This year Maths Week takes place in Ireland from 15th to 22nd October. Already in its sixth year, the event has gained huge popularity. This year, I’ve decided to try out a Twitter project for the week to help children to learn their times tables. If you’re interested in joining in, all you need is … Read more
St. Patrick’s National School is a 76 pupil school in Co. Sligo with 3 teachers. They have come up with a very interesting way of using Google to help with their learning. Paul Barron, a teacher at the school, set up Google accounts for all of the fifth and sixth class pupils. The children are currently … Read more
Fizzbooks caused a bit of a storm in the world of education last year with a number of schools kitting their entire schools out with them. We in Anseo.net were very impressed with them, especially the fast versions (2GB RAM) rather than the entry level ones which are very slow. Liosdoire have just announced that … Read more
Computerised Cúntas Míosúil version 1.1 Are you sick of all that paperwork when it comes to Cúntas Míosúil time? Anseo.net has created a computerised Cúntas Míosúil and you can download it for free. It is written using Microsoft Excel so you’ll need MS Office or Open Office to run it. It’s been designed to be … Read more
While technology has engulfed the world of education in the last five years, the government have been slow to produce any worthwhile curriculum content. Thankfully, as an English speaking nation, we can rely on the good work of the UK, US and Australia for good curriculum content especially in Literacy and Numeracy. Companies such as … Read more
The last year in Ireland has been reasonably quiet in the world of Interactive Whiteboards as most schools are now equipped with them thanks to some much needed government funding in 2010. However, Hitachi have come up with an interesting new solution to the marketplace. The Starboard Link EZ System is the first “eBeam-style” widget … Read more
Last week, The IPPN hosted their annual Principal Briefing day. I always attend as I find these days are invaluable for keeping ahead of any new developments in Departmental policy making. Maria Doyle gave a concise presentation on the new Child Protection Guidelines that came through my letterbox at school last week. I am no … Read more
As with the Leaving Certificate results, the Junior Certificate’s showed that there is a worrying trend in maths results in this country. Most of the focus is being centred on the estimation from the Teaching Council that over 30% of maths teachers hold no 3rd level qualifications in mathematics. However, just because a teacher has … Read more
Scratch is a visual programming language suitable for children from the age of 8. It’s very simple to use and it can lead to some very interesting projects. Last year, I did a project with some 5th and 6th class pupils where they created a cartoon. The learning involved was amazing: planning, storyboarding, storytelling, art, … Read more
Last week I was quoted in the Irish Examiner saying that this would be the year of the teacher blog. In the last year, I have noticed that there has been a steady increase in the number of teachers who have decided to blog about teaching and learning and I believe that there are going … Read more