It’s Teachmeet Time!!

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Thank you to everybody who came to our Teachmeet on Thursday the 30th of May! #TMStrathclyde I thought it was a great event, the presentations were faboulous and many thanks to our sponsors. Over the coming weeks we will get the videos sorted and have it docmented on our website.

I wanted to let you know of upcoming Teacmeet events local to Glasgow! There seem to be too many and it’s getting me confused, so here are some easy dates for your diary!

1. #TMTablet (I think @Don_Iain) is organising this. It will take place on Tuesday 4th of June, starting at 6pm and ending at 8pm in the High School of Glasgow Library.

2. #TMAbAyr I have to say, though it seems abitious, it is definitly different! This Teachmeet is taking place in both the University of Aberdeen and the University of the West of Scotland (Ayr Campus). I will be heading to Ayr for this! It takes place on Thursday 6th June! If you can’t make this event, it will be broadcast online via live stream.

3. #TMGSF13 Glasgow Science Fair Teachmeet, taking place in the Kelvin Building at the University of Glasgow on Wednesday 12th of June.

If you click on the HashTags for the events above it will take you directly to their wiki pages where you can sign up! Hope to see some familiar faces there!


Summer courses at the Centre for Life Long Learning

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The Centre for Life Long Learning at the University of Strathclyde offer a diverse range of courses – there will be something there for you!! Many of them look interesting and would be beneficial CPD. Follow this link to view the programme. You can find out more information on the Centre for Life Long Learning website at the University.

 

Festival of Dangerous Ideas!

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For those of you who find yourselves at a loss about how to spend your new found free time after a long year of placements and coursework…

The Festival of Dangerous Ideas is taking place between Thursday 14th and Friday 21st of June 2013. It aims to “re-establish the importance of dangerous ideas as agents of change in education – to shift the axis of what is possible!” and is open to anyone passionate about education. There are a variety of events taking place all over the country and there is something that will appeal to everyone, so follow the link below to find out more!

http://www.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/development-projects/fodi/festival-of-dangerous-ideas.html

Writing in Cultures

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On Friday we had the privilege of attending the Writing in Cultures conference hosted by Sue Ellis here at the university. The day was full of interesting speakers from all over the world taking about the teaching of writing in their country.

Steven Layne from Judson University in Illinois, America spoke about how to ignite a passion for writing in your classroom. Steven was genuinely inspiring and so easy to listen to. He spoke about various ways we can gain inspiration for writing. One of the most interesting things Steven spoke about was writing down your own family stories for others to read. Many of his own books have been inspired by things his children have said or done. Steven used the lovely example of “Mailing May” by Michael O. Tunnel. This is the story of a young girl who was mailed by the U.S postal service to visit her grandma. To find out more go to http://www.michaelotunnell.com/mailing_may.html.

Another idea which I can’t wait to try on placement is using a visual aid as a stimulus for creative writing. This could be a photograph or a piece of art work that could tell a story, however each person may interpret it differently and come up with unique scenarios and stories. Steven also suggested that you could give the children a title to work with or a caption to match the visual aid which would give the children a starting point and some inspiration to work their ideas from. “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” by Chris Van Allsburg is a book which features no stories in the form of text, only drawings, titles and captions. This could be used as an effective stimulus for creative writing within the classroom.

Children also need the opportunity to write about whatever they want. It seems as though children are so used to having the thinking done for them as they are more often than not told what and how to write. The same topics seem to appear year after year – “write about your christmas holiday”, “write a story about a time you felt scared” etc. Children may feel nervous about write whatever they want as they lack confidence as writers orperhaps they are not sure their ideas are as good as the teacher’s. However, this could perhaps be improved with a positive classroom ethos when it comes to writing, where the teacher encourages children to be creative. It is also important for children to understand that it is ok to take risks in their writing, that writing is a personal thing and there is no right or wrong when it comes to putting pen to paper to record your own experiences and ideas.

Read to Inspire

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Hi everyone – just writing a quick blog about a recent CPD event I attended. I went to the Read to Inspire event last Wednesday where authors Mairi Hedderwick and Eleanor Updale came to speak about their work and careers. It was fascinating! I completely underestimated how motivating it could be to hear writers speak of their work.

Growing up as a child, Mairi Hedderwick was a heroine of mine – I collected her Katie Morag books for years and her tales were among my favourite. Hearing her speak about her own work and all the thought that goes behind the books themselves was a real learning opportunity that revealed exactly why they are so popular for children, but also for parents and teachers who encourage children to read them. Mairi spoke of how so many of her own real life experiences and influences are included in the books, which I am sure would be a real talking point for teachers and children in schools to stimulate conversation about reading and writing. She also talked of her writing process and the “story mountain” approach she uses for all of her writing – yet another valuable tool for classroom practice.

Eleanor Updale’s work is fascinating. I had previously never heard of or came across her books, but after hearing her speak, I have been so inspired to go on and research her work. Her books are full of imagination, elaborate characterisation and twisting plots that sound ideal for avid readers – and her work doesn’t end at the writing on the page. She has used the internet to create a whole new world revolving around characters in her books, where you can find information from Facebook profiles to newspaper articles. It really was intriguing – I had never seen any kind of work like this before that involved so much imaginative detail, and would strongly recommend anyone else, like me, who hadn’t heard of her until now.

On another note – we have some exciting CPD events coming up in the next few weeks – Teachmeet 365 is on Wednesday of this week (16th) where the theme explores Equality. Graham Duffy is also going to be running a session about Creative Teaching and Interdisciplinary Learning on the 30th January – which I predict will be very helpful, especially working on from Integrated modules etc. Be sure to email and sign up if you are interested!

Thanks,

Kathryn

It’s all going on at Strathclyde!

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The New Year brings a new bunch of CPD opportunities! The first week back after the Christmas holidays has brought two excellent literacy events.  The first being a Read to Inspire event which welcomed two wonderful children’s authors.  Mairi Hedderwick took the stage to give us an insight into the stories behind the famous Katie Morag.  I was always a fan of the Katie Morag stories so it was fantastic to hear how they started.  Mairi Hedderwick started her career as an illustrator, so it is no wonder the illustrations which accompany the Katie Morag stories are beautifully done, full of detail and integral to the story line.  The second author to take the stage was Eleanor Updale.  Her books are targeted at older children so would they would be fab to use in the Upper Primary and secondary schools.  The remarkable thing about her new book, The Last Minute, is that there are online follow-up resources the pupils can look at to get a more in-depth background about the story.  I can’t wait to use that resource in future as I am sure children would love to take on the role as detectives and look through the number of newspaper reports, social networking pages and tributes to find out what really happened.

Exploring Writing Cultures was the second event to be held and what a day!  Educationalists from around the world gathered to share their literacy findings.  It was very interesting to hear about literacy approaches from other countries and compare their ways of working with Scotland’s education system. I definitely gathered advice which I intend to implement on my upcoming placement and I am sure the other students will be doing the same.

As for this semester, we students are all out on school placements.  The thought of placement fills me with excitement, nerves and a desire to get into that classroom and start teaching!  To finally get the opportunity to put into practice what we have all been talking about is great.  Although I am sure that placement will be a challenge, I keep thinking about what Jane Thomson keeps telling us.  “You will love it, it will be great, you’ll just love it!”

The CPD committee was busy last semester but I think we will be even busier this semester.  We are in the process of finalising details with outside speakers and we are looking forward to providing lots of CPD opportunities.

I will finish by saying good luck to all the students preparing to go out on placement and I hope to see lots of faces at the upcoming CPD events!

Kayleigh Glendinning

TeachMeet 365 – Equality

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Hello!

Just a quick post to let you know that there will be a CPD event this week! It is a Teachmeet 365 and it is on the theme of ‘equality’. The event will look at various issues and values of equality in schools. The presentations will be from students studying the B.Ed. in Primary Education at Strathclyde University. This event is open to all. Spaces are limited to 30. If you would like to attend please email:

info@cpdstrathclyde.co.uk with your full name, establishment, and job title.

If you are a Strathclyde student, please tell us your course and year group.

TeachMeets are well established, informal events, all about creating opportunities for educators to share practice, discover new ideas, network and be inspired. Anyone can get involved, share great ideas they’ve trialed in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply take part in learning conversations. All are welcome.

TeachMeet365 is an idea about bringing people together in small, local groups to talk, listen and ask (or answer) questions. There will be no huge audiences in big halls, live video streaming on the internet or sponsors to deal with; just small groups of educators sharing with each other.

The event will take place in the Lord Hope Building, in room 213 (a/b) on Wednesday 16th January. If you would like any other information or directions to the room, please email the address above and we can provide you with these!

Many thanks, we hope to see you there!

CPD Strathclyde

 

Read to Inspire event

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The holidays are over and it’s time for everyone to get back in to a normal routine – whatever that may be! After a very busy semester 1, we would like to thank everyone who came along to our events, both speakers and students. There was lots of positive feedback and plenty of new things learned!

 Planning is well underway for events which will run throughout semester 2! However, in addition to this, there are several events running elsewhere within the University this week that you may be interested in.

 Vivienne Smith is hosting the Read to Inspire event tomorrow in the Robinson Wing of the Arbuthnot building. Mairi Hedderwick and Eleanor Updale are the two children’s authors who are coming along to speak. I have attended the Read to Inspire events for the last two years and have found them very interesting and inspiring so if you can make it along tomorrow at 2pm it will be well worth your while! This may be particularly interesting for students in B.Ed. 1&2 who are studying language at the moment.

 Information about our next few events will be posted very soon so keep a look out on our website! We look forward to seeing you all soon.