To those that help

A couple of days ago I asked for guidance from my PLN on Twitter. I simply asked

Asking for help

I received a great response and one person in particular; @primarypete_ offered his help through direct messages and then emails. He has even offered to help me with the process by going through my school’s journey towards the ICT Mark and suggesting what we could do to get there. His help is very much appreciated. And that got me thinking. Sometimes we go through our lives in Education without receiving the thanks that we deserve. So here’s to you all

Thank you all for your help

Time for change

image courtesy @david reece flickr

Just a quick note to say that I have recently been appointed ICT Coordinator at my school. I’m really excited and looking forward to the new role and what it entails. I have a lot of ideas and a lot of questions too, but, my PLN on Twitter has responded with support and offers of help so,

‘Thank you to you all.’

Apps for education

I’ve got an iPhone and I’ve decided to start using it in class.

But what if the children drop it? What if it gets scratched? What if…?

I’ve no intention of letting any of those things get in the way. So over the next few weeks of this term I’ll post about how useful I’ve found the apps on my iPhone to be with my class. I hope you might find this useful and if you have any suggestions of your own I will be very happy to read them. The link for this is on the right in the Pages section, or just click here.

I am focusing mostly on free apps for the moment until I find out which are worth purchasing.

School trips. A time to connect.

Image courtesy of Analía Manetta, @flickr

The following post contains absolutely no references to the use of technology in the classroom. So be warned, if you’re looking for possible uses of handheld devices during schooltrips you won’t find anything contained within.

Using a PSP in Maths

PSP preloaded with SUMS Handheld Maths software

Today was the second day that I used the PSP’s with my class during Maths and the effect was just as good as the first – instant feedback during work creates a better learning atmosphere.

A box of delights – well two actually

Image courtesy of recompose @ Flickr

I ventured into the ICT suite today looking for the two most important bits of hardware that I was most interested in using this year – a class set of PSP’s (lite with camera attached) and a trolley of 15 Eee PC’s. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to ‘play with them’ as they were being charged. But the hardware is there for some exciting ICT development throughout the school. I’ll of course refer to the excellent ‘Ideas to Inspire‘ guide created by Mark Warner which has a phenomenal number of ideas for using technology in the classroom. I’ll refer to this guide for netbooks and hopefully be able to add to the resource over the year with more ideas.

The PSP is a different matter altogether. It’s been preloaded with a Maths (Numeracy) and English (Literacy) package and unfortunately I couldn’t get to try it out to see what it was like. But it also has the addition of a camera. So I’ll work my way through possible uses over the next week or so and blog my findings.

‘Tech’ it or leave it

I’ve started at my new school as a teacher of a Year3/Year4 class. It’s the first time I have had the opportunity to teach a mixed year group and I’m looking forward to the changes that it will bring to my style of teaching and how I will organise the class effectively. It’s too early to make generalisations but as the years of experience gather we can make very good assumptions as to which of our students will continue to do well and which will need that experience to bring them up to speed. The same is true for the technology that I am considering to be most effective in this coming year for my class. I am basing my assumptions on what has worked effectively in the past and should continue to work well with my new class. But first let me list some of these tools before outlining the ones I intend to use.

Tried and trusted tech

• Audacity – This is a must in any classroom environment. It’s an open source (free) sound editing tool that is simple to use but is also a very powerful audio editor/mixer/creator. I have used it to capture guided reading sessions, recounts, stories, podcasts, top ten lists, anything that involves capturing and editing audio. Let your imagination run with this. I particularly like the facility to record and manipulate your voice – you can sound like a chipmunk, slow your voice to a crawl, play it backwards. I’ve also used it to capture cassette tapes played through the PC mic and then converted them to mp3 for internal classroom use. Don’t forget to download the LAME MP3 plugin or else you won’t be able to save your audio creations in MP3 format.

Popular tech

• PhotoPeach – This is a wonderfully easy and effective photo presentation tool that children will find addictive. Check out these samples from my own class.
• VoiceThread – If you have a class that wants to let their views out upon the world then don’t shy away from this clever online tool. Combining text, voice and video into one seamless interactive ‘page’ you and your class will enjoy creating and posting your thoughts and ideas.
• Wordle – Simply put, the more words you paste into the the greater visual impact it will return. Fantastic for an instant word hit.
• Animoto – If you want to raise your game in the video editing stakes but are not quite ready for a fully blown movie editing package then animoto is perhaps what you’re lloking for. Upload some video, photo and audio and it does the rest, producing a 30 second visual feast for free. There’s a cost for longer videos but many say it’s worth it.
• Edmodo – A social networking site for classroom use. It’s safe and an effective tool for communication with your class, and for your class to communicate with each other. You can set up homework, assignments, create calendars, share files, assess and respond to work, create reminders. I used it last term with great success.

New and exciting tech

There’s only one tool that I’m really looking forward to this month and that’s Google Wave. It’s been described as an online communication and collaboration tool that’s done in real time. If you haven’t watched the video then do so and sign up to get a first look.

p.s. I can’t let this tool slip by without a mention. A few days back, Tim Rylands happened to post a link about this on Twitter. It’s called ScreenJelly and it lets you record exactly what is on your screen when you press the record button AND record a voiceover AND post it directly to Twitter or email. All without downloading anything. It’s a brilliant wee tool and one which I thoroughly recommend. I’ll have to try this out with my class too.

There are many, many more tools out there. Too many to try and use effectively. If there’s one thing to learn about these new, and exciting online tools it’s how do they fit into your teaching and learning? Find the time to try them and judge for yourself.

Making music together

I love music. I love playing music too and I have been in a few bands over the years as either a drummer or singer/guitarist. I have even dabbled in writing my own songs. So earlier today, when I came across inbflat (a collaborative music/spoken word project), I was not only impressed at how simple an idea it was but inspired at the potential it could have for classroom use.

What to do

• Teach my class a pentatonic scale C D E G A C
• Give the children xylophones with only these notes so they can experiment on musical arrangements
• Video these performances for review and discussion
• Provide further instruments such as a keyboard marked with the scale for the children to explore arrangements further
• Children record these on PC and on video
• Upload separate performances onto a blog post for the grand performance

This is only an idea brewing but one which I intend to explore with my new class of Y3/4’s sometime this coming school year providing them a wonderfully creative musical experience.

Darren Solomon is the musician behind inbflat. You can find out more here.

edit

Earlier today @mrslwalker posted a link to the following video. It shows Bobby McFerrin demonstrating the power of the Pentatonic scale. Amazing stuff.

On the horizon

So I’m back in England. Melton Mowbray to be exact but this is only temporary until I sort out where I’m going to live. My new school is St. Peter’s CofE Primary school in Whetstone, Leicester. My new class is a mixed Y3/4 with 30 kids and after teaching them during a morning visit I am looking forward to the challenge of not having taught a mixed age class before. I know there are many of you who have, so any suggestions, tips and possible pitfalls will be most welcome in the comments.

Enjoy your summer holidays and roll on September.

The start of a new chapter.

Photo courtesy of orb9220

I’ve arrived back in England and apart from the rain, storms and thunder I’m very happy to be back. I have a multitude of things to get through over the next few weeks but today I visited my new school and what a joy that was.

From a purely technological perspective the school is well resourced and there are a few tools that lit up my eyes leaving my brain whirring with ideas and uses in the classroom. In the hardware section I’ll have access to PSP’s and notebooks, and in software I’ll get to use 2Simple’s collection of tools for the first time; I’ll be making quick clicks to a wonderful set of resources designed and created by @simonhaughton and @porchester very soon. Along with the school moving over to the Fronter learning platform sometime in the new term I’m buzzing with ideas and excitement and I am looking forward to starting in September.