BETT 2016 - Observations of an amateur

So BETT 2016...where do I begin?

Well firstly, there is that realisation that all that 'trailblazing' I've been trying to do in my own school is nothing compared to what else is happening out there. I felt distinctly average in my skills, knowledge and provision. Below average, even. Requires Improvement. Let's go with that.

Secondly, there is the understanding that any day at BETT, or any other quality CPD provision for that matter, will lead to added workload. Thankfully, I don't see it simply in those terms. I feel envisioned and inspired to move on in my own teaching and support others at my school in doing the same.

Here are some of the observations I made from my day there yesterday:

1) Apple v Android - no longer a 1 horse race

For years, iPads have been the dominant force in school-based pupil hardware. Android has been the poor relation, and rightly so - they cannot be networked easily; they are difficult to manage and bulk purchase of apps is nigh on impossible. In my classroom, we use Tesco Hudls. Not bad at £80 a piece, but the line has been discontinued and support is being withdrawn, The connectors for the power supply are easily damaged, which isn't ideal. Nevertheless, they have been a good classroom internet tool. But I've always wanted more from my tablet devices, and do like the Android platform. Step forward Learnpad. Learnpad are Android devices that can be networked to school servers. What's more, content is controlled centrally and not actually on the devices themselves. Individual lessons can be found by scanning QR codes ensuring children are viewing only the content you want  them to see. Another huge benefit is the charging trolley that Learnpad supply. The devices charge wirelessly. They just need to be placed on a special magnet in the trolley. No more dodgy power connections! With Google also putting on a good show at BETT, could the tide be turning for Android in schools?

2) Robots. Everywhere.

Back in the 1980s, robots were very cool but you couldn't do much with them. They were big and usually looked something resembling R2-D2 with a smile and carrying a tray of drinks. Now, after years out of the limelight (save for a brief resurgence in the Robot Wars era), they are back with vengeance. BETT was full of robots. And good ones too. From minor robotics firms to established names like Lego, the great thing about today's robots are they are easily programmable by children, creating a sense of awe. Programming on its own is good, but robots allow children to see this in a physical entity. The other great thing is they are more and more affordable. I am still unsure how much I would use them though, so sadly, I was just a window shopper. One 'robot' I kept clear of was the friendly yet utterly useless Blue-bot. We bought some of these last year and have had to replace two of them as they stopped working. At £70 a piece, I would have expected much better from TTS, but have to say my confidence in them as a provider is minimal. I kept a wide berth,

3) Minecraft

I get the impression that a lot of teachers and exhibitors don't quite know what to do with Minecraft. I'm certainly jumping on board. After attending a fantastic training session in using Minecraft in the Classroom, I cannot think of one subject that Minecraft cannot work alongside. There is also now a version for the Raspberry Pi. Minecraft in schools is set to grow and grow. The game has been around for a while now, but its popularity shows no sign of waning.

4) Not just programming

For the last two years, coding and algorithms have dominated the thoughts of many computing coordinators. The new curriculum had programming at its core, something that had been neglected for more than a decade. People were rightly excited by this. As a result, the market was flooded with high quality and free programming resources. Now, there are a number of people, including Miles Berry, who are encouraging practitioners to look more broadly at the other aspects of the computing curriculum. Computer Science may take more of a front seat at neat year's BETT.

5) Microbit - Missed opportunity

It was rather strange to see the BBC Microbit so widely promoted without being available until June at the earliest. The project has had another setback which raises questions. On paper, it sounds great - a million Year 7 pupils to receive them free; available commercially at under £15; compatible with lots of programming resources; partnering with over thirty organisations. The devices themselves are clever, and may replace interest in the Raspberry Pi, but I can't get excited about something that is not yet on sale. And I can't understand why it's going to take another 6 months of development when there was so many exhibitors at BETT using them.

6) E-Safety: The missing ingredient

In my own school environment, I've taught e-safety well. The other teachers have too. We've had assemblies, created posters, looked at the issues in PSHCEE as well as Computing. We've set up a school blog to allow children to use social networking on a safe and secure school site. Yet we still have children making foolish mistakes on sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. We strongly oppose them using the sites but provide parents with a guide in how their children can access them safely, but it still falls on deaf ears with a small minority of the children. Their online safety is in question - and BETT didn't really have much to say about it. Maybe next year.

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PS - A tip for exhibitors - when you're thinking of freebies to give away next year, can I request glue sticks? Our kids go through tonnes of them and it's wiping out my class budget! :)

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Seeing the world through different lenses - my battles with colour blindness

"Can you put this book away with the other scheme books, Jake?" I asked at the end of the day. There is a very good reason why such a task is beyond me, so my strategy of dealing with this is to ask a child.

Jake looked at the colour on the spine. "OK Mr.Townend. It's blue. No purple."

"It's turquoise." Someone else chimed in.

"Ah yes, that's right." Jake replied.

I took Jake to one side. "Jake, are you colour blind?"

Clearly this was a term he had never heard of, and he looked a little threatened. It's not good to be picked out as different in the classroom.

"Don't worry." I replied. "I am too, and that's why I needed help with it. I'll do a little test with you on Monday. Perhaps we could start a club!"

Colour blindness affects 3 million people in the UK. One in twelve men suffer from the condition, but it is less common in women, with 1 in 200 having the symptoms. In every classroom, there is likely to be at least one person who is colour blind. Looks like I've found the child in my class!

So what does it mean? Well, it can make everyday choices in the classroom challenging. For example, put a blue and a purple pencil together, and I wouldn't know the difference. What colour should the sky be? I know it's one of the two. I either guess and look a fool, or ask someone, and probably feel like a fool.

HELP!

Book bands are an absolute nightmare. The chart below looks helpful, but more often than not, It's just a coloured sticker placed on  a book that tells us what stage it is. Where do I begin? Gold and orange look the same. Blue and purple are too similar to identify the difference, as are lilac and turquoise and grey. And then there is red and brown.
For colour blind teachers, there is another issue - assessment. I cannot begin to tell you the problems I have had with assessment over the years because everything is colour coded! We use spreadsheets with every child's name written in tiny font, a different colour for each term. The problem is  - and this sounds really silly - on such small font, I cannot tell the difference between red and green text!

There's more. In everyday life, I struggle with knowing the difference between the green and brown bin on bin day.

Green or brown?

 I can never tell the difference in green and orange coloured LEDs which can be a  nightmare when I'm trying to get the printer and broadband working. Snooker can be interesting when I mistake the brown ball for a red.

 This week I'm going to be travelling on the London Underground, and I am already planning my route in the knowledge that the London underground map is about as functional to me as a chocolate teapot.



I remember the day when I was 'diagnosed' with colour blindness. I was 13. I was asked to look at some circles full of small dots and say what numbers I could see in them. It was a bit like a magic eye. As I listed the numbers, my Mum told me she thought I was making it up as she saw other numbers. I got them all wrong and failed the test with flying...colours.

It's not a big problem, I have always told myself since. I can work out strategies for getting through tasks. If all else fails, I will ask for help. I have even asked my headteacher before. And it's not a Special Educational Need, I have always told myself. I don't need extra support in the classroom. I can work it out. I even have put up with the mickey-taking that comes with it, usually from other adults. No, the whole world isn't black and white. No the sky doesn't look green. Yes, I can tell the difference between the red and yellow pieces in Connect 4.

But now, when I think about it, it is a big problem. It's one person in every class and there is no support or differentiation provided for it. There is no official testing or screening, and children suffer in silence often feeling slightly foolish. There is little in the way of labelling resources to help colour blind children or staff make informed choices. There is no training provided to staff to help them support children.

Surely in this day and age, when we do so much to make sure everyone is included, that needs to change!

On Monday morning, I'm going to do the following test with Jake. We'll look at the image below. The images that you and he see will differ dependent on whether or not you suffer from colour blindness.



It's a good test. If you want to use it with your children the answer key can be found
here: http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hellmers/test/

For further information, this website is also very helpful: http://www.colourblindawareness.org/

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