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

I am sure there are many teachers working tirelessly to get all their marking finished by 9pm each night so they can sit in front of the TV and enjoy another cracking series of Love Island. Since the new series started I can't help myself turning little clips from the show into memes to share on Instagram about life as a teacher. So here they are (Volume 1) all in one place for you to enjoy: Tag the first teacher who comes to mind when you watch this! #schoollife #teachersfollowteachers #education #teaching A post shared by Lee Parkinson (@ict_mrp) on Jun 11, 2018 at 1:47pm PDT Well... where should we begin?? #schoollife #teachersday #teachersfollowteachers #education #teaching #teachersofinstagram A post shared by Lee Parkinson (@ict_mrp) on Jun 11, 2018 at 2:14pm PDT Tag the first teacher 👨‍🏫 that comes to mind when watching this! #schoollife #teachersday #teachersfollowteachers #education #teaching #teachersofinstagram A post ...

Watch on Instagram TV One of the best things about teaching is what children say that just astounds you. Sometimes the discussion and conversations you have with children can just completely blow you away. Don't get me wrong they often make you chuckle and laugh but when faced with a more serious conversation, I am always amazed at the depth some children show. Today I had an amazing morning with Year 2 looking at proverbs. I introduced the idea of a proverb as -  A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or experience. They are often metaphorical. We also discussed a couple of examples, including: Don't count your chickens before they have hatched.  We discussed the meaning behind this beyond the literal and examples - England fans who think we will win the World Cup because we won our opening game .  I then shared this document which had examples of famous proverbs but onl...

Before I start discussing what we did, it is only right to share where the original idea for this project came from. This blog post by the brilliant @Joe_Moretti  gave me the inspiration for this project - AR STORYCUBES PROJECT I have been using my iPad with my children to support them with their reading journal homework for a while now. My boys struggle with their handwriting and find it very onerous to write even though they have some great ideas. As discussed by @MrTullock at the Animate2Educate conference last week, technology should be used to enable children to show their knowledge and understanding even if they struggle with an element such as decoding or handwriting or spelling. I loved a quote he shared, and I have linked it in a poster to the story @CarolJAllen shared around the latest BGT winner. I want to use technology so my children and pupils can create content to express themselves, their knowledge and their understanding. Making our own Interac...

So the World Cup is here! I'm sure many of your pupils are excited and can't wait to see their footballing idols in action. A great resources to link to the World Cup, which helps raise standards in English but also embeds key digital literacy skills is the Read Write Perform Sports Manager Pack: Buy the pack before England are knocked out and get my 15 iPad Lessons for the World Cup eBook for FREE! There are also other ways in which you can use the World Cup to engage pupils in English. Music seems to go hand in hand with football, from chants in the stadiums to songs in the charts. This great article discussing the power of the football song -  http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180614-world-cup-2018-the-extraordinary-power-of-the-football-song Why not use some of the most popular songs from past World Cups and Euros as texts for comprehension?  I have previously blogged loads of different songs you can use in class and you can read them all here:...