Teaching Ideas News: August 2007

Teaching Ideas News

Tuesday, 28 August 2007

Rate and Review

Over the past few weeks, I've spent a considerable amount of time adding a commenting feature to different sections of the site. It worked well, but it took a very long time to add the facility manually to every page.

However, last night I found a new system which is much better. It allows you to rate each idea, and give your own review as well. It's much quicker to load, and it shows comments in the main window... which means no more pop-ups!

It's only taken me about three hours to add it to the entire site today, so you can now rate and review across every section of Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas. I've transferred the previous sets of comments to the new system, and people are using it already to give some really constructive feedback. Thanks!

// posted by Mark Warner @ 14:24

Tuesday, 21 August 2007

New Theme on Teaching Forum

I've spent some time updating the theme on the Teaching Forum today. The new theme has greater security features, and it also works better for those using Safari as their web browser. I hope that you like it!

I've also expanded the comment system to the History, Geography, DT and Assemblies areas of the site. My final aim is to extend this to the rest of the site, but I'm back to school in a few weeks, so I might not be able to complete this task for a while yet.

// posted by Mark Warner @ 08:22

Friday, 10 August 2007

Comments about comments...

Well, it's been a week since I started the comment system, so I thought I'd give some of my own comments about it.

My intention was (and still is) to make the site more interactive, with constructive feedback from users about the ideas, with the ideas. However, over the past week, I've had comments such as "you stink", postings of four-letter words, and messages which have obviously been typed by someone who was just bashing random letters out on the keyboard!

On top of that, I had nearly 100 spam links posted on the Display Photos comment system earlier in the week. I also got back from a very enjoyable wedding celebration last night to find someone had registered and posted some unsuitable words and links in the Teaching Forum! It seems that some people simply have nothing better to do!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has posted genuine comments on the site, and in the forum. Your thoughtful words are much appreciated. I'm going to keep the comments running for a while yet, and see how things go.

// posted by Mark Warner @ 08:52

Tuesday, 7 August 2007

Teaching Ideas Update - 7th August 2007

Here's a copy of my latest 'Teaching Ideas Update' message for those who don't subscribe to the Mailing List...

The last few weeks have seen a number of changes and updates to Teaching Ideas:

Teaching Ideas News - I have moved the news / blog pages to a new system, and they are now more integrated into the main site. I've also been much better at posting messages on it! Visit www.teachingideas.co.uk/news to see the latest posts.

New Tabs - I've been working behind the scenes over the past few months creating some new tabs for Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas. They're now online, and make it easier to move around the sites. The tabs are bigger than the previous ones, they're easier to read, and I think they look much better! The new tab system has also been added to Display Photos and the new Teaching Forum.

Teaching Forum - Teaching Ideas had a forum many years ago. However, it was removed at one point (although I can't remember why!). So, I've set up a new forum for visitors to the site... it's a place to share ideas, help each other and have a good chat! Lots of people have registered already and some interesting conversations have been started. So join in with the discussions!

New Contributions - Of course, I have added a large number of new ideas and resources since my last email. These have included lots of Display Photos, some educational videos which teach spelling concepts, a number of PE games, and much much more! Thank you to these people who have sent in contributions. Visit the Share Your Ideas page to send some of your own.

Comments - I'm currently trialling a comment system in the Art, PE and PSHE sections of the site, which allows you to leave a comment on the ideas you see. Have you used an idea? Can you think of improvements? Leave a comment! If this idea is successful, I'll expand the system to the rest of the site.

Title Pages - The title pages of Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas have also seen a number of changes. I've tried to make them much more useful, and they are automatically updated with the latest changes and contributions to the other parts of the site.

RSS Feeds - This mailing list is one of the ways that I can update you with information about the sites. I've also been implementing a number of RSS feeds. These are all free to subscribe to, and will give you updates every time that something new is added.

Teaching Ideas Latest Additions - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingideas
Teaching Ideas News - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingideasnews
Display Photos Latest Additions - http://feeds.feedburner.com/displayphotos
Teaching Forum - Latest Posts - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingforum

If you're new to RSS, visit my Teacher's Guide, or see this post in the Teaching Forum.

That's it for now! Best wishes,

Mark Warner

Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk

// posted by Mark Warner @ 13:38

Thursday, 2 August 2007

New Look and New Features...

Hi again,

I've completed another update to the sites today. Teaching Ideas, More Teaching Ideas and Display Photos all have a new look, which I'm really pleased with. There are new sets of tabs at the top of the sites, which are a lot clearer and much bigger than the previous set.

I've also made considerable changes to the front pages of Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas. These now have links to the latest additions, the latest Teaching Ideas news and other new features. These are automatically updated, so a quick way of finding the most up to date information is to visit the front pages of the site!

Another new addition is the Teaching Forum. Teaching Ideas used to have a forum, many moons ago, but it is no longer available. The new forum is part of the 'More Teaching Ideas' site, but you can also visit it directly by going to www.teachingforum.co.uk. It's a place to share ideas, ask for help and just have a good chat!

Today's update has been in the planning stages for many months now, so it's nice that it's finally online. Let me know what you think of it... feedback is always appreciated!

// posted by Mark Warner @ 18:56

Comments...

In the past, I have received a number of requests to add a commenting facility to the ideas and resources on Teaching Ideas. I've often wondered how to go about adding this, and today I've worked it out!

I've set up a trial in the Art section to see how this works. If it is successful, I'll extend it to the other areas of the site. Basically, it allows you to read the lesson / activity ideas in the Art area, and add a comment on them. If you've tried the idea yourself, or if you can think of a way of extending it, you can now post a message to tell others your thoughts.

A few points to remember:

This only works on the 'ideas'... it's not possible to add a comment facility for each of the downloadable files unfortunately.
Comments appear in a pop-up window, so you might need to disable any pop-up blockers you have installed.
All comments are moderated, so they may not appear online immediately.

I hope that this facility is useful.

// posted by Mark Warner @ 09:41

Wednesday, 1 August 2007

I've been Simpsonized!

Hi again!

Over the past week or so, I've been spending a lot of time working on Teaching Ideas, More Teaching Ideas, Display Photos, and another site (to be announced soon!). This has mainly involved adding new contributions, but also updating how things look... which is something I'm never satisfied with!

In between doing this, I've also been playing with the Simpsonize Me website. You simply upload a photo of yourself, and the site makes a Simpsons character based on your photo. This is my one... I'm really pleased with it, and I'm definitely going to use it to brighten up some of my interactive whiteboard slides at school.

This kind of thing would also be good to use on the Simpson's Target Cards, produced by Andrew Ross over at Primary Teacher UK. The children could have their teacher, as a Simpsons character, on their target!

// posted by Mark Warner @ 14:09