Dyslexia Support Service: Termly up-date December 18, 2009

 
All practitioners in each sector, in each department and in all settings have a responsibility to develop, reinforce and extend the skills which are set out in the literacy experiences and outcomes (Curriculum for Excellence).
Teaching:My remit covers all schools in the region. Therefore I do not – cannot – use my time to teach [...]

Teachmeet in East Lothian November 16, 2009

Teachmeet in East Lothian
What is TeachMeet?
Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Anyone can share great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. Would be good to see and hear both [...]

Animation for Amateurs November 10, 2009

One of my personal development aims this session is to learn more about visual literacies. I am sure that texts in traditional print form will always be used to good effect, but I know that many learners – especially but not exclusively those with literacy difficulties – can also be engaged by [...]

The Secret Service meets again October 27, 2009

At the launch of the revised Standard for Chartered Teachers at the end of September, Keith Brown, Minister for Schools and Skills, said:
‘Chartered Teachers have much to offer in Scotland’s schools, therefore I am delighted that the Standard for Chartered Teacher has been revised and improved. The Standard has been redesigned to ensure greater natural [...]

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. Eartha Kitt October 5, 2009

I first went to the Scottish Learning Festival in 2003 when it was SETT and have thoroughly enjoyed every visit. I even presented a seminar once. Nowadays I only get to attend on one of the days and it’s a hard choice sometimes which key note speeches I go for.
One major pleasure is to be [...]

Dyslexia Friendly Schools Pledge June 18, 2009

Dyslexia Friendly Schools
Here is a video clip from teachers tv. I can’t seem to embed it. Sorry. It’s worth looking at if you have 15 minutes. It looks at ‘increasing the understanding of what it is to be a learner with dyslexia at school and offers innovative classroom strategies to help dyslexic pupils to [...]

“We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides” (Saint Ignatius of Loyola) June 15, 2009

John Connell’s superb dissection of The Delusion of Status-Conferred Authority has prompted me to write this piece:
Imagine this.
A teacher who, like many others, spends much of her non-working life reading, thinking, breathing education, is denied permission to attend an event not unlike the one described here. Denied, because she does not have a strategic role [...]

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd (Voltaire) May 18, 2009

Sometimes the assumption amongst those who think about 21st century education is that the so-called ‘digital natives’  know it all and that we teachers have to stand on the sidelines helplessly watching young people develop in ways we cannot grasp. After all, as the SF writer William Gibson put it, the future is already here. It’s [...]

Teach Meet: a partial success May 11, 2009

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a TeachMeet session online and expressed anxiety here about how I would cope.
As it happened it went surprisingly well. The other contributors were terrific though I need to re-visit their talks as I was rather too concerned with my own performance!
I worried that my Powerpoint presentation might [...]

Workshop (not) activities for understanding the acquisition of literacy May 8, 2009

 In a  former blog post I described the in-service training I offer to seconday teachers as part of the awareness raising of the centrality of literacy for all teachers as enshrined in the Curriculm for Excellence guidance. All schools in the region have now participated in this session so I thought I’d post some of the [...]