Dunoon Visit

I visited Mr Paul Gallanagh, PT of Business & Computing, at Dunoon Grammar on Friday. Paul showed me the technical wizardry used to develop and publish his Blast From The Past video show.

It was amazing! And even better I got to meet the pupils who are filming DGS TV, a weekly pupil-led school news and magazine show. I originally was a bit worried that Mr Gallanagh's team of pupils could pull it all off in a lunchtime, but once the classroom was cleared, up went the stand and the greenscreen... I thought I was at 20th Century Fox Studios!

The kids did it all themselves and that is what I intend to do at Hamilton Grammar. There is so much that could be done with the technology and will be a valuable whole school resource.

I was also witness to the World Premiere of the DGS TV Main Titles. An incredible piece of editing and imagination. I don't want to spoil it for you, but there is one part I just love... and I am thinking already of how I can rip it off in our 'Octopus'!

Mr Gallanagh, who is also an LTS Development Officer, also shared some ideas about CfE. And I am glad to say that much of what we are doing in our school already with Blogging and Podcasting is similar. I even had a wee chuckle to myself when we had a look at our SG Admin Schemes of Work - they had quite a few similarities too. We also showed each other some great websites that can be used for work with pupils.

Another excellent resource Mr Gallanagh showed me was using an online poll site that can be used for self-evaluation. This could be used with our kids giving their view of how we teach in the classroom. I think I will be binning my old Excel Questionaire (as displayed to me as a young Probationer many years ago by the former Headteacher of St Luke's, John Fitzpatrick) and moving into the digital age. Paul assures me that the charts and stats are all done for me online, rather than having to do it myself! I think it is important to get pupils, parents and colleagues views on how we are teaching in the class and most importantly acting on their views.

I would just like to thank once again Mr Gallanagh and his wonderful staff and the talented pupils of Dunoon. Mr Gallanagh even had me helping out in one of his Admin classes... what a cheapskate! Dunoon is set in beautiful environs and the kids and staff are lucky to have such an inspirational setting. I look forward to seeing their DGS TV shows in the future. It certainly has inspired me and I know it will inspire our students.