Stuart Ridout has started a useful collection of tips for teachers with interactive whiteboards in their classroom. The tips are all contributed by teachers using Twitter. Simply search for #iwbtips on Twitter to see the latest tips. Here are a small collection of the contributions so far:

• Make sure iwb is accessible-installed at a proper height or w/adjust mount. Tennis ball helps students with challenges touch screen (from EdTechieGeek).
• PLAY with your whiteboard, do not be afraid to explore and experiment (from psycho65).
• Take 5 mins every day to learn how to use an iwb tool and use it with your class, use 5 in one lesson at the end of the week (from Kevin McLaughlin).
• Ensure groups use the IWB for independent working bits in lessons; brainstorm, designing, google earth, presentations, etc (from Mark Robinson).
• Tchrs must remember that iwbs r about the kids not the teachers. Gr8 for group work/indep tasks.Avoid stand and deliver lessons (from Ann McDonald).

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Stuart is planning to compile all of these tips into an e-book and I’ll post another update when news about this has been revealed. Why not share your own #iwbtips and have then added to the e-book?

Twitter is an amazing way to discover new and interesting information. Here are links to some of the things that I have found recently:

• Design 2010 – An online exhibition celebrating the achievements of students in Design and Technology. Shared by Gareth Davies.
• Aviary Education – Aviary, who produce lots of fantastic online tools, are now offering a free service for education users. Shared by Paulo Simões.
• History Pin – A digital time machine that allows users to pin their own old photos onto modern Street View scenes. Shared by Claire Jones. Here’s a Youtube video which explains more:

• Diary of an Ofsted Inspection - Michael Shepherd recalls his recent experiences with Ofsted! Shared by Simon Haughton.
• Open ClipArt Library – An archive of clip art that can be used for free by anyone. Shared byProfteresa.
• Augmented Reality – If you’ve heard what augmented reality is, but you’re not quite sure what it does, watch this Youtube video, shared by CommonCraft:

What have you found on Twitter recently?

Image – Run!

Here is a selection of some interesting and educational things that I’ve found recently, via my Twitter network:

• Zooburst – This amazing site lets you make your own 3D augmented reality pop up books (via @relativism, @xannov and @ianaddison).

• Application for Headship - Information and advice for those who need to write a letter of application when applying for a headship (via @andyross75).
• World Atlas Maps – A large collection of blank maps which are very useful for your Geography lessons (via @simonhaughton).
• Becta Archive – The official archive of the Becta website. Use this site to access the useful resources when the Becta site disappears (via @daibarnes).
• Hello Bonjour Hola – A site containing resources for teaching and learning French and Spanish (via @dawnhallybone and @valleseco)

• SchoolToons – Resources to support animation work in the classroom at KS2-4 (via @DrJoolz).
• Tips for New Tweeters – @stuartridout gives some useful advice for those who have just started to use Twitter.
• Year 5 Control Technology Plans – A set of plans, from @simonhaughton, which include the use of Scratch.
• Literacy with ICT (PDF) (from www.edu.gov.mb.ca) - A handbook for parents about using ICT to support learning in Literacy. See the document below (discovered via @TechnologyToday)

Don’t miss Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 in this series! Do you use Twitter? What have you discovered recently?

Image – Montreal Twestival 2009 Cupcakes

I’ve been using Twitter for a few years now, using it to connect with other teachers and share ideas / resources with them. Lots of schools are now using Twitter too, as a way of communicating with parents and their communities, as well as posting updates about school events.

Image – Twitter website screenshot

As I recently set up a Twitter account for my own school, I asked for suggestions from other teachers about ways of using it. These were shared with PrimaryPad. Here are some of the ideas:

• Celebrating children’s work, with links to examples of work online.
• Asking for feedback… so followers can add comments and share valuable feedback with the pupils. Tweet a sentence from a ‘Big Write’ and get instant feedback for the pupil,
• Posting school news,
• Posting live updates about school events (e.g. sports matches),
• Post updates from an educational visit (e.g. residential),
• Reporting school closure information,
• Send reminders about events in school or homework,
• Use to pose questions for children to debate/answer.

There are many more ideas on the PrimaryPad document, along with a list of schools who have their own Twitter account. There is also a Twitter list of tweeting schools at http://twitter.com/SchoolDuggery/uk-schools.

Do you use Twitter at school? Feel free to add a comment to share your experiences, or add your thoughts to the PrimaryPad.

Here is a collection of links to some new ideas and resources that I’ve discovered from my fantastic Twitter network recently:

• Math Live – Lots of engaging animations and interactive tools to support the teaching of different Maths concepts (shared by @kvnmcl)

• Purple Mash – 2Simple have announced their new ‘mash-up of creative tools and curriculum focused applications’. The children at my school love 2Simple’s Online Tools, so I’m really excited about seeing this new tool released.
• Using Learning Platforms to extend learning within and beyond the classroom – Shared by @FionaAS. Here’s a related Youtube video:

• Terry Freedman has published his ‘Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book‘. This free guide contains a considerable number of projects, contributed by teachers, that you can try in your own classroom.

Don’t miss the previous posts in this series:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

Image – Twitter Logo Map 09

Here are links to some of the new resources that I’ve discovered via my Twitter network:

• BBC Wildlife Finder (from @mrstucke) – Watch videos of the most amazing animals in the world, from the BBC.

• You can now follow the fantastic Primary Resources site on Twitter – @primarystuff
• Use this amazing ‘Punched Out‘ font for your classroom displays and learning activities. The font makes printed nets of different letters. Just cut them out and stick them together.

• Try out ThinkDraw to create and rate pictures using a range of objects and colours. Thanks to @simonhaughton.
• Schools are now starting to develop their own iPhone apps as a way of sharing news and information with parents. Try the new application from Porchester Junior School (via @xannov).
• Scimorph is a new augmented reality site which teaches you about gravity and bacteria. Print the marker provided, place it in front of your web cam and interact with Scimorph while he teaches you! Thanks to @mbarrow for sharing this.

• Google have added an ‘Ocean Showcase‘ feature to Google Earth. Looks like a wonderful resource for schools (thanks to @dajbelshaw).
• The wonderful BBC Primary History site now has a ‘World History’ section. Suggested by @simonhaughton.
• Wikipedia have a ‘Simple English‘ version which uses simple words and grammar, making it much easier for children to read and understand. Recommended by @tombarrett.

Don’t miss the previous posts in this series:

• Part One
• Part Two

What have you discovered on Twitter recently?

Image – Twitter Logo Map 09

Lots of schools in the UK have had ‘Snow Days’ and have been closed this week because of the snowy weather. Luckily, our school hasn’t closed so far although we had quite a lot of snow last night. This meant that my journey to school was a little treacherous this morning. It also meant that teachers who live further away from school weren’t able to get to school… and quite a few of the children couldn’t make it either!

So today, we had a different kind of day. School was still open but I only had 16 children in my class. We therefore decided that we would take a temporary break from our regular plans and try some snow themed activities with the children who had been able to get to school.

The first activity used 2DIY to make computer games. I have successfully used 2DIY in the past with Year 6 children as part of an ICT club. However, I hadn’t tried it with younger pupils. My current class are Year 3s and I was interested to see how well they would cope with the software (which despite the simple interface, has some incredibly complex options if you delve into it more deeply).

First, we made a ‘snowman’ game as a class so that I could explain the options… creating the ‘hero’, making and duplicating ‘baddies’, setting their options and building the game environment for the characters to move around in. The children were incredibly excited to get started and they loved using the software for themselves, making their own games.

They coped extremely well with the software, working in twos to plan and design their snowy game. I was so impressed with their games that I posted them on our school website during my break. The save feature of 2Simple‘s software automatically generates a SWF version of the game which can be posted online. This is such a wonderful feature, making the games incredibly easy to share.

I then posted a quick message on Twitter asking if anyone would be willing to try out the games and post a comment. After a few minutes, we had lots of replies on Twitter and comments posted on the school site:

The children were incredibly impressed that:

1. other people had been playing their games within such a short space of time,
2. some of those people were living in other parts of the world,
3. they had taken the time to write such nice comments.

One of the boys in my class shouted out ‘WOW’ when he heard that someone in Australia had played his game… and he had a big smile on his face.

Later on, I asked some of our Year 4 children to take some digital photos of the school grounds to share on the school site.

When I had posted them online, I asked on Twitter again if anyone would be able to look at the pictures and add some comments. Again, we were all extremely pleased with the response… at the end of the day, the group of Year 4s looked at their photos online and read through the lovely comments that had been left for them.

I am extremely grateful to everyone who looked at our work today and who took the time to leave a comment. The children were all very proud of what they had achieved and of the feedback that they received.

Lots of people reading this are probably already active ‘Twitter-ers’. But if you’re not, sign yourself up and follow other educators because they are an incredibly nice bunch of people who really made our day today. Thank you all.

Last month, I wrote a post about a book that was being created by Doug Belshaw and other teachers using Twitter. Contributors were invited to share teaching tips, ideas and suggestions in 140 characters using a special tag.

All of these tweets have now been collated and the book is now available to download or buy.

The PDF is available for free download: http://bit.ly/movemeonpdf
The book is available at cost price: http://bit.ly/movemeonbook
A (cheaper) black and white version of the book is also available here.

It is a valuable resource for new and experienced teachers with a huge collection of useful ideas. It’s well worth downloading or buying a paper copy.

Doug Belshaw has started a wonderful new way of sharing teaching tips via Twitter. His idea, called ‘Move Me On’, involves teachers sharing a simple tip or idea in 140 characters by posting it on Twitter with the hashtag #movemeon. At the time of writing this, there are 490 tips in the collection!

You can read more about the idea on Doug’s site, or follow the rest of the ideas at TwapperKeeper. Doug is planning to publish an e-book containing all of the contributed ideas, so follow his blog to find out when this has been published.

Here’s another selection of links and ideas that I’ve discovered from my Twitter network over recent weeks:

• Mapzone (via @simonhaughton) – Learn how to read maps with this interactive site from Ordnance Survey.
  
• Interactives Spelling Bee (via @keisawilliams) – Just like an old-fashioned spelling bee, but played on your computer, with different grade levels to choose from.
• e-learning for Kids (via @shaunwoodnz) – Lots of free e-learning courses, covering a wide range of topics.
• DirectgovKids (via @wigglemyears) – A bright and colourful to help children to learn about the world around them. Also has sections for parents and teachers.
  
• ABC Reading Eggs (via @kelrob6) - a site for children aged 4-7 which aims to help them learn to read while having fun.
• Did you Know 4.0 – An update to the popular video presentation which includes facts and statistics about the world around us.
  

Thanks to those who shared these wonderful links! Lots of people think that Twitter is about listening to random strangers posting messages about where they are, what they are doing, and what they are having for dinner tonight.

But it’s much more than that. I find Twitter to be a great way for people with common interests to share links and discover new ideas. If you’re signed up, follow me at @markw29 and @teachingideas.