John Simkin

Nils Clausson teaches in the Department of English at the University of Regina in Canada. In this article he examines the characteristics of a good teacher. He argues that a good teacher is: Sociable Personalized to student needs Makes it comfortable, fun, etc. Caring, kind, supportive, positive, funny Involved Passionate about teaching Patient Fair, equal Organized Respect Creative Do you all agree? Is there anything he has missed? http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-09-27-03.htm

I recently wrote on the forum about my contacts with the last surviving relative of Robert Tressell. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=203 It got me thinking about the novels students study at school. Is ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist’ studied in schools? I would not argue that it was a great work of literature but it is a work of great social importance. It is claimed that it is the first truly working class novel. Although there were a great number of popular books about the lives of the working class published in the 19th century, this was the first book that came from the working class. Robert Tressell’s book is important for other reasons. It has been claimed that Tressell had more impact on people’s political opinions in Britain than the work of writers such as Karl Marx and William Morris. Alan Sillitoe has pointed out that the book was very popular with members of the armed forces during the Second World War and claims that it was “the book that won the 1945 election for Labour.” Is it still true that schools are guilty of ignoring working class culture? I would also be interested in reading the views of people from other countries. Do educational institutions study the literature of all its citizens? Or are we really only interested in the writings of an intellectual elite?

I receive regular complaints about the content of my website. I make every effort to be objective in my narrative and most complaints concern the use of sources to illustrate the topic I am writing about. I recently upset racists in America by my page on Nathan Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Their main complaint concerned my decision to include a passage from Harper’s Weekly (30th April, 1864) on Nathan Forrest’s role in the Fort Pillow massacre (the killing of a large number of African American soldiers who had surrendered to Forrest’s Confederate Army). Forrest is a hero of the Deep South and would never be criticised in textbooks used in their schools (the internet is now a problem for those educational institutions unwilling to look too closely at their country’s past). I also get complaints about the factual content on my website. A few days ago I got a very angry email from the last surviving relative of one of my heroes, Robert Tressell. The reason why he was so angry was that in a recently published reference work on English Literature, it made a mistake about Tressell’s life. When he complained to the publisher, they pointed out that they had got the information from my website. After failing to get his novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, published, Tressell moved to Liverpool with his daughter with plans to emigrate to Canada. The mistake I made was to state that because he did not have enough money for two tickets, he sent his daughter on ahead (with the manuscript). Although this story appears in most accounts of Tressell’s life, it apparently never happened. One can see why writers have included this story. As Tressell dies before he can save up enough money to buy his own ticket, it emphasised the tragedy of the situation. The image of the daughter returning with the manuscript, determined to get her father’s book published (something she achieved in 1914) also adds to the power of the story. When informed of this mistake I immediately corrected my page on Robert Tressell (something the reference books are unlikely to do even if they are reprinted – correcting mistakes is an expensive business in book publishing). I also sent a polite reply to Tressell’s last surviving relative. This is a strategy I adopt to all hostile email writers. This embarrasses them and they usually reply in the same style. This worked and I had a delightful reply inviting me to his home to look at the Robert Tressell family archive. I readily accepted and will soon be making a trip to Felbridge.

Very good. Once again Andrew Field has shown he has a good eye for design. Much better than my initial efforts.

Quandary is an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name "Action Maze". Action mazes can be used for many purposes, including problem-solving, diagnosis, procedural training, and surveys/questionnaires. http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php

Webmonkey: This website has been teaching people how to build websites of their own since 1996. If you intend to create a website, then this is the right place to visit. Information is organised under Authoring (HTML Basics, Tables, Frames, Browsers, Tools, Stylesheets, DHTML, XML); Design (Site Building, Graphics, Fonts); Multimedia (Audio/MP3, Shockwave/Flash, Video, Animation); Programming (JavaScript, Java, ASP, PHP, ColdFusion, Perl/CGI); Backend (Databases, Apache/XSSI, Unix, Security, Networks, Protocols, Jobs). http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/index.html

Word Search Factory is designed to help you quickly and easily create professional looking word search puzzles to provide your students with the extra vocabulary and spelling practice they need in a format that they will find enjoyable. You can choose from a wide variety of grid sizes and word orientations for your word search puzzle. Then simply print as many copies of the puzzle as you require, along with the automatic answer key. http://www.schoolhousetech.com/products/wo...ch/overview.htm

Puzzlemaker Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. It includes Word Search (type in a list of words and the computer will hide them in a grid of letters), Criss-Cross Puzzle (your list of words will be linked together, numbered and formatted, ready for you to print and hand out), Number Blocks (creates a block of numbers that will challenge arithmetic and algebra skills), Cryptograms (enter a phrase and the computer will assign a number to each letter) and Math Square (math formulas are linked together to form a square). http://www.puzzlemaker.com

Question Tools Marking questions by hand is a time-consuming, expensive and sometimes inaccurate process. Question Tools will automatically mark tests and exams for you. Students and trainees can receive immediate and accurate feedback on their performance. Question Tools is a software suite that allows anyone with a Windows PC to create on-line tests and exams. The suite comprises: SimpleSet (a free and easy to use question editor), Exam (a free and secure alternative to delivering tests in a web browser), Editor (a professional’s tool for creating and editing questions), Results Analyser (for dealing with group results) and Server (for delivering tests over intranets and the internet). http://www.questiontools.com/

WebQuest A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge with Tom March. The website provides training materials and a large collection of WebQuests. http://webquest.sdsu.edu/

Filamentality: This website, created by SBC Pacific Bell, helps teachers create and post a web-based learning page. You don't need to know any HTML and you can go back and edit it at any time. Filamentality helps you pick a topic, provides web searching tips, lets you use "fill-in-the-blanks" to gather good Internet sites, guides you with interactive pages that help you shape your ideas around whatever specific goal you have, and then, gives you your very own web page on the Internet. http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/

Quia Web is one of the world's most popular educational technology websites. It pioneered the "create-your-own" concept, giving teachers the ability to create customized educational software online, built around their own course materials and made available to students over the Web. The idea proved so popular that more than 300,000 teachers have registered to use the service. Quia provides templates for creating 14 different types of online activities, including flashcards, matching, concentration (memory), word search, hangman, jumbled words, ordered list, picture perfect, pop-ups, challenge board, scavenger hunt, rags to riches (a quiz-show style trivia game), columns, and cloze exercises. Quia also includes a directory of thousands of online activities and quizzes in more than 50 subject areas. http://www.quia.com/web

I thought it might be a good idea for members to post details of useful tools for teachers creating their own websites. Hot Potatoes is a suite of programs published by Victoria University and Half-Baked Software. Teachers use the Hot Potatoes programs to create educational materials, especially exercises and tests. The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, crossword, matching/ordering, jumbled-sentence and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for non-profit educational users who make their pages available on the web. http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

Is it: http://www.questiontools.com/ I have created a section where teachers can post details of good web creation tools. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=202

I agree. I don’t think we should forget the success of the way that Germany was treated at the end of the Second World War. Here was an example of politicians learning from the past. Just compare it with the way the defeated nations were treated at the end of the First World War. The same is true of Japan. They have also successfully dealt with fascist elements since 1945. Despite recent set-backs Japan has shown you do not need military power to have economic success.

The suicide bombers are protesting against the occupation of their lands, not about the existence of Israel (that argument has already been won). The test of that will only come when Israel withdraw from these lands. It would be great to see a Nelson Mandela emerge in Israel. However, you have to remember, Mandela was a terrorist until he gained power. That Mandela figure has to emerge in Israel, not Palestine. As we know, recent elections indicate there is no great desire for a Mandela type figure in Israel.

We are not disagreeing. I was trying to make the same point myself. Like you, I am slightly optimistic about the EU uniting the whole of Europe. My fear is that the Growth of the EU is unpopular in certain quarters and is stimulating a growth in nationalism. To improve this situation we need to clarify the decision making process. Some things, such as foreign policy, is best done as a group. Other areas, such as economic decisions, need to be taken by the individual countries.

Have you got website details of Inspiration and Question Tools?

Have you got a URL for this? It would be a good idea to add your URL to your signature. See My Controls.

Dr. Joanna Le Metais at the National Foundation of Research has just published an international report on national methods of assessment. It appears that only five countries have compulsory standardised assessment tests (England, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Wales – under review). Only the UK employs league tables to present this information to the public. Countries such as New Zealand, Japan, Korea, USA, Spain and France use a sampling system in which a representative group of youngsters – usually around 3% are externally assessed. However, the vast majority rely on teacher assessment. http://www.nfer.ac.uk/ Like the recent OCED survey of educational performance the NFR points out that there is no link at all between national testing and educational performance. Dr. Joanna Le Metais, as the OCED report, likes what is happening in Finland. She points out that “Finnish schools are expected to evaluate the needs of their children and evaluate themselves. Teachers in Finland are also highly qualified – they have to have masters degrees – which is a key factor in favour of success.”

The statement seems to have worked and my website is now back online. I apologise to all those who might have wanted to use the materials yesterday.

It might well be worth considering how we paid for free education in the past. In the 1960s and 1970s the top rate of income tax was 83%. This was cut by Thatcher in 1979 to 60%. It remained at that level until 1988 when it was reduced to 40%, its current level. In 1979 Thatcher reduced the basic rate of income tax down from 33% to 30%. Successive governments have brought this down to its current rate of 22%. As a result of these reforms there is no distinction made between middle earners and the very rich. The top rate now begins for incomes of about £35,000. At the same time corporation tax has dropped to the lowest in the OECD. Money for our public services has to come from somewhere so during the same period we have seen a dramatic increase in direct taxation. As this tax is regressive it is the direct cause of the widening gap between rich and the poor. This, under a Labour Government, has mean the gap is greater than at any time since the 19th century. Other than the United States, Britain has the greatest inequality in the industrialised world. Our tax system is the main reason for this. For example, the richest 20% of people in Britain pay 34% of their income in taxes, while the poorest 20% pay 42%. Despite this appalling record Tony Blair refuses to allow his party to discuss the possibility of increasing income-tax. When Peter Hain suggested in June that the country should have “a grown-up and honest debate about tax” he was threatened with the sack and he was forced to withdraw his statement. Gordon Brown argues that it is unfair to ask people like him and Tony Blair to pay a 50% tax on their earnings over £100,000. However, under the current proposals, in a couple of years time, a graduate teacher, on just over £35,000 will be paying 50% of their marginal income in tax and top up fees. What impact will this have on the teaching profession? One consequence of this legislation will be the growing financial inequality within the profession. Those who entered the profession several years ago will be reasonable well-off. Young members of staff (without the support of rich parents) will be living on the poverty line. Burdened by debt, they will never be in a position to contemplate buying their own home or all the other things that the profession has taken for granted over the last 30 years. Another result of this policy will be a decline in the numbers of teachers entering the profession. In the past this would have meant an increase in wages in order to attract more recruits. However, under recent agreements signed by the various trade unions, this problem will be solved by an increase in the number of unqualified teachers. As these people will not be burdened by student debt they will find the wages fairly attractive. For further details of this see the recently leaked report, Workforce Reform - Blue Skies. http://www.nut.org.uk/story.php?id=2973&PH...cb6b16eeeac801d

A Senate Committee in Australia has just published a report into gifted children in the classroom. It is available from the Australian government's website and includes sections such as: defining the problem; characteristics of gifted children, identifying gifted children, differentiating the curriculum, accelerated learning, enrichment and extension, difficulties of curriculum support, ability grouping and the the role of universities in gifted education. http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eet...rt/contents.htm

A report on a revolutionary exercise programme for children and adults with dyslexia and similar learning difficulties has just been published. David Reynolds of Exeter University, and Rod Nicolson of Sheffield University, who monitored the progress of 35 children in the West Midlands, said those who had undergone the treatment showed "significantly greater improvements" than others in dexterity, reading and verbal fluency. Ten thousand children and adults are on or have completed programmes which effectively try to improve the working of the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motor functions, such as eye, leg and arm movements. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,...,830055,00.html

The Communication Aids Project (CAP) is an attempt to meet the needs of pupils in mainstream and special schools in England who have significant communication difficulties. CAP funding covers an assessment of the pupil, provision of hardware and software, training for school staff, the pupil and the pupil's parents, and an ongoing review. In the first year of the project, 1500 pupils benefited from over £3 million worth of technology. The project, funded by the DfES, is to be extended for a further two years, with an extra £10 million of government funding. http://cap.becta.org.uk/