Category Archives: wwwd

Mostly stuff to do with the classroom & Teaching and learning. Posts that fit with the site’s description: “Teaching, ict, and suchlike”

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A bit of rainy day prep today. Planning using micro:bits for simple Christmas decorations.

Last session we did a time consuming, but worthwhile, microbit guitar project. We’ve use them for decorations before and I thought this might be a simple intro for the new pupils in the class and a simple refresher for last years pupils.

Since I only use microbits now and then I need a wee practise too. I noticed a couple  of things using the iOS app and the MakeCode for micro:bit editor.

The app seems to have improved even since June. At that point we started finding it easy to create code and flash the microbits form our iPads. Today I tried the app on my phone and was surprised as to how easy it was to code (simply) a microbit on my phone.

The other is you can now embed makecode, the code or the emulator. This one is a dice and number picker, we made ones like this for maths games last session. Try the buttons and ‘shake’.

Maybe you could always embed code I didn’t notice it before. I am impressed by how the editor has improved over the last few years. The first few times I used micro:bits in class we switched away from our iPads and used PCs, I can see no good reason for doing so now.

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Read What do the PISA results tell us about Scottish education?
It is not unusual for immigrant children to perform better than a country’s majority population children in STEM subjects. Yet, the fact that they are able to perform so well in Scotland might offer some insights into why native Scottish children are not doing equally well. One of the reasons could be a lack of interest and motivation, indicating an important area for the policy development.

@MarkRPriestley , cutting through a pile of hype around Scotland’s PISA results. The success of immigrants ask a question, IMO, about the importance of extra-school influence on success in school.

The discussions around  PISA, success of cfe and the like are well above my blogger brain grade but fascinating and important.

Another interesting thread from @mrmcenaney

the improvement in reading, it is FAR more likely a consequence of what was happening in primary school 10 years ago, when the current PISA cohort started school, than 3 years ago, when they went to secondary.

It is really hard for humans and especially politicians it seems to look to the long term. We worry about possible bear attacks as opposed to glacier melting.

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I am very pleased that I’ll be continuing my part time role as product owner for Glow Blogs. When my recent contract finished in June the job was opened for applications. I was successful and am just sorting out the paper work. I do this work over an above my class teacher role. I would have been gutted if I didn’t get the job.

This post was inspired by Andrew Canion’s Blogvember Prompt List. This arrived in micro.blog at he same time as #mbnov, microblogvember.

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Liked William Rankin on Twitter (Twitter)
““Grit” is a bullshit term deployed by the privileged to valorize and naturalize their privilege… This is important reading for educators: we have to be honest about how the system is rigged. https://t.co/TfpItN0J25”

Which leads to Study: Poor Kids Who Believe in Meritocracy Suffer – The Atlantic from the url it looks like the original title might have been: internalizing the myth of meritocracy…

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Liked Re: Reflections on Transition C – Final Thoughts by Aaron DavisAaron Davis (collect.readwriterespond.com)
Thank you Tom for sharing your thoughts and reflections on Transitions19 conference. I was really taken by your comment on the need for more subjective sharing from the fields, rather than relying on PhDs. I find this interesting and think that education as a whole would benefit from more sharing. H...
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Replied to Impact (Just Trying to be Better Than Yesterday)
It’s a strange little word, impact. Impact. We hear it everywhere, use it often. ‘That action of one object forcibly coming into contact with another’ our dictionaries tell us. The impa…

I say this as one who has been blogging about teaching practice since 2011 and realise that this part of my teaching career is coming to an end. No big drama, no big story, I just don’t do it any more. But what impact has it had?

 

Kenny, you have had a big impact on me, one of the few blogs I subscribe to via email rather than RSS.

It has allowed me develop ideas more clearly, to articulate my thoughts on education.

speaks to me. The impact on the blogger.

I wonder if you will write in other places, another book? TES? If you do I hope you post a short note to your blog to let me and many other know.