I would just like to say a very BIG thank you to all staff at Doncaster School for the Deaf for inviting me in to talk about Autism and ADHD for the day on Monday. Not only was everybody welcoming and friendly, but the experience of working with signers was very new to me, and could easily have been a nerve wracking one if it had not been for the support of everybody!
What a great day, thanks again everybody!
Andrew
Twitter’s not just for Stephen Fry. Mike Kielty reports on how teachers are harnessing this free technology to create a ‘community of learning’ beyond the school gates
By any standards, Thomas Tallis School in London is unusually tech-savvy. This specialist arts college has its own online forum (“Tallis Talk”), its own iPhone application and many blogs showing pupils’ work. But it is the school’s Twitter feed (@creativetallis) that has been its most effective tool in reaching out to a wider audience. The school has more than 1,000 Twitter followers and regularly updates its feed with links to its pupils’ work and to different artists around the world.
For Jon Nicholls, the school’s art college manager and main tweeter, the micro-blogging site could lead to a fundamental change in the way pupils study. “It’s a great model of learning because the more you learn, the more you invest in it, the more you offer other people, the more you get back,” he says. This style of teaching is less top-down and more collaborative, he adds, a way to communicate in new ways, both with pupils and with the world outside the school gates.
Twitter – based on text-based posts of up to 140 characters – has become enormously popular since its creation in 2006, but the benefits for schools have not been clear until now. While many teachers have individual accounts on the site, and some schools have created their own Twitter feeds, there are few examples of how it can be used constructively in the classroom.
All of which makes @creativetallis all the more remarkable. Mr Nicholls believes the main reason for the school’s success on Twitter is that it has created a “community of learning”.
He interacts with other tweeters interested in creative ways to learn: asking and answering questions about teaching; posting links to other artistic sites; displaying the work of Thomas Tallis pupils. “It’s about being part of a conversation on the web, and connecting with people who have mutual interests,” he says, making @creativetallis much more than a dry school newsletter.
As well as its official feed, the school is experimenting with Twitter in lessons. One idea was to divide children into groups to market Fair Trade products from different countries. The children practised advertising the products on Twitter, just as many real companies would. “It encourages brevity, accuracy, precision. All the things that we want children to develop as communication skills,” Mr Nicholls adds.
Teachers elsewhere are also seeking out new methods to harness this technology. At the end of his lesson, Andrew Luxton, a history teacher at Priory Community School in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, asks selected pupils to send a tweet to one of his Twitter addresses (@PCSLuxton and @PrioryGCSEHums), describing what they think is the main point they have taken from the lesson.
Other pupils provide feedback and improve the message until both they and Mr Luxton are satisfied. Then he sends it to the whole class, in what he has dubbed a “tweenary”, to help the children to focus on and remember the key message of the lesson.
While Mr Luxton is keen to point out that he does not use technology just for the sake of it, he believes that Twitter can be a useful classroom tool. “If Twitter helps some pupils boost their grades or understand something more, then it is worth it,” he says. “It is very easy to use, does not consume time or other resources, and is free.”
At St Ninian’s High School (@stninianshigh) in East Renfrewshire, Kenny O’Donnell, a geography teacher, organised a live tweeting conversation for his class of 13 and 14-year-olds with Alastair Humphreys of the Catlin Arctic Survey (@ArcticSurvey), who was at his camp in the Arctic Circle at the time.
“Twitter is a quick and easy way to get a real person in your classroom,” says Mr O’Donnell. He also points out that it is free, a “Godsend” to teachers and schools in the present economic climate.
But not everyone has climbed on board the Twitter bandwagon. Anastasia de Waal, deputy director of the think-tank Civitas, argues that it could distract teachers and schools from more effective, if less fashionable, teaching methods. Twitter might be useful for teachers to exchange ideas with one another, but does not necessarily have a place in the classroom, she says.
“My worry is that there is a feeling schools must be up to date and take on all of the latest technology, and it isn’t going to work for everybody. It may be just a distraction.”
The use of Twitter in classrooms is still at an experimental stage. It is far more common for teachers to set up personal profiles on Twitter and use them to share ideas with others in the profession.
Laura Doggett (@lauradoggett), a French teacher at Westfield Community Technology College in Hertfordshire, is an e-learning expert who has blogged about how Twitter can be useful for teachers. She has more than 1,600 followers on Twitter, which she uses as a place to talk with other teachers and as a “sounding board” for new ideas.
“It’s really great to be able, in one scroll of a page, to move from a fantastic recipe to a great English teaching resource to a brilliant new strategy on using virtual learning environments, to somebody needing some help and being able to contribute,” she says.
David Miller (@DavidMiller_UK), an award-winning English teacher at another St Ninian’s High, in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, has more than 750 Twitter followers. He tweets to other teachers, discussing ideas, but does not allow his pupils to follow him. He says: “I find it an incredibly powerful tool for personal and professional development.”
There are risks for teachers using Twitter. Any inappropriate messages could lead to problems at work. Argyll and Bute Council in western Scotland banned its teachers from using Twitter last year, after one was found to have posted around 20 messages a day. Her posts included criticisms of the headteacher and one that read: “Had S3 period 6 for last two years…don’t know who least wants to do anything, them or me.”
It is difficult to imagine Twitter conversations between teachers and pupils ever becoming a normal part of school lessons. Why tweet a message to someone less than 5m away from you? But the signs are that tweeting will become a more common learning tool, with teachers using it to communicate with their pupils outside the classroom. It is at the forefront of the wave of Web 2.0 technologies that are transforming the way teaching and learning takes place by making it more conversational.
As Jon Nicholls says: “Twitter is the most efficient, fastest, most focused version of that conversation you can have online.”
How can schools use Twitter?
– Producing daily tweets about what is going on in the school.
– Sending out administrative messages to parents, pupils and staff.
– Introducing children to the Twitter streams of notable figures outside the classroom.
– Creating “communities of learning”: groups of tweeters interested in a specialised area.
– Starting “tweenaries”, in which children condense the key message(s) of a class into the length of a tweet.
Top tweeting schools
– @creativetallis – 1,065 followers – Thomas Tallis School, London
– @OrwellHigh – 479 followers – Orwell High School, Felixstowe
– @ClassroomTweets – 475 followers – Year 2 class at Holy Trinity Rosehill CofE Primary School, Stockton
– See also @schoolduggery – 4,037 followers – An independent perspective on education in the UK. Contains numerous lists where you can link to schools and teachers in particular subject areas.
Log on for learning
– Futurelab – a not-for-profit group that researches and helps schools to implement new technology. www.futurelab.org.uk 0117 915 8200
– Green Schools Online – sets up websites for schools, including Twitter feeds. www.greenschoolsonline.co.uk 0844 668 6844
– Edmodo and Learning Landscape for Schools are social networking sites where schools can create private communities so teachers and pupils can exchange messages and ideas without them being made public. www.edmodo.com info@edmodo.com www.ll4schools.co.uk 020 8764 2663.
Getting Ready for Summer Break
1. Prepare Kids – Prepare children for the summer break while they are still in school. Classrooms often have a countdown to summer, but including one in the home also is helpful. Discuss summer break with children including when they will return to school and what they will do over the break. Read books about vacation, summer, and school breaks.
2. Make Cards – If children are concerned about not seeing their friends and teacher, have them create cards for everyone. The cards can have memories from the school year or a simple message, “Have a nice summer. See you in August.” Cards are a great way for children to share their feelings and learn about giving.
3. Don’t Forget School – Arrange summer play dates with classmates before school ends so children know they will see their friends soon. Use the class picture as a way to discuss and remember classmates, or make a book about the past year, “Bobby’s Year in First Grade.”
4. Maintain Structure – The school day provides a significant amount of structure for children. A transition from a full day of planned activities to one with little structure can be very difficult for children. Have a routine so children have consistency in their lives. Set times for waking up, going to bed, eating, and other activities so children know what to expect during the day. If children have a routine with different activities on different days of the week such as swimming lessons Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and library time on Tuesdays, make a calendar showing these activities with words or pictures so children see the day’s activities. Some children may benefit from a very structured schedule. If children use a picture schedule at school, ask their teacher how to implement it at home. Besides including structured activities, remember a schedule can include periods of choice and free play while still providing support and structure.
5. Keep Activities Handy – Keep materials for art activities (paper, paints, buttons, glue, magazines)handy. Art activities develop fine motor skills and encourage creativity. Cooking lunch or snacks is a fun activity for children and it encourages reading, basic math (fractions, counting), and turn taking.
6. Start Summer-Long Responsibilities – Give children activities for the summer. Gardening activities such as a small plot in the family garden or an indoor herb garden are a great opportunity for children to watch plants grow, care for them, and see the fruits of their labor. If children are not interested in gardening, give them responsibilities with the family pet (brushing, feeding, walking) or another household activity. These activities can be expanded upon by reading about the topic or attending events involving the topic such as a local flower show or dog show.
7. Ask the Teacher – If you have concerns about a child’s transition from school to summer, ask their teacher for suggestions. The teacher may have specific ideas for your child’s needs or they may know about community activities your child would enjoy. They also can provide ways to help your son or daughter prepare for the next school year.
http://www.findmadeleine.com/updates.html
Being kind to other people and yourself is important for being a good friend and being happy. Modeling kindness, reflecting on kind actions, and practicing acts of kindness can help children develop this skill. This article includes strategies for helping children learn to be kind to other people and to themselves.
1. Be a Role Model – When adults say unkind things about other people or themselves, children learn this is acceptable behavior. Be a role model and say kind things about co-workers, neighbors, people in the community, and yourself.
2. Use Lists – Have children write lists or make collages representing what they like about their friends, family members, and people in the school. Hang the lists or art projects where classmates and friends can see them. Have a separate activity where children make a parallel list or art project that includes things they do well and why they are a good person.
3. Read and Write Stories – Read stories about kindness and respect in school and at home. Discuss how being kind makes the characters feel. Ask children to share times when they were kind and times when people were nice to them. Also have children write stories about being kind to other people.
4. Practice and Discuss Small Acts of Kindness – In addition to having children write and say things that are kind, have them practice little acts of kindness. Teach children to help other people in day to day situations such as when someone needs help carrying an item, they can’t reach something, or they drop an item. Create a set of pictures or make short stories with opportunities for small acts of kindness. Have children role play what they would do to be helpful in these situations.
5. Learning to Do Kind Things for Yourself – Have children write or create a collage about things they like to do or activities that make them feel good about themselves. Discuss how taking time to participate in these activities can make them feel better and decrease stress.
6. Pick a Cause or Charity – A long term investment in a volunteer or charity activity teaches children that even a small amount of time and energy makes a big difference. First create a list of volunteer opportunities then let the class or family select an activity to join. Whether it is collecting food for a food bank, donating toys, or cleaning up a community area, these activities demonstrate how working collaboratively with other people can make a big difference. Discuss or have children keep a journal about the experience. Ask them to include how they felt and how they think the people benefitting from their time and effort felt.
Consumer Reports, a longtime trusted name in product ratings and reviews, has today released its annual “State of the Net” report, which finds that over half (52%) of social network users post risky information online. Among the transgressions: using weak passwords, listing full birth dates, ignoring privacy settings and making mention of when you’re away from home, to name a few.
The report looked closely at Facebook and Twitter, two of the top social networks used today, and found that on Facebook, the percentage of those engaged in this type of risky behavior was even higher, at 56%. However, what’s more interesting is how the survey inadvertently reveals that Facebook users clearly have no idea about how much they’re publicly sharing on the network.
Consumer Reports Tells Facebook Users What to Do
The study looked at a representative group of 2,000 online households in the U.S. during the month of January. Within this sampling, 9% of social network users had been the victim of some form of online abuse in the past year like malware infections, scams, identity theft or harassment.
Those who “overshare” online – posting personal information like full names, children’s names, home addresses and details about when they’re away from home – are “especially vulnerable,” notes the report.
To counteract these dangers, Consumer Reports made the following seven suggestions of things you should stop doing on Facebook:
Using a weak password
Listing a full birth date
Overlooking privacy controls
Posting a child’s name in a caption
Mentioning being away from home
Letting yourself be found by a search engine
Permitting youngsters to use Facebook unsupervised
Poor Privacy Settings at Fault, Not Mindless Online Behavior
Some of those suggestions are common sense (or just good parenting), but the tone of the report sometimes feels a bit over the top. It suggests, for example, that posting your children’s pictures is, in and of itself, risky online behavior. But what are social networks for, anyway, if not for sharing Junior’s latest with Grandma?
The problem with this report is that it acts as if the burden of online safety should be entirely placed upon social networking users. While there are some obvious areas where people need to think smarter, some of the real issues regarding these networks are being ignored.
With social networks – Facebook in particular – privacy settings are too often obscured or are confusing and so therefore are generally overlooked by the majority of a social network’s users. To make matters worse (in terms of privacy, that is), the default setting on nearly every social network is “public.” Whether you’re uploading photos to Flickr, sharing videos on YouTube, or updating your status on Twitter and Facebook, the networks are designed with the idea that you’re doing so to share with world, not a closed set of family and friends.
In many cases, this is understood: YouTube, after all, is a video sharing portal, not a private network. But the problem with Facebook is that it used to operate differently. Originally positioned as a more-private network, the recent changes there have dramatically reversed its course – so much so that U.S. senators are now investigating its new policies, while others are calling Facebook’s data-sharing plans a “bait-and-switch.”
In others words, it’s not just the users themselves who are to blame for this “risky” online behavior. The networks have been created so that risk is a factor built into every sharing feature. Facebook especially is now exploiting its earlier, implicit agreement between itself and its users so that people are publicly sharing what they think is private information.
Survey Shows Facebook Users are Clearly Confused
Something else we found decidedly telling regarding this issue is the fact that the reports states 73% of adult Facebook users only shared content with friends but only 42% of users said they customized their privacy settings.
These numbers clearly show the study’s flaws. You can’t just ask Facebook users about their privacy: They’re uninformed.
In December, Facebook made sweeping changes to their default settings, prompting users to accept the new recommended settings or edit those settings to their liking. Those who took Facebook’s recommendations without making any changes immediately began sharing status updates, photos, videos and links publicly, likely without realizing they had done so.
That means that a good many of the 73% of Facebook adults who think they’re sharing just with friends are sadly mistaken. Only those in the 42% who customized their settings (hopefully properly) are actually restricting their content from public view.
Other Figures
There are some other figures in this report, summarized below, that may be of interest, but you have to take them with a grain of salt. This (and similar studies) can’t truly paint an accurate picture if they rely on users to respond to questions instead of analyzing data at the source itself.
73% only shared their Facebook content with friends
42% customized settings to control who can see their information
22% customized what personal information can be accessed by apps
18% customized settings to control who can find a user’s page through a search
11% only shared content with friends, and friends of friends
10% altered some personally identifiable information to protect their identity
Facebook Applications
39% of Facebook users surveyed reported that they use apps
10% of Facebook users were confident that they are secure
27% believed that some apps are more secure than others
28% believed that all apps pose some security threats
35% hadn’t given much thought to the security of apps
Protecting Privacy on Twitter
34% of Twitter users surveyed said they only make their tweets available to followers
27% said they check out pages of new followers that they don’t know personally
24% said they block all new followers that they don’t know personally
12% said they research new followers on Google or other search engine
5% asked others about new followers they didn’t know personally
There are a variety of ways to increase communication depending on a child’s age and ability level. Below are some ideas for increasing language and communication throughout the day.
1. Expand Sentence Length – When children answer a question or request an item using one or two words, increase their sentence length by repeating their answer with an expanded phrase. For example, if you ask a child, “Would you like orange juice?” and they answer “Yes,” model a longer response. “Yes, I would like orange juice.” Then have the child repeat the phrase.
2. Use Books for Language – Reading stories is an excellent way to incorporate language into a fun activity. Ask questions about the pictures, the story, and the characters. Even very young children can identify colors, gender, words, or concepts (e.g. the boy that is the tallest/shortest)by pointing to pictures. Have children predict what is going to happen next throughout the story. After finishing the book, review what happened in the story.
3. Create Situations that Promote Language – Favorite toys, clothes, and foods can motivate young children to use language. Store favorite items in eye sight, but out of reach, so children have to use their words to request the items.
4. Provide Choices – Give children choices in activities, stories, toys, and foods so they communicate their preferences. You can create an opportunity for communication even if you know a child is going to select a favorite story or game.
5. Find Time to Communicate – Many children like being entertained by technology, but opportunities for communication are lost when families spend a good deal of time watching television and playing video games. Turn off the television during meals and refrain from using portable video games in the car. Time spent together at the dinner table and in the car are wonderful opportunities for learning about a child’s day and increasing communication and language skills.
6. Be Supportive – Children are more likely to communicate if they feel valued. Encourage language by listening attentively to children and asking them questions. If children answer questions incorrectly, teach them the correct answers using kind, supportive words. Repeatedly asking a question a child does not know how to answer or condescendingly correcting them can hurt their feelings and decreases the chance they will answer questions in the future. Instead, encourage them to say, “I don’t know,” and use the situation as a learning opportunity.
7. Be a Role Model – Children learn from the adults around them. When adults speak in full sentences, use correct grammar, and articulate well, children hear and are reminded of how words and sentences should sound.
Community activities are diverse, fun, and provide a wide range of opportunities for
social skill development. Meeting people, maintaining conversations, collaborating with peers, following directions, and problem solving are a few social skills to practice in a community setting.
Below are a few ideas on incorporating social skill development into your community activities.
1. Story Times and Plays – Community libraries, bookstores, and theatres often have book readings or short plays for children. These events are opportunities to practice attending, following directions, maintaining personal space, and asking and responding to questions in a group setting. For children working on attending, find out how long the event lasts, if there are frequent breaks, and if the event is interactive. Attend shorter, more interactive events then gradually increase the
length of time so children are successful and are engaged in the event.
2. Playground – Although primarily thought of as a place for exercise,
playgrounds are a wonderful place to learn conflict resolution, problem solving, and communication skills. Children can practice asking to join an activity, helping peers, and working with friends to create and resolve game rules. Patience can be practiced waiting for a swing or the slide. Playgrounds in fast food restaurants are a way to get out of the hot summer or cold winter weather and help children interact with peers.
3. People of Authority in the Community – The ability to socialize with people of authority is important for school, community, and future work environments. Doctors, dentists, and religious leaders are examples of people who should be addressed more formally. Use these interactions as opportunities to practice formal introductions, greetings, conversations, and good-byes. Prepare children by letting them know who they will be seeing and practicing short conversations.
4. Frequent Interactions – Addressing people at a store or in the neighborhood involves less formal interactions. These meetings are an opportunity for greeting someone by name, asking questions about their interests, and ending the conversation appropriately. Practice at home in advance and remind children, if necessary, how to respond when they see the person. For example, ‘Alex, you remember Mrs. Smith who lives across the street and has the dog, Skipper.’
5. Community Parks and Recreation Centers – Community parks and recreation centers
frequently have summer baseball, soccer, or basketball teams. These teams are opportunities for children to learn good sportsmanship, meet with children their age, and learn to follow rules and regulations associated with an activity. Other activities offered at community centers include art and science camps which teach fun skills while providing social interactions. Children learn to work collaboratively with children their age on projects or share materials for completing activities.
A big big thank you to The Students from:
Leeds Met
Rotherham College
Kensington Junior/Infant School, Liverpool
For making our Student Dyslexia Day in Leeds such a massive success yesterday.
Best wishes
Andrew
New Social Story event to be launched next month.
After months of very hard work, we are now ready to take the Social Stories training day out on the road. Special thanks to Stu the fabulous designer from http://fuse-design.co.uk/ as always his understanding of our vision is appreciated.
First two events:
Tuesday 11th May 2010
Premier Inn,
Main Road, Boreham
Chelmsford, Essex
CM3 3HJ
Thursday 13th May 2010
Stonecross Manor Hotel
Milnthorpe Road, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 5HP
These will be quickly followed by a further 17 events up and down the country between
May and July.
The course will be run by Andrew our Senior SEN Consultant.
Course content:
A visual and auditory social and behavioural strategy for teaching and support staff who work with
young people with Autism and Asperger Syndrome.
The day will include:
• What is a social story?
• Why children with Autism and Asperger syndrome need social stories and how they can benefit from them.
• Different ways of writing and presenting social stories for different ages and levels of understanding.
• Some scenarios.
• Group activities.
• Once back in your own learning environment you are invited to design a Social Story and email it back to us
for guidance and editing.
Hope to see you there!