Category: inspiring

Two weeks after the event I’ve finally got around to editing and synching the audio of my presentations from the Linguascope Conference in Brighton.

Here’s the first one – You and Youtube about the use of Youtube and other online video / slideshow sites in the language classroom.

I normally make Slideshares of my presentations and add the audio for Slidecasts.

However, the lovely @eyebeams was UStreaming the MFL Show and Tell from Nottingham today so I’m able to embed the video of my presentation!

Hope you find it useful.  Although my pupils are primary aged and some of the ideas are very ‘primary centric’, I think that there are many things that secondary colleagues can take and adapt to their situations.  teh fun doesn’t have to stop at the end of KS2, you know ;o)

One of the highlights of the IoW conference was learning how to podcast on a Mac. Not so much for what I learned as to how I was taught and by whom.

Don’t get me wrong; it was very exciting learning how to use Garageband to podcast and great fun too. But more important to me than that was the fact that the session was delivered by four pupils from Heathfield Technology College with little or no ‘teacher’ input.

The pupils had written the presentation themselves and taught us what they had learned from Shirelands CLC, represented by Lesley Hagger-Vaughan of whom I have heard many great things! They were confident, cogent and very professional in their delivery- first of all , explaining the ‘W’s of podcasting – why/when/what/how/where before demonstrating the whole process of making a podcast and then splitting it into manageable chunks. Each stage was re-demonstrated before we were set off in small groups to try it out. And at all ties, there was a pupil at hand to check we were getting on OK, or to give us extra help if we needed it.

• A storyboard was produced.
• We rehearsed using an iPod with a microphone attachment.
• We recorded using a condenser microphone, splitting the audio into manageable chucks to allow for easier editing. At this point we were encoraged to make sure that we ‘acted’ with our voices and didn’t keep it monotone!
• Next came editing the audio chunks to eliminate pauses, create space for the intro music and ensure that it was all corectly recorded.
• Using the ‘Jingles’ option, we added music to the audio, lowering the music so that the voice could be heard over the top of it.
• Finally we added photographs to illustrate the podcast.
• (My group even managed to add a Powerpoint slide ours!)

The session concluded with a showcase of the three finished podcasts – all about our visit to the Isle of Wight. I had to rush off to my round table presentation with Jo Rhys-Jones so didn’t get to download our podcast onto my memory stick so I can’t post it here, but it was very good! ;o)

Apparently, it was the first time that these pupils had done such a session but you’d never have known. They delivered clearly, supported one another, answered questions when asked and kept perfectly to their timings – other presenters weren’t so good at that – especially the ones talking about Primary MFL ;o)

And, with the Brummie accents, it was like being at home!

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Happy Colorful Girl, originally uploaded by Pink Sherbet Photography.

I’ve finally got around to responding to being tagged for the Passion Quilt meme – not once, but FIVE times!
This meme, started by Miguel Guhlin , asks people to consider what their passion in education is, find an image that encapsulates it and explain their passion.
So, thanks to @theokk , @moodlehotpotato, @ajep, @langwitch and @ahenderson, here’s my passion.

Entitled Happy Colourful Girl, this picture is described as follows:
‘I just gave the girls poster paint with no rules…I told them they were free to paint themselves any way they wanted and they were given clean white T-shirts to wear and use as napkins! They had such fun…what you see is the result of pure child’s art…no rules 🙂 ‘

Whilst I don’t think we should abandon the rules completely, this image for me sums up how I think teaching and learning should be –

• colourful, full of vibrancy and life
• child led
• fun
• exciting and thrilling
• offering challenges and activities that inspire creativity
• memorable experiences.

I loved going to school – I’d fight my parents to let me go when I was ill. You may think that’s odd, and it possibly is, but that’s what I want for my children – my own and the ones I teach – to enjoy the time they spend at school, learning so much more than how to read and write, experiencing a wide spectrum of activities and wanting to come back day after day to find out more.

Some of you might have expected me to choose something Spanish – and I could easily have done so as nothing stirs me quite like it – but my passion goes deeper than that into all areas of teaching and learning – not being restricted to one subject but encompassing all.

So there you have it!

Now to tag five more people (hopefully who haven’t already been tagged!)

1.Leanne Simmonds
2.Rachel Hawkes
3.Dave Stacey
4.Sharon Tonner
5.Adam Sutcliffe

Instructions-

1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce etc.

Have fun :o)

These young people were at the International Opportunities conference today. They are from five local secondary schools and were there to explain their experience of an international project called INDIE – Inclusion and Diversity in Education.

‘Inclusion & Diversity in Education is a project that addresses the challenges migration presents to schools in Europe.’
‘The impact of migration on schools presents similar challenges to school education at all levels in all European Countries. We want to combat social disadvantage and raise educational standards for students with migration backgrounds. In order to succeed, we need to develop effective and culturally inclusive schools. To achieve this we need high quality school leadership.’
(from British Council site)

They explained how they had been chosen to take part in the project as they had shown leadership skills at school and been invited to take part in training in Sutton Park on teamwork and leading people. They were then selected to take part in a conference in Brussels in February with similar young leaders from across Europe to discuss a common charter for Inclusion and Diversity. As part of the conference, they presented in the European Parliament where they received a standing ovation.

The young people above shared their thoughts and experiences today of the project. One commented on the issues they discovered through the conference such as a young lady from Belgium being banned from wearing her headscarf who was working for a change in that area. Another talked about making an effort to understand people who didn’t speak English. And the lad in the middle commented that, whilst in Brussels, he spoke to people to whom he wouldn’t normally have paid any attention – he described one encounter ‘I’m not sure what he was,….some kind of Goth…. and I definitely wouldn’t have spoken to him in Birmingham.’

Although nervous, they spoke with honesty and simplicity – and they inspired us all. Let’s hope that there will be many more young leaders who look to lead the way for inclusion and diversity in this country.

Note – I’m trying to get hold of a copy of the Charter -I’ll post it here when I have it!