Day Three - evidence of progress is as easy as ABC

Pupils progress is at the heart of why teachers teach. Small incremental steps are celebrated as much as prolonged and steady improvement. Rarely does a class teacher have the luxury of spending twenty minutes, uninterrupted time with a single pupil. Today, my timetable was a stream of such luxuries. I was assigned to teach the children identified with targeted needs which when achieved would bring them in line with expected levels of attainment. 

I found myself eager to set a baseline, not only to prove pupil progress but to satisfy myself that I could identify the progress as a professional. Faced with no formalised documentation, I embarked on a voyage of discovery to lay down a baseline teacher assessment. Devoid of levels or sub levels. 

I found the latter easy, like riding s bike, levelling a child's ability and potential  came easily with basic maths and reading tasks. The students ranged from Reception to year 6. Proving it was the key. I wanted evidence that the previous time I had spent with them was well invested. So I turned to technology. 

What did I use today to enhance learning and inform my teaching? 

1. Book Creator - I made a digital profile for each child using the landscape template accessed photo using the in app camera and individualised the book aided by each pupil. 

2. I recorded using the sound feature our conversations and accompanied this with photos and screen shots. Easy and a basic skill. However, the power of this simple task reinforced to me the benefits to assessment gathering and digital profiling. 

A) Many schools buy in packages to formally capture progress especially in EYFS. Book Creator and its features fulfilled this brief. In 10 minutes I was able to record one child's inability to decode the words of their favourite Fairy Story but also record their enthusiastic and accurate recount of the same story using the pictures as their prompt. Added into their book as evidence of progress.

B) Using the video function,  a child was captured counting to 20 accurately and mistakenly recording 15 as 12. After Intervention, the second attempt at videoing the same pupil using numicon revealed her ability to accurately record 18. This small but crucial window on the learner was then shared with her class teacher and SenCo whose understanding of that child became further informed. 

C) replaying the voice recording enabled the pupil to self identify clearly where they could improve - like a coaching tool. 

The iPad and Book Creator could easily become the answer to supporting students to reach their individual targets.