Blog’s been a bit quiet recently because my hand had an argument with a wall … and lost. After years climbing, throwing my body around and doing silly things but getting away with it, I broke the first bone in my body, last Tuesday, tripping over my own foot!

Warning: The picture below is X-Ray-ted.

As a man with wobbly leggies, I tend to rely on my hands to help me walk. In other words, gripping on to Mr Walker, my walking stick, or just grabbing hold of the nearest solid object or friendly shoulder.

dfthdtb  cfh rg wsergn gjh dfh … oops… typing with my left hand is also more than a little clumsy and sluggish.

With an arm in plaster, I’m not able to drive, swim and so much more (1, 2, 3 ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) but “they aint gonna stop me yet”.

Take a look at this site for some really inventive hand art.

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Standing there looking across the jagged hills…I felt my heart beating in my body. I could see the orange crumbling rocks reaching for the fluffy clouds – attempting to snare them as they are floating by! The bird of prey swooped round in a circle like it was trying to grab an innocent mouse as it scurried across the orange rocky floor…

As I walked over to the cactus and the last remaining grass I reached out and touched the dusty plants. That was when I realised the sound of wind chimes whistling through one ea and coming out the other. I wondered if it was the bird above. But was it a market place over the hills?

By Grace H.

Standing here, looking behind the dry valley. A cold breeze makes me shiver. Wind charms can be heard all around. It seems as if the last drop of rain fell centuries ago. The last bird is swooping overhead, hunting for his prey. As I walk on, rocks crumble under my feet, spices can be smelt from a distance. A red rock was once huge, now in tiny pieces. A parched dinosaur has his head and part of his neck buried in the ground desperately searching for the last drop of water. A spiky cactus stuck out as if it was a shield of spikes. Few blades of grass are left. Field mice scurry for the last bits of food. I wonder what lies ahead this mystery land.

By Katherine H.

Standing here, staring at the parched, dry land that’s full of red eroding rock. Gentle wind chimes that fill the air with a gentle, soothing melody. I can see rodents scurrying on the hard land trying to avoid its seeking prey. Sniffing the breezy air, I can smell rotting sand that’s being swept away by the powerful wind. The sapphire, crystal sky has balls of candyfloss floating gently across it. An abandoned city lies beneath the depths of the rocks. Why has it been abandoned and where have all the people gone?

By Gemma B.

Standing here, looking out I saw over the hill a crumbling rock as if it was a dragon! Also I could see a lively bird looking for a scrumptious prey for its dinner. Looking up wiping the sweat off my face I saw the sun blazing at the land below. Feeling the heat on my face I could hear a bird squawking in the most beautiful blue sky! I could taste the soothing air like water.

By Lauren N.

Standing here, looking across the rocky chasm there was a dragon guarding the final patch of snow and searching for the last drop of mineral moisture it could find. I can hear the wind blowing wind chimes. It sounded like there was a huge house in the distance. The red and rocky canyon had big eroded rocks all the way to the end. The ground was red sugar. High in the sky a jet black bird flew above with eyes of a predator! The rocks fell in the canyon like they were blind when the wind chimes got loader the wind blew. I got cooler and cooler as the wind blew in the strong breeze. I smelt the strange smell of gravel in the distance. I wonder if there are houses in the distance?

The crumbling rocks were constantly falling from the eroding rocks. The bird got closer and closer and then it just turned around and flew away. I turned around…I saw a giant green house!

By Oliver C.

I think there is a massive green tree at the top. In the tree there is a mouse squeaking because he wants to get out.

I feel scared about crawling to the top.

By Alex W.

I crept slowly up the stairs. At the top there is a magician’s secret palace. The door is made of wood and the door was creaking. The magician was doing a spell.

By Cameron J.

Dear Tim, having attended the workshop you held at Charles Dickens School, Portsmouth, in January I was very inspired to use Myst with my own pupls to stimulate and extend ideas and vocabulary.

I am the English Manager at Newbridge Junior School in Portsmouth and was faced with the annual challenge from Portsmouth L.E.A. to submit pieces of writng on a stipulated theme for their annual anthology of children’s writing.

This year, the stimulus title was “Futures” so my mind immediately focused on the barren, atmospheric landscape of the MYST game with the windchimes and circling bird. I provided the pupils with an opening verse detailing a crash landing in a space ship and asked them to write a poem about their first impressions of this weird landscape. By challenging them to be led by their senses and encouraging them to refine and improve their vocabulary choices we actually procured some marvellous poetry and I duly made my ten submissions from across the key stage.I was delighted to receive a letter informing me that, from the entire school, the two pupils selcted for the anthology were from my class and their work had been inspired from MYST. Thought you might like to see these two pieces. Not bad for two nine year olds in an inner city school eh?

Thanks for the inspiration.Jackie Price - Newbridge Junior.

Future World

A gust of wind,A blow of the sand,I stand in the depths of an exotic land I hear a vulture, a mellow sound,I turn my head to the yellow ground,It’s amazing what I found.

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.

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!

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!

Really good fun with some children coming up with short poetic phrases to express the feelings of excitement, fear and elation before, during and after a “virtual” rollercoaster ride.
We had a go at listing some descriptive words collected from their memories of rollercoaster rides.
Next, I took them on a ride from Myst III:Exile. We waited at the top and recorded our feelings of anticipation. Deep breath and we were off, screaming our way to the bottom. Got the feelings down in pithy combinations of, sometimes contrasting words. Personification, poetry, punchy, personal and powerful! The difference was quite remarkable. Now, their ideas really caught the sensations of such an adrenaline rush.
We then recorded, at pace, into GarageBand alongside the film.
The ride is a place I often use, with children and adults, to stimulate musical sound effects or soundtracks. It had a superb effect on creative, descriptive thought too.
Well done to the children of Eccleston Mere Primary and Oakdene school. As teacher, Karen Pickthall commented “It was so moving to see the genuine enthusiasm of a little boy who is usually very reluctant to speak. The children really appeared to come ‘alive’ and completely engaged with the learning experience.”
Enjoy! (It may be difficult to pick out in places, but I think the children did incredibly well, and in a very short space of time.)

Second film to follow soon…

Thank you to Ewan McIntosh for the reference to the findings of Aberdeen Myst Project.

The project seems to have been a great success and has been well documented and recorded, including interviews with some of the teachers involved. I am glad to have been part of the experience and look forward to a return trip, to extend ideas further, in April next year.

For those who might ask “Looks good but… does it work?” read Ewan’s summary and thoughts HERE or explore the Aberdeen Games Based Learning case study HERE

Ewan keeps an excellent, informative and authoritative blog, and wins my prize for the most regularly updated and maintained site. Well worth a look.