There are some super sessions for primary school teachers.  Nigel Lane, a primary school teacher in Co. Kildare is giving a workshop on Blogging Basics, a must for any teacher interested in blogging with their class.  Anne McMorrough is going to be giving a great session on different tools she uses in her classroom, including iPod apps and other web apps.  Edchat, which is a Twitter chat every Monday is a good session for anyone interested in using Twitter.   Another couple of interesting talks for technophobes would be Getting Started with ICT in the Classroom and ICT for Technophobes.  Both talks will give the very basics from teachers who have discovered ICT tools for learning that are easy to use.

There’s loads of other sessions on Google Apps, Twitter, Cloud Computing and more!  The Friday evening is a Teachmeet where teachers give 2-7 minute talks on topics that they’re interested in.  It’s fast, informal and fun, (and there’s a bar too!) You should check out http://www.cesi.ie for more details and register.  It’s the best value CPD you’ll ever get!

I got an email today from the Teaching Council and I almost deleted it straightaway! I was glad I didn’t. Last year at the Irish Primary Principals Conference, Harold Hislop played panto bad guy with the principals. He told us that we would probate newly qualified teachers. We told him we wouldn’t. He told us we would…it just went on and on.

A year has past and all was quiet. Then, the Teaching Council slip this new draft document about teacher induction into our emails. Just in time for the Irish Primary Principals Network Conference 2012 next week! Coincidence? I think not.

CEPP

Here’s the brief.

“The Career Entry Professional Programme (CEPP) is a new programme which has been designed by the Teaching Council as being appropriate for a newly qualified teacher wishing to be fully registered. It is proposed that the CEPP will replace the current arrangements for the induction of newly qualified teachers and their probation for registration purposes.

“A consultation document has now been published setting out the key elements of the proposed CEPP, the proposed timeframe for completion of the programme, the key phases in the programme and the roles of the various stakeholders including newly qualified teacher, mentor, school principal, the Inspectorate, the National Induction Programme for Teachers and the Teaching Council. ”

Worth reading

So, another acronym for us.CEPP, it sounds very harsh, doesn’t it? I’ve briefly scanned through the document. It deserves further, careful reading. It is a huge document outlining the phased approach to handing over the “dipping”( or the awarding of recognition of teacher status to a newly qualified teacher or NQT) of NQTs from the inspector to the principal and a mentor. The roles are clearly outlined from exactly what the mentor will be expected to do to how the principal will sanction the new teacher. By 2016, the inspectorate will be responsible for 10% random checks of NQTs and in situations where there is a dispute between NQT and principal. Oh, dear. That is odd as there were never any disputes when an inspector probated a NQT, the inspector said yay or nay. But, usually, yay.

New ways of thinking

There are good points in this new way of thinking and leading. A principal will be able to fulfil their core function of being the leader of learning and the school. It’s a slow, phased approach with huge emphasis on training for principal, NQT and mentor. The CAPP program is not just about 1.5 days of their year, which is what the old system of the inspectorate focussed on. Instead, they build up a portfolio, receive qualifications, begin a mentoring relationship and receive feedback from their own leader within their own school context. This all behind right back in teacher training college where the portfolio is begun. This also starts to show exactly what the Teaching Council is for and where our fee goes to.

Massive mind shift

The downsides are there too-this is huge mind set shift for all parties. The mentor is required to do a massive amount of work. Principals may not be ready for this. I don’t know how teaching principals will be able to do this effectively without extra days being given, though this hasn’t been mentioned.

I recommend you take a read and let it sink in. We’ve got 5 years after all. That’s good change management! You can send your feedback to them after reading it here.

http://teaching-council.circulator.com/OpenUrl.aspx?LinkID=253802&NewsletterID=29536&SubscriberID=186878&AudienceID=8534&Version=29&SendID=74388&AddEvent=True

Wonder what news Ruarai Quinn will have for us next week?

• RTE - A new study has found significant variations in how children spend their school day, according to the kind of school they attend. The Economic and Social Research Institute report finds that girls in single-sex primary schools spend more time on Religious Education.
• Irish Times - Traditional teaching methods still dominate in Irish primary schools with relatively little group work or active learning, according to a new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
• Irish Examiner - Girls spend more time in school learning religion while boys focus more on history, geography and physical education, a new study has found.
• Belfast Telegraph - Girls spend more time in school learning religion while boys focus more on history, geography and physical education, a new study has found. The report on nine-year-olds shows dramatic differences in the way children are taught depending on their gender, social background and what type of school they attend.
• The Journal- GIRLS-ONLY primary schools spend more time teaching religion than male-only counterparts, a new study of the country’s primary schools has found.

As of today, the Irish Independent has not covered the story.  It is interesting that almost all media focused on the difference between boys’ and girls’ schools.  The report generally gives positive feedback about primary education in Ireland but there is little mention of this.  Below is a Wordle of the report showing the words most used in the article.

The strangest thing of all was that class sizes didn’t change.  While our class sizes are still way too high, this was the biggest surprise of all.

A lot of the changes will save money but will cost jobs.  For example, small schools will have to increase their enrollments to keep teachers. Certain extra posts that were given for some early DEIS-related programmes are to be abolished.  The government have also simplified the General Allocation Model (GAM), where a school is allocated a number of hours to give extra support to children with learning difficulties.  While simplifying the system is welcome, unfortunately it comes at a cost to schools who have higher percentages of children with English as a Second Language (ESL).  GAM and ESL are being merged and now for every 5 mainstream teachers in a school, an extra post is allocated to the school.  As I said, on paper this sounds great, but in reality it will cost a significant number of teaching posts especially in schools with a higher ESL percentage.

Some cuts have been made to schools.  For example, each child is allocated a certain sum of money when they enrol in a school, which is used to pay for the school’s bills, including heating, lighting, utility bills, teaching resources and anything else really! This has usually covered between 50 and 70% of schools’ costs with fundraising bearing the rest of the load.  A decrease of 3% over the next two years will put further pressures on schools.

Download the Document: Tables Tips.

Signing up for Twitter is really easy. The first step is to go to http://www.twitter.com in your browser.  On the right hand side of the screen, you simply need to fill in 3 boxes and you’ll be signed up.  Writing your first tweet is as simple as typing in a sentence. Just make sure it’s less than 140 characters.  You’ll probably also want to follow some people and there are plenty of recommendations on this site.

The project is called “Tables Tips” and the idea is to crowdsource as many tips for learning multiplication tables as possible.  For example:

A cool way to remember 7×8 is to look at it this way: 56=7×8 so it’s 5, 6, 7, 8.

Now, for this to show up on Twitter, you need to use something called a hashtag.  A hashtag looks like this: #

As I’m calling this project Tables Tips the hashtag is going to be #tablestips.   If you want your tip to learn tables to show up, you’ll need to add it to your tweet.  So using the above example:

A cool way to remember 7×8 is to look at it this way: 56=7×8 so it’s 5, 6, 7, 8 #tablestips

The only thing to remember is that your tip must be less than 140 characters including the hashtag.

After Maths Week is over, I’ll be collating all the tips that you’ve added and publishing them in a special downloadable Maths Week document that everyone can use!

If you’ve any questions, click the contact button and I’ll do my best to help.

Firstly, I think a major reason that teachers are starting to blog is quite simple.  We’re beginning to trust the Internet.  Back in 2008, I asked teachers whether they would use a blog.  Only 20% of teachers said they would even post anything on a blog.  By the time I surveyed teachers earlier this year, this figure had raised significantly.  Not only did teachers seem to trust blogs, 42% of respondents wrote blogs and used them in their school.

This leads me to a second reason.  With any new technology, it takes a while for people to know what to do with it.  I think it’s fair to say that we now know how to use a blog.  As far as I’m concerned, there’s three main types of blogs.

Personal Blog

This type of blog is generally all about a person and their interests.  Sometimes there’s a theme running through them and sometimes it’s an eclectic mix of the person’s interests.  Rozz and I both run personal blogs as well as a number of other teachers.  I generally leave Anseo.net to educational matters and my personal blog is about anything else.

Project Blogs / Short Term Blogs

An interesting type of blog is a blog that has a fixed start and end date.  For example, a school might investigate the weather patterns in their area for a month and blog about it everyday for that month.  Once this is done, the project is over and the blog ends.  There are a few examples of schools doing this in Ireland; one example was from St. Attracta’s SNS in Dublin about Christmas Carols across Europe.  This project has now ended and the blog is now a way to see how it went.

From fotopedia.org

Niche Blogs

Another type of blog is the niche blog.  It’s about something usually of interest to the person writing it.  There are thousands of niche blogs out there and educational blogs are one genre.  In fact, there are some services on the Internet dedicated to allowing teachers and students the opportunity to blog.  Two of note are Kidblog and Edublogs.  One example, from second level, is Donal O’Mahoney’s excellent blog, eLearning Island, which focuses on education issues.  It has also won a number of awards.  Another example from primary level is http://sdilleen.edublogs.org/ which is a class blog.

Of course, teachers can also host their own blog or use one of many services such as WordPress or Blogspot.  Irish schools also have the option of having a web site hosted by Scoilnet.  There are loads of examples of these and many schools now have blogs as their web sites.   Scoilnet lists dozens of schools who use such blogs.

Perhaps, this is the reason why teachers might start blogging separately to their school.  Perhaps they want to have a place for their own class to blog about the things going on in their classroom.  Perhaps they want to give their own opinions about education or to share their own resources with other teachers.

There’s now a variety of ways to blog too.  Not only can teachers host their own blog, they can also use established services such as WordPress and Blogspot.  Here are a few (excluding this blog!) that are all about teaching and learning from different angles.

• http://msgilmartinsclassblog.blogspot.com/ – a class blog
• http://ransborons.scoilnet.ie/blog/?cat=254 – an example of a class blog hosted by Scoilnet
• http://balbrigganetns.wordpress.com/ – a principal’s blog
• http://sabinemckenna.wordpress.com/ – a teacher’s blog about her experiences in the classroom
• http://missmernagh.com/ – a primary school teacher’s blog – also featured in the Irish Examiner
• http://www.morestresslesssuccess.ie/ – a second level teacher’s own thoughts on education, often touching on all levels of the education system

However, there are a couple of other really easy ways to blog too.  Tumblr and Posterous are two super services which make it really easy for teachers to blog quickly about anything that they are interested in.  One example of a teacher using Tumblr for blogging and reblogging thoughts on education is Nigel Lane.  I don’t know of any Irish primary teachers using Posterous but here are some examples from second level:

• http://mags.posterous.com/
• http://joedale.posterous.com/

With all these reasons, I think we’re going to see a number of new teachers blogging about their experiences in the classroom.  If you are an Irish primary teacher running a blog about education, why not add it to the comments below?

The Blue Coat survey, which was completed in June 2011, interviewed 164 Irish students in secondary school and at third level, to determine how this generation is currently communicating.

From a primary level point of view, we need to sit up and take notice of this.  How many of us teach social networking to our pupils?  Probably close to none.  While only a small survey, the results clearly show that social media sites  are a far more dominant channel for communication among young people than traditional email.

While Facebook was the clear leader with 88% of respondents saying they have a Facebook account, I don’t think we need to focus on one social network.  There are already a number of social networks aimed at the under-13 market, such as Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters.  Children are using these sites; some of them are using them badly, which means that it’s likely they’ll continue to do so when they’re older, unless lessons are taught.

Looking even further into the future, Michael O’Hara, managing director, Data Solutions commented on the
results, with respect to when these students enter the workforce:

“This will bring up a whole set of new issues for employers.”

Following this, Nigel Hawthorn, Blue Coat Systems said, “When today’s students enter the workforce they will be completely in tune with the new ways of communicating and collaborating online, as most are already using social networking sites, blogs, Skype or instant messaging. Employers now need to look at new ways to facilitate their needs and expectations. ”

If we’re not starting these kinds of lessons in primary school and keep teaching children to use things they just won’t use in adulthood – and I’m only guessing here – things like PowerPoint and Email, we’re probably not giving them the start they might need when they reach 13.

Thanks to Niamh O’Sullivan from Comit Communications & Marketing for sending the information to us.

1. Smartboard have a new IWB

Smartboard have added a new board to the market, which allows teachers to write on them with markers.  Thanks to Liosdoire for this information. There’s more information here.

2. Wizteach Update

WizTeach, the software used on many Interactive Whiteboards, has had an update.  The main improvements are handwriting recognition & integration/interaction with the Qwizdom audience response systems. People can download a free trial by clicking here.  Thanks to Teamboard for this update.

3. New Widescreen Teamboard

Teamboard have released a new widescreen IWB fully installed for €3,300. Teamboards have consistently proved to be one of the best IWBs on the market.  With Smart and Promethean coming out with very similar boards, it’s good to see that Teamboard are pushing the boundaries further again.

4. StarBoard™ V9.3 interactive software release

Hitachi’s release of StarBoard™ V9.3 interactive software offers a more Windows oriented user interface and supports the interactive whiteboard common file format (filename .iwb).  This is a good move for Starboard as their software had been quite difficult to use.  In better news, the StarBoard software updates are available free-of-charge to teachers.  Phone  (01) 8013970 or e-mail: info@fusiontech.ie for more details.

5. StarBoard Tutorials for NCTE’s Literacy course

Two video tutorials are available to support Teachers using StarBoard interactive software to accompany the NCTE’s ‘Using Interactive Whiteboards to Support Literacy’ course. Select‘Hitachi’ from the NCTE’s online resource area to support the course. You can watch these videos here.

6. Hitachi release a couple of new Interactive Products

Image from http://www.cdw.com

Hitachi’s StarBoard Link EZ converts your existing dry?wipe writing board into an interactive whiteboard system. It’s multi?touch capabilities make it easy for teachers and students to use alike.  Expect a review on Anseo.net soon. The general price of €879 seems interesting and might threaten the likes of Mimio and EBeam.

Hitachi also released a new projector – the iPJ-AW250NM interactive ultra-short throw projector turns a wall / any flat surface into an interactive teaching aid. It’s supplied with its own wall-mount bracket and StarBoard interactive software.  Their suggested price is €1997, which is about average for a product like this including installation.

Emotions range:Flashcards&posters:Positive Press-Jenny Mosley

This new product from Positive Press and Jenny Mosely consists of a set of bright picture cards and matching posters.

They can be used as a way for children to talk about emotions and how people might look when they feel certain ways.

The pictures not only show the facial expressions but they also demonstrate the body language to go with it. This resource would be suitable for a mainstream school and class of any age.

Some children with special needs may find the cards difficult to understand and may take too literal meanings from the body language. i.e. everytime a person puts their hand in their pocket, they are bored. So, use them in the mainstream class for best effect.

The cards and posters come with a sheet of ideas and activties on how to use them in the classroom.

Relevance to curriculum aims: 5/5

These cards can be used in drama, SPHE, English and even Visual Arts as an expressive art lesson. The area of emotional literacy is vitally important in the SPHE curriculum so they tick that box too!
Teacher useability: 4/5

Very easy to use, the cards come with a list of ideas and ways to incorporate them into the lessons. However, when  you open the cards up, the packaging is destroyed as it is only light plastic. A folder would have been a nice addition. The posters would brighten up any corner, display and add to the learning for the child.
Value for money:5/5

I think they represent good value as you get the posters and the cards for the one price.

Extras: 3/5

The cards come with a range of ideas and activities whereas the posters are as is.

They cost €28.40 for the set of posters and cards and can be purchased at http://www.circle-time.co.uk/shop/golden_hearted_circle_time/1802