ClassDojo is a new classroom tool that helps manage behaviour and boost engagement in class really quickly and easily. Pupils have their own avatar and points are rewarded not only based on grades but good behaviour/character as well (e.g. for helping classmates). The system has been adopted by over 700,000 teachers and students in 25 countries already.

Here is a quick video which demonstrates the tool in action:

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is also a mobile interface so teachers can use a mobile device to interact with the tool. Although I haven’t been able to use this in the classroom myself, I know that lots of my colleagues on Twitter are using it to great effect.

Children and classes around the UK are invited to write a short story and enter it into the BBC’s 500 Words writing competition. Winners will receive a large collection of books for themselves (and for their school library) and the site has lots of writing tips to help children create an amazing short story.

Teachers and librarians throughout the UK are also invited to volunteer their time to help whittle this year’s submissions down to a shortlist, which will then be judged by some a team of popular authors. Entry to the competition is open to persons aged 13 years and under on the 1st March 2012 who are living in the UK. Children can submit their story using this form. Good luck!

Safer Internet Day takes place this week on the 7th February. The aim of the day is ‘ to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.’ Here’s a video which gives more information about the day:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are some of my favourite resources that you can use to support your work on the day:

1) A ‘Safer Internet Day Kit for Schools‘ is available with resources, lesson plans, competitions and certificates.

2) The ThinkUKnow site has resources that can be used with different ages groups:

3) The BBC have a number of great resources, including an animation featuring Dongle the rabbit, an interactive Tracy Beaker episode and a ‘Caught in the Web’ Newsround special.

4) KidSmart have a wide range of resources and interactive games that can be used in class.

5) Vodafone also have lots of useful information for parents to help them keep their children safe online.

6) Our sister site, Teaching Ideas, has an enormous collection of themed ideas and resources linked to ‘Staying Safe Online‘.

7) There are also lots of e-safety videos on Teaching Videos.

8 ) Know IT All have a fantastic animated video which teaches children about different aspects of Internet Safety.

9) BrainPOP also have a free video about Online Safety.

10) Kent Trust Web have a number of useful resources, documents and links to support schools.

Are you planning to get involved in Safer Internet Day this year? What activities will you be trying?

Go Green Week is People & Planet’s annual national week of action on climate change in schools, colleges and universities. It takes place from 6th to 11th February, so here are a selection of resources if you would like to use the event in your classroom:

1) People and Planet – The official site has lots of great ideas and activities. Take a look at the suggestions for themed days and download Action Guides that are filled with resources.

2) Teaching Themes – The Environment – You can also find lots of ideas, resources and activities by looking at our themed page on Teaching Ideas.

3) Climate Chaos – Oxfam have published a set of resources called ‘Climate Chaos’ which are intended for use with children aged 9-11.

4) Twinkl - There is another large collection of eco, recycling and environment resources here.

5) Topic Box – This wonderful site lists lots of interactive tools that teachers can use. Here is their list of ‘environment’ resources.

6) BP – There are lots of interactive resources linked to energy and climate on the BP Young Science Investigators site.

7) Are you Eco Friendly? – Help the Environmental Intelligence Unit with this interactive game from the BBC.

8 ) Teaching Videos – There are a large collection of videos linked to different environmental issues on our Teaching Videos site. There are also lots of examples of ‘environment’ classroom displays on Teaching Photos.

9) Communication4All – There are lots of great display resources on this popular site.

10) RecycleNow – Get involved in recycling activities at your school using the information and activities on this site.

Do you know about any other great environment / climate resources online?

Here are links to some of this week’s education-related news:

Schools:

• Education Secretary Michael Gove is investigating the possibility of regional pay for teachers. He has also labelled campaigners against turning a school into an academy as “Trots”.
• Poor teachers should be denied pay rises to stop underperformance being “rewarded”, the head of the schools watchdog has said.
• Professor Dylan Wiliam of London University’s Institute of Education is challenging Ofsted to show some “integrity” by subjecting its school inspections to an evaluation of their reliability and publishing the findings.
• Ofsted is to introduce no notice inspection for child protection services. The new child protection framework will come into effect in May.
• Urgent action is needed to protect children and teachers from exposure to deadly asbestos in schools, MPs have warned.
• While it may be frustrating for a teacher attempting to control a class, researchers say blurting out the answers can be good for pupils.
• Pupils expelled from school for dealing drugs, attacking other children and carrying weapons are being allowed back into lessons against teachers’ wishes.
• A for-profit company is setting up private schools that claim to offer the same quality education as top public schools but for half the price.
• A council in east London is drawing up plans to convert an empty Woolworths store into a classroom and teach children in two shifts, in emergency measures across Britain to cope with a dramatic increase in primary school age children.
• This article questions the current timetable of school holidays. Should schools run all year round?

Curriculum and Exams:

• The Telegraph has launched its ‘Make Britain Count’ numeracy campaign. Find out how you can get involved here.
• Courses in subjects such as horse care, customer service, nail technology and practical office skills will no longer be listed as “equivalent” to GCSEs under new plans.
• Estyn chief inspector’s report shows 40% of pupils start secondary school in Wales with a reading age of six months below their actual age.
• Pupils should be assessed using multiple choice questions, project work and oral tests as part of a shake-up of A-levels, the qualifications regulator has suggested.
• Ofsted has released new resources to support the improvement of teaching and learning in history in schools.

Other News:

• A £2bn a year programme to provide free childcare is failing to have a long-term impact on education standards, according to the spending watchdog.
• Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have voted to back the government’s revised pensions deal.
• A college is planning a new evening course entirely devoted to taking better photographs on an iPhone.

Next week’s Teaching Events include:

• 1st to 29th February - National Heart Month
• 4th February - World Cancer Day
• 4th February - National Libraries Day
• 4th February - Unicef Day for Change
• 6th February - Go Green Week
• 7th February - Safer Internet Day
• 7th February - Charles Dickens’ Birthday

The creators of the popular resource site Edgalaxy have recently created a number of new sites that teachers can use:

• Ultimate Titanic has appeared just in time for the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  It contains great content for teachers and students to learn about the most famous maritime disaster of all time. There are a number of amazing images, videos and text based content that will definitely appeal to teachers and students without overwhelming them with irrelevant information on Titanic. Best of all Ultimate Titanic must have one of the biggest collections of lesson plans and teaching resources based around the Titanic covering all key learning areas and ages. The Titanic is one of the most amazing industrial feats of all time wrapped up in a story that Shakespeare himself could not have scripted and still appeals to students and learners of all ages. There is something here for everyone.

• Scribbled.com.au is a highly creative site for those who want to learn about innovative art and craft ideas. Scribbled is packed with activities to suit all abilities but best of all everything is laid in step-by-step directions with photographs to support them.  There are a number of themed ideas for all major events of the year with new crafts and activities being added each week. Teachers will also love the video tutorials and printables to jazz up their classrooms.  There are also  activities and games particularly aimed at younger children. Take a look at scribbled today and release some of your creative energy.

Feb29th.net is a global blogging project that aims to cross all age groups and continents. As soon as Feb 29th 2012 begins in Tonga, the Feb29th.net will open up for posts for one day only. The blog will capture posts from all over our planet until midnight in the Western Pacific. The result will not only be a celebration of technology, but a celebration of audience and purpose… who will be the youngest author? Who will be the oldest? Which country will top the most posts? Will there be any marriage proposals?

The aim is to allow any visitor on 29th Feb to post on the special blog at www.feb29th.net; posts will be moderated on the day, as this will also be open to pupils in educational establishments across the globe. Get involved in this exciting blogging project by visiting the site and following things on Twitter and Facebook too.

The creators of the popular Blitz School site (previously featured on Teaching News here) are now running Victorian Invention Workshops for primary schools. The new workshops aim to ‘provide a valuable insight into the groundbreaking Victorian age of invention and innovation with a full five hours of interactive activities designed to maximise the learning of your pupils and take them to the heart of this wondrous era.’ The workshops sound like great fun, with opportunities to handle artefacts, investigate steam power, dress up in the Victorian photographer’s studio and take part in and end of day quiz.

Their site offers full details about the workshop and the objectives that it covers. There are also information about Victorian inventions and lots of free resources that all schools can use. Take a look!

Wallace & Gromit are calling on people across the UK join The BIG Breakfast from the 20th -27th April to raise thousands of pounds for sick children in hospitals and hospices by enjoying a BIG Breakfast.

Research suggests that breakfast eaters have lower stress levels and better concentration than breakfast skippers yet 1 in 4 adults in the UK admit to regularly skipping breakfast, so Wallace & Gromit’s BIG Breakfast calls on the nation to wake up to a BIG Breakfast which not only helps everyone who takes part have a brighter day but also helps raise vital funds for sick children across the UK.

Could you hold a BIG breakfast for pupils and families at your school? For more information and to register to take part, call 0845 600 1924 or visit www.wallaceandgromitsbigbreakfast.org.

Don’t forget that you can find other educational events to take part in by browsing our Teaching Events site.

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. My wife and I have just had our first child, Joseph Warner, so he has been taking up lots of my time

Here are links to the latest teaching news and events:

Here are links to some of this week’s education-related news:

Schools:

• Gordon Brown is making an impassioned call for the international community to make education a higher priority – and to make a co-ordinated plan to achieve universal primary education by 2015.
• One in three of the children around the world who do not have access to primary education have a disability, says a report from the charity Sightsavers.
• The equivalent of more than 3,200 new primary schools will be needed by the end of the decade as the pupil population soars to a 50-year high, it emerged today.
• The public have responded enthusiastically to a Twitter appeal for questions for MPs to ask the Education Secretary, Michael Gove.
• Just one in 15 (6.5%) pupils starting secondary school in England “behind” for their age goes on to get five good GCSEs including English and maths, official data shows. In response to this, Brian Lightman, the General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders disagrees with the charge that schools are not helping some of their pupils.
• Two grammar schools are at the top of this year’s secondary school league tables for England. The BBC has also written this article about the academy finding itself at the bottom of the league tables and the difficult job that the head teacher and staff face. However, schools minister Nick Gibb has said he wants to stop schools prioritising their rankings in exam league tables over ensuring a good education for all their pupils.
• Almost eight-in-10 teenagers are being steered away from tough academic GCSEs amid fresh warnings that schools across England are “wasting talent”.
• Teachers at a primary school in Birmingham have gone on strike for a second time over plans to turn it into an academy.
• Primary school pupils at a Leeds school are being given anger management classes to curb bad behaviour, an Ofsted report has revealed.
• Teachers are having sleepless nights about whether to report suspected victims of child neglect, a report for a charity says.
• More than one in 10 school teachers accused of misconduct last year had used social networking sites and email to forge inappropriate relationships with their pupils, an analysis of disciplinary cases has found.
• More than 1,000 private schools are to be subjected to tough new inspections after Ofsted warned that teaching was “seldom inspiring”.
• Pupils at a south London secondary school were surprised when Bill Gates turned up to give a special talk.
• The anti-monarchy group Republic is warning schools they may break the law if they take part in a cooking contest to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Universities:

• Universities are increasingly axing courses in traditional academic disciplines such as science in favour of the performing arts, media studies and photography, according to research.
• Universities are being ordered to effectively cut 15,000 student places, it has emerged, prompting claims that many well-qualified applicants will miss out.
• Almost a third of major companies are struggling to fill vacancies, despite record numbers of graduates searching for jobs, according to research.

Other News:

• It may be possible to detect autism at a much earlier age than previously thought, according to an international team of researchers.
• Apple aims to drive the use of electronic textbooks in the classroom by making it easier for publishers to create interactive titles.
• Digital literacy must be extended to adults too, says Martha Lane Fox, to improve employment prospects. Children would be the best teachers.
• Rio’s gearing up for the 2016 Olympics and Schools World Service have been to see how life is changing for young people living in the favelas.

Next week’s Teaching Events include:

• 16th to 30th January - RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch
• 23rd to 29th January - Food Allergy and Intolerance Week
• 28th January - Data Privacy Day
• 31st January - Up Helly Aa
• 31st January - National Bug Busting Day
• 1st to 29th February - National Heart Month
• 4th February - World Cancer Day
• 4th February - National Libraries Day
• 4th February - Unicef Day for Change