Category Archives: technology

IWB slides: A crutch or a necessity?

Let’s start with a question:
I had an interesting conversation last with NQT Tim Handley about use of Interactive White Boards. He was planning a unit of work for himself and another teacher to follow and asked if it was normal for people to create matching IWB slides for every lesson as part of this process. Talking to other [...]

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Collaborating across continents with Google Docs

Some time ago several of my colleagues visited South Africa as part of a project on school twinning. As part of this project they had planned to work with pupils in South Africa on filming and editing video using flip cameras. Unfortunately the computers available to them were not capable of video editing, so they [...]

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Cool technology things I learned at Google Teacher Academy (#gtauk)

Google search is way more interesting that I thought
Lisa Thumann showed us some fantastic ways to refine, drill down, and present search results. I would recommend anyone to explore the ‘More search options’ on the left hand side of the screen after searching, as there are some very powerful tools there. Putting results on a [...]

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Google Teacher Academy (#gtauk): Reflections

So I have returned from the first international Google Teacher Academy “With weary joints, and a beating mind”. Having had some time to digest it all I want to reflect a little on the experience.

There was a conversation on twitter after the event inviting people to describe the experience in [...]

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GTA approaches

There are two more days until I set off to London for the Google Teacher Academy, and things seem to be ramping up. For those interested in the event I have written a guest post for the Digital Birmingham Blog, explaining what the event is and what I hope to get out of it.
@knvmcl [...]

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Let’s let students manage real world distractions

Since my recent post on the iPad I have been reading a number of reviews linked to educational use. I keep coming across an assertion that really annoys me, and I think has implications fat wider for education than Apple’s latest shiny device does.
That assertion is that the interface of the iPad only [...]

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iPad in Education Event

This morning I attended an event run by a local Apple vendor aimed at showcasing the educational uses of the iPad. I have already blogged about my initial reservations about this device, not merely as a device for education but also as a means of framing users interactions with the internet. Today we had a [...]

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Personalising writing lessons with the new Google Docs

We currently have a strong focus on developing writing in our school, and I have been working for some time of developing the structure of my writing lessons to get the best out of the pupils in my class. On the advice of Zoe Case (@ZCase), a fellow NQT I have been trying to really [...]

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Documenting negotiated projects

For the last two weeks I have been working with a different group on a negotiated project, as part of our Learning Agreement Time. I was really pleased that this was the first project which has been totally child initiated. Whilst completing the previous project, a girl in my class approached me and said she [...]

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Digital thinking in maths

Another day, another anecdote of children basing their point of reference in ‘traditional’ areas on technological experiences.
Today we were looking at 3D shape, and the group I was working with was finding it difficult to classify and describe the shapes of prisms. We discussed the two main faces, their properties and the fact that he [...]

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