Training standing on it’s head!

Everyone needs training and this year I have literally turned my training on its head, working on the advanced users in school. Normally, school persuade me to go against my instincts and ensure all users have a basic knowledge, but with new software versions and staff arriving at school, it always feels as if I am playing catchup…. So I have decided to work down, running advanced whiteboard skillstraining for 4 cohorts of staff using three delivery methods. The staff so far have really enjoyed the course, but now I need to see what impact this approach has… Well the initial signs are good. Over 50% have gone out of their way to show others some of the skills they have learnt as well as use them in their classroom. The more I can encourage the top down approach to work, the more time I will have to help individuals ( I hope) … So here’s to standing on your head!

Here we go again….

And so the blogging restarts…. Now I have a handy iPad I can blog when I want, not just when I am at my desk…. And I have so much to catch up on in my blog…… Starting with active inspire….

It’s the simple things that make the difference

My school is large- large enough to have quite a substantial budget ( although it is never quite enough!!) but today made me remember that it is often the simple things which make the most difference to the user.
We installed dotty font by sassoon. It cost me about £30. It have saved 5 teachers hours of work. Talk about value for money!! Instead of handwriting every child’s name a few times on a page, they could type them, copy, paste, print and ….. job done. 5 happy teachers with time left for the importnat part of the job. ….talking and interacing with the pupils. Hopefully they might even get a bit of a friday night to themselves…well worth my £30.

Promethean presentation #slf09

Thanks again to Promethean for allowing me to ramble on about expressions- I do so love them. Not only do they save me ( and other teachers time) but they make my teaching really relevant to the children in the class at the time.
for those of you who were there-(and anyone who missed it) here is the presentation

please leave comments- constructive critisism well received!

Interactive Technologies In Teaching And Learning 2

View more presentations from ALILYDON.

wahoooooooooooo… I spoke at #SLF09!

well today sees the end of cycle 1… a year agao I created technowellies, today I spoke about it at the Scottlish Learning Festival (#slf09)
and I think it went well. I had lots of people come p to me at the end and thank me, one descrbed the talk as educational, fun, inspiring and informative….( what more can I ask for?)
another person stopped me in the corridoor and told me she was going straing back to school to change the way she dealt with outside walks, that I was inspirational…..
THANK YOU to everyone who came along. You were a great audience.

so I am basking in self glory at the moment….

well I was, one child is crying, the washing up needs doing, shirt needs ironing for tomorrow…. back to real life!!

Internet safety week 2

would this be a good starter for parents?

Prezi adds pazzazz!

Wow- I love Prezi- I decided to turn my SLF powerpoint presentation into a much more appealing Prezi presentation…. and I almost succeeded. I just had a problem with the video- I have mine in AVI files, but I need FLV files, and although I can convert these- I’m not sure I have time before the big day….. anyway- I will link it here- once it is finished.

http://prezi.com/tdw5czgmwsmg/

not long until the Scottish Learning Festival… Yikes!!!

Yikes indeed, I found out the second seminar I am running at the Scottish Learning Festival is fully booked and more people are trying to get into it…. (Big Gulp!) I have not had the courage to look at my first one to see if it too is busy!

Anyway- I hope to see you there- as almost everything on my blog is about technowellies or Interactive whiteboards. Both my presentations will be on this blog after the event too.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/slf/chooseseminars/a1c.asp

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/slf/chooseseminars/f1h.asp

Inspiring ten minute tasks

Do you have some of those staff who always complain there is never enough time?

Not enough time to work through manuals…

Not enough time to get to grips with new software…

Not enough time to play…

 

Well I hope these will help. They are a series of ten minute tasks to do on the whiteboard. print them out, laminate and bind… and give to a new teacher. Let them use them to learn the software, convert from Studio or Primary to Inspire or update skills.

View this document on Scribd

Internet safety week- Mark 2

Anoher year and more sponsors to find. So a MASSIVE thank you to Brain Pop, Whizzkidz and Promethean, who potentially may save a life or change the life of one of the children I teach.