Arms and Legs

Funny how sometimes a little plan is the best way to get more people involved! Our wee baby eyepet project is now getting a little larger… I’ve been picking up a few other schools and nurseries over the past week who also want to be involved. Fantastic. Funny also how sometimes a little bit of input can have long lasting impact. Ollie Bray visited around Aug/Sep to give a talk to people in the area about free web resurces etc, then Brian McLaren visited a couple of schools the other week. Those two visits are showing lots of impact in terms of emerging games based learning throughout the area.

I read something really nice on twitter last night. Unfortunately I can’t remember who posted the link … but I’m sure they will know who they were! I’m always interested to see how aspects of AiFL can be further extended and have  found thinking dice a great tool for schools to use in making questioning and interaction more effective. Previously work done by establishments around developing questions using De Bono’s six thinking hats has also been innovative. Anyway last night this link was posted on twitter. Fantastic resources developed by Big Hill Primary School around Pohl’s Thinkers Keys. Great activities which could be linked to any curricular area to promote thinking/questioning/creativity etc etc. An absolute gem. For those who are yet to understand why twitter is a great teaching resource – this is a super example.

For those who haven’t yet had a look the CfE parents toolkit is now up on the LTS site – great resource for helping explain CfE to parents. A huge amount of work done on this around putting together presentations, leaflets, explanations about CfE which schools  do not now need to develop

Back to school

The best bit about a week off for me is the chance to do some reading. Have particularly enjoyed Carol Dweck’s book mindset the new psychology of success. Got it after being really impressed by her talk at SLFO9. Worth reading and reflecting on. Doug Belshaw has pulled together a variety of bits off you tube here very handily!

Also found a couple of hours at the LTS Optima offices listening to Greg Whitby very inspiring. Lots of other who attended are much more conscientious then me and have written about what he said, in particular Neil Winton.

Still almost squeaking with excitement after my phone upgrade was due and I got an iPhone. I said it’d opened up a whole new world for me, Ollie Bray says its a way of life… Anyway the best thing is I can now twitter whilst at work. I’ve only been playing with twitter for a wee while but have already found its providing me with huge amounts of CPD activies, for instance… trying to play about a bit with Google Wave, thanks to Dave Terron for invite and thanks also for his update on the e-assessment conference in Dundee which you’ll find on his blog. Have a look at his wiki  Bold Girls which is a great example of what you can do with wikis using a bit of imagination. I pledged at teachmeet at SLF09 to get some more twitter starters in the Rutherglen Cambuslang Area, so I’m going to push for this using my pester power over the next wee while

Got a good week ahead, particularly looking forward to visiting Loch Primary for a day to visit classes and observe writing lessons. PT/Faculty Head drop in session this week is on coaching and mentoring and Barbara Lyndsay HT at West Coats PS will lead this. Looking forward to pubmeet on Tuesday and hearing more great practice.

Various

Enjoyed my jaunt to a wedding over the weekend just outside Budapest. My cousin Stuart was getting married to Henrietta who is from a small town near Visegrad. Glorious weather, hearty goulash and stuffed pancakes and lots of cake. Loved all the traditions during the wedding and reception with the master of ceremonies. Just wonderful.

Busy couple of days at work we held an HMIe preparation event yesterday where “talking heads” who have recently had HMIe visit their schools talked about their experiences. As with anything, its all about making connections and sharing with others. Everyone got a pack with bits and bobs which might be helpful.

This evening Cathkin Primary hosted a talk by Ollie Bray. He was ably intoduced by Jaye Richards and has promised to embed his slides on his website. One HT phoned me afterwards to say it was inspiring, and I’d have to agree.

Holiday Fever…

You can feel the build up in the air gearing up as you visit schools as we near the end of May, and best of all this Saturday is apparently going to be scorchio! Poor Ollie Bray was marathoned out by his visit to some of the area establishments the other day. Not only that but he’d to put up with my driving. I’m sure his eyes were tight shut on occasion. My driving style is like an elderly uncle of mine who used to talk, point etc whilst driving and put the fear of death in me every time I was in his car. I’m off now to read some stuff related to what we saw in Hong Kong by F Marton.