If you’ve read my post about the great BIG netbook competition at my school, you’ll know about our project where we are trialling the use of netbooks with two classes to provide one to one computing.
The Year 9 class who are participating in the trial are helping us out by blogging their experiences. Some have really taken to it and some haven’t. This is obvious as many people try to blog but run out of steam quickly.
One of the students who has really taken the blogging on board is Charlie. He blogs … a LOT! Sometimes it is useful stuff where he has reviewed his day and sometimes it is him talking about things he does outside of school. He wrote a great short post last month about what to do if you are bored where he suggested to draw a face on your chin and film it upside down on your netbook.
He really enjoys getting comments on his blog; a little while back the vice-principal from the school commented on a post and he sent me an email with the following …
“Hi Stuart Guess what, Liz Boote commented on my Blog!!! WOW!!! Shes like high up head in the school!!! “
He then took it upon himself to email the principal of the school to tell him about his blog and invited him to read it. Brilliant self publicity … he’ll go far!
Exciting times are ahead if teachers carrying on their excellent practice in the way I observed over the last couple of days.
Firstly, BETT itself had a couple of highs for me. If I wasn’t out supporting someone by watching their #tmtakeover talk then I was concentrating on the “little stands”, those hidden gems that are a bargain price and can make a big difference. I was really excited by a weather presenting program from Kudlian software that allowed you to create the weather maps, write a weather script and then present it using green screen, if you have it, or split screen if you don’t. A single license for this was in the region of £45 and a site license for a secondary school was only about £450ish. Very exciting as we dabble in this but it’s difficult and time consuming.
I was really interested in the TTS stand and the Easi-Speak Mic Pro. I’ve seen the Easi-Speak Mic in the past but felt it was too ‘primary school’ to use in a secondary context. It is light and bright yellow … all a little Fisher Price for my liking. The Pro version is silver, more weighty and has a more expensive feel. The quality is no different but the credibility for students is important. It’s only a little more expensive so I’ve ordered 10 to see how it goes in the classroom.
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TeachMeet Takeover was probably the most exciting aspect of the day. This was due to the excellent organisation by Tom Barrett and outstanding support from sponsors such as Scholastic, BrainPop, Adobe and many more. I think the exciting thing for me is the opportunity to affect a much wider audience than with a full TeachMeet which is a big commitment if you don’t know what it’s all about.
The TeachMeet in the evening was fantastic. The presenters were really interesting. Helen Myers talking about Second Life to learn languages, Oliver Quinlan talking about blogs for Year 4 and Ian Addison talking about Voki. Some of it may not be new to everyone in the room but it will be new to some people. We even managed to get some people signed up to Twitter in the break. A downside was the quality of the video using FlashMeeting for online participation. We had a new sponsor signed up late in the day from ConnectEd Education who provide video streaming solutions but unfortunately there were some problems with the Internet connection, ports and IP ranges and we couldn’t get it off the ground. This was a shame but a last minute idea so with more planning we could get it going next year. Thanks to @eyebeams for running a twitcam stream that was better apparently.
The TeachEat at Pizza Express was great as well and thanks to the sponsors, Promethean, Anderton Tiger and RM who covered all pizzas and drinks.
TeachMeet is a fantastic network but it’s still relatively small. We need to continue building our networks but also build connect our network to other networks to extend this excellent practice.
Don’t forget to report how you’ve used practice from #tmbett2010 and #tmtakeover to get your hands on one of 25 full Camtasia licences from TechSmith or an iPod from Promethean. Just email tmbett2010@gmail.com and tell us whose idea you used, how it went and even examples of work!
When we released #movemeon as a printed book we wanted it to look the best it could, so designed it in full colour … but colour costs £12.24 (still an excellent price)
Now you can buy #movemeon with a full colour glossy cover but black and white printed inners for only £2.64.
£2.64?!? You could buy a few copies for school and share them with your nearest and dearest colleages!
Seriously though, nobody’s making any money from the book as it’s offered to you at cost price and it’s still chock-full with over 250 amazing teaching tips from the community on twitter.
So buy it now (or download free) as they are the same great tips but better value for money!
We’ve got a collapsed curriculum day coming up in January and we’re going to be using Storybird in ICT to create stories for primary school children.
The Storybird website is really easy to use and has a massive collection of images that aspiring writers can use in their books. Currently you can only view them online but they are hoping to create a section where you can have hard copies printed.
The service is only in beta at the moment but it is very stable and the user interface is extremely intuitive and suitable for all ages.
Here’s my effort … Big Brothers
I’m really looking forward to seeing the outcomes from 250 students all creating their own stories and I’ll post the best ones here!
As the new term starts here’s a little reminder that the AWESOME #movemeon book is available for download (FREE) or for purchase as hard copy (at cost price).
If you are responsible for mentoring an NQT, managing a department or in charge of whole school professional development this is the book for you!
Are you going to BETT in January? Do you want to see some examples of real teachers using AMAZING ICT in the classroom ? Then you need to come to TeachMeet on Friday 15th January!
What is a TeachMeet?
I could explain but this excellent video does a much better job than I could. It’s on YouTube so you might have trouble watching if you’re at school.
If you’ve got something great to tell everyone about then share it at TeachMeet. Micropresentations are 7 minutes and Nanopresentations are 2 minutes so it keeps it snappy.
These are not people selling products or pushing something that hasn’t actually been done. This MUST be about work in the classroom so you don’t have to listen to a load of sales spiel!
We’ll pick the names at random from the special randomnamepickerthingamabob to keep it interesting!
Enthusiastic Lurkers
If you haven’t got anything to say this time then come along as an enthusiastic lurker and see all the great stuff you can implement in your classroom.
How much does this cost?
Although this quality CPD is priceless … it is FREE OF CHARGE. So have a word with your CPD director and when he/she tells you that they don’t have the budget for any more courses just let them know the only cost to the school will be your travel!
How do I sign-up to present or watch?
Just go to the wiki at http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/TeachMeet-BETT-2010-Friday-Session and add your name to the list. You can either sign-up and use your own account or you can login with the username guest and the password teemhcaet (it’s teachmeet backwards!)
I’m always amazed when people do something for nothing! From sharing a useful link on twitter to a whole scheme of work on a blog, it makes everyone’s life a little easier and shares best practice.
When Doug Belshaw mooted the idea of #movemeon the twitter community was engaged immediately and hundreds of great teaching tips came flooding in.
Doug and I have worked hard to collate these into a format that is easier to digest and it is now available to buy for a physical copy or download FREE OF CHARGE!
It’s ideal for anyone who is responsible for professional development in school!
Firstly, BETT itself had a couple of highs for me. If I wasn’t out supporting someone by watching their #tmtakeover talk then I was concentrating on the “little stands”, those hidden gems that are a bargain price and can make a big difference. I was really excited by a weather presenting program from Kudlian software that allowed you to create the weather maps, write a weather script and then present it using green screen, if you have it, or split screen if you don’t. A single license for this was in the region of £45 and a site license for a secondary school was only about £450ish. Very exciting as we dabble in this but it’s difficult and time consuming.
I was really interested in the TTS stand and the Easi-Speak Mic Pro. I’ve seen the Easi-Speak Mic in the past but felt it was too ‘primary school’ to use in a secondary context. It is light and bright yellow … all a little Fisher Price for my liking. The Pro version is silver, more weighty and has a more expensive feel. The quality is no different but the credibility for students is important. It’s only a little more expensive so I’ve ordered 10 to see how it goes in the classroom.
