Mobile @ Priory update

Regular readers will know about the co-constructed BYOD mobile policy in place at my school. This has been operating for two terms now. At the same time, I have been developing the use of mobile devices (mainly pupils’ own and the Geography department’s iPads) in partnership with Lee and Ian at Borbonesa. The partnership has been supported by a Creative Partnerships legacy grant.

What is unique (in my view) of our approach this year is that creative practitioner time has been spent co-creating lessons instead of the delivery of off-timetable days. This approach ensures that embedded and sustainable resources are produced. Each three hour session contains:

At least one teacher (so far from Geography, Graphics / Product Design, Spanish, Music and our English as an Additional Language coordinator).
Two creative practitioners – Ian and Lee. I really would urge you to check out their work. They are also working on the creation of a ‘Cookbook’ to help other schools to explore mobile learning and a secret Guerrilla Geography / naughty learning based day…..
At least one of our DiGITAL LEADERS, students.
No rules.

The aim of each planning session is to produce a sequence of lessons that explore a concept / idea / skill or knowledge specific to that subject in a new way. The results have been fantastic and a consequence of securing quality time for collaboration and planning. If schools truly want innovative and creative lessons, then they must invest the time and resources. This leaves me very worried about the upcoming changes to the National Curriculum….

This post will now describe briefly the three learning sequences that have been designed so far. The journey has been recorded using a closed Posterous.

Geography

Geography have been messing around with superimposing an upside down world map onto the school. This would be virtual and be used to explore map skills. QR codes can be hidden and embedded in strategic areas. The first lesson will challenge pupils to explore the diversity of language that we enjoy, but are mostly unaware of, at the school and links well to our recent guerrilla geography campaign.

The excellent graphics have been created by Ian and Lee.

Spanish

In a nutshell, the Y7 top set Spanish students will finish this terms House and Home topic with a double lesson decking out a room per group using the Ikea Spanish site. Set a budget and tasked with furnishing either the bedroom / bathroom / Kitchen / Living room or workspace, groups will create a shopping basket and populate an activity sheet, before rehearsing and then delivering a presentation to their peers and class teacher - in Spanish of course.

Students will access the Ikea site using the School Ipad's and QR codes printed on their activity sheets. They will be able to visit Ms Jackson's very special 'El bar Genio', modelled on Apple's in-store Genius Bar, and by using great vocab will be rewarded with additional funds to create their dream room in a class dream home.

The Ipad's will be used to film the presentations and plenary session will utilise One note, synched to all the Ipad's in the fleet. It was felt that two DL's (digital Leaders) would make the lesson really flow - one to document and one to techno-trouble shoot.

Product Design

In a nutshell, the team are going to create a bench that has it’s own hashtag. Very much inspired by street art and guerrilla campaign tactics, this one is a closely guarded secret until launch Winking smile

Music

Yet to plan – music will blend the use of QR codes with soundscapes.

Recently, somebody got in touch with me saying that QR codes were becoming ‘old hat.’ I pointed out to them that this is education, and that there’s no such thing as ‘old hat’ just good and bad learning. Sometimes we need to remember that it should be about creating better learning, not keeping up with the Joneses.

Stay tuned.

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

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