Podcast Reflection #11: K12 Online Conference “Fireside Chat: Rachel Boyd”

The “Fireside Chats” that K12 Online Conference offers are really enjoyable to listen to. The one that I heard showcased teacher Rachel Boyd, who teaches 6 and 7 year olds in New Zealand. Although Ms. Boyd has a “small, old-fashioned classroom” (three classroom computers and an interactive white board) her 26 students are engaged in true 21st Century learning. One of the things that I liked about her classroom is that that they have a class blog and the students are responsible for maintaining it. In the morning of each school day, students check the headcounter on the blog and graph this data. They also log on to the wiki hub and post a sticky note to suggest what new information they want to add to their blog. Ms. Boyd also mentioned that the students start each morning with an oral language activity – either hearing or speaking. One of the popular activities that is associated with this is sharing about their weekends. Students email photos from their weekends to Ms. Boyd and she displays them on the interactive white board for all to see. I really loved this idea and plan to do something similar in my own classroom. What a neat way to connect the class and get to know one another even better! I also liked how Ms. Boyd watches worldwide news with her students each day. They listen and ask questions about what they want to find out, and then go online to find answers. Ms. Boyd really engages her students in active learning, and technology is playing such a huge role in that. I hope to find more people like Ms. Boyd who can serve as models for my own way of instructing.