Recently, I shared this video about some little-known punctuation marks:
It seemed to get a great reaction from teachers so I decided to put together a little video to show how you can add some of these punctation marks to your iPhone or iPad keyboard. The following video explains how to do it:
Here is a video with some of my top tips for the new school year. This isn't tech based, it has more of a focus on wellbeing! Please feel free to share:
Over the summer, I have created a series of videos using clips from the show to depict life as a teacher. I have created 7 different volumes, one for each season.
I hope you enjoy, if you do, please follow my page on Instagram:
Firstly, a massive shout out to @MrPieLee as it was on his Instagram page where I first saw this app in action.
I love using visuals in my teaching, I love allowing my pupils to use technology to create and share their understanding through the use of visuals.
I love the Live Photo feature in newer Apple devices which brings photos to life by recording what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture. I previously blogged about Live Photos and how we used the app Quik to share our recent Year 6 residential with parents. You can read it here.
This is an example of a video where we used the live photo option.
The added movement adds so much more when sharing and presenting. This was a message that came through when I attended a session at the recent Apple ADE summit. The app Plotagraph is a fantastic tool to add animation to a photo.
The app isn't the cheapest, at roughly around a £5, it is more on the expensive side for an app. However, it is a great tool to bring pictures to life.
Very simple and easy to use:
The Animation Tool to bring the image to life. Simply choose which direction you want the picture to move.
Use the mask tool to select the part of the picture which will stay static.
The Erase Tool allows you to be more precise with the editing.
The Anchor points allow you to pin areas that won't move.
Then you should be able to create something like this:
A picture of my kids at the park with the sky moving. This image has been saved as a GIF which came as a recent update within the app. You can export the finished product as a video or GIF.
Although I have yet to use the app in the classroom I think it will be a great addition to some of the creative apps I use. It will integrate brilliantly with other apps like Book Creator, Explain Everything, Adobe Spark Video and Keynote. It can also provide an exciting way to bring text to life to compliment and enhance reading and writing. It is something I am definitely going to use in the classroom in the new year so I'll be sure to share what the children create.
Talking of apps to enhance photographs, my good friend @ICTEvangelist recently blogged about some other useful apps for editing and improving pictures. Check it out here.
One of the most exciting things to come out of the Apple ADE Summit was being part of the TechTeachGoals project. I have previously blogged about it here. Here is a quick video explaining the project:
The project will be sharing different apps and tools to use in the classroom to support different areas of teaching and learning. The first set of videos focused on assessment. These videos will hopefully give you an insight into some useful tech tools to use in the classroom to help with all things assessment.
Social Media is such a powerful tool to use in the classroom. I talk about this a lot on my training; demonstrating how it can be used to enhance learning in lots of different ways in the classroom and beyond.
As a teacher, I love using social media as a CPD tool. I have always been a massive advocate of using twitter as a teacher. One of my early blog posts talks about why every teacher should be on twitter, you can view it here.
Personally, I now find Facebook to be an excellent way to discover new ideas, share resources and gain inspiring insights and views on everything education related. There are a wealth of Facebook groups where you can post questions, share ideas and resources and learn from some amazing teachers all over the world.
The reason why I would recommend joining these groups is that it gives you a platform to ask questions beyond your school walls. Sometimes, you may find yourself in a school where the other staff aren't as supportive or have a particular way of doing things that you may not necessarily agree with. Being able to discuss and ask questions through these groups is a great way to build your PLN. A word of warning though, you may get a little carried away scrolling through posts on these groups, where hours have passed before you put your phone down!
Here are 5 of my favourite Facebook Teacher groups:
With over 70k members, this group is a fantastic forum to share, learn and find some fantastic resources to use in the classroom. Another similar page is Teachers - sharing ideas and resources.
For more of a specific focus as far as year group, the Year 3/4 group has over 20,000 teachers who regularly post questions, share resources and discuss all things relating to Lower KS2. There is also a Year 5/6 group and a Year 6 teachers group you can join too. If you are part of the SLT in your school, you may also find Primary School Leaders useful.
As Seesaw is one of the best tools I use as a teacher, this group has been invaluable as far as learning about the app, asking any questions, suggesting improvements and learning about new updates. It is also worth mentioning that Book Creator has a group for teachers too.
Ok, so my page isn't exactly a group but there are a wealth of teachers all over the world who follow and like the page. I have teachers regularly messaging asking for advice or ideas. I try my best to answer as many as I can, however, when I am stumped I always ask people to use the post to page option. Here, everyone who follows the page can read and hopefully answer the question.
I am sure there are plenty of other pages and groups teachers can join to help them build their PLN and find ideas, resources and have questions answered and discussed. I just wanted to share a couple of groups that I use regularly.
If you feel I have missed a really useful Facebook group, please share the link in the comments of this post.
Last week, I travelled to London for the #ADE2017 Institute. I was incredibly proud of becoming part of this amazing community and I had such a fantastic time; learning so much and connecting with some awesome educators from all over Europe.
We were given the challenge of creating content together using the app Apple Clips (another blog about this app coming soon.) We decided on the hashtag #TeachTechGoals as a way to help teachers with different ideas and inspiration to use technology effectively in the classroom. Each set of videos will have a specific focus. At the institute, we decided to focus on Assessment. So here are our first set of #TeachTechGoals:
As you can see, this is a very exciting project which I am really looking forward to working on in the future. Make sure you follow @TechTeachGoals on twitter to keep up to date with the next project we will be working on!
I was very fortunate to go on our Year 6 residential last week. We went to Robinwood's Dobroyd Castle complex in Todmorden.
We left on Wednesday and returned on Friday afternoon. We had an amazing time! I cannot recommend Robinwood enough. From the moment we arrived, the organisation, enthusiasm and effort from the staff was first class. The pupils had an amazing experience, as did the staff. The range of activities available to the children was great - click here to see.
I decided to use the trip as another great example of how social media can be utilised to share what we were doing with parents. There are so many reasons why I encourage schools to utilise social media and giving parents an insight into what their children were doing on residential is another. Our school has a blog, twitter, facebook and youtube channel. We find Facebook to be the best channel to engage our parents and we regularly update and share what we are doing through it. I particularly love the live feature on Facebook and we have used this recently to share our sports day to parents who couldn't join us:
While we were away in Robinwood, we used the Facebook live tool to share some of the activities:
It really helps when other staff embrace it too and so more can be shared. This is why I feel it is important that whole school training is provided for a more consistent approach. Each night, I would collate everyone's pictures and videos and then put it together into a Quik video.
Quik is a free app I have used previously and is now one of my favourite apps for creating slideshow videos. I really like the live photo integration. Live photo is a feature for new iPads and iPhones. Live Photos records what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture. What you get is more than a great photo — but a moment captured with movement and sound. You take a Live Photo just like you do a traditional photo. When you select a template within the app Quik, there are a few which utilises the live photo feature which adds more movement and animation to the slideshow. It couldn't be easier to use. Select your photos/videos, choose your template and music and voila... an amazing slideshow for you to share! Here are our examples from our residential:
No one forgets their first class. When my first class left Davyhulme, I was able to share this poem at the leavers assembly. I remember tearing up as I read it and thought I would share it as I am sure many followers of this blog can relate.
I found it online and have struggled to find the author. So if anyone knows please let me know and I will add it in. Here is the poem (I have adapted a few words):
I Didn't Know
I didn't know that years of school and a college degree would be of little consolation when facing a room full of bright little eyes on the first day of school. I thought I was ready, I didn't know that five minutes can seem like five hours when there is idle time and an eight hour school day far too short for a well-planned day of teaching. I didn't know that teaching children was only a fraction of my job. No one tells you about the conferences and phone calls, staff meetings and committees, paperwork and paperwork... I didn't know that it took so long to cut out letters, draw and colour pictures, laminate-all for those display boards that were always "just there" I didn't know that I would become such a scavenger, and that glue sticks would feel like pure gold in my hands, I didn't know that an administration and co-workers that support and help you could make such a difference I didn't know that there would be children that I loved and cared for and stayed up late worrying about, who, one day, would simply not show up. And that I would never see them again I didn't know that I can't always dry little tears and mend broken hearts. I thought I could always make a difference... I didn't know that the sound of children's laughter could drown out the sound of all the world's sadness I didn't know that children could feel so profoundly. A broken heart knows no age. I didn't know that a single "yes sir" from a disrespectful child or a note in my desk that says "You're the best!" could make me feel like I'm on top of a mountain and forget the valleys I forged to get there, I never knew that after one year of teaching I would feel so much wiser, more tired, sadder and happier, all at once. And that I would no longer call teaching my job, but my privilege.
My golden rule of teaching is 'Make Them Care.' Making sure there is a purpose to everything children do in class for me is imperative. Assessment is never the purpose, that happens due to effective and engaging teaching. I truly believe technology can add a real purpose in lots of different ways. Here is an example using one of my recent purchases - The UpAir One Drone.
I have to say so far I have been incredibly impressed. The quality of the camera is amazing and it is very easy to use and set up. The battery lasts around 15mins flight time, which is probably the only downside.
I knew the children would absolutely relish having a go with this and so my Year 6 digital leaders were able to fly the drone over the school grounds, recording their journey. Once we shared the footage to our iPads, the pupils wrote and performed a guide in iMovie adding a soundtrack composed in Garageband.
Knowing this would be shared online and featured on our school blog, website and social media channels, added purpose to the project for the children. Here is their finished effort:
It really helps when other staff embrace it too and so more can be shared. This is why I feel it is important that whole school training is provided for a more consistent approach. Each night, I would collate everyone's pictures and videos and then put it together into a Quik video. 
