Following my previous posts about education resources from Channel 4, they have been busy making another set of fantastic resources for schools to use. Here are some of the latest additions:

• Alien Ink (graphic novel, videos, social media) - A graphic comic tackling teen issues e.g. Knife crime, peer pressures, bullying etc. This is perfect for PSHE and citizenship lessons.
• Battle of Britain: Squadron 303 (flash game) - A fun and historically accurate game about the Polish Squadron 303 in the British Airforce during WW2. This is great for history lessons, but also citizenship as it teaches about diversity in the British armed forces as far back as the 1940s.

• Battlefront 2 (TV programme, online videos, game) - A second series of this TV programme and website featuring 11 campaigns run by young people on themes from autism, to equal pay, to lowering the voting age to education in Ghana. A fantastic resource for PSHE and citizenship teachers.
• SuperMe (games, videos, quizzes) – This teaches young people how to “live life better”, how to be more resilient and take control of their happiness. Inspired by the Resilience program and featuring celebrities young people look up to such as Pixie Lott, Speech Debelle and footballe Shaun Wright Phillips, this is a great site full of videos, games and quizzes to engage people in citizenship and PSHE issues. Expert psychologist advice also makes this relevant to psychology classes. Here’s an example of one of the videos:

Lots of videos from these series are also featured in the PSHE section of Teaching Videos.

How could you use these resources in your classroom?

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 are links to some useful video sites which can help you and your colleagues to learn new ICT skills. Many of the videos also suggest possible ways of using different tools in your classrooms:

Teacher Training Videos – Russell Stannard has created a large collection of videos to help teachers to learn how to use a wide range of software and online resources.

www.teachertrainingvideos.com

Learn it in 5 – This site contains a library of how-to videos, produced by technology teachers, for the purpose of helping teachers and students create classroom strategies for today’s 21st century’s digital classroom. Thanks to Mandy Barrow for sharing this via Twitter.

http://learnitin5.com

ICT Video Help – This site, created by Phil Bagge, offers a wonderful set of videos which cover lots of different software.

www.ictvideohelp.co.uk

Why not share these sites with your colleagues in your next staff meeting?

The BBC’s Learning Zone Broadband Class Clips provides rich audio-visual material for use in primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. The short videos have been selected to match the curriculum. They can be used in many ways; from the stimulation and engagement of students to the delivery of very specific learning points. The material is drawn from the Learning Zone and elsewhere in the BBC.

www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips

The clips cover all primary and secondary subjects / topics and they are easy to find using the search tool, or the topic browser. This is a really useful resource to check whenever you’re planning!

StoryVault, which launches soon, is an online video library that allows people to upload – and preserve for future generations – their own remarkable stories and memories of friends and families. The site is aiming to become an invaluable resource for students of history all around the world.

The site has launched with over 250 diverse stories already saved for posterity. Celebrity followers include historian Dan Snow, comedian and Oxford History graduate Al Murray and clinical psychologist Professor Tanya Byron.

StoryVault encourages users to interview a friend or family member, usually on video, and to upload the content to the site. Content can either be marked as “private” so it’s accessible only for chosen friends or family, or it can be made available publicly.

www.storyvault.com

StoryVault also gives users the opportunity to store their memories as part of a family-tree. For instance, clicking on the name or picture of “Grandma” will immediately take the user to a set of all the clips of interviews she has given. This can then be shared on a personalised family tree with other family members, so they can add their own content – effectively capturing all the family’s important memories in one place. The structure of StoryVault’s family tree can also be used as an organiser for other groups of people such as clubs, society-members or companies.

Examples of some of the content on the site at the moment, includes:

• Former boss of Phonogram Records Tony Powell telling how his world was turned upside down when Bob Geldof came into his office one day and said “we’re going to make a charity record…..”
• In 1966 Derek Cattani was working as an FA photographer and had already spent a lot of time taking photos of the England World Cup Squad training in the run-up to the finals tournament. He recalls hanging out with the team in training and early matches and playing tennis with Geoff Hurst
• Henry William Allingham was born 6 June 1896 and was, at the age of 113 when he gave this interview, the oldest verified living man in the world. Allingham is the oldest ever surviving member of any of the British Armed Forces and the oldest surviving veteran of the First World War. He is the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland of 1916. Here he describes (as best he can!) his remaining memories of the Battle of Jutland (now deceased)
• Roger Fuller was a 30 year old constable with the Metropolitan Police at the time of the riots. In this interview he talks about events of April 1981 – the Brixton Riots and how the police tried to handle the situation.

How could you use this new resource in the classroom?

The BBC has a new set of resource for teachers and parents of young children. Talkie Time lets grown ups participate in a unique interactive event with their children, at home or at school. It gets children participating in the action, using language confidently and learning through play as they solve problems for Rodd by talking to the television.

Rodd always has something he needs help with. From testing his secret agent game to cheering him up when he has a cold, he is always involved in the things that matter to five-year-olds, their parents, carers and teachers. There are 7 sketches for whiteboards where the teacher has a conversation with Rodd Christensen (Spencer from Balamory) and the children participate with words and actions to create a fun classroom event around topics such as:

• Counting on in twos in ‘Drum Count”,
• Cheering up a friend by writing a new version of Humpty in ‘Cheer Up’
• Classifying charity shop goods in ‘Super Sorting”,
• Phonological awareness through ‘Letters in the air” and ‘The Thing Code’
• Technology through improving photos in ‘Picture Perfect’
• O’Clock times in ‘Time Quiz”

The programmes will be on iplayer until the 26th March with the clips made available on the Class Clips website very soon after. The clips will stay there for 5 years. You can download a PDF support guide to Talkie Time and find related resources on the BBC site.

A new educational DVD has been produced to encourage children to speak up to their teacher if they are being bullied. Find out more at the related site or watch this Youtube video to see some clips from the DVD.

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

Year Dot is a documentary which followed the paths of 15 young people over one year, as they pursue their goals across a range of subjects. Their stories give an insight into their respective fields: Business Management, English, Politics, Performing Arts and P.E, to name a few. They also document the journey taken in transforming a school time passion into a full-blown career.

Alongside these academic insights, the documentary provides an intimate portrayal of some difficult and relevant social subjects. The community engagement of these individuals is also inspiring, making the videos a valuable resource for opening up social issues in the classroom, and bringing curriculum subjects like PSHE and citizenship to life.

www.yeardot.co.uk/resources

The Year Dot site allows you to search for video resources and catch up clips linked to different areas of the curriculum.

Over the Christmas break, I created a new website to add to my collection(!). The new site is called Teaching Videos and is a place to find and share educational videos that can be used in the classroom.

www.teachingvideos.co.uk / www.teachingvideos.tv

Each video comes with a selection of teaching ideas, showing how it might be used in the classroom. There are also some videos which teachers can use for professional development, including some ICT training resources.

Anyone can search for videos, find them by subject / topic, or browse through by age group. Registered members can also add ratings / comments and even upload videos to share with others. Registrations are currently closed, but if you are interested in testing the system, please email me.

After only a few weeks online, it is already becoming incredibly popular and I have had lots of positive feedback about it. I hope that the site is useful to you.