Glow Scotland

Metaphrog are comics creators Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, best known for making the Louis series of comics.

For the first time, they are bringing their popular comics workshop to Glow!

Any classes from P5 – S4 are invited to join Metaphrog over Glow Meet at 1pm on Wednesday the 3rd of March. You’ll learn lots about creating characters and comics, and have the chance to create your own characters. They will also set you a comic-creating challenge, and you can come back for the follow-up Glow Meet later in the year and show us how you got on.

To join the Glow Meet, you’ll need a room with a computer with internet access, a projector and screen or interactive whiteboard, and speakers. Pupils will also need access to paper and drawing materials.

The Glow Meet and the sign-up sheet can be found in the Graphic Novels National Glow Group.

Are you and your class celebrating Burns Day with dancing, poetry or maybe something else? Why not share your talents with other schools throughout Scotland and join in through Glow Meet?

Whether you are doing To a Mouse, Tam O’Shanter, Highland dancing or playing an instrument sign up in the Homecoming Glow Group where the event will be held and let us all enjoy your celebrations of Burns Day.

Our event takes place from 1.30 – 3pm on Monday 25th January.

In addition why not start your celebrations a little earlier and join us from 2-3pm on 21st January for a special Glowing Thursday entitled Burns250?

Written to fit with the concepts of Curriculum for Excellence Burns250 is a one-man show of songs and verse, in full costume, telling Burns life story, accompanied by background slides and involving history, geography, music and literature.

Songs and poems include: To a Mouse, To a Louse, Tam O Shanter, Scots Wha Hae, A Man’s a Man, Auld Lang Syne and many others. Celebrate Burns with us in the Glowing Thursdays Glow Group.

We hope you can join us to celebrate this important event in the Scottish calendar!

Once again the children around Scotland entertained us with their singing and dancing during Glowing Thursday’s ‘Scotland’s Got Christmas Talent’. The afternoon was filled with renditions of Jingle Bell Rock, All I want for Christmas is You and a wonderful array of songs from school shows and pantos.

A huge thanks goes to all the individuals and classes who took part that afternoon and to their teachers for making it happen!! We were delighted that we were also joined by many other schools who were our audience and kept writing wonderful comments about the performances. “Fantastic”, “brilliant” and “well done” are amongst a few of the comments made on our public message board.

Thanks again to all those who took part and we hope to have another event like this in the summer term – and find even more homegrown Scottish talent!!

At the start of the December Glowing Thursdays was delighted to host the second in a double bill of Glow Meets with Scottish Ballet. Entitled ‘Inspiring Careers’ this Glow Meet allowed the viewers to hear directly from four ‘Scottish’ ballet dancers, each of them outlining why they had chosen to be a dancer and how as a career they found it fulfilling. During this session we were joined by 15 schools who also had the opportunity to ask questions and those who were unable to take part posted questions on a discussion board before the event. Who knows this Glowing Thursday might have inspired a pupil to be the next greatest Scottish ballet dancer?!

That same day Glowing Thursday also hosted an Early Years session which was attended by more than 38 individuals. We were joined by Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop, Chair of Childhood and Primary Studies, Strathclyde University and Gerard McKernan, Quality Improvement Officer, Glasgow City Council who discussed their recent involvement in the National Transitions Advisory Group as well as their own current work from pre-school into primary. It was a lively event and people were keen to ask questions, all of which were answered during the event and the presenters who had never used Glow Meet before were delighted with the experience an at how easy it was.

A very busy day for Glowing Thursdays but a great opportunity for pupils and practitioners to learn, share and collaborate together!

Yes the highly popular national talent event is back once again and this time it has a Christmas theme!

Why not join us on Thursday 17th December from 1.30pm – 3pm to see what fantastic talent the pupils in Scotland have to offer?

Our last event before the summer featured 15 wonderful acts with singing, comic performances, dancing and even bagpipes all showcasing within Glow. Make this event just as good by registering your interest with Jennifer McDougall - j.mcdougall@ltscotland.org.uk and taking part in this exciting event.

You don’t have to peform to join us on the day, you can be part of our audience and enjoy the event from the comfort of your own classroom. For more details go to glowhelp.me/thursdays and we hope to see you there on the day!

Join us for another Glowing Thursdays double bill this week (3rd December)!

At 2pm we welcome back Scottish Ballet after their successful Glow Meet last week and this time they will be discussing Inspirational careers – Join our “Scottish” dancers for a live Q&A about their career pathways and an insight into their lives as dancers. Hosted by Ailsa-Mary Gold, Associate Director Education, and live studio audience of Senior Associates. We are delighted that on the day we will be joined by all 4 of Scottish Ballet’s Scottish dancers. If you are unable to be part of the live event please leave a question in our discussion board which can be found in the Glowing Thursdays National Group.

Then at 4pm we are pleased to welcome Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop, Chair of Childhood and Primary Studies, Strathclyde University and Gerard McKernan, Quality Improvement Officer, Glasgow City Council to lead the Glow Meet session. They will discuss their recent involvement in the National Transitions Advisory Group as well as their own current work from pre-school into primary.

Find out more about Glowing Thursdays at glowhelp.me/thursdays

In a Glow first we will be featuring not one but two Glow Meets at the same time on Thursday 26th November. From 2-3pm that day you and your pupils will have the opportunity to engage with two very important arts organsisations.

From the National Galleries of Scotland we will be joined by Martin Boyce in an exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ interview with the Contemporary Scottish Artist. As part of the Glow Meet he will be showing short (time-lapse) films of his installation being constructed in the gallery, as well as mini interviews with key people involved in the entire process of installing contemporary artworks – such as the curator, the art handling team, the conservators and the Director of SNGMA, Simon Groom. This event is supported by Homecoming money.

In addition you can also join Kate Morrison from Scottish Ballet to find out about the concept, costume and design behind Ashley Page’s Nutcracker, delivered by Scottish Ballet education and featuring the resident wardrobe department.

You and your pupils will have the opportunity to view both of these events and if you are not able to attend live you can leave a question on the discussion board and also, as the events are being recorded, you can watch them at your leisure. Find out more about this exciting event at glowhelp.me/thursdays

“I am inspired”.

‘great fun … and very impressive’.

“It was great. I am from a primary background and could easily adapt this. Thanks so much”.

“A great success. My first Glow Meet and I’ve left with lots of good ideas”.

On 29th October teachers from as far afield as Stirling and Thurso logged into Glow to listen to David Miller from St Ninian’s High School East Dunbartonshire deliver a fantastic masterclass session entitled ‘Literacy in Action’.

During the session David explained how an S1 poetry unit he was working on led to a cross-curricular project with the Art Department and resulted in the pupils making a short animation film. As well as sharing his own teaching approaches and the Curriculum for Excellence outcomes the project covered, David showed examples of the work produced by the pupils and gave the participants of the session practical advice on how the project was organised. Some of those taking part in the Glow Meet also offered their own hints about the best software they had found for animation projects. All those who took part agreed that the masterclass was, ‘inspiring’.

Every month the national English teachers’ Glow group runs a session just like this one on a variety of Literacy/English topics. If you have a Glow log-in, an internet connection and speakers attached to your PC then you can take part. These sessions are free and are always timed for after school so no cover is needed – you can even join in from the comfort of your own living room!

You do not have to be an English teacher to participate but you must be a member of the national English teachers’ Glow group. Click HERE to request membership. Detailed instructions on how to join a Glow Meet masterclass are posted in the group.

Another masterclass session will be running in November – details coming soon!

A ‘Speed Dating’ event with a difference was held at the DCA in Dundee last week to foster new partnerships between arts organisations and new media and technology companies.

The Co-Create project is inviting Scottish Arts Council funded arts organisations to develop proposals for projects with schools using Glow, working in partnership with learners and with media companies who can help create innovative new resources for Glow. Co-Create provides a fantastic opportunity to illustrate the key role the arts can play in supporting Curriculum for Excellence via Glow.

Almost 30 representatives of arts and media organisations attended the Speed Dating event with a view to meeting new creative partners. Media companies were each given a five minute slot to present their work and this was followed by a networking session where arts and media companies met each other for short introductory conversations on a rotational basis.

The event generated a real buzz, with lively conversation and ideas exchange. A follow up Open Day at the Optima Building, Glasgow on 15 October will allow participants to find out more about the technical possibilities of Glow.

‘Glow is an exciting idea…..allowing interaction with us and several schools at the one same time is very exciting…..’

Sonja Lowe, Playwright Studio Scotland

‘It’s been particularly good to share with people…. and to hear about how other companies are utilising new media in reaching different sectors within education…’

Sara Kinnear, Screen Media

Arts organisations have until 16 November to submit their proposals to Co-Create. Successful applications will be announced in January and projects will take place throughout 2010.

If you would like to be involved in the Co-Create Project, please contact the Glow Arts Development Officer by emailing GlowAdmin@ltscotland.org.uk or via the Co-Create Glow Group.

For more information on Co-Create visit the Glow Scotland website or
Visit the project page on Scottish Arts Council website
Follow #CoCreate on Twitter

The Glow Arts Project Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund

We thought it was time for a change, so we’ve drawn up a few possible new themes for Glow that we’d love your opinion on.

There are 15 in total, and we’d like to gauge which ones are the most popular. The two that are the most popular, we’ll develop into themes that users of Glow can select to use. We’ll announce which two are the winners at SLF this year.

[NOTE: the poll has now closed - thanks to all who took part ]

If you want to find out more about the competition to design your own theme for Glow, then visit this page on the main GlowScotland site.