ICTeachers  - By the Professionals for the Professionals

ICTeachers Online - Probably the best educational newsletter in the world!
January 2001

Contents:

Subscribe to the ICTeachers Newsletter - Go to the website http://icteachers.co.uk/ and sign up!
Unsubscribe to the ICTeachers Newsletter - send an email to primary@outerquest.co.uk with unsubscribe primary in the text.

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES pass this newsletter onto anyone of a nervous disposition.  ICTeachers cannot be held responsible for early OFSTED's resulting in reading this excellent piece of prose!

Who Are ICTeachers?

Some would say we are professionals with too much free time on our hands!  Others would say that we are masters of time management and manage to run a business and schools.  Others would just say we are breaking the mould and introducing the values we believe in to the commercial sector whilst learning from the private sector the importance of customer service, marketing and financial management!

Message from the Editor

The Editor is becoming a Deputy Head..Why?

I know! I know!  For months now I've been griping about the workload, the kids, the condemned portacabin but blow me if I haven't gone and got a job as a deputy headthingy.

Well, in all honesty, I had been considering packing it all in and going on supply whist maybe training as a long distance lorry driver but you know what changed my mind?

The fact that only I can do my job.  Yes.  I am A TEACHER!!!  And only I can TEACH!  You put the vast majority of people in front of a class of children and they just haven't got it, no spark.  I, on the other hand, have the capability to manipulate them and mould them, entertain them and excite them, teach them and (gulp) facilitate them!

And I'll be jiggered if anybody, least of all OFSTED (oh Chrissy boy where are you now?), is going to rid the profession of yet another decent teacher in it's desire to maintain the mediocrity that is fast becoming the classroom.   YES!  I AM a decent teacher, and so are you.  Bits of paper do NOT make a good teacher but you can tell a good teacher by the children they teach.

Let's fight back and put some of the excitement and wildness back into education.  I DARE YOU THIS WEEK!  Do something WILD in your classroom but LEGAL!! And don't forget the risk assessment of course. Ha!  I think I may <hushed tones> go and look at the sky and tell the children's it's red.  Ha ha!   I'd love to see the faces of the one who reads that lesson plan....what lesson plan!! Hahahaahahahaahahaaaaa!!!  What objective?  Make them think, challenge them, have some fun, play with our minds, be human, enjoy life, giggle, shout, laugh.   Surely there should be a Scheme of Work for Humour somewhere?  Anyone got a policy! Ha! : )

Have a great month.  Oh!  Just to clarify.    I'm becoming a deputy head to make sure children are educated, and not just treated like cans of beans off a conveyer belt. 

Human beings are more than just flesh and blood, they're soul and spirit as well.

Timbo
md@icteachers.co.uk

Back to Contents

What's New on the Website

Two new interactive additions to the ICTeachers website have appeared in the past few days.

For all those who would rather attend Hogwarts than their own mundane, national-curriculum inspired primary school can visit the HARRY POTTER CYBERHUNT and dream of wizards and fun! Go to http://www.icteachers.co.uk/ >Children > Cyberhunts > Harry Potter

Children will love this - we expect a huge rush during the early part of the week. 

Why not send us a copy of your answers to info@icteachers.co.uk

We also have five new INTERACTIVE QUIZZES. We shall be adding new ones in the weeks to come, but in the meantime you can pit your wits against the ICTeachers super-brain and answer questions on Tudors and Stuarts and show off your knowledge of three of Shakespeare's plays. 

Go to http://www.icteachers.co.uk/ > Children > Quizzes.

NEW! ICTEACHERS PHOTO RESOURCES

Have you ever struggled to find the right photographic resources? Started to teach that module on Rivers, for example, and had difficulty trying to find a photograph that adequately illustrates a "meander"?

Well, look no further! ICTeachers is now developing photographic resources available to all free of charge on the net. Just click on the links, download the pictures and print them out.

We hope to develop this in the future into one of the best collection of free visual resources for teachers and pupils on the net. In order to do this we need your help. Do you have any resources suitable for our pages?
Have you taken  a school trip recently to a place of interest? If so, then maybe the photographs you took would be of interest to other teachers. Send them to us and we will add them to our pages.

You can find the index to our current collection (which is small at the moment, but growing every day!) at http://ww.icetachers.co.uk/photos . Go and take a look and let us know what you think. Send us your photographs or suggest new categories for Photographs that you would find useful. We look forward to hearing from you!

Enjoy!

Bob the Builder and Mike the Vaultman

Back to Contents

TTA Approved Office97 Training Units for Word, Excel and Access

Most schools use Office97 but getting training materials for this is incredibly difficult.   Not any more!!

Drisconsult's Training Units for Office97 are designed to take you from absolute beginner to expert in a range of widely used computer applications.

Our Prices are as follows:

Click here to get your evaluation copy NOW!

To make our launch more exciting we are having a PRIZE DRAW open to the members of staff from the first 500 schools to purchase one or more modules:

Back to Contents

Helpers needed to work on  ICTeachers Children's Links

Do you have web-building skills? No?
Can you word-process? Yes - then you can also build web pages! We can show
you how! ICTeachers is looking for helpers to keep our Children's links
pages updated. We are also keen to expand them and to make them more "Child
friendly". So if you're willing to learn (or already have) some basic
web-building skills and are keen to help with this project, contact us on
webmasters@icetachers.co.uk and we can discuss your involvement.

Back to Contents

BETT 2001 - The Freebie Wars!

Tips - Just sound moderately interested about the product initially, then ask outright - "Could I possibly have one of those nice T-shirts?"

Intrinsic value: Probably the Compaq pen- flashes when mobile phone rings. (My reception teacher was well impressed) 

Novelty value: Definitely the butterflies - (Cisco Systems I think)

Clothing- stylewise, probably the macromedia " How the f**** did the do that?" T-shirts, Pink and shaped- not just bog standard t-shirt or the Intel T-shirts- very discrete, no obvious I.T. related slogans-

Naffest T-shirt- Microsoft- undoubtedly- cheap thin "Microsoft in education " on the front- XL- on size will have to fit all. 

Best long term freebie place- Has to be intel- Excellent Fabric bags (easily obtained-this year and last) very very good Key-rings "bunnymen", and stylish well made t-shirts.

Coolest freebie: The Apple posters- huge, cool, think different, sadly no good for non student types.

Also consider:

Elonex & Time - free water - good idea chaps!

Very swish AMD mouse mats (Time's were good too - round is nice)

Lollipops if they're your thing.

Cisco systems had some cracking good chrome mugs which they wouldn't part
with under any circumstances.

One Glasgow related place (something to do with EAZ) had some very classy sports
bags but my Scottish accent didn't pass muster.

Also worthy of mention - stress squeezers, Toshibas dice, Squashy cows, very very
scary squash brains, NTL bog standard stress ball.

Excellent Toshiba laptop file,  loads and loads of post-it notes, ubiquitous pens and pencils (Intel's pens were about the best again, although AMD had copied their I-Mac design pens from last year - no propelling pencils or calculators this year- (shame that,) but definitely more clothing related freebies.

David the Freebiemeister,

Back to Contents