Blogs

This great free app for iPad is a great introduction to computer programming.

Download it now: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/daisy-the-dinosaur/id490514278?mt=8

The G.A.P.S. Sports Coaching app is a must have for any serious PE Teacher...saving you time, helping you be creative & engaging your pupils. The app is free to download and allows access to over 1500 animated games, activities, practices & skills. For more information please visit,

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/g.a.p.s.-sports-coaching/id480957050?mt=8

Teaching tips for preparing your students for the upcoming ICT curriculum changes: http://www.boardworks.co.uk/ict_637

Another day and yet another bright idea from Mr. Gove (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/13/schools-power-remove-tea...). This time, the plan is to scrap the limit on the three hours teachers can be observed during the year, impose another set of teaching standards which teachers must prove they have achieved each year and reduce the time taken to remove underperforming teachers from the profession from one year to one term.

Michael Gove brands ICT curriculum 'a mess' - ICT in England's schools is a "mess" and must be radically revamped to prepare pupils for the future, Michael Gove has said.

Mr. Gove announced on 11th January 2012 that the current ICT curriculum is dull, boring and even damaging to students and UK industry. While Gove makes many valid points, he must realise that ICT is still crucial, and whether this continues to be taught as a discrete subject or becomes part of a cross curricular approach - spreadsheets being taught by the Maths department - for example, there will always be a need for students to know how to use computers and fundamental applications.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/shortcuts/2012/jan/11/it-lessons-mor...

iPads for learning: http://digitallearningworld.com/ipads-for-learning

Smartphones 'powered by walking' - Taking a stroll may soon be enough to re-charge your mobile phone, after US researchers developed a way to capture energy from human motion. [BBC Technology]

View the latest ICT Goodies newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/fmFwA or scan the QR code below.

Facebook changes privacy options - Facebook has announced a major revamp of how users control their privacy on the site. [BBC Technology]

I've now done the first three lessons of unit 1! I'm making sure I give myself around 30-40 minutes each day to do a little bit; I think it's important to do a little bit regularly. I've learned quite a bit of vocabulary so far and I'm not beginning to see how grammar and tense fits into things. The last lesson I did got a little complex towards the end so I might try and go back and do that lesson again just to make sure it's sunk it. Also, sometimes, a word comes up that I'm unsure about - Rosetta Stone doesn't give you any English - it works through associating images with words.

I've recently decided to try and learn Spanish. I studied Spanish as a GCSE many years ago and never really took to it. It's only now looking back that I really understand the value of a second language. I'm read a lot about the different systems available for learning languages and have settled upon Rosetta Stone; from what I've seen so far, their method seems to be really simple and mimics the way we learn languages as children - not through translation but through associating objects with words - clever stuff.

ICT Goodies has been featured on the popular Teaching News website created by Mark Warner. Teaching News aims to share the latest news, links and teaching ideas, in order to support teachers around the world.

Read the story here: http://www.teachingnews.co.uk/2010/06/ict-goodies/