morag.macdonald

Following on from SETT experiences….remind me not to present a seminar again! Well, although it all came together in the end I get incredibly nervous.

On Monday the man from Promethean came to look at the board in my classroom which was not working properly. It didn’t work for him either and he replaced it on the spot, brill! Now that I have used the new board I realise that it was not really right from the beginning as the stylus was a bit tricky to use and I thought I was angling it incorrectly - no such problems now. Saw the wand to use with the board at SETT- would like one of those.
Yesterday I tutored the Kidspiration course at Inveraray. The participants all seemed to enjoy their day and look forward to making further use of the software in their teaching. As ever, the time to practise or lack of it while things were fresh in their minds, was a concern.

Tomorrow I want to introduce my class to the wonders of digital video and the iSight cameras in preparation for interviewing members of staff for our My School topic. We have already formulated questions and practised asking them.

Whilst at SETT last week I was delighted to see my friend from school (and bridesmaid) whom I hadn’t seen for 18 years. We had kept in touch via Christmas cards and the odd e-mail so when she walked into the Infants Can Communicate seminar I just had to thank those Teds!

Ailsa also teaches a P2 in Glasgow….has a classroom bear she has made a uniform for and does a lot with ICT including Skype! So today on my way back from Inveraray I stopped at the Tree Shop and was drawn to buy a lone bear on a shelf with thoughts of another bear project……. Spencer with Me (the Glasgow bear)

Unlocking creativity……Brian Boyd Lecturer at Strathclyde

Creativity..a big issue in education
What has to happen if teachers are allowed to become more creative?
Making space for creativity in the classroom. Our brain stays active into your senior years and cannot not learn.
What do we mean by creativity….do we need it? how do we foster it?
Big C and little c…Einstein and co.
Awakening what is in every human being.
Teachers would have the confidence to be creative in our teaching. We need to take the spirit of Curriculum for Excellence and be allowed to explore the possibilities without grids. Find a mechanism to share good practice.
Talk to the children about intelligence. How you see your own intelligence and appreciate that it can grow and develop.

Why is creativity important?
Economic competitiveness?     Fulfilment of potential     Learning for the unknown

Making connections
Working with others

What are the challenges?
Learning without limits ( challenging persistent myths)
Unlock the key of a child’s intelligence and creativity.
A better balance between content and  creativity

How) Should we assess it?

Opportunities       Rich tasks      Cross curricular learning     Qualitative not quantative
Observation and interaction….does not require sheAFS OF PAPER

I hate to lose ……….but I am not afraid to fail.   Thierry Henry

16 new iMacs arrived at Dunoon Primary. I set up some of the machines in the infant department and today the technician’s sorted out internet access and printing. We can print to the photocopier! How amazing is that.
I contacted LT Scotland with regard to pricing of Word for Mac, as unfortunately Macs no longer ship with any word processing software. Spent time last Friday showing a colleague the wonders of iPhoto and ComicLife (which is included in the new Macs). Suitably amazed by what can be achieved. I look forward to seeing the slideshows and Comics the P5’s put together.
This time next week I shall hopefully be settled in the Crown Plaza Hotel, raring to go for SETT 2006. I am really looking forward to it all. One of our seminars is fully booked- not sure about the other one yet.
Having problems with the Promethean board again. I cannot get it to calibrate. Had this problem last week but solved it by disconnecting everything and reconnecting it all. That has not helped today! Any ideas anyone? I shall try again tomorrow and see what happens.

Dunoon Primary has PC laptops…a classroom in a box. After school yesterday the classroom assistant who does a lot of work with the children and the PC’s, brought some along to my classroom for a quick tutorial and to load on the KidPix Deluxe software I got through Masterclass.

I now know how to switch on/off, access the software and turn the volume up and down on a PC - thanks Mary. Mary was suitably impressed in her 5 minute tutorial about what KidPix can do, it really is a groovy application.

I have booked the aforementioned laptops out to use 4 on Monday afternoon with my class. I showed them some of the amazing features of KidPix on the whiteboard. I can honestly say there faces were a picture of open-mouthed wonderment!