Allanah+King

I usually teach primary school age (9-10 year old) children at [|Appleby School], near Nelson, which is at the top half of the south Island of New Zealand. My school has only 100 children and Nelson is fairly isolated by hills or sea all around. It is difficult and expensive for us to travel too far for professional development because of this. I have a year's leave in 2008 to help teachers use 21st century technologies in their classrooms.

Please feel free to Skype me on **AllanahK** and we can talk further about the tools we use and Web2.0 tools generally.

I use Web2.0 tools for my children to open their eyes to the world beyond our classroom walls and to allow others to share in the things we are learning about in our classroom.

The centre of this is our [|classroom Moturoa blog] and our [|podcast site].

Here is a [|short video] about how I got started using those tools in the classroom.

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I use those same Web2.0 tools for myself to expand my learning horizons and learn from others around the globe.

This year I started writing my [|own professional blog, Life is not a race to be first finished] to record some of my great finds from the internet and record some of my own professional learning. Through the comments on this blog I have been able to link with people from Scotland, Switzerland, Australia, America, Wales and others in New Zealand. Having my own blog lets me have a web presence and a place to write up the good things I have found.

Firstly I use a blog aggregator [|Bloglines] to read other people's blogs. If someone makes a comment on my blog I go and read their blog and maybe make a comment on theirs and add it to my list of blogs that I am interested in. In this way my list of interesting links grows and flourishes. I learn more from other people in other places without leaving home.

I use the social bookmarking web site [|Delicious] to store my bookmarked web sites on line. If I come across a good website I store it in [|My Delicious] so that I can access it from any computer. Through Delicious I can also view [|other people's bookmarked networks] where they have linked to your tags. This is another way I can find out about websites of people with similar interests to me.

I have begun using [|Twitter] to keep up with people I have linked with in some of the above ways. For example in [|this blog post] I wrote about an exchange I had with Miguel Guhlin from Texas. Through my [|Twitter network] Miguel was able to help me a technical problem I was having late at night in New Zealand. When no-one else was awake in my time zone someone somewhere else will be.

I also use Skype and podcasting extensively to communicate and network with others, both in New Zealand and abroad.

[|This podcast] gives an example of three different ways we used Skype in one week- we used it for children to further their learning of Spanish, to speak with a classmate who had gone to Valencia with her parents to work with the America's Cup regatta and to speak with another classmate who travelled from New Zealand to Wales to spend the day with our podcasting buddies at Cefn Fforest School.

[|This podcast] shows how we were able to investigate butterfly migration with world renown researcher, Dr Barrie Frost. Being able to speak with experts like this gives great motivation to children's learning and helps make teaching more interesting.

[|This podcast] shows how I also use Skype to enhance and share my professional learning with others around the globe- this time with teachers in Sydney.

In these ways I am able to network and share with other teachers and classes who are far away from us geographically but close in interest and enthusiasm for sharing their learning.

Good luck with your learning.