Mr P's ICT blog - Tech to raise standards!

I am extremely pleased to announce that my first printed book will be released in early October. The book, 50+ iPad lessons for Exciting Sentences, promises to be, an idea rich addition to the Exciting Sentences series. The book is co-written with Alan Peat, who created and wrote the first Exciting Sentences book. If you don't have a copy of the original books, follow these links - Exciting Sentences, Second book of Exciting Sentences. These are a MUST for the primary classroom and I have seen first hand how it has transformed and improved children's writing. I am also proud to have Simon Matthews on design for this project, his amazing work on previous books including Mat Sullivan's, 'Developing Writing Through Comics,' is phenomenal. Simon's latest project is the wonderful onesworldwar.com, which you can read about here. It is a fantastic resource and well worth a look.
The forthcoming book will aim to support teachers who use the Exciting Sentence approach …

PhotoFunia is a great free app and website that allows to take a photo and really jazz it up!

With over 350 different effects you can transform a simple picture into a work of art or display a picture on an advertising billboard!

Some of the effects include pictures, others just text and some are a combination of the two.

The professional finish to these effects can provide a stimulus that children will believe is real, leading to some really effective and purposeful writing. There are some limitations - for example - you cannot add any punctuation marks into the text, so choose your words wisely!

Here are a few ways in which you can use this app in the classroom -

Create a headline to inspire writing.
Tell the class you took this picture this morning while you were having your breakfast. Share some of the facts from the article. Allow the children to then write the newspaper report, or write a first person recount as the person who made the discovery.
Work in pairs and use hot seatin…

The internet is full of amazing quotes and speeches that can inspire and motivate. I want to try and collate as many that can be used in the classroom to help children focus and reach their potential. All you have to do is fill in the form below, if possible please try to name who originally voiced or penned the quote. However I know this is an issue on the internet, in that quotes can be referenced to someone who didn't actually say or write it.

It maybe a quote, speech, poem or even a link to a video. Thank you in advance for all your suggestions. It will also be a great way to build your PLN as you will be able to follow the contributors by searching their twitter handle.

Once I get a few suggestions, I will blog different apps you can use to create different posters to then display in your classroom.

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Last weekend I received these tweets:

@alanpeat@ICT_MrP Lee, do you think this technique is do-able in the class room? Any software/app spring to mind?
— MrB (@Bennett31) August 7, 2014 This was my response:


@Bennett31@alanpeat this is the app instashake allows you to mix two pictures so you can mix then & now, how's that? pic.twitter.com/B7F9pV0fmC
— Mr Parkinson (@ICT_MrP) August 9, 2014 Just in case you see other tweets sharing this idea, I just wanted to show when I mentioned it first. I hope that most followers of this blog and anyone who attends my training agree that I always credit any teacher if an idea starts with them, I just think it is fair to acknowledge where the initial inspiration for an idea comes from. I am more than happy to let people share ideas from my blog, that is the main reason for it! I am always extremely happy and proud to see people who tweet me to say that they have used an idea. I appreciate every time someone does share something from my bl…

Phone contract over- Brick gone! New iPhone so set up Twitter account. @DeputyMitchell helps set up Class Blog - http://radcliffe6v.primaryblogger.co.uk/
Then attend @LiteracyShedConference Old Trafford. Superb use of videos from Rob Smith for creative writing. Impressed to find them all in one place rather than trawling YouTube myself.
Next up @ICT_MrP. Inspirational ideas when using i-pads and camouflage learning. Liked Blackfish. Store that for future reference!
@InspiredMind5. #geektastic. Book for Village in Ashton. Order Comics in the Classroom. Start collecting resources for September.
Next to Davyhulme Primary for iPads in the Classroom training from Mr Parkinson. More inspirational ideas to take back to class and start using with my 15 iPads. Children don’t see it as work, all motivated and working together, sharing and bouncing ideas of each other.
New IPC Unit  of 'Climate Control.' Watched Midway – Message From The Gyre with my class. Stunned silence. Tears rolling dow…

I have just returned from a lovely week away, where I had chance to really sit back relax! It meant I was able to read and I really took advantage of this opportunity! I thought it might be a good idea to share what I read and hopefully inspire others with a book to read over summer or even blog and share what they have read.

The first book I read was @HywelRobert's'Oops! Helping Children Learn Accidently,'

This was recommended by @missrobinson82, who thought the approach is very similar to some of the projects I have shared through the blog and training. I have to agree, I thought it is a superb book and something I fully support and try to use. An example would be the Blackfish project, something that started from nothing but eventually grew beyond anything we could have hoped!

The book is written with a humorous tone and has some fantastic ideas. I haven't met Hywel but have heard great things about the training he provides and I hope to attend one in the future.



Th…