A few months ago, a school where I have worked quite closely asked their children to write a story about a Superhero. This story was handed in by James Musgrove. It’s one of the nicest thing that’s ever been written about me.

THE HOMEWORK HERO

“Right children, your homework is to complete the fraction sheet. Have a good weekend and I will see you on Monday,” said Mr Humphries. He watched as all the children left the classroom.

He was looking forward to a relaxing weekend. The school went quiet, Mr Humphries tidied the desks and wiped the board clean, he picked up his bag and went home.

Later that evening, Mr Humphries got the funny vibrating feeling in his toes, someone needed his help.

He ran to his bedroom and came out almost straight away but looking different, his curly hair was now smoothed down and tied in a ponytail, his trousers and shirt were gone and he was wearing a blue and red jumpsuit. He looked at his special watch which gave him details of the person who needed him. He jumped on his super fast motor bike and whizzed off.

Meanwhile at 20 Park Road, Harry was sitting staring at his homework, it was so hard he didn’t know where to start. Suddenly his window flew open and MATHSMAN appeared.

Five minutes later everything seemed so simple, the answers were appearing in front of Harry’s eyes. Harry looked up to say thank you. “Remember, always use a sharp pencil” said MATHSMAN.

Mr Humphries made a cup of tea and sat down to read the paper, he was just dozing off when he felt his toes tingling. He was needed again!

He arrived at Katie’s house, her new puppy Bill was barking loudly so MATHSMAN threw him a treat and went to find Katie.

He found her crying on her bed, her homework was drenched in tears. Suddenly she jumped up. “Don’t be scared, I am MATHSMAN and I am here to show you how easy maths can be”.

He flicked up his heel and a bright pink pencil flew out. They spent time doing sums and using the fun gadgets that MATHSMAN carried. Soon Katie was smiling again. “Thank you MATHSMAN!” said Katie. “I am pleased you understand now”, replied MATHSMAN.

And he was gone in a flash.

All over the weekend Mr Humphries was needed, he never got more than a few hours rest, lots of children were having homework problems.

On Monday morning Mr Humphries bumped into Harry and Katie, they were talking about the maths homework. “Any problems with your homework children?” asked Mr Humphries. “None at all”, replied Harry and Katie proudly.

Mr Humphries walked into his classroom smiling to himself. All the children came and sat down. Harry turned to Katie. “Imagine how cool it would be if we had MATHSMAN as our teacher!”.

“How was your weekend Sir” asked Katie. “Oh, quite relaxed thank you Katie, now let’s do some Maths!”.

By James Musgrove (5DC)
Laude School San Pedro
Costa del Sol
Spain

Autumn 2008

SMART THINKING ON THE INTERNET

Over the last twenty years the computer has become an essential part of many people’s lives. We have had to develop new skills as the computer has expanded its uses. One of these skills is to keep ourselves safe when using the internet: we need to be protected from fraud and computer viruses etc. As adults, we can use our life experiences to help us make informed choices. But children don't have the same depth of experiences. So how can they learn to make these important decisions for themselves?

One way is to teach children to apply safe practices when they use the internet by thinking SMART.

SMART stands for
• Secret
• Meeting
• Attachments
• Reliable
• Tell

Secret means the child thinking about what it is safe for them to say about themselves online and what they shouldn't disclose

Meeting means the child knowing why they should not arrange to meet with someone they have only met online

Attachments means them knowing which attachments are safe to open and which are not

Reliable means questioning whether information is true and whether it is safe for a child to trust someone they have never met

Tell means showing the children who it is safe to talk to and which adults they can get help from.

There are those parents who say that the internet is so dangerous a place that their children should not be exposed to it. But you don’t wait until your child crosses the road for the first time before you teach them the Green Cross Code. They need to be prepared.

In the UK I taught SMART THINKING lessons to children from age 7 to 11. It was fascinating to see the range of misunderstandings the children developed. But, as we worked through these, it helped them to develop their critical thinking skills. There is so much benefit in helping children to think for themselves about safe use of the internet.

A good site to explore these ideas further is http://www.gridclub.com/freearea/tasters/cybercafe/base.htm

• Rob Humphries is a qualified teacher with several years experience teaching across Key Stage 2. He was an Advanced Skills Teacher in a Junior School in the UK before moving to Spain. He now offers private tuition in a range of subjects including English, Maths and ICT. He can be contacted on 607 764 899 or rob@irtutoring.com