Boys into books

Thanks to Anthony Tilke for this recommendation.


Yesterday at a parent teacher coffee afternoon some mums of sons were looking for ways to enthuse their children into reading. Here's a website which offers some advice and a downloadable booklet.


Please send me any comments if you get the chance to read it.

ipod touches in class with 8 year olds!

Two items have recently appeared about ipod Touch.

The first is below:




The second is a story about a school in Oklahoma which is handing out ipod touches to all teachers and students in the school...for grades 3-12.

It would be interesting to know how they are being used and how it is affecting their classroom learning and home learning.

Google Docs ideas

Fabulous ideas here from Tom Barrett's ICT in my classroom. It includes useful information on editor numbers (Did you know that up to 10 can edit a document simultaneously, while 50 can collaborate on a spreadsheet at any one time?):

Beyond Google

Here are some great tips for using some of the less obvious google features and some other search sites too.

The newsletter is by Richard Byrne, author of Free Technology For Teachers, a blog which always has some great ideas.

Websieving and Sharing for learning

Websieving and Sharing



Google - http://www.google.co.th/

            - wonderwheel - search for term sieving
http://www.google.co.th/search?q=sieving&hl=en&output=search&tbs=ww:1&&tbo=1
            - google squared -
http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=pharaohs

search for term pharaohs
http://www.google.co.th/search?q=sieving&hl=en&output=search&tbs=ww:1&&tbo=1

diigo - https://secure.diigo.com/sign-in?referInfo=%2Fpost



teaching the latest - http://groups.diigo.com/group/patana-teaching-the-latest



Blogs - Teaching the latest - http://teachingthelatest.blogspot.com/

- 3W - http://3wbps.blogspot.com/

The end is nigh for email...?

Has email had it's day?

Is email not quite quick enough in these days of twitter and facebook?

That's the gist of the following article from the Wall Streel Journal.

Beauty...only a few pixels deep.

Beauty is only skin deep?  It might be only a few pixels deep.

A great video below which should make you question every magazine picture you ever look at.

Thanks to Wes Fryer's blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Outdoor Education...teaching in nature

Here's a blogpost from Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity, a blog which I'd recommend you look at.  It affirms the kind of learning which goes on at residential visits and through the International award.

Lots of good ideas here.

Blog Tips for School

For student blogging tips...from a student go here...

For poetic tips for a primary teacher blogger audience, go here.


All of these links are thanks to Edublogger's recent blogging tips competition.

Anne Frank

You tube now has the only known video of Anne Frank. Her neighbours were filming their wedding and there was Anne, at the window sill of the very house she lived in.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo and Colin Brown for the tip.

Is the Internet melting our brains?

For an interesting article which challenges the assertion that the internet is a bad thing, go to Vincent Rossmeier's write up of an interview with Dennis Baron, author of A better Pencil.

Online networking

Here's a link to an interesting looking article about online networking.

It was done in 2007 so is maybe a bit dated in this swiftly moving digital age.

Lesson Observation

One way to get great teaching ideas is to observe colleagues teaching. We are having lots of informal drop-ins at school this term where members of the management team come along and sit in, without an agenda, and sometimes help out with what we are doing. This is followed up by a brief email.

This form is a way of sharing good practice. If you go to watch another teacher's lesson informally, and you see some great ideas then please share!

Please add details of lessons which you have seen.

Thankyou for your feedback.

Smartboard tips

Here's the link to a set of tips for smartboard use.

Found this at Mr C's blog.