A Journey into Learning

In February of last year I visited Ghana. One of the SEN schools I worked with was New Horizon School in Accra, who we now have an international link with. This film really encapsulates the spirit of the school. It’s in 3 parts.

Nintendo has unveiled the Nintendo DS Classroom. Looks like an interesting classroom application for the cheap, massproduced Nintendo DS. It enables 50 DS’s to connect wirelessly to a single PC.

Spotted here.

My mum, who is also a teacher in Haringey, recently returned from a trip to Accra in Ghana where she had been setting up a link between Haringey Sixth Form Centre and La Presbitarian in Ghana. With a little coaching she put together this movie (using iMovie). It really demonstrates the power of digital media to disseminate information.

Checkout the healthy eating games my key stage 4 students created using 2simple’s 2DIY here.

I love this software.

Project Natal is a device announced today for the Xbox360. It’s a motion sensing device that allows you to control video games and Xbox 360 menus with your body instead of a peripheral controller. Natal gives you voice and full-body motion control over your on-screen avatar using an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone.

I’ve written before about our use of the Wii Fit in our curriculum. It has been a fantastically motivating tool to help children develop their balance and coordination. Project Natal looks really exciting. This kind of technology be incredibly useful in the classroom.

Take a look at the preview video.

I’ve been using 2Simple DIY to platform games with a Healthy Eating theme. We had great fun! The children downloaded pictures of “bad foods” from the internet, designed the level’s, created their characters, recorded the sounds and playtested each others games. Best of all – the games can be saved as a SWF file and can be easily uploaded to the internet which has got the kids more motivated than I have seen them in a long time. The project has reminded me of the power of ICT to enhance creativity and empower children. It rather reminds me of something I read recently:

For learning to take place with any kind of efficiency students must be motivated. To be motivated, they must become interested. And they become interested when they are actively working on projects which they can relate to their values and goals in life.

Gus Tuberville, President, William Penn College

Take a look here  (KS3 GLD classes)! Also here (KS2 mixed GLD and ASD).

If, like me, you often have the children look for images then you may find the Pictopus image library useful. E-safety is a always a hot topic in our school. As all the images are vetted by the Pictopus team you can be sure that there is no inappropriate material on the site and that all the images are copyright-free.

Thanks to Sharing Good Pratice for ictopus for this.

I am spending the Half Term relaxing on the beach in the Western Region of Ghana. It has given me some time to reflect on my visit to schools in and around Accra over the previous week. It as been a fascinating experience. I have had time to make a short movie about the visit. I’ve not had many chances to get my head around iMovie – and this is my first proper attempt. It’s still a first draft (do you make drafts of movies?). Any feedback would be appreciated.

You can find the photos here:

New Horizon Cultural Event

I am very excited to be going to Ghana on Saturday. We have an international link along side William C Harvey School in Tottenham with New Horizon Special School and Castle Road Special Schools in Accra, Ghana and is funded by the Department for International Development. We have called the programme Creating Friendship and Interdependence. I have set up a shared blog by the same name to facilitate the link – which is viewable by invitation only since it contains photos of our children. Blogging is prooving a fantastic means of building a relationship between the schools in the two countries. The schools have both recently had computers donated by IT Schools Africa and Teachers Beyond Borders. Hopefully I can get them set up and usable whilst I am there.

The Ghanaian teachers visit to London in September was covered by the BBC. I hope that our visit will be equally successful! I’ll try and keep this blog updated whilst I am there…

I picked up a trial copy of 2Simple Do it Yourself at BETT – and must say that I have been very impressed. Like all 2Simple software the interface is simple and intuitive. It allows children to create their own games and activities and has lots of scope to be intergrated into our curriculum.

We’ve been playing with it this week. The work can be saved in both a 2simple format or as flash objects. It was all very creative and motivating – and was a big hit with the learners.

The work can be saved in a 2Simple format – or as a .swf – meaning that it can all be easily embedded in MLE’s or blog posts!

KS3 ASD learner (independent)

KS3 ASD non-verbal learner (indpendent)

KS2 GLD (supported)