Recent Professional Postings

1. Positive about opportunities Curriculum for Excellence will bring
   → Engage for Education | Fri May 18 08:44:48 +0100 2012

   Professor Petra Wend discusses Universities Scotland's report on Curriculum for Excellence.

2. Links for 2012-05-17 [del.icio.us]
   → edu.blogs.com | Fri May 18 07:00:00 +0100 2012

   • Born Creative | Demos | Publications
     In a series of essays Born Creative brings together the experiences of creative practices in early years education, to show the importance of cultures, environments and networks in the enrichment of the early years learning and interrogates the role of leaders, policy and parents in creating them.
   • Phil Libin of Evernote, on Its Unusual Corporate Culture - NYTimes.com
     Workplaces of the future?
   • Clay Shirky on the relationship between physical space and creativity - Boing Boing
   • Audio slide show: Pullman porter and family patriarch - latimes.com
     At 100, Lee Wesley Gibson is nearly the oldest surviving former Pullman porter. He is one of thousands of African Americans whose lives were transformed by working for Union Pacific Railroad. Gibson was married to his wife, Beatrice, for 76 years until she died in 2004.
   

3. Language learning in Scotland’s schools
   → Engage for Education | Thu May 17 08:31:40 +0100 2012

   Chair of the Languages Working Group discusses the group's report on a new approach to language learning.

4. (lif)e-portfolio
   → leelearning | Thu May 17 08:28:46 +0100 2012

   (lif)e-portfolio, a photo by leedballantyne on Flickr. I finally finished my research study. This is a summary of the outcomes: a framework for e-portfolio implementation. Full pdf paper here: http://t.co/OFIoJPz9

5. Imagine– Everything that is Wrong with Video Games
   → Trails Optional | Wed May 16 18:40:29 +0100 2012

   Imagine is a series of video games designed for girls.  The games are mainly Nintendo DS games, but are also available for 3DS, Wii, and PlayStation Portable. http://imagine.uk.ubi.com/ The Games are divided into four categories: Caring, Creative, Sporty, and Star Imagine Girl Titles in the series: Beauty Stylist Rescue Vet Animal Doctor (Pet Vet) Pet [...]

6. Content curation is the new black
   → heyjude | Wed May 16 13:08:50 +0100 2012

   Content curation crops up over and over again – so a whole issue on the topic from the wonderful school librarians in New Zealand is worth a read! Tossing ideas around, and finding ways to harness tools to our purpose … Continue reading ?

7. Links for 2012-05-15 [del.icio.us]
   → edu.blogs.com | Wed May 16 07:00:00 +0100 2012

   • iOS Fonts
   

8. Web site photos: can we stop them being copied and posted to Facebook?
   → EduICT News | Tue May 15 11:36:39 +0100 2012

   An East Lothian school had a query from a Mum wondering if it was possible to prevent children’s photos being copied from school web sites and being posted to Facebook. Our response contained advice on the use of Facebook privacy settings which may be of value to others, so we’re posting it here. Many years ago, [...]

9. Scotsman report on Google and Glow
   → EduICT News | Tue May 15 09:49:32 +0100 2012

   Today’s Scotsman reports that Google have “walked away” from the Next Generation Glow procurement. Google has pulled out of the competition for Next Generation Glow, saying that the Scottish Government’s procurement process was at odds with its company philosophy on how the internet should be used to provide education in schools. The next step in [...]

10. Links for 2012-05-14 [del.icio.us]
    → Experimental Blog | Tue May 15 07:00:00 +0100 2012

    • Energy 101 - YouTube
      Great energy resources from US Government
    

11. Links for 2012-05-14 [del.icio.us]
    → edu.blogs.com | Tue May 15 07:00:00 +0100 2012

    • How GM Is Saving Cash Using Legos As A Data Viz Tool | Co.Design: business + innovation + design
      But beyond their transparency, there may be a bigger advantage to Legos: they’re also fun. By mapping real world problems to an icon of our youth, each challenge must be approached with an inherent playfulness. And because Legos are, by their very nature, expected to be rebuilt, patterns don’t appear stuck in stone--or just as bad--printed in ink. Now, if only we could get the Lego pirate ship or a lunar rover in the mix, we’d really have something.
    • Bauhaus: Art as Life – review | Art and design | guardian.co.uk
      There is a lesson here about much contemporary art education: the lack of common purpose, the overweening bureaucracy, the disillusionment and grasping for fees, the box-ticking lostness of so much of it. The Bauhaus had a sense of common purpose and shared ideas, of arguments that meant something, of making things up as you go along. And so much that it gave us was practical, and a delight to the eye.
    • NeverSeconds
      School dinner blog by a pupil
    • PhoneGap
      PhoneGap is an HTML5 app platform that allows you to author native applications with web technologies and get access to APIs and app stores. PhoneGap leverages web technologies developers already know best... HTML and JavaScript.
    • WIRED Business Conference 2012
      Excellent brief visual notes on the future, technology and innovation
    

12. Celebrating success at the Young Scot Awards
    → Engage for Education | Mon May 14 12:43:07 +0100 2012

    Nominee Ruairidh Tait blogs about this year's Young Scot Awards.

13. Support for Foster Care Fortnight
    → Engage for Education | Mon May 14 11:26:52 +0100 2012

    Children's Minister welcomes the start of Foster Care Fortnight, the annual initiative from the Fostering Network (Scotland) to raise awareness of fostering and encourage even more people to become foster parents.

14. Stage Experience – Footloose
    → Alan Coady's Musical Blog | Mon May 14 11:24:12 +0100 2012

    I had an email today from Simon Hanson, Musical Director the Stage Experience. This youth project is to mount a production of Footloose in the Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh in July. In addition to showcasing young dramatic talent this is also an opportunity for young musicians to gain experience in musical theatre. Currently they seek two [...]

15. Stay connected in the air
    → Mr McGowan's Learning Blog | Mon May 14 08:08:49 +0100 2012

    Apparently it has been going on for a decade, but for the vast majority of travellers once you are airborne the world of the internet is a no go. However that is about to change.
    
    UK telecommunications firm Immarsat and US giant Honeywell are developing new satellite links to improve connectivity while in the air, ensuring people can stay in touch on the go and in the air.
    
    For the full story go to BBC Technology news:
    
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18021468

    

16. Don't lie on your CV
    → Mr McGowan's Learning Blog | Mon May 14 08:02:46 +0100 2012

    Looks like Yahoo's Scott Thompson has become one of the biggest ever casualties of lying on his CV. He apparently put down he had studied Computer Science at a college in 1979, but back then the course didn't exist.
    
    Thompson is CEO at Yahoo and only joined in September 2011, after a spell at PayPal.
    
    It is worth noticing that in The Apprentice UK, eventual winner Lee McQueen was less than honest over his own college days when he had put down he was at college for 3 years when in fact he had only started the course and left after a matter of weeks.
    
    Despite this he was still hired, something that perhaps shows a rare lack of judgement by Lord Sugar. Embelishments are probably part of the game, but making things up or taking credit for other peoples work should not be rewarded at all.
    
    I will look to see if I can find some other high profile cases of people being undone by their own CV.

    

17. Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Outdoor Activities
    → I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here! | Sat May 12 08:18:41 +0100 2012

    Almost one year ago I blogged about a class that created fraction walls with wind-fallen sticks. This was very successful and really required a bit of organisation and thought by the P6 (Y5) children.
    
    

    
    
    Earlier this year I noticed that Muddy Faces was selling a maths set made up of:
    
    1 x 100cm stick
    2 x 50cm sticks
    4 x 25cm sticks
    10 x 10cm sticks
    
    With these lengths, immediately I wanted to start exploring the possibilities around using these materials to explore simple fractions, decimals and percentages. Naturally, it's good to get other people thinking too, as a problem shared is a problem halved...
    
    
    
    
    

    The first time they were used I made the mistake of pointing out that the sticks were sold in kits to make  squares. This set people off looking at scale, ratio, area and perimeters rather than the fractions I was hoping for.
    
    
    
    
    
    At one primary school, I set an able group of children in P5 (Year 4) the challenge of making up a game or activity which would help children younger than themselves learn about fractions, decimals or percentages. In the photo above, one child worked by himself to create maze. It didn't turn out as he hoped. But when experimenting, this will inevitably happen. 
    
    
    Below, another group of children lined up the sticks....
    
    
    
    
    
    They proceeded to demonstrate a jumping activity. When a person jumped, the landing point was noted and the sticks were counted. They were able to measure to the nearest 10cm by using these lengths creatively.
    
    
    
    
    
    The final group went for a game of hide 'n' seek. They used one set of sticks and hid them in different parts of the playground. Other children had to find the sticks and use them to create a fraction wall. 
    
    
    
    
    
    On another training course, a group came up with a very simple approach to demonstrating the relative values of the lengths as a decimal. The plastic lid represents the decimal point. So below, the number displayed is 1.3m or 1 3/10ths. For me, this is a lovely, quick interactive activity to get children warmed up at the start of a maths session.
    
    
    
    
    
    I feel these ideas have merely scratched the surface of a little kit that has the potential to aid children's thinking around fractions, decimals and percentages. In particular I liked listening to the mathematical conversations taking place as the children and adults discussed the challenges and extended their own lines of thinking in some instances.
    
    
    Any ideas, thoughts and suggestions appreciated. It's all an experiment :)
    

18. Links for 2012-05-11 [del.icio.us]
    → edu.blogs.com | Sat May 12 07:00:00 +0100 2012

    • Curriculum for Excellence: Building the Curriculum 5: A Framework for Assessment
    

19. Jubilee! Creative Ways to Celebrate School Anniversaries Across the Curriculum
    → ICT for Teaching & Learning in Falkirk Primary Schools | Fri May 11 14:03:26 +0100 2012

    Perhaps your school is celebrating an anniversary, perhaps having 5, 10, 25, 50 years or centenary celebrations of the school itself, perhaps a local or national event such as a Silver Jubilee, or Diamond Jubilee. Whatever the number of days, months or years involved in the celebration, the following ideas can be adapted to harness pupil enthusiasm [...]

20. New Children’s Bill announced
    → Engage for Education | Fri May 11 12:13:29 +0100 2012

    New Children and Young People Bill to deliver best package of early learning and childcare in the UK.

21. Links for 2012-05-10 [del.icio.us]
    → Experimental Blog | Fri May 11 07:00:00 +0100 2012

    • BOYCOTT PEARSON NOW | United Opt Out National
      big problems in backyard