'Show and Tell' at The Access Network

This week's Flashmeeting saw Lisa Stevens and I talk about some teaching tools and strategies.

Lisa spoke of her love of using puppets to encourage pupils to participate in conversations using new language. She showed-off a range of attire; from a spider that you wear on your head, to glove puppets given to the pupils, that bits can be added to as motivation for taking part. She spoke of this approach being effective with reluctant speakers, as the puppet becomes the focus instead of the child.

I introduced Google Earth, a free download which enables a class to 'fly' around the world, looking at towns and cities in great detail. I spoke of its use by Geography and Maths teachers, as well as the benefit of giving context to places which may appear in text-only format, for example in a textbook. I illustrated how it can be used with Google Sketchup (design software), and that apart from being able to zoom in on the planet in 2D, many cities featured 3D buildings and easy links to Wikipedia entries and placemarked photos from Flickr.

Lisa outlined the benefits of eTwinning; a European initiative supported by the British Council, which encourages the linking of schools across the region. She spoke reflectively of some of her experiences of running projects, stressing the cross-curricular opportunities and high levels of support available to those seeking partner schools via the eTwinning website and Ambassadors. Schools have linked together to write stories, produce animations, send emails to each other, and share culture.

Finally, I spoke of the teacher-produced-and-run ScotEduBlogs; a website that pulls-in content from most of the education-related weblogs running in Scotland. Robert Jones, Peter Liddle and John Johnston created this 'aggregator', which pulls in a feed from each website registered with it. The benefit is that educators have a single site which they can visit to get an (often) hourly updated illustration of what is happening in schools across the country; informing and inspiring on policy, practice, and learning. I showed how to link your class/school's site to ScotEduBlogs, explaining that it can lead to a greater audience as well as links with other schools that are publishing online (encouraging classes to comment on each other's work). I encourage teachers to visit the site a couple of times a week.

The Flashmeeting was recorded. Access to the replay is available from myself at noble_d@hillsideschool.co.uk.

Access Network - May update

This Thursday (8th) is ‘Show and Tell’ time at the Access Network. There will be some strategies and tools showcased to excite and enthuse! We will be joined from Birmingham by an inspiring teacher, Lisa Stevens, who will talk about using puppets in class to enhance teaching and learning; and eTwinning, an established network helping your class to take part in an international project.

I will talk about some of the many cross-curricular uses of Google Earth, and there will be an introduction on how to access the latest stories, news and reflections from educators beyond your staffroom. Please email me if you haven’t already signed-up for this 4-5pm event.

There is one slot available, if you would like to present (in 10 minutes) something that you have been doing or have seen working well.

Finally, there has been some interest in a June face-to-face Network meeting with SQA Development staff in attendance. Please email me (noble_d@hillsideschool.co.k) if you:

· are interested in attending
· would be willing to facilitate the meeting at your school.