This short filler piece was published in the July-August issue of The Teacher magazine; the award-winning magazine for members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).
My ICT Favourites is a recurring feature where teachers can recommend useful software, gadgets and websites to their colleagues. You can click on the image of the piece, on the right-hand side to enlarge, or I have reproduced the copy below, so it is easier to read.
Favourite Software
Comic Life is a brilliantly simple piece of software which allows students to create comic books by importing their own photos. There are templates, speech bubbles, and the software is intuitive. Most features are ‘drag and drop’. It is great for creating visual narratives with SEN students, as it is so easy to use.
Favourite gadget
My favourite gadget has to be my scanner.It is extremely useful to be able to take a magazine or newspaper, scan it and put a full colour copy in your lesson resources. i also scan students’ original drawings. They can then manipulate them using Photoshop software, and combine hand drawn and digitally produced artwork.
Favourite websites
www.dafont.com is a great resource allowing students to download custom fonts for use in most programs. There’s a huge range, categorised by theme. Fonts are simple to download and install, and can make any type of design coursework look more professional.
www.filmeducation.org is a charity promoting the use of film in the curriculum. It provides excellent resources on its website, and will post you lesson ideas and resources if you register. It organises the excellent National Schools Film Week, where hundreds of free cinema screenings are available for students.
www.teachit.co.uk has a fantastic bank of free, high quality resources for English and media studies. The resources are relevent to current national curriculum and GCSE specifications and range from primary to A-Level, categorised by subject and content.
You can read the July-August issue of The Teacher, containing my piece online by clicking the link below:
Stuart Barton - Writer 