Tag Archives: schools

Photo 28-05-2012 20 10 50

Creating a School Scheme of Work for the RaspberryPi (aka #RPiSoW)

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On 20th September, 2012, I joined around sixty other Raspberry Pi enthusiasts at the very colourful Mozilla Offices in London for the third Raspberry Jam. This is a informal meeting of minds, where hobbiests, indursty bods and electronic startups come to share ideas and (often) reminisce about the BBC Micro.

I went there with my co-conspirators, @jennyfer37 and @missphilbin with the aim of crowdsourcing ideas for an open-source scheme of work for ICT/#digitalstudies, with the Raspberry Pi at the very heart of the scheme. The Raspberry Pi had been gifted to the educational community, but it was up to us to create somethnig from it. What was best?

While the majority of tables filled with wires and monitors, we went all analogue (as regular readers will both know I am a keen advocate of), and littered our table with stickers, sweets, post-its and some garish card. We then harrassed and harangued those walking past and showing an interest to tell us what they knew, and what they thought.

Before showing you the fruits of all our labours, I have to say I was amazed by the enthusiasm of those who we spoke to. They all wanted to see more technology in the classroom, and had several thoughts on what was missing from those recent graduates in their industries. Above all, there was a genuine and exciting sense of willing to help out – we forced several people to say they would help us, but many more said that they would happily write a guide, or answer questions, or give discounts on products. We really were keeping the flame alive!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was clear that we needed to consider the skills needed by the teacher before anything was even taught – a key point which we as enthusiasts hadn’t considered!

The need for the RPi was self-evident from those who spoke to us – this device had a genuine excitement factor, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was essential to the modern school curriculum…

This caused a lot of conversations, with the different backgrounds influencing their decisions. Any scheme of work would clearly have to take into account hardware and software needs and issues, with the RPi needing attention from both.

We love a good project idea, and this was great fun to see develop! The range of uses was varied and in some cases, incredibly ambitious, but almost without fail, the person who suggested the idea also said that they would write something to help others make the project work! Raspberry Recipes to follow (we hope!).

These were added near the end, and I wish we had added them sooner – there was a lot of debate over when some key skills should be taught. Logical thinking for example, should it be taught twice, both in Primary and Senior School? Is it even a skill within ICT, or something else?

This is however my favourite pic – all the calls to arms were worth it! The folks who added their names here were incredibly generous with their support, and may live to regret saying ‘if you need a hand with…’

The Future

To take this further, I have created a blank google doc, which I hope to add to, and others will too, covering the key skills required and needed, in order to flesh out plans for the future! Please please contribute!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hvVG9eSONPSOYtvKvr6sYcBDr2TbS7k-mpyxISPTo9s/edit

 

Wanted: Young Female Programmer Seeks Inspiration

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There has been a growth in conversations and tweets online in the last six months or so in looking at ways to encourage pupils in schools to be more interested in programming.

A student I taught in my very first class is just finishing a Programming Degree at a leading university, and I asked her what inspiration (or not) she had experienced to lead her to the point of choosing programming. Her answer was really interesting, so I am republishing it here.

I can’t think of any specific school related incidents that caused me to do the degree I did. I remember [my Grammar School] tried to get us involved in some kind of lunchtime ‘computing for girls’ thing. The first assignment being something along the lines of “design a poster for your fave boyband”. Funnily enough I didn’t keep going .

I pretty much just wanted to make the games I loved to play as a kid and school was something I had to do before I got to do a degree. I think that current programming techniques are overly complicated. A good introduction would be something like robocode (GCSE and later), it’s got a vast java library but you don’t need to know it all. I think what puts students off other programming projects is how dull everything appears until you compile the code (which will inevitably have an impossible to find error etc etc). Also unlike maths and english (which we knew were important because we did them everyday at primary school), I.T seems entirely optional and nothing to do with what we have to do in the future. Which is nonsense… I’ve heard tales of people losing their jobs because a graduate joined a company and simply showed the boss that all the secretary had been doing was retyping the client list based on values in column A then B then C. The graduate then shows how to do this automatically by setting up a function and ta-da, 40 hours a week has turned into a few clicks.

It’s not just the practical I.T skills that we can’t live without but the theory behind it as well. I did a course in Models of Computation (google images of Final State Automata) that really makes you think about the most efficient way to achieve your goal. Unfortunately it’s relatively high-level, if someone could get it down to the basics its pretty much just logic puzzles. You don’t even need a computer!

Basically come at I.T from a different angle, it needs to be taught at as early an age as possible otherwise you’ll get the same reaction as when asking an old person to use Excel. They give up instantly and laugh it off because it’s not necessary. I.T needs to be viewed as a standard subject before kids take it seriously, start off with theory (you don’t need to spend the whole budget on computers for 5 year-olds). Sorry, tried reforming the system rather than answering your question!

On a side note, getting the work experience is a pain. Lots of connections with local businesses would be incredibly useful but try and get some interesting people in to talk. There are a surprising number of successful game companies in the south, I’m pretty sure that the UK branch of Disney’s penguin club is actually in Brighton.

Hope some of this is at all useful!

Does this seem familiar? Is this still true 2,3,4,5 years later in schools? Do we expect students to bring their inspiration, or we hope to be their inspiration? Please share your thoughts below!

Skewed Reviews: Shackleton’s Way

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Shackleton’s Way by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell (Nicholas Brealey, £9.99, 2001)

(This is part of a regular series reviewing books outside of the realm of education, and looking at the impact they could have in a learning environment.)

Tagline

Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer

Lowdown

This has to be one of the most powerful, emotive and yet grounded books on Leadership I think I have ever read. The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton is both fascinating and inspirational, and I would urge you, if you haven’t already, to order this book, then come back and read the rest of the review.

Good. now that you have done that, I can explain how the book is written. The story is divided into linear sections, each sharing (using several accounts) the different parts of Shackleton’s adventure, from recruitment, to disaster, to salvation. Each section is carefully written, with clear pointers to his outstanding leadership. At the end of each chapter, the leadership lessons learnt are listed, bullet form.

Aside from the book being a very exciting read, the way that the authors have highlighted leadership qualities is this book’s best feature. It is concrete and understandable, and relates in a way that perhaps other books on leadership can’t.

While we can’t expect to relate everyday school life to the two year expedition and rescue mission Shackleton lead, his story has so many aspects that we can relate to (difficult staff, staving boredom, adjusting plans quickly and with confidence), this book will be inspirational to all who read it.

 

The Management Angle

The one thing a leader has are, by definition, followers. The simplest message any manager or leader can take from this book is that you need to give  staff confidence to follow you. They should be so confident in your vision and understanding, they are willing to follow you through the darkest days, the biggest obstacles, the most treacherous routes. But how is this done? Surely the burden of responsibility is too much to manage this? That, sadly is your lot. To lead with strength, to lead with passion, means to represent your vision and direction as something you have complete conviction in. If this is not the case, your followers will have doubts, and challenge your vision. That is not to suggest that you can’t take advice, be guided or even ask for help, but this needs to be done with thought and care.

The Teacher Angle

The model of leadership in a classroom can frequently be misinterpreted and incredibly wrong. It is invariably an older person, standing at the front, telling others what to do next. The model of leadership Shackleton offers puts this on its head. He dealt with old and young, he listened as much as he spoke, and he entrusted his crew to advice him as to the best path for his direction of the voyage. In class, we use children ad hoc as leaders, but it is for almost intangible things, errands and lining up. This gives each person an experience of leadership, but only in a very diluted version. What if you asked a group of children to lead the learning on an area of a topic? If you feel that this would be too hard for them, then the essential elements which are missing are exactly those skills you need to develop in the pupils in order to help them to succeed. Sometimes putting children out of their depth does exactly the same thing for the teacher. Take your lessons out of the shallow water and see what happens.

The Pupil Angle

A powerful aspect of Shackleton’s story is that each crew member was vital, and each had something to contribute to the crew as a whole – even the most difficult member. Shackleton used two very clever systems to engender a spirit of togetherness and a level playing field – rotational pairs and cross-skills. He devised schedules which ensured that you almost always worked with someone different for every shift, creating a stronger bond among all than divisive pairings. He also made each half of the crew (sailing/scientist) learn the other halves skills, so scientists would take turns on the ship’s wheel, and sailors would test samples for chemicals. Both these things are possible in a classroom, and both are brilliant at finding hidden talents, breaking down factions, and adding an element which is both intangible and also hard to identify – empathy.

Best quote

“There was nothing petty in his own nature. The one thing he demanded was cheerfulness from us all; and was he received from every man serving under him was absolute loyalty.” L. Hussey, meteorologist, Endurance

Ponder now

Who do you look up to in your life? What do you really admire about them? Have you ever asked them how they do what they do so well? What is stopping you?

Thoughts on Bureaucracy

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I firmly believe in boundaries. Boundaries give freedom, as it limits our choices and indicates what is an agreed range of decisions. If I tell my child to stop at every junction, I am entrusting them to understand their safety, while at the same time, ensuring that they learn how to cross the road with me.

I also believe that bureaucracy comes out of the best intentions to enforce boundaries. This is especially so in Education, where there are a number of stakeholders, all who have the best intentions, but all of whom want to contribute, and extract, different qualities. At best, bureaucracy is seen as a restriction and a hindrance, and the intention is lost behind a desire to do the right thing or follow the legal line.

I am passionate about making education, and implementing change in education, as transparent as possible. I have discovered as a practitioner that an argument is much more powerful if you explain the reasons behind a decision, rather than the ruling that it is given. We are a temperamental bunch of workers in Education, and despite wanting change, we are quite reactionary when change is enforced upon us, rather than something we are able to resolve as better practice. Too often, new initiatives are placed within schools without any background reasoning, or any evidence to explain how these new strategies will make a tangible difference to working life or learning benefits.

As a Deputy Head, a fantastic part of my job is to make things more efficient, more effective and improve working and learning conditions. We are able to trial and improve ideas and concepts, and by doing so, we as a staff become stakeholders in new ideas. I created a BrightLights programme, whereby staff tried a few new things to improve their classes, and then we shared the micro-initiatives at the end. The result – all staff added work into their class routines, but no-one objected, because they could see the benefits. If I had simply implemented these ideas at the beginning, this would have been seen as bureaucracy.

Openness is key in this debate. Sharing good practice, revealing ideas even at an incubator stage, and pinpointing the central theme to any project is essential. Creating a briefiing which is easy to digest, take on and implement should be the goal of every initiative. Instead, we currently have a changing department name, different Agencies giving conflicting advice, and a difficulty, a genuine heartfelt difficulty, in knowing who is the main, primary source of information on x,y or z. Do I try this Department, or my local Council, or is this something that is supplied by Social Services?

Thinking Aloud – Assemblies

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I sometimes think that Assemblies are in the wrong place at almost all schools. We reserve our time in the mornings for the most important, most essential aspects of learning (often Maths, then Literacy), because we perceive this morning time to be the most effective in terms of learning, but before all of this, we put in a large amount of time devoted to collective worship.

I should state that I am very much in favour of assemblies, in fact, I love them. I love being in them, leading them, and also what they stand for. My most inspirational teacher, the one who confirmed my desire to work in Education, did so in one of her assemblies. This isn’t knocking assemblies, just their timing.

The difficulty they have is an innate elasticity, and danger of verging into a housekeeping meeting. These are important things, but is their location at the beginning of the day such a good idea? Here’s a radical one – put them at the end of the day. This frees up 15/20/25 minutes in the morning, the primal learning time, as well as allowing them to become much more of a celebration of what has happened in that day. All those applauses and certificates would be far more likely to be fed back to parents, there would be far less likelihood of overrunning, and it would allow the school community as a whole to end on an enriching high.

On the few events where I have experienced an assembly at the end of the day, the difference in atmosphere is tangible, exciting, upbeat. Wouldn’t it be great to end every school day like this?