Its been such a long time since I’ve been able to run a coding club for children and thankfully during the Easter break I was given that opportunity thanks to funding from Digital Xtra I was along with my colleague Sean able to run a 3 day club for Renfrewshire children at our games lab in the Paisley campus.

The club was run to introduce children in the Renfrewshire area between Primary 5 and S2 to some gaming and coding in a fun environment. On day 1 we made games with Scratch, there were varying levels of knowledge given the range of ages however all the children got a game made by the end of the session. We were lucky enough to have been given funding to provide lunches each day for the participants which yes we know can be a barrier for sure for children attending.

Day 2 saw us do some storytelling with Twine this was by far the most popular day the children loved creating a chose your own adventure story in twine. We wrote out the basics first and then they used Twinery online. The children were then given a chance to create something else in Twine or make a short joke animation in Scratch which you can watch here and one or two continued to make their morning Twine story more elaborate. You can read and enjoy their stories by following this link

On the last day we made music with Microbit and made some Makey Makey game controllers. Another good session with the microbits and the children created music for the Microbit one or two of the older children created their own tunes as they played piano. The Makey Makey session they were put in to groups and got to test out various material/objects to see what would control the keyboard for the game.

To end the club the parents were invited along for the last 30 minutes to get an idea of what their children had been doing and this was relatively successful with most children having a parent or family member show up so they could show off things they had made.

For me this was such a good way to finally get back into running a club for children and I can’t wait to get more done for sure seeing how this group worked together and helped each other made it worthwhile and seeing some children totally flourish was for me the best. Though I’ll leave you with this best bit of feedback from one of the kids which made me realise yes I’ve done the right thing and they will remember this for sure.

Thank you DigitalXtra for this opportunity.

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my good friend Brian and how it was inspired by some poetry my darling Melanie wrote.  Brians dream was Scottish Games week and man did he work hard to make it happen it did and was a roaring success. I saw the similarity I guess with someone having a vision and making it come true and yes before anyone says they are 2 different scales of things but I’m not comparing impact merely that if you have a dream you follow it and make it happen.

I only found these poems a couple of weeks ago I’ve been slowly taking my time but had a wee search on her laptop and found them – still feel I’m invading her privacy and its just so hard to break that but harder knowing she’ll not give me into trouble for looking either.

Melanies poems are about Jim Cronin MBE who set up Monkey World in Dorset in 1987 along with Jeremy Keeling. Melanie admired they work they did when she got to know about them around 2011 and we then became big fans of the show Monkey Life. In 2012 she won a competition which was a pass to the park (Dorset’s not really round the corner now) However in 2013 I made the trip with my girls and we had the best time getting to be there seeing all those amazing primates that had been rescued in one way or another either home or abroad.  It really made her mind up in wanting to work with animals in one way or another when she left school as well as Jim his wonderful wife Alison was a big inspiration to Melanie and she also totally adored Jeremy just for his quiet get the work done and care for the primates never mind anything else attitude. This got her to study Science at college and then move to Zoology at Uni sadly she passed away through her 3^rd year at Glasgow Uni and never got to realise her own dream of one day going to work at Monkey World.

I have sent these to Alison and Jeremy just to share my daughters thoughts of their best friend and hope they love it as much as I’ve done reading.

Monkey World do amazing things to support these awesome primates but as with everything could always do with some help https://monkeyworld.org/ they are well worth supporting for sure I use my Amazon Smile to support the Jim Cronin Foundation and its not much but every little helps for them.

For me my change and dream will be in what I do through games education and thats why I’ve started up the Scottish Games Education Network as we all have to start somewhere. I’m passionate about my work and want us to get to a stage where we all can work together for the good of our students.

All the news recently about partygate has really got me angered. Various events being attended by certain politicians while the rest of us do our bit and follow the rules.  

I lost my daughter Melanie on January 21^st, 2021, and even the day before my contact was limited until we knew that there was a very really possibility that this was our final time together because we followed the rules.  

She was admitted to A& E early on the 20^th while I waited, and I got to briefly see her before she was whisked away for scans etc and had to head home to wait for a call because they were following the rules. 

I was told that she would be moved hospital that day as they had no non covid beds left for her. I was told that when she would get moved, I would get a facetime call with her because they were following the rules.  

I was allowed to visit her while still following the rules.  

I was allowed immediate family to say goodbye because we followed the rules.  

I was able to have my parents with me when we said the final goodbye again, we followed the rules. 

In the days that followed her death we followed the rules.  

No stream of family coming through my house because we followed the rules.  

No interactions with colleagues and friends because we followed the rules.  

Organising a funeral through covid was hard when you follow the rules. 

I had to give a list of 19 other people who would attend – why because we followed the rules.  

The day of the funeral I had to only have a few people in my house before we left because we followed the rules.  

People had to line the street we stayed in and had to stand outside the building at the crematorium again we followed the rules.  

People were counted as they went into the building because we were following the rules.  

I had to stream my daughter’s funeral to those who were not allowed to be inside with me because we followed the rules.  

No one was allowed to carry her coffin because we followed the rules.  

No hugging anyone because we followed the rules.  

No wake or going back to my house with everyone because we followed the rules.  

My daughter did not get a proper funeral because we followed the rules.  

Why did we bother following the rules when it caused so much pain and still does to this day when the Prime Minister and his like couldn’t be bothered to follow the rules themselves what was the point of them then?  

Why did they get special treatment when we had to follow the rules and get hurt in the process while they had fun?  

I know I am only one person and there were many more affected in similar situations by following the rules over that period of time and we all wonder why did we have to go through that?  

Since those awful events from Saturdays football match have been widely discussed over the weekend and so many have been sharing this image ( sorry don’t know where it originated from just seen it a lot on Facebook and can’t find a reference for it). However anyway its triggered a lot for me and I thought I share my views with you.  (Trigger Warning this post may cause upset with the content).

Continue reading “CPR for everyone” →

Having just seen Sarahs tweet about thoughts on Glow now enabling cameras for students heres my insight as I’ve now had 6 weeks of teaching this way this academic year to schools pupils as part of our college program. I started with a tweet reply then realised that won’t work so might as well do what I do and write about it.

I have divided opinion on the whole should students be made to use their cameras for remote teaching more so if they have the ability which students in Glow have now been given. Mainly as I have been teaching fully remotely so far this year. On one had it’s great to put faces to the names (I teach an NPA class which comprises S5/6 pupils & so I have found it difficult to build that initial rapport with them like you would normally do at the start of the year (totally different if you know the students from last year but with brand new starts its hard). Plus no one wants to talk on mic either (or maybe they don’t have the facility to do so I cannot assume that they won’t). A compromise is having a picture – if not of themselves then something that represents what they like. Sadly the schools class I had were from an authority that didn’t allow pupils to change their profile pictures so until they got student accounts I was left teaching to a class of initials for 3 or 4 weeks. Granted they were happy to at least contribute in the chat window. I know from experience last term that a lot of my students were really happy to chat online but not show themselves and fair enough that’s their decision I am not sure its one we can make for them. Theres also the issue of things like do they actually have a camera  – granted phones will but you cannot assume then theres enough internet as using video takes up a lot more bandwith than just even voice chatting. Your students comfort should I believe be first and foremost and if they don’t want to video chat I don’t think we should push the issue as this in turn may put them off even attending virtually. I know for a fact my 15 year old would not want to be on camera to her teachers and she gets on really well with them – I have great respect for them too so it’s nothing against them at all. Its just a thing where I think many folk feel different about being in front of a camera than they do in person. I know I do and I have to teach. Don’t get me wrong it would be great to see them for sure but I think that needs to be a decision the students make and not us. Even then I think there has to be some guidance as to acceptable practise (eg maybe using blurred background or something).  I am happy if my students are communicating with me and yes things would be different if we were face to face in a class but we aren’t and do have to make the best of situations.

Been a while since I’ve posted but I’ve been taking time out away from things and getting myself ready for the new academic year. Which at the moment we are doing online.

Ahh #WFH (Working From Home) has been a popular hashtag over the past 6 months as is the phrase “new normal”. To many it many it may seem like the ideal situation. Stuck at home having to work oh no whatever shall I do. Roll out of bed in my pj’s and get to work. No M8 rush hour anymore, no queues no nothing!

For me its not ideal I sorely miss the whole routine of getting stuck on the M8 on my way home as frustrating as it was I’d give anything to be back crawling at 5mph. I miss the getting my spot in the car park (yup I’m a Sheldon) but in fairness I park in the furthest away point – easier to get out hehe – does get my step count up as well though. Most importantly I miss the interactions whether that’s getting my Caramel Latte from the coffee pod (my heroes especially on a Friday afternoon those guys totally rock) passing by and reading whatever Morag’s written on her wee noticeboard on her door (secretly we know what she wants to write) or just having chats with colleagues I pass on the way to my staffroom. Seems daft but you get to know all the ins and outs of the place and that is a thing to miss. Best thing about my work everyone has time for even just a quick chat no matter who.

Totally miss tea break in my staff room with bad jokes aplenty yes you know who you are and just random chats with all of my colleagues. In fairness I really just miss walking about my class. At home you are stuck in front of the screen when teaching. When I first spoke of my anxiety, I then only let a couple of folk know as I just wanted to get on with things. However, those folk were totally instrumental in keeping me grounded until we had to finish up for lockdown. Those interactions were priceless and I will admit it really isn’t the same being online. I’m sure I could very well have those same chats but there’s something about being online that just makes it feel much more intrusive and it really shouldn’t but it does.

The thing I miss most though? Being in front of my class. I love teaching and seeing my students progress. When lockdown was first implemented it was hard but we got through it as we had by then built that lecturer/student relationship and we knew each other so conversations were a lot easier.  However now that the new term has started its been a bit different with new classes. Yes we have the returning students who are aware of how things work but we also have the new students who also must find this strange too. Not to detract from returning students who were also thrust into this new way of teaching/learning and coped admirably with it. I mean I teach HNC Games for graded unit which if you aren’t aware is a team project. I had 8 teams between my 2 classes and block 3 is when they make the game. I was so proud to have 8 games at the start of June – my teams worked admirably together despite the restrictions. Teamwork can be difficult (I’ve been there won’t lie as a student it’s a thing I think we all fear). But to do teamwork virtually? Make a game virtually? Yeah I’m super proud and these guys will go far with that experience.

Normally the first few weeks are getting to know you time – online that is a lot harder if students don’t have their cameras on or talk on mic. Even the profile pic if that’s not changed leaves you teaching to a bunch of initials on camera – at least the students know who I am if anything. I understand why things have to be the way they are for now and I am adapting but I really can’t wait to get back into my class and seeing everyone for real! Being a lecturer is everything to me and seeing my students progress means the world.

This academic year will be different, but it doesn’t mean I will be different. I will still be there to do my best for my students no matter what obstacles are put in our way. My job is to ensure students succeed and I’ll uphold that to the best of my abilities.