We had another excellent MGiS training session in December, working with the new cohort of teachers who proved to be a highly creative and reflective bunch and very enjoyable to work with! They have all now scurried back to their schools and are busy planning and preparing - and even blogging - as they get their projects underway. I am looking forward to visiting! Follow the MGiS project blogs to keep up with all the school developments with MGiS.
And I have had fun to date visiting the Cohort 1 schools, seeing some great work and exemplary practice. I was very interested to see how well the computer science-English department partnerships have been working in the two high schools who have opted for a joint approach. The central role of the fantasy text has been very helpful for all concerned, giving a focus to CS lessons and bringing staff and pupils together in a strongly creative way. I've made a new page on the site to gather thoughts about all things fantasy, so do please send us your ideas. Richard, too, is doing sterling cross-curricular creative stuff in his P7 class and the kids are equally well-motivated. I am looking forward to visiting the Cohort 2 schools this term, especially now the snow has eased!
We are encouraging our project teachers to develop their practice and deepen their understandings around games in schools (although it has to be said they're already pretty far down this track!). We hope all teachers will enjoy our new page for learning professionals which has with lots of useful reading and information related to games and learning in the classroom, including a link to the General Teaching Council for Scotland who can give accreditation for work in this field.
We are busy making preps for training Cohorts 3 and 4 in quick succession, so time is running out if you want to apply - see the project info page to find out more. It would seem we are already over-subscribed for Cohort 4, but there may still be a chance of joining Cohort 3 if you have a strong application and are quick with your technical checks - very, very important! No good having great plans if the kit ends up letting you down . . .