Day 69 - trail blazing

When a school fully embraces technology the possibilities are endless - thinking big becomes the norm. 

Take charity work - the disaster fund created for the displaced of Nepal's earthquake prompted a den building day. The day was recounted via Quik and shared by the students to TrilbyTv - this easily generated a public link which could be shared using a QR code. These codes were displayed and the ability to be transported back to the event was created. 

What have I used in the classroom today ? 

Numbers - currently my year 6 are enjoying the freedom from SATs so functional maths comes to the fore. Setting the work easily on the file sharing app Showbie - I can set up templates and encourage entering functions to make calculations more exciting. 

The students worked collaboratively to produce the profits for their Fairgrouund company and tackled tiers of word based problem challenges without complaint! 

GReen Screen and iMovie - excellent creative partners to encourage and support creativity and team work. putting in a production of 'Shakespeare Rocks' has meant a multitude of marketing opportunities which expand the use of functional literacy skills alongside developing digital aquity. 

The end result a class who are able to express themselves whilst reinforcing the key skills that will strengthen the foundations as they embark on their journey towards secondary school. 

Day 68 - Amnesty

Today, working with the students I have come to question whether or not iPads can disrupt more than enhance learning. It's a thought that I've always tried to rationalise and think positively about. Educating the children in how to use their device to support their learning is easy- as the students enjoy using their device and enjoy working as a result. But as the end of term looms and tiredness sets in, attitudes can alter. So, if I'm unhappy about the diversions that I have heard about today - it stands to reason that other less confident teachers with iPad will be questioning the reasons behind using iPad in their classroom. 

So what can I do about it? 

Reflect: what is causing the disruption? Is the work pitched correctly to ensure challenge level matches ability? Do the class appreciate why they are using the device? Is it time to revisit online safety and appropriate use...especially with the 'Y6 - leavers'...there could be many reasons.  

Having just recently chaired a really positive Digital Genius Ambassador teacher forum - I demonstrated the yet to be release classroom app from Apple. This boasts the features of putting control back in the hands of the teacher. Classroom organisation and 'power' to oversee, refocus and ultimate stop the students from straying of the designated (pre planned) path to knowledge. It certainly ticks all those boxes - it also allows the teacher to operate 'Classroom' with a TA as support and another pair of digital eyes across the room. All positive. Today - this setting or imposing limits would be a quick fix in preventing diversions from the task. 

My response to this problem has been to restrict access temporarily for those renegade learners to reinforce that using the iPad is an essential tool to learning and when it is not available makes the learning more difficult to access...I'm not sure though that now, that is enough. Only time will tell. I will be revisiting acceptable use policy and the sanctions that are clearly outlined. The transient nature of the classroom means that it is ever more important to educate the student to be responsible, informed and flexible digital citizen. This is the ultimate aim for our students, whether it takes a few misdemeanours in a controlled environment, perhaps the additional thinking and reflection time is the most valuable experience that school can provide. Doing what's right and knowing what's wrong is the bedrock of any society...

Day 67 - Exposed

The Ŷ Teaching exposes you to amazing opportunities and never fails to surprise and delight. 

Working with iPad allows me - as a teacher - to use all the tools available to make the process of learning as accessible as possible. I try to remind myself how difficult learning is...as adults we don't often put ourselves in a position where we are not in control. School can feel like this everyday for some people - alien in fact. It's my job to utilise all the tools at my disposal to make the experience in the classroom as effective as possible. Notice not easy - thinking is hard and school without a challenge is, well - worthless. 

What did I use in my classroom today? 

Listening, comprehending, acting and following through is a complex task for some. Especially if you haven't yet developed the sophisticated skills of decoding words and communicating meaning. For whatever reason, following instructions is hard. To help those in my class who find multi step instructions tricky and fall short of expectations to replicate or reproduce similar modelled work - filming  the introduction and posting it back in Showbie to be replayed as and when necessary by the children .

The resulting work was noticeably more precise and looked controlled and considered, dare I say cared for?  I was proud of the efforts of the class, making nets is never easy (all those tabs) but today there was real success, no curved edges on the cuboids. Taking no more time as it was filmed when I delivered the lesson. 

The class have been working on a computer competition entry. The task is to use a Makey Makey into a control pad for a game made in Scratch. Today was beta testing day...

The game is a culmination of teamwork, the collaboration within the class makes this everyone's game, even though a selected few will present it to the judging panel. 

The idea is that the athlete runs and collects healthy food, the four objects change when bumped from healthy food when you gain points, to unhealthy food which reduces your score... Today records were broken and a score of 27 points gained! The students gathered both positive and negative comments and used this to refine and tweak their code. Debugging at its most relevant. This ideas were then captured in a Book Creator visual diary of the whole process. I am very proud of the children they are the opitome of digital learners - achieving above and beyond what they believe possible. The final diary was then exported as a movie file and uploaded instantly to Trilby TV, so others could marvel in the students aptitude. The public link providing a QRlink for instantly exposed for public scrutiny and praise. 

Day 66 - Ultimate understanding

As a teacher we always put out practice under the microscope and dissect it.  This micro management can prevent the students from expressing themselves. Independence of thought as well as independent choice of how to present understanding is the ultimate goal. It was refreshing today to see how the youngest pupils and their talented teachers are providing a child centred and rich learning experience by incorporating the iPad in the classroom. By embracing the possibilities to transform the learning environment that the iPad provides - powerful learning is released.

This moment was captured and at first sight it looks isolating for the student, but this year 1 student was actually completing an independent challenge. The challenge was set up with a verbal instruction and the necessary resources on Showbie. This student had decided herself  to sit quietly as she wanted to record her response which was a prediction of the characters and plot that they imagined this unknown book could present. The ability for this child to talk without an audience and without the pressure to perform with an adult listening, freed her to show her true understanding. 

The challenge was repeated by a few of the other students and shared back In the classroom before the book was read aloud. The teacher here has used Apple TV to share the work, which prompted and modelled good speech and encouraged the younger reception pupils to explore this method of sharing their understanding, 

 Later that afternoon a reception child asked his teacher if he could explain what a Perch fish is like as he had made a model and wanted to share his knowledge, he picked up an iPad and asked to use Adobe spark  but he couldn't log in quickly enough to so he switched to Book Creator. He soon returned to show his teacher what he had done. He had photographed his model, and unprompted experimented with the tools and labelled his model, using  a colour code. In his own words - fin, spikes & tummy. But he went further and added a voice note - to help everyone understand about his Perch. AMAZING! The success was shared and celebrated in the classroom. 

This was added to Showbie and quickly added to this child's digital portfolio as evidence that this child has a voice and is in control of his learning. Expectations met - and exceeded. 

Day 65 - Roll up or roll back?

I know this is an over simplification and I should remember the name of the learnéd individual from my initial teacher training that put forward the idea of a continuous spiral of learning. As a maths teacher at heart - I believe this to be true. Children don't just keep on learning because you give them more things to do...basically consolidation of concepts need revision (aside from the effects of child developmental stages) -confirming learning is life long. This seems at odds with how schools are now set up. Continuing demand to meet targets, hitting expected (age appropriate) attainment levels or goals throughout their school career. Evidence is needed at every stage, so today, I was conscious of the need to not always do something new but to revisit a topic or skill and take once step back to go two steps ahead. 

So what did I use in the classroom today?

Showbie to distribute the resources or should I say to amend the existing resources - to look afresh at the same learning objective to encourage a different slant. 

We began with a padlet to show our understanding and where the children needed the reinforcement. 

This was followed by using a template in Numbers - yes Numbers for English - so that the focus was distilled to the appropriate skill rather than hoping that the children will learn it properly this time! 

To consolidate learning the students were asked to make an Adobe Spark video with a partner to verbalise their thinking and this was uploaded to TrilbyTv so that it can be replayed in the background to facilitate learning. 

This was then the basis of a student created Kahoot quiz which provided me with the evidence that the students know individually ( as they can also say when a hyphen isn't used)  but also allows for those who still are unsure to practice and practice again in a motivating and competitive environment. 

The students respond to this approach, a mash of individualised learning and supported collaborative work that together will ensure the whole learning community moves forward.