Ominous alien moons hovering in the sky above your school. Strange creatures walking through the corridor and prehistoric monsters hiding in the playground. Who wouldn’t be inspired to write!
This idea follows on from my previous blog on inspiring children to write by using the fabulous Pixomatic app. However this will focus mainly on using the children’s immediate environment as the setting for a possible Sci-fi story.Read More »
I’ve recently come across an app called Pixomatic. It’s a really simple and intuitive app that can be used to create incredibly unique and magical images. These can then be used to inspire children’s writing.
1) To begin with select two images that you wouldn’t normally associate with one another. For this blog I’ve chosen a Read More »
Here’s a very quick and simple idea that could be used for either a maths starter activity or an opportunity to assess pupils understanding at the end of a unit of work. It essentially just involves QR codes which you could either create yourself or ultimately get your children to create for you. Read More »
In 2013 I applied to become an Apple Distinguished Educator. After a lengthy wait I received the following e-mail.
I was gutted.Read More »
When our school made the decision to go 1:1 in year 6, we had several parents who expressed concerns as to whether or not the children would become too isolated. Would they begin to prefer working by themselves and avoid collaborating with their peers? If they have their own device – why would they need to interact with each other?Read More »
I recently happened across the following TED talk by Dan Meyer, discussing the role of digital media in his maths classes. I was pretty inspired by how he uses film to motivate pupils and improve their problem solving skills.
It got me thinking about how I could use digital media with my own pupils to enthuse them about problem solving.Read More »
QR codes, or Quick Response codes.
For a long time I’ve struggled to see their relevance in a classroom. However I’m slowly becoming a convert!
Apart from the obvious ease of being able to guide pupils to websites without having to get them to correctly type in a huge long web address I’ve recently been using them quite a lot in maths. I just want to share a very quick activity that is easy to set up, but that instantly gets everyone on their feet problem solving!Read More »
There are some truly incredible advocates of technology out there at the moment. Twitter, for example, is a phenomenal resource of people who are creating the most incredible and inspiring ways of using technology to enthuse, engage and energise children and indeed adults.
However, it’s important to realise that there are still many practitioners out there who are still finding this technological path before them quite challenging and treacherous. Even more so, there are people that have invested in the iPad as a tool to use in their classrooms, without the time or indeed the support network around them to truly use them for anything beyond the basic uses of their existing class PC.Read More »
They seem polar opposites don’t they? Technology and sport.
If you draw your conclusions based upon stereotypes – people that enjoy technology don’t do much sport, and people that are incredibly sporty shy away from sitting in front of a computer.
Furthermore, those of us from the 80s vividly remember Ivan Drago – who had all the technology money could buy, and he got soundly beaten by Rocky, who had nothing but his drive, passion and ambition – and a sledge full of stones, to help him train.Read More »
MONDAY 7th APRIL 2014
I believe the phrase commonly used is -‘the curse of knowledge’.
As leaders we spend so long researching, understanding, weighing up the pro’s and con’s of an idea / initiative – that by the time we come to a point where we are ready to fully engage those around us it can be quite difficult to empathise with the fact that they are looking at something for the first time, the way we ourselves indeed did at the beginning of the journey, and they may not necessarily immediately be blown away or jumping for joy at what they’re hearing. Hence we find ourselves afflicted with ‘the curse of knowledge’. Why don’t they get it? Isn’t it obvious? THIS is the way forward! Sound familiar?Read More »
Dan Oakes 