I just spotted this post on the BBC website this evening. It is entitled "Third of Bloggers Risk the Sack". The study claimed that many UK bloggers made derogatory comments about their employers and thus were putting themselves at risk of disciplinary action or even the sack.
I don't think I fall into the category of 39% of bloggers who were interviewed who said that they made harmful comments about my employer. I hope!
Monday, May 28, 2007
This Just Annoys Me!
I don't know whether it is because I am getting old or whether I have always been pedantic about these things. It does annoy me, however, when exam papers get it wrong. The pictures shows a very small snippet from this year's Higher Computing exam paper (don't panic, I haven't put up too much that anyone can make out the question). It happens all the time. The one that tends to annoy me most is PIN number but this one runs a pretty close second in the geeky world! The person at the checkout is one thing but seeing it in a proper exam paper is another thing entirely.
Come on guys, this is poor show.
Come on guys, this is poor show.
Higher Computing
Today was the Higher Computing exam in Scotland. My son had just arrived home from his second last subject (tomorrow is Chemistry and then he is done). It is as bad doing the exam as being the parent of one who is doing the exam.
It's good to know that after three and a half years out of the classroom I can still answer all the questions.
The paper looks OK and there don't seem to be any surprises. He should have done fine.
It's good to know that after three and a half years out of the classroom I can still answer all the questions.
The paper looks OK and there don't seem to be any surprises. He should have done fine.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
A bit of a blur
Do you ever get a day / week when everything goes by so fast that you don't ever get a chance to stop and reflect on how you are doing? I am having one of those blocks of time. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I have been rushing from one thing to the next, picking up mesageson the run and trying to deal with email in the evening.
My week so far:
A lot of this wek is involved in making sure that our curriculum for excellence conference is all organised for next week. Nearly 200 people will be at Erskine for two days to explore where we have got to with the development.
This afternoon I was part of the Scottish ICT Development Group (sick dog) sub group looking at some of the national issues related to the implementation of Glow. A very useful opportunity to discuss the issues.
Tomorrow I am interviewing in one of our schools then dealing with budgets for the rest of the day. So the week goes on.
Maybe I'll get time to reflect at the weekend. We live in hope.
My week so far:
A lot of this wek is involved in making sure that our curriculum for excellence conference is all organised for next week. Nearly 200 people will be at Erskine for two days to explore where we have got to with the development.
This afternoon I was part of the Scottish ICT Development Group (sick dog) sub group looking at some of the national issues related to the implementation of Glow. A very useful opportunity to discuss the issues.
Tomorrow I am interviewing in one of our schools then dealing with budgets for the rest of the day. So the week goes on.
Maybe I'll get time to reflect at the weekend. We live in hope.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
School Self Evaluation
The paper version of How Good is Our School 3 (HGIOS) hit schools across Scotland yesterday. This is the self evaluation toolkit used by schools, local authorities and HMIE themselves to evaluate the work of education. The electronic version has been available on the HMIE website since March but that is the proper glossy version appearing now. This time it is being given to every teacher in Scotland not just to hide in head teacher's book shelves.
We have come along way in the past fifteen years in our ability to assess what we are doing in all areas of education. This rewrite changes many of the indicators used for self evaluation, formalises the new six point scale (although this has been being used for the past 18 months) and most importantly emphasises the importance of outcome and impact. For anything done in school it is important that we ask the "so what" question. What difference did it make to the quality of education of our kids? It is not good enough to say that we have introduced a new reading scheme or that there are five computers in every class. What difference did it make.
The good thing about the indicators used for inspection and self evaluation in Scotland is that they are not all about measuring attainment. Yes, that is there. Schools are always going to be publicly accountable for the results the kids get, and so they should be. As a parent I want my kids to get the best set of qualifications they can get. My son is currently sitting his Highers. Of course attainment matters! The point is that there are lots of other measures as well. Areas such as meeting the needs of pupils, pastoral care, ethos and leadership. It is also important to note that it is not just the leadership of the head teacher that matters. Leadership needs to be at all levels. The classroom teacher has a leadership responsibility and so do the children as they have a responsibility for their own learning.
I was having a discussion with a couple of head teachers the other in the midst of interviewing for an acting quality improvement officer. The question was raised regarding whether schools were better or worse today than when we are at school. My answer to that is an unambiguous YES. We know they are better and that far fewer kids fall through the cracks. I will happily argue with anyone who thinks otherwise. That is not to say that they are perfect but they are definitely getting better and better. I just have to think about the way we were treated as pupils, the support we got or didn't get and that quality of resources to answer that one. The TV film Leaving, based in 1960 about three teenagers in a Greenock school, provides a very clear picture of what school was like for many young people a generation ago.
HMIE refer to the Journey to Excellence and make comment in each report about the school's capacity to continually improve. Self evaluation is an ongoing journey. The publication and issuing of HGIOS3 is part of that journey. The issuing of HGIOS3 to every teacher appears to be part of trying to engage everyone in education fully in the self evaluation process. It will be interesting to see whether teachers pick it up and use it wisely.
We have come along way in the past fifteen years in our ability to assess what we are doing in all areas of education. This rewrite changes many of the indicators used for self evaluation, formalises the new six point scale (although this has been being used for the past 18 months) and most importantly emphasises the importance of outcome and impact. For anything done in school it is important that we ask the "so what" question. What difference did it make to the quality of education of our kids? It is not good enough to say that we have introduced a new reading scheme or that there are five computers in every class. What difference did it make.
The good thing about the indicators used for inspection and self evaluation in Scotland is that they are not all about measuring attainment. Yes, that is there. Schools are always going to be publicly accountable for the results the kids get, and so they should be. As a parent I want my kids to get the best set of qualifications they can get. My son is currently sitting his Highers. Of course attainment matters! The point is that there are lots of other measures as well. Areas such as meeting the needs of pupils, pastoral care, ethos and leadership. It is also important to note that it is not just the leadership of the head teacher that matters. Leadership needs to be at all levels. The classroom teacher has a leadership responsibility and so do the children as they have a responsibility for their own learning.
I was having a discussion with a couple of head teachers the other in the midst of interviewing for an acting quality improvement officer. The question was raised regarding whether schools were better or worse today than when we are at school. My answer to that is an unambiguous YES. We know they are better and that far fewer kids fall through the cracks. I will happily argue with anyone who thinks otherwise. That is not to say that they are perfect but they are definitely getting better and better. I just have to think about the way we were treated as pupils, the support we got or didn't get and that quality of resources to answer that one. The TV film Leaving, based in 1960 about three teenagers in a Greenock school, provides a very clear picture of what school was like for many young people a generation ago.
HMIE refer to the Journey to Excellence and make comment in each report about the school's capacity to continually improve. Self evaluation is an ongoing journey. The publication and issuing of HGIOS3 is part of that journey. The issuing of HGIOS3 to every teacher appears to be part of trying to engage everyone in education fully in the self evaluation process. It will be interesting to see whether teachers pick it up and use it wisely.
Now that's fast
I picked up on this from John Connell's blog and thought it was interesting enough to share. In other words I've got nothinng new to say, I just recycle other people's ideas!
We all know that email can be very powerful (as well as being a real pain in the neck when you have been away from the office for more than a day). This example from the Washington Post highlights just how powerful it can be. A spoof email was sent around Apple employees stating that the release of the iphone was being delayed. Within two hours, there was a significant dip in Apple's share price despite a counter email from Apple stating that there was no delay. It recovered fairly quickly after the facts became clear, but it just goes to show how quckily things can happen out there in cyberspace.
Think carefully before pressing send!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Cooperative Meetings
Last October I attended a conference conference organised by North Lanarkshire Council on cooperative learning. At the time I wrote a post outlining what I thought of it. Since then I have been involved in quite a lot of work looking at learning and teaching methodology including critical skills, cooperative learning, Joyning the Learning and active learning through play.
Around the time of the cooperative learning conference I spent some time discussing the programme with Chris Ward. She is a senior educationist from the Durham district of Ontario in Canada who has been seconded to North Lanarkshire for the last couple of years. She mentioned a pack entitled "Cooperative Meetings" which aimed to use the cooperative learning techniques in the context of staff and team meetings. At the moment I am dealing with a fair number of team meetings so when I finally got a hold of a copy of the pack I decided to try to give it a whirl. There are a large number of tools and techniques exemplified within the pack with very clear guidance on how to use the tools in team meetings. The main idea is that we want everyone on a meeting to be involved in discussions and to feel that they have a voice. The tools that I have used work very well and give a very real chance for everyone to be involved in the decisio making process.
It takes a bit more effort to plan the meeting but the amount that everyone gets out of the process is well worth the effort. I don't know how often the tools can be used before it starts to get boring again but the early signs are good. The only real down side is the cost of the pack. At over £100 it is a lot to spend. It does, however, seem to be worth the money.
Around the time of the cooperative learning conference I spent some time discussing the programme with Chris Ward. She is a senior educationist from the Durham district of Ontario in Canada who has been seconded to North Lanarkshire for the last couple of years. She mentioned a pack entitled "Cooperative Meetings" which aimed to use the cooperative learning techniques in the context of staff and team meetings. At the moment I am dealing with a fair number of team meetings so when I finally got a hold of a copy of the pack I decided to try to give it a whirl. There are a large number of tools and techniques exemplified within the pack with very clear guidance on how to use the tools in team meetings. The main idea is that we want everyone on a meeting to be involved in discussions and to feel that they have a voice. The tools that I have used work very well and give a very real chance for everyone to be involved in the decisio making process.
It takes a bit more effort to plan the meeting but the amount that everyone gets out of the process is well worth the effort. I don't know how often the tools can be used before it starts to get boring again but the early signs are good. The only real down side is the cost of the pack. At over £100 it is a lot to spend. It does, however, seem to be worth the money.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Think-Pair-Share
Over the past year as I have been learning about web 2.0 and the power of blogging, one of the most powerful aspects of the medium is the networking which has arisen as a result of things I have said or read. The on-line community of bloggers has provided me with an incredibly rich source of new knowledge and understanding which I would not have found without this medium.
I came across a blog entitled Information Age Education recently. This blog is written by Rebecca Newburn, a teacher in the United States. The post that caught my eye reflected on the use of the think-pair-share technique which is one of the tools highlighted within our own assessment is for learning project in Scotland. Part of the post is about using blogging as the outcome of the exercise - another example of a way of engaging children in the writing process. The great thing is that it goes far beyond the simplistic view of blogging and incorporates it fundamentally into good learning and teaching.
The thinking that goes on in posts such as these emphasises the need for teachers to be reflective professionals. This is a great medium for this as we move on into the implementation of a curriculum for excellence. Although I am not doing much to do with ICT at the moment I am still convinced that we need to move forward with the development of on-line communities for teachers to encourage this dialogue and reflection.
I came across a blog entitled Information Age Education recently. This blog is written by Rebecca Newburn, a teacher in the United States. The post that caught my eye reflected on the use of the think-pair-share technique which is one of the tools highlighted within our own assessment is for learning project in Scotland. Part of the post is about using blogging as the outcome of the exercise - another example of a way of engaging children in the writing process. The great thing is that it goes far beyond the simplistic view of blogging and incorporates it fundamentally into good learning and teaching.
The thinking that goes on in posts such as these emphasises the need for teachers to be reflective professionals. This is a great medium for this as we move on into the implementation of a curriculum for excellence. Although I am not doing much to do with ICT at the moment I am still convinced that we need to move forward with the development of on-line communities for teachers to encourage this dialogue and reflection.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Something to blog
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
I was scanning through my Bloglines RSS feeds this weekend and thinking about the week just gone. What have I been up to? Have I done anything worth writing about? I have been incredibly busy as I try to get to grips with the new job. I have spent a fair amount of time in pulling together some of the threads for the curriculum for excellence conference we are running at the end of the month and a lot of time talking to people in the department about how they are getting on, answering questions and responding the complaints, enquiries and grievances. Although it has been worthwhile and very time consuming I think the cartoon sums it up. Maybe next week will bring more to reflect on. The biggest challenge at the moment is stepping back and actually reflecting. One of the purposes of this blog was to allow me to do exactly that and I have struggled to do much reflecting over the last few weeks.Ah well, a new week begins.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
24 Hours of Flickr
Just a very quick post to highlight a wee thing that happened on Flickr yesterday. 24 hours of Flickr aimed to gather photos from around the world that expressed something of the life of the community on the 5th of May 2007. The main rule is that the photo must have been taken on the 5th of May. A book is being produced and published by Blurb of some of the best with the proceeds going to Médecins Sans Frontières.
It's not too late to join in. You can post to the group up until the 21st of May. If you took a photo on the 5th join the group and add your contribution.
You can see my contribution here. I was pretty busy yesterday but the apple blossom in the garden was looking particularly nice so I took a few photos around the garden. I was fairly pleased with this one.
I keep finding new things on flickr which I find interesting and enjoyable. Web 2.0 has provided us with some really nice tools.
It's not too late to join in. You can post to the group up until the 21st of May. If you took a photo on the 5th join the group and add your contribution.
You can see my contribution here. I was pretty busy yesterday but the apple blossom in the garden was looking particularly nice so I took a few photos around the garden. I was fairly pleased with this one.
I keep finding new things on flickr which I find interesting and enjoyable. Web 2.0 has provided us with some really nice tools.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Verbification
Verbification: the creation of a verb from a noun.
This was a new word on me (OK, I'm a scientist). I was listening to a programme late last night and the main subject was about the fashion of turning nouns into verbs. I had not actually realised that there was a word for the trend. I'll be honest it drives me up the wall. Why would we create a verb when something already exists that does the job perfectly adequately. The trend seems to be most profound with business folk and IT professionals. I was in a meeting this afternoon and I counted a huge number of occassions when completely new words seemed to be created specifically to describe an IT task that could be described perfectly adequately using real words! Having been incentivised to write this post I shall now go off and inventorise my email.
This was a new word on me (OK, I'm a scientist). I was listening to a programme late last night and the main subject was about the fashion of turning nouns into verbs. I had not actually realised that there was a word for the trend. I'll be honest it drives me up the wall. Why would we create a verb when something already exists that does the job perfectly adequately. The trend seems to be most profound with business folk and IT professionals. I was in a meeting this afternoon and I counted a huge number of occassions when completely new words seemed to be created specifically to describe an IT task that could be described perfectly adequately using real words! Having been incentivised to write this post I shall now go off and inventorise my email.
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