Mr P's Top Ten Videos of 2017

Earlier this week, I did a Facebook live video sharing my top 5 apps of the year. You can watch it here.

It made me reflect on 2017 and what an amazing year it has been. Especially when it comes to my social media channels. It has been a year where the videos I make about life as a teacher have had such an amazing response from you guys. I thought I would compile a top ten list of videos from my page based on views from Facebook, I hope you enjoy:

10 - What would Love Island look like in a Primary School Staffroom? 383k Views

9 - Teacher One-Liners 384k views

Check out more teacher one-liners here.

8 - Teachers in Summer 523k views

7 - Different Teachers in a Singing Assembly 623k views

5 - Things Teachers Never Say When Writing Reports - 634k Views

There are a number of other - Things Teachers Never Say Videos, including:

• Things Teachers Never Say When SATs are over
• Things Teachers Never Say in the last weeks before Summer
• Things Teachers Never Say When Going Back To School

4 - Why Teachers Can't Sleep on a Sunday 728k Views

3 - How Teachers Walk Down The Corridor - 2.5m views

2 - #BeLikeTheRenegade Series - Combined over 3.5m Views. Here is the YouTube Playlist of all the adventures with Mrs May, make sure you subscribe!

1 - Now That's What I Call Being a Teacher Series - Combined over 4m views. Here is the YouTube Playlist of every Volume, please make sure you subscribe!

I hope you enjoy this list, plenty more planned for 2018. Again, I would love to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Mr P's Top 5 Apps of 2017

So as 2017 comes to an end, it is time to reflect on the past year. For me, it has been another incredible year. The support and feedback I have received from teachers all over the world has been amazing. There are still huge issues in education and 2017 hasn't been the best year for schools, especially in the UK. However, it is my mission to change that, take teaching back and get schools working smarter, not harder.

I decided to do a LIVE Vlog on my facebook page tonight to share my top 5 apps in 2017. These aren't necessarily the best apps, I have picked them based on which apps I have used the most in the classroom this year. Here is the whole video which also talks about John Murray's new book - Reading Rocketeers. 

So here are links to the apps mentioned:



5 - iVisualiser - Along with Airserver.com, this tool can transform your teaching by turning your iPad into a mobile Visualiser. To find out more, check out this blog post I put together - click here.

4 - Adobe Spark Apps - Post, Pages and Video -  These apps have been some of my favourites for the past few years. It would be further up the list, however, the update that removed some themes didn't make sense. Still, it is a brilliant example of how to the iPad can be used creatively to allow students to share their knowledge and understanding.

3 - Shadow Puppets Edu - This has to be one of the best apps I use in EYFS and KS1. It is so versatile and lends itself brilliantly to so many different areas of the curriculum. As I have been spending a lot of time in KS1 this term, we have used it brilliantly to enhance the whole curriculum. See it in action here.

2 - Apple Clips - A new app from Apple has great potential for the classroom. The downside, it only works on devices which run iOS 10. An app that allows you to create videos about absolutely anything adding filters, effects, graphics and more. It is one I use personally for a lot of my videos but also have used a lot in the classroom. Watch this space for more ways in which we explore this app in 2018.

1 - Seesaw - It couldn't be anything else. This tool has continued to transform teaching and learning in our school, helping teachers work smarter, not harder. There is so much I could share about how we use seesaw, but I'll save that for when you join me on a training day.

I have received a few messages from teachers who have been told they can no longer use seesaw as it will not comply with the new GDPR guidelines coming into force in May. I have received this statement directly from Seesaw addressing this issue:

GDPR goes into effect in the EU in May 2018 and Seesaw is preparing to be compliant with it. 

If you are concerned about data storage, the GDPR has specific requirements regarding the transfer of data out of the EU. One of these requirements is that the transfer must only happen to countries deemed as having adequate data protection laws. Privacy Shield is an agreement between the EU and US allowing for the transfer of personal data from the EU to US. Privacy Shield allows US companies to meet this requirement of the GDPR.

Seesaw complies with Privacy Shield regarding the collection, use and retention of personal information from European Union member countries. Seesaw has certified that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Privacy Principles of notice, choice, accountability for onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement and liability. You can learn more about the Privacy Shield program on their website and view our certification page. 

We hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Honourable mentions for - Aurasma, Doink Greenscreen, Book Creator and Curiscope Virtuali-tee.

Mr P's Talent Show Entry 2017

One of my favourite days of the school year has to be our Christmas dinner day. Not only is the food always immense, we spend the afternoon doing an annual talent show. I've had the pleasure of hosting the talent show for the past few years and have always treated the pupils to a little surprise at the end. I say 'surprise' but as this is the 8th year or so that we have done it, I think the children expect it now. Anyway, this year we decided to make a teacher's version of one of the biggest songs of the year - Mans Not Hot. As much as the students love it, I wanted to share a message that hopefully will resonate with a lot of teachers too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to share. I will take this opportunity to say a massive thank you for continuing to support the blog, my social media pages and my CPD and conferences. 2017 has been an incredible year, and 2018 is shaping up to be just as good if not better. I hope everyone has a wonderful and restful Christmas. I'll be back with more ideas after Christmas. If you do have a spare minute, I would really appreciate if you could vote for me in the UK Blog Awards - Click Here.

2017 - My Teaching is Hot

2016 - Davyhulme Primary's Mannequin Challenge

2015 - Watch Me Mark, Watch Me Highlight

2014 - Do you want to teach at Davyhulme

2013 - All I Want for Christmas

2012 - The School Rule Song

2011 - White Christmas

2010 - The First Teacher Dance

Reporting from the scene of the Great Fire of London

We recently discovered the Read Write Perform has now been used in over 2000 schools around the world. This is incredible! For a fairly new approach, to see it grow so quickly has been amazing. The best part is the positive feedback we receive from teachers, who say it has revolutionised the way in which they teach English. At present, there are 10 packs, we have mapped out around 30+ to hopefully get to a point where schools could do a pack a half term from year 1-6. Unfortunately, due to the amount of detail and quality that goes into the packs, they take a while to write.

However, we love how teachers are now innovating on the approach. After trying one of the teaching packs, teachers and schools understand the pedagogy behind the approach and now use the overview to plan their English. This includes some of the teachers in my school. So Year 2 have been writing newspaper articles about the Great Fire of London. Using the ReadWritePerform approach, the children then performed their writing as live news broadcasts from the scene of the event. This motivated the pupils with their writing; adding purpose and an authentic audience. By performing their writing they were then improving their oral speaking skills as well as digital literacy skills.

Here are some of the student's examples:

Remembrance Day Activities

Although Remembrance Day has passed, I wanted to share a couple of activities we did across our school to learn about this important and significant day.

In KS1, the pupils created videos using the fantastic Adobe Spark Video app to share their knowledge and understanding about Armistice Day; how it happened and how we remember it.

Here is one of their examples:

In KS2, the pupils created greenscreen videos as paperboys sharing the news about the end of the Great War. Brilliant little task which challenged the children to think about abstraction and constraints with their writing. They had to be paper boys spreading the news about Armistice day. The challenge was to grab people’s attention but it had to be short, almost speak in headlines. The boys in the video would love to hear what you think, so please leave them a comment! 

Watch this space, as this will be developed into a READWRITEPERFORM pack soon. 

As a whole school, we created a Padlet wall for families to share stories of relatives who served for our country. It was a great way to make Remembrance Day more personal. Read more about this idea here.

Improving Oral Speaking in EYFS/KS1 through Digital Storytelling

One of the best ways in which I use iPad in the classroom is to encourage and improve student's speaking and listening. In a culture of teaching, where we are so accountable to prove what we have done in books, I fear we do not develop young children's oral speaking skills. In my opinion, if a child cannot talk you through a story, I don't believe they can effectively write one. So over the past few weeks, I have been using one of my favourite apps - Puppetpals HD Directors Pass, to improve and develop children oral storytelling.

The app, which I have enjoyed using for a number of years, allows pupils to add pictures of characters alongside background and record their own cartoon. It lends itself brilliantly to so many different areas of the curriculum. Working with Reception over the past few weeks, we have focused on using it to allow pupils retell stories they have been reading in class. Here are a couple of recent projects the students have created:

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

The Gingerbread Man