As it's World Book Day, what are my recommendations for books for teachers of Computing? This is by no means a definitive list -- think of it more as a starter.
Read MoreRemember these?
What I've been reading: Delete
We live in an age where it's impossible to forget anything. Is this a good thing?
Read MoreWhat I've been reading
A must-read for anyone who has taught in "challenging" schools!
Read MoreBook review: Don’t Change the Lightbulbs
This book collects together the thoughts and observations of over 71 people in education. These are each a little longer than the bite-sized comments typical of Twitter – I understand that they were curated from Google+ discussions. Being longer than 140 characters makes them "meaty" without being too long.
Read MoreIn total around 70 topics are covered, not all of them curricular.
Book Review: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Ada Lovelace died young, at the age of 36, and Charles Babbage never built his Analytical Engine. Had Lovelace lived, and had Babbage actually built his invention, the computer would have been invented a hundred years before it was.
Isn't that an astonishing thought?!
Book Review: Exploring a world of Brown Dogs and Barbers
By Roger Davies
Read More
Have you ever studied Computer Science? If not, teacher Roger Davies, who teaches at Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria urges you to read a wonderful new book.
Review of Business for Authors
You might think that a book about making money from your writing other than from royalties has nothing much to do with teaching Computing, but it definitely has, for a number of reasons.Review of Go On, Bore ‘Em: How to make your ICT lessons excruciatingly dull
Whether you're a newly qualified teacher starting out on your career, an experienced classroom practitioner, or somewhere in between, you will find something to take away from Terry Freedman's digital publication Go On Bore ‘Em, says Ben Davies.Book review: Go on, bore ‘em: how to make ICT lessons excruciatingly dull
Michelle Liga writes...
Read More
Mr. Freedman uses his extensive experience to write a clear and concise booklet on the different ways he has observed teachers instructing their students straight into boredom purgatory. But, he also explains how the lesson could have been changed to make it more interesting.
Review of Go On, Bore ‘Em: How to make your ICT lessons excruciatingly dull
Book review: Go on, bore ‘em: how to make ICT lessons excruciatingly dull
by Jacqui Wilson
Read More
I received a very nice review from Jacqui Wilson, a classroom teacher in Tasmania. Is a book about what made ICT boring still relevant if the focus is on Computing? Well I think so, because the issues I highlighted with respect to ICT are in danger of arising again with respect to Computing. Anyway, read what Jacqui says about the book.
Review of The Thinking Teacher
When I first picked up this book I made an error of judgement. Noticing that it seemed quite slim, I thought I could finish reading it in just one or two sessions. However, what I had not counted on was the book’s living up to its title. In short, it made me think. It made me think about what the author was saying in its own right, that is whether or not I agreed with it. It also caused me to reflect on my own practice as a teacher and, now, as a consultant.Book review: Two girls, one on each knee (7)
You could argue that crossword solving is a very good example of computational thinking. That is certainly what the security services thought during WW2 when they asked The Times to send them the names of anyone who could solve a cryptic crossword they’d supplied in 12 minutes or less. Those that did were invited to work at Bletchley Park, cracking codes for the war effort.Review of 30 Day Blogging Challenge
If you're looking for a handy, no frills book of suggestions for blogging, this book should meet your requirements. Having been designed as an email course, 30 Day Blogging Challenge, written by Nikki Pilkington, consists mainly of 30 very short articles on different aspects of blogging. Being able to buy the whole lot in the form of a book is excellent for those of us for whom deferred gratification is an alien concept.
Review of Problogger’s Guide To Blogging For Your Business
Before looking at the book, written by Mark Hayward, in detail, it’s worth pointing out what the book is, and is not. It is, as the title implies, concerned with blogging in order to promote your business. It is not about blogging as a business in itself. It’s an important distinction, not least because once we take money out of the equation then “business” can be used as shorthand for any type of enterprise, including a charity, a cause – and a school.
Review of Impact of New Technologies in English Maintained Schools
Published by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), this is a report on research undertaken to find out how schools use, and anticipate using, new technology. It covers funding, hardware used by teachers, hardware used by pupils, software used by teachers, communicating with parents through social networking and other means, and home access.
Read MoreReview of The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers
The aim of this book, written by Darren Rowse and Glenn Murray, is to help you write better blog posts. However, “better” in this context refers to generating more visitors to your blog rather than “just” improving your writing skills. The idea is a simple one: why not identify the key elements of successful blogging, and then provide a tool by which to measure how a particular blog post has done? That’s exactly what the book aims to do.
Read MoreReview of Building Parental Engagement in Schools
Are parents a necessary evil from a school's point of view,or can they be an essential part of the work of the school? And if so, how? This book provides some (though not all) of the answers.
Read MoreReview of Aerotropolis
Subtitled “The way we’ll live next”, this book by John Kasarda and Greg Lindsay looks at the possible airport city of the future. At the moment, airports are usually located outside the main part of the city. Yet, given the fact that we still need actual physical goods to be delivered, some might argue that it makes sense for cities to be built around airports.
Preview of The Blue Nowhere, by Jeffery Deaver
So there I was, feeling pretty tired from working too hard, thinking to myself that I really need a break from everything related to educational technology. “I really must get out more.”, I told myself.
Definitely worth reading!And indeed I have, metaphorically speaking, by embarking on a novel by Jeffery Deaver, called The Blue Nowhere. It involves computer hacking. (It’s possible that I haven’t quite got the concept of getting away from it all.)
Like all Jeffery Deaver books, there’s an intriguing plot and, no doubt, plenty of plot twists to come. I have read only about an eighth of it, therefore I cannot review it exactly, just give my impressions so far.
It features a computer hacker who selects his murder victims and then gets to know all about them by hacking into their computers. As an aside, it’s interesting to note how much seems to have changed, in both technology and terminology, in the nine years since the book was published in 2001. For example, do we continue to draw the distinction between hackers (the good guys, or at least the not-really-evil guys), and crackers, the nasty pieces of work? Does anyone still do phreaking, that is hacking into telephone systems in order to make free calls overseas? If so, haven’t these people heard of Skype?
Of course, they did it, and possibly still do it, for the challenge. This isn’t directly relevant in regards to this book, but it’s of tangential interest. An understanding of human behaviour, and human nature, is an essential weapon in the true hacker’s armoury. It’s long been recognised that the biggest hole in sophisticated security systems is the human element, and serious hackers – the really serious ones -- are very adept at social engineering. That is, appearing to be someone you’re not (a computer repair person, for example) and, like all good con artists, brilliant at getting people to actually want to help you.
This is very much a theme in the book, as is the issue of keeping oneself safe online. The book is probably too long to make it feasible to set as an assignment (though it might go on a recommended summer reading list if you teach older ones), but there is much to be drawn from it in a professional sense.
- For example, what could victim #1 have done to protect herself whilst online?
- Can hacking ever be morally right? Discuss.
- Data protection is the sort of topic which can be as dry as dust and little more than trying to memorise the laws that have been passed. This story highlights issues which illustrate (or can be used to illustrate) important data protection issues.
You would have to go about this sensitively. Without care, using the book to bring out these kinds of issues could lead to some students – and their parents – becoming totally paranoid about going online at all. As you’ll see if you read the book, keeping safe isn’t entirely a matter of ‘stranger danger’ and not meeting online friends in real life.
But if you’re worried about scaring the kids then you could just read the book for its own sake, for relaxation.
Which is what I’m going to do for the rest of the day.
To purchase the book, click on the picture above and you'll be taken to Amazon UK, where you can buy the book and thereby help me to put some more crumbs on my family's table, courtesy of the Amazon affiliate scheme. Thank you.