Thursday, August 25, 2011

Mary Queen of Scots and A Whole Lot of Words

"Marriage, Murder and Mystery. How Does the Life of Mary Queen of Scots Influence Us Today?"

I bet you've never taken a coffee break to ponder that particular puzzler! Well that is the big question we are looking at in class this term. It's a great subject for study. Art, language,history all combine with a most fascinating tale of one of Scotland's most famous daughters.

Two great apps start off our project: Moxier Collage, the moodboard app that we use regularly and which is superb for this type of research recording task,and WordFoto, an iPhone app which allows you to overlay a picture with words of your choice.

In this case after an introductory co-operative learning activity looking at 'clues'. The children created a collage or WordFoto of their findings. A great start, beautiful results and enthusiastic pupils.

What more could you want?

Just wait til we reach the 'murder' bit...

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

In That Sleep What Dreams May Come!

I don't sleep very well the night before returning to school after a long summer break.

The wave that has been slowly building at the edge of my consciousness for a week or two, that contains all the plans, commitments, projects and responsibilities of the year ahead becomes more and more difficult to hold back and I fight with it through the hours of the night until eventually I give in and get up from bed to once more start a new school year.

If thats how I feel, I wonder what the children feel!

This year promises much. After the incredible year we had last year with the iPad and the many ideas and projects that sprang around it, we look forward to what this year holds. Everything has changed somewhat; planning, recording, assessing, communicating all look different through 1:1 iPad lenses. Day 1 back I began using my new video 'reflection booth' (an old walk-in cupboard transformed) and the children all recorded their first video reflection using PhotoBooth.

This is going to be great. I've already created a report card in ePub format which is ready to be enhanced with video content from these reflections and offered to any parents who are interested. I have a feeling many will be. If I were to attach a keyword to this year or 'tag' it,'video' would certainly be a tag near the top of the list.

And so it begins, the tide is rolling in, the children have arrived, the iPads are distributed once more...

...and so I sleep much better again!