Today I delivered an impromptu ICT inservice session with the whole school staff. We looked at the new school website, our blog, our del.icio.us and our flickr accounts.

We are trying to get more folk to take up blogging to share what is going on in their classes and just promote ICT use in regular ways in teh classroom. I think there will be a few takers but there seems to be quite a sense of fear of ICT. I know quite a few folk are busy enough just doing what they are doing, without any of these add-ons… but there is so much potential using these tools, which basically do all the work for you once you’ve worked out the basics…

We’re trying to get away from a limited amount of people managing the website which takes a while to update via council ICT services. This way we would have a stronger, up to date, web presence, without being dependent on any one person.

(’tis a music blog for those in the know).

found this very nifty utility on the free google image programme – picasa. have used it for the school website, but it may be useful for discussion starters or story starters or as a review of some project or other.

unfortunately our long weekend is next weekend. this weekend just seemed that way! this is both good and bad!

friday night, taking it easy, early start for footy on the saturday. what’s that windy miller? there’s a new shower in your bathroom? it’s coming through the light? joy!

i quickly placed a bin underneath the soon to be torrent and popped upstairs. it sounded like a dam had just been opened, but nobody was in… 4 hours, 02:15, later the emergency police joiner came out to shut off the supply – the plumbers were all in pubs… luckily, in a krypton factor crossed with blue peter stylee, i had constructed a complex system of stacked storage boxes to divert flow into the bath!

saturday morning came too soon. a game against good opposition was not the ideal aftermath to the previous nights drama. we won 4-2. i scored, hit the post, missed a great chance (not quite a sitter) and also missed another chance due to our giant #8 getting his lump of a head in my way causing the right side of my jaw to engage at pace with the back of his skull. nice one. so, no shower and now all meals must be blended!

i drove back to stirling from glasgow via anstruther, fife. on purpose, i didn’t get lost. watched a lucklustre wales lose their game of chase the egg against the scots with gareth (who despite the name if not welsh) and his spouse and pals. had a great shower, with the light on. also managed the best nights sleep in ages. think it is something about being out in the country! the smell of the sea air in the morning was terrific. think i’d like getting used to that…

have finally got round to playing with/sorting out the class wikispace.

to start with it will become our sploder arcade!  from that, who knows.  embed away!

I saw the Decemberists last year. This year, the ABC2 had been replaced by the ABC and Brother Phil had been replaced with Big Scott. Also in that time, Picaresque and been replaced with The Crane Wife (should we interchange replaced and upgraded? – your call).

16 Military Wives replaced The Mariner’s Revenge Song as official crowd panto sing a long with the band… which we did, and we were darn fine and pleasantly in chune. Not giving too much away, but some mid-gig calisthenics proved popular with my back and calves! Could this gig-gym or concert-cardio be the next level of fitness and popular culture™ all in one handy night out?

[last year’s girl] has slightly more. Why do people go to gigs and devote the entire time to catching up on the weeks news with their pals, or to making out with their partner? Secondly, why do they think it necessary to form a siege like boundary around me?

The band were superb. So much fun! The set was mostly drawn from The Crane Wife which makes sense, interspersed with a generous lashing of older favourites. Go see!

Just a wee aside or two:

• The ABC has the biggest mirrorball in the world ever!™ it looks like a prop from early Battlestar Galactica or something…
• The support band, Lavendar Diamond. Well, two observations.

1. Was she quirky or on acid?
2. In a record shop we decided we’d file under Religious/Inspirational.

Whilst I am rambling… did anyone play count the instruments game? or even name that instrument! quite an ensemble! Also, if they have so many instruments, why only let the head roadie bring them out? why not let the trainee-apprentice-roadie lend a hand, rather than test the same mic 17 times?

thanks to Tom (again!) for the inspiration… we’ve been using sploder to create space invader games.  well, officially we can bill it as first:

• research and evaluate current games – what makes them good/bad/ugly!
• begin a paper based design – using a master sheet with all the sploder options on
• clearly write up the point of the game – mass destruction or something a little more subtle!
• create and play
• finally we hope to get other classes (or schools) to play and then evaluate them – giving feedback.

The class are so excited and motivated about this.  I need to find more things like this which are fun, but also hit a number of strands – so I can justify the learning that takes place.  (Strangely worded, but you know what I mean!)?

The BBC website has often come to my rescue.  The Maths and Language activities are first class.  Now they have earned even more brownie points with great topic work.

The Highland Clearances – brought to life here.

Doing a brief overview of the site, the class were buzzing.  What they initially feared may be a dry topic has been brought to audio/visual life! I was hoping to be able to use some sort of mapping utility, such as quikmaps, to highlight where the emigrants ended up.  Not sure how suitable it is for widescale mapping.  I’ve seen it used effectively for local mapping by the priestsic crew.

If you surf music blogdom you will notice that most people will compile their “Best Chunes I loved in 2006, Ever!” chart…

I find this harder than ever this year because I am just wading through some of the best music of the year now, next year, well this year, but next year compared to its release of last year!

Part of the issue for me is that my year runs from September really, being academically involved and all that… does that mean i should get Christmas in August? So, I shall be posting my year end gubbins next July!

Until then…

These 5 would have been good in 2006 if I had listened to them then!

Maximilian Hecker – I’ll Be Virgin, I’ll Be A Mountain

The Devastations – Coal

Low Vs Diamond – Life After Love EP

Tilly & The Wall – Bottoms of Barrels

Murder By Death– In Bocca Al Lupo

so the 5 from 2006 plus 2 makes for 2007:

New albums from The Shins and Arcade Fire. Hurrah.

Well, way back when at the end of 2005, yes 5, Brother Phil predicted the rise of the Australian. They would become the new Canadian. Well, they certainly would woop them there Canada folk at rugby, footy and cricket. There chances at ice-hockey domination are slim however!

Anyway, it wasn’t sport, it was muzak, or music to be precise. The rise of the Aussie band in 2006 has been a good thing, i reckon.

Howling Bells, Art of Fighting, sodastream, The Devastations, Art of Fighting

to name but a few… will Canada strike back with new releases in 2007? Is this the way it will pan out, albums being released bi-annually to avoid conflict? Maybe they should just have a big game of beach-ice-hockey to settle it all…

Yes, from that cryptic clue you have guessed one of the new releases of the new year…

Gruff Rhys (yep, him of SFA fame) with Candylion… HisSpace!

Featuring a 14 min song on plane hijacking, this is a must!