It is a very interesting and thought provoking experience to move schools. I can already see the value of it during the training year even after only one day. I have already noticed several differences that can really improve the day to day running of lessons and the school.
This is an introduction to HTML forms and PHP for processing the data. It is aimed at AS level students to enable them to complete the OCR ICT coursework task 3.
1988 was the year the National Curriculum (NC) came to being. It is a framework built upon the Educational Reform Act with the aim of providing a balanced and consistent environment for teaching and learning within all Local Education Authority based schools. The NC covers a wide range of subjects split into compulsory and optional, these are broken into 4 blocks of years called Key Stages (KS). The compulsory subjects are the same for KS 1 and 2 but change for KS 3 and 4. ICT is a compulsory subject at all KS’s. The NC also defines the attainment levels in these subjects and the skills and knowledge needed to achieve the levels. Previous to the Educational Reform Act 1988, schools were only required to teach R.E, this was based on the Education Act from 1944. The NC was revised again in 2000 to give schools the opportunity to raise their standards and to refine the clarity of the teaching requirements (Irvine 2008).
I recently learned of this BETT award-winning reward system. My first reaction from seeing their promotional video was “if only I had this at my school”.
Perhaps I need to see this VIVO thing in action, but from what there blurb says all I can see it does is allow you to determine some aspect of work\behaviour that you want to monitor, it magically monitors it in some way [seeme rather vague] and reports back to you so that you can spend your money\resources on rewards. Well most schools have such rewards type systems working already with points being collected manually on ‘reward cards’. It usually works very well in the lower school but the allure of a school mug or pen, perhaps a book token doesn’t seem to motivate teenagers. The old start chart tends to work just as well to be honest.
Problem is, these schemes tend to motivate the already motivated and the kids who need a bit of a nudge, a small incentive. The less diligent and the disaffected, those with poor behaviour aren’t going to become motivated unless the rewards are very significant. In the current economic climate [probably in any school financial climate] this isn’t going to happen.
Hi Grant, thanks for your comment.
I see where you are coming from, I think the biggest problem with the reward systems in place are lack of consistency throughout the school. The benefit of a web app as I see it is there is a clear structure and transparency to what rewards the students receive. As a parent I like the idea of being able to see more details regarding what my child did to deserve a reward.
I have seen how fantastic stickers work with the lower school, I am even going as far as trying out different types of stickers with different classes to work out which ones are liked the most.
You get a better sense of it watching their video https://school-rewards.vivomiles.com/video.php
As a secondary ICT teacher few years ago I was pondering on a better way to reward students – I love giving out certificates and saying well done, but I thought I could come up with something that would add more value to this.
There are some similarities with what I’ve created and other rewards systems such as vivomiles, but EPraise is cheaper and has a lot of flexibility.
There is a shop as with vivo miles, but I’ve tried to focus on the competition and community elements more and provide ways to display things like house graphs on screens around the school and their websites and VLEs to promote this.
I’ve signed up a few schools in its first year and the kids love it, but I’d be grateful for any feedback on it if you or anybody else reading is interested in having a look.
I have not seen many concerns related to the time taken it would take to receive a tangible ‘reward’ . It would depend on various factors: the allocation of the points for each ‘success’ , the number of points for each teacher to distribute each week, and how teachers decide to distribute the points. A lucky student gaining 10 points per week would need to wait 50 weeks before choosing their reward (based on the 500 award category). Not entirely convinced this would keep all students going for it….as a long term ‘incentive’ .
I also note that students may donate their rewards to charity, which rather dilutes the argument from some sources that it promotes selfishness.
Current education policy is way behind the times, serving the old factory age, not the new information age. Attendance, punctuality, compliance, acceptance of the “manager’s” decisions, an understanding of one’s place in the pecking order, a sufficient general knowledge and the ability to use a few basic skills make up the current curriculum (as they did a hundred years ago), whereas businesses are currently crying out for flexibility, responsiveness, creative problem-solving, teamwork, self-management and sophisticated communication skills. The reason for the yawning gap is clear. The modern business agenda chimes with the modern learning agenda, and there’s a deep-seated stubbornness about accepting modern educational ideas, even those grounded in the most credible neuroscience research. Why? Because they resemble the progressive child-centered practices that have been so successfully rubbished in the popular mind.
Paul Ginnis – The Teachers Toolkit
I just had an interesting idea posed to me by Ross McGill @teacherstoolkit teaching an ICT lesson without using a PC.
My thoughts so far:
What are the benefits?
PC’s probably aren’t needed for theory lessons, drawing a spider diagram in Word isn’t the most impressive use of PC’s I have experienced.
Does it mean without using the projector?
I can see that an over reliance on the PC’s is a bad thing, especially as they have lost their glitz http://www.james-greenwood.com/2009/08/20/engagement-ict/
I’ll give it some more thought.
Back in the olden days, we used to have half of our Computing A-level lessons done inside a normal classroom, using just simple chalk and a blackboard. Was great for doing some of the theory work such as binary addition / multiplication – since, well, it was just Math.
I guess with ICT, report-writing would be one thing that a lot of students fail at doing properly, at least from my brief recollection of ICT in the late 90′s.
Hi Omar,
wow chalk and blackboard 
I will be doing my first bit of teaching theory to A level class next week, on different types of OS. Think I better do a little revision and look up some fun examples!
I think it sounds like a solid idea. Why not ask them to try and imagine how different life was without computers. How it has made peoples life easier, research for example. Back in the days before google if you wanted to know something you either had to ask someone who knew, use a different form of technology, the humble landline, or go to a library. Maybe you should go into something about the amount of time saved. How computers and technology have given us more me time. Unless you’re like you and constantly get people ringing you up how to change jpg’s on sites 
Hey CJ, thanks for the comment, it’s definitely interesting to consider how ICT has changed our personal lives and that of society, and an important part of the curriculum.
Haha no worries, it’s been a while since you have done that sort of thing and you always give it a go before asking
I just finished version 1 of this Fireworks tools identification starter/plenary activity so it is a little rough still.
It has 3 pages:
Page 3 is the main activity, it can easily be made more difficult for higher year groups or highest ability. I will test it out on Tuesday to see how it is received by year 7 high set girls and decide how to improve it from there.
One concern is that the text may be too small, I haven’t used the Smartboard enough.
Fireworks Tools - Starter or Plenary - Smartboard - Version 1
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24186/Teaching%20Resources/fireworks-tools-starter-plenary-activity.notebook
Comments welcomed.
This was one of my first attempts to make a plenary activity using the Smartboard.
It has 6 items which can be dragged to either section, whether it is for an adult styled prospectus or for a younger audience.
It turned out to be a little too easy for the high set, but they enjoyed it and it helped to create a discussion and review of the lesson.
Any improvements or suggestions welcomed.
Year 7 ICT plenary activity - consdering the audience for design
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24186/Teaching%20Resources/audience-design-elements.notebook
Phil Beadle, the secondary school teacher of the year 2004 said this:
“An almost political passion for the life chances of children is crucial, as well as an intrinsic love of spending time with them, good subject knowledge and the willingness to learn new things and admit your mistakes.”
I see that as a great summary of the attitude required for doing well as a teacher. Subject knowledge is important but must be accompanied with a desire and understanding of how to help the children. This applies to their lives in the wider school environment and also outside of the school. Understanding the needs of the children and how best to get across valuable life development information alongside the subject material is a fundamental requirement in helping them achieve the most (Dillon & Maguire, 2007 p.344). Another core principle of teaching and being a brilliant teacher is about building the right types of relationships, this applies to the students, teachers, support staff and parents / carers (Wright, 2008 p.37).
Chris, and 
Martyn Overy, 
Chris jose, and 
Omar are discussing.
Elizbeth Emanuel 7:52 am on February 1, 2011 Permalink
Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.
Chris 4:44 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink
Hi Elizabeth, I have added a contact page. I look forward to hearing from you.