Wallwisher.com

Today my Year 9's had a double lesson on lyrics and theme in pop music. We listed to the 80s song "Pictures of You" by the cure focusing on the theme's of "lost love" and "loneliness".
Throughout the lesson the students looked at media in relation to the theme in music videos....each group looked at something different : camera angles, interactions, lighting, etc. Their final task we to find their own group example of "lost love" and do a "wallwisher" post on it. They were a bit rushed at the end and so their posts were not as thorough as i would have liked. but when they presented they were clear, and concise about their thoughts.
What is "wallwisher" you ask? Wallwisher is a online post-it note center!!! However, unlike the traditional paper post-it this is all electronic. Since the students here at RCHK are driven by technology and always seem to have their nose in their computer, I have been trying to work with that and not try to see computers as a distraction. On wallwisher the students can not only post their thoughts, but they can add images, video, audio, etc. to enhance their groups post. I find it fascinating, and the students had NEVER heard of it!
(Above is a picture of the classes post from the lesson today).

On Saturday J and I (and the rest of the RCHK faculty) went to school....ugh...professional development. This is J and are after lunch.

The school flew in a professor from New Jersey to talk about "Guided Inquiry" - inquiry based learning. I found most of it very informative. I got lots of advice that has completely changed the direction I am going with my year 7's and their research. He really stressed discovery of knowledge v. teaching skills. My entire life I have been taught skills. Here, at the IB school, things are radically different. It has been an adjustment teaching in the inquiry process, but one that I have enjoyed as it fosters much creativity!

In my last post I forgot to mention one of my favorite parts of the Internation Fair and HKiEd....my henna tattoo! Don't worry mom, it's not permanent :-)