Assessment Course, Fronter News

Welcome Back

I love these videos from Microsoft, which you must have seen recently during the ad breaks of programmes like 'Britains Got Talent'. They are part of the company's 'I am a PC' campaign.

What strikes me about this particular clip is that the child is not using Movie Maker as part of her end of SATS project in Year 6, no she is in Year 3, and probably could have done something similar when she was in Year2!


Food for thought eh...

Anyway, we took a small break for SATS week and the half term holiday, but now we are back with some key bits of news and links.

In this Issue:

• That enlarging thing on the Whiteboard that Alex does



• Assessment Course
  
  
• ESafety Clicker Grids

• Fronter Adaptions for SEN
  


• Just In

'That enlarging thing on the Whiteboard that Alex does'

Many of you will have attended courses or training with either myself or Alex, where we have managed to greatly zoom in on a detail on screen. In case you missed this tool, it is called Zoomit and can either be installed or run directly from the website in the background. Its Microsoft, so it is safe to use and avoids some of the more fiddly zooming tools you often get with whiteboard software.

Zoom it can be found by clicking on this link.

Assessment Course Wednesday 10th June

Next week we are running or assessment course on Primary ICT. We are very excited by this, as this year we welcome along Julian Nietrzebka as our course tutor.

If you read the biog below,it is clear that we have the National expert on assessment in Primary ICT, therefore this will be a very comprehensive and authoritative day.

Who is Julian Nietrzebka?

Julian has extensive experience of leading the strategic development of ICT. He is passionate about the power of ICT to enable learning and inclusion and currently leads LearnSW, an independent educational consultancy. Previous posts include PNS Senior Regional Adviser for the South West including responsibility for ICT, Primary Link Adviser ICT with Torbay LA, and Senior Curriculum Adviser ICT, Northamptonshire LA. He was one of four consultants working with QCA to develop APP ICT at KS3. He has written and contributed to a number of ICT national resources including a Primary Framework for ICT, Hands on Support Guidance, Learning and Teaching with ICT in the Primary Phase, Curriculum section of the SRF, Strategic Leadership of ICT for SIPs, and Assessing ICT Capability Primary. He is an accredited primary SIP and ICT Mark Assessor. Before becoming a cross phase advisory teacher in 1988 Julian was a Head of Art and Design.

Here is the draft agenda:

• Implications arising for educators from the current educational and global context



• Effective Assessment for Learning and the use of modern technologies



• Assessing Pupils Progress in ICT – principles and practice



• Agreeing standards in ICT and strategies


• Resources and next steps
  

If you are interested in coming, or sending a teacher/ICT Coordinator, then there are a few places available, though please be aware that delegates need to bring 3 or more pieces of ICT work from a range of contexts from lessons that they have taught..

Note if you are from outside Redbridge and want to attend, we may be able to accommodatete you, but at a charge. email me ASAP

Animation Day

Before half term we had another successful and inspiring animation day at the Teachers Centre. Delegates explored the use of claymation, stop-motion and 2d applications. One of the sessions looked at using 2Animate in quite a simple way to demonstrate Scientific processes. I'd like to say this was my idea, but it came from Katie from 2Simple during a Twitter discussion the day before the course. Using 2Animate in this way is incredibly quick and can be achieved with just a few frames, as opposed to the long and tedious click, position, click process that we use for clay animation type flicks.

Here are a small selection of examples made by teachers during the day:

ESafety Clicker Grids

Thank you to Sandra @ Crick who has alerted me to the Clicker Grids they have created to accompany the new Know it All for Primary resource from Childnet.

She writes:

Just a short e-mail to give you some up to date information on a project we have been involved in with Childnet International, and the new UK Council for Child Internet Safety.The project, Know IT All for Primary Schools, contains a 3D animation called 'The Adventures of Kara, Winston and the SMART Crew'. To support and reinforce the e-safety messages contained within this resource, Crick Software has created related Clicker activities.

These are currently featured Clicker 5 resources within Learning Grids.The animation covers Childnet's 5 SMART rules, which have been proven to be effective in helping younger children understand the importance of keeping safe online. Through their travels Kara and Winston use the internet, mobile phones, social networking pages and chat to negotiate and find their way through the adventure. On their journey they are able to interact with a real life SMART crew who give advice to help Kara and Winston stay safe.
Clicker presents a simplified version of the story in an on-screen talking book format, offering the opportunity for reinforcement of the key messages contained within the five rules and is designed so that teachers can follow-up the story and the very important messages contained within it."Internet safety is vital for all children and we are thrilled that Crick Software has joined us in supporting this resource.

As Clicker is used in over 90% of primary schools, and with over 70,000 registered users of their LearningGrids World site, Crick's support has meant that this resource is readily accessible to teachers working with children at all levels in a primary school setting." said Will Gardner, CEO at Childnet International.

Note from Anthony:

The SMART rules are also available on the KIA site in Widget Symbol format, what a great idea!!

Click here for these, if you download these and put them in your ICT suite, or near a computer let me know!!

Fronter Adaptions for SEN

Fronter have produced a handy guide for using the London MLE with pupils with Special Educational needs. Many of the thinsg in this guide are useful for children with SEN, regardless of the MLE, it is worth downloading from here.


Just In:

Some of you have called about courses in 2009/2010 - contrary to what you may experience of Redbridgepdc these courses are not fully booked, it is just that they are not open for bookings yet. We are waiting to ensure all the dates are confirmed. Details soon!

Scribble Maps - it was previously very difficult to embed a google map into Fronter- Scribblemaps allows you to create your own annotated maps using Google maps, these can be embedded as a Flash file in Fronter or Digital Brain.

BBC Earth has launched its own ">Youtube Channel, there are some excellent clips in here that would greatly enhance Geography, Science or Literacy.

Sugarstacks.com - want to show how much sugar there really is inside food and fizzy drinks, let this site show you. Though many of the products are American, there are still many that your children will be familar with gorging on. Check out the Nesquick picture- eerregh. Maybe your class could make their own pictures!!

And...

Those nice people over @ Brainpop UK have put together a little video that explains Swine Flu , follow the link here