Day 321 - Acronym City

Wednesday March 3rd

Another day at University, cunningly planned to miss 3 lessons. Today was what they called a secondary conference - we rotated around 4 different seminars to learn as much as we could. I chose the following:

1. VLE/MLE - acronym for Virtual or Managed Learning Environment. The former is basically a web based extranet that gives staff, pupils and parents access to information as well as ability to set and submit homework. The latter is a database school management system. Some schools combine the two quite effectively. I had two epiphanies during this session. Firstly, that Kings' is light years behind the ball in this area and secondly, I'm changing my GTP assignment to "What role can an integrated VLE/MLE play in extending pupil learning and differentiation in schools ?". I could write this in my sleep. I will need to.

2. NLP - Some neuro psychologist pontificating on how he deals with his patients. It was quite thought provoking but he was so arrogant he wound everyone up. Humourous.

3. Behaviour management in the classroom - silence is a powerful tool...unless they are throwing chairs at you.

4. SEAL - more acronyms than you can shake a stick at. This one was the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning. He was basically saying that a successful learner has emotional dimensions that we rarely cater for.