Blogging

Unstoppable Creators and Powerful Thinkers

0
3 days ago
by tombarrett in ,

This is one of the finest descriptions of a class blog I have ever come across:

Welcome to 1JR’s class blog. We are a class of ground breaking inventors, unstoppable creators and powerful thinkers. We learn cooperatively together but most importantly with a shared dream of success and impact. We are shaping the future and grabbing every opportunity life throws our way. Join us as we work hard to reap the rewards…after all, to appreciate the beauty of a snow flake, you’ve got to stand out in the cold.

These 5 and 6 year olds must have a great time!

Class 1JR at Rosendale Primary School

20+ Classroom Blogs to Enjoy

6
2 weeks ago
by tombarrett in
I spent today working with staff at Christ Church Primary School in Brixton, South London – and we were predominantly talking about the use of classroom blogging to support learning.
During the day I was tweeting to ask people to share their own class blogs as I was working with different year groups and it was lovely to look back this evening and find so many all across the world that people sent me – so a big thanks to those of you in this list.
I have gathered them up and indictaed where the cass blogs are from and thought I would share in a post for everyone to benefit from.
And here are the class blogs from Christ Church Priary School too – they would be so pleased if you and your classes dropped by and added a comment or two. They have just started their blogging journey and would welcome the support.

Make sure you spend some time exploring the different blogs and look for links to other school blogs they have displayed and I hope you perhaps find a class to link to and share some stories with.

–

Please share your class blog in the comments below

Can teachers stand idle any longer?

9
4 months ago
by tombarrett in , , ,

In last Friday’s Times Educational Supplement an article I had written was published about the use of social networking in schools.

It seems to me that we are getting to a point where children in schools are experiencing a hidden social curriculum that we are no longer part of, this is especially the case for their use of social networking.

In my own words:

Social networking should be taught more widely and in more depth in schools. No longer are we able to stick our heads in the sand about these communication tools. Nor should educators distance themselves from using them.

The paragraphs that were missing from the piece went as follows:

This is not simply about how much time students spend learning about social networking in GCSE ICT. This is an issue for every subject and teacher, a system wide issue, a social issue that needs the whole school to act, and it won’t just take the one or two teachers who use Twitter or write a blog to do it.

 

 

Those of us who are willing should take steps to develop a more supportive and positive ethos around the role of social networking in learning, school and society. Those who are unwilling need to get out of the way, because where we continue to remain idle we further disadvantage our students.

“Teach it, don’t fight it” was published in the TES magazine on 16 September, 2011 

The Internet in Society

0
8 months ago
by tombarrett in , ,

After the recent successes in Scotland by the SNP in using social media tools and the internet as part of their historic re-election, this lecture by Evgeny Morozov is an interesting exploration of the wider debate around society and the internet.

Does the internet actually inhibit, not encourage democracy? In this new RSA Animate adapted from a talk given in 2009, Evgeny Morozov presents an alternative take on ‘cyber-utopianism’ – the seductive idea that the internet plays a largely emancipatory role in global politics.

Exposing some idealistic myths about freedom and technology (during Iran’s ‘twitter revolution’ fewer than 20,000 Twitter users actually took part), Evgeny argues for some realism about the actual uses and abuses of the internet.

Morozov refers to the much debated distinction between the digital native and the immigrant, but suggests we should be focusing on the differences between digital renegades and digital captives. This is an interesting point that refers to the filtered and restricted use of digital tools in some countries compared to those more freely using the tools in others.

A healthy reminder of the relative openness we have in our digital lives compared to other parts of the world.

My 2010

6
1 year ago
by tombarrett in , , , ,

I have been reading Linchpin by Seth Godin. It has already been one of those books that seems to speak to you directly, one that for whatever reasons strongly resonates with you at exactly the right moment. On his blog he reviewed his year, what he shipped or completed.

Here is mine:

  • Instigated Google Teacher Academy London
  • Organised and ran TeachMeet BETT 2011 [with the amazing help of Stuart Ridout]
  • Presented Google Maps session at Google London HQ for GTA
  • Launched and took part in TeachMeet Takeover
  • Launched Curriculum Catalyst
  • Launched Shared Search
  • Interesting Ways gets it’s first presentation with 50 ideas
  • Google Forms Interesting Ways hits 50 ideas in less than 24 hours
  • Planned and completed a great Superheroes topic
  • Australia topic also a success
  • Started the #classblogs hashtag raising the profile of class blogs
  • Contributed to the Vodaphone Parenting magazine about digital life
  • Got a new job
  • Moved house
  • Got through my first 2 terms as a Deputy Head
  • Installed a new netbook resource at school
  • Found a simple and practical use for QR codes in the classroom
  • Helped teachers in my new school understand the value of class blogging
  • Every class in school has a Posterous blog

It really is amazing to write everything down so simply – I am already looking forward to what 2011 has to offer.

Posting from Create-a-Graph to a Posterous Blog (and Blogger too)

2
1 year ago
by tombarrett in , , ,

One of the nice features of the Create-a-Graph site from the NCES is the ability to email the completed chart. In the past I have used this when working with Google Apps for Edu – the children handed their work in to me by sending it to my school email. We had my inbox open on the board so the children could see their submissions.

We have been using Posterous as our class blog platform since September. It is a fantastic site for school or class blogging due to it’s simplicity. I made the link with Create-a-Graph because Posterous is built around being able to email content to a specific address which will then post to the blog.

In a nutshell I have worked out a way for my children to post their charts and graphs from Create-a-Graph directly to the class blog.

Here is how to do it.

**Requirements - the following instructions are only for a Posterous blog, but the idea will work if you have a Blogger site. You can find the email you need in your Blogger “Settings” under “Email & Mobile”. If you have a post via email option for your blogging platform in theory this should also work**

__

1. Send a graph from Create-a-Graph to your own email. Now locate the sender’s email address – it should be something like kidszone@ed.gov

2. By default a Posterous blog only allows agreed contributors to post – you need to make kidszone@ed.gov a contributor to your blog, basically saying content from that source is OK.

3. Go to the Settings of your Posterous account and click on Contributors, add a new contributor and paste the email address we have for Create-a-Graph: kidszone@ed.gov

4. Now you are ready to post from Create-a-Graph (worth testing this before the kids get a go) – the email you need is the one for contributors as the additional email you have added is not recognised as the primary one for the site. The email address you will need will be at the bottom of the Contributors page (see screenshot above)

5. Add this email into the Create-a-Graph “email this graph” box (leave it as html) and hit send.

6. Your graph should be posted – the nice thing about Posterous is that it will automatically resize the image to suit your blog, which saves a lot of fiddling around with multiple posts. Here is an example blog post we did this week from someone in my class, we were looking at the climate of Australia.

That is pretty much the top and bottom of it – for Blogger just use your unique email address in step 5. Over the period of time we have done this I have a few tips to share:

  • Expect to have multiple posts, children click send numerous times as they are unsure it has been done – it takes a bit of tidying up. (I also take a few moments to add the children’s names as tags to the posts so that I am collating work on the class blog)
  • Ask the children to add their name to the Graph Title in Create-a-Graph – this is under Data. The graph title will appear as the blog post title and will now include the child’s name for you to see who owns it easily.

  • If you display the blog refreshing on the board you can check work quickly and children can have the reassurance their work has been submitted.
  • Once submitted the children can still edit their graphs – if you see something you need them to change, delete the post and ask them to correct it and resend.

I hope you find that an interesting tip to perhaps try – good luck with it and let me know how you get on.

45+ Ideas For Class Blog Posts

31
1 year ago
by tombarrett in ,
  1. Share a photograph of your classroom. Explain about the different parts of it and how it is being used. Invite other teachers and classes to write a similar blog post explaining about their classroom. Encourage children from your class to leave comments about what they like about it or even suggestions for changes they would like to see.
  2. Publish children’s work. Don’t just post work that is flawless but also invite comments and suggestions on work that can be improved.
  3. Publish your shared writing. As you produce writing with the class in your lessons, post it to your blog and invite the class or blog visitors to improve something and to comment.
  4. Share your classroom rules or charter. This can be done at the beginning of the year and is a good way to share your class agreement with the wider community.
  5. Share a photograph of a classroom display.
  6. Post a video of SMARTBoard or IWB session during a maths lesson. For example the written methods for multiplication are included, the children can use it as a revision aid – the parents get to see how the school wants it set out AND the children get to comment on their favoured method.
  7. Posting images from a digital microscope for the children to comment on. “What is under our microscope?” – or even asking for people to guess what the image is and to comment on the suggestions.
  8. Posting homework tasks every week – eg. maths problems, children to comment as their task.
  9. Art gallery. Post pictures of all of the artwork created in a session, make a gallery or slideshow.
  10. Post Concept Cartoons for science prior to a lesson or a week of work. Children are asked to comment on what they think will happen and then these can be used as a start to the first lesson or as an intitial assessment.

I have started a new Interesting Ways resource which includes these classroom blogging ideas –

Please feel free to add your ideas, however simple or complex, to help develop the resource.

Australian Postcards Please!

21
1 year ago
by tombarrett in ,

We are hoping to connect with lots of different schools right across Australia for our topic work this term.

This will help our children to really understand what life is like today for their peers throughout Australia.

But for an old fashioned pen-pal style idea we welcome your postcards, because after all there is still something special about receiving mail – the physical kind!

If you are an Australian teacher or educator we would love to have you and your class send us a card. The postcard could be about your town, city or state or even a famous landmark you are close to.

We have two classes doing the Australia topic so if you could please send 2 cards one addressed to Mr Barrett’s Class and the other to Mrs Bartholomew’s Class.

John Davies Primary School
Barker Street,
Huthwaite,
Sutton-in-Ashfield,
Nottinghamshire,
England.
NG17 2LH

As we gather your cards we will photograph them and update your location on a Google Map. Don’t forget to add your class blog address if you have one – our Year 5/6 classes will be starting their own soon.

Please let us know if you can help and we look forward to seeing your cards in the post!

__

Pic: Wish You Were Here by H4NUM4N


Embedding Google Maps on Your Blog or Website

10
1 year ago
by tombarrett in , , ,

This is a pretty straight forward process, but it also can have a variety of different outcomes depending on which map you want to display. It is useful to know these options to offer a richer visual experience on your blog or website.

Here is the basic run through:

  1. Navigate to the location on Google Maps that you want to embed elsewhere.
  2. Click on the LINK button above the map.
  3. You can take the second link of HTML to embed in your blog – this is the default size 450 by 350.
  4. Useful to note here that this is iframe code which doesn’t work well in WordPress (or Edublogs for that matter) – so if you have a WordPress blog write your blog post in the Visual editor and when you are ready switch to HTML editor, paste your code and then publish straight away. If you switch back to the Visual editor the code will get stripped out and your map will vanish.

Customise your map for embedding:

  1. Hitting the Customise and preview embedded map link will give you a bunch of options and allows you to refine exactly what you want embedded.
  2. The map sizes you can choose from are Small, Medium, Large and a Custom option for you to define the exact size.

You in fact have four different choices for the style of map you can use at this point.

Earth = Google Earth (plugin needed)
Ter = Terrain style
Sat = Satellite imagery
Map = Map

For a fifth and sixth option you can combine the Satellite or Earth imagery with the Maps labels, a little rollover on each button.

Here are the examples of the different maps that you can display embedded below, plus an extra bonus. I particularly like the Google Earth choice that provides that functionality to any user, they of course need the GE browser plugin which is available on Flock, IE, Firefox and Chrome.

GOOGLE EARTH


View Larger Map

GOOGLE EARTH and MAP


View Larger Map

TERRAIN


View Larger Map

SATELLITE


View Larger Map

MAP


View Larger Map

SATELLITE and MAP


View Larger Map

STREETVIEW


View Larger Map

To embed Streetview just drag the little Orange pegman to the map and find your preferred Streetview, then just follow the process explained above, easy. You can always alter the view on the Customise page if you need to.

The location of these maps is the Angel of the North. It is worth looking out for these special locations where Streetview goes offroad and follows footpaths to get up close to various monuments or unique locations.

There you go, seven different types of maps to embed in your blog or website – I hope you found this little guide useful.

Whispering Change

6
1 year ago
by tombarrett in , , , ,

Is the sun beginning to set on a cumbersome educational landscape? One that is too rigid to quickly adjust to what leaners need and what they want from the future. A system that looks on as grass roots spread wider and wider beneath it.

I am in revolutionary mood as I return from some inspiring conversations with people at #BectaX.

Can those of us who recognise the need for change, rise above the cynicism? Rise above the barriers and the blocks. Let us be determined and positive, and make change happen in small ways, where we are, where we can.

Perhaps it is wrong of us to ever have believed this change will occur from policy. I am sure you are like me in that you have never waited for policy to define your practice. Each of us has a certain amount of influence, an ability to change 1 or 5, 30 or even 500 students’ experiences of school. If we believe it should be done, we need to make it happen in every small way we can.

I have stood in a room with hundreds of people whispering. It is very loud.

If we all make a small contribution, a small effort of change – if we all whisper, our voices will be heard. Here are some whispers:

  1. Talk to your students, to your classes about technology. Find out how they use it at home and what they enjoy. Plan to do it again soon.
  2. Take what you find out (formally or informally) to someone else in your institute. Better still get your students to explain it.
  3. Show someone how you use Twitter or other online tools to connect with teachers. Do it as often as you can.
  4. Write a blog post about your ideas. (Or even start a blog for your ideas!) Share your experiences, frustrations, successes and hopes for your work.
  5. Share an interesting blog post you have seen with someone who may never see it.
  6. Ask on your blog or on Twitter for other schools to connect with. Share the process with your class and give them an insight into what is happening at schools in other countries.
  7. Help someone on Twitter by retweeting a request for assistance. You never know where that ripple will stop.
  8. Let your children or students teach you how to use something.
  9. Find ways to help parents better understand what you do in school and how their children are using technology.
  10. Find out what your students think of blocking websites. What do they think is “safe” internet use.
  11. Consider managing your own internet filtering. At least have the conversation.
  12. Ask your local authority to unblock useful websites. Keep asking.

Whatever form your whisper takes, raise your voices. We are louder together.

IMG_9566.JPG by fabola - Attr-NonCom-NoDerivs Lic

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