ICT assignments and farewells week 7

Today was our final ICT session and we had to present our smart board presentations. I was feeling relatively happy with mine as I had added a number of the features that we learnt back in week 2 (so long ago!)  and I thought it was fairly appealing for a Year 2 class. We presented in groups of 3 and I was very happy with the positive feedback I received. It was also great to see other peoples ideas. The teachers had the brilliant idea to put everyone's presentations into Dropbox so we could all share ideas. This will definitely be a beneficial support for our start to teaching.

I will definitely be sad not to have anymore ICT lessons. I have learnt a great deal and where I thought I was quite scared of ICT, I've now learnt to embrace it. Now I'm actually really excited to put forward some of the ideas we have learnt into the classroom. Thank you to Cathy who has been a great help in teaching us all of the ideas.

This blog has also been exceptionally beneficial to me and not only will I look back on it to remember these ideas but I will also add to it should I come across any other ICT ideas to use in the classroom. For now though I think I have a good starting point!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Even more games- dance! Week 6

Dance to Advance

When we were first told we would be using the dance mats we were all very excited.
However, I don't think any of us really knew what to expect and as most of our knowledge of dance mats consists of dancing away to 'I will survive', we weren't too sure how it would apply to a primary class of 30.

But then in our class we were introduced to the delights that is 'Dance to Advance'; about as far away as you could go from Gloria Gaynor (much to the fortunes of the children!) Dance to Advance is described as being a way for students to 'dance their way to greater understanding and concept retention'. And it does just that!  Instead of trying to tap out the moves on the screen onto the dance mat, as does the versions many of us know, it wants you us to tap out the correct answer to the question on the screen. You can see this idea more clearly below.


Here, children need to find out which of the presidents
pictured was assassinated



As you can see, a question appears in the centre with 9 possible answers surrounding it. In this case, pictures of presidents are being used as the answers. The child would then need to work out which was the correct answer and step/dance into the place that they think was right e.g. if they thought the answer was President Obama they would step to the top left corner. The dance mat links to the game and would then provide instant feedback by letting the child know if they were correct or not. The game often comes with 2 dance mats so the children are able to compete against each other.

Dance to Advance has excellent cross-curricular links. It is easy for the teacher - or even the child - to come up with their own question and answers and therefore can be linked to any subject. In our ICT lesson I chose to do a Geography quiz, where the children needed to link the country to the correct flag. A video of this is shown below, which also highlights what happens when an answer is correct or incorrect.

 

 

 

 

 



Dance to Advance would also benefit EAL students, as the questions can be done with pictures or sounds and therefore they can be included easily.

 

There is no doubting how much fun this would be to use in the classroom and how much the children would enjoy it. It is highly interactive and such an enjoyable way for the children to learn and with the unlimited cross-curricular links, it would be ideal to have in a class. However, in all the schools I have worked in I have never seen one and unfortunately that leads us to their downsides; the cost. At $399 (Leading Digital) they do not come cheap, especially when only two children can use them at a time. As you have noticed, I have also used dollars and this is because they are still not very easy to come across in the UK, which is another downfall of the product.

So overall, whilst a great product and one I would absolutely love to use and could quite happily see myself enjoying making up the quizzes to, I do question how realistic it is to have these in a school. The cost is quite a lot for something not everyone can use at once and they don't seem to be something many UK schools have and therefore may be quite tricky to get hold of or persuade your school to purchase.

 

Simulation and Adventure Games

 

Whilst most of the ICT lesson was spent looking at the dance mats and coming up with programmes for them, we did have a small amount of time to look at simulation and adventure games. The idea of simulation games isn't far off programming as children still need to analyse and problem-solve, as they take on a role that is meant to replicate a situation. In these situations, they explore possibilities and try out different solutions. These simulations can range from anything, from building your own rollercoaster to playing your own adventure game, as in Machinarisum.

 

Other than being enjoyable for the children and encouraging problem-solving, they can also be used cross-curricularly. For instance, when designing your own rollercoaster, it is important to think of the angles and distances that the rollercoaster will have to travel. Otherwise, the rollercoaster won't work. Kent ICT has a whole range of ideas for different simulations ranging from geography based ones such as Dumptown - a recycling simulation to history simulations such as being transported back to the Tudor time.

Again, these simulations do have some great cross-curricular links and are enjoyable for children. They are also a lot cheaper than Dance to Advance. I am disappointed I didn't get more time to play on these. However, I think it is something I definitely plan to use in the classroom, perhaps as an introduction to some topics such as the Tudors. I will definitely have fun in researching various simulations before I get in the classroom to know what is best for the children!

 

Programming Games Week 5

I have to admit that when I saw programming on the ICT schedule I wasn't too excited by the thought. Memories of programming in school and having to remember lots of commands, which I tended to get wrong, didn't make me feel at all motivated. But yet again I was pleasantly surprised, which was good considering the importance programming now has in primary schools.

So why do children need to learn to programme? I actually found a gaming website which came up with why programming in primary schools is so important. It states that children learn how to solve problems and how to break complex projects into smaller more manageable tasks; things they will need to be able to do not just cross-curricularly (e.g. maths) but also in day to day life. It is also important for children to be able to develop their own ideas and make their ideas happen.

LOGO - LOGO can be used as a starting point in teaching childen to programme, as it uses basic step by step instructions to get the turtle to move. Chris Abbott explains in his book ICT: Changing Education (2008) that LOGO was made by Seymour Papert and was based on actual theories of learning. He is described as acknowledging his debts to Piaget as he uses his way of thinking to determine that it would be effective for a child's learning if they learnt how to program. Children can generate shapes by giving simple commands to the turtles. It is a good start for children to understand programming and also has good maths cross curricular links, as well as encouraging proble-solving. I did enjoy using LOGO for a period but did start to tire of it and I think some of the other programmes, that are more interactive and colourful such as Scratch and Purple Mash, are likely to appeal more to the children.

Scratch- Scratch was mentioned by Michael Gove as being 'a potential classroom solution to “bored pupils and even more bored teachers”'. The Scratch site describes it as being programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Again, it also encourages problem-solving. I spent quite a bit of time on Scratch, starting with using the basic cat to make sound and do movement. I then decided to use different characters, that could change costumes and speak to one another. I spent about 5-10 minutes doing so and here is my result.




Scratch is ideal for all abilities of children as they can progress from doing these simple commands to more advance projects. I located a report that shows the possible ways children can use Scratch:

-A simple game where the player controls a sprite chasing another sprite around the screen

- An animation with sprites representing the letters of the programmer’s name with each lettern spinninf or otherwise moving around the screen and played a sound when clicked.

-A quiz style application showing several pictures and a question which responds to the user clicking on the slected answer.

-A multimedia presentation incorporating photographs with sound recordings providing explanations as the user clicks on each item.

The report also states the number of ways it uses ICT skills and programming skills ranging from manipulating graphic objects (ICT) to creating a sequence of commands (programming). It also states some other cross curricular links such as to science by simulating a car racing around a track and running out of fuel at a different rate depdning on the average speed around the track.

Overall I think that Scratch is ideal for the children and definitely a more imaginative and exciting programming tool than LOGO. I definitely plan to use it in schoolds

Purple Mash - Purple Mash  is what I spent the most time on during our ICT lesson. On the website, it states that purple mash is a ' mash-up of creative tools and curriculum focused applications to support and inspire children throughout the curriculum'. It has a large range of activities for children. Some are simply educational games for them to play by themselves, whilst others involve children to programme their own games. I spent my time on Purple Mash creating a game as you can see below. At first I had made it too easy and the second time I had made it too difficult. Problem-solving is being extensively used to try and figure out how to make the game challenging, but do-able.



Creating the game on Purple Mash

 

As there are so many different programmes, it means it can be differentiated to all abilities of children. PC Pro state that it is ideal as the 'projects are divided by age group and into primary-friendly themes such as About Me, Animals, Celebrations and The Environment'. This makes it very accessible for the children, who can not only access it in their classroom but can continue their learning at home. However, one downfall is that there is a cost to it -school can expect to pay around £600 for an annual license. Kodu - Kodu is a visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It will certainly appeal to the older children and as we were told, tends to be used more in KS3. This is highlighted even more as it can be used on the X-box; consoles that children will certainly use. It is also appealing and more advance then Scratch as the effects are more similar to those that are used in the games they will play and shows how they can make those games! However, for primary school children I do think it is too complicated. Having had a go myself, I really struggled using it and didn't enjoy the programme as much as the others. I think in a class setting, I would probably avoid to use it with the majority of my class and just keep aside for the Gifted and Talented.
With the exception of Kodu, I really enjoyed all of the programming software we used, especially Purple Mash and Scratch. It has definitely changed my perception on using programming and will definiely use it in the classroom. I think it promotes some excellent problem-solving skills and is a good way for children to enjoy their learning.

Speaking gadgets - Week 4

This week we looked at more gizmos, but gizmos that particularly applied to speaking and listening and how these gizmos can help with children's literacy.

Using ICT alongside literacy allows greater opportunity for sustained forms of talking, provides instant feedback and encourages more interaction.

So what gizmos do we use to help with our literacy and how can they help?

Podcasts - Podcasts are similar to a radio show, where we are able to record and then distribute the recordings over the internet. There are thousands of these over the web and can vary from topic to topic. In our ICT lesson we looked at Audacity which the website describes as being 'a free, easy-to-use and multilingual audio editor and recorder'.

I think these are a brilliant idea to use with a class of children. It allows children to share their ideas and experiences with a potentially huge audience. The Teaching Ideas site highlights many benefits that can be gained from using podcasts with children. They are able to develop their speaking and listening skills and can particularly be benefical for EAL children. Podcasts also encourage children to work well together and to do so in a fun interactive way. I love the idea of creating a class radio show and linking with a school elsewhere in the world, where we can listen to their show and they can listen to ours. The children can then write comments and responses which is a valuable way to feedback to them.

Talking Photo Albums - I absolutely love these. They are literally a photo album that can talk to you and can be used for a variety of things. They aren't even that expensive; Amazon are selling them for as little as £24.99!

In schools they are again ideal for EAL children and also have great cross curriciular links. For example, they can be used in geography to show highlights of a school trip, or in literacy to recreate the scenes from a school's nativity play. Each child can have their own page, with a photo and a description of themselves or they can be used in PE alongside a picture of an activity to go with a verbal instruction. For instance, in PE we have been teaching the children how to do a forward roll. A page could show the action and the child could record what they had to do and this could benefit other children who were learning.


Talk Time Cards - Talk Time Cards are like postcards that have a recording chip in them. The cards can either act similar to a whiteboard where you can use a pen to draw on the surface or some have a plastic pouch to insert a drawing. The pupil or teacher can then record a clip to go with the card.

These are ideal in literacy for teaching phonemes to KS1 and can also be a great help for EAL pupils. The larger cards can be used as storyboards.


Talking Tin lids - These might sound slightly bizarre. The very thought of having a tin lid on your baked beans that talks to you sounds fairly crazy and you can indeed use them for just that. (As seen below). However, they do have other purposes.

Talking Tin lids have up to ten seconds recording time and as well as being used as tin lids, they can also be used for a variety of other things and can be placed under tables or on doors. In the video below I show how they work:

 

 

 

 

 

So how can we use these in a classroom environment then? Again they are ideal for EAL children recording high frequency words on them. They are also great for children writing sentences. So often children come up with a sentence and then forget about it when they come to write it down. By recording their sentence on a talking tin, they can they replay it back before writing it down. Like with the talking cards they are also good for helping with phonics, especially in modelling vowel sounds, which can regularly be a struggle for the pupils.

 

 

Photo-Story - The photo-story was what I spent the most time on in the ICT lesson and had quite a lot of fun doing. It works by putting together a group of photos and creating a story out of them. It is very easily downloaded by the Microsoft Photo-Story link .You are able to add recordings to the clip as you can see in our version, or try adding a song or another sound file. We made a photo-story of my cat Sky (as this is what we had photos of at the time). For each photo we put up, we were able to make a recording and put a caption on it. I would definitely watch the viewing of our photo-story below, just to hear Peter's entertaining 'miaow' sounds.

 

 







Now obviously we aren't encouraging the children to necessarily make photo-stories out of their cat but we are encouraging them to make stories. Just as they would create a story, or report in Literacy, they can do it using photo-story. They are still using the same skills as they would be in Literacy, just with ICT as well. It is particularly beneficial to dyslexic children or just children who struggle with their writing. It is also extremely fun for children to do. A blog from a school in Norfolk highlights how much children enjoy doing the the photo-story and have come up with a variety of suggestions and ideas including:

* Illustrate and narrate a story.

*Create a tourist guide 'book'

*Create a short history film

*Explain how to play football, rugby, netball etc.

So not only are they suggesting links between ICT and literacy but also links between Geography, History or PE - they can also be used in most other subject areas! I also think it was a nice idea to think how teachers could use it for parents evening. Overall it is definitely something I want to be using with my class!

As the weeks go on I am definitely appreciating this blog as I would no doubt forget all these wonderful ideas that I am so keen to develop and use in my own classroom next year! I have now completed my ICT assignment, where I created a starter for a science lesson on Variation. I had a lot of fun creating this project. It goes to show that for someone like me, who claimed to not really enjoy ICT and be a 'techno-phobe', that after these weeks in ICT I have come out the other end and really started to enjoy it. I think that this is interesting to note as should I have children who don't respond well at first to ICT, I know that they will eventually come round to it and start to love it!

Playing with robots-Digital Media and Computer Control Week 4

Another week, another fun interactive ICT lesson. This week we were looking at Digital Media and Computer Control. Digital media refers to any electronic media where data is stored in digital form and transmitted over the internet or through computer networks. This is done through text, graphics, audio and video. Computer control on the other hand is a set of instructions programmed into a machine, which then causes it to operate. This can be anything from microwaves to washing machines to CCTV cameras.

In this weeks session though, we did look at something far more exciting than microwaves. We looked at toys and robots! You certainly can't get much more fun that that, especially when we got to have hands on experiences in all the areas. Although possibly a bit too much hands on experience especially with the flexiscopes when they are aiming up somebody's nose!

We were lucky enough to spend a good amount of time looking at the various programmable toys and robots. There were the beebots, which were programmed to move, and the pippins that were programmed to draw with a pen. Dataloggers were used to measure and record temperature whilst the digital microscopes and flexiscopes could be used to take close up snapshots and videos. It was easy to see how each would benefit and be enjoyable for a primary class. It certainly got 25 adults over excited and acting like children!


James is using the datalogger to
record the temperature of the soil.

Andy and Sam are programming the
beebots to find specific colours
and shapes on the board.



The pippins had very good cross curricular links to mathematics, as you're required to know not just the direction (as with the beebots), but also the angles that the pippin needed to turn. The programming side of this was slightly tricky and it certainly confused me a bit but after some trial and error it was great to see the shapes drawn without needing to write a thing. Something I'm sure that would definitely appeal to children and a more enjoyable way of doing maths. It could also be used for project work and art. In the video below we can see how Jack uses the pippin to draw an equilateral triangle.

However, my favourite digital tool of the day was definitely the flexiscope. The flexiscope is perfect to use for any investigation and has excellent cross curricular links to Science. I actually preferred it to the digital microscope as I found it was far more flexible at looking at different objects and wasn't limited to just seeing a small space as with the digital microscope. The Digital Blue website describes the flexiscope as being able to "capture high quality images at magnifications of up to 200x" and also has an LED light should lighting be poor. The flexiscope can also be used, as with the digital microscope, to record videos, take snapshots and even has a microphone should you wish to record a documentary of the object you're investigating. They are also compatible with the Interactive Whiteboards to help make the lesson more interactive and enjoyable for the children. It means that they can be used individually or in a whole-class setting, they can even be used in assemblies in front of the whole school! I remember we had one in the school I worked at last year and the children really enjoyed it when our teacher showed the whole class a close of up of his hair.

Children are able to combine their science with ICT as they learn how to upload the snapshots and videos. The more able children or older year groups could perhaps make a whole science project on the computers using this uploaded information. This is also a good way of being able to assess their skills due to the quality of the image and what they have to say about it. Have they managed to tie in ICT with their project well!?

It helps with differentiation as the flexiscope can be used interactively and is an excellent visual aid. It also encourages children to work collaboratively together.
However, there are some limitations to take into consideration. Sometimes the flexiscope can take a while to focus and this may cause children to become impatient and perhaps snatch the equipment from one another. As it is an expensive piece of equipment, it is important to ensure that children are aware of this and look after the flexiscope properly. Overall I think it is an excellent tool and considering what it does, I don't think it is too expensive. You can even get them with your school vouchers at Tesco for Schools.

Peter shows us how the flexiscope can be used to provide
a detailed image of his eye.

It was a really fun, interactive lesson last week and I'm looking forward to working with more digital media this week!



Interactive Whiteboards Week 2

Interactive whiteboards (IWB) are still a relatively new concept to me and something I certainly never had at school. Instead these were in the classrooms --->
Simple, plain whiteboards that the teacher wrote on and rubbed off again. And before that there were the black chalkboards. I actually had one Geography teacher who would still insist on using his blackboard as opposed to our whiteboards. Who knows what he would have made of the Interactive whiteboards?!

What are Interactive whiteboards then and how can they benefit children in the classroom? As the article Interactive Whiteboards in Education states, the interactive whiteboard is 'an electronic version of a dry-wipe board on a computer that enables learners in a virtual classroom to view what an instructor, presenter, or fellow learner writes or draws'. The key word here is 'virtual' and by being virtual gives us so many more possibilities than just writing on a whiteboard and rubbing it out again.

Tekgia, as well as the article above, highlights the benefits of using the Interactive Whiteboards in the classroom. These include:

* Replacing the scenario of a large group crowding around a single computer. The interactive whiteboard allows a large group to sit and participate comfortably in a presentation.

*Creates a collaborative layout and an environment of engagement so that there is naturally more dialogue between tutor and students, peer-to-peer and within groups.

*Ability to enhance any presentation or lesson by easily integrating video, animation, graphics, text and audio with the spoken presentation.

*Children benefiting from the interaction with the knowledge and task, both personally and socially.

These are just to name a few and for all the old-school chalkboard and whiteboard fans, it can still be used in just that way. We can even select a crayon on a black background to try and create a similar effect - that should keep my old Geography teacher happy!

In some aspects though he may just have a point. Sometimes complicating a simple idea can have its downfalls. For instance, what do you do when the Interactive Whiteboard decides not to work? I remember this happening to the Year 6 teacher that I worked with when he was about to have an observation - definitely not the prime time for it to break down on someone! What can you do when most of your teaching uses the IWB? Surely we can hardly be expected to do more planning just incase the IWB fails on us.

There are also the things we have to take into consideration when using the IWB - the room can't be too bright, the positioning of the activities on the IWB shouldn't be too high or else many of the children (and me!) won't be able to reach and no matter how much I may like the colour yellow, it should NOT be placed on a white background or nobody would know what the task is!

Despite the downfalls and considerations I do believe that the IWB is an excellent invention for all the advantages mentioned earlier, and if used as an interactive tool, I think it is extremely useful for a child's learning and engagement.

For me though, I am a slight techno-phobe and have only tried to use them briefly last year when I was working as a Year 6 TA and failed miserably. In the end it was the children trying to teach me!

Fortunately our ICT Interactive Whiteboard session helped to sort out some of my fears and was thoroughly enjoyable. In our lesson we were put into groups and all had to use a specific effect to make a presentation/lesson starter. Ours was the 'Magnifiying Glass Effect' where we used a virtual magnifying glass to reveal hidden information. I think this is a great idea for children as they will probably love the idea of being investigators and using the magnifying class to come up with something new. We decided that our 'children' (the rest of the group) would have to use the magnifying glass to reveal words with the 'oa' phoneme in it as you can see below. I think it is a good fun, oral starter and this is where the children can really interact with the activity.


The Checker Tool

Magnifying Glass










As other groups also presented we were able to get to know what other effects we could use. My particular favourites were the Random Generator tool, where values or pupils names can be randomly generated, and the Checker Tool. The Checker Tool can provide the children with instant feedback to questions they have answered. This is again another fun, interactive tool where another group used it to ask questions in Science, which you can see above.

Now I've printed off how to do all the effects we were shown and downloaded the SMART software I should be all ready to get on with my assignment - designing part of a lesson using the IWB. I'd love to develop on our Phoneme idea but I'm hoping to come up with something completely new and despite my fears I'm actually quite excited about getting started on it.

I've also located the site Box of Tricks, which has some additional ideas that I may just have to borrow so watch this space :)

Blogs, Blogging and Blogospheres-Week 1

“Self expression has become the new entertainment"

I thought I was completely new to blogging and quite apprehensive about the task ahead of me. However, according to the article in which Arianna Huffington stated the above, we are almost all bloggers to some extent. The article, 10 Secret Benefits of Blogging, suggests that almost everyone blogs, just not necessarily on the medium of a blogging site. Take social networking for instance, where we are constantly updating people on our lives, our news, our stories and our advice. Just like on Blogger.com, people are able to comment on these posts, whether it is on Facebook, Twitter or even business sites such as LinkedIn.
 
I do find the idea that we can type up just one sentence, and it can become available to people all over the world, a fascinating one. It is something that can have so many benefits but does also have its downsides. The above article mentions many of its benefits such as becoming a better writer, becoming more creative or a good researcher and just generally adapting to the current technological world that we live in.
 
And these benefits do not just apply to adults, but also to children, where technology can be used in the school environment. Technology has become a key teaching aid. When I look back to being at primary school, I can't remember using any computers but these days children aren't just using computers in school but also using Wiis and iPads. The school I worked in last year even ran an iPad club and children as young as 5 were using them.

In our ICT session on Friday I was absolutely amazed at all the activities children can do in the classroom with ICT, from using Skype to making ther own computer games and blogging.
 
So the 10 secret benefits of blogging can apply to children. Aren't we constantly trying to get children to be more creative and become better writers? Now they can be, in a fun learning environment. We watched a video on children using blogging in the classroom and it was great to see the children's enthusiasm for their blogs and how their blogs could help to benefit others by giving tips and advice on Numeracy or Literacy. They were able to show their work to family who perhaps lived elsewhere, or research their interests and share them with other people. Whilst being able to do all this, they are constantly learning and being creative. I think it is an excellent class activity and something I definitely want to do with my class when I become a teacher.

However, we do need to be aware of the downfall of blogging and using the Internet. E-safety is such a key issue in schools as unfortunately there are dangers to using the Internet. The risks fall into 4 areas- Content, Commerce, Contact and Conduct as you can see from the information provided by a college based in Milton Keynes-The 4 C's of E-Safety. These areas highlight the dangers to children including cyber-bullying, grooming, scams and access to inappropriate online materials. As a result, it is so important that schools promote the importance of E-safety to both the children and their parents or carers. There is an excellent site available -Thinkuknow- which promotes the importance of E-Safety to children, teachers and parents and carers.
 
Schools should especially be promoting E-Safety and many regularly participate in the annual 'Safer Internet Day', which will next be taking place on the 5th of February 2013. The website has further details - Safer Internet.  E-safety is a responsibility of all the adults in a school as it is the school's statutory duty for the safe-guarding and protection of the children. There should be security levels and blocks on the school's computer systems and E-safety should be taught as part of the curriculum.
 
If we do encourage the importance of E-Safety then there is no reason why children should not be able to use, learn and enjoy from the web and why they can't enter the blogosphere world and blog, blog away!