Day 25 - Creative Connections

The joy of mobile technology is how every student can put their own spin on a creative task. They surprise themselves with how much fun it is and how effective and professional the results can be. This is especially true for the students that struggle with writing or expressing their ideas on paper. 

What did I use in the classroom today? 

1. Maths - Year 5&6, investigating methods of multiplication. Having last week looked at Explain Everything for the first time, this weeks investigation based on www.nrich.maths.org  was the catalyst for the lesson.  Taking one sum 23x21 and seeing how many different ways this could be multiplied. The methods ranged from the usual column multiplication to the mindblowingly whacky lines method. 

The students task was to make a series of slides showing the calculation in each method and then trying out their own multiplication sums using their preferred method. 

Asked why this way of investigating would help one girl said " I know if I get stuck on a different sum, I could replay the video and it will help me get started again. " Exactly!  The magic nature of the lines method always raises a gasp...

The animated nature of the slides showing how to deconstruct each stage is transformational in learning. It allows the student to take control of how they learn , even down to what they say and how they say it...powerful stuff! 

2) English Grammar - Year 5&6 Book Creator

Having to explain onomatopoeia is one of life's great mysteries. It's easy when the word is accompanied by the sound because it makes sense. So today year five and six made examples of phrases using onomatopoeic words but added that own sound this also gives as a starting point a useful support in their hot writing task later in the week when they will need to compose their own poetry.

3). Using Adobe Voice with Year3&4. Setting up email. 

Adobe voice is to Resik app easy to use intuitive and quick. All the attributes you need for a successful digital classroom based activity. Today in the class we managed to set up everybody with an email and a password. In year three this was no mean feat! Part of the computering curriculum asks that the students have experience of email its usage and for me for their safety online education, it's misuse. I first read to the class Websters email which is a fantastic way to open the topic of conversation on communication and its limitations. Collaboration in classroom is championed but we also need to be mindful that children also need to know when best not to use and share their information.

It was important for my lesson to make sure that the children understood that and email address was a way of tagging you as a person and it is that way that many companies use to track your movements on the Internet. Adobe voice requires each child to have an account. Therefore each child has to have an email account attached to their profile. In itself this is acceptable. However I would ask that companies like Adobe voice realise the power of their app within the classroom and to make it more accessible to the whole school. By the end of the lesson every child had signed up to Adobe voice using that email and they're protected password, they had looked at the tutorial and started to make their own version of a short animation explaining the virtues of email.