Godsend at A2

If I really do look back in time I can remember one of my best friends at university, who was studying alongside motherhood, almost failing her final year because she had overly utilised (polite word for plagiarism) one textbook during her last essay and only passed by 1%. This was a stark warning to all of us on the course and many of us hastily reviewed our dissertations that night...

This incident sprung into my mind last January when my delightful Year 13 History class had to start writing their A2 Personal Studies. Being limited, damn it, on the support that we can offer them I needed to drill into them the dangers of plagiarism and overly utilising textbooks. Whilst researching study methods and ideas for use in the classroom I came across the website www.paperrater.com. Whoop my prayers were answered (and I even used it myself for my own MA studies).

This site is great. I linked to it from my VLE and the students were able to paste in their written work and it checked for plagiarism, spellings, grammar and even suggested some improvements. An absolute Godsend when you consider that teachers have to sign that limited support has been given... no AQA the website did that for me...

Take a look and have a go yourself with students...

Happy blogging!

Heraldic Homework

One activity that I love setting my students is to design a heraldic shield that represents them as either a person or as a family. The students can do this in a number of different ways... we have had huge posters, small clay models and papier mache covered cardboard which has then been painted. Last year a student of mine did hers online using a section of the VA website which can be accessed here.

I liked her entry that much that the class all had a go at making their own in an ICT suite... I wasn't too surprised that in an all girls school quite a few of them decided to use the male shields as well as the female one (their argument was that it was much bigger). This is a homework task that I shall be repeating this year and hopefully we will get some ICT driven ones that are as good as the two student ones I have uploaded onto this blog post...

Happy Blogging!

Terrific New Timelines

Yes... I know... timelines again... but if I like an online tool then I share it...

This is a quick one today... and one for teachers probably to prepare and demonstrate in school before the lesson.

There is a website called www.capzles.com. You simply need a number of photographs for an interactive timeline. The example that I use in school is for my first proper homework on personal timelines. I registered with the free website, download some personal timeline photos, edit the info and hey presto a timeline to demonstrate to the students...

Just think of the possibilities... timeline on Hastings, English Civil War, WWI and WWII... there are lots of different possibilities here. The great news is that the website allows you to create and edit HTML code which can be embedded on blogs, websites and VLEs.

Happy Blogging...

Arguing in the Classroom... yes please!

Let's face it... our students know what connectives and linking words are.. the reason? They have them drilled into them at primary school but the moment they walk through those new doors at the start of Year 7 there is clearly an invisible machine the wipes out their prior skills and makes them a blank slate again... just great for us...

How many times have you stood in a room and asked for a student to explain why they have a certain point of view only to get the answer... 'because'. Likewise, most of our students feel that full sentences, using connectives and backed up with evidence... not a neccessity in their books. Uh no... we're not having any of that...by the time students get to KS4 and KS5 they need to be able to explain their points of view and what better way to drill it into them that by rote (yes I went there with that word). Only my rote involves the computer and a nice piece of online Web 2.0 tool called www.amap.org.uk.

This website actively gets you to argue in favour or against (woah concept of bias here as well - sweet two birds with one stone) a point of view. I'll be honest since I am from the Northwest I usually demonstrate first of all with the classic Everton/Liverpool clash of supporters...

Using this website I enter a general statement, i.e. Everton or Liverpool? and then literally form my arguments around it. The students pick up on this really quickly and understand both the software and concept quite easily.

Like most online websites, and similar to Prezi and Zoom.it you can move the presentation around to see the rest of the arguments that you, or the students write, about the argument.

Students can do this individually or collaboratively as a class when you 'invite them' to take part in your debate. This is great for developing student confidence in their own answers as well as getting them to construct full sentences.

Though I have to say that in a North West school and being a confirmed Evertonian, for my sins, a lot of the first half of this lesson is taken up with cat calling and explanations of how wrong my football choice is... yeah right... 

go on the Moyes...

Happy Blogging people!

Now you can analyse films and Watchitoo!

One of the age old problems for History teachers has been the fact that we have such an amazing plethora of 'quality' of films that can be used in our classrooms for teaching (excepting Titanic and Pearl Harbour) but giving students a focus and purpose whilst watching the films can be a struggle.

The moment you draw the blinds down and switch a film clip on the IWB, apart from preventing them from sleeping, you also fight the chorus of 'Miss/Sir can we sit on the tables?' or 'Miss/Sir can we sit on the floor to watch it?'. Errrrrmmmmm no... they haven't purchased tickets for the cinema and they are not in their own home. Also every time we watch a film clip there is always a task to accompany it. This task, inevitably, draws out the showing of film clips because students need to watch clips more than once to get the information you need them to... slowing down the lesson and leaving teachers a little greyer at the end of the lesson than the start...

So let's change this by using a nifty little online gadget called www.watchitoo.com...

Start by setting up your own free account and uploading film clips that you want the children to watch... really simple from the content tab when you log in. 

You should also set up 15-30 dummy account names so that when you get into an ICT room or have a laptop trolley in your classroom the students can log on to the website.

The concept is now simple. As the teacher you upload a film clip into 'Your Show'... I chose a Hastings clip from YouTube... and then invite each of the 'students' to watch the clip at the same time. The neat little aspect about this is that there is a chat function alongside the video so that as student are watching the film clip they can chat and comment to each other, like MSN, about what they are watching. They can choose to watch it as many times as they want, collectively, before completing a task.

This is a different way to watch film clips together, keep students focused, discussing the topic and not feeling like they are at the cinema - loving that feeling!

There are so many films out there that this could be a task using on more than one occasion... it could even be set up as a homework task for the students via the VLE.

Have a go... have fun... and happy blogging!

Zooming in on Sources Online

I have already had a little moan on this Blog about the joys of sourcework in school... I hate it for the most part but see the neccessity for it in teaching History. However, there is one part of my Year 7 course that I love teaching on the Tudors and that is source analysis of Holbein's Henry VIII portrait (for all the wrong reasons) and an analysis of a number of images of Elizabeth I.

Like most adults that work in schools there is still a part of me that is a big kid and when we start examining sources using the Holbein portrait I always set myself a bet as to which student will be the first to notice a traditional piece of clothing covering a certain part of Henry's anatomy and how long it will take for them to mention/ask me about it. This is what makes sources interesting to students and they love examining Henry's image and looking for the hidden messages. 

Now each student in my lesson is given a copy of the picture to annotate but the problem we had for a long time was zooming in on specific parts of the portrait - PPT can only do so much - and then we discovered www.zoom.it and we were flying. The free website allows you to grab an image URL off the Internet and create a smoothed out and zoomable image... see below:

This is a simple tool and as the girls complete the worksheet we zoom in on different parts of the portrait to discuss it further and add to their notes. It can be done with any image... I just like the giggling that goes with this one and once again the HTML creator allows it to be embedded in websites, blogs and VLES.

Happy Blogging people

Three Wishes for an AFL Plenary - I just need one!

Having been observed a lot recently... there a very few letters that cause me dread as much as AFL! How can three little letters instill such fear into teachers?

The main problem for me is that nobody is very clear about what OFSTED actually want and will accept as effective and productive AFL in lessons. But for me, no matter what level the class actually is, I love to have www.wallwisher.com on my IWB during the lesson. This is a free website that lets you create an interactive wall on  the IWB which students can electronically stick post it notes on during the lesson to show what they have learnt.

My students love it. It actually encourages them to complete their work faster so that they can nip up to my desk at the front of the classroom to use my computer and post their thoughts...

What makes this online website even better for me is that once the students have all contributed I can click on a button and it automatically generates HTML code. I can then copy and paste this code and embed it into the classes area of the History VLE. It then acts as an obvious AFL tool, a revision tool and it allows the students to show off to their parents when they get home what they have been doing in school. Zing, zing, zing... www.wallwisher.com may only grant one wish but it makes three tasks so much easier. 


Happy Blogging people...

Worldly Wise Key Words

Inspired by the A-Team today since I love it when a plan comes together... but in my case the simpler the plan the better and today I offer a simple idea for the classroom... www.wordle.net.

I use this fab free website tool in a number of different ways... the main one at the moment is to jazz up some very boring Uniservity layouts on my school VLE... but in the past I have used it effectively in the classroom to get Key Words stuck into students heads. Simplicity itself...

I love the idea of osmosis (it was the only Science term to stick in my head alongside photosynthesis) so I use wordle as a form of osmosis in my classroom. My classroom is set up so that the students sit in groups and not rows which can be a nightmare occasionally. In the middle of these tables I place 'word mats' containing key words relevant to their current topics using coloured wordle diagrams... oh and as my friends would tell you I get a lot of joy out of using my laminator to make these durable...

The illustration on the left is just one example of how I have used Wordle to make a Tudor key word diagram. It's very strange but the students pick up the Key Words quite quickly without realising it and it also stops the inevitable... 'Miss how do I spell reformation?' when it is the heading on the IWB or on their sheet. These key words help the students to learn key words and lessen the workload for teachers.

Check out www.wordle.net and see how creative you can be... Happy Blogging!

Present.ly Imitating Twitter

OK... if this is a bit like AA but for IT Educational Geeks then I have a confession to make! I like Facebook but I HATE Twitter. 

I don't see the point in it... 'John James is currently speaking in an Australian accent' or 'Cheryl Cole is recovering nicely from malaria'. 

I guess it's because I don't have the urge to share all of my thoughts nine million times a day... eventually surely people will be posting 'Nicky has nothing left to Twit about'.

However, taking this dislike of Twitter to one side I have been intrigued to see whether it can be used in an educational format. My main concern has been that Twitter is open to everybody out there and I couldn't see a way to protect my student's online - let's face it that has to be a priority these days. That was until I came across a website called www.present.ly.com. Now I can see the possibilities... and I can't wait to try this out with my Year 13 class when I get back to school as a homework task - there will only be four of them and that seems like a sensibly small test group... so what is it?

This is another free website that offers teachers the chance to create a safe, password protected Twitter like blog area to which students have to be invited. Once there my theory is that staff and students can set up a designated time for a short online debate for homework. An alternative idea would be to set up a class discussion in an ICT room and the teacher acts as a moderator whilst they debate a topic without speaking... this would be great for AFL, peer interaction and developing PLTS as well as encouraging shyer students to involve themselves in lessons... just thoughts and since this is a new one to me I will need to test it out when I get back to work...

A really interesting feature, and another online collaborative aspect of the blogging tool, is that students and staff can attach documents, PPTs, links to YouTube clips etc to their points of view. This enables the students to support their arguments and share thoughts and resources with each other. That is a fantastic tool in teaching and I like this aspect a lot.


If people out there have used this resource and they want to tell me about their experiences then I would love to hear about it.


Happy Blogging!

Making Source Work more Saucy!

If using Timelines with students makes my body shudder then Sources should come with a Health and Safety warning. Sources are great and teachers love them... but the moment students realise that they have to look and analyse images and text etc the shutters come down, the eyes glaze over and their brains switch off!

Don't get me wrong - at GCSE and A-Level students can appreciate sources more... and there are lots of exciting ways to stimulate KS3 students about sources using more traditional methods and more of those thinking outside of the box ideas... see Ian Dawson's website for examples of this.

So my suggestion would be to introduce students to source skills using the IWB, a good picture or illustration of a historical event and a nifty piece of free software downloadable from the website Sharedcopy.com.

Once you log on to Shared Copy and register it allows you to drag and drop a little widget onto your toolbar called sharedcopy. 

Once you have a website, diagram, PPT or even a word document on your screen you click on the icon on your toolbar and a smaller toolbar loads up with some tools that will allow you to do different annotational aspects on your chosen document. These annotations can be saved to your account.


Below is an example of how I used it to add annotations to a diagram of the Battle of Hastings.

It's just a different way for you to broach the idea of sources in the classroom. It could be used as a group via the IWB. It could be used individually on computers. It could be URL linked via the school VLE so that students can add the widget at home and complete a task for homework.


There are lots of ways in which it could be used... as the old saying goes 'what can be imagined can be achieved but you must dare to dream'... oh hang on that was Scully to Mulder in an X-Files episode... oh well it still works in this case!


Saucing up source work via Web 2.0 - happy blogging!

Bringing the Simple Timeline into the Present

When I say the word Timeline in my classroom I actually shudder... one of those body wrenching shudders. The reason why??? Simple... I honestly believe that this should be one of the simplest activities that students should ever be asked to do in a lesson or for homework. It doesn't matter what subject... their own personal timeline for a History project, the history of scientific development in Physics or how the pangea took place in Geography.

But as any teacher out there who has ever attempted (ever) to get students to draw a nice, neat, simplistic timeline using a pencil and ruler across two pages of their exercise book will tell you - children just CAN'T do this neatly or well. They get the line wrong, put the wrong dates on, squish the writing etc etc etc until I am pulling my hair out and they are pulling out the pages of a nice new exercise book because 'I hate it Miss!'

So let's bring the basic but neccessary timeline into the 21st Century. If you can move your class into an IT rich room or have access to a Laptop Trolley (I know, I know but in my school Humanities has one for our sole use so we are very lucky) then the following might ease your heart palpitations...

There is a free website tool out there called www.timerime.com - click on the URL to take you there - that can be used with your students to get them to create personalised timelines online individually or collaboratively...

All you need to do is sign up, give your students a link and then the following can be achieved...

I no longer have to tear my hair out. Once the students have completed their timelines individually you can just get them to print them out.

I have also used this online tool collaboratively with an SEN class and the IWB. It was great for building up teamwork skills, confidence and everybody had the opportunity to collectively add their own events to a timeline and we then printed it out and put it on the classroom wall. A nice additional feature of this website is that students, who may be G&T rather than SEN, can also link in to YouTube clips and music to make their timelines even more interactive. Great for posting to your school's VLE or even to show off a little on your next Open Evening!

See what you can do with it... and have the time of your life playing with the software!

Welcome to the First Blog

Well I guess that I should kick off my first blog with an explanation of why I feel that using online teaching tools in the 21st Century is important...

In the past man was able to hunt and kill food... before fire he hunted animals using simple weapons and then ate the meat raw and he was full. With a contented stomach it would be reason enough for man not to think about changing this way of hunting and preparing food... as the old saying goes 'if it ain't broke don't fix it!'

One day man invents fire and on a whim he places some meat he has hunted and killed across the flames and wow we have our first early BBQ.

Suddenly man realises that his meal tasted just that little bit better... he didn't need to use the flames but since they were there why not use them.

For me teaching is a little bit like this story... (plus I am a History teacher so links with the past will sprinkle across this blog). We have traditional teachers (the cynical amongst us might call them the 'chalk and talkers' but my view is that it takes all sorts to make the world go round) who have always taught the same way, i.e. dictation, textbooks, worksheets etc and they don't see how or why education web 2.0 style will benefit them. Then we have a new generation of teachers (think technology not age) who want to feel the heat of that flame and push the boundaries of what can be achieved with the Internet - not so much thinking outside the box but trying to punch their way through and keep the opening clear for others to follow.

I am in many respects a mixture of both these teachers... it's hard to be IT inspirational all the time just as OFSTED need to understand that we also can't teach OUTSTANDING lessons ALL the time without dying of overwork and suffering from a lack of personal life. This blog is my attempt to show how some amazing tools, already out there, can be used to good effect practically in the classroom. I am no expert but I know some pretty amazing teachers who I am sure will throw their support and ideas this way as well!

Bit lengthy this posting but should suffice to kick the blog off!