At the recent Able Gifted and Talented Conference in Derby, I met some pupils from Chellaston Junior School who did a super presentation about the philosophy they had been doing back at school.

I asked them a few questions and here are their really excellent and thoughtful answers:

“Four members of our class attended the conference and spoke about the work we’ve been doing on     P4C. Tim asked the following questions and after much discussion, this is what we thought:

What if mountains were dogs?

The earth would shake violently.
They wouldn’t fit in your house.
It would be really hard to walk the dog.
I’d hate to see the mess they leave behind.
There would be enormous fleas.
They’d crush your house.
You’d have to buy a massive kennel.
People would die if they stamped on them.
They’d scare the cats away.
Mountain climbers wouldn’t know whether they were climbing a mountain or a dog.
Use the dog’s tail as a slide.
It would drag you along on walks.
They’d smash and ruin towns and cities.

How does P4C help us in our other lessons?

It helps us to think of strange things for a story.
It helps our imagination to run wild when we’re drawing.
It helps us to think of better questions.
It allows us to think about what it’s like for other people, not just ourselves.
It makes us think about what would be the right thing to do.
It has shown us the importance of thinking”.

Well done all!

As Confucius said: If your plan is for one year, plant rice; If your plan is for ten years, plant trees; If your plan is for one hundred years, educate the children.

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After the Hertfordshire ICT conference, I had an e-mail from Geoff Bannister, of Hobbs Hill Wood Primary School, saying “The doorways of doom was a great concept. I’ve spent the last couple of days creating my own ‘Doorways’ type-thing for my school website.”

Dare you take the challenge HERE?

Geoff has also taken up the idea of an interactive tour of the school and made his own virtual tour of Hobbs Hill Wood Primary.

Geoff wrote: “Taking the idea from the graphic adventures of old, I created a virtual tour of my entire school. Imagine the magestic vistas seen in Myst, but instead of being set in a weird “alien” world, it’s set in a primary school in Hemel Hempstead.

There’s no problem solving, or any cleverly incorporated videos of characters, but surely it’s just as awesome! Or maybe not.(It’s a shed load of linked pages not dissimilar to your doors of doom.)”

Well done and thanks Geoff! You definitely deserved the Lego Darth Vader we managed to find for you!

The first of two days at Courtney Primary School, South Gloucestershire

Today was a fun day spent exploring some of the visual literacy ideas with the staff. Tomorrow will be the chance to wander through the world of words with the children of the school.

We spent some time, today, thinking about the effect that a soundtrack has on how we feel within a game environment, film or radio play. I love the comment, by Jim Carrey, that “The trouble with real life is that there’s no danger music”.

Actually, when it comes to composing a soundtrack, I really like Sir Thomas Beecham’s wise words when he says that “There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between”.

Good job, sometimes, as the cacophony we create in our soundtrack sessions often starts and finishes with style. It is laughter that can distract from a masterpiece.

We’ll tackle a bit of creative noises with the children tomorrow.

Well done, and thank you to Keith Ledbury and colleagues, for a really enjoyable visit.

Although it has been around for quite a while now, I still enjoy having a fly in “Goggles”.

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Now, we have the opportunity to do a bit of ground based wandering by driving through the streets of your local town, city or village, with Google Drive

I was asked to give the opening keynote presentation, and a couple of workshops, at the ICT to Inspire, Challenge & Empower all Learners Conference, Hertfordshire, today.

The day ended with the HOSCARS Award Ceremony which I presented alongside Oscar, the robot.
Thank you to Ann Layzell, and her many colleagues, for a great event.

The cassettes theme spools on. What great pavement art eh?

Thank you to Ben E for the nudge towards this innovative sonic dress design made from old tape.

Also, this fascinating article at The Morning News: Please Spool to End of Tape Before Playing Other Side

Daniel Turek has created a photo page that wittily tackles the iPod vs. The Cassette debate.

DesignBoom takes a good look at the modern Cassette tape Culture and many “mods” of the old design. Some fun stuff.

A second day in a Monmouthshire school. This time, Green Lane Junior School, Newport

I often marvel that I ask children to immediately accept the weird bald bloke with the musical walking stick, and, even more than that, to rise to the challenges of creativity and expressive language. The first group arrived looking a little apprehensive. Understandable maybe!

By the end of a creative and dramatic session, they were really flying with their ideas though. Well done to Craig, for taking on the role of Atrus, the owner of the mysterious, yet peaceful, greenhouse we found ourselves in. His answers truly involved his classmates in what appeared to be a fully evolved “backstory” containing some tragedy and loss. I am sure that, as one of his table-mates said, “when he becomes famous, he will be great at answering questions in an interview!”

Many times, I find that the second group in a day arrive a little more up for a challenge the moment they enter the room. Someone once said that it might be because the word gets round, on the playground, that “He doesn’t bite! If he does bite, he always gives the bits back!”

In the second lesson, they became SO involved that we didn’t even “turn round” or “move”. Some truly remarkable writing “sprang forth”. When reading her writing out, one child even put her hand up to stop my interruptions (of encouragement I might add ) so that she could complete her recital, in style.

Well done to Amelia for taking on the role of Yeesha in our trip into Myst IV:Revelation. She transported us all into “her world” and intrigued us with the strange mysteries revealed by her magical necklace.

Well done too, and thankyou, to Cheryl Barker, and her colleagues for some wonderful wanderings in the world of words.

Thank you, also, to those who responded to yesterday’s blast from the past reference to cassettes.

Here is another, really clever, design idea based on those nifty little music boxes: Swingin’ cassette-tape style a great bag design.

Even better, how about introducing your children to the old lo-fi technology by using this page at Says-IT.com to design your own virtual cassettes.

The first of two days working with schools in Monmouthshire. Today, at Cross Ash Primary School, Gwent (part of the Monmouthshire LEA)

Wow, what a lovely school, full of smiles and laughter, a real joyous place to be. Each class engaged remarkably maturely with the experiences Myst offers and the challenges they were given. I loved it when I commented on a child’s piece that described the “wind rushing through her hair like a tide ripping through seaweed” that she was showing off about HAVING hair. We then shared  the joke that I had taken hours doing my hair that morning but had forgotten to bring it with me! Oh how we all laughed, and well done to that young lass, for recovering and continuing in the reading of her excellent writing.

Well done to Isobelle Busby, headteacher, and her colleagues for a truly bubbly and enjoyable experience. I hope Isobelle can forgive me for the fact that she fell off the back of the rollercoaster ride. Ooops!

With all the travelling I am doing these days, I am reminded of some sage advice I was given when I first went to work in Africa. “Travel with cassettes.”

Bringing your own music, these days in an MP3 player or portable CD player, is a great way to block out the screeching noise of foreign cities, smooth the ride on trying bus or jeep journeys, or pass the time during long transit periods. On the other hand, there is nothing more isolating than a pair of headphones.

Instead, when abroad, try traveling with one or two classic cassette mix-tapes. When you tire of the cab’s selection of “the coolest American music,” or a jeep driver’s library of Mongolian throat singing tapes, offer the driver one of your own.

It may just be worthwhile digging out some of that old technology. You’re not the only one who may be interested in hearing something new.

How about mix the two ages of technology:a natty iPod case in the design of a cassette?!

I would like to wish Clive, who designed and maintains my main website, and this blog, a really happy birthday!

Try a quick visit to some of Clive’s other sites and you will catch a snippet of the great man’s humour and design talents.

The Butler Bureau, if you after hiring some domestic staff (!!), or just fancy a chortle.

Above all though, Learning Potential, the new site for the educational ventures of Andy Hutt.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLIVE!