30 comments on “Contact Me”

  1. Hi Bill,

    It was good to meet you last week. I contacted Clive Gillman at DCA explaining that you would like to quote from the evaluation report and he will forward you a copy.

    I found your presentation interesting and we certainly have similar positive views and concerns about the role out of Curriculum for Excellence. I thought it was just me getting a wee bit cynical in my old age!!! Like you I think that children need to be taught in the real world and facilitated to read /understand it and make informed decisions. There is a huge danger that in this blame culture we inhabit that we wrap children up cotton wool to the point that they are denied the experiences they need and deserve. Furthermore, I notice that many of my colleagues refer only to the outcomes for CfE and not experiences or they view that the practitioners role is to create experiences that will deliver a particular outcome. While this is a necessary part of the process I firmly believe that experiences are important in their own right. It’s truely open-ended experiences, with no defined outcomes, that are the richest learning mixes. Learners have to map out the way, assess situations, make deicisions, apply prior learning, co-operate, succeed, cope with failure, reflect etc. – MAKE CONNECTIONS – Sorry I’m rabbiting on and you know all this already.

    Finally, wishing you all the best as you step out as a consultant. I stepped away from teaching last years at the end of the Scottish Screen secondment with a degree of trepidation but convinced that I needed a new direction. It has been a very interesting year where I have certainly learned a great deal about myself! Although I’ve not quite worked out the new direction yet – but there are lots of possibilities.

    All the best,

    Mairi

    Reply

  2. Hi Mairi,
    Good to meet you last week as well, and thanks for your generous comments. You make a good point about some experiences being of value in themselves. Thirty years ago there would have been no need to even make this explicit as it was accepted that learning was good in and of itself. We seem to have lost that in recent, measurement-obsessed times.

    Bill

    Reply

  3. Hi Bill,

    Thanks for seminar today. I am looking for Baboon on the Moon online without any luck so far. Any ideas?

    Thanks again

    Danny

    Reply

  4. Hi Danny,
    Thanks for coming. Baboon on the Moon is one of a collection of films produced by the British Film Institute (for 3-7 yr olds according to the pack but I think some of them can be used by kids who are older than that). You will find them at the BFI website as below.

    http://www.bfi.org.uk

    Good luck.
    Bill

    Reply

  5. Thank you for course on Saturday – started mulling over new ideas – looking forward to discussing them l

    Reply

  6. Hi Judith,
    Glad you found it useful. I look forward to discussing some of these ideas with you in more detail too. See you soon.
    Bill

    Reply

  7. Thoroughly enjoyed the Saturday INSET at Radisson. Have found the content very useful nad intend to us this with Upper Primary children who experience some diffisulites with reading.
    I can only support and fully endorse the reading aloud concept with all children , there being a place for this at all levels and stages.
    In our 21st Century living we must continue to find ways to accommodate the human voice and its place in communication.
    Indeed as an adult I still, when ‘stuck’ with certain text will read this out loud in order to understand it better!.

    Edna Dickinson
    LST Scotitsh Borders

    Reply

  8. Hi Edna,
    Glad you enjoyed the seminar and thanks for your generous comments. Good also to hear you supporting the practice of reading aloud for all ages, and I wholeheartedly agree with you, though not everyone does. I know exactly what you mean by reading it aloud when you’re stuck – we all do it! Good luck with using the strategies in upper primary and do come back and tell me how effective they are.

    Rgds
    Bill

    Reply

  9. Hello
    Concerns over the security of animoto were raised at the Lincluden Inset today. I had a shoofty at the site and it seems pretty secure as you have to log into your account before you can access any videos.
    The animation my son (Paul Boyd) was involved in is the happy duckling http://www.happyduckling.com/

    Thanks for some thought provoking discussion and new ideas to work on in class.
    Shellene Martin

    Reply

    • Hi Shellene,
      Thanks for doing that, and hope you enjoyed the day. I will certainly have a look at The Happy Duckling later on today – ta for the link.

      Bill

      Reply

  10. I found your presentation interesting and we certainly have similar positive views and concerns about the role out of Curriculum for Excellence. I thought it was just me getting a wee bit cynical in my old age!!! Like you I think that children need to be taught in the real world and facilitated to read /understand it and make informed decisions. There is a huge danger that in this blame culture we inhabit that we wrap children up cotton wool to the point that they are denied the experiences they need and deserve. Furthermore, I notice that many of my colleagues refer only to the outcomes for CfE and not experiences or they view that the practitioners role is to create experiences that will deliver a particular outcome. While this is a necessary part of the process I firmly believe that experiences are important in their own right. It’s truely open-ended experiences, with no defined outcomes, that are the richest learning mixes. Learners have to map out the way, assess situations, make deicisions, apply prior learning, co-operate, succeed, cope with failure, reflect etc. – MAKE CONNECTIONS – Sorry I’m rabbiting on and you know all this already.
    +1

    Reply

  11. Hello,
    I found you on LinkedIn, then Twitter, now your website… thought I’d drop you a line. I am a junior in High School and published my first novel Dec. 2010. Antiserum is a different kind of vampire novel and I am very proud of it. I’m well on my way with Part II of the series and learning quite a lot about marketing etc. as I go. I have found that connecting and speaking with people such as yourself, is an invaluable tool to me. I visit numerous sites and read constantly. Between research, writing, marketing, homework and life of a teenage girl, I guess I’m busy. I’m loving it though. If you like, please visit my website for a sneak peek of part II and vote whether I should use it.
    http://www.patriciacarrigan.com/help-the-author.html
    Then browse around and learn a bit about me… maybe fall into my nothing box. Being a girl, my nothing box is full of stuff.
    I’d like to hear from you. I’m easy to find. LinkedIn Patricia Carrigan, Twitter pcarrigan1
    Regards,
    Patricia A. Carrigan
    Author Antiserum

    Reply

  12. Hi Patricia,
    Good to hear from you – I haven’t connected with the teenage author of a Vampire novel before!I can’t say it’s my favourite genre by any means but when I look at the review of your first book on Amazon you definitely have some talent there. I will certainly have a look at your blog and have a sneak preview of Antiserum Part Two. Stay busy!

    Bill

    Reply

  13. Bill,

    I’m glad to be your first teenage vampire novelest. I’m not your ordinary vampire girl to be sure. I love to read the classics and books of all genres (favorite Poetry book of all time is Rhime of the Ancient Mariner), I write poetry, draw, create glasswork, and am an ex-cheerleader turned roller hockey player on a mostly boy league. I’m a huge animal lover which is probably due to all that time we spent at the Wild Animal Park/ San Diego Zoo while I was growing up. (I adopted a grizzly for Christmas) and what I really want is a teddy bear suit so I can skip down the street, wave my paw and make people smile. I’m passionate about writing and have an extremely supportive, huge family… I’m one of five kids and an identical twin. People who know me, wonder where the vampire thing comes from, but I seem to write it well. I write because I must. Look for Antiserum in the NY Review of Books most of April, I’m really excited about the London Fair issue on the 28th!

    Thank you again,

    Patricia A. Carrigan
    Author Antiserum
    http://www.patriciacarrigan.com/

    Reply

  14. Hi Bill
    just wanted to say Thank you for an interesting day. Will be looking at the websites you kindly shared with us and plan to change my next unit of work – which is creative writing – with S1 to incorprate one of the multimodal sites you showed us.
    Still think handwriting is important and still can’t see the need to give very piece of writing a ‘level’ – I feel that given that we are expecting pupils to take 2 or 3 years to progress through each level is there really any point in telling them on a regular basis the they are level 3 Developing ( or whatever)!
    Anyway hope you were wined and dined in style and enjoyed your day with us.
    Am going to see now whether I can get my head around twitter!
    Tracey

    Reply

    • Hi Tracey,
      Thanks for taking the trouble to leave a comment, and thanks for coming yesterday. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please make sure you use the wiki to engage in the various discussion threads too. This is where the debate will be continue. Had a great night out last night – lots of laughs and a great bunch of people. Hope to be back up in Stornoway as soon as possible!

      Rgds
      Bill

      Reply

  15. Hi Bill,

    My book Antiserum and I have finally been noticed by the newspaper. I was interviewed for a story and they did a photo shoot. The reporter liked my story and the fact that I want to donate 50% of my royalties to charities so she is organizing my first book signing event. Isn’t that neat? Just thought I’d give you an update.

    Best Regards,

    Patricia A. Carrigan
    Author Antiserum

    Reply

  16. Hi Patricia,
    Good to hear from you, and good news about the book signing event! You must be feeling like a real author now even if you weren’t before. Make sure you let us know how it goes.

    Best wishes,
    Bill

    Reply

  18. Hey Patti,
    What a great article. And from reading it your parents are obviously very proud of you. I hope the sequel does just as well and one day we may be watching Antiserum – The Movie! Best of luck with it.

    Bill

    Reply

  19. At the Edinburgh course on Sat you showed a clip near the end of your presentation about Transmedia. The clip was of a man showing an e-book on windfarms to an audience. I was wondering where I could find this clip? Have searched the web but found nothing.

    Thanks

    Reply

  20. Hi Bill,

    Well I’ve been busy! I even had a book signing at Starbucks! It was wonderful. Due to the article, our local Starbucks manager called and offered to do a signing on Memorial Day. They even advertised at all 25 of their sister locations! How terrific are they? I decided to donate 50% of all my profits, (royalties, signings, everything) to The Burn Institute of San Diego. I don’t know if you are familar with their work. They do wonderful things in supporting research and burn survivor both children and adult. I’m amazed at their programs. My sister was burned in an accident as a child and benefitted from new research and later Camp Beyond the Scars which is supported completely by the Burn Institute and its supporters. She went twice per year for free learning how to deal with things and becme a very confident young woman and now a counsellor in training for camp. I guess in a small way I’m “paying it forward.”

    I’ve updated my website with photos from signings and information on th Institute as well as adding some new poetry I wrote this year. I would love for you to drop by.

    http://www.patriciacarrigan.com/

    Hope all is well with you,

    Patricia Carrigan
    author Antiserum

    Reply

  22. Hi Patti,
    Good to hear you’ve been busy. Sounds like the book signing was a lot of fun too. I hadn’t heard of the Burn Institute, being so far away on another continent but from what you say it is doing great work for people like your sister – well done to them and well done to you for thinking of others even in your biggest moment. Oh, and I don’t think a few typos are going to stand in your way! Keep writing.

    Bill

    Reply

  24. Hi Patti,
    Great interview. Good chance to talk about the Camp Beyond the Stars as well! Noticed you were also spreading the word about the benefits of social networking.
    Best wishes,
    Bill

    Reply

  25. Congratulations on your Freshly Pressed!

    Is it just me? I’ve found grey/white on a black background quite difficult to read. I quite like to keep coming back, but this contrast is hurting my eyes.

    All the best to you.

    Reply

    • Thanks for the feedback Janet. I hadn’t thought of the white on black issue but I am probably due to change the theme sometime soon so I hope it doesn’t put you off completely!

      Reply

      • Thanks. I’ve subscribed to your blog as I like its content. I’m not dyslexic, but I’m aware that this contrast is not comfortable to visually impaired readers.

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