Only in the USA

This (genuine?) advert might be good entry for work on spoofs. My wife says that although they are selling it as a hygiene product...it's really for the obese because it is socially acceptable to buy for the disabled but embarrassing if it is a weight issue.

Stressed Brains Don't Learn

What can this teach us about the atmosphere in our classrooms? Our departments?Our schools?

Google Wave: A Tool for Learning

Google have announced Google Wave. It sounds very exciting and you can read about it here. Click the link at the end of Donald's post to watch a video demonstrating its use. Can't wait!

Donald Clark Plan B

Posted using ShareThis

Another Superb Way to use ICT in your English lesson

Check out this super blog post

A “Big Apple” (and a banana!) for the teacher


and then visit the site:

http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/

Posted using ShareThis

Proof of the Pudding

I have blogged about Tim Rylands before. I know he gets a weary of constantly being associated with his work using Myst because he does a lot of other things too.

However, follow this blog entry where you can read for yourself this superb writing generated through Myst. Apparently, the boy who wrote it was usually a reluctant writer.

You can buy a cheap copy of Myst from Amazon. It's simple to use and the results speak for themselves.

Abertillery Primary Brilliantly Rhymery

Posted using ShareThis

Cool Cat in Action

The Cool Cat Teacher is an award winning blog showcasing vicki's us eof ICT in the classroom. She is a real evangalist and you can watch her here.

Startling Starters

Here are some fantastic ideas for starting your lessons. They all come from Mike Fleethams' superb website

Jumble up the words of the learning objective and get learners to unjumble them

Give learners 30-60 seconds to write down what they think the lesson’s about

Change the learning objective into a related “What if?” question

Give learners 30-60 seconds to write down what happened in the last lesson

Don’t share the lesson objective. Save it to the plenary. Ask learners what they think it was.

Show an image linked to the lesson objective. Learners have 20 seconds to think what the lesson’s about

Ask, “What was the best part of the last lesson and why?”

Learners enter in silence (!), to music, move round looking at key images/words displayed on walls

Tell a short anecdote to learners - about yourself and related to the lesson content

Ask a learner to introduce the lesson for you (prepare them beforehand)

Show two or three images. Ask learners to make connections between them.

Learners make as many words as possible from the letters in a word linked to the lesson.

Use a simile: How is (your lesson focus) like (a random object that you select)?

Use an appropriate video clip; animation or audio clip (search youtube.com).

Draw a 5-minute idea-map: focus in centre, make links to related ideas – as many as poss.

Predict the listening time vs talking time ratio of the lesson

Learners anonymously write on small cards one skill and one attitude they will improve this lesson

Turn the lesson objective into a question

Generate words related to L.O. then pair them up using interesting criteria

Discuss why/why not this lesson would be useful for learners’ grandparents/(potential) grandchildren

Pick any 2 words from a book. Make as many links between them as possible

Ask “Why?” of the lesson objective. Then ask Why? twice more. See where you get!

Pick any 2 words from a book. Make as many links between them as possible

Ask learners to share the first subject-linked word that comes into their minds

Give learners a single subject-linked keyword and ask for other words related to it

Leave a keyword out of the lesson objective and ask what it might be


You can read about ending lessons, on his site, too.

A fantastic resource.