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iStori.es is a supremely easy-to-use story-telling device that requires no manual. All of the instructions necessary to create dynamic output are available from the on-screen wizard. Load up some pictures, add text, music and sound effects and BOOM! you have your own interactive story in minutes.
Cut, blend, fade in, push. These cinematic features and many more are available on iStori.es.
Two new ideas we tried at the end of term this year were;
(1) The Year Six leavers Animoto montage;
(2) The Video Yearbook;
Both are embedded into the website for parents to view without downloading - and now I'm experimenting with making this sort of thing available as a Vodcast, to take away from the computer and view elsewhere.
So, we've currently got the website with an RSS feed of articles, an RSS audio feed reading the articles, a regular pupil podcast of their news, and now we're looking at a Vodcast.
These kids don't know how lucky they are.
A website for teachers, parents, young people and others with an interest in dyslexia is being launched today by Sir Jim Rose as part of his review into how children with dyslexia learn best.
Sir Jim is asking for personal accounts and experiences as well as details of published research to help inform his development of recommendations to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. The website will also contain regular updates and information about the review.
You can email your thoughts to dyslexia.jimrose@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
ETS - the company handed a 5 year contract to mark SATs papers, is to face fines of up to "tens of millions" according to the exams watchdog.
Apparently this Tuesday will see the KS2 results completed - over a week later than they should have been.
I had some good news at the weekend. One of my wifes work colleagues has a daughter who goes to a school that I briefly taught at (and that almost drove me out of teaching forever). It seems that the physco-head-from-hell (my pet name for the boss there) has retired.
Maybe now the children will be able to enjoy their childhood, and maybe the staff can actually teach without the fear of receiving the green folder "summoning sheet" to face the head.
Well, this is an interesting news item from the city council, coming the first weekday after the closure of several city schools because of falling numbers...
...Officials have said too many small flats have been built and facilities to support family homes are needed. Councillor Alan Clarke said purpose built student accommodation was freeing up traditional homes in the city. But he underlined that any attempt to move families in would have to be sustainable.
"If you start from a position where you do not have the facilities, most obviously schools, you could be in a situation where children have to commute out which is a problem," he said.
That last quote is the most damning item in the whole report. When the school reorganisation committee held its meetings this is what the threatened schools argued - that moving students out and families in would see a rise in pupil numbers, and a need for the schools places. Would they listen this argument? No - they knew better.
Well, I expect to see a news report soon announcing that the city council will be re-opening one of the closed schools to cope with rising numbers. Watch this space...
I went to my previous school tonight to bid the staff and building a fond farewell, as today they educated a child for the very last time. As of September, it is no longer an educational establishment.
It was a strange event, different emotions were running throughout. There were happy feelings at seeing people I worked with (it was only 18 months ago, but already it feels like a lifetime), but at the same time there were sad feelings that that great building would no longer ring to the sound of children's laughter, children chanting tables, or working, singing, acting and all sorts of other things.
I did get time to speak to several of the staff who I had the good fortune to work with - the staff who helped me to rediscover my love of teaching after a terrible time at another school before - and was shocked to hear that the council had done exactly what I feared they would. They didn't promise a job for staff, and (good to their word) they haven't. I was appalled that a council could treat it's employee's like that.
So, I'm now going to keep a look out for any jobs for a couple of them - see if anythng is going at my school in the near future in particular, and I hope to keep in better touch with them.
I raise my glass to Douglas - a school like no other. You made me enjoy teaching again, and for that you will always be remembered. And to the staff who stayed to the end - you are the best. I feel honoured to have worked with you.
Douglas Primary School. 1883 - 2008
Apparently, more children in primary schools are eating school dinners following Jamie Olivers healthy meals campaign.
Mmmm, not so sure about this. If I look around the dining room of the school there seem to be a lot more sandwich boxes in there than there used to be.
Must be my eyes playing tricks on me then I guess.
Hot on the heels of being told that the KS2 and KS3 SATs results will not be delivered on time (as had been predicted by the markers themselves weeks ago), we're now being told to expect many mistakes in the test results that will eventually reach us.
So the tests that government places so much value on - the ones that they use to assess the ability of both school and child - are so inaccurate this year that we will have to look through each one in great detail to find the mistakes that have been made. And yet still these results will help Ofsted decide if we are good, satisfactory or failing.
Mmmm, makes you think - what rating should we give ETS, the new assessment company. Failing? Or should they just be put straight into special measures.
Btw - this "markers blog" article makes interesting reading.
Great news! Pringles are not crisps. It's official. A judge has said so because they don't have enough potato in them.
Why great news? Because not being a crisp, they are now not subject to VAT - so that means that their price should be dropping in the shops. :-)
I read tonight that this years SATs results are going to be sent to schools late because of "administration chaos". Now I've heard of administrative delays before - but just what does administrative chaos exactly mean?
Well, apparently it means that (as of yesterday) 10% of the KS2 tests have still not been marked, and in KS3 it's even worse with more tests not yet marked.
Suprisingly, these problems are from a company that the DCSF outsourced - and no doubt it was a cut price, low figure bid that they quoted for. Well, you gets what you pays for.
This time of year is the most hated by teachers, surely. It's hated for one simple reason: reports!
Well I've managed to complete all of mine, and did the usual "check for any spelling mistakes" to make sure nothing comes back to me to be corrected. Now I am fortunate, I'm using a piece of report writing software that offers me phrases set to correct levels.
However, I can't believe that it won't do something really basic that I expected it to, namely check EVERY report for spelling errors, grammar errors and gender errors in one go. Nope! It does them one at a time - and it won't even run the three checks at once. I have to do a gender check, followed by a spelling and grammar check. Once it's done I move onto the next report and repeat. How time consuming is that? To check through 28 reports, it's taken me over 1 hour.
I want one button that says "Check all reports for gender / spelling and grammar errors" and with a single click checks through every single one of them. Is that asking too much?
