Thursday, November 15, 2007

'Show and Tell' FlashMeeting


A larger number than recent FlashMeetings participated in the 'Show and Tell' session. We heard from Christine and Liz from the Maths department at Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC) about the Maths Skills programme that they have put in place to meet the needs of S5 and S6 pupils who have studied at Access level and find it too early or not appropriate to jump to Intermediate 1. It is centered around the Four Capacities; linking learning to the real world. I first heard about this development at the Scottish Support for Learning Awards, at which the judges awarded WHEC first prize. The, albeit stripped down, PowerPoint is available here.

Barry, the Craft instructor at Hillside, introduced us to 'Skills for Work'; an employability (not vocational!) course offered at Access 3 through to Intermediate 2. Students have a range of trades options, with courses delivered either in school, at college, or in partnership. We found out that North Lanarkshire are embracing it, and that it can give some pupils a better focus. The PowerPoint which accompanied Barry's presentation is available here.

David directed us to the database of NQ resources within the LTS website. He showed us how to access these, by subject; explaining that most can be downloaded (and for free). We found out about ScotEdublogs, which is a site that pulls together all the Scottish education websites (weblogs) that are being run and updated by teachers, educationalists, classes and schools. By checking this site regularly, you get a real flavour of what is happening in classrooms across Scotland, with projects being shared, opinions aired, events promoted etc.