All posts by badminton

Magic Moments in the Maths Classroom

gifted and talented, software

If you want to get pupils interested in maths, your interactive whiteboard is one way of bringing a little magic into the classroom. And how about using Magic Squares? This handy example is from Matthew Reames, a teacher at St Edmunds in Canterbury.  He has developed an Excel workbook with a host of different magic square examples. He has used a blank magic square with numbers 1-9. This encourages lots of predictions and questions and gets pupils thinking about why numbers need to be in certain positions.  Here is a simple example. Copy it into an Excel file and have a go.  Good Luck!

Kill or cure: budget hits disabled people

disability, Politics

As I write, we are just finishing Learning Disability Week, an annual event organised by Mencap to headline the needs of the 1.5 million people in the UK who have learning disabilities.

Now it’s not been a good week for people with disabilities. We have heard that front line services are to be protected in schools but many worry that teachers will be safe at the expense of care assistants and learning support workers. In addition, there are to be stringent new rules for claiming disabilities benefits to help “reduce dependency and promote work” and many current claimants are set to lose out under the new regime.

Obviously this move will help the blind to see and make those with mental health problems pull themselves together. Who knows? Perhaps it will turn the average wheelchair user into Andy out of Little Britain who leaps out of his chair to score a goal for England in the latest Nationwide campaign. That’s the attitude – now get a job! Osborne’s argument is that 2.9 million people are now eligible for the Disabled Living Allowance which is three times as many people as when it was introduced eighteen years ago. Of course, a lot of the increase is due to the improved healthcare – more children survive premature birth and neo-natal complications and people generally live longer but become increasingly infirm. People may be expected to work until their late 60s but every day in the UK 100 people start to lose their sight (source: RNIB ).

Short of killing people off, the numbers of people claiming disability benefits are likely to rise. Mencap are targeting the NHS in their latest campaign. Let’s hope this government is aware of the consequences of better healthcare.

Comic Sans – the Clown of Fonts

Literacy

Comic Sans, one of my favourite fonts, has been in the news this week. The Guardian ran a full length feature by Patrick Kingsley.  I never realised it was so contentious. I have always liked the font and have used it for literacy materials, for work with dyslexic learners and, I have to admit,  for my own work on days when the words just don’t come easily. I don’t know why it works but if I hit a stumbling block I just turn the text into 14 point Comic Sans and it suddenly seems do-able.

So I was amazed to find that there is a Ban Comic Sans movement. Their main argument is that the font was originally designed to be used in talk bubbles containing informational help text but is now being used in hospitals, banks, museums and all sorts of places which require a font with a bit more gravitas. Holly Combs, one of the founders of the movement, said, “Using Comic Sans is like turning up to a black-tie event in a clown costume.” I guess that may be why I like it.

OBE for special needs and technology expert

special needs,
Chris Stevens honoured for his work as Head of Inclusion at Becta

I am delighted to report that my former boss Chris Stevens received an OBE in the Honours list at the weekend. Chris was head of Inclusion Policy at Becta from 1996 until 2009. He led the special needs team through several re-organisations and changes of leadership and was respected for his honesty and integrity.

During his tenure, the special needs team worked on many high profile developments including Senco Forum, the CAP Project and the Home Access Project as well as smaller schemes of work such as art and mental health, Community Languages and ESOL.

Chris’s own particular specialism was children and young people with severe learning difficulties and he drew widely on his experience as head of a special school so that work on policy was always informed by practice.

Now retired and living in North Yorkshire, Chris is still involved in the field of technology and special needs. He is on the board of BATA (the British Assistive Technology Association) which campaigns for the rights and interests of those needing assistive technology and provides expert and impartial support and advice to government departments and agencies.

Now that Becta is being closed down, this organisation is likely to influence government policy and Chris’s expertise will be invaluable.

Ideal keyboard for special needs

New technologies, special needs
Great keyboard for pupils with dyslexia or dyspraxia

I saw Inclusive Technology’s Jumbo XL keyboard at the nasen Live 2010 show at the Reebok stadium last week. It’s not a new product and I have no idea how I have missed it up till now.

It is brilliant! It has big chunky keys and has everything except numbers. The function keys are in a different colour from the punctuation marks and the vowels are a different colour from consonants. So now when we tell kids with dyslexia that every syllable or ’beat’ in a word has to have a vowel or the letter y, they have a good chance of finding them.

It costs £49 + VAT and you can choose an uppercase orlowercase keyboard and it even has 2 USB ports so you can attach a mouse or track ball or a memory stick
More info from Inclusive Technology

Becta an early casualty of cuts

software, special needs

So Becta is to be one of the first victims of the cuts. Last year I wrote that the Tories were interested in boxes and wires and the Labour Party in the uses of technology. How wrong I was! The Conservatives seem technophobic and are set to cut all spending on IT and not just in education.Some of the key figures in the world of ICT and education such as Professor Stephen Heppell believe that there is a groundswell of informed opinion that will inspire and sustain educators at the is difficult time. ‘Many wise and helpful bloggers and podders and tweeters are already providing a mass of inspiration and effective practice for others.’ I am not so sure. If money is not the driving force, teachers will find other things to do with their time rather than keep up to date with technology developments and new software opportunities.

The last government was behind the Home Access Project, a wonderful way of providing access to the internet and e-government for the poorest families.. My article about the demise of the Home Access Project and the impact on young people with severe disabilities can be accessed from Merlin John Online

If push comes to shove, I think there are 3 key things the government needs to preserve
• e-safety – keeping children safe online and reducing the power of the predators to get at vulnerable young people
• narrowing the digital divide – making sure that the smooth faced boys from Eton aren’t the only ones with E-power
• making a commitment that ICT for children with disabilities is the number one priority

If we lose any one of these, then it is back to the dark ages.

New kit on the block

New technologies
The Fizzbook in action

Fizzbook Spin sounds like a variation on a drinking game but in fact it is a handy piece of technology which is likely to be found in a school near you any time now.

The new 10.1” Fizzbook Spin classmate PC from Zoostorm computers has many great features: it is a netbook with a touch screen and has an inbuilt webcam. 2 USB ports, an SD card slot and Wi-Fi. The touch screen can be used with finger or stylus so will be good for children with dyspraxia or who have poor fine motor skills. It is not a super expensive ruggedized model but will take a good few knocks and has a reasonably waterproof keyboard.

The best features are that the screen flips round so children can easily show off their work to others.  It also has a decent size screen, will last the whole school day without needing to recharge its batteries and has a built-in camera and microphone to make it easy for children to create their own multimedia. It also has Office 7 and software which will turn handwriting into text and help pupils with their note taking.

The teacher can keep an eye on what pupils are getting up to, thanks to SMART Classroom Suite. This has SMART Sync 2009– so teachers can beam content to computers and SMART Response, a voting and response system which records pupils’ answers so teachers can identify children who need help.

Fizzbook Spin is just the sort of machine which should be part of the Home Access Project. Hopefully it will soon be a regular feature in UK classrooms.

Disabled people on the move!

disability, special needs, youth and community

A free exhibition called Transport for Disabled People is running at the Coventry Transport Museum until 4th July 2010.  It is a chance to see how people with physical disabilities have managed to get out and about since early Victorian times. It features early examples such as the old ‘Blood Wagon,’ a sort of long pram, and the Wicker Bathchair. 

An early invalid carriage

Then there is modern transport such as a converted Mini Traveller, with specially lowered chassis, complete with a minibar, tailgate and furry dice. Many of the exhibits have come from families or the Science Museum in London and they provide a fascinating insight into mobility.

I particularly liked the collection of invalid carriages – low cost, low maintenance, three wheelers which were supplied by the NHS in the 60s to people with physical disabilities. My aunt Edith was issued with a blue invalid carriage.  She had very restricted movement down her right side and could not walk far after having polio as a child. She also lived in a rural area near St Helens. It was very lightweight: when she got stuck in the snow, a neighbour went out to rescue her and his burly son picked it up and carried it home! Although it was not a very robust vehicle, it gave Edith the independence to go out to work and the chance to enjoy a social life, visiting friends in evening.A green invalid carriage

One of the most striking exhibits at  the Transport Museum is Hardley ‘A’ Davidson, a fun machine which belongs to William Craner, a young man with cerebral palsy who volunteers at the museum. His dad built it to make life easier and more fun for William when he goes on holiday or for day trips.  The museum is launching a competition for schools called ‘Wheels for William’. The ides is to design a new wheelchair which will suit him and reflect some of his personality and interests. William is passionate about cars, goes to college and likes boating on the canal. The exhibition is open until May 20th and the winning entries will be on display until the end of the exhibition closes in July.

Coventry Transport Museum Hales Street Coventry CV1 1JD

www.transport-museum.com 02476 234270

Great day in Worcester

Literacy, New technologies, training, ,

Big thanks to everyone who came to my training day last Friday in Worcester. It was organised by Walford and North Shropshire College and brought together staff from further education colleges across the region. It was called From Theory to Practice and the idea was to develop lots of practical activities to use in the classroom with Foundation level students. These may have learning difficulties but certainly will have literacy issues and be ‘quick forgetters’ so teachers will need a variety of materials and approaches to revisit the subject matter in different ways.

I wanted to make it a very lively course with lots of group work and hands on activities to do. I was lucky as the delegates were keen to take part. We took the theme of food hygiene and played card games, made a podcast about a dirty hotel, created pop ups so when the mouse hovers over a picture of a chicken, information about temperatures pops up.  We played with PhotoStory and Smart Notebook software to make some drag and drop and rub and reveal activities using visuals and a kinaesthetic approach.

By the end of the day we all knew more about food hygiene than we thought was possible and the delegates had a workbook of materials to adapt for their own subject.

Check out the PROGRAMME here. Similar courses can be booked through Martin Smith at Education Associates

Education Associates Limited 07932 179320 educationassocs@aol.com

The future of reading

Literacy, New technologies, ,

Well, I survived the forum on Friday. I was speaking at the Future of Reading conference, organised by the National Literacy Association to run alongside the Education Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

The idea was to bring together 150 educators, authors and publishers, a handful of speakers and some discussion topics for Roundtable.

I talked about hand-held devices in schools and how the internet means children no longer have to be restricted to the books in their home, their school library or even on the shelves at Waterstones.

My opening question “When did you last see a book in Arabic in Smiths?” started some lively debate but there were a few diehards in the Roundtable sessions, including one man who believes that children’s behaviour changes if they are exposed to a screen for too long.

This was countered by a lady from the RNIB who pointed out that only 4% of all books are available in large print, audio or Braille. People who cannot read standard print are doubly disadvantaged because books in accessible formats are produced much later and are often more expensive so technology is essential to give them equal access.

What the NLA wanted at the end was a new manifesto to be published by Pearson in good time for the Easter education conferences. Hopefully, it will be picked up by the media and become part of the election promises of the different political parties.

This would be great as they all currently seem to be stuck in a rut, just looking at the mechanics of reading – phonics, look and say – and have killed the joy of reading for many pupils.

The day was chaired by the very suave Professor David Crystal. He had a wonderful Radio 4 voice, kept us all to time and managed a masterly summing up.

There were authors Aidan Chambers and Michael Rosen, giving the writers’ viewpoint; Verna Wilkins, of Tamarind Books, and Andrea Carr of Rising Stars representing publishers, and, from the academic world, there was Professor David Wray from the University of Warwick.

Wendy Cooling, founder of the Bookstart Project, spoke up in favour of books – from squeezy books for babies to picture books – as opposed to technology.

On the technology side, Dave Whyley (described as a guru from Wolverhampton) talked about e-readers and their impact on teaching and learning. Chris Meade from The Institute for the Future of the Book also talked about iPods, iPads and the convergence of media. He has just launched Hotbook http://hotbook.ning.com/ designed to motivate those who don’t like reading.

Hotbook has been piloted in three schools where they have tried out alternative uses for classic literature. (For example, a Rosetti poem as a magazine cover, a Michael Rosen poem as a health and safety notice and part of The Origin of Species filmed in Second Life.)

My personal highlight of the day was the closing session where Daljit Nagra, Winner of the Forward Prize for poetry and Costa Poetry Award, http://www.daljitnagra.com/biography.asp came and performed some of his work.

He works part time at the Jewish free school in Harrow and writes about his experiences as British-born Indian living in predominantly white areas. He read a poem describing his conflicting feelings about his mother who stands out and is not like other boys’ mothers, with her exotic, colourful clothes, hair dressed with oil and smelling of curry.

For the audience this was what literacy and reading is all about – the power of language to convey and excite emotions. Not sure how we will get the next government to legislate for this!