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 [...]

A loose sally of the mind; an irregular undigested piece; not a regularly and orderly composition December 7, 2009

In an interesting review of a book by David Shields, Zadie Smith discusses definitions of the term ‘essay’ and why novelists write them. It set me thinking about the whole blogging process, and the resonances between blogging and essay writing.
Smith calls Shield’s book of essays ‘an engaging form of bricolage without obvious authorial structure … [...]

Key words September 1, 2009

Like many teachers I suspect, I find it really hard to help young people understand the notion of key words and concepts. An understanding of the hierarchy of categorisation is an essential skill if we want to distil an idea, to discern the thrust of an argument, to synthesise thoughts.

 Mind Mapping is a tool I [...]

Socrates for 6 year olds August 25, 2009

Catherine McCall, featured in this clip, has been a pioneer of practical philosophy for children in the UK , having worked extensively with Matthew Lipman in the US.
I was excited about visiting the Dean Gallery ’s Enlightenment exhibition, not least because it promised film of children philosophising. 7 to 10 year [...]

Summer days are here again! No more sleeps!! June 26, 2009

Assessment Paradigms June 23, 2009

Which one do you subscribe to?:
All students are basically the same and learn in the same way. Therefore instruction and testing can be standardised.
There are no standard students. Each is unique. Therefore teaching and testing must be individualised and varied.
Norm- or criterion-referenced standardised test scores are the main and most accurate indicators of students’ [...]

We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart. (Blaise Pascal) June 2, 2009

On TV last week there were two programmes set in hospitals and focusing on brain tumours: real doctors performing a live operation and the final episodes of ER. One was considerably more engaging than the other. Surprisingly it was the fictional account of the death of a favourite character, Mark Greene, that caused me to [...]

Mind Mapping in action April 18, 2009

In a previous post I wrote about using Mind Maps to organise thinking. The Mind Maps I showed there were done on paper in response to a dIscussion about what dyslexia is. I mentioned the software, Kidspiration and Inspiration.
Here are some photos of the Wanted posters some P 6 children at Musselburgh Burgh school have made [...]

TM for all? April 16, 2009

I was interested to read an article asking whether  our schools should teach children to ‘dive within’ citing David Lynch’s desire to spread the word about Transcendental Meditation. 
There’s no doubt that stress can interfere with children’s attention, memory and organisation skills – and a recent national inquiry by the Children’s Society portrayed Britain as a [...]

Redefining Literacy March 16, 2009

Bill Boyd once more creates a beautiful summary (see another one here); this time of a keynote speech at the National Literacy Conference held in Glasgow last week. I was not there – not being one of the ‘people with influence in Scottish education’ – but Bill gives such a clear exposition of the main points of the [...]