A slideshow created by Ollie Bray, National Adviser for Emerging Technologies in Learning here at Education Scotland, highlighting the uses of technology in the classroom to support higher order skills with great reference to creativity. Well worth a skim through!
Latest support materials : Learning through sketchbooks in art and design
Air Iomlaid (On Exchange) was a partnership project bringing two schools and their communities together with practising artists to explore their outdoor environments through art and language. The lead artist described the project as undergoing a process of ‘getting fit’ artistically.
This resource is intended for primary and secondary teachers who want to build confidence in discussing the visual elements of the art and design curriculum with learners and colleagues. A key focus is the use of sketchbooks as a method of developing artistic confidence in the learners. Sketchbooks are also used by teachers as a way of recording and analysing learners’ progress.
Young scot scoops national film competition
http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_news/news_77394.html
A film about life in Buckie for a group of skateboarding youngsters has won top prize in a national competition. The three-minute film was chosen as the best from entries to a British Film Institute competition, launched to celebrate legendary film maker Ken Loach’s 75th birthday. Entries from hundreds of young creators inspired by the British filmmaker came from across the UK, and the winner was announced at a ceremony in London’s Southbank on Friday 11 November.
Invent, innovate and investigate science with the Scottish Parliament
Science meets design at Parliament family weekend
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/newsandmediacentre/44147.aspx
Free family events take place on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 November at the Scottish Parliament to celebrate St Andrew’s Day (Wednesday 30 November).
The Parliament, in partnership with the Glasgow Science Centre, has created a programme of events to inspire children and adults to invent, innovate and investigate science and the challenges of design while learning more about the Scottish Parliament. Visitors will also get the chance to view a new exhibition dedicated to the principles of design and democracy.
Free CPD opportunity on digital storytelling and book trailers – ReadIT
ReadIT, is a European, Comenius funded research project supporting teachers to use new technologies to improve teens engagement with reading and writing. The project will train teachers on making booktrailers in the classroom and will then provide the opportunity for participating teachers to use what they have learned in their own classrooms. Scottish Book Trust is now in the process of recruiting teachers to take part in the online course which will cover digital storytelling, the theory and practicality of making booktrailers, and the pedagogy behind using these new approaches in the teaching of English and literacy. For more information contact Scottish Book Trust.
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/ReadIT/whats-involved
Media Literacy CPD – GaelMeet
GaelMeet 10, Part 1: – Media Literacy, Monday 21 November, 4.30 pm
Language: English
Contributor: Hilary Bombart
Aims: Moving image is an integral part of the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN). This series of sessions on media literacy will introduce the concept of analysing a moving image text and developing the confidence to incorporate moving image into their practice. The sessions assume no prior knowledge of moving image.
To take part, click on http://bit.ly/dachaigh <http://bit.ly/dachaigh> or here <https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/GlowTV/tvchannels/Literacy%20and%20Gaidhlig.aspx>
BBC L.A.B. Radio Workshop: Make a Sport Podcast
Glow event: BBC L.A.B. Radio Workshop: Make a Sport Podcast – The Interview, Monday 21 November, 10.15 am
http://glo.li/twPYg6
Over two Mondays in November and December, we want you to work with us to make your own radio programme or podcast – on a sporting theme. We’ll be hosting two workshops in the L.A.B at BBC Scotland, and you can join in from your classroom. Click here <http://newsletters-ltscotland.org.uk/LQE-LTS3-3GU5HR-8EH7B-1/c.aspx> to sign up.
New community music project inspired by St Abb’s Head
Local communities across the Scottish Borders will join forces at Eyemouth Primary School on 14 November as part of a new community project celebrating nature, heritage and music in the area.
The St Abb’s Head Music Project is a collaboration between the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO), the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and Scottish Borders Council Youth Music Initiative. Over the past five months, school pupils and local residents have been working with composer Howard Moody and SCO musicians to write music inspired by the land and seascape around the popular St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve and St Abb’s Head Voluntary Marine Reserve.
45 pupils from Eyemouth and Coldingham Primary Schools and members of both the Eyemouth Fishermen’s Choir and Mission Crew have created songs based on the NTS site.
The project is part of a wider programme in which Howard Moody has been commissioned to write a new piece for the SCO that celebrates the significance of St Abb’s Head. His as-yet-untitled work will be informed by the creative work of both the children and the choirs from in and around Eyemouth.
The commission will be premiered as part of the SCO’s annual summer tour to the South of Scotland in May 2012, with performances in Duns (24 May) and Galashiels (25 May).
Work began in May with the pupils visiting the site to record sounds of the area: from these recordings they created ‘Sonic Postcards’, with contemporary music organisation Sound and Music. These postcards combine recorded sounds with words to create a ‘sound postcard’ of the area. Using the Sonic Postcards as a starting point, the pupils and Howard Moody have written songs together inspired by the site.
The Fishermen’s Choir and Mission Crew have also been hard at work rehearsing a new song written especially for them by Howard Moody. The song, Waimie Carr, is based on the rock of the same name in St Abb’s Bay and was created following a discussion Howard had with keen local historian Rennie Weatherhead about the area.
The new works will be performed at an informal gathering of parents and members of the community at Eyemouth Primary School on 14 November, accompanied by an ensemble of SCO musicians.
SCO Connect Project Officer Kirsten Hunter said: “Being part of the process of bringing together the two ends of the age spectrum in this intergenerational project has been an inspiration for SCO Connect. It has been wonderful project to be involved in, and the pupils and choirs have created some fantastic music. This is the first time we have worked with the National Trust for Scotland and it has been a real collaboration and sharing of ideas between the two national organisations. The support the project has received from Scottish Borders Arts Development Team has been tremendous and greatly appreciated.”
Sandra Morrison, Learning Manager NTS added, “Working together on the St Abbs project, it is clear that the SCO and NTS have developed a first-rate partnership. Add to that the support of a forward-thinking local authority, Scottish Borders Council, and the collaboration blossoms into something very special. For the NTS we have found a new and creative way to raise awareness of the uniqueness of St Abbs, with its coastal and marine nature reserves. Using music as a means to share our knowledge of this wonderful place and to encourage others to enjoy it and support our work has been invigorating. Watching the different generations coming together to share their experiences has been incredibly rewarding and I am really looking forward to hearing Howard Moody’s composition next year, when we again have another opportunity to talk about St Abbs and all it has to offer us as humans, as well as the birds and wildlife”.
Councillor Graham Garvie, Executive Member for Culture, Sport and Community Learning at Scottish Borders Council, said: “We are very grateful to Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative for funding which has enabled local pupils to be involved in this unique project. It is very exciting that they are working with renowned composer Howard Moody and the SCO musicians to produce a piece of music that SCO will take on tour with them.”
For further information, please contact Sheena Macrae on 0131 478 8340 or sheena.macrae@sco.org.uk
Forest Pitch – Meet the Artist – Glow Meet
Glowing Thursday 10th November 2011
Forest Pitch – football strip design competition!
Meet the artist!
Join us on 10th November at 11am on Glow TV!
An opportunity to meet Scottish artist Craig Coulthard, creator of the highly innovative art project Forest Pitch. Funded by Creative Scotland and part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Forest Pitch will culminate in two football matches between amateur players who have recently taken up British citizenship. At the Scottish Learning Festival in September this year Craig launched a football strip design competition for primary age children to come up with exciting and innovative designs for the football strips that the players will wear.
As an arts project, Forest Pitch encourages debate about national identity, citizenship, the natural world, sustainability and participation in sport.
If you have already signed up for the competition or are thinking about doing so, then join us for this exciting Glowing Thursday to find out more and get some artist’s tips and advice.
Find out more about the competition, sign up and download the design brief and support materials here
And don’t forget – taking part in this competition is a great way of demonstrating a commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic values and joining the London 2012 Get Set Network. Do this before 16th December and qualify for FREE tickets for the Olympics! Find out more >>
THE PUSHKIN PRIZES IN SCOTLAND – creative writing
Multi-award-winning author for young people, Catherine Macphail is confirmed as one of two professional writers tutoring Pushkin Prizewinners in 2012.
Pushkin Prizewinners’ Week is a unique creative writing experience awarded to ten young writers. Held at Moniack Mhor, the Arvon Foundation Writers’ Centre near Inverness, every May, the course offers the ten selected writers – together with two from a parallel competition in St Petersburg – to work on their writing with professional writers.
This year’s tutors are the poet and writer Gerry Cambridge, and Catherine MacPhail, the best-selling author of such prizewinning books as Run, Zan, Run, Roxy’s Baby and Grass
The Pushkin Prizes are open to every child in their
1st and 2nd year of secondary school in Scotland.
Folios – comprising three pieces of writing on a subject of the pupil’s choice, and in a genre of the pupil’s choice – should be submitted by December 16th 2011.
Information about The Pushkin Prizes in Scotland, now in their 24th year, was sent to every secondary school in the country in early September.
For further details of previous Pushkin Prizewinners’ Weeks and information about how to enter the Prizes, please visit The Pushkin Prizes website – www.pushkinprizes.net
Or contact the Director, Lindsey Fraser at lindsey.fraser@tiscali.co.uk
