tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65447531639575193442024-02-02T11:04:10.673+00:00skillsworkshop BlogFor users, contributors and supporters of the Adult Basic Skills Resource Centre (skillsworkshop.org) to
share views and comments about resources; ask for help finding or using resources; discuss current Skills for Life and Functional Skills issues; and add relevant links and information about other useful sources of help for Adult Literacy, Numeracy, Functional Skills and ESOL teachers.Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-46661699421970949532015-11-01T15:23:00.000+00:002017-05-01T16:43:41.816+01:00Creating Infographics<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm really "in" to infographics at the moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This all came about because I wanted to create a Halloween resource based on an infographic. I looked everywhere for articles on UK spending at Halloween and couldn't find a thing. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All the ones on the web were based on US data.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Finally I found an interesting article in the Guardian on October 30th. No infographic though - just a simple bar chart - so I decided to have a go at creating my own.</span><br />
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<div id="vgdiv105" style="height: 0; margin: 0 auto; max-width: 816px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 100%; position: relative;">
<iframe id="vgframe105" src="https://infograph.venngage.com/e3/54631/spooky-spending-uk-halloween-spending-2013-2015?border=false" style="border: 0; height: 100%; left: 0; max-width: 816px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%;"></iframe></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Create free infographics with Venngage</span></div>
<script>!function(){var t=document.getElementById("vgframe105"),e=document.getElementById("vgdiv105"),n=function(){t.contentWindow.postMessage(e.offsetWidth,"*"),e.style.paddingBottom=e.offsetWidth*1121/816+"px"};window.addEventListener("resize",n),window.addEventListener("load",n)}();</script>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's not perfect - I've got a lot to learn - but I had a lot of fun making it! </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The free version of Venngage is restricted - but not too badly. I would have gladly paid for just one month's trial for $15 - but it was one of those schemes where they keep taking a monthly payment until you cancel. I didn't want to mess around so stuck with the free version. The free version doesn't allow you too save as a jpg or other image but it does allow you to embed the code in a blog (as here) or post it to the <a href="https://venngage.com/community/" target="_blank">Venngage Community Page</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I've also used a screen grab in order to insert it into a new <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/" target="_blank">Skillsworkshop</a> Functional Maths resource </span><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/resources/spooky-spending-interpreting-infographics-e3-l2-0" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Spooky Spending E3-L2 Functional Maths</a><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are lots of other infographic application out there and I intend to try a few more when I have time. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations please leave a comment or <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/contact" target="_blank">contact me</a> through skillsworkshop.</span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-31865281979587457442011-04-30T17:31:00.003+01:002011-04-30T23:18:17.195+01:00A very functional royal wedding<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'd forgotten how much I love <a href="http://www.wordle.net/create">Wordle</a>.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Had a lovely 2 hour Entry Level (E1 through to E3) Functional Maths and English lesson earlier this week, based on the royal wedding. Objectives were to encourage the use of accurate positional vocabulary and to improve the use of clear (written and spoken) directions.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hadn't met the group before (but they all knew each other well) so came up with the following starter to help me to remember all their names </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>and</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> help them improve their use of positional vocabulary.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I asked one student to introduce himself clearly and to then tell me where he was sitting in relation to another student. (I modelled this to the group first, using the rather advanced example of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>diagonally opposite</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> which provoked quite a lot of discussion.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, for example, the student might say: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I'm Kamil."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then, I would say: "Hello Kamil. Tell me where you are in relation to another person in the group."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kamil might then say: "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm sitting <i>next to</i> Mona."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mona would then i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ntroduce herself</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(the repetition of her name helping me to remember it) and then describe her position in relation to to another student in the room.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...and so on round the entire group.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXy6dcBsH8JtUQ_VvTuUjxeRF0Zpk220uWOikpCDNEGPr-zJ7LZKV4dq2EnLE538i71NDqTyd2vRZYZsIuwGN_VsPWpUO5QEdnyJrbYnj9tj67WPaYFZmrgqQPzEbp3ZnOMo7zq7wPdm0/s1600/wordlepositional.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXy6dcBsH8JtUQ_VvTuUjxeRF0Zpk220uWOikpCDNEGPr-zJ7LZKV4dq2EnLE538i71NDqTyd2vRZYZsIuwGN_VsPWpUO5QEdnyJrbYnj9tj67WPaYFZmrgqQPzEbp3ZnOMo7zq7wPdm0/s400/wordlepositional.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wordle 1. Individual positional words used by students.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interestingly, some students spontaneously offered to then reverse what they had said and describe the other student's position in relation to themselves. E.g. Molly is on my right. I am on Molly's left.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whilst this was going on my LSA was typing all the positional words each student used into Wordle (he also copied and pasted them into a Word document for future use). When everyone had introduced themselves the <i>create</i> button was clicked and <b>Wordle 1</b> appeared. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At that time I couldn't remember how to keep words together as phrases so </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Wordle 1 </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">shows you all the individual positional words the students used.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Later, I remembered that to keep words together in Wordle you use a tilde ~ between related words. I edited the saved Word document accordingly and the resulting </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Wordle 2</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> shows the exact phrases students used.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sounds simple but the students were enthralled with the Wordle. I've told them that I plan to repeat this activity several sessions later to check their learning and see if they are using a greater range of positional vocabulary. I particularly want to improve the accurate use of left and right in written and spoken directions.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also successfully recited all their names (they insisted on testing me!) - no mean feat as my memory is terrible at the moment.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3RTjYzIKIQTF3lJjJfTDLLI9R4c9_M76Pthb8IrbvoZ7eFZI1BNBYtvFWMdNOpgdf5TpXK9rw_i8nwLfqcwpxLAvT0oTlKTkHBie3bDReWbNmPZj0G0ERfnqOIcUpt0mkanSiWOLRqw/s1600/wordlepositionalphrases.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3RTjYzIKIQTF3lJjJfTDLLI9R4c9_M76Pthb8IrbvoZ7eFZI1BNBYtvFWMdNOpgdf5TpXK9rw_i8nwLfqcwpxLAvT0oTlKTkHBie3bDReWbNmPZj0G0ERfnqOIcUpt0mkanSiWOLRqw/s400/wordlepositionalphrases.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wordle 2. Using tilde symbols to keep words together in phrases.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The nice thing is that the activity can be differentiated (by outcome) for all levels. Higher level students can use more advanced vocabulary such as <i>adjacent</i> or use angles and rotations in their descriptions. You could also ask students to estimate the distance they are sitting from another person. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you like our Wordle design, we used: <i>League Gothic </i>font, a <i>mostly horizontal</i> layout with <i>straighter edges</i> and the <i>organic carrot</i> colour scheme! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In case you're wondering what all this has to do with the royal wedding: I used it as a lead in to watching two videos about the wedding route. Whilst watching these, students were asked to look out for and list famous London landmarks and we discussed how you can use landmarks to help clarify written or spoken directions. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Video 1: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8241761/Royal-Wedding-the-route-in-42-seconds.html">Royal wedding route in 40 seconds</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Video 2: Google maps <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8376123/Google-maps-royal-wedding-procession-route-in-3D.html">Royal wedding procession route in 3D</a> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Landmarks spotted included Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and the Cenotaph (interesting spelling discussion on that one!).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I embedded the videos into the end of a very good <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=6075914">Royal Wedding PPT</a> I obtained from <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources/">TES resources.</a> At the start of the PPT all students were asked to write one correctly punctuated sentence about the royal wedding (on individual whiteboards). As a learning check, at the close of the PPT, they were asked to write <i>two</i> sentences about something new they had found out about the upcoming wedding. (More interesting discussion about Kate's head-ware in slide 2! I just couldn't remember the word "fascinator" but a savvy student put me right!)</span><br />
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDQQKnMaDjQxmpcNgQ5rE3N81vMzxiPKXK53EX0dKNBkd0l2GoX0JkyWki3UkdZ6G0xiXXCpm-dOGywyl7HhfMm69ysSljWcl7iwXxPnGITDIKZAr7GAQWZXyQTOCc1pW4FJTKZ3gwCs/s1600/wedding.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZDQQKnMaDjQxmpcNgQ5rE3N81vMzxiPKXK53EX0dKNBkd0l2GoX0JkyWki3UkdZ6G0xiXXCpm-dOGywyl7HhfMm69ysSljWcl7iwXxPnGITDIKZAr7GAQWZXyQTOCc1pW4FJTKZ3gwCs/s320/wedding.JPG" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adapted from a TES resource - see main text for details.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also took a short but successful diversion into family trees (yet another chance to use positional vocabulary) using a <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Royal-Wedding-Royal-Family-Tree-6073741">drag and drop Royal one</a> (again from TES) on the Smartboard as an introduction. Students then had a quick go at drawing their own family trees on individual whiteboards.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was followed by paired work: drawing routes to various destinations (canteen, library, reception, etc.) on a college map and then following their planned route around the college and writing accompanying directions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The writing frame we used was adapted from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/resources/directions-writing-frames">this one</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">on</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://skillsworkshop.org/">skillsworkshop.org</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also embedded a <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=200430916783446699829.0004a2206cd8ef292143f&ll=51.681101,-1.286495&spn=0.003073,0.004973&t=h&z=18">Google satellite map</a> of the college into the PPT. This was a huge hit and great for students to annotate on the Smartboard. I will be making future use of this map when we do work on 2D and 3D shapes</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my next session - before I embark on my still unplanned simulation of the AV voting system - I will hand out anonymous typed-up-by-me copies of the directions written by the students (with the name of the destination omitted) to different pairs of students to test. </span><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Functional Skills coverage and range statements covered in the session included:</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Maths</span></u></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Describe position (E1)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Extract, use & compare information from lists, tables, simple charts /graphs (E3)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Recognise and use 2D representations of 3D objects (L2)</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Speaking, listening and communication</u></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Communicate information so that the meaning is clear (E2)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Identify the main points of short explanations and instructions (E2)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Reading</u></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span>Read and understand simple instructions and direction</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">s (E2)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: purple;">Use organisational features to locate information (E3)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u>Writing</u></span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Use written words and phrases to present (and record) information. E1 (E2)</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Construct simple (compound) sentences using full stops (correct upper/lower case). E1 (E2)</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sequence writing logically and clearly. (E3)</span><br />
<div class="MsoHeader" style="margin-right: -7.05pt; tab-stops: 71.35pt center 207.65pt right 415.3pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-25772993745894389512011-04-19T15:54:00.002+01:002011-04-19T16:09:40.413+01:00Easy read referendum resources<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNs1fnYZtk_pV-buIftSZN1DcEvuJM02WDnH1EaFdrKBOUHqexpAeXAFniwFGasU0NxfP9jypbhU_cfIY3U9JS_o6P_x1C9i9Ka4pScdAwG8-3tgfUaqMZFVKyYc3ZqfJYU8cCVWi7v8/s1600/aveasyreadversion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNs1fnYZtk_pV-buIftSZN1DcEvuJM02WDnH1EaFdrKBOUHqexpAeXAFniwFGasU0NxfP9jypbhU_cfIY3U9JS_o6P_x1C9i9Ka4pScdAwG8-3tgfUaqMZFVKyYc3ZqfJYU8cCVWi7v8/s320/aveasyreadversion.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not sure exactly when it appeared but the easy read version of the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><b>Local Elections and Referendum</b> booklet (see previous post) is now on the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/" style="color: #336699;">About my vote</a> site. I didn't think they could improve on the original non-easy-read version yet they have!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">There are additional pictures, diagrams and explanations and a very useful glossary for the 'difficult' words (marked in red in the text).</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Separate easy read booklets for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found <a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/referendum_2011/referendum_booklet_all_formats.aspx">here</a> along with standard / large print / audio / BSL versions.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaiPcRCPQglR3JxxpGLqW7f0-9MVTv-9X4nRboDzSEf7pGc-bz0I6y-9B-rICemLWzWJVOYqRgudbJGM-7gGc-ZNg6LnbWsHXdaU2jfKGa4Oqa2TPnCV9KIeqJjnZTOI7QulL7EqXXJo/s1600/victorthevotecounter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeaiPcRCPQglR3JxxpGLqW7f0-9MVTv-9X4nRboDzSEf7pGc-bz0I6y-9B-rICemLWzWJVOYqRgudbJGM-7gGc-ZNg6LnbWsHXdaU2jfKGa4Oqa2TPnCV9KIeqJjnZTOI7QulL7EqXXJo/s200/victorthevotecounter.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">There's also a <a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/referendum_2011.aspx">great series</a> of <b>Victor the Vote Counter</b> videos which I am definitely going to use in my class on May 4th.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">For further ideas please see the comments under my <a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2011/04/referendum-resources.html">earlier post</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"> </span></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-76764873808892374942011-04-08T11:19:00.002+01:002011-04-19T16:02:35.848+01:00Referendum resources<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's almost a year since a site contributor brought my attention to the easy-read guide to voting from the Electoral Commission.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGvW_whqHf0MpKXJBKs4BbobFKvHik_D62Unx64vAyl1x7KHNOdKhcajFrBNMSn85OUSlO09oOBm8sLKbfXFa8mXaR_Qj7sJw1kxeeN265YBUN7P8qrKWDLfSv1yiiZborOttZUACfQI/s1600/referendum.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGvW_whqHf0MpKXJBKs4BbobFKvHik_D62Unx64vAyl1x7KHNOdKhcajFrBNMSn85OUSlO09oOBm8sLKbfXFa8mXaR_Qj7sJw1kxeeN265YBUN7P8qrKWDLfSv1yiiZborOttZUACfQI/s200/referendum.JPG" width="140" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another new booklet has just been released on <a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/">About my vote</a> (an Electoral Commission sub-site). Local Elections and Referendum is a beautifully clear document that explains the AV (alternative vote) and the 'first past the post' systems.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Separate booklets for England, NI, Scotland and Wales can be downloaded from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/referendum_2011/referendum_booklet_all_formats.aspx">this page</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> which also has links to large print and audio versions.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UlKmpuu4n_agKK4_tAROas6T9IHAd9TNM8sVo0g8GGALxeuG30s03pEgj16AvMSlb5GTj777TqYp5QPiWa1qtU9suuvATXxfvjxawh47NRZJVrNGe18x8S6VCOHwCS4Gzx76OBe8cVk/s1600/avdiagram.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UlKmpuu4n_agKK4_tAROas6T9IHAd9TNM8sVo0g8GGALxeuG30s03pEgj16AvMSlb5GTj777TqYp5QPiWa1qtU9suuvATXxfvjxawh47NRZJVrNGe18x8S6VCOHwCS4Gzx76OBe8cVk/s320/avdiagram.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like the way diagrams have been used to explain AV and it's got me thinking: "How can I simulate an AV voting system in my Foundation Functional maths/English class of 12 students?" </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I haven't come up with anything concrete yet - not even sure what we would vote for (maybe something to do with changes students would like around college?).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyhow - the booklet looks useful as stimulus in both literacy, numeracy and life-skills classes.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's also a note on this page that states "BSL and Easy Read formats will be available shortly". How they'll improve on the already-very-clear standard version will be interesting to see.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #993399; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #993399; font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">If you have any ideas on simulating an AV system in the classroom with Entry level learners, please share them by leaving a comment. Likewise if you use the booklet successfully for any other literacy or numeracy activity. </span></span></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-77040853832990450902010-04-25T14:20:00.008+01:002010-04-25T19:05:12.081+01:00Hung parliament Venn diagram<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaVk2BIYN7tnIOKRAxTYdIF3pKWFsAjJHUgKr3pCct-aUZNz-EB6EgfHoWtAB4i9zA9u7fvI_Uc1nUMNm_ZWe5tZ9VTlZxVw7CjxGUFDHHQM4Id5ZJIjrgFhUaU18U8qi7zHAXtE59bVk/s1600/hungparl.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 99px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464069141993595890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaVk2BIYN7tnIOKRAxTYdIF3pKWFsAjJHUgKr3pCct-aUZNz-EB6EgfHoWtAB4i9zA9u7fvI_Uc1nUMNm_ZWe5tZ9VTlZxVw7CjxGUFDHHQM4Id5ZJIjrgFhUaU18U8qi7zHAXtE59bVk/s320/hungparl.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Just like buses the numeracy election resources now seem to be coming along in clusters. There's a great Venn diagram in the centre of today's IoS entitled 'Your guide to a hung parliament'. It even provides a guidance box which explains how to interpret the overlapping areas - and stipulates that 'you don't need a maths degree to understand the circles, triangles and bar charts on these pages'. </span><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEire-zM-TXfOcKSgM2r-7JprdddIlE1GJJtxRB-POgAsOJUr_w4RCeMOSmiUM-OGj9ah-yFMQxAlmXcAC4AcpDfAGu9_Q6BbqmGpFhuI4IBtJksNu1n3_gPeJ-8UieDtgxH4SMnsiGv0zo/s1600/ioscover.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 178px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 241px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464137202505204034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEire-zM-TXfOcKSgM2r-7JprdddIlE1GJJtxRB-POgAsOJUr_w4RCeMOSmiUM-OGj9ah-yFMQxAlmXcAC4AcpDfAGu9_Q6BbqmGpFhuI4IBtJksNu1n3_gPeJ-8UieDtgxH4SMnsiGv0zo/s320/ioscover.png" /></a>Sadly it's not available electronically (unless you're prepared to pay a subscription to <a href="http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx?cid=6200">pressdisplay</a>) but, just like the resource in today's earlier post, it has great possibilities for mixed ability groups. Anything really, from recognising various 2D shapes through to interpreting the bar charts and the Venn diagram itself. Not to mention the literacy aspects such as prompting discussion, scanning a text to locate information, or reading and responding to a text. </span></div><br /><div></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-77730080515475602742010-04-25T09:48:00.020+01:002010-04-25T12:15:22.983+01:00How little vote do you need to become a PM?<span style="font-family:verdana;">My earlier election-related posts focus on literacy resources. Ever since I have been on the look out for election resources that could be used in numeracy or functional maths lessons.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">After much fruitless searching, and no time to make my own resources, I was about to give up until an email alert from the wonderful <a href="https://www.ncetm.org.uk/community/">NCETM</a> (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics) community discussion board saved the day. A regular poster, Chris1974, has shared his presentation 'on how little vote do you need to become PM'. He goes on to say that 'It's really a maths modelling activity, but it throws up some interesting questions'. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">It certainly does: I love it! Just wish I could try it out myself on some learners but I'm not teaching any Level 1-2 Maths at the moment. Actually, I think the presentation could be used at Entry level too. It's so clearly presented that Entry level learners could, for example, be given the task of counting the number of pink, green or orange votes on each of the ten constituency screens (perhaps designing and then using a suitable tally chart to do this) whilst higher level learners could focus on the modelling and percentage / fraction aspects of the presentation. </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">However you choose to use the presentation it is bound to create much discussion.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><iframe height="451" src="http://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=dfgvdqk_145dpmqqrg4&size=m" frameborder="0" width="555"></iframe></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Chris1974 has shared his presentation through Google documents (I'm not sure how this is done but it's very generous of him). If you click on the menu button at the bottom of the embedded screen above and then follow the blue 'election2010proportion' link next to the orange arrow you can view the presentation from the original source (rather than embedded in this blog post). You will then be able to access an 'action' button which allows you to download the resource as either a PDF or a PPT.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I occasionally participate on several of the NCETM discussion boards and I highly recommend that you take a look. It's a great place for stimulating discussion and sharing ideas. You will have to register with NCETM if you want to participate but anyone can view the threads on open discussion boards such as the Secondary Forum (where Chris1974's <a href="https://www.ncetm.org.uk/community/thread/69211?post=69345#com69345">original post</a> appeared) or the Maths Cafe (which is a great place to start). </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'll finish this post with a similar comment to the one I made in my post of <a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/04/easy-read-guide-to-voting.html">April 18th</a>: this resource is surely ideal for Functional Maths - as what can be more functional than understanding and participating in an election? </span><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#993399;">If you use this resource in your classes please share your ideas or observations by leaving a comment (or you can email me via <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">http://www.skillsworkshop.org/</a>). Likewise if you have created or discovered other maths election resources.</span></p>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-35880335072599848282010-04-19T12:06:00.011+01:002010-04-25T22:32:46.007+01:00Polling station walk-through<div align="right"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvO3wIt_-P8QNa9_LLYl25j6iPB5pIjtnjbipCG31N7Tu_1Sr3ftq3qUSvBYCTfGr6B5IYlJXmdukw1v85IuX9dehSMUu8__1gn3JtMIOwprAidooSRr2tQIpI36hmtyAK0Td7A10Z0FA/s1600/walkthrough.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461807236029408914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvO3wIt_-P8QNa9_LLYl25j6iPB5pIjtnjbipCG31N7Tu_1Sr3ftq3qUSvBYCTfGr6B5IYlJXmdukw1v85IuX9dehSMUu8__1gn3JtMIOwprAidooSRr2tQIpI36hmtyAK0Td7A10Z0FA/s320/walkthrough.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 242px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since yesterday's post I have discovered another useful resource from the Electoral Commission - on a sub-site called <a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/">'About my vote</a>'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana;">This time it's an <a href="http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how_do_i_vote/polling_station_walkthrough.aspx">animated visit to a polling station</a>. Every step of the voting process is clearly explained and it takes account of differences in Scotland (where, for example, polling stations are called polling places) and Northern Ireland (where you are asked to show ID when you vote). My only criticism is that, because it was written in 2008, a circled date - Thu May 1st - on a calendar in one of the screens might cause some confusion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The walk-through is bound to prompt discussion and would make a great introduction to any lesson about the 2010 election. <span style="color: #cc33cc;">If you use this resource in your classes please share your ideas or observations by leaving a comment (or you can email me via <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">http://www.skillsworkshop.org/</a>). </span></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-38004745364108137832010-04-18T14:31:00.011+01:002010-04-20T17:46:20.806+01:00Easy-read guide to voting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ2r2FUkKfR8jVE3QXA_j3EwAM_wQ8y66RHCkROXuD0b1L_WAmz9Pqe1mzBvjHv5L9BI0tqkoQyUb1XrDHLcPeiYxY30WDNY-dWILETFCXWj8G3QAHaAL_kVKEEJSwBUTlTZwrBtOb7k/s1600/easyreadvoting.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 210px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461472910651852370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ2r2FUkKfR8jVE3QXA_j3EwAM_wQ8y66RHCkROXuD0b1L_WAmz9Pqe1mzBvjHv5L9BI0tqkoQyUb1XrDHLcPeiYxY30WDNY-dWILETFCXWj8G3QAHaAL_kVKEEJSwBUTlTZwrBtOb7k/s320/easyreadvoting.bmp" /></a> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Many thanks to site contributor Kathy Crockford for drawing my attention to a really marvellous booklet available from <a href="http://www.dopolitics.org.uk/toolbox-index/toolbox2/d-f/easy-read-guide-to-voting">The Electoral Commission</a>. The 20 page 'simple guide to voting was designed specifically for people with disabilities or low literacy, but has proved very popular with many audiences'. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">As Kathy says: 'It is really excellent – full of graphics, large print and simple language. Perfect – saves me having to re-invent the wheel!'</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The booklet clearly explains how to vote, how to use postal and proxy votes, where you vote, and what happens afterwards. Three versions are available for England and Wales (available in English and Welsh), Northern Ireland, and Scotland.</span><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">In addition to the downloadable PDF, free hard copies can <a href="http://www.dopolitics.org.uk/order-resources-form/">also be ordered</a>. It really is a lovely document and I just wish I had time to come up with some specific ideas for using it in class. One thing's for sure: it makes a perfect text for Entry 2 and 3 Functional English. After all, what could be more functional than learning how to vote?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="color:#cc33cc;">If you use this resource in your classes please share your teaching ideas by leaving a comment (or you can email me at</span> <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">http://www.skillsworkshop.org/</a><span style="color:#cc33cc;">). </span></span></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-22736884046896421452010-01-21T12:57:00.005+00:002010-04-19T18:39:08.194+01:00Texting and spelling<span style="font-family:verdana;">An article on page 16 of yesterday's Independent caught my eye.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/children-who-text-are-best-spellers-1873163.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/children-who-text-are-best-spellers-1873163.html</a></span><br /></div><div>Richard Garner reported that a study by the British Academy found that children who texted regularly were better spellers and had higher scores in verbal reasoning tests. </span></div><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I found this news strangely uplifting and not really surprising. Although I did note, when following up details of the research on the Coventry University site, that the study involved only 63 children between the ages of 4 and 7. The Coventry University page also includes an interesting list of 'textisms' (I'd never come across this term before) that breaks the different forms of text message abbreviations into ten distinct categories. Fascinating stuff! <div></span></div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Further details about the research carried out by Dr Clare Wood can be found at </span><a href="http://www.coventry.ac.uk/latestnewsandevents/a/5695"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.coventry.ac.uk/latestnewsandevents/a/5695</span></a>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-5090192076951192042009-11-27T08:30:00.019+00:002010-07-30T15:35:55.890+01:00LSIS Star Awards - thanks to all<div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Wow! I am in complete shock and have had very little sleep. No official photographs yet but here's two taken before the awards ceremony last night at Old Billingsgate, London (a most amazing venue). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxLEw07LNjz8aoZoje3y3zxo5pLHEfoRwfXoCNxJr2SFdRXtOl4kiz_3OMd3pWhX2S2s_qI1kSq5yCZGv8ivzn4t5zmQHLwMogzVGQ1UCThLCD8KLD8Z1RxZIF8Ze6jtiENqQO5ZIlOwg/s1600/me.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408702434546322562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxLEw07LNjz8aoZoje3y3zxo5pLHEfoRwfXoCNxJr2SFdRXtOl4kiz_3OMd3pWhX2S2s_qI1kSq5yCZGv8ivzn4t5zmQHLwMogzVGQ1UCThLCD8KLD8Z1RxZIF8Ze6jtiENqQO5ZIlOwg/s320/me.jpg" style="cursor: hand; height: 320px; width: 242px;" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8uw-AiLe-oYIAeR1MCUvsvOcQ0w0uOru9mqdvWavG14IIkYgRYViB4JB51uz6S8xsDUAd1e6aAQ6Ch-OWGI_OhDoBk2eDimSr1x14Q7tO3Ckbpup3HZ_b0KKDq8WtSDy9JZnhGNlC7l8/s1600/DSC01180.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408702045511571362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8uw-AiLe-oYIAeR1MCUvsvOcQ0w0uOru9mqdvWavG14IIkYgRYViB4JB51uz6S8xsDUAd1e6aAQ6Ch-OWGI_OhDoBk2eDimSr1x14Q7tO3Ckbpup3HZ_b0KKDq8WtSDy9JZnhGNlC7l8/s320/DSC01180.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 239px; width: 320px;" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><em>I'm pictured with my nominator and manager, Anne Haig Smith, and my 'personal guest' (my husband!).</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">All I can say at the moment is a big thank you to all of my site users - especially those of you that have contributed resources and made the site so successful. I couldn't have done it without you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'd also like to thank everyone at <a href="http://www.abingdon-witney.ac.uk/">Abingdon and Witney College</a> for their support, and, of course, the students whose individual learning needs inspired me to create many of the original site resources.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;">Thanks also to LSIS for putting on such a magnificent event and many congratulations to all the nominees who attended last night.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://starawards.excellencegateway.org.uk/starwinners2009.html">http://starawards.excellencegateway.org.uk/starwinners2009.html</a></span><br />
<div></div><br />
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Postscript 03/12/09</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The offical photos are now on the Star Awards site </span></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here's one of them!</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tFQ_KwCJCJUUn_sjGPkHErA-p5Tdlyng8By-tw5mRW-r6PgfBy0yV0f4j9nx-qk44mhAUT6NHLkt2BMmOuYxQE6MVi2nMOH5eMUlRWAcrqojLyDjNLwwWKjoMyIFPXEH774V9y1l_Ms/s1600-h/trophyblog.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410964757215128114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tFQ_KwCJCJUUn_sjGPkHErA-p5Tdlyng8By-tw5mRW-r6PgfBy0yV0f4j9nx-qk44mhAUT6NHLkt2BMmOuYxQE6MVi2nMOH5eMUlRWAcrqojLyDjNLwwWKjoMyIFPXEH774V9y1l_Ms/s320/trophyblog.jpg" style="cursor: hand; height: 235px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<div><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I am over the moon and the prize money will mean that, in time, you will notice some changes (for the better) on <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">http://www.skillsworkshop.org/</a> </span></div></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-68698770594470904732009-08-14T14:22:00.004+01:002010-04-19T18:43:56.475+01:00Literacy help needed: reading comprehension progression from Entry 1 to Entry 2<span style="font-family:verdana;">I have received the following request from a site user. <span style="color:#cc33cc;"><strong>If you can help please post a comment or, if you prefer, email</strong> </span></span><a title="blocked::/mc/compose?to=" href="outbind://57-000000002314A586AB57BE4BAA42AF39BEFC8903644A2B00/mc/compose?to=maggie@skillsworkshop.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" ymailto="mailto:maggie@skillsworkshop.org"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>maggie@skillsworkshop.org</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> <strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;">and I will forward any messages to Sarah. </span></strong><br /></span><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><blockquote><br /><p><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Maggie<br /><br />I wondered if you could post this query on your blog. I would really value any advice or help that any of your blog readers could give me.<br /><br />I am a literacy tutor for a fifteen year old boy. He had a serious head injury as a baby and has experienced learning difficulties. He is also partially sighted.</span></em></p><br /><p><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">When I started working with him at age thirteen, he still really could not read (he could synthesise cvc words very slowly) but, following a strong synthetic phonics approach, he has made significant progress since. </span></em></p><br /><p><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">He now has word decoding skills equivalent to approximately age 10 but his reading comprehension is less that this (maybe age 7-8 equivalence). I have been trying to do a lot of reading comprehension work with him using adult literacy resources (as obviously this is more akin to his interest levels and I am hoping that he will be able to slot into the adult literacy programme at his sixth form college next year).<br /><br />He copes really well with comprehension at Entry Level 1 but struggles with Entry Level 2. There seems to be a big increase in the amount of text to be read at EL2 compared with EL1. He does have some memory problems and so finds it difficult to remember information from several<br />paragraphs at a time. (He can usually find the answer if I tell him which paragraph/sentence it is in.) He also finds scanning text really hard (not sure if this is because of his partial sight) and is reluctant to re-read entire texts to find answers, preferring to guess instead!<br /><br />I'm wondering if anyone had any thoughts or ideas as to how I could help him to progress towards Entry 2 comprehension levels?<br /><br />Thank you so much<br /><br />Sarah</p></span></em></blockquote></span></em>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-61952756005214473152009-08-10T18:02:00.004+01:002009-08-12T08:14:30.604+01:00Help wanted re. ESOL job interview<span style="font-family:verdana;">I have received a request from a site user who has an upcoming job interview. I am not sure how many basic skills / ESOL teachers will be reading this in the middle of August but have offered to share the question on this blog in the hope of receiving a range of teaching ideas / responses.<br /><br />My gut feeling would be to use a <a href="http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/pubs/mace.html">Language Experience</a> approach and, I guess, explain how this strategy could be used in the presentation – giving examples of teaching resources, activities, etc. However, I am not a qualified ESOL teacher and have only used this approach with Entry Level 1-2 literacy students.<br /><br />The writer thinks they are expecting a PowerPoint presentation which will be followed by a panel interview.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;">If you have any ideas please share them by leaving a comment - or, if you prefer, email </span></strong></span><a href="mailto:maggie@skillsworkshop.org"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>maggie@skillsworkshop.org</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong> </strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><strong>and I will forward any messages to the site user.</strong><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Thank you.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>Dear Maggie<br /><br />I hope you don’t mind me e-mailing you but I hope you can give me some help or point me in the right direction. I’ve tried emailing some teaching forums and have had no replies or anything. </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>Basically, I’ve got an interview for an ESOL Lecturer position at a local FE college but they want me to do a presentation and this is something I’ve no experience of. Also, I don’t know how long or what format the presentation is supposed to take. Surely they aren’t expecting an all singing all dancing one? </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>The presentation question is "If you had one or more Level 2 students whose speaking skills were very good but whose reading and writing skills were a lot weaker, what strategies would you use to assist the students in bringing up those skills to Level 2?" </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>To me, this sounds like a question that could be asked during an interview so I’m not sure how I would go about doing a presentation on it. I’ve been teaching ESOL for 3 years in Liverpool and I have the experience for the job but the idea of a presentation has knocked me for six! </em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.</em></span><br /></blockquote></em></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><br /></em></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em></em></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-79079904046754405842009-07-27T19:07:00.033+01:002009-07-30T12:06:28.137+01:00If the UK were a village of 100 people - or - How to embed adult numeracy / functional mathematics in vocational learning<p align="right"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00221/cover_221781s.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 616px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 421px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00221/cover_221781s.jpg" /></a></p><p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/if-the-uk-were-a-village-of-100-people-1754307.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Little Britain - Portrait of the nation as a neighbourhood</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> appeared in last week's Independent (July 21st) along with a set of 11 wonderful illustrations from </span><a href="http://www.unsitesurinternet.fr/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Laurent Taubin</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">.<br />One quick glance and I immediately earmarked the entire 'Independent Life' pullout as an addition to my small but select stack of saved newspapers.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">My stack includes: last month's <a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2009/06/fabulous-flu-graphic-in-yesterdays.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>flu graphic from The Times</em></span></a><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"> - which I fear will be gravely old hat before term starts (but I still think it's a great resource!); several newspapers from 9/11, 7/7, New Year's Day 2000, etc.</span> </em>I used to cut out just the relevant sections of newspapers / magazines but have discovered that it's a better idea to save the entire document. This gives the text real-life credibility and students get a much better idea of its source / purpose.</span></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Anyway, to return to the UK Village report: I'm convinced it will come in handy next term for teaching percentages, fractions, data handling and goodness-knows-what. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">The report has come in for quite a bit of flack from Independent readers (see the comments below the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/if-the-uk-were-a-village-of-100-people-1754307.html">online version</a>). OK, so the statistics might not be the most reliable (you could discuss this with your students) but I still think there's a lot of mileage in them.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There's an abundance of obvious links with vocational courses (and probably quite a few not-so-obvious ones).<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">If Britain were a village of 100 people:</span></strong> </span></p><ul><li><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Seventy-eight of the villagers would have a passport. </span></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">The people of the village would have made 107 trips abroad, spending £60, 055 between them. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span></span></div></li></ul><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><strong>Leisure, Travel and Tourism</p><ul></strong></span></span><li><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Fifty-five would have a driving licence. </span></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">There would be 56 motor vehicles in the village, including 44 cars and two motorbikes. </span></div></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Of the 42 households in the village, 18 would have one car, 13 would have two or more cars and 10 would not have a car at all. </span></span></div></li></ul><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><strong>Motor Vehicles </strong></span></span></p><ul><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">If Britain were a village of 100 people, 17 of the villagers would smoke, of whom 11 would like to give up. </span></div></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Nineteen adults and three children would be classified as obese (that is they would have a Body Mass Index of 30 or greater). </span></div></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Sixteen men and eight women would usually exceed the Government's daily sensible drinking benchmark (3-4 units per day for men; 2-3 units a day for women). </span></div></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Eight men and four women would have taken an illicit drug in the past year. </span></div></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">One person would have dementia. </span></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">The village would welcome one new baby this year. The baby would expect to live for 76 years and six months (if it was a boy), or 81 years and seven months (if it was a girl). </span></div></li></ul><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><strong>Health and Social Care</strong></span></p><ul><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Five villagers would be employed in the food industry. </span></div></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Three of the villagers would be vegetarians and a further five would be partly vegetarian. </span></div></li><li><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Between them, the villagers would spend £2,955 a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks. They would spend £1,154 a week on food eaten outside the home, of which £355 would go towards alcohol. </span></span></div></li></ul><p align="right"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Catering</strong></span></span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;">(If you look hard enough you'll also find statistics related to media, sport, animal care, and business studies.)</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">OK. So, we've got the links to vocational topics there for possible embedded teaching. What next?</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Well, I like the idea of using the UK Village as a general introduction to percentages. It clearly demonstrates that 'percentage<em>'</em> means <em>out of one hundred</em>.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;">Then there's the possibility of simplifying all those percentages / fractions (and thus demonstrate that fractions and percentages are just alternative ways of expressing the same number). </span></p><p align="left"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">E.g. What fraction of villagers / Britons have a driving licence?<br /></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">55% - 55/100 - 11/20</span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;">Or, how about working out the average cost of a trip abroad?</span></p><p align="left"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Or, creating a pie chart (in Excel) depicting the ethnicity of the village? (You'll need to read the report to get these stats).</span><br /></span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00221/uk-ullistration_221881s.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 413px; HEIGHT: 421px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00221/uk-ullistration_221881s.jpg" /></a> </p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Or, for Entry 3 Numeracy (which now includes percentages) you could get students to come up with their own 'fun' statistics based on one of the illustrations.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong>This brings me on to a (vaguely) related topic: Functional Maths standards.</strong></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I am rather mystified by some of the Functional Maths standards (admittedly still in draft format). As I've just mentioned, someone has seen fit to introduce percentages at Entry 3 in the new online adult numeracy <a href="http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=171920" target="_blank">core curriculum</a> curriculum (you'll need to register with the Excellence Gateway to get access). This seems a sensible idea to me - after all, percentages are very commonplace and knowing that 50% = 1/2 seems like a suitable Entry 3 skill.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><em><strong>N2/E3.2 Recognise and use equivalent forms</strong></em></span></p><ul><li><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Understand that equivalent fractions look different but have the same value, e.g. 5/10 = 1/2</span></em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Understand that when the top and bottom number of a fraction are the same, this is equivalent to 1</span></em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Understand common simple percentages in familiar context, e.g. 25% and 50%</span></em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;">Understand common fraction/decimal/percentage equivalencies, e.g. 1/2 and 1/4 are equivalent to 50% and 25% respectively</span></em></div></li></ul><p align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em><strong>Activities and examples</strong></em></span></p><ul><li></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Circle equivalent fractions in a list e.g. 1/2 5/10 50/100 </em></span></li><li><em><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Investigation - look for a pattern in fractions equivalent to 1/2 e.g. 2/4 3/6 4/8 5/10 10/20 50/100 </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Write more fractions equivalent to 1/2. </span></span></em></li><li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Circle fractions in a list equal to 1. </em></span></li><li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Recognise relationships in the context of measure, e.g. that 5mm is half a centimetre, 50cm is half a metre, 500g is half a kilo, 500ml is half a litre. </em></span></li><li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>In the context of money, recognise that 50p is half of £1 and appears on the calculator as 0.5. </em></span></li><li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Use the table function in Word to split cells to make a fraction wall and demonstrate equivalent fractions</em></span></li></ul><p align="right"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;">Online Adult Numeracy Curriculum, Entry 3 Numeracy - N2/E3.2. (You need to register with the Excellence Gateway to access this link)<br /></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><a href="http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/172329">http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/172329</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;">Interestingly, </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;">the Functional Maths standards seem to have gone the other way.The</span> <a href="http://www.qcda.gov.uk/libraryAssets/media/qca-08-3700_Functional_skills_guidance_amplification_of_the_standards.pdf">Amplified FS Standards</a> <span style="color:#000000;">make no mention of percentages until Level 1 where it briefly states:</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"> </span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><em>Understand and use equivalencies between common fractions, decimals and percentages<br />• Read, write, order and compare common fractions, including mixed numbers, decimals with up to three decimal places and percentages.</em> (p.66, Amplified Functional Skills Standards, Level 1 Maths)</span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Now I fully take on board the fact that</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><em>'The level of demand of mathematical activities increases when it is contextualised in 'real life' scenarios. For this reason, the mathematical skills and techniques that are expected to be utilised and applied in functional skills activities are slightly lower than the usual band equivalences in the national curriculum levels.' </em>(p53, Amplified Functional Skills Standards)</span></span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;">but it still seems strange that percentages are not actually 'used' until Level 2 FS Maths where the standards state:</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Understand and use equivalencies between fractions, decimals and percentages<br />• Understand that fractions, decimals and percentages are different ways of expressing the same thing.</em></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Use fractions, decimals and percentages to order and compare amounts or quantities and to solve practical problems. For example, what decimal must I multiply by to find the cost after a reduction of 25%? Choose to use a fraction, decimal or percentage to work out VAT.<br />• Know how to change fractions to equivalent fractions with a common denominator.<br />• Identify equivalences between fractions, decimals and percentages.<br />• Evaluate one number as a fraction or percentage of another.<br />• Understand that quantities must be in the same units to evaluate and compare.<br /><br /></em></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000000;"><em>Add and subtract fractions; add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals and percentages<br />• Add and subtract using halves, thirds, quarters, fifths and tenths.<br />• Add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals up to three places and check answers in the context of measurements and money, for example a bill for £32.67 shared equally among three people.</em></span></p><p align="right"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>(</em>pp.70-71, Amplified Functional Skills Standards, Level 2 Maths</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">)</span></span></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Seems like a big jump to me? And not at all clear exactly what is expected at L1 and what at Level 2?</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"><strong>I'll finish with one more statistic from the UK village:</strong></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">'One person in the village would be illiterate'.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">I'm not going to get into a discussion about what 'illiterate' means. You'll have to read my post of last July, </span><a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-is-complete-illiteracy_15.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">What is complete illiteracy?</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. </span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#cc33cc;"><strong>If you have any further idea on using the UK Village in embedded teaching do share! Likewise, if you have any ideas for using it in literacy classes.</strong></span></p>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-49710093278777864492009-06-13T15:48:00.022+01:002009-06-14T08:43:00.661+01:00Fabulous flu graphic in yesterday's Times<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbH9RPjPOhTGgKXNUzj_4jySISb43qJaSndFm4AqttxwJu6a_vjJTjKnuJzn-gYd1UkAZv-a9NGpAISUGnHumZV6LqjKKdvxM3icBxeVVur3jDG2rBrr624f8XG6eQnjGyYp52yzBEVrk/s1600-h/timesswineflugraphic.jpg"><span style="color:#000000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346830244117147026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 247px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbH9RPjPOhTGgKXNUzj_4jySISb43qJaSndFm4AqttxwJu6a_vjJTjKnuJzn-gYd1UkAZv-a9NGpAISUGnHumZV6LqjKKdvxM3icBxeVVur3jDG2rBrr624f8XG6eQnjGyYp52yzBEVrk/s400/timesswineflugraphic.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">This caught my eye yesterday (someone was reading it at the newspaper stand in Waitrose, Abingdon, and it looked so interesting I just had to buy the paper).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">The good news is it is also available as a <a href="http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/pdfs/piggy.pdf">PDF file</a> from the Times web site where you can also read the <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6482170.ece">related report</a>: <em>'Britain is braced for mass school closures in the autumn'.</em> </span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;">It's ideal for displaying on an interactive whiteboard and also prints out very clearly onto an A4 sheet. There's so much to absorb that it's hard to know where to look first...</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;">but remember the great thing about PDF files is that you can zoom into particular bits. Once you have got the area you want to see lined up in the window (see screenshot, below left) you can print just the 'current view' onto an A4 sheet to make an instant worksheet (see screenshot of the Adobe Acrobat print dialogue box below right - you can click on this screen shot to zoom in if needed).</span></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_ph46dcSY8eNx2DwW_PdhZXOyIL7yyq-lfMmNDy7VNbBc8aJkX9yCEuLlFPNiG7jQoTyD1C2zZZ9x1Wu3feTG4AdsVCj0ZVN3-ayJPZnS5kzezrgLFeo6b-pTuV4P9JzD_g-SwoEduo/s1600-h/zoominflugraphic.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346852057558078466" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 162px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_ph46dcSY8eNx2DwW_PdhZXOyIL7yyq-lfMmNDy7VNbBc8aJkX9yCEuLlFPNiG7jQoTyD1C2zZZ9x1Wu3feTG4AdsVCj0ZVN3-ayJPZnS5kzezrgLFeo6b-pTuV4P9JzD_g-SwoEduo/s320/zoominflugraphic.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs9QPgi78Z1w1zi7NHyb0my7dHDj3eiQ7vaQ4Cq2suPJ2bi4YgkUyNyFuJoMPl2R2wdR1dxGSuAYEngnTRBLGRiZwTg5WulwIv5y2lyme3y8IM6xpuTPoINzYZ3ZX_aHxI9DX-QlSXCI/s1600-h/printcurrentviewpdf.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346843002352387890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 301px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs9QPgi78Z1w1zi7NHyb0my7dHDj3eiQ7vaQ4Cq2suPJ2bi4YgkUyNyFuJoMPl2R2wdR1dxGSuAYEngnTRBLGRiZwTg5WulwIv5y2lyme3y8IM6xpuTPoINzYZ3ZX_aHxI9DX-QlSXCI/s320/printcurrentviewpdf.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;">Unfortunately a) it's almost the end of term and b) I'm teaching E1-2 at the moment so I don't think I'm going to get a chance to use the graphic in class. <strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;">BUT if you do and want to share your ideas please leave a blog comment or email me via</span></strong> <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">http://www.skillsworkshop.org/</a> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Here's just a few starter ideas (for L1-L2) using the enlarged part of the graphic shown above:</span> </p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Pictograms</strong> - look at the pictogram <em>and</em> read the surrounding text.</span></span> </p><ol><li><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">How many doses of flu vaccine does each syringe represent? </span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Why are there 12 syringes in the pictogram?</span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Explain why there are only 10 anti-viral drug icons.</span></li></ol><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">For more ideas on using newspaper graphics in numeracy classes have a look at my </span><a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/guardian-eyewitness-numeracy-resource.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Guardian Eyewitness - numeracy resource for film lovers</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> post of last July.</span></p>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-53211217267975586592009-06-13T10:59:00.032+01:002010-04-19T18:40:48.446+01:00Swine flu - literacy resources galore<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBCxCsT4voPNmSnPEZQGHjVsJ05qA9DtmFGKUZwaJ2gSWFQgBjDWHi0iOQ1MbT3a5Om65qq448hfsHtByqWGKkNYI2J-JshePfM83vPBtsBr3Nt6PxSn1KFdmXpoi0hwkJ0TiLzl4WvA/s1600-h/l1l2swinefluexamquestions.jpg"><span style="color:#000000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 226px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346791575485108834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBCxCsT4voPNmSnPEZQGHjVsJ05qA9DtmFGKUZwaJ2gSWFQgBjDWHi0iOQ1MbT3a5Om65qq448hfsHtByqWGKkNYI2J-JshePfM83vPBtsBr3Nt6PxSn1KFdmXpoi0hwkJ0TiLzl4WvA/s320/l1l2swinefluexamquestions.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;">In light of yesterday's news about the now pandemic status of swine flu anything that helps to spread accurate information and advice can only be a good thing.<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;">So, unsurprisingly, swine flu resources are very popular on </span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">skillsworkshop.org</a></span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/"> </a>this<img class="gl_photo" border="0" alt="Add Image" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" /> month (overtaken only by the </span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#Britainsgtalent">Susan Boyle </a></span><span style="color:#000000;">and </span><span style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#junel1comp">Diversity</a></span><span style="color:#000000;"> resources!).<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;">The latest, a set of 10 <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#juneswineflu">L1-L2 multiple choice reading comprehension questions </a>(contributed by Elaine Slingsby) based on the</span> <a href="http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177831">Official UK Government leaflet</a><span style="color:#000000;">, will be added to the site later today. <em>(See large picture, right).</em></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#Swine">further two resources</a> <em>(pictures below left and middle)</em> <span style="color:#000000;">have been available for the past month. One gives general teaching ideas for using the official leaflet with E2-L1 readers (3600 downloads since May 5th) and the second, contributed by Pam Benfold (Victoria, Australia), is a set of web research questions for L1-<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOb1E6aJhI/AAAAAAAAA-E/vd8cxMlegCc/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"></a>L2 learners (2100 downloads since May 10th).</span> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtQR59zY1kivBQOEpKPaJcehPngHghH7d19Pad6ZYrx1nvDuerAWTIQKoPSr00Ox6macM1MWB1_MkdHTvrtYoGJVniCJl5JEitoA5Vqdj_BNTwe4WmLUKicMoJ71uAvpv1Ecp3uDotrU/s1600-h/l1l2researchswineflu.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 142px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346818492573216290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtQR59zY1kivBQOEpKPaJcehPngHghH7d19Pad6ZYrx1nvDuerAWTIQKoPSr00Ox6macM1MWB1_MkdHTvrtYoGJVniCJl5JEitoA5Vqdj_BNTwe4WmLUKicMoJ71uAvpv1Ecp3uDotrU/s200/l1l2researchswineflu.jpg" /></a></span> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOb1E6aJhI/AAAAAAAAA-E/vd8cxMlegCc/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupagPTgYAH86ED3GWzboFp5qBdzApCdvG7ZEXMwX4oy5UmN1NvHLWVi1jxStNDDr27HlXw3fLwhVluhggmdpYK0vEXInnf2dfYt70wi4UO-xLJTJXGR-rJzyS4d5-KmDIvNgUF-J3wsU/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 142px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346818261391078610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupagPTgYAH86ED3GWzboFp5qBdzApCdvG7ZEXMwX4oy5UmN1NvHLWVi1jxStNDDr27HlXw3fLwhVluhggmdpYK0vEXInnf2dfYt70wi4UO-xLJTJXGR-rJzyS4d5-KmDIvNgUF-J3wsU/s200/e2l1swineflu.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOb1E6aJhI/AAAAAAAAA-E/vd8cxMlegCc/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVsL8T36w0mqfQBEkzZXKnM2RPupOAtozcya2FunE705LX_pb8LGKCCqOIWQSaANxyof8Y2PRMvzAEaYNnnkD0hoBg7aoQP92iglyItQ3MdbYXqU_k07orHverJsKXJHw2w4jdgha19mw/s1600-h/simplifiedswinefluedited_Page_1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 141px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346819070834452914" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVsL8T36w0mqfQBEkzZXKnM2RPupOAtozcya2FunE705LX_pb8LGKCCqOIWQSaANxyof8Y2PRMvzAEaYNnnkD0hoBg7aoQP92iglyItQ3MdbYXqU_k07orHverJsKXJHw2w4jdgha19mw/s200/simplifiedswinefluedited_Page_1.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOb1E6aJhI/AAAAAAAAA-E/vd8cxMlegCc/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOb1E6aJhI/AAAAAAAAA-E/vd8cxMlegCc/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOb1E6aJhI/AAAAAAAAA-E/vd8cxMlegCc/s1600-h/e2l1swineflu.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;">I have also been informed of a useful</span> <a href="http://www.simplyunderstand.com/2009/06/important-information-about-swine-flu.html">simplified version</a> <span style="color:#000000;">of the UK leaflet <em>(picture, above right)</em> </span><span style="color:#000000;">which looks ideal for reading work with E1-E2 learners (please note t<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SjOcS8mYxsI/AAAAAAAAA-U/ffET0TWVqlU/s1600-h/simplifiedswinefluedited_Page_1.jpg"></a><span style="color:#000000;">his is an ‘unoffical translation’)</span>. It's on a fascinating site,</span> <a href="http://www.simplyunderstand.com/">Simply Understand</a><span style="color:#000000;">, run by Corinne Pritchard whose aim in life is to get rid of 'gobblydegook and jargon'.</span></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-45297269466409881152009-06-07T16:47:00.006+01:002009-06-07T17:25:14.324+01:00What's in a Name?<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;">A regular site user (thanks Ruth) has alerted me to the news that the DIUS (<em>Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills</em>) is no longer</span>… </span><br /><br /><a title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/education/8086233.stm" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/education/8086233.stm"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/education/8086233.stm</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Further and higher education are now grouped with business under the new <em>Department for Business, Innovation and Skills</em> (headed by Lord Mandelson). </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Ruth points out that just in <em>this</em> century the name has changed from the DfEE (<em>Department for Education and Employment</em>) to the DfES (<em>Department for Education and Skills,</em> 2001) to the DIUS (2007) and now to the DBIS. Previous to 1995 the name remained unchanged for 30 years (<em>Department of Education and Science,</em> 1964-1995).<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">She goes on to comment: </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"><em><strong>“The way it goes is: when it isn't working, change the name!”<br /></strong></em></span><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">Having just emerged from a year of heavy Harvard referencing (whilst studying for the Level 5 Numeracy Diploma) I have also noticed all these name changes. They were particularly evident in the references used in my first essay (The History and Developing Role of Mathematics / Numeracy) and my final presentation (Changes in the Mathematics / Numeracy Curriculum).<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000000;">I will be sharing many of these references with site users later in the summer when I intend to set up a new section of Level 5 Numeracy links. These will mirror the existing </span><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/useful.htm#Level%204%20Literacy"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Level 4-5 Literacy Links</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> <span style="color:#000000;">section I set up after my literacy studies in 2004-5. </span></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-80914730406738156962009-06-06T16:53:00.004+01:002009-06-06T20:17:50.942+01:00Site down due to server problems - not available, not running ...<span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Apologies to all site users but the site has been down all day.</strong> I have no idea when it will be available again but fingers crossed it will be up and running soon. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The problem is with my hosting company 4U Hosting (4UH Ltd) and is out of my control. It does happen occasionally although not normally for such a long period of time.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Please excuse the strange repetitive nature of my English but I am trying to include as many 'down' / 'not running' / 'unavailable' synonyms as possible in this post so that site users typing 'skillsworkshop down' or 'skillsworkshop not running' or 'skillsworkshop not working' will find this blog in their Google search results. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Please don't email me on my skillsworkshop.org email to tell me as that is down too!</strong> You can, however, send messages via this blog.</span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-20468122846931452512008-11-24T21:00:00.011+00:002008-11-24T22:34:41.138+00:00Practitioner research from LSDA Northern Ireland<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272332420554427954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 164px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 223px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhJj267F2Ch04kFe1ZqxTWsu6PsQ6RGnWSkqhXxxaw4SB4zHdENX9TCbIU_o4DkvmSmhif4ZFFkRDIY_TzKOWUtW6pY3zQZmkOm9O2dhLXI9MxXzrCaV5HMHQB2LCjZ1xWHq57HqLkQs/s320/Practitioner_Research_in_Essential_Skills_Page_001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There's an absolutely fascinating collection of 'perspectives on engagement in learning' available from the <a href="http://www.literacy.lancs.ac.uk/rapal/researchinprog.htm">RaPAL</a> site.</span><br /><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I am engrossed in working for my Level 5 Numeracy Diploma but this document has made me think seriously and optimistically about literacy again - the first time for quite a while.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">So far, I've only fully read one article (of nine) but will be attempting to get a hard copy so I can sneak some quick browses from the comfort of my armchair.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Ever on the look out for resources, my eye was drawn to the appendix of research paper 1, <em>'Exploring text messaging from the perspective of the young people who use it'</em>, (Pamela McDowell). I love the idea of 'translating' from one form of text to another. Just wish I had time to produce something like this for my group of teenage Entry Level literacy students - but the Numeracy Diploma keeps calli<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnuUsneD2tJZP5oENpCqH0ONGNzd9WdAQF35c2hzSBOyc4_hKZ04QVMWvcAMqQiIpFXEaXtL4irdHxjnFmIYaJemqwxPVe2ZafRDvJGAy06XtdJ_thXLgrR7panuiTJjjx4X5-famQZ4/s1600-h/niresearchindex.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272346470940871730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 283px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnuUsneD2tJZP5oENpCqH0ONGNzd9WdAQF35c2hzSBOyc4_hKZ04QVMWvcAMqQiIpFXEaXtL4irdHxjnFmIYaJemqwxPVe2ZafRDvJGAy06XtdJ_thXLgrR7panuiTJjjx4X5-famQZ4/s400/niresearchindex.jpg" border="0" /></a>ng! </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I then backtracked and read Pamela's paper. It is full of eye-opening facts including a list of situations when young people would consider switching their phones to 'silent'; 'off' does not seem to be an option except during air travel.</span> </div><br /><div></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">All nine papers are related to such everyday topics or real-life classroom situations. If you skim the contents page (click picture left for an enlargement) I guarantee you will get pulled in. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Each paper ingeniously concludes with comments and reflections from the author / researcher. These have convinced me that getting involved in action research is not as difficult as I thought. Maybe after the numeracy diploma?</span></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-89959588156766049572008-11-24T19:40:00.006+00:002008-11-24T22:38:07.830+00:00Can't Read Can't Write - a review in Reflect<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnccq3ygZ7kHf3E9spRozgHr1rzKaZCqWeU5vHkE1NDC1X5NShc9ZH9br2qCHOD6WAK8cJYhLUyOfDerMCjEY_IbvzWhgvM9Vwe2vDFct2j2WP05YRbxKImp1v2P_w9_D2DIQ4xlgIOaw/s1600-h/cantreadwrite3.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272313084783991314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 234px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnccq3ygZ7kHf3E9spRozgHr1rzKaZCqWeU5vHkE1NDC1X5NShc9ZH9br2qCHOD6WAK8cJYhLUyOfDerMCjEY_IbvzWhgvM9Vwe2vDFct2j2WP05YRbxKImp1v2P_w9_D2DIQ4xlgIOaw/s320/cantreadwrite3.bmp" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I can't believe it's almost three months since </span><a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I wrote about the July issue </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">of Reflect magazine. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The latest October 08 issue arrived at my house last weekend: I was delighted to see and read Rachel O’Dowd’s review of the Channel 4 Can't Read Can't Write programme that upset and disturbed so many Skills for Life tutors over the summer. It's a well balanced and thoughtful critique and you can read it yourself as Reflect is available on line (pages 25-26) at the <a href="http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=951">NRDC site</a>.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was also interested to discover that Linda Worden, one of Beadle's students in the C4 programme, now has her <a href="http://lindaworden.co.uk/default.html">own web site</a> through which she is available for 'appearances and interviews'. These include the recent National Skills for Life conference in Birmingham (and the one in York tomorrow).</p></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">If you missed the programme see my two earlier posts of </span></em><a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/cant-read-cant-write.html"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">July 10 08</span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;"> and </span></em><a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/cant-read-cant-write-episodes-one-and.html"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">July 29 08 </span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;">for some background.</span></em></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-21791046331705687752008-09-29T08:57:00.027+01:002008-09-30T07:41:05.237+01:00Film industry numeracy resource - is it RICH or poor?<span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeWJR9tnWnuH1ZTERlJSqqTe5suzJdh5N9TRl4Zy2oLwIDZ8dLCs6ToM8ycLN81YL8Mm9RckCmjxZZ1qKzTc9UhV84DIdaRGjCjBW0DM27t0db6MgAW7gIa0DqdTnYR9hPUX-pD79k1k/s1600-h/guardianbritishfilmsmall.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225861225965024530" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeWJR9tnWnuH1ZTERlJSqqTe5suzJdh5N9TRl4Zy2oLwIDZ8dLCs6ToM8ycLN81YL8Mm9RckCmjxZZ1qKzTc9UhV84DIdaRGjCjBW0DM27t0db6MgAW7gIa0DqdTnYR9hPUX-pD79k1k/s200/guardianbritishfilmsmall.jpg" border="0" /></a>I've now had a chance to try out the Guardian film industry pullout that <a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/guardian-eyewitness-numeracy-resource.html">I wrote about on July 22<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">nd</span></a>. If you keep reading you'll also be able to locate a new Level 2 place value worksheet that I created last week to accompany it (can also be used independently). However, due to embarking upon the Level 5 numeracy diploma, I've now decided it might not be as good as I thought it was!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:130%;"><strong>Level 2 place value session</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The main topic of my recent Level 2 session was large numbers (i.e. place value) and I began with one of my favourite 'large number' sites, David Levine's world population clock at <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop">http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop</a> which can be used as a prompt for all kinds of questioning and board work. I recommend pausing it by selecting today's date (or maybe one of your student's birth dates?) if you are going to ask students to translate the digits into words - otherwise the whirring last few digits can be very off-putting.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I also wanted (in order to tick the 'equality and diversity' box on the lesson plan) to use a more complicated population clock <a href="http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf">http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf</a> (different countries, statistics for males and females, etc.) but unfortunately the numbers were too small for clear display on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">smartboard</span> so I had to move swiftly on to the <strong>film industry poster</strong>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">It was obviously not my day for using the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">smartboard</span>. Again, I had visibility problems: the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">PDF</span> did not display as clearly as I had hoped and only the large graphics and figures were readable. Fortunately</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> I had printed off an A3 version and we made do with a couple of A3 photocopies (and the original newspaper) shared around the class. (I'm lucky enough to have an old A3 printer at home; don't bother trying to print it on A4 - you won't be able to read it.) </span><br /></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Most of my questioning was based on interpreting the data in the large pie chart or on asking volunteers to write numbers on the poster as whole numbers (e.g. writing 54.2 billion as 54,200,000,000). </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">At this stage, if your students require further input you might find the Level 2 place value chart useful. You can find it on the <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/number.htm#N1/L2.1">Level 2 number section</a> of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">skillsworkshop</span>. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPV8y5IWVe5F3M9vyrBnTz6y3vvVXoqeOlDx_nxXr2fGpMxROR9VEcTFyHsDxdeeiYDRxoJM1mOFRRLcC347gbbOUnJ-tSSoPW5JrZOjqCfpP5bAVe0Pp6urL4BrUf5sY0WWteCP3IohE/s1600-h/n1l2filmindustryplacevalue_Page_1.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251354265396542130" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPV8y5IWVe5F3M9vyrBnTz6y3vvVXoqeOlDx_nxXr2fGpMxROR9VEcTFyHsDxdeeiYDRxoJM1mOFRRLcC347gbbOUnJ-tSSoPW5JrZOjqCfpP5bAVe0Pp6urL4BrUf5sY0WWteCP3IohE/s320/n1l2filmindustryplacevalue_Page_1.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I then used my new worksheet to check and consolidate individual skills. The PDF version is </span><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/l2num/n1l2filmindustryplacevalue.pdf"><span style="font-family:verdana;">available here</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> or you can click the picture left for a quick thumbnail preview (don't look for it on <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">skillsworkshop</span></a> as I haven't yet had time to list it - it will appear there during October). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Having now marked 14 worksheets I can report that, as suspected, the extension question caused the most difficulties. In most cases the initial subtraction was OK but there was a lot of difficulty translating the answer of 0.11<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">bn</span> to millions, the most common answer being 11 million rather than 110 million. Another unpopular question asked 'How are the actors listed?' (The answer was 'alphabetically'). </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">However, I was pleasantly reassured by the grasp of maths terminology and symbols: descending and ascending order, greater than and less than - no problems! </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;"><strong>Level 5 Numeracy Diploma</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">n an effort to balance up my numeracy and literacy teaching qualifications (currently weighted towards literacy) I've just started working towards the Level 5 Additional Diploma in Teaching Mathematics in the Lifelong Learning Sector (commonly known as an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ADTLLS</span>). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've really enjoyed the first two sessions but the bad news (for me, not necessarily for you!) is that last week's learning has left me a little deflated. We were introduced to the RICH task concept and now I'm not at all happy with my film industry worksheet. You can </span><a href="http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=5662"><span style="font-family:verdana;">read about rich mathematical tasks</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> on the </span><a href="http://nrich.maths.org/"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">NRICH</span> web site</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. To borrow another phrase from this site I think my worksheet needs <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">HOTting</span> up. HOTS is an acronym for <em>high order thinking skills</em> and again you can </span><a href="http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=6099"><span style="font-family:verdana;">read more about it</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">NRICH</span>. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">However, despite my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">smartboard</span> display problems I've decided that all is not lost. My introductory warm-up, firing questions and attempting to promote discussion based on the poster and the world population statistics, might not have been <em>very</em> RICH but I don't think it was excessively poor. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">There's no time left today </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">to get into a discussion about what makes a task or resource RICH. However this thought is now always going to be in my head. The film industry resource is aimed at Level 2 but I'm also very interested in applying RICH and HOTS to my Entry 1 numeracy class. I feel that this may prove to be even more of a challenge.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And I haven't given up on the film poster yet: the original has been sent to the Resources Dept for A2 laminating and will be resurfacing later in the year for work on percentages and representing data. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">The poster is still available on the Guardian site a</span></em></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">s a </span></em><a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/07/22/gdn_080722_ber_18_20237470.pdf"><em><span style="font-size:85%;">PDF file</span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span></em></span></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-42853958821796460382008-09-14T14:00:00.027+01:002008-09-14T15:56:03.152+01:00Worksheet Genius for instant Entry and preEntry resources<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqmVeIx5kk0PEwaVaijA5WjHXDk50clnJXUXCdm_yPsRKTU4OfcvbxKT3RHjONG1BCdtoP1-4haR8XC_mGAtigVH1MMOCypjJDzYt1fOo3i_SKuJPg382MjDHAgXIsupkXCIKBaCAPV8/s1600-h/abacussmall.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245889363052402770" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqmVeIx5kk0PEwaVaijA5WjHXDk50clnJXUXCdm_yPsRKTU4OfcvbxKT3RHjONG1BCdtoP1-4haR8XC_mGAtigVH1MMOCypjJDzYt1fOo3i_SKuJPg382MjDHAgXIsupkXCIKBaCAPV8/s320/abacussmall.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've just added a wonderful new link to the 'Other sites with </span><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/other.htm#wsgenius"><span style="font-family:verdana;">printable resources</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">' links page. This page lists about 200 sites that provide printable literacy and/or numeracy worksheets.</span><br /><br /><div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><a href="http://worksheetgenius.com/">Worksheet Genius</a> creates instant randomized worksheets. It's the work of a generous Midlands teacher, Simon Currigan, and all worksheets are completely free - no strings attached! Like Wordle, it's a Java based application - so you may need to speak nicely to your college IT staff and get Java installed on the machines you use in your office or classroom.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">For Entry level spelling and phonics there are masses of word lists (or add your own) that can be used for flashcards, bingo games, word searches and much more. Other word lists cover common spelling rules such as -ed endings, take off the 'y', prefixes, etc.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The phonics sheets come with pictures - the clip art is aimed at children but most is also suitable for adults. If you don't like the clip-art/words that appear on your screen, simply click the 'Apply genius' button to make a brand new sheet. You can also create mixed up sentences, anagrams and really useful slide shows which are perfect for instant <em>Look-Say-Cover-Write-Check</em> work if you select the 'add a blank slide between each word' option. Note that the clip art can also be downloaded and used independently - very handy if you want to create your own linked materials.</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oFP_Mn2Fp43s2gA7ZBxcWSiiv1Dz4ThgeD9XkLwyK4FSqmRcQPuQj664mFeKwSZV528luvVeuKvPeFFJXjfDilfiOpLAhoLMuHczErbr-jA7tbhpc4vJIUeVfopPWs8c7x9mkDKij6E/s1600-h/geniuscomp.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245870836516696450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oFP_Mn2Fp43s2gA7ZBxcWSiiv1Dz4ThgeD9XkLwyK4FSqmRcQPuQj664mFeKwSZV528luvVeuKvPeFFJXjfDilfiOpLAhoLMuHczErbr-jA7tbhpc4vJIUeVfopPWs8c7x9mkDKij6E/s400/geniuscomp.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">The numeracy options are just as good. The abacus style place value sheet (top right) is one of my favourites and is earmarked for my Entry 2 numeracy group. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Again, each type of numeracy worksheet can be fully customised: clocks can be set from 1 hour to 1 minute intervals; subtraction can be horizontal or vertical, with or without carrying; and so on.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">For preEntry milestone 8 you could use 'count and colour' (up to 12 items) or picture versions of adding on 1, 2 or 3. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Several options are also suitable beyond Entry level: percentages, division with or without remainders, long multiplication, etc. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">If you have any specific ideas for using <a href="http://worksheetgenius.com/">Worksheet Genius</a> with you literacy and numeracy classes please leave your ideas as a blog comment or </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">contact me by email via <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/">http://www.skillsworkshop.org/</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;"></span></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;">I can't describe everything here so do please take a look.</span></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeLr0Txl2lhodoki7v4_FF6ejuoON5g_Hv_fYMJoR9Zu1Pk7BjKyi6tS9igXQxDToaKIzYHMVhk4Y1GEoO6oTaQGh-UyKPg9XUi6SuUMofhkzxfx1FEj8gqeHyenUDvRuQ4gZQXzQGxk/s1600-h/subtractmsall.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245876514780197826" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 262px" height="283" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeLr0Txl2lhodoki7v4_FF6ejuoON5g_Hv_fYMJoR9Zu1Pk7BjKyi6tS9igXQxDToaKIzYHMVhk4Y1GEoO6oTaQGh-UyKPg9XUi6SuUMofhkzxfx1FEj8gqeHyenUDvRuQ4gZQXzQGxk/s320/subtractmsall.jpg" width="186" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijE3FSpZiMZmnqRQmNCa6VEUrDHdh3K9f2TUhKqFkNHar5RvevmGX5pgwMbwFaxgFEFIpeSJbrcexMK3PgAKNWVtb5N3ZC9xCf4yzQdQ7aEOZnsXjMcC7NfkYYXRMYtrorO7TOtWCaKes/s1600-h/add2small.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245876514585202226" style="WIDTH: 188px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 254px" height="278" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijE3FSpZiMZmnqRQmNCa6VEUrDHdh3K9f2TUhKqFkNHar5RvevmGX5pgwMbwFaxgFEFIpeSJbrcexMK3PgAKNWVtb5N3ZC9xCf4yzQdQ7aEOZnsXjMcC7NfkYYXRMYtrorO7TOtWCaKes/s320/add2small.jpg" width="190" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYJG4nc8XVk-FUnR-9qReTcSAh2W1owMtbr8BS_t4BkSunDYKugqCpKCxDYBvRUsyM6rtsY40iyoScpCEHfZm6_EwgDFlmBBr2VrH6a9JtVeu79LTUQKYv8mfaElZDB34KBpGVViceuM/s1600-h/flashcardssmall.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245876515879540354" style="WIDTH: 169px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 255px" height="292" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYJG4nc8XVk-FUnR-9qReTcSAh2W1owMtbr8BS_t4BkSunDYKugqCpKCxDYBvRUsyM6rtsY40iyoScpCEHfZm6_EwgDFlmBBr2VrH6a9JtVeu79LTUQKYv8mfaElZDB34KBpGVViceuM/s320/flashcardssmall.jpg" width="167" border="0" /></a></span></strong></span></div><br /><div></div></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-73206951443568024452008-09-06T16:31:00.058+01:002008-09-07T00:17:31.841+01:00Hilda Taba (part 2), Wordle, and numeracy<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" ></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In one of my earlier posts (<a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/08/wordle-and-hilda-taba.html">Aug 16, 2008</a>) on <a href="http://wordle.net/">Wordle</a> I said:</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" ></span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><blockquote><em>"I reckon this idea could be adapted for numeracy: sorting out maths vocabulary words; ranking measures in order of size; sorting measures into length, weight or capacity; sorting shapes (well, names of shapes) according to properties; etc."<br /><br /></em><div style="text-align: center;"> </div></blockquote></span></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSixm_tIT3RHBgXqDbaOzEw1chDfrAaGAbLnxsBnxniwB-8bJLp9bkf1QmEEW1vKPKh5X2XgdSg726_GJVCAeSrfiPAmbJE4xnlROREHy0pF-czbW1tknh8cT_kWXuXg9pLKWbeQe0WXU/s1600-h/wordlevocabchart.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243043417249840674" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSixm_tIT3RHBgXqDbaOzEw1chDfrAaGAbLnxsBnxniwB-8bJLp9bkf1QmEEW1vKPKh5X2XgdSg726_GJVCAeSrfiPAmbJE4xnlROREHy0pF-czbW1tknh8cT_kWXuXg9pLKWbeQe0WXU/s200/wordlevocabchart.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7HEjliAclL7ncub2lj5-hS1MoJwtOI-3sGge-sZiqg_b5PVo9tvCzrx766yUjB0oY9JoG1hF3KQSb4HbDMNAGNxu57goh5rOmsge564apgVnhMabKBkFOy0_JeCLp3cZDRajoMTJLlc/s1600-h/wordlevocab.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7HEjliAclL7ncub2lj5-hS1MoJwtOI-3sGge-sZiqg_b5PVo9tvCzrx766yUjB0oY9JoG1hF3KQSb4HbDMNAGNxu57goh5rOmsge564apgVnhMabKBkFOy0_JeCLp3cZDRajoMTJLlc/s200/wordlevocab.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243049503019156866" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Well, site-contributor Dave Norgate has speedily proved my </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">point: he's created a <a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#temperatures">set of numeracy Wordles</a> </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">that does everything I wished for and more! There are four Wordles in his resource – covering 2D shapes, maths vocabulary, odd and even numbers, and metric units. Dave has also very kindly provided fill-in charts for two word clouds: one provides a structure for straightforward sorting (maths vocabulary); the other demands sorting followed by ordering (metric units). </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3XqNY-2HVKqgZX9NkAglwDlZS5TsbCkVAcIR0_c5epV-2jDA8cJWxzcqJLsfL0tCNmMtXe9HQfhhwfTIgxSiXx1C9QBy54bKJzreWy0iDRrJjtzUbT6yxKZY1UuWf6vj8GSRVRI03XQ/s1600-h/hildataba.jpg"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242953587680931522" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3XqNY-2HVKqgZX9NkAglwDlZS5TsbCkVAcIR0_c5epV-2jDA8cJWxzcqJLsfL0tCNmMtXe9HQfhhwfTIgxSiXx1C9QBy54bKJzreWy0iDRrJjtzUbT6yxKZY1UuWf6vj8GSRVRI03XQ/s200/hildataba.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></span></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >Linking this back to my previous discussion regarding Hilda Taba - you might like to think of a Wordle cloud as the collection of data (the first stage or strategy in her model) and Dave's blank charts as the next stage where data is organised so that students can visualise and attain concepts.</span></span></div><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The number of ‘phases’ in each stage seems to have been extended since Taba’s work was published in 1971. It varies with each source</span> that I look at (see references at the end this post).</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Here’s my attempt at a summary – but I make no claim to expertise in learning theory.</span><br /></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong>Stage 1</strong> (<span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">three phases</span>)<br /><em>Concept formation</em> – collecting data through class brainstorming (maybe into Wordle - see below!), individual lists, answers to questions, etc. <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">3 phases: list, group, label.<br /></span><br /><strong>Stage 2<br /></strong><em>Attaining concepts</em> - organising data using: whiteboard, smartboard, flip chart, fill-in tables, handout, Wordle (more on this below), etc.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><strong>Stage 3</strong> (I’m not sure how many phases!)<br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><em>Develop generalisations</em></span>, compare, explain, apply principles (<span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">predicting</span>).<br /><br />Anyway – I must wander back to some practical uses of Wordle… </span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Of course you don’t have to start at <em>Stage 1 - phase 1</em> (<span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">listing</span>) to make use of Taba’s model. All the existing (as of Sept 6th 08) Wordle resources on </span><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">www.skillsworkshop.org</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> provide pre-collected data in a word cloud; the words or numbers in the cloud may also be partially <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">grouped</span>. Examples of these include (all kindly contributed by Dave N):</span><br /><a href="http://skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#Wordle"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sorting nouns and verbs</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (and then listing alphabetically)<br /></span><a href="http://skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#Wordle"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Identifying misspelt words</span></a><br /><a href="http://skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#temperatures"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Identifying 2D shapes</span></a><br /><a href="http://skillsworkshop.org/whatsnew.htm#temperatures"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sorting odd and even numbers </span></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />In all these cases you are starting at Taba’s <em>Stage 1 - phase 2 or 3</em>. However, you could (assuming you have a PC, data projector and Internet access to Wordle) collect the data live in-class and start at <em>Stage 1 - phase 1</em>.<br /><br />This can be done through brainstorming and/or careful questioning. Before you start you’ll need a clear objective. What concept do you want students to grasp? It could be naming the properties of 2D shapes, distinguishing between odd and even numbers, recognising metric measures and selecting appropriate units, etc. The questioning is crucial if you want to avoid too many stray words or groups in your Wordle. You’ve got to get the balance right: to prevent a wild goose chase you'll need to elicit plenty of relevant data (words) that allow learners to make connections and ‘get’ (attain) the concept.<br /><br />I recommend enlisting a willing student to type-in the words – or, even better, pass a wireless keyboard around. If accurate spelling is a prerequisite for your Wordle – get the students to type into a Word document (with spellchecker turned on) and then paste the list into Wordle at the end of the brainstorming session. This also keeps Wordle a secret until the last minute – assuming your students haven’t seen it before!<br /><br /></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JbHFVFz5GyM/SMA311AfuUI/AAAAAAAAA1c/BT1_ex1f2FM/s1600-h/wordle2d.jpg"></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5rJL9kLQWqwapZ94T7pJTQhXBynfNBacyG0_hkOjthnwu06xcfSrgnQQoK3IGwiMt_M17QOOgj6HPgN0rCtSIU91PQVrkcKZcvO1vP9NmS72jFxz_X_SEZOT-j25pii_4ZdjRoUZFFZc/s1600-h/wordle2d.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242957712759979010" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5rJL9kLQWqwapZ94T7pJTQhXBynfNBacyG0_hkOjthnwu06xcfSrgnQQoK3IGwiMt_M17QOOgj6HPgN0rCtSIU91PQVrkcKZcvO1vP9NmS72jFxz_X_SEZOT-j25pii_4ZdjRoUZFFZc/s320/wordle2d.jpg" border="0" /></a>Now, a great feature of Wordle is that, when using it live, you can delete words one by one from your cloud by right-clicking on them. You can use this to facilitate Taba’s crucial middle <em>stage 2</em> and whittle your data down to one group.</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;">For example, if you were creating a cloud similar to Dave’s (right) you could firstly delete (or ask students to delete) all the words that are not names of shapes or objects (e.g. addition, weigh, perimeter). This could be followed (amidst much discussion about properties, etc.) by deleting all the names of 3D shapes (for example) until you’re eventually left with a set of 2D shapes. If your group is working at Level 1 or 2 - keep going! The possibilities are endless - ask the students how they could regroup and classify what's left. Perhaps they'll suggest deleting those with more than four sides, or those with only one pair of parallel lines.<br /><br />Of course, I’m not saying that Wordle is the answer to everything! For more advanced grouping and ordering you may well have to stick to the traditional whiteboard, fill-in table, matrix or chart method – although maybe you could have more than one Wordle going on at once!</span><br /><br /></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I’ll leave you to think about <em>Stage 3</em> and its generalisations and predictions... </span><br /></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>References</strong><br /></span>Photo<br /></span><a href="http://imet.csus.edu/classic/tools_and_curriculum/images/TABA.JPG"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://imet.csus.edu/classic/tools_and_curriculum/images/TABA.JPG</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />I'm guessing this was taken in the 1950s – Taba was born in 1902<br /><br />Taba, H., Durkin, M. C., Fraenkel, J. R., & NcNaughton, A. H. (1971). A teacher's handbook to elementary social studies: An inductive approach (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.<br />Chapter 5 is available online at </span><a href="http://imet.csus.edu/classic/fundamentals/inductive/taba_handbook.htm"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://imet.csus.edu/classic/fundamentals/inductive/taba_handbook.htm</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> (I’m not sure if this is a summary or the entire chapter as unfortunately I have not read the original – out of print – I’d love to see it though!).<br /><br />There's also good clear coverage of Taba's model in Teaching Young Adults (Gill Turner, Joe Harkin, Trevor Dawn) RoutledgeFalmer 2001 </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Young-Adults-Post-compulsory-Education/dp/0415222842"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Young-Adults-Post-compulsory-Education/dp/0415222842</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">This book uses a useful egg timer depiction. I'd better not reproduce it here because of copyright issues but if you search for the book in </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://books.google.com/books</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> you can preview various pages including the egg timer page 46.<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">The book also includes an extended Taba model (page 47). This extended version is great for planning: it's full of imperatives for learning objectives. For example, <em>Stage 1-phase 1</em> not only suggests <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">list</span> but also <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">collect, find, choose, bring, underline, highlight</span> and <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">tick</span>. It also relates Taba's model to the Kolb / experiential learning cycle (page 48 - also viewable via Google books).</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-64136246460416703842008-08-29T09:43:00.012+01:002008-11-24T22:39:10.774+00:00Do better qualified SfL teachers teach better?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlDJG8KGBsImpN00xKYf5XuJHV5ysy5Ac2TO81QWmkUqeahl0VAJW3IOZYIFKhJAGg7x0TgDTnw3b1tv_fRa09xUFkjjGnamiCXi3QAWVN7MUHdbxtKaQuSuDaRaMSvQ9Qw1k5Vq-KgM/s1600-h/reflectcover.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239868097539571266" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 147px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 216px" height="216" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlDJG8KGBsImpN00xKYf5XuJHV5ysy5Ac2TO81QWmkUqeahl0VAJW3IOZYIFKhJAGg7x0TgDTnw3b1tv_fRa09xUFkjjGnamiCXi3QAWVN7MUHdbxtKaQuSuDaRaMSvQ9Qw1k5Vq-KgM/s320/reflectcover.jpg" width="137" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Reflect magazine is published three times a year and is always a good read. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">The latest July 08 issue was delivered to my house about a month ago but I've only just finished browsing. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There are 17 articles. Seven are grouped together as a special report on family and community learning; the remainder range from 'E-learning in Uganda' to a well argued, down-to-earth plea from a Skills for Life tutor (more on this in a later post).</span><br /><br /><p></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO3sz16C8A6cGgmJ_bvNJ8amLBPbgeDByf_OkUK3giO788_VkpFrB4r_suCxmUOGdEXrpYKV3BsaHkF4VGe-92_7DPd06HLKDjZO6qUpp7_gY5umTp5XCr3ZXVyZd5y48I3p68p8lqAbY/s1600-h/qualified.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239946213622445154" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO3sz16C8A6cGgmJ_bvNJ8amLBPbgeDByf_OkUK3giO788_VkpFrB4r_suCxmUOGdEXrpYKV3BsaHkF4VGe-92_7DPd06HLKDjZO6qUpp7_gY5umTp5XCr3ZXVyZd5y48I3p68p8lqAbY/s400/qualified.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This is a VERY interesting question and the answers might not be what you're expecting... </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">To be honest, I found it very hard to tease out exactly what the results were but here's my nutshell version: </span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Better qualified (generic - e.g. Cert Ed, PGCE) SfL teachers enable learners to make more progress.</span> </li><br /><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Numeracy learners make more progress if their teacher also has A level mathematics or beyond. In contrast, the progress of Literacy and ESOL learners is not markedly improved if their teacher has an English qualification beyond GCSE. </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Students’ enjoyment of numeracy is higher if the teacher also has a maths degree or postgraduate qualification but beware: these teachers are also related to a decrease in learners' confidence about numeracy skills.<br /></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This doesn’t surprise me - I've met high level mathematicians who just cannot get back to ground level (but I’ve met others who can and do!). As a test try this: ask someone with a maths PhD what a fraction is (I’ve tried this myself with someone I know well…). </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">However, I am rather confused by the results of this research. I would have thought that confidence and progress in numeracy work hand in hand so am not sure what the ideal is here… </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Maybe a teacher with AS level maths – who knows! </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">I should point out that this research is ongoing and the authors, Olga Cara and Augustin de Coulon, welcome feedback and comments.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>You can read Reflect online at the NRDC (National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy) site </em></span><a href="http://www.nrdc.org.uk/"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>http://www.nrdc.org.uk/</em></span></a><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">(Select the 'publications' tab). The magazine can be read as individual on-line articles or as a single, large PDF file. You can also subscribe and receive free printed versions.</span></em></p>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-75152017054913684142008-08-28T17:35:00.020+01:002008-08-28T21:49:03.962+01:00Freebies from NIACE / Basic Skills Agency<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFzunnerKivvi3-IBjEqqSBuByaxwrihZ7z1-H7QD0D-9bTNF7RQcWXrT34Fo6Oef_oKzy5SGsvSlJZt_vZELSCcovoRB7msw0bMFDXYnEotUY2t85rzRwG5RyOQiKZsmMKu-btilZmE/s1600-h/ks3texttypes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239632625942854754" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFzunnerKivvi3-IBjEqqSBuByaxwrihZ7z1-H7QD0D-9bTNF7RQcWXrT34Fo6Oef_oKzy5SGsvSlJZt_vZELSCcovoRB7msw0bMFDXYnEotUY2t85rzRwG5RyOQiKZsmMKu-btilZmE/s320/ks3texttypes.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've been updating my links pages - a mammoth task that is only tackled once a year. There are three links pages (each with 200+ links) on <a href="http://skillsworkshop.org/">skillsworkshop</a> - and, thankfully, now just one of them left to check.</span><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">The Basic Skills </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Agency merged with</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> NIACE (National Institute for Adult Continuing Education) sometime ago. This morning, whilst editing and removing the dead links to these sites, I was inadvertently diverted and sidetracked (you know how it happens!) into taking a look at some of the 'old' BSA resources. <a href="http://archive.basic-skills.co.uk/resources/">Now archived</a>, these resources can be reached via the <a href="http://www.niace.org.uk/">NIACE site</a> and purchased </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">online with a credit card (or by phone if you want to be invoiced).</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAImuyUsYSLE1oZUit449G-zMAnzOa8E-81362RHWvEk8MwUmfK7YYchliyWfK_1_Z3AjgKyDCWree0s4PGmTC70y76lUtpw-ylNOL25XX3EiGb6Mh6nxkbZldPe4afgGoH5C1Ix6UjTE/s1600-h/bsaselectfree.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239623669487381106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAImuyUsYSLE1oZUit449G-zMAnzOa8E-81362RHWvEk8MwUmfK7YYchliyWfK_1_Z3AjgKyDCWree0s4PGmTC70y76lUtpw-ylNOL25XX3EiGb6Mh6nxkbZldPe4afgGoH5C1Ix6UjTE/s400/bsaselectfree.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Don't miss out on the free PDF downloads that are scattered amongst their more pricey cousins. To find these, select the 'Free downloads only' button in the 'Product search' area. Tip: <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">no not</span> select 'Resources from England' or you will miss out on many resources that are </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">published in English <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">and</span> Welsh (within one document) including most of the resources I'm about to mention...<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Literacy</span><br />'</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">KS3 Text Type posters' is a set of 2 x 5 A4 posters (English/Welsh) -</span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"> as depicted at the top of this page (click on this picture for a larger view). Great for classroom display or for passing around and general discussion. Aimed at secondary school students but perfectly OK for adults (Entry 3 upwards). There are also two related booklets for teachers, rather ungrammatically entitled: 'How to teach </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">Information Text' and 'How to teach Instruction and Explanation text'.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQluadIgvIjq95qpJE1Dq6EsSJC5pjozEUmUOBchfDHf2Elc3cHbCM0Azq4pt3z6NORXfQeaB769z9gom5U0BNkHBZH7GpmlUW-rCFMP6aGrPAPCER5NUwODUvy0ik6ktJjF4-AYF-5EI/s1600-h/ks3measure.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239638254941747506" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQluadIgvIjq95qpJE1Dq6EsSJC5pjozEUmUOBchfDHf2Elc3cHbCM0Azq4pt3z6NORXfQeaB769z9gom5U0BNkHBZH7GpmlUW-rCFMP6aGrPAPCER5NUwODUvy0ik6ktJjF4-AYF-5EI/s320/ks3measure.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Numeracy</span></span><br />'<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">How to measure at KS3' is another good one fo</span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">r teachers. Common problems and misunderstandings are discussed and there are useful resource sheets such as this one (right) relating common objects to metric measures.<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh50UoXx6eVR6RMRHMJM1_usBxukrxC7skoHwfL-61ndSwxaVmxzPDj15y__TVIfO0-Hbj2r8Qza4cgPyAaDQjQJH874R3rizO9a_pFmY1gN7XOgVcpWV16yRugMiyLpo64IIm63qekpcE/s1600-h/helpyouself.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239644944248941698" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh50UoXx6eVR6RMRHMJM1_usBxukrxC7skoHwfL-61ndSwxaVmxzPDj15y__TVIfO0-Hbj2r8Qza4cgPyAaDQjQJH874R3rizO9a_pFmY1gN7XOgVcpWV16yRugMiyLpo64IIm63qekpcE/s320/helpyouself.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">Last but not least is the 'Help yourself' maths pack - 20 pages of facts, clear explanations and questions for learners to improve and then check their understanding.<br /><br /></span><div style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"></div><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Note that if you don't have the facilities or the desire to print out glossy colour copies, most of the free downloadable resources can also be ordered online. The postage is fairly reasonable - especially if you are ordering many items (e.g. 1 item £1.50, up to 4 items £2.00, up to 10 items £3.50, etc.).<br /><br />This is just a taster - there are many more freebies in the BSA archive.<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)">If you discover any gems do share them by leaving a blog comment or emailing me via the site. ... likewise if you find any dead links on the skillsworkshop links pages!<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Links pages<br /></span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-STYLE: italicfont-size:85%;" ><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/useful.htm"></a><blockquote><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/useful.htm">Useful links for tutors</a> - professional development, teaching and learning, good books and software, government agencies and departments (inc. links to the on-line interactive curricula and resources), learning difficulties and disabilities, study skills, and more.<br /><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/other.htm">Printable resources for adult basic skills</a> - our most popular links page (approx 2000 visits per week). Lists other resource sites with free printable resources suitable for adults. These are arranged under 6 categories: realia sites for good examples of real-life texts, educational clip art and web graphics, pre-entry, literacy and numeracy, literacy only, numeracy only, and ESOL.<br /><a href="http://www.skillsworkshop.org/ilt.htm">Embedding ILT <span style="font-size:78%;">(information & learning technology)</span>: interactive sites for adult basic skills tutors and students</a> - hundreds of links arranged under: general computer skills and accessibility issues, pre-entry, literacy and numeracy, literacy only, numeracy only, and ESOL.</blockquote></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><br /></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6544753163957519344.post-33420949775689407592008-08-16T03:33:00.024+01:002008-09-07T00:01:48.366+01:00Wordle and Hilda Taba<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I'm delighted to say that, since my earlier post on </span><a href="http://skillsworkshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/using-wordle-in-classroom.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Using Wordle in the Classroom</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, I've received some new resource ideas from site-contributor Dave Norgate.<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wlcFyPINtc3QcdDIUKTdNLvtYE1EXNTHy2nz4s9dpcZxpTtGwpp0zByYeLqqgfs4iQXzni8s7Kq4mi0gp_8aomRj9Xsmz93KHtwY5tE5W8YJNmQdBRlO5Aj_4Y74X2zPRX1RE-oBcFY/s1600-h/wordlepreps2.bmp"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234940235740691346" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wlcFyPINtc3QcdDIUKTdNLvtYE1EXNTHy2nz4s9dpcZxpTtGwpp0zByYeLqqgfs4iQXzni8s7Kq4mi0gp_8aomRj9Xsmz93KHtwY5tE5W8YJNmQdBRlO5Aj_4Y74X2zPRX1RE-oBcFY/s400/wordlepreps2.bmp" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Find all the prepositions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBp4Tb1bQ-q5DlCk-j0UZIy_zFXu0SNQ5qPHwjlXimiFz6wkudKP7TQuiPZ6OfZNIseeyOCmcCUh3pm6CZXcwEoXd3LNZOO4FueEnYryjujFnXwn8jfcKiwzo10hEGF30AZrB-FZAVljc/s1600-h/wordlespelling2.png"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234940237602775074" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBp4Tb1bQ-q5DlCk-j0UZIy_zFXu0SNQ5qPHwjlXimiFz6wkudKP7TQuiPZ6OfZNIseeyOCmcCUh3pm6CZXcwEoXd3LNZOO4FueEnYryjujFnXwn8jfcKiwzo10hEGF30AZrB-FZAVljc/s400/wordlespelling2.png" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sort the words into two columns - correctly spelt and misspelt.<br /><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />These ideas will be appearing on the site sometime next week - complete with instructions, answer sheets and curriculum links.<br /><br />I really like the idea of 'sorting' in the second picture (and 'listing' in the first). It brings back distant PGCE memories of Hilda Taba and her 'concept development model'.<br /><br />Of course you could give your learners either of the pictures above with <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">no instructions. </span><br /><br />Why?<br /><br />Well - this gets them thinking about the words (and the concepts). If they come up with the sorting or listing ideas themselves they'll be more engaged and have ownership of the resource.<br /><br />Here's a few questions you could ask if needed. </span></div><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">These questions were inspired by information on this site </span></em><a href="http://www.lovinlearning.org/heroes/concept_attainment_Taba.htm"><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">http://www.lovinlearning.org/heroes/concept_attainment_Taba.htm</span></em></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></p><ul><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">What do you notice about these words?</span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">Do any of these words seem to belong together?</span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">Why would you group these words together?</span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">What would you call the groups?</span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">Could some of the words belong in other groups?</span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;">Can you suggest other words that you could add to these groups?</span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Can you make your own Wordle pictures? </span></li><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">What if....</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;"><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">I reckon this idea could be adapted for numeracy: sorting out maths vocabulary words; ranking measures in order of size; sorting measures into length, weight or capacity; sorting shapes (well, names of shapes) according to properties; etc.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">For more on Taba:<br /></span><a href="http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Taba_teaching_strategy_model"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Taba_teaching_strategy_model</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a href="http://imet.csus.edu/classic/fundamentals/inductive/taba_handbook.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://imet.csus.edu/classic/fundamentals/inductive/taba_handbook.htm</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.unf.edu/~jbosnick/jb/3324concfor.pdf"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.unf.edu/~jbosnick/jb/3324concfor.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The PDF above can also be located from this menu page:<br /></span><a href="http://www.unf.edu/~jbosnick/jb/3324notes.htm"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.unf.edu/~jbosnick/jb/3324notes.htm</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (select Concept Formation)<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There's also good clear coverage of Taba's model in <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Teaching Young Adults (Gill Turner, Joe Harkin, Trevor Dawn) RoutledgeFalmer 2001 </span>(one of my PGCE set books).</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Young-Adults-Post-compulsory-Education/dp/0415222842"><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Young-Adults-Post-compulsory-Education/dp/0415222842</span></em></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I’m sure there are lots more possibilities so I'll finish by repeating my request from the previous Wordle post: </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(204,51,204)"><strong><span style="font-family:verdana;">if you have any Wordle ideas you’d like to share please get in touch or leave a comment.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></strong></span></span></div></span>Maggiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13946096894888521811noreply@blogger.com7