OllieBray.com

How do we get teachers to become forward thinking?

 

It’s not normal that I get really frustrated with colleagues, although it is true that sometimes I would like us to make faster progress than simply ‘ticking along’. But today I got really frustrated with a conversation I was having about the power of graphic novels with a colleague from a different school.

They told me that Graphic Novels would be exactly the thing that they would discourage their own daughter from reading. This also meant that they wouldn’t recommend them to any of the students in their class. I really wish some professionals would stop comparing all young people to their own children and start treating young people as individuals and not clones.

I quizzed the teacher on some of the Classical Comics Graphic Novels such as Macbeth, Frankenstein, Great Expectations and a Christmas Carol. But the answer was quite categorically, ‘no, it’s not a proper book’.

I explained that it has exactly the same text in it as the original and that there was a plane English version (with the same word count) and a quick test version for really reluctant readers – where the story becomes the most important thing. The answer remained the same, ‘no, it’s not a proper book’.

Then I did something that I rarely do, seeing that the conversation was going nowhere and being pressed for time, I gave up. This is not something I am proud of, but as I was completing some admin tasks this afternoon, I couldn’t stop thinking about the short sightedness of the conversation. I know that Graphic Novels are not the answer to all of our literacy worries. But I see them as another tool in the teacher’s toolbox to help drive forward the literacy agenda. We obviously may have a long way to go! Maybe I’ll stick a copy of the new ACE Literacy Outcomes Cover Paper in the internal mail?

ACE Health and Wellbeing Outcomes now on-line

The draft outcomes for Health and Wellbeing are now available on the Curriculum for Excellence Website. You can comment on the draft outcomes by filling in this feedback form / on-line questionnaire. You could also print out the .pdf version and distribute it to staff.

I’ve had a quick skim through of the outcomes and I like a lot of the things that I have read. In particular the fact that the Scottish Government expects schools to work towards at least two hours of good quality PE for each child every week. I hope that this will be a way that PE departments can expand within Scottish schools and that with this expansion will come am increased range of the activities offered by schools.

I’m also pleased that the use of effective technology is being encouraged within the Teaching and learning section of the document. Its about time that more schools were engaging with modern technologies such as Dart Fish to improve and add value to more traditional activities.

Finally, I was delighted to read that Outdoor Learning gets a specific mention. This is great news for people who believe strongly in the value of Outdoor Education.

How can computer games help you read?

I was interested to find out just how many words I would have to read to play Phoenix Wright from beginning to end on the Nintendo DS. As I have said before, this type of Game is like an interactive graphic novel, which also includes problem solving, creativity and lateral thinking skills.

As I suspected someone (with a lot of times on their hands) had typed up the script of the first game and published it to a website. From here I was able to cut and paste the script into word, remove the parts of the text that were not in the script and perform a word count. Assuming the script is accurate (I didn’t read all 1312 pages of it!) the total amount of words that you have to read if you play Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney from beginning to end is 204, 107. That’s a lot of words and to put it into context Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is 190,637 words.

The next stage is training teachers in how they could use computer games such as Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk to develop literacy and create other creative projects.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - an interactive graphic novel?

I’m still waiting for my Wii Fit to arrive? But my pre-ordered copy of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (the third in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney series) popped through the letterbox on Saturday. I got into Phoenix Wright when I first bought my DS as I was interested in how games like Trauma Centre, Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk might be able to help encourage young people to read. I’m really looking forward to reading the case study at Boness Academy, who have been using Phoenix Wright in some English classes to develop creative writing.

I’ve played the first case of the new game (when I should have been reading reports) and enjoyed playing the young Attorney, Apollo, whose job it was to get Phoenix off the hook! If you have not played the game before, it’s completely text driven and also involves a lot of problem solving and lateral thinking activities. In some ways I would describe the Ace Attorney series as an interactive graphic novel.

Some of the features in the game have been improved. For example the evidence bag have been improved and it is now possible to 3D rotate the objects that you find. According to the developers Blog – there is also video included in the third case, which is a first for this type of game.

As part of the work I want to do with Graphic Novels – I’m very keen to develop a Games Based project. Anyone want to give me some funding to take this forward? – I could put up 40-50% of the funding.

Does the Wii Fit calls you fat?

I managed to get a shot on a wii fit last night – mine still hasn’t showed up (perhaps I shouldn’t have ordered two at the same time?). I didn’t play for long but as a quick summary – I loved it! I’m a particular fan of the ski jump!

I’ve also been interested in some of the comments about the wii fit in the media. In particular it’s use of language when it calculates your body mass index. I was speaking to someone the other day and their husband had refused to play the game as he was referred to as ‘obese’. Luckily when I stepped up for the calculation it wasn’t to harsh (thank goodness I’m tall!).

This Gizmodo post takes things further:

‘Message boards are currently aflame with reports of a ten year old girl who used the device and was apparently branded as ‘fat’. The general consensus seems to be that the girl in question is 4’9” and weighs six stone, and has been described as ‘solidly built’ but ‘not fat’.

Perhaps Nintendo should introduce more subtle wording so as to avoid pigeonholing people so obviously – ‘chunky’ or ‘jolly’ might clean things up a bit?

In all seriousness this has been quite the talking point among the Wii Fit community, who are concerned that such reports would encourage conditions like anorexia and bulimia, even though the device is simply using the internationally-recognised BMI (body mass index) scale to form the report.’

One thing is for sure, the Wii has revolutionised active video games and created a whole new brand of exergaming. Unlike a lot of traditional video games many Wii games get your heart rate up, get you moving and help build community. I know lots of families that play Wii games together – and that’s got to be a good thing!

Finally, here’s a great advert to reinforce that playing to many video games can be bad for you (You Tube Video below).

 

Google and Quintura Custom Search added to olliebray.com

I’m in the process of working on a re-fresh of this site for the start of the summer holidays. I’m keen to include more information about me and some of the things that I have done as well as a list of current and past projects. I also need to up-date the links in the side bar and speaking events section.

Today I have been working on how people search the site. I’ve added a Google Custom Search and also a custom Quintura Custom Search which just searches olliebray.com. Although both these search boxes look slightly out of place at the moment, I’m hoping that my new layout will be a slicker two column version to allow additional space for useful widgets.

I’ve also managed to get (I think) the cocomment widget working again – which should help other people track my other conversations on the web.

Now what I need is someone to design me a decent banner heading and to think up a better tag line.

Work in progress!

An alternative look at Facebook: is the past really the past

This BBC 3 sketch (You Tube Video embedded below) asks whether people really want to be in a social networking place (eg: Facebook) where they can be found and poked by virtual strangers - and have embarrassing moments from their past plastered all over the internet. It’s a great little light-hearted video that delivers a really important message.

A number of Authorities and the EIS are working on guidelines for their employees / members to be careful and to use social networking spaces responsibly.

Thanks to Jim and Louise who are doing a power of work in this area at the moment in the highlands for flagging this up.

Engineering Super Powers: Comics, superheros and science

I just love the idea of this project. At the Gary Erskine Talk at the National Library of Scotland last week Gavin Lees (GLOW and comic guru from West Lothian) told me about the Engineering Super Powers Project that is being organised by Strathclyde University. This is one of those great ideas that you wish you had thought about first!

Basically, Phd students go into P7 and S1 classes and talk to the classes about science and the latest things that are being developed and engineered. Now this might sound a little strange as normally this type of content would be beyond the learning of many P7 / S1 pupils. But groups then work in partnership to create superheroes of the future and when the science is contextualised through super heroes, it all of a sudden becomes accessible!

Gavin reckons there is a lot of room for development here and I tend to agree with him:

‘Imagine a project where pupils learn about cutting edge developments in Science, use this knowledge to create characters and stories in English, set against political contexts that they have learned about in History/Modern Studies, which are then illustrated in Art.  The costume design process could be an entire unit in itself, tied in with real-life fashion design (as exemplified in this new exhibition at the Met).’

There more information over on the Engineering Super Powers website – I’m really looking forward to seeing how this project will develop. I wonder if we could develop a similar link with Queen Margaret University in East Lothian?

How would you create an on-line school prospectus?

Unless you have just been rescued form a desert island you will know that for the next few years money is likely to be a bit tight in Scottish Schools. Many schools and authorities are trying to cut costs be introducing efficiency savings.

At MGS on of the ways that we can be more efficient is by producing our school prospectus in-house. After seeing Flypmedia I started to think that perhaps to be even more efficient I could put the school prospectus entirely on-line. I’ve created school promotional DVD’s before – but never tackled a whole prospectus.

This is where I need some help!

 

Ideally, I need a bit of software that I can create a high quality prospectus in, that gives the feel of an interactive magazine. Also, I would like to be able to burn the prospectus onto a DVD so it can be distributed to parents if required. If possible I would like readers to be able to view the prospectus in a standard DVD player (I don’t know anyone who has not got one of these?) as well as a computers

DVD Drive

.

Oh, and in the interests of efficiency savings. I need it to be free or not cost very much. Answers on a postcard below please!

Olympic torch reaches the top of Everest

From the Guardian Unlimited:

‘China's ambitious plans to bear an Olympic flame to the top of the world's highest mountain finally paid off today, as the torch reached the summit of Everest.

The feat - three months to the day before the opening ceremony in Beijing - has been cast as the highlight of the relay, dogged by protests as it travelled around the world but now greeted with cheers as it journeys across Chinese soil.

Five mountaineers escorted the flame to the 8,848 metre peak after a six-hour climb in strong winds and temperatures that dropped below -30 degrees. They unfurled the Chinese flag, Olympic flag and a Beijing Olympic banner as they shouted "Long live Tibet!" and "Long live Beijing" into a TV camera.’

If anyone is looking for a good Advanced Higher Geographical Issue for next year, the Road to Everest would be a good one. Click ont he picture above to view the video.