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Welcome to all the #ispasuperteachers Finalists to this year's iWeek 2018 "fake" workshop. We will be going out of our way to be as "fake" as possible in order to understand online safety and other fearful challenges facing us as we gear up for the 4th Industrial revolution. But don't worry we will be doing it all "relatively" safely..... Mmmmmm.
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Today we are featuring another one of our #ispasuperteacher finalists, Dimakatso Sefora. She used storytelling with her learners and incorporated ICT in a simple yet highly effective way to motivate and inspire her learners. If you are still wondering if you must enter the #ispasuperteachr competition, listen to her story about her journey with technology and how she went about submitting her entry for the competition.
The ISPA Superteacher Gala event has been a highlight of iWeek 2017 and we captured some of the moments. Thank you to all our sponsors who made it possible. ISPA, ZADNA for sponsoring the gala dinner, WASPA for sponsoring Samsung tablets as well as the teacher workshop and accommodation, Hearshaw and Kinnes Analytic Laboratories for sponsoring wireless two terabyte hard-drives for the winners and Edit Microsystems for contributing big Shox Spin wireless speakers and the Mighty Pen Education magazine for sponsoring lifelong subscription to the edu magazine.
For some of the moments, see the video capture of the iWeek fun. For the Gallery of shared photos, click here.
On Monday the 4th of September the #ispasuperteachers finalists for 2017 participated in a workshop especially designed to heighten their awareness and upgrade their skills with regard to managing their fame.
This innovative workshop was sponsored by the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association (WASPA). The teacher delegates were delighted to be joined by WASPA chairman James McNab, general manager Ilonka Badenhorst as well as Kobus de Vos who joined in the fun. While we are grateful for sponsorship of the event, it meant so much more that our donors joined us to find out more about the context in the educational environment. The teachers appreciated their involvement enormously.
Maggie Verster, an ICT in education expert, led the participants to consider a number of increasingly important questions like: • Why does a teacher (I) need a digital persona? • Does it need to be public or private? • What are the best ways to establish an effective online presence? • How do I manage my presence? • How do I ensure my online safety and that of my learners? • How do I manage all the demand that being online make on my time?
The participants did a digital audit to establish if they have an online digital footprint that portrays their expertise, not only as teachers, but as ICT champions. They were required to create a more visible, effective and safe online presence using the main social media platforms in a gamified and fun environment.
By the end of the workshop, all of the finalists in the 2017 ISPA SuperTeacher Competition emerged as the digital rock stars that they are! If you would like to host this workshop at your school, call Anatolia on 084 054 6960 or email info@dei.org.za for further information.  I obtained my B Ed Honours (Natural Science) degree at UNISA, whereafter I started working at Happyday Combined School in 2006. I have been responsible for the foundation phase at Toronto Primary in Polokwane, Limpopo, since 2009. I discovered early on that the love of reading has faded away amongst our learners and that it was caused by the lack of a good reading foundation as well as a lack of phonic awareness. It really affected me as a foundation phase Educator seeing them underperfoming, unable to pronounce words or even to answer simple questions. I become demoralised as most of them sleep and seem bored during language lessons, using only readers and our chalkboards. These tools as support materials did not seem enough to achieve my classroom goals. This is when I discovered that visual and listening skills are vital building blocks for learning and decided to build my project around the use of technologies like ipads, laptops, interactive whiteboards and smartphones. In teaching reading and phonics, visuals plày an important role in stimulating my learner's attention which enables them to exploit language and reading opportunities. This devices also help my learners to confidently explore the world of sounds and video that platforms like You tube offers. I used a Parents Whatsapp group to urge them to allow their children the use of smartphones in order to gain more teach skills like a familiarity with a digital keyboard. By obtaining Certificate in Computer skills through Avuxeni college and lots of support from my mentors, Sadike and Kedibone, revious winners and finalists of the Ispa Superteachers competition, I was able to complete my project with confidence. My school's IT committee also supported me tremendously during computerlab sessions. Connect with her on:
 My name is Dimakatso Sefora, a HOD at Saron Primary School in NW Province. I started working in 1993 and furthered my studies at UJ to obtain my Bed Hons. I then took short programmes in computer skills for Windows and Office, eSkills for teachers, mobile technology in teaching and learning with Unisa and passed all with distinctions. In 2014 I entered National Teachers Awards (NTA) (ICT Category) and obtained position 2 at Area Office. I then entered again in 2015 and got position 1 at Area Office and 2 at Region. In 2016/17 I motivated educators to enter the NTA and I adjudicated at Area Office level for the ICT category. Our community (Royal Bafokeng) also uses me to train adults and educators after hours. I take learners after school to a community centre to learn how to use computers. Subject advisors invite me to teach educators about ICT Integration. About my journey It was not an easy journey but I managed, through the support I got from the ISPA community and team. My project was about Teaching with Mobile Technology with the grade 7(E-FAL).Our school is situated in a rural village of Bafokeng where we don’t have resources. I motivated educators to buy themselves laptops and tablets to help me so that we use them for teaching and learning.  The project is about ICT integration in own story narration.
Learners who were unable to narrate their stories accordingly, the teacher used cellphone to record them as an intervention strategy (Digital learner portfolios).This helped learners to track their challenges during class story telling period and they kept on re-telling as to work towards the achievement of a narrative learning outcome. And teaching with mobile technology has improved learner absenteeism and school results. Connect with her on:
  I am Peter Lekolwane, an educator at Diopong Primary School in Mankweng Circuit of Limpopo Province. I teach Natural Science and Technology in Grade 6 and 7. Even though our school is underprivileged, I strive to use technology in my teaching to make teaching and learning more enthusiastic and meaningful. Besides teaching I am the sports organiser and I coach soccer and Chess. At home I spend two hours of my evening time at gym doing aerobics and spinning. Sometimes I do road running once or twice a week. My ISPA project was about introducing computer science through coding. I started the project in December last year and I did coding with two schools, Diopong and Pulamadibogo with the help of my colleagues in IT, Phuti Ragophala and Tinny Molepo. We had limited resources in both schools, but we managed with the help of University of Limpopo 's Faculty of Science and Mathematics. The biggest challenge I encountered during my project is limited number of computers and connectivity. I also collaborated with Mountainview Secondary School, which had at least two computer labs with connectivity. I managed to do coding coupled with career guidance through skype at this school. While doing this project I came to realise that learners like working more with computers than being taught in class. I also realised that computer science should be given as early as in the foundation phase. As an educator I have achieved a lot. Through hard work in ICT, I am a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert ( MIEE) I was also selected as a finalist in the 2015 ISPA Super Teacher Competition. Follow him on....
 Marina Myburgh has been teaching Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology and STEAM for 37 years. She completed a BSc with Mathematics and Computer Science and Masters Degree in the Didactics of Mathematics at UJ when it was still called RAU.
She loves travelling, gardening, cooking and tinkering with new technology. Her first grand child is due in a week or two. She stays young by having fun! She enjoys learning and discovering something new every day and passionately tries to inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning in her students every day. She is currently employed at Crawford College Sandton teaching IT and STEAM. She has piloted a learning program for the grade 9s to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. She has empathy with many young Africans who find themselves unemployed or, more frequently, underemployed in informal jobs with low productivity and pay and wantsto help students to acquire ICT skills to succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society. Her entry for the Super Teacher Competition is a STEAM learning programme that is fun and engaging, to spark a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and encourage students to choose STEAM subjects for Grade 10, 11 and 12 and consider further studies and careers in these fields. She used the Microsoft 365 platform to create an online learning platform and piloted it at Crawford College Sandton in 2017. The students are enjoying the “hands -on” approach very much. She says it is very rewarding to see students helping each other and explaining to each other when they solve problems. Students became familiar with saving all work on OneDrive. The students learned to collaborate online by working in the same online documents. They used Microsoft Quizzes for online assessments and the students learned how to code in MakeCode for micro:bit and to work with Arduino. They also used 3D printers and a laser cutter and built self propelled cars from recycled material. The project has been very successful so far and is having a very positive impact. They invited the grade 7s for a fun day and showed them how to design for 3D printing in Sketchup. Other Crawford Schools and other schools in the Advtech group might implement the same programme in future. Connect with Marina on: Twitter: @marinamyburgh Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marinaemyburgh Google+: plus.google.com/+MMyburgh Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marina-myburgh-0a9a7972 Class site: https://sites.google.com/a/crawfordcloud.co.za/it-with-marina-myburgh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marina_myburgh/ Pinterest: https://za.pinterest.com/mm5951/ |
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