Intellectual Bohemian

I managed to complete Chris’ February Challenge! Whilst I didn’t manage to post every day since I belatedly joined the challenge, I did manage to write the equivalent in number to a post a day, even if they weren’t actually posted on the day.

On the plus side, I am now getting a lot more out of blogging and no longer feel it a chore. I hope to blog almost as frequently in the future and keep you posted as events in my life further unfold.

I was reading this post on Assorted Stuff about research into the use and effectiveness of Powerpoint in Education.

I completely agree with the conclusions that the effectiveness of its use comes completely down to how it is used. In my school this can be seen best during whole school assemblies where most staff who lead them use Powerpoint. The effectiveness of these completely vary, from those that put on the screen everything they are going to read, those who put things that are disconnected, and those who put things in the presentation that enable the pupils to engage with the topic.

I have been guilty of this in the past, but Powerpoint should not be used as a break from the information, a pointless use of media, nor a restating of everything said during the lesson. When used properly, they can be a fantastic way of engaging pupils in a topic, conveying key information easily and quickly, and also a way in which pupils can be taught using all their different learning styles, (Visual, auditory, verbal and physical).

I had a conversation with my father-in-law recently about a talk he gave to his school about how to use PowerPoint and he mentioned the “10-20-30 Rule of Powerpoint”. Basically put, this means if you are going to talk for 30 minutes, you should optimally use 10 slides and be talking for 20 minutes to give enough information about each slide, you should also allow 10 minutes of questioning at the end, and not use a font size of less than 30 so as to use the space effectively. I think back to how many lectures and teacher training courses I have been to and about 90% of them ignore all these ideas and rules.

If only that “10-20-30 Rule of Powerpoint” could be passed on to all that use it. Hey, maybe I should contact Microsoft and see if they could include it in a Vista update

I missed my first post since my commitment to blog everyday for the rest of February. Although this time I think I had a good excuse. I spent my blogging and computer time for the day working on a new blog for a project another blogger and me have in the pipeline.

Simon and myself have been working on an idea for a joint project much like the FlatClassroom Project for two of our classes to participate in. We are still in the initial stages but have decided for our project to be on the Environment and have therefore decided to call our project FlatPlanet. You can find the blog that goes with it here.

Hopefully over the next few weeks and months you will see the project grow and take shape. I will keep you posted!

James the Doorman, originally uploaded by NeilD.

It’s been a busy week and a half. I’ve had a couple of parents evenings in school along with numerous other meetings and events, added to this I’ve been under the weather and also sleep deprived due to the superbowl.

Okay, most of those I could do something about and is no excuse not to blog, indeed it’s almost the exact opposite to the February Challenge by Chris. But I now vow to belatedly take up the challenge.

We had another snowy day in London this week; unfortunately, our school was one of the few that were open yesterday. The majority of high schools in the area had closed for the day, so all we had all day was pupils moaning that they wanted to go home. Snow falls so infrequently here that it is an event and most things stop rather than persevere. This was such a problem that a Government Minister wanted a parliamentary debate on why the county seems to ground to a stop anytime there is snow!

One of the flaws of my new classroom has made itself evident now. The room is so well insulated and sound proofed that with the door closed you cannot here the school bells or fire alarms, also the doors are fire doors and automatically close rather than stay open. As a result I recently bought the RE department as set of doorstops. They are rather funky and go by the name of “James the Doorman”, they have proved quite a hit with the pupils and other staff are getting jealous of them

I’ve been “tagged” by Simon and i’m to divulge 5 little known things about me.

Well …

1. I have been interviewed live on BBC Breakfast News in the UK about why I wanted to become a teacher.

2. I was allergic to cats throughout my childhood, I now own two cats.

3. I have been on an elephant back safari tracking black rhino.

4. I was engaged to my wife within 5 months of meeting her, and we were married when we were 22.

5. When meeting a new doctor or a nurse I am often mistaken for a doctor.

I now have to tag 5 others and I choose: Are we doing anything today?; Bud the Teacher; Tales From The Chalk-face; What in Tarnation?; and Torn Pants Girl.