July 2014 Issue 7

Pedagogy

Overcoming the

generational

reluctance of

using tech

Guide

Collaborate

across the world

using Skype in

the classroom

Inspiration

Explore the

universe from

your classroom

Discussion

Improving the

standing of

sport in your

school

ukedchat.com

Supporting the Educational Community

editor@ukedchat.com Facebook.com/ukedchat @UKEdMag

Cover Photo Credit:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lupuca/8720604364 by Lucélia

Ribeiro used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

The publishers accepts no responsibility for any claims made in any

advertisement appearing in this publication. Whilst every effort is

made to ensure accuracy, the publishers accept no responsibility

for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.

Issue 7: July 2014

Contributors

Danny Nicholson @DannyNic

Andy Knill @aknill

Ian Pratt @sciencelabman

Bryn Llewellyn @brynll

Becky Simmonds @beckylsimmonds

Colin Riddell @kimcheecolin

Alessio Bernardelli @asober

@Collaborat_Ed

Paul Wright @pw2tweets

Rebecca Stacey @bekblayton

Many images have been source under a Commercial Creative

Commons License. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

by/2.0 & http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Pedagogy & Skills

15 Lost that Learning Feeling

Have your class lost their drive for learning? Ian

Pratt suggests ways to relight their fire.

23 Not the ‘Tech’ Generation

Alessio Bernardelli shares he insight into how to

help the self-confessed non-techie embrace it

into their teaching.

28 Engaging Boys

Paul Wright write some great advice about how

to keep boys engaged in their learning.

Discussion & Guides

4 Tour Space from your Classroom

A great set of websites to bring the cosmos into

your classroom and create a sense of awe.

8 Geography Resourcing

Good advice for Andy as he embarks on

collating resources for his subject area.

10 Life Skills

We discuss the importance of instilling life skills

and were you can get to access a great set of

resources.

16 A Mazy Run

Is sport central to your school’s ethos? Bryn

Llewellyn discusses the good and not so good

practice that he has seen over many years of

teaching and other roles.

20 STEM of the Dragon

Is sport central to your school’s ethos? Bryn

Llewellyn discusses the good and not so good

practice that he has seen over many years of

teaching and other roles.

30 Skype in the Classroom

Rebecca Stacey guides us thought setting up

Skype in your classroom and ideas for lessons

Regular Features

18 Bookshelf Talk-Less Teaching

14 Reading Corner

The What On Earth Wallbooks

32 ICTmagic Websites

19 Recently on UKEdChat.com

Subscribe by email for free at bit.ly/ukedmagsub

From the Editor Welcome to the July issue of UKED

Magazine. As the school winds down for

the holidays, we have a collection of great

articles and features to keep you inspired

all summer long.

There is a science theme to this edition,

and Danny Nicholson starts us off with an

exploration of space from your

classroom—a collection of tools and sites

to discover the wonders of the universe.

Andy Knill brings us back down to Earth

by discussing ways to find resources for

geography and how you can do the same

for your subject.

On page 10 we explore the important of

life skills and the new website where you

can get a great set of resources to help to

teach them.

On page 13 I look at a wonderful set of

books/posters which take a look at the big

picture.

Ian Pratt discusses how to rekindle your

classes for learning and enthusing them by

ensuring they are driving their own learning

forward.

Bryn Llewellyn responds to Sir Michael

Wilshaw’s recent comments on school

sport and suggests ways to improve what

you do in your school.

Becky Simmonds & Colin Riddell share

their experience of science education in

China and how it has changed how they

work in their own school.

Alessio Bernardelli writes a wonderful

explanation about how to help non-

techie teachers start on their digital

journey.

Helping boys engage with writing and

learning is a concern for many teachers

and Paul Wright offers some sound

advice on page 28.

Finally, Rebecca Stacey shares her

experience of using Skype in the

classroom to broaden students’ horizons

and much more.

Martin Burrett Editor

@ICTmagic @UKedmag

editor@ukedchat.com

@UKEdMag @UKEdChat @UKEdJobs @UKEdResources

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Tour the Universe from your Classroom

By Danny Nicholson

I’ve often heard it said that the Interactive

Whiteboard can become your window on the

world, by bringing video and images from all over

the globe into your classroom. But it can also be

more than that – it can become a window on other

worlds, and take your class out past our

atmosphere into the Solar System and beyond.

If you are teaching a topic about space or the

planet, then there are many great tools that can

be used on your interactive whiteboard to show

your pupils what the planets look like and to

demonstrate how the planets move around the

sun in relation to each other. There are also some

excellent archive sites for images of other galaxies

and nebulae in deep space. Here are a few of my

favourites.

Astrotour

http://gunn.co.nz/astrotour

Astrotour is a very useful site that lets you view

how the planets in the Solar System move around

the Sun. You can see how some move faster than

others and use the dates to calculate how long it

would take some of the outer planets to complete

one orbit.

You can run it automatically, then change the

speed or pause it and step through slowly. You can

choose to view the whole thing with the sun at the

centre or to follow a particular planet. Click and

drag any planet, all the others will move in time

with it.

The controls at the side let you zoom in so you

can see a few planets more closely. You can also

make the planets bigger to make them easier to

see on an IWB.

Solar System Scope

http://solarsystemscope.com

Solar System Scope is a very impressive

interactive 3D Model of our Solar System. You can

zoom in and move the planets around the Sun to

see how they move in relation to each other.

You can switch between a heliocentric view,

geocentric view or a panoramic view of the Solar

System. Earth centred view is great if you then use

the play controls to move time forwards as you can

see the how day/night changes across the surface.

Heliocentric view is good for showing how we get

seasons as well as demonstrating the movement of

the Moon around the Earth in the course of a

month. The scale of the planets in relation to each

other is not accurate – nor is the distance apart,

but these are necessary changes to make the

whole thing fit on a screen and be useable.

It’s a little advert-heavy, but you can put the

website into full-screen mode to remove the

adverts.

Also make sure you check out Sun Moon Scope

(http://sunmoonscope.com) and Sun Aeon

(http://sunaeon.com) by the same team.

▼ Out of this world resource—Solar System Scope is

an amazing site for exploring our celestial backyard.

4

Image credits:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/58782395@N03/5518992555/

(cropped) by sweetie187 under Commercial Creative Commons

2.0 License.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7309213060 &

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6883342722 by NASA

Goddard Space Flight Center under Commercial Creative

Commons 2.0 License.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/s1ng0/5516159782 by Catherine

Singleton under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

Permission to use screenshot of http://solarsystemscope.com

given by M. Sadlon of http://inove.eu.com

Google screenshot was taken from http://google.com/sky

has been used inline with the guidelines at

https://www.google.co.uk/permissions/using-product-

graphics.html

Google Sky

http://www.google.com/sky/

Google Sky lets you explore the universe in the

same way that you would explore a Google Map.

You can zoom in on any area of space to view it in

more detail. Links along the bottom of the screen

take you direct to special features of interest such as

images from the Hubble Space Telescope of galaxies

and nebulae. You can also run Google Sky within the

Google Earth downloadable application. Also worth

a look are Google Moon (http://google.com/moon)

and Google Mars (http://google.com/mars) which

let you explore the surface of the Moon and Mars in

great detail and see where the various space

missions landed and explored.

World Wide Telescope

http://worldwidetelescope.org

This is a similar application from Microsoft. You can

download the client software or use it via the web

(requires Silverlight to be installed). The software

enables you to explore the universe, bringing

together imagery from the best ground and space-

based telescopes in the world and combining it with

3D navigation. There are also narrated guided tours

from astronomers and educators featuring

interesting places in the sky.

NASA Images

http://nasaimages.org

NASA Images was created to bring public access

to NASA's image, video, and audio collections in a

single, searchable resource. The site contains

everything from classic NASA photos to

educational videos and the resource is growing all

the time.

5

Children’s University Moon Phases

http://bit.ly/uked14jul02

The Children’s University of Manchester has

some very useful resources for different science

topics and the Moon Phases simulator is well

worth a look for any teacher trying to explain to

their class how we get phases of the moon - in

addition to getting out the torch and football!

National Schools Observatory

http://schoolsobservatory.org.uk

If you are a UK school, you can register to make

free use of a professional robotic telescope

designed for scientific research. The telescope is

located on the island of La Palma in the Canary

Islands, and is known as the Liverpool Telescope.

The site also has archive images and other

resources to help teach about Space.

Danny Nicholson is an independent trainer

and consultant. He is a former science teacher

and now delivers Computing and Science

training to teachers all over the UK as well as

overseas.

He is a PGCE Science lecturer for Billericay

Educational Consortium on their Primary SCITT

teacher training course, and also delivers

science and ICT sessions on several other PGCE

and B.Ed. courses. He is one of the authors of

Switched on Science for Rising Stars.

He regularly blogs about educational

technology at http://whiteboardblog.co.uk

and can be found on Twitter as @dannynic

Astronomy Picture of the Day

http://apod.nasa.gov

Each day a different space image or photograph

is featured, along with a brief explanation written

by a professional astronomer. It’s a great site,

albeit slightly random. Dip into the site on a

regular basis to provide a little awe and wonder in

your lesson. You can also view the archive and

search for particular images.

For ideas on how APOD is being used in the

classroom, a teacher’s guide is available online at

http://bit.ly/uked14jul01

Day Night Demonstrator

http://ictgames.com/dayNight/index.html

Primary teachers who want to demonstrate how

we get day and night should take a look at the Day

Night Demonstrator from ICT Games. This very

simple simulation lets you show your class how we

get night and day as well as help to explain

seasons and moon phases.

6

Collaborating with other educators enriches our teaching and

improves us in a myriad of ways. Social media now allows educators

to collaborate with each other from across the globe. Devote just

one hour to networking with other educators online and see just

how much you will learn and how much inspiration is out there.

Download the poster and get more information at

http://ukedchat.com/networking

Geography Resourcing

8 Image Credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/440672445 by WoodleyWonderWorks under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

by Andy Knill

I’ve been teaching for 26 years this month. My

main subject is Geography and resourcing ideas in

my subject have changed so much over the years.

When I was a pupil, textbooks were in black and

white. The only colour came from large maps on

the wall or the teacher’s slides or the filmstrips that

often melted as they were shown.

When I started teaching in the late 1980s,

reproduction technology had moved on from

Banda sheets, with black and white photocopying

becoming an option. Textbooks had colour

pictures, but size was limited. The biggest colour

images were drawn in chalk and then wiped off

straight after lesson ready for the next class. I

experimented with slide film, but usually took

prints to class to show case studies in colour.

Then the OHT technology was introduced, which

was great if there were enough acetate sheets, or

better still, a roll so you could return to previous

points for a few lessons before the whole thing was

erased to make way for new lessons.

Now I have access to the Internet, mobile apps,

books, YouTube and many more resources. The

issue has moved from ‘which

resources can I get hold of?’

to ‘which one should I

select?’ This abundance

of information is a

pressure in itself as we

try to keep up-to-date

with sources as our

subject area changes

rapidly with daily news

events.

None of this is unique to Geography, so how can

we help each other? There are many resource sites,

networks and recommendations to follow up on.

Two years ago I applied to go onto the Special

Interest Group (SIG) ICT for my subject association,

The Geographical Association. In my first meeting

my knowledge of apps and their use gave me a

responsibility, which led to a conference workshop

this Easter at the annual conference looking at

‘Starting with Apps’. I spent two busy days sharing

ideas about websites, items of software and apps

with colleagues from several countries. New entrants

to the profession and those less confident with

technology were finding the information available

overwhelming.

As a follow up to this information overload, I started

a Twitter account for the group @gasigict. The aim is

to share feedback from our meetings in one place and

to RT out information linked to a range of geography

topics. In just under two months we have gained over

360 followers, including geography teachers,

geography departments in schools and higher

education from the UK, Israel, Namibia, the USA and

many other places. There is an accompanying blog at

http://gasigict.wordpress.com which I will be

developing further. This will collate resources

discussed at our meetings and review a range of

materials.

The pictures included support a range of the points

mentioned. They are either original work that I have

done and used in lessons or screenshots based on

others tweets, again shared with classes on my IWB.

Please join us or if you are interested in setting up a

similar idea, let me know and we can exchange ideas

– I still have much to learn.

Andy Knill is Head of Geography at The

Albany School, in Hornchurch, Havering.

You can find him on Twitter @aknill and

@globalsolo. He blogs at

mishmashlearning.wordpress.com

Click here

to view

the picture

slideshow

http://bit.ly/uked14jul03

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Promotional Feature

Empowering the next generation to move

successfully into work and become a part of

the economy is vital to the future of the UK.

Barclays launched LifeSkills to bring together

teachers, businesses, young people and

others to make a significant impact to the

challenge of youth employment in the UK.

LifeSkills aims to give one million young

people the skills they need to successfully

move from education to the workplace by

2015. One year into this ambitious

programme, The Work Foundation

independently reviewed its impact and some

of the findings are shared in this article.

Highlights include the transformative

influence on increasing confidence of the

young people participating, with over 80 per

cent saying they felt more confident that they

could succeed and 83 per cent now able to

identify potential future jobs that match their

skills.

About LifeSkills

Teachers can access free, non-branded

resources and Barclays volunteer workshops

(all via http://barclayslifeskills.com) that

include a mix of practical job-hunting and

interpersonal skills across three different

areas:

• People Skills: including self-awareness and

self-confidence

• Work Skills: write a CV, personal

presentation and contacting employers

• Money Skills: essential financial education

such as budgeting and money

management.

Resources have been written by teachers,

endorsed by City & Guilds and each deliver

key skills which align to both relevant

curricula and employers’ needs.

Work Experience

Research from the Education and Employers

Taskforce (March 2013) demonstrates that

the more interactions a young person has

with a business, the more likely they are to

move into employment. [Source]

LifeSkills aims to support businesses to offer

both work experience and apprenticeships,

increasing the number of opportunities

available for young people to understand the

world of work.

Over 1,499 businesses have signed up to

offer young people work experience or

apprenticeship opportunities via LifeSkills,

including large corporates and small and

medium sized businesses up and down the

country.

“LifeSkills volunteers have come into school

to deliver numerous workshops to my

students – including work skills and money

skills activities. The co-ordination and

organisation of workshops was fantastic – so

quick and easy, and volunteers were great

and very knowledgeable. Lesson plans are

fantastic, and carefully tailored for different

age groups. I can’t believe that this

programme is free – I recommend other

teachers to get involved”

Anne Morley, Careers Mentor,

The Sir Robert Woodard Academy

10

http://www.barclayslifeskills.com

Image Credit:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/7934039676 by www.stockmonkeys.com under Commercial Creative

Commons License. 11

Headline Work Foundation Findings:

Young people reported that the programme had made them better or much better at:

understanding what they wanted to achieve in

the next five years (75 per cent)

having awareness of the range of jobs available

that match their interests (83 per cent)

understanding the types of sectors and

industries that they would like to work in

(82 per cent)

handling new situations and new people

confidently (87 per cent)

having the ability to convey their strengths to

others (83 per cent)

understanding when they can afford

something or when they should wait to buy it

(74 per cent)

Richard Sykes, CEO, ISS UK & Ireland commented: “ISS is delighted to be

associated with the launch of the LifeSkills programme. As the fourth largest

private employer in the world, it’s important that we support such initiatives. The

growing facilities management sector is bucking the economic trend and can

make a real difference in helping to get UK Plc back on its feet. As a company

we’re passionate about helping young people to bridge the gap between

education and the workplace.”

For more information or to register and start using LifeSkills today and visit

https://barclayslifeskills.com/sign-up/teachers/

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Write for UKED Magazine

August’s issue is about starting the

new academic year in the best

possible way.

Send your article ideas to

editor@ukedchat.com

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August’s cover Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/namoscato/8297366194 by Nick Amoscato used under Commercial Creative

Commons 2.0 License.

Author: Christopher Lloyd @Wallbook Review by Martin Burrett

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams writes ‘the one thing sentient life cannot

afford to have is a sense of proportion’ and we in the educational world make a living out of chunking

often difficult and complex ideas and subjects into digestible chunks. But once in a while it is important

to take a look at the big picture to get a sense and to make sense of the details. Zooming out doesn’t

necessarily mean losing sight of the details. In fact, it often gives a new appreciation of the patterns

that cause the eddies and currents affecting the

elements.

A series of books which are designed to show the

big picture, both literally and figuratively, are the

Wallbooks by Christopher Lloyd, which fold out into

a timeline on many different topics

The books cover a range of science and historical

topics from the history of science & engineering, the

history of everything from the big bang to the

present today, to all the plays of Shakespeare. Each

book is beautifully illustrated by Andy Forshaw.

Taking the book of science and engineering as an

example, the book places key figures, events,

discoveries in to their proper temporal position. For

much of the chart, timeline is separated into different

areas of the world which give a wonderful sense of

the differences occurring in different locations

around the world. Each picture has a caption

explaining what the picture is and some extra

information about it.

For teachers who relish a good cross-curricular

resource, this would be a wonderful addition to your classroom. It can be used in a structure way to

explore ideas, people and places in a variety of subject areas. It is also a delight to explore in a more

structured way and ‘discover’ new information and seeing how it all fits together. A wonderful set of

books for both young and not so young inquiring minds. See more at https://whatonearthbooks.com

Reading Corner Reading Corner

A Timeline from the Big

Bang to the Present Day

£12.25*

http://bit.ly/uked14jul05

*Correct at the time of publishing

Wallbook of Natural

History

£12.25*

http://bit.ly/uked14jul06

Wallbook of Science &

Engineering

£17.50*

http://bit.ly/uked14jul07

Wallbook of

Shakespeare

£17.50*

http://bit.ly/uked14jul08

The What on Earth Wallbooks

Browse some of the great resources that have been added

Browse teaching resources from the UKEdChat community

Share your creativity by sharing your resources

ukedchat.com/resources

@UKEdResources

School Monsters

By @ICTmagic http://ukedchat.com/PEN00007

E-Safety Resources for KS1

By @letsjustwaitfor http://ukedchat.com/PCO00001

5 Minute Plan for Planning

By @eylanezekiel http://ukedchat.com/WSR00003

Basic Slide Builds

By @ESLweb http://ukedchat.com/PCO00002

Mandarin Sport Vocabulary Cards

By @ICTmagic http://ukedchat.com/PLA00001

Adverbs Prompts & Practice

By @UKEdChat http://ukedchat.com/PEN00015

They’ve lost that Learning Feeling... Kindling their Curiosity

How many times do you hear a pupil fishing for

the answer to the question you have just asked?

How many hands go up to say, “Sir, I am Stuck!”

and “Sir I can’t do this!”, or similar.

I am a Middle School Science teacher with 15

years in my present post. About 3 years ago I

stopped giving pupils the answers and returned

their questions with another question. At first

pupils found this difficult, but now it is part of life

in my classroom. I based questions simply around

a round how, when, where, why and of course

what if. The last question is a personal favourite,

what if you heat it up? What if you cool it down?

What if there was an extra cell?

For those of you who have been teaching

Science for some time you may remember a

strategy called C.A.S.E (Cognitive Acceleration

through Science Education). This model allowed

pupils to work in a way that asked questions,

predominantly the ‘WHY?’ of what was

happening in the Science around them.

Experimental tasks created cognitive conflict - it

raised questions and didn’t give answers - until

much discussion and thought had taken place. It

encouraged pupils to think, to ask questions, to

find answers for themselves – skills which are

vital for scientists and most other walks of life.

Perhaps a similar strategy will return in the near

future!

At the present time pupils in my class find the

challenge of thinking that little bit too much. It

seems a step too far to think for themselves.

They want answers, but are not prepared to put

in the effort to find them. Perhaps they have

become used to getting answers given to them;

perhaps a Google search provides instant

answers to all life’s questions. But the passion for

finding out for themselves seems to be lost.

At a time when success in lessons depends on

pupil progress, is there still a place for creating

questions, for providing the stimulus yet not

direct answers, for creating those moments of

cognitive conflict?

by Ian Pratt

I am a firm believer in the idea that children learn by

exploring their surroundings, both inside and

outside the classroom. It is a life skill. It is something

that makes us successful in life and not just at

school. Learning is not simple and it requires

thought. While I do not expect my children to have

all the answers, want them to ask questions. Be

curious. Explore the ‘Why?’ ‘Where?’ and ‘how?’

Finding the right hook for a lesson is often the key to

stimulating your students’ curiosity. I have found

that simple quick videos and demonstrations are a

great start to the lesson and this by no means

applies only to science.

Image Credits:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/3814187129 by Jean-Pierre

Dalbéra used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/4367101013 (cropped)

by Juhan Sonin used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

▲ There are so many ways to excite your students

in science and all subject areas

Ian Pratt is a Middle School Science teacher

based in Bedford. He is a Google Certified

Teacher who loves to incorporate technology

into his lessons. He has been teaching for 25

years and now has a range of subjects as well as

Science in his teaching toolkit. Ian has presented

at BETT 2013, and enjoys taking part in teach

meets and other collaboration opportunities.

The wonderful Steve Spangler Science site at

http://bit.ly/uked14jul04 has some great, short

experimental videos that show some experiments

that kids can try for themselves, just like magic

they question automatically what is happening

and why. What are your feelings on this? Let me

know @sciencelabman on twitter.

A Mazy Run PE, School Sport & Physical Literacy

Earlier this month, Sir Michael Wilshaw caused

yet another furore, this time incurring the wrath

of teachers with responsibility for PE and School

Sport. The Ofsted publication, ‘Going the Extra

Mile: Excellence in Competitive School

Sport’ (bit.ly/uked14jul09) brought into sharp

focus the high proportion of British Olympic

competitors who had been educated in

independent schools. This observation, accurate

though it is, played into the hands of those critics

who point out that our recent Olympic successes

have mainly been limited to ‘sitting down sports’,

usually associated with more affluent members

of our society.

Having only worked in state schools, I was

invited to QEGS Junior School (bit.ly/

uked14jul10) in Wakefield last year, where I was

genuinely overwhelmed by the importance

placed on PE, as well as the opportunities and

resources available to their Learners. I left,

knowing the gulf between state and independent

schools was greater than I had ever imagined and

I could see why parents would choose to send

their children to such places of learning.

In this video (bit.ly/uked14jul11), Sir Michael

says there is a link between doing well on the

playing fields and in the classroom. Most

educators of PE and School Sport, whether they

are working in state or independent schools,

would not disagree with the link between success

on the playing fields and in the classroom.

However, there were many who questioned Sir

Michael, who seemingly chose to ignore the

other factors involved. Some of the tweets

following a post from Victoria Derbyshire of

Radio 5 Live blamed the Government for selling

off school playing fields. Others blamed Gove and

the current Ofsted regime for forcing Head

Teachers to focus purely on core standards,

treating PE as a second-rate subject, regardless of

the Government’s oft-stated desire to create an

Olympic Legacy. Sadly, too many primary school

leaders are choosing to focus only on numeracy

and literacy, supplemented by guided reading

and phonics sessions every morning, thus

inevitably squeezing PE into a limited afternoon

timetable.

Fortunately, in England we do have School

Sports Premium Funding, which allows schools

some flexibility in how they spend their

allocation. For example, Burley Oaks Primary

School (bit.ly/uked14jul12) are innovative by

using some of their funding to employ a Health

Mentor for 2 days a week. That said, there are

many other state schools who buy in coaches

from outside agencies simply as cover for PPA,

with little in the way of CPD for staff,

sustainability and a genuine sporting legacy.

The week before the publication of ‘Going the

Extra Mile: Excellence in Competitive School

Sport’, Physical Education and School Sport

(PESS) South Wales hosted their conference,

‘Physical Literacy: the Game Changer’, allowing

educators and learners to showcase their work.

Primary schools in Wales do not have funding for

Primary PE and Sport Premium, but what they do

have are passion and creativity, two terms

commonly over-used in education, but not in this

case. To find out more, search the hashtag

#PESSConf14, visit sportwales.org.uk, and check

out their work on Physical Literacy (bit.ly/

uked14jul13).

Sir Michael may well urge state schools to look

to their independent counterparts for inspiration

and ideas, and I can see why. However, the term

‘a level playing field’ does seem somewhat

erroneous in these circumstances.

Ignoring the politics for one moment, it is

wonderful that the £750m funding for Primary PE

and Sport Premium has been extended to 2020.

By Bryn Llewellyn

16

However, this funding needs to be spent wisely

and in my opinion, it must also link to health,

otherwise we will be missing a huge opportunity

to make a real difference, especially in terms of

tackling the problems associated with inactivity

and obesity.

With this in mind, readers may wish to explore

@move1hour, visit http://designedtomove.org

and view the infographic at bit.ly/uked14jul14.

Then talk with your colleagues and ask

yourselves if the ethos in your school is right and

if you are doing enough to emphasise the

importance, not just of PE and school sport, but

physical literacy, health and well-being. Then

share your successes and ideas, whether or not

you work in the state or independent sectors.

Bryn Llewellyn has over 20 years

experience working in state schools,

including three half Deputy

Headships.

He now works as an independent

advisor for various organisations,

including http://evolvesi.com.

For details of Bryn's work

visit brynllewellyn.wordpress.com

and connect via @brynll

Active Learning Games

Unique Active Games that Improve Learning in Numeracy & Literacy

What is Tagtiv8?

Tagtiv8 involves active learning in order to develop Learners' confidence with words, phonics and spelling, as well as numbers and other areas of mathematics.

Our games have an impact on standards in Literacy and Numeracy, as well as providing opportunities to improve physical and emotional well-being.

Pupils are encouraged to compete and collaborate, solve problems and apply strategy through our engaging, educational games.

Learners are encouraged to compete and collaborate, solve problems and apply strategy.

How do you play Tagtiv8 games?

Tagtiv8 games are easy to organise and play.

Our ever-expanding bank of free session plans and ideas are shared with you via email and links to Google Drive.

How does Tagtiv8 promote creativity?

It’s not all about Tagtiv8 and our ideas.

Learners are encouraged to devise and develop their own games.

Learners can send their suggestions to ideas@tagtiv8.com

The best games are published and shared with other Learners… with prizes on offer!

How will you be spending your School Sport

Premium Funding?

“An innovative way to make best use of your School Sport Premium Funding.”

“Tagtiv8 promotes active learning. The games allow teachers to ‘reclaim the sports hall’ not just for PE, but for Literacy and Numeracy too.”

“Tagtiv8 games are a great resource for staff CPD in Physical Education.”

Email: hello@tagtiv8.com Call: 020 3370 4272 or 07506 523354

Twitter: @tagtiv8

Author: Isabella Wallace and Leah Kirkham

The voice of a teacher is arguably one of the most important

assets in the armoury of tools required every day. It’s so precious,

in fact, that it should be protected and used with great care as it

can convey so many messages throughout the school day.

In fact, sometimes we can all over-talk when we are in teacher

mode; we get carried away labouring our teaching point that

pupils switch off to the main idea we’re trying to convey. We’ve

all been in meetings when someone in higher authority is

rambling away their really important message, only to suddenly

realise we’ve been mentally somewhere else for the last ten

minutes, with no idea what the person is going on about.

In their book ‘Talk-Less Teaching’ by Isabella Wallace and Leah

Kirkham, explore techniques on which teachers can draw to help

pupils embed learning and make progress without the need for

long periods of teacher talk to keep the class spellbound. Indeed,

the authors offer valid reasons as to why talking too long can

reveal problems with this method of teaching: talking can be misused as an alternative to thoughtful

planning, meaning that differentiation goes out of the window; long teacher-talk sessions mean less

thinking time for pupils; lack of getting feedback from your learners, to demonstrate any progress; and

ultimately can result in a sore throat.

Tailoring your teaching to the needs of every learner can sound like a challenge, but the book

encourages chameleon teaching, where you adapt for the different needs of each group of pupils. This

makes sense, but it’s also about being aware of the subtle signals which pupils convey back to you and

adapting mid-session (yes, going off-plan if needed) using strategies offered in the book like The

Wonderball, Boarding/landing cards, or The Walking Chocolate Bar (disappointingly, no real chocolate is

used for this exercise!). There are many strategies on offer throughout this useful book supported by

example resources and illustrations created by

Sally Townsend.

We sometimes review books which are ideal

mainly for primary or secondary teachers,

however this book can be used across all phases

of teaching with the strategies offered being

easily adaptable for the pupils you have the joy

of teaching. The main forte of this book is the

variety of practical activities which place the talk

and focus on the pupils learning rather than

relying on your most valuable asset as a person –

your voice. This book will give you the confidence

to step off your soapbox and engage your pupils

further in their own learning journey.

Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and

Progress is published by Crown House Publishing

and is priced on Amazon (bit.ly/talklessteaching)

at £16.99* for the paperback and £10.44* on

Kindle.

*Correct at the time of publishing

Talk-Less Teaching: Practice, Participation and Progress Bookshelf Bookshelf

▲ Go to bit.ly/talklessteaching to view

this book on Amazon.

18

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debate, articles and pedagogical strategies and tip.

Join the Thursday night discussion on Twitter at 8pm (UK) using

#ukedchat.

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19

Guilin is built around these mysterious outcrops to

provide the most surreal back drop.

Having returned to Guangzhou we arrived at the

International Teenager Science and Technology

Practice Festival – where many students began to

arrive from all over China. This was an opportunity

for us visit a local school in Guangzhou.

A bus duly delivered us to the School of

Guangdong - Experimental Middle School.

Following lunch we had a talk from the Vice

Principal and a group of students. The students

and some of the teachers then took us on a tour of

the school. Nearly all of the students board. With

over 3000 students, a sizeable part of the school is

given over to their dorms.

The students showed us around many of their

classrooms and we got to sit in a watch what

would be the equivalent of a year 9 music lesson

with students playing home sweet home on the

recorder!

It was very interesting to see the approach of the

schools we visited to practical science. Science

seems to go hand in hand with technology in China

- the Science labs weren’t labs like we expect in

the UK - more like work shops were the students

learn about electronics and manufacturing - true

STEM at work. They were very proud of the

electric cars and robot that the students had been

building recently in their equivalent of STEM club.

We were made extremely welcome at school and

came away feeling inspired and intrigued by the

prospect of future a partnerships.

Speaking to the students, we were struck that

although many of them were boarders, they

actually lived less than half an hour away from

their parent’s homes. It seemed incredulous to

the same students that they would waste at least

an hour of study time a day commuting from

home to school. In, I suppose what we might call a

growth mind set or ‘grit’, the students were

determined to put in the hours needed to make

sure that they achieved at the highest academic

levels for themselves. The school, parents and the

Chinese state have succeeded in getting the

message across that the best way to improve your

life chances is to be educated. That was a message

wholeheartedly embraced by the students of the

schools that we visited.

STEM of the Dragon By Becky Simmonds & Colin Riddell

In June 2013 Outwood Grange Academy took 5

science fair projects to the Big Bang Yorkshire and

Humber at the Yorkshire Air Museum. The projects

had been completed by KS3 students as part of

extracurricular enrichment and had only been

entered as a chance for the students to show off

their work and enjoy the STEM activities on offer

at the exhibition.

Everyone was delighted when one of the students

was awarded the prize for best KS3 science project

and put through to the finals of the National

Science and Engineering Competition in March

2014, and then astounded when she also won the

best practical science prize across all age groups

for her project on where to store bananas – the

prize which funded our trip to China.

In July 2013 four students from Holly Lodge Girls

College were awarded the best practical science

prize at the regional North West Big Bang for the

STEM Club project they carried out in transforming

E. Coli bacteria with the pGlo plasmid.

Both schools were very excited to discover this

award was courtesy of the University Of Bradford

and a trip to Guangdong Province in China to take

part in the International Teenagers Science and

Technology Practice Festival. We are very grateful

to Dr John Baruch from the University of Bradford

and our Chinese hosts for making this amazing

opportunity available to us.

Having met each other for the first time on the

plane from Istanbul to Guagnzhou we embarked

on a once in a lifetime opportunity which allowed

us to experience so much of the Chinese culture

and education system in that region of China,

especially as the only English competitors in the

practical science competition.

Our first full day in China entailed a tour of part of

Guangzhou followed by a flight to Guilin in

Guangxi province. If we needed a reality check

that we were in China this was it. The scenery

around Guilin was breathtaking. The whole region

is characterized by Limestone Karst Mountains

that are the remains of a 200 million year old

seabed. The ancient coral has been uplifted to

about 600m above seal level. It’s strange - if this

this scenery was in the UK, It would be green belt

or national park with no possibility of anyone

building anywhere near it. In China the City of

Taking part in the competition it was again very

apparent how students had combined science and

electronics in their projects. It was very clear that the

schools are doing their best to equip the students

with the skills that they need to contribute to the

growing Chinese economy.

During our last afternoon at the competition we

were teamed up with Chinese students and tasked

with producing a meal from a set of supplies, a cast

iron wok and wood fired stove - A Chinese barbecue

meets ready steady cook! It turns out that young

people the work over rely on their parents to do the

cooking – this was a learning curve for both British

and Chinese students!

Coming back from the trip we have put into practise

some of what we have learned. Outwood Grange

Academy has definitely adopted some of the STEM

ethos which we saw in the Chinese approach to

practical science. We have begun to liaise more with

the DT department to develop the engineering skills

of our students and prepare them for future STEM

careers.

The Outwood Grange Academy Science Fair, already

boosted by the amazing prize which we had won, is

becoming a STEM fair and will be celebrating the

work of students in DT, maths, ICT and psychology in

November 2014. This year Outwood Grange had

success in the science and engineering sections of

the Big Bang Yorkshire and Humber; entering

science, maths and DT projects and hope to build on

this next year across all disciplines within the

competition. As Becky says “ Visiting China

broadened my view of science; in a large school with

over 150 teacher staff I did not speak to many

colleagues outside of my department on a regular

basis. Since returning I have gone out and made links

within DT, maths, psychology and ICT, to the benefit

of our students. I would recommend that other

science teachers do the same.”

Image credit: Image was provided by Colin Riddell

Becky Simmonds @beckylsimmonds, teacher

of science at Outwood Grange Academy.

A biology specialist, I have been teaching

science and A level biology since 2003. I have

a love of extracurricular enrichment, both in

science in terms of projects and competitions,

and in other areas of wider school life.

Colin Riddell @kimcheecolin, is the Lead

Learning Innovator and Teacher of Science

with a specialism in A Level Biology at Holly

Lodge Girls College. Colin has been teaching

since 2007 with a fervor for promoting STEM

to the girls at Holly Lodge through STEM club,

organised events with STEM ambassadors,

colleges and universities.

Recently on #UKEdChat

See more at

http://ukedchat.com/archive/

Session 210 – Handwriting: The Pros and Cons

Host: @JeanEd70

bit.ly/ukedsess210

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the classroom?

Host: @rachelswinburne

bit.ly/ukedsess209

Session 208 – D&T Subject Special

bit.ly/ukedsess208

11th Sep 2014 P4C (Philosophy for Children)

2nd Oct 2014 Science (Chemistry, Physics, Biology)

13th Nov 2014 Geography

4th Dec 2014 Music

8th January 2015 Literacy / English

(reading, writing, drama, speaking & listening)

29th Jan 2015 History

5th Mar 2014 Skills 4 Life / Jobs / Careers Advice

7th May 2015 Religious Studies

21st May 2015 Performing Arts

18th Jun 2015 Modern Foreign Languages

2nd Jul 2015 Design & Technology

PE

4 Jun 15

26th March 2015 Art & Design

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I can’t use technology in the classroom...

I’m from a different generation!

If you’ve ever thought, or said, that technology is not

for you, that you do not get it, or that you are from a

different generation, I sincerely sympathise with you,

I really do! Using technology is not always the

simplest of things and there is always the possibility

that things might not work the way we tried them

just minutes before and that if things go wrong we

will not be able to fix them, so it is much easier to

give up and leave technology in education for the few

geeks who not only get it, but actually enjoy it.

But allow me to shift your attention to another

problem. If you think you’re from a generation where

technology doesn’t play a pivotal role in your

everyday life, what generation do you think the

young people you teach belong to? And what kind of

exposure to technology do they get in their life

outside school? A large number of young children will

have received all sort of digital “toys” this Christmas,

from tablets to iPod Touches, and high-tech devices

are very much part of their everyday life before they

even begin school these days. That’s the generation

you teach, but what is the difference between the

tools they have available at home and what is offered

to them in school?

IT’s just about fun and no substance, or is IT?

Sometimes we seem to miss the point when people

who use technology in education talk about

engagement, making learning fun, creativity, etc… but

there are some important considerations and

observations to be made on these points that are

often confused for lack of substance. Take gaming, for

example - many parents would not see any learning

benefits whatsoever when their children play video

games. In fact, a good percentage of parents see

computer games as hindrances to real learning, so

they limit the time allowed on consoles, tablets and

other devices (note that I am not saying that having a

balance on the type of activities children do at home

is a bad thing here). It is interesting to note how

many of the parents who see video games as threats

are perfectly happy to see their kids in front of the

telly for hours on end without raising questions about

the implications of that.

So, are video games bad, or good? Many would

say they don’t add any real value on the learning

journeys of our young people, but I would beg to

disagree. I have seen many examples of the

opposite happening. My favourite game of all times

is Civilization, a great strategy game that took you

at the very beginning of a civilization that you had

to develop to modern age and beyond. Games like

these not only offer opportunities to learn about

history and other subjects, but they also develop

problem solving and numerical reasoning skills. I

remember getting so ingrained in the game that I

would often find myself still stuck in front of the

screen at five o’clock in the morning. Now you

might say that this is really unhealthy and I would

agree with you, but the point I am trying to make is

that video games obviously have the power to

engage children to levels that no other tool has yet

been able to achieve. So, perhaps the right

question to ask is not whether video games are

good, or bad, but rather how can we design

learning experiences that reach the same level of

engagement? Is it even possible?

Let’s consider for a minute what elements are in

the majority of video games. Some common

features are:

• A lot of action. Children rarely have to wait for

something to happen in video games, as they are

always very rich in action.

• Children constantly fail! This is especially true of

games with levels, like Angry Birds, for examples. In

these games kids keep getting it wrong, but don’t

seem to be phased by that, because they know

they can try the level again and again until they get

it right. My four year old boy is much better than

me at playing Angry Birds now, just to give you a

practical example. This ‘failure’ produces an

attitude that allows learners to take risks without

worrying about the consequences and don’t take

this statement out of context, please. It doesn’t

mean they don’t care, if things go wrong! In fact,

they care so much and they want to improve so

much that they are willing to spend a lot of time

refining their skills, so that they can knock all

piggies in one shot (in the case of Angry Birds).

By Alessio Bernardelli

23

• They get immediate feedback. Instantly, you can

get a lot of details about your performance with

video games. So, you have failure, but you also see

what you need to do to get better immediately.

• The best games, the viral ones, are immersive. To

give a classic example, Tetris was an overnight

success because it fully engaged your brain. You

had to give your full attention to the game, if you

wanted to beat your personal and overall score of

other players.

Are our lessons designed with those elements in

mind? Would they at least improve engagement if

they were, or would a ‘boring’ topic in science still

remain ‘boring’ for our students?

Using technology at home can have some really

nice side effects too. In fact, I remember when my

nephew was 10 he needed to find out how to go

through a particular challenging part of one of his

Nintendo Wii’s games, so he sat at his dad’s

computer, went on Google and searched for what

he thought he needed to know. What really

impressed me was the way he was searching, as he

wasn’t aimlessly opening all the pages the search

engine spat out, but he was selectively looking to

identify the key words and sentences he was

looking for before opening a page. He discarded

some of the top pages immediately from the

context of the text he read and when he realised

his search wasn’t producing what he needed, he

changed his search criteria and eventually got

exactly what he was looking for.

Another example of how embedded technology is

in many young learners is a seven years old boy

who sat with his dad at the table in front of me in a

very long train journey. We started chatting and he

told me he really likes Maths, so I started to show

him some Maths apps I had on my iPad. I

eventually showed him MyScript Calculator, that

turns your hand written calculations into typed

numbers and gives you the result. Seconds after

showing him how scribbling over the numbers

deleted them, this clever boy shouted “Look! You

can just draw a line on the numbers and they

disappear.” In other words, he found a much

quicker and more effective way of deleting previous

operations than I had come up with having used the

apps many more times than he did. Because

learners start using technology at such a young age

these days, they find it a lot more intuitive than we

do. My two year old boy can use Minecraft (bit.ly/

uked14jul21) very well to create and destroy

buildings. He can turn the iPad on, find FaceTime

inside a folder, open it and video conference with

my mum in Italy without any help from an adult,

and he’s been able to do so since he was one and a

half. It is hard to ignore such examples of how

technology is used at home by many children.

Another initiative forced on me

I hope I have raised a few important points that

will have made you think about where learners

come from in terms of technology and the reasons

why the way they use technology offers them really

high levels of engagement. But many experienced

teachers seem to resist change very strongly and

often like to remind less experienced ones that

they’ve seen it all before. A new kit came out,

everyone followed the bandwagon, it made no

difference and got replaced by the next new craze.

So, what’s the point?

I will tell you something else that I have seen

before, over and over again. Integrating new

technologies in education has nothing to do with

age, experience, nor background. It has all to do

with willingness to learn and develop. I have been

coaching and training teachers in the use of

emerging technologies in education for the last

seven years and I have never had anyone who

embraced change come back to me saying it was

worthless. When you meet teachers who are one

year from retirement, but still get excited about a

new tool you’ve shown them that could enhance

the way learners collaborate in their classroom, the

whole idea that “technology is not for me,

because…” doesn’t really stand.

Is it possible that the majority of those who give up

do so because they are not really sure what to do

with technology and have not been given

appropriate training and time to embed the change

effectively? If you are reading this and you are in

that category, I sympathise with you, as I said at the

beginning, and I believe your SLT is asking you to do

something quite unreasonable in integrating

technology without sufficient support.

Another common critique of technology in the

classroom is that it is just a waste of money to buy

really expensive kit to replace things and tools that

already work effectively. I couldn’t agree more and

if new technologies are simply employed as

substitutes to existing tasks it is completely

pointless. Let me give you an example. A lot of

science teachers get quite excited about using

smartphones and iPads as data logging systems.

Although it is true that handheld devices have a

range of sensors within them and that there are

quite a few apps that harness the power of these

sensors, existing data logging systems that many

schools already use probably do the job already

and better in most cases. So, an iPad used in

science lessons exclusively as a data logging system

becomes a glorified and very expensive sensor, as

well as a waste of money in my opinion.

Redefinition

Modification

Augmentation

Substitution

The SAMR model is a description of what

technology integration should produce in a school

or individual teacher.

S is for Substitution and it describes the starting

point of many, who begin implementation by using

technology as a direct substitute with no functional

change. This is the stage that causes frustration and

that could potentially reinforce an unwillingness to

change. After all, who would want to start using an

iPad just to create worksheets on Pages? This is just

another word processing app, so all of a sudden the

same task that you could complete in Word within

minutes, becomes really cumbersome. No one

could blame you for not seeing the point in moving

to iPads, if that’s all they have to offer.

Enhancement

Transformation

A is for Augmentation where technology is used

as direct tool substitute with functional

improvement. Using the same example as above,

you could create your worksheet using Pages on an

iPad, but you could now share it directly with all

your students using Air Drop. So, you might have

had to learn a few new features and how to type

on a screen as opposed to a keyboard, but you

have some improvements in functionality that will

hopefully encourage you to want to discover more

about the potential of iOS devices.

M is for Modification and it describes the stage of

implementation where educators use technology

for significant task design. A classic example is the

time when PowerPoint started to be used to

replace acetate presentations. Suddenly things

could appear on the screen at the right time and

with animations, making presentations more

catchy, effective and incredibly easy to adapt for

different audiences.

R is for Redefinition and this is the stage every

educator should aim at. Redefinition implies a use

of technology that allows learners and teachers to

create new tasks that were previously

unconceivable. I would argue that this should be

the only reason to drive change and technology

integration, because if you can do the same tasks

without the technology as effectively, there is no

way you will be able to convince anyone of the

need to change. But when you have devices that

are as portable as a small book, but that have far

greater computational power than the Apollo

spacecrafts, redefinition is not only an option, it

should be a priority. Front and rear cameras,

combined with powerful video editing apps like

iMovie, offer whole new ways for learners to

record and report findings and information, just to

give an example. Many other apps can truly

change the way learners work and interact with

teachers and peers.

Join the debate

UKEdChat Weekly discussions on Twitter

Thursday 8-9pm Look for the #UKEdChat hashtag

Find out more at ukedchat.com

Starting the journey

Here are a few ideas to start your journey towards

Redefinition of learning tasks. If you have iPads in

your school there are a range of great apps that

allow your learners to become creators of

knowledge as opposed to simply consumers of

knowledge. Start from highly engaging apps like

Puppet Pals that allows you to create stories with

little characters preloaded in the app. As you move

the characters around and change their shape by

pinching, you can also record a narration and

dialogues. Children can even become the

characters themselves by taking their photos and

cutting around their shape to be part of the story.

When all scenes are recorded you can download

your story as a video in your gallery, or upload it on

YouTube. Another great use of Puppet Pals is to use

it for paired reading and you can see an example of

this in this Blog post (bit.ly/uked14jul22).

Or why not use Aurasma for peer assessment?

Get your learners to create video feedback on their

peer’s work and use an image from their work (like

a diagram, or picture they drew) to trigger the

video message in the Aurasma app. This makes

your learners’ work look like the Harry Potter’s

newspapers, where pictures come to life and, since

you can add your ‘Auras’ to your school channel,

parents can follow your channel and watch these

video feedback from home. Aurasma works on

Android devices as well as iOS ones, so it is a really

comprehensive app. Finally, coming back to games,

why don’t you let your learners work in small

groups to create amazing worlds in Minecraft on

iPads, or Android tablets? In this post (bit.ly/

uked14jul23). I show how my boys recreated the

Olympic Games in Minecraft and worked

collaboratively to make various games, from

fencing to hurdle racing. They even researched the

colours of different flags to add them to their world.

In another post they are shown creating a medieval

castle after researching some of its features on the

internet. In both cases they took the initiative and

were not prompted to generate these creative tasks,

they simply wanted to work together and build

something. In the process they learnt new skills and

acquired new knowledge. Harness the power of

games like Minecraft in your lessons and you will

motivate your learners to become more independent

learners. In Minecraft you can develop numeracy

skills too. In fact, you could get children to work on

constructions that must have a certain volume, area,

etc… that you determine. You can challenge the more

able and talented learners to work with fractions and

percentages to build additional buildings, crops, etc…

as fractions, or percentage of existing ones. Or even

get them to build buildings from real places to scale.

These are just a few examples, but my advice is to

start with one or two new ideas to try and then

measure the impact in your classes. It will be worth it.

Why change?

So, why would you change?

Change for your students and do not be afraid to get

things wrong and learn new things with them. If

anything, you would be demonstrating to them that

you are willing to do the same things you are asking

them to do, i.e. learn new skills and apply them.

Use your learners’ expertise, as they are likely to

know a lot more about technology than you do and

they find it very intuitive, so when you get stuck don’t

be afraid to show it and ask your students for some

help. You are there to help them learn how to learn

and apply skills within your subject, not to teach them

ICT. So, use technology as a tool not as something you

26

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have to teach, there are IT teachers for that in

Britain.

Enjoy the process and allow your learners to

become creators of knowledge. When they create a

great piece of work make it public and showcase it

to boost their confidence. Giving them a true and

global audience can have a great effect on their

motivation and effort. Websites like YouTube and

Facebook are not the works of the devil and they

can be used very effectively when we educate

learners instead of banning them from using such

tools.

A patient that needs life saving surgery would not

expect to hear from his doctor that he’s going to

die, because the surgeon didn’t update her skills

and knowledge to the only new procedure that

could treat his disease, since the surgeon was only

a few months from retirement. So, why should our

learners expect to hear a similar argument from

their teachers?

If you embrace technology and change with the

aim to redefine education, you will see the benefits

and begin a journey that will take you to new

heights in your career and in your professional

fulfilment.

Alessio Bernardelli is a multiple award winning

teacher of Physics. He is the Co-Founder of

CollaboratEd.org.uk and also works as a

consultant for the Institute of Physics in the

roles of Network Coordinator, Teaching and

Learning Coach and Editor of Talkphysics.org.

Alessio was Head of KS3 Science for over 5 years

and he also worked with NGfL Cymry as a Field

Development Officer and with TES as the

Science Subject Lead. Alessio is an Official

iMindMap Leader, a Peer Coaching Facilitator

and a TASC Specialist with years of experience

in developing teachers’ through effective CPD,

coaching and mentoring. You can follow Alessio

on Twitter as @asober, or @Collaborat_Ed

Traditional Ways to Engage Boys

I’m an IT teacher, or a Computer Science teacher, or

what ever you want to call me now - actually Head of

Department is probably a safe title! When I started

teaching I was a huge advocate for the use of ICT

tools to engage all learners, I was fascinated by the

potential of the iPad to change the landscape of

teaching and learning. I think that potential exists, but

it’s going to be a slower road than I first thought.

A challenge: Engaging learners, boys in particular is a

difficult thing, and I’ve learned that in actual fact I

needed to embrace the methods that have been

around a very long time (and add in the new ones) in

order to be successful. That’s exactly what I tell

trainee teachers I work with. So what traditional

methods have I found really engage boys in their

learning?

A conversation I’ve had with recent PGCE students…

PGCE Student: “That group, those boys just come in

every lesson and don’t want to learn! Nothing is going

to work on them. I give them the worksheets and

they do nothing!”

Me: (Deep breath) Well, let’s start by assuming that

they do want to learn, that they are interested in

having their attention grabbed and they’d like to be

made to go ‘ahhhh’ by a new idea. What you have to

do is look at what you do to make them interested.

PGCE Student: “What can I do?”

Me: Think about what you would normally do to

engage them, make a list of the types of activities

you’ve tried that have failed and keep that list. Force

yourself to NOT use those activities, and to think of

new engaging activities.

Over the course of an intensive hour long meeting

my PGCE student and I explored some opportunities

to try some more traditional methods of engaging

boys, such as…

By Paul Wright Colour cards: Boys are often visual creatures.

They like ‘obvious’ so things like colour cards can

prove hugely useful in engaging boys to share

their opinion and knowledge. Boys are often

reluctant to answer group or class questions (their

fear of being made foolish is huge amongst

youngsters, and in particular boys). I’ve found that

a simple option such as holding up a card at the

same time as everyone else can go some way to

removing this initial ‘fear’.

Traffic light cards help - Red, Yellow and Green.

Easy to make at home from coloured card or cut

paper laminated. Simple, effective and useable

over and over again throughout your career.

Competition (house points): Look for

opportunities to make things competitive, either

in groups or pairs. Bu be careful with individual

competition as it can backfire and work against

engagement if a learner struggles to ‘win’ at all.

Pair up learners carefully, thinking about

strengths. Then think carefully about your

questions or activities, try and plan something you

know a ‘difficult’ student could get right. It’s a

great way to start the ball rolling and get them

involved if they see they can contribute something

to their pair or team.

Mind Maps: Give boys opportunity to doodle

down their ideas. If coursework can be assessed

this way then use it as a bridge to build up to

further more detailed writing further down the

learning road.

Puzzles and Games: Puzzles and games work

really well with learners - boys in particular. Think

carefully about the type of puzzle and game, but

don’t discount the value of a well planned

challenge to engage a reluctant boy in their

learning. I’d avoid too complex word based

puzzles with less able learners. Go for visual first.

Paul Wright is Head of Computer Science and ICT at Stoke Park school in Coventry. He’s a happy survivor of

many Ofsted inspections, but remains more interested in how his colleagues & students rate his teaching.

Frequent contributor to #ukedchat and #SLTchat as well as a seen EduSketchnoter and blogger.

With many resources for teachers available on his blog he's now working with a UK stationery company to

design low cost educational resources that will support teaching practice covering literacy, questioning and

independent learning. Find out more or contact Paul via @pw2tweets and http://tips4teaching.co.uk

Relating work to the real world

Boys often struggle to see the ‘value’ in what

they are learning because it’s abstract and it’s not

connected to what they see as their ‘real’ world.

So, where possible look for real world

connections to their learning. “How many iTunes

downloads can I get with…” etc or “An app store

discount of 20% applies to new app purchases,

how do I work out…” - Keep it Real.

AFL: Well marked work, with good feedback,

can’t be praised enough. It’s possibly the most

valuable tool you have. Find a way to mark work

effectively. Give learners areas to improve and

then give them DIRT time in which to act on the

feedback you’ve given them. Keep feedback and

improvements clear for boys. List the things they

need to complete, draw boxes next to each point

and write ‘tick when you complete these’ above

them.

Calling home: At the first sign of a learner struggling or

falling behind - call home. Be positive, but ask for home

support in helping the learner achieve their potential. At

first, boys will likely see this as working against them,

but with some explaining they’ll see it’s for their benefit.

Praise: Stickers, verbal, what ever works for you. Praise

boys when they do well, when they show interest, when

they get a question right! They need to be shown

they’re getting things right in order to encourage them

to continue to engage.

To my trainee that looked like a huge list, so I sketched

it out and left a copy with them to go over in their spare

time. In truth, it’s the tiny tip of the iceberg of things you

can do to engage boys in their learning.

Keep at it people, and do remember that boys DO want

to learn, they do want to be inspired, they want that ‘oh

wow’ moment when a new idea is explained. You just

have to think hard about just how you engage them.

Good luck! ▼ Mapping it out—Wonderful art work by Paul

shows us how ‘doodling’ can be a useful tool.

This was a Skype chat with Wilderness

Dave – a contact made through the Skype

in the Classroom website. Here we

rehearsed questions which the children

then asked the adventurer, whilst he

shared images, pictures and video

footage from his recent journey into the

rainforest. He can also be found at

http://wildernessclassroom.com

Skype One Big Adventure

Using Skype in the classroom always creates a

buzz! It always, without exception, receives an

incredibly enthusiastic response from both staff

and children. It gives an authenticity to learning

as it brings the 'real life' into the classroom –

and allows schools from all areas of the planet

to stay in touch and share experiences.

Since we began using Skype we've managed to

have expert session from real life Amazon

explorers, chatted to children across the other

side of the world about their school and

favourite books, created simultaneous lessons

ideas for children continents apart and held

partner talk with schools in the next county! We

have been able to create world maps which

show people we have spoken to, brining

meaning to those maps and atlases and

exploring countries we would never otherwise

be able to visit.

For this article I thought it would be useful to

consider what benefits using Skype could bring

to school, discuss starting points and point you

in the direction of useful resources.

By Rebecca Stacey

Why would you?

Well... in a short answer why wouldn't you?

Skype allows you to link with people all over the

world – connecting with experts, other schools

and teachers in countries that could be

anywhere. It is incredibly easy to use (once over

the initial hurdle) – and requires very little set up.

The money is spent on a decent camera /

microphone – and many schools have those lying

around anyway.

What will you need?

A decent webcam and microphone and a

computer that has a good broadband signal.

We also use the school iPads – and in the ICT

suite have a combined webcam with microphone

which works well. In classrooms though you

might need to have a microphone which can be

held by the person speaking.

Getting Started—Create a Skype Account:

Use a different one to your own account / email

– link it to work email and make it either a school

or a class email. Download the software to the

school computer from http://skype.com.

Test your school settings

The easiest way to check that Skype will work in

your school setting is to arrange a quick Skype

chat with a local school – whether that is just

teacher to teacher, or a quick test with a class to

chat about a book or activity. Technical hitches

can quickly deflate even the most enthusiastic, so

Image credit: All images have been supplied by Rebecca Stacey

30

Here children from a partner school in Abu-

Dhabi pointed out our school on Google Earth.

This partnership lasted two terms for us and

allowed the children to share books, experiences

and their school life with other children around

the world.

test out the connections and get your school tech

support on side. Usually it's a case of unblocking

the website and then making sure that the

computer you use isn't situated in the only area of

the school to not get a decent broadband signal.

Skype has very easy ways to test the signal in the

options as well – so do make use of that!

Sign up to Skype in the Classroom

Once the initial testing and technical hitches have

been sorted you can begin to look for connections

that can build into a real learning opportunity.

Begin with the excellent Skype in the Classroom

web page (http://education.skype.com) – create

an account either for your class or your school and

begin browsing. It is worth spending time with this

site, as the information it contains is vast. Think of

a topic that is coming up in your school and start

with that, or alternatively, think of a theme or a

country that you wish to learn about.

▲ There are hundreds of resources and even more

helpful users on the Skype in the classroom site.

Rebecca Stacey has been teaching for ten

years. Currently Deputy at Queensbridge

Primary in Hackney, previously a consultant

for all things ICT at Hackney. She has a

particular interest in using technology,

particularly for connecting and strengthening

language and communication. She is about to

make the move into headship, leaving inner-

city London for rural Cumbria! Read her blog

at http://digitalclassrooms.co.uk and on

Twitter at @bekblayton

Best UK Educational Tweeters Nominate your favourite UK educational

tweeters and help us build a list of the best

people for teachers to follow.

The results will be published in the

September issue of UKED Magazine

Go to bit.ly/uktweep14 for info

http://projectnoah.org

A great citizen science site where users can

upload and view photos of animals or use the

free Apple device and Android Apps. It's a

great way to do real science with what you

already have in class. Check out the education

section for more ideas.

http://skoolbo.com

This is a must try site which provides an

amazing 3D world which teaches English

and maths core skills. Players race against

two other randomly chosen online players

of a similar level.

The best sites from

http://www.nitrotype.com

This is a fast, action packed typing game

where you can race your car against other

typists in real time online. Use your WPM

to increase your MPH! Earn cash to buy

upgrades.

Check out the UKedchat Educational Apps directory

for the best apps for teaching and learning.

Go to

ukedchat.com/eduapps

View thousand more at ictmagic.wikispaces.com

http://memplai.com

Make collaborative videos in your web

browser with this amazing site. Just upload

your images, videos and audio and invite

others users to edit your project with you. As

the files are stored online your students can

access the project from home or at school.

The videos do not have watermarks and they

can be easily embedded into your site or blog.

32

http://ed.ted.com

TED is a superb, inspirational organisation

that hosts some of the best speakers of our

time on a range of fascinating topics. Now

TED has a set of amazing videos to use in your

classroom to astound your students.

http://apowersoft.com/free-online-

screen-recorder

This is a useful online screen capture site

which uses Java to record the whole of your

screen or a selected window without a water

mark or logo. When you have completed the

capture, the WMV format video file is

downloaded to your computer.