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

Game of Thrones theme in #Game Everyone loves Game of Thrones! This fun blog post will share 12 characters from the popular show and the similarities to different teachers your see in every school: 1 - Ned Stark You have seen more staff, curriculums and policy changes than anyone else. You have been around the block and know how things should be done. You are respected and good at your job even though you're not part of the SLT. With the latest changes from the new regime (government,) you realise you are too proud to and honourable to subject the ones you love to this unnecessary and cruel rule of testing. Retirement is looming unless the new pressures get to you first. 2 - Drogo Although the core subjects of English, Maths and Science aren't your strong point, when it comes to a subject like PE, there is no one as passionate. Come rain or shine, whatever the weather you are outside leading by example. When it comes to a school competition, you are ...

I am so proud to be releasing my latest eBook - 15+ ideas for the emoji keyboard in the classroom . The eBook shares over 15 ideas for primary school teachers to utilise the emoji keyboard to enhance learning in the classroom. With ideas for English and Maths, I am sure teachers with find the ideas both useful and inspring. At present, the eBook is only available on the iBooks store, it will be available to purchase as a PDF at a later date. You can buy a copy of the eBook for just £1.49 making every idea less than 10p... bargain 😉 ! You can download a copy of the book by clicking on the following link - If you do find the eBook useful, please take a minute to leave a review on the iBook store. It really helps get the eBook more exposure and I would really appreciate all the support. 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting at the Hull and East Riding IT conference. In my keynote, I discussed what Star Wars can teach use about effective use of EdTech in the classroom. I thought I would share some of these ideas - For teachers to make the most of technology in the classroom, they need to believe it can transform teaching and learning. This tends to happen once a teacher has seen how technology can help them as a teacher, how it can make their life easier by saving them time and improving their practice. One of the biggest problems in getting teachers to utilise technology is the fear that it might not work, it might not go to plan. Teachers need to stop focusing on what might go wrong and focus on what can go right! Learn from mistakes. Lessons don't always go to plan but reflect and evaluate and learn from it. Most teachers will look through my blog and think every lesson is fantastic but behind a really successful lesson will be...

Thanks to all that came to the conference on Friday. This was the first conference of this type and I had a great day sharing ideas around the art of camouflage learning. 19 Evaluations 19 rated the content of the speaker as  excellent 19 rated the delivery of the speaker as  excellent Feedback Such a fantastic day. Its the first time i've been on a course that has felt like educational therapy. :) I'm really looking forward to trying everything out. Excellent training! I have learnt so much today. Cant wait to get back to school to try all this. Very knowledgeable and enthusiastic (practised what he preached). Had clearly spent time practising and using it in classrooms. Probably the best course i've been on - the only time i've been gutted that a course finished at 3pm on a Friday! Brilliant! As an NQT this is the first course I have been on that has left me inspired.  Inspiring day with lots of ideas/apps to use in the classrooms across all year gr...

This weekend, Lily was ecstatic to have Barnaby come and stay! I have previously blogged about how we used technology to help Harry recount his weekend . I also did the same when Charlie brought him home.  So it would only be fair to let Lily use technology to retell her adventures in a way she can't yet do on paper. Lily used the app Adobe Voice to create a lovely digital story to recount the weekend. It is one of my favourite apps as it is very easy and straightforward to use and you finish with a professional and engaging video. This was her effort - These were the ways in which we used technology to help Harry and Charlie recount their adventures with Barnaby -

Today I delivered my joint conference with Alan Peat in the North East! It was a brilliant day with a great group of enthusiastic and passionate teachers! I hope everyone who attended enjoyed the day and found it valuable and will be returning to school with ideas to improve writing in class. The conference will also be delivered in Llandudno in June and Cornwall in July! For details please visit the Alan Peat Website. Here are a few tweets from delegates who joined us today - [ View the story "Delivering Writing in the Modern Classroom - Gateshead 19th April" on Storify ] Here is a video outlining the other conferences we will be leading this academic year, we will be putting some more dates in the diary for next academic year and can now lead the day to clusters of schools internationally, please email info@alanpeat.com - I also managed to convince Alan to join me for a live facebook chat, if you missed it, you can catch up here -

You may have noticed a plethora of 360 degree videos popping up on facebook and Youtube. These videos are recorded with a camera system that simultaneously records all 360 degrees of a scene. Viewers can pan and rotate a 360 video's perspective to watch it from different angles. I look the immersive element to these videos; being able to control what to focus on. I think they are also a great way to inspire writing in class. You can read about an example of this linked with Star Wars - Jedi Writing - Inspiring Writing Through Star Wars. There are a couple of other 360 degree videos I have found on facebook that would be great to use in the classroom. I thought I would share to hopefully inspire others to use them in class - Explore the Millenium Falcon - A 360 degree exploration of Game of Thrones - Explore the Kingdom of King Louis in The Jungle Book - Explore Mars -  There are also some great 360 videos on YouTube including this one ...

I am sure many of us will be planning and preparing for the upcoming SATs tests. While I am not in favour of the tests, I know ultimately children have to sit them and therefore teachers all over the country will be prepping their students to pass. One resource I love is the SATs pack from  @SparkyTeaching . They seem to echo my thoughts on the tests and so the pack tries to make the preparations more engaging and fun. This video sums it up - The following link will give you all the information about the pack including some free resources such as a video to share with your class and a letter for parents. THE SATs PACK from  @SparkyTeaching . The pack is priced at £37.99 and includes a range of ideas and resources supporting both English and Maths. There is also the Shine pack included which was designed to show your students that they are more than the sum of their test scores. It includes loads of resources and posters for you to use in class, for exampl...

Virtual Reality is getting more and more popular. Having used Google Cardboard in the classroom for the past year, it never surprises me how immersed and engaged children can are when exploring different environments straight from the classroom. The Google Expeditions project looks like it will take Virtual Reality to the next level in the classroom - I have previously blogged about Virtual Reality, including allowing children to ride virtual rollercoasters - Using Virtual Reality in the Classroom We turned Year 3 into Deep Sea Divers  - Year 5 explored Virtual Jurassic World -  There are a variety of virtual reality apps available on the app store, plenty of which have a 2D option so the app can be viewed on an iPad if you don't have enough headsets and devices. A couple I have stumbled across have come from the brilliant team over at Computeam. VR Roundhouse Trench Experience VR Both these apps allow you to immerse yourself an...

I am a MASSIVE fan of using music in the classroom. I have previously blogged about using music in the classroom - Using Music to Inspire Writing Music Videos to Inspire Writing Guided Reading through Music Using Music to Remember Maths Facts More Music Ideas for the Classroom SPaG Songs through Augmented Reality There are plenty of music creation apps on the iPads and one of my new favourites is Incredibox!  I have been a fan of the website for a while and the app allows you to play version 2 'Little Miss.' To see how the website and app works, watch this facebook live video I recorded on Thursday night - There are plenty of ways in which this app can be used in the classroom, just allowing children to tinker, play and try to create their own song would be the first but looking at patterns, sequences and making links to computing skills. I would also be looking at using this app for children to create some background music when performing a text as a podcas...