A few months ago, Facebook gave me the opportunity to launch a supporter aspect to my page. For £3.50 a month, teachers can subscribe to receive the following benefits:
This platform, for me, is a way to bring my CPD training in schools online. 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. It gives teachers the opportunity to take ownership of their own professional development. I honestly think that the best resource in the classroom is the teacher and I want this platform to be a way teachers can build confidence in knowledge to best make use of the technology in their classroom.
So far, it has been amazing to have so many people sign up and the feedback has been so positive, especially when you see teachers using the ideas and sharing the incredible work from their pupils.
Over the Christmas break, I designed a website to make it really easy for supporters to navigate and easily access the exclusive CPD content. Anyone can view the website to see everything we've posted so far. We are adding more content each week. When you sign up you can access everything we have posted since the beginning, including the eBooks.
Please do visit the new website - MrPICT.com - by tapping the picture below.
As much as I love technology, I will always talk about the importance of reading on my CPD sessions. It really annoys me when people like to blame technology as a reason why children don't read as much. We like to blame technology for a number of things but for me, it comes down to choices. I hope through this blog and my social media pages, I demonstrate how, when used effectively, it can transform teaching and learning. Unfortunately, I think too many of us make the wrong choices with technology.
When pictures like this appear on my social feeds, it does wind me up because they both can be valuable and certainly enhance each other:
For me, technology can enhance the reading experience allowing pupils to explore texts in more creative ways. This is something I wanted to promote in my yearly Christmas video.
For the past 9 years, I always treat my pupils to a silly video at the end of our annual talent show. To see what I have produced previously - CLICK HERE.
This year, I decided to do something with a more serious message. I absolutely love the new John Lewis Christmas advert. In fact, I blogged some ideas for how you can use it, click the picture to see.
Inspired by this advert, I created my own looking at how reading can take you to some magical places. Please help share this important message by sharing the video far and wide!
Here’s my version of the John Lewis Christmas advert all about my love of reading for pleasure!
I was so made up to receive an email recently by the team from @TeachPrimary and @TeachWire letting me know that I had won their first SOCIAL MEDIA SAVIOUR award:
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted. The competition was based purely on whoever received the most votes which means so much. It is wonderful to be recognised for something I put a lot of time and effort into.
People often ask me how I do it: be a Dad, lead training all over the UK, teach, run the social media platforms, and I have to be honest it is hard. I sometimes don't prioritise my time properly and can struggle to switch off. However to know the impact my training and social media channels is having on teachers and classrooms all over the world is something very special. To receive messages from teachers saying that using ideas from my blog or training has produced the best writing or work they've seen, makes all the the hard work worth it. To now be recognised by winning this award means so much - again thank you.
I would also like to thank the team at Teach Primary magazine. Here's the announcement in this month's issue. Please read my comments on the right-hand side, it really sums up what motivates me to continue to share and inspire:
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:
As many of us are gearing up for the start of another academic year, I thought I would share some useful ideas and resources that will have you hitting the ground running in September. You can watch the video here:
The response to the first Taking Teaching Back Episode has been amazing! Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to watch it. The comments have been great and it has been so encouraging to hear of teachers who have taken the discussion into school and are actively looking at ways to change what they were doing in a way to help reduce workload. This is EXACTLY what I wanted from these videos. So here is Episode 2 and this one looks at one of the biggest reasons for the workload crisis in schools which is... FEAR. As always, please let me know what you think.
Ok, so I am a little late to the party! Seesaw introduced activities a good few months ago, but I've only just got around to really investigating this fantastic addition to what is my favourite app to use in the classroom.
I recently blogged my top 5 apps of 2017. Seesaw was at the top of my list. For me, this app is a no-brainer for the primary classroom. The endless benefits for how it can enhance teaching and learning, save teachers time and money and embed key digital literacy skills for your pupils has meant it has become the app I use most and one I regularly share on my training sessions.
I have recently been contacted by a number of teachers who have been told by their local authority that they can no longer use Seesaw as it will not comply with the new GDPR guidelines that will take effect in May 2018. I contacted Seesaw about this and this was their response:
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.
By all means, please use this in your policies and contact Seesaw directly for more information.
Back to Seesaw's latest addition - Activities. This short video gives a quick explanation and overview of what teachers can do for activites.
The potential for this is amazing! A brilliant way for teachers to create independent activities for pupils to complete. It makes it very easy for teachers to create differentiated activities for students or create extension activities for pupils who complete tasks. You could create a series of activities that pupils can complete for the carousel activities in guided reading sessions. There is a library of activities where teachers from around the world have shared activities for you to use, but for me, it is the personal touch that makes this tool more powerful.
When creating an activity, teachers can write a set of instructions but also record a voice recording explaining the task, which makes it easy for pupils who still may struggle decoding text. There is also the option to add images of the Seesaw icons in the written instructions to make it easier for pupils to follow the instructions to complete the task. Here are the icon shortcuts for you to use:
So for 2018, why not give Seesaw and Seesaw Activities a go!
I had a wonderful time on Saturday at The District CofE Primary School at the second Reading Rocks conference. I want to thank Heather and the staff for all their hard work organising a fantastic event. I was very lucky to be able to host a workshop all about ReadWritePerform. You can see my workshop and how the RWP approach works:
I was also very lucky to be interviewed as part of @RussellPrue's live radio broadcast. You can listen to the interview here:
It was nice to have the opportunity to sit and listen to other inspiring keynotes and drop into @SmithSmm's brilliant workshop. What was great how the messages from the keynotes and workshop I attended complimented the key messages from my workshop.
Recently, I was interviewed for the fantastic Education On Fire podcast. In the interview, I was asked about my journey into the consultancy world, my views on technology in the classroom and the importance of teaching digital literacy. I want to thank Mark for the opportunity.
The interview was split into two parts (I must waffle) and the first part is now available. Please click the link below to listen. I would love to know your thoughts about the discussion we had.
Make sure you subscribe to the podcast as it has some amazing insights and conversations from some amazing classroom practitioners.
I am very excited and honoured to see that my blog has been nominated for the UK Blog Awards 2017. This will be the third year my blog has been nominated. In the previous two years, I have made it to the shortlist and narrowly missed out on the top prize!
This year, I would love to go one step further! But I NEED YOUR HELP!
The next part of the process is the public vote, so I need as many people as possible to vote for my blog. I have been nominated for three categories: Education, Digital and Technology and Vlogger! So if you have found any ideas or inspiration through the blog, or found some of the videos and vlogs funny, please take a minute to click the links and vote. I really really appreciate it!
This platform, for me, is a way to bring my CPD training in schools online. 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. It gives teachers the opportunity to take ownership of their own professional development. I honestly think that the best resource in the classroom is the teacher and I want this platform to be a way teachers can build confidence in knowledge to best make use of the technology in their classroom.
