Disqus - Latest Comments for Adam

Re: GeoTweets – Inviting your network into the classroom

Adam — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:35:23 -0000

Hi Tom
This sounds like a really fun lesson. the sort where your kids never even realised they were learning and on how many different levels. Couldn't do anything like this at our place though.
Adam

Re: My way or the highway.

Adam — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:03:55 -0000

Just remember whatever the results you are dealing with human beings (well kids at any rate) not automatons who can be programmed. If you feel you have done your best by them, and more crucially thay feel they did their best no one can (should) ask for more.

Re: Scotedublogs Data

Adam — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:28:20 -0000

Hi Robert
I like the table, very interesting reading, especially as out of the 6 blogs listed for Aberdeenshire I set up 5 of them!

Re: Soundzabound

Adam — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:08:29 -0000

Watch out though there's a lifetime fee of $99. You have to pay before downloading.

Re: Seesmic - 4 invitations, 4 days

Adam — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:00:03 -0000

Adobe AIR and M/Soft silverlight are going to explode this year and are going to hugely change how the web will look. Obviously more and more mobile apps are going to appear with iPhone going from strength to strength

Re: Your blogging is diluting my conversation

Adam — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:25:51 -0000

This is so well put Jose. You have summed up precisely the thoughts I have been having about the edublogosphere for some time. There are some very well educated and thoughtful, yet petty people out there whom seem to feel that blogging is, must be and for ever shall be a domain for them to expomd for all to listen to them.
I had never written anything in the public domain until 2 years ago and I just like doing it. Sometimes it's rubbish sometimes it may be meaningful, but to be quite honest I am doing it for myself and those who want to read do so.
Nice post.

Re: Using Voki and a blog in a sequence of three lessons

Adam — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:54:59 -0000

Great stuff José We seem to be having similar experiences. http://thegordonschools.typepad.co.uk/asu/2008/...

Re: Getting students interested in languages: is it that hard?

Adam — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:05:19 -0000

Super post José. Your ideas are sensible, straightforward and a lot of them very accessible (although streaming and skyping in my school wouldn't be possible). It is an unbelievable untruth that you have to be amongst the elite to get something out of languages, and we have to get away from the idea that everything has to be ultra perfect, each accent the right way etc etc. I want my students to be able to write to or have a simple conversation with a native speaker...not discuss the joys of Proust or Schiller (well not in first year anyway). At a recent parents evening I had 5 sets of parents say they thought it was a good idea that I had bluetoothed an mp3 file to kids phones to help with an upcoming speaking test, so there are parents out there who would support this.

I stand very strongly for your first idea about tech being a part of the lesson for learnings sake. All too often kids get to go on a computer because they have finished their work, rather than using computers, phones, mp3s as a part of the learning process.

Re: Using Animoto to promote speaking in the foreign language

Adam — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:36:15 -0000

This is just too weird José I've been thinking about how to get kids using animoto. Scary.

Re: Glogster – create online posters

Adam — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:01:50 -0000

Hi José I already tried this out with kids in school and it worked resonably well. We produced glogs on Huntly. The previous lesson we went around town with a camera to take pictures of all the places they wanted to include, then I uploaded them to a drop.io so that they could access them.
However we did have major problems with flash and the resolution on the monitors. They had to do lots of scrolling around to see their glog. A word of warning as well there are a couple of unsuitable bits of "graffitti" that could be added, which of course they will find straight away.
I'd link to one of the glogs but glogster seems to be down at the mo.

Adam

Re: 5 things School of Rock can teach us about real education

Adam — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:48:59 -0000

Gulp. Just seeing my name mentioned in a comment makes me quiver. I too had similar thoughts when I first saw the film. I think students react well when there is an element of "risk" in thje classroom. On a couple of occasions I have had kids get out and use their phones in class to to record or share resources (bluetooth). There was definately a frisson amongst the students about explicitly doing something they really weren't supposed to, but with the backing of the teacher.
Ewan McIntosh recently twittered a question about whether it was ethically correct to use phones in a class when the school rules forbade their presence. I felt I could justify their use as they helped to achieve an educational goal.

Re: 3 reasons the majority of students are NOT ‘digitally literate’

Adam — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:30:19 -0000

I agree totally Doug. Whilst off work I asked students to email drafts of their folio pieces as an attachment...simple yes... No. Most that bothered to email just wrote it as a message. Which meant I had to copy and paste into an open office doc in order to make the corrections.
Most know how to say add aphoto to bebo but they wouldn't be able to transfer that knowledge and do the same thing on say flickr, or is it that they just wouldn't want to spend the time thinking how to do it?
As part of my cpd a selection of kids at school are hopefully doing a survey on net use for me. I will be sharing the results on my blog. I think it will be interesting.

Re: 3 ‘well, duh’ BBC Education articles

Adam — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:42:44 -0000

You beat me to it Doug. Was planning to post on similar lines. All 3 are ridiculous news stories in their own right. I was listening to some childrens worker on 5 live this morning and her defintion of bullying would mean that my 3 year old daughter bullies her elder brothers every minute of the day. You are right much of this "bullying" is life BUT the problems arise when some kids take it too far.
I think I have posted recently about languages being included in this "hard" group of exams. There is a suggestion that the "harder subjects should dumb down, I say Geog and the like should wise up. Allow kids a chance to think.
As a rep for my union I often have to listen to some rubbish from my colleagues, but I have to treat all approaches the same way. However there are bad teachers out there, of course there are and no amount of training will put it to rights in most cases. In recent years I am staggered at the quality (or lack of) trainees that enter the profession. I suspect this is a result of targets and making up numbers. I hold the belief that to enter this profession properly folk should have seen a bit of the world and life in general beforehand. Too many "kids" go through school, to uni, to teacher training and back into school. What have they seen? Where is the life experience.
Anyway, you could say I agree with you Doug.

Re: My way or the highway.

Adam — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:03:55 -0000