My review on Tedtalk.

Ted talk...”What on Earth is that?” I thought when we were set the task to review one! To be fair it’s like youtube; as in you start in one area and two hours later you have gone through a time warp and finished watching something completely random at the end, be warned!

My review is on a talk by Sir Ken Robinson on “How schools kill creativity”. He is a natural speaker who delivers the content in such a way that it is almost sublime. Using dry humour to convey the points could be a dangerous strategy, however, he delivers his talk making me feel uplifted and enlightened. I found a comment on one of the links to him saying that he has been viewed 21.5 million times, and I can understand why! There is also some good feedback left by the viewers about his talk that could also be of value. Sir Ken’s talk is definitely thought provoking and the subject matter is a potential can of worms. He makes some very interesting points to arrive at his conclusion, I don’t want to comment on them all or give too much away (just enough to hopefully entice the reader to watch the clip). The concept of creativity in an academic environment has been lost as we progress in life from Primary school onwards. The chances to explore our creativity diminish with the fear of mistakes and failure. Very few scientists or inventors found their optimum goal on their first attempt, so maybe we should instil and promote that from an early age like the story Sir Ken tells about Gillian Lynne. If creativity was promoted more in schools, it could enhance learning, or, could have an adverse effect and there could be complete anarchy in the classroom...

 There are many quality quotes that I could state from his talk; I am just going to mention a couple that I particularly liked.
“Very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be, or if they have any to speak of.”
“Curiosity is the engine of achievement”
I hope you also enjoy the clip!

Two ways to show youtube clip within Powerpoint

I have done a presentation to try and show how to show two different ways of showing a youtube clip.  I prefer the full screen version.  Just click through the slides and use the home button to return to start. I hope this works and is of use. I'm afraid (and gutted!!) I can't get it to be as interactive as I designed it...open to suggestions?

Possible dodgy widget!

Be aware that the calendar widget seems to be corrupt your blog.  I added it to my website and it kept redirecting me to another site.

It shows this page

And then it won't let you get off the page without clicking one of the options, you will then be taken to this page

 

All you then need to do is remove the widget...if you can get back to your layout page...hope this helps and good luck!

How to embed a power point into your blog!

Going to give this site a try soon!

embed-powerpoint-presentation-blog.html

Mobile technology

We unofficially reviewed some iPads and tablets during a lesson; we concluded that they all were good in their own right, but there is a difference in how some operate.  There was no outright winner, as they all did what they said on the tin: it was down to personal preferences as which one an individual liked. One thing I didn’t like about one of them, was the arrogance of the company who makes them, thinking that they don’t need a virus protection...maybe William Tell will be resurrected and shoot an arrow into them!!??

My experience with mobile technology is purely “leisurely”, I own a laptop, Tab 2 and a mobile phone and all I use them for is browsing, phoning, social media and a small amount of work.  I have not used my technology for learning...but I think that’s going to soon change!

Another resource that may be of use!

I have been pointed in the direction of another good resource that may be of use; so I thought I'd share it as it may come in handy for the future!
http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources/

A teaching aid that might be of use!

Guys and gals, I came across this website and thought it might be of use to you all...take a look and see what you think! The teachers TV has lots of clips that could be of use.
teachers media