Week 4 - Video didn't kill the radio star

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:

Top of the list (probably):

• Talking photo album
• Each page can be a different recording

•  Talk time cards
• Drywipe recording cards where they have a limited amount of recording time to keep them focused on the task

• Talking tins
• 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!

Week 3 - iRobot Revolution

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:

• Beebot
• Pixie
• Pippin

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:

• EasySense Q
• LogIT EXPLORER
• Digital Microscope

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!

Miss Lynch over and out!

Week 2 - Whiteboard Witchcraft

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!