The Scottish Learning Festival

For the first time in my teaching career, I got to attend the Scottish Learning Festival, albeit in the capacity of contributer to a stand as opposed to attendee. A colleague and I were showcasing a fantastic cross-curricular project we had done on ‘Anti-Sectarianism’. It was an interesting experience and the chance to talk to, and listen to, a whole range of people ( never mind a chance to grab as many ‘freebies’ as possible).

It was disappointing that I came across so few secondary teachers. The majority of those I spoke to were from the primary sector and I wonder if budget restraints had kept many away. It’s a pity really that not every teacher can get the chance to visit one of these events at some point – if only to have a nose at what other people are doing.

There was a fantastic section which evolved as the day went on – a wall of cartoon images created on site – each cartoon having been produced on a flip chart page, then displayed once finished. A load of post-its and pens had been left and people encouraged to ‘post’ comments on a cartoon of their choice. Topics included ‘A Curriculum for Excellence Needs…’ It was an fantasic way to start discussion and the comments ranged from sensible, to quite defensive to very funny! I loved the idea behind it and definately see this kind of thing being used in my classroom in the near future. It could be a great lesson starter to get minds quickly into a particular mode of thinking, or even better, a great way to start written tasks where pupils could comment on art and design work and then these comments are taken to further discussion. Immediate reactions are a wonderful thing and often I think some pupils get bogged down with thinking about a task too much – this could be a great way of avoiding that in the initial stages of a task. I’ll let you know how I get on…

It was a long day, but I’ve come home with a few ideas and loads of ‘packs’. Boy, is networking tiring! Shame it took over 2 hours to get home and thanks, Brian, for the company and the driving!

~ by zoewalker on September 24, 2009.