blog. mrstacey. org.uk

I need to go through and sort out the resources section of the site, but I suspect that will end up as a summer job.

In the mean time I’ve added some new posters that I’ve created in my room, including question posters, extended writing, source work and SOLO. Feel free to use them if they’re of any use.

Download posters (pdf)

My very first teaching website had a section of my resources on it and it’s been on the to do list for ages. I’m a great believer in sharing resources. Not because these are great, but because I can’t help thinking if we all shared a few of the things we create then all our lives would be a little easier.

So, I’ve finally got round to updating a section of this site. There’s a whole load of history stuff on there, some general resources and a few few classroom posters. I’ll try to keep it updated fairly regularly. Everything is Creative Commons licenced. Please help yourself, and if you improve anything (not too hard I’m sure), please think about sharing it back. I’ll be happy to host any files you adapt.

You can find the page easily by bookmarking mrstacey.org.uk/resources

In the comments to this morning’s post, Mel calls me out:

All of the activities we create are for the teacher to use at the front of the class – and we are conscious never to make the resource the teacher

Let me have another go at explaining what I meant. I think this might have been the problem sentence:

The problem is that the author has tried to create something that replaced the teacher

Let me go back and develop that idea further, cause from Mel’s comment I don’t think I really explained what I meant.

The resources I create for me to use in my room always look different to the ones I make to share around the dept (and with the wider world). The difference? Me. Without me there I have to substitute what I would have said with words on the screen and the moment I do that I shift the dynamic from something flexible that I can develop with my students to something that’s static on the board.

The same thing applies to any resource which is designed for sharing with other teachers, including text books, but for some reason the way in which slideshows control the narrative remove some of the flexibility for skipping around that you can do with a textbook.

But the alternative is also no use. I’ve got resources created by other people that I’m sure in their hands make a great support to a lesson, but I have no idea what they are. Without that knowledge and context they are just a series of disjointed images and quotes.

What I’m trying to get my head round is how can we keep the flexibility, adaptability and spontaneity of the resources we create for ourselves, but make them usefully shareable ¹ All I know right now is that the stuff I’m sharing and the stuff I’m downloading isn’t there yet.No blame. No packdrill. Just trying to move the situation along somehow.

I’ve been reviewing a lot of so called e-learning resources recently and trying to work out my my gut reaction to them tends to be so negative. Recently, I had a lightbulb moment.

The problem is that the authors have tried to create something that replaced the teacher. The result is slides or animations with too much text for use as a whole class resources, but that can’t be used by many schools which simply don’t have 1:1 a or 1:2 computer access.

I suspect that the key is that less is more. Rather than having all the information on screen, it would be better if the creators had used the notes section of ppt or provide a teacher briefing paper to go along side the resources. It might stop them being used as a last minute lesson filler, but would make their educational value much greater by empowering teachers rather than publishers to be the ones responsible for how they can be used to the best effect with a particular group of learners.

What are the best examples of ‘off the shelf’ e-learning resources that you’ve seen, either commercially or online? What makes them so good in your view?

I don’t know if anyone reading this teaches AS Soclology, but in case you do, a couple of things I’ve produced this term that might be useful. They all relate to the AQA Spec and the topic has been Family. All files are Word Docs.

Quick on the draw for Social Policy and the family

Social Policy Grid (provide students with a blank grid and a copy of the boxes, they need to work out which box goes where. Solution is included for teacher reference!)

Study cards for childhood – should be printed back to back. 22? studies with a summary of their ideas. I encouraged students for who this approach worked to create their own.