tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55198875519715585642023-11-16T08:02:07.420+00:00Emma's Teaching and Learning JournalAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-79222257759253308872015-04-29T18:43:00.000+01:002015-04-29T18:43:40.259+01:00The dying art of writing?I would consider myself a good writer. I would even consider myself a fairly good writer in my second language. However, when I was 9 years old I remember vividly that I had a thorough hatred for writing and that I had a recurring daydream when it came to writing things in class. My daydream revolved around inventing some sort of machine that could magically take all the ideas I had in my head and write them for me without me having to actually exert myself with the enormous effort that writing often takes.<br />
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Fast forward till 2015. Now we have all manner of technology which can do all manner of things and one of those things is my 9-year-old self's dream: speech to text technology. But, it has left me wondering: would I be as good at writing today if I had chosen never to write things down but to use some sort of speech recognition software instead? Or is the skill of formulating oneself to be understood not actually dependent on the physical act of writing/typing?<br />
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Currently, these softwares are not so amazingly accurate yet we have introduced it to our classes as a support tool which all children can choose to use if they wish to. However, I have some concerns. The fact that they are so inaccurate means that children need to go back and edit the writing afterwards and I'm left wondering if this is actually even more of a demanding skill for children who most need support with writing in the first place. Are we doing children a disservice by allowing them to not 'write' in the conventional sense of the word or is it the skills of how to express oneself more important regardless of the method used?<br />
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Will the skill of physically writing/typing actually die out in our lifetime?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-83823127252511064482014-09-22T19:43:00.002+01:002015-04-29T19:03:10.335+01:00How things changeI thought it was time to resurrect this blog from the ashes. In the time I've been away an awful lot has happened. In February 2013 I decided that I couldn't cope with all the politics and stress of teaching any longer and decided to walk away from a profession that I loved. Not only that, I decided to up sticks and move to a new country and start a new life with new challenges.<br />
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I've spent the last year learning a completely new language, making new friends and generally learning how not to work quite so hard (although I studied hard instead ;-) ). I have spent many wonderful hours with my gorgeous nephew and sister and have really appreciated getting to be close by.<br />
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The hunt for a job was difficult as there are not many around except for summer jobs in restaurants for which I'm seemingly unqualified. Everyone kept convincing me to apply for teaching jobs but I had a hard time convincing myself. I'm not actually qualified yet to teach here, I have to do my language exam first to show I am fluent enough; it's booked for the end of October. However, I was lucky enough to find a job as a fritidspedagog (think teaching assistant/after school club leader and you're about there) and it was after a discussion about blogs today that I thought it might be time to set the fires burning again.<br />
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There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that education is completely different here which is both good and bad but one things for certain, the stress is nowhere near the UK and teachers work WITH instead of AGAINST each other. To be fair, I experienced a great deal of working with each other when I was at teacher related events, especially things like teach meets and camped. I just wish there had been more of that within the school building. The teachmeet concept is a relative unknown out here but I would love it to be bigger because I miss them, might have to plan one of my own!<br />
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My school has a fair amount of challenges but it has the most wonderful setting: we have a fairly extensive forest just crying out to be made the most of as well as very good ict provision (1:1 for those age 10+) and a new set of blogs which I'm in the process of building. The county council also has a county wide deployment of google apps which is great as the children can then take their accounts with them when they move schools. I'm very excited to be where I am, even though it wasn't where I ever expected to be.<br />
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As Douglas Adams once wrote: <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-12750279026759797072012-09-18T19:55:00.000+01:002012-09-18T19:55:00.124+01:00Useful edu apps - Torus Games (maths)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: start;">Before we start this is a Torus.</span>
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<span style="text-align: start;">It's a three dimensional shape with only one face (a bit like a sphere). </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">In <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/torus-games/id471295451?mt=8" target="_blank">Torus Games</a> (free) you can play all sorts of games such as noughts and crosses, pool, 5-in-a-row but with the added twist that the board is torus shaped so has no edges. Therefore you can win noughts and crosses like this:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyqB7ue2_A2nF7Z8vXjgQm9HeT20rmj_6NIgTgen7jKE-69Me2efmW9cbpzjdNQ5Mc7HgmklGkPCN8QGBsWlZ-BdfuP-d1vd9SPU0WpLMO_5RofGb1EXgiUNCX4xKFW3O45dL0TBpw5f8/s1600/2012-08-22+08.39.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyqB7ue2_A2nF7Z8vXjgQm9HeT20rmj_6NIgTgen7jKE-69Me2efmW9cbpzjdNQ5Mc7HgmklGkPCN8QGBsWlZ-BdfuP-d1vd9SPU0WpLMO_5RofGb1EXgiUNCX4xKFW3O45dL0TBpw5f8/s320/2012-08-22+08.39.34.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Weird, huh?! This is because the right side loops back round to meet the left side, even though the board looks flat. I think this would be great for children to develop their thinking about strategy and 3 dimensional space. It would be great for kids to develop it further and do some research into the Torus and perhaps have a go at drawing one in Google Sketchup or (slightly more advanced) modelling one using Geogebra.<br />
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It's also possible to change the settings and play the game on a Klein bottle:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-77217752927611029952012-09-16T19:59:00.000+01:002012-09-16T19:59:00.259+01:00Mindset: How you can fulfil your potential by Carol DweckMindset by Carol Dweck is not my usual read but I have heard a lot about it over the years so when it was available for 99p on the Kindle the other day I thought I'd give it a go.<br />
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It's a popular psychology book where the author has spent a long time studying people's thoughts and beliefs (or mindsets) on intelligence/talent. It's actually a much easier read than I anticipated (I read the entire thing in a day) and very easy to understand.<br />
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The book discusses the fact that people have one of two mindsets:<br />
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Fixed - a belief that intelligence/talent is something you are born with and no amount of learning will change things. These people have a sense of needing to prove their intelligence constantly and fear criticism and not being the best. These people will often not try something new for fear of being shown up or failing at it.<br />
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Growth - a belief that intelligence/talent is developed through effort, hard work and challenge. These people are willing to challenge themselves and try new things. They want to make themselves better but understand that mistakes will help them improve. They often tend to be more motivated to carry on with something even if it is not going well.<br />
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It also discussed that all people are a mixture of the two and that you can have a fixed mindset in one area eg belief about your maths ability, and growth mindset in other areas.<br />
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The bit of the book that influenced me most was the discussion of several studies into offering praise to people for something they've done and the outcome this has on their future choices. In the studies they gave two groups of people the same test. After the test one group they praised how smart they were eg Well done, you got 80%, you must be clever! and the other half they praised their effort eg Well done, you got 80%, you must have worked really hard. After that they offered another harder test; those praised for effort in the previous one showed much more willingness to challenge themselves to have a go at the harder one. Many praised for intelligence chose not to take the harder test. They also showed that when asked to discuss their results with others those that were praised for intelligence were much more likely to lie about their results to make themselves sound even better. I find this really interesting as a teacher as clearly this has implications about the language used to praise children. Schools, particularly primary ones, are usually very focussed on praise, but perhaps we need to be careful about how we word the praise so that it encourages a growth mindset rather than a fixed one.<br />
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The book goes on to discuss fixed and growth mindsets across sports, business and education. As a teacher you could just skip out the chapters on sports and business although I think there are interesting messages within them to think about. The final chapters plant the seeds about how you might change your own thinking to more of a growth mindset, basically by encouraging you to think about the way you approach things.<br />
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It's definitely a book I would recommend to get teachers thinking about intelligence and talent, how learning happens and what prevents learning, and especially the barriers people (including young children) put up to protect themselves.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-49384177068827391912012-09-13T19:32:00.000+01:002012-09-13T19:32:00.409+01:00What an enigma!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ryTuN87HpW0HqpOo8gy2zLth-ajsPJEooilhyAzeSWkXRTTaJdYyrD1Olym7u19oBuFVfg4H6s65OtV6GH2tiNqomyEfx1oecp4Cq28Gl7cjYiEey__moC6CnTjluicvhAnpzndEfGlP/s1600/IMAG0273.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ryTuN87HpW0HqpOo8gy2zLth-ajsPJEooilhyAzeSWkXRTTaJdYyrD1Olym7u19oBuFVfg4H6s65OtV6GH2tiNqomyEfx1oecp4Cq28Gl7cjYiEey__moC6CnTjluicvhAnpzndEfGlP/s200/IMAG0273.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Enigma Machine at Bletchley Park</td></tr>
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Enigma machines were the height of cipher technology back in World War II and were most notably used by the Germans to communicate important messages. The basics of the machine are that you input a letter, it travels through three rotors which encrypt it, it is then reflected back through those three rotors which encrypts it further and you then get an output letter. The rotor then moves on one position so if you typed a H the first time and it came out as a Z, the next time you type H it might come out as a P for example. This is what made it difficult to decode (there's some diagrams on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine" target="_blank">wikipedia</a> that may help more than my explanation!)<br />
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In order to decode the messages, you needed to know how the coded machine had been set up - which rotors had been used in which order and their start points. During the war, the settings changed every 24 hours, again to make the codes even harder to crack.<br />
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Although it all sounds quite complicated you can make a paper version of the Enigma machine very easily as someone has already done most of the work for you. You can download a <a href="http://fhcouk.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/pringlesenigma3a4.pdf" target="_blank">paper enigma machine</a> (this link will download a PDF) that fits perfectly round a pringles tube.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0pmvyEgY0r-_LO_Sii08kpt9WsUxu4kQBNoDuNMUOXzifNoD19pqXqcwWZoqGx4Mm4obVN1erXcGV_-P3MwqGCdt8l7ASLNPZwSn_THu2oLS5dX9-s-FvITHR4m_M25dAVzSsOQjJaO6/s1600/IMAG0451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0pmvyEgY0r-_LO_Sii08kpt9WsUxu4kQBNoDuNMUOXzifNoD19pqXqcwWZoqGx4Mm4obVN1erXcGV_-P3MwqGCdt8l7ASLNPZwSn_THu2oLS5dX9-s-FvITHR4m_M25dAVzSsOQjJaO6/s320/IMAG0451.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's one @TeaKayB made earlier.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">You can then encode messages to send to others and as long as they know the settings you used to write your message they can use the same ones to decode it. Simple! I think this would be a great addition to anyone studying WWII as a topic or as part of a maths challenge all about codes and ciphers. I wonder if the children could even develop their own code machine along similar lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">(If you want to see the real thing and learn about them in more detail then get yourself along to <a href="http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bletchley Park</a> in Milton Keynes. You pay £12 for an annual pass and can then visit as many times as you like - not a bad deal at all as there's way more than a day's entertainment there).</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-60569111806043145032012-09-10T19:50:00.000+01:002012-09-10T19:50:00.562+01:00Maths challenges: dice probabilities<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.freefoto.com/images/11/12/11_12_64---Dice_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.freefoto.com/images/11/12/11_12_64---Dice_web.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: left;">http://www.freefoto.com/images/11/12/11_12_64---Dice_web.jpg</span> </td></tr>
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A lesson on probability I think most primary teachers will have done in their time involves getting children to roll two dice, add up the scores and find which totals occur most often. Children can make predictions before hand, test them and then find out whether they match. This can then lead on to discussions about why they may or may not match any preconceived ideas which in turn can then lead on to talking about theoretical probability of each total and children can work them out.</div>
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Here are all the possible outcomes of rolling two dice:</div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
6<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
7<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #00B050; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
3<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
4<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
6<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
7<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
9<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #00B050; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
4<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
6<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
7<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
9<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
10<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #00B050; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
5<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
6<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
7<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
9<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
10<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
11<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #00B050; border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
6<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
7<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
8<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
9<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.0pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
10<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
11<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.05pt;" valign="top" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
12<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, the probability of rolling each total is:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
2 = 1/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
3 = 2/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
4 = 3/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
5 = 4/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
6 = 5/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
7 = 6/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
8 = 5/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
9 = 4/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
10 = 3/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
11 = 2/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
12 = 1/36</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Most would leave it here. I certainly have in the past. That was until I went to a <a href="http://tandljournal.blogspot.com/2012/08/mathsjam.html" target="_blank">MathsJam</a> and was set the challenge of coming up with other dice that had the same probabilities as a normal pair. It struck me that this would be a fantastic extension activity to the one above and would keep kids going for hours trying different things out, as it did us in the pub, trying to come up with different ways to make our dice.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
There is in fact one other way to make the dice, known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicherman_dice" target="_blank">Sicherman dice</a>, which give the same probability. They are numbered <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4 and 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">. </span>You could also develop this to see if children can make dice where the probability of getting all totals is the same, or say, the chance of totalling 6 is 4/36. There's also the possibility of exploring other types of dice eg 10-sided or only odd numbers etc. It's definitely an idea I'll be saving for a future opportunity.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-64410861724557974852012-09-04T19:49:00.000+01:002012-09-04T19:49:00.810+01:00Useful edu apps - SETMany schools nowadays are investing in iPads for education; my school doesn't have any but I have my own personal one so thought it might be sensible to blog about any apps I come across that might have some educational value.<br />
<br />
The app I'd like to share today is called <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/set-pro-hd/id381004916?mt=8" target="_blank">SET Pro HD</a> which costs £2.99. It's great for encouraging logical thinking and there are several different setups of the game - traditional 1 player puzzles, playing against the computer or playing against another person.<br />
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The basic idea is that you are presented with an array of cards (you can also get this in card form) either 3x3 or 3x4 and you have to make sets of 3 cards. Sounds easy - it's not!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsoLUzNdDCHH1iHYtaT08EEtn8d2SSXOhDtyZqObXOnKVz9RN97pjPxkcsc_1N3xTm2C-TxDYARpGbNBDpC0YBbqX2pxrs0Vn5yR8wjNmlouOOcY_pcaNxwQmHXQ1eQaDx6AKZfJ_3s5L/s1600/2012-08-22+09.42.03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVsoLUzNdDCHH1iHYtaT08EEtn8d2SSXOhDtyZqObXOnKVz9RN97pjPxkcsc_1N3xTm2C-TxDYARpGbNBDpC0YBbqX2pxrs0Vn5yR8wjNmlouOOcY_pcaNxwQmHXQ1eQaDx6AKZfJ_3s5L/s320/2012-08-22+09.42.03.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The sets have to follow certain rules which make it more complicated. To make a set it either has to have the same number of shapes on each card or have 1,2,3. But you also have to make sure that everything else matches or everything is different. The parameters that count are shape, colour, filling (the ones above are all filled but harder games include striped and unfilled too) and number of shapes.<br />
<br />
So for this game the sets are:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZApgriY4RCBAZxqroAthNxu8-I3OLda9gsMxWpKevOet5AvwNBQOaHNLlT2yB9N9R530qQ26nhq1OzyS52HeVOuCeZ4d2VzzDTCZION761WdiTXEHrdaeRNe-4ssKJ5Jm56F4FWQsUnIg/s1600/2012-08-22+09.43.51.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZApgriY4RCBAZxqroAthNxu8-I3OLda9gsMxWpKevOet5AvwNBQOaHNLlT2yB9N9R530qQ26nhq1OzyS52HeVOuCeZ4d2VzzDTCZION761WdiTXEHrdaeRNe-4ssKJ5Jm56F4FWQsUnIg/s320/2012-08-22+09.43.51.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I think this would be a great game for upper key stage two children to play in maths. Perhaps they could also take it further and develop their own, more complicated designs and rules along a similar theme.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-43601986871815437092012-09-01T12:04:00.000+01:002012-09-01T12:04:00.699+01:00Mission: Explore Food - officially out today!The fourth in the increasingly popular Mission:Explore range, Mission:Explore Food, is officially released today and is even bigger (literally) and better than what's come before.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Mission:Explore Food Cover" height="400" src="http://thegeographycollective.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/final-cover-food.jpg?w=280&h=350#038;h=350" width="321" />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I already have my copy and can say that it is awesome - 159 bonkers missions split into 6 main areas called 'Grow', 'Harvest', 'Cook', 'Eat', 'Waste' and 'Soil' along with the regular 'Basic Training' sections like the other books and tips on being a good guerilla geographer. What makes this more than the other books is that it also contains recipe missions. It really challenges kids (and adults) to think in different ways about food in a fun and playful way. I think this version goes even further to make the experience interactive: pretty much every mission has space for you to add your own drawings/notes/maps/lists etc. In fact, the book starts by telling you it's not finished and that it's your job to create your own unique copy.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So, to create your own unique copy you will need to do one of these things: </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>If you want to download a free taster of each chapter they are available on the TES <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/mypublicprofile.aspx?uc=469731&parametrics=EVT-1002" target="_blank">here</a>. </li>
<li>You can get it free on the Kindle app today only <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mission-Explore-Food-ebook/dp/B008F9WD7G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346140738&sr=1-1" target="_blank">here</a> *</li>
<li>Or available in hard copy from Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mission-Explore-The-Geography-Collective/dp/1904872441/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346269766&sr=8-2" target="_blank">here</a> as of today.*</li>
<li>Or from Graphicly <a href="http://graphicly.com/mission-explore/mission-explore-food/4" target="_blank">here</a> for the equivalent of $10*</li>
<li>Or as an iBook <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/mission-explore-food/id540428358?mt=11" target="_blank">here</a> for £6.49*</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
*Prices subject to change</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-87861617575344916252012-08-27T19:37:00.000+01:002012-08-27T19:37:01.427+01:00Maths challenges: Interesting sequence puzzles1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211...<br />
<br />
and so on. This is a sequence we were shown at MathsJam and had fun trying to work out what on earth was going on. It led to some excellent mathematical discussion trying to work it out. We noticed some entirely irrelevant things like the first five numbers in the sequence the digits add up and follow a Fibonacci sequence but it then falls down at the sixth.<br />
<br />
I thought this would be a great little brain-teaser, either as a starter or extension for higher ability upper key stage two children to get stuck in to. I can see great potential for lots of mathematical talk as they try to work out what is happening.<br />
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Want a clue?<br />
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Say the digits.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-23500770770913874102012-08-23T19:57:00.000+01:002012-08-23T19:57:00.342+01:00Oops! Helping children learn accidentally - my thoughtsThe Oops! book is an inspiring read with a focus on taking a creative, thematic approach to engaging (or luring and tricking as described in the book) children in learning and provides lots of excellent ideas that can be easily taken away and implemented in the classroom. I found myself reading it and having lots of 'Ah!' moments, easily coming up with ways to add them into my planning.<br />
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It is written by <a href="https://twitter.com/HYWEL_ROBERTS" target="_blank">Hywel Roberts</a>, an Advanced Skills Teacher of Drama, and as such, has lots of ways of incorporating drama techniques across all curriculum areas, even subjects like maths. But it's not all about drama, more about finding interesting and engaging hooks into learning that the children will find meaningful. Many examples are given of how the author has used the ideas in a context relevant to the children's lives to teach many different subjects and the book is written in a quirky, informal style. I particularly love the use of slightly eccentric lists, slightly eccentric opposite lists and humour to help explain thoughts and ideas.<br />
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The author is also a big fan of Mantle of the Expert (something I would love to try more of) where the children are given some sort of task and they assume a role and develop their curriculum from there (this can last from a week to a term depending on how far you/the children want to go with it and what you want them to get out of it). This is something I've tried in little short bursts but would love to develop more of a knowledge and understanding of. There is a website <a href="http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/">http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/</a> with lots more information that I really need to take the time to look around properly.<br />
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Allowing the children to guide and develop the learning is also a major theme of the book although this is one I struggle to get my head round more, especially when working in a large primary school where all classes need to follow the same curriculum. I don't know how you could ensure that all children would get the same entitlement and experiences this way. This is maybe easier in a small primary or with individual secondary classes.<br />
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Anyway, I'd definitely recommend this book, even if it's just to remind you about techniques you might not have used for a while or have heard of before but forgotten. It's definitely one that can be dipped into time and time again for ideas. And if you're quick, it's only £1.79 on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oops-ebook/dp/B008CPIXA4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345570654&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a> (Aug 2012) or rather a lot more if you want the real version.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-50604549504516994102012-08-22T19:21:00.000+01:002012-08-22T19:21:01.001+01:00MathsJamLast night I went to my first ever <a href="http://mathsjam.com/" target="_blank">MathsJam</a> in Northampton and had an excellent time. I heard about MathsJam just over a month ago when <a href="https://twitter.com/teakayb" target="_blank">@TeaKayB</a> announced that he was going along to one but to be honest I was a bit scared that it would be a bit beyond me: they'd all done university degrees in it and I've done up to A level but that was 10 years ago. But when he came back and said I'd be ok I decided that I'd go along to the next one with him.<br />
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The premise of MathsJam is similar, although slightly more informal, to a teachmeet, of which I am a well-known lover. The events take place in pubs up and down the country on the second to last Tuesday every month with the idea being that you can bring along a puzzle or game or anything maths related if you want to (you don't have to bring anything) and sit and play/chat/drink etc. The great thing about them all happening simultaneously up and down the country is that different MathsJams can set challenges for everyone via their twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/MathsJam" target="_blank">@MathJam </a>and it makes it easier for different groups to collaborate/send messages/challenge, or whatever you want to be achieved, with the help of mobile technology.<br />
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Last night there were six of us, well up on the three from last time (the first one in Northampton so doing well number wise!) and we played with various things: Pass the Pigs (plastic pig shapes with the ability to land 6 different ways like dice); Sicherman dice; a couple of iPad games - SET and Torus Games; how to make an Enigma machine out of a pringles tube; 3-player chess boards; the game 24; and those annoying metal puzzles that you have to try and get apart and back together again. There was no order or agenda to things; the puzzles and games were just shared and you dipped in and out of what you wanted and when.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgId6wTxohyphenhyphenzHbzeIod16oH89g_NN8xhSZ23gx61wkmUfjJTE1ViLFWjTMVlyfHYZnYa4jKAK__PKaIdEWxvdr6b7I8ANcEmL1BSq3IbjK8FoOr_7DoKHsjll1NYNXnvb-juPGdQnm7mvEB/s1600/mathsjam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgId6wTxohyphenhyphenzHbzeIod16oH89g_NN8xhSZ23gx61wkmUfjJTE1ViLFWjTMVlyfHYZnYa4jKAK__PKaIdEWxvdr6b7I8ANcEmL1BSq3IbjK8FoOr_7DoKHsjll1NYNXnvb-juPGdQnm7mvEB/s400/mathsjam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Our messy maths. Picture courtesy of <a href="https://twitter.com/rathematician" target="_blank">@rathematician</a></span></div>
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I'd definitely recommend going along to one if there's one near you; they're really not as scary as they sound. There's a map to find out current MathsJams that take place or you can request to set up your own if there's not one nearby:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=214012769649505046179.0004b5d8a1a1ec562c2f2&msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=53.304621,-2.384033&spn=5.561865,16.907959&t=m&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=214012769649505046179.0004b5d8a1a1ec562c2f2&msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=53.304621,-2.384033&spn=5.561865,16.907959&t=m&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">MathsJams current and potential</a> in a larger map</small><br />
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<small>Website: </small><a href="http://mathsjam.com/">http://mathsjam.com/</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Twitter: </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MathsJam">https://twitter.com/MathsJam</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-25343158353784757492012-08-17T18:20:00.000+01:002012-08-17T18:20:00.801+01:00The Roald Dahl museum and Story Centre, Great Missenden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKK5MWIcweXBdevrYmq2Vm6UZXl2EL1DEyz4vXISsz6hieMaVp4CwKQCFIEpF0Ngt-5rC53Y4phhFx01IuvksSg2abJulgDVBG35Pib2crfNSKUKoYpo8EfAKHce27MZEbxIVh84ByD4Pp/s1600/roald+dahl+museum" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKK5MWIcweXBdevrYmq2Vm6UZXl2EL1DEyz4vXISsz6hieMaVp4CwKQCFIEpF0Ngt-5rC53Y4phhFx01IuvksSg2abJulgDVBG35Pib2crfNSKUKoYpo8EfAKHce27MZEbxIVh84ByD4Pp/s640/roald+dahl+museum" width="640" /></a></div>
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Roald Dahl has always been a favourite for adults and children alike, his stories popular for their wild imagination and slightly off the wall-ness, and still regularly seen being read even after so many years. I've wanted to visit the Roald Dahl museum for a long time so jumped at the chance when <a href="https://twitter.com/teakayb" target="_blank">@TeakayB</a> suggested we visit on our way down to Reading to dog-sit while his mum was on holiday.<br />
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The museum is small but perfectly formed and can be found in the quaint little town of Great Missenden. It is split into three sections: Boy (about his childhood), Going Solo (about growing up and joining the RAF) and then a story centre which I wish was my classroom: there was a craft area, animation area, reading area, ideas table, an Automatic Grammatizer, Refrigerator Rhymes, story sacks, dressing up area and probably much much more besides.<br />
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The whole thing impressed me with how interactive it was (it's well designed for children) but it also captures the imagination of adults (big kids) too. We listened to a talk given by a member of staff all about Roald Dahl's writing hut and the process he went through every day to get into the right frame of mind for writing. The museum regularly have events such as talks and famous visitors (just check the <a href="http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/" target="_blank">website</a> for upcoming events).<br />
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If we'd have had more time, there's also a couple of walks around the town tracing back important buildings and places in Roald Dahl's life.<br />
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In terms of school trips I imagine it would be good for just one class, but as it is so small it can only accommodate up to 35 children at a time so not great for larger schools. They do have some resources available on their website though and I'm definitely tempted to adapt some of the ideas from the Story Centre into my own classroom. And most of all, it's inspired me to want to read more of his books, which is always a good thing; just waiting for them to come down in price on the kindle now!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-40798186307541207572012-08-15T20:32:00.003+01:002012-08-15T20:32:49.852+01:00Mozilla Webmaker #3mhothouse<br />
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Mozilla are most well known as the makers of the FireFox internet browser but at #3mhothouse we were introduced to three very cool little tools which they are currently developing. The tools - Thimble, X-ray goggles and Popcorn - work in any web browser - great! - and can be found <a data-mce-href="https://webmaker.org/en-US/" href="https://webmaker.org/en-US/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Thimble is a web-based website maker which allows you to code and create your own pages.</div>
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X-ray Goggles allows you to create website mash-ups by playing with the codes of websites to create your own, personalised/unique versions.</div>
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Finally, Popcorn allows you to create videos in your browser using stuff on the web. It's still in beta version at the moment but looks pretty cool so far.</div>
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The website gives a much better explanation than I do and also has lots of projects and idea to get started using these tools straight away. Go check them out!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-53722547431862990112012-08-15T20:32:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:32:13.173+01:00Programming beyond Scratch #3mhothouse<br />
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Scratch is great for giving kids the basics for programming; the blocks are presented in colour coded sections which just snap together and it's fairly easy to get something to happen. However, the ease of use can also be its limitation - there is no element of experimentation, no way to input your own instructions. So where next? </div>
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Programming was a strong feature of the #3mhothouse as it has been a hot topic of discussion over recent months with the removal of the Programme of Study and lots in the news about Computer Science and its role within ICT.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://www.python.org/" href="http://www.python.org/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Python</a> is a great free programming tool and much more powerful than Scratch. It is used by companies such as Google, Yahoo and NASA so it has real world applications and uses. You can also use it to programme a RaspberryPi. However, it's slightly more complicated than Scratch and takes some time to learn - in the time it took us to code a calculator on scratch I managed about 3 lines of code on Python!</div>
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You need to think logically through each step of the programmes you are trying to write before jumping straight in (hard for many people - me included!). It's also important to know about syntax; a stray character, space or even a capital letter where there shouldn't be one can lead to your entire code not working. This can lead to lots of frustration and confusion. </div>
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So, is there anything in between?</div>
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Two programmes that I was introduced to at the #3mhothouse which look to provide those intermediary steps are <a data-mce-href="http://www.robomind.net/en/index.html" href="http://www.robomind.net/en/index.html" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Robomind</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://www.greenfoot.org/door" href="http://www.greenfoot.org/door" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Greenfoot</a>. Both are free to download (always a bonus) and provide some ready made building blocks but also the element of adding your own code so you have the support but also some freedom and chance for experimentation. I can see these as being great tools for upper KS2 into KS3 and great ways to get kids and keep kids interested in coding.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-40682427130749946832012-08-15T20:31:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:31:30.163+01:00#3mhothouse Speedshare<br />
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wordle-scaled1000.png" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wordle-scaled1000.png" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Wordle" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wordle-scaled1000.png?w=300" height="300" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/wordle-scaled1000.png?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
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The SpeedShare at the #3mhothouse was a chance for anyone who wanted to to share something they've used successfully in their schools. As you can see from the wordle above the range of things people are doing is massive and it was fantastic to hear about so many different projects and success stories. There are several things above that I would love to try out, and it's always good to be reminded of fab sites that you haven't used in a while (I really should use freerice.com more often). I will definitely be thinking of ways to incorporate these things into the curriculum next year. I'm not going to add links, I'm sure you can search for anything that catches your eye :)</div>
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Also, check out the <a data-mce-href="http://linoit.com/users/sheliblackburn/canvases/3mhothouse" href="http://linoit.com/users/sheliblackburn/canvases/3mhothouse" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Linoit</a> that Sheli set up with lots of thoughts and links about the event from people that were there.</div>
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(hungry and fish are supposed to be together and so is motion and math - both apps that can be used on the iPad)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-5048214938815144312012-08-15T20:30:00.003+01:002012-08-15T20:30:52.615+01:00Programming with Scratch #3mhothouse<br />
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Scratch is one of those really cool tools that can be downloaded for free <a data-mce-href="http://scratch.mit.edu/" href="http://scratch.mit.edu/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a> and many schools already use it to teach elements of control and programming. I've used it with both Year 4 and Year 5 children to program simple games, mainly based on the resources based on the <a data-mce-href="http://info.scratch.mit.edu/support/scratch_cards" href="http://info.scratch.mit.edu/support/scratch_cards" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">scratch cards</a> on the main website.</div>
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Although I already know a little bit about scratch I still signed up for the scratch workshop at the Naace #3mhothouse as it's always good to find out more.</div>
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The workshop was given my <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/markdorling" href="http://twitter.com/markdorling" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Mark Dorling</a> who is a secondary school teacher and also runs the <a data-mce-href="http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/" href="http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Digital Schoolhouse</a> where you can find lots of free resources (also type digital schoolhouse into youtube to find lots of scratch videos).</div>
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He started off the session by getting us to think logically - what list of instructions would you write to perform the Moonwalk dance (he did a demo!) or to work a set of traffic lights? This is the basis for programming - breaking the problem down into its parts.</div>
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Mark then talked us through how to create a simple calculator using scratch (we only got as far as the addition part but I'm sure it would be fairly straightforward to extend). I took photos incase you want to have a go yourself.</div>
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First, create a button (sprite - can be any design you like but it resets the calculator to 0):</div>
<div class="p_embed p_image_embed" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch1-scaled1000.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch1-scaled1000.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Scratch1" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch1-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" height="395" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch1-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
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Then program your button with the following:</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch2-scaled1000.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch2-scaled1000.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Scratch2" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch2-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" height="354" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch2-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
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Program the stage with the following:</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch3-scaled1000.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch3-scaled1000.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Scratch3" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch3-scaled1000.jpg?w=206" height="725" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch3-scaled1000.jpg?w=206" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
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And finally add another character (sprite) and program with the following:</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch4-scaled1000.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch4-scaled1000.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Scratch4" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch4-scaled1000.jpg?w=290" height="517" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/scratch4-scaled1000.jpg?w=290" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
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This makes your little dude tell you whether you are correct or not.</div>
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And that's all there is to it!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-21300260352447431492012-08-15T20:30:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:30:15.285+01:00Appshed #3mhothouse<br />
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<a data-mce-href="http://appshed.com/" href="http://appshed.com/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://appshed.com</a></div>
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Wow, this must be the internet's best kept secret. I'm blogging about this first as this is my main take away from the #naace #3mhothouse. Through appshed you can create a simple app for free! And what's more, it's not complicated. The site claims that you can build an app within an hour and you really can, no need for knowledge of code.</div>
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There's a whole host of things you can add to your app - photos, videos, rss feeds, maps etc. The thing that really impressed me is that you can link it to google docs so you can do things like set up polls and receive the data on a google spreadsheet.</div>
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The app can be run on any smart phone or computer; the only thing you don't get is your app listed on iTunes/Google Play/generic app market. If you want that you have to pay £350. But it's really easy to put the link to your app on your school website/blog so they can be downloaded that way.</div>
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I can see so many possibilities with this - a whole school app containing rss feeds to school blogs, apps set up to guide activities on trips for schools with mobile devices, children creating learning apps. I will definitely be playing and using this with children. There are also help videos and sheets coming soon to make the experience even easier to use.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/skitch-scaled1000.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/skitch-scaled1000.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Skitch" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/skitch-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/skitch-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-45447798821557707292012-08-15T20:29:00.002+01:002012-08-15T20:29:42.733+01:00NAACE #3mhothouse<br />
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The 3rd Millennium Hothouse was a fantastic 2-day event run by NAACE which I was very lucky to attend. The main focus of the event was on moving ICT learning forwards into the third millennium through sharing good practice, and the development of a new curriculum which is particularly pertinent as the Programme of Study for ICT is soon to be removed and free rein handed over to schools. NAACE have developed a new ICT framework which featured heavily in discussion and of course, they also do the ICT mark which schools can apply for so are well placed to bring together ideas and push this forwards.</div>
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I'm going to blog about some of the things that had the most impact on me in separate blog posts, but as always, one of the best things about this event was the networking and discussions that took place aside from the workshops and masterclasses. I probably didn't talk to ask many people as I should have (I am such a wuss when it comes to socialising!) but it was fantastic to meet and learn from so many great people, both on and off twitter. If you want to know some of the great people to follow check out the <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/%233mhothouse?q=%233mhothouse" href="https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/%233mhothouse?q=%233mhothouse" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">#3mhothouse</a> hashtag.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-87680210416033387652012-08-15T20:28:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:28:26.367+01:00Exploring for Dragons<br />
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This week we have been off timetable as half our children have been away on residential. For the children that were left we decided to do a Mission: Explore style lesson linked to our current theme of dragons. We were extremely lucky with the weather and decided to extend the session because of it.</div>
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The children were given five activities:</div>
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<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;" style="color: inherit; font-size: x-small; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px;">Survey the area for the best place for a dragon to live. List the reasons why you have chosen this place and make a sketch of it here:</span></li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="line-height: 115%;" style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 17px;">Make a dragon from found things. Explore the school looking for dragon-like things. Find old sticks that look like claws, leaves that could be scales and stones that could be eyes. Take a photograph or even animate your dragon and tell a story.</span></li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;" style="color: inherit; font-size: x-small; font-style: inherit; line-height: 14px;">Find evidence that dragons have been living on the school site. Film a news report about it.</span></li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="line-height: 115%;" style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 17px;">Sound like a dragon. How many sounds can you make that sound like a dragon? Think about how it sounds when it’s walking, flying, breathing, snorting, roaring. Record the sounds you find.</span></li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="line-height: 115%;" style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 17px;">Imagine you are a dragon flying over the school. Draw a dragon’s eye view of what can be seen.</span></li>
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There were also a couple of (toy) dragons hidden around the school site which they needed to find. It was great to see the children walking around and discussing the reasons why a dragon might live in a certain spot and comaparing the different areas/habitats around our school site or trying to work out what the buildings look like from above to draw a map. All the children worked brilliantly and showed some great team work. They produced some fabulous art-attack style dragons out of natural materials which are below:</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2804-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2804-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2804" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2804-scaled10001.jpg?w=225" height="667" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2804-scaled10001.jpg?w=225" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2807-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2807-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2807" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2807-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2807-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2810-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2810-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2810" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2810-scaled10001.jpg?w=225" height="667" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2810-scaled10001.jpg?w=225" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2812-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2812-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2812" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2812-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2812-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2815-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2815-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2815" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2815-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2815-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2817-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2817-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2817" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2817-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2817-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2819-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2819-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="100_2819" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2819-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/100_2819-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/102_1420-scaled10001.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/102_1420-scaled10001.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="102_1420" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/102_1420-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" height="375" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/102_1420-scaled10001.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-61274930393669633522012-08-15T20:27:00.003+01:002012-08-15T20:27:44.901+01:00TMNottingham 18/05/2012<br />
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Last night I made the trek all the way to Nottingham for a teachmeet at the LSRI. Although small, it was well worth it and I came away with lots of new ideas. Here are my notes from the evening:</div>
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First up was Wendy Hill (<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/natfantastic" href="http://twitter.com/natfantastic" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@natfantatic</a>) talking about 12 things to do with a stick:</div>
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<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Use stick pencils</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Bamboo stick pencils to draw in sand/mud</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Make an ice mobile hanging from a stick</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Make letters</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Can you hide in it?</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Make a stick fairy using natural materials</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Make a stick tower</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Make a tree</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">What does the tree look like that this tree came from? Draw on playground</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Make a magic wand</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Read a book - Stanley's stick, not a stick, (not a box)</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Use your imagination - basically, there are hundreds of things you can do, these are just a few to start with.</li>
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Marc faulder (<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/marc_faulder" href="http://twitter.com/marc_faulder" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@marc_faulder</a>) talked about iPads in EYFS</div>
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Puppet pals - Children working collaboratively several at a time. Inserting pictures from a story and retelling. Encouraged the children to use positional language as the characters all appeared the same size at first.</div>
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Morfo booth - again, putting story characters in and animating them to say something.</div>
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Put stories together in iMovie or creative book builder.</div>
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Was really good for children's speech development.</div>
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Maria kontogianni (<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/DrMKontogianni" href="http://twitter.com/DrMKontogianni" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@DrMKontogianni</a>) talked about using twitter with her psychology students at university.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://Mariakontogianni.wordpress.com" href="http://mariakontogianni.wordpress.com/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Mariakontogianni.wordpress.com</a></div>
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She had found that not many people express their opinion readily in class. Wanted to give silent observers in lectures a voice. Use twitter. Would send out debate questions. Got more response. Wanted students to debate in a succinct way.</div>
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Set up specific rules for tweets eg no swearing. Used a specific hashtag</div>
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#whostolethelecturer developed when she was locked out of twitter during one session. This developed into one student's cat having a twitter account and being held accountable - some fun was had too.</div>
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Developed group belonging ness and higher participation.</div>
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Students felt more likely to interact on twitter. All felt more comfortable sharing their opinion and said they liked to have thinking time that twitter allowed. Also they like the fact they could participate anywhere. Some students even archived the tweets and referred back to them when writing essays.</div>
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Next step is to continue using as worked so well. Pressure to teach in bigger groups so wants students using their phones in lectures. Develop a back channel (like already happens at teachmeets).</div>
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Bill Lord (<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/joga5" href="http://twitter.com/joga5" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@joga5</a>) talked about gamification of writing.</div>
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Gave the children a paragraph as a starting point. Smashed bottle in a box. Chn working in 4 groups. Mixed 5/6 class.</div>
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Chn came up with lots of questions but still couldn't necessarily see the point of what they were doing yet.</div>
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The children developed a team planning approach to their writing. Then:</div>
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Gave chn a set of cards, face down. Allowed 3 cards of different colours. Had lots of random non-fiction elements which children had to drop into their narratives somehow.</div>
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After that the children were given a sheet with 5 squares on it and told to cross one off already. They were then told they would be writing their pieces for 3 weeks and that the teacher would only teach for 4 sessions for the next ten sessions. Every time a child got a bit of one to one support they had to tick off one of the squares. There was a bit of panic about this to start with, especially from lower ability children.</div>
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Then introduced the chance card for chn to self assess their writing. If able to prove they had changed/improved they get another chance at help. Really fired up children. Children were making a real effort to self assess and improve.</div>
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Produced piece of narrative based on non fiction. Added lots of types of writing into it eg letters, books. This was done in the run up to SATs.</div>
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Even done in year 2- developed a setting then chose two Roald Dahl characters and made them interact in that setting.</div>
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Julian Wood (<a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/#!/ideas_factory" href="https://twitter.com/#!/ideas_factory" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@ideas_factory</a>) - Not having to be an expert to use these tools in the classroom - a presentation about lots of different tools you could use:</div>
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<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Class tools.net countdown timer can select your own soundtrack</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Postermywall.com</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Block posters.com to blow up posters</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Panorama photos- can video yourself playing it on the screen</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Custom handwriting tracer pages</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Random pupil pickers - the hat etc</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Futureme.org</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Learnitin5</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Undertenminutes</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Stitch it</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Duck sauce/gobarbra.com</li>
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All links at <a data-mce-href="http://J.mp/Easitech" href="http://j.mp/Easitech" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">J.mp/Easitech</a></div>
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Wendy Hill - Developing role play in the EYFS</div>
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Child based learning. Children dictate where's the learning goes. What is the learning in your play? All chn trained in purposeful play and able to say what they are learning from their play</div>
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What's the purpose?</div>
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Children have planned an earthquake and volcano monitoring station. Wendy told us the development of how the children planned and decided this and where they will take it next.</div>
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Julian Wood - Graffiti web2 stylee</div>
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<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Zee wall</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Draw here</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">The graffiti creator</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Graffiti widget</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Graffiti play dough</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Graffiti generator</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Graffiti text generator</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Graffiti alphabet</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Graffwriter</li>
<li style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Learn graffiti</li>
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All links at <a data-mce-href="http://J.mp/Graffitiweb2" href="http://j.mp/Graffitiweb2" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">J.mp/Graffitiweb2</a></div>
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Pete Bevington (<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/petebevington" href="http://twitter.com/petebevington" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@petebevington</a>) - class blogs</div>
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Let chn take the lead.</div>
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#classblogs hashtag to promote use</div>
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Quad blogging</div>
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The blogging Olympics- challenges for bronze silver and gold getting family to comment</div>
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Teaching purposeful comments</div>
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Can now leave audio comments on blogs</div>
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Emma Barstow (<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/iamemmab" href="http://twitter.com/iamemmab" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@iamemmab</a>) Poetry.</div>
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Teaches her year 4 class poetry every week. On Friday releases a poem of the week. Orally say it, chn spend time rehearsing it (up to half an hour) take a version home to learn, chn share poem from memory on Monday or Tuesday. Developed vocab and speaking and listening. Based on premise that children need to say a word a certain amount of times in order to commit it to memory and be able to use themselves in writing.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-75963948880473125072012-08-15T20:27:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:27:03.492+01:00Kindles in the Classroom<br />
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I have been using Kindles in the classroom for the past 4 weeks. Why? Because my new school had some that they hadn't yet managed to encourage anyone to use. Me? I'm always up for a challenge so decided I would find something we could do with them.</div>
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The first thing I decided to do was google what had already been done and found some great stuff on the <a data-mce-href="http://bradfordschools.net/blog/lac/" href="http://bradfordschools.net/blog/lac/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Bradford Schools Local Authority blog</a> by <a data-mce-href="http://www.twitter.com/lordlangley73" href="http://www.twitter.com/lordlangley73" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">James Langley </a> and also on <a data-mce-href="http://www.sallythorne.com/" href="http://www.sallythorne.com/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">High Dive Teaching</a> by <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/#!/MrsThorne" href="http://twitter.com/#!/MrsThorne" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Sally Thorne</a></div>
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I set up a reading questionnaire based on James' (with his permission) and surveyed the children in my class about their reading habits. From this, it highlighted that most of them do enjoy reading as long as it's something they're interested in. Some of them said they thought they would read more if they used technology (they didn't know about the kindles at this point).</div>
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Since then I've been using the kindles with two groups during my guided reading sessions. After the initial lesson where the children had to work out how to use them (most of them understand them now; just one or two that keep pressing buttons when they shouldn't) they have been very successful. The children automatically go for the dictionary if there's a word they don't understand (one minor problem is the dictionary can be a bit wordy for lower ability children to understand) and my higher group have been collecting words by highlighting and saving into the clippings so they can use the kindles when they are writing too.</div>
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In the case of guided reading, the Kindles don't really provide a new way of teaching; just a different format to read in. There are some plus points to the kindles though; we have been able to access a huge selection of free classic books which the school doesn't own - my higher ability group are currently enjoying Heidi. Also, it can reduce costs spent on books (after the initial outlay for the kindles) as most ebooks can be shared on 6 devices according to Amazon's T&C's whilst only paying for one copy. That's just perfect for a group in guided reading! The lower ability like the function of changing the text size so they can read at a size they are comfortable and the anti-glare screen is brilliant in a classroom where you have to have the lights on most of the time.</div>
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Aside from using the kindles in guided reading, I decided I wanted to do a bit more with them. Hence, I started a project with my media group to write our own kindle ebooks. Having looked up the process of writing ebooks (and complicated it does seem!) we settled on developing a PDF book as these are very simple to create and allowed me to spread my love of Google Docs just a little bit more :-)</div>
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Over the past few weeks the children have surveyed, planned, written and illustrated books using Google Docs and Drawings. The reason I chose this format was that a) we have Google Apps for Edu set up for every child; b) it allows the children to collaborate easily and c) it is easy to download your document as a PDF and save it to the kindle. So that's what we've been doing.</div>
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The children have worked fantastically on their books as I have sat with eight or nine tabs open simultaneously commenting on children's work; marking it live as they are writing so they can live edit. They've sat with the comments window open sharing ideas and asking each other questions. They have experimented with text size and font by making test files. And we now have nearly finished real books that we can put on the kindles and share but also that I can put on our school blog for them to download and read at home which the children are very excited about.</div>
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Here is my presentation for Teachmeet Nottingham, 18th May:</div>
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[googleapps domain="docs" dir="presentation/embed" query="id=1ZZc7Q2eTcw1acsBsa3KKKr8HsDLBM4MqSmLRz12Ijwc&start=false&loop=false&delayms=5000" width="480" height="389" /]</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-30088934996653065582012-08-15T20:26:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:26:26.050+01:00Mirandamod - On Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces<br />
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">This was an event that happened at Bedford University last week (Thurs, 3rd May) but I have only just got round to blogging about it.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">The event was based on the following quote:</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">“One of the greatest changes can be seen in the lives of children and young people, who are at ease with the world of technology and who communicate, socialise and participate online effortlessly….. Yet the classrooms of today don’t reflect these changes.” Michael Gove 2011</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">and looked to discuss the ideas around how learning currently takes place and possible ways forward.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">The evening was arranged into a series of short talks over the space of two hours, followed by a discussion with a mindmeister map running alongside electronically and although the evening was advertised as an unconference it felt a little too formal (plus a few presenters were trying to subtly sell their products). Nevertheless, some interesting points were raised so I thought I would share some thoughts.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">The evening kicked off with Chris Yapp discussing the use of tech in time and place to add pedagogical value. It is now possible to learn 24 hours a day using technology but how do we harness the potential of the tech and physical spaces to their maximum?</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Can now learn synchronously or synchronously:</span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">same time - different places, </span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">same place - different time, </span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">different place - different time, </span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">same time - same place.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">The NotSchool </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.notschool.net/" href="http://www.notschool.net/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #1155cc; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.notschool.net/</span></a><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"> use an interesting model where the chn choose their own curriculum and time for attending. Resources are available to access any time.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the educational purposes?</span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Shared experience, access to scarce or remote resources, cultural understanding, visit preparation, community links, family learning, learner support, flexible learning etc.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">An example: Science museum in California show an experiment live every day. This actually led to an increase in visitors to the museum as children had watched at school and been inspired to want to visit.</span></strong></div>
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<br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Think - what are the learning purposes and resources you need and then mix virtual and real.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">The challenge is now getting this balance right within schools.</span></strong></div>
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<br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Next up Marilyn Leask share why she thought academics should join online communities by starting off with the question: </span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">How much could we know? She wanted to bring together knowledge about education and discussed how medics had set up something called the Cochran collaboration where medics from 80 countries work together online to assess medial cases.</span></strong></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Clearly, she doesn’t know much about the fabulous education network on twitter. She shared </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.educationcommunities.org/" href="http://www.educationcommunities.org/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #1155cc; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">www.educationcommunities.org</span></a><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"> as a way to collaborate and share with other teachers from around the world.</span></strong></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Someone (I didn’t catch his name) then got up to talk about sound in the classroom. He suggested that multitasking was not a great way to learn something and that we must ensure speaking and listening takes a much bigger chunk of learning - dialogic teaching - children need to talk to get their thoughts in order before they can write logically and they need to hear intelligible talk.</span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">He then went on to talk about noise in the classroom and how classrooms are well lit (he needs to visit the classrooms I’ve been in!) but that listening was not addressed in the same way. Apparently sound does not project well beyond 2 metres and therefore it takes more energy to listen. He then promoted some sort of speaker system. I think he was trying to sell it.</span></strong></div>
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">The selling thing seemed to pop up in a couple of other talks as well; notably - buy our coding software; we’ve been told it’s better than scratch and Kodu. And buy our mobile learning environment.This totally turned me off these presentations and was a bit disappointing.</span></strong></div>
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">There were several other talks but I did not note them down in detail. The main gist of the evening seemed to be moving the emphasis onto the learner and the shift towards independent learning with the teacher becoming more of a facilitator,monitoring students, ensuring engagement, developing community building, ensuring constructive criticism, not just put downs.</span></strong></div>
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">It was emphasised that a facilitator makes children do most of the work, not the teacher. I would love to know how to really do this as I don’t really feel I’ve reached this point.</span></strong></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">A bit was said about games and how they engage and that children develop key skills and thinking skills in games making. Communicating, audience and purpose are important.</span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Play is learning. I have already had great success with this using MarioKart and African Safari on the Wii in class; I would love to develop the use of games even more because I have to agree; they do inspire some of the most reluctant children to join in.</span></strong></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Another talk was about the flat classroom project. (This does not mean having an open-plan classroom.) This is about metaphorically knocking down classroom walls and allowing young people to collaborate on projects across the world through the use of technology. I think this is an interesting concept and being done on the small scale by many schools already but perhaps this project wants us to think bigger and I think many schools would struggle having the technology to support that. Think quest - more structured, but similar.</span><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/" href="http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Flatclassroomproject.org</a></span></strong></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">Lyon Cych talked about the use of social media in schools, something that is often shied away from, especially at primary level for many reasons. He introduced us to socialmediainschools.org.uk and we watched part of a very interesting video by Danah Boyd called Culture of Fear; it is worth checking out. On the same note, Matt Pearson also did a very entertaining talk on the use of twitter. Although there was a twitter stream on the wall I’m not sure many people in the room were using it or even aware of it’s potential.</span></strong></div>
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<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em;">
<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">It was an interesting night but I was too tired for the discussion at the end; I’m sure lots of useful things came from it.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: inherit; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a full livestream recording of the event here: </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/mirandamods/2011-2012/the-future-of-learning-series-3/" href="http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/mirandamods/2011-2012/the-future-of-learning-series-3/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><span data-mce-style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #1155cc; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/mirandamods/2011-2012/the-future-of-learning-series-3/</span></a></strong></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-24046839942645351922012-08-15T20:25:00.002+01:002012-08-15T20:25:41.320+01:00#camped12<br />
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On Friday night, I left work early so that myself and <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/teakayb" href="http://twitter.com/teakayb" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@teakayb</a> could begin the 3 and a half hour trip to #CampEd12 oop north in Oxenhope, near Halifax. I have a tendency for signing myself up for random educational events all over the place (last year I flew to Ireland for LOB11) but this time was a bit different as I'd managed to convince <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/teakayb" href="http://twitter.com/teakayb" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@teakayb</a> to come with me (he is a teacher too but generally doesn't like talking shop in his free time). I was a little apprehensive about how he would find it, worrying that he wouldn't enjoy it - I don't know what I was worrying about though as he had a great time - phew!!</div>
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<img alt="" class="Tu HJ" data-mce-src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lJCiYXwrZwCcRXnZ3JmRBbBW8x1bdgql1UEeFP-b7xG4vACx-mjxY9x4A89KbIG-Tq1V2WmblT9dJKCy5OvJlJH_EFVFhp66LSTURbSOe3rzpy3jLX-vmmm7SoA_goy7wzjEPSu9xAHB/s0-d/photo.jpg" data-mce-style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-lJCiYXwrZwCcRXnZ3JmRBbBW8x1bdgql1UEeFP-b7xG4vACx-mjxY9x4A89KbIG-Tq1V2WmblT9dJKCy5OvJlJH_EFVFhp66LSTURbSOe3rzpy3jLX-vmmm7SoA_goy7wzjEPSu9xAHB/s0-d/photo.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; display: block; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.4em; padding: 6px;" /></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-size: x-small;" style="color: inherit; font-size: xx-small; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">The wonderful view</span></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/dughall" href="http://twitter.com/dughall" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@dughall</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/joga5" href="http://twitter.com/joga5" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@joga5</a> kicked off the event properly on the Saturday afternoon, but not before we had climbed 'the hill' several times transporting <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/teakayb" href="http://twitter.com/teakayb" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@teakayb</a>'s numerous telescopes down to the site - thank you <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/pallman1" href="http://twitter.com/pallman1" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@pallman1</a> for helping!! After the introduction we were straight into activities with myself and <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/johnsayers" href="http://twitter.com/johnsayers" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@JOHNSAYERS</a> running a mission explore workshop. We sent people off with various missions, books and random 'equipment' such as chalk and crayons to explore the locality. We also set a couple of on the spot challenges too. John set up a blog to collect the few bits people made here: <a data-mce-href="http://campedme.posterous.com/" href="http://campedme.posterous.com/" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">http://campedme.posterous.com/</a></div>
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<img alt="" class="Tu HJ" data-mce-src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2EmymZTwATROXrJShbXYRaXHJ-BWWXbpmQIDsXacxgauesfV6F_6N2tKHKbQ1VgbkudW5qALO06NZp13li7LjQpo_VeMKNv98CdbE2ZHzeQp8TouZ0jbVJKYAF22kXkxVu5qjzQviIMY/s509/12+-+3" data-mce-style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2EmymZTwATROXrJShbXYRaXHJ-BWWXbpmQIDsXacxgauesfV6F_6N2tKHKbQ1VgbkudW5qALO06NZp13li7LjQpo_VeMKNv98CdbE2ZHzeQp8TouZ0jbVJKYAF22kXkxVu5qjzQviIMY/s509/12+-+3" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; display: block; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.4em; padding: 6px;" /></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-size: x-small;" style="color: inherit; font-size: xx-small; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Mission explore kits</span></div>
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Saturday finished with a wonderful barbecue and singalong in the shed before we retired back to our (very noisy) bnb for the night.</div>
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Sunday hosted a great range of further workshops - I took part in geocaching with <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/lordlangley73" href="http://twitter.com/lordlangley73" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">@lordlangley73</a> which was great fun (and we won ;-) ) and then went on a child-friendly (cough cough!!) moor walk. Once back (and semi-recovered!) I had a go at making some 3D shapes from limping seagulls, a very technical term for an origami-folded shape! The day was finished off with another great meal and the great company of<a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/bevevans22" href="http://twitter.com/bevevans22" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"> @bevevans22</a> and her family.</div>
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<img alt="" class="Tu HJ" data-mce-src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgai_XIIHPQUEifLpXjdKvkXUpeAEGslJL06KeTI8DlbH5uGTS7cqQe1f4dCr_tAZXFTwmCgwTm63n-uBU73o8kdWea6wo6MKlfdbHWIZsLQbVANfr0_ttDZzhmCv2-GfZ-tMP7Flh30eSN/s0-d/12+-+6" data-mce-style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgai_XIIHPQUEifLpXjdKvkXUpeAEGslJL06KeTI8DlbH5uGTS7cqQe1f4dCr_tAZXFTwmCgwTm63n-uBU73o8kdWea6wo6MKlfdbHWIZsLQbVANfr0_ttDZzhmCv2-GfZ-tMP7Flh30eSN/s0-d/12+-+6" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; display: block; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.4em; padding: 6px;" /></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-size: x-small;" style="color: inherit; font-size: xx-small; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">Tom chasing geckos with the geocaching devices</span></div>
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The weekend was fab and one of the best bits was that it was informal and laid back enough to allow lots of time for chatting and the flexibility to drop in and out of workshops. It was great to chat to so many fantastic people from twitter in more than 140 characters and I know there were even more people there that I didn't even work out who they were. I think the only downside was that there were so many great workshops and not enough time to go to them all.</div>
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Massive thanks must go to <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/dughall" href="http://twitter.com/dughall" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Dughall</a>, <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/joga5" href="http://twitter.com/joga5" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Bill</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://twitter.com/helendaykin" href="http://twitter.com/helendaykin" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Helen</a> for organising everything and to Helen's mum, Sue, who allowed us all to take over her fields and barn for the weekend. It was a fab event and here's hoping for a #camped13</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-28048272978936413102012-08-15T20:24:00.004+01:002012-08-15T20:24:57.449+01:00Place Value Dragons<br />
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.posterous.com/place-value-dragons" href="http://tcqd.posterous.com/place-value-dragons" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" data-mce-src="http://posterous.com/images/filetypes/doc.png" src="http://posterous.com/images/filetypes/doc.png" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" /></a></div>
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<strong style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;">placevalue_dragons.docx</strong><br style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625;" /><a data-mce-href="http://getfile8.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-04-15/tCnqtnuAfdumGiadnBwHwiGCnxgscIdaikBfBJoeiufCmxxuigeJalHrayEh/placevalue_dragons.docx" href="http://getfile8.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-04-15/tCnqtnuAfdumGiadnBwHwiGCnxgscIdaikBfBJoeiufCmxxuigeJalHrayEh/placevalue_dragons.docx" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;">Download this file</a></div>
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Place value always seems a bit of a difficult concept for children to grasp so to jazz it up a bit to fit in with our theme of Dragons for the coming term I decided to make some 'Place Value Dragons' instead of place value mats. Pin the two parts of the dragon together with a split pin to represent the decimal point then children can move their digits up and down to show multiplying or dividing, just as they would on a normal place value grid.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5519887551971558564.post-48033537603676687562012-08-15T20:24:00.001+01:002012-08-15T20:24:21.713+01:00A blob of blue plasticine<br />
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For some reason last night I decided to log on to myspace. This is something I've not done for about 4 years and was surprised it still let me. Originally I did it with the thought of closing my account down; what it did was brought back lots of memories about projects I was involved in before I was, and just as I became, a teacher and all the cool stuff we did and I thought I would blog some of it here just because :)</div>
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Several years ago I was very lucky to be involved in a Lottery funded project known as the Arts Meets Environment Festival (or AMEF for short).</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/amef_collage-scaled1000.jpg" href="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/amef_collage-scaled1000.jpg" style="color: #1b8be0; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Amef_collage" data-mce-src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/amef_collage-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" height="332" src="http://tcqd.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/amef_collage-scaled1000.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: inherit; cursor: default; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.625; padding: 6px;" width="500" /></a></div>
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This project was set up for young people in my local area to provide all sorts of fabulous things to do: filming workshops, music workshops, drama, clay and pottery, and even organising our own music festival. It was fab and I got a lot of experiences I wouldn't have if it had not existed. </div>
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On one of the days we went out filming/photographing we were given a blob of blue plasticine. The premise was that the vibrant blue was not a colour naturally found in the environment and you had to make something, photograph it and send it back to the artist. We got a little bit carried away with our blue blobs and here is the resulting video I made last night from just some of the photos I found:</div>
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lkx4UDOZ4I?wmode=transparent]</div>
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It got me thinking what would happen if we did the same with children, or what other things we could do it with and how it could be turned into a greater learning opportunity.</div>
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We had many fabulous days out learning new things with AMEF; sadly it no longer runs as it didn't get any further funding beyond it's first three years which is a great shame as young people need projects like this.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17759005711093646331noreply@blogger.com0