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Programming and perseverance: is there a connection?
It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer. – Albert Einstein When I was preparing activities for the UK Hour of Code, I got two of my pupils to try out a programming app...
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Getting physical: computing at Raspberry Pi Towers
I was lucky enough to be one of 20-odd educators to be selected to take part in the first ever Raspberry PiCademy that took place last week. Two days of free, Raspberry Pi-powered CPD, I was keen to...
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Five classroom ideas that have had an impact this year
It’s about this time of year that I begin to reflect on the school year just gone (or going, not over just yet!) and look towards the new year starting in September. Five things that have had an...
View Article15 second computing: videos 1–4
Like me, I’m sure you’re pretty time poor – it’s the default setting for most teachers. So I was thinking, how could I help teachers prepare for the new computing in as little time as possible? And so...
View ArticleHow to turn an ICT project into a computing one
This week, I ran two sessions at Shireland Teaching School Alliance for local ICT Coordinators on my Switched On Computing resource and preparing for the new computing curriculum. A key thread that ran...
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Quick thoughts and questions about research
I’m increasingly fascinated by it and try to use it to inform my decisions at school more and more, but I think using research, even quantitative research, can be tricky if you don’t look at the bigger...
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Start with why: motivation for September and beyond?
September is just around the corner and for some teachers it can be hard to gear themselves up for a new year after the summer holidays – myself included at times. There are plenty of reasons why...
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Sequence, selection, Google Forms and stories
I’ve been tinkering recently with a project that combines two of the key elements of computer science – sequence and selection – and literacy. Sequence is about the order that instructions (or...
View Article#MindfulBreaktime: a challenge for busy teachers
I’ve toyed with writing a post about mindfulness for a while because I felt the topic was perhaps a little too ‘woo woo’ for a teaching blog, that usually features snippets on the computing curriculum...
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#Nurture1415 – thinglink style
It’s that time of year again: time to reflect on the highlights of the year just gone and hopes for 2015. Five of each this time and in the form of a mindmap combined with thinglink, which is tool...
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Evaluating digital content: 6 resources for teachers
Teaching responsible Internet use has always been been important and as of September 2014 teaching children to ‘be discerning in evaluating digital content’ officially became part of the Computing...
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Dear Nicky Morgan, here’s the problem with 100%.
In response to Nicky Morgan’s ‘war on illiteracy and innumeracy’ announcement – 140 characters just wasn’t enough. Dear Nicky Morgan, We seem to have a lot in common: we both appear to believe that...
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My Learning to Code books: the journey
One evening last week, I came home from work to the best package – a batch of my new books, the Learn to Code series. I won’t lie – tearing into that parcel was up there with Christmas Day 1985 in...
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#proudofmyselfie one year on: some new ideas
Thanks to my Timehop app, I was reminded that yesterday was a year to the day since I came up with the idea for #proudofmyselfie, and strangely enough yesterday I was also at The Education Show talking...
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Computing cartoons
Recently, I’ve realised my motto regarding primary computing seems to have become ‘concepts first, language second.’ By that I mean, initially at least, we should be less hung up about the programming...
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You could have heard a pin drop: mindful maths
I’m really getting into the whole mindfulness movement and the benefits it can bring, both personally and, now, to the children I teach. Tomorrow, I’m starting a series of phase assemblies (I lead...
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Exploring maths through a core text
Last week, we had our annual school carnival and this year it was linked to the book Leon and the Place Between. For two weeks leading up to carnival, the whole school was doing work based around the...
View ArticleNew challenges: ed tech columnist
I’m really chuffed to share that I’m going to have an ed tech column in The TES from September. Having the freedom to write about all things education technology, in a national publication, is a bit of...
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Coasting schools: more questions than answers
Since the definition of ‘coasting’ schools was released today, I feel like it’s created more questions in my mind than it’s answered. I’ve splurged them all here. Note: no doubt at least some of them...
View ArticleSubject responsibilities in primary: doing less and doing it better?
I read this post about subject specialisms in primary on Sunday and it inspired me to share how we have approached this in years 5 and 6 this year. As upper key stage 2 phase leader, I decided that we...
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