I regularly receive messages from teachers saying that they would love to attend one of my CPD and Inset sessions, however, due to one reason or the other (location, school not allowing them to go etc) they can't make it.
I have been thinking for a while about trying to create some sort of online platform where teachers can access more detailed CPD content. I have and always will share content for free through this blog and my social media pages. However, I always need to strike the right balance as to make sure I don't give too much away for free as this often backfires in loss of work in schools and also a number of people who then take the ideas, rip them off and make money on the back of it.
About a week ago, Facebook introduced Fan Subscriptions. Followers of my facebook page can subscribe for £3.50 a month and receive exclusive content.
I've decided to give this a go, to hopefully support more teachers in their journey to utilise technology more effectively. This short video explains why I am doing this:
To ensure this package is both useful and worthwhile to teachers, I want to hear from you! I have created this Google Form, which you can add to as often as you like. It gives you the opportunity to let me know what support and content you want. Feel free to share ideas, even if you haven't yet signed up.
As the above video stated, I will be giving the first 1000 subscribers a copy of each of my eBooks for Free:
To give you an idea of the sort of content I want to be creating exclusively for subscribers, here is an example of what I had in mind:
I think music is one of the most powerful yet underused tools in the classroom. If you've joined me on my training, you will know how I use it in class to support different areas of the curriculum. There are plenty of examples on this blog which demonstrates the power of music. You can see them here. BBC Teach Supermovers is a brilliant and FREE resource which gets your pupils moving, singing and remembering! This video explores the Supermovers resource:
I was very excited when they asked me to get involved and make a video for their website. You can watch it here -
In Year 4, we have been inspired by the latest Greenpeace Advert - There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom. The advert tells the story of Rang-Tan, a young Indonesian orangutan that has been forced out of her home by humans. It is a beautifully animated video with a very powerful message:
We decided to look at the text used in the advert in more detail:
There's a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don't know what to do. She plays with all my teddies and keeps borrowing my shoe. She destroys all of my house plants and she keeps on shouting 'oo'. She throws away my chocolate and she howls at my shampoo. There's a Rang-tan in my bedroom and I don't want her to stay, So I told the naughty Rang-tan that she had to go away. Oh, Rang-tan in my bedroom, just before you go, Why were you in my bedroom? I really want to know. There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do. He destroyed all of our trees for your food and your shampoo. There's a human in my forest and I don't know what to do. He took away my mother and I'm scared he'll take me, too. There are humans in my forest and I don't know what to do. They're burning it for palm oil so I thought I’d stay with you. Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom now I do know what to do. I’ll fight to save your home and I’ll stop you feeling blue. I’ll share your story far and wide so others can fight too. Oh Rang-tan in my bedroom I swear it on the stars: the future's not yet written but I’ll make sure it's ours.
Some questions we explored:
What is a Rang-Tan?
Why do you think there is an Orangutan in her bedroom?
Why does the young girl not know what to do?
What does the word 'destroy' mean?
Why does the Rang-Tan howl?
Why doesn't the girl want the Orangutan to stay?
What word does the girl use to describe the Rang-Tan?
Do you think the Rang-tan is naughty? Why?
On a scale of 1-5 how desperate is the girl to know why the Rang-tan is in her room?
Where does a the Rang-Tan live?
Why are humans there?
Why are humans destroying the forest?
Why does the Rang-tan keep repeating the line "There's a human in my forest..."?
What do you think happened to the mother?
What is the main reason for burning the forest?
What is palm oil used for?
What clues in the video let us know what palm oil is used for?
How does the girl feel about the Rang-tan at the end?
Why do you think her opinion has changed?
How will she fight? Why will she fight?
How can she share the story far and wide?
What would you do if you were the girl?
Do you think this advert is effective? Why?
How can we help?
The advert certainly empowered the class to explore the issue further. We discussed how terrifying it must be for the orangutans when the diggers and trucks come and demolish their rainforest home. We decided to write stories as Orangutans going through this experience. We considered how to create the most effective story by using different elements:
A short, effective hook opening sentence.
Describing the weather to create the mood.
Describing how we felt through our actions.
Using multi-sensory descriptions to help the reader visualise the horrific scene.
Changing the length of our sentences for effect.
How to not use words like diggers/trucks but instead describe them as monsters and beasts.
Although it was their first draft, I was really impressed with the writing the students produce. The children knew that the work they produce would be shared online for the world to see, which added an authentic purpose:
During afternoon assembly, a group of pupils stayed out of the assembly and recorded some of their writing on the green screen to create this awareness advert:
We would love your support by sharing this video and commenting on it. We are hoping this will help raise awareness of this issue but also inspire year 4 to continue to write and share more about this issue. So far we have received messages from Greenpeace and WWF:
So please show your support and encourage our learning by sharing and commenting on their work. Watch out for more work which will appear on their class blog over the next few weeks!
If you want to support the Greenpeace campaign to #StopDirtyPalmOil, sign the petition here.
Since the update Keynote received over the summer, which unleashed a wealth of creative possibilities, I have been desperate to give it a go in class.
In Year 4, we decided to create our own self-portraits to get used to the drawing tools. Although we had an issue updating a few of the iPads (Keynote is a big app) we had a good go and I was really impressed with some of their efforts:
I've created a step by step guide for how to do this activity with your class. You can watch it here:
This will be an app I will be exploring a lot more this year in my school so stay tuned!
I've just seen the new Nike advert and was blown away. It has such a powerful message.
The advert has been in the news and faced a backlash because of the narrator - Colin Kaepernick. The NFL star was the first athlete to kneel during pre-game anthems to protest against social and racial inequality in the US. I was, however, impressed with the advert as I believe it has a very powerful message. See what you think:
Here is the text from the ad:
If people say your dreams are crazy
If they laugh at what you think you can do
Good
Stay that way
Because what non-believers fail to understand is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult
It's a compliment
Don't try to be the fastest runner in your school
Or the fastest in the world
Be the fastest ever
Don't picture yourself wearing OBJ's jersey
Picture OBJ wearing yours
Don't settle for homecoming queen or linebacker
Do both
Lose 120 pounds and become an Ironman after beating a brain tumor
Don't believe you have to be like anybody to be somebody
If you're born a refugee, don't let that stop you from playing soccer
For the national team
At age 16
Don't become the best basketball player on the planet
Be bigger than basketball
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything
When they talk about the greatest team in the history of the sport, make sure it's your team
If you have only one hand, don't just watch football
Play it
At the highest level
And if you're a girl from Compton, don't just become a tennis player
Become the greatest athlete ever
Yeah, that's more like it
So don't ask if your dreams are crazy
Ask if they're crazy enough.
Some questions to consider:
What does the narrator mean by dreams? He is not talking about the dreams we have at night when we are asleep, it is more about our aspirations, ambitions and what you want to achieve in life.
What are your dreams?
Why would people think your dreams are crazy? Some people are dreamers others are realists, this clip from Modern Family is a nice way of exploring this - https://youtu.be/P1tcZDiOUSc. So realists are the people who may think that your dreams are unachievable.
Why would people laugh at your dreams? There are also people who are jealous and envious of others and if they don't believe in themselves, they don't want others to have that success.
Why does the narrator think people laughing at your dreams is good? He is trying to turn a negative into a positive, use people who don't believe in you as motivation to prove them wrong.
Why would some people think that it is an insult? It isn't very nice to tell people they can't do things they dream of.
Why would some people think it is a compliment? Often, the people who put you down are the ones who are jealous of your skills and talents.
Why shouldn't you just settle to be the best runner in your school, instead be the best runner ever? You should always aim for the highest achievement possible, not just the next step. It is a message to always be pushing yourself further. To move forward, challenge yourself and never be satisfied with mediocracy.
Why does he make this comparison? In the past, they are seen as opposites, but the message here is to break gender stereotypes, more on this here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09202jz
What is an Ironman?
Why do you think this gentleman's story has been included even though he isn't a professional athlete? His story is very inspiring, to beat a brain tumor is one thing but to then lose that amount of weight and take part in one of the hardest races is incredibly inspirational.
Why don't we need to be like anybody to be somebody? A lot of people like to compare themselves to others, even with things like social media, we compare and want to be like others and conform. This can sometimes have a negative effect as it can make us feel incompetent, worthless and in some cases depressed. The message here is to focus on yourself and value that, rather than comparing and worrying about being like others.
What is a refugee? a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
Why does he use the phrase, 'if you're born a refugee' - To emphasise that people don't become refugees out of choice, most have to do it to stay alive.
Why has this story been included in the advert? The chances of becoming a professional footballer is around 0.012% which is extremely low. However, for a refugee, it would have been even more of a challenge. Again, the story is very inspiring and shows dreams, no matter how 'crazy', can still come true.
Why include his age? To play for your national team at such a young age is an incredible achievement.
Who is the basketball player mentioned? Lebron James
What is inspiring about this story? Lebron James is considered one, if not the best, basketball players in the world. At the top of his game, he wanted to go further and use his status to help others and so opened a school to help others, especially children living in poverty. Read more about it here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/basketball/45018003
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. Why is this such a powerful statement? allow for a personal response
It is up to you whether you make the connection to Colin Kaepernick's story here. I think it would be an interesting discussion to have and for pupils to see both sides of this issue.
Who is the tennis player mentioned? Serena Williams, here it would be good to share the story from the book - Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls:
Why does he finish talking about whether your dreams being crazy enough? It brings the advert full circle. Every story shared would have been described by someone as crazy, unachievable. It is an effective way to finish with a rhetorical question to make the viewer ponder. If all these people have achieved their crazy dreams, what is stopping you?
What is the message of this advert?
Do you like this advert? Why?
How effective is this advert?
Why has Nike created this advert without mentioning a single product?
Do you think this advert will work? Why? At the point of writing this blog post, Nike has already seen a 31% increase in revenue.
I hope you find these ideas useful, I think it would make for a very interesting assembly or PSHCE lesson. Please do let me know how it goes if you give these ideas a go!
