The Gruffalo

Being on my first placement as a trainee teacher has meant that occassionally my lessons are timed incorrectly, either leaving me with lots or no time to spare. On those days with lots of time to spare I have found that the IWB can again come in very useful in having a bit of fun at the end of the lesson whilst waiting for assembly, playtime or whatever was planned next.

One website which I think I loved as much as the children was http://www.gruffalo.com/chorus/index.html. This brought a bit of music into the lesson and was great for keeping the children quiet and happy whilst waiting for playtime. The website has all the characters from The Gruffalo book singing the Gruffalo song. They can be turned on and off by clicking on them so it meant that the children could choose which character would sing/be turned off. It tied in brilliantly with the lesson, meaning we could talk about all the characters while we listened to the song. I have recommended this website to other teachers and trainees I know and shall post it on the Wiki so hopefully others will be able to have as much fun as we did with it!

Teaching in a computer suite

Having the extra help of a TA with the class has meant it is possible to split the class in half and have two ICT sessions in the computer suite. This means that each child can have a computer to themselves, giving them more opportunity to practice. This week I took each group for a 30 minute session into the suite. It is well laid out with the computers around the outside of the room and an IWB in the centre. This meant I was able to show all the children at the same time how to access the computer programme they were going to be working on and how to play the typing games that were planned for the lesson. We all logged on and got into the programme together before trying out the games. This prevented the need to go round to each child to make sure they knew what they were doing and enabled me to dedicate my time to those children with particular needs.

I feel that if schools are going to have computer suites then this is a good way to lay them out so that there is a big screen for all the children to easily see while the teacher is modelling the activities and the teacher can see what all the children are accessing at all times making behaviour management a lot easier.

My first week of SBT1

Since starting at the school I have heavily relied on the internet for resources and ideas for lessons I have done. The main website I have used is the primary resources one and I have also used the links on the Jotspot learning resources Wiki, which I have found very useful.

One problem I have found with the classroom I am working in is that the interactive whiteboard is placed on the wall too high and set back behind desks. Unfortunately, that means it cannot be very interactive. However, it is still a very useful visual resource that I can show the children different websites and documents on. Therefore, I have still tried to incorporate it within some of my lessons but I have have kept the control of the computer to myself due to behaviour management and safety reasons. Next week I will try to make sure there is a clear area around the computer so that the children can be in control of the mouse when playing interactive games, making it more interseting and fun for them!

Portable laptops or computer suites?

Currently there is a debate over whether an ICT suite is more effective than portable laptops. There are many positives and negatives of both and so perhaps introducing a mix may be the best option?

Portable computers offer flexibility which means that ICT lessons can take place anywhere in the school. Plus, using laptops, there is more chance to incorporate ICT into a variety of lessons across the curriculum so that ICT lessons do not have to be a separate lesson, in which it is the only chance for children to improve their computer skills.

As well as this, there are more opportunities for using wireless as you don’t need to keep to your slot in the suite. Plus, the children can also access all their classroom resources during the lesson. From my experience, some ICT suites have a double function due to lack of space within the school which will reduce the time used for ICT even more.

One more positive of laptops is the possibility of children being able to take them home to complete their homework on if they do not have the resources at home. The only risk with this is that parents need to be made aware that the child may be able to access the internet so they need to make sure they are monitoring their child’s use.

However, on the negative side, there are the health risks of portable laptops that have been highlighted. There has not been enough time to conduct effective research on this issue and so it is still very contentious. Therefore, using a mix of both laptops and a suite, will reduce the amount of time that children have to be using the laptops and give them another option.

As well as this, there is a much higher risk of damage to the computers in a portable trolley than in a suite. Plus, parts or computers may get lost as they are constantly being moved around the school. The more portable laptops there are, the more likely this is to happen. As these are a very expensive pieces of equipment, this is a negative that all schools need to be aware of.

Therefore, there are positives and negatives of both a suite and the laptops so a combination of both could prove to be the most successful way…however; I suppose it could be argued that if you have both, then you also have the negatives of both as well.

The Use of Discussion Boards

I found the discussion board quite useful for this task, mainly because I live in Bournemouth and my partner is living in Southampton. Therefore, although the task required us to discuss and work together, this could be done at separate times and places. It is easy to post comments and attach files onto the discussion board so there were no problems accessing each others work. The only issue that occurred was that I had to save the work I did at home in a format compatible with the university’s software to allow it to be opened without a problem as I have a more recent version of Microsoft.

Discussion boards could be a useful resource in primary schools when doing tasks such as book reviews, as we have done in English. Children could work in groups to write a review, post it and then comment on other groups’ reviews. They could also be very useful to get children to post their individual or group ICT work onto a discussion board so that it can be marked by the teacher online – the children could also feedback their comments after the teacher has marked it so they can carry out some self-assessment and reflect on the work they have done. This can then be re-visited when completing their next piece of work.

Although discussion boards are very useful for the above tasks, Wikis and Blogs could also provide these advantages. The negative side of the discussion board is that once a document has been posted it cannot be edited as easily as on a Blog or Wiki. Plus, on the discussion board, the work has to be posted so another programme has to be used to produce the work on, whereas Wikis and Blogs can be worked on as they are and contributed to by anyone in the group. Another advantage is that it is possible to limit people's access on Blogs and Wikis, which may not be as easy on a discussion board - anyone could read the messages we have put up on the discussion board on Blackboard. Sometimes it is great to share ideas but occassionaly it may be necessary for only the teacher to access certain work so that all children produce soething original.

Spreadsheet: Love or Hate?

Like Marmite, I thought you either had to love or hate spreadsheets but I learned recently a hate for them can actually be transformed into a love once shown how to use them efficiently.

I have used spreadsheets a lot in several of my past jobs but until the most recent lecture on mathematics and ICT I have never really used them very effectively. I hated spreadsheets because I feared them. I knew they could be a lot more useful and I always dreaded having to use them as I did not know where to look to improve my skills on this aspect of my ICT knowledge and always found them very frustrating. As much as possible I would avoid spreadsheets and use tables on Word and laboriously write out each value and total using a calculator.

However, since my last lecture I have found out just how easy it is to use spreadsheets. The formulaic language used in spreadsheets which looks so scary is actually quite easy to grasp. I really do not know why I hated them so much and presumed they were so difficult! They are very useful for working out problems and different types of calculations quickly and accurately. Spreadsheets will be a great way to get children interested in Maths problems as when faced with a problem they have to work out without help from a spreadsheet, they may feel a lot more daunted. Plus, they are easy to link with real life examples that are relevant to the children through using real data. Once the children have been shown some simple formulas that they can use, they will hopefully find spreadsheets as useful and easy as I now do and come to love using them!

Learning ICT so far...

I have drastically improved in using Wikis and Blogs and now find myself using them socially as well as for university. Plus, I am also using a blog for Science so I am really starting to consider what ICT resources I can use in different subjects. The resources Wiki that was set up to help provide teaching resources has also helped a lot. I will be doing some work for my placement around the topic of Light and Colour and plan to have a look through to see what I can find to help me plan some lessons. I have also contributed to this and hope to keep adding to it as I find more resources on the web.

As well as this, I have a much better knowledge of how ICT can be used across the curriculum, both through my own reading and the ICT lectures and activities. There is so much scope to involve ICT in almost all activities and subjects that are carried out. In every lesson that I plan I am now considering how I can incorporate ICT. My most important development since I have started this course would have to be my insight into how useful ICT is in the classroom to help with teaching and learning.

However, I do still have a lot to learn about ICT and many goals which I need to achieve or improve on, for example, programming. But if I continue to develop my knowledge as I have over the last couple of months I will certainly make many more leaps in my progress.