Edware have been around for as long as I’ve been in teaching, when the author was still a s
tudent in college and the first “Know Your Ireland” was out and I met him at the Education Show that used to be in the RDS. At the time, I was involved in another software project, Who Took the Book, and we talked about the coolness of the programming language we were both using. Anyway(!), I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to review Know Your Ireland in its third version.
Archive for March, 2009
Review: Know Your Ireland
March 31st, 2009 
Simon 
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Group work part 2
March 29th, 2009 rozz Rules for Group Work
AS you are agreeing the rules with the children( it is important you agree the rules with the children and it doesn’t look as if you are prescribing the rules as law!), think about other issues. An issue many teachers have is the constant wandering around of the children and interruption of the teacher who may be working with one group or individual. A steadfast rule of “No out of your seat” can be applied here and the reasons for why given. Children learn much better if the atmosphere around them is consistent.
Why Blogging is Best – a digiteach article
March 28th, 2009 Simon 
I was asked to write a follow-up article about my workshop at this year’s CESI (Computers in Education Society of Ireland) conference. It’s entitled “Why Blogging is Best” and below is the text from it. The slides are available as a slidecast from the CESI site or you can download them from my own site, www.simonlewis.ie.
The Mission for a Mission Statement
March 26th, 2009 000 A new school generally comes with nothing. When I say nothing, I don’t mean absolutely nothing; it comes with classrooms, toilets and sometimes an office or two. After that, it’s up to the manager and principal, (sometimes there’s no Board in a brand new school) to fill it with things like books, furniture, computers, etc. The principal generally has a vision, or at least they should have. However, in the midst of all this, it’s important that a school should have a Mission Statement.
Ar bhfaca tú PowerPoint ar an idirlíon?
March 25th, 2009 Beadzee A big thanks to “Beadzee”, a member of the excellent Education Posts Forum for sending on a set of 7 PowerPoint presentations to share with others. The first in the series is based on the question: Ar bhfaca tú? This presentation would be great for an IWB presentation and the images are excellent. The next presentation will go online in one week’s time. Download “Ar bhfaca tú?” now.
“Bia” – a Flash game
March 23rd, 2009 000 Bia is a game written by Beryl Healy, a teacher from Drumcondra NS, who very kindly offered Anseo.net the opportunity to host and share the programme with members. This game looks really great and would suit an IWB very nicely. Play Bia.
Group work and noise
March 22nd, 2009 rozz Group work and active learning, buzzwords and they will always be buzzwords and so they should be! Group work has an integral part to play in the Irish classroom. It is one of the key methodologies of each Curriculum subject but how do we do it?
Twitter – a tweet everyday.
March 20th, 2009 Simon As one of the regular contributors to Teachnet’s blogs, I thought I’d write about something a little different to my usual rantings about Interactive Whiteboards and Blogging. I’ve been using a tool called Twitter for the last number of months and it’s really started to take off in a big way with other ICT-friendly teachers. My article can be found at: http://blog.teachnet.ie/?p=920. I’m really enjoying contributing to different blogs and getting feedback.
Complete Review of All IWBs
March 17th, 2009 Simon I have created two documents which summarise all my findings on IWBs available in Ireland. If companies wish for their IWB to appear in future summaries, make sure to contact me. Likewise, companies should make sure to contact me if their information changes, (e.g. prices, inaccuracies, etc.) (more…)
A Correction
March 15th, 2009 Simon I’ve been under the impression that Prim-Ed and Promethean were one and the same company, wrongly. I received an email from Prim-Ed’s marketing department to put me right.
