Mangos, Yellow Fever and Ghana

Yesterday I went to the Glasgow Airport Travel Clinic and received my Yellow Fever jag. I felt a bit sick and had a slight headache. But Yellow Fever prevention is mandatory before going to Ghana or else you simply will not get in.

Mr Dyer of Science (who has been several times and is the person who has made all the brilliant links with our friends in Donkorkrom) is going as is Mr Bowen of Modern Studies and History. I am also going to go and am looking forward to it.

It will be great to see the mango farm being planted while we are over there. The firms that are sponsoring our Carbon Offset project will see pictures of us there and also at the Spartanburg Orphanage where the proceeds of our fundraising go to.

It promises to be a very interesting and exciting trip and I look forward to making a contribution while over in Ghana. Adding value as my friend Mr Derek would say (he's living the high life in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

So early July is the date we set off and hopefully by then we shall have many more sponsors on board. I was delighted we got Schuh on early and also Scot-Tel. Mr Dyer secured Hollandbush Nursery, and Mr Stewart is in talks with Scottish Power and Community Windpower. I am also looking at Timber firms such as Tower Doors and Kelvin Timber. Our modernisation builders, Morgan Ashwood are also interested.

Next step is to create some flyers to see if we can attract some more interest!

In the News...

Some Business headlines at home and abroad....


Hundreds lose jobs as mill closes

Over 350 jobs are set to be lost after it was decided Inverurie Paper Mill is to close.
International Paper has announced the mill in Aberdeenshire will shut by the end of March as no financially viable alternative has been found.


Slowdown in house price decline


Scottish house prices have continued to fall but the rate of decline has slowed, according to research by Lloyds TSB.
The bank's Scottish House Price Monitor showed the average domestic property dropped in value by 2.3% in the three months to 31 January.
The previous figures published in November showed a 4% fall - the largest in the 16-year history of the monitor.
On an annual basis house prices have risen by 1.6%.
Lloyds TSB said the average mix adjusted Scottish house price was now £158,820.

Domino's delivers strong profits

Domino's Pizza has reported strong profits growth in 2008 after consumers looked to cheaper alternatives to eating out during the downturn.
Profits at the pizza firm in the UK and Irish Republic rose 24.7% to £23.4m, with like-for-like sales up 10%.
The company opened 52 new stores during the year and created 1,800 jobs, with total sales up 18.4%.
Fast food and home delivery chains are some of the few businesses profiting during the recession.
Indeed a third of the company's 2.7 million customers during the year were new customers.
The company has also seen a strong start to the new year, with like-for-like sales up 15% in the first six weeks of 2009.
Domino's plans to open another 50 new stores this year, taking the total number of Domino's outlets to over 600. It hopes to have at least 1,000 open within the next 10 years.

Air bag jacket 'could save lives'

Dozens of motorcyclists' lives could be saved every year if air bag jackets were made compulsory, accident and emergency doctors have said.
The jackets are the equivalent of car air bags and inflate if the rider is thrown off during a crash.
In one version, the jacket is attached to the bike by a lead which detaches when the rider has come off suddenly.
The Department of Transport said it had no plans for a new law but said it welcomed anything to improve safety.

China warns against protectionism

China has warned that protectionist measures in other countries' economic stimulus packages will make the bad financial situation even worse.
A commerce ministry spokesman expressed "deep concern" about the measures.
At the weekend, a commentary published by the official news agency Xinhua singled out the "Buy American" provisions in the US' stimulus package.
China fears this is a sign the Obama administration will pursue protectionist policies in the future.
America's multi-billion dollar stimulus package was approved by Congress on Friday.


20,000 jobs may go in California

Cash-strapped California is to start notifying 20,000 state workers that they may lose their jobs.
A spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made the announcement after California lawmakers failed to approve a $40bn (£28.2bn) budget.
California, the world's eighth biggest economy, has been hit by the housing crisis, unemployment and falling consumer spending.
The jobs on the government payroll would be cut in June.
It would be done in preparation for the next fiscal year, which starts in July.
"In the absence of a budget, the governor has a responsibility to realise state savings any way he can," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Republican governor Schwarzenegger.
"This is unfortunately a necessary decision."


Japan finance minister steps down

Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has resigned, amid claims that he was drunk at a recent G7 meeting.
Mr Nakagawa said earlier that he would wait until parliament had approved a supplementary budget to step down.
But he brought forward his departure after calls for his immediate exit escalated.
Prime Minister Taro Aso said he respected Mr Nakagawa's decision and named Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano to take over the finance portfolio.
Mr Nakagawa apologised for "causing such a big fuss" and told journalists: "I decided that it would be better for the country if I quit."


Intel announces $7bn plant plan

Computer chipmaker Intel has announced plans to build new plants worth $7bn (£4.78bn) weeks after announcing the closure of five plants.
The world's biggest chipmaker says the investment will fund 7,000 jobs in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico.
Last month, Intel said it was cutting up to 6,000 jobs in response to slowing consumer demand for computers.
It also aims to increase production of faster chips. Two of the plants being closed make older-style chips.
"Spending this money will lower our costs and give us more competitive products. It's something that's fundamental to our business model," said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini.
"From our perspective this is a cheaper, better technology," he said.

Source: BBC News

So there are some headlines from, around the world. Interesting that some firms such as Domino's are bucking the trend of shedding jobs. Also this is the first real test of the Asian/Pacific Tiger Economies of which you know I am quite interested in. Japan had a long deflationary period and a recession of its own, but now it is the turn of South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and also the new powerhouse on the block, China.

Remember the video on Wal-Mart? Most of their goods were made in China. Even during the boom times the terms and conditions for the employees were pretty scandalous... so what will it be like now?

How does the world recover from this recession? That is the $1 Trillion Dollar question. Obviously more public money will be used to start spending projects (in the Great Depression the Americans built the Interstate system and the Nazis built the Autobahns) but it doesn't always work. Perhaps it is just a case of the balance or equilibrium falling back into place. So that after times of over-inflated prosperity there has to be times of hardship. Not good news, I know, but perhaps closer to the truth.

If you have time, look at what is know as the Kondratiev Wave theory and also look up a little known US politician Huey Long.

I'll be asking about this in class and I will post the answers in a week or so. Both are interesting and relate to what is happening at present.

In the News...

Amazon profits from festive sales

Amazon's sales increased despite the recession.
Profit at online retailer Amazon rose 9% in the final three months of last year, as the company enjoyed a robust holiday shopping season.


Car sector contracts in January

The car industry has been hit by the slowdown
The number of new cars registered in the UK in January declined 30.9% year-on-year, according to industry figures, worse than December's contraction.


Further cut in UK rates expected

The Bank's latest rates decision is due at midday
The Bank of England is widely expected to reduce UK interest rates to 1% from the current 1.5% when it makes its latest monthly decision later.


Obama unveils executive pay cap

President Obama: 'We're demanding restraint in exchange for Federal aid'
US President Barack Obama has announced a $500,000 (£355,000) limit on executive pay at US firms that need substantial fresh government aid.


Vauxhall staff cut working hours

The Ellesmere Port plant stopped production for one month
Staff at Vauxhall's car plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton are taking a cut in pay after agreement was reached to reduce their working hours.

Links with Canada

Hamilton Grammar school are developing links with Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Ontario!

So hopefully some of our Business classes can get involved with our Canadian counterparts. I think it would be interested to see what differences in curriculum there are.

I have visited 3 American schools before (all in Minnesota) and were very impressed by their facilities. In particular Apollo High in St Cloud and Sartell High in Sartell.

The blog we have set up for correspondence is http://worldview2020.blogspot.com/.

Pro Boards

Mr McAlpine has used this already with his classes and so now is Mr Arthur, so I have decided to follow suit!

I have created forums for Higher Business Management, Higher Administration and Standard Grade Administration.

I will get you to create accounts in classtime, and then it gives you an interactive forum to ask questions and actually study together online!

I know I do not have to tell you guys but obviously you know you have to behave accordingly.

It is a brilliant resource and I implore you to use it.

Rich Task CPD

Last night I attended a CPD event run by former Hamilton Grammar staff member and now Head of English at Hamilton College, Paul Mason.

Paul introduced the concept of the Rich Task - having pupils work independently on a project that involves cross-curricular themes.

The one Hamilton Grammar did was on Planetary Colonisation and had Primary kids who were coming up to the big school plan everything to do with starting out on a new world. It involved Science, Maths, Geography and English.

The Rich Task idea came from Queensland and is now very much part of the CfE!

It got me thinking that the two S1 units myself and Mr Robbie Alexander introduced into the S1 IT curriculum last year were in fact mini Rich Tasks.

Rather than just teaching pupils powerpoint we created African Adventure - which not only had pupils working in teams but having to touch on many different subject bases (Geography, Modern Studies, Languages, Business) as they investigated, researched and presented their findings to a class final and then through to the Year final. Our project was a success and seems to be going well again this year. It was mainly based on the idea of Citizenship and getting pupils to think about the wider world.

The other unit was a mock Dragons Den whereby the skills they had learned through the year were brought together to create a final product. They had to send emails, use graphics to draw prototypes, type up letters, create posters, scan in images, and research competitors. It was basically to introduce some Enterpreneurial spirit into our S1!!!

So while our ideas did not come under the Rich Task banner, I do feel there is some commonailty and perhaps writing a proper Rich Task could be the next step. As Paul explained there are ways to write the planning sheet which I actually quite like.

One final thing though which I have to point out to Paul... our S1 African Adventure DID have Presentation Assessment criteria! That was one of the main ideas behind it. It was not just the actual powerpoint skills that were being assessed but also the content and the delivery. I like teachers to add value and if we can teach pupils presentation and communication skills at an early age then that helps every subject and pupil in the long run!

Paul did a great job and I look forward to seeing what new Rich Tasks he will conjure up in the future.

Big Chef takes on Little Chef

Here was a programme that if the swearing was edited out (like Kitchen Nightmare's) would be a great resource for Business Management pupils.

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal who runs the Fat Duck pub in Bray is famous for hsi scientific approach to food.

Little Chef, the British roadside icon asked him to help rejuvinate the dying brand. Heston did so... to an extent.

He encountered marketing problems, including conducting his own market research as well as designing/developing the product (the menu) and even had HR issues such as training up the Little Chef staff and turn them from microwave heater-uppers into cooks.

A very interesting and entertaining programme, a bit stage managed though, but I guess that is TV.

Perhaps we could write to Heston and ask him some questions about his experiences?

Vozme - From Text to Speech

While taking a look around Douglas Semple's ICT Maverick blog I found his post on another blogger's page, Jane Knight.

It centred around what is called Vozme and can be found here

It turns text into speech, so I think we will give that a try for revision!

Perhaps even all my long winded notes can be uploaded and then turned into speech for download to your iPod or mp3 player.

Worth a go anyway!

In the News...

JAPANESE OUTPUT FALLS
Industrial output in Japan dropped 8.5% in November compared with the previous month, larger than initially estimated.
The drop represents the biggest fall since records of such output statistics began in 1953.
Compared with a year earlier, the country's industrial output fell 16.6%, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

KPMG OFFER SHORTER WEEK TO STAFF
Staff at accounting and consulting giant KPMG have been told they can save their jobs by working a four-day week or taking a short break on 30% pay.
The firm is attempting to stave off redundancies among its 11,000 strong workforce.
A spokesman said it was impossible to rule out job cuts in the future but the offer was on a voluntary basis.

IRISH BANK TO BE NATIONALISED
The Irish government has said it is to nationalise the Anglo Irish Bank after its funding problems continued.
The state had planned on pumping 1.5bn euros (£1.4bn) into the bank, but has decided that recapitalisation is not the way to secure its future.
Anglo Irish has about 100bn euros on its books, but there was no need for customers to act, the state said.

HERTZ SLASH WORKFORCE
Car rental firm Hertz is to cut more than 4,000 jobs as it makes further cost savings amid slowing demand.
Hertz has already cut its workforce by 22% in the last two years. The new cuts mean the firm has trimmed its staff numbers by 32% since August 2006.
The firm, which has about 29,350 workers in 144 countries, said the cuts would occur across all regions.

Sources: BBC Business News

My Great Scot - Adam Smith

With all this hoo-hah over the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation's favourite poet, Mr Rabbie Burns, I thought I'd just present a case for my own personal favourite, Adam Smith.

Sadly many people do not know who he is, but he is "the Father of Modern Economics" and while that may not sound that impressive, trust me it is.

Adam Smith's views on Trade could be found in his famous book published in 1776: "The Wealth of Nations". I am working on a slideshow about Adam Smith and intend to make a video also.

Perhaps this could be a job for Weh TV or HGS Digital?

Anyway back to Adam Smith, who I admit I hadn't really heard much about until I did Economics at University.

He basically is an advocate of laissez-faire or 'hands off' meaning that the Government should not interfere with the nation's economy and let businesses run themselves for profit and thereby creating jobs and providing goods and services. He believed in free trade, free enterprise and free economy.

This is obviously good for the entrepreneur, but it can lead to ethical considerations. Employees have interests that have to be satisfied, with safety obviously being the first port of call. Would Adam Smith approve of firms cutting corners to profiteer? Adam Smith believed that by creating jobs and making a profit the wealthy would put back into society and therefore it would lead to social good. Yet, if we think of Gordon Gecko's infamous line in Wall Street: 'Greed is good'.

He coined the phrase The Invisible Hand, which means that the market guides itself. In other words what we need and want and consume will eventually be found out by firms who will then produce the items needed to satisfy customers/consumers.

He also was an advocate of the division of labour, in other words dividing a product into small stages that workers can work on and then finally assemble the finished product, a bit like the modern assembly line. Again, what would he think of Linn Products and the employee-technician who makes the entire sound system from scratch? Naturally the advantage of division of labour is that you can produce more quantity and volume, which was what was needed back at the onset of the Industrial Revolution.

Linn Products of course are a highly skilled company and aim for a very exclusive niche in the market. High volume products do not, they target a far wider market.

Adam Smith would not have approved for the National Minimum Wage either!

He did however not believe in monopolies which are naturally bad for customers as a monopoly can set their own prices.

I wonder what Adam Smith would make of the recent Government funding of so many failing banks?

So I leave you again with Adam Smith as my Great Scot because without him the world would be very different!

Weh TV Update

Our first rehearsal (sans Greenscreen!) went well on Monday. Now for the real thing on Thursday!

Mr Ferguson and his team of pupils have done a great job in creating an intro for us.

Stuart (Eco Group) will be our first interviewee and Ramis will perform music for our closing section.

Once we get our greenscreen we will be onto a winner.

Also congratulations to Dunoon Grammar and their successful launch of DGS TV. They did get permission from Snow Patrol to use the track Open Your Eyes, so we need to get our thinking hats on.

To view DGS TV's intro click here

And we need to think of how we can make our show that little bit different!

Audacity and Blogger guides

In response to a recent request,

my guides for Blogger and Audacity can be downloaded here:


Blogger
here

Audacity
here

Happy blogging and happy podcasting!

Hamilton produces a Champion!

Congratulations to one of the S6 Higher Business Management pupils, Fraser Porteous. Fraser won £100 of vouchers from the SQA for being one of the best game players for the Sport4Life Business Game.

Fraser is also the Managing Director of Pinnacle, our Young Enterprise Group, so I hope he can be as successful when it comes to real life!

UK Jobs under threat at Toyota

Toyota could trim its UK workforce after a sharp decline in demand led it to post its first losses since 1941, it was reported.

The Japanese car giant has forecast an operating loss of 150 billion yen (£1.12 billion) for the financial year ending next March - the first such loss since it began reporting operating figures.
According to the Times, Toyota could cut up to 800 jobs in the UK, or 15% of its workforce, adding to the 40,000 positions expected to be shed from the UK car industry's 200,000 total over the next three years.

The Times said declining demand was "likely" to trigger redundancies across Toyota's business.
The car maker has not made any of its permanent staff redundant, but it is understood to have already cut an unspecified number of temporary workers.

Toyota promised to do all it could to retain permanent British workers, but has reportedly not ruled out the possibility of redundancies.

Source: The Press Association

To read or see more information on Toyota, you can watch my presentation called: Toyota the Supermarket for Cars Here at Slide Share

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

To all my students (that sounds a bit like Yoda, doesn't it?) have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

To S1, keep enjoying yourselves and work hard.

To S2, start thinking about your career choices and what works best for you as an individual. You have to pick subjects for 2 years!

To S3, remember it won't be long before you are in S4 and facing the only exams of your life you can't resit. So no pressure then.

To S4, you have your Prelim out of the way and now to do a good job in the projects. We need you all to attend and work to your very best. I honestly think you can achieve some great grades with a little bit of hard work.

To S5 and S6, some of you show great maturity and work hard, some of you sadly are still a wee bit immature and to be brutally frank should have left school.

You guys do not realise it but you are role models for all the younger pupils. Your actions come with responsibility and have consequences.

But all is not lost for you. You have the Prelims coming up and I know there will be some people achieving great grades, some doing okay and others who we will have no choice but to change levels.

The challenge I set to you all is prove me wrong. If I said you will get a C, make me eat my words and get a B. If I said B, then get an A. If I said you will probably end up in Int 2, then go dazzle in the Prelim.

There is nothing I would like better than to say well done to senior school students who have achieved and earned their grades.

I do not want to frighten you but if you are going to University or College you'd better get used to the pressure of exams as you have this pressure in your lives for the next 3-5 years, and a lot more frequently.

It is tough at the top!

Best Wishes

MM

S1-S2 Xmas Disco!

Ho ho ho and Season's Greetings.

Tonight we're going to the Xmas Disco for the Junior School. Here's some silly person dressed up as Santa last year. Wonder who that is?

And in the top picture we have Magnum P.I. and someone who used to be in Take That!

I wonder what kind of pictures we are going to see tonight?

It's coming!

The first meeting of would-be TV stars will be held in X3 this Wednesday lunchtime, with me, Mr McGowan.

While we wait for our very own Greenscreen to arrive, we'll look at the filming process from the page to the screen.

That means you guys will be writing and planning the content of our own TV show.

But not everyone wants to be a TV star. Some of you may prefer staying behind the scenes in the production and editing departments. Or could we have set designers and make-up artists on show?

Who knows. Just remember that it is YOUR show. So we want to hear from you and all your good ideas.

The recruitment drive starts now. We aim to have a very rough pilot show sans greenscreen before we break up for Christmas.

So get your skates on!

Dragon in to save Woolies

At last one of my predictions look like they are coming true.

The Dragon who has a knack of bailing out poor performing companies and turning them into hits is Theo Paphitis, the Cypriot born millionnaire who once was Chairman of Millwall. In fact students will see his brilliant episode of Back to the Floor in the very near future.

Theo seemed the ideal man to take on the failing Woolworths company. I hope he does save at least some of the famous stores, if only because it is a name symbolic with British childhood. Woolie's pic and mix is legendary.

30,000 staff could be made unemployed if Woolworths were to go under. Including a current S6 pupil of mine, and what a terrible Xmas that would be for everyone.

How will Theo turn it around?

Some analysts have blamed Woolworths poor positioning as their main problem. They were slow to react to the 'One-stop shops' like Tesco and Asda where you can buy stationery, chocolates, DVDs and CDs... many of the items Woolies stocks. They were cheap but not cheap enough. And they couldn't rebrand into being a pricier store, because public perceptions would not change overnight.

Theo may well streamline the less profitable stores and cut down on employees, stock and the products offered. He obviously could use his own Stationery stores to supply Woolworths and perhaps even some of his Dragons' Den investments.

Can he turn it around? I think he could do, but one thing is for certain. Woolworths will be a different and smaller outfit this time next year if it is to be saved.

S4 Prelims

Good luck to our Admin and Accounting pupils sitting their first 'real' exams.

If you need any study help or advice feel free to contact me via school email or post on the SG Admin blog, and I will get back to you ASAP.

I will make available online the topic by topic questions which will be good for final exam revision, and I have some other study aid resources that I will print off for you and put online.

Next up will be the Practical Projects. With that in mind, I intend to create some more screencasts to aid your own learning.

In particular, I know I haven't put much up for Databases, so I will go through the Arrangements document for SG Admin and my best to create screencasts for each of the skills that could be asked.

I will obviously try and complete the WP and SS too, but I guess you can appreciate that it is a lot of work and it does take time. But I aim to make 3 a week, and over Xmas do at least 1 per day. That hopefully will mean a mountain of valuable online resources that can be viewed in class and even at home.

Try your best in the Prelim and answer every question. Remember the KU question really comes from the book and the notes, whereas the PS question really comes from you applying your understanding of the theory to a real problem and using common sense to come to the solution.

Good luck!

Senior School Ceilidh at Hamilton Grammar 2008

Congratulations to everyone involved in the Senior School Ceilidh tonight.

There were a few mix-ups when it came to ticket sales early doors with our intrepid sales force being twice (yes, not once but twice!) locked out of the Hatch and the tickets were inside!!!

Craig Morrice did a sterling job in giving the Senior School the patter... I mean sales pitch to come to what was a fun event.

S5 really got into the spirit of things, though we were a bit disappointed with the turnout from the current S6. But hey-ho that's the gamble you take when introducing a new event to a busy school calendar. I just know next year we will have double the people.. but then again it is all about atmosphere and enjoying yourself. I even got up for a dance!

Well done to the Young Enterprise group for providing the usual refreshments and we have found a Willy Wonka style product to send the wee S1 and S2s into dreamland at the upcoming Xmas Disco.

The performers did a fantastic job led my Mrs MacLeod and a former pupil John McCulloch. Also hats off to Mr MacLeod for doing his compere and getting everyone up dancing and involved. It could have been a tricky gig to pull off, but I think we can all say it was a job well done.

Now, as you sip your Horlicks and snuggle up to read the latest Martina Cole, you can give yourself a big pat on the back.

And I know even those people who perhaps were a bit embarrassed at the start... c'mon we all know you enjoyed yourself. And even though life has many pressures, you need to enjoy yourself too. When you get a wee bit older you stop worrying about what other people think and don't even think about getting a 'riddy' as we say in Glasgow, but you just go and enjoy yourself.

In my opinion it is events like this that make a school and a community. It is good to see them supported by the pupils.

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.

HGS Digital - Pilot Video

As part of the HGS Digital scheme in the school, I have started filming and uploading teacher lessons. Hopefully in time pupils will be recording and uploading these vids for the school.

I did a short demo (the one on Donald Trump) but it was rather embarrassing!!! I have added more screencasts also to Teacher Tube for you guys to use in class. It is really a great learning resource for Administration at all levels.

To branch out a bit I have approached some enthusiastic teachers who have some great ideas to show the world.

First up was Miss McAree in Science. Her video explained about Chemical Reactions and had some cracking examples in it. My favourite bit is with the magnesium and the Bunsen burner. The flame was very, VERY bright!

Next up will be Mr Bowen (History) who will tell us a bit about the Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck.

Future tutorials/vids will include (fingers crossed) Mr Anderson (PE) and Mr Cunningham (French). With more to follow.

I want the student's feedback on this, and you can tell me what lessons/demonstrations do you think would be most valuable.

At the end of the day we are doing this to help you study at home and improve your grades. But we also hope it will be fun. And most importantly we want you to get in on the act by writing scripts, filming and editing.

Yearbook Deposits

The Yearbook team are now taking in deposits. It will be £5 for the deposit and the chance to reserve your 2009 copy of HGS Yearbook.

Please contact myself, Miss Jackson or Mr Currie and we'll make sure you're on the list!

Fifa Tournament 2009

Tuesday marks the start of the much awaited XBox/PS3 Tournament to be played at lunchtimes.

64 entrants are battling for the prizes and to become Hamilton Grammar's Fifa 2009 champion.

Who will win?

Higher Admin News

I have added Letter Layout as a revision tool for those who wish it on Higher Admin 2009.

Also remember to make use of my screencasts. Follow the link to Administration ICT Skills and then select the appropriate MS Office package i.e Excel.

I will put more screencasts up soon.

Halloween Discos

A great couple of nights were had by all at the S1/S2 disco run by Mr Dyer and the Eco Group (DJ was Mr Ferguson, who was dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi - I was impressed!!!) and also at Hamilton Rugby Club for the S6 disco.

The S6 disco is run by the Yearbook Team (myself and Miss Jackson) and the pupils turned out in some amazing costumes.

There was only one winner however. A pupil who shall remain nameless dressed up as Mr Colin Stewart, our Headteacher! The Headie took it in good spirit and even posed for a pic with the rascal.

Perhaps in the future we can get the picture up, as it was brilliant.

I joined in the spirit of things by dressing up as an old, weathered teacher - no, not Mr Arthur, but Indiana Jones.

Can't wait for the Xmas discos!

SBEA Conference 2008

Just back from Perth and was funny to bump into quite a few familiar faces.

The Key Note speaker was Colin Temple, MD of Schuh and his presentation was interesting as it gave us an insight into the timeline of Schuh's ups and downs and reasons/explanations for them. He was also an advocate of reducing his firm's carbon footprint, so perhaps he may be a useful contact for our Eco Group. I made sure I got his card!!!

I also attended the Higher/Int 2 Business Management Command Words seminar, and again there were some useful ideas which I intend to put into practice with my class next week. I attended a similar Higher Admin programme run by Pamela Brown and Karen McLeod of South Lanarkshire which was pretty helpful. It gave general examples of how to answer questions with the different command words eg COMPARE Madonna and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The kids loved it when I tried it. I held off doing one for Higher BM since I know there are slight differences between the subject's command words even though they are under the umbrella of Business Education.

Mr Paul Gallanagh, PT of Dunoon Grammar - and an old school friend of mine - displayed some aspects of aCfE in action with an innovative use of greenscreen technology (ChromaKey as it is called) with History pupils creating a show investigating the Wars of Scottish Independence. The kids wrote, presented, edited and produced the show on their own. Paul was an award winning project leader at Our Lady and Saint Patrick's in Dumbarton and created the UK's first school TV station - OLSP TV. I am currently working away in the shadows on a few ideas of my own which will be revealed in the near future. In the meantime, just keep your eyes on TeacherTube. (BTW congratulations to Alva Academy who have created quite a few vids on TeacherTube). Pity my own wee vids never made it to Reporting Scotland, but then again give me time people of Hamilton....

Financial Education was the last port of call in a busy day (the lunch was pretty good at the Dewar Centre!!!) and Jim Lally talked us through some ideas to help us nip our Headie's head until they get Business Education (and not Maths, Home Eccies or PSE) back at the forefront of financial ed.

Lastly, with everything that is going on in aCfE, it really has made me wonder whether some of the sterling work that our own Faculty has done over the last couple of years could indeed be adapted for aCfE. Though personally I have some good ideas of my own which I am keeping to myself just now. But all I am saying is that I believe there should be more of the National Priorities and Transferable Skills embedded into the S1-S3 course which we will ultimately end up having to write.

But it HAS, it MUST contain some elements of Business Education and not just be a vehicle for ICT or else the Faculty system will have failed teachers, parents and most of all our pupils.

So let's have a S1-S3 curriculum that can educate, inform and entertain BUT it has to also be relevant. I am afraid to say it could spell the end of the weemee culture we have in our school!!!

Community Links AGM

Today myself and the formidable Mrs Shannahan took a group of 18 pupils to the Community Links AGM and Volunteer Awards held in the new community centre adjacent to Blantyre Miners Welfare Social Club.

It was a great couple of hours and we were made to feel very welcome by all the regulars. We were one of two schools, Calderside in Blantyre attended.

From an Educational point of view our students saw a real life AGM taking place and learned a few details about the differences between Charitable status and the advantages given to such organisations.

Our students also took part in a quiz using the PPV pads which was a lot of fun and we nabbed 3rd place earning one of our pupils a box of chocolates. If I had have known Ringo Starr was older than John Lennon we would have been spending i-Tunes vouchers like there was no tomorrow.

Community Links are involved in so many worthwhile projects, helping support the regeneration of Blantyre and Hamilton, as well as really bringing people together whether it is helping put PCs into people's houses or writing, editing and publishing the Community Matters newspaper.

I hope we shall be going every year and also I hope our classes, our school, indeed our community can offer some help to the already great volunteers who do such a worthwhile job.

Perhaps some of our students in Hamilton Grammar may end up as Volunteers in the future.

When you see the contribution in terms of the most precious thing we have - time - given by people it makes you realise that together as a community great things do happen every day. A brilliant tonic to the doom and gloom we read and see in the news.

So on behalf of Hamilton Grammar and the S6 Business students, thanks once again for having us.

Oh - and the lunch was superb!!!

Work - Life Balance... what is that?

I was escaping the Scottish weather by playing golf in Spain last week, but now we are back to business.

Higher BM are nearing their first nab;
Higher Admin are polishing off Excel tasks;
SG Admin are undergoing Integrated Tasks in S4, and S3s are being introduced (or reminded) about the pleasures of Spreadsheets
S2 are in Graphics mode
S1 are sending their emails!

I have 2 CPD courses this week (one on eTwinning, and the other related to Higher Admin).

Our Halloween Disco tickets are now on sale...
Our Young Enterprise shares are also now on sale...

I have an International Education committee meeting tonight after school...

And on Wednesday I am taking S6 to the Community Links AGM/Volunteer Awards at Blantyre Miners Community Resource Centre.

This is turning into one of the busiest weeks ever!

Plus I aim to upload more screencasts to TeacherTube and perhaps even some educational videos with a slight angle, and more slideshows to slideshare.net. It is funny now how many young teachers are blogging, podcasting or using a wiki. I remember when I was looked at when I showed people in my previous schools how to embed their slides in blogs! We've come a long way.

I am just glad pupils use the blog not so much as correspondence but as a resource. I tried using it for homework in the past, but perhaps I should try again, but sometimes it can lose its focus.

Anway, must dash my first meeting is in a few minutes!!!

Credit Crunch Jokes

Q Why didn’t the little boy get any pocket money this week?
A Cos his Mum’s gone to Iceland!

Q What’s the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza?
A A large pizza can feed a family of four

Q What’s the difference between an investment banker and a pigeon?
A A pigeon can leave a deposit on a Ferrari

Q How do you define optimism?
A A banker who irons 5 shirts on a Sunday night

(Thanks to Jim Riley at Tutor2u.et)