Melville Intermediate - 8C Selwyn House Continue to Impress

While we are fast approaching the end of the year here in New Zealand, with only four weeks to go until the end of the school year, and only four more weeks to go with this class page after five years, we're busy trying to get everything finsihed before the end of the year.  We've still been amazed and thrilled at the comments that we've been receiving and the quality of the posts from our Aoteaoroa Quadblogging Buddies and friends at 8C Selwyn House.  You can access their amazing class page by clicking on the link here.  Make sure your check out Inkheart playing at the Bandquest!
  

Melville Intermediate - Selwyn House in Minecraft Presentation

Earlier this term, inspired by 'Room with a View' from the Figure it Out, Mathematics Curriculum Geometry Level Three Books - although we adapted it slightly.  Those of you familar with the teaching resource will know that under the material listed it suggests a speaker phone.  We put a twist on it, and used our Aotearoa Quadblogging Buddies, Tawa Intermediate and Selwyn House to communicate with by leaving comments on their blog and then responding to them.   This allowed us to refine our questioning technique and also improve the use of mathematical language that our students were using, this worked for both us and our buddies that we were working with.

We started with a two dimensional grid model, refined it with responses from our buddies, converted our two dimensional grid to a three dimensional sketch, contacted our buddies about the sketch, built a three dimensional cube model based on the sketch, and finally constructed the finished classroom in Minecraft.

We then contacted our buddies to show them the results.  Elizabeth, one of the Room Five students filmed this video explaining the process.  You can see some of the screenshots in the process here.
 
  ElizabethMinecraftExplanation from myles webb on Vimeo.

From a teaching perspective a week long project stretched into four weeks however the students were engaged, they were collaborating with other students form across New Zealand and they used Minecraft in a constructive way.  The producing of the final Minecraft model was the quickest part of the whole project.  We completed models of two out of three of our Quadblogging buddies and will continue posting the results during our term break and early next term.

Melville Intermediate - 3d Modelling in Minecraft

We're fast approaching the end of term in Room Five, and we've attempting to complete our Drawing to Scale/two dimension to three dimension/modelling of another classroom.  As you know we've completed the task with Selwyn House and were trying to currently complete this task for Room Fifteen at Tawa Intermediate - we've set ourselves a deadline of tomorrow, the last day of term, and have been busy working in all four Mathematics groups to complete the task.

Room Fifteen @TIS Models - slideshow

These are some of the screen shots from the Minecraft creations of 8c Selwyn House, Room Fifteen Tawa Intermediate and Room Five, Melville Intermediate Schoool.

MineCraftScreenShots2013 - slideshow

Melville Intermediate - Is THIS Room 15 @ Tawa Intermediate School?

As part of Geometry for Mathematics we are attempting to create scale maps of classrooms, we have already created maps of own classroom and Selwyn House School from Christchurch.  Both these experiences provided us with better questioning and reasoning.  However our newest challenge has really tested our students - a map of Room Fifteen at Tawa Intermediate School.   They've got some unusual learning stations and classroom set up (no teachers desk for instance!).  We orginally had a detailed description of the classroom provided by one of the students, Tom.  We then reworked that description with additional information provided in the form of questions asked through the Room Fifteen class page.  Today each Mathematical group in Room Five presented their version of Tawa Intermediate School - and as you can see from the videom, four different groups would appear to mean four different maps!
Is this Tawa Intermediate School? from myles webb on Vimeo.

Melville Intermediate - Tawa Intermediate: Mapping in 2d and Minecraft

At present we're engaging with the students from Room Fifteen Tawa Intermediate.  In the past two weeks we've completed a virtual model of Selwyn House, Christchurch.  We followed the same proces that were undertaking with Tawa Intermediate.   

We left comments to start with on the class or students blogs that we are engaging with.  We hoped that by leaving these comments we could construct a two dimensional grid model of the classroom.  The original inspiration for the task was 'Room with a View' from the Mathematics Geometry Figure it Out Books.   What we discovered from the task is that we really need to work on our questioning.  Sometimes we are asking questions that need to be clarified or more precise.  Sometimes we were asking questions but weren't clear enough about the information that we were looking to gain.

Based on the students responses we created a two dimesional grid map.  We then created a three dimensional version using uni-block cubes.   We then posted this online so our Aotearoa Quadblogging buddies could leave us feedback and we could modify the design if required.

We then converted this block map to a three dimesional model.  Finally we used Minecraft to build the classroom.  

With Tawa Intermediate we have discovered some challenging ideas - not every student has a desk, this is a new concept for the students to get their heads around.  We were also floored to hear that the teacher does not have a desk! In Room Five, Melville Intermediate we've got desk top computers - not so at Tawa Intermediate who have laptops and portable devices.  They've also got a wall dividing the classroom in two.  

Its been a brillant experience for the students of Melville Intermediate and its only just begun.  You can see some of the work in our modelling books here.

Tawa Intermediate - slideshows

Melville Intermediate - 8C Selwyn House in Minecraft

We've been working on our Selywn House School models for the past week and a half in Mathematics for Geometry.   Those of you who've been following us with the series of posts will know that we originally used the Figure It Out Books 'Room with a View' as our inspiration for this activity.  We modified it slightly - we used blogging comments to start constructing our maps and when we didn't get enough information we went back and left follow up comments.  The allowed us to create our two dimensional models.  We then used this to create our block models of 8C Selwyn House, we then collaborated with them and modified our designs.  The final stage in this process, from two dimensional model to three dimensional model was for our students to use Minecraft to create a three dimensional model of the classroom.   This is Elizabeths model of the inside of Selwyn House, Christchurch.


This is what Elizabeth wrote about the task:

For Maths, Mr Webb asked us to choose a class, ask them some questions that would get us information about what there class looks like, and draw out our version of what we think the class looks like from the information that we got back from them. I chose 8c Selwyn House and asked them about 32 questions. I wanted to get as much information as I could so I could get the classroom exactly right. I ended up getting it wrong but I don’t mind because it was really fun to draw the classroom and create it on Minecraft. Here are my screenshots:

Melville Intermediate - 8C's Helpful Video.

Those of you following along as our 'Room with a View' task has developed will have seen us develop our two dimensional model of 8C Selwyn House, Christchurch.  The language of Geometry and the directional use of language have been key features in our developing our understanding of their classroom.  Today we were very pleased to be aware of a video response to our short movie that we posted earlier this week.   Even better than that, instead of simply walking around thier classroom, 8C from Selwyn House has responded with their own two dimensional model of thier classroom! Thanks so much to our friends!

Melvlle Intermediate - Is this 8C Selwyn House??

 We've been working on perspective and point of view for Mathematics and using 'Room with a View' from Figure it Out Mathematics Curriculum Level 3.   We've utilized our Quadblogging Aotearoa buddies for this task and we've spent a week asking and questioning about what we think that the classroom looks like.  This process has involved questioning, constructing a two dimensional model from the responses that we've received, constructing a three dimension model based on our two dimensional diagrams and we are in the process of refining/correcting the models.  This is the effort of Jamie and Elizabeth from Room Five.  Is this 8C Selwyn House?

Melville Intermediate - Is this 8C Selwyn House?

Today for Mathematics we continued our classroom building process... of our Aotearoa Quadblogging buddies 8C from Selwyn House... today we used cubes to make a three dimensional model of what we think the classroom looks like.  The process has involved detailed questioning, the construction of a 2d model and this is the next stage in the process.  We're looking for feedback from our friends, and then we are looking to refine the model and then publish it in a 3d model in Minecraft.  This video is presented by Damien from Room Five and was filmed in class this morning.  Damien created this as an explanation piece.
Selwyn House 3d Model from myles webb on Vimeo.

Melville Intermediate - Selwyn House: Class Modelling

Selwyn House Collaboration - slideshow

Melville Intermediate - What does Selwyn House look like?

 This morning in our class we have been designing 2-D models of 8cs class but we have come across a problem, Lots of us have asked the same questions but we have all been getting different answers so we have no idea at all what theyre classroom loos like. could you please all decide on a set of answers so we can design your classroom.

- How many doors are in the classroom? - some of the students say that there are two doors in the classroom and some have said that there are three.  Elizabeth from Room Five thinks that this is because one of the doors is a double door and the other door is a fire door.  

- How many windows are there in Selwyn House in 8c?  We had two different answers from the students.  Some of the students said that there was seventeen windows and others said that there were nine windows.  We thought that this could have been because some of the windows were double windows.

- Are the desks set out around the teachers desk or in a cluster of four desks? We thought that we were told that all of the desks were in a circle around the teachers desk in the middle and others thought that the desks were in the top left hand corner of the class, in a group.

- Where is the coffee table and the couches in the classroom? We think that they are located in the bottom right hand corner of the classroom (the South East corner) because that's the only space in the classroom that we couldnt allocate.  The middle picture in this series is Elizabeth and Jamie working on a two dimensional map of what they think Selwyn House in Christchurch is like!

Melville Intermediate - A fantastic Quadblogging Aotearoa Collaboration

As part of Geometry this term our students have been excited with the prospect of constructing scale models of other classrooms around New Zealand involving (first) 3d models and then Minecraft.  The students are currently at the questioning stage.  Thanks to our friends at Tawa Intermediate, Selwyn House in Christchurch and Mt Pleasant School our students have left comments on their class or individual blogs and sought information about the classroom layout. 

Already the activity is paying learning dividends because a number of our students have realised that their questions need to be more detailed and more direct so that the 2d plan of the layout can be more accurate.  The great thing about the blogging aspect

of this is that an online conversation between the students is being recorded in the commenting that is going to allow its progression and development to be easily monitored.   In the next few days we should complete our students two dimensional drafts which we are then going to send to our Aotearoa Quadblogging buddies.  From there the learning communication and conversations should develop further.  Stay tuned.

Melville Intermediate - Quadblogging/Minecraft Collaboration

This term in class we're looking at Geometry as our major subject in Mathematics.  Currently were working on a variety of tasks, one of which is from Figure It Out Geometry, Level Three.  In this task

'Room With A View' (which is from page thirteen if you've got the book in front of you).  Requires you to model a classroom using a speaker phone and reconstruct the classroom through the instructions of the person that you've spoken to.

We thought we'd take it one step further.  We've left comments to our Aotearoa Quadbloggoing Buddy Classes to ask for help with this.  We're going to use the contacts that we made with Selwyn House, Mt Pleasant School and Tawa Intermediate.  We've either left comments or are leaving comments that will give us enough information to construct models using Geometric language.  Over the next week we'll receive replies from our Quadblogging buddies, and then we'll construct the classroom based on our replies.  The construction of the classroom is taking two forms - we're going to draw it, what we think it is like, construct a model of the class, and top it off by building the classroom belonging to our buddies in Minecraft.  We're then going to share the models with the students who are in the classrooms.  A great collaboration that we'll keep updating in the next week and a bit!

Melville Intermediate - Selwyn House inspire our writing

Today in class we were looking for an energizer with our writing.   We were looking for a problem to solve or something to contribute too.  Of course our class is signed up for AoteaQuadblogging with three other classes from around New Zealand and we saw that our friends from Selwyn House in Christchurch had posted their new unit of study - but even better, posted a Google Doc of a series of problem and how to solve them.  We took the problems, modified them slightly, and then used them as our writing task for today. 

8C ECC - slideshow

Melville Intermediate - Tawa Intermediate: Individual Students Pages

One of our buddies from Quadblogging Aotearoa, Tawa Intermediate has a fantastic class page, but also the students have wonderful pages of work too.  We are looking at questioning and interviews this term for writing so the task is straightforward.  

• View several individual blogs from Tawa Intermediate, choose one piece of work that you enjoyed.  
• Leave a comment to the author of the piece of work.   

The criteria for the comment is that it is constuctive, reflects on the piece of work and you will need to ask three open questions about that piece of work from reading it.   You will need to draft these questions prior to publishing and have a second student from Room Five to check the questions before you publish.

Remember to use the correct format for leaving the comments that we have agreed upon.  You are going to be required to do a follow up post for your portfolion on this activity so make sure that you take a screen shot of the post.

Melville Intermediate - Quadblogging Teaches Levi a Lesson

We've been thrilled with the response that we've had and the connections that have been made with our Quadblogging buddies.  One of the tasks that we've set ourselves was to learn more about the towns and schools that we've been working with.  We searched for a program and settled on Quiz Revoultion.  We loved the features of it.  When the students of Room Five were creating the Quiz about different places we spoke about reliable information and details, and making sure our information was correct.   We've had huge success with our Tawa Intermediate/Wellington Quiz - according to our stats we've had over 500 people sit the Quiz since we first posted it online last Friday.

But there was a problem.    It turned itself into a teaching point and lesson in class on Friday.  Levi and Nathan H's Quiz Revoultion stated that there was a swimming pool at Tawa Intermediate School. We received feedback from students of Tawa Intermediate pretty  

quickly and realised that an error had been made.

Firstly we asked Levi permission to discuss his mistake in class.  We then looked at what process he had undertaken.  Firstly Levi said that he'd used a Google search to determine that Tawa Intermediate had a pool.  We asked if it could be re-created and Levi said no.   We had a positive discussion about this and what we could infer from Levi's statement. 

Levi responded by saying that he read online that Tawa Intermediate had a swimming competition, as they had posted the results online on their webpage, he inferred that this had meant that the had a swimming pool onsite, and Levi to his credit admitted that he hadn't confirmed this, he had made an assumption.

Its been a great lesson for our class - we need to ensure always that we are checking information that we gather online so that we can justify what we say, and if there is any doubt then we should be able to back it up.   When Josh and Harry went live with their Quiz Revoultion Christchurch/Selywn House School there was a question about the School Pig (that has even been made an enviro agent!) some of the students who answered the quiz said that there wasn't a pig at the school! But Josh had done his homework and had the link to back it up! Another great Quadblogging Aotearoa Experience

Melville Intermediate - Selwyn House and Christchurch Quiz

Melville Intermediate - Quadblogging Aotearoa Video #2

Yesterday we had a group of Melville Intermediate students who were guests in Room Five during technology, including Douglas who was in Room Five last year.   We explained the process of Quadblogging to these students.  We then had a brainstorming session, identified what we needed or could show to our buddies as an area of interset at Melville Intermediate School.   The boys then shot the video, edited the video themselves and we uploaded it to Vimeo, all in half a day.
Quadblogging Video #2 2013 - Playground from myles webb on Vimeo.

Melville Intermediate - Quadblogging Introductory Videos

We are part of an awesome group of classrooms, students and schools involved in the Quadblogging Aotearoa Project.  There are four other schools as well as ourselves Tawa Intermediate (Wellington), Selwyn House School and Mt Pleasant School (both from Christchurch).  One of the things that we (Room Five) decided that we could create for our new friends was some video tours of our schools and environment.   This video was created by Douglas, Hamish with assistance.  Filmed and edited by the students, posted and uploaded all this morning/afternoon Tuesday 18th June 2013.
Quadblogging Video #1 2013 from myles webb on Vimeo.

We had a brainstorming session in the classroom about what areas would be of interest to people getting to know our school.  One of the areas that we are very proud of is our school entrance way, which was built in 2013.  We have a series of posts with our school values (the MIS STARS) on display on it.  We have an entranceway that lights up in the evening and that reflects the cultures of MIS School.

Melville Intermediate - Quadblogging Survey for our Quadbuddies

One of the classes in our Quadblogging Group, Selwyn House, have had the brilliant idea of putting up a google doc as a way of getting to know the rest of the quad.  Damien and Wattana from Room Five have already been there, done that, which is wondeful but the rest of Room Five are going to fill the survey out on Thursday and Friday.   The link to post from Selwyn House is here.