The Glow Sciences Community is a place for:
This presentation shows the basics of accessing and using the Glow Sciences Community.
Any questions? Please get in touch.
This is one of a series of thought pieces from the Literacy and English team at Education Scotland. In this one, Helen Fairlie discusses some well-known research about reading for pleasure from the National Literacy Trust.
The lead up to Book Week Scotland seems like a good time to consider how we motivate learners to read independently for their own enjoyment. An equally important question for me, though, is why does the amount that we read for enjoyment make such a big difference to our learning?
This paper was published by the National Literacy Trust in 2006, however the research that it refers to still tells us a lot about the difference that reading for pleasure makes to our progress in literacy, as well as revealing a lot about how motivation to read works.
Get involved and join the conversation!
Please read the research, consider your own practice and what happens in your establishment.
Some questions to consider…
Join the conversation on our Literacy community.
Find out how to get or update your Glow membership – How do I get a Glow login?
To find out more about Book Week Scotland (23rd to 29th November, 2015) go to the Scottish Book Trust website.
Have you had a chat with children and young people about what they want to do when they grow up?
Reflective/challenge questions –
Why not continue the conversation here?
The Scottish Household Survey is designed to provide reliable and up-to-date information on the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of private households and
individuals across the nation.
I’m really interested in the links between sustainability policy in education (i.e. every learner entitled to LfS) and some of the attitudes towards environment, climate change and access to outdoor space, as outlined in last year’s survey.
You can read Chapter 13 on the environment here (Scroll to Page 140)
Challenge Questions:
What other behaviour can a 5p charge (as with plastic carrier bags) change?
During the inagural Academic Book Week Darwin’s On the Origins of Species was voted by the public as the most influential academic book ever written.
A shortlist of 20 books was compiled, including among others Newton’s Principia, Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and Orwell’s 1984 to name but a few.
In the following post Emily Tee provides a rationale to her voting preferences. Her comments and the original shortlist lead me to ask the following questions:
Does the result of the vote reflect voting preferences based on the fame of a book or author rather than influence of the book?
Should 1984 have been included on the academic shortlist?
Which book would you have voted for and why?
Unfortunately, the vote is now closed but I would have opted for Newton’s Prinicpia. However, I may be biased being a physicist!
Please comment.
DYW in pictures
We have tried to capture some of the messages around DYW into cartoon format.
Challenge Questions
Developing the young workforce
I came across this interesting video from a 1947 classroom which gives teacher tips on managing pupil behaviour. Have a wee look:
Some questions to reflect on:
This is a blah
Reflective Questions
https://glowscotland.sharepoint.com/sites/PLC/plsuperheroes/newsfeed.aspx?ThreadID=8.219755274974459fab72432fa9673eab.bba932cfec2b4cd48c11f06efcdc8564.219755274974459fab72432fa9673eab.c0817867563549c9a1ca47af29f4016d.446605b18c474ffda9511d27a5c6e26e.239.239.1
We’re looking for participants for the 2015 Fuselab Go tour, an out-of-this-world experience where you’ll help plan the future of an as yet uninhabited world!
If you’re aged 15–18, this is your chance to learn about innovation and creativity and build the skills, networks and confidence that will help you thrive in a fast moving future.
WHAT IS FUSELAB?
Fuselab is an innovation and creativity bootcamp run by Edinburgh International Science Festival. Now looking to recruit the next group of pioneers, so if you’re aged 15-18 this is your chance to get involved!
Fuselab Go is an exciting new touring version of the original programme which was launched back in July 2013. It has been designed to take a fresh, fast and fun Fuselab learning experience to locations across Scotland in summer 2015.
This is your opportunity to think bigger than ever before on a completely blank canvas, developing out-of-this-world solutions to real world problems.
You’ll discover new approaches to challenges through workshops, skills sessions, talks and games that will encourage you to respond both individually and as a group, seeking out relevant skills among your colleagues and collaborating to design, prototype and test your ideas.
Check out the Fuseab website to discover more about the project –
WHAT OUR FIRST PIONEERS THOUGHT ABOUT FUSELAB…
‘I have taken away from Fuselab an even bigger love of the sciences than Ialready had (…I didn’t know that was possible!)’
‘It really pushed me as an engineer and really made me work hard’
‘I loved every minute of it!’
2015 TOUR SCHEDULE AND INFORMATION
Fuselab Go is visiting a host of exciting venues across Scotland in summer 2015. There are 10 sessions in all, each session lasts for two days, happening in 6 cities. Check out the list below to see when the tour is coming to
a location near you:
Edinburgh – 6/7, 8/9 and 11/12 June
Greenock – 15/16 June
Inverness – 18/19 June
Aberdeen – 22/23 and 25/26 June
Dundee – 29/30 June
Glasgow – 4/5 and 6/7 July
You will be expected to make your own travel arrangements to attend each day, but Fuselab is completely free of charge and you will be provided with lunch and refreshments.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications are open now! For your chance to be part of this exciting project, simply read the terms and conditions to ensure you’re eligible to apply and then complete the short application form available online at sciencefestival.co.uk/fuselab
.
You will receive an automated response when we receive your application and successful applicants will be contacted by email by the end of May 2015.
If you have any queries about your application you can contact Fuselab on fuselab@scifest.co.uk but please be aware that due to the high number of applications we are dealing with it may take a few working days for us to respond.
On 20th March 2015, for the first time in 16 years , we are due for a solar eclipse. It will be partial throughout the UK, and the further north you are, the more of the Sun will be in eclipse. The eclipse will start at about 08.30 and end at 10.30. With Leeds an example, you can see what it will look like observed from the Earth.
The Royal Astronomical Society have produced a resource, which can be found here. It contains information on how to safely, and cheaply, observe a solar eclipse. It also explains more about what solar eclipses are, and what you should expect to see.
BBC Stargazing Live programmes have been scheduled to coincide with the eclipse, this year. Running from the 18-20 March, the programme is again hosted by comedian Dara O’Briain and Professor Brian Cox. You can also access resources for running your own star parties from the BBC website.
So what happens if it’s cloudy? Well, it will still get dark, even if you can’t view the Sun, and you can always view a past eclipse online to see what you would be missing.
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.
Key aspects for development emerged, which included:
“In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.”
To address this aspect the Sciences team hosted a “Topical Science and Partnerships” Glow Meet .
To Watch Again : https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/p5rd5cx8od8/
Each glow meet is complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions.
Please register through: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TwilightSessions2015
Breakout sessions will be provided by Dynamic Earth, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Glasgow City of Science, Stem Ambassadors and The English Speaking Union.
Education Scotland will also be delivering sessions on Citizen Science, Community Resilience, Food and Science and Social Studies and Science.
The previous Commander of the International Space Station delighted, entertained and inspired us with his videos detailing life in space. He showed us how to make a sandwich in space, how he brushed his teeth, and even recorded his own version of a famous David Bowie song, Space Oddity.
On Tuesday March 24th at 2.30pm, Commander Hadfield will be on Glow TV answering pupils’ questions about science, space and the Universe.
What was his most terrifying moment in space? What does flying a rocket feel like? How has he adjusted to life back on Earth?
We will be selecting the best questions and these pupils will have the opportunity to ask questions live directly to Commander Hadfield on the day!
Submit your questions to glow.connect@glowscotland.onmicrosoft.com before 20th March with the title “Ask an astronaut”. Don’t forget to include your pupils’ names, ages and school. To register for the event, click here (Glow log-in required).
Colleagues in Early Years Team at NHS Health Scotland, organisers of the national Maternal and Early Years Conference, have let us know that they are looking for abstract submissions under the theme of ‘The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014′.
Ashleigh Oates, Senior Health Improvement Officer, told me that they are seeking creative, innovative and challenging practice examples to be presented as parallel sessions or at marketplace stands at the event.
This year the emphasis is on sharing examples of work that improves health and wellbeing, and reduces the inequalities of the most vulnerable children and families. Of particular interest is work that is undertaken in partnership with colleagues in other agencies and services.
Full guidance and a submission form, including indicative parallel session themes, can be found on the Maternal and Early Years website.
The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Thursday 19 March. All submissions should be completed using the formal submission form and sent via email to Lynn Soutar, Programme Assistant, Early Years Team. You can email Lynn.Soutar@nhs.net for further informatation and with any further enquiries.
More information and details of how to register for the conference will follow soon.
The Conference will held at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 21 May.
Overheard conversation between two young learners in a Scottish primary school this week – Learner 1: “I want to go to the rainforest and tell them to stop cutting it down.” Learner 2: “Don’t go yet. You’re too wee. Wait till we’re bigger and we’ll both go.” The potential of where this conversation and these aspirations will lead to is intriguing. Many learners are making connections between rich curricular contexts for learning and their own capacity to engage with the ever changing world around them.
To engage our learners in learning for sustainability requires teachers who can confidently weave a number of aspects, including global citizenship, sustainable development education, outdoor learning and children’s rights into their practice.
Global Learning Programme Scotland (GLP-S) supports the development of global citizenship through the curriculum and offers free professional learning for teachers. Click here to find out about the range of CLPL on offer from the six Scottish regional Development Education Centres.
You can also sign up for their online global citizenship magazine Stride at www.stridemagazine.org.uk
For more information contact Rachel Hamada at ideasforuminfo@gmail.com
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.
Key aspects for development emerged, which included:
“In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.”
To address this aspect the Sciences team hosted a “Topical Science and Partnerships” Glow Meet on Wednesday 4th March
To watch the meet again : https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/p5rd5cx8od8/
The glow meet will be once again be complimented by a series of professional learning twilight events.
To register :https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TwilightSessions2015
Breakout sessions will be provided by Dynamic Earth, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Glasgow City of Science and Stem Ambassadors.
Education Scotland will also be delivering sessions on Citizen Science, Community Resilience, Food and Science and Social Studies and Science.
International Schoo
l Meals Day is back on 5 March 2015, raising awareness of the importance of good nutrition for children, and healthy eating habits at home and at school. Celebrating culture through food is this year’s theme. Also, remember that Food for Thought funding applications can be submitted until Sunday 29th March 2015. This provides a great opportunity to make the connections between your existing work on learning for sustainability and food education.
KoduKup
About the Competition
The Kodu Kup is open to anyone from a Scottish school aged between seven to fourteen years old. Children must be entered by their school teacher as a team of three, forming a mini “game studio”.
What Should be Submitted?
Teachers should enter their pupils’ games by sharing them from inside Kodu Game Lab, this automatically uploads them to www.kodugamelab.com. Once uploaded, e-mail david.renton@wcs.ac.uk with team name, game name, school name, teacher’s name, link to the game (on www.kodugamelab.com), game description, screenshot, business plan and photos of merchandise created along with any additional files to backup the entry. Schools can enter as many teams as they wish, but each team can only submit a single game. Before sharing a game, please use the following structure to name it:
GameName_TeamName_KoduKupScotland
Closing date is the 29th May
P7 Pupils from the Williamwood High School cluster primaries, Carolside, Busby and Netherlee learn Scratch programming as part of their Technologies outcomes. This allows for progression when they join Williamwood High School in S1 and S2. Pupils are then able to develop their technologies skills to Third and Fourth Levels using Scratch. Pupils may then go onto choose NQ Computing Science and so have a solid understanding of the purpose and nature of programming.
Pupils from Carolside Primary on a Scratch programming task.
Staff from Williamwood have worked closely with the primary colleagues, providing learning materials and CPD. The next steps involve introducing Scratch to pupils in P6 and P5.
Internationally renowned artist, Andy Scott, creator of the famous ‘Kelpies’ and ‘Arria’ sculptures will be interviewed about his life and work by Education Scotland’s Ron Cowie.
Andy will talk about his experiences at school and describe the path he followed to become a successful artist. Viewers will hear about the people and things that influenced him along the way!
The Glow Meet will be broadcast exclusively from Andy’s studio workshop in Glasgow on Wednesday 11th March from 10:30- 11:30.
You can register for the event here
Friday 6th March is the date for final entries for the John Byrne national drawing competition to arrive at Education Scotland offices in either Dundee or Glasgow. We have had an excellent response from schools so far but there are still four days to go until the competition ends!
The prizes are fantastic and John is designing the special runner up certificates as I write this post.
Education Scotland will hold all drawings submitted for the competition until the judging has been completed on Friday 27th March. After that they will be available from the offices to which they were delivered until Friday 24th April, if schools wish to pick them up. I’m afraid we are unable to post entries back to schools.
Good luck to everyone who enters the competition!
Today (2 March) Education Scotland staff launched the Community with colleagues in Dundee. ELCC practitioners came along to St. Paul’s Academy to hear from Education Scotland about the importance of being connected through Glow. Myself and Con Morris talked about how Glow is to become an important way for ELCC practitioners to find high-quality professional development material.
During the event, colleagues joined the Early Learn community, chatted via Glow and commented on some of the resources already available.
To join the community all you need to do is login to Glow then type http://bit.ly/earlylearn into the address bar. That will take you straight into the Homepage of the community.
In the top right-hand side of the screen you will see a ‘follow’ command. Make sure you follow the community and you will recieve updates from others who are also members.
The new Early Learn Glow Community has already attracted lots of new members. The Children and Families Team have uploaded several new resources for you to download. Among these new resources are extracts from the as yet unpublished resource The Learning Cycle – Planning and Assessment in the Early Level. Uploaded for comment are support materials on assessment skills: Engagement; Noticing; Interpreting. More support materials will follow.
We have also uploaded video material from Cowgate and Arnprior nurseries. More of that to follow if you find it useful.
To hear about some of the other ways that Education Scotland will be providing support to ELCC practitioners come along to the March ELCC Local Conversations.
17 March University of West of Scotland, Ayr
20 March Victoria Quay, Edinburgh
25 March Millburn Academy, Inverness
You can register to come along via Survey Monkey.
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye 29-30 of May 2015
The second Soillse conference, in conjunction with CAER, the Education Society of the European Regions is free for practitioners of Gaelic and Gaelic Medium Education(GME). Keynote speakers are Miquel Strubell, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and Antonella Sorace, University of Edinburgh. For more information, please visit the website.
As part of our Gaelic Language Plan, Education Scotland is committed to producing a CLPL needs analysis for staff. The findings of this audit will be used to plan future programmes of professional learning.
There are three audits:
GME Secondary: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K5TKSFL
Gaelic Learner Education 3-18: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K56D32D
GME Early Learning and Childcare Centres and Primary: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8KVBLNC
We appreciate your support in completing these audits by 23 March 2015.
The Scottish Voice is a computer ‘text-to-speech’ programme to assist with reading electronic books;
PDF files (such as SQA exam papers); worksheets and other documents in Microsoft Word and create audio files using the voice. This is being developed to assist with Gaelic text.
The new Gaelic voice will be available to schools from The Scottish Voice website for the start of the 2015-16 academic session. This will help learners with additional support needs and also all learners to read websites, documents, or to check and proof-read their own letters or emails. The voice will be licensed for use by Scottish schools, colleges, universities, local and national government agencies, NHS units and for use at home by pupils and staff. It is funded by The Scottish Government Gaelic and Scots Unit; Scottish Funding Council; Scottish Qualifications Authority and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
The Supporting Early Learning and Childcare through Wellbeing conference was held at Victoria Quay, Edinburgh on 23 February 2015. Over 80 early learning practitioners from across Scotland signed up to what was a very positive and productive day of information, sharing and networking.
The conference was opened by Lesley Brown, Strategic Director for Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities within Education Scotland, who welcomed everyone and set the tone for the day by emphasising the importance of positive relationships for developing the children’s wellbeing.
Key drivers in current Scottish education policy were discussed, with an update on GIRFEC legislation from Pauline Davidson of Scottish Government – particularly looking at the role of the named person – with opportunity for delegates to ask questions and clarify points.
The importance of recognising and realising children’s rights, as outlined in the Children and Young People’s Act (Scotland) 2014, was highlighted by Paul McWatt, Education Scotland, who gave an overview of the articles of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and how they can be applied in an educational setting.
Tricia Madden, Early Years Development Officer, provided participants with an update on National Guidance around Building the Ambition. There was productive discussion exploring the Image of the Child and what this means practically in the early years setting.
A variety of workshops were offered, ranging from research-based finding on social, emotional and behavioural needs in the transition from nursery-primary from the Growing Up in Scotland survey, to building dens with Cowgate Under 5’s Centre to emphasise the positive impacts of child led play. The wellbeing indicators were further explored practically by Parkhead Nursery, Glasgow, and there was also opportunity to explore relational approaches such as nurture and restorative.
Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People closed the day with a summary of the findings of A Right Wee Blether – which again, highlighted the importance of children’s voice and positive relationships.
Participants – and presenters – spoke very highly of the quality of presentations and workshops, and of how useful and enjoyable they had found the day.
#DigiLearnScot Week is coming to Glow TV from 2nd – 6th March.
Join us for an exciting selection of different Glow TV sessions that will show you the different types of digital learning that is going on around Scotland.
You can register to join in with any of these sessions live in Glow TV:
Monday 2nd March at 3.30pm – Digital Leaders @ Kirklandneuk Primary
During this Glow TV event, discover how Digital Leaders were developed in Kirklandneuk Primary School in Renfrewshire, and find out how to tackle this in your own establishment. Register to take part in Glow TV.
Monday 2nd March at 3.45pm – TeachMeet
Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Register to take part in Glow TV.
Tuesday 3rd March at 3.45pm – QR Codes at Cardross Primary
Have you used QR codes in your school? QR codes might sound scarily complicated but they’re surprisingly easy to use and they are an informative and fun addition to the classroom.Register to take part in Glow TV.
Wednesday 4th March at 12.30pm – Have You Got the 1+2 Factor?
Join us on Glow TV to find out how to get involved in this nationwide event for Scottish education establishments. Register to take part in Glow TV.
Thursday 5th March at 11am – Brydekirk LearnMeet
As part of DigiLearn Scot week join learners from Brydekirk Primary in Dumfries and Galloway who will be hosting a LearnMeet. Register to take part live in Glow TV.
Friday 6th March at 9.30am – Meet the Digital Leaders
Join us live from Kirklandneuk and Glenburn Primaries to learn more from the Digital Leaders themselves as we bring our Glow TV coverage of DigiLearnScot week to a close. Register to take part in Glow TV.
Join us for a lively Scots language poetry reading session with poet Stuart Paterson on Thursday 5th March at 1.30pm.
Scots poet Stuart Paterson will be joining us live in the Glow TV Studio to read you some rhymes for bairns. Find out what makes him ‘squeamish’, where ‘The Tobermory Dodo’ went to and what he thinks about the ‘Houlit’ Join in and learn new Scots words or add even more to your vocabulary and learn some great new poems.
Register to take part in Glow TV – Scots Language Poetry with Stuart Paterson
To address the aspect of Topical Science the Education Scotland Sciences team are hosting a Glow TV event on Wednesday 4th March at 3.45pm entitled “Topical Science and Partnerships”
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified. Key aspects for development emerged, which included: “In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.” Young people are increasingly surrounded by scientific issues in the media and their everyday lives. By considering current issues through topical science, learners increasingly develop their understanding of scientific concepts and their capacity to form informed social, moral and ethical views. They reflect upon and critically evaluate media portrayal of scientific findings. To address this aspect the Sciences team are hosting a Glow Meet entitled “Topical Science and Partnerships” which will be complimented again by a series of professional learning twilight sessions. Contexts for delivering topical science and methods for planning topical science will be addressed.
Register now in Glow TV – Topical Science and Partnerships.
You are invited to join us on Monday 2nd March at 3.45pm for a discussion about the strategies that have been adopted by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to promote Gaelic Medium Education.
The Director of Education and Children’s Services, along with two senior managers from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar will outline what changes they have made and the policies they have implemented which have resulted in a steady increase in the uptake of Gaelic Medium Education across island schools, both at primary and secondary level. The session will include a brief introduction, outlining current developments and the context for Gaelic Medium Education in Eilean Siar. The plans for further development of the recently announced Gaelic schools and the teaching school programme will be shared with those who join the meeting.
Topics to be covered include:
1. CNES support for the development of GME
2. The Vision for Gaelic/GME/GLE in the Western Isles.
3. Promotion of GME to parents.
4. Increasing the capacity for leadership in Gaelic Medium schools.
5. Planning for 1+2 Approach to Languages, using this policy to increase the delivery of Gaelic
6. Gaelic Medium/Gaelic Status schools.
Register to join us live in Glow TV – Developing the Vision for Gaelic Medium Education
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.
Key aspects for development emerged, which included:
“In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.”
Young people are increasingly surrounded by scientific issues in the media and their everyday lives. By considering current issues through topical science, learners increasingly develop their understanding of scientific concepts and their capacity to form informed social, moral and ethical views. They reflect upon and critically evaluate media portrayal of scientific findings.
To address this aspect the Sciences team is hosting a “Topical Science and Partnerships” Glow Meet which will be complimented again by a series of professional learning twilight sessions.
Join us on Wednesday 4th March at 3.45 – 4.45 pm in Glow TV to find out more.
Register https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/topicalscience/event/event_info.html
Register for the twilight session
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TwilightSessions2015
Sessions will include input from STEM Ambassadors, Royal Society of Chemistry, Citizen Science , Community Resilience, Creative Thinking and the Sciences and Glasgow City of Science
Thursday 5th March from 3.30 to 4.30
Mrs McGregor-Sloman (Head Teacher) and Mr McLean (PT Computing Science) would like to invite you to attend a ‘TeachMeet’ In Marr College. The theme is the use of technology to enhance the learning of our pupils.
Any educator can come along can share their ideas and practice around the use of technologies to help young people learn and develop their skills and knowledge.
To register just email marr.mail@south-ayrshire.gov.uk
Resources for Media Studies National 3, National 4, National 5 and Higher for GME are now available on Glow. We have also included a separate glossary of terminology.
Education Scotland is building an online professional learning community for early learning and childcare practitioners.This will be the place where these practitioners and other Scottish educators can come together and converse, share resources, add, and take part in, professional learning opportunities and, of course, share the impact on learners.
The community (which is on the new Glow platform) goes officially live next week at a professional learning Masterclass in Dundee City Council. In the meantime, you are all very welcome to come in and say “hello”.
The community is at http://bit.ly/earlylearn and, if you are new to professional learning communities on Glow, look for the Support menu option.
If you are in the early learning and childcare sector in Scotland and need a Glow username and password, see How do I get a login?
We told you last week about our Digital Storytelling exercise. Well, already there has been a major plot development!
Award-winning childrens’ author, Theresa Breslin, has kindly agreed to provide the story starter for Digital Storytelling 3.
Among the schools who will be taking part are Kilbarchan, Lochfield, Invergowrie, Pumpherston and Uphall Station primary schools.
The great news is that as of the time of writing this blog post, there are still slots available. So if you want to take part, get along to the storytelling learning space
<Please note, there are also still slots available for Storytelling 2 (for older writers) see Digital Storytelling 1 and 2 update for another surprise!>
About Theresa Breslin
You can keep up to date with Theresa’s work online:
We told you last week about our Digital Storytelling exercise. These two stories haven’t even started yet and there has been a major plot twist!
Renowned Scottish childrens’ author, Cathy MacPhail, has kindly agreed to provide the story starters for both Digital Storytelling 1 and Digital Storytelling 2.
First to take up Cathy’s challenge will be the young writers of St Michael’s Primary in Dumfries. Of course, they won’t see Catherine’s starter until just before they start writing!
You can see all the other schools taking part in this particular challenge on Glow by going to the storytelling learning space
<Please note, Storytelling 1 is full but there are still slots available for Storytelling 2 and Storytelling 3 –see Digital Storytelling 3 update for another surprise!>
About Cathy MacPhail
You can keep up to date with Cathy’s work online:
![d2dlogo_big[1]](https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/public/eslbnew/uploads/sites/2778/2015/02/d2dlogo_big1.jpg)
The Dams to Darnley education resource offers an interesting range of outdoor learning activities for all practitioners. Each activity is linked to science experiences and outcomes from early to fourth level. Whilst the resource was produced by the countryside ranger service in East Renfrewshire, it promotes a number of engaging approaches which can be replicated within school grounds or country parks across Scotland.
Countryside rangers can lead activities, however, there are also self-led activites to allow teachers to take ownership within their own settings. The pack also contains helpful appendices with guidance on taking learning outdoors, templates for risk assessments and useful contacts and links.
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.
Key aspects for development emerged, which included primary and early years practitioners requiring guidance and exemplifications for assessment in the sciences.
To address this aspect the sciences team hosted a Glow Meet, Assessment in the Sciences, which was complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions across Scotland.
Practitioners have asked that the Meet be run again, therefore join us on Tuesday 10th March 3.35-4.45 pm in Glow TV.
Participants should be familiar with the Assessing Progress and Achievement Overarching Paper.
We will also be using a highlighted Assessing Progress and Achievement in the Sciences curriculum paper, Sciences Progression Framework and an Annotated Exemplification which can be downloaded through the blog link upon registration for the Glow Meet.
To register https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/assessscience2/event/event_info.html
Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.
Key aspects for development emerged, which included primary and early years practitioners requiring guidance and exemplifications for assessment in the sciences.
To address this aspect the sciences team hosted a Glow Meet, Assessment in the Sciences, which was complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions across Scotland.
Practitioners have asked that the Meet be run again therefore join us on Tuesday 10th March 3.35-4.45 pm in Glow TV. – Register to take part live in Glow TV.
The Education Scotland assessment support documentation will be explored using exemplifications from the NAR and addressing particular science Significant Aspects of Learning.
Participants should be familiar with the Assessing Progress and Achievement Overarching Paper
We will also be using Annotated Exemplars therefore please download these documents prior to the session:
Highlighted Annotated exemplar
Highlighted Professional learning paper Assessing progress and achievement in the Sciences
This second Glow TV event in the series hosted by the modern languages team at Education Scotland will focus on developing listening and talking in young learners in a 1+2 context.
There will also be information on the latest developments and support available from Education Scotland.
This session is aimed at development officers and practitioners and will take place on Wednesday 25th February at 4pm. – Register now in Glow TV to join in on the day.
Join Frances and Katie from Unicef UK to find out more about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Outright.
Frances Bestley and Katie Cox from Unicef UK will be talking about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and how in a rights respecting school children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted. They will also look at some of the other activities that rights-respecting schools get involved with like Outright, speaking out about children’s rights and Day for Change raising money to support Unicef to help children realise their rights across the world. You will also have the opportunity to watch the response by Fiona McLeod MSP to the many letters that were send in during the Outright initiative.
Join us live in Glow TV on Wednesday 25th February at 11am. – Register for UNICEF UK – Find out More!
Kirtonholme Primary School in South Lanarkshire have fully embedded the teaching of Scots in a whole-school approach. For more details, view their short film : http://youtu.be/7y0zIhCLTbc
Calling all educators!
Welcome to Build-a-space live from Lockerbie!
You too can have the online learning space of your dreams! Maybe it’s a space for your class, your CfE projects, your parents? Whatever it is, we will do our very best to make it happen.
We have assembled a ‘crack team’ of experts from the Digital Learning & Teaching Team (Pam Currie, John Sexton, Ian Stuart, oh and me, Con Morris!)
The team will be assembling (some online and some in person on Lockerbie campus) on Thursday, 5th March to support you and build your spaces until all our pointers are exhausted.
How to take part
Glow TV once again returns to the National Museum of Scotland on Tuesday 24th February at 1.30pm to find out more about our past and this time we are going back to prehistoric times to find out more about dinosaurs!
Explore fossil evidence to discover clues about how dinosaurs lived. Join the team at National Museums Scotland who will take you through some fun experiments and calculations to find out some facts and figures about dinosaur life.
Have you Got the 1 + 2 Factor?
The 1 + 2 Factor is a nationwide competition for Scottish education establishments. We are asking clusters to work together using any of the tools within Glow to create learning spaces which will help them with the transition from primary to secondary and the implementation of 1 + 2.
Successful clusters from across Scotland will be chosen to take part in the final event on the 30th September 2015 to showcase their work and then take part in a fun interactive afternoon using digital technologies to enhance language experiences.
It has been highlighted by SCILT that links between the secondary school and its associated primary schools have become increasingly important for additional language learning. Clusters must work together to decide which languages will be studied. Secondary departments must know what has been delivered and how. Assessment information should be shared. In best practice, secondary school language departments will have regular contact with the associated primary schools.
Some senior managers have expressed concern over having sufficient time to devote to language learning and over maintaining sufficient numbers of trained staff. It will be important for school management teams and local authorities to work together to address these concerns. The 1+2 Factor hopes to encourage clusters to work together to address these issues.
In Glow O365 you will find the 1 + 2 Factor site: https://glowscotland.sharepoint.com/sites/learners/1plus2/_layouts/15/start.aspx#/SitePages/Home.aspx
Here you can find out about important dates and find useful links and documents to help you create your learning experiences. This is also where you can enter your cluster for the event.
For more information watch the 1 + 2 Factor Glow TV event on Wednesday 4th March. Register here to take part in this event in Glow TV.
The learners of St Michael’s primary in Dumfries and Galloway Council are delighted to do their bit for #digilearnscot week!
Supported by Mrs Cubbon, they will be the first class to take up the Digital Storytelling Challenge on Monday 2nd March
On Thursday 5th, the St Michael’s team will be doing yet more storytelling and taking the time to present and record some of the ways that they use technology in their learning.
There are two ways that learners and educators from all over Scotland can join in:
One – Post messages for the St Michael’s young learners using the tag #stmichaels on the Glow Learners’ community at http://bit.ly/learnershome
Watch for the contributions on the Digilearn wiki as soon as possible
On Monday, 2nd March at 3.30 pm come and learn via Glow TV all about Digital Leaders. Class Teacher Natalie Lochhead, who is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, will share her insights and ideas from her own experience in developing this in a Primary school setting.
Digital Leaders are part of a wider network of schools across the UK who train and support teachers and pupils in ICT. Natalie Lochhead started the process of employing Digital Leaders by employing children, who felt confident with ICT, to be part of a team of experts from Primary 4 to Primary 7.
The children teach full class lessons, support during ICT slots and have supported teachers in the daunting experience for some, of using iPads in the classroom.
Digital Leaders is a truly wonderful pupil group in Kirklandneuk Primary School and a must have for all schools.
Aberdeen City and Shire TeachMeet for #DigiLearnScot
Monday 2nd March
6:30 – 9.00 pm
MacRobert Building, Kings College Campus, University of Aberdeen
Live streaming video on the night via GlowTV
Sign up here to attend the event: http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/w/page/92953584/TeachMeet%20DigiLearnScot%20(North-East)
Sign up here for to register and watch via Glow TV: https://eventpub-meet.glowscotland.org.uk/content/connect/c1/7/en/events/event/shared/default_template_simple/event_landing.html?sco-id=1189075
Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Anyone can share great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. The national Digital Learning Week is being promoted by the National Digital Learning Forum (NDLF).
Everyone involved in education is welcome at this TeachMeet: primary, secondary, further education, higher education, probationary teachers and student teachers!
TeachMeet DigiLearnScot (Aberdeen City and Shire Edition)
6:30 pm Nibbles and refreshments,
7:00 – 7:10 pm TeachMeet #DigilLearnScot introduction
7.10 – 7.50pm Four 7-minute presentations and three 2-minute presentations
7.50 – 8.15pm Refreshments / Networking time
8.15 – 9.00pm Four 7-minute presentations and three 2-minute presentations
9.00 pm Close
Teachers from Dundee and neighbouring authorities are invited to attend this Digital Technologies event in the Dundee Science Centre. Dundee Teachers can book via Dundee’s internal CPD online system and anyone else wishing to attend can contact louise.foreman@dundeecity.gov.uk
Local technology & games design companies, Universities and partner agencies will exhibit and share knowledge and experiences of employability within the technology industry.
Schools will exhibit and share some of the innovative ways in which digital technologies are impacting on learning and teaching.
There will also be an opportunity to take part in a workshop with Dundee University to learn inspiring and engaging ways to teach Binary Coding with some of our younger learners.
This is a great opportunity for you to come along and learn something new. Give IT a go and join us for this exciting event!
Thursday 5 March 2015
5pm – 7pm
Refreshments from 4:30pm
St Mungo’s High School, Falkirk, FK2 7JT
Education professionals from any sector and from any geographical area are invited to this TeachMeet which has a theme of the use of technology to enhance the learning of our pupils. Anyone can share great ideas no matter how big or how small as long as it incorporates the use of technologies. Find out more and sign up here:
http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/w/page/92353827/Digital%20TeachMeet%20Falkirk
Email the organisers via digitalteachmeetfalkirk@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter @FDTeachMeet
Calling all learners!
From 2nd to 6th March, we’re going to co-create stories using Word Online on Glow.
There will be story starters published at 9am on the 2nd March. At 9.30, the learners of St Michael’s Primary in Dumfries will write the first chapter.
Classes who sign up each get about an hour to write their chapter of the story. The twist is the storyline and characters have to flow, that’s the fun bit! Any learner or educator can ‘tune in’ and see the story developing live.
By the end of the week, we will have three fab co-written stories!
There are three separate storytelling experiences. To take part, you should ask your teacher to read the Teacher guide – storytelling for digilearnscot week and sign you up on one of the spaces on Glow
Another learning experience brought to you by #digilearnscot
Have you always dreamt of becoming a super spy?…Well your secret agent staff training can begin right now!
On Thursday 5th March there will be an event to train specially gifted staff recruits which will be held at Educations Scotland, Floor 9, Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow starting at 17:00 hours.
Only the best will do… if you believe you have outstanding abilities and obvious potential to be a SUPER SPY then sign up to the event by emailing digitallearningcommunity@gmail.com
As part of the Digital Learning Week, Education Scotland will be holding an entertaining and informative event for practitioners with a passion for technology and a sense of fun. Once you arrive at the Optima building you will put into teams. Your own personal agent will lead you through a series of secret missions while you learn about different innovative technologies and find out about the different events that have been held throughout #DigiLearnScot week.
Should you choose to accept this mission you will be entering the secret world of international espionage. You will be competing against and training along with fellow recruits testing your special agent skills, breaking secret codes and much more…
This TeachMeet is in Preston Lodge High School, Park View, Prestonpans, EH32 9QJ and is part of the National Digital Learning Community’s Digital Learning Week. The programme looks like this:
6pm Arrival & Networking
6.20pm Welcome & Introduction
6.30pm Micro & Nano Presentations I
7.05pm Learning Conversations
7.25pm Micro & Nano Presentations II
7.55pm Closing Remarks
8pm Close
You can sign up for clicking on the link below and entering your details in the document. You have four options when signing up…although one of these options is to attend and join in, we really need some folk to sign up to be presenters or to lead learning conversations – otherwise it won’t be much of a TeachMeet! As this is part of the Digital Learning Week, we’re really wanting presentations and conversations which focus on digital learning…with a real emphasis on the *learning*. In other words, not just what digital tools are you using, but why are you using them and what impact are they having on learning in your context. PowerPoint is strongly discouraged in all types of presentations. Presenters will be chosen at random on the night.
So, your options are…
If this sounds like this is right up your street then click the link below and get yourself signed up…
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OOjA19_QVPnemFkvV2GAGIMBlDaduW13KW9Vn5BGwx4/edit
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