Today I was in the privileged position to witness, via the medium of Skype video conferencing, the teacher of a Year Four class in Cornwall leading a cross-curricular science lesson on 'Sound'. Before I discuss the pedagogy, behaviour management techniques and (crucially) the children's reactions, I'd like to first explore the technology - what should be celebrated and what was flawed, what worked and what did not. Skype is a free application available on PC, Mac and across handheld devices, such as smartphones and tablets, as well as through some connected televisions. It allows two (or more) users to interact with each other face-to-face, using a front mounted camera, over the Internet (handheld devices may use 4G connections if their data plans allow it). It can also be used as a 'free' substitute for a telephone in audio only mode, and is often used in the business world. I'll get into practical applications of Skype in the Primary School classroom a little later in this blog. Our intention was to join the class at 10:30 am for the start of the lesson, but we encountered various technological issues that threatened us with the possibility of having to change our plans. Both we, in our seminar room in Manchester, and they, in their classroom in Cornwall, were online and connected to Skype (our icons told us so), but we could not get our video call started (we each could see that 'our end' worked, which meant that the issue was not with the front mounted camera, but we could not make a connection). We called and we called, and regularly saw images such as these: Our Science course leader used a system of trial and error to attempt to solve the problem he was faced with. He knew that simply calling and re-calling and re-calling was getting us nowhere so he attempted a number of fixes. The first fix was rebooting Skype, a simple case of restarting the program. Once it had reloaded he hit the 'call' icon once more to test whether it had worked, but it had not, and we were faced with a repeat of the photographs above. The next thing he tried was a cold reboot. This is tech-speak for turning the machine off and back on again. Again, after a restart, we encountered the same problems. He considered a third option, using another platform, FaceTime, but we quickly ascertained that, as the Cornish school were using a PC, their technology was incompatible with that application. The successful fix came when the course leader changed the hardware from a Mac laptop to an iPad. By 10:45 we were rolling! The video call itself was patchy in places. It suffered a little in the way of audio drop-out and pixilation, but for our purposes it was perfectly fine.
The lesson cleverly linked the Science National Curriculum learning outcomes with relation to 'sound' with the class' current topic of the Vikings. The teacher, Mr W, set the context for the lesson by explaining that a fictional viking had written to the class demanding a new instrument (to replace the horn) that fit a set of criteria - it must be able to rise and fall in amplitude and in pitch. He then re-capped the previous day's learning by asking a number of multiple choice questions of the class. The class each held up a card with (what looked like) a QR code on it. Mr W held his iPad up to the card and recorded their answers. We were later told that the app was called Plickers (I shall look into this at a later date) Mr W had already set up a "carousel" with a different musical instrument on each table. On one table there was a guitar, on another bells, on a third a boom whacker, on a fourth, a tambourine and fifthly, a drum. He split his pupils, by table, into different roles, each with a distinct purpose - one was a tester, another a scribe and another a reporter. This technique gave the children a focus during the experiment. The carousel turned at the sound of the teacher's gong, roughly every three minutes, which was enough time to test each instrument for amplitude and pitch, and record findings. Mr W allowed children to record their findings in any way they saw fit - this included drawing, using iPad technology, or writing a detailed account - this open and creative brief seemed to maximise engagement in the activity and led to a more qualitative and lively discussion when they fed back as a class. A note about behaviour management techniques. The teacher did not once raise his voice. He used a varying degree of pitch and volume, and a lot of non-verbal prompts, such as a look or a hand gesture. At one point he said "you have this many minutes" and held up three digits - this ensured that every child's eyes were on him, concentrating on the instructions. It was inspiring and I'll definitely consider using something similar myself when on placement. Finally, before I sign off (it's pushing midnight here and I need my beauty sleep) I'd like to conclude that yes, the technology is temperamental, but when it finally did work it provided my class and I with a window to good teaching practice, a window that without the technology could not have been opened without traveling 330 miles. Skype isn't perfect, it glitches all the time, but it certainly has its upsides, and it could be applied in a number of school situations - parents evenings could be achieved remotely, if parents can't attend; interscholastic training events could be held using skype as a conduit; and children could use it for class projects - such as buddying up with another class from another school in another country. There are so many possibilities, and today we merely scratched the surface. * Photographs taken and uploaded with the full permission of the school *
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