Inspired by Excellence

It's Monday morning, a holiday, and this is the first real chance I have had to sit down and reflect on last week. There are times when all I seem to do is get caught up in personnel, management and paperwork issues which take inordinate amounts of my waking hours. It was nice then to be able to spend Thursday in Stirling with a fairly small group reflecting on education and learning. I felt lousy all day due to a bit of a stomach bug but that didn't stop me having my say (sorry, again!).

Both John Connell and Brian Boyd gave very thought provoking presentations on the curriculum and how we are moving with curriculum for excellence. I don't intend retelling the story of the seminar as I think it will all appear on-line via RM at some point. It is important that we take time out and reflect on how we are progressing. In my current role I am supposed to be making sure curriculum for excellence is implemented across all ours schools. It is often far too easy just to respond and react rather than stand back and make sure we are actually going in the right direction.

Oh, and Brian mentioed something about some Tapestry event happening this week! It might be worth checking it out.

Parents and GLOW

On Monday evening we had the privilege of speaking to our parent council forum about Internet safety and GLOW. They were two separate presentations and I am not going to do any more commenting on filtering, etc at the moment. The focus on that presentation was on teaching our kids to be safe on-line and not on the filtering argument anyway! I think that discussion has become all too entrenched to be valuable.

What I did want to comment on is the fact that parents seem to be really excited about the implications of GLOW. The group, representing parents from across the local authority, were keen to hear about our roll out of GLOW and what it is starting to mean for teachers and pupils in their learning. Many of them had seen GLOW in action at home because their kids were using it in the evening to do some project work. We are hoping to start a pilot project where parents from the councils have the chance to gain access to GLOW for their own work. This is an exciting development and has happened far quicker than I ever thought.

What is also interesting is the fact that parents are likely to be quite a strong impetus for development of the use of GLOW in schools. If they go back home and talk to their kids and their kids have not yet been exposed to GLOW then questions are likely to be asked. Is this inappropriate pressure being placed on schools?

Interesting... watch this space.

GLOWing Literacy

I was out in a couple of schools yesterday taking visitors from down south round to look at the primary curriculum and thinking in particular about literacy. The discussions were very interesting and the staff interviewed by our visitors were absolutely superb. They were knowledgeable, reflective and highly professional. We saw round a number of class groups and I was really pleased to see a number of children working independently using GLOW in developing literacy skills. Clearly a definition of literacy for the 21st century must include digital and multi-model literacy. After so long in planning it is great to see the new tools available in GLOW being used in class unprompted to support this learning activity.

We are about to start to review our literacy strategy to ensure we have a clear view of the use of phonics in learning reading. I think the strategy will also have to consider all the implications of technology in how we consider literacy as well.

Mini Blogging

Day 131/366
Originally uploaded by Gordon McKinlay

I have borrowed my wives new Asus Ee PC to have a go at blogging with it. I bought her the computer for her birthday (her request, not my suggestion) and i have not so much as looked at it until today. The keyboard is very small, the screen is very small Iand I don't have my reading glasses) but it works very well. The interface is easy to use and I like the fact that it uses Firefox. I haven't worked out how to install additional software on it yet but apart from that it all seems very straight forward.

I have been thinking a bit about how these might be used in school and after my short burst on this one I reckon they might be really good. They are a lot cheaper than a typical laptop and have as much functionality. I can do the web, basic office applications using Open Office and even access GLOW without any problem - and the page formatting is fine! I can even listen to music, watch video and do all my photo stuff.

I think it looks like a winner. All I have to do is persuade our IT department to support a Linux based system. We'll see.

April

April pics
Originally uploaded by Gordon McKinlay

This post is a few days late but such is life. It's Sunday morning and the first chance I have had since the end of the month to get near the blog. April has been another busy month with all sorts of work, church and SU activities along with a week off for spring harvest. The weather is finally picking up a bit although it is damp this morning. It would be nice if we got some warm spring weather over the next few weeks, after all the exams are starting. This used be the time of year when I got very anxious for the kids I taught and for the extra work associated with marking for SQA. I don't do any of that any more. Do I miss it? Not really. The challenges of what I do now are enough to keep me out of mischief.

Anyway, a new month and lots of new opportunities. I am in Edinburgh on Tuesday for a GLOW meeting, head teachers' meeting on Wednesday, curriculum for excellence seminar on Thursday and catching up on Friday. I am glad tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday!