Ed Podesta

Delicious wouldn't upload, last time I looked they were "fixing it", i'll check it out tomorrow! hmm. check your URL, or that there hasn't been an error during the ftp upload. it sounds like there's nothing where you said it should be. Ed.

I'd like to post some ideas here, but I'm at risk of voiding a wonderful resource, i.e. your brains, if I do. I'm carrying out some (small scale) research about what interpretations means to those who teach history. If you don't mind, I'd be very grateful if some of the members of the board would answer a couple of questions on this matter, which should not take more than 10 mins? I’ve got an idea that what I think interpretations means differs greatly from what my students think it means (if they think about it at all!). I also have an idea that my professional peers have individual conceptions of that term and that I’d learn a lot from you, if you’d be kind enough to share your views with me. Could you spare a couple of minutes to offer some thoughts on some or all of the following? I’d be forever grateful. I will be using your answers as the basis of some analysis for my PGDip in Teaching and Learning History. I may quote from what you say, but will obviously not reveal identities. You can reply to this post if you wish, PM me, or email me any answers directly at Edwardpodesta*googlemail.com (put an @ instead of the * to email me) Thank you very much for your time in reading this post. Ed Podesta www.podesta.org.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What questions do you ask of interpretations? What are the problems or pitfalls that students seem to have when thinking about interpretations? Why do we study interpretations? What types of interpretations do you study with your students? Why do you use those types of interpretation? Is it important to study different types of interpretations? Why? How does the study of interpretations change through KS3 to KS5? How can we secure progression in the study of ‘interpretations’? If a student asked you “what do you mean by ‘interpretations’”?, what would your reply be?

And thankyou for the dissemination! Interesting choice of logo on your blog. It is one of those suggested by Doug? Yup, I like this one, it's understated. If you choose a professionally designed one, then let me know and I'll switch it around. BTW where's the best place to link to as a central link for e-help? Ed.

John is anxious to get the name and address of Ed and Dan's hairdresser...

Rather surpringly many hosting options also appear to be free so long as you carry their ads, (and very cheap to upgrade to an ads free version). As my main web space providers don't support php I will probably go for a hosted solution for now. The next question is of course what to use it for? I like the ideas of a wiki contributed to by teachers interested in creating a revision resource for a specific GCSE or A Level. Do you think that sort of thing would have legs?? Yup. It would be a great resource. I'm not sure that it would squeeze all the benefits that I forsee for wikis (i.e. students themselves adding content and arguing about it), but for giving students a place to go for content then it would work. I did read something on schoolhistory.co.uk that suggested that someone had set up a textbook wiki - someone connected with Ian Grove Stephenson at his business. I've got an idea for one about teaching history - different techniques, approaches to different content, schemes, enquiry questions. etc. What do you think of that?

Very reliable - but my wiki not had a very heavy load (or any load at all really!). You do get a lot more choice in terms of tweaking the wiki too. I use wikimedia, but there's others out there. Doug Belshaw recently posted about a new wiki software that someone's developed. The downside is that setting up a wiki is not for those who can't invest 2-10 hours setting it up. If you're familiar with Php and SQL then I would recommend it wholeheartedly, if you're not and you're weary of picking up a smattering (no more than editing a text document) of such things then I would say go for the hosted version. ed.

Here's the presentation file for my talk at Heerlen. http://www.podesta.org.uk/downloads/e-help/heerlen.swf Please pm me if you need the original file. I have also made a post at my blog about the expericence. Thanks all, once again, for inviting me, and for providing such a great weekend of CPD. Ed.

so, the costa seems to have moved - i'm off to the tiny one to see if you're there! The wonders of the internet hey!

For the taste or the semi-rhyme? Although must admit that I, too, prefer Costa! See you there! Something subliminal...

There's a caffe nero and costa 'after security'... My coach is meant to arrive about 8.30... and I might be in serious need of a coffee after 2 hours with national express... Ed W And I'll pick you up at 13:00 in Düsseldorf (minibus!). Hopefully there is no snow or sleat.... I'll be there at around 8 am - I've emailled my mobile around. I prefer costa! Let's meet after security there?

'Beamer'. European English for video projector. Bugger! I thought we were going to squeeze in a game of cricket As I hate flying I was hoping that someone had perfected somekind of matter transfer device.

Here's my choices Chefs’ choice of soup Home made soup Fêta salad Greek salad with fêta cheese, olives and sweet green peppers ta Ed.

Thanks for your considered answers Douglas - they're really interesting. Could you answer this one: What was the Young Americans for Freedom position on civil rights legislation in 1960?

Me too! I wondered where it was coming from... I downloaded a programme that deleted it from my system - it's not just a popup associated with a particular site, it seems to be a script that runs on your system. Ed.

My talk will be called web 2.0 and teaching and learning history - future perfect or present participation? We'll talk about !) blogging 2) wikis 3) social bookmarking 4) opportunities 5 )difficulties and threats and a bit about RSS - though this is something that I've not quite grasped the full ramifications of! I'm happy to be recorded, filmed, fingerprinted etc. Ed.

This is not a very exciting question, but can you tell me what kind of IT provision there'll be? Will there be internet access? What about PCs for use by attendees? ta Ed. Hello Ed, Not an exciting answer I'm afraid: Sintermeerten can provide can provide computers with broadband internet access/ Microsoft Office 2003, beamer. In the presentation room no smartboard I'm afraid, but that can be arranged. I'll see to it that participants can use/ share at least 8 computers (brand new P4's.) But I'll check today for us! Nico Many thanks Nico - I don't really need a smartboard - but I assume there is a projector? Ed.

This is not a very exciting question, but can you tell me what kind of IT provision there'll be? Will there be internet access? What about PCs for use by attendees? ta Ed.

Thanks for making a great contribution to the map Janos, and for teaching me a couple of new things about using the software. Your contribtion has convinced me that collaboration tools like this can offer us useful new ways of getting pupils to work together across a classroom or across a continent! thanks again Ed.

At the risk of looking keen, I've added another resource at http://www.mrbelshaw.co.uk/shareforum/viewtopic.php?p=51#51 This resource is related to an online seminar on using digital video at http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...1&st=0&p=24304& hope this is useful. Ed

Thanks Andrew, I'll take a look at that! I've now added the resources (most of them anyway) that I use with this lesson at http://www.mrbelshaw.co.uk/shareforum/viewtopic.php?p=51#51 take a look, and please let me know if you think they should be changed ta Ed.

Doug Belshaw's excellent idea of an area to share _editable_ resources is filling up. I thought I'd blow my own trumpet and advertise this great (and potentially fantastic) resource by showing what I've added recently. http://www.mrbelshaw.co.uk/shareforum/viewtopic.php?p=48#48 hope people find it useful. Ed.

We're catching up! [qoute] I remember reading some serious educational research, which suggested that most people’s historical consciousness is generated by television and cinema and has little to do with the ‘taught’ history of the school curriculum. In brief, the ‘document’ work and close examination of the (dominantly) written sources which characterises history lessons throughout the world, does little to prepare students to be critical users of the medium that is most likely to shape their understanding of the past. I totally agree, and what's more as you also suggest in your online seminar, with more experience of making and reading film... I think though, that in order to get the biggest advantage out of video, and out of the limited resources that often prevail in secondary schools over here, we need to be precise about the aims of particular lessons. Of course this is good practice, but in relation to video it is particularly important. I found with my year 7s that not introducing the camera until we were ready to shoot meant that they weren't distracted by the medium from the aim of the lesson (which was that they learned to organise their paragraphs when writing). I've seen a great lesson by Christine Counsel which concentrates on interpretations, using the first 30 seconds of "Cromwell". Students are asked to watch the film once, then to watch it again looking out for the message that the film maker is trying to get across about Cromwell, and third time looking out for the way that the film maker gets these messages across. The lesson then goes on to look at an extract from Wedgewood's description of the execution of King Charles and the textual methods that Wedgewood uses to get her own interpretations across. Richard's seminar gives an amazing example of the use of DV at KS4 to help students understand the different interpretations of the causes of the cold war. Its my opinion that both these lessons are so amazing because the students know why they're doing it, that there's a clear aim to watching or making the video. Richard is right, the pupils will begin to see through the magic, and that should be our long-term aim. Its important that their steps are guided so that they can get there in the short time that we have. Ed.

Thanks John and Nico for your feedback, I certainly think that the fact that they were being video-ed had real impact (I admit that I need to read Terry Hayden's seminar) and making them assess their own work brought back to their minds why they were doing it. In my opinion its often only when students know why their doing something that deep learning goes on. However, I wanted to achieve much more than a lesson with impact or simply videoing their different scenes. I wanted the act of thinking about making a flim to inform their thinking about how they organise and communicate their thoughts in general, and for this exercise in particular how they should be writing essays. I think I still need to go much further, and plan to get them to make a film about the development of castles later in the year that they will plan in its entirety themselves (although I think I'm still going to have to shoot and edit it given our restrictions on hardware). This sounds really useful John, is part of his content generator package? thanks again, Ed.

Write an essay on the Roman Army, using information from the sources It was rainy November, again. I was gearing up to teach a section of our Romans scheme of work with the title “why was the Roman army so successful”? This part of the course built up to an essay style assessment, based on 8 sources, which the students were supposed to study in lessons before the assessment lessons. They were then to use the knowledge to write an essay that answered the question with the same question as this title. Our department designed this essay to test the ability of the students to select information from an A3 source sheet, and to organise their work into paragraphs. Previously when getting to grips with these assessments I and my colleagues had used a source table, with headings like “source number”, “what does it tell us about the Romans” and, enigmatically, “quote”. I suppose that in my mind I used these sheets because wanted to help the students to collect knowledge about the sources and what they told us about the army, so that they had a kind of crib sheet that could be used during their assessment. What does the source tell us, sir? In practice I was coming to the conclusion that such crib sheets have an impact only when dealing with very short numbers of sources. Especially in year 7 the students were keen to get the “right” answer in their crib sheet, and therefore unwilling to work on them on their own or in groups. Consequently I ended up doing a lot of the work for them and the process was long and laborious for all concerned. In addition, by the time we got to source number 6, the notes made about number 1 in the lesson (or even week) before, no longer had any meaning for any of the students. When the students got to the assessment they therefore approached the A3 source sheet almost afresh, fortified only with slight feelings of boredom and possibly frustration. Where’s the Camera sir? During my PGCE I was faced with a similar task when getting a mixed ability year 8 class to explore the events Gallipoli using sources. I came up with the idea of asking them to plan a documentary simply about the events of the campaign, using the sources as their information. To be honest I was searching for a way to scaffold their approach to the sources, and had no intention of every actually videoing their results. The students took to the task really well. Working in groups each planned, on large sugar paper, five different scenes. The plan for each scene set out in detail what information they wanted to get across, where they got their information from and even how they would present the information to their audience. I finished the two lessons with a smug feeling of having them really engage with the sources. I rolled up their scenes, with the idea of adding one or two of the best ones to my PGCE portfolio and with the intention that we’d move on to the next item on the scheme of work next lesson. I arrived at the next lesson fairly well prepared, imagining that the students would still be filled with enthusiasm from their recent fruitful engagement with sources. “Where’s the camera” I was asked by several on my entry. “The what?”, I replied. “You said we were going to make a documentary” several different students then claimed. In the silence that followed I muttered meanly, “no, I said you were going to plan a documentary, which is what you did, and did very well”. This didn’t wash. After several lessons in which it was made clear that I had played a trick on them I relented and the film was made. On reflection I realised that the students found it easier to read the sources for the purpose of making a film because they understood that purpose much more than that of making an essay. However, this wasn’t the only reason that they worked so hard on the task. They were looking forward to making the film. They saw the knowledge as being useful because they were going to use it. Learn about the Roman Army and how to communicate what you find. Anyway, back to the Roman army. I realised that a similar approach might work with my year 7 class in preparing for their assessment. This time though I had to work towards the twin aims of engaging with the sources and learning how to plan and write an essay. I remembered reading http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/res...trs_bibs_DV.pdf which mentions research by D Parker. This research suggests that working with DV in helping students to construct narratives could have a positive impact with print literacy. http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/res...igitalvideo.pdf contains reference to a study by Reid et al (2002) that claims that in order to gain maximum benefit pupils work with DV had to be very well structured with clear aims and planning. The school literacy co-ordinators had been pushing the idea of ‘PEE’ paragraphs, i.e. paragraphs that contain a point (and only one point), some evidence to back up that point, and some explanation as to how that point is relevant to the question that the piece of writing is trying to answer. I used this model as a way of structuring the thinking and planning that I wanted the students to carry out in preparing to make a film to answer the question “why was the Roman army so successful?”. Having finished my reading and planning we set to work. Making a film about the Roman Army. Lesson One. In order to help them complete the assessment essay, the students would be given an essay plan. I decided to take the structure of this essay plan and use it as the basis for the structure of the documentary that the pupils would produce themselves. The pupils would be asked to plan, in groups, an outline of the whole documentary, using the information pack and planning sheets that I had produced. The information pack contained a list of techniques which documentary makers often use to make films, a list of scenes that the producers of the film required, a copy of the source sheet from the assessment essay, and a worked example of a planning sheet. The planning sheets firstly required the students to number the scenes and give each scene a snappy title. The layout of the sheet encouraged the groups to plan their scenes in terms of (1) the information they would be communicating, (2) the sources they used to obtain this information, (3) the way in which the students would get this information across to the audience, and finally, (4) how this information would help to answer the question that the documentary makers had been set. After setting out some basic rules for group work we were off. The groups were given the majority of one lesson to complete this task. At the end of the lesson I took in their results and overnight chose the scene that was most coherently planned from each group. Each group was to be told in the second lesson that they were to make a more detailed plan of their best scene, which would become part of the finished documentary. The group that had made the best plan overall was asked to make a totally new plan for a conclusion. Lesson Two and Three. Each group was then given two full lessons to plan, script and make resources for their scene in the video. I stressed that I was looking to see how well they worked in their groups, that they had been given a big responsibility in being made in charge of their lessons, and that I was looking forward to seeing some excellent scenes in the finished documentary. Generally they reacted very positively to this trust, but this was a very enthusiastic year 7 class. With others I foresee that it would be necessary to structure or perhaps to impose a much tighter deadline on this stage of the lessons. For two lessons they got on with it, I was called on only to advise, quell disruption and encourage the flagging. The fourth lesson was the shooting lesson. There was only one camera in school at that point, and only a few computers capable of editing video. Furthermore http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/research/teachlearn/digied/ suggests that for students group editing isn’t as fruitful as editing alone. For mainly practical reasons I therefore took charge of the filming and editing. Lesson 5. The results of the filming were mixed. Some groups came up with excellent scenes, which were on point, and brilliantly illustrated, using drawings, explanations or re-enactments. The worst scene was the one given to the group who had to plan the conclusion, because of the enthusiasm one of the boys for military conquest who insisted on running through Rome’s expansion province by province (taking 4 minutes to do so). The results of assessing the film were much more positive. We watched each scene in turn and gave it a mark out of ten for fulfilling the criteria of good paragraphs that we set out earlier in the lesson. We gave credit where it was due and congratulated those groups that had made concise scenes that were relevant, well supported and to the point. Poor old Ben, who’d banged on for 4 minutes about the dates and order in which different provinces were conquered, was given some gentle ribbing and it was agreed that the conclusion didn’t really do the job it was supposed to. The lesson ended with a brainstorm on the topic of how we might improve our film. Lesson 6. In the last lesson in my mini scheme of work the students wrote an essay in answer to our question. The PEE paragraph guide was on the board, my students had the usual writing frame and an intimate knowledge of the sources, and what made the Roman army successful. I was really pleased with the results, and more importantly the students were much more comfortable with assessing their own work against a student mark scheme than I would have expected, because they understood also what makes a good essay. This scheme of work is a project in the making. I would like to take it further next year. My school has just started offering an A level in media studies and has purchased a suite of iMacs and six video cameras. Next year I hope that each group will film and edit their own scene using these computers. If my present year 7 group continue to react well to video, and if I teach some of them next year, perhaps I could build on their experience and offer much more open ended tasks in terms of planning and making history documentary films. Perhaps we could even go further and use the documentary as their assessment next time. Well, I hope this was helpful and I'd really value any comments that readers have. Ed.

After reading Richard Jones-Nerzic's excellent seminar on digital video in the history classroom (which can be found at schoolhistory on http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/forum/index...showtopic=3704) I feel inspired to write about my own experiences with DV in my classroom. Ed.