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!