Day 78 - Function-ing Brilliantly!

Halloween can always bring out the dark side of a class, usually through excitement and spirited enthusiasm. Today, with the students I tried some new approaches...

Following a really successful Inset with staff - it was clear that the integration of iPad into the curriculum is going (on the whole) well. However, there are still a few barriers to making continued progress and pushing on with the development of learning and of course teaching. One barrier is always, 'Vickie I haven't got time to invent new resources all the time' (usually this means - 'so I don't and haven't tried anything new as yet...') I work part time and know I can trust this resource I get good results...

So, in evaluating the staff's needs I made my timely intervention and showed the teachers Nearpod. - Yes I could have introduced this at the very start of our roll out. But truthfully, the creative aspects of iPad and workflow that were encouraged initially worked brilliantly. This is an intervention that refreshes ideas and gives 'tired' teachers a quick win with the impetus to keep on preparing the best learning opportunities in lessons for the students.  This targeted focus allows the teacher to use their favourite resource sites (Twinkl) but also augment the slide deck with interactive tasks which utilities the iPad and gives independence to the student. Putting the onus on the student to be responsible for their learning.

So what have I used in the classroom today?

Nearpod - inverted commas. The basic slide deck was taken from a Pdf exported from a powerpoint in Twinkl. I then added additional slides with examples of modelled exercises, quizzes and free writing opportunities. The close procedure is particularly effective with lower Key Stage 2.

Illustrating the rules of using inverted commas

The results of using this guided learning method were evident immediately, the students achieved well and the standard of their work was noticeably more accurate and proficient.