Thursday, 29 May 2014
Moved house yay!
Finally moved house last Friday and I love the new house, lots more space for everyone. Lots of unpacking done, loads more to do, but I've had a good sort out so I'm very happy!
Thursday, 15 May 2014
ICT Assignment - Reflection
Supporting Children’s Learning with ICT
Reflection
According to Steve Higgins from Newcastle University there is evidence from research that ICT can help pupils to learn and teachers to teach more effectively. (Higgins, Unknown). In my own experience whilst covering classes and teaching students over the last ten years, the introduction of ICT into a subject area other than ICT, proves to be an exciting and different challenge for the learner. The students in this lesson became very excitable at the prospect of recording information that they have learnt. I agree with a statement made by the author Somekh, ‘computers arouse strong passions because they challenge ritual practices of our daily lives’ (Somekh, 2007, p. 66) and believe this to be the reason for the student’s excitement; it is something different to the normal routine. By making media sources that will be available for others to use in the school, an introduction into the Feudal System proved to be a good example to the learners as they felt that they would set a standard for others to follow. I chose to work with the whole class as this was an occasion I thought the students should gain this particular experience all at the same time. Peer support can be easier to manage and a whole class can help to stimulate conceptual change, (Kennewell, 2004).
The recordings that the students in year 7 made of the Feudal system refer to their knowledge and understanding of the topic that they have studied. The students made reference to the key words that were discussed in the lesson plan and showed their learning through the use of their subject specific vocabulary. Each student took on a different role during the task and focused on their knowledge and understanding of the history topic. The exercise at the beginning of the lesson where students completed a history writing frame on the Feudal system dipped into their prior knowledge and understanding of the topic. The question and answer session where pupils were encouraged to come and write on the white board to write different questions about roles and responsibilities of the Feudal system, reinforced the students understanding of the type of question that needed to be asked during the recording of each other’s specific role. It became obvious during the editing of the recordings, that referring back and using the question mountain resources may have made a difference to the questions and may have made the students choose a higher order range of questions. I would recommend, after discussion with the class teacher, additional time on questioning, as this lesson focused on knowledge rather than questioning and answer. This part of the lesson covered Oracy skills, Reading and Writing strands, as set out in the Literacy and Numeracy framework 2013. Some of the recordings that were made had some background noise; again if there was additional time we may have been able to focus more on the editing of the recordings and therefore would have been able to edit the background noise.
All of the students had not used the Audacity software previously, so therefore the explanation of how to use the basic editing features took longer than expected. The majority of students grasped the idea very quickly of how to make changes and edit their recordings. Working in groups proved to be invaluable as those who were more able with ICT took the challenge and discussed with those less able the correct way to edit a sound recording. As set out in the National Curriculum of Wales ICT, ‘for more able and talented learners to be provided with greater challenge and use materials to extend breadth and depth of study, and to increase development of application of thinking, communication, ICT and number skills across the curriculum’ (Welsh Government, 2008, p. 5).
During this task students used their number and measuring skills whilst editing the recordings, they had to carefully listen and look at precisely what time the recording needed editing being very carefully cut out the unwanted sound. It is essential for the curriculum to include the strands of literacy and numeracy as the Minister for Education and skills has made raising standards of literacy and numeracy a priority in schools (Welsh Government, 2013, p. 2). While being responsible for teaching ICT skills it remains very important that students can work safely and securely whilst using the internet, software and hardware as discussed in ICT in the National Curriculum for Wales, health, safety and child protection remain a priority (Welsh Government, 2008). Neath Port Talbot Local Education Authority have been responsible for setting up an application on the Learning Gateway site, this is available to all schools in the borough, a media box site. This allows staff and students to safely upload their pictures, videos and audio files to a secure site that have restrictions, such as, who may view your files, categories that direct you to the correct place and tags that make finding your files less challenging. Students in school frequently use the site to store all data and this encourages them to be responsible and safe with their pictures and other media they may wish to upload. The website ‘Get safe online’ highlights some of the problems faced when children or adults upload media on file sharing sites that are not safe or secure and are available the world to view. ‘File-sharing sites and programs can cause problems in three ways. The free-to-use ones are probably breaching copyright laws, which mean that either downloading or uploading is illegal. Some sites are used to distribute pornography, racist or other inappropriate or unlawful material, often masked as respectable content. And these services also enable strangers to gain access to areas of your or your child’s computer, leaving it open to viruses, spyware and ‘botnet’ software.’ (Get safe online, 2012)
Reference List Get safe online, 2012. Get safe online. [Online] Available at: https://www.getsafeonline.org/safeguarding-children/music-movies-file-sharing/ [Accessed 14th May 2014]. Higgins, S., Unknown. Does ICT Improve Learning and Teaching in Schools?. [Online] Available at: http://www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ict-pur-mb-r-f-p-1aug03.pdf [Accessed 14th May 2014]. Kennewell, S., 2004. Meeting the standards in using ICT for secondary teaching, London: Routledge Falmer. Somekh, B., 2007. Pedagogy and Learning with ICT, London: Routledge Ltd. Welsh Government, 2008. Information and Communication Technology in the National Curriculum for Wales Key stage 2-3, Cardiff: Welsh Government. Welsh Government, 2013. National Literacy and Numeracy Framework, Cardiff: Welsh Government.
Reflection
According to Steve Higgins from Newcastle University there is evidence from research that ICT can help pupils to learn and teachers to teach more effectively. (Higgins, Unknown). In my own experience whilst covering classes and teaching students over the last ten years, the introduction of ICT into a subject area other than ICT, proves to be an exciting and different challenge for the learner. The students in this lesson became very excitable at the prospect of recording information that they have learnt. I agree with a statement made by the author Somekh, ‘computers arouse strong passions because they challenge ritual practices of our daily lives’ (Somekh, 2007, p. 66) and believe this to be the reason for the student’s excitement; it is something different to the normal routine. By making media sources that will be available for others to use in the school, an introduction into the Feudal System proved to be a good example to the learners as they felt that they would set a standard for others to follow. I chose to work with the whole class as this was an occasion I thought the students should gain this particular experience all at the same time. Peer support can be easier to manage and a whole class can help to stimulate conceptual change, (Kennewell, 2004).
The recordings that the students in year 7 made of the Feudal system refer to their knowledge and understanding of the topic that they have studied. The students made reference to the key words that were discussed in the lesson plan and showed their learning through the use of their subject specific vocabulary. Each student took on a different role during the task and focused on their knowledge and understanding of the history topic. The exercise at the beginning of the lesson where students completed a history writing frame on the Feudal system dipped into their prior knowledge and understanding of the topic. The question and answer session where pupils were encouraged to come and write on the white board to write different questions about roles and responsibilities of the Feudal system, reinforced the students understanding of the type of question that needed to be asked during the recording of each other’s specific role. It became obvious during the editing of the recordings, that referring back and using the question mountain resources may have made a difference to the questions and may have made the students choose a higher order range of questions. I would recommend, after discussion with the class teacher, additional time on questioning, as this lesson focused on knowledge rather than questioning and answer. This part of the lesson covered Oracy skills, Reading and Writing strands, as set out in the Literacy and Numeracy framework 2013. Some of the recordings that were made had some background noise; again if there was additional time we may have been able to focus more on the editing of the recordings and therefore would have been able to edit the background noise.
All of the students had not used the Audacity software previously, so therefore the explanation of how to use the basic editing features took longer than expected. The majority of students grasped the idea very quickly of how to make changes and edit their recordings. Working in groups proved to be invaluable as those who were more able with ICT took the challenge and discussed with those less able the correct way to edit a sound recording. As set out in the National Curriculum of Wales ICT, ‘for more able and talented learners to be provided with greater challenge and use materials to extend breadth and depth of study, and to increase development of application of thinking, communication, ICT and number skills across the curriculum’ (Welsh Government, 2008, p. 5).
During this task students used their number and measuring skills whilst editing the recordings, they had to carefully listen and look at precisely what time the recording needed editing being very carefully cut out the unwanted sound. It is essential for the curriculum to include the strands of literacy and numeracy as the Minister for Education and skills has made raising standards of literacy and numeracy a priority in schools (Welsh Government, 2013, p. 2). While being responsible for teaching ICT skills it remains very important that students can work safely and securely whilst using the internet, software and hardware as discussed in ICT in the National Curriculum for Wales, health, safety and child protection remain a priority (Welsh Government, 2008). Neath Port Talbot Local Education Authority have been responsible for setting up an application on the Learning Gateway site, this is available to all schools in the borough, a media box site. This allows staff and students to safely upload their pictures, videos and audio files to a secure site that have restrictions, such as, who may view your files, categories that direct you to the correct place and tags that make finding your files less challenging. Students in school frequently use the site to store all data and this encourages them to be responsible and safe with their pictures and other media they may wish to upload. The website ‘Get safe online’ highlights some of the problems faced when children or adults upload media on file sharing sites that are not safe or secure and are available the world to view. ‘File-sharing sites and programs can cause problems in three ways. The free-to-use ones are probably breaching copyright laws, which mean that either downloading or uploading is illegal. Some sites are used to distribute pornography, racist or other inappropriate or unlawful material, often masked as respectable content. And these services also enable strangers to gain access to areas of your or your child’s computer, leaving it open to viruses, spyware and ‘botnet’ software.’ (Get safe online, 2012)
Reference List Get safe online, 2012. Get safe online. [Online] Available at: https://www.getsafeonline.org/safeguarding-children/music-movies-file-sharing/ [Accessed 14th May 2014]. Higgins, S., Unknown. Does ICT Improve Learning and Teaching in Schools?. [Online] Available at: http://www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ict-pur-mb-r-f-p-1aug03.pdf [Accessed 14th May 2014]. Kennewell, S., 2004. Meeting the standards in using ICT for secondary teaching, London: Routledge Falmer. Somekh, B., 2007. Pedagogy and Learning with ICT, London: Routledge Ltd. Welsh Government, 2008. Information and Communication Technology in the National Curriculum for Wales Key stage 2-3, Cardiff: Welsh Government. Welsh Government, 2013. National Literacy and Numeracy Framework, Cardiff: Welsh Government.
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Supporting Children's Learning with ICT
https://mediabox.npted.org/mymediabox/MyMedia/Audio
Click on the link above to listen to 'The Feudal System' podcasts by pupils in year 7
Click on the link above to listen to 'The Feudal System' podcasts by pupils in year 7
Friday, 9 May 2014
Busy!
Well bloggers, life has been extremely busy these past few weeks both in school and out of school. It is that time of year when coursework deadlines are due and last entries for essential and key skills have to be submitted. WBQ coursework is in the process of being internally moderated and anxiously awaiting the sample to be called to send for WJEC moderator. Fingers crossed! National literacy and numeracy tests have been taking place so lots of exam invigilation going on and next week GCSE exams will also start!
I have yet to move house, lots of different queries and snags getting in the way, we are all packed and ready to go but still have no date! My son is about to sit his final exams in university and my daughter is to sit her A levels!
Needless to say things are a little mad and stressed at the moment!
I have yet to move house, lots of different queries and snags getting in the way, we are all packed and ready to go but still have no date! My son is about to sit his final exams in university and my daughter is to sit her A levels!
Needless to say things are a little mad and stressed at the moment!
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