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

A couple of months ago, we released this eBook: The feedback from the eBook has been fantastic! You can get a taste of what is included in the eBook by clicking here. Building on this, I have now written and released another ebook, this time looking at Disney Villain Songs.  Click the picture to download a copy. This eBook is exclusive to the supporters of my Facebook page.  This video explains all about the Facebook supporter page.  Here is a taste of what is included in the Disney Villain Comprehension eBook: Tangled - Mother Knows Best You want to go outside? Why, Rapunzel...! Look at you, as fragile as a flower Still a little sapling, just a sprout You know why we stay up in this tower Rapunzel: I know but... That's right, to keep you safe and sound, dear What does Gothel compare Rapunzel to? A flower What is a sapling? A young tree What is a sprout? It can either be the shoot of a plant or describe a young plant ...

I think music is one of the most powerful yet underused tools in the classroom. If you've joined me on my training, you will know how I use it in class to support different areas of the curriculum. There are plenty of examples on this blog which demonstrates the power of music. You can see them here.  BBC Teach  Supermovers is a brilliant and FREE resource which gets your pupils moving, singing and remembering! This video explores the Supermovers resource: I was very excited when they asked me to get involved and make a video for their website. You can watch it here - 

If you are a follower of this blog, you will know that I am a massive fan of using music in the classroom. I have often blogged examples of songs I have used to develop reading comprehension. Click the following image to see all the previous songs I have blogged: To further improve reading comprehension the latest songs I have chosen to work on gives the opportunity for pupils to make valuable links and compare similar texts. All the questions have been put into a downloadable pack you can buy for JUST £1.99.  Here is a taste of what is included in the pack: The Little Mermaid - Part of Your World Maybe he's right. Maybe there is something the matter with me I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad... Look at this stuff
 Isn't it neat?
 Wouldn't you think my collection’s complete?
 Wouldn't you think I'm the girl
 The girl who has everything? Who is Ariel talking about when she says ‘M...

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:...

If you have followed my blog for a while, you will know I am a massive fan of using music in the classroom, especially for reading comprehension. You can read about other songs I have blogged here. Here is another example: Here is a lyric video to the song: “Praying” is a song by Kesha believed to be directed at her long legal battle with producer Dr. Luke. It is believed the producer sexually and emotionally abused the singer over a number of years. While I wouldn't share this sensitive information with the class, the song has a powerful message about being positive when bad things have happened. Kesha described this song as: This song is about me finding peace in the fact that I can’t control everything — because trying to control everyone was killing me. It’s about learning to let go and realize that the universe is in control of my fate, not me.   “Praying” was written about that moment when the sun starts peeking through the darkest storm clouds, creating ...

Over the weekend, I finally managed to watch the film - The Greatest Showman. One of the songs stood out to me and straight away I thought, this is a must for the classroom. If you have followed my blog, you know I am a fan of using music for reading comprehension and you can read some of my other posts here . The film tells the story of PT Barnum and his circus. "This Is Me" is a fight song for people who are not accepted by society. It is sung by Lettie Lutz after she and the rest of the circus troupe are barred by Barnum from an after party following Jenny Lind's performance. The bearded lady refuses to be cut down by the fact that the showman is embarrassed by them. According to the song's writer, "It was really inspired by the group of oddities in the film, and what they came to represent and what [director] Michael [Gracey] talked about them representing," Pasek told Billboard. "People who had lived in the shadows their whole lives and for...

I have blogged about the power of music in the classroom and have previously shared a number of songs which can be used in the classroom, especially for reading comprehension. You can read them here.  The song currently at Number 1 in the charts - These Days by Rudimental feat. Macklemore, Jess Glyne and Dan Caplen - is another great song which can be used in class. Here is a link to the music video: Here are the lyrics with some suggested questions: I know you moved onto someone new Hope life is beautiful You were the light for me to find my truth I just wanna say, thank you Who is the rapper speaking about? Are the couple still together? How do you know? No - moved onto someone new. How does he feel towards his old girlfriend? He still likes her - wishes her well Is this always the case when people split up? Open to discussion Do you think he regrets breaking up with her? No, the relationship helped him grow. Why is he thanking her? He recognises tha...

I love using music in class for a number of reasons: remembering facts , teaching narrative structure  and improving comprehension.  Another song that I came across recently is Grace by Rag'n'Bone Man. The message of the song is powerful and lends itself well to PSHCE and growth mindset discussions. Here is a description of the song I read recently: You know that feeling when you've just made a wretched mistake and you want the whole world to swallow you up? When you don't want to talk to anyone, you feel like you've let yourself and the people you value down? It hurts right? But with enough strength, humility and willingness to stand again, you realise that mistake isn't the end of you. More so, that 'mistake' could be the very thing you needed in your life to become a better person. To change or let go of parts of you that aren't empowering or positive. Some people call it grace, when you experience something in your life exactly the way...

I love using music in the classroom for a number of reasons. I have previously blogged about using songs for comprehension and you can read about them here - CLICK HERE. After listening to the latest song released by Harry Styles, 'Two Ghosts' is definitely a song you could use and discuss with your pupils. Here is a lyric video: I would first play the song all the way through and ask the children what the song is about - It is about a relationship ending and both leaving as very different people.  Then consider the lyrics in more detail: Same lips red, same eyes blue, Same white shirt, couple more tattoos, But it's not you and it's not me, Tastes so sweet, looks so real, Sounds like something that I used to feel, But I can't touch what I see. We're not who we used to be, We're not who we used to be, We're just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me, Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat. Consid...

Firstly, I have to start by thanking the fantastic @SteveBunce  for this idea. He shared it a couple of year's ago when I saw him at Animate to Educate's Tech on the Tyne conference. I am very much looking forward to presenting their again this year. So the idea here is that children take a song and break down the lyrics down into a flowchart. Using the repitition and patterns in songs, the children can start to consider the different symbols and links when creating a flow chart. The idea is a great unplugged activity that can develop some computational thinking skills: Here we are decomposing, abstractin, writing an algorithms with patterns. We started by considering some other examples such as: So my digital leaders gave it a go today and they loved it. Here are some of their examples. Once created, the children then snapped a picture of their efforts and using the app Shadow Puppets Edu, recorded a short video alongside the music following the fl...

I have previously blogged about using different songs for developing reading comprehension. I am currently working on a top secret project with John Murray where we will be developing this further by creating something very special which should be ready by the summer (fingers crossed.) However, I had to share this beautiful song I recently came across by Sampha - (No one knows me) like the piano.  Here are the lyrics: No one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home You would show me I have something, Some people call a soul And you dropped out the sky, Oh you arrived when I was three years old No one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home You know I left, I flew the nest And you know I won’t be long And in my chest you know me best And you know I’ll be back home An angel by her side, All the times I knew we couldn’t cope They said that it’s her time, No tears in sight, I kept the feelings close And you took hold of me and never, Never, never let me...

Finally, I can share this amazing project done by the pupils at our school. What started as a discussion about the links between music and poetry, where I demonstrated my love for songwriting and what an amazing way to express yourself has now turned into the children publishing a song they have written themselves. We started by exploring some lyrics to different songs and discussing them. The children then wanted to write their own song. The pupils wanted to write a song to combat the negativity they have seen all over the news this year. Being close to Christmas, they wanted to use it as an opportunity to spread positivity and help others. When I explained that we would try and turn their writing into an actual song. This added purpose to the writing and the efforts were incredible! We now can proudly announce that the song written by the Davyhulme Primary Digital Leaders is available to download and stream! Once the song was written, my friend and his band...

On Friday, John Murray and I led our very popular 'Improving Reading and Writing through Popular Children's Media' conference in Manchester. Thank you to everyone who attended and a huge thank you for all the lovely feedback. Here are a few of the comments from the day: The day focuses on inspiring and creative approaches to improving reading and writing through a variety of media. We make clear that text is imperative. Music, animations, film clips can all be valuable tools; however without quality texts within or linked to it, it won't improve learning. Reading Comprehension can only be done through text. Both myself and John are working with schools who have tried to move away from text and teach english through images and videos. This has led to a dramatic drop in results, especially reading. On the conference, we reiterated the importance of using a TEXT-CENTRIC approach and demonstrated the best ways in which media can link in with this.  We are runnin...