Posts made in May, 2009

Online Spaces and Codes of Conduct

Posted on May 26, 2009 in Web Tools | 6 comments

Following on from my blog post about the teacher who got in trouble for twittering, I’ve had a little bit of time to think about some of the implications of this. I was also given this link to the same story as reported in the Daily Telegraph which makes things sound a little worse.

My first response is that this story would never have hit the media were it not for the mention of Twitter, which seems to be the tech buzzword of the moment. And I do think that there is more than just a hint of overreaction from the local authority.

But the situation is worrying – I’m trying to promote the use of Twitter as a way for teachers to build up a network of experts that they can draw upon when needed, and stories like this are going to discourage teachers from taking it up.

Taking some of the quotes from a “parent” and a  “local councillor”

“She is paid a lot of money to do her job and it is unbelievable that she sitting talking about them on a computer rather than teaching.”

“I do not pay my council tax so that staff can waste time on these sites.”

“People should be spending time with real people rather than with cyber friends.”

“It is a drain on public resources. It’s shocking.”

All of which show a basic lack of understanding about what Twitter is and how it is being used. The one about “cyber friends” is an interesting one. Personally, if I have any question about teaching, I can ask my network on Twitter and get an answer within minutes is an amazing thing, and is one of the reasons why I recommend Twitter to teachers.

The General Teaching Council for England has a code of conduct for teachers. You can read it here. (There is a similar one for Scotland here). There is new guidance in draft form at present, but for now this is the one that will be applied to us. The code of conduct states that:

Registered teachers may be found to be guilty of unacceptable professional conduct

Where they:

1. Seriously demean or undermine pupils, their parents, carers or colleagues, or act towards them in a manner which is discriminatory in relation to gender, marital status, religion, belief, colour, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation,disability or age

and also

Where they:

8. Otherwise bring the reputation and standing of the profession into serious disrepute.

Which is a bit of a “cover-all” statement that seems to cover any manner of behaviours.

So if a teacher is using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter then you do need to be aware that these guidelines could apply to your actions.

This is particularly true with Facebook. I have heard of some schools where the Head has banned all members of staff from having a Facebook account. Personally, I don’t think that’s a fair way to deal with it. Facebook is a very useful way of keeping in touch with friends and family around the world and I don’t think the way to react to it is to just ban it outright.

I wrote about this last year, here’s the blog post, and this is something I warn my PGCE students about as they make the transition from Student to professional teacher.

When using Facebook, it is probably a good idea to stick to the following rules

1. Make your profile visible to Friends Only, (limited access), Only people you add as a friend can see your status updates.
2. Make your photographs visible to Friends Only.
3. Be careful about who you add as a friend. Do not add students, past or present.
4. Do not use your status updates to complain about particular classes or students.

Be aware that anyone you add as a friend will be able to see your updates. You can still set up groups of friends that have limited access, so you may want to consider that as an option.

I have no problem with a school that blocks facebook access via their network. But blocking staff from having an account is unreasonable action in my opinion.

With Twitter, the problems are similar. Be aware that anything you say can be taken out of context. We all like to have a moan and a gripe about particular students in the confines of the staffroom, but should these comments be shared in a public space.

The first thing for teachers to consider is to protect their updates. I used to think this defeated the point of twitter, but you might want to consider that as an option. By protecting your updates you have a measure of control over who can read what you say.

This does not mean that what you say cannot be re-tweeted by one of your followers though. It’s not going to be completely private.

So what is fair for teachers to say on Twitter, and what might bring them into disrepute? How would your headteacher react if they saw some of the things you said. What about a parent? Or a Student?

Would you want students reading that Set X is full of nutters? Or that you are too hungover to teach well today? Should you be discussing job interviews or arguments/disagreements you have had with other members of staff? Would you be in trouble for putting forward your political or religious views (or lack of them)

I may say that I am mustering the energy to mark a stack of student assignments, but I wouldn’t use Twitter to complain about the general quality of them – or to say how many failed etc. That’s something I would keep until I saw my students again and told them face to face.

It may well be that what is being said is tongue-in-cheek and not meant in a serious way. But looking back at the way the Twittering Teacher story was reported, tweets were cherry-picked and quoted out of context. If your headteacher did that to you, would you be able to explain them away?

What should you do if a parent followed you on Twitter? Or a student? How would the things you are saying come across to a parent?

Is there mileage in teachers having two accounts. One that’s personal and not linked to the school which they can protect. And one which is more for school use?

I’m not giving many answers here. I don’t have the answers. And only you will know how your headteacher would respond if a parent made a comment about the content of your twitter stream or your personal blog.

Image by Matt Hamm, http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthamm/

I think the news story last week has been a bit of a wake-up call to teachers. Twitter may well be the buzzword of the moment, and maybe in a year’s time we will all have stopped using it for something new. But the principles will remain. How do we, as teachers, exist in these online spaces? How can we teach responsible use to our students if we are less responsible ourselves. How is it fair that a doctor can have a twitter or facebook account, but not a teacher?

If the headteachers policy is to ban all these tools and pretend they don’t exist, how can we teach responsible use? Why do schools even bother with filtering when students can access all this via their mobile phones anyway?

I’d be interested in knowing what you think. Please discuss this in the comments. If you would rather have the comments on her anonymously, then mail me, and I’ll copy the text as a comment and leave out any names.

Update: And if you want to explain to your head why you should be using Twitter in the Classroom, use this excellent presentation by Tom Barrett.

Year 6 Literacy Ideas

Posted on May 26, 2009 in Activity Ideas, Literacy Resources, Useful Links | 0 comments

I was emailed over the weekend by a year 6 teacher who wanted some ideas for using ICT with his class, and in particular for literacy.

I set up an Etherpad to collate ideas and threw the question out to my network of Twitter friends. I invited them to visit the Etherpad and add their thoughts.

You can see the Etherpad here, and if you wish you can add your ideas.

Thanks to @kvnmcl, @joysimpson, @LynnShellard, @AllanahK @pam_thompson, @psycho65 for their comments. If anyone else did add stuff please put your name on the Etherpad so I can thank you too!

Here is a summary of the ideas that were shared so far:

Flat Life

Its not a website however Flat life available via You Tube is a great 10 minute animation that can lead to a range of writing development and own animation am currently using with my year 6 class.

http://www.teachit.co.uk/custom_content/wordwhiz/titlewhiz_notes.doc , gives random book titles – this is a teachers guide! and children can then write about characters setting etc to go with title.

PicLits

http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx writing to go with picture – lovely.

Wordle

Wordle is a great tool for developing comprehension skills in literacy.  Wordle the first paragraph or two of a text and see if you can work out what you think the big ideas might be about in the text. You can also see if you can group words together and then give them a heading.  Both activities will help tune children into a text. http://www.wordle.net/

Can also use photos from Flickr to create a wordle

Mind Mapping

I am just in the middle of blogging about myWebspirations at http://www.mywebspiration.com .  It is a fantastic tool for collaborating on mind-maps and creating a plan for a piece of writing.

VoiceThread

Using Voice Tread http://www.voicethread.com is particulary good for gathering opinions about a book, illustrations etc and for generating ideas to write about.  For instance if writing a persusavie text as series of related images can be uploaded and then children can then add their opinions, information etc about each one.  This then provides a resource for ideas when writing.

Podcasting is a great way of enabling children to share what they are learning. Podomatic is great but if it doesn’t get through the school filter then create in audacity and upload to gcast.

Blogging

For some ideas about what you could blog about see this post http://literacyresourcesandideas.edublogs.org/2009/05/12/what-might-you-write-about/

If you want to generate lists of resources and communicate with children through microblogging then try www.Edmodo.com.  This is great for setting challenges for the children, reminding them about homework, creating lists of useful websites for a project and generally communicating with each other whether in school or at home.

For another way to do online discussion – try http://www.think.com – or look at what your VLE already provides in-school.

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is a great project and any number of tools could be used for this: http://literacyresourcesandideas.edublogs.org/tag/digital-storytelling/

You can’t go wrong with collaborative writing and nothing beats a wiki for this purpose.  I use pbworks at http://pbworks.com but there are several wikis that are good for school use.  The world is your oyster here.  Create a collaborative document about anything.
@joysimpson

Animoto

Animoto http://animoto.com/education is great for year 6 and you can apply for an ‘education account’. All you then need is a google mail account and you can create accounts for each child.

with animoto you can make mini music videos… my class are making videos for leavers assembly.

Story Starters

another site worth looking at is http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm , according to their blurb “Scholastic Story Starters are a quick, fun way to inspire students to write.” I have a class of reluctant writers and they enjoy this so I guess thats a good recommendation… anything to get EBD kids to write works for me.

PhotoStory 3

PhotoStory3 is fab, free and easy to use combining photos, text and music http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx

Animation

If you’ve got time animation using freeware such as monkey jam is very effective – 2D with cut paper is quicker than 3D models! http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam/download.html

Be Funky

I’ve just been using http://www.befunky.com/ with my class (year 5) this morning to upload some photos from a school trip yesterday. You can apply various effects to these including adding text and speech bubbles. The class enjoyed doing this and want to continue.

You could then use www.animoto.com to create a ‘movie’ slide show of the images and http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ could be used to record the voice over.

You could use http://www.stupeflix.com/ for slide show presentation combining voice overs and music, http://www.glogster.com/ for creating a poster wall of information including movies and recordings.

http://writingfix.com/traits_primary.htm#forkids

Scroll down for the interactive random writing ideas. My Year 6/7 students loved using these and were very amused by some of the combinations they were presented with. (Pam Thompson)

Telescopic Text

http://writingfix.com/traits_primary.htm#forkids

We had great fun using this very simple site. It really made students think about the value of words. We then used it as a collaborative writing task with another school using Etherpad. (Pam Thompson)

Persuasion Map

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/persuasion_map/

This tool from ReadWriteThink is a great way for students to organise their thinking as they plan a piece of persuasive text, whether oral or written. (Pam Thompson)

Web Links

I have Year 4/5 so these websites will generally be close to what you might wa nt. http://delicious.com/AllanahK/Literacy
Also http://www.delicious.com/dannynic/digitalstorytelling

Also check out:

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacyresources/index.php
http://www.sgfl.org.uk/englishandliteracy/primary/y6network
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/contents.htm
http://www.twomilehill-jun.bristol.sch.uk/literacy.php
http://thedowns.wikispaces.com/

And that’s it for now. If you have any other ideas that you wish to share, please add them to the Etherpad here, or put them in the comments to this blog post.

Twittering Teacher in Trouble

Posted on May 23, 2009 in Web Tools | 9 comments

I was half way through delivering a course on how to use Web 2.0 in the classroom when I saw a headline on the BBC news website that stopped me in my tracks for a second: Probe into Teacher Twitter Posts. I was gobsmacked when I read it.

Now I will agree that a teacher does need to realise that their twitter feed can be read by more than just their close group of friends (unless you protect your updates I guess) and so as such it’s not really professional to complain about students in a way that they could be identified.

I am being followed by a few of my PGCE students. I may have tweeted in the past that I am trying to muster the energy to mark their stack of assignments, but I wouldn’t be tweeting about how many failed etc (if any) since that’s unfair on the students to hear it that way. I wouldn’t complain about any of the students on Twitter (although, since they’re actually a lovely bunch this year I don’t need to any way!)

Now the article does say

“The teacher in question is not facing disciplinary action, although the council is looking into the matter.”

Which makes you wonder what the story really is here. And how it ended up on the BBC site? And I’m concerned that the BBC can see fit to just take a teachers tweets and use them out of context

It does seem to me that there’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to Twitter recently. A few months back there was a story about a magistrate who resigned after complaints that he was twittering about cases. Again the real story was that the council completely misunderstood how Twitter was being used. In fact it was being used to make the workings of the court more transparent, and no private info was being revealed.

So what do you think about this? If a teacher is twittering during a class then maybe there is an argument that they are not fully focussed on their teaching. How would the teacher react if students were twittering during the lesson? But to blast a teacher for using Twitter at all?

One sentence from the BBC article that amazed me was this one:

Argyll and Bute Council policy states that teachers may access professional blogs which have educational value but are not allowed to have their own blog.

Really?? They are not allowed to have a blog?

As one of my Twitter followers Kate pointed out – “who is writing these professional blogs that Bute teachers are allowed to read? Surely not other teachers then?” And that’s a good point.

Is this true? Can anyone who works for Argyll and Bute let me know if this is actual policy?

How can Argyll and Bute ban teachers from having their own blogs? That’s totally unreasonable and goes against much of the guidance being offered on the Learning and Teaching Scotland’s own advice site, who says things like:

Edublogs

A key use for blogs in the education world is the keeping of a Teacher Learning Log, or an Edublog. This is not about filing away CPD courses you’ve done, but reflecting on the day-to-day work done in the classroom and how it might be done differently, better or in collaboration with someone else ‘out there’. Normally, you’ll quickly make contacts with like-minded souls – but only if you have already contributed something to the bigger picture by writing about your experiences regularly.

Sharing ideas with others

The edublogging world is a compassionate place where people are always willing to help out with advice, tips or just reassurance that you’re doing it correctly. They will even share resources and good links. But it works both ways – share and share alike and you will feel your teaching changing as real-time reflection and deep thinking take place away from the hubbub of school.

Or how about from this page?

LTS encourages its staff to read, comment on, and start their own blogs, podcasts and wikis. These software applications can be invaluable in the workplace, school or learning environment. They allow people to collaborate, learn, and communicate in ways which weren’t possible before.

So Learning and Teaching Scotland is encouraging teachers to set up blogs, but individual councils are then banning teachers from doing this? There’s some mixed messages going on here.

I seem to get the impression that they don’t really understand blogging and twittering, and so they’d rather just block and ban it.

I have seen some excellent teacher blogs. Many of them share good practise and examples of the excellent work their students are doing. Many of them share lots of good ideas with the education community.

I will agree that teacher blogs should not really be making negative comments about students, that is unprofessional. And if the teacher is doing that, then a quiet word in their ear from their line manager may be appropriate to stop them making comments about the school or pupils.

There is some excellent guidance on what you can and can’t say on your blog on the LTS site, which does seem to explain things better. And these are some good guidelines to work around.

It does lead to some interesting discussions – and there was a lot of shock about the story on the twittering teaching community yesterday afternoon when it came out.

What is becoming more evident is for school management to get themselves up to speed on these new ways of communication and to understand them, before they start issuing disciplinary action. I’m hoping that the full story comes out soon and I’m also hoping that there’s been some serious misreporting here and that maybe this has been sensationalised a little.

Over to you.

Update – Thanks to Andy Wallis for this link to Argyll and Bute’s blogging policy.

Why does Argyll and Bute Education promote weblogs in schools?
Education’s continued development of Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) in Argyll and Bute, includes the promotion of modern methods of communication
across schools and the wider community.

So it looks like the quote about them banning teachers from having blogs is probably nonsense. I wonder who gave that quote, and why?

Hubble and Shuttle Images

Posted on May 20, 2009 in Activity Ideas, Digital Media, Interactive Whiteboards, Useful Links | 0 comments

Here’s a couple of quick links to put a little awe and wonder onto your Interactive Whiteboard (or just your computer screen in general)

As a space geek I am always a sucker for the images that the Hubble Space Telescope takes of deep space. They are absolutely awesome.

And with the current Space Shuttle mission to upgrade Hubble taking place, this is a great time to bring a little newsworth science into the classroom.

One of my favourite image sites, The Big Picture has a collection of amazing images of the Space Shuttle launch and astronauts working on the Hubble telescope. These would be great as part of a lesson introduction to have on the IWB.

Would make good discussion starters – why are the astronauts floating like that? What materials do you think their space suits are made of and why? What do you think it would be like to look down on the Earth like that? What energy changes take place when the shuttle launches etc.

The image gallery is here. And look around the site for some more excellent images on a wide range of subjects. All can provide a little awe and wonder when viewed large on an interactive whiteboard.

If you want some images taken by the Hubble telescope itself, then you can download a wide variety of them from this site. Again, some awesome images that really show how huge the universe actually is.

And finally, if you ever want to see what an astronaut thinks about space, then follow Astro_Mike on Twitter. He’s up there right now and he’s twittering about life up in space. Twitter is excellent – but to have people twittering from space is another level of awesomeness.

Enjoy!

Easi-Speak Sound Recorders

Posted on May 18, 2009 in Activity Ideas, Hardware, Interactive Whiteboards | 7 comments

Here is an excellent gadget to use for recording student voices without having to be tied to the laptop or PC.

The Easi Speak USB mic is a handheld microphone that lets you record directly onto the device, a bit like a dictaphone. They are very portable and would be ideal for taking on school trips.

You can play the recorded files back directly from the microphone (it has a small speaker built in, or you can use the headphone socket) for immediate feedback. Or you can flip the cap off the bottom of the microphone to reveal the USB connector and plug it in to your computer to offload the files.

It has a 128MB memory that can record up to 4 hours of sound. It records in WAV or MP3 format so you can take the files and put them directly into Audacity or similar Editing Software.

It has a built-in rechargeable battery which can be charged through USB. You can buy a small charging hub to charge 5 at the same time.

And the best thing about them is the price. They retail at about £30 each but you can get discounts for buying in packs of 5 or 10. Find out more from the TTS Site.

The sound quality is pretty good. Here’s a demonstration sound file I recorded earlier. For this I held the mic about 20 cm from my mouth, there’s very little distortion:

TTS Easi Speak Demo File – Click to Play

The EasiSpeak does look a little childish in yellow (I think the black one looks quite good) which may put older children off using it – but TTS are producing Easi-Speak Pro which is £10 more but does look a bit more “adult” and less Fisher Price… It also has dual headphone sockets and an input for an external sound source. This is not yet on the TTS site, but should be available soon.

They are a really neat bit of kit,and can have a wealth of uses in the classroom. They would be ideal for podcasting – either by putting the files into Audacity first, or taking the MP3 files straight off the Easispeak and putting onto your school VLE or uploading to a Podcasting site.

The MP3 files could also be attached to an interactive whiteboard file – would be good for recording short sound effects or words that play when they are clicked.

Here’s some other ideas for using them:

• English – Use for role play interviewing, drama-script reading and listening back to recordings.
• Languages – use for role play, oral work – immediate playback to see how they sound.
• Maths – Record in your times table songs and rhymes for all the class to sing to.
• Science – Record sounds from varying distances – how does the sound alter?
• Geography – Interview local residents about issues that concern them with their local environment.
• History – Use on field trips to see how attitudes to popular culture, work and home life have changed.
• Music – Record and listen to music and sounds.
• Citizenship – use for “vox pops” to interview people for their thoughts and opinions on different topics.

They could be used to make audio books, or instructional guides. You might even use them to make revision guides which can be placed onto the school network.

Here’s a link to my podcasting presentation I produced last year which may offer additional ideas.

I’m looking forward to playing with these some more. I’ve bought a set of 5 for my training courses so hopefully I’ll soon have some recordings from teachers that we can share!

Four Interesting Things

Posted on May 16, 2009 in Activity Ideas, Interactive Whiteboards, Useful Links, Web Tools | 1 comment

Lino

Lino is another online notice board application that lets you put a number of sticky post-its and to-do lists onto a virtual pin board. Boards can be public or private and you can use it to share files, photos and videos too!

Use it as a class notice board on your IWB. Or for lesson objectives or to collate resources / images.

Shutterborg

Shutterborg is an online word processor that lets you edit documents via your browser without the need for word processing software. A neat touch is that if you give it the URL of a website, you can open that webpage up, and edit the text. Would be useful for looking at web design to take an established site, and show how it would look in different styles were applied (and would it look better or not). This also means you could use Shutterborg as a proper website editor.

NWLG Digital Literacy Module

Here’s a resource thats designed to be used to teach aspects of Digital Literacy. Designed by NW Learning Grid this resource focuses on the knowledge and skills related to accessing, understanding and evaluating digital information. The resource is not intended to be a complete course on Digital Media Literacy but serves as an introduction to encourage the learner to reflect on their current practices and stimulate discussion and questioning.

Twiddla

Twiddla is an online shared whiteboard space. You could use it as a simple interactive whiteboard – but even better you can have several people on the board (from different computers) at the same time and use it as a collaborative space. It even allows for text and audio chat so you could use it for conferencing/meetings.

If you use any of these applications, and have some tips, let me know in the comments.

Notebook tips

Posted on May 15, 2009 in Interactive Whiteboards, SMARTboards | 1 comment

A quick post to flag up two blog posts on Jen Deyenberg’s blog that gives some tips for using your Smartboard.

Both are worth a look – Being able to change the default fonts is definitely a useful thing to know.

5 Cool Tricks on the Smartboard

5 More Smart Notebook Tips and Tricks

Thanks for sharing these Jen!

Smart Response Update

Posted on May 15, 2009 in Voting Kits | 2 comments

Just a quick heads up. Due to problems with the Smart Response update patch, Smart have taken down the download page until they can fix the issues in versioning and languages.  The versioning is specific to any file created in 9.7, saved in NB SP1 and then opened in SP2.  The language issue makes NB perform inconsistently when used with an OS in another language.

From the Exchange forum here:

We’ve had to pull the Notebook Software SP2 packages off our website due to the problem I have outlined in both the Technical Support and the Notebook Software 10 subforums.  This extends to SMART Response due to the fact that it is bundled with Notebook Software 10 SP2, and we are unable to offer a standalone download for just the SMART Response software as it requires Notebook SP2 to function correctly.

I ask of anyone looking to download the new software to be patient for the time being while we work on applying an emergency fix to the software so that this doesn’t happen any longer.

If you did upgrade, don’t panic, the chances are things will mostly be ok but you will get error messages when opening NB files created previous to the upgrade

So keep an eye on the Smart website, forum (and of course this blog) and as soon as the download is back up online Smart will let us know.

Stupeflix – Easy Video Slideshows

Posted on May 9, 2009 in Digital Media, Interactive Whiteboards, Presentations, Web Tools | 1 comment

Stupeflix is a new site that lets you turn images into video slideshows in the same way that Animoto does. It’s currently in Beta and while you can create videos for free it looks like there may be a charge in future.

You can add images by copying and pasting the image URLs froma site such as Flickr, or by uploading images. You can’t (at present) pull images in from a Flickr photoset in the same way as Animoto can.

It’s very easy to group images into smaller sets – and add captions to an image or a group of images very quickly.

Unlike Animoto you have to upload your own mp3 music files – you can’t choose from a bank of creative-commons tunes. But it is easy to get songs from a site such as Jamendo and add a credit to your video. This would also be a good way of producing a podcast – adding images to go alongside an mp3 podcast file you had produced.

The video generation is pretty quick too. You can produce iPhone video, Quicktime or Flash video. Once produced you can download your video as a file – or view it online. I can’t see immediately how to embed this video into your blog directly from Stupeflix. You would need to download it and upload elsewhere to somewhere like Vimeo. This is a little silly, and I hope they provide embedding options in the future.

So here’s the quick video on Stupeflix I’ve produced. Only took about 10 mins or so to make. Direct link to the video is here.

Visualisers – a quick demo slideshow from Danny Nicholson on Vimeo.

Jose Picardo has produced a good guide to using Stupeflix for podcasting – you can view it here.

There is a bank of ready-made videos on there, taken from images on Wikipedia from the look of things. You can view them here, and if you have an account you can use them as the basis of your own video by remixing them.