We live in an increasingly audio-visual world, and while blogging and social media is on the increase, so too are videos, animations, music and games.
In my previous post, I alluded to Scratch, one way of creating audio-visual content (creation of games, quizzes, basic animation), but there are other excellent ways too. Here are a few of them:
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Bee Bots
Once children understand the theory behind coding (by learning ‘unplugged’, as mentioned in my previous blog), they can then move on to working with physical props. Bee Bots are an excellent way of learning the early basics behind coding. They are essentially bee shaped robots, black and yellow, with directional buttons on the top and wheels on the bottom. They can be programmed to follow a particular pattern, and then the bee bot zooms off, following its prescribed program. It is another example of a machine doing EXACTLY what it has been told, and teaches children about specificity. Here is a Youtube video I used to self-teach myself how to use them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ZuenJlFyE In terms of practical application beyond learning to code, the bee bots are also a wonderful tool for teaching space/co-ordinates in maths, electronics (further up the school) in science, and is a great stimulus for writing, DT (make a home for the bee bot) and even orienteering in PE. It is worth noting, even if there are not many bee bots in school, that this learning can also be completed ‘unplugged’. Simply teach it as normal, but use a template image of a bee bot for groups to predict where the bot will end up. This allows children to still be active while they await for the technology to become available. Until my Enquiry Placement I had seen very little evidence of assistive technology being used for SEND purposes in the classroom, but on that placement I saw a wonderful use of iPads to assist a child that was visually impaired. The iPad was used to link up to the interactive whiteboard, mirroring the screen that every other child in the class could see, but on an iPad that was mounted on his desk. This allowed him to access the work that everyone else was doing. During Guided Reading, the teacher also ensured that she downloaded a large text e-copy of the book for him to read along with the class.
I have read about other ways creating an inclusive classroom using technology. One such way is use of microphones to assist children with hearing difficulties. One of my fellow trainees used this in the classroom, and expressed that it made a huge difference in terms of that child’s attainment. I will briefly, as part of this pick and mix unit, mention technology as an assessment tool. I mentioned, during my time on GPP, how the PE passport iPad app and the “Learning Ladders” program can make the job of assessing children much easier, as it collates the information you input and can generate useful reports to easily track progress (or lack thereof) across each child and throughout each year. There are other useful online assessment resources too, which I would love the opportunity to explore in greater depth on FPP, including the use of testing (summative assessment) through multiple choice Google forms to elicit information, which will immediately generate a picture of where each child/the class as a whole is in terms of that subject. Voting systems, as mentioned in a previous blog post, are another useful way of assessing children’s understanding. They can be used as a more immediate alternative to Google Forms. First it is worth noting that not all schools have a favourable opinion to children/classes blogging or tweeting, citing safeguarding issues and noting some of my findings from my post on internet safety. As most social networks have a minimum age limit of 13 (including Twitter), these views could be warranted. That said, with parental permission, and under the guidance of a professional teacher who understands how to deliver a rigorous computing curriculum (computing, of course, being a national curriculum subject), it might be acceptable to the school… or even, dare I say it, celebrated.
There are arguments that blogging is beneficial to children in various ways. Firstly, there is the computing skills learned – how to manage a website or microblog. Then, there is writing for an authentic audience which can be very motivational – more than just the class teacher will see it, therefore it is a real, important piece of writing that is ‘out there’ in the big wide world. Also related to literacy, it can help children to engage with English in a way they wouldn’t normally, spotting and using features of ‘good’ writing. The website, “Teacher Challenges”, has an excellent guide for setting up a class blog. It tells you how to create one, edit it, and polish it to look professional. If you are looking to set up a blog, I would recommend the site I am using to host Primary Newbie – Weebly. Finally, some tips for Tweeting.
The Primary Newbie Twitter account is here. Give me a follow if you are so inclined! In my GPP school, there is a real impetus in terms of creating a paperless environment wherever possible. Obviously, children still have workbooks and will work from worksheets that will be stuck into them, but the teachers are working hard to counterbalance this with their own efforts to be paperless.
Firstly, the teachers share planning across each classroom in the three-form entry school on Microsoft Word, using a grid system. They work together to input the subject they are responsible for into the shared grid, and then they all work from a master copy which is attached to an email so that it can be viewed at home on their school-issued iPad. Secondly, the school showed pupil progress by subscribing to a system called “Learning Ladders”, which the separate Infants School also subscribed to. Each subject for each year was broken down into every conceivable target (eg: for Maths, “I know my number bonds to 10” or for English “I can identify an adjective”) and each child in each class in each year would be ticked off when they could achieve that target. The learning ladders were useful because they could generate data for teachers to show which children are below, meeting and exceeding expectations. When talking to my mentor about paperless systems, she said that it took some getting used to, but ultimately it made sense for A) saving the planet, and B) efficiency – automatically generated data saves them a lot of time. Evening, all! My word, I've been busy! Yesterday I had a swotting up session in the University of Manchester's Main Library, and I learned some exciting* new tips and skills, including this doozy; if you download the iManchester smartphone app from the App Store/Google Play, and then select 'Library', you can search for whatever book you wish to withdraw. You can seek by title, author, or use a generic search term (such as "Primary Curriculum") and, once you have hit 'search', it will furnish you with a comprehensive list of relevant content. But the fun does not stop there, oh no, as it will also furnish you with the book's exact location in the library, which is incredibly useful (as anyone who has written out book locations in longhand will concur). I am now armed with 19 books, ready to take on assignment A. Following yesterday afternoon's brilliant Professional Studies seminar with Martin, I then went home and set to work on A) my subject knowledge in English, Maths and Science, using pages from BBC Bitesize, ahead of my seminars on those areas today, and B) my computing action plan, based on Tuesday's audit.
If you click on My Computing Action Plan above (or hit the hyperlink), then you will be able to see my plan in full. Today it seemed as if much of my revision had paid off. I found all three core subject seminars absolutely fascinating. Mathematics (traditionally my weakest subject) was full of practical games and top tips (from Lawrence, who is brilliantly engaging) about the teaching of the subject. I learned that to get Maths across effectively you must ALWAYS use a Practical element (such as an activity), a representational element (pictorial) and an abstract element (symbolic). But even more than that, to school enthusiastic mathematicians you must teach a deeper level of mathematic reasoning that involves convincing, justifying and proving. It got me thinking about how I might use technology in the classroom in order to achieve those goals (more on that at a later date, I'd imagine!) My homework for this evening was a Key Stage 2 Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) SAT test. I did not disgrace myself, but I have a decent amount of work still to do in order to brush up on clauses (relative, subordinate), conjunctions (sub-ordinating vs co-ordinating), and past perfect/progressive verb forms. Primary teachers have to know this stuff! Tomorrow, more Maths, Science (including an big audit) and English. The fun never stops in PGCE-Land! * Okay, exciting to no one but me! |
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