The reason for this new website is that something is wrong with my edublogs account, and the pages I had set up for displaying my plan of action for the EXE assignment wasn’t working the way I need it to. So now, to see all my work, you need to go to http://ekbu42.googlepages.com/home

Its a great example of how technology can go wrong and how important a backup plan is I have actually found this hiccup very timely in reminding me this. I think its a bit easy to forget if you don’t have many problems. So the main lesson for me (and you) today is – ALWAYS HAVE ANOTHER OPTION!!!

I’d like to thank Cam for supporting me with this wonderful piece of technology, and Miriam for contributing some great ideas to the list. You can see her comment here, and I have updated the list.

I have spent a long time today searching blogs for ideas about VELS, however I find myself constantly following other links and ideas on various blogs. Why is this? One reason I think is that a lot of education blogs are focussed on using technology, and VELS is the ‘boring’ curriculum writing stuff you have to do but don’t really feel like sharing with others. I think I will get a lot more useful ideas and information from actually talking in person to teachers, either on rounds or in other forums. Because of this, I have to say that this part of my plan was not very successful. I was successful however in finding lots of great posts and blogs on using technology in education, so my time was not wasted!!

Something else I found today leads to my other point. Its easy to think that a blog is pointless if no-one is reading it or commenting. But as Langwitches writes, WHO do YOU write for? I’m not boring just because no-one comments. I completely agree with her ideas, which I would sum up as – I write for myself, to record my reflection and learning, but I do it in a public way so that I can share with other educators and we all benefit. As a new blogger I think this is one mantra I will be sticking to!! I am glad that a uni assignment gave me the momentum to get started.

The MAV annual conference (4th and 5th of December, 2008) will definitely have sessions on VELS – I went last year and they have soooo much happening. A good tip – if you volunteer to help they let you go to some sessions for free. I did this last year and it was great to get involved and feel useful! While I won’t be able to use this directly for my learning around this topic this semester, I definitely plan to keep learning past uni!!!

The MAV also run a public lecture series, but there are no details about this year’s program up yet. I listened to a podcast of one of last years’ sessions, and it seemed like a good forum for learned about maths in the ‘real’ world, which could give you lots of ideas for connected learning in the classroom. I’ve joined their mailing list so that I don’t miss any great sessions on VELS or any other topic.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) have just run a student teacher conference, but I wasn’t able to go I will be looking for their events in the future though as the descriptions of the conference sounded highly engaging and useful.

One event that I will be able to attend is the Professional Standards Project for Indonesian teachers on the 8th of May. While also being really useful for learning about teaching, I hope to
get lots of ideas about using VELS both from the actual session and from discussions with other teachers there.

I also have been given free attendance to two interactive whiteboard sessions being run at the Firbank Grammar School, for Indonesian on the 14th of May and for Maths on the 15th of May. While not directly focussed on VELS, I plan to have my VELS radar active for any little tips, and I also think that the resources and ideas presented with the whiteboards might make using VELS easier, especially cross-curricular planning and using ICT.

Most of the information I found useful on the Mathematical Association of Victoria’s (MAV) website (at http://www.mav.vic.edu.au/) was restricted to members only. This only proved to be a matter of waiting for log on details as I joined for half-price at their conference last year! As I’ve mentioned in other posts, the Curriculum Planning section of the website was most relevant to my development plan. Everything is organised by VELS levels and maths topics, which as well as making the activities and teaching sequences of a unit plan much easier to plan, is a good indication of what each progression point might look like in practice. Many of the resources are hard copy, or have to be bought (eg. Maths300, RIME), however I think there is a high chance of many of these resources already being owned by schools. I also intend to follow some of these up in the Deakin Library when I get a chance. I’d also like to investigate the learning objects for mathematics on my next rounds, as I have seen a few of the Indonesian ones in a class at uni, and I think they have heaps of potential to my future unit plans.

The Victorian Indonesian Language Teachers’ Association (VILTA) website (at http://www.mltav.asn.au/indonesian/) was not nearly as in depth (or time consuming!) as the MAV site, however I did find some great resources. There is information on Indonesian supermarkets, restaurants, bookshops, excursions and incursions, which I could see being very useful in providing authentic Indonesian experiences. There is also a really nice collection of useful weblinks.

In terms of finding materials on VELS in unit planning, the MAV’s website was the most useful to me. The other professional associations were still useful (read about professional development in my next post), but the MAV’s was by far the most complete. The only possible drawback is in it being limited to members of the MAV, however in just the few experiences I have had at their annual conference, and exploring their website has convinced me of the importance of this association.

One of the reasons I think that the MAV website stood out so much is that other associations do not have nearly as strong an internet presence. I receive newsletters, email bulletins and journals from both VILTA and MLTAV (Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Victoria) which are very useful in terms of connecting with the profession.

I also have to catch up on reflections – I’ve done a lot of work today! One thing I do need to do is get some help with the tech stuff – there are some things with edublogs that I need to learn how to do. I’m sure if I ask very nicely Cam should be able to help

Aside from achieving the main aim of this project, that is to investigate the VELS in Unit Planning, I have discovered a lot of very useful resources, mainly in the Maths and Indonesian areas. There are links to these on my Ideas/resources document, and my references page. Not wanting to rave too much, but the MAV website is FABULOUS. I especially like the Curriculum Planning section (at http://mav.vic.edu.au/curriculum-planning/), as evidenced by the number of times I refer to it! Ian Lowe has put together such a comprehensive resource for teachers I can see myself using a lot in the future. I also love the way Ian’s focus is on moving away from textbooks to more realistic uses of maths, which corresponds to the Interdisciplinary approach of VELS. Aside from being the official emphasis of the Education Department, I believe that this approach would be far superior in both educational outcomes and engagement levels, which would lead to less classroom management issues.

On another note, I’ve just started using RSS which is proving very useful. I’ve found some great blogs on technology in education, which are certainly keeping my brain ticking over!

I must admit that I haven’t done much work on the audit and EXE401 in general, but I have written an essay on corporeal poetics for dance and a presentation on the role of radio in the Indonesian nationalist struggle for Indonesian. That’s how varied my units are this semester! Certainly keeps me entertained.

But I digress. From the audit, and a very productive and helpful meeting with my mentor for this unit, Jan, I have identified the two areas I will focus on for the assignments. Not quite sure on the third one for next semester yet, but I’m sure it will become apparent! Matters are further complicated by having already done my teaching rounds before semester started in a country placement, so my topics need to be things I can do without using actual students! I think I will use the students I taught as a base though. I’m rambling again!! (For some entertaining rambling and interesting ideas, have a look at Cam’s blog!)

Topic 1: VELS – focusing on whole unit planning and assessment. I haven’t had much chance to be involved in the larger planning work – usually I’m focussed on individual lessons.

Topic 2: Individual Learning Plans – I need to move away from teaching one activity/task to the whole class and think about separate ‘groups’ of need or individual needs

So thats what I’ll be working on this semester. I’ll keep you posted!!