An Inspector calls...

This is well worth reading...

A post by NQT Max Rayner on his first experience of OFSTED, and the triumph of the tick box over common sense... Really well written, particularly the dialogue with the inspector...

Doubtless the inspector who graded him has a much more useful, reflective teacher blog by which they support colleagues ?? Thought not...

Anyway, they've gone now, so Max can carry on teaching enjoyable geography lessons...

Voicethread

One of the tools that is mentioned in the book is Voicethread.
Not all students want to do lots of writing in every GCSE lesson, but they are happy to talk.
This is a tool that allows students to 'comment' in various ways on media that are uploaded to the site. This could include the recording of
This simple example below was created very simply (as you can probably tell). I uploaded 2 images from my computer at the VOICETHREAD site.

A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holdsimages, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.

Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites

Visit the Voicethread and click COMMENT and students can
This could relate to the idea of SOLO Taxonomy, which is a way for students to explore how well they are progressing...

The THREAD can be shared in various ways.



Students should also be providing some voice overs for other media.
For example, here is an animation of the Water Cycle, produced by NASA....



Produce a GCSE standard explanation, which makes connections between this animation and the important vocabulary that is included in your chosen specification about the hydrological cycle.

Cool news stories

One way to add interest and intrigue to a GCSE course is to keep an eye out for stories which put a diferent slant on traditional topics.
We have had plenty of stories relateed to the cold and freezing temperatures, plus snowfall over the last few days.
Try to spot a story that puts a different slant on the snow...

Let me know what you come up with, and wrap up warm out there !

Using Google Forms

One of the sections in the forthcoming book for Badger explores the use of GOOGLE FORMS, with some suggestions for how they can be used, as part of the GOOGLE DOCS suite.
An element of 'getting better grades' is appropriate preparation for the written examination which comes at the end of the course.
The use of web tools can help with revision, and also other aspects of the teaching of the course.
With that in mind, as an example in the book, I have produced a Google Form to gather information, to show how it can be used to produce real data that can then be displayed and visualised.

The form is embedded below, and I would be really grateful if you could spend a few minutes filling it in, and if you find yourself in a room with some computers and a GCSE group to ask them to spend a few minutes filling it in too. It would be really great to get hundreds of responses that can then be shared to give a snapshot of the current thoughts on GCSE REVISION


Alternatively direct your students to this web address: http://bit.ly/gcserevision
You can fill the form in your browser by following this link, which can also be shared with colleagues....


It would be great to see hundreds of people filling this in, both staff and students.


Thanks in advance for your help.

If you are a teacher, please add your e-mail address into the final box along with your location, and I'll enter you into a prize draw which I shall draw on the 1st of April and one person (or maybe more than one if I'm feeling flush) will win a copy of my KS3 Toolkit book "Look at it this Way" (whether they want it or not...)

QR Codes

If you are here at this blog, then you don't really need to use the QR Code that is shown below:

A QR code is a type of bar code which can be scanned by a phone equipped with a (usually free) app.
Scanning the app will decode the pattern and reveal an image, or a piece of text (which could be a question) or provide the URL of a website which can then be visited using the smartphone's web browser.

This QR code could be printed out and placed in locations to suit you, and anyone scanning it would have the details of this blog... or it could be the homework....