I’ve just spent a wonderful day with a group of year 9 students doing an “ICT Booster Day”. No, really, it was wonderful. No sarcasm there for once. Why was it wonderful?

Well when you’re training to be a teacher you have this mental image of what teaching is, and then a dim memory of being at school and what it was really like. You imagine it to be a bit like the adverts, with bright, intelligent interested children asking you why the sky is blue, where baby whales come from and why water doesn’t run off the bottom of the Earth. Your own experiences at school probably contain a few memories of teachers you liked, and quite a few memories of teachers you hated and were a little bastard for.

Then, as a trainee teacher you get put in a classroom and discover what’s in your head doesn’t match what’s in your classroom.

Well not today. The kids were making a website, editing video and making a leaflet. With the exception of three students, everyone was really interested and keen and in addition to learning stuff, they actually had fun.

Now to work out how to apply this to normal every day teaching.