tessawatson.com

I was very sad to hear today that Oliver Postgate has passed away.

I would just like to pay tribute to the gentleman who gave me the most fantastic childhood memories such as the Clangers, Ivor the Engine and Bagpuss. Indeed, I can still be secretly found watching my Clangers with the Sky-moos, Iron Chicken and Soup-Dragon during the occasional quiet evening.

Oliver Postgate- gone but never forgotten-

Please do let me know if you would like to borrow his autobiography.

Enjoy this tribute…

I have been meaning to write this post for a while- it is intended for those of you who would like to know a bit more about the benefits of using Facebook and Twitter.

For a few years now I have been using the social networking site Facebook; and I love it. It is my main way of keeping up to date with family, friends and a large number of colleagues. I usually update my Facebook status daily, but unless you are a ‘confirmed friend’ on Facebook you won’t have access to it or my full profile (ie. Photos, conversations etc). My account is a private account. The reason that I have chosen to do this is that I don’t want my pupils to have access to photos of my friends and family or my status- though I am sure that they would love to know where I am going shopping, what I though of the rugby score or what I am doing this evening! I sometimes use Facebook for work related purposes- things I do outwith school such as CPD gatherings etc. I have a number of ‘friends’ from other schools and companies. It is a very useful tool in a number of ways and I would encourage others to join the site and use it responsibly.

Another increasingly popular networking site is Twitter. I joined twitter around a year ago. It is a micro-blogging site where people can have open conversations online. At present it is mainly fellow Web 2.0 enthusiasts that I know using it. Over the last few months I have started to use Twitter a little more. I don’t really write much but I enjoy reading others conversations, answering questions where possible and catching up on the latest news from ‘the beeb’ etc. Currently Twitter is not something that I would want to use in school though I am of the understanding that it will be available as an application through Glow. If you are interested in joining in or following my conversations, give my account a click here.

Ollie Bray gave a really good review of Twitter here.

I am sure many of you reading this will know all about these sites, but I thought it was worth sharing for those of you who don’t.

Photo Credit: OB

Having just finished my marking for the evening I thought I would pop into my twitter account.

I saw this from ‘the beeb’ and wasn’t sure what to make of it…

“Screaming Jelly Babies and exploding puddings are being used to attract more recruits into science teaching”

Though Science can be associated with exciting experiments, is this really the best way of attracting potential Teachers of Science?

Is there room for discussion here?

I think that these clips should be on teachertube.com - a better platform for teachers, pupils and companies.

Let me know what you think 

Photo credit: jimillpicit

A very big well done to all at Musselburgh Grammar School and Depute Head Teacher Ollie Bray for their on-going ground breaking work.

Full article here

I am looking forward to seeing this project rolled out across East Lothian’s High School clusters next year.

I have just finished School for the day so I am having a rumage through the ‘tweets’ in my twitter account.

This just came through from the ‘Beeb‘.

One Laptop Per Child is upon us!

Photo Credit: BBC

I was reading a ‘tweet’ from Andrew Brown this morning so I thought I would quote him;

“So ‘yes we can’ became ‘yes we have’ - thank goodness America”.

Anyway here is an interesting article that popped up in my aggregator from the ‘Beeb’ this morning.

Another Scot in the Whitehouse!

Photo credit: Transplanted Mountaineer

The Knox Academy senior boy’s rugby team had been badgering me for ages. As Friday last week was not a CAT afternoon, I decided to venture down to Trinity High School to support the team. And I am very happy to say that I was not disappointed! 10-73 victory to Knox!

It was a good game- the lads played well, even when the rain set in. Here is to a great season!

A big ‘WOOT’! for Knox Academy

It has been a while so I thought I would post another factoid. My good friend Phil is a trainee solicitor for Biggart-Baillie. During part of his ICT training he and his colleagues were given this Blockbuster style PowerPoint on IT Acronyms.

Can you name them all?

I thought I did quite well with only a couple requiring google-ing

This week I, along with a number of colleagues, ventured down to London to represent Learning and Teaching Scotland at the International Handheld Learning Conference 2008 . It was held at the Barbican Brewery.

• Ollie Bray (East Lothian)
• Ian Stuart (Argyll and Bute)
• Mark Pentleton (East Ayreshire)
• Derek Robertson (Learning and Teaching Scotland)
• Laurie O’Donnell (Learning and Teaching Scotland)
• Ewan McIntosh (formerly LTS, now Channel 4)
• Anna Rossvoll (Aberdeen)
• Andy Pendry (Learning and Teaching Scotland)
• Jim Scott (Perth and Kinross)
• Margaret Cassidy (Stirling)

In addition to our own seminars and sessions, here are some of my highlights from my notes:

• Andy Black from Becta- as ever talking about the use of ‘cool’ gadgets to enhance Teaching and Learning.
• Andrew Davis from Clunbury CofE School , Shropshire- talking about using the Nintendo DS, blogging and the ‘3 stars and a wish’ method.
• Nick Hughs from Redbridge, London- talking about using robots in the Primary sector- Sharing, talking, creating, ordering, using robots and ‘Go Robo’ software.
• Gavin Hawkins from Wolverhampton Local Authourity- talking about using ‘SynchronEyes’ at Stow Heath Junior School. During this project pupils and staff were given their own PDA devices. These devices were used throughout the curriculum. You can find out more about his project here on the Learning2go website and the Learning2go weblog here.

There were so many seminars on offer and a number of them clashed, however I really feel excited about the evolution of handheld learning; memory becoming cheaper, devices becoming lighter and smaller and the development of VLEs.

I would like to congratulate my colleagues for their superb presentations. It was great to see how far ahead we are in Scotland with these technologies; And a big well done to Derek for scooping up the ‘Special Achievment Award’  at the awards ceremony on Monday night- well deserved I say! I would also like to thank Graeme Brown-Martin (Conference Chairman) for organising the event and for his outstanding hospitality.

I am sure my colleagues will share a few thoughts with you on their own weblogs

*PS- if you are ever attending an event at the Barbican Brewery please note the following:

1. Get off at the Barbican Tube station.
2. Head straight across the road over the traffic lights and then follow the yellow line for 300 yards.
3. It should then be on your right

-Something that OB and I could have done with knowing on Monday morning as we walked about randomly (being a Geographer, he usually brings a compass!)   

Photo credit: stevewheeler7