Connected Blog

This week the blog posts about teachers’ return to school have been flying, but few teachers will have that first hard week more in perspective than Caroline Gibson, who spent her holidays working in Malawi with the Global Teachers Programme.

During her adventures she managed to keep an online diary of her learning, the new experiences, the fun, and over the past few weeks has been emptying her brain of the remainder of this amazing journey.

My favourite aspect of her time there is probably one that’s unrelated to her reason for being there. A keen runner, Caroline somehow managed to maintain a training schedule, joined by the occasional local child on her 10k runs – the photo at the top of this post is indicative of just one day’s running companions!

Other adventurer teachers this summer included Musselburgh’s Ollie Bray, who led young people on an expedition across some of America and Canada’s best lakes and mountains with some vital survival equipment in hand, Sheila Laing, Headteacher of Forthview, who spent July visiting Hle Bee school in Thailand July 2008, and Mary Gillespie, Headteacher of Pirniehall, also in Edinburgh, who travelled to partner with Mae Sot Burmese school.

The Continuing Professional Development team would love to hear from other teachers who’ve been away this summer to the far flung, exotic or life-changing location. Leave a commenton their blog to share your experience.

Connected 21 is now online with articles and features on literacy, Gaelic, PE and computer games.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/connected/articles/21/index.asp

It’s not really news, I know, but it’s always good to see reaffirmation of the benefits of exercise on learning and the brain – like this article in the Independent. One aspect I hadn’t seen articulated quite so directly concerns the role exercise plays in reducing aggression. Perhaps that explains why, almost without exception, martial artists seem to be amongst the least aggressive people around. Much of the article concerns the work of Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, John Ratey, author of a book entitled Spark and a related blog.

A child starts planning the storyboard, while another begins cutting some archived film. Two other classmates seek out some images on the net. Each student in this group, like all those students who attend Islay High School, are using their own Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), which they bring to and from school to provide a continuous portable base for their work.

But this is not just a story about cool gadgetry – this is a school which has changed itself entirely in the past five years.

I was taking in all of this on Friday, the same day the school won Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Ambition Awards at the Scottish Education Awards. I was joined by John Johnston, primary school teacher and blogger from Glasgow’s Sandaig Primary School, whose account shows how visits like these can lead to new practices in schools many miles away. Krysia and Doug Semple also joined us along with John’s Head Teacher; blog posts to follow, I hope…

But what grabbed us all was the scope of change. First, everyone in the school community (that’s students, teachers and parents, too) is part of a grand peer-assessment ring, with the UMPC acting as a show-and-tell hub for the work and discussions that took place at school that day. Using OneNote, students can capture text notes, audio and video from their classes, with teachers as accomplices in the recording of their explanations and discussions. All too often, the thought of having a teacher recorded on the fly by a student would have the teacher confiscating the device doing the recording. Here, it is celebrated, with OneNote allocating each segmentof audio to each relevant paragraph.

Students can be heard sharing secret numerical codes – their machine’s unique IP Address – so that such documents can be shared and edited collaboratively in real time. This is how students brainstormed and created storyboards collaboratively, keeping all their progress for future analysis in their review of their work thus far.

Andy Wallis, the English teacher running this excited film-making adventure, brings the class to a brief pause, to encourage them to video their own discussions for the next few minutes. It’s a real eye-opener for those who have been hogging discussions, providing a spotlight moment for those who’ve been a little quieter until now. As they say, the camera doesn’t lie. Another piece of evidence for for the formative assessment pile.

It’s not just pedagogy that has changed to make learning work here; the timetable has seen the beginnings of change. Wednesday and Friday afternoons are curious times for the uninitiated: students who, when I was at school, even had separate social areas are now collaborating on projects. It’s not uncommon to have a 14 year old S3 student working alongside a 17 or 18 year old sixth former who’s seeking to work through a brand new subject area. Here, the class you are in is decided by your level of attainment, not your age. Twice a week these afternoons offer an opportunity to expand horizons through extended project work.

As John says, it’s the overriding desire to learn which can be felt from every member of the school community that is quite overpowering – you wonder why you’ve not felt it in every school you’ve ever visited. It’s the responsibility that has been transferred to students – when they misuse their UMPCs they are subject to the ‘normal’ rules of engagement you’d find in any school. The technology has changed all the things it should do, and left some elements of school life, rightly, untouched.

This is a school where the introduction of a new piece of technology has helped introduce changes across the rest of the system. Or where the system’s changes led to the necessary introduction of the technology. You see, that’s the other thing. When change is so integrated into everyday life, it’s hard to remember what happened first.

See the rest of the photos from this trip on Flickr.

Update: Doug “DigitalMaverick” Semple has just added his extensive thoughts, too.

Gaming technology offers many new ways in to getting young people engaged with history, geography, language… Musselburgh Grammar School’s PE department has seen that there could be promise in getting young people fit through their lunchtime Wii sessions. Unfortunately, it’s only for S1 and S2 students. Quite how Mr Bray’s going to get in is beyond me

Just last week I was introduced to Ben Saunders, who responded with a courteous and short email along the lines of: “I’m a little busy at the moment but would love to meet up for a pint.” He was, in fact, four days away from starting his 30-day dash to North Pole. Alone.

An attempt to set a new world speed record from Ward Hunt Island to the Geographic North Pole by Ben Saunders.
The current record was set in 2005 by a guided team using dog sleds and
numerous re-supplies in a time of 36 days 22 hours. Ben’s expedition
will be solo and unsupported and on foot. This route has only ever been
completed once solo and unsupported, by Pen Hadow in 2003. Ben aims to
halve his time and complete it in 30 days. More than geographic
exploration, Ben is exploring the limits of his own human potential.

You can follow the trip blog, catch up on his amazing Flickr stream (but probably after the trip , and see what equipment one needs to make this voyage alone.

I’m hoping that, the next time, we might be able to help spread Ben’s work to more school children, and bring their aspirations to a high with some of the motivating speak that Ben can offer. Maybe something schools on Glow can enjoy through Marratech video-conferencing, as well as in person. Don’t know what I mean? Take a look at Ben’s TED Talk, Three Things To Know Before You Ski To The North Pole, and be inspired to get cold and miserable yourself:

Enthusiasts of dance and martial arts might enjoy this. After watching it, I felt even more wooden than I usually do.

Today I received an email from the RSA alerting me to an interesting event which I simply can’t attend. Why do I enlist for newletters from organisations 400 miles away? The main reason is to remind me to keep in touch with what these interesting organisations are doing. By visiting the Index of audio lectures you can listen live or, later, listen again to this Thursday’s debate with Lord Adonis chairing entitled Rethinking Schooling.

It was while browsing this archive that I came across a very interesting debate entitled Teen Rage – Anarchy in the UK.

Chaired by Ravi Chandiramani (editor of “Children and Young People Now”), the panel included:

• Janey Walker (Head of Education, Channel 4)
• Camila Batmanghelidjh (psychotherapist and Founder, Director of Kids Company)
• Francis Gilbert (teacher and author of “I’m A Teacher Get Me Out Of Here” , “Teacher On The Run” & “Yob Nation”)
• Dr Anthony Seldon – the only one to bring some young people with him. One of them pointed out that “…we are expecting more and more of our young people, but believing in them less and less.” Another stressed that there is little point in involving young people in lessons in well-being if the rest of their day is directed by staff who exhibit very little of that quality.

Including the vigorous debate which followed the invited speakers, the whole thing lasts for 90 minutes but is very stimulating for anyone involved with young people. It is currently top of the list in the archive.

The event was reminiscent of In The Wild – a fringe event (sponsored by Channel 4) at the Scottish Learning Festival.

Following on from the videos of cup- and dice-stacking on Ollie’s blog, may I suggest you try this fun little clip? It takes about a minute to get going but stay with it as, by the end, it is extremely dexterous.

Morna Crombie from Curriculum for Excellence and pupils from St Stephen’s Primary School in Dalmuir in Clydebank demonstrate interdisciplinary learning with a short drama combining food and health, physical activity and maths.

See more about this podcast or listen to other shows on Connected Live’s podcast page. Or, you can listen by clicking the play button below.