It was an honour to be invited to speak about the new GCSEs at the annual ISMLA conference which took place yesterday, Saturday 30th January 2016.
When invited many months ago, I fully expected to be in a position to be able to do a thorough objective comparison of four approved examination boards specifications. However, only one has so far been approved.
I therefore concentrated on outlining the following three areas:
1) The context for the change
2) The subject content, subject conditions and subject guidance as laid down by Ofqual and the DfE
3) The possible 'variables' which may influence school choice of exam board once approved.
I have made a pdf version of the presentation here which you can download and I am doing a 'webinar' where I will repeat the talk on Sunday 7th February 15:30 - 16:30.
Once all specifications have been approved I will update a very detailed grid which I have already produced and share it.
I hope this is useful.
Sunday, 31 January 2016
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Minecraft: Douglas L Watkins recommendation.
Doug Watkins - DGBL (Digital Games-Based Learning) expert.
Link to his most popular work, Darkewater
I am overseeing the introduction of a 'Minecraft club' at school, along with Dale Evans, Teaching Assistant Extraordinaire! As a Second Life user, I have a broad understanding of 'virtual worlds', but I quickly saw that pupils were way ahead of me, and I posted a plea for help in a Teacher's Minecraft Google Group, specifically saying that I'd like to 'try it out' as a user within a community and be able to ask questions.
Doug Watkins got in touch and offered to help by showing me the basics using his online server. I am so impressed with all aspects of the support he gave and it is without hesitation that I offer this recommendation.
Firstly, Doug was extremely thoughtful in his preparation for giving support. Via email, he checked carefully with me what my starting point was, and put together a very clear plan of what he was going to cover during our first online meeting. When we met, he had prepared the 'agenda', he had all documents to hand and made extremely effective and efficient use of the time we had.
He offered a Skype or Google Hangouts meeting, and I was extremely impressed by the 'lesson' he gave me. As well as learning a great deal about Minecraft, I experienced excellent use of technology for distanced learning as Doug exploited Skype, Teamviewer and Google tools. We greeted each other on Skype video and Doug shared links in the IM chat to his comprehensive and clearly laid out documents relating to Minecraft on Google Docs. We used Teamviewer to allow me to see Doug's screen as he explained Minecraft, and for Doug to see my screen as I made my tentative first steps into his Minecraft world. All aspects worked well throughout our 3 hour meeting!
Doug has a very clear understanding of the issues associated with using Minecraft in the classroom. He very enthusiastic about the educational benefits of using Minecraft, but can also understand why some teachers may hesitate from using it and can offer strategies to address this.
He has a superb, patient manner. Although clearly an extremely experienced Minecraft user, he was able to put himself in the place of a new user, and at any point I got stuck, he was quick to go back a step and start again in a patient way, not making me feel stupid, and going at an appropriate pace! It was lovely to be able to feel free to ask any question along the way. I can imagine that he would work brilliantly with pupils and teachers alike.
Doug explains things to a novice in a way that you could understand, both through clear verbal instruction, and through using 'screen share' and giving clear instructions about where to click and drag
Doug freely shares links to a folder on his Google drive which contains a wealth of information and practical help. His documents are clearly referenced and easy to read. I have downloaded and printed most of them! Direct Link to his Education drive.
He was quick to follow up our meeting with a summary and links to his google drive documents.
In summary, I cannot recommend Doug strongly enough to anyone who is looking for guidance for using Minecraft in a school setting. Thank you Doug for your generosity in sharing and the quality of your work! I look forward to learning even more!
REFERENCES
Doug's Drive:
A collection of guides (for teachers), activities (for individuals), and lessons (for classes or groups). Always start here if you are looking for new material or inspiration. Please send me the results of any lessons you try so I can incorporate your experiences.
Doug's Maps:
Maps (finished and in progress) by Doug Watkins
EduElfie's Youtube Channel: Learn about Minecraft in French! This is my plan .. to switch it to French every now and then - de temps en temps!
A good place to start if you have questions about or problems with MinecraftEdu.
MinecraftMaps.com: http://www.minecraftmaps.com/
This is where Doug starts when looking for maps and hosting his own. He reminds you that you should always check the content of the map before you let your students play on it.
Minecraft Crafting Wiki:
A helpful wiki that shows every single crafting recipe in detail.
BDouble's Note Block Tutorial:
Doug passed me this link as I was curious about whether you could get soind in Minecraft!
Minecraft Command Wiki:
A helpful wiki that explains how to use commands and the effects of each command (think teleporting players/changing gamemodes/giving items and status effects).
Additional links:
The Anthill -
A really great adventure map (with little to no violence) that can be used with any class size. Should work for 1.7.10
The Tourist -
A Paris map Doug told me about He said it's a good map for just exploring Paris, but he has a lot of issues with the story. Some of the students will like the plot, but most will ignore the story.
Dr. Wasteland's Minecraft Server: I have a direct link to Doug's server so that I can practise!
Edugaming I have created an account on Doug's recommendation.
Link to his most popular work, Darkewater
I am overseeing the introduction of a 'Minecraft club' at school, along with Dale Evans, Teaching Assistant Extraordinaire! As a Second Life user, I have a broad understanding of 'virtual worlds', but I quickly saw that pupils were way ahead of me, and I posted a plea for help in a Teacher's Minecraft Google Group, specifically saying that I'd like to 'try it out' as a user within a community and be able to ask questions.
Doug Watkins got in touch and offered to help by showing me the basics using his online server. I am so impressed with all aspects of the support he gave and it is without hesitation that I offer this recommendation.
Firstly, Doug was extremely thoughtful in his preparation for giving support. Via email, he checked carefully with me what my starting point was, and put together a very clear plan of what he was going to cover during our first online meeting. When we met, he had prepared the 'agenda', he had all documents to hand and made extremely effective and efficient use of the time we had.
He offered a Skype or Google Hangouts meeting, and I was extremely impressed by the 'lesson' he gave me. As well as learning a great deal about Minecraft, I experienced excellent use of technology for distanced learning as Doug exploited Skype, Teamviewer and Google tools. We greeted each other on Skype video and Doug shared links in the IM chat to his comprehensive and clearly laid out documents relating to Minecraft on Google Docs. We used Teamviewer to allow me to see Doug's screen as he explained Minecraft, and for Doug to see my screen as I made my tentative first steps into his Minecraft world. All aspects worked well throughout our 3 hour meeting!
Doug has a very clear understanding of the issues associated with using Minecraft in the classroom. He very enthusiastic about the educational benefits of using Minecraft, but can also understand why some teachers may hesitate from using it and can offer strategies to address this.
He has a superb, patient manner. Although clearly an extremely experienced Minecraft user, he was able to put himself in the place of a new user, and at any point I got stuck, he was quick to go back a step and start again in a patient way, not making me feel stupid, and going at an appropriate pace! It was lovely to be able to feel free to ask any question along the way. I can imagine that he would work brilliantly with pupils and teachers alike.
Doug explains things to a novice in a way that you could understand, both through clear verbal instruction, and through using 'screen share' and giving clear instructions about where to click and drag
Doug freely shares links to a folder on his Google drive which contains a wealth of information and practical help. His documents are clearly referenced and easy to read. I have downloaded and printed most of them! Direct Link to his Education drive.
He was quick to follow up our meeting with a summary and links to his google drive documents.
In summary, I cannot recommend Doug strongly enough to anyone who is looking for guidance for using Minecraft in a school setting. Thank you Doug for your generosity in sharing and the quality of your work! I look forward to learning even more!
REFERENCES
Doug's Drive:
A collection of guides (for teachers), activities (for individuals), and lessons (for classes or groups). Always start here if you are looking for new material or inspiration. Please send me the results of any lessons you try so I can incorporate your experiences.
Doug's Maps:
Maps (finished and in progress) by Doug Watkins
EduElfie's Youtube Channel: Learn about Minecraft in French! This is my plan .. to switch it to French every now and then - de temps en temps!
A good place to start if you have questions about or problems with MinecraftEdu.
MinecraftMaps.com: http://www.minecraftmaps.com/
This is where Doug starts when looking for maps and hosting his own. He reminds you that you should always check the content of the map before you let your students play on it.
Minecraft Crafting Wiki:
A helpful wiki that shows every single crafting recipe in detail.
BDouble's Note Block Tutorial:
Doug passed me this link as I was curious about whether you could get soind in Minecraft!
Minecraft Command Wiki:
A helpful wiki that explains how to use commands and the effects of each command (think teleporting players/changing gamemodes/giving items and status effects).
Additional links:
The Anthill -
A really great adventure map (with little to no violence) that can be used with any class size. Should work for 1.7.10
The Tourist -
A Paris map Doug told me about He said it's a good map for just exploring Paris, but he has a lot of issues with the story. Some of the students will like the plot, but most will ignore the story.
Dr. Wasteland's Minecraft Server: I have a direct link to Doug's server so that I can practise!
Edugaming I have created an account on Doug's recommendation.
Saturday, 17 October 2015
Sunday, 11 October 2015
Language Show Live Sat 17th October 2015
I really hope that lots of language teachers are coming to support the Language Show Live Show and Tell on Saturday October 17th 2015.
Joe Dale (ICT whizz extraordinaire) and I will be hosting the event, and Linguascope and Vocab Express are giving anyone who attends a token entitling them to a free first drink across the road at The Hand and Flower immediately afterwards (6 pm onwards). (You are welcome to join us even if you do not attend the Show and Tell, of-course!)
People are often quite modest when it comes to standing up to ‘show and tell’ but we do our best to put you at ease! There’s no clock ticking .. no fixed time allocation.. I just gently sidle up to people and smile if we need to move on! You don’t have to join in.. you can just watch .. and I won’t bully you into joining in if you don’t want to (!) .. but the more the merrier! It is always a successful session .. nothing is better than REAL teachers sharing what REALLY works for them.
Occasionally when people want to show slides / websites / applications, the computer blocks things. In order to avoid this problem, if you would like to have peace of mind before presenting, please feel free to mail me your slides, or give me link so that I can pre-load them. I will need this by Wednesday evening as I am foolishly (but joyously!) going out on Friday evening! You can do this by contacting me directly, or writing details on this google doc:
Finally, if anyone has a little party piece they could do at the show and tell, please let me know. We already have a quiz and magic tricks, and I am prepared to take my guitar and amp if we have any budding musicians! Sadly John Connor cannot make it this year, but I’m sure there are some singers out there …!
We had a fantastic time last year, and we plan to have a fantastic time this year as well!
All the best!
Helen
Helen Myers
ALL London, Chair
Joe Dale (ICT whizz extraordinaire) and I will be hosting the event, and Linguascope and Vocab Express are giving anyone who attends a token entitling them to a free first drink across the road at The Hand and Flower immediately afterwards (6 pm onwards). (You are welcome to join us even if you do not attend the Show and Tell, of-course!)
People are often quite modest when it comes to standing up to ‘show and tell’ but we do our best to put you at ease! There’s no clock ticking .. no fixed time allocation.. I just gently sidle up to people and smile if we need to move on! You don’t have to join in.. you can just watch .. and I won’t bully you into joining in if you don’t want to (!) .. but the more the merrier! It is always a successful session .. nothing is better than REAL teachers sharing what REALLY works for them.
Occasionally when people want to show slides / websites / applications, the computer blocks things. In order to avoid this problem, if you would like to have peace of mind before presenting, please feel free to mail me your slides, or give me link so that I can pre-load them. I will need this by Wednesday evening as I am foolishly (but joyously!) going out on Friday evening! You can do this by contacting me directly, or writing details on this google doc:
Finally, if anyone has a little party piece they could do at the show and tell, please let me know. We already have a quiz and magic tricks, and I am prepared to take my guitar and amp if we have any budding musicians! Sadly John Connor cannot make it this year, but I’m sure there are some singers out there …!
We had a fantastic time last year, and we plan to have a fantastic time this year as well!
All the best!
Helen
Helen Myers
ALL London, Chair
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
French Exchange Offers July 2015
Find your partners!
If you are looking for a school with which to do an exchange, French teachers are eagerly waiting for you to contact them!Here is a live link to a google doc spreadsheet which I have set up personally to allow direct contact between teachers. Obviously it is up to the schools involved to use this as a first step and then to carry out all the usual official checks and arrangements.
The background
I am currently in the process of organising a French exchange partner school having been told at very late notice that our previous school could no longer exchange with us.My experience has proved to me yet again how valuable it is to be in touch with people 'on the ground'.
I posted a message to the helpful and friendly yahoo mflresources forum for advice on finding a school. Within minutes one teacher put me in touch with a school with which she had had a great experience and another recommended I request to join a forum of French teachers.
I registered on British Council Schools Online and eTwinning, but to be honest, did not find it easy to search for what I needed. I will be contacting them for guidance which I can then post here
I feel that I really want to help all these lovely keen French teachers of English who answered my message on Sunday. What dedication! I am setting up this spreadsheet hoping that someone will be interested and that there can be more fruitful exchanges.
An exchange is so incredibly rewarding. I will eventually put this post in a more 'permanent / official' place on a website and give links to resources we have used in the past, including a PowerPoint for the information evening, our video of a previous exchange, comments from participants, articles from our school magazine and the booklet we design to take with us.
Sunday, 17 May 2015
ALL London June event up-date
The ALL June event is approaching! Saturday 13th June 2015
Here is an update from my previous post:1. Here is the list of all the speakers:
- Sylvia Bartlett-Rawlings
- Suzi Bewell
- Liz Black
- Nadine Chadier
- Joe Dale
- Peter Downes
- Gina Hall
- René Koglbauer
- Katrin Lauber
- Karl Pfeiffer
3. We are offering free places to primary teachers who are with us for the first time.
4. We have 11 exhibitors confirmed so far. I will list them in a post next week when others have had a chance to register their interest. There are some great raffle prizes in store!
Please book before Monday 8th June to get the early bird rate. It really is excellent value for money! Thanks so much to the Goethe Institut, exhibitors and the City of London School for making this possible.
Link to ALL London webpage:
http://www.all-london.org.uk/2015_june_event.htm
Link to eventbrite registration:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-all-london-june-event-2015-andor-the-goethe-german-day-tickets-16231261139
Just contact me at The Ashcombe School or by mail if you have any queries.
Thanks!
Thursday, 23 April 2015
ALL London June Event 2015
ALL London is delighted to announce its annual 'June Event' which will be taking place on Saturday 13th June 2015 from 10 am at The City of London School, 107 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 3AL, and we hope that as many people as possible will come along.
Here is a link to the details and registration on Eventbrite:
Here is a link to the web page: (apologies for antiquated style. I will take up Stéphane's kind offer to help me revamp the site soon!)
There are many reasons why we think that this event will attract even more people than usual,
and here are just some (in no particular order …!)
Our event is running alongside the annual 'Goethe German Day', which means that there are even more choices. You can follow the 'ALL London June Event' path, or you can follow the 'Goethe Institut German Day' path, or you can mix and match the two. This gives you the best of both worlds!
The location is central and simply breath-taking! There is plenty of room to accommodate as many as want to come, and We are hoping for a sunny day so that you can benefit from a stunning view across the Thames and up to St Paul's dome! Thanks SO much to Robin Edmundson for arranging the use of his fantastic school!
Many exhibitors are subsidising our morning break, and you will have plenty of opportunities to see their wares and network with colleagues and friends.
The Goethe Institut is generously subsidising a buffet lunch, so it will be convenient and satisfying to have something to eat before you either go off to explore London in the afternoon, or stay on for the German-focused afternoon
Primary colleagues will have a strand to keep them occupied all morning, packed with great ideas
Germanists have a wealth of information from the Goethe Institut and as an added bonus, they have an afternoon especially for them, at no extra cost!
We have a stellar cast of superb, popular speakers who cover a wide range of topics
Training Teachers: what better way than to meet up with your fellow students for a final training session and mix with more teachers before you embark on your career?! We'd LOVE to see you and to wish you well!
The event offers extremely good value for money
It is very useful to have an idea of numbers at an early stage - especially for catering - and so we have included an 'early bird' rate. If people cannot make it in the end, we can transfer the registration as long as you let us know before the event, so there is no reason to delay!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
All the best
Helen Myers
On behalf of the ALL London committee.
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