The Importance of Play

We have been thinking this week about how to make sure all our primary schools take the most recent Curriculum for Excellence publication seriously. Building the Curriculum 2 focuses on active learning in the early stages and provides very clear direction that means that lower primary should exhibit a lot of the same characteristics as pre 5. One of the key messages is about the importance of purposeful play. There is very real learning in what appears to be unstructured and directed by the children. Those who work in early years establishments are very good at tracking the progress of children through self directed play activities. HMIe when they visit primary schools are looking to see that good active learning is taking place in the early stages and that this involves purposeful play.

I suppose many of us have known it for a very long time. We learn well through play. I have talked previously in this blog about the work that Derek Robertson is doing in LTS to look at how we can use computer games to enhance the learning and teaching experience. We are about to start a number of pilot projects where PS2s and Wiis are used to engage and motivate children in learning. A number of our teachers are away to Stirling in a couple of weeks to undertake a games design workshop which will allow them to see how children can design their own games.

We are in exciting times in relation to education. A Curriculum for Excellence is beginning to give schools the chance to experiment and try out different ways of doing learning. There is real encouragement to develop exciting and innovative ways of teaching and learning. Yes, change can be difficult. Many, who have only known the straight jacket of 5-14 may struggle a bit with the notion that there is now a very different model which puts the responsibility in the hands of the teacher. It does, however, give us the best opportunity for decades to change things for the better. Play on!

Shell Shocked

Well, I have made it to the end of my first full week in the new job. Have I achieved anything? Have I had the vaguest idea what I have been doing? Perhaps it would be fair to say that I don't think I have made any huge mistakes! I have run from one meeting to another with little time in between to consolidate what was going on. As a QIO I tended to be able to focus on a few things and only have to juggle them across the day and week. Now I am fielding questions on everything under the sun. In one day this week I was planning a Curriculum for Excellence conference we are hosting at the end of May, dealing with music tuition fees, budget issues for the new financial year, sessional staff holiday pay, sector planning advice and a series of board papers (and I didn't know the answers to any of them!). It's not a huge surprise that I am getting home at night and staring straight in front of me for a while.

The learning curve when we take something new on can be so steep. At least I know the people and most of the systems we have in place. As I think about that it is hardly surprising that many kids switch off and become disengaged when they are faced with something that just appears too difficult. I have learned to stick at it because I know that I will get there eventually. That is a learned response and not something I was born with.

It's Saturday morning and I am looking forward to the weekend off. Next week has enough worries of it's own!

You Just Lost the Game

Day 96 - You Just Lost the Game
Originally uploaded by Gordon McKinlay.

This has nothing to do with IT or education but it is quite fun. My daughter taught us the game a couple of years ago. We have lost it countless times since then. We saw these three girls at Spring Harvest last week. The Game had spread further than I thought! When I was posting the photo I thought "is there anything on the net about the game"? I typed "You just lost The Game" into Google and I found the I Lost the Game web site. The world is smaller and more insane place than I had previously realised.

OK, so what is the game? ONLY READ ON IF YOU ARE SERIOUSLY UNBALANCED.

The rules of The Game...
1) When you think of The Game, you lose The Game.
2) When you lose The Game, you announce it to those around you.

Those are the only two rules of The Game.

Now go and enjoy the rest of your life!

All Change

Day 101 - Back to work
Originally uploaded by Gordon McKinlay.

I returned to work today after the Easter holidays. I had a great break. The weather and company was great. I am back today to start a new job. At least it is a new job for the next few months. I am staring to do an acting job within Renfrewshire. I am not sure what it will mean for input to ICT for the next few months. I hope to be able to keep blogging on education, however. We shall see how it goes.

Easter Holidays

I am off on holiday for the next week so there won't be much activity on the blog between now and next Wednesday. I am hoping to be able to keep posting my photo a day to flickr somehow via some form of wireless connection somewhere while we are away. If you are interested then you should keep track of my flickr photo stream.

If you are away have a great Easter.