Posts by Mark Taylor
208: Digital Strategy for Schools with Al Kingsley
Al has spent the last 30 years in the EdTech space and 20 of those as a school trustee and governor.
He is Group CEO of NetSupport Ltd, an internationally acclaimed EdTech vendor, and has lived and worked in both the UK and US. He is Chair of 2 Academy Trusts and Chair of an alternative provision Academy, all in the East of England.
Alongside these roles, Al also sits on the Regional Schools Commissioner’s Head Teachers board for the East of England and North-East London and is an independent Chair of the county’s SEND board.
As a firm supporter of lifelong learning, he is also a regional Apprenticeship Ambassador and Chair of the Employment & Skills board for his region’s combined authority.
An active writer about all things EdTech, Al is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and sits on the advisory council for the Foundation for Education Development.
As schools around the country continue to grapple with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, all eyes are on the education sector as yet another cohort of children risks being left behind due to learning loss. With some form of blended learning set to stay in place for the foreseeable future even after the vaccination programme concludes, Al discusses what role EdTech might play in addressing these issues going forward – specifically the shifting role played by teachers in an increasingly digital world, and how we can best equip our educators with the tools they need to navigate the ‘new normal’.
NetSupport recently announced the launch of classroom.cloud, an enhanced international, cloud-based classroom management and teaching platform, which will help improve teacher workloads, wellbeing and student engagement. Classroom.cloud enables teachers and learners to move seamlessly between in-class and remote schooling, having been developed in partnership with teachers and education professionals across the globe – ensuring it is designed to specifically fit the various needs of teachers and students.
Website
Social Medial Information
@AlKingsley_Edu
@NetSupportGroup
@classroomcloud_
Resource Mentioned
Show Sponsor
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. Get a FREE e-copy of their professional journal at nape.org.uk/journal
Online Children’s Book Festival – June 26th and 27th 2021
A FREE CHILDREN’S BOOK FESTIVAL is being hosted by Independent Thinking this June.
This special event grew out of our recent podcast guest Ian Gilbert finding himself on a Zoom coffee morning chat with a wide range of authors, all brought together by Sue Atkins, TV’s celebrated ‘parenting coach’.
Post-lockdown, it is even more vital to help children develop their reading skills – and that all-important love of reading. So, they felt that bringing these wonderful authors together and giving each one 20 minutes to share their book, read a short extract and explain what drove them to write would be a really useful and enjoyable thing to do.
So that’s what they’re doing.
Simply check out all the great titles below and follow the links to reserve your free front-row seats. You can come to as many as you like.
And thank you for sharing this page with other educators, parents, librarians and anyone who has an interest in wonderful books for children.
Full details at https://www.independentthinking.co.uk/itl-online/childrens-book-festival/
207: 5 Wellbeing principles with Maria Brosnan
Maria Brosnan is an educational leadership and wellbeing specialist, author, coach, speaker.
Over a 30-year period, Maria has worked in a variety of wellbeing capacities; from counselling end-stage cancer patients to whole school wellbeing training.
She created Pursuit Wellbeing as a platform to offer information, inspiration and support to promote the wellbeing of teachers, leaders and all school staff.
She hosts the podcast ‘Pursuit of Wellbeing’, and is author of the book ‘Pursuit of Sleep’ for teachers.
Maria takes us through 5 wellbeing principles:
- Small everyday choices matter
- Wellbeing requires action
- Your wellbeing is your responsibility
- Wellbeing is journey
- Your wellbeing affects others
To get a FREE pass to Maria’s Instant Calm session please visit https://pursuitwellbeing.com/instant-calm-free-pass/
Website
Social Media Information
Twitter @MariaBrosnan
LinkedIn – Maria Brosnan
Instagram – @pursuitwellbeing
Resources Mentioned
The Untethered Soul – Michael A. Singer
Show Sponsor
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. Get a FREE e-copy of their professional journal at nape.org.uk/journal
Teach Active to launch the UK’s largest active learning day
As part of the Youth Sport Trust’s National School Sport Week (19-25th June 2021), Teach Active is set to host the largest active learning day for schools on Wednesday 23rd June.
Jon Smedley from Teach Active was my guest on episode 182 of the Education on Fire podcast .
On this day, English and maths lessons in primary schools around the country will be transformed into active lessons where children move around the classroom and have fun while they learn. Activities include setting up multiplication stations, and pupils must run to each station to pick up a multiplication problem card to solve, aiming to complete the whole course in less than 30 minutes. In another lesson, children play at being punctuation police. They march around, noting down punctuation errors written out on cards around the class or playground.
Jon Smedley, a former teacher and founder of Teach Active, said: “After a year of so much inactivity, we want to use the day to show that being active is not just about PE and sports but reducing the amount of time we spend sitting down overall.
“Any primary school can join in and see the benefits of active learning. It helps children engage with lessons, learn more effectively and improves their overall mental health by having fun with their classmates.”
Ali Oliver MBE, chief executive officer at the Youth Sport Trust, said: “We’re delighted Teach Active are supporting this year’s National School Sport Week.
“Young people have missed out on so much and had their worlds turned upside down by the pandemic. It is brilliant that Teach Active are helping more young people benefit from the important role physical activity has to play in their recovery.”
To help teachers prepare, Teach Active will provide 50 free active English and maths lesson plans for pupils from foundation stage through to year 6.
All schools who download the lesson plans and pledge to take part on social media with the hashtag #ActiveLearningDay2021 will have the chance to win £100 Decathlon vouchers to spend on school sports equipment. The top prize of a school visit from one of the Youth Sport Trust’s athlete ambassadors will be on offer for the school that posts the best video of their active learning day on Twitter with the hashtag #ActiveLearningDay2021.
The largest active learning day lesson plans are free to download to all schools here: https://www.teachactive.org/active-learning-day/.
Schools can register to take part in the Youth Sport Trust’s National School Sport Week by visiting www.youthsporttrust.org/join-us/national-school-sport-week
#ActiveLearningDay2021 @TeachActive #NSSW2021 @YouthSportTrust
206: Independent Thinking with Ian Gilbert
Mark Taylor chats to Ian Gilbert, a patron of National Association for Primary Education.
Since founding Independent Thinking in 1994, Ian has built a global reputation as an educational thinker, innovator, entrepreneur, speaker and award-winning editor and writer. He was listed by the IB magazine as one of their top 15 ‘educational visionaries’.
Never happier than when he is making children’s brains hurt, he has a unique first-hand perspective on the world of education having lived and worked in schools and universities in the UK, the Middle East, South America and Asia.
He is now sharing his time between Rotterdam, where his wife is an international school principal, and their home in the middle of nowhere deep in West Wales.
He wasn’t always interested in exotic foreign travel and meeting interesting people from different countries, as he started off his educational career teaching French in Northampton. He didn’t really want to be a French teacher and, while you would think not wanting to teach French to people who didn’t want to learn it might be a match made in heaven, it was only ever really a stepping stone. His main ambition was to work with young people in the areas that most fascinated him then and in which he has become such an important figure today – thinking, learning, motivation, creativity and helping all members of the school community be the best they can be.
Through his many books including the ever-popular Thunks collection, his ongoing classroom work with children and young people, his keynotes and workshops at conferences around the world and his continuous work with teachers and leaders in schools, Ian has shown a whole generation of educators that there is always another way.
Following a chance meeting in the staff room, Ian was encouraged to set up Independent Thinking in 1994 and, since then, has built up a unique educational organisation that acts as a platform for some of the UK’s leading innovative educators and school leaders as well as serving as a ‘lighthouse’ for so many practitioners who might otherwise fall prey to the idea that silence is respect, obedience is behaviour, grades measure education and teaching and learning are the same thing.
Website
Social Media Information
@ITLWorldwide on Twitter
independentthinkingworldwide on Instagram
You can listen to all NAPE podcasts on their website nape.org.uk/nape-podcast or any podcast platform. Links available here https://nationalassociationforprimaryeducation.captivate.fm/listen
For everything Education on Fire please visit www.educationonfire.com/