Views Ask Charlotte!
This month, Education Today’s technology columnist Charlotte Beckhurst looks ahead to Bett and offers some suggestions to help you plan your visit.
H
appy New Year to all! Hope you have had a marvellously festive time and for all those teachers out there, I hope you managed to have a truly well-deserved rest. I felt quite pleased with myself this holiday as I managed to have an actual rest and come the Sunday before the first day back I actually felt ready and excited to begin the new term!
As Bett is just around the corner, I though it may be appropriate to share some thoughts on the creative tools that are out there currently as well as some recommendations for what to look out for over the four days at Bett.
On the Microsoft stand this year, ask about OneNote. The OneNote community has significantly increased recently with the OneNote Class Notebook Creator, taking OneNote to a whole new level. As a teacher you can set up a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts and a collaboration space for lessons and activities, all within one notebook. Not only does this cut down on time for you as a teacher, it keeps everything on one place and makes marking and giving feedback so much easier. If like me you get the bus to work, it makes marking very efficient as you can access it on your phone or tablet. No more heaving 30 books on my back. Furthermore if you have children off sick or unable to attend school, they are able to access it from home and learn along with everyone else. Are you a teacher who finds it frustrating when you can’t find appropriate content for a topic? Then look no further than MS Office Sway. I love Sway. Microsoft describe it as an app the helps you create an interactive web based canvas. I prefer to think of it as scrap booking. Sway can be accessed as an app or online which means you can create content anytime, anywhere. Working primarily in Key Stage 1 means that more often than not I need to design my own content when teaching the foundation subjects within topics. It is rare to find a website which contains the information I want in the language I need so I spend a lot of time writing my own. Sway allows me to collate information from a wide variety of sources and present it in a way which is engaging and accessible to the children. Your Sways can then be shared so they can be accessed by whomever you need, whenever they want. If you are not too tech-savvy then have no fear as it is drag and drop as well as having a built-in design engine so you just do the tweaking to reflect what you want.
Do you need more ideas on how to use apps to support and enhance your curriculum? Then visit the Toshiba stand. If you want some handy ideas, demos or lesson plans then stop by and come and see me. I’ll be there to have a chat about innovative ways of using technology in the classroom, as well as show you some exciting Windows 8 apps and how you can use them across the curriculum. I will also be sharing a snippet of my booklet I wrote in partnership with Toshiba, Windows 8 apps in the Classroom. While on the Toshiba stand ask about saving money by leasing devices;
why buy them when they lose value so fast? As well as experience the possibilities of Maths in Motion by watching primary and secondary children race the cars they have designed around a virtual track and talk to them about their learning in ‘percentages, multiplication, division and more. Plus don’t forget if you have an ed-tech story you want to share, stop by and talk to Russell Prue on the Bett radio.
Plus of course Nicky Morgan and the prestigious Sir Ken Robinson will be attending and sharing their views on technology, education and innovation. With so much going on I’m excited for Bett. So I’ll be there… will you?
Charlotte Beckhurst is a Microsoft Expert Educator. She is an Assistant Head at a primary school in Tottenham and runs training courses on using technology in the classroom. She blogs and shares resources at @CharBeckhurst and
www.chicmeek.blogspot.com
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www.education-today.co.uk
Introducing STEM to your school This month, Education Today’s regular STEM
columnist Kirsty Bertenshaw offers some advive on introducing STEM to your school.
S
uccessfully introducing STEM into the curriculum of any school can be tricky with subject areas competing for enough time to teach their content in curriculum time, and only so many afterschool clubs that pupils can attend. Convincing staff to include STEM is also challenging, especially when considering staff workload concerns. There are, however, a few things you can do bring colleagues on board and to make it less onerous.
Kirsty Bertenshaw
If you are unsure as to what STEM provision can offer your school, have a look at websites such as
http://www.stemclubs.net/ and
http://www.stemnet.org.uk/ to see how other schools have enhanced their learning with STEM.
Primary Schools
If you are in a primary school, contact the KS3 transition staff at the secondary schools you feed into and see if they already have STEM provision. Primary pupils could visit the secondary schools’ STEM club for a few sessions so parents and pupils can find out what is about, and the school can decide if there is enough interest to have STEM provision of their own. Secondary subject specific staff may even be able to pair up with primary staff and develop a programme of STEM sessions if teachers feel unsure about their knowledge in some areas.
If pupil visits aren’t a suitable option, Leadership or governor visits to local STEM clubs are a cheaper way to demonstrate the purpose and benefit of including STEM provision in your school.
Secondary schools
If you know of another secondary school in your area that already has successful STEM provision, contact them. Professionals are always keen to impart knowledge and even share resources. Visit a few STEM clubs and see how they are run – some are age specific, some are attainment specific, some cater for all. Just as with primary schools’ leadership visits or governor visits to local STEM clubs can demonstrate the benefits. It is vital to set up STEM provision that fits your schools specific requirements.
Collaborate with other subject specific teachers in order to prevent forming just a science club, or just a technology club. Use sixth formers if you have them as instigators and facilitators – good for staff work-life balance and even better for their personal statements and CV’s.
All schools
STEMNET can put you in touch with local STEM advisors, as well as offer free STEM ambassador visits and support information and ideas for your own STEM club or STEM lessons. They can also put you in touch with other teachers in your area that run STEM provision. STEM ambassadors are professionals in the STEM industry, who can share their expertise with staff and pupils, sometime running whole sessions with teacher supervision.
If funding is available, there are several companies that will either run sessions at your school, or provide kits to support you, such as Fizz Pop Science or Hands on Science. There are even STEM Consultants (such as myself) that will help build STEM into your schools curriculum, meeting the objectives set by your school to fit your pupils’ needs and training staff accordingly. Convincing leadership or colleagues to support STEM may require you to take some ideas along to demonstrate the value of STEM education. Literature such as articles found in Education Today or other media support the need and benefit of STEM education in schools. Examples of successful activities run in other schools or testimonials may also help, but always go into meetings with suggestions rather than requirements – sustainable STEM provision has to be fun and achievable for staff as well as pupils.
More information available at: u
http://www.fizzpopscience.co.uk/ u
http://scienceclub.org/ u
https://www.hands-on-science.co.uk/ u
http://www.stemnet.org.uk/ u
https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/kirsty-bertenshaw/91/793/330 u
http://www.stemclubs.net/
January 2015
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