Digital Bytes - 20th March, 2017

	DIY.org This amazing site is a fantastic starting point for anyone interested in student-driven inquiry. There are over 130 different skills/interests to look through and thousands of projects to try. Everything from animator to gardiner, paleontologist to woodworker and everything in between.
	What is Media Literacy? This YouTube Video answers the question ‘What is Media Literacy?’ and provides 5 key questions to answer when viewing any source of information. The key questions help determine biases in the information, and examine why it was produced in the first place.
	Google Docs Blackout Poetry Blackout Poetry is the process of taking an existing text, selecting the words you want to form your poem, then shading in all of the extra words. Eric Curtis has come up with a clever hack for doing this process in a Google Doc. Check out his blog post which explains how he does it!

The Power of a Small Idea

I was checking Twitter one day, when this tweet by Anna Davies jumped out at me, with its striking red and black colour scheme and professional-looking images.

Anna Davies on Twitter

G5 deeply personal hopes&fears on display. Seeing each other from a different perspective #ishcmcib thanx 4 the inspiration @itsallaboutart

It turns out that Anna had been inspired by my Dover colleague, Nicki Hambleton, who created posters with her Middle School students, based on the work of Designer, Graphic Artist and Photographer, Barbara Kruger.

When I see an amazing idea, like the images in Anna's tweet, I always want to try it out. As I don't have a class of my own, I have to pitch the idea to my colleagues and hope that it sparks an interest.

As it happened, our school was just embarking on a PSE unit around the Power of Words. Tech Mentor Mike Bowden jumped on board and took the idea to his Grade 3 team.

Students prepared for the poster by finding a quote that resonated with them about the Power of Words. They took a photo of themselves on a plain background, ensuring to leave enough space to fit the quote.

In Keynote, students added the image, then reduced the saturation to turn it black and white. They used the limited colour palette of red, black and white for the text, experimenting with placement and rotation as needed.

This was a very rich learning task for our students. There were a lot of technical and design skills that we were able to build into an authentic context that met our curricula outcomes.

Naturally, we shared examples of our finished posters on Twitter - these examples were from Mandy Whitehouse's class.

Keri-Lee Beasley on Twitter

G3 posters: Power of Words @annadeibisu @itsallaboutart Thanks 4 the inspiration! #uwclearn #pse @debgordon123 @MickBowden @maw0305

What happened next is what I LOVE about social media. Jose O'Donovan saw our examples on Twitter and got his students to make their own - this time, posters about Kindness.

Mr O'Donovan on Twitter

Made some cool posters for Kindness week next week @HISEdTech #iPadclub Thanks @klbeasley !@itsallaboutart #his_learning

So in case you are the sort of person who worries about sharing the learning in your classroom, take the plunge! You never know the power of your small idea and the impact it may have on others. 

The Respectful Hum of Learning

"How will they become learning-minded?"

Follow along as we sit down to learn from Maija Ruokanen in this episode of podcast UWCLearn:

Digital Bytes Monday 13th March 2017

	Abstract - Netflix Series Abstract, a fascinating series (free on Netflix right now) takes you into the minds of designers in a range of fields - from shoe design to architecture and everything in between. Perfect for our focus on Learning Spaces.
	World Population History This interactive experience on World Population shows how population growth has changed from 1 C.E. to the projected population in 2050. Watch the video to get an overview, or play with the interactive sliders and overlays to explore themes such as environment, or people and society, or use of fossil fuel emissions
	The New Science of Team Chemistry Are you a Pioneer, a Guardian, a Driver or an Integrator? Each team member is comprised of combinations of those four characteristics, though one or two will likely resonate with you. In the New Science of Team Chemistry, find out how exploring your dominant characteristics and understanding those of your team members, can enable you to work more effectively as a team.