The perfect Christmas Gift

The perfect Christmas Gift

My youngest daughter says that she would like a new laptop.  I  did say that 

she currently has an i5 laptop with Windows 10, which I think most people 

would think was very good!  She said yes, but it is not the latest....   

On the one side children are always looking for the latest and best things, 

while in education many of our leaders have not caught up with the digital revolution. 

 the reality however is that they are like me... a little older, born before the overhead projector. 

(younger readers might have to look this up on Wikipedia, but the reality was this was 

really a great advancement in technology in education...)  Being in ICT I would like to 

think that I am ahead of my game with technology in education and being able to 

relate to children and what they find interesting, but sometimes I am worried when 

leaders and principals look at what I am doing and say they do not understand the 

day to day applications and they think that what I do is a little far fetched, although 

some of the concept things that I started doing in ICT was more than 10 years ago 

and yes I did get into a lot of trouble over this. 

Apart from ICT in education, there are basic fundamental things that I would endorse 

for any pupil around the world.    

Perhaps being in an underprivileged school puts this more in perspective but:  

(This is in no order or preference, but jumbled thoughts...) 

be encouraged to take the chance and learn something new today, 

do not be afraid to go against the main stream and actually be prepared to work,  

embrace different cultures, people and encourage diversity,  

do something for other people, do not just think of yourself,  

be proud of what you could possibly achieve,  

have a goal and strive to achieve it,  

be kind to others, you do not know what baggage they are carrying, 

(In my school this is HUGE) 

treat people with respect and dignity

Perhaps the best way to end this would be:

"dif-tor heh smusma"

or in English

"Live long and prosper"

Perhaps a new approach to a novel, innovative, collaborative 

way of teaching will allow the students to reach the stars...

How do you as teachers support children who are confused or frightened by events going on in their world?

How do you as teachers support children who are confused or frightened by events going on in their world?

I believe that there are similarities to teaching regardless of where you live in the world.  

On the other hand, I believe that there are differences unique to each country.  

Having just moved over 13 000 km to settle in a different country I have gained first-hand 

what this means. 

For the last number of years, I have been teaching at a privileged school in an affluent 

neighbourhood in South Africa.  This has changed radically and I am now teaching in an underprivileged community school.

Watching the world news over the weekend, I realised that we are living in a time 

were we can expect to see many changes, fundamentally in things that we have 

always taken for granted.  The inevitability of change and the outcome is worrying 

for many parents and teachers.

My school has a diverse and multicultural community which includes students 

speaking twenty-eight different first languages.  Many of whom struggle with the 

language in which they are being taught in.  The school embraces these students 

and I believe creates a unique space for them. 

Each class has a tutor (teacher) of 28 children who is responsible for the nurturing 

of the children.  The tutor sees the class every morning and this is a time for the 

tutor to get to know the children, help with non-academic and school things, like 

how the students are doing emotionally, concerns that they have, etc.  This is a 

safe environment for them to come and speak to the teachers.  I have personally 

found this rewarding for myself, but also emotionally draining, especially when 

there is a language barrier.  I have not realized how effective google translate can be. 

One of the things that I really enjoy is for my students to create videos about things 

that are affecting them.  When I do these types of projects, there is no topic, but a 

carte blanche for them to look at real world issues that are important to them. 

I was privileged enough to create a project, Project courage, with teachers from 

Canada, China, Croatia and Singapore about fear.  Once we completed the project, 

we did Skype sessions between the different countries and shared our fears.  

Regardless of race, gender, children have the same fears throughout the world.

There will always be change in the world, I believe it is up to us as teachers to 

create that environment where we can talk to our students about their concerns 

and walk with them through the process until it is resolved.

Social Media in Education

Social Media in Education

There can be no doubt that there has been a huge movement in social media 

in all aspects of life, education is no exception.  Working in a primary school 

there are many rules and regulations about being under the age of 13 and 

having a social media account.  Although saying that I am always amazed at 

how many students under the age of 13 have their own social media accounts.  

As a direct result of this it is very important to speak about digital citizenship, 

rights and responsibilities with the students. 

What we have done in our school is to create a learning platform for all of our 

students, creating their own social media accounts, but we as a school can monitor 

and administer rights to the various learners.  We use both Google Apps for 

Education and Microsoft Office 365 so that all students can use either one.  

The one great thing is that we have managed to use a single sign on so that the 

students do not have to worry about logging onto the one account and then having 

to log into a different account to change platforms. 

I need to give my age away and mention that while I was at school there were no 

computers, Internet or even cell phones, as a result many people in my age group 

do not have multiple social media accounts, but normally have one which is 

predominately used to stay in contact with friends and family around the world.   

As a result there has been a little bit of apprehension with regards to teachers 

changing the way in which content is delivered.  We have also done extensive 

training with our staff so that the students can communicate, chat, upload 

assignments, etc with the teacher involved.  This has been a great mine-shift for 

the teachers, but I believe that it is an important one.  It allows staff and students 

to work after hours as well as being able to create collaboration projects between 

different students so that they can work on at their own time.  The students however 

think that this is awesome and really enjoy working in this manner.

There are really great advantages to this, going more paperless, students not loosing 

their work, parents been able to see the students work and all their assessments, 

as well as the dog not eating homework to mention a few. 

We have also implemented this into subjects that do not always lend itself to ICT, 

namely physical education.  Last term the students completed their theoretical 

component through social media, namely blogs and wikis.

I do believe that using social media in classrooms is a great way to keep the students 

more actively involved and the more things that we do that is aligned to the 21^st 

century student the easier our jobs as teachers become.

Simple Learning Time

Simple Learning Time

Two Parklands College Learners, Stephan and Luke, have developed an app called 

Simple Learning Time.

Simple Learning Time is a free educational app that has both a digital time and 

analogue clock display. Students can move the hands of the clock to display 

different times of the day in both 24 hour and 12 hour time formats. 

A rotating background indicates whether it is night or day. 

This can be used in many fun ways in the classroom.

Well done!!

Click here to download the app

Closing the Gender Gap in Education

Closing the Gender Gap in Education

Last year I was privileged to listen to Malala Yousafzai’s father (Ziauddin Yousafzai)  speak and I was really moved by what he said.  Here was a young girl who was born in 1997 and has done remarkable things on a global scale to benefit female education.

I have worked in a boys only school for the last sixteen years, but have two girls, obviously my planning is not that good...  

I am also fortunate to be able to meet with the local schools in our area to discuss what we are doing in ICT.  We have a couple of single sex schools around us and the boys love interacting with the girls’ schools around us.  In the computer class we created a board game that had a bias towards becoming an entrepreneur. Once completed we visited the girls’ schools and we then played the board games that the students had created.  The completed project can be found http://www.wsparrow.co.za/entrep/index.html

There is a girl’s school in our area that is really dynamic and they are offering advanced courses in science, mathematics and computer science and they even have after hour clubs for each of these, but this is not the norm.  The teachers are passionate, inspiring and every lesson is filled with real life teaching and learning which is aimed at the 21^st Century student.  The teachers are sharing the work that they do with other schools and communities.

I need to mention that there is no curriculum for ICT in the primary school, not even standards, which gives us the flexibility to create our own content.  In one respect this is great, but on a negative side this means that in some schools there is no teaching of ICT skills at all. 

I believe we are served a double blow in South Africa, firstly we have to deal with very high levels of poverty, as well as having such diverse schools.  We range from having rural schools with no electricity, very little infrastructure to schools that have everything.

Being in a boy’s primary school I am concerned about the academic gender gap.  

A strange phenomenon in South Africa is that there are more boys than girls in primary school, but this gets reversed in high school and tertiary institutions.  Where do all the boys go? I believe partly that the answer to this question is the way that schools are designed.  Most schools are setup in a traditional way, rows in classes, the teacher at the one end of the classroom, etc.  I believe that this learning environment is more structured to favour girls than boys.  Our entire staff attended a workshop entitled “Teaching Superman to Fly” and it was about how boy’s minds are wired differently to girls.  Using the information, we have adapted and put many structures and ideas in place to make the school a more boy friendly place for learning to take place.

I do not think that there is an easy, quick solution, but we have to start taking the initiative for the benefit of our students.

Microsoft Virtual Field Trips

Microsoft Virtual Field Trips

This is really awesome, you can do virtual field trips with other people from

around the world.  You can either bring other people into your classroom or

you can become the host.

There is really a great deal of field trips that are available.

It keeps on changing and new ones are being added all the time!

Click here to go to the Virtual Field Trips

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

Could YOU crack this code to land yourself a job?

Could YOU crack this code to land yourself a job?

Could YOU crack this code to land yourself a job? 

Recruiter releases first ever advert written entirely in computer language.

A new London-based website called Woto has a job listing written in code

It claims to be the first ever advert for employment of the sort

Applicants will need to crack the programming language in order to apply

The move is designed to highlight the growing important of coding in the UK, with schools now adding coding to their curriculum

Woto is a blogging site that lets people share content on custom-built pages

Do you know your ‘if’ statements from your ‘for’ loops?

If so, you might have a shot at the world’s first job advert written entirely in code.

Created by London-based Woto, the advert is looking for a creative designer to join the company - but they’ll need to be adept at coding to apply.

Speaking to MailOnline, Sophie Kurta from Sense Communications, 

who is handling the launch of the site, said there was a possibility more such 

job listings may go live in future as it is a ‘fun way of doing job adverts.’

She explained that as coding in schools in the UK is becoming a bigger issue, 

with it now on the curriculum for primary and secondary school pupils, 

the advert was seen as a good way to keep up with the times.

Excellent!!

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

Microsoft Imagine Access

Microsoft Imagine Access

Coding has become really big all around the world.

Microsoft has a range of different Free applications that you can use

from beginners learning to code to advanced.

Click here to go to Microsoft Imagine Access

This is all available from the Microsoft Virtual Academy

click here to go to the coding section of Microsoft Virtual Academy

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

Afrikaans on-line support

Afrikaans on-line support

Hack the classroom

Hack the classroom

Missed the hack the classroom, 
here it is 

http://bit.ly/1IV1ZPA  

Excellent!!

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert #hacktheclassroom #@MicrosoftEduSA

VLC player for Windows

VLC player for Windows

I have been using VLC for a number of years and I really think that it is 

The great thing about it is it plays virtually anything...

DVDs, Video CDs, MP4, MOV, MPEG, OGG, Real, FLAV, ASF/WMV/WMA, AVI files – 

among others – directly from your Windows device. 

It also has most of the codex built straight into this, so no downloading of anything.

Click here to download VLC player

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

Chocolatey

Chocolatey

One of the things that I really have a problem with is loading software onto

new computer or laptops.  I use Chocolatey to install the software that I need.

It automatically installs and authenticates Windows, Office, etc

Depending on what you would like to install you type it in.

Here is my standard setup which installs teamviewer, dropbox, evernote, 

flashplayer, silverlight, chrome, firefox, dropbox, java, adobe, skype, onedrive, etc

Once you run this file, leave it and come back when it is done!!

AWESOME!!!

1.      Cut and paste this text into a file called activate.bat

slmgr.vbs -ipk enter serial number
cd /
cd "program files"
cd "microsoft office"
cd office15
cscript ospp.vbs /inpkey:enter serial number
cscript ospp.vbs /act
@powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -Command "iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString('http://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET PATH=%PATH%;%systemdrive%\chocolatey\bin
PATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;\C:\Windows\idmu\common;C:\Program Files (x86)\ESET\ESET Remote Administrator\Con\sole\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Nmap;C:\chocolatey\bin;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\
cinst teamviewer -y dropbox -y evernote -y notepadplusplus -y flashplayerplugin -y Silverlight -y GoogleChrome -y Firefox -y defraggler -y dropbox -y  teamviewer -y javaruntime -y classic-shell -y Quicktime -y cccp -y vlc -y adobereader -y skype -y googledrive -y onedrive -y googleearth -y dotnet4.5 -y adobeair -y
cinst PDFCreator -Version 1.7.3.20140611 -y
cinst winrar -y

2.      Put the file on the desktop of a pc
3.      Right click and run as administrator
4.      You will get one OK prompt for authenticating windows, then it should run automatically.
5.      It installs all the software mentioned above, activates windows and office.

Click here to go to the page for downloading instructions

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

Wunderlist for Windows 10

Wunderlist for Windows 10

If you are like me, I am forever needing to make lists of different things.

Wunderlist is a great FREE App that allows you to make as many lists

as you need.  The one great thing is that you can share them with other people

as well.  

Key Wunderlist Features:  

• Create all the lists you need and access them from your phone, tablet and computer  

• Easily share lists and collaborate with family, friends and colleagues  

• Start conversations about your to-dos  

• Attach photos, PDFs, presentations and more  

• Share the work and delegate to-dos  

• Setting a Reminder ensures you never forget important deadlines (or birthday gifts) ever again 

• Organize your projects for home, work and everywhere in between with Folders

Click here to download the APP

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

Fresh Paint on Windows 10

Fresh Paint on Windows 10

Here is a great FREE App.
It is a massive improvement on Paint that used to come with your Windows OS.

Unleash your inner creative with Fresh Paint – 

the ultimate canvas for your big ideas.   

Fresh Paint is a fun and easy to use painting app with the 

right tools for artists of all ages.   

We believe that brilliant, creative ideas can come from anyone, anytime. 

It’s time to set your creativity free.  Create original artwork, turn photos 

into beautiful paintings, or choose an activity pack to help you get started quickly. 

From whimsical pictures of your friends to amazing landscapes, 

Fresh Paint enables you to create anything.

Click here to download the App

Here is a great 15 minute video on how to use Fresh Paint

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

FREE OneNote Class Notebook for teachers

FREE OneNote Class Notebook for teachers

Yesterday Microsoft announced that that teachers who do not have an Office 365 

account can sign up for free and create OneNote Class Notebooks for their classes. 

In a few simple steps, teachers can now add students into their Class Notebook 

and quickly set up a personal workspace for every student, a content library for 

handouts and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities—

all within one powerful notebook. 

All you need is a school-assigned email for each student to get them into the 

Class Notebook and give them free access to Office 365. 

No IT support needed!

Excellent!!

Click here to read more about it

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology 

#edtech #MIEExpert 

9 Ways Microsoft OneNote Makes Lesson Planning A Breeze

9 Ways Microsoft OneNote Makes Lesson Planning A Breeze

This is a great 9 page book on how you can use OneNote

easily in your class.  It goes through the 9 things that you can do quickly and

effortlessly to maximize your time during your lessons.

Excellent!! 

Click here to download the PDF

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech #MIEExpert

Introducing PowerPoint Designer and Morph

Introducing PowerPoint Designer and Morph

WOW this look so amazing!!

Although it has not officially been launched, it is available if you are a 

member of the Office Insider community.

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech

Microsoft Flipboard

Microsoft Flipboard

This is really a great FREE App!

It is basically your personal magazine that you can customize so that

you can catch up on the news you care about, read stories from around 

the world and browse the articles, videos and photos friends are sharing. . 

Here is a great video to get you started

Click here to download from the App store

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech

Mathaly

Mathaly 

 

 

 

Math Games for students from Grade 1 to 5 

This is really great as it is interactive and it allows for the students to 

practice mathematics through a game. From Addition, Subtraction to 

Division, Fractions, Measurement to Geometry, 

The students can build to higher levels and achieve medals and stars.

Best of all it is FREE!!

Click here to download the App from the Microsoft Store

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech

Learning in 2016

Learning in 2016

How do you teach and how do your students learn?

#Microsoft Educator Network #MIEExpert15 #MSFTEduE2 #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech