Month: September 2006

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Tomorrow, Sunday, morning I am off to Be Very Afraid at BAFTA. I am taking 2 of last years primary seven, now at secondary, to create a podcast.

BVA is a celebration of students’ digital creativity, in the david lean room!

Should be an interesting event (last years).

The pupils have though up a very creative idea for their podcast (hint revenge), hopefully they will have time to blog about it tomorrow at Sandaig Otters and the podcast will be published sometime on Monday from BVA, if everything go ok.

if you have any interested children they might like to read the Sandaig Otters blog on Monday to see what is going on.

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red admiral butterflyIn mum’s garden, testing posting from iPhoto to a blog via appleScript, and metaWeblogApi. Title of post comes from photo’s title and the body of the post comes from the comment.

Update 7 Dec 2024, replaced the photo with one dl from flickr.

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I hope to post a bit more as I digest the last couple of days.

First the linkage:
Blog postings about SETT – The Scottish Learning Festival, collected by technorrati:
http://www.technorati.com/search/sett06

Flickr: Photos tagged with sett06

Blog posts about TeachMeet (bloggers, and others get together at the festival):http://www.technorati.com/search/teachmeet06

Flickr: Photos tagged with teachmeet06

Flickr Creative commons search sett06

Official SETT Weblog

I am posting the links to the technorati search page rather than the tag pages, technorati seems to have missed quite a few posts tagged with teachmeet06, this means that my teachmeet aggregator and more professional tools like Hitchhikr don’t pick up all the posts, Hickhiker get more with the [Conduct String Search — may return some irrelevant Blog Entries]. I wonder if it worth a trip to Technorati API: Search. Probably not, but might would be a nice distraction from implementing all the good teaching ideas I saw at sett.

I seem to be the only person so far tagging my comments, but not too much commenting has gone on as far as I can make out.

I’ve been thinking a bit about live blogging events, it seems a great idea, but I am not sure I am the person to do it, I don’t type fast enough and I really need times to think about things. I was at Peter Peacock address, trying to blogs the important points and chatting to Ewan on Skype. After a while I realised I’d just typed a collection of buzzwords, Ewan had written a coherent post, fast fingers. I didn’t post my list.
Most of my SETT posts will be useful to me as a reminder and link list, I am not sure if they will be useful to anyone else.
The other problem about live blogging is that it should lead to a blossoming of comments and I’d guess most folk are too tired after two days under the weird light and too much technology, even the folk blogging didn’t seem to post many comments on the day, too much to blog too little time. Anyway, I’ll probably blog my next sett/conference and hope the Scot’s Edu blogsphere reached a tipping point.

More important than a bunch of teachers blogging is, in my opinion, a bunch of children blogging. Unlike Andrew who wrote:

Instead of my usual forray into techy stuff at SETT, this year I thought I?d try and take in something that wouldn?t usually have jumped off the page at me.

I went to quite a few thing that are along my line, including Building primary communities, Infants Can Communicate! and To Blog or Not to Blog. I really enjoyed them all, and picked up a pile of great ideas. the last two listed were reports on blogging projects that really impressed me. My foray into classroom blogging has been bluesky, these project really pointed up good practice and linked it to learning and the curriculum in a very coherent way.
A middle aged blogging dog was taught a lot of new tricks which will hopefully end up improving the learning in my classroom.

Finally(for now, it has taken me best part of two hours to get this far, due to browser meanderings) I met a ton of old and new friends, many of whom on Thursday I asked to chat to (ie steal ideas from) on the Friday, they successfully avoided me and I still have a pile of things I’d like to know, and requests to make. I actually think I needed a longer sett, maybe with a few breaks

teachmeet06 sett06 blogging

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Susan Buchanan, Fiona Cunningham, p7 pupils – Woodhill Primary School
Fiona Andrews LTS
First seminar I’ve managed to get a ticket for and I got the last one.
David just walked in, looks like this will be blogged twice, Susan: hands up who has dabbled, about 1 third!!
Basic, what is a blog? Nice loose definition.
Don’t contrive, need to be learning lead.PCPod

  • Real Audience
  • Motivational
  • Ownership
  • Interaction
  • Feedback
  • Exciting
  • Reinforcement (of French by podcast)
  • Home School Links

Project, small start focus on French 2x Primary 6, 3 iPods funded

Fiona C: fluent in French, Woodhill classroom assistant, created lessons and recorded French files.
Train children: iTunes, iPods, MP3players. Children used iPods at wet intervals.
Children testing and playing with each other.
Children thought they ere cheating by practicing at home!

Children are on, demo weather exercise, sound files link with worksheet. Own personal teacher, children bring own ipod.
Pause and rewind, test and review.

Children check their strengths and weakness, retest themselves.
Children blogged what they though about the project, preferred way of learning.

Child demos blogging, Blogger, commenting.
Woodhill Primary School.commenting is a skill, 2 stars and a wish.

Other projects: Woodhill Primary School Eco Warriors
Woodhill Primary School Parents
What to blog, CPD, lots of stuff for teachers, use as calendar, homework, classwork, extensions, links for children, outing reports, book club, inter-school links.

Other blogs us, Aberdeen, teddies…

  • start small
  • worthwhile tie in to learning and teaching
  • be comfortable with tech
  • use good software

Presentation and help at To Blog Or Not To Blog
Great overview of blogging and lots of ideas.

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I am excited about this one, Morag and Marylyn’s blog the Interactive Talking Teddies is one of the best examples of good practice I have seen.
Subtitle: A Tale of Two Bears and Two Classes, the room is full and they have sent for extra seats. David has been dispatched to get a cable. Spencer and Campbell are in place.

Project took place between to Argyll Primaries.
Started two years ago, adapting ideas for younger children,
Bears posted to respective schools.
Children discussed what to do with the bears, some wanted them to go on the bus.
Nice audio-slides of the children talking. Recorded delivery, track bear’s progress.
Children assumed bear would hibernate during journey.
Children talk for bears, videoed with iSight. Bear taken on board as real person, video and photos taken by primary two children.
Bears went home, over 2000 digital photos came into school.

Kidspiration to write and tell children in partner school.
Children’s work added to scrapbook which returned to original school.
Campbell went to Isaly to do an island tour, vib on Logan Air flight.

Interactive whiteboards, Morag started posting on a blog about there ict activities.
After a hibernation, Spencer and Campbell wanted a blog!

Spensers and Campbell’s activities provided a inspiration for children’s writing, from getting a uniform knitted to going on a boat trip.
Primary 3’s wrote article for calmac magazine, great real audience.
Children made ‘contraption’ technology for transporting the bears, the children wrote at length.
Children took Bears home; on condition they did something interesting and they wrote about it in the bear’s diary.
Comic Life
Flappy le Crow, a french crow from Tobermory visited and only spoke french.
Home School links, holiday activity, bears passed from child to child, lots of parent involvement.

Children created holiday projects, there are so many great ideas attached to this project, too many to type.

Motivation, Approbation, independence, Confidence, Communication, Collaboration

Best thing I’ve seen at Sett

sett06 scottishlearningfestivalblogging teaching bloggingbestpractice

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Off the cuff, after midnight.

I had an great day at the Scottish learning festival. I met a lot of folk from scotedublogs, especial thanks to Neil Winton who had to buy me an extra pint when I realised my wallet was empty.

I had a go at blogging a couple of presentations live (see below) but my typing and thinking are not really quick enough, hopefully the notes will help me remember what went on and generate some reflection.

As usual what is great about Sett is not so much the presentations but the meeting up with old friends and online friends you have never seen in the flesh.
My most embarrassing moment was not recognising Stuart Oliphant of Learning and Teaching Scotland, whom I have talked to several times as he connected us to a video conference with Holland, my only excuse was he has shaved and every one different on the telly.

So at 4.00pm I made my way to teachmeet06, a great buzz in the room, really positive feel, I briefly blogged Theo Kuechel and edublogger’s mum, missing all the real good stuff they talked about, due to the previously mentioned slow fingers and brain. At that point my iBook and the room were to hot to blog any more, I had blogged David’s gig this morning and he was his usual amusing and pertinent self; had me smiling and thinking, so I sat back and listened.
I had to leave for the first Glow mentors meeting, so I didn’t see Ollie Bray and was, to tell the truth pretty gutted not to get my 7 minutes of fame.

Then to glow, again briefly blogged. This was the launch for the glow mentors, it was nice to see the children giving a drama presentation of the expected effect of glow for teachers and pupils, but I did not really get any facts or information.
On to the glow mentor’s dinner, again great to see old and new friends, but the atmosphere was very different from teachmeet06, less of an underground excitement, more questioning: what will glow deliver? when? does glow understand say rss and its potential to connect?
I guess Glow feels like work to teachmeet06‘s play.

Kudos to Ewan and the rest of the scotedublogs guys for the heavy lifting, to Promethian and LTS for the wifi (I’ve still got a few more minutes if anyone wants to grab some tomorrow) and to Stormhoek for the teachmeet wine.

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Alan Yeoman: Welcome, there is dry ice!
What are mentors going to do, depends on local authority. Encourage and support.
We have to use the tools! and share.
Children’s drama explain glow!
Mari Dougan:Glow up and running by mid 2007.
Glow team will keep mentors uptodate, email first then glow details.
Mentors to try glow tools as they come online
Nov-Dec 2006 phase 1, some facilities may be available on LA network.
Jan-april more access, yet to be announced.
Mentor glow groups, interest groups. Testing activities.
Residential Program at Stirling.
going for dinner….