| Digital - teacher | Education in a technological world

Flashback

It's like being back in school today, and I don't mean as a teacher - as a pupil!!
Before the launch tomorrow there are a few resources that need to be completed, so I am busy cutting and sticking, colouring and glueing and having a great time.
If this is what Blue Peter presenters spend their days doing, I want in! :-)

Now, where is my bottle of milk and straw?
And when is it playtime??

Tell me a story

Dracospeare - the name says it all really.
What else could this dragon be, but a story dragon.

DracoSpeare

Launching April 23rd, 2004

In this area of the website, children can read one of Dracospeares stories and choose their own path through it. They may reach the end of the story, or they may be asked to write how the story should finish.
There are also instant stories to star in. Imagine reading a story online and seeing your own name as well as a friends name within it.

Remember that all work sent  to the site is checked and edited by a human before being published. We think it is very important to keep the site safe for children to use.

Tweak, tweak

Today we're making last minute changes to the Dragonsville site before we go public on Friday.
I've spent a lot of today checking that each page has no broken links, and then (as always) found a great bit of kit on the web that does it all for you!

Not only does it check for broken links (and there was one that I'd missed), but it also checks the images throughout the site. There were four images that were being pulled from my local machine, not from the server. I'd never have known this, as to me it would have appeared normal!

Tomorrow we put the 'improved' site up, and I'll get to see how good this program on the web was.

Knowlege is the key

Most people assume that dragons are nasty, smelly and thick. Not so!
They are a curious creature interested in everything they see.
Libro is a very intelligent dragon because he spends all his time reading books of knowledge.
He likes to read work sent to him by children as well.

Libro

Launching April 23rd 2004

This part of the site allows children to submit information  and instructional writing to the site. There are teachers notes and worksheets that can be downloaded.

All work sent to the site is checked and edited by a human before being published.

Begging bowl

I'm over half way through my secondment with Writers for the Future at the moment, and there is so much still to do.
Not only is the second project being designed ready to begin later this term, but there will be the anaylsis of both the projects to undertake, and this will run into a second year.
Trouble is, my secondment ends in August and unless someone somewhere would like to shower me with money, I am going to have to return to the classroom and not continue creating all this online material for children to use, and research the effect it has on learning.
If anyone knows a rich uncle, or is friends with Mr. Gates, please tell them about the project, and what we've been doing.

Thanks!

Retro gaming

I've been working away at home during the evenings and weekends trying to develop my Flash skills further following the course I took around Christmas.
I've been looking through Flashkit where they had a tutorial teaching you how to build a text based adventure game. Its the sort of thing I used to get all the time for my first computer - the wonderful ZX Spectrum - where you had no graphics, just a description of each room. This is the type of thing I mean.

I've been going through the tutorial and so far I have managed to create several rooms, and be able to pass between them using commands like "Go south" or "North". However, I'm still having problems getting the code to interact with objects in the rooms.

I'd like to be able to pick up and object in one room and then be able to use it in another room later on, but at the moment this is giving me serious trouble.
However - I will solve it, and once I do it will be added to the page of experiments I've been working on.

Mind you, I've just discovered this free online kit for creating text adventures (haven't used it yet, so I can't recommend it).

Say it with a dragon

How are all the letters that children write to the dragons of Dragonsville delivered?
By post dragon of course! And this is him - Greentoes, who works at the Portal of Tidings.

 

GreenToes

Launching April 23rd, 2004

This area of the website is where children can write letters online, and improve their letter writing style away from the computer within the classroom. There is also an e-card system for people to use. 

There are teachers downloads as in the other areas, and all the letters and D-cards that are sent are checked and edited by a human before they are added to the site.

Time for a change?

I've just been reading the news, and in particular the teaching conferences that have been taking place over the Easter break.
I was interested to read the report about children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and the policy of inclusion within mainstream schools.

This quote caught my attention;

One child screaming, swearing, hitting others and running around was hard enough for a teacher to cope with, Ms Haehner said - at what point did the job become undo-able when there were several in a class?

I recall days when, for one reason or another, particular children in my class who were on the special needs register, would cause major disruption within the classroom with their actions. In fact, on days when these children were away the amount of teaching time might double as their was no stopping and starting of lessons to deal with the incidents.

Now I am not saying that these children should not be in the classroom full stop; I saw many of them make great strides from being pushed to work at the level of other pupils. However, there should be a rethink of the special school, or support unit within the mainstream school. Too many parents see it as a negative, a sign that they have failed with their child, and so want their child "to be normal" within the classroom, and as a result they do not receive the additional help and support that could make such a difference.

There needs to be a rethink on the whole inclusion policy, and it's nice to see that it is being brought to the publics attention.

Mind you, I'm not a politician, I'm only a teacher, so I have no idea what is best for the children do I, rather like the author of this blog who has come across similar problems.

Down by the pool

If you were to take a walk around Dragonsville, you would come to an area where there is a pool. At this pool you would find Emerald.

Emerald

Launching April 23rd, 2004

Emerald is a 'nursery dragon', and she helps to name the new born dragonets at the naming pool. Sometimes though there are dragonets that have no name, and Emerald needs help to name them.

Maybe you know some children who would like to name some dragonets?

This is the third area of Dragonsville, and this part of the site focuses on developing character portraits. There are teaching notes and other materials available for use within the classroom.

Remember that, as with the rest of Kids on the Net, all submissions to the Naming Pool are checked and edited by a human before being published.

Another alteration

Ofdoe is now on Version 2.15
I've altered some of the graphics within the activity, and I've put it into a new location within my residency folder.
The flash file itself now sits in a webpage, so that you get the activity at a fixed size, rather than it growing if you expand the browser window. I think it's better that way.