Day 60 - Too simple?

 ,Technology should be simple and intuitive to use. In the classroom situation technology is best utilised when the technology seamlessly integrates into the task or learning style. This sounds as if I am preaching but today there was ample evidence that when a school reaches a stage in which the technology used neither stands out or demands additional attention; it just simply works. This is the proof that schools crave. Seamless integration is often cited as a schools' visionary aim. 

The apps we use also need to be intuitive. That's why I continue to champion Apple. Their iWorks suite of apps that are free with the iPad just work, the development of these super apps, which are created by a fanatical army of dedicated, super intelligent & creative individuals is quite beyond my comprehension. I can however revel and appreciate the difference that it makes to my students  in the classes I teach. I applaud their pursuit of excellence, their insistence that it needs to be as good as it can be and that the experience of the learner should be almost ethereal. Gossamer apps. 

Today I had the misfortune of using an app which was the polar opposite of the Apple apps. My year 1 students were asked to extend their independence whilst writing stories. The hope was that their burgeoning vocabulary and knowledge about whales would set this exciting prospect in motion. 2 create a story was the app made by 2 simple. Well known in the profiling assessment arena, this app was unnecessarily tricky. It neither delivered a good experience for either learner or more importantly enabled the students to use the app as a foil for their creativity. It tried to simplify the process but only succeeded in limiting the possibilities for the students. Like the antonyms featured in the SATs It only served to be restrictive and ultimately frustrating.  

So - what did I use successfully in the classroom today? 

Year 3&4 - Numbers, Showbie, Book Creator and the built in camera features of the iPad. Shared on Trilby Tv to ensure the rest of the school could see the progress being achieved. 

Any maths teacher knows that pentominoes are an excellent way to introduce and consolidate area and perimeter. The varied resources easily accessible for the students - modelled templates that become individualised and editable once opened in the appropriate app. The differentiated tasks required the student to work in synchronicity with the traditional equipment of multi link, pencil and ruler but to incorporate the using a spreadsheet and accenting their work with screen shots to reinforce the connections made. The maths skills were uppermost, the technology merely enabled the students thought processes to flow naturally between the demands of the tasks. As the challenges got "hotter" the use of the devices changed and adapted to the needs of the learner. Whilst the students were working the photos that I took were quickly added in to the Quik app which I them showed as the plenary of the lesson. This was also uploaded to Trilby Tv to allow the rest of the school to share our success. It was received by a spontaneous round of applause, not for the animation but that the class recognised that they had really moved their learn on to another level. Magical. 

The school at which I work is undergoing a process of self reflection in order to inform their next steps in developing the school. The ambition of the school belies their small village location. These three focuses, will form the corner stone of the development plan. Digital literacy and the use of technology was reported as a real strength amongst the staff. This in just 60 days of development. Incredible progress that should be celebrated and recognised as a real strength in the locality. 

Year 1&2 - instead of the using the 2 simple app mentioned earlier, this group of students were asked to combine their story writing skills in Book Creator.  Using the images taken in their school visit to the local aquarium already in photos added to this the screen shots of their Tux painting images, combined quickly with one tap into the panel of the ePub template accessed from result was unparalleled compared with the earlier group. 

Day 59 - Re-imagined

It's understandable,  when school is busy and deadlines need to be met, to plan lessons that have a specific end point. The final outcome is proof of understanding - or at least that the objective for the lesson has been adhered to. Today, in my classes it was evident that deeper learning is achieved when the task set requires or allows for development. Re-imagined. Whether that is because the initial task is a collaborative group task that can be developed in new ways as an individual or vice versa. 

What have I used in the classroom today? 

1) Year 3&4 - quiz creation. 

There is nothing that gets the classes that I teach me or excited than Kahoot! It doesn't matter if they are KS1 or KS5 the reaction is the same. Today, my year 3&4 's were set a task to extend their comprehension skills through the development of an individual quiz. The quiz was based on the Mayan's...an ancient civilisation that one wouldn't necessarily have any experience or knowledge of. Their influence however on society today was huge huge and has stood the test of time. 

Firstly, the class has to download their template resources form Showbie it now takes no time at all to 'open in ' another app to edit and amend scaffolded and differentiated work. This time the checklist was in Numbers. This however was essentially a literacy based lesson, so using a spreadsheet to plan was quite new to the students. This re-imagined task required sourced facts for the multiple choice answers for the quiz as in order to 'fool' the audience plausible answers needed to be used. 

Once the first few questions were written, there remained a few gaps so some research was required. Where to go for accessible, child friendly easily decipherable answers? www.DKfindout.co.uk the information is well organised and logical. It follows the systematic approach that I was encouraging. Having started to run out ideas, some pupils shared their workload by air dropping their half completed spreadsheet to combine to a full quiz allocation. No one likes to be one question short of a quiz! The questions were rapidly converted into a Kahoot by the pupils and played at the end of the session. The feedback on the PC was proof that the students had enjoyed their experience, developed their knowledge of the Mayan's, researched facts and learnt something new...that to ok to go the extra step and push boundaries. Student led work, satisfying and fun. 

2) Year 1 - today the class worked on re-imagining their digital artwork and assessing their work using green screen. The short movies they made as a collaborative task were looked at again in order that they could individually decide how they want to improve and develop their work further. All too often in the understandably busy classroom, it's easier to make life simple and take the thinking element away from the task. Decision making is hard. Choices whether to listen and act on instructions need to be taught and this takes energy and focus. If the path to the 'right' answer is always simplified or made too easy then the thinking process is diluted and our students expect someone to always be there to help them. That's not to say that I don't help or assist if a child misunderstands. But I do try and phrase my response to a question that just requires a little deeper thought, so that the child does the thinking...and not me. "What do you think you should do? " is better than "what you need to do is". The self reflection was recorded in Showbie as a voice note as it was instant and captured the essence of the thought process, whether stuttered, confident or prompted. The essential part then is to allow for the refining process to take place and for the student to celebrate the changes made and that the student took ownership of their learning. The Early years teachers strive hard to instil such worthwhile charcteristics and are often successful in developing the essential self reliance needed in the classroom. 

3) Year 2 - one child when asked if he enjoyed the school trip indignantly said..."Nah because you're always asked to write a story about it when you get back,"  so having returned from a trip recently to a Sealife Centre, a recount task needed to be reimagined. The iPads were taken along to capture images and snapshots of the day. So instead of the usual recount, the same features were used to produce a scaffolded and supported Adobe Voice recount using the images taken and chosen by the children. This group work then led onto a Book Creator where the pupils almost forgot that they were expanding their literacy skills as they applied stealth-like the recount text devices. The quality of work was extra ordinary as they students took charge and used an expanded vocabulary to verbally recount their day in Voice. The ultimate end point today was to be published authors on the school website.  This was then re -imagined and then published as an ePub book. The magical turning of the pages unfurled to the delight of the authors. It's always good to have surprise and delight in the classroom, especially when the skills the children are consolidating are the exact ones being tested in the standardised but sterile method of SATs. I know how I'd rather teach them...

Day 58 - Competition

Today I accompanied a group of students outside the classroom. We all attended the preparatory session for the local schools gaming competition. This outreach programme sees secondary schools linking with their feeder schools and a games developer. The developer is sponsoring the prizes but more importantly raising the awareness of the jobs available in the industry. From motion sensing, design or animation to coders. 

The company Creative Assembly responsible for developing strategy games such as Warhammrr and Halo may not be appropriate for the age of children but future technologies will require an appropriately skilled work force... 

First task was to build a game using scratch - the students were able to transfer their skills easily from iPad to PC 

Transfer the skills to a different controller using the makey makey. 

Back at school the pupil representatives will be leading a smaller group putting their skills into practice, then we can all start making our entry. 

Day 57 - Vitality

Supportive colleagues and students who are generous with their time, happy to share ideas and guide others when the going gets tough is a mark of a real community. The evidence is growing that the iPad is giving staff and students the vehicle by which they can deepen their understanding through collaborative learning. There is a tangible shift in pedagogy and approach to learning. The iPad is used to facilitate and support teaching in the pursuit to achieve a deeper understanding for all students. Therefore, a variety of approaches are promote to model these new learning practices.

Group work is targeted appropriately and students are encouraged to capture notes using their iPad to facilitate retrieval 

Even the youngest students take responsibility to choose examples of good work and add them to their own digital portfolio in Showbie. Feedback and peer assessment and commonplace as are joint discussions with teachers.

Structured learning practices are encouraged and successfully developed from reception class .

The reflective practice that are being modelled to students are making an impact on teacher workload. The teachers find the work that requires comments can be appropriately and targeted accurately as the  student has had the input in determining which work is assessed. Combining Book Creator with Showbie allows the learning road map to be navigated effectively. Building on success and support weaknesses. If this practice is mirrored by staff and self reflection becomes part of the discussion in the staffroom, pedagogy shifts and the curriculum is delivered in a student centred model. Benefiting many life skills are enhanced as a consequence- confidence, self belief and reliance is visibly raised. These beneficial effects are multiplied when the teacher takes time out of a busy day to reflect on their own practice. Is their teaching really developing the skills that they want to target. Honest and sometimes unpredictable results are found. Here I have used Replay to capture a snap shot of the classroom and used as a 'learning thermometer' to gauge the vitality of the learning ... more information can be found on vickiebacon.blogspot.co.uk

Day 55 - Layering

iPad is a fantastic tool to allow multi layers of work to happen simultaneously. In terms of both differentiation and workflow options, iPad encourages pupils to think again about their work to reflect, refine and respond to feedback. The challenge sometimes is knowing when to stop tinkering and be satisfied with an outcome. 

So what have I used in the classroom today? 

1) Showbie again allowed me as the teacher to set up my classes so that the task matches their ability - pupils would feel the warm feeling of success. But it also enables me to model work that takes the pupils outside their comfort zone but in an unobtrusive, inviting way. I use chilli challenges, 🌶, 🌶🌶 or the hottest task 🌶🌶🌶. It may not always be more demanding on pure skills but may take additional persistence to complete. I'm a great believer in allowing children the opportunity to extend their work both in terms of applicable skill set and not just on pure content based learning. 

This Y3/4 Literacy task was layered as a continuation from last weeks comprehension task on the Olympics. The best example of work completed by a member of the class was used as the starting point this week. A real audience and purpose always concentrates the learners mind. This information was turned into a draft. Newspaper report, a paragraph of recount text produced from the key facts identified from a non fiction report. 

The work produced this week showed the capabilities of the students. The work overall was of better quantity and quality than had been previously produced. One child surpassed themselves to shine brightly including adjectives, adverbials, prepositions, persuasive devices and exciting complex sentences which had previously been a chore to write. 

2)  Tux Painting. 

The skills for year 1&2 were to be able to manipulate images , resize them and include labels to their digital images. 

The layering of the skills today were to (I) experiment

 with the effects and tools

(I) to produce an underwater scene including the underwater effects and 

demonstrate the ability to resize images

(iii) add labels to the finished underwater scene . This is an example of Year 1 work. 

 Overall, I was pleased by the outcomes. Especially the way in which the students were mentoring each other when issues arose. I can show you that! Was heard many times as the afternoon explorations continued. It's great to see self confidence and ownership taking off in the classroom environment. 

Finally, although not on iPad,  I introduced BBC Bitesize dance mat typing. It's a fun and engaging way to teach the students keyboard skills which they will benefit from as they progress with their text based communication. Being able to quickly locate the right key and recognise predictive text issues will support their future double thumb methods! 

Day 54 - Error part 2

Interestingly, the subject of todays blog was errors. Having written an account of todays varied and inspiring work I forgot to either save my work properly or the blogger website had an error and didn't publish the full text as expected. My apologies and here's attempt 2 to let you know the details of the day...

What did I use in the classroom today?

2) Book Creator - I created a template to distribute the challenging text of the translation from Arabic of the "Dispute of tea and Coffee" - a narrative poem that Year 5&6 needed to study. This debate poem, was supposed to be in animated for but alas an error message meant that the link was no longer supported. So, bravely the re-enactment of the tricky text was scaffolded for the pupils using book creator. The task was then in pairs, to ascertain how the selection of poems provided on Showbie referenced the long standing history of the beverages. In addition two website links were made available to the students again in Showbie, which allowed them to bring their knowledge of tea and coffee drinking up to date. On fact was how many cups of tea had been drunk that day so far...57million by midday and counting! I could identify with the need...





The students once again rose to the challenge and managed to work co operatively to produce incisive comments from which they can build their understanding of the history of the two drinks.

3) Search Engine Technologies: The website links that were provided for the Year 5&6 students layered their appreciation of how Search Engine technologies worked. The complex algorithms that are behind the sorting and ranking of the information was revealed to them in a common craft video on the subject. Something the students probably take for granted and didn't appreciate was happening before the information from the internet is presented to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk&list=PL0D1EF8DAA916C301

This was also applicable as the students were set an online scavenger hunt http://www.mrsoshouse.com on the functions of the Heart. The link was posted in their iTunes U computing course. The layers of information that needed sorting was presented in video tutorials, text based or as 3D modelled structures. The information was manipulated to find the answers to the questions posed. The students found it immersive and challenging and realised that to decipher information was a very particular skill. Making copious notes to support their answers and linking to the next clue by tapping on the next link...




4) Year 3&4 had prior to the Easter break, been given a tutorial on how to use Scratchjr by their  classmates in Year 5&6. It is testament to them that their young apprentices were today able to recall this information and build their own coding skills using Scratch which showcased the knowledge they had gained. Their work was also supported by links posted in their iTunes U computing course, in case their memory was tested. I  was extremely impressed with the degree to which the students managed to compile their game using the inputs, outputs, loops and variables. Even including speech and additional animation. A triumph which has set the Year 3&4's to share their skills and become the coaches for the younger classes in year 2 in a couple of weeks.





Let's hope the errors that have been evident today, on all levels, are rectified and full access is restored tomorrow! Lesson learnt.

Day 54 - Error

The best laid plans are scuppered when links that are recommended show an error message. This can happen for lots of reasons.

Error messages are also common in students, trouble is they don't always recognise the sign...especially if it's a self initiated path leads to a dead end. The talent of the teacher then is to redirect the search so that the student navigates a clearer path. Dead ends are important to encounter as it is through building up their skills of resilience and flexibility will independent learning happen naturally.

What did I use in class today?

1) Showbie & iTunes U 

 Delivering resources quickly sends a clear message to your learners to feel confident that they can explore the task and tackle it effectively. This connection is crucial as it encourages the least motivated student to get started...