Teacher's Blog
Do you ever have those moments where you know you’re forgetting something that is so blatantly obvious it’s practically staring you right in the face? Stuart and I have weekly discussions about what to tell you about in this blog, and somehow Learning Essentials, a great FREE resource to help you use Office in your teaching, completely escaped us. Luckily our colleague Ray wrote about it last week, and we’ve stolen from his blog here:
Learning Essentials is a free add-on for Office, which contains a set of tools to help teachers and students. Things like curriculum templates, and toolbars for Word, PowerPoint and Excel to help students and teachers get started on projects and stay organised during them.
You can find out all about Learning Essentials on the worldwide Microsoft education website, which includes links to download. It works with Office 2007, Office 2003 and Office XP (that pretty much covers everybody!). If you want to see what it can do, then take a look at the Learning Essentials Tour.
You can download it directly from the website – choose the International English version of the download, which comes with a range of foreign language capabilities added.
Let us know if you’re already using Learning Essentials, and if so, what you’re doing with it. We find that very few people know about it - which makes sense considering that we forgot to mention it!
Where will the next Susan Boyle or Leona Lewis come from? Well, with another great application developed by Microsoft Research (the other being AutoCollage – available for free on the Innovative Teachers Network) it could be from any one of your future lessons! As a primary school teacher, I had to teach all national curriculum subjects, and that included music. Now, you may be surprised to learn that although coming from the ‘land of song’, I have not been blessed with the Welsh innate ability to sing (only good looks and a passion for rugby). I'm afraid this did not make planning a simple task for me. I solved this by using a variety of strategies, including commercial schemes, pupils supporting pupils and a number of ICT tools. This approach was good enough, and one of my classes even produced their own CD of tunes.
I think it would have been a lot easier if I had Songmith, an inexpensive piece of software from Microsoft Research that automatically generates musical accompaniment to match a singer’s voice. If I were still teaching, I would use this in a music lesson, allowing pupils to write their own lyrics to a well-known tune and then record themselves singing the lyrics into Songsmith. Songsmith will add the percussion and melody, allowing pupils to very quickly produce their own songs, which can then be used as an MP3 file or as soundtrack to videos, for example.
The interface is really simple, you are able to chose from a variety of choices including music style. The only setting that needs to be decided before recording is the tempo. Recording only requires a microphone and is started by clicking the red button. The application counts you in, and chords and percussion are added as you sing. Pressing the stop button completes the recording. Every aspect of the song can be changed and adjusted apart from the tempo. When the song is finished it can be saved as an MP3 file.
I think Songsmith, whilst it should never replace the use of real instruments, certainly has a place in the music curriculum of primary and secondary schools, although music ‘purists’ may disagree, but I would welcome your thoughts and comments.
I think Songsmith provides an ideal opportunity to utilise the learning power of music and support auditory and kinaesthetic learners in all areas of the curriculum. It could be used in a ‘John Davitt style event - Do the properties of a triangle as a blues song’ . Used, for example, at the end of a lesson, it would be a great way to get pupils to recall the main learning objectives of a lesson. Having the class sing the lesson outcomes to a song of their choice and recording it in Songsmith. This is a real fun way to recap a lesson. The finished song could even be made available for students to download.
Kristen and I have been experimenting with Songsmith and have shared number of ideas with teachers and the response has been very positive. You can download a trial version of Songsmith, available here. This has six hours total use, which is more than enough to develop some ideas and record songs for the rest of the term.
Harri is 9 years old and spends most of his time playing football. I know this from the number of times he collects his ball from my garden. He has a digital world, but it is not what you would perhaps expect. He doesn’t use a laptop; the laptop in his family is his sister’s and it's used for ‘talking to other girls, yuk!’. He doesn’t have a mobile phone, but helps his Dad use his and plays the games on it. When he does use the family computer, it’s to watch re-runs of the Formula 1 Grand Prix on BBC iPlayer. Disappointingly, in school, he says he and his classmates ‘don’t do a lot on the computer.’ But even so, Harri’s digital world is vast, complex, connects him globally, allows him to communicate, and enables him to be be challenged and solve problems. It is also focused on one device, the Nintendo Wii. His Mum asked me, (due to Harri’s constant nagging), if I could connect his console to their broadband connection (after all, I work for Microsoft -- I must know how do to these things). Working with Harri in close attendance, I somehow managed to do this. Within minutes he had set up a game of ‘Mario Racing Cart’ and was trying his hardest to beat Paulo from Brazil. In a blink of an eye, this nine year-old was now interacting with other game players from all over the world and beating most of them as well.
The thought struck me that perhaps the technology that we are expecting pupils to use in our schools is not set up to engage pupils like Harri. The nature of their at-home interactions with technology, such as with the Wii console, has given them a completely different set of expectations. This idea was further reinforced to me when I came across this article that describes how to use a Wii controller to control a PowerPoint presentation using Plex for PowerPoint. You need to download an free application called the GLOVE Programmable Input Emulator. I downloaded the necessary files and followed the instructions to install, set up and create my own script, which does require some technical knowledge -- but I had Harri to help here. This setup didn’t take long and we were soon able to control a Plex for PowerPoint presentation with a flick of the wrist. (If you try this, don't worry about not having a sensor bar, it worked without that.) Harri thought this was great. Now you may think that this is just technical gimmickry, but remember Harri will be 19 when the technology that Kristen described in this post -- and that is illustrated in this video -- becomes a reality.
This vision of the future may be here sooner than we think, Windows 7 has multi-touch functionality, and then of course there is the Microsoft Surface, which are beginning to appear in schools in the UK. Finally, and this has just been announced, Project Natal for the Xbox, technology that allows controller free interactions, through natural gestures and movements. This would be fantastic for the kinaesthetic learners in our classrooms.
Its clear to me that the pupils and students in our classroom are ready and perhaps already demanding such ways of interacting with technology. We need to think about how we can allow them to do this. if you have any ideas of how this is being done, then please share them here by leaving a comment, or add them to the Innovative Teachers Network.
So, what’s next for Harri? He is continuing his world domination of ‘Mario racing cart’, as he marks each person he has played (and beaten) on a map on his bedroom wall. His biggest challenge, however, is to convince his Dad to allow him to have the BBC iPlayer installed on his Wii console, and then his digital world will be complete.
Stuart blogged recently about Innovative Teacher Dan Roberts winning Becta’s award for Next Generation Learning in the South West of England. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the London ceremony for the Teaching Awards. Microsoft is working with the Teaching Awards this year to present an award and to bring one lucky head teacher with us to the Innovative Teachers and Innovative Schools Forums in Brazil in November. Together with the Teaching Awards, we ran an essay contest asking head teachers the following question.
What factors do you see as essential for a teacher’s professional development to successfully engage learners in a 21st century curriculum and how does technology play a role?
We’ve received some great responses to this question from head teachers all over the country who are doing some interesting and varied work in providing professional development for their teachers. It’s going to be a difficult job selecting only one head teacher to accompany Stuart, Ollie, Mandeep and me to Brazil, but I’m certain that we’ll end up with someone who can really benefit from and contribute to the conversations at the event.
Tuesday’s London awards were really inspirational. The event opened with a short talk from Olympic athletics champion Sally Gunnell, who spoke about being inspired by one of her PE teachers. She described this teacher as strict, making the girls go outside to do handstands so that she could make sure they all were wearing navy blue knickers to match their uniforms. (Not sure that would fly in schools today…) But what was most important to Sally was that the teacher believed in her and encouraged her to do something she might not have thought to do on her own. In Sally’s case, as a daughter of farmers from Essex, that something was joining a running club. And the rest, as they say, is history.
This sentiment was echoed throughout the awards, in the testimonials gathered from teachers, governors, pupils and parents in support of each of the Teaching Award winners. I loved the comment from one pupil, saying about their teacher that “It’s as if she’s teaching only me, even though I know I’m part of a whole class.”
For the first time this year, Becta offered the Next Generation Learning award, which is what Dan won. At the London awards, the winner of this award was advanced skills teacher Dan Lea of Gearies Infant school in Guilford. Dan’s bio was extremely impressive – his pupils use blogs and YouTube to communicate their learnings to their parents, and they even hold a film festival of pupil-created films. And these kids are 4 years old! Dan works with 11 schools and uses video conferencing to help other teachers to use technology in their teaching.
I was truly impressed by all the award winners today. It was a great way to spend an afternoon. Stuart and I will keep you updated as to the head teacher who is selected to join our team in Brazil. Look for more opportunities like this in the coming school year!
I can’t keep up with Stuart’s humourous posts lately, so I’m not even going to try. It’s too early on a Monday morning for me to come up with funny puns on pop culture. I’m just going to tell you about something else that Microsoft is offering for free.
A few months ago I wrote about Microsoft’s Peer Coaching curriculum, where we work with schools to train their teachers as ICT support coaches. These coaches can then help other colleagues in their schools to examine their own practice, improve their lesson design skills and better integrate ICT into whatever they teach.
We’ve piloted this curriculum with schools and local authorities in England and Scotland since our initial training in November of last year. We have also worked with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and a university to accredit this curriculum for 60 credits toward a masters degree for any teacher or trainer who takes the course (available in September). The schools are making great progress with their coaches, and we’re assembling the facilitators, their coaches and even some head teachers from the participating schools in London on 10 July for a follow-up meeting to discuss progress.
At the end of this meeting, from 15:00 – 17:00, we’re opening up the room to anyone who wants to learn more about the Peer Coaching Programme. We will talk to you about the curriculum and how you and your school can get involved in our upcoming – and FREE - facilitator trainings, the first of which will be in October.
You will also have the chance to speak to facilitators and coaches from the schools already using this curriculum, and hear from one of the head teachers about the impact it is making on her school’s professional development.
The event will be held at Microsoft’s offices in London on 10 July, and is open to anyone who wants to attend. If you’re interested in joining us from 15:00 – 17:00, please RSVP to me (kriwea@microsoft.com) so that we can plan for necessary space.
(If nothing else, this event will be a chance for all of Stuart’s fans to meet the man behind those witty blog posts in person.)
Hope to see you there!
To collect another award of course…..
Regular readers of our blog will know all about the Chickenman, aka Dan Roberts. He is one of our most proactive Innovative Teachers and award winners. But he's not just all feathers and eggs; his work is highly motivating for his students bringing Dan a number of other accolades. His Recharge the Battery project was nominated for a Times Educational Supplement award, shortlisted for the best E-Learning Initiative. And now, he has just won a National Teaching Award, The Becta Award for Next Generation Learning in South West of England. This what the judges said:
Senior staff at Saltash.net Community school knew they had found the right man for the role of Head of Science when they first saw Daniel Roberts teach. The deputy head who observed his lesson said: “There was a really imaginative use of podcasting, the Interactive whiteboard, video clips and Macromedia Flash Player. There was lots of the ‘wow factor’ and ‘awe and wonder’.” Since his appointment in 2007, Daniel has developed the use of ICT in learning with a firm belief that teachers should use it to teach – rather than teach children to use it. He knew that a very high level of stimulation and interest could be generated within the classroom through using the latest ICT, technology and Accelerated Learning methods. He had already been researching specifically how multimedia technology, such as video and podcasting, could be used to help develop the new KS4 Science curriculum. Daniel is an exceptionally creative and imaginative thinker. In one project with Year 11 students, he encouraged the use of hand held video players, podcasting and mobile phone cameras, to monitor the progress of eight rescued battery hens. The project came to the attention of Microsoft as part of their Innovative Teachers’ Programme, and eventually earned Daniel third place in the world at the Innovative Teachers’ Forum in Hong Kong last November. He has also been asked to present at the BETT Show on the impact of ICT on the learning, growth and development of young people. Daniel is currently exploring the use of Twitter to make students’ homework more engaging and interesting, and is converting an old unused school cupboard into a Big Brother-style Diary Room, where pupils will be able to discuss their learning experiences and how these can be improved. One student said: “Mr Roberts empowered me to learn in ways that meant I was in control of my learning. He made us work really hard but always there was the element of fun.” Meanwhile, a colleague said Daniel’s style inspired and engaged students. “I have witnessed students departing from his lessons feeling ten feet tall!” Judges said Daniel was “clearly a champion for the use of ICT as a tool for 21st Century learning”.
Well done Dan, we are all very proud of your achievements and it’s richly deserved. You can congratulate Dan here.
You can download Dan’s award winning recharge the battery project from the Innovative Teachers Network.