Improving writing through blogging

This is a re-blog post originally posted by Ben Hall, and published with kind permission.

The original post can be found here.

Blogging is a fantastic tool to engage writers by providing real purpose and audience. There are also lots of ways you can use strategies which work in the classroom on blogs everyday. Here are a few ideas, some you may have already tried and some which might be new.

1. Use tools which are already out there

There are so many fantastic sites dedicated to encouraging children to blog. My favourite is the 100 word challenge. This site offers weekly challenges aimed at KS2 children, encouraging participation and providing a wide audience for writing. See my video on how to post a 100 word challenge.

From the creators of the 100 word challenge, there is also the 5 sentence challenge. This is aimed more at KS1 children and offers a simple prompt for writing. Both these ideas can also be adapted to suit whichever topic or genre you are looking at.

2. Use constraints for differentiation

The possibilities are many and varied here. Using the tools above it is very easy to differentiate. You could use slow writing (an ideas showcased to me by Lee Parkinson) to encourage children to think carefully about their choice of vocabulary and sentence structure. You could incorporate into this Alan Peat sentence types (or which ever writing scheme you follow) to embed them further into the children’s writing. For higher achieving children you could challenge them to omit a particular letter – a great way of widening vocabulary.

3. Use comments

Comments are a wonderful and often overlooked tool. They are a great way for a teacher to provide timely feedback, and you can build a conversation with children to show that they are understanding and finding ways to progress. You can also use comments for up levelling. Once a child has done an initial post, encourage them to review it and post an improved version as a comment – a really easy way of showing progress. Comments are also great for peer review.

Comments are also a way of providing a demonstrable wider audience. If you are writing about a particular author tweet them and ask them to comment. My daughter was delighted when Benjamin Zephaniah commented on one of her posts. If you have links to other schools through initiatives such as Quadblogging or The Blog Exchange then don’t be afraid to ask them to comment.

4. Incorporate speaking and listening

Some of the best learning takes place in quick 1:1 conversations, you can preserve these by recording them in audioboo and posting them below the child’s writing. A really quick effective way to assess and show progress.

GCHQ's first tablet app targets future cyber sleuths

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• BBC begins push to help kids code
• Where the only rule is 'be cool'
• Maths and science Cameron's priority

The government's electronic monitoring agency GCHQ is releasing its first tablet computer app.

Cryptoy was created by three industrial placement students and tells the story of four historical cyphers, including the German Enigma code, cracked at Bletchley Park during World War Two.

The free app for Android devices also encrypts messages using the codes.

GCHQ says it is hoping it will help to encourage teenagers to be the next generation of cyber security experts.

Cryptoy also showcases the substitution and vigenere cyphers, and the shift, which dates back to Roman times.

A spokeswoman for Cheltenham-based GCHQ said the app is intended as a "fun teaching aid" to help 14-16 year olds studying at the Key Stage 4 level learn something about code making and code breaking.

'Extremely relevant'

She said it aims to encourage them to become interested in associated disciplines such as mathematics, as well as problem solving and the necessary programming skills to create such an app.

"All of this is extremely relevant to today's world where information security is increasingly important and where we need young people to study the subjects necessary," she added.

The app was initially produced by the industrial placement students for the Cheltenham Festival cultural event last year.

The GCHQ spokeswoman said the agency was keen where possible to be open about some aspects of its work.

The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said the public should have no qualms about downloading the app.

Cryptoy will be available to download directly from Google Play or through the GCHQ website. It is understood that a version for Apple iPads will not be available until next year.

KS3 eSafety Assembly

KS4 eSafety Assembly

eSafety Briefing 2014

Why Schools Have to Introduce Students to Programming (3 Steps to Get Started)

Some Countries are Adding This Vital Skill Set to the Curriculum in Their Schools, but Many Are Lagging

As technology becomes more prevalent, it is more and more important to educate our children in the field of computer science. According to Code.org, 90 percent of U.S. schools are not teaching any computer science in their curriculum. It is estimated that over the next ten years there will be 1.4 million computer science jobs created in the U.S., with only 400,000 qualified professionals to fill them. A shortage of 1 million people in a field that is of such importance to all of us should be a sign that we should start preparing our future for the jobs that we need filled.

Fall 2011 Student Hackathon Coding from @matylda. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Early Adopters Ahead of the Game

Many countries across the world will experience the growth in demand for technology skills. Some have already started to implement some type of coding or computer science learning. Early adopters include Israel, New Zealand, and Germany. Recently Australia, Denmark, and, about a year ago, the United Kingdom all adopted some type of initiative to teach young students how to code. September 2014 marked the start of the U.K. initiative to teach every student aged 5-16 to code. The U.K. is the first country to implement a focus on coding on a national level with its Year of Code campaign.

Step 1 – Raise Administrator’s Awareness

The first step in getting administrators implementing more computer science courses into their curriculum is to show them that there is a need for students to learn to code. Getting young children to understand how computers work can go a long way in expanding the worlds view on technology. Much like how we teach math to show students how to follow rules, discover relationships between two variables, problem solve, and to organize thoughts; we can apply these same techniques when teaching coding. In a sense, coding can become part of the math subject and teachers can use both math and coding to teach students important lessons.

Step 2 – Help Teachers Understand the Benefits

Many educators are intimidated by programming and that may be one of the reasons so few classrooms are beginning to teach this subject. Many people are intimidated by coding and computer science because they don’t understand it, which is the case in everything so there really is no reason to be intimidated. Programming can help students to develop both math and problem solving skills at a young age. When learning to code, students identify variables, apply logic, develop algorithmic functions, articulate hypotheses, apply trial-and-error experimentation, and learn many other strategies.

There needs to be a move toward teaching our teachers to code and getting them to better understand the field of computer science before we start to teach our youth about how computers work. We are seeing this with how the U.K. is approaching the Year of Code campaign. There has been a large amount of funding over the past year to help train primary and secondary education teachers how to code.

Step 3 – Get Started

The hour of code initiative was highly successful in getting students to try coding all over the world. Teachers can follow this by incorporating a coding lesson at least once a week into the curriculum by combining it with math lessons. The good news is that there are a ton of resources for teaching students to code at all ages! Some of the most popular resources that help to teach students programming are:

• Tynker Games offers age appropriate games to teach elementary students coding concepts.
• Hopscotch is a free iPad app for ages 8 and up that offers challenges to students via coding.
• Kodu is a programming tool that is easy to use and allows users to create simple games. It also uses a unique math curriculum to help students learn.
• LEGO’s Mindstorms is also another easy programming tool for students that allows them to create and command robots.

The field of computer science will continue to grow far into the future. Hopefully it is only a matter of time before coding and computer science become the norm in our school systems, but that won’t be the case if we don’t start taking action now.

by ELLEN PLUNKETT on NOVEMBER 4, 2014

What will you do to help raise the awareness of the need to incorporate coding into our schools curricula?

Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):Industry Players Collaborate to Take Teaching and Learning About Programming to the Next LevelStudy Shows 21st Century Skill Development Clearly Linked to Career SuccessBook Review – Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies

You Tube Safety Advice

YouTube is a video-sharing website that is owned by Google. There are a range of safety features such as reporting tools and restricting access to inappropriate content in Safety Mode.

 Safety advice

YouTube has a Policy and Safety Hub, where you can find out:

• how to report and what happens to reports
• tools and resources for staying safe on YouTube
• policies, for example what is and what is not allowed on YouTube

www.youtube.com/yt/policyandsafety

 Safety tools

There are a range of helpful safety features:

• Flag content: report content that breaks the community guidelines (watch video)
• Safety Mode: restrict access to age-inappropriate content (watch video)
• Video privacy settings: you can make videos public, unlisted or private
• Blocking: prevent someone from commenting on your videos or sending you messages
• Comment moderation: stay in control of who can post comments on your videos
• File a privacy complaint: you can request the removal of videos that include your image, full name or personal information

 Terms and conditions

Community standards

www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines

YouTube's Community Guidelines explain what's allowed and not allowed. For example, YouTube does not accept content that is violent, threatening, bullying or pornographic.

Terms of use

www.youtube.com/terms

 Age requirement

13 years +

In order to create a YouTube account, you must be at least 13 years old.

It is possible to watch videos without registering an account, but you would not be able to post your own videos.

Facebook Esafety

Facebook is a social network that is popular globally with over a billion users. It has a range of safety features and advice, including advice about how to deal with concerns and how to protect your privacy.

 Safety advice

Facebook's Safety Centre has a range of advice for young people, parents and teachers.

www.facebook.com/safety

The Bullying Prevention Hub has advice and resources too: www.facebook.com/safety/bullying

 Safety tools

There are a number of safety tools such as Reporting, Blocking and Privacy settings and these are explained at www.facebook.com/safety/tools.

Reporting

Find out how to report to Facebook at www.facebook.com/report

You can track the status of reports you make to Facebook from your Support Dashboard.

Special reporting forms

• I want to report something but I don't have a Facebook account
• I think my account has been hacked
• Someone has posted pictures of my child without my permission
• I want to report a child who is under 13 and using Facebook

Privacy

There are a range of tools to help you manage who can see your profile. Please see the following advice from Facebook:

• Basic privacy settings and tools
• Find out more about how privacy works for minors
• Learn about Graph Search privacy

Other helpful tools

• Blocking: prevent someone from contacting you or seeing your content
• Activity Log: a record of all of your Facebook activity 
• Social reporting: to help people deal with concerns that do not break Facebook's terms and conditions
• View As: see what your Timeline looks like to other people
• Timeline review: review photos or posts you've been tagged in before they appear on your Timeline
• App privacy: control what you share with third party apps on Facebook
• Tag review: lets you review tags that people add to your posts

 Terms and conditions

Community standards

www.facebook.com/communitystandards

Facebook's Community Standards explain what type of expression is acceptable, and what type of content may be reported and removed. For example, Facebook does not accept content that is threatening, bullying or pornographic. It is also against the rules to create a fake profile, use a fake name or share copyrighted content.

Terms of use

www.facebook.com/legal/terms

This is the legal document of the statement of rights and responsibilities.

Triple Impact Marking

For the last year we’ve had a new marking policy in school & it’s been working well (except for having to mark in green; I hate green).  Students get more uniformed feedback which is done in the same way across all departments & teachers.  I can certainly see the benefits of this.  This year, we have a plan to create more independent learners so I’ve been trying Triple Impact Marking (TIM) in my lessons.

TIM involves self assessment, peer assessment & teacher assessment to improve & refine student work.  Below is a video created for students to explain TIM:

When I am marking I often find that students are making mistakes which be easily rectified (i.e. capital letters, punctuation, etc).  Alternatively, they’ve not fully met the assessment criteria because they’ve not referred back to it.  TIM gives students the opportunity to assess & improve their work as well as giving them an opportunity to receive appropriate & constructive feedback from each other.

To ensure that students can differentiate between the types of feedback they’re getting, I have decided to ask them to use different coloured pens:

• Blue = self assessment as this stands out against either printed work or written work (our students must write in black)
• Red = peer assessment to help students differentiate between what their peers say or what I say
• Green = teacher assessment (standard colour across my school)

An example of a TIM sheet which I used with my Year 11 OCR Nationals class is below:

This form combines the assessment criteria with key questions.  Students had to write in the boxes whether they could find the relevant features which need to be included on the website in order to achieve a Distinction grade (most students are Pass/Merit targets though I encourage all students to try to include the Distinction criteria).

I’ve also used literacy cards to help students with a starting point.  I sometimes find that students aren’t 100% sure what they need to correct so I always start by giving them my literacy cards to prompt them which is especially important for the students in my class who have special educational needs.

 

 

Some students are slightly unfamiliar with the process & don’t find it easy to critique their own work never mind their peer’s work & that’s something I need to work to change.  For example, a student tried to cross out some feedback which said that they hadn’t included external links.  The student was adamant that were planning on including these external links (minimum of two needed for a Distinction) which I am sure they had; however, they hadn’t explained this on the plan & I sat explaining how this was really valuable feedback, that the moderator wouldn’t be able to question him, that he wasn’t going to get wrong, etc, etc.  This student definitely saw the advantages when I’d explained why they were doing what they were doing.  Some other students weren’t as receptive to the process.

I photocopied it on A3 paper so that students had plenty of room to write but the yellow was an accident.  However, I think I will continue to put feedback sheets on yellow paper because both the students & I will be able to easily located it in files.

This is an example of a page plan with annotated improvements (self assessment) which has conformed to the school’s marking policy (capital letters circled, spellings annotated with sp, etc).  I felt that it was best if the students used the same marking system as I do so that they’re consistent and they know what each improvement actually is.  Part of the appeal for me is that the students have already done some of the work; I won’t have to pick up all of the silly little mistakes that are more based on carelessness than lack of understanding or ability.  As you can see from this example, the student has highlight some spellings & missing capital letters.

My next step is to complete my side of the marking & add my comments onto the TIM sheet & get students to make the relevant improvements.

As a first attempt at TIM with this group, I felt that it could have gone better.  Some students weren’t very focused & were a little bit silly in their attitudes but I think it can be a very valuable tool & it’s something which I will continue to use throughout this unit especially as they move onto building their website.  Other groups will benefit & I think it’s a habit which you need to get them into so that they can see the value of it.  Students needed prompting with this & support as to what they were doing though I expect that this will become easier as they go forward & do it more often.

by @misschambersICT

How the world came to be run by computer code

From the scythe to the steam engine, we've always used technology to control the world around us. But our ability to shape our environment has been transformed by one machine more than any other – the computer.

What makes computers so powerful is the code they run. It's incredibly flexible, controlling games one moment and spaceships the next. It came to do this thanks to individual genius, invention driven by necessity, and the power of human imagination.

Click here for more

7 things you didn’t know your Web browser could do

The most-used program on your computer is your Web browser, but there's a good chance you don't know much about it besides how to visit your favorite sites. There are a lot of myths about browsers, some of which I've dispelled in the past, but today I want to help you get the most out of your browser with a few simple tricks you really need to know.

1. Choose your home page

ADVERTISEMENT

What's the first thing you see when your browser starts up? If you're using Internet Explorer, it's probably MSN's website. Chrome loads up a modified Google page. Firefox has its own start page.

But if you always head to the same site first, why not just start there?

In Chrome, click the icon on the right with the three horizontal bars and choose Settings. On the left column, choose Settings and then look under "On Startup."

Set it to "Open a specific page or set of pages" and then click the "Set pages" link. Type in one or more Web addresses and then click OK. The page – or pages – will load when Chrome starts.

In Firefox, click the icon on the right with the three horizontal bars and choose Options. On the General tab, set "When Firefox starts" to "Show my homepage." Then under that, type in the address you want for your home page. Then click OK.

In Internet Explorer, click the gear icon on the right and select Internet Options. Go to the General tab and under "Home page" enter the Web address you want to see on startup.

In Safari on Apple, go to Safari>>Preferences. On the General tab, go to "Homepage" and type in an address. Done!

Another good way to open your favorite sites is by using bookmarks. Click here to learn the ins and outs of this unappreciated browser feature.

2. Pin tabs

This is for Chrome and Firefox users who have favorite sites they leave open all day. Load up the site, right-click on the browser tab and choose "Pin Tab."

The page will appear as a smaller tab on the left side of the tab bar. No matter how many tabs you have open, it will still be sitting there. It will even reappear when you restart the browser. To unpin a tab you don't want anymore, just right-click and choose "Unpin Tab."

3. Middle-click to open tabs

If you're using a mouse that was made after the mid-2000s, then it probably has a scroll wheel. Did you know that if you press down on the scroll wheel it acts as a middle mouse button?

OK, you knew that. But did you know that clicking on a Web link with the middle mouse button opens that link in a new browser tab? Give it a try; it will change your life – or at least your browsing. Click here for even more mouse and keyboard shortcuts you should know.

4. Zoom text

Have you ever visited a page with text that was too small? If you've ever leaned in close to a computer monitor to read, you need to know this.

To zoom text – and images – in any browser, just press CTRL and the plus key at the same time. Hit it a few times to zoom way in. Too far? Hold CTRL and hit the minus key to zoom back out. CTRL and the zero key resets the zoom. Click here for even more handy computer shortcuts you can't live without.

You can also hold down the CTRL key and spin your mouse's scroll wheel. That will zoom in and out quickly.

5. Browse privately

Don't want your significant other knowing what his or her birthday present is? Want to make it hard for snoops to know where you're going online? Just fire up your browser's privacy mode.

In every browser but Chrome, press CTRL+SHIFT+P (COMMAND+SHIFT+P on a Mac). In Chrome use CTRL+SHIFT+N (COMMAND+SHIFT+N on a Mac). On Safari, private browsing is available under SAFARI in the menu bar. You'll instantly be in a separate private browsing window. Click here to learn more private browsing tricks and the limits of its privacy.

6. See if your browser needs updating

An out-of-date browser is very dangerous. It might have unfixed security flaws that hackers can use to take over your computer. Or you might just be missing out on some of the latest and greatest Internet sites that use newer Web standards. Either way, keeping your browser up to date is essential. Click here to find out instantly what browser you're using and if there's a newer version.

See your online accounts and passwords

Do you remember every online account you’ve ever made? I know I sure don’t.

Your browser does, though. That's great when you want to review your old accounts and passwords. It's not so great when a snoop gets on your computer.

Learn how to see your saved passwords and secure them against hackers.

Copyright 2014, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved.

AQA GCSE CS

AQA Documentation

• http://store.aqa.org.uk/admin/crf_pdf/AQA-4512-1-W-CRF-15.PDF
• http://www.aqa.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/products-and-services/on-screen-tests
• http://www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/coursework-and-controlled-assessment/candidate-record-forms-2014-2015/centre-declaration-sheets
• http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-GCSE-COMPSCI-W-TRB-PSEU.PDF
• http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/ict-and-computer-science/gcse/computer-science-4512/teaching-and-learning-resources
• http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/ict-and-computer-science/gcse/computer-science-4512/controlled-assessment
• http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/ict-and-computer-science/gcse/computer-science-4512

Flowcharts

• http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/visio/
• https://www.lucidchart.com/ 

BYOB --> Now Snap

• http://snap.berkeley.edu/

Greenfoot

• http://www.greenfoot.org/home

Notepad ++

• http://notepad-plus-plus.org/   

App Inventor

• http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/

Tagxedo

A little old in terms of websites that have been seen before but still fun!

KS1 and KS2 Computing POS

Key Stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:

 understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital 
devices, and that programs execute by following a sequence of instructions
 write and test simple programs
 use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
 organise, store, manipulate and retrieve data in a range of digital formats
 communicate safely and respectfully online, keeping personal information private,
and recognise common uses of information technology beyond school.

Key Stage 2
Pupils should be taught to:
 design and write programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or 
simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller 
parts
 use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and 
various forms of input and output; generate appropriate inputs and predicted 
outputs to test programs
 use logical reasoning to explain how a simple algorithm works and to detect and 
correct errors in algorithms and programs
 understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide 
multiple services, such as the world-wide web; and the opportunities they offer for 
communication and collaboration
 describe how internet search engines find and store data; use search engines 
effectively; be discerning in evaluating digital content; respect individuals and 
intellectual property; use technology responsibly, securely and safely
 select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a 
range of digital devices to accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, 
evaluating and presenting data and information.