Image from www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho

Primary school children were asked to vote for the person they would most like to be in charge of their school. Some of the other choices included Barrack Obama, JK Rowling, David Beckham and Cheryl Cole. Lots of celebrities were chosen by the children ’because they were fun’.

The survey also indicated that most children felt that their own headteachers made them feel happy at school. 88% of children also believed that their headteacher wanted the best for their school. Read more results in the article.

Who would be YOUR dream headteacher? Let us know in the comments…

"Where to find a book about teaching by a teacher? All I could find were grim behavioural manuals that all started with ‘Getting The Buggers To…’ or alternatively the comfort read, those nostalgia fests about a village school in the 1950’s and 1960’s. ‘Miss Read’ has to deal with a grumpy caretaker and a faulty boiler, a different universe from testing, league tables and Ofsted inspections.

This book is the reality check about primary teaching in the new millennium. Read on.

There is plenty of biting humour aimed at children, parents and teachers… mainly teachers.
I’m raging, raging at the dying of the light, the light of creativity, the light of imagination and the love of learning.
We need to address this question – what the hell are they doing to our children?

Read the blog – http://mrread.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-8-skool-by-mr-read-8.html"

Please see the set-up to the dare here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qlFYMyJ5BY

And the actual dare here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqvpPXOSkN0

The full campaign can be found at http://uk.youtube.com/user/garronsdares

School days are becoming a daily grind.  The curriculum and performance targets conspire to narrow the scope of our children’s learning in preference of techniques that lead to better results. Whilst the measure of success is all that is subsequently recognised there is a downside. Bernice McCabe, head of North London collegiate school, said recently “Teachers were struggling to enhance the richness of their subjects and the sheer enjoyment of studying them.  Lessons merely provided cultural and intellectual impoverishment for pupils.”

The possibility of a sea of change in our educational system is distant.  Requiring government intervention that is both ponderous and frequently transitory, it will take a generation of children to prove or disprove any change in policy. In the meantime can parents and employers continue to watch from the sidelines?  Potentially their active involvement in the schooling process can reap dividends in the breadth of learning given to children. As parents, we want the best for our children, and as employers, we want an all round education that allows employees to think outside the box. This can only emerge if the span of education is a precursor in any examination. Teachers, in the meantime, are frustrated by the limitations in the scope of the curriculum. Urging expansion in their role, they welcome the support from greater active parental involvement in the schooling process.

Ironically modern teaching resources have come to the aid of teachers, parents and children. Classroom lessons can now be emulated back at home, using the same facilities.  Developed by educationalists they comprise of DVD’s, educational games, toys and puzzles to enrich the teaching process.  Use of these games in the classroom is often restricted due to time constraints. This is ideally where parents can supplement the process at home.

Turning maths into a game; English into a quiz and science into an investigation in school and at home can be great fun.  The interactive involvement of parents can be a supportive and highly productive way to maintain a dynamic view of a child’s progress. The child sees the parent as a proactive ally rather than a distant “do your homework” authority; and teachers welcome the move.

Pressure on teachers to hit targets to appease the inspectorate will inevitably continue to impact on the classroom. A change would involve children again being guinea pigs in the process. Yet teachers are surely the best people to suggest the ideal approach. Their skill, judgement and experience should play a greater role in enriching the learning journey.  Reinforcing the curriculum through the greater involvement of educational games helps understanding, improves attention, experimentation and the overall holistic understanding.

The child improves their understanding of the subject matter, with the support of their parents, by revising or revisiting the activity undertaken in the classroom at their own pace, not that of a crowded classroom. Parents become empowered to help their child’s development at home by working in conjunction with the teacher at the right time, rather than waiting historically for the end of term report.

This hands-on approach by parents would continue the active educational bond with their children nurtured during infancy and all too often abandoned when they go to school.

Alistair Owens  keen2learn

Alistair Owens struggled at school. He is passionate about the role parents can play to support their child’s progress at school. Modern technologies incorporated into an extensive range of educational games allow parents to rekindle the level of one to one support given when their child was an infant. The dynamic involvement of a parent helps the teacher and provides the child with a learning mentor for the duration of their schooling journey.

He is quoted as saying the candidate had demonstrated more skills than one “who doesn’t write anything at all”. AQA said this was not in line with its guidelines, which would be clarified. The pupil is reported to have written “**** off”, and would have had another mark for adding an exclamation point.

Mr Buckroyd is quoted by the Times as saying: “It would be wicked to give it a zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for – like conveying some meaning and some spelling.”

You can find the post here: http://www.decidewhattobuy.com/blog/2008/05/top-five—toys.html

All the reviews can be found by clicking the links to the relevant products. They go through to the consumer review site, Reevoo.com.

The only possible way I can link this to education is by using the sites in Argument texts – Wiis should be banned because….

PS If anyone wants to join me for an online game email…

There are four booklets (all as PDF files) which can be downloaded: numeracy, literacy, magic and creative. Between the four booklets there is enough material to provide a whole weeks worth of work, finishing in a magic show on the Friday afternoon. What a great way to finish for Christmas!

The countdown begins December 1st on NORAD’s website, where families can find a new kid-friendly game or activity every day until December 24th. And starting at 1:00 am PST on December 24th, you’ll be able to track Santa’s trip in real time. You can download Google Earth and add the NORAD Tracks Santa iGoogle gadget to your iGoogle page anytime, but make sure to come back to noradsanta.org on December 24th to download the special Santa Tracking file for an enhanced 3D Santa-tracking experience.

Link: http://www.noradsanta.org/