innovation and inspiration

Boy Bloggers

2012-01-06T03:02:00.000-08:00

I have only been blocked by two people in my three years on Twitter. One who spoke for the left in the Independent and one who speaks for whatever right wing hurrah is the current obsession. I think both stopped the link because I disagreed with them and said so. Both enjoyed the thrill of being little heroes to their respective followers and while dispensing criticism was their game they hated it when an argument was made that didn't fit their perception.

I think blocking has to be used for a definite reason. Usually because of offensiveness or persistent unpleasantness. Unfollowing seems to me to be the right course of action in most cases.

I follow many people who have views I radically disagree with, but that seems to me to be the point. Hear an argument, dispute it when you can but still engage. Clearly, there might be exceptions. I don't follow anyone who blatantly supports racist organisations for example.

There are however, people on Twitter, (and most are male)who seem intent on becoming their own version of mini-celebrities. Unfortunately this medium and the news media encourage them by giving them access to speak about subjects they have no expertise in, only prejudices about.

The cult of the boy blogger has been discussed frequently by @lisaansell . Often the insults and rudeness is just a throwaway to get attention. Sadly this is as prevalent on the Left as the Right. Over Christmas some of the exchanges were pathetic. As a teacher, it reminded me of the playground behaviour of the loudest kids who couldn't argue a point successfully so ended up shouting insults. I wish Twitter could be more like a staffroom conversation rather than the one behind the bike sheds.

To be frank many of the supposedly political bloggers are far more interested in building a media presence than arguing a point constructively. Tweet enough rudeness, blog enough rubbish and say you belong to a ThinkTank and #SkyNews and #BBCNews seems happy to invite you on. You can then spout crap to millions of viewers who don't know your "claim to expertise" is based on nothing but writing awfulness on awful websites.

So. I have created a new ThinkTank from the comfort of my Basingstoke Sofa. The Coalition Resolution Assessment Platform is available for comment on any & all topics especially education.

Our first press releases:

#CRAP press release 1 available to news agencies. "Cabinet Millionaires think #NHS is safe in Tory hands, even though they don't need it"

#CRAP press release 2 #Gove a brilliant man, wasted as Education Secretary. His skills could be much better used as a PR man for a right wing dictatorship. Oh...

#CRAP press release 3 Speakers are available on any subject, usually without any expertise but that seems to be what SkyNews and BBCNews want.

Meanwhile, until the news media rushes to my Basingstoke doorstep we still have @MrHarryCole making a fool of himself in a debate on racism

Gove : Secretary of State for Academies and Free Schools

2012-01-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

As the wordle of his Jan 4th 2012 speech shows, Gove no longer cares about the majority of kids in state schools. He seems to see his role as simply to promote one form of governance. He has insulted teachers, leaders and governors in schools struggling to create good opportunities for their learners in LA supported schools.

He is the true ideologue. Those of us arguing for a comprehensive system and curriculum are not the "idealogues" that the DfE tweeted about earlier today.

Gove's "Aspiration Nation" & 3 generations of job search

2011-11-19T03:38:00.000-08:00

Unemployment among the young is above 1m. And there are so many other frightening statistics about unemployment and lack of jobs everywhere and every day. Can I illustrate the issue by telling the story of 3 generations in my family?

When my father retired at the age of 60 from a lifetime of work, he pretty soon got bored. He had worked for the AA before volunteering for the army at the outbreak of war in 1939. After time in North Africa and Italy he returned to the UK and passed the entrance exams for the Civil Service Commission. He spent the next 30+ years working on projects to do with Careers and Training in the Civil Service. My mother did a variety of jobs, but usually in retail, and part time. At the age of 60 he had his works pension but no state one yet. Living in a Council House they could afford to live reasonably but not lavishly. The problem was he was bored, so he walked into an admin work agency and walked out with a new job the same day. A temporary post led to a permanent one at the age of 61. He stayed there for 6 years using the same skills as he had learnt in the Civil Service. He never had a problem finding a job where he could demonstrate loyalty and hard work.

I worked in various jobs (office, school caretaking etc) before going to a Teacher Training College. With certificate in hand, I went straight into a Comprehensive on the Old Kent Road in London and stayed there for 17 years. Classroom teacher, head of department, senior manager progression. My loyalty was to the school and the community it served. A tough environment but a rewarding one. I didn't apply for another job outside until I had been there for 15 years. I moved on to another school's senior management team in a leafier part of the world and then worked for an Education Charity which received a major part of its funding from Labour Government programmes. After a few years there I got involved in work with African schools which became my personal "mission" and made me feel both valued and valuable. I raised in three years almost £1m from companies and trusts to be used to develop skills in African classrooms. Funding for my post ran out and I was threatened with redundancy but transferred into a new project that was totally dependent on government funding. With the emergence of the Coalition this project was scrapped and within 3 months I was made redundant.

After a lifetime of showing commitment, enthusiasm and loyalty, plus a bank of skills based on global experience of education, fundraising and media work, I had high expectations of finding a job quickly. 2 years later I have no full time job and although my days of consultancy continue I am now certain that I value being part of a team and not constantly having to "sell" myself. I grew up in an environment where demonstrating commitment and loyalty were seen as crucial In today's workplace it is the individual who is forced to re-imagine themself repeatedly.

My son left University in 2010 with a First Class Honours Degree. When he started his course in Film Studies he knew that full time permanent jobs were not the norm in the creative industries but he expected to earn enough to develop and hone his skills and his career. Within a few weeks of gaining power the Coalition scrapped the UK Film Council which was the source of hope for many hoping to work in British Film. Much of the work of the Arts Council has been reduced too.

He has had many successes with film and theatre projects (see below) but paid work is very limited. Arts employers offer unpaid internships or expenses only jobs, so wthout comfortably off parents this field is closed to many youngsters. The Job Centres are arranged to find poorly paid and temporary jobs. He has only managed to claim Job Seekers Allowance for a few weeks in the last year because every time he does something to further his career, he is not "available for work" and has to come off.

A great example of this is he was shortlisted (and then won) a film competition on "Conservation of Water". The American company organising this paid for him to attend the event in Los Angeles and a few other industry related days. This was a great opportunity to make links with film makers and funders and develop his skills. Because he was not "available for work" for a week he lost several weeks JSA. Absurd.

But the biggest loss for him is the inability to join the "contributing society". He is not part of a team. Like me he is not able to demonstrate and learn loyalty and commitment. His only priority in work is himself and the desperation he feels about being able to start on the road. He left University with massive debt but nowhere near what the next generation of students are going to face.

They will have no sense of belonging to anything, no sense of being part of a team, no hope and no choices. Any job will do.

My father worked and served all his life and had the opportunity to continue contributing until late in his sixties, using the skills and ideas he learnt and developed.

I worked in jobs where loyalty and commitment were important and my skill set was immense, but before I have reached sixty I am out on a limb, feeling I have lots more still to offer but nowhere to show that.

My son can't even start on that route, and he has yet to feel that commitment to anything other than himself is worthwhile. In his early twenties- but he can't get a worthwhile job and seems to have no hope of finding one. I think the film he wrote and directed "Wrestling Yetis" sums up how important it is to feel enthusiastic about the your job and your future.

"Aspiration Nation" Mr Gove ?

Wrestling Yetis http://tinyurl.com/4xozf42

Fun and Games IUOW Competion Winner 2011 http://tinyurl.com/7vv45zw

Why Status Quo fans never listen

2011-10-29T03:07:00.000-07:00

Back in the seventies, I had a year off my studies to be President of the Goldsmiths Student Union. Previously, I had been the Social Secretary and had a wonderful year indulging myself with strange bookings for big events (2000 capacity) and smaller ones for a few hundred. Some of the LPs the companies sent to me cause supercilious sniggers even now. The Pink Fairies debut album, anyone?

I tried all nighters with a staggering range of acts that included people like Mungo Jerry on the same bill as Lindisfarne and various heavy metal bands. Some worked fantastically but to this day I still shudder at the image of the night Status Quo and John Martyn shared a stage. John was near to tears as his gentle set was ruined by the jeers of SQ fans who wouldn't listen to anything that didn't have the same riff in every song.

When I took over as President there was an incredible range of issues on the table for the NUS. Grants, creche facilities, accommodation, Gay Rights, Fights against the National Front and many others. Within the student council I tried to organise we had every shade of student politics, SWP, Tory and even one NF man. Full union meetings were a circus which I tried to organise without the whip.

I soon realised that politically I had a lot to learn. Whatever I tried to do, someone would tell me I was fighting on the wrong side. On one occasion, clear directions from NUS meant although I could speak against him, I couldn't stop the NF guy speaking. Unfortunately he was a damn good speaker. He loved the fact that I had allowed him to speak and made a great show of thanking me. Next day a very edited version of our debate was in the Daily Telegraph, making it seem as if I had supported the NF line, rather than one person's permission to speak.

I tried to get them to print a retraction. Instead a conversation I had with the education editor was misreported yet again.

There is no point in Labour trying to win the support of the right wing press. They will always report what they want, to bolster what they want and will always denigrate the views of the left.

I learnt as President that socialist arguments are never listened to by right wing media and that Status Quo fans are too stuck in the past to listen to anything that challenges their viewpoint.

Why I love my Kindle

2011-08-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

One year on a quick blog about why I love my Kindle but sometimes don't. No massive research, no facts and figures, just a response.

What I don't like first:

1. I miss being able to pass on my book. Did this in lots of ways- to friends and family, holiday bookshelves, station cafe etc.
2. Being able to remember the book by checking the cover or the summary on the back of the paperback. With the Kindle it is far more complicated and often I completely forget what the book was I intended to read.

BUT what I do like in no particular order:

1. The ability to get most books within a few seconds. I read a review of a children's author's fantasy series and was able to download the first book immediately. My local Waterstone would never have had the complete collection.
2. Checking out referenced stories easily. I read online about a young American writer who had only published online. Got to start reading her that day.
3. The absolute treasure of "free" classics. So many books I may well not have bought to read, I have downloaded and read when I can. Always wanted to read Sherlock Holmes stories again. Done. Hadn't read Jane Austen for 30 years. Done. Re-read Jack London. Done.
4. New writers. There is a wealth of free books on the Amazon site by either new writers or authors giving away one book to drag you in. Have found some real gems in amongst the rubbish and enjoyed reading other people's reviews.
5. Storage. This really is a boon. Hundreds of books sitting there. Begging me in.
6. Ease of use. When I read hardcover books now, I can't help but think "wish it was on my Kindle". They are so bulky especially when you try and read in bed.
7. The battery life is amazing. It really does last a month.
8. And it is easy to read, hold and use
9. Synchronising between Kindle and Android is great too.

I still buy printed books. Love the feel of them and still like the disposability but the Kindle fulfills most of the needs I have as a very avid reader.

As an educationist I can genuinely see them or their equivalent replacing many books in the Library. The same way that reference books have largely been supplanted by the web.

So, yes I love my Kindle!

Teaching Appraisal : Ed's 1st Year

2011-06-08T03:28:00.000-07:00

As an ex teacher and senior manager, I watched Ed's speech in London before Cameron announced his 5 "pledges".

Ed needs help! In the school environment both peers and managers observe lessons and it is common practice for teachers to get the opportunity to see their classroom style filmed and discussed. When you see your quirks and mannerisms revealed in playback it is sometimes frightening. I had no idea before I saw one of my lessons that my hands seemed never to rest and I had a few verbal tics that disturbed me greatly.

Has Ed Miliband ever been sat down in front of a TV screen with a group of colleagues and advisers and made to assess the effect of every gesture, expression and general delivery? It is desperately needed.

My assessment of his classroom performance yesterday in front of TV cameras and press?

Ed said some good things but his mannerisms and way of speaking is pretty awful. Important statements are hidden by using the wrong words without any real feeling.

Frowns and grimaces don't help your case. You demonstrated very poor presentational skills. Always remember who are you actually talking to.

Advice:
1. Watch yourself on video. Again and again. If you are not embarrassed by this performance, something is wrong
2.Don't use people's names if you might get them wrong. Referring to Patrick O'Flynn from the Express as Paddy, was not a good move. Especially when he corrected you immediately.Kids in class hate it when the teacher gets their name wrong.
3. Don't refer to "gentlemen" when it is a mixed class. You had just answered a question from a woman correspondent and then went on to address the gentlemen.
4. Use your face to show emotion as well as your hands. Your expression never matched the words or the flurry of hand gestures. Very distracting. Do I look at your hands or your face?
5. Don't make jokes without thinking through the effect they might have. Joining in with reporter initiated sarcasm is never a good idea without a genuine response.
6. Don't try to be one of the lads with the "class" in front of you. They are not your friends. Probably the most important advice for the new teacher, don't treat the "class" as your friends. They'll get you if they can!

The assembled press is not going to join you in weak jokes, they will treat you with contempt. Unfortunately for those of us watching Ed recently they are given plenty of opportunity to show it.

ED! You need to reassess your presentation style. We need you to start scoring the easy points against this bloody awful government. There is so much to attack. And the "class" wants you to take the lead.

Coalition, Cockroaches and the Welfare State

2011-06-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

During my time working in Africa for schools, I spent a week in a village in Tanzania. Villagers had no electricity or running water in their homes but the school I stayed in did. However, the week I was there, the power went down and this stopped the water running too.

Night time was never fun. I had never used a mosquito net before so each bedtime was a complicated process with no light and cackhanded attempts to seal myself into my bed sanctuary. I have to be honest and tell you I am not brave about insects and the first night the bombardment of mosquitoes attacking my little sacred place terrified me. Only a few bites in the course of the week though and my privileged western access to anti-malaria tablets meant I would be safe.

What frightened me more each night was the floor full of cockroaches. Lights off and I could hear them, torch on and I could see them scurrying into the walls. Hated it, hated them. I would lie in bed and feel them creeping up on me while the mosquitoes buzzed around trying to break down my little place of safety.

But I knew I would be OK. I had the net to protect me, the bloody expensive tablets inside me and a torch to turn on whenever I felt I wanted the roaches to run away.

This is where my thoughts on the coalition come in. We used to hear about the wonderful theory of "trickle down", the idea both Thatcher and Blair seemed to espouse. As the rich got richer, the poor would also see the benefits. But we know now "trickle down" is just the rich pissing on the poor. And that's exactly what the coalition is doing.

They are taking away ordinary people's malaria tablets, mosquito nets and light as they destroy the NHS, housing benefits and education.

I really do feel the same about the coalition as I did those bloody cockroaches.

Unfortunately, lots of them come along at the same time

2011-05-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Something said recently by David Cameron, set me thinking of the Thatcher years. He had said so many of Thatcher's ideas were now being recognised as great, suggesting I suppose that he and Gideon fully intend to continue implementing such wonderful policies as destroying the public sector, privatising anything that moves and casting another generation onto the slag heap.

But it made me think of one very practical example I lived through of how Thatcher's "grand ideas" completely changed one aspect of our society.

One person's economy is another's quality of life

In the 80's I was commuting into Waterloo, then taking two buses to get to the school I taught in, on the Old Kent Road.

When I started doing those journeys every bus had a driver and a conductor. As the Tory cuts took effect I saw the progressively deteriorating effect on travel in London. It may be apocryphal, but the Thatcher quote about only failures needing to take a bus, seemed to be evident in the transport policy concerning them.

A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure

Slowly the friendly conductor, who helped on board the old, the infirm and the young parents with kids, was got rid of. It took longer at each stop because no-one was there to direct and the driver had to take the fares, creating long hold ups of cars behind the bus. Pretty soon the drivers alone in their cabs got frightened of the passengers and heavy duty plastic screen were put in between them and the people getting on. Queues and travel in London got slower.

Once that minimal contact between driver and passenger was eliminated with tickets bought before getting on, the driver became dramatically more distant. Old people who might have been helped by a conductor, now got thrown around as driving became more erratic and less connected to the people in the bus. I saw the service deteriorate around me.

In other words buses became less of a service to the people who used them. Besides, important people didn't need them anyway.

So much of what happened under Thatcher was the elimination of care and public service. It's all happening again.

The public sector is now again being dismantled. The teams that have grown to support the people they serve are being broken up, individuals made redundant. Things that matter to ordinary people are being scrapped because the "important" ones, the millionaires in cabinet have no need for them.

That's the way it is. Let's face it, when you get on a bus how likely is it that George Osborne will be sitting next to you. His oyster card would only be used to buy the oysters to accompany his champagne.

Remembering Racism in South Africa (and so much more)

2011-05-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

An article by Victor Dlamini (link at bottom) reminded me of the privileges accorded to me as a visitor during my time working for a Charity in South Africa.

Between 2003 and 2008 I worked supporting the introduction of new technologies to the "formerly disadvantaged schools". In inverted commas because for most "formerly" was entirely the wrong word. The key initiative I worked with is a wonderful organisation that produced outcomes envied across the world and I have written in many places of our partnership work. As a visitor who spent 1/3 of the year in Africa, I was able to benefit from many advantages. The exchange rate only one of them. However, as recently reported in Trip Advisor, South Africa is one of the friendliest places on earth.

I worked with schools in many different communities across wealth and racial divides. The coloured community, which still describes itself this way, faces as many problems as the Xhosa. Schools are still poorly equipped and lacking the resources that many take for granted. I also worked with schools that were still largely white and when I visited often reminded me of visits I have made to Eton! Fantastic grounds and buildings, rowing teams and swimming pools.

I worked especially closely with some Xhosa schools in Guguletu and Khayelitsha. I loved the enthusiasm and warmth of the staff who were sometimes teaching classes of 50 learners. On several memorable occasions I took classes in ICT or Maths, speaking English to students who need that language for school work but went home to speak isiXhosa. 50 kids or more stretches ability and patience. In my attempts to be part of these groups I tried to involve myself in all aspects of school life. I managed to secure over £1/2m of support, product and sponsorship for schools here.

I was asked to formally open one school's ICT Lab on a blazingly hot Cape Town day, in a large tent erected just for that purpose. This was a big event for the whole local community and many were invited and turned up for hours of celebration, talks by education officials, local politicians and me! I went for a celebratory meal with the whole of the staff a few days earlier. It was then that they explained to me that they were expecting several hundred guests and they would be providing lunch, all cooked by the staff themselves. Chicken, pap, steamed bread, tripe, spinach etc. prepared on school grounds and on portable gas cookers. I couldn't resist! To their astonishment I said I wanted to help. They tried to tell me as the main guest, I shouldn't but agreed it would be original. Only condition, it was customary to bring a knife.

Two days later I was collected at my central Cape Town hotel at 4.30 in the morning. The early morning ride round Khayelitsha collecting some teachers without their own transport, being handed mugs of tea and various breakfast foods at every house was one I shall never forget. Not least because my "driver" was the young ICT technician who had rigged the biggest stereo system in his boot and decided that the time we were together would be my introduction to kwaito.

Arriving at the school by 6am we set to preparing food. They wouldn't trust me with the chicken, so I was set to washing spinach at an outside tap. 5 plastic sacks full of the stuff. I also got to stir the chicken as it stewed in pans.

I was presenting at 12, so I had to get changed into my suit just before, as the other guests arrived. When I emerged, hands clean and freshly scrubbed,the "important people" had arrived. I did my friendly thing and talked to all, practising my very limited isiXhosa and Afrikaans.

At one point, one of the officials, from the coloured community, took me aside. He said he had to warn me about the food. He said it was never a good idea to eat food in these "black schools" as you could never trust it, and that I as a foreigner would probably suffer. He also said that he often pretended to be Muslim, so that he could excuse himself. I am sure he meant well, but this expressed so neatly the lack of understanding between the different communities in the Western Cape.

I told him I had helped prepare the food he was being offered and I could guarantee it's hygiene and the care taken in providing it.

I have been taken many times to restaurants off the beaten track by my best friend in South Africa, the Principal of one of the biggest schools in Southern Africa with over 2000 learners. As part of the coloured community he had been on the stage with Nelson Mandela at one of his first ANC rallies in the Western Cape after his liberation. He took great pleasure taking me into places where as he said, ten years earlier he would have been refused admission. Yet when I started to arrange network meetings for schools wishing to join my schools association, I was always startled when white and black principals from the same area would admit this was the first time they had ever sat and talked.

My principal friend was shocked the first time I took him with me into Khayelitsha to visit a Xhosa school. The communities do not mix on a day to day basis. One Saturday evening colleagues from a Khayelitsha school took me out for a meal and drinks in bars in Guguletu. All of us were middle aged and the looks we got from the youngsters out on the town were of the "look at the oldies" type, rather than look at that Umlungu. Later in the evening we sat in a small informal bar. A group of men drinking with gusto on another table were clearly discussing me. Comments and gestures made that clear. To be honest I was a little worried. My colleagues however, showed no concern. When I asked them what the situation was they patiently explained that most of the men were Heads and teachers from local schools and one of them remembered me from a school visit. Racial sterotyping? Our group suddenly got much larger for the rest of the evening.

I loved my experiences and the people in South Africa. I met people from all communities dedicated to creating a new South Africa, one with opportunities for all.

But the legacy of apartheid still continues to cast a long racist shadow in so many ways.

Ubuntu: "I am what I am because of who we all are."

Partnership Project Unites African and UK Schools

Victor Dlamini http://www.citypress.co.za/Columnists/The-Cape-of-backdoor-racism-20110507

Kwaito

On being rude on Twitter (and Johann Hari)

2011-04-01T05:48:00.000-07:00

I have written here several times about the lack of basic courtesy that is often Twitter's hallmark.

I have been guilty many times. I have so enjoyed making fun of Danny (Beaker) Alexander and Nick (#noddingclegg) Clegg. I am afraid I have let my spite go to extremes when the nonsense of Govian education policy bites us once again. So because I don't know these people personally, I have been rude.

Trouble is, once you meet people here, or at least talk to them in thoughts bigger than 140 characters, I find it harder to be merely rude at their expense. It's that basic courtesy thing. Also just because you disagree on politics doesn't mean you won't share a love for John Martyn, Western Cape Pinotage or Anne Tyler.

So I have talked at length with some politicians, bloggers and educationists whose views on the Tory road to the future I violently disagree with. Isn't it better to state your view, correct theirs where you can but continue the conversation?

I love finding the slightly acidic quote or picture that backs up my gut feelings and gets others looking and commenting too.

As an ex teacher, but someone who has worked within education all my life, I prefer the staffroom discussion to the playground brawl.

I also feel we all need to be aware of criticism and adapt our own comments and views when someone takes the trouble to point out mistakes, or misinterpretations. Sometimes we keep quiet.

Yesterday lots of people were tweeting about something Churchill is supposed to have said re. the Arts. You know the one - "What then are we fighting for?" Trouble is I used that a long time ago and many people came back and told me that this was one of those myths we all like to pass on. Didn't jump up and correct yesterday because the underlying thought resonated, Tory Arts cuts are counter-productive.

Bit like the myth that I still repeat even though people tell me it is apocryphal. The one about the Tory Cabinet minister forced to travel on London Underground for the very first time? The story goes that he asked his secretary to book him into the Dining Car. Works, because we all feel that the cabinet millionaires just aren't aware of what ordinary people experience. And no, it wasn't Boris Johnson.

So, I want to listen, be amused, be engaged and occasionally be corrected. And like almost everyone else on Twitter, I want to be loved too.

Johann Hari wrote his Indy column today about how Ed Miliband needs to be better understood, to be clearer in the way he speaks.

I objected to one line, which I think was supposed to be a casual throwaway joke about isiXhosa, one of the languages of South Africa.

"In interviews,(Ed M).... will casually back up his points by referring to "the IFS", or "the OBR" – which may as well be in Xhosha click language for all it means to most people"

isiXhosa speakers hate the way those who can't reproduce the intricate sounds of their language make fun of it. He can't even be bothered to spell correctly the language of 8 million people in South Africa, 18% of the population. (Xhosa not Xhosha) Using this for his "funny" wasn't and I objected to it in the comments and on Twitter. He promptly blocked me, blocking any debate or discussion.

In South Africa the plethora of official languages in that multi-cultural society, is often the subject of the satirists.

Pieter-Dirk Uys has been satirising African politics, society and language since and during the days of apartheid. I sat in one of his performances and although my Afrikaans is limited his jokes still made me laugh and often made me cry. He told one story of problems caused by having to use all 11 official languages on signs. "Imagine someone approaching a gate and seeing all the official versions of "Beware of the Dog". By the time they had read to the bottom, the Zulu speaker would have been bitten!"

Made me laugh as this was in the context of a man who had lived through the changes, loved his country and continued to humourously criticise all he felt was still wrong.

If Twitter can add value to our perception of the world and society we need to engage in the debate and still see the humanity in the people we criticise.

I feel sorely let down by Johann Hari in that endeavour. Quite a few have responded to me by DM or in open tweets. Several comment on this growing trend. "one of those cause journalists whose main cause is his career". By "blocking he is as bad as some of those he criticises. Criticism obv OK as long as it isn't of him!"

Well yes. My thoughts too.

Johann Hari Independent Article

Pieter-Dirk Uys

all 11 official languages

Why did that chicken cross the road?

2011-03-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

The answers that people might give now

Teresa May: I am proud of our police force and it was not their fault that the chicken lost its leg

Douglas Adams: 42

Descartes: It's not pink, it's not spam

Gaddafi's security chief: Give me just five minutes alone with it and I'll find out!

Hamlet: That is not the question

Ken Clarke: I fell asleep, what was the question?

Margaret Thatcher: this chicken's not for turning

Buddha: If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken-nature

Nick Clegg: I told it my principles were on the other side

When all else fails

2011-03-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

This Government is doing what the Tories have always wanted. In Twitter I have been criticised for constantly criticising @Nick_Clegg. His supporters say that without the LibDem input this Government would have been even harsher. They might be right. The problem in my eyes is that what the Tories are achieving is so bad that this little bit of fluff called LibDem influence is hardly noticeable. And worse is that it is the worst side of the LD's that is becoming their public face. Nick Clegg's political capital is so low that if we were playing Monopoly he would definitely be represented by the Old kent Road. Danny Alexander? A man promoted beyond his ability who acts and sounds like a 6th former understudy in a very poor production of Macbeth.

But the Tories get away scot free so far. Millionaires with no link to the real lives of ordinary people take away the opportunities and chances of those ordinary people. A Conservative controlled local authority in my region is making many people redundant and asking those who remain to take a pay cut "to maintain their jobs". Cuts of between 3.5% and 5.5% are described as "necessary" and "fair". But this hides so much.

1. as well as the cut in current salary, there is a payfreeze for the next few years
2. no increments already agreed are being paid
3. this will affect future pensions as well as current salaries
4. no-one has agreed, this is action being taken without support or any attempt at union agreement
5. people left are going to have to do the work of those sacked and in some cases are being asked to oversee the downsizing of their colleagues
6. these are people doing massively important jobs that will become even more crucial as the cuts nationally hit ordinary people

And in schools we see Heads estimating 10% culls of staff in the coming year.

So the LibDems turn to the right and the Tories get what they always wanted, the privatisation of education, the NHS etc etc. But Nicky and Danny keep on nodding as they get a little taste of power.

But it did seem as if people were beginning to see it all as too much, too soon. Support for the Coalition seemed to be slipping. And people haven't even felt the full fury of the cuts as yet.

So when all else fails? Let's have a War.

Been criticised for calling it a war. But what else do you call it when planes and missiles and submarines and all the rest of it set out to kill people who have tanks and guns and fight back?

The BBC has given up any pretence of being a neutral observer. And my timeline yesterday was obsessed with two sets of conflict. #Libya and #6nations

Both sets of tweets in many instances sounded very much the same. Libyan war, Japanese disaster and genocide in Ivory Coast. Then Rugby whoops.

Which one is #libya and which one #6nations? both spectator sports? @lisacorr come on ENGLAND @heyessa That first shot is history

Many of the people I follow have accepted the government line. Please don't forget that the people we are killing are Libyans too. I don't believe we did enough in the past to help ordinary people in Libya, the Ivory Coast, Yemen, Bahrain etc etc. I don't believe we are doing enough now, just like in the UK where the Tory bullshit line is being promoted and supported by not only the media but LD's too. Read the reports of a President brutalising his people in the Ivory Coast and remember that their biggest export is chocolate.

Soyou are in the poll doldrums and don't know what to do next:

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS - START A WAR

Stephen King, Education and Coalition Horror

2011-01-28T01:36:00.000-08:00

In the nineties I taught ICT in a small mixed comprehensive in Berkshire. Having arrived there from an inner London school, I noticed a lot of differences between the kids from the two areas. If you have ever played Monopoly you will have a notion of the value of the Old Kent Road and lots of the kids who lived there didn't put a much higher value on themselves. My first few weeks in the Berkshire school on the edge of a country town was spent getting used to the accents and them getting used to mine. The country yokel cry of "Please Sir" I really thought was their attempt to take the piss out of my London voice. The willingness to stand up when asked also came as a bit of a shock. These kids were different to the multi cultural environment I had spent the first 17 years of teaching in.

Stephen King : 49 books and counting

We got used to each other though. One of the things that was exactly the same in both schools, however, was the way in which boys had distinctive tastes in literature and English teachers just couldn't understand it. In my new school most of the English Department was female throughout my time there. Every year when learners chose the novel they were going to read and write their GCSE Book review on, the same problems emerged. Lots of the boys wanted to adopt a Stephen King Horror and most of the staff tried to dissuade them.

There was the underlying feeling that "King was trash" and something more "literary" and appropriate should be selected. In the last few years we have heard a lot about how the Harry Potter books have got kids reading, well 20 years ago I think King did the same thing for teenage boys.

Running ICT access meant I got lots of students asking me for assistance when they were doing research. A common complaint was the hostility many felt when a King book was their choice. Some of them kept at it, often choosing the nastiest title they could find, just to be awkward. A bit like fumbling with fags behind the bike sheds, or trying to get to porn sites in the ICT Lab. All bravado.

But I have always loved Stephen King's books. I love the ability to tell a story that starts with real life events and real life people that you care about and want to learn about. Rarely do I pick a King book up and not want to keep going until I reach the end of the story. Some of his novels are sensational rubbish but some of them I would seriously place among the best written in the English language. And for anyone who has never picked up one of his stories and has a snobbish view of them, read one: that's a challenge!

I would say Misery, Dorothy Claiborne and Hearts in Atlantis are among the best. The novellas such as Stand By Me and Shawshank, superb.The horror is subsidiary to the suspense and character development in most of his writing.

So to go back to the nineties. I was called to arms! I thought I should take up the cause of the King and argue my point on behalf of all the boys who wanted to do their review of one of his.

When I got my chance to put my case and talk about the language, the writing skills, the story telling ability, I was a bit shocked. At the time I did this, none of the teachers had read any King. It wasn't part of their cultural background. It wasn't what they knew. They had no experience of reading what the people they were responsible for liked or kept them going. They dismissed the aspirations of this group of boys who wanted to read what they wanted to read, not what someone else foisted on them. Hopefully, most of these boys went on to read a much bigger collection of literature but often the set books became hated books because they were made to read them.

I have this relationship with Dickens. Bleak House was my set book at A level. I was told to read it. Never did and still haven't up to this day.

So, a few points there but a wider one. Watched Andrew Neil's Posh and Posher yesterday. Apart from the fact that Mr Neil needs someone to explain to him what Comprehensives really are and do, and that if all the private schools were closed as Labour should have done in 1997 then education for all would be so much better; apart from all that it is pretty damn clear that all the millionaires from Eton and Oxford and Cambridge in the Cabinet have no idea what people in UK are really like.

No idea at all. They don't share our relationship with the world. Osborne needn't worry about cuts, his Trust fund will carry on isolating him. Gove can carry on organising the world so that schools reflect the education he suffered. Because none of them are really linked in to what people really want or see. There is good stuff going on in our communities. Stuff that the millionaires don't see, don't understand and don't care about.

Reminds me of Stephen King and the English teachers.

TIES - the novel. Free Intro chapter

2010-12-28T07:11:00.000-08:00

Its funny how someone can learn so much about themselves from telling someone else. You start to talk and you start creating a person who you want to exist. You begin by making things up. Then the way you tell the story means that it really does become true. The person you are talking about becomes the one you want to be. Love has a funny effect on everything

He picked up the tie and ran its softness through his fingers. Silky, smooth and such a contrast to the haze of colours that seemed almost deliberate in their sensual assault. He would never have worn this tie in any other situation but the one he was about to become a willing part of. For so many years now he had worn the easy forgotten but nonetheless declaration ties. Crisp and unaccentuated. Eyes were drawn to them but did not linger. Nothing there to draw conclusions from except the quality, the very essence of a wearer who didn’t need to try. The few times he had stepped away from this notion of the inscrutable he had been acutely, irrevocably embarrassed. Not just for himself but also for all the eyes that had rested on the affirmation round his neck and moved on rapidly in case they were forced to learn much more than they wanted to know. But now the tie was finally resurrected because it was time to meet its maker.

He had never even once considered throwing this tie away. Many other experiments, gifts and novelties had been discarded or disposed of when they became splattered with the residues of a great night out. Some had been used to tie the tops of rubbish sacks closed that had been filled with worn out shirts and trousers. Some had never even shared the wrinkled privileges of his neck. Yet this one tie had survived all the style rebellions, even if its place had slowly been re-ordered like layers on a computer graphics program or the objects in a PowerPoint presentation. The thought made him think that metaphor was good. Some computer presentations looked lean and right, others were cluttered with detail that distracted and diminished. Too much business, too much of everything. A lot of ties seemed to have the same effect. But this only made him worry was he talking metaphors or similes? Never sure but always worried. Worry seemed to hang from him, dripped down his carefully ironed shirt front, left him bathed in the sweat of regret.

Still this tie was so many things to him. Yes, it reminded him of some bitter memories from a time in his life when he felt uncertain about certainties, uncommitted to his commitments. Had there been another time like that? When had he ever felt so powerless and yet so totally involved? She had let him believe the impossible; she had encouraged dreams that wouldn’t last half a minute in the cold light of a New Cross sunset or the warm haze of a Nyanga daybreak. Yet she never lied. She talked to him of Chris, she told the fluid stories that made up the cold river of her life. She told him what Chris was and who he was and what he could do in anger or in sorrow. Or in both.

She had sought out his new; uncluttered and genuine warmth but never made him warm. She had brokered sympathy and affection, shown it but never let it move on. He could accuse her of nothing. She had always told the truth however much it hurt him. She needed somewhere to hide, someone to hide her. She asked for his help and he had given her everything, always knowing it would never be enough. He was compensation and he compensated for what she missed but he never once replaced or completed. She loved him honestly. She treated him to honesty but it was never enough for him. He showed what he felt but always held that final passion in check. Her need was not the same as his. He could satisfy hers, while she would never do the same for him.

She told him how much she loved Chris while living in his bed. She let him touch her, caress her and care for her but never let it slide down the wet and oily slope to more. She never allowed him into the silky forest of her desires. He was grateful for her bounty and her beauty. He knew if they were ever found together in this innocence they would not be understood. He knew that Chris would take him to blame, would turn his fierce cruelty on him first and her continuously and forever. The fragile structure of his care would be ripped beyond repair. Because although she had to now, for the present she could never really get away. Neither did she want to. His softness and kindness was just an interlude, a brief escape from what she really needed. However hard he tried to show that warmth and love was a better way to live, she still yearned for Chris’ hardness, his jagged steel, his rough demanding ego. His strength, his lack of care that seemed to make her feel she was all he needed.

But she had made him this tie. He hadn’t known of its existence until it was completely formed. He hadn’t seen the gradual steps to completion while she lived and ate and slept with him. He found it only after her departure, with a note that said simply thank you. She left his enveloping arms, his too enthusiastic caring and went back to someone who never showed he cared but seemed to have everything she wanted if never what she needed.

The note admitted nothing. The tie had said it all. Somehow she had quickly come to realise that he was not the free unfettered spirit he wanted to be. She knew his life would take a different turn. Would grow the heavy layers that would hide his secret desires and ambitions. She had been right. As always.

So here he was, finding the tie that she had known he would still possess. Finding a shirt that didn’t scream for separation from the delicate shades of this so soft thing. This was the first time he had heard from her directly in what? Twenty years? He had seen her briefly in strange and awkward situations. He had touched her once as they passed each other in a room full of people he was supposed to know better than her. People who he shared ideas and theories and visions with. But none had touched him in the way she had. They had exchanged startled looks, had stopped but had found the present movement of their lives had been just too strong to hang the moment on. The cold river moved on, shivering gently all the corpses buried too deep to rescue. The current was still so strong, entering that torrent again was what he wanted but he no longer had the strength to brave it. He could never carry them both again. Too many rivers had carried him; too many waters had kept him afloat. He longed to jump in but caution was finally too strong even for someone who felt he had passed again the one who had completed his soul. And torn it apart.

He was changed; he no longer hankered after someone from another life. But he had made some promises and he would keep them. Perhaps that man was here again. 50 years of birthdays had brought him 50 little people to share his life with. Every one of them demanded his attention. Every one of them was there. Every one had fought the long battle to work out who he was but every one was different.

His life had changed. He was now a man who earnt his living by making money for others. All the great ideals of 20 years ago were buried and forgotten. All the aching need for music and art had slipped away, just like she did. In the night. Across the river. Breaking ties.

And now it was nighttime again. And he was back at the river. She wanted him to sort it out for her like he had that time before. This time it wasn’t just one man coming back to get her. This time it would be all of them. All the vicious, the unkind, the cold, the grabbers and the takers. The people who never took their turn in the queue for loving kindness. The people who saw other people as unnecessary accessories, as extras, as cold meat. No man is an island but plenty become a fortress and love to watch the shattered bodies on the rocks below. Why did they seem alluring? Why did these men who never showed the beat of human kindness offer strange attraction? Chris was one of them, but she was his.

This time he would be fighting for real. He had never struck out in violence before. Words had always been the answer but these people weren’t reasoners, weren’t the rational, weren’t family men. But they were the Family. This time he had to do it for real. No game. No songs, no poetry.

Life itself had come back to haunt him. The little man he was all those years ago was still there, still inside him. But he would do it. For her. Ties? For real.

#govedefinitions - Defining the ridiculous

2010-12-21T02:28:00.000-08:00

Gove needs some good advice on Education. He also needs some good advisers. I would readily offer to do the job but as I have worked in education all my life, I am probably someone he won't even talk to. After all to Mr Gove, Education professional is really an oxymoron.

What he wants is non-professionals setting up "free" schools, without qualified teachers, no restraints on the curriculum and essentially a return to the conditions in schools when he was just a lad. Latin, Dryden and blazers. His recipe for a successful school.

Yesterday we started a hashtag #govedefinitions that got lots of the twitterati coming forward with some excellent new versions of what we understood as education seen through the eyes of Mr Gove. Enjoy!

@alanmills405
#govedefinitions British Education. A new game for millionaires to play with the future of ordinary people.
#govedefinitions Qualified Teacher. ex-soldier about 20 hours ago via web
#govedefinitions Intelligent Debate. Daily Mail comment
#govedefinitions Success. What I did at school
#govedefinitions Geography. All the red bits on the map
#govedefinitions History. Kings and Queens of England
#govedefinitions Wider opportunities. Pardon?
#govedefinitions Trained School Support Staff. Who?
#govedefinitions School Blazer. The means by which a teacher maintains discipline and enthusiasm in their class
#govedefinitions Teacher. Anybody
#govedefinitions Technology. Chalk and blackboard.
#govedefinitions Latin. A dead language essential for the modern curriculum
#govedefinitions Education Professional. The enemy

r@ssat Holiday education fun from @alanmills405 - follow #govedefinitions and RT

@BorisWatch #govedefinitions 'Freeing schools from dogma' = 'Forcing schools to accept my dogma'
#govedefinitions 'Putting the teacher in charge of schools' = 'Putting Toby Young in charge of teachers'

@MattSL Matt Lent
#govedefinitions life skills: Speaking Latin, royal chronology & knowing how to pass a 2 hr exam to prove 2 yrs worth of learning
#govedefinitions streaming: different schools for the rich and for the poor

@ColinTGraham Colin Graham
#govedefinitions Government and Governor: both begin with Gove, the end doesn't matter.
#govedefinitions Religious Education = something the Minister for Schools does... oh, maybe not it's that Gibb chappy.
Teachers: Units of spending RT @homayon: #govedefinitions Students: Units of funding
#govedefinitions MFL is speaking English very loudly and very slowly for those who cannot converse adequately in Latin

@homayon Homayon Zeary
#govedefinitions Students: Units of funding
#govedefinitions 21st century skills: repetition, repetition, repetition oh and Latin!

@ColinTGraham Colin Graham
#govedefinitions STEM: well in my book it means to stop, as in "stem the flow" but I suppose it could be part of a flower, didn't do botany

@tonyparkin Tony Parkin
A big thanks owed to @alanmills405 for the best meme fun this month! #govedefinitions was sheer creative genius :)

@ColinTGraham Colin Graham
#govedefinitions Combining DT and ICT: making hollerith machines using empty cereal packets and knitting needles, or watching Blue Peter...

@tonyparkin Tony Parkin
#govedefinitions Teachers Pet: that Jeremy rhyming slang, ever since him and those sporty types ganged up on me, just like at school
#govedefinitions BETT Show: It's odds-on that I won't show and will send little Gibb Minor...

@ColinTGraham Colin Graham
#govedefinitions Physical Education = using a big stick and beating them till they get it right.
#govedefinitions BSF = not quite mad cow disease but near enough to ban it anyway

@tonyparkin Tony Parkin
RT @gvibe: @tonyparkin liking your #govedefinitions (why, thank you kindly Ma'am. @alanmills405 came up with a cracker there
#govedefinitions Mobile learning : putting up more portakabins in schools instead of that wasteful BSF #ukedchat
#govedefinitions Parental Engagement: is not good enough... we expect them all to be married and churchgoing. #ukedchat
#govedefinitions Principals: what we in Coalition respect and value. Principles: what we in Coalition don't have and don't need #UKEdchat
#govedefinitions Class teaching: dividing up students naturally into their respective social and economic groups for educational purposes
#govedefinitions Transforming learning : wiring up the students' metal chairs to ensure the correct responses in SATs tests #UKEdchat
#govedefinitions Bullying: the creative force that made me the snide vituperative weasel that I am today #UKEdchat
#govedefinitions Student Voice - how a pupil responds when spoken to by a teacher, and not before! #UKEdchat
#govedefinitions 'Becta: the Future' - the new DfE film where we travel back in time to an education without new-fangled digital technology

@ColinTGraham Colin Graham
#govedefinitions "Finding new money" = damn, there goes the moat and the duck house...

@tonyparkin Tony Parkin
#govedefinitions I'm in favour of diversity - it's just like university, but you have two of them?

@ColinTGraham Colin Graham
#govedefinitions Grammar: omnes quaestiones et communicationem agi tantum latine
#govedefinitions modernization: allowing the use of slide-rules in maths exams, on a trial basis for A-level only...

@thewritertype paul bassett davies
#govedefinitions "Pupils." Juvenile nuisances. A necessary evil in order to obtain funding in the education business.

@ocm102 Olly May
Very much enjoying #govedefinitions

tafkam1979 Tafkam TES
Very much enjoying #govedefinitions

@camaxwell Colin Maxwell
Continuing Professional Development: Drill in the playground with Sergeant Major #govedefinitions

@jamperfect Jamie Perfect
#govedefinitions an ideology based on turning every state school into an independent school because it worked for him.

@superdooperal Alison Livesey
#govedefinitions School Governor (archaic).
#govedefinitions Holidays- the bit in between tests

@bootleian John Connor
@markpurves Have a look at #govedefinitions - it's not just us!

@BorisWatch Boris Watch
#govedefinitions 'The proper course of British history' = 'Only the bits where foreigners = targets for Our Boys'
#govedefinitions 'Putting the teacher in charge of schools' = 'Putting Toby Young in charge of teachers'
#govedefinitions 'Freeing schools from dogma' = 'Forcing schools to accept my dogma'

@AsherJac Asher Jacobsberg
@MattSL I think you've got that the wrong way round, according to #govedefinitions it's quill pens to replace computers, isn't it?

@MattSL Matt Lent
#govedefinitions modernisation: fountain pens to replace quills
#govedefinitions decentralised education system: schools do what I say, but I don't get the blame when it goes wrong

@camaxwell Colin Maxwell
Citizenship: 'how to vote tory' #govedefinitions

@sharland Brian Sharland
#govedefinitions EMA: this definition has no funding
#govedefinitions pupil premium: one of nick cleggs pipedreams

@drugforum Andrew Brown
#govedefinitions guidance: unnecessary bureaucracy

@richardsw16 Richard Semmens
#govedefinitions EMA - Extra Money (for new)Academies

@CreativeEdu Pooky Hesmondhalgh
Not sure how to channel your creative juices now school's out?Think up some #govedefinitions #UKEdChat

@MattSL Matt Lent
@alanmills405 loving #govedefinitions

@dorristheloris Kelly Rennie
#govedefinitions QTS: Quasso, Territo, Sepelio (break,frighten, destroy)

@MattSL Matt Lent
#govedefinitions citizenship: being 'British'

@MultiMartin Martin Waller
RT @MattSL #govedefinitions student participation: putting your hands up to speak

@MattSL Matt Lent
#govedefinitions student participation: putting your hands up to speak

@sharland Brian Sharland
#govedefinitions ICT: an excellent subject on the study of how the telegraph helped forge the British empire
#govedefinitions computing: an excellent subject on the study of the Babbage machine
#govedefinitions going to correct my first definition
#govedefinitions PE: physical education and sport is a ... (this definition is only half funded)

@superdooperal Alison Livesey
#govedefinitions School days what teachers find themselves in after reading the Education White Paper

@sueellendixon sue dixon
#govedefinitions ICT: an excellent and relevant subject on the study of the wonderful Babbage
#govedefinitions parents - source of top up funding for schools whose budgets have been cut

@dorristheloris Kelly Rennie
#govedefinitions Teacher. Anybody who can afford to put up a few bobfor their own (FREE) school before Gove repays em OUR cash

@jowinchester Jo
#govedefinitions MFL - Latin/Hebrew in 60 hours for 4 yrs then wonder why rest of world seems to be better than us at language

@ronggordon Ron Gordon
#govedefinitions MP: nice little earner alongside £200 k columnist job allowing 3yrs max expenses & flipped home

@ssat SSAT
Holiday education fun from @alanmills405 - follow #govedefinitions and RT #ukedchat

@sueellendixon sue dixon
#govedefinitions An anathema - Thinking, critically adept children who question their educators and politicians
#govedefinitions History curriculum - the truth as we will now be told it
#govedefinitions phonics phonics phonics - the cure to all ills? Deny any good practice phonics them to death
#govedefinitions Local Authorities - a place to lay all the blame and deny any interference
#govedefinitions loving the creative suggestions. ' Free schools' - where the poor children will press their noses on the glass looking in

@philallman1 Phil Allman
#govedefinitions real terms increase in sch budget. about a 5% cut
#govedefinitions school sport. Rugger, football, cricket...in fact all those teams I was too weedy to get into...sob, sob
#govedefinitions Prefects. Those bullies that tormented me when I was at school...until I became one

@CreativeEdu Pooky Hesmondhalgh
Not sure how to channel your creative juices now school's out?Think up some #govedefinitions as started by @alanmills405

@ronggordon Ron Gordon
#govedefinitions Headteacher: anybody who was once in army

@dorristheloris Kelly Rennie
#govedefinitions Teacher. Anybody [who can speak Latin and quote from Heart of Darkness]

@Didy64 Diane
@alanmills405 Loving your #govedefinitions - would be funnier if they weren't so close to truth

@bobharrisonset Bob Harrison
RT @alanmills405: #govedefinitions Technology. Chalk and blackboard. and Gibb in charge of ICT?

a very small blog

2010-12-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

The coalition continues to destroy so much of the good work of the Labour years and lie as they do it.

Keep passing on this Captain SKA - Liar Liar video

EMA
Surestart
SingUp and local Music services

The list continues to grow.

All over the country colleagues are being prepared for redundancies in Local Authorities and education linked services.

All of this is being directed by a cabinet composed of millionaire tax avoiders. Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Danny Alexander really should be ashamed. They are loving the limos and the feeling of power but they are being ruthlessly manipulated by Cameron, Osborne and Gove.

In the meantime all the good things that Brown's party espoused are being whittled away. Music for all is disappearing as LA Music Services lose government funding and Council support. New Tech projects disappear and BSF puts school development back 20 years.

Yet I still wish we could argue from principle and not with spite. We know we are right so lets make the point with humour but without personal invective.

Insult Clegg and his lack of principle but avoid the simple insult. Point out Alexander's lack of integrity and inability to explain himself but lets do it by attacking his arguments, not just his intelligence. I want to be part of the discussion not the playground fights. Let's hope the "bloody noses" we inflict are metaphorical.

Rodents, Rudeness and Nadine

2010-11-02T02:39:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I love about Twitter is the way we all get so excited about rumours and insults.

One of the things I hate about Twitter is the way we all get so excited about rumours and insults.

I sat and watched Danny Alexander, speaking on behalf of the coalition in the CSR debate, with my mouth wide open in amazement.

Is that a good definition of "gobsmacked" ?
He seemed unable to put forward an argument of his own, or respond to questions with any semblance of authority. In the background, Osborne sat and smirked. Alexander seemed to me like a very sad understudy in a pretty poor school production of Hamlet. He knows he is not the firat choice, he knows he is not really up to it and he knows everyone is looking at him. So he blusters.

I tweeted frantically during the debate and I was rude about poor little Danny. When he first came on the scene before the election, I compared him frequently to Harry Potter, without the magic. In fact I think the term "charisma bypass" could have been invented just for him. As a fellow Tweeter wrote. "he has been promoted far beyond his ability." And he clearly knows it. What makes it worse is that alongside Clegg he has sold out on any pretence of protecting his principles.

So there are plenty of opportunities for humour at his expense. Even his party leader joined in the fun, likening him to Beaker in the Muppets.

Then there is the Nadine Dorries story or stories. I have previously written about attending a Tweetminster event and being impressed by @Nadine_MP, @KerryMP and Jo as they explained their view of politics and social media. What didn't impress me was the pathetic comments by people tweeting at the same time. Some of these comments (which were displayed on screens in the same room) were both rude and childish. Views on what the speakers were wearing did nothing to raise the level of debate. I had the chance to speak to both Kerry and Nadine after the event and both showed a willingness to communicate in a friendly manner. I am a Labour Party member and made that clear, but Nadine argued without rancour unlike some of the Tory bloggers also in on the conversation who seemed obsessed with the silly.

So, I have followed Nadine's blog and her intermittent tweeting. Clearly she has some answers to give. The blog's inaccuracies can't simply put down to "protecting her brood". The references to stalkers and psycopathic bloggers are unacceptable without real evidence which doesn't seem to have been provided. So she has let herself down badly. There is much of Nadine's philosophy and politics which I totally disagree with. But occasionally she writes sense and when she does, it should be read and engaged with, not dismissed with the same old attacks. She recently tweeted about her improving opinion of the BBC, she tweeted a defence of Harriet Harman over the rodent comments and she wrote in the Daily Mail a reasoned case for the emergency contraceptive.

The problem with Twitter and blogs is that attack positions are assumed without reading the original stimulus info. I am sad that so much is vicious, so much is like like kids in the playground encircling two kids and shouting "Fight!". Harry Hill seemed to get that right.

So I admit to enjoying making rude remarks about the rodent and I enjoyed Harman's theatrical comments about the same. But I just wish we were able to concentrate more on the issues involved. Those of us with a point to make about the awful coalition, the LibDem turncoats, the devastation of the cuts, the hypocrisy of the cabinet millionaires and the way our society is being torn apart in a repeat of the Thatcher years, need to weigh our contributions carefully. If we alienate people through petty rudeness will the rotten rodent win?

A flower in time: a fairy story for Africa

2010-10-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

A flower in time: a fairy story

He had never travelled so far. One night’s journey took him further than his imagination ever stretched. Took him beyond the familiar into the unknown. Even the stars were different, even the sky seemed a different colour. Blue and black and white, filtered through an atmosphere of such immense dense feeling that he felt able to take it piece by piece and leave it shaking at his feet. He needed a guide to how this new world worked, what it meant, what it could be. He found one.

Africa saw him as different but taught him what he needed to know to survive in a world stripped of personal experience. She showed him ways to be and ways to do. She guided him through labyrinths of misconception and histories of misunderstandings. He helped her see that not all men were quite the same. Not all wanted to take. He showed her how by giving he fulfilled both their destinies. Sharing problems brought them closer and brought them joy.

Africa was not just the story of the township children or the poolside gins and braais. It was the smiles of the educator with the laptop for the first time, the cocktail party where the white principal met his black counterpart from across the fence. He learnt to love the people and the peoples, the land; the landed and the landless.

Yet she could never quite believe that he would stay to see the whole world. She saw him learn to love the country he found himself in. She knew he loved being there and learning all about the place she called a home. But she was frightened that he would not follow all the careful routes she laid out cautiously for him. He wanted to take the road she indicated but could not burn the bridges behind while she put a shocking match to the ones ahead.

She set him a task that he needed to fulfil to convince her that this land she loved he would truly, actually and sincerely call his own. Before she would commit herself to him and always be his guide he must learn and love and lose himself in the world that surrounded him. He must bring her a gift. Not his love, not his care, not his attention, not his faithfulness, not his passion, not his time. All of these he had brought, had shown and laid on the altar he had made at her feet.

She asked him to bring the country’s fabled flower to her. This would be the gift that proved it all. His faith in her and her spirit. It bloomed just once a year and showed all the blacks and blues of the wide-open skies that crowned the spaces of this world. No spirit had seen this flower for centuries but it figured in the fevered imagination of all that world’s delirious souls. At first he argued and protested. He did not want to leave, he did not want to run from where his heart felt safe to search for something he did not yet believe in. But he knew she needed him to prove he believed in everything she said and did. He would search for this as a proof of all he had come to believe.

She bid him farewell. She did not believe he would ever be able to find the flower. She did not believe he had gone to come back. She whispered merely that he had gone.

He was gone for what seemed eternity and never said where he had been, where he had gone, what he had done. He allowed her only to know that he had gone further than he had ever travelled before in that country that he wanted to call his own. He had no history of time to set all this in. Or when he might return. He knew he had just one task. Time was irrelevant. He talked to the growers, the makers and the dreamers across the nation. Where would he find this flower? What should he look for? Which landscape would bring him closer to the gift he had to find? The last gardener he met was himself a legend. Known, respected and loved. He took him to a small garden, tended with love and protected only by the beauty of its plants. The last gardener told him that although he had never found the mythical flower this was where it would grow if it was intended to be found. The searcher wanted guarantees but knew they would never find them or him.

The gardener told him that often what you grew turned out to be what you had wanted all along. A being had to wait and see what simply appeared. The ancestors would bring the dream to him when the ancestors thought it was right.

He returned to the spirit of his dreams with the gift she wished him to bring. The plant had no flower, no colour, it was simply the seed. She could not see if it was blue or black or white. She could not see the flower it might become. She had to trust him. She had to believe that what he offered might blossom and grow into the fabled flower of love. The season now was wrong but time would see it flower.

It would take a year before they could see if the gift he brought was the gift that she had once demanded. But she was hopeful that by then she wouldn’t care.

The Coalition : the new Marx Brothers?

2010-10-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
Before I speak, I have something important to say.
If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again.
Groucho Marx

If only there was a real satire programme left on TV. That twerp Hislop is just a bitter and twisted posh twit. I can never forgive him for the constant rudeness and insults to Gordon Brown that went far beyond humour. And Bremner seems to be laying low. Can't he do a Gove impression?

But Gove is crying out to be properly satirised. He is almost his own caricature. His plans for the new curriculum, while saying he intends to Free up teachers through the Free schools, are beyond belief. I was teaching PSE in an inner London comp when Thatcher's government was trying to make "promoting homosexuality" a crime, I just wanted one of them to come to one of my lessons. I only had to mention gay rights in the classroom to provoke the choral response from the boys of "Sir's a poofter". The idea that teachers were promoting homosexuality was ludicrous and born out of the Tory government's complete disclocation from real life.

Gove's plans for poetry seem to be based on his interests and rarefied school experience. Teaching Dryden to 13 years olds? Teaching any poetry is hard enough but stuff with no relevance to a teenager is a recipe for anarchy.

Then there is little Michael's offer to open up unused (and presumably unwanted) DFE offices for new "Free" schools. An old water cooler and dusty desks is not the sort of resource many teachers will see as ideal. What about play areas, sports facilities. dining halls, assembly areas?

And as for Osborne..... a man who has lived on a £4m Trust fund telling real people that their prospects, benefits and aspirations are going to be cut.

Osborne and Gove are the brothers we expected from the Tory club but Clegg and Cable? Didn't we expect a bit more?

OK, we have the evidence that Clegg lied before the election video http://tinyurl.com/y6ld7fg but did they think before they betrayed their party and joined hands with this upper class bunch of clowns?

Groucho said he didn't want to belong to any club that would have him as a member. There's something there for the LibDems to consider. My message to Clegg and Cable is also from the wise words of Groucho...
Next time I see you, remind me not to talk to you.

A Coalition of Clowns - Big Top Big Society

2010-07-22T03:32:00.001-07:00

The BIG TOP - Big Society

Dave decides to rewrite history, Nick can't answer questions until he has asked himself the question first and Osbornegump? Well he just smirks.

A coalition of clowns?

And then there is Michael Gove.
in blazer.
with adviser
and demonstrating his plans for the state education sector .

Clowns have those big feet and Gove has certainly been stomping all over the educational community in the last few weeks.

Talking to Headteachers in the last few months, it is clear there is no great enthusiasm for the new Academies. They want new buildings, more money and greater control of their school's curriculum. Gove has disappointed many with the BSF fiasco and when you get down to the detail you discover that even with new academy governance, new money won't be flooding in. In the meantime, all the expertise, local knowledge and local history built up in the Local Authority teams will be lost.

Once you destroy such a team, it is next to impossible to get it together again. Corporate history and the basics of getting things done for the benefit of the local community will disappear with the LA staff forced to hawk their services elsewhere.

In the Academies Bill debate yesterday, Glenda Jackson made an impassioned appeal for schools as part of their communities. The education world Gove is creating, is a return to the competition, to the lack of local collaboration that initiatives such as trust schools started to create.

Clowns are supposed to make you laugh. But an awful lot of people are terrified of clowns.(Coulrophobia)

I am terrified of what this lot of clowns will do. Big Society? Big Top.

#Osbornegump - a millionaire among us

2010-06-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Judging from Twitter, I am not alone in feeling a sense of nausea whenever George Osborne or Michael Gove smile. There is something so sickeningly slimey and crappily confident in the policies they are imposing upon us.

I went to Wikipedia George to learn more about Gideon. Some key details that explain how this man is where he is today.

Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in Ireland as the Ascendancy. He is the heir to the Osborne baronetcy
Originally named Gideon, he changed his name to George when he was 13. In an interview in July 2005, Osborne said: "It was my small act of rebellion."
Attended Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, where he received a 2:1 in Modern History.
He has an estimated personal fortune of around £4 million, as the beneficiary of a trust fund

So the man who is now in charge of our economic destiny has never had any formal education in economics and never done any work connected to it.
In fact the only connection is that he is a VERY rich man!

So there he sits in a cabinet along with 20 other millionaires and dispenses wisdom. He decides the fate of millions of ordinary people from the comfort zone of his own millions.

So, I started thinking. Who does he remind me of? Nonsense statements wrapped up in sentimental platitudes about the "good old days" ? A hazy view of history?

F O R R E S T G U M P ! #osborne gump

So forgive the following slight alterations to some Gump quotations.

"My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates.You never know
what you'll get but the rich always get the goodies."

Recruit Officer: Have you given any thought to your future, son? Osborne Gump: "Thought"?

Stupid is as stupid does. (didn't have to change this one!)

"You have to do the best with what God gave you and millionaires like us will always get the best"

Hello. My name's Osborne, Osborne Gump. You want a pay cut?

Mama always said, dying was a part of life and now I am in charge of the NHS the poor will see it quicker

The coalition's slogan, led by osbornegump, appears to "we're all in this together". Great from a cabinet of 21 millionaires. Don't expect to sit next to them on the bus, queuing with them at the A & E, waiting with them for the teacher at the parents evening or collecting the reduced job seekers allowance.

So I am now pushing for #osbornegump to be Gideon's official hashtag.

Join me? or follow me on Twitter

Let's all at least try to be heard. "If the baby does not cry or cry out it can die on your back" xhosa proverb

The Tories, and the education they think parents want

2010-04-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

So we have seen the manifesto from the Tories.

But haven't those of us in education, heard it all before? Michael Gove still seems to think that the education he got, will solve all the problems for schools in the 21st Century.

He still talks about parents wanting children schooled in straight lines about Kings and battles. What good do dates and lists do any of us? In the last few months I have read Hilary Mantel's excellent, prize winning "Wolf Hall" and watched the Carry On Henry film with a raucous Sid James as the King and a baffling Barbara Windsor as the a substitute Anne Boleyn. Both have the same historical background.

I studied that period for my A level History course. Did it do me any good at all to make sense of the events in each story?

More important history to consider in the last few weeks of the election, would be the terrible damage done by the last conservative education ministers under Margaret Thatcher.

Remember the leaky classrooms, the demoralised teachers, the old schools with no hope of renewal?

Well Michael Gove's vision of a new education system sounds remarkably like that historical period. A return to Grammar schools, to pre-comprehensive divisions, to strange starchy curricula even at the primary stage, to school blazers, to latin etc.

So can we all be grateful for what Labour achieved an firmly reject Gove's Etonian vision?

Being a "hat" in South Africa 2010

2010-04-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

Every step of the route to the ATM had been carefully plotted. Getting cash from a machine in a busy thoroughfare should be easy, but not always in Cape Town. Too many beggars and potential thieves, too many worries about what comes next. But the ABSA in St George’s Mall was in view of lots of street tables and bars. Should be safe, should be easy.

So, the language had been selected, the transaction, complete and all that was left was for the paper rands to emerge from their safe little hole. A few flashing lights and it was all done, card in breast pocket, cash following, then an urgent voice over the shoulder.

“Hey Man, you haven’t signed out”. I turned to see who was being so helpful. Well dressed young man, suit and open necked shirt. Clean, tidy and non- aggressive.

“I don’t need to do any of that, I got my card back and the right amount of cash”.

He smiled, friendly but supercilious.

“You’re not a local are you? If you don’t check out, sign out, the next person can insert a card and read your stuff.”

The liberal white man in me checked out my reactions. This was a well mannered (well meaning?) black man, on a busy street with lots of people around. He stepped back, he didn’t crowd me, he had offered me advice. I took it, even though I knew he was wrong. I didn’t want to show him a lack of respect.

I put my card back in the slot, I did the business and made sure I checked out carefully. I turned, said thanks to him and he took my place at the ATM. I moved on. I patted my breast, felt the reassuring edge of my credit card, the warmth of the small wad of notes and headed on my way to a bar, to a drink and some more talk. The sun was warm, not hot. I passed a few “hats”, English or German, who were looking over the South African tourist goodies on a stall, all of which had been imported from Nigeria or DRC. I felt that little edge of knowing, I was almost a native. I knew my way round these streets. Knew the best place for a good coffee, knew which eating houses slapped on the rand for the visitor and thought I knew what to be frightened of on the streets in the bright afternoon light.

Six weeks later, I opened up the envelope with the bill from MasterCard and saw somewhere on the streets of the Mother City, someone had been free and easy with the card I still had close to my heart. Free with buying petrol, easy in Pricerite, free and easy as they bought some fancy threads in Woolworths. My doubtful moment when I thought I could not show any distrust when the nice young Xhosa man offered advice had cost me ten thousand quid and a whole lot more. Bhuti!

The name on the card no longer belonged to me.

Communicate with an even better "Talking Tutor"

2010-02-10T03:08:00.000-08:00

EMAS UK is a UK based company that wants to be able to support teachers to teach and children to learn, whatever their home language happens to be. It was created because teachers and local authority advisors asked them to help with resources for non English speaking children that were arriving in their schools. The approach needed to be simple and logical, have a large number of resources, be in as many languages as possible and be able to be accessed in seconds. They created the Digital Resource Library. The Digital resources base has around 200 languages of resources, some filled with more than others, a simple to use web site log in that downloads PDF resources in seconds and is constantly growing. This gives the school 12 months unlimited access for a whole primary school access and the cost is £195.

EMAS UK wanted to be able to support teachers and pupils even further and so they created Talking Tutor. Talking Tutor was developed because teachers asked if there was some tech solution to allow them to speak to the newly arrived non English speaking pupil in their own language. EMAS has created an educational tutor that speaks in 14 languages. This has proved successful for communication with both parents and pupils. It means that a new arrivals parents could be asked direct questions such as age, address etc. It also means that the teacher can talk directly to a new pupil in their home language. This could be a revolution in welcoming new children into the classroom. But the team at EMAS UK has done more. Teachers and school staff wanted more languages so more have been developed giving 24 languages in total.

Schools also wanted to be able to communicate properly with parents and pupils, holding two way conversations, and they wanted the ability for parents and pupils to be able to talk back. This was the start of Two Can Talk, a two way communication system that speaks in any of the two chosen languages, allowing communication to be developed into relationship building and being able to offer real help to some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

EMAS UK has launched the first talking communicator that works between languages. No software to load, no network issues, instant availability any time anywhere there is Internet connectivity, simply access the website and start using the communication tools. It is important that schools are aware it is not a translation tool but a communication aid, some words and sentences do not translate exactly, but it works at sentence level and contextual level to give the most appropriate sentence in the language of the user.

Talking Tutors’ Two Can Talk is as simple as typing, simply type in the text you want to say, choose a language to communicate in and press the say it button. The avatar then speaks the sentence in the chosen language, there’s also written text alongside. This supports learning by encouraging the link between written language and pronunciation. It is an ideal way to improve language skills by using the computer to model vocabulary by practising saying what is on screen. Two Can Talk can be used to speak between any of the 24 languages; the input language can be changed to allow language use between other language speakers. This helps develop the personalised learning agenda and helps the school to promote inclusive teaching regardless of language.

Using Two Can Talk is as simple as using Instant Messenger but with the confidence of having a language specialist at your side. Schools are reporting that they are using Talking Tutor to communicate with parents on the telephone, and by letter, as well as in person. One school in Wales recently reported that they had a pupil with health problems and they needed the parents to collect the child quickly. They typed the text into Talking Tutor, held the phone to the speaker and pressed the ‘Say It’ button. The result was that although they didn’t understand the parent’s response, they did arrive within minutes and took the child to hospital. Previously they would have had to find a person, usually a translator that could speak the language, wait for them to arrive and then start the process. Talking Tutor made communication simple, effective and instantly accessible whilst saving the school money.

Talking Tutor and Two Can Talk is currently being used by schools in Thailand and Sweden with other countries such as Norway and Poland negotiating to use the online tools in their schools. In Europe there is a global migrant population in excess of 41.9 million people, whilst the UK has an estimated 6 million limited English speakers with over 30 million foreign nationals visiting the UK on an annual basis.

EMAS UK has priced Talking Tutor and Two Can Talk to make it affordable to all schools, costing £395. When you think a translator may cost a minimum of £20 an hour, plus expenses and travel time, this once a year payment seems to be excellent value. Helping every child to communicate is important. Every child should have the opportunity to achieve their own personal potential. This impressive piece of online software certainly goes a long way in the right direction. And I have to say its potential is quite staggering.

It’s also tremendous fun and has lots of possibilities that schools will love to explore

http://www.emasuk.com/

AVATAR cliched spectacle that could have been so good!

2009-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

Almost three hours.... of fantastic spectacle with a good idea hidden behind the appalling dialogue and the terrible last hour.

This smoothie of every dragon/fantasy/space epic/ just missed the mark. Wanted to like it and for the middle hour I was entralled then we ended up with all the transformer style machinery and it fell from the heights.

The worst bit? Leona Lewis singing the most amazingly awful song over the credits. Why do film makers choose such awful rubbish when it so diametrically opposite to the tone of the film?

Contrast it with District 9 which stayed on track and had a script which worked.

Final moan: the monsters etc looked like bad comic book stuff from the sixties.

Still, I am glad I saw it. My holiday escape!

politicians and twitter - playground antics?

2009-12-02T04:06:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I attended the Tweetminster discussions about how politicians see social networking will change the democratic process.

MPs from all three parties spoke well and showed that there was real personality behind the twitter icon.

Kerry from Labour and Nadine from the Conservatives, spoke eloquently and demonstrated firmly how MPs could use Twitter to allow better access to their constituents as well as to the more general public.

Behind the speakers on stage were displays of tweets by those present and the wider world outside. What was truly sad and pathetic was the need of some of the twitterers to make rude, personal remarks about the speakers. Comments about what Nadine was wearing or Kerry's boots were the least unpleasant shown as they spoke.

As an ex teacher and still a member of the education community, this was like playground ganmes rather than adult intelligent discussion.

I don't agree with many of Nadine's party's policies but she spoke well, came over very warmly and I was pleased to feel I knew her a little better after her presentation. I have since followed her on Twitter with pleasure.

I also followed other labour and conservative twitterers. @LouiseBagshawe and @BevaniteEllie used to amuse me but in the last week I have unfollowed them because the childishness of their exchanges is frankly demeaing to all concerned. Strong feelings don't need to lead to pathetic personal remarks.

Similarly I am really disappointed that @KerryMP and @NadineDorriesMP have also started trading insults.

Its great that the ordinary voter can get to see behind the formal MP facade, but really sad that what we have seen recently is frankly very childish.

I have enjoyed reading Kerry and Nadine's blogs. I really enjoyed talking to them at the Tweetminster event. I think some of the attacks on Nadine have been utterly stupid.

Report on Education Quangos

2009-08-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

Centre for Policy Studies publishes its report on Education Quangos in the UK.

Long document (54 pages), describing roles and waste of TDA, BECTA etc. But really it all comes down to one line - ABOLISH THEM!

Some interesting arguments and a lot of savings but is it the right way to go?

http://www.cps.org.uk/cps_catalog/school%20quangos.pdf

School quangos
A blueprint for abolition and reform

Manic Monkey's Little Bridge

2009-08-04T04:04:00.001-07:00

Little Bridge - interactive software for ESL/EAL

http://www.manic-monkey.com/

For anyone teaching English as a second language this is must have software.

I have used it in South Africa, with Xhosa and Afrikaans speakers. It worked both for experienced IT learners and those who were fairly new to learning through language software.

It is exciting and easy to use. The 3d animations are TV quality. The exercises are varied but fully supported with teacher and pupil books.

This is just great fun and fits alongside the company's other primary language software for French and German.

new exciting EAL resource

2009-07-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

BRAND NEW RESOURCE FOR EAL TEACHERS AND LEARNERS

including Talking Tutor

http://www.emasuk.com/

EMASUK has created a digital vault of resources that supports EAL teachers and learners. The vault contains three areas of support.

Child friendly printable EAL resources in over 135 languages.

The ‘Talking Tutor’ an online translator that translates and speaks

CPD for teachers in:

Music,
Language Skills
Creative Play

EMASUK is a not-for-profit company that has been created after teachers requested resources to support and assist them in teaching EAL children. Currently there are resources in a myriad of locations on the web, some of which border on genius, other lean towards confusion and disorganisation. EMASUK has gathered a team of professional teachers to design and build resources that will allow a teacher to have resources the instant that a non English speaking child arrives in their class. They have access to unlimited downloads of child friendly resources in 135 languages in seconds, this includes subject specific, curriculum based, traditional games and assessment sheets at the speed of a download. Simplicity its self.

The ‘Talking Tutor’ is a web or server based tool that allows the teacher to welcome a new arrival in their class in one of 20 languages, with more to follow. Entry could not be simpler:

type or cut and past the text that needs translating, the new model for January 2010 will be voice controlled

Choose the language that you want it translated to, currently there are 20 languages available but there are more to come

Press the translate button and the text appears in the box below and the avatar speaks the text aloud for the individual or class to hear

If you want a response, and the child is literate, choose a keyboard in the child’s home language and they can respond in English

CPD is a major part of ensuring that teacher’s knowledge is kept up to date and that their skills are valued and honed. EMASUK has brought together CPD specialists that offer practical classroom techniques to help EAL learners feel confident and overcome natural issues that arise.

Music is probably the simplest method of making a new arrival feel welcome, but many teachers feel unsure of its use. David Stanley is a music specialist that uses music to reinforce phonics and phonemes, create comfort zones and challenge learners to try new words, experiences and sensations in letter sounds.

Understanding how a new arrival learns a new language is important if teachers are to be effective language teachers. Mirela Timo is of Albanian origin and has a passion for helping non English speakers to learn English and still maintain the positive aspects of their own language and cultures. Mirela will work with teachers to give them the skills and personal understanding to create empathy and passion for the learners development.

EMASUK has a vault of resources that covers the spectrum of teachers support. From immediate language based resources in printable and audio formats, the Talking Tutor to create communication between teacher and pupils and parents, offering the first real time translator that will off the teacher the opportunity to give instruction ad involve the learner in normal classroom activities, and CPD for teachers to help them develop their classroom based practice.

Little Bridge - interactive software for ESL/EAL

2009-06-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.manic-monkey.com/

For anyone teaching English as a second language this is must have software.

I have used it in South Africa, with Xhosa and Afrikaans speakers. It worked both for experienced IT learners and those who were fairly new to learning through language software.

It is exciting and easy to use. The 3d animations are TV quality. The exercises are varied but fully supported with teacher and pupil books.

This is just great fun and fits alongside the company's other primary language software for French and German.

Twitter and Iran

2009-06-19T23:29:00.000-07:00

My thoughts about the way the Iranian protests have become a "fashionable" trend.

The problem is we do not know what happened. The young in Tehran who have access to social media do not necessarily reflect the voting population. It is quite possible the election was won by the ruling party.

Similar things happened in South Africa. The people of Cape Town who showed cynicism about Zuma were the minority. He almost won his 2/3 majority because the rural voters supported him. Same in the UK, the vocal and media savvy Londoners may tell the world what the British think but the Celtic outskirts may have views diametrically opposed.

All the green overlays and the urge to retweet could be used to serve some awful causes. There are real examples of the Iranian government assuming Twitter identities and passing on false info.

It worries me intensely that people in the West have adopted the cause in Iran without having a full understanding of the history, the context and the issues.

Just having the ability to use Twitter does not automatically make you the Good Guy.

an interesting blog to read

The Dark Side of Twittering a Revolution BY Jamais Cascio

digital story telling - Inanimate Alice

2009-06-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

or as the educationists call it - multi modal media!

There are lots of examples of great little animations or digital stories on the web but for many teachers it is hard work tracking them down.

I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the people behind Inanimate Alice, a really great example of online story telling that gets to you on first viewing. It has also thrilled learners all over the world.

It tells the story of Alice as she learns about life and technology. Music is grand, style superb. Different countries feature and it is available in several languages. Episode 1 is even there in Afrikaans!

4 stories so far.

I have to admit that the story gets less effective as you carry on through the episodes but the first one is really engaging. Some of the writing for the classroom is also a little "iffy" but a good teacher would be able to use this in their delivery very effectively. Learners who I have seen using it, love it. It is interactive and exciting.

But best of all? It is entirely free! Brief outline of the story below. The website also tells you how you can get involved.

'Inanimate Alice' tells the story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.

Over ten episodes, each a self contained story, we see Alice grow from an eight year old living with her parents in a remote region of Northern China to a talented mid-twenties animator and designer with the biggest games company in the world.

MJO Learning and teaching through technology

2009-06-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

Really useful summary of news, technology and things you should know about the UK Education Scene.

Latest articles
Bill's journey - from victim to protector

Home Access SEN 'mired in muddle and discourtesy'

'Kids 10 years behi nd for media in schools' - survey

MJO - Merlin John Online is a free site but registration enables comments and user-only features.

Teachers TV in the UK

2009-06-01T02:42:00.000-07:00

Up until last year I guested on Resource Review as a "resident expert" !!! The channel is an amazing free resource and the programmes can be watched online or downloaded for class or staffroom use.

Several of the programmes I used in South African schools very successfully. The Interactive WhiteBoard guides were (still are?) great.

Well worth a look from anywhere in the world.

so many things about Basingstoke

2009-05-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

This blogspot is hopefully about things that might interest and support the global classroom and the world community we all belong to. However, we can't join that group without recognising and celebrating our local community.

Twitter has enabled many tourist offices to big up their towns. Basingstoke has joined in. @basingstoke.

One link to the destination basingstoke site lists "30 things you may not know about Basingstoke"

Among the gems someone feels will make us go weak at the knees?

Festival Place was featured by Jeremy Clarkson in BBC’s Top Gear TV show in November 2008. (damned by association?)

Basingstoke and Deane won a Silver Gilt Award at the South & South East's 'In Bloom' Awards 2007 and 2008.

The wikipedia entry makes more interesting reading

I live in Basingstoke and generally its a good place. Lots of facilities, especially for the young. Two multi-screens, a world class concert hall, theatres, ice rink and great sporting facilities.

But again if you are young the public transport system absolutely stinks. I use buses all the time in London, but here in B, expect the last bus to be long before I get back. And a bus on Sunday? Forget it.

AND - a complete lack of individual character. An enormous shopping centre, with the same shops you find in every UK town. Lots of chain restaurants and pubs, but no little places to eat that you would find all over London. Lots of people have asked me to recommend a good place to eat. Its easy to find easy food but no place that stands out as unique. Happy to hear about good places that aren't pubs with a menu.

The town is bland and and to me our Museum says a lot of what's wrong. Milestones was built with millions of public money but they charge £7.50 to get in. It is billed as "Hampshire’s living history museum" but it seems to have forgotten what century we are in. The sort of experience that has transformed the free museums in London has been completely forgotten. No interactivity or use of new technologies. A real disappointment, although the cafe's teacakes seem to go down well according to reviews on the site.

So I love Basingstoke, and intend to celebrate it on these pages, but the local council really seems to have missed the point in its "big up pages".

If you live here, work here or just passed by on the M3 one day in the summer, let me and the Council know what you would like for the place. Hopefully not another Festival Place.

and an older cartoon from the Herald

2009-05-29T03:03:00.001-07:00

Zuma, Zapiro and Satire

2009-05-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

the banned documentary link to video

Lots of stuff in the last few days that gets you worrying about the power of the new government in South Africa. The documentary that has now been banned twice, the threat of legal action over the Zapiro cartoon and the puerile clashes between Zille and Malema.

My point? When I first saw the accompanying cartoon I was shocked and a little chilled. But satire shouldn't be easy. In the UK we had the Spitting Image thing and at first those of us who loved it felt we were being edgy and out there. Then we discovered that some of the Tory politicians portrayed in puppet form wanted to buy the rubber version!

Zuma seems to be working hard to reassure people that he is really working for all. Threatening to take Zapiro to court does him no favours. And Malema!

the Stephen Fry story-Carry on Twittering?

2009-05-28T04:14:00.000-07:00

stephenfryOoh missus, me abs and me pecs!

Stephen's latest tweet (thursday 28th noon)

Stephen shows links and new Twitter utilities at his best. But sometimes......

Read all of his updates to see the best and the worst of Twitter. It's fine having the trivial when you are the famous Stephen Fry but if you are an ordinary punter from Hampshire what value this tweet:

"Afternoon all, Hubbys gone to Shanklin for a couple of hours so Im left at home to Twitter!!! Should be ironing though ha ha" @Linda100 (and she has 300 followers!)

tools, ideas and innovations from some great people

2009-05-28T02:44:00.000-07:00

The people on Twitter who have been the most useful to me in recommending
sites, tools and ideas.

My little fave bunch.

@maggiev
@jackschofield
@joycevalenza
@SmithinAfrica
@mikebakeredhack
@merlinjohn
and of course @stephenfry !!

the great TWITTER debate

2009-05-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

As a late arrival to this community, I have sometimes seemed over enthusiastic. But there are so many silly things said about what goes online, as well as some very silly twitterers. But I don't think people in education have seen what we can all do with this. Lots of pioneers but the wagons are a long way behind.

So some initial thoughts while they are still in my head.

1. Did some searching for refs to BASINGSTOKE and discovered some useful ideas and people and one twitterer who had nothing to say but had over 1000 followers! Its really easy to see why people who just dip their toes in the water get the wrong impression.

2. On the day of the SOUTH AFRICA elections in April, I watched the voting on BBC News24, SkyNews and AlJazeera. All interesting but not nearly as informative as the tweets from people actually lining up to vote. People in Cape Town were telling each other via TWITTER what queues were the longest and heading off for another station.

The Guardian correspondent in Africa wrote stuff for the paper but in his tweets he gave us much more interesting info. (@SmithinAfrica) . Where else could you get descriptions of what was happening as people arrived for ZUMA's slightly premature celebration party that evening? And I was able to pass on to those who were interested, what the media in the UK was reporting. Some of it was just plain inaccurate.

3. The power of Stephen Fry!! Next post