The idea behind Storyteller is simple, with the emphasis on oracy and imagination. Sets of pictures help you tell a story, with the computer recording all you say. True, the more ICT literate could have done this before, but not with so little effort and so instant a result.

A quick-start guide, manual and on-screen tutorials provide support for both teachers and pupils. To tell a story, choose your theme – anything from Vikings to fairgrounds. An image will appear and children can work individually or as a group, recording everything that is said. Soon another button will appear, enabling you, if you wish, to choose another image to put into the story, which may fit with what you’re already said or take you off at a tangent. The process continues until you’re ready to stop and save your tale for later or hear it back straight away.

With full control over all aspects of the program, children can re-make their tales, honing their use of language and expression or even sound effects as they go, or opt to use the program as a planning tool and write the story up in the “type a story” option.

Storyteller can help improve speaking and listening across the curriculum from history to thinking skills, and from literacy to ICT, regardless of home language – all you need is imagination.

Does anyone else have a dread of the recent announcement that parents will be able to call in the Ofsted team into a school?

Considerations;

• Have we slumped to the point that parents have to act as the police force when Ofsted are surely charged as the invigilator?
• Have Ofsted lost their “bottle”, concerned at the frequent condemnation they receive from teachers?
• Is the Ofsted approach key to the failing achievement by placing restrictions on otherwise entrepreneurial schools?
• Should Ofsted be renamed Onsted to identify the problem and then provide the extra resource correct it?
• How would a school react to having a team of Ofsted inspectors called in by parents? Functional perhaps but hardly conducive to a mutually positive relationship.
• And how would parents react to the fact they have had to push the button in the first place?
• Is the control of our failing educational standard in the wrong hands? Should we empower the best teachers to set the best policies?
• Occasionally we need gamekeepers to look after the game. At the moment we may be guilty of being knee deep in poachers.
• And how do we explain to the next generation of children that we should have tried harder.

Alistair Owens Keen2learn

Keen2learn has just signed an exclusive arrangement to market MightyBook in the UK. MightyBook’s award winning animated electronic books help schools and parents show their kids how much fun learning to read can be. Internet technology has been used to create on-line animated musical sing and read-along children’s books complete with voices and sound effects. The books are ‘green’ environmentally friendly, they’re cost effective and they really enhance the experience of reading for young children and reluctant readers.

The books, puzzles and games were designed for children between the ages of 2-10. MightyBook’s are read before, during and in after-school programmes, pre-schools, day care centres, as well as children’s hospitals. The books work well with reluctant readers and children with special needs. They are also supported by downloadable teacher notes, lesson plans and worksheets.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to get Alistair Owens MD of Keen2learn on board. Their approach to making learning fun in schools and at home is ideal ” says Richard Eaves, President of Mightybook. “Although the concept of making learning fun is not new “- Sesame Street has been doing it for years, “We combine the rhythms of music, the fun of singing, the technology of the Internet and the wonder of animation to effect positive change in the way young children view learning. Our books were designed to enrich every school’s reading curriculum,” emphasises Reaves.

There are hundreds of animated books, games and puzzles to choose from the MightyBook range. The books come to life with one common goal…make learning fun. It’s easy for kids to follow along because the words highlight as they’re being spoken or sung. There are singing woodpeckers, whales, pigs and even dancing Pandas, just to name a few. And at least five new books are added every month.

Cliff Dew, Marketing Director of MightyBook. “The beauty of MightyBook is teachers, schools, parents and children can access over 600 children’s books with no printing, transport or storage cost. And we add over 5 new titles each month in the subscription fee”

MightyBook is a child safe website that has been awarded “A+” for their use of technology in the classroom by Education World magazine. The books have been recognised by both the American Educator and the American Teacher as being an affordable on-line classroom reading resource. Subscription for Schools is £99.99 and for parents – just £12.99 per year.

Traditional parents’ evenings are becoming less popular and schools should consider other ways to communicate with families, the schools secretary, Ed Balls, said today, 7th May 2008

Speaking at an event today on the government’s Parent Know How programme, which aims to develop new and innovative ways of helping parents access information and support, Balls said research shows parents prefer informal chats with schools staff instead of parents evenings and want to get information on their children’s progress on-line.

While evening meetings will continue to have a role, Balls urged schools to keep parents up to date in ways that better fit their busy lives.

A survey of 5,000 adults for the Department for Children, Schools and Families showed that since 2001 the proportion who saw parents’ evenings as the “most useful” way of communicating has dropped from 43% to just 19%.

Parents now see communicating with schools through “informal discussions with school staff” as the most useful way of finding out about their child’s progress.

Half of parents felt very involved in their child’s education in 2007, up from 29% in 2001. Two-thirds of parents (65%) wanted to be even more involved, the research found.

Balls said: “We know parents are increasingly involved in their child’s education – and want to do even more. See the full report in the Guardian

 

The vital role of dads in bedtime reading is under threat, new research by the National Year of Reading reveals less than half of dads (42 per cent) say they regularly read bedtime stories to their children, while mums are twice as likely (76 per cent) to do so, despite bedtime reading being one of the best ways of establishing the reading habit in children.

Work pressures including stress and long hours were the main barrier for 58 per cent of dads, while a lack of confidence meant one in ten felt the role was better suited to mums. Boys are falling behind girls when it comes to reading* and more male readers as role models would help redress this.

The study of over 2,000 adults was conducted by the National Year of Reading and YouGov as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the pressures dads face and the impact this has on childrens reading habits.

Some of the main findings to come out of the research also show that:

* Watching TV is the most common pre-sleep habit amongst children, followed by a bedtime story, then playing on the computer
* 39 per cent of dads think a better work / life balance would help them read more to their children
* One third (33 per cent) of dads think employers should do more to help parents read to their kids

A recent report conducted by the National Literacy Trust also found that while three-quarters of children said their mum encouraged them to read, only half said the same of their dad. Disconcertingly, nearly a quarter of pupils stated that no-one in their family encouraged them to read.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, Director of the National Year of Reading, said:
“Reading has never been more important, but we know boys lag far behind girls when it comes to reading. Boys need to see their dads enjoying reading if they are to become readers themselves as they grow up. Football programmes, blogs, newspapers and sports magazines are just as valuable reading as fairy tales. Reading is the best private investment you can make in your child’s education, it’s free and makes you feel like the best parent on earth. Just spending ten minutes a day reading something you enjoy with your children can make a real difference.

Secretary of State for Schools, Children and Families Ed Balls said:”Reading opens doors to everything in life, from applying to jobs to enjoying your favourite hobbies. Getting your children – both boys and girls to be passionate about reading is something all parents can do. Reading to your children for ten minutes at bedtime is the best way of improving our kids chances when they get to school”.

The National Year of Reading is calling on all large employers to make their workplaces more reader-friendly. There are a host of simple, practical challenges for businesses including:

• Turn old smoking rooms into a staff reading area

• Adopt-a-book for all staff to share

• Create a book swap shelf for children’s books at work

• Encourage staff to join a library

• Encourage night shift workers to pre-record bedtime stories for their children