Saturday, 15 February 2014

HappyBird - the best value-for-money tablet out there

I've been at the chalk-face of education for 43 years and I have a passion for educating students to become independent learners.  Tablets are a great way to promote independent learning and allow 24/7/365 learning.  As a chemist, tablets will not allow me to write chemical equations or draw chemical structures.  The HappyBird tablet has changed all that.  With the integrated ipen one can write a chemical equation on ordinary paper.  This equation is transferred real-time onto the tablet.  As far as I am aware no other tablet has this built-in facility. This facility makes it, for me, the best value tablet out there.
I recommend it to anyone particularly to those who need to write equations or draw diagrams.
Check it out at:

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

How Teaching has Changed - But not for the Better

After reading this week's 'Secret Teacher' in the Guardian, the point I want to make is that if the 'decision makers' had to live the life of a teacher for a year they may be less inclined to impose all the unnecessary tasks upon teachers. Tasks that actually impede the learning of the students. When I began my teaching career in 1970, teachers had autonomy, teaching was fun and so there was a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom.  The students sensed that and much more learning was done as a result because teachers were allowed to focus on 'what increased learning' instead of what kept Ofsted at bay. In those days the students mattered, now it is statistics that matter.