Surfing in Scotland

Its beautiful weather this week. Makes me look forward to my annual surf trip with a couple of friends. I can't surf, but getting into a wetsuit,hauling my board over the beach and getting pounded by the waves for a day or two always does me good!

Along with hopeful longings for surf this week has come a disappointment;

Every year for ever I have attended with interest, the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow along with thousands of other educators from this fair land. This year, we submitted an application to take a seminar there to showcase the amazing changes that we've seen since the advent of iPad. Yesterday we received a polite rejection of our submission. This rejection caused me to think about where we stand as a country in our attitude to technology.

It was at the Learning Festival a few years back, we began to hear of the existence of technology that would revolutionise the classroom, bringing interactivity and collaboration to lessons and opening up a world of possibilities for the teacher. The words 'interactive whiteboard', began first to be whispered and quickly shouted by keen enthusiasts who thought that these would transform our classrooms and learning.
Schools bought in, big time.

Whiteboards and, shhh, blackboards disappeared and schools across the country fitted projectors and interactive boards by Smart and Promethian into every classroom. Today, it's hard to find a classroom without one.

We went on courses to see them in action, downloaded the latest software and spent hours and hours (and hours) creating content for lessons that children could drag across the screen, reveal by removing screen shades, match, copy, group and link.
These were exciting times and, for many teachers, represented a first plunge into a world where technology invaded the classroom. Some older staff resisted the tide of change and head teachers across the country battled to change attitudes in order to keep up with this latest craze.

Let's not be too snooty about these efforts and this enthusiasm. Just because we look back and see so many flaws in these devices, have moved on incredibly and now enjoy interactivity in the classroom that goes way beyond allowing a child or small group access to pre-prepared material on the board.

These were the days when schools finally adopted technology wholesale.

It's such a shame now, when we all know that these boards have not transformed our classrooms, that their interactivity is minimal, that the software is flaky and that content creation for them is more time-consuming than paper lessons ever were, and when we are blessed with more and more affordable 1:1 solutions such as iPad that are truly interactive and open up worlds of potential for learning and communicating that our country seems to shun such advances. I don't know why our SLF seminar was rejected, possibly they don't favour private, Christian schools or dont want to showcase technology that they think is unaffordable.

Maybe they think it would upset the sellers of interactive whiteboard who have paid good money for stands in the conference hall.

One thing is for sure; you can't stop the tide. Once one wave has broken, it's no good looking wistfully after it and refusing to turn around. There's another wave coming, bigger and more powerful than the last.

Come on Scotland, surf's up!

Results: P6/7 Observational Drawing with iPad

Here are some of the 'fruits' of today's lesson!
















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Art : Brushes

This morning I taught a lesson on the visual elements that I have taught many rimes over the past 15 years.
We looked at observational drawing of fruit and vegetables - subjects which artists of all varieties have loved over centuries.
We had a look at examples by Monet and Gaughin and discussed where we could see the visual element of line, shape, colour and texture were present. We then discussed tone, what it is and how we see it in pictures. At this point we began painting. It's a lesson I like and so do the kids. Today, for a change I used the iPad.
We used the app 'Brushes'. It has huge potential in art and I've used it for various things before - layers, silhouettes, contrast and colour lessons etc. I've never used it for such a classic painting lesson with such a young class.



Wow!

I was impressed with the levels of engagement. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the children who 'can't draw'. I was impressed with the way they smiled when they made and mistake and lovingly pressed 'undo'.
I was also impressed with the results and, perhaps more importantly, so were they.
I'm sure I will do the lesson again with 'real' paint but I'm also sure that when I do, the children will have increased confidence and freedom to experiment, and that I'll already have some excellent examples of real learning to display on my classroom wall that they've emailed me from a truly excellent art app.







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iPad Band Project Continues...

After our coming Easter holiday I'm taking an elective block of lessons with a S1-3 group. We're going to try an push the iPad band thing a bit further.

Obviously GBand has had a huge impact on what's possible with music on the iPad but I want to do something that opens the feeling of playing in a group with other musicians to the children.

I'm thinking of seeing if we can come up with a number of songs to arrange for iPad band that have a message of change, or revolution. Songs that parallel the sort of changes we're seeing in education and perform them with the iPad band. Any suggestions would be welcome.

The setup I currently have is;

A fairly old 10 channel mixer going through an amp and into some speakers which are also not ideal but are the best I could lay my hands on. Cables to connect iPads to mixer channels. Belkin headphone splitters to allow instrument to be grouped - strings, percussion etc.

One of the problems that has previously been apparent is the difference in quality between apps when played through the mixer. Some, like Six Strings, have high quality samples which transfer with virtually no hiss. Others, generally cheaper apps for instruments such as accordian and bagpipes (!) have much poorer quality sampled sounds which come through at much lower volume and with annoying hiss.

Hopefully there will be parity across the quality of samples in the GarageBand instruments, these are generally all of a higher quality than the other apps I have with the same instruments.

It's an exciting project which opens to children who may not be at all musical, or at least not think they are, the experience of playing in a band. An experience which many of us have loved musically and socially. I hope also it may inspire some to go home, dig out the old acoustic guitar they got for Christmas in P7, and start to make music.

Here's hoping.

100 Word Story from Yesterday

I thought I'd post the 100 word story I blogged yesterday. It's not completed by any stretch of the imagination but will give you an idea of what I was on about!

Listen here.

GarageBand Gives a Voice!

Today was a great day. A girl in my class who is very dyslexic wrote a fantastic piece of personal writing for me. In 100 words she told me what it was like to have dyslexia. I wrote and helped with two vocabulary suggestions.

Then we went to GarageBand and, with her writing printed in front of her, she recorded herself reading what she had composed. Finally she put an appropriate soundtrack using the smart instruments within the app.

I was stunned.

Observers from a nearby university who were in my class today researching the effect of iPad on learning and motivation were moved. Her mum, who heard the result after school, wept.

I suppose it's in small moment like that, the ones that don't happen often, you get to see a side to technology that is not only exciting, creative, dynamic and current, but makes an appreciable and fundamental difference to someone's life, self esteem and happiness. I don't think she was any less dyslexic after today but just maybe she felt that for once, she had produced a result that she was genuinely proud of and one that allowed her to express the person that truly lives inside.

The piece of writing is below:

100 Word Story

I looked at the pictures.
Characters I loved; Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy the dog.
I looked at the pictures, not the words.
The pictures were exciting but the words, I couldn't read. They were like a puzzle I couldn't crack.
Others raced to characters; Famous Five, Spongebob, Dahl.
Covers so exciting, but when I opened them I felt lost in a forest of twisting words.
They were like the trees of thorns surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle.
I knew that there was something great in there but I couldn't find my way in.
That's life with dyslexia


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Whiteboard HD

At school right now we are looking at various options for whiteboard apps on iP2.

To begin with we used apps that were really art apps, like the fantastic 'Brushes'. It's a great app but it was never really created to be stuck as a classroom whiteboard tool. Kind of like making Michaelangelo paint the bathroom!

Then we used the equally fantastic Penultimate. A definite step in the right direction. Easy to use and does exactly what it says on the tin. Some limitations as a whiteboard also; although its great for handwritten text, it doesn't allow you to add printed text or graphics and consequently looks quite 'infant' on the big screen, my handwriting doesn't need any help to look infant!

So, today I gave a test run to whiteboard HD, a dedicated whiteboard app with a four star rating on the app store. You can choose your type, write by hand or add text in a very simple way. The app also allows you to add images and shapes, again, very simply and I was really impressed with the look of the whiteboard on screen.

My one gripe was pointed out by Fraser Speirs, my buddy and school IT guru; the app only allows one whiteboard per project wheras Penutlimate allows multiple pages per project which can then be mailed to students, printed etc.

So, no perfect solution, but I think I'm sticking with whiteboard HD until something better turns up!

First Steps in iMovie: iP2

Today I got round to having an initial play with iMovie on iP2. I was in the iT suite in school, which looks strangely empty compared to the days of the iMacs being sited there. I took a brief 360 of the room and dropped it in iMovie for title and audio. Gave me a chance to mess with adding soundtracks, using themes and fades and adding titles. All in all, I think it could be great in the classroom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA7w-rOLm08


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GarageBand Band?

Me and Fraser Speirs testing GBand after school.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmPCTPalHso

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EPubs: New Learning for Me!

What I am learning:
Today I began to look at exporting assessment material for a current Primary 6/7 project as an ePub document. EPub exporting is built into the export options on the desktop version of Pages on the mac. Basically it enables you to publish an electronic book which can then be read on iPhone, iPod iPad etc.
This is great for collating the output of project material in one beautiful looking document which can include text, images and video and loos very professional. All you have to worry about then is whether the text, pictures or videos are any good!
I ran a quick tutorial with one of the boys in my class on how to create an ePub document and he was very competently beginning the collation of a great looking book very quickly.
This will provide a great record of project work and assessment material that can be accessed by interested staff, friends and parents. I think it will take a while to put together as I have so much material but should look great.
The one thing I wish was that there was an easy way to include audio files without having to drop them into iMovie first.


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iThoughtsHD

Prior to the advent of GBand, my favourite app in the classroom was iThoughtsHD. Essentially a tool for mind mapping, this app has so many fantastic applications in the classroom. I've used it with the children in pairs and group exercises, for planning writing pieces and recording responses, for reporting and also as a planning tool with staff in our department. It is a fantastically flexible and varied tool that has good export options and great potential. I'd like to see the option of adding pictures other than the graphics supplied, and the facility to manipulate size and font of text but these would be the icing on what is essentially a very fine cake already.



This is an example of a topic in the process of being planned. The Key challenge or question is at the centre, surrounded by curricular areas, key questions and activities and curriculum experiences and outcomes. I may also add an assessment ring.

When you email a file from the app you get a PDF of your 'map' and a list version which can also be helpful.

A great little app.

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ADE!

Last week whilst on a residential school trip to York I received notification that I had been accepted into the Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2011. This was along with Fraser Speirs (no surprise there!) and Jenny Oakley, our superb art teacher.
This is a great honour personally and for us to have three acceptances from the school is really great for us.
What it really means practically I can't wait to discover.
I include my application video below, it also gives some footage of the iPad band that i mentioned earlier. I just can't believe I spent all that money on instrument apps that have been, in the main, bettered by the arrival of GarageBand.

You can watch the video on the school YouTube channel here.

iPad 2 - Another Revolution for the Classroom?

Having received my iPad 2 unexpectedly on launch day UK, are we gearing up for another massive change for the classroom? Well, in the time honoured conclusion for all school discursive essays, yes... and no.

With iPad 1our classroom practice and the opportunities for learning were transformed by some fundamentally significant factors; we now had 1:1 Internet access for every pupil all the time. Each and every pupil had amazing new options for output with Pages, Keynote, iThoughts, Brushes etc sitting expectantly on the desk in front of them all the time. These were factors which opened the possibility of a truly transformational change in the classroom.

Now, with the advent of 2, these are already established and, whilst they will run significantly faster, the revolution in this sense has already happened.

So what may change?

Faster is a big deal, especially when using apps like GarageBand which is already a massive hit in my classroom. The cameras will be interesting when the children finally get iPads with them on, I can picture a trip to an art gallery with a class creating their own MoodBoard, Collage or blog as they go round snapping pictures with the iPad. Interesting and significant possibilities begin to open. Finally with iMovie: I think this may be a killer classroom feature for me. Peer assessment, self assessment, output for creativity in language, music and across the curriculum. I can see myself making great use of iMovie when the children have in their hands such a powerful tool.

So, changes? Yes. Revolution? No. Apple have given us a beautiful and powerful successor to the device that has already made historical records and changed so many aspects of educational life.

I sold my old one to a local restaurant. I hope they look after her.


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The iPad 2

Today sees the UK launch of iPad 2, the much-anticipated successor to the original iPad. Ipad has changed our lives in so many ways. I often say to visitors to our school that even after owning the iPad over the summer holidays, I was so unprepared for the revolution that it would bring to teaching and learning in the classroom.

What will be significant about iPad 2?

Already Garageband has become my number 1 favourite app on iPad in the few short weeks it has been available and I've found some fantastic uses for it in the classroom, recording poems as raps, adding soundtracks to language work, creating sound poems and pictures and recording songs in music. On iPad 2 I hope it may run even more sweetly and I may not have the 'optimizing performance' message so frequently.

The major 'can't wait' however is iMovie for iPad. Already in school we use imovie a lot, recording assessments across the curriculum, examples of work for blogs and website as well as specific animation and movie projects. Having imovie on iPad 1:1 in the class would be an open door to so many possibilities.

So am I going to the queue?

No. I'm teaching today and couldn't make the store before 4.30. At that time I doubt there'd be any point in going. One thing is for sure however.

I'm looking forward to getting hold of one soon!

Autumn Trees on Brushes

Here are some of the trees we painted in Brushes a week or so back. We were looking at colours and contrast, hence the backgrounds.
I think the kids did rather well.
Eat your heart out David Hockney!

iPad Update

We are back at school after a two week break which was full of some great trips.
Being back at school isn't so bad. We've hooked up with a school in Georgia, USA who are doing the same thing we are doing with the iPad. Fraser visited them last week and had a great time. I'm looking forward to sharing experiences and ideas with them.
On returning to school I've used an app which is cool. It's called 'TypeDrawing' amd basically does what it says on the tin _ enables you to paint with words.
The children in my class have been working grammar work which has a danger of becoming tedious. We've changed that by using 'TypeDrawing'.
The children came up with some great adjectives to describe themselves in a co-operative group lesson. They then chose chose the best of these and painted a picture of themselves using the adjectives that they had chosen.
It is a fun outcome which also keeps the thread of the learning which was at the core of the lesson
Thanks again iPad.

Results of Art Lesson

Here are some of the results of our recent art work:






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Art Revolution

As previously discussed, in school this year we are looking at the following question:

'What was more important, the industrial revolution or the digital revolution?'

Today was scheduled to be an art lesson. We used the app 'Brushes'. The introduction to the lesson looked at the visual elements of form and composition. We discussed these and the children then began to look for images online that spoke to them of old, industrial or victorian times. They thought of pastimes, jobs etc that may produce memorable images. They then selected one image and, using Brushes, turned them into a silhouette. Then, on another layer, they inserted a contrasting picture that spoke of the modern, digital age. They learned a lot, were highly motivated for an extended period and produced some excellent results.

Thanks iPad!

The Industrial Revolution in the Classroom

I've taught The Victorians before. An interesting topic. We looked at housing, work conditions, the reforms of Shaftesbury and friends, the pioneer explorers and philanthropists and discussed what life would have been like in the workhouse.
This time I'm teaching the topic slightly differently. Instead of a blanket title; 'The Victorians', we are trying to answer a key question:

'Which was more important, the industrial revolution or the digital revolution?'

A big question indeed for children of 10 and 11. A very relevant, big question in the light of the iPad introduction in school. So we began by looking at what we wanted to find out. I used co-operative learning techniques and mind mapped various areas we wanted to look at and then sent the class home with this task:

'Create a mood board on the industrial revolution using the iPad.'

I was so pleased with the results and reports from parents suggested that children who would often be difficult to enthuse with homework were really motivated to complete the task.

Thanks iPad!

iPad Orchestra Update

So the iPad orchestra project is underway and I get more excited about it by the day. Here's the model I am looking at.
I'm getting 10 splitter boxes made, each able to take up to 5 iPad connections. Each box will represent a 'section' in the orchestra. So we could have 10 different instruments or apps. eg
1x strings, 2x guitars, 1x bass, 3x percussion, 2x piano/keyboard/synth, 1x lead instrument
Each section can take up to 5 players so we could have up to 50 children playing at any one time.
Each box has a single line output which will feed directly to a 10 track mixer that we have at school. This will mean that we can mix the sound to get levels absolutely right. Really interested in finding quality and simple music apps. Here's what I have so far:

6 Strings - an excellent guitar and stringed instrument app.
Drums! - Beautiful sounding drums with a choice of three kits.
Percussive - Again, beautiful sample sounds of tuned percussion

If you know any more let me know!

More to follow!