issue 13 uked magazine jan 2015

ukedchat.com January 2015 Issue 13Supporting the Educational Community

Guide to BETT 2015 Reflection p6

EnterprisingChildren &

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4 Disrupting EverythingBrian Christian explains how big data is set to change education and provide information to improve learning.

26 Book Shelf Freaked Out by Simon Pridham

ContributorsBrian Christian @BST_PrincipalCatherine Steel @TaffTykeCWendy Adeniji @WendyAdenijiDavid Carpenter @dizzleeducationPaul Wright @pw2tweetsRM Education @RMEducationPetra’s Planet for Schools @PetrasPlanet4SPaul Hutson @NightZooKeeperStephen Lockyer @MrLockyerStephen Logan @Stephen_LoganDr Pooky Knightsmith @PookyHLisa Pettifer @Lisa7Pettifer

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From the EditorThe debate over academic versus technical skills

is an old one and an issue which will continue to be debated as each person has a different view about how a correct balance is achieved. But everyone agrees that helping pupils develop to ‘enterprise’ skills of being able to innovate, to think creatively, work collaboratively and apply their skill set to novel challenges will stand our next generation in good stead. But are schools and our education system designed to opening up this kind of thinking as they stand?

In this issue we explore the world of business and enterprise and give you some practical examples of how this could work in your school.

We also explore where this entrepreneurial thinking may lead, in our 8-page pull-out guide to this year’s BETT Show

Martin Burrett - Editor

@ICTmagic @UKEdMag [email protected]

6 ReflectionsCatherine Steel reflects on the learning of her pupils and shares what she believes are the things which have had the greatest impact.

8 Real-World Economics & Business in the ClassDavid Carpenter explores how to bring the an understanding of the outside world into his classroom, with lessons for us all.

11 #UKEdChat’s Guide to the BETT Show 2015Read the best advice for getting them most out of the BETT Show, whether that is CPD, buying tech or networking.

13/20 BETT Guide: Introduction & IdeasIdentify which kind of attendee you are and plan your trip with advice from BETT veterans.14 Our BETT Story A story that has been 30 years in the making

16 BETT Guide: Safeguarding Young Learners OnlineA look at the safeguarding issues faced at primary schools and one interesting solution to create savvy young web users.

18 Ofsted Encourages Creative Teaching & LearningPaul Hutson argues that the school inspectorate wants to see creative teaching and explores the evidence for his view.

23 Questioning QuestioningStephen Lockyer questions everything we think we know about questioning and offers five strategies to improve your technique.

24 Enterprising EducationStephen Logan explores what makes an enterprising education and why it includes vital skills for your students’ futures.

25 Promoting Body Confidence and Self-EsteemDr Pooky Knightsmith discusses your role in promoting a healthy self-esteem & self-confidence with just a few small changes.

27 Big Brother is not watching you!Lisa Pettifer discusses an innovative resource at her school allowing teachers to learn from each other and help improve their teaching.

Issue 13: January 2015

21 UKEdResources/ICTmagic Resources

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7 Teaching a Language in the Primary ClassroomWendy Adeniji offers her advice for teaching languages at primary school with a range of fun activities and ideas.

04 UKED Magazine

Disrupting EverythingBig Data and the Age of the Algorithm

Do you shop online? Follow the news on your iPad? Use Google to search for information? Of course you do. And you may well have noticed that these activities are becoming increasingly personalised experiences: ‘you recently bought X, you might also like Y.’ Your data is big business and there are algorithms mining the tell-tale silvery data trail that, snail-like, you leave behind you wherever you go.

Here’s a little experiment you might try out. When you’ve finished reading this post (I know you won’t want to stop reading this page just yet) search for 2014 electric cars online. Then choose one or two interesting models, perhaps the BMW i3 or maybe the eccentric-looking Renault Twizy, and read up on them; you could even request a brochure. I suspect that you might be surprised to discover how often electric cars, or adverts for BMW and Renault then start appearing in your online life over the next few weeks. It’s not a coincidence – like some poor, unwitting fly struggling in the strands of a spider’s web, you have been transmitting signals to someone who has been eagerly listening out for them.

The commercial and corporate worlds woke up to the possibilities some time ago and, although it took a little longer for us to smell the coffee, those of us who work in education were not too far behind in beginning to understand the potential of data and analytics. Monitoring student progress by analysing the results that students achieve in tests and exams has long been the norm in our schools, but what if we could dig deeper? In today’s connected, technology-driven world it wouldn’t be too difficult to monitor the books our students take from the library, to compare performance on tests taken in the morning with those taken in the afternoon, to measure the impact of different experiences – a group project say, or a piece of individual research, on learning and retention. What if we could link a student’s canteen card to their test results? Do students who skip lunch, or who eat unhealthily perform less well than their peers in afternoon lessons? Can we show them the data that proves it?

Eileen Murphy Buckley, former English teacher and founder of ThinkCERCA [@thinkcerca], an online provider recently recognised by a major award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, believes that data is changing the way that educators think: From critical accountability to teacher accountability, to the way we arrange our time, our learning spaces, technology – data is disrupting everything (See bit.ly/uked15jan01 for further reading).

She compares its effectiveness in education to our use of personal fitness trackers and health monitoring applications to build a meaningful picture over a period of time, guiding us towards making what might be life-changing choices. The more we know, the easier it is to work out a ‘best fit’ for individual students and as schools make better and more

informed use of technology, the easier it is to deliver a genuinely personalised education.

Blended learning is the term used to describe what is usually a teacher-constructed model combining the best practices of the more traditional classroom with a range of online opportunities where students are encouraged to collaborate and to exercise some control over the time, pace, and place of their learning. The range of digital resources available to educators is enormous, and we are now seeing teachers who began by incorporating YouTube clips and Ted Talks into their lessons moving on to the very sophisticated use of a whole host of collaborative sharing applications and widespread integration of social media; class Twitter accounts, for example, are commonplace and student bloggers in schools everywhere are sharing their ideas with the world.

By Brian Christian

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Teachers who have been most successful in weaving technology into their lesson planning and implementation have been those who have done so in order to improve and build upon pedagogical best practice; the least successful have been those who have seen it as a costly add-on or optional extra, the alloy wheels or the tinted windows in the glossy brochure. Technology for the sake of technology is a waste of everyone’s time, but real blended learning derives from the knowledge and skills that have always been demonstrated by good teachers intelligently augmented by 21st Century technological advances.

For example, a teacher who might previously have created a printed hand-out with a series of questions for students to answer individually could now set up an online forum with a number of signposts to encourage contribution and generate discussion. Students don’t just see their own posts – they can see and respond to the posts of their peers, perhaps modifying their original thinking and coming to different conclusions as a result. Feedback is also shared: the teacher can obviously offer constructive guidance or criticism to the individual, but may also choose to offer open feedback which is potentially valuable to everyone in the group – and, of course, there is a lot of research demonstrating that the most effective feedback of all is that provided by our peers.

I feel certain that over the next few years we will witness further significant widespread disruption of the traditional teaching model. The opportunities that technology affords us to capture, store and analyse data, to build personalised educational programmes to match the needs of the individual and to break down the walls of the classroom are unprecedented. Today’s students are already the beneficiaries of a concerted move towards blended learning; the students of tomorrow may well be educated in a learning environment their parents would scarcely recognise.

Brian Christian has been Principal of The British School in Tokyo since 2012 and is a member of the COBIS Board. He writes a regular blog on educational matters: www.bst.ac.jp/principalsblog and can be found on Twitter @BST_Principal

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06 UKED Magazine

Happy New Year!

With the hustle and busyness of December out of the way, we begin a new calendar year, but will it be any different to the last twelve months? Will it be better? What if it’s worse? As we enter 2015, many people will be thinking about what lies in store and planning ahead. However, it can be all too easy to forget to stop, reflect and think.

Every school day, educators are actively encouraging children to ‘reflect on their learning’, respond to feedback and improve their work. But what does all of this mean and what’s the point?

I’m sure many adults and children alike will have had their own advent calendars and waited excitedly in anticipation of what was behind each door, but are doors and barriers always exciting and how do we overcome them?

Growth Mindset - You can do it if you think you can!

An ancient Roman myth told the story of Janus, God of beginnings and transitions and therefore, doors, gates, passages and endings. He is shown as having two heads; one looking forwards to the future and the other looking back to the past.

This led me to thinking about Carol Dweck’s work around having a ‘Can Do’ attitude and a growth mindset. By encouraging children to believe in themselves, we are promoting a positive approach to thinking and learning, not just in school, but in life. Creating a learning environment where it is safe, and even encouraged, to make mistakes, children will push themselves and rise to challenges without fear of getting it wrong or being told off.

Such an environment and mindset, naturally leads to independence in daily activities.

Encouraging Independence

Throughout my career, I have worked in various year groups and Key Stages, but the success I’ve had is largely down to making the children believe that they can do it by themselves. They might not always get it right, but they are confident enough to have a go in the first place, which in my book, is the best way to learn.

When activities are planned to be as flexible and open as possible, thus allowing the children to lead the learning, they will automatically engage with each other through talk. Discussion, reasoning, sharing of ideas and negotiation are only some of the wonderful skills I’ve witnessed over the

years. Children of all ages really do begin to view each other as sources of help first before asking an adult.

Key Stage Two children often prove what they have learned in the lesson through use of mini plenaries and exit passes. However, in Key Stage One and Early Years, it can be harder for the children to evidence what they have been doing, especially if they have been independently accessing provision while the adults are doing focused activities. Last year, I trained my Year One children to take photos of their work (including playdough models, Lego creations and all) so that when I asked, ‘What learning have you done today?’ they could show me. To take this a step further, I would use a visualiser to show the photos to the whole class and allow the children to explain their work to celebrate it together. Even without the use of technology, it would be possible to adapt this approach for all year groups.

Working walls are another useful source of information and a way for children to check their work, but eventually there comes a point when all the work is complete and it needs to be marked.

Marking and Feedback

Every night, teachers across the globe mark countless pieces of work to hand back to the children, but how can we ensure the quality of what is said and are children ever given an adequate chance to respond?

Ultimately, the purpose of marking work is to give feedback to each pupil about the work they have done. Often, teachers give children instant feedback verbally throughout an activity, but it is then lost without trace. A useful way of acknowledging this is to put ‘VF’ (verbal feedback) on their work. I have also seen teachers share a sample of work within a small group and discuss what is good about it, what could be improved and record it to be photocopied for each child in the group as evidence of the feedback.

Lots of schools seem to use the stars and a wish system or something similar, again sharing an example of work from the session and discussing what is good and how the individual can improve it further. This notion of using past experiences and knowledge to improve something in the future is a useful tool when unlocking the next door on their learning journey.

ReflectionsBy Catherine Steel


By the end of the year, I found that a class of five and six year olds could peer mark effectively and provide next steps. Even children who initial struggled were able to verbally explain face to face or record on a talking postcard and leave it with the work for the owner to access.

Having trained children to peer mark, I really can see the advantages of this. Once adults have modelled what to look for in work across a range of subject areas, the children pick up how to do it. This, in addition to careful teaching of how to mark and what to look for, really enhances the quality of the work being produced.

We used green highlighter pen for great things and orange for things to improve. Initially, I found that children would mark everything green just because they could. However, through constant practice, they became good at marking by using the shared success criteria.

The key was to allow time for the children to read or listen to the next steps, discuss how to make it even better and then respond to the feedback provided.

Another chance for responding to feedback, particularly at primary is through use of another colour pen or pencil crayon. We used the ‘Purple Pen of Progress’, but I am aware that other schools have a variation along the same theme. Again, through practice and training, children are given the chance to show that they can improve their work and also answer any challenges that may have been set as an extension. In my experience, it helps them to remember to use these features in future work as they have had time to practice using new skills. This constant use of shared successes and learning from mistakes in order to improve has a real impact on learning of all ages.

On Reflection

So, how will 2015 look? Nobody yet knows, but what we can do is use what’s gone before to make improvements in the future and help children to reflect on their own approach to learning.

So next time you are chasing your own tail, remember this quote by Kemmy Nola, “no one can change the past. Whatever we think we are right now is the reflection of whatever we did yesterday, but we can exert ourselves vigorously to be the best in the future.”

Image credit: http://freestock.ca/icons_buttons_g93-abstract_acrylic_icon__light_bulb_p3067.html & http://freestock.ca/abstract_g68-vibrant_abstract_watercolor_texture_p4097.html by Nicolas Raymond used under Commercial Creative Commons 3.0 License.

Catherine Steel is currently working in schools in Bradford and Leeds, looking at implementing the computing curriculum. With a keen interest in using technology to enhance learning, find her on Twitter at @TaffTykeC.

As learning a foreign language became compulsory across England at KS2 in September 2014, the challenge for primary teachers is how to ensure that children are learning well and making progress as well as enjoying the opportunity to learn a new language. As a trained secondary MFL teacher I enjoyed going into a primary school one day per week to teach French across all ages. In contrast to some secondary pupils, children at primary school are almost all excited to learn a new language. By teaching children earlier, we are not only tapping into children’s lack of self-consciousness, but also their innate love of strange sounds and their ability to embrace the world with open arms. Finally, we are catching up with our European counterparts who take learning a language so seriously that it is a fixed part of the curriculum of most countries when children first start school.

I learnt a huge amount when teaching French in a primary school, and particularly that much of the practice of primary colleagues is better than their secondary counterparts. Indeed, I brought this good practice back to secondary school, which greatly improved my teaching, particularly in Y7 and Y8. So what works well?

Using songs to teach and reinforce the languageWe can all name songs that we learnt many years ago that

we just know the words to (my children think it’s uncool that I know all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody and many U2 songs – I used to play them over and over as a teenager). Once children learn a song, the fact that it is set to music with a beat helps the long term memory to store it. It’s also fun to sing and actions often accompany songs, which again help us to memorise it.

Use stories, both traditional and newWhether children know their English versions or not, stories

are a great way to teach a new language. Knowing the story can be a great help as children don’t worry if they don't understand every word. We should not teach a story as a translation activity, but as a way of accessing repetitive language and familiarising ourselves with the syntax and rhythm of a language. Also, many traditional tales have their roots in other cultures – Little Red Riding Hood (Le petit Chaperon rouge) and Beauty and the Beast (La belle et le bête) are French in origin for example. The Talk4Writing technique, beloved of many teachers, can also very effectively be used to support imitation and invention in a new language.

Use co-operative learning activitiesThese activities, such as Quiz Quiz Trade, Round Robin and

Fan ‘n Pick (see kagan.com for more details) which many primary teachers use, can be used very effectively in teaching a foreign language.

Best practice in MFL teaching is the same for other subjects – planning for progress, appropriate differentiation and assessment for learning are all part of an effective MFL lesson.

Bonne chance! ¡Mucha suerte!

Teaching a Foreign Language in the Primary Classroom

Wendy Adeniji @wendyadeniji is a teacher of French and Spanish, a Vice Principal and an Additonal Inspector for Ofsted. She previously taught French in a primary school, is a trainer for primary and secondary MFL teachers and an author of many language teaching resources, such as for BBC Education and Mylo.

By Wendy Adeniji

08 UKED Magazine

One of the things I love about both Economics and Business is the dynamic nature of the subjects. It’s simply impossible to teach the same lesson year-in year-out because something is bound to have changed since last year - from a changing political landscape to a major retailer’s fall from grace.

News stories such as these have their influence on my lessons in a variety of ways. At a basic level, I will try whenever possible to refer to current government policies, real businesses that have hit the headlines, and real-life case studies in my lessons. Sometimes it even seems as if the news agenda is working around my scheme of work! I have used Disneyland Paris as a case study for discussing costs, revenues, and profits with AS Business students since I studied my PGCE, but this year, the evening after this lesson, I was checking the news on Twitter and Disneyland had hit the headlines with a story of falling visitor numbers, significant losses, and a bail-out being needed from it’s US parent company. This enabled some fantastic discussions to take place in the subsequent lesson about Disneyland’s high fixed costs, the need for continual investment in such an industry, and its sources of finance.

The ever-changing state of the world economy also has a significant impact on my lessons. Recently I’ve been teaching my AS Economists about inflation, and the context of this for the UK has changed dramatically over the last year. In September 2013 it was 2.7% and the discussion centred around how this above-target inflation could potentially affect the UK economy, especially at a time when people’s incomes were fairly stagnant. We also discussed what was causing this inflation, namely rising commodity and food prices creating cost-push inflation. A year later, in September 2014, the rate had dropped to 1.7%, amid front-page headlines of falling petrol prices and the potential for deflation in the retail and food sectors. Suddenly, we were discussing why inflation was falling in the economy and whether it was demand or supply causing oil and many other commodities to drop in price.

The news isn’t just something that affects my lesson planning, though. I also expect all of my students to keep up to date with the latest Economics & Business news, whether this involves reading a newspaper, listening to the radio, or reading the news online. I have encouraged them to make use of the excellent BBC and Guardian websites, with their specialist Business and Economy sections, as well as Twitter of course. A lot of my own tweets consist of relevant news stories that they should be reading. I also

Real-World Economics & Businessin the Classroom

use hashtags that link to each of the exam units that the students are studying - #econ2 for unit 2 economics, for example. I’m also planning t o take this one step further with a new daily news question posted online at dizzledaily.sytes.net. Hopefully, this will be launching in January 2015, and I’ll be aiming to update it with a new question every evening. Any teachers who would like the login details for the ‘answer’ page, please get in touch.

My final reason for both encouraging students to read the news and for using it to influence the context of my lessons is to improve student’s preparation for their exams and their engagement in the lessons. In Economics in particular, they will be given news articles and/or data about an aspect of the world economy. The more aware they are of the economic situation around them, the better they will be able to apply their knowledge to this data and, even better, add in some of their own knowledge to back up their points.

The outside world impacts subjects across the curriculum and my subject is not alone in benefiting from a worldly outlook. From statistics in the news for maths, global health and environmental issues in science, to public performances and exhibitions in the arts, looking out for what’s current, innovative and new will inspirer students to learn and bring true meaning into your teaching.

David Carpenter is a Teacher of Economics & Business at Chislehurst & Sidcup Grammar School in south-east London. He can be found on Twitter @dizzleeducation.

By David Carpenter

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lendingmemo/11942712503 by Simon Cunningham - lendingmemo.com used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.Drawing opposite by @pw2tweets. Kind permission to use BETT logo from i2i Events group.

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10 UKED Magazine


UKEdChat Guide to

BETT 2015ukedchat.com/bett2015

21st-24thJanuary 2015

Advice to get the best from your

visit

Discover professional development opportunities

Who to see at the show?

Advice about planning your visit

Tips on professional networking

Learn new things with TeachMeet

BETT

04 UKED Magazine

Self Service Device LoansSelf-service, multi-bay locker system designed

to store and safely charge laptops and other similar devices.

24/7 access to IT equipmentGives students

flexibility of use

Various Identification methodsSuch as biometrics, barcode,

magstripe or MIFARE™

• Full integration with most Library Management Systems (LMS)

• Supports BYOD - loan safe and secure charging space

• Students can choose their preferred option – laptop, tablet or locker space

• Always loans the best charged device

• Unlimited number of lockers can be deployed (96 per terminal)

See a live demo at Bett!Visit stand F186 for a demonstration of the Diplomat™ LMS from our friendly Sales Team.

Don’t miss out! Ian Spillane, ISS Service Desk Manager from DCU will be talking about how they have implemented the Diplomat™ LMS in their library on Thursday 22nd Jan, 11-11.30am.

F186

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Bett Preview.pdf 1 02/12/2014 13:20


Self Service Device LoansSelf-service, multi-bay locker system designed

to store and safely charge laptops and other similar devices.

24/7 access to IT equipmentGives students

flexibility of use

Various Identification methodsSuch as biometrics, barcode,

magstripe or MIFARE™

• Full integration with most Library Management Systems (LMS)

• Supports BYOD - loan safe and secure charging space

• Students can choose their preferred option – laptop, tablet or locker space

• Always loans the best charged device

• Unlimited number of lockers can be deployed (96 per terminal)

See a live demo at Bett!Visit stand F186 for a demonstration of the Diplomat™ LMS from our friendly Sales Team.

Don’t miss out! Ian Spillane, ISS Service Desk Manager from DCU will be talking about how they have implemented the Diplomat™ LMS in their library on Thursday 22nd Jan, 11-11.30am.

F186

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Bett Preview.pdf 1 02/12/2014 13:20

Getting the most out of the BETT ShowAn Educator’s Guide

Essential EquipmentGood Shoes & Water

Think of BETT and a hike through the technological mountains. You will walk a long way, so it is important to be conformable and hydrated.

A Bag with Extra SpaceYou will find that you acquire paper and small souvenirs very quickly at the show. These can become burdensome. Take a bag, preferable a

backpack, with plenty of extra space and cull any items that are not useful as soon as you get them.

A Fully Charged Mobile PhoneBETT is a huge event and you may get separated

from your group. Plus the social media back channel of BETT always make fascinating reading. Follow #BETT2015 and the best bits via #UKEdChat. For

the dedicated Twitter guru a spare battery or power pack is a must. You will also find that photos from the

phone’s camera will make it much easier to report back to colleagues about your finds.

Contact CardsLike a business card, but for those of us not in business who just want to network with other

educators. Try designing one with just your name, Twitter handle and your photo to give out to your

new friends.

It’s busy and noisy. A myriad of screens and devices can just be glimpsed in between the crowds. There are colourful displays and strange creations decorating the walls and tables. As you move around, people will try to put paper in your hands and try to catch your attention. Thankfully, for a few days a year you can leave your class and all this behind and travel to the BETT Show.

The show is the largest educational technology show in the world and it can be overwhelming, especially for teachers travelling to the show for the first time. In this guide we aim to provide you with an essential toolkit to get the best out of the BETT Show, whatever your goals may be.

Firstly, to explore the show properly should take more than one day, so if that is all the time you have you need to ensure that you have a clear idea of what you want to get out of the show and plan accordingly. Teachers usually fall into one or a combination of the following groups. The first step is to identify which aspect of BETT you are most interested in:

NetworkerTeachers who wish to seek out colleagues

and interesting people to connect with and learn from, often as an extension of their

social media network.

Professional DeveloperEducators who seek CPD

opportunities from the various talks, presentations and workshops.

Browser/BuyerEducators who wish to see the latest

innovations in educational technology and consumers looking to purchase

equipment for their school.

Professional Development

If you are seeking to improve your professional knowledge and skill, it is important to view the programme of talks and workshops to decide which day would be most useful to meet your

needs and to schedule your time once you are there.

As well as the formal presentations in the BETT Arena by Nicky Morgan, Sir Ken Robinson and many others, or in the other ‘learning zones’, it is important to remember that there will be hundreds of presentations and CPD events happening on the stands. Some of these are organised events with a scheduled timetable, while others can be ad hoc private explanations of products, if you ask the right questions. As well as demonstrating new products, stand-holders are increasingly offering master classes for things that you or your school may have already purchased.

Something else to experience at BETT are the TeachMeets. These come in two varieties. There is the main TeachMeet BETT in the BETT Arena on Friday evening, where up to 600 people gather for an informal CPD session with educators giving short presentations about what works well in their classes. See the site at teachmeet.pbworks.com for details and free tickets. The other variety is TeachMeet Takeover, where companies donate their stands for educators give a short CPD presentation. See bit.ly/tmtakeover15 for schedule/locations.

UKEdChat is running live discussions and interviews from the RM stand at C250 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. See ukedchat.com/BETT2015 for the schedule and further details.

Continued on page 20

This year BETT has asked visitors and speakers to share their BETT story: how have you got to where you are today and what are your ambitions for the future? So we thought we would share ours with you…

Over the last 40 years RM Education has transformed from a manufacturer of computers for education to the leading provider of software and services to UK schools.

Looking back at our first stand in 1985 when we were entirely hardware driven, brings back fond memories. We launched our first Windows PC, the RM Nimbus, and we were one of the first companies in the world to adopt the Microsoft Windows standard.

Over the following 30 years we have showcased dozens of products from RM Windows Box to RM Living Library, to the various generations of our network management tools. By 2010, the technology used in schools had come such a long way: we were showing innovative learning spaces, dance mats that taught pupils Spanish, the new and updated RM Easimaths as well as giving away tree saplings to promote our EcoQuiet range of computers.

Successfully managing your IT provisionWhen it was announced that my school was going to be completely rebuilt as part of the BSF programme, it opened up a world of great new possibilities. As we went through the process we were able to think how we could future proof our new IT solution, help the teachers and excite the pupils, whilst still making sure we got best value for money. We wanted something that would work –I don’t mean only during school hour’s work, I mean work so well that we would forget we even had it. It was also imperative that we had a comprehensive infrastructure solution: something our Network Managers would constantly remind us of.

Getting the most from your school dataIt’s not just about the IT solution and infrastructure. The smooth running of your school is reliant on accessing robust data, as painlessly as possible. Allowing your staff to easily gather data can be a huge challenge and can take up many hours of teaching time. Adding on the stress of a difficult to use interface can make tasks seem impossible. However, these tasks can’t be avoided. Where everything is driven by assessment and the generation of reports forhead teachers, governors, parents and Ofsted, being able to complete

Let us know you’ll be there #RMatBETT

We are at stand:

C250

January will be our 30th BETT and over the

last 29 BETT shows, we’ve given out 53,737

brochures and we’ve had over 116,000

conversations with visitors since BETT began.

We understand the BETT show and its visitors

so why not come and talk to us.

Having a fast, reliable and safe internet connection, so you can...In a report produced in February 2012 ,Ofsted emphasised the importance of pupils being “well informed about the safe use of the internet and … able to use it in a responsible and safe way”. Schools now need to provide an internet safety solution that makes safeguarding a priority across all aspects of school life (including beyond the school gates). At RM Education, we can provide you with a comprehensive package of tools, CPD and content to help you keep your pupils safe and achieve a good to outstanding Ofsted rating.

Having all these systems is great but you can’t access them without a reliable, fast and safe internet connection. Each month I visit a handful of schools. The main comment from these visits is that the #1 issue faced day-to-day is a slow and unreliable internet connection. All staff want to be able to walk into their school each morning knowing they won’t have any internet issues.

Having a fast and reliable connection in your school also requires you to consider pupils’ online safety.

Access to the best possible teaching and learning contentFor me this is the most important piece of the jigsaw: you can have all the technology in the world but the thing that will make a real difference in your classroom is having great content available. The apps that schools use to support teaching and learning have evolved hugely over the last 30 years and there are now more resources available than ever before.

these tasks quickly and easily can make the world of difference. Ask yourself: who uses your MIS and how do they use it? Do you have the right support? Is it easy to access anywhere, at anytime? At RM Education, we can help you get more from your data through assessment, reporting, efficiency, accessibility and support: all wrapped up in one easy to use system.

The challenge is knowing what to use and how to embed it in your school once you have made that choice. RM Unify offers schools a Launchpad to a rich variety of curriculum content, for example RM Easimaths and RM Books.

You need someone who can adapt with you and your school, push you to be at the forefront of innovation and provide trusted solutions that just work. You may not be interested in the nuts and bolts of the solution, however it is definitely worth having some ideas about what your school requires.

RM Education can create the IT support and infrastructure package that fits your school. You won’t have to worry about the changing world, because by being flexible, scalable and future proofed, we will worry about it for you

Just like our business, our stand today is about the software and services we provide that can transform the way a school delivers IT from school Management Information Systems (MIS) to safeguarding pupils online. However much I reflect on the past, it’s the future that we all need to focus on now, and for those of you that have never visited the RM Education stand, let me convince you why should you visit us this year.

Having spent nine years as Assistant Headteacher of a large Secondary School, I know that the world of education is constantly changing. RM Education brings knowledge, products and services to ensure every aspect of your school’s technology works perfectly to support your needs. I think this can be summarised in five clear areas.

www.rm.comMark Maybury @TalkToRM

14 UKED Magazine

This year BETT has asked visitors and speakers to share their BETT story: how have you got to where you are today and what are your ambitions for the future? So we thought we would share ours with you…

Over the last 40 years RM Education has transformed from a manufacturer of computers for education to the leading provider of software and services to UK schools.

Looking back at our first stand in 1985 when we were entirely hardware driven, brings back fond memories. We launched our first Windows PC, the RM Nimbus, and we were one of the first companies in the world to adopt the Microsoft Windows standard.

Over the following 30 years we have showcased dozens of products from RM Windows Box to RM Living Library, to the various generations of our network management tools. By 2010, the technology used in schools had come such a long way: we were showing innovative learning spaces, dance mats that taught pupils Spanish, the new and updated RM Easimaths as well as giving away tree saplings to promote our EcoQuiet range of computers.

Successfully managing your IT provisionWhen it was announced that my school was going to be completely rebuilt as part of the BSF programme, it opened up a world of great new possibilities. As we went through the process we were able to think how we could future proof our new IT solution, help the teachers and excite the pupils, whilst still making sure we got best value for money. We wanted something that would work –I don’t mean only during school hour’s work, I mean work so well that we would forget we even had it. It was also imperative that we had a comprehensive infrastructure solution: something our Network Managers would constantly remind us of.

Getting the most from your school dataIt’s not just about the IT solution and infrastructure. The smooth running of your school is reliant on accessing robust data, as painlessly as possible. Allowing your staff to easily gather data can be a huge challenge and can take up many hours of teaching time. Adding on the stress of a difficult to use interface can make tasks seem impossible. However, these tasks can’t be avoided. Where everything is driven by assessment and the generation of reports forhead teachers, governors, parents and Ofsted, being able to complete

Let us know you’ll be there #RMatBETT

We are at stand:

C250

January will be our 30th BETT and over the

last 29 BETT shows, we’ve given out 53,737

brochures and we’ve had over 116,000

conversations with visitors since BETT began.

We understand the BETT show and its visitors

so why not come and talk to us.

Having a fast, reliable and safe internet connection, so you can...In a report produced in February 2012 ,Ofsted emphasised the importance of pupils being “well informed about the safe use of the internet and … able to use it in a responsible and safe way”. Schools now need to provide an internet safety solution that makes safeguarding a priority across all aspects of school life (including beyond the school gates). At RM Education, we can provide you with a comprehensive package of tools, CPD and content to help you keep your pupils safe and achieve a good to outstanding Ofsted rating.

Having all these systems is great but you can’t access them without a reliable, fast and safe internet connection. Each month I visit a handful of schools. The main comment from these visits is that the #1 issue faced day-to-day is a slow and unreliable internet connection. All staff want to be able to walk into their school each morning knowing they won’t have any internet issues.

Having a fast and reliable connection in your school also requires you to consider pupils’ online safety.

Access to the best possible teaching and learning contentFor me this is the most important piece of the jigsaw: you can have all the technology in the world but the thing that will make a real difference in your classroom is having great content available. The apps that schools use to support teaching and learning have evolved hugely over the last 30 years and there are now more resources available than ever before.

these tasks quickly and easily can make the world of difference. Ask yourself: who uses your MIS and how do they use it? Do you have the right support? Is it easy to access anywhere, at anytime? At RM Education, we can help you get more from your data through assessment, reporting, efficiency, accessibility and support: all wrapped up in one easy to use system.

The challenge is knowing what to use and how to embed it in your school once you have made that choice. RM Unify offers schools a Launchpad to a rich variety of curriculum content, for example RM Easimaths and RM Books.

You need someone who can adapt with you and your school, push you to be at the forefront of innovation and provide trusted solutions that just work. You may not be interested in the nuts and bolts of the solution, however it is definitely worth having some ideas about what your school requires.

RM Education can create the IT support and infrastructure package that fits your school. You won’t have to worry about the changing world, because by being flexible, scalable and future proofed, we will worry about it for you

Just like our business, our stand today is about the software and services we provide that can transform the way a school delivers IT from school Management Information Systems (MIS) to safeguarding pupils online. However much I reflect on the past, it’s the future that we all need to focus on now, and for those of you that have never visited the RM Education stand, let me convince you why should you visit us this year.

Having spent nine years as Assistant Headteacher of a large Secondary School, I know that the world of education is constantly changing. RM Education brings knowledge, products and services to ensure every aspect of your school’s technology works perfectly to support your needs. I think this can be summarised in five clear areas.

www.rm.comMark Maybury @TalkToRM

Teachers across the UK are grappling with the explosion of social media and internet use by children, resulting in safeguarding issues inside and outside the classroom. It is not uncommon for e-safety risks to arise from cyber bullying, striking up online relationships with strangers and access to inappropriate material. With the popularity of smartphone ownership even amongst primary age pupils, a locked down, filtered school IT environment no longer protects the school and its children from safeguarding issues in the school grounds. This is an issue that is at the heart and mind of all stakeholders in schools today.

There is no point in wishing the internet away, it is here to stay. With that in mind, schools need to teach important netiquette skills, so children are ready to become responsible digital citizens. E-safety has been written into the new Computing curriculum but for many schools, aside from developing e-safety policies, the question is how do they teach and nurture this important 21st century skill? Schools can invest in robust web filtering software but how does this help children be prepared for the big wide world outside of school?Learning How To Drive - Petra’s Planet for Schools

When we are learning how to drive, we don’t simply go it alone on the road. We know how dangerous this would be and have a driving instructor to guide us. The same principle should apply to teaching children to be smart with the Internet. Petra’s Planet for Schools empowers teachers to help pupils:

• Recognise dangers when on the internet• Reflect on their own and other behaviour - is it

acceptable or not?• Be confident to report e-safety issues and know who

they should talk to about it

Safeguarding Young Learners OnlineTeaching Children To Become Responsible Digital Citizens

This safe online protected environment allows children to learn these essential skills. Just like a driving instructor, the teacher is there to support the child through their journey as they develop the confidence and skills to go it alone.

Teachers can introduce and engage children in using web technology such as chats, blogs, emails etc, even communicating with other classes globally. Children learn to communicate and collaborate with their peers, allowing them to appreciate the ‘good’ that can come from social media. At the same time, it enables children to develop their literacy skills as well as learning about beliefs and cultures of children from other countries. Petra’s Planet for Schools develops our children into future global citizens.

16 UKED Magazine

For more information visit petrasplanetforschools.com

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/56155476@N08/5667294683 by Brad Flickinger used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.


Petra’s Planet for Schools enables schools to teach children 21st Century Learning Principles,

E-Safety and Digital Literacy through a safe, secure online environment.

Visit Us AtStandE60

Travel the globe on a learning adventure and learn digital skills.

petrasplanetforschools.com

04 UKED Magazine18 UKED Magazine

Browsing & Buying

Firstly, in most cases teachers will not be buying just for themselves and it is important to talk to your colleagues who are not going to the show about items and ideas that they are interesting about. Create a list of priorities and a plan accordingly.

Make sure you do your homework and use the exhibitor list on bettshow.com wisely to narrow down your search. There are many themes running through the BETT Show. School information systems is a huge area with many companies offering a range of products. Mobile computing is another big theme. By the time you get to BETT you should know which providers you wish to talk to.

BETT is the perfect time to try some of the expensive kit ‘hands-on’ - but don’t drop it! Try things out and ask the difficult questions while you have the right person in front of you. You can often ask for further information to be sent out to your school, and some companies will even a on-site demonstrate of a product for your whole staff.

The big exhibitors in the centre of BETT have some amazing products, but make sure you take the time to explore around the edges were the smaller start-ups are. There are often hidden treasures and bargains there. The smaller stands are often manned by the company owners or designers themselves, which can make for some fascinating insights. Also, your feedback will be highly valued and you may help shape the classroom resource of your dreams!

We all have a range of pupils in our classes with an array of needs and is important for educators in all types of schools to visit the SEN area of BETT, as it is great place to seek advice and you may find ways to make learning a little easier for someone in your class.

20 UKED Magazine

Networking

BETT is the one event of the year where large numbers of the online teacher community on Twitter will meet up, with educators travelling to the show from all over the UK and beyond. So BETT is a wonderful place to put names to

faces and meet some interesting and inspiring people. But as BETT is a huge and busy event, some preparation is needed to make this a success. Firstly, if you can plan before you arrive to meet up at a specific place and time it will save time and avoid the aimless wandering loops looking for familiar faces, which seems to be almost a tradition for many attendees.

Follow our live coverage of the BETT show at

ukedchat.com/BETT2015Live product reviews

Live tweeting of ‘best in show’

Photo blogging via bit.ly/ukedphoto

Interviews and live UKEdChat debates from the RM Stand

Would you like to get involved with our coverage of the BETT Show or our review of the ‘Best in

Show’ in the next issue of UKED Magazine?

Contact us:

[email protected]

If you wish to meet with random people from your social network who you do not know in the flesh, many attendees choose to label themselves with their Twitter Handle and profile picture on a sticky label. You may even like to create a larger badge to attach to your bag to stand out at a distance.

The best way of being noticed is by interacting both online and offline. Post your best finds and photos to your social media while at the show, including your location and you will soon find familiar followers commenting on what you have discovered.


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By @UKEdChat

Upload your resources to online storage like Dropbox or Google

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Write a few details and provide the link on

ukedchat.com/resources

Everyone can access your resources without signing in and you retain control

& the right of your resources.

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bit.ly/uked15jan12 This is a 'must try' maths iPad app. Play fun, useful and beautifully designed games for every numeracy topic. Adding to algebra! The more you play, the more levels that get unlocked.

realtimeboard.com An amazing collaborative whiteboard where multiple users can edit a multimedia board in real time. Sign up to an educational account for free premium features.

duolingo.com Learn a language on your mobile device while helping to translate the web at the same time.

Crick Sof tware We pride ourselves on providing inclusive literacy software

that enables every pupil to access the curriculum, demonstrate knowledge and create work they can be proud of.

I have been using Clicker 6 since last September and I have found it to be amazing both for producing resources and as a learning tool for my pupils. This has been the most brilliant teaching resource I have ever used!

Lucy McGeeSt. Hugh’s Catholic Primary School

Clicker is creating a generation of independent learners who for the first time ever, don’t need an extra member of staff in the room to support them. It’s possible for them to succeed all on their own.

Jon HickmanKelvin Hall School

‘‘

‘‘

‘‘

‘‘

Crick Software Ltd Crick House Boarden Close Moulton Park Northampton NN3 6LF

web: www.cricksoft.com . email: [email protected] . phone: 01604 671691

Visiting Bett 2015? We’ll be celebrating 21 years at Bett, so join us on stand D210 for special show offers and some delicious Clicker cupcakes!

Clicker 6 Clicker is the child-friendly talking word processor that enables pupils of all abilities to significantly develop their literacy skills. Clicker 6 is the best-ever version of this much-loved educational software.

Clicker 6 combines customisable pupil support tools that empower children to learn independently with intuitive wizards that make it easier than ever before for teachers to create subject-specific speaking, listening, reading and writing activities.

BETT3.indd 1 11/12/2014 15:33:41


Have you noticed how, just after you book a holiday, you see information about that location everywhere? It’s like it has suddenly appeared on your radar. The same could be said for answering your own questions. It wasn’t until I read a statistic that suggested teachers answered up to 70% of their own questions that I became actively aware of how much I was guilty of this too, and so my journey into exploring questions in the classroom began.

Questions are, I believe, a key factor in the success or otherwise of a classroom. Asking the best questions can encourage children to be inquisitive, think more deeply, progress further; even improve their own questioning skills themselves. Bad questions operate merely to confirm something a teacher assumes, and doesn’t embed learning in a way a good question can, and does. Here are my top five tips for questioning in the classroom.

Avoid question widows - These are questions, either without a purpose or an audience. Challenge yourself - before you ask a question in class, ask yourself, ‘what is the purpose of this question?’ Is it to test the children on something you’ve taught them? Is it to hear what you want to hear, or is it to offer a small incremental step toward greater understanding? If a three year old shows you a messy smudge of paints, is it better to ask ‘what is it?’ or ‘tell me about this.’?

Decide if you want open or closed answers - Closed answers seek simple answers generally speaking. Open questions challenge assumptions, and force students to justify their stance. The best closed questions are quickfire and recap, and the best way to force open questions to be deeper is to be tenacious and keep asking ‘Why?’ like a four year old!

Never say the same question twice - If they can’t understand the question the first time around, they probably won’t the fifth time either. I call this reframing. Use the key words again, but reframe the question, directing the students toward the sort of answer you are seeking.

Use names carefully, if at all - If you say a student’s name before asking a question, you are mentally letting everyone else off the hook. I use potato fists in this situation - everyone else puts one potato out if they think they have the answer, two if they are definite. Saying a student’s name at the end however is sometimes used to admonish someone who isn’t concentrating, which is not the purpose! Try not using names, and instead ‘look’ for someone to answer. Hands up or down doesn’t matter - thinking about the right answer does.

Audit your questioning skills - This takes confidence. Have a colleague sit in one of your lessons and note down on your table plan the people you ask questions to, and have them note down open and closed questions, and how many times you allow others to answer your questions, and also the ones you answer yourself. Look carefully at what you find out - and change your practice!

Stephen Lockyer is a Deputy Head in Kent, passionate about creativity and improvement in the classroom. He is on Twitter as @mrlockyer.

Win one of five copies of Stephen’s book, ‘Hands Up’, with further examines questioning in the classroom, by giving your best questioning tips via Twitter or email. Mark your tweets with #HandsUp, or send them to [email protected]. Winners will be chosen on 15th February.

See the book as a paperback or ebook on Amazon at bit.ly/lockyerbooks.

View on Amazon at

www.bit.ly/lockyerbooks

Questioning Questioning

Who? How?When?Why?What?

By Stephen LockyerCrick Sof tware We pride ourselves on providing inclusive literacy software

that enables every pupil to access the curriculum, demonstrate knowledge and create work they can be proud of.

I have been using Clicker 6 since last September and I have found it to be amazing both for producing resources and as a learning tool for my pupils. This has been the most brilliant teaching resource I have ever used!

Lucy McGeeSt. Hugh’s Catholic Primary School

Clicker is creating a generation of independent learners who for the first time ever, don’t need an extra member of staff in the room to support them. It’s possible for them to succeed all on their own.

Jon HickmanKelvin Hall School

‘‘

‘‘

‘‘

‘‘

Crick Software Ltd Crick House Boarden Close Moulton Park Northampton NN3 6LF

web: www.cricksoft.com . email: [email protected] . phone: 01604 671691

Visiting Bett 2015? We’ll be celebrating 21 years at Bett, so join us on stand D210 for special show offers and some delicious Clicker cupcakes!

Clicker 6 Clicker is the child-friendly talking word processor that enables pupils of all abilities to significantly develop their literacy skills. Clicker 6 is the best-ever version of this much-loved educational software.

Clicker 6 combines customisable pupil support tools that empower children to learn independently with intuitive wizards that make it easier than ever before for teachers to create subject-specific speaking, listening, reading and writing activities.

BETT3.indd 1 11/12/2014 15:33:41

24 UKED Magazine

Image credit: https://creativemarket.com/Bloomua/87834-Bundle-of-Flat-Design-Illustrations (purchased)https://creativemarket.com/caiocall/26445-5-Abstract-Backgrounds (purchased)

Stephen Logan is an Assistant Headteacher at Malet Lambert School, Hull East Yorkshire. Careers Development Institute, Careers Educator of the Year 2014. National Careers Week Ambassador #NCW2015. He teaches Business Studies and ICT and is extremely passionate about Education Careers Information Advice and Guidance and Enterprise Education. Find him on Twitter at @Stephen_Logan.

Careers and Enterprise in Education have been placed at the top of the political agenda in many countries recently as the realisation that the skills which can be gained are important life skills for students. Being clear on what enterprise education actually is, and how you can embed it into your school and teaching can be a challenge for teachers. To help, I address what ‘Enterprise Education’ is, exploring the importance and impact of getting it right.

What is enterprise education?Enterprise Education is crucial to young people’s

employability and future. It provides an opportunity for students to develop as individuals and into enterprising young people. Enterprise Education should be viewed as not just producing entrepreneurs of the future, but equipping students with the skills they will need in the future in any walk of life. Enterprise can be simply be taking initiative, having a positive attitude or seeing an opportunity.

Why is Enterprise Education important? Is it not important to relate what students are doing to the

world of work and demonstrate how the skills learnt in school can be developed and relate the real world? The challenge is how do we communicate develop and embed enterprise in the curriculum. Enterprise skills can be applied throughout the curriculum in almost all subjects and can help students to achieve. We need to see beyond enterprise in isolation and just carried out in the Business Studies Department. I believe passionately in Enterprise Education and the opportunities it brings with it. I have seen students develop their confidence, motivation and skills by taking part in enterprise activities.

We live in a global world which has become a more accessible place due to innovations and technology. Enterprise provides

Enterprise skills can include the following:• Adaptability • Creativity• Flexibility• Innovation• Reliability• Positive Attitude• Team work

• Leadership• Willingness to learn• Seeing an opportunity• Taking risks• Taking Initiative• Communication• Presentation Skills

a platform for students to consider the global world and their place with in it. It also provides an opportunity to develop new and enhance current skills, work with businesses, be enterprising and entrepreneurial. For many students this involves stepping out of their comfort zone - this is when the magic happens. How do we prepare students for an uncertain future? Who would have thought we have foreseen the growth of social media and the careers opportunities this offers? Take iOS developers or Zumba Fitness instructors; these jobs have only relatively recently existed. It’s essential for students to continuously develop and seek opportunities to prepare for changes in industry and an every changing world.

What is the impact of Enterprise Education? The real challenge is without doubt the constant need to

measure everything. This presents a challenge as enterprise does not always have a tangible impact and is very difficult to measure. How to do your measure a student’s response to challenges, ideas, skills, experiences and opportunities?

Whether it is skills, a positive attitude or an innovative idea, enterprise prepares students for the future. I urge you to take the opportunity and involve your students in enterprise.

Useful Linksenterpriseforalluk.comreadyunlimited.comgov.uk/government/publications/enterprise-for-all-the-relevance-of-enterprise-in-education

Enterprising Education By Stephen Logan


Dr Pooky Knightsmith @PookyH is the mental health and emotional wellbeing advisor for the PSHE Association. In this role she recently quality assured the Dove Self-Esteem Project Resources for Body Confidence. Pooky is also an expert member of the Campaign for Body Confidence Group member and author of the Eating Disorders Pocketbook for Teachers.

As educators, we’re all aware that it’s not enough simply to fill our pupils with knowledge and hope for the best. In order for them to enjoy and achieve both within and beyond school, they need both healthy self-esteem and self-confidence, something that is often sadly lacking as illustrated by these pupils.

“I know what I want to look like, but however much I work out I never look that way. It makes me feel like a

failure.” (Year 10 boy)

“You’re constantly judged for how you look and I don’t look how you should.” (Year 9 girl)

“If I was thin I’d be happy.” (Year 11 girl)

“I never feel good enough at anything. I’m just a bit of a failure really.” (Year 8 boy)

The good news is that, as educators, we’re in a great position to support pupils in tackling these thoughts and feelings to develop a more positive outlook. If you’re thinking of incorporating body confidence and self-esteem as part of your PSHE curriculum, here are some key pointers to bear in mind:

Start with youOur pupils always remember far more of what we do than

what we say or teach. When we teach them one thing but do another we send mixed messages and the lesson is unlikely to get through. Teaching adolescents to be accepting of their changing bodies is more effective if we’re able to embrace rather than bemoan our greying hair or middle aged spread. If you’re not quite ready to declare your love of your bingo wings, at least try to keep quiet about your misgivings within the earshot of pupils!

Don’t forget boysIssues around body image and self-confidence are often

considered to be ‘girl problems’ but they affect boys too. Increasingly boys are taking a keen interest in their appearance and feel that others are placing value judgements on them based on how they look. They’re less likely than girls to feel comfortable discussing these issues so it’s important that we help them develop the confidence and skills to do so.

Promote open discussionCreating an environment where pupils can openly and

honestly explore their experiences is an effective way to break down stigma and prejudice. It also enables us to explore misconceptions held by pupils, staff and the wider community as well as being conducive to problem solving and help seeking. You’ll need to explore appropriate ground rules with pupils in order to keep them safe, and signpost relevant sources of support as a part of this type of discussion.

Pay better complimentsWorking together as a school to reduce the emphasis placed

on looks and appearance can be hugely beneficial. Listen out in the staffroom for the compliments you hear, they’re almost always entirely superficial based on clothing or appearance so it’s no wonder that we all place value judgements on ourselves based on how we look. Try instead paying more meaningful compliments – and teach your pupils to do the same. Think about celebrating effort rather than attainment and character rather than appearance. Giving specific, relevant and heartfelt compliments is affirming for both the giver and receiver – why not give it a try?

Think outside the boxWhen teaching about issues like body confidence, try to

help students understand how relevant it is to their own lives and encourage a broader conversation. For example, in teaching about airbrushing as part of a lesson with a media literacy focus, we might think first about airbrushing of models in magazines, before thinking about the process we go through when sharing images on social media – selecting one from a number of pictures, perhaps enhancing it with an app… and then you could take this even further and discuss how people often ‘airbrush’ their lives before sharing them on social media, meaning that we can often feel every else is living the perfect life and we’re lagging behind.

Like many educators you may feel anxious teaching about topics like body confidence and self-esteem, partly due to your personal insecurities and partly due to the fact it’s a topic you’ve probably never been trained in, but I hope that the ideas here will help to improve your confidence in tackling this important topic. There are some great resources available too – the newly updated Dove Self-Esteem Resources at selfesteem.dove.co.uk/teachers have recently received the PSHE Association’s quality mark and contain everything you need to teach a lesson on body confidence. You can download them for free, or you can have a free workshop delivered to your students by a Dove facilitator which can be a great learning opportunity both for your pupils and for you!

Five Ideas for Promoting Body Confidence and Self-Esteem in

your Pupils

Image credit: flickr.com/photos/garryknight/5476222667 by Garry Knight used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

By Dr Pooky Knightsmith

26 UKED Magazine

Book ShelfBook Shelf

For many more book reviews, go to

http://ukedchat.com/category/book

View on Amazon at

www.bit.ly/digitalfreak

Freaked Out by Simon Pridham

Foreground images courtesy of Crown House Publishing

There is no denying it….technology is slowly and surely creeping into schools. Pupils use it every day. Some colleagues will be well versed in the advantages and disadvantages of all this technology, but others will panic each time they are expected to use technology within their teaching. Happily, technology has progressed since the advent of the BBC Computers being thrust upon many teachers, yet the fear still remains for many who can be scared to use an iPad to support learning. We’ve all worked with such colleagues.

In his new book, Simon Pridham (@Freaked_Out123) takes the panic and concern out of using all this new technology, with a particular focus on the Apple iPad. Broken into eight sections (Meet your iPad; What is an app and how do I get one?; Where do I start and what do I do?; How to inspire, engage and enthuse; What is the digital environment; Who are the digital leaders? What about security and control? And; Some frequently asked questions), this book give the nervous technologist a step-by-step, pictorial reference for setting up a device, using apps, and what to do once up and running.

Beyond the technology, Simon also advocates letting the pupils take the lead with technology, focusing a chapter on passing responsibilities onto Digital Leaders, whose jobs can include charging devices, teaching teachers, testing new technologies, or supporting the Leadership team with e-learning strategies within the school.

If you are confidently competent with iPads and technology, then this book probably isn’t for you. However, it will be very suitable for colleagues who are starting to embrace their digital journeys, enabling them to enhance pupils learning using tools which are everyday necessities in their lives – whether we like it or not!

Published by Independent Thinking Press. View on Amazon at bit.ly/digitalfreak, £19.60 paperback and £17.17 on Kindle.

40 reading books for pupils recommended by the UKEdChat

community

View atbit.ly/40book


It was November. The door handle turned; heads twisted in the direction of the sound. Ofsted had come to visit, and they were impressed.

As Head of Professional Development, one of my duties is to 'coach' lessons in our observation room. It just so happened that, at the time of the last but one inspection, the school was putting on a series of themed 'demonstration' lessons in a purpose built observation suite as part of our ongoing CPD. The inspector walked into the observation area, liked what she saw, and stayed the whole hour.

What impressed her so much at the time, and what has remained fundamental to our practice since we built the room in 2004, was the quality of discussion undertaken as staff observed a science lesson. Sitting alongside the classroom, looking through a mirrored window and listening through a sound system, were 14 staff who hadn't had to take a day out of school to attend a course, who could cross reference ideas about good practice, who could ask questions, offer support and suggestions to one another, who could relate the lesson to their own CPD needs and who could speak to a coach about the lesson - all without disturbing or influencing the class being observed. The role of the coach has always been central to our observations in 'the room'. Prior to the lesson, a coach meets with the teacher to discuss their plan and intentions for the lesson, any anticipated problems, how the teacher will try to overcome them, how the lesson relates to the children's ongoing learning - in short, the coach can act as the mouthpiece of the teacher while the group observes.

One of the original purposes of our observation room was to ensure, through our coaching model, that staff could reliably identify features of a lesson that made it effective, and so work on incorporating some of these elements into their own work. Coaches, who are members of our Professional Development Department, are all teachers with a strong track record of successful classroom practice and who are reflective and critical practitioners. They are able to point out

little moments in a lesson where a teacher's decision-making has made a difference, where a choice about grouping, resources or order of presentation has enabled a 'light-bulb' moment for pupils.

Lessons are arranged and titled according to themes, for example, teaching challenging classes, stretching pupils of all abilities. Sometimes these themes are devised to address whole school issues, for example, literacy, or sometimes to enable staff to improve a particular area of their work as identified by their own line managers. Observation room themes are linked to wider CPD themes that run through the year, on twilight evenings or whole-school INSET days. The observation room, though, is strictly a developmental tool, not used for lesson judgement or performance management. Any teacher can choose to take a class into the observation room, perhaps having asked a peer to observe a particular aspect of their work. These lessons do not have to be reported on to 'superiors' or managers. Similarly, departments can choose to plan jointly and watch the delivery of a lesson, allowing them to work on subject development priorities. No teacher ever HAS to teach in our observation room. And saying 'no' if you are asked to is not looked upon negatively.

I have taught in the observation room many times and have probably been observed by well over half the staff in our school. Prior to each lesson, I'm a little nervous, though this soon fades away once the lesson is underway. I forget I'm being observed, and so do the children. I get caught up in my delivery, my interactions with the class, my questions, and theirs. The children themselves, many of whom work with us repeatedly in the observation room, also soon get into the swing of a typical lesson. Observers are often amused to see boys and girls glance into the mirror to check their ties, or swish their hair!

Ours is a school where staff - and pupils - talk frequently and openly about the processes of teaching and learning. We offer several phases of demonstration lessons a year, some of these directed to teachers of particular career stages, many to staff in general. Cover is arranged if teachers need to be released for professional development using the observation room. Used supportively, developmentally, an observation room is an excellent CPD resource - ours has been in regular use for almost ten years and has been a model other schools have followed.

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/artbystevejohnson/5069607157 by Steve Johnson used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.http://pixabay.com/en/abstract-red-green-blue-primary-19141Other images provided by Lisa Pettifer.

Lisa Pettifer @Lisa7Pettifer, English teacher and Head of Professional Development at the Nelson Thomlinson School in Cumbria, has been teaching for 25 years.

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