Blog posts from the EdTechRoundup Community
The school has its mock general election today with the staff and the students voting. The results will be uploaded to Google Schools UK Election site and I am looking forward to seeing the result. I will write more later on but think the image made in Comic Life Magiq will help…
I have been intrigued by the tweets that have been tagged #newleaders over the last week or so. Being a relatively new ‘leader’ myself, I hoped that just like #movemeon, there might be some practical tips that I could use. However, as I began to read the contributions I had a growing sense of unease that many of the contributions seemed to be based on wishlists or ideals of leadership. I also began to wonder whether the immediacy and character limit of Twitter had caused a complete separation of ideas and context (as I have learned, it is ALL about the context). The result of this personal unease forced me to reflect on my own (short) journey and I’m happy to share what I have learned so far, not as a corrective, but as a supplement to the many ‘crowd sourced’ ideas (and situated with lots of context).
1. Being a new leader means that you are going to make mistakes – lots of them. I made some whoppers at the start (they have slightly reduced on the whopperage scale) and I had to learn to analyse and deal with the disappointment quickly otherwise my ability to influence would never develop. There was once incident in particular that I handled in the wrong way and I felt devastated, personally and professionally, with the consequences. I had to evaluate the situation and rectify it as quickly as possible despite the fact that I was deeply hurt; it also taught me to never put myself in such a situation again. I would like to say that I came to this realisation myself, but I can’t and this leads me neatly to the second thing I learned this year…
2.Get a fantastic mentor. I read the books. I watched the videos. I listened to the audiobooks and I read the webpages. I was methodical with my research. However, it did not prepare me for the changes and challenges I faced when I started. I began to think that the above exists to fill the gap of access to good leadership because they really are a poor substitute for seeing the real thing in action, warts and all. The Headmaster has been brilliant for my development but the Deputy Headmaster has been the Dr Cox to my JD (or should that be Turk?) at my present school. He is a great person to learn from; he has vast experience and is rather good at his job. He is also (and this is the really important thing) happy to fulfil the coaching role in terms of time and effort and as a result he has forced me to look at issues from angles I never would have thought about. He also picks me up and dusts me down when things are not going well (see the first point). This is not to say that he is superhuman; he makes mistakes and is willing to share them, which is all the more important for my development. He leaves for a headship in September and if a Deputy Headmaster position came up at his school, I would not hesitate to apply!
3.Study and listen to your colleagues. I don’t mean just taking advice (or dismissing it if it is not what you would like to hear). I mean really listening to their hopes, dreams and fears because by doing this you can get the necessary information that you need to make a decision. What I have started to learn is that you can pick it up in a very short conversation once you know the person you are speaking to. This skill also helps in judging the mood of meetings, shaping agendas and saying the right things to people because you know them.
4. Don’t take yourself too seriously and learn to laugh at the situation. I can recall one instance where I received an email that appeared to me to be a pure ‘blocking’ tactic. I felt really annoyed at the time. Could they not see they were stopping my grand plan to improve the school? My own self-importance made me laugh and I told myself that it could be resolved with a conversation. I was able to speak to the person comfortably when I next saw them again and realised that their comment was a way of building rapport (the ‘grand plan’ was also implemented too).
In my context, these were important lessons to be learned and maybe that is what #newleaders should be all about – people sharing their experiences within a meaningful context. Without it, comments of leadership may appear banal and devoid of substance. I know this was not the intention of Stuart and Tom who set it up, hence I’ve said that this should be seen as a supplement, not a corrective. After all, as the Scrubs theme goes, ‘I’m no Superman’.
Image: Dunechaser @ Flickr
It has been a busy few weeks and I have yet to write up my thoughts about the EUROCLIO presentation and workshop Doug and I gave in Turkey…
One thing that taken over any ‘spare’ thinking time is how we are planning to use mobile devices next academic year. The school has had a few interesting conversations over the last few weeks and there are some tantalising things in the pipeline. One mobile application I am very excited about is scvngr. This is a mobile/web 2.0 update on the scavenger hunt but with great potential for education (and it works on a variety of phones). Your questions are delivered to the phone (via text or a deicated app for iPhone and Android devices) and you reply using the method of delivery. Where it really comes alive is in the mobile web/dedicated iPhone/Android version as it allows media to be used as clues and supply answers. When I was told about this tool by @rmurry I was immediately interested by possibilities for school trips to historical sites/museums or even a general orientation exercise for new students at the school. I was told by the very helpful staff at scvngr.com that the service will be running in the UK this summer and I look forward to testing it out with my class/delegates at the Schools History Project conference in June/July…
Another mobile application that has caught my eye is the iPhone version of Moodle. Like many others, this could really unleash the potential for Moodle as an aggregating learning space that can be accessed anywhere. The demo uses the great WPTouch wordpress theme and if this is released soon, it will more than make up for the delay of Moodle 2.0…
It has been a busy few weeks and I have yet to write up my thoughts about the EUROCLIO presentation and workshop Doug and I gave in Turkey…
One thing that taken over any ‘spare’ thinking time is how we are planning to use mobile devices next academic year. The school has had a few interesting conversations over the last few weeks and there are some tantalising things in the pipeline. One mobile application I am very excited about is scvngr. This is a mobile/web 2.0 update on the scavenger hunt but with great potential for education (and it works on a variety of phones). Your questions are delivered to the phone (via text or a deicated app for iPhone and Android devices) and you reply using the method of delivery. Where it really comes alive is in the mobile web/dedicated iPhone/Android version as it allows media to be used as clues and supply answers. When I was told about this tool by @rmurry I was immediately interested by possibilities for school trips to historical sites/museums or even a general orientation exercise for new students at the school. I was told by the very helpful staff at scvngr.com that the service will be running in the UK this summer and I look forward to testing it out with my class/delegates at the Schools History Project conference in June/July…
Another mobile application that has caught my eye is the iPhone version of Moodle. Like many others, this could really unleash the potential for Moodle as an aggregating learning space that can be accessed anywhere. The demo uses the great WPTouch wordpress theme and if this is released soon, it will more than make up for the delay of Moodle 2.0…
It has been a busy few weeks and I have yet to write up my thoughts about the EUROCLIO presentation and workshop Doug and I gave in Turkey…
One thing that taken over any ‘spare’ thinking time is how we are planning to use mobile devices next academic year. The school has had a few interesting conversations over the last few weeks and there are some tantalising things in the pipeline. One mobile application I am very excited about is scvngr. This is a mobile/web 2.0 update on the scavenger hunt but with great potential for education (and it works on a variety of phones). Your questions are delivered to the phone (via text or a deicated app for iPhone and Android devices) and you reply using the method of delivery. Where it really comes alive is in the mobile web/dedicated iPhone/Android version as it allows media to be used as clues and supply answers. When I was told about this tool by @rmurry I was immediately interested by possibilities for school trips to historical sites/museums or even a general orientation exercise for new students at the school. I was told by the very helpful staff at scvngr.com that the service will be running in the UK this summer and I look forward to testing it out with my class/delegates at the Schools History Project conference in June/July…
Another mobile application that has caught my eye is the iPhone version of Moodle. Like many others, this could really unleash the potential for Moodle as an aggregating learning space that can be accessed anywhere. The demo uses the great WPTouch wordpress theme and if this is released soon, it will more than make up for the delay of Moodle 2.0…
With the exam crush looming ever closer (especially for my lovely IB class) and the need to consolidate learning that has taken place over the last year/two years, I often neglect the fact that I also need to reflect and learn about my subject. Two upcoming events this year should help me stay on the path of classroom refinement/enlightenment…
Next month Doug Belshaw and I are going to give an address and two workshops on History and ICT to Turkish History educators as part of the European Association of History Educators (EUROCLIO) which is funded by the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The way how History is taught in Turkey is being rethought and there is a desire to incorporate/develop more innovative methods; our role is to suggest how this can be done using examples of work in the UK. Doug and I will stress in our presentation that ICT is more than an ‘add water and stir’ approach and that it should support the work in the classroom rather than become the determining factor. This may seem pretty obvious but I sometimes lose sight when I come across a new/exciting tool and articipating in the conference reminds me to keep asking questions about what I do in the classroom and what direction my school is heading in.
The second event is the TeachMeet Doug and I are organising at the Schools History Project (SHP) conference in July (we are also presenting a workshop at the main event). This conference is THE conference for History educators and sessions are always informative with ideas that you can take away and use on the first day back in school. If you haven’t come across a TeachMeet before, it is a fantastic way to share teaching ideas through volunteers giving two or seven minute presentations in an informal and supportive atmosphere. This video made by BrainPop UK for another TeachMeet will help:
My experience of the TeachMeet at BETT was fantastic and I found out some really useful tips that were too ‘small’ for a seminar but very practical which stimulated much discussion at dinner and this is what we hope to achieve with the SHP version. We are currently looking for volunteers for the SHP TeachMeet so if you are intending to go and want to share your ideas and get involved in the conversation about teaching and learning in History, please get in contact via the TeachMeet page or Twitter (me or Doug Belshaw). Details on the conference can also be found on the schoolhistory.co.uk site. The outcomes of both of these events will now doubt appear on these pages and I look forward to creating exciting (or crazy depending on which student you ask) activities for my students as a result of the conversations!
After all the hype/hope/dismay, the iPad is here and it has led some to ask whether it will revolutionise education. Personally, I think this is the wrong question to ask as it supposes that a technical solution can solve what is essentially a human centric question. To put it more bluntly, the iPad it is merely a tool and it is (echoing something Chris Harte from Cramlington Learning Village said on Twitter) only as good as the tool using it (although I might have to revisit this idea once we have Matrix style loading programs)!
That said, I think the iPad offers some tantalising possibilities for teaching and learning. You now have a device with ‘instant on’ that is portable, has a larger screen than an iPod Touch for viewing information but physically much smaller than a desktop computer used to create content or capture data. Without much thought, I could see the Geography/PE/History department taking this tool outside the classroom as a support to learning on the environment/field/site visit. The lack of a camera does not worry me as I always think a dedicated camera is much better for any shots (and these can easily be transferred to the iPad if needed). I’m sure that over the next few months, we will see examples far more developed than the brief reactions I can give.
From another point of view, it may prove to be revolutionary. For educational publishers, the ability to view media rich content (video, presentation and audio explanations) and electronic learning resources (thinking skills diagrams/drag and drop exercises) as well as the ability to update and add new textbook information at a minimum cost are now possible. Doug Belshaw and I have been working with a very large publisher talking about these kinds of issues in terms of resources for the classroom. I am sure that our next discussion will be pretty interesting…
I think that the iPad will offer something different to the classroom as a learning space and I am looking forward to exploring how it will enhance historical understanding in my lessons. I will have to wait a bit longer before I can be ‘Morpheus’ to my History students…
Image: cattius.photos@Flickr
I am very pleased to announce that my school has now become an Apple Regional Training Centre (RTC). Basically, this means that we will offer free training (to any school) using Apple tools to help enhance teaching and learning but with a slight twist…our RTC will focus on History as a specialism and will specifically look at how technology can support historical understanding of change/continuity, causation and other historical concepts using tools like BeeDocs Timeline 3D (as used in the example here and explained in more detail here). Of course, we will offer training covering all subjects and general creativity in the classroom but I am particularly pleased as it will allow me to share my love for the subject (and all things Apple). The second exciting aspect for us as an RTC is exploring how mobile technology can be used in the classroom to enhance learning and assessment. I hope to showcase some of the work at the Schools History Project conference this July but will blog about/discuss what the school plans to do over the next few months. Get in contact if you would like to come to a free session!
Image: kyz@Flickr
One of the things I have made a commitment to do this year (apart from improving my terrible cello playing and becoming fitter) is to read a lot more outside my subject area. History and technology books normally make up my Amazon orders and I felt that it needed to change. As a result, I have created a poster in my classroom explaining that I intend to read 24 different books over the next 12 months (and not directly related to History). Why have I put the poster in the classroom? There are two reasons. The first is to help me keep on track; I know of no better group of people willing to keep someone else on task (!) so they will be my conscience throughout the year. The second reason is pedagogical as I wanted to demonstrate or model publicly that reading is a fun, challenging and legitimate activity.
As part of the challenge, I have asked students to recommend books to me. I am sure I will get a few English class texts in there and I am mentally prepared for the Twilight series (I enjoyed the first film so the books can’t be that bad, right?) but the great thing is that it will create a conversation based on books outside the normal teaching and learning situation. Sure, they may ask me for my opinion on a character or theme they are writing an essay on due in the next day but then the students are engaging in a discussion with someone not teaching the text. I’ll also be able to discuss what I found difficult, what I really enjoyed and how it allowed me to understand something I did not before I read it.
Ultimately, I hope the challenge will demonstrate that learning happens all the time, even to teachers. I also hope that as the year goes on and the grid of books I have read fills up (alongside my scientific five star rating system), some of the students will engage in the reading process. I may have had enough of Bella and Edward by then but if it takes someone away from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare/Gossip Girl DVDs for a few moments every day, it would certainly be worth it.
Image: JerOmm.nz @Flickr
Twitter – tweets mentioning #ETRU