Richard Capon

Not being an English teacher and not having been a great reader as a child I have tended to stay clear of the'greats' of fiction. The first book that really had a significant impact on me was 'The Shetland Bus'. The author escapes me, but this wartime story really entralled me as a 16 year old and I youth hostelled up to Shetland the following summer to see where everything happened. The second book that had a major impact was The Birth of New Eve by Angela Carter. It is the only book I have ever read twice. It shocked me rigid the first time I read it. As a teenager I read Angela Carter a

I regret to being a little off topic but Web Radio is far too good to waste on education! I listen to my taste in somewhat esoteric music from all over the World. I read newspapers from all over the World to gauge other people's opinions. I watch a little TV from other countries to broaden my mind. I enjoy the culture of other nations as far as I can through web radio with language problems involved. It is a brilliant resource for me. I guard the knowledge of it jealously from my pupils. It is far too good for them. You will be encouraging students to use short wave radio next! Ri

Interactive Whiteboards are a good replacement for chalkboard. That is inevitable as the chalkboards are wearing out and need replacement with a modern product; but there is much to be said for the computer and projector; particularly with science where the projection of datalogging, object viewer or microscope viewing is as important as the possibility of 'writing' on the screen. I am not keen on the present configuration of IWBs with the shadow and height problems; but expect that the new generations of boards will occupy a whole wall, be less than a centimetre thick, also roll up like a pr

I am Richard Capon. I have taught Science (originally Biology, but later Physical Sciences as well), Social Sciences, Ancient History, Maths and Astronomy for over 30 years; originally in Bedfordshire, Herts and Northants until settling in Essex. I am about to move over the border to Suffolk where I will be ICT co-ordinator at a Middle School. I have taught children from 5 to 19 years, and adults into their 90s. For the last few years I have combined some Maths teaching with lots of Adult Education and NOF Training in ICT; but also technical support for schools using Target Tracker. I am a

I have only just started 'playing' with Open Office but am moving to a Middle school where the budget allows one only to stand still - as mentioned by other correspondents. We still have a quarter of the machines running Windows 95 and Office 95. The rest are on Windows 98. We have even had to downgrade 3 Tesco machines to 98 and they came with XP and so did not fit in with the scheme of things. I hope to switch over gradually to Open Office by running both systems at the same time but allowing Microsoft Office to wither on the vine - as it were. Most of the WP work is done by default on Pub

I will be going with other Suffolk ICT Co-ordinators on Thursday. If there is too much to see, then I may go back on Saturday. Richard