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Teachnology
Ann Logan finds two sites to help you introduce an international dimension to your teaching.
Be an eTwin!
Go beyond country boundaries by ‘twinning’ electronically with one or more schools in Europe. Some 170,000 teachers have set up eTwinning projects as part of the EU’s Comenius programme. You and your partner school can use technology to collaborate on a project of your joint choosing, deepening your students’ understanding of curriculum topics as well as strengthening their ICT skills.
Students create videos and podcasts and use blogs as part of their work. For instance, in the Dreams, idols and heroes project, students discuss dreamers and heroes from their own countries, using videoconferencing and discussion forums. They also make podcasts and create presentations about past leaders who have inspired them.
The EU’s eTwinning website is free to use and has a database of schools who wish to form partnerships. There is help to get you started.
The projects cater for all levels of ICT knowledge, so you can start small and build confidence as you go. Look at the case studies to see what other schools are doing.
www.etwinning.net
A world-class resource
The BBC World Class website supports you and your students in exploring global issues such as climate change, living with disability, and poverty.
Take part in a live text debate each week with schools from around the world, as part of an online forum. The week before each debate, the site publishes discussion points. Email your comments to the site during the debate and they will be published as part of a live page that everyone can see and discuss.
World Class also hosts the BBC Schools World Service, which offers short films for primary and secondary students to raise awareness of issues that affect children’s lives. See inside a Bosnian classroom, find out why Egyptians took to the streets in 2011, and learn about the rainforest children from Ecuador.
The films offer a starting point to understand current affairs and global citizenship. Some link to curriculum subjects; others provide resources for general studies classes or assemblies.
Explain your particular interests on the registration form and World Class will help you link up with other schools for projects. BBC World Class works in partnership with the British Council and others.
www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass
My ICT favourites
Nikesh Gandhi is a year 5 teacher at Beaumont Primary School, Ladybridge, Bolton.
Favourite software
Kodu is free to download software designed for a PC. Its appeal is that it can run on an Xbox too. Children design and build 3D video games like those you find for Mario. The software begins with tutorials on how to program a Kodu animal to react to commands.
www.kodugamelab.com
Favourite gadget iMac
We have five iMacs and they are brilliant for iMovie. Combined with Garageband, the children can make Hollywood-style movies. My pupils have used it to create re-enactments of the Battle of Bosworth and I have used it to make DVDs.
Favourite websites
www.filmstreet.co.uk is a fantastic resource containing clips from films and interviews with actors and directors. It has a useful teacher’s resource section. The best part is a stop-go animation creator allowing children to make their own animations online. They can use the props, sound and music included and can play back and edit what they have recorded.
www.kidscapism.com is good for teaching email use. Teachers sign the school up and create accounts for each class. The site can also be used as a class blog. When logged in as a teacher, you can see exactly what every child has ever written or sent.
www.mrreddy.com is a brilliant maths site with links to lots of really useful teaching aid websites. One particularly good link is to Mr Reddy’s geometry toolbox which provides a much needed solution to modelling measuring angles with a protractor.
Which websites, software and gadgets help you most in your professional life? Email your favourites to
teacher@nut.org.uk by 4 February and you could see them published in the March/April issue of The Teacher. You’ll also win a £15 Ernest Jones gift card courtesy of Countdown – see page 45.
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