Glow Scotland

Tina Stevens is originally an English teacher from Notre Dame High School in Glasgow but for the past two years has been a Development Officer with the National Glow Team at Learning & Teaching Scotland.

The June masterclass will take place on Wednesday 17th June between 4pm and 5pm and will cover using some of the most effective tools inside Glow for teaching English and will also begin to make links between using these tools and tackling the Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes.

The masterclass is free to join but you must be a member of the English Teacher’s national Glow group to do so. Click HERE to go to the group and then click on ‘Request Access’. (Please note that all access requests will be processed no later than 24 hrs after application and will usually be dealt with within one hour, however, notification of membership cannot always be given directly to applicants).

Log in to the first ever national virtual conference for languages teachers in Scotland!
Scottish CILT would like to invite you to take part in the first ever national VIRTUAL event for languages teachers: Languages and Interdisciplinary Approaches, on Monday 15th June at 4pm.

Two practitioners, one primary and one secondary will share theirs and their learners’ experiences. Corinne Anderson, from Balfron High School will talk about the Europe week experience she devised for S2, and Wilma Gordon, from Mid Calder Primary School will explain how a link to a French school provided the vehicle for an ambitious collaboration resulting in bilingual novels and films in her P7 class.

All you need to take part is your Glow log in and a computer – try it from home if you can! However, you must be a member of the Scottish CILT group to take part in the conference. If you are not already a member follow this link to the national Modern Languages Glow group then click on the link for Scottish CILT. (Please note that membership will be given within 24 hours but notification of this is not always possible so please check back after this time)>

Please join our group and email asap to let us know that you would like to take part in the event.
Looking forward to seeing you on Monday 15th on Glow!
Catriona

catriona.oates@strath.ac.uk

mandy.reemanclark@strath.ac.uk

Skills Development Scotland  (SDS) is “Scotland’s new skills body, bringing together four partner organisations with a shared vision to drive forward real, positive and sustained change in Scotland’s skills performance.” It brings together the expertise of Careers Scotland, key skills elements of the Scottish University for Industry, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Lynne Haughton from Learning and Teaching Scotland, worked with the Glow team to provide two days of Glow training for SDS on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th June. The training took place in the classroom on floor seven of the Optima in Glasgow. Attendees came from across Scotland including Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles. 

There were two aims for this training: for individuals to learn how to use Glow and for SDS to start building a community in Glow.  The training went well and the next step is for individuals to build on what they know in their Local Authorities and use their skills to share ideas and network in Glow.

My job, now, is to create  a presence in the National site with two Glow groups for SDS.  The first will be for SDS staff only,  in the Staffroom National Glow group.  The other will be for all Glow users and it will be seen  in the main list of National Glow groups. Look out for the Skills Development Scotland National Glow group which will be an important place to go to find out about careers and skills in Scotland.

Two very successful Glow events have recently taken place at Stirling Management Centre. These ‘Building Glow Communities’ events focused on getting English Teachers and Primary 4-7 teachers respectively to work together to create Glow groups to support learning and teaching.

These groups will be used by the teachers who created them to share ideas and resources and to allow collaborative activities between their pupils. The groups are also open to all teachers and pupils nationally so that they can follow what’s going on.

Teachers can apply to join the groups with their own classes and take part in the activities.

You can find the P4/7 groups created by the participants under National Groups/Building Glow Communities. Groups include ‘The Victorians’, World War 2, Scotland and European Tour Guide Mission. The English Teacher groups at are at National Groups/Literacy and English/Building Glow Communities and include Transition P7/S1, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and War Poetry.

If you have any problems viewing or applying to join the groups please contact Lesley Dickson at l.dickson@ltscotland.org.uk

We are still taking applications for the next events for early years, maths, the expressive arts, science and social studies. Visit Glow Scotland to apply for a place.

Please note that while the emphasis of the events is very much on sharing and collaboration it would be useful for applicants to have some previous experience of creating Glow groups.

If you would like an event held for your subject area or sector please register your interest with Glow Administration.

Last month Neil Winton of Perth Academy delivered a free on-line CPD session through the English Teachers’ national Glow group. The session was a huge success and one teacher who logged in was Miss Coates of Mearns Academy in Aberdeenshire who was inspired to try using WIKIs with her own class:

The other day, whilst planning an advertising unit for my S3 I wondered if I could use the wikispace for that. In just 3 days the result has been rather dramatic! The task is up and running and the kids are creating their own websites for their very own companies detailing the history of their advertising campaigns. We even have “The Apprentice” style PMs who I have made organisers. I am very chuffed with their progress.

The WIKI has been such a success that in only a few days the class have added nearly 300 different edits.

3E1 have now opened their WIKI for public viewing and you can access it HERE. There are several discussion threads open already and the class are keen to get as many ‘hits’ as possible and hear your thoughts on their work.

The English Teachers’ national Glow group runs a free CPD session for teachers’ every month. The May masterclass is scheduled for tomorrow (May 20th) between 4pm and 5pm and will feature Rob Marrs from the English Speaking Union giving practical advice on how incorporating debating techniques into teaching can help pupils gain a better understanding of text - for example ‘This house believes that Macbeth was to blame for his own downfall’

You don’t have to be an English teacher to join in these sessions but you do have to be a member of the group! To join click on this LINK, log into Glow and then press the Request Access button.

Finally, if you are also a teacher who has been inspired through Glow to start something new it would be great to hear from you! You can post a reply at the bottom of this blog or email the Glow team at GlowAdmin@LTScotland.org.uk

On 20th May from 4pm to 5pm Rob Marrs, the Speech and Debates Officer at English Speaking Union Scotland will be delivering an online CPD session entitled ‘Debating in the English classroom’.

Rob has developed the successful and highly acclaimed ‘Debating In Schools’ materials for Learning and Teaching Scotland, and is in overall charge of the Debating In Schools CPD programme - so far in 2009, Rob has worked with over 200 teachers in this format.

His session will focus on the use of debating as a tool in the English classroom. Specifically, though not exclusively Rob will look at how to use debates to explore texts (for example ‘This house believes that Macbeth was to blame for his own downfall’). There will also be some focus on how to explore other areas of the English curriculum.The session will also include some techniques on introducing debating to a group and how to use the format within classes.

A successful debater in his own right at the University of Glasgow, Rob was selected for the ESU Tour of America as a student - arguably the highest accolade that can be given to a British student debater. As well as his work across Scotland, Rob has coached, judged and spoken all over the world. This is a unique opportunity for teachers’ to take advantage of Rob’s expertise and he will be happy to answer questions both during and after the session.

The debating masterclass will run through Glow Meet on the English Teacher’s national Glow group and full details of how to access the session and use Glow Meet can be found there. If you are interested click on this LINK and then the Request Access button. The masterclass session is free to join (and you don’t even have to be an English teacher!)