the Dalai Lama says,

"we need awareness of the ways we are connected with others, reflecting on the characteristics we share with others”

Clever chap, that one. Cheeky smile too :-)

Thanks for reading (and writing and listening and clicking and downloading…), and here’s to discovering together - whatever the next year brings!

Of heroes and villains

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles" (Christopher Reeve)

Heroes are very interesting, aren’t they? At least people in teaching seem to think they are, if the number of hero/villain topics in course books are anything to go by! Here’s a typical ‘everyday hero’ lesson which is actually quite interesting when you add the real-life bit with the YouTube clips and news reports and things. There are also heaps of terrible songs about heroes and even worse videos (Mariah Carey and Enrique Inglesias, you know who you are!) – though if you’re teaching ‘would you...’ second conditionals Enrique is your man. Personally I’m a retro kinda fluffball, and choose Bette Midler every time (how many tenses are in this song? Wow!). But I digress...

People like to call teachers heroes too, and Ken Wilson did a couple of really interesting blog posts about ELT heroes which lots of people commented on and are worth a read. Heaps of people I recognise from Twitter too. Isn’t it funny though, that technology swings loads between being a hero and villain? Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are heroes one day (yay! New iPad!) and villains the next (boo! They’re taking over! And my iPad won’t work...) and it’s often the same with technology activities. When it works, we’re all like ‘yay, how fluffy does my Wordle look!’ and students gasp in wonder at how the clever teacher created an instant poll they could vote for using their mobile phones. When it goes wrong, though, you better run ‘cause the evil technology demons are in trouble! Where did that amazing video I found go when I clicked the link in class? Why did my perfect Pecha Kucha not save properly? I HATE TECHNOLOGY!

It’s times like these when I get all philosophical and like to search quotes websites for inspiration. Here’s one from random 18^th century Swiss chap Johann Kaspar Lavater:

“the prudent see only the difficulties, the bold only the advantages, of a great enterprise; the hero sees both; diminishes the former and makes the latter preponderate, and so conquers”

In my fluffy interpretation, I think this is true of tech too; those who use it best figure out how to minimise difficulties and keep it simple, whilst making the most of its good points – the engaging, the fun, the up-to-date stuff. I leave you with some final words from author Laurence Shames. I have no idea who he is either, but I like the words: 

“ Success and failure. We think of them as opposites, but they’re really not. They’re companions – the hero and the sidekick”

Learning Curves and Swerving Learning

"Hey baby, you really got my tail in a spin...hey baby, I don't even know where to begin..."
I've been thinking a lot lately about the ups and downs of learning to integrate technology into teaching and learning. My fluffy instincts and short life experience tell me there's a huge, exhilarating learning curve when you discover a new tool or website and you find all these new things to do with it. Then your belly drops through the floor when you get to the top and see how far down it is - and how much there is left to learn!

I had a peek recently at Marisa Constantinides' blog and conveniently for me she's just been thinking about something similar when she trains teachers. It sounds like huge 'tech dumps' of information don't really help, and lead to some teachers labelling technology with that 'I'll get to that when I have some spare time' sticker. Spare time? When you find a teacher who has spare time, come see me and I'll eat my fluff.
Anyway, her thought was to get little bits of tech in throughout the course activities and then reflect on what had been used and why, which seemed to work. Kind of like hiding the vegetables in a pasta sauce, then going 'hey kids, you just ate broccoli! How tasty was that?'.

http://blog.jeromeparadis.com/

And for students? Keep it simple, relevant and regular. A diary in English is such as useful thing (I love my blog for reflecting on stuff) and it can be as simple as updating your status in English once a day on Facebook or Twitter. Those who want more can explore audio diaries (Audioboo), video diaries (check privacy settings whatever you recommend) or even a blog like this if they really love writing.
The important thing? Like any skill, a little everyday, as part of your routine, is much easier to maintain than huge one-off tasks, and will keep that learning curve moving gently upwards, without the big drop-off at the end! And when it feels too hard? "Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it!" (thanks Ronan) - strap yourself in, throw your arms up and enjoy the ride!

The Vacuum: Part 2 (suck it up!)

At the end of my last blog, I said I'd been thrown right back into the craziness - and almost shuffled back into that vacuum cleaner for a bit of peace! Instead I girded my fluff and hitched a ride to the English Australia conference, where I hoped to get excited again about exploring and connecting with other people.

It was a massive fluffy shock for me, I have to say! As well as talking about teaching and learning, there were presentations about business, marketing, visas, government and regulations - who knew there was so much going on in the background whilst teachers and students are working away in the classroom? I decided to ignore a lot of it for fear of getting overwhelmed again, although I might have gone a bit too far the other way when I had a drink that evening...

I also saw a presentation about using technology that compared it to an adventure, looking at '6 impossible things' - something to do with a girl called Alice who explored 'Wonderland'. Sounded like she was copying me, actually, but without the fluff. Anyway, she did have some good ideas, and because I'd just had some delicious Rocky Road I especially liked her one about 'a cake that can make you grow'.
 

It wasn't dieting advice (though I am a little over-fluffed after those treats), but about how technology and social networking can help teachers develop and learn new things.

So, in the spirit of getting out of the vacuum, I'm re-connecting and asking everyone, "what's the technology 'cake' that made you grow this year?". Email navitarconnects@gmail.com,  drop your ideas in the comments below, or tweet using #6thingscake so I can find it!

The Vacuum: Part 1

After my amazing time at the Big Day In I was on a massive fluffy high after meeting so many people and learning so much. Pretty soon, though, I came crashing down to my dusty computer again. How could I possible use all the ideas I'd heard? Which ones were best? Where could I start? And why couldn't I get my computer to even turn on?

I went for a stroll to calm down and get my fluff straight, but then disaster struck! It was evening, the cleaners were around, I got too curious and too close to that evil vacuum cleaner and - schlooop! - I was in the vacuum before you could say 'dustballs'! I wasn't sure if I'd been sucked up by mistake or not, but after a while, once the dust had settled, I actually started to relax and enjoy myself. So peaceful in there without phones, computers or people! Even if it was a bit dusty *cough*. I even found time to read this book about going on a 'Digital Diet' and managing technology better.

I had some dark thoughts in there, for sure, and for a while I considered stopping my explorations in technology altogether. In the meantime, though, someone got the message out that I was trapped, and there was a vote about whether I should be saved! Amazing! I was so sparkly and fluffed up when I heard people wanted me to come out.

It reminded me that it's the people, the ideas and the connections I make through technology that count - not the technology itself. Sounds simple, but I needed that time alone to figure it out and find my fluffy mojo again. Since I got out, I've been thrown straight back into the craziness...but more of that in Part 2!