Today it was an absolute
privilege for Musselburgh Grammar School Wallyford Primary School
The visit was funded as a result of Kim receiving a
2008 Premier’s English Scholarship. The Premier’s Teaching Scholarships are an
initiative of the Australian Government where teachers have the opportunity to
undertake further professional development that will benefit them, and most
importantly their students. The focus of the study visit was ‘games
literacy’.
According to Kim’s website:
‘Teachers
selected to receive a scholarship can undertake international study tours and
visit some of the world’s best schools and centres of education to expand their
knowledge and understanding.’
Anyway, I organised an
action packed and there were lots of great opportunities to swap ideas and
share professional discussions. After a greeting from my headteacher we started
off with a quick chat, some of my famous ‘rocket fuel’ coffee and then headed
up to Wallyford Primary School. Here's a quick run down of what we got up to for the rest of the day.
Brain Training and Mental Maths in P7
Are first port of call was Paula Harte’s classroom where her P7 class were using the Nintendo DS’s to practice mental maths, record their brain age and compete against year other using the WiFi function on the DS. It was great to see everyone so engaged and at the end of the lesson the children told us how much they enjoyed using their DS’s in class and how they felt it improved their learning. I was particularly stuck by one pupil who told me that using DS in maths had, ‘improved her writing,’ she went on to explain that when she started using her DS she wasn’t forming her letters properly, but by improving her hand writing she could now get a high score.
Drawn to Life with P3
After our maths lesson we
went down the stairs to Stacey Betteridge’s room who showed us the work that
they have been doing with Drawn
to Life for the Nintendo DS. The children had been using the game to
develop their story telling and creative writing skills. Again, I was so
impressed with how engaged all the children were and the excellent work that
they had produced. At the end of the lesson the class told us what they had
enjoyed about the project.
Dance Mats and Exergaming with S5
A quick drive back to Musselburgh Grammar School and we slipped in the
back of Rob Woodhead’s class who were using the dance
mats for exercise in PE. It was impressive to see how much the children
have come on in terms of electronic dance as their confidence and co-ordination
has improved. It certainly looked like they were getting a good, fun work out.
We also talked about some of the other exergaming projects that we are running
at the school, most notably the Nintendo Wii in PE.
Guitar Hero and Graphic Novels
In the afternoon two of our S1
students who took part in the cluster
Guitar Hero transition project last year talked about their experiences of
the project and then gave our guests a tour of the school. They popped into Rosemary
Sweetnam’s room for a quick chat about the
work we have been doing on Graphic Novels during the tour.
Games Based Learning in Support for Learning
Next was a trip to our
Support for Learning Department where Chris Wills (PT SfL) talked about some of
the
work we have been doing in games Based Learning in Support for Learning.
This includes using the DS to improve literacy and numeracy, using the Wii (Endless Ocean for a rich task projects) and using
Buzz the Schools Quiz to help with general knowledge.
Brain Training in S1
The final stop of the day
was Jake Adamson’s maths class where is S1 class were again using the Nintendo
DS’s to improve mental
arithmetic. Using the DS’s in Secondary schools where over 260 S1 children
come through our maths department every week is very different to how they are
used with a single class. Jake has developed some interesting ways to mange the
resource that I will tackle in a separate post.
The day concluded with more rich
discussion and swapping ideas for collaborative projects. I’m really looking
forward to working with Kim, Gail and Margaret in the future.
So, overall a very action
packed day and something the Musselburgh Cluster should be very proud of. Now all
I have to do is visit Australia.
What a shame we don’t have an equivalent of a Premier’s Teaching Scholarship in Scotland?





Wow! Just a quiet day then. We're looking at using Endless Ocean with a P5/6 class, as the stimulus for a a project.
What sort of things did you get up to with it?
Posted by: Rich | January 07, 2009 at 08:37 PM
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Posted by: Aleesha | January 09, 2009 at 09:28 AM