And so...our final session has commenced and it was presentation time. All in all I felt that I did well on the presentation. There were obviously elements I would like to have improved on, like my presentation's visual appeal. I coloured the background yellow with blue writing to be more suiting to dyslexic children but upon seeing my peers work with their colourful backgrounds, I think I would like to do the same as text could still be read. I carefully chose my font to make sure that the correct 'a' and correct 'g' were used in the whole presentation. I was excited to find that whilst it was roughly 5 weeks since out Interactive Whiteboard session I could still apply the knowledge and skills to my presentation. This showed me what a benefit was made from that session, allowing me to use these IWB techniques in the future. I used the Magic Tunnel and Magnifying Glass effect which I felt would be suiting to a Year 3 class. One major benefit of the blog was that I could look back at my sessions if I had forgotten how to do something and there it was!
I felt relatively comfortable doing my presentation with my peers but was surprised at the pang of nerves I still felt deep down. I did however feel that this was good as it spurred me on to impress them! So many skills in so little time! It's been an emotional journey, thanks for reading. Keep up the good work. Miss L x
This was a fun session! Actually, every ICT session has been pretty fun, we've just learnt something new each time and it's been very exciting learning about all the possibilities. We learnt more about computer programming and learnt to create our own 'world' in a programme called Kodu. You can create your own world or play the game that has already been created. This is another game that focuses on procedural commands. KS2 children love the opportunity to create world of their own and it really introduces them to computer programming at a young age. You can edit the keys to be the different controls and get Kodu to move around and eat fruit.
Now, something that I never thought of for educational purposes but manages to encourage learning through fun activities is the dance mat! The program called Dance to Advancesets the different controls on the dance mat to the correct answers on the game. Take a look at the example below. It was done with times tables and you have to click the correct answer. It's very easy to do yourself and you can set the topic to anything you like.
These are downloadable programs. Are there any games that I don't have to download and can play online? Why yes, yes there is. Check out the Kent Trust website for games where children are challenged. There are many physics games, programmable games as well as modelling and simulation. These range in age suitability and include games such as a Parachute game in which you change the size of the parachute and hole in it to get to a designated spot, taking into consideration the wind speed. There is also a Roller Coaster simulator in which you control the track to make a roller coaster suitable for people to ride on without to much G-Force (because that will knock them out and you don't want that!). All these games are educational while enjoyable encouraging computer skills as well as science in the two just spoken about and any given subject in Dance to Advance. Check out Learn4Good too for other exciting simulation games. But Miss Lynch, what if I really want to make an animated face that looks like me to talk and introduce things online? Well student, look no further. A Voki can help to inspire children, give them instructions when coming into the room, introduce new ideas and also excite children, they are always fascinated by the unknown and you can program your voki to be personal to the children in your class which will in turn inspire them further. If you are doing mythical creatures in Literacy, why not create a voki that can talk to them and answer their questions. Pretend to be an animal and tell the children you've left clues around the room for them to find out more about their habitat for further cross-curricular learning. Speaking of Literacy... Check out this video!
Research shows that boys struggle in Literacy to find inspiration and are more likely to fall behind. This video shows that boys just need the right motivation to help their writing. Through introducing gaming into the curriculum boys have been much more able to write with 'wow' words, structure more exciting sentences and use fantastic adjectives to describe their surroundings in either storytelling or recounting events (such as their game play).
How can I jazz up my words though, Miss Lynch?
Wordle! Wordle, wordle wordle! I love wordle and have been using it for years. It is a fantastic way to create word clouds, spider diagrams of ideas, jazz up displays or topics, other ways of saying certain words (for example instead of 'said Miss Lynch' after speech in a story have 'exclaimed', 'whispered', 'shouted' etc.)
And finally..
What is this M-Learning I've heard oh so much about?
M-learning is the new e-learning. We all know that the 'e' in e-mails, e-learning, e-books means electronic and we're all so used to these now that we don't give these terms another think when using them. M-learning refers to mobile learning. The introduction of iPads, iPod touches and tablet PCs in the classroom is becoming more and more used in the classroom and excites children and allows them to get on with their work in a multisensory, interactive, personal way. Children as young as two are becoming accustomed to m-learning and it excites me too as any way to get children more excited about learning is beneficial and encouraging as a (future) teacher.
Welcome to the wonderful world of computer modelling. But, what is it? To Google!
Define:A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, run on a single computer, or a network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system.
So where do these two come into play and what do they mean?
Modelling is great in the real world for these things but
what about in school, how does this help then? It really helps put a child's
idea into action, the 'what happens if?' question is so relevant for in
computer modelling because children are given the opportunity to test and see
if their idea can work. For example,
design a fantasy car on paper and knowing you won't have the chance to actually
make it but computer modelling programs allow you to build a 3D car and
actually test it to see if it could actually work! How exciting. This will
aptly prepare children for the real world of designing cars or houses or toys
or games, its useful for architects, doctors and for building rockets (!), so many ways that these skills
learned in primary school can be applied later on in life. You get to test it
to see if it works!
This is a program in which children have the opportunity to explore everyday basic scenarios. There are opportunities to dress babies or find the missing teddy. Here you can also design your own bedroom and even make a scary monster too. Plenty of opportunities for cross-curricular learning in these activities too; English, write a story about how the monster got here, Maths, how many chair legs are in the bedroom? Lots of potential with this program.
This program is where children are really allowed to use their imaginations to create stories or take part in little science experiments or paint pictures. 2simple also includes 2design in which you can make the cars (amongst others, see below!) and you can also create and explore other 3D objects too.
2design also links you to a website called Purple Mash.
Now for this you do need to have to buy a login but if it is bought through your school you will be able to get more than your monies worth from it! There are so many opportunities with this including making your own maze and then playing it. You can set your children challenges such as 'you have to have a 3 quadrilaterals in your maze' or 'you have to have 2 sums of 4 made with apples'.
That's not all you can do though, check out the website to see more opportunities to play, learn and create! There are games that fit into English, Maths and Science as well as many foundation subjects, there are themed design products around Hallowe'en and Christmas. Lots to play around with.
How about the less able children or those who are EAL or SEN?
Well, the TES provides a great range of games for SEN children and poissonrouge is great for both EAL and SEN as it is all visual.
Now what is this computer programming?
We've looked a little at this when the beebots took over but now we're looking at computer programming on an actual computer that stays on the computer, not machines as before. It is however another piece of software that helps you build on procedure techniques. I was really excited when I rekindled the ol' flame of WinLogo! Back in my day it was a little turtle that moved but things have progressed since then and the turtle is no more (maybe the kids are too cool for him these days!) but an arrow has replaced him. Logo essentially teaches children to list commands and control a make a design. There are commands such as forward (FD) left (LT) right (RT) pen up (PU) pen down (PD) etc and you can get your little turtle (arrow) to draw shapes and designs. Once you introduce 'repeat' you can get it to do some pretty amazing shapes and patterns.
'Scratch' is your next fill of computer programming! More for key stage 2 but here you will create your own interactive stories. You can download the software for free by clicking the name there ^ and its where you will choose a character, background, sound and animation and you can make your character do virtually anything, a treasure hunt, a maths hunt, re-enactment of a topic. Another great tool that is cross-curricular and can be topic based. You can share these online too so children can see each other's work.
These programs are great for a child motor skills and as mentioned previously, great for cross-curricular learning and will enhance and solidify their understanding of their topic.
It is approaching Christmas (39 days, 11 hours and 12 minutes from me writing this) and something everyone wants for Christmas, or should is the following:
These little things are so handy for so many different things. Record a message and have them on the table during phonics or on a display to telling passers by what you've been learning about
This is a genuine child in year 3's Christmas list to Father Christmas** **it isn't
These things though only provide opportunities for speaking, what about the opportunity to listen. Children these days are now encouraged to make Podcasts in class too to share views or discuss certain topics.
What is a podcast I hear you exclaim?
Podcasts are recordings in which anyone can discuss any given subject. Children are using them now to discuss what they are learning in different subjects, read their own poetry aloud, challenge one another on mathematical skills and then they are put online on at Educate or Radio Anywhere which are sites for teaching and learning in schools.
Lets think about why we podcast now though. Children undoubtedly love to hear their own voices and this is a piece of work on the internet that they can show to all their friends and family. It's something they can feel proud of and something that will make them feel famous!
Making one is so easy too. All you would have to do is record yourself on a dictaphone or some sort of auditory device and then you can upload the file onto the world wide web for others to listen to. Do take into account your eSafety procedures, don't say names or any personal information as spoken about before and make sure you as a teacher monitor everything that is spoken about in the podcast. Make sure you vet the material going in but also the final product, make sure the language is appropriate and content is too. If you see the audience as the child's peers then you can know who to target. Learning is at it's best when it is relevant to the child.
All this talk of sound makes me wonder about imaging!
Digital imaging was our next adventure in ICT this lesson, we learnt how to make stop animations and take photos, play with video cameras, webcams, lots of opportunities to get children engaged in learning and active about it too. There's a lot of software you can download too, look into 2Create for story making opportunities, Clicker 5 for sentence structuring and Text Teae too. One of the programs we played around with was called PhotoStory3 in which you can easily put photos into a montage with music and effects and will really draw them in as it's personal to them.
Hope you enjoyed the video. Thank goodness they found me in the end! As long as you stay safe with webcam chats to others and monitor all the children's content then they can learn whilst adapting to the ever changing internet world around them. Consider webchats on Skype to family members or other schools for International Days? You could set up a webcam to film something over a period of time, film your class and get them to recount their playtime with you in the class. Lots of opportunities just have your wits about you for content and be safe!
Until another day devoted blogee, Megan over and out!
In the session today we took a little look into the world of robots and computer control. There is this permanent fear in us all (maybe just me!) that robots are, or will soon, one day take over the world. Luckily this session focused on the smaller robots as well as computer control and how it has become a part of our everyday lives.
So, what is this computer control, hmm?
Think of your home, what can you leave to take care of itself? Picture this, you've set a timer to record your favourite programme on Sky+, you get in to the house and it will be nice and toasty because you set the central heating to come on an hour before you get in. You're then going to wander over to the microwave and put a meal on whilst leaving your washing machine to get on with cleansing that day's attire but oh no what is that noise, the burglar alarm is going off because someone tried to break in, but because of your handy sensor placed on the doors they got scared and ran away leaving you in peace.
How many different types of computer controlled technology were in that little anecdote? (The answer is 5 by the way) What I'm trying to highlight though is that controlled technology is all around us and is essentially just a set of instructions programmed into a machine telling it to do what we need.
Where do the robots come into this?
In the session today we got to play with an array of programmable robots. Some more complex than others but all applicable in a classroom. These included:
Have a little click on those links to see what they are! Myself and Conrad (a fellow in my class) decided to have a little play with the Beebots. We attempted to get our little bee friend to spell out our names and this was my attempt.
Let it be known this was my second attempt as my little bee buddy decided not to turn correctly on the first turn but this was not my fault. Anyway you can see that I spelt out my name, or nickname if you will, Meg and it worked almost perfectly.
Computer monitoring, what's that?
Well this, my friend, is where the sensors come into it, this is your burglar alarms and motion sensors. In school though you have the following to data log and have a play with:
Clicking some of those links will give you good ideas for activities you could do in class too.
What was my favourite then?
Drumroll...Beebot! What a nifty little device he is. What areas of the curriculum could I use him in? Well, ICT as it aids understanding of programming, Geography, it helps with directions and how about with letters and shapes and spelling in Literacy? It is such a diverse bot that you could use him in a variety of subjects.
My favourite activity we could do with this is to spell your own name. This will help to teach new ICT skills as mentioned above but it will help to aid understanding of directions and spelling, breaking down the phonemes in your name. It is quite the all-rounder!
Key words for using the Beebot will be:
Forward
Left
Right
Reverse
Pause
Clear and
Go
Turn
Turn around
For the more able children they can have obstacles put in their path to make spelling their name more challenging, they could also spell their whole name and limit the mistakes they're allowed to make.
For the less able they could have a starting point for the Beebot and get him to go to the first letter of their name and eventually work their way up to spelling their whole first name when they feel confident. They could also have a smaller simpler grid to write the letters on for the Beebot to navigate around.
This activity can have multiple levels of assessment such as their spelling, their motor skills, their maths skills and ICT. They can track their results in table of how many times they got it right and wrong and how they can improve.
The great thing about the Beebots is that they are completely accessible, you could use them as a whole class activity or in small groups or one-to-one. Once the children get used to them as well you can let them play with them at their own pace. If you have resources set out such a maps or mazes or alphabet mats they can play and experiment and learn when they choose.
Have a little think of all the computer control and monitoring devices you use daily and you'll be amazed at how much we rely on these devices daily!
Our session today showed us the endless possibilities of the Interactive Whiteboard, I'll probably be referring to this as the IWB from now on, just so you know. I've worked in a classroom for the last two years as a teaching assistant and so I've seen the IWB in use but up until now I haven't seen it in full swing and I tell you what, I'm excited! I don't know whether teachers just haven't taken the time to explore it before but this video got me excited and after our session I want to plan (and now think I could plan) near enough every lesson on the IWB!
Isn't it amazing!? Learning in the classroom is so multi-sensory now and can encourage all types of learners. My motto for teaching has always been to 'make learning fun and encourage children to want to learn more' (Lynch 2012) and now I can see that the resources that are available to me now can make this possible.
Just think how far things have come along, I remember seeing the teacher clap erasers after school when blackboards were still in fashion, then it progresses to white boards but that still wasn't enough, they had to make them interactive and boy am I glad they did! Don't forget There are still elements of an IWB that you need to take into account. It is no good for example having a board half way up your wall when your little kiddies are still the size of pixies. Try to consider your positioning and not have an elaborate stage set up. Lighting is essential, you need to have good blinds and lights that can switch on and off easily. Have a font size that all the children in the class can see. Why not start the day with a game or put a register on the board so they can take responsibility for themselves? You can make anything fun.
What to do? Our group specifically worked on the Magnifying Glass effect on the IWB and it was quite the nifty little tool. What you can do is hide words around the board and reveal them once the magnifying glass is put over the top. We thought we would set up a little science lesson and hide the names of different minibeasts for what would be the children in the class to guess. It worked really well and I will almost certainly use this tool in the future. And that's just one of the things you can do! Children can practice their handwriting, their numeracy, their sentence construction skills. To quote Recycle Now 'the possibilities are endless'. So go explore, check out how to make a lesson interactive and exciting and if you click this link and go down to 'Create Engaging Lessons' you can see just a few ways you can make a lesson interactive. You have to really get stuck in an explore for yourself to really unleash the potential... ...so, what are you waiting for, go play!
Today in my ICT workshop I learnt about this new tool in the classroom called blogging and this is actually what you're reading right now! We were told of the role it can now play in school as it's relevance. Things are different from when I was at school and more and more children are becoming technologically 'savvy', we need to adapt to the ever changing times and keep them up to date as well as ourselves. There is a phrase where 'if children don't learn the way we teach maybe we should teach the way they learn' and this is all part of being able to challenge and excite children as the world around us changes!
What can be involved in this term Web 2.0?
This is all about the interactive side of the world wide web. What about getting children involved in Twitter? This is a sort of mini-blog. Why not create a character and encourage children to write to them. There's a recent Twitter event where children are encouraged to 'become' a character and do their research on it and then other children from other schools can respond. To find out more click this little birdie right here >
There's also Flickr to upload photo's, why not put photo's of your class mascot up and the adventures they go on.
Skype family members in other countries to find out about their culture? So what about this blogging business all about? What can children do? They can talk about their likes and dislikes, they can print screen their favourite websites, their scores on their favourite learning games online, their football teams results, anything! It's a great outlet for them and something they can feel proud of. Now one thing we have to remember with the little sprogs is keeping them safe at all times and this includes on the web. The need for eSafety is essential as we want to give children the freedom to roam around the internet without us constantly hovering over their shoulders and harping on about being safe. If we can give them the right amount of knowledge and tools we have to trust them to use them properly and hope that they take on board our suggestions. So lets talk about eSafety. eSafety
What are some of the main ways you can encourage your own little ones or a classroom of children to stay safe, I hear you ask? Well, rule number one is to never ever post any personal details about yourself online. Take a little look at this picture here. Having friezes around the classroom or by a computer will just remind children to keep safe on the internet at all times. A great website called thinkuknow caters for young people to parents, carers and teachers. There is also a more child friendly version of how to be safe online on the CBBC website so check that out to! For now I'm going to say over and out so until next time space friends! M x
