The planned Glowcoming Glow Meet has been postponed due to one of the two host schools being closed on the 30th – watch the blog for details of the new date when it’s confirmed. Sorry to those who had planned to get involved.
I had the great privilege today to attend an event marking the culmination of a wonderful project. The famed Scottish artist, Willie Rodger, has been working with nine schools across Scotland, helping them to create linocut prints of their very own. It all began on Hallowe’en, with Willie hosting a masterclass via Glow Meet from his studio, with each of the nine classes joining in to watch. Over the next weeks and months, the pupils, from P7, right through to S6 Advanced Higher, had further webconferences with Willie, who was able to provide one-to-one advice and comments. In addition, the pupils posted their work as it progressed on individual Glow Groups, and met up in Glow Chat rooms every Friday to leave comments on each other’s work.
Today Angela McEwan from Media Matters, who has been managing the project, hosted a Glow Meet from Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Glasgow base. Willie Rodger was here, along with his family, to take part in the highlight of the event – the opening of a Virtual Gallery of the pupils’ work by Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, Liz Lochhead.
Glow’s very own Marie Dougan welcomed participants, and handed over to Angela to speak to the schools. We joined each school in a live Glow Meet link, and the pupils talked about their work as it was displayed on the shared virtual whiteboard. After we’d heard from each school, Liz Lochhead took the mic to officially open the gallery. We were delighted with her reading of two of her own poems, and a reading of Scottish Poet Laureate Edwin Morgan’s poem, The Computer’s First Christmas Card. The latter poem seemed particularly appropriate in light of both the time of year and the subject matter. When Willie Rodger took the mic to praise the project, the room was stunned by the rapturous applause coming from each of the schools. Indeed, it was hard to tell who had enjoyed the project most – Willie Rodger or the children he worked with. Either way, it was a fantastic success.
Today’s Times Educational Supplement contains an article regarding the event and all the schools who took part, and you can find the Virtual Gallery online at Media Matters. Its final home will be in the Glow National Expressive Arts Group, which is due to open soon. This surely paves the way for more exciting Glow-based projects around the country. Got an idea for one? Get glowing!
I spent a fun two days in Dumfries and Galloway this week, taking part in three different events geared towards getting people onto and using Glow.
On Wednesday night, I joined the D&G Glow team for a Glow roadshow, where the cluster primary teachers gathered for a demo and introduction to Glow. There was a real buzz in the room (maybe a sugar rush from the lovely biscuits, but I think it was about Glow).
I was fortunate enough to work with some of the same teachers the next day in their own schools. We visited two primary schools, and got all the pupils from P4-7 logged into and playing with Glow. Any fears I had about this task being beyond the younger children were clearly unfounded, as they remembered every step from their short demo, and mostly managed to log on without issues. When one or two issues did arise, the excellent D&G Glow team were on hand to help out. The children had a chance to email their friends from Glow Mail and have a look around their school sites. They all seemed to love it, and were raring to get home and log on to the Glow Games. I was lucky enough to have the chance to talk to one of the classes, a Primary 3/4/5 in Moniaive Primary, about what other classes are doing with Glow around the country and I showed them some fun Glow Groups from Shetland and Aberdeenshire.
In the evening I joined the team in delivering a CPD event to teachers on the Glow communications tools, and the attendees discussed their own ideas for using these in the classroom and collaborating with each other. With the primary rollout just over halfway complete, and a fantastic local support team, Glow is gaining momentum in Dumfries and Galloway and everyone’s getting in on the act.
Blog feed