March 2009 Newsletter - Circulation 10 000+

ICTeachers was started by a group of teachers involved in the Becta Laptops for Teachers project in 1998. We shared resources as you do but wanted to share them with other teachers so built the www.icteachers.co.uk website. - teachers helping teachers like always. Tim McShane

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FREE online seminars with leading experts - Harnessing Technology, what does it mean to me and my school?

 

Talk to the experts about delivering the Harnessing Technology strategy in your school. During March 2009 The National College for School Leadership is running a series of FREE online seminars with these leading experts from Becta and SSAT. Register your interest now at

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Apart from stating the obvious that a. Primary schools have it sussed more than Secondary schools (doh!), and everyone should do more, there is this recommendation for the DCSF to:

 

"seek ways of reinforcing the importance of ICT as a subject and in its use across the curriculum"

 

What it should say is NOT to repeat the NOF experience of death by obscure decontextualised technology but concentrate on upskilling the school workforce in personal use and increase confidence. No point telling people to use all singing and dancing technology when they STILL can't turn the flippin thing on!

 

The full report, The importance of ICT: information and communication technology in primary and secondary schools 2005/8, can be found on the Ofsted website.

Links:
www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/070035

Douglas Adams had a view on technology and its influence on our lives.

“Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”

And I’m sure we can fit ourselves into this somewhere

I’m involved in ICT in the Early Years  education   and I’m taking some time to look at the technology that surrounds a child from birth and how they interact with it, or not. If you are a parent or close grandparent of a child under 5 could you I ask you to take a little time to add something about your child to my survey.

To find out more and follow the link to the survey go to go to my blog post A little bit of help please  and the link to the survey is at the bottom of the entry.

 

Thanks for helping

Tricia Neal

Independent e-learning consultant
tricia@tricianeal.co.uk

 

Links:

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I don't go to the pub or clubs or sports venues so I just tend to bundle along on my tod enjoying the company of Fiona my life mate (she giggles when I call her that : ) ) and my obvioulsy talented and wonderful children. However, I do occasionally crave the company of other men and, seeing that I'm slightly introvert I find it difficult to talk to people I don't know. So, instead of whining about it I did something about it. I started a Men's Meeting. My wife does one called women's circle where they do virtuous things like cooking, craft and deep conversations, mine is less so. I had one last saturday, only a few of us, my friend who sat with me all last saturday planning the content and the dates for it suddenly announced he was taking his beloved to the pictures that night. (sigh) So, what did we do? We had BOARD GAMES NIGHT!  I love board games nigh, basically it consists of Paul bringing over an obscure game from his 1970's childhood, this time one called Colditz, and we try to work out how to play it. This time I was the guard and the others were prisoners trying to escape. Hilarty ensued. Other subjects for the year are bird watching, model making, apple juice tasting and home security, the highlight for me is the copious amounts of junk food and tea we consume. Yeah, we may look like a bunch of weirdos....but this is MY bunch of weirdos. :) Let's face it, look at any primary school male teacher, especially the ones into the technology...Oh, and John now has three clients for his business!  Lizzie has been told by her music teacher she has a "gift" and I took James to a local cafe for a full english on Saturday to spend some quality time with the little chap as i think he gets ignored a bit compared to the other two. Hey ho! Have  good week all!