Biography: Neal Watkin

[Neal Watkin]

I have been a History teacher since 1997 and worked in two large comprehensive schools in East Anglia. I am currently working at Neatherd High School, an 11-18 in Norfolk. I resigned my Head of History post three years ago to become an AST and I now do work within school and across the county. My specialisms include using ICT within the classroom, Thinking Skills, Gifted & Talented Education, curriculum planning and making school trips memorable. This means I get to work with a range of staff on a one-to-one basis and develop good practice within schools.

This year I have been working with the DfES and Specialist Schools Trust on a G&T programme and have undertaken a post-graduate course in e-learning. I have also created a number of interactive Captivate files that target exam skills in order to aid revision and I am currently developing a set of revision Podcasts in the form of mock radio shows. As well as this, I have been using Moviemaker with pupils to enable them to create short films. This allows them to focus on the skills of inference and selection.

I am keen that ICT not be an end in itself, but a way to motivate students and draw out key historical skills.

Beyond the classroom, I am involved with an international schools project to create a multi-media exhibition about ‘Children Living through War’ and the school’s Drama productions. Also, Johannes Ahrenfelt and I have just finished writing a book on essential teaching skills for Continuum Publishing where we have devoted a chapter to innovative use of ICT in teaching.