Friday 16 December 2011
Wednesday 14 December 2011
Mock Results Day
40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes
Shame on you. This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're going to let it be the worst. And I guarantee a week won't go by in your life you won't regret walking out, letting them get the best of you. Well, I'm not going home. We've come too far! And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails… but it is not THIS day. The line must be drawn HERE. This far, no further! I'm not saying it's going to be easy. You're going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that's fine, we'll just get tougher with it! If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That's how winning is done! Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you've got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean. If you would be free men, then you must fight to fulfill that promise! Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do! Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions! You're like a big bear, man! This is YOUR time! Seize the day, never surrender, victory or death… that's the Chicago Way! Who's with me? Clap! Clap! Don't let Tink die! Clap! Alright! Let's fly! And gentlemen in England now abed shall know my name is the Lord when I tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our Independence Day!
Monday 12 December 2011
Tuesday 6 December 2011
Coming soon: New DiDA and CiDA qualifications
Last month the Department for Education (DfE) announced its reforms to Key Stage 4 performance tables. These reforms include the introduction of a list of qualifications that will, from 2014 onwards, contribute to the school's headline measures including '5 GCSEs at A*-C (or equivalent)' and '5 GCSEs at A*-C (or equivalent) including English and maths'.
In order to feature on this list, qualifications must demonstrate a number of characteristics, including an element of external assessment, a minimum size and grading.
We are revising the Level 2 Certificate and Diploma in DiDA to ensure that the achievements of DiDA teachers and students can continue to attract recognition in the headline measures. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our DiDA centres who have worked with us on our submission to Ofqual.
Our revised qualifications should be ready for first-teaching in September 2012. We will continue to update all our DiDA customers as the development progresses via email and at www.edexcel.com/dida.
For more information on the Government's reforms to performance
In order to feature on this list, qualifications must demonstrate a number of characteristics, including an element of external assessment, a minimum size and grading.
We are revising the Level 2 Certificate and Diploma in DiDA to ensure that the achievements of DiDA teachers and students can continue to attract recognition in the headline measures. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our DiDA centres who have worked with us on our submission to Ofqual.
Our revised qualifications should be ready for first-teaching in September 2012. We will continue to update all our DiDA customers as the development progresses via email and at www.edexcel.com/dida.
For more information on the Government's reforms to performance
tables, read our Briefing and FAQs.
Friday 2 December 2011
Official Olympic game - Storyboard starter?
To help with storyborading - the Mario and Sonic official Olympic game - Olympic theme
get pupils to discuss assets, sound and effects to get them to visualise what scenes would look like as a story board - link to what they need to write
Tuesday 22 November 2011
Thursday 17 November 2011
Movember Donations Please
It's Movember, the month formerly known as November, now dedicated to growing moustaches and raising awareness and funds for men's health; specifically prostate and testicular cancer. I'm donating my top lip to the cause for 30 days in an effort to help change the face of men's health. My Mo will spark conversations, and no doubt generate some laughs; all in the name of raising vital awareness and funds for cancer's affecting men.
Why am I concerned about men's health?
*1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
*This year 37,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed
*1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime
*26% of men are less likely to go the doctor compared to women
I invite you to join me by registering to grow or by donating to my support of the Mo http://mobro.co/mdknight
If you want to go old school you can write a cheque payable to "Movember", reference my name and Registration Number 1973980 and send it to: Movember Europe, PO Box 68600, London, EC1P 1EF
Funds raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others. Through the Movember Foundation and our men's health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and The Institute of Cancer Research, Movember is funding world class awareness, research, educational and support programs which would otherwise not be possible.
For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please click on the links below:
About Movember
Prostate cancer genome mapping
Prostate Cancer Foundation research
Global Action Plan
Thank you in advance for helping me change the face of men's health.
Matthew Knight
Why am I concerned about men's health?
*1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
*This year 37,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed
*1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime
*26% of men are less likely to go the doctor compared to women
I invite you to join me by registering to grow or by donating to my support of the Mo http://mobro.co/mdknight
If you want to go old school you can write a cheque payable to "Movember", reference my name and Registration Number 1973980 and send it to: Movember Europe, PO Box 68600, London, EC1P 1EF
Funds raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others. Through the Movember Foundation and our men's health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and The Institute of Cancer Research, Movember is funding world class awareness, research, educational and support programs which would otherwise not be possible.
For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please click on the links below:
About Movember
Prostate cancer genome mapping
Prostate Cancer Foundation research
Global Action Plan
Thank you in advance for helping me change the face of men's health.
Matthew Knight
Friday 11 November 2011
Wednesday 9 November 2011
Year 11 Seminars
Well you don’t want to end up like Will...
•The idea of using two coloured pens as a revision technique, was described to me by an Occupational Health Therapist who had to learn the 300 parts of the human eye.
•The idea is that the two colours work on the two halves of the brain.
•The black pen signifies the information that you already hold in your conscious memory.
•The red pen signifies those things in your unconscious memory that you wish to transfer into your conscious memory.
Stage 1 – Produce a mind map to cover a topic you wish to revise e.g. Characters in Of Mice & Men
•Stage 2 – Spend 10 mins max revising from your mind map
•Stage 3 - Turnover the mind map with the answers on it. With your black pen write down everything that you can remember on a fresh piece of paper
•Stage 4 – When you cannot remember anymore turn over your original so you can fill in the blanks in red pen
•Stage 5 - repeat stages 2-4!
•Repeat from stage 4 !
Monday 7 November 2011
The impact of living virtual lives
The impact of living virtual lives
Friendship is changing. Virtual connectivity is expanding the number of friends that a teenager may think they have – but could be undermining the quality and impact of friendship. Psychologist Dr Stephanie Thornton explains
Friday 4 November 2011
Year 11 Moodboards for DiDA Unit 5
Another example of gender difference in ICT a Year 11 girls class using crinkle cut scissors, glitter, sequins, gold and silver pens to produce their moodboards for DiDA Unit 5. The girls take their time positioning each of the elements of the moodboard before them to their moodboards. Whilst the boys just cut, stick and move onto the next task.
Thursday 3 November 2011
Wednesday 2 November 2011
Monday 31 October 2011
10 Free Online Image Editing Tools
10 Free Online Image Editing Tools
One of the challenges students face when creating multimedia projects for school assignments is finding images that are appropriate in both content and size for the project on which they are working. Here are ten tools that students can use to alter images to fit with the goals of their multimedia projects. These tools range from simple resizing tools to an image editing suite that is trying to challenge Photoshop.
Cloud Canvas is a free online image editing and image creation tool. Cloud Canvas fits in a niche somewhere between a simple drawing tool and a full-blown image editor like Aviary. If all you need is a tool for drawing simple pictures and diagrams, Cloud Canvas has you covered. If you need to do some basic work with vectors and layers, Cloud Canvas can help you there too. If you have photos or drawings that you want to edit, you can do that with Cloud Canvas. Cloud Canvas uses HTML5 instead of Flash so you should be able to use it on the iPad. Cloud Canvas integrates with your Google Docs account so that when you save an image edited in Cloud Canvas it is saved and accessible in your Google Docs account. You can also export your images as PNG files.
Psykopaint is an image editing tool that uses the color schemes in your existing images to provide you with a custom palate of colors for touching-up your images. You can also use Psykopaint to draw on an image. To use Psykopaint just upload an image and begin editing. You can adjust the color saturation of an image, blur the edges of your image or the objects within your images. Psykopaint provides a good selection of brushes and color blending tools to get your image looking exactly the way you want it to look.
Image Embellisher is a simple tool for adding some neat display effects to your images. Image Embellisher provides you with a selection of eight special effects to use. To apply one of these effects to your image just select an effect from the menu then upload your image. Image Embellisher will then add your desired effect to your image and provide you with a new file to download and use however and wherever you like. 
Imageoid is a free, simple service for adding a variety of effects to your images. To use Imageoid you just upload an image from your computer then choose the effect(s) you want to apply to it. You can combine effects if you like. If you don't like the way your image looks with a chosen effect, just click "reset" to start again. Imageoid can also be used to resize your image. Imageoid offers twenty-two effects that you can apply to your image.
GooEdit is a free image editing tool that operates as a Google Chrome extension. GooEdit allows you to edit images without having to leave your browser. You can add outlines, flip images, resize images, and do other basic image editing tasks in GooEdit. If you need a simple image editing tool for your students, give GooEdit a try.
Resize Your Image.com is a simple tool for resizing images. The directions for using it are very clear and the advertising is minimal. You can expand or contract your images in just a matter of minutes.
Shrink Pictures shrinks images that are in jpeg, gif, and png formats. You can specify the exact dimensions you want your image to be or use the percentage scale to specify the new dimensions for your image.
Pic Resize offers you the option to re-size pictures on an individual basis or re-size a batch of images at once.
FlauntR is a suite of free, web-based image editing tools. There are five tools included in the FlauntR package. In EditR you can touch-up your digital photos. StylR allows you to apply digital effects like backgrounds and frames to you images. PicasR gives you the ability to blend colors, effects, and images. TextR can be used to add text and banners to your images. And PrintR provides a postcard, poster, and printing service (you do have to pay for the printing). Once you've registered for FlauntR you can easily transition between each of the editing services within the suite. To transition between services simply click on the tabs at the top of the page, you're not required to log into each service separately. The images you edit can be sourced from your computer, Flickr, Facebook, or the web. You can also choose images from Picasa, Bebo, or use the sample images provided by FlauntR.
Aviary offers the most complete set of image creation and editing tools of all the services on this list. Aviary provides tools for editing the colors, size, shadows, and other effects of existing images. If creating images from scratch is what you want to do, Aviary can accommodate you too. Aviary provides tools for creating logos, working with vectors, and creating free hand illustrations. If you are a Google Apps for Education school, Aviary can be added to your suite of services to allow students to save their works within their Google Apps accounts.
Cloud Canvas is a free online image editing and image creation tool. Cloud Canvas fits in a niche somewhere between a simple drawing tool and a full-blown image editor like Aviary. If all you need is a tool for drawing simple pictures and diagrams, Cloud Canvas has you covered. If you need to do some basic work with vectors and layers, Cloud Canvas can help you there too. If you have photos or drawings that you want to edit, you can do that with Cloud Canvas. Cloud Canvas uses HTML5 instead of Flash so you should be able to use it on the iPad. Cloud Canvas integrates with your Google Docs account so that when you save an image edited in Cloud Canvas it is saved and accessible in your Google Docs account. You can also export your images as PNG files.Psykopaint is an image editing tool that uses the color schemes in your existing images to provide you with a custom palate of colors for touching-up your images. You can also use Psykopaint to draw on an image. To use Psykopaint just upload an image and begin editing. You can adjust the color saturation of an image, blur the edges of your image or the objects within your images. Psykopaint provides a good selection of brushes and color blending tools to get your image looking exactly the way you want it to look.
GooEdit is a free image editing tool that operates as a Google Chrome extension. GooEdit allows you to edit images without having to leave your browser. You can add outlines, flip images, resize images, and do other basic image editing tasks in GooEdit. If you need a simple image editing tool for your students, give GooEdit a try.
Resize Your Image.com is a simple tool for resizing images. The directions for using it are very clear and the advertising is minimal. You can expand or contract your images in just a matter of minutes.
Shrink Pictures shrinks images that are in jpeg, gif, and png formats. You can specify the exact dimensions you want your image to be or use the percentage scale to specify the new dimensions for your image.
Pic Resize offers you the option to re-size pictures on an individual basis or re-size a batch of images at once.
FlauntR is a suite of free, web-based image editing tools. There are five tools included in the FlauntR package. In EditR you can touch-up your digital photos. StylR allows you to apply digital effects like backgrounds and frames to you images. PicasR gives you the ability to blend colors, effects, and images. TextR can be used to add text and banners to your images. And PrintR provides a postcard, poster, and printing service (you do have to pay for the printing). Once you've registered for FlauntR you can easily transition between each of the editing services within the suite. To transition between services simply click on the tabs at the top of the page, you're not required to log into each service separately. The images you edit can be sourced from your computer, Flickr, Facebook, or the web. You can also choose images from Picasa, Bebo, or use the sample images provided by FlauntR.Thursday 20 October 2011
Friday 14 October 2011
Gadget Show Gaming
Introducing Game Development via a video starter from the Gadget show. Before pupils develop their Overviews and concept showing this helped them see how an idea grows.
http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/videos/challenge/casual-gaming-full-challenge
Thursday 6 October 2011
RIP Steve Jobs
A powerful and self reflective address shared with Year 11 classes today as they worked on Gamemaker whilst plugged into their iPods, iTouches and iPhones. He hits the nail on the head with regard to his comments on work and doing what you love.
Monday 3 October 2011
Gamemaker at home
Year 11
If you'd like to have a go at gamemaker at home you can download a 'LITE' version of gamemaker from home - ask your parents first.
Click on Gamemaker - standard and then Gamemaker Lite and follow the instructions.
The tutorials and resources are all on:
Thursday 22 September 2011
Error Codes
Gamemaker is going well with Year 11 as are their blogs which are all set up now also. Teaching the finer arts of programming and avoiding basic mistakes has been the call of the week. Next step now is to get classes looking and understanding the error messages they get so they can solve their own problems.
Friday 16 September 2011
It's all about PACE
Top set girls class just completed introduction to Fireworks and setting up Blogger account in an action packed lesson. We just about managed to keep pace with the New Zealand Rugby team try scoring count against Japan.
An interesting starter also comparing the live video on the iPad App, BBC news feed and official RWC website for following the game and the 24hr must know culture. Very different to 2003 trying to make my little old television work in 679 to watch the morning games and getting a very bad grainy picture.
Final note that from a class of 23 glass three actively play rugby for a club and most were more interested in rugby than football.
Wednesday 14 September 2011
Framesets are safe
First set of Web Design DiDA lessons completed with Year 9 classes. Benefits of Unit 3 work in KS3 showing now as they can handle Dreamweaver. Most classes have a working Frameset attached to their index page. I'm still a little unsure of taking the plunge with Year 9 classes building websites not in Framesets! I might try it with Year 10 or 11?
Tuesday 13 September 2011
QR Codes in the classroom
QR Code uses in the classroom
Some further ideas for uses of QR codes in the classroom. This time last year I thought it was just some cool tech now it appear to be moving more and more into the classroom.
Some further ideas for uses of QR codes in the classroom. This time last year I thought it was just some cool tech now it appear to be moving more and more into the classroom.
Monday 12 September 2011
eSafety lessons finished
eSafety series of lessons are now complete and now into the introduction of the all the new DiDA Units. Gaming going well with Year 11 and bouncing fruit already completed by some. Year 10 are drawing Smurfs and Year 9 on basic web design. Year 8 also working on Web Design Unit 3 in Dreamweaver.
Tuesday 6 September 2011
Monday 5 September 2011
First day back
Well it was a long usually wet summer away from work.
Walls have come down, more walls have come down and now they have gone back up in different places some level and one a little pissed!
First day back has been harmless so far although the broken washing machine at 1am and flat tyre on my bike at 7:30am were not a good start to the term.
Excellent results for iMedia and DiDA Units 3 and 4. Need to look at the Unit 5 Games Authoring tomorrow.
eSaftey work to begin the year for all classes starts tomorrow with Year 7.
Goggle Calenders needed to be updated to new timetable.
One question that came via the exam boards moderation report is that they prefer work to be submitted on a CD rather than a Memory stick. Anyone else still work like that?
Wednesday 27 July 2011
end of term delight
A great set of leaving speeches. Very emotional listening to Henry Jones talk about his 39 years at Wildern. I loved the story about the rouge Science teacher coming back into school one night and blowing up his lab. Have a great summer everyone.
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Packing Up Day
There is something strangely therapeutic about packing up your classroom for the summer and the deep cleaning that happens. A little like the loft what will I pack away and never use again? What should I make sure I get out and not leave hidden away in a cupboard? Need to return to some old tech and basics in the Autumn term.
Monday 25 July 2011
All set up
So have set these addresses up again. Not sure how much they will be used I guess cake photos and and the odd report from school. The plan is for it to be a professional site on what I am doing and what is working etc rather than Facebook v2.
We will see
We will see
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