Random Rant

The past week was odd. Very odd.

Various issues to do with accountability and students - par for the course with a new role. Raging evil cold. Ubuntu breaking and losing files (my fault for not backing up). Odd progress in students. Very odd training day. Mysterious unbooked courses.

I think I have entered the twilight zone.

The end is nigh!

A very strange title for my first post of the academic year! What could it refer to? Is it all over?

Well no, firstly it refers to the end of the first week of the new academic year. I've met all the new (and old) students. Expectations are on the table, new systems in place. It has flown by. It has been tiring and very enjoyable, and the weekend will be gladly welcomed like a warm duvet!

Secondly it refers to a strange thing asked by one of my year 10 tutor group. "Is it true the world is going to end in a few days?". Hmmm how do you answer that one?

Construction Time Again

One week to go until the joys of a new school year. The holidays have been very kind to me, allowing me to relax and get things done in equal amounts.

Amazingly I have done lots of jobs normally reserved for the first week back! I have my class lists, timetable, calendar; I have moved stationary and resources with the help of my co-chief. The only job I have put off is the copying of some placement tests - I know I shouldn't do copying, but it will take me longer to explain what I want to someone else!

I have been thwarted in my plans for world domination by delicious being blocked at school. As a quick fix I'll have to export all my bookmarks out (luckily I can get them on my iphone as well).

Next week brings the joy of furniture arrangement and locating a room for one class (23 does not fit into a room designed for 12, although I did consider stacking!), photocopying, and making sure the glorious soldiers of the People's Republic of CORE (Olympic medals 0) have everything they need for the first couple of weeks back.

I have even started the paperwork for a trip in Week 3. Such efficiency can only mean one thing - it's the end of the holidays and I'm bored.

P.S. Congratulations to anyone spotting the early 80's cultural reference in the title.

Holidays!

Finally, 6 weeks stretch out in front of me with the prospect of no teaching. Notice I didn't say no work. I have a task list the size of a small shakespearian play to do:

1) Finish phase 1 moodle for French - vocab and vocab games
2) Make links with New Zealand ready for our "uplifting deep learning" day
3) Get to grips with a new KS3 Maths Scheme of work
4) Get to grips with a Maths intervention programme
5) Work out how to support Level 1 literacy (and below!)
6) Have 11 days in Crete!

And they say us teachers have too any holidays!

My Setup

I thought I'd share the ICT stuff I have, and how I use it!

At home: iMac G5 - last of the old non isight G5's. Wonderful software but showing its age.
. Great software for podcast creation! 

Asus EEE PC - used as my main laptop, running windows XP
iPhone - reminds me of what I need to do. Going to buy AV cable for school to show youtube on projector - does that make me bad?

School: Acer laptop - runs windows XP and loads of RM stuff. It is both a godsend and infuriating! I often have to shove my EEE PC into my bag to do anything adventurous! It works fine as a register taker, does a great job of word and powerpoint, but really gets me annoyed for file sync (my desktop looks a mess even if I clear it up). RM Tutor software is the bees knees though with control over the web and chance to do surveys!

Finally I have lots of USB drives and DVDs of backups just in case!

iCal to Rss - ouch

I create my lesson plans in iCal. Well I say that, but Bento is the engine behind it on my mac.

I am desperate to find an easy iCal to RSS tool to share learning objectives with my learners. The best I have found is netvibes, but this is not embedded. Any ideas?

Flash is good... Flash is hell

I keep finding so many Adobe Flash based resources!

Flash is so pretty and easy. Problem is is depends on so many factors! Sometimes behind my firewall it works, other times I get a bit of the app, mostly I get evil filtered icon.

Flash is not open, adobe keep the source code very secret. There are better methods for creating content, but we all follow the flash route (yes I am guilty, just look at my class blog).

Does anyone know of decent open source alternatives that work?

Blogging Toolkit

As I start to put my blog together, I thought it might be a good idea to keep a log of the tools I'm using.

A blog

I use Blogger, but other services are available. I chose Blogger as it is connected to my googlemail account I already use for work.

Somewhere to store pictures

Still undecided, picassa links to my google account but is a bit limited in terms of storage. I also use Wikimedia Commons to link to royalty free pics and save on blog storage space.

Somewhere to store video

Currently YouTube, but alas blocked in school. Looking for alternatives. [update] Going to try teachertube.net from behind the evil firewall from hell. If it doesn't work I will ask why!

Somewhere to store podcasts

Podomatic looks excellent and I look forward to playing with it over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Somewhere to store slideshows

Slideshare has nifty features, but I must remember to save my files in old-skool powerpoint format!

Sites to grab widgets, quizzes, and other pretty things from!

Widgetbox - loads of pretty widgets

Feedjit - so I know who is looking at my blog!

Mystudiyo - very pretty quiz generator

BBC - borrow the headlines, weather, tv schedule!

I'm sure this list will grow! Suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks to Joe Dale for his reviews of some of the above sites!

How did I get here?

Welcome to the blog! I have been inspired by several online edu-bloggers but never thought I'd do my own. Then thanks to Joe Dale, and a random twitter moment, I was inspired to go for it!

Look forward to loads of KS3 stuff here for nearly every subject. I am subject leader of the integrated curriculum at Foxford School in Coventry. We currently teach some Year 7 Students an integrated curriculum of Maths, English, French and Humanities. This is moving into Year 8 and beyond... so keep coming back!