Day 12 - Informed or held back?

UToday I was tasked with completing a research based lesson with a class of mixed year three and four pupils. The context was Historical. The learning objective of the lesson was for the children to be able to ask questions about the life and works of Aesop, of 

fable fame. 

Almost immediately after I was passed the exceptionally detailed lesson plans by the teacher, I wanted the end product to be a class eBook. This task presented me with a tailor made opportunity to get the children to work in groups, collaboratively. Book Creator was the obvious choice. Undeterred by the 40 minute duration of the lesson I sat at home and quickly uploaded and shared the resources using Showbie.  Easy. 

Then I began to wonder, was I doing the class and injustice by not preparing them now for their possible research based lives ahead at school. Did these children need to know about plagiarism? Or about copyright or the legalities that go with taking someone's idea/intellectual property. So I turned to common craft a well-known and excellent source of educational tutorial/videos designed specifically for the classroom. These short animations are well designed and clearly explain all things technological. I often use these as a model for the classroom especially when asking the children to make their own Explain Everything's or short stop frame animations, they are a valuable template for ideas. 

So by now my quick sharing of resources on Showbie had turned into quite a expanded thinking process. I planned to show the children what plagiarism was and why it was important to only use images that were able to be shared. Being shown how to search pictures that have the correct usage rights is an essential part of being a responsible digital citizen.  I looked at Creative Commons and saw the different ways in which images and published work was credited and licensed. 

In my present role as a digital integrationist pupils digital fluency is paramount. I aim to be the embodiment of good practice for how other teachers should utilise iPads and mobile technology into the classroom. So it felt like the right thing to do to take a little bit of the lesson to explain about these important aspects of undergoing research. The children to their credit could appreciate that an image shared on the web may have once been taken by a single individual and that individual deserved to be credited for their work. As one child said "Mrs Bacon if you put someone else's name on my work up on the wall I wouldn't be very happy either!" - quite right. 

So what was the outcome of the lesson? The children understood that there was such a thing as plagiarism and that they should only write in words that they understand and that these words could be based on somebody else's idea. They were able to look at text and pictures as evidence and write their own conclusions from these. However, I'm not sure that a schools' inspector would agree with me -that it was time well spent. There wasn't much 'hard' evidence written down to show the progress. The dilemma is that the time it takes to discuss properly and to really listen to what the children had to say took time away from getting their ideas down. Thankfully, we all managed to make one page in Book Creator that we will combine into a whole class scrapbook. But the independent work was not as extended as I would've liked to have presented back to their 'real' teacher. Perhaps what the children learnt was more than could be proved in a page of text with an attached image. But a page with a recorded voice note of opinions and discussions; that's a different matter. 

I'm left with the nagging question, which skill was more important? 

Writing an extended piece of text or the lively insightful discussion centered on ideas and who owns them? 

Day 11- Picture books and online safety

Teaching online safety to year 1&2 is crucial. The essential and life long skills to becoming informed and responsible users of the Internet is paramount. Modelling safe habits and giving honest but contextualised examples is so important. 

Stories offer this opportunity if included alongside the excellent CEOP resources amongst others. Having watched the reactions to children watching Hector and his Australian friend deal with the darker elements of the Internet I can appreciate the power of story. 

What have I used in the classroom

 today? 

Webster's Email by Hannah Whaley is wonderful. It can convey the dangers of attaching an  image to an email on different levels.  For KS2 ask them to re write their own version relating the story to sexting. This could prove even more powerful if the new version of the book was to be made in Book Creator and shared with a different audience. 

Just read and discussed this book is funny, poignant and incisive and will give the honest truth about photos and personal data in a way that only a well written, quality picture book can! 

 

Day 10 - Hopscotch in the classroom

Today I was very excited to going to the classroom as I had refreshed my skills over the weekend on hopscotch. For those of you unfamiliar with Hopscotch it is a creative coding app to help students  build and create their own games. It uses coding blocks and allows the children to manipulate a game and quickly produce a very realistic and sophisticated end product.

So having practised and made my own game at the weekend (whilst watching England play Wales in the rugby World Cup...the best way to learn!) I was raring to try out all that I had mastered with the class. I did however find myself writing down every step so that my visual brain connected to my memory.  This would prove to be invaluable...

What I have used in the classroom today? 

The mere mention of the word Hopscotch sent the children into a excited and focused mind set. 

The task was simple follow a tutorial and to build a treasure dive game. The pupils were told that their ultimate aim was to make a game based around the Shang Dynasty, so it links with their current topic as well as giving them a reason to perfect and practice their skills.

Hopscotch provides very clear and precise instructions on how to make individual types of games on a screencast which allows free and independent learning. Continuing the rugby theme I like and the practising of individual elements like lineouts and scrims  to encourage the pupils to take the time to focus and refine their building capabilities. It was inevitable that some of the pupils in the class felt that this was way below their capacity. In dealing with the wide range of abilities, Hopscotch easily allows you to layer the difficulty and the precision required of the coding blocks. 

Hopscotch -- Make your own games. Coding made waaaaay easier. by Hopscotch Technologies

https://appsto.re/gb/f2cYK.i

Note to self - ensure a backup of notes and simple instructions in case the Wi-Fi is unable to support 32 individual children working on iPads and wanting to stream from the app! 

Even with this unfortunate setback and being blessed with patient and freethinking children, the class were able to support each other by collaborating and sharing their skill set. This meant that at the end  of the session The majority of the students had made a prototype game. Publishing soon! 

Day 9 - why?

Whilst setting up the new protocols for management of the school iPads I found myself asking why? A forward thinking Head who is aware of pressures on his staff but is tied to convention. Why should time be invested in mobile technology? 

Why does the inclusion of mobile make a difference? 

It was only when the iPad was introduced into the classroom that it was possible to move away from the traditional instructional mode of teaching to a model that allows the student to take charge of the way they learn. True independence in delivery, discussion and presentation of a subject. Flexible but responsible learners now routinely approach their studies making informed decisions about how best to solve problems and find solutions.  Old programmes of study have been replaced and evolved into more than a gathering of facts. Transformed into demanding that students think for themselves, make connections and discover truths for themselves,   emphasising a challenge based and creative process. This is only possible because iPad enables the learner to utilise the intuitive workflow, collaborate easily with others and supports a final product that is both diverse and produced to an exceptional quality. Their work is truly independently produced as students are at the heart of the learning process, motivated to learn beyond the classroom timetable and challenged to be curious. Students who question learn. iPad has given learners the tools to be free thinkers again. 

That's why, I believe in the opportunities that these devices can offer. They remain a powerful tool for learning and can transform the landscape for all pupils. 

Day 8 - Inspire me...catch me later!

School is a very busy place students come first and staff work tirelessly to ensure that the children's welfare is paramount and uppermost in their mind when planning activities. So how do you reach staff and give them the support and knowledge that you were employed to deliver, without adding extra burden to their day? Twilight sessions, 1:2:1 training, a coffee and catchup chat or I'll put it in the diary for a few weeks have all been tried. I want there to be a symbiosis between me, the staff and the students. Their expertise is key as they are the ones who have my undivided attention for the majority of the day that I'm in school. Student led learning. These 'student ambassadors' ' digital genius's' & 'tech team" can fill the knowledge gap through interactive bulletin boards, iTunes U courses and school blogs... I can feel an after school activity coming on! Inspiring through modelling best practice can be emulated by students on their peers and for their tutors. Or even as part of a display to inspire writing.

What have I used in the classroom today? 

Inventioneers this app I use to demonstrate to the students that gaming can be challenging. This fun innocuous looking gaming platform allows the children to use the character of windy to gather three stars and complete a puzzle on each level. Children like to play games but actually they don't want to be faced with a task that is too hard, As I give up too easily. But ask three before me rule doesn't apply here! I found this app to be a great way to let the children struggle a little, come up against issues and the need to change their ideas, finesse what they're doing and be resilient. When debugging any string of code they will need to be able to continue to complete a task and solve a problem. This app allows you to do that in a fun motivating get challenging way.

Inventioneers by Filimundus AB

https://appsto.re/gb/fJln3. :his app allows the children to enter a world of gaming without 

Day 7 - informed responsible and discerning digital citizens.

What have I used today in the classroom? 

Online safety is embedded now as part of the competing curriculum. However any school work that sort that is considering including mobile technology in their school will have a integrated plan to discuss online safety with the students. This conversation should be had with all stakeholders so that your community becomes connected but also informed and responsible for their actions online. A well written safe user policy is only one aspect of this, giving the children regular opportunities to discuss openly and honestly the issues facing them will equip them with the tools to effectively deal with life online away from the classroom. The excellent multi agency led CEOP website www.thinkuknow.co.uk is rich resource that needs to be incorporated into any coherent scheme where online safety is prioritised although a lot of the resources can only be used by specifically trained CEOP ambassadors, there is also a wealth of cartoons and excellent resources that will support and honestly deal with the hardest heating issues facing the students. 

To stimulate creative writing www.literacyshed.co.uk is a rich resource of animations and trailers for books. Used in conjunction with the paid app Type Drawing the creativity can be endless! 

TypeDrawing for iPad by Hansol Huh

https://appsto.re/gb/u7zmw.i

Day 6 - Connected to collaborate

Working in a new school highlights the ease at which a new teacher can integrate into the team. If systems are in place to enable multi users to access a single hub of information, communication becomes effortless. The benefits of doing this are simple everyone knows what they're doing, time is not wasted by inconveniencing others for information and you feel and autonomy with the work that you're doing. In short you take ownership.  Mobile technology allows the students to emulate  this model of working. So how is it achieved?

What apps have I used today to enhance teaching and learning?

Showbie continues to be an excellent format for sharing and collaborating within a classroom. Students who have only been using this file sharing solution for two days are now able to comment on their work and see that the teacher has taken the time to evaluate their work as an individual.

I would like this to be mirrored in the way that I deal with the numerous teachers and in order to communicate about the specific targeted needs of one or two individual students. In conjunction with Book Creator I have managed to involve the teachers in that learning process by keeping informed and connected. They have a window on the work that I do, although it is done separately to them. They gain a complete picture and understanding of that individuals progress.