Emma's PGCE Reflections

Final reflections...

2009-03-05T20:34:00.004Z

If you had asked me six months ago about my opinion on blogging, my response would have included the phrases time-wasting, and self obsessed. I used to think that blogging was only for teenagers with too much time on their hands.

Over the past few months I have learnt a lot about the use of ICT in the Primary classroom, and I believe that blogging can play an important role in schools.

In my very first post I spoke about my skepticism about writing for an unknown audience online. I didn't think I would be able to write my thoughts and opinions for anyone and everyone to read. I certainly didn't think I would enjoy it! However once I had given in to the necessity of writing these blogs, I found it quite fun. Perhaps it was the way I could define my own style of writing; or maybe the pressure of people actually being able to read my work made me think more carefully about what I was writing... Whatever it was, it has changed my mind.

I was also concerned about whether this type of activity could be used with Primary aged children. When I was on placement in Key Stage 1 I realised how limited the children's ICT ability was. However, I do not think that this should restrict the types of ICT activities used as a class. By introducing children to more interactive ways of presenting and communicating their work, teachers will inspire children to use technology in a more creative way. I think that a class blog would be a great way of involving all children in a more complex ICT activity, even though it might be beyond their individual capabilities. My next placement is with years 3 and 4, and I hope that I will be able to engage the children in ICT a bit better than I did in SBT1. I will certainly consider blogging as an option.

As well as blogging, I have seen excellent use of digital cameras in lessons and I aim to continue to do this as I know the positive impact it can have on children's engagement and enjoyment. I think that the selective use of video and interactive games work well too; in lessons or as a treat for the children.

From a teacher's perspective, ICT has enabled us to share ideas, plans and resources so that lessons can be planned more efficiently, in more depth, and using the brain power of many teachers, not just one. There are countless websites dedicated to teaching ideas, it is just a case of finding the right ones, and then finding activities that suit you and your class. I think that this is fantastic, but there is always going to be the problem of people relying completely on this kind of provision. I am sure that most of the people on this course have had the dreaded experience of technology failing them, and then being completely stuck as to what to do. This is my only criticism of ICT... It is only great when it works.

This is an important lesson to teach our pupils. Find as many ways as you possibly can to enhance your learning and to communicate it in different ways, but do not rely on it to do your work for you. Until technology becomes faultless, I think that this will always be the case.

ICT in SBT 1

2009-02-22T22:24:00.000Z

Now that I have completed my first school placement, I can see clearly how difficult it can be to teach and use ICT in a Key Stage 1 classroom. The resources available in your school, and the time you are allowed to access these determines how engaging and productive the ICT is in your classroom.

Here are some reflections on the ICT I have seen, and implemented in my time at school.

ICT Lessons

Most of the ICT lessons that I have since seen in my school have consisted of very basic tasks, where children are quickly expected to produce some kind of evidence of learning. One session they were asked to draw a picture of a famous person in Dazzle. Although I cannot really see how this might develop the children’s ICT skills, I can sympathise with a teacher who sets these kinds of tasks. The children are simply not at the level that they need to be in order to complete many of the more challenging tasks in the ICT suite.

I only taught one ICT lesson by myself during my placement. This lesson was very short, and the class teacher wanted the children to explore using a word processor. I asked the children to type up some sentences about a famous person who they had been learning about. I gave them the sentences to copy, so that they didn’t spend the whole session thinking about what to type, but actually typing. They then played around with changing the size, font, and colour of their sentences. This was fine, but I still felt that the children didn’t make much progress at all, and I know that some of them didn’t get a go at all.

I struggled to think of an activity which children with such little experience on computers could do in such a short time frame. Thinking back, I now wonder if the mixed ability pairs (one year 1, and one year 2) was not the best way to organise the children. Separate tasks for the different year groups might work better and might allow all of the children to work on a task that is suited more realistically to them.

ICT in my teaching

I definitely feel more confident in using ICT to improve the quality of my teaching. I have witnessed the sudden difference in behaviour when some element of technology is being used in an input. I have shown children a website as a starting point in a few of my topic lessons (Beatrix Potter - peterrabbit.com, Christopher Columbus – BBC Website, Big Ben – Big Ben website). If ever I have used a video or some pictures from the internet to inspire the children they seem to automatically concentrate harder, and they become more interested.

One major problem I have experienced with this however is that many websites are blocked by the Hampshire child protection software. I can completely understand that this needs to be in place, however it is frustrating when you cannot search on google images, or use videos from youtube.

I have also attempted to integrate ICT into other subject lessons. I was shown an interactive phonics programme to use on the Interactive Whiteboard with the children. This allowed them to listen to the words being sounded out properly, and they can then talk along with the computer. This activity provided an opportunity to vary the teaching method during the phonics sessions, making the learning more interesting for the children. It also made sure that the children were pronouncing the sounds correctly, and that the teacher couldn’t accidentally pronounce the sounds incorrectly.

In one of my final sessions at the school, the children were making up their own famous people in a topic session which was incorporating art, literacy and drama in one morning session. I thought it would add a fun touch to the lesson if we took photos of the children so that we could print them out and stick the photo of their own faces onto their paintings. Although the ICT element of this task was not something that allowed the children to develop their own skills, it certainly encouraged them to think about their work carefully. They were also very excited about seeing the finished work.

I saw another great use of digital cameras in a maths lesson, taken by a Maths advisor. The children were sorting shapes in maths, and then laid them out on the tables, before taking photos of their work. This was great as it allowed the children to spend their precious time actually developing their maths skills, not writing their results down (which often takes the longest time!). I think that this use of technology in the classroom is a really positive change, and will allow children to focus their time on the learning that they actually need to do. As long as the evidence is used and not left on the memory stick, I can see how this way of working could allow teachers to be more creative with the tasks that they set in all subjects.

This placement has enabled me to develop my own ICT skills to improve my teaching. However I still do not feel confident in teaching young children (KS1) ICT. I look forward to teaching in KS2 where the children may be more independent when working on the computers. However the success of ICT lessons really does depend on the resources available and the time dedicated to ICT in the school week.

I hope that in my next placement I will be able to use ICT to enable children to develop their work in all subject areas, as well as teach some exciting and valuable ICT lessons.

The constraints of time...

2009-01-17T08:46:00.003Z

I have now been at my placement school for 2 weeks. Each week my Year 1/2 class is entitled to one 45 minute session in the school's ICT suite. In week one, ICT was forgotten as the class needed to complete other tasks in the time slot. In week two I saw exactly why my Class Teacher dreads this session more than any other during the week.

Image taken from here

There are 16 computers in the ICT suite, meaning of course that the children must share a computer with a partner. This is not too much of a problem. Generally the pairs are made up of one year one and one year two. However by the time the children are in the suite, on a chair, quiet, and logged on to a computer, nearly 15 minutes has passed. The next task was to get the children to search for a website on google. I am not convinced that this is the best way to do this, surely there must be a way of putting a link on the system for the children to use. The children first had to get on to google - this was not too difficult. The next problem was to get everyone to search for the same search term, and then to get everyone to click on to the correct link. In the end, the Class Teacher and I had to go around all of the computers and do it for many of the children. Of course this is not allowing the children to develop their basic ICT skills, yet if we hadn't done this they would not have actually reached their final task.

Finally, once the children were on task, all they were actually doing was flicking through a slideshow about a book that they had been reading. Not many of them could read any of the text on the screen, and they all simply wanted to know where the games were.

My challenge for the rest of my placement is to try to think of an activity the children can do in this short session which is suitable to their age and ability but also allows them to learn something. As well as this, the basic skills of logging on, and typing need to be incorporated into the learning objectives of the lesson, and these are skills that these children still need to master.

This is expected of all other subjects in primary schools, so why does ICT seem to be the exception?

It really is everywhere...

2008-11-17T19:33:00.004Z

This week I have been looking on the BBC News website and the Guardian website an awful lot... perhaps there has been a lot of interesting things in the news, or perhaps I am procrastinating.

Anyway, I came across this article about Barack Obama and how he is using Youtube to communicate his weekly updates to his public.

The article states; 'Obama's use of YouTube is the tip of a technological iceberg that is transforming politics in the US.' Obama is praised for already showing the world he intends to move the USA forward, and technology is one way in which he intends to do this!

Of course this is not a use of ICT in education, however this modern approach to politics is likely to encourage more and more young people to become interested in, and aware of world politics. This could have a great influence on their enthusiasm about their education, particularly perhaps in history.

Another interesting article I found was one from the BBC News website on virtual classrooms. The teacher from the college featured in this video is quoted as saying: "The world is changing, and we need to respond in how we're educating our young people today."
I think this article makes a valid point in that it shows how technology can be used to encourage young people who are perhaps uninterested in or struggling with education to become more involved.

In our most recent Science lesson we studied Earth and Beyond and therefore had to discuss the problems of having to teach things that you cannot demonstrate realistically in the classroom. This kind of virtual world is great for these kinds of demonstrations, as long as the pupils realise that what they are seeing is a simulation.

Finally, I have also been having a look at Teachertube. I found this site to be comprised of many humorous video clips as well as some very good teaching tools. However the first video I watched really struck me. It is called 'Pay Attention' and is simply words and music. I had heard a lot of the facts before, but it was only when I watched them in sequence on this video that they actually sunk in and I gave myself time to think about them. They became real. One of the most thought provoking quotes from this video is as follows.

Do any of your students use Google?

Did you know that there are over 2.7 billion searches performed on Google each month?

To whom were these questions addressed B.G? (before Google)

This highlighted to me the importance of the internet in education - Google really is an educational tool, as it encourages people to ask questions. Arguably the best way to learn.

The Bean Blog

2008-11-10T16:53:00.006Z

In Science we have been asked to plan and carry out an investigation involving beans. My group has decided to investigate the different effects salt water, sugar water and normal water have on the growth of beans.

The task requires us to 'write up [our] bean growth investigation in a manner appropriate to Key Stage 1 or 2'. We have therefore decided to use a blog to record our investigation and our findings. I think that blogging is a great way of recording this kind of experiment for the following reasons.

The writing involved with science experiments is often the part dreaded by children. By making it interactive it automatically becomes more fun and accessible.

A blog can be added to at different stages of the experiment and will follow the chronological order of the experiment.

Photo facilities allow multiple photos to be uploaded (and possibly shown in a slide show) and used as evidence of results.

Children can view others' blogs and see how other people's experiments are going. They could be encouraged to comment on other experiments perhaps making predications about what will happen. On our blog, we have a vote feature where people can guess which bean they think will grow the fastest.

If working in groups, the work will always be accessible for each child (not in one of their books) and it can also be accessed by a teacher easily for it to be marked/assessed.

The blog creates cross-curricular links as it of course incorporates ICT skills into Science!

Check out The Bean Diary!

ICT in Schools - Serial Week

2008-11-08T15:35:00.003Z

After having spent a week in the classroom, I have made a few observations about how ICT is used within my school.

The school has one ICT suite which is shared between all of its ten classes. The children all have a log-in and are able to use the computers during lunch-time if they have permission. In a survey carried out last week throughout the classes, the Year 1-2 class in which I am based claimed that they used the computers 'sometimes but not enough'. They did not use the suite once when I was there.

The teachers have all been well trained to use their interactive white boards, however I can't help but feel that the use of these whiteboards is used as an excuse not to incorporate other types of technology into lessons. The school use Promethean whiteboards, and compared to the other brands I have seen/used before, they seem quite easy to use and they have plenty of features to create interesting and interactive pages for teaching.

The school appears to have invested a lot of money into its ICT provision, as there is also a 'laptop trolley' which holds about 12 laptops for use throughout the school. The main focus of the school budget now is to update the literature in the library, therefore this would suggest that they do not plan to invest in more technology in the near future. I think that if this is the case then the school certainly needs to be more creative with the technology it already has.

My class teacher often plays music in the classroom as a treat for the children. She asks the children to come up to write on the IWB and move items around for her. It would be beneficial for the children to have more hands on experience with computers, especially as there is a current focus on the 'perfection' of display work. Allowing the children to type their work gives them the opportunity to see when they have spelt a word incorrectly and lets them change it themselves. As well as the use of computers, there is an important place for cameras in the classroom. Children can take photos of science experiments instead of drawing pictures. They can take photos of scenes to then write about in literacy, or photos of people to then discuss in PSHE. There is so much more to education than writing things in exercise books. It is time that children were allowed some freedom in their expression.

How much do I rely on technology?

2008-11-08T12:15:00.019Z

7.00am - The alarm on my mobile phone wakes me up.

7.30am - I listen to Chris Moyles on my digital radio.

7.45am - I turn on my laptop. See the weather forecast for Southampton on my IGoogle homepage. Check my e-mails, have a look at Facebook. Read the news on the Guardian website.

8.00am - I speak on MSN to my friends who have moved away from Southampton.

8.30am - I walk to University listening to my Ipod.

9.00am - I sit in a lesson watching an Interactive whiteboard. The teacher communicates with me via e-mails and Blackboard.

11.30am - I send a text to my friends to organise meeting for lunch.

4.30pm - I get home and order a course book online on Amazon.

5.00pm - I watch Neighbours online.

7.30pm - I upload some photos from my digital camera of our current Bean Project that will eventually be uploaded onto our Bean Blog.

8.00pm - I search Webcat for a book that I need for my assignment. I place a hold on it, and know that I will receive an e-mail when it is ready for me.

What does this tell me?

If I am awake, and at home, my computer is ON. I use it to communicate, research, play, work, create. In one day I use numerous types of technology. I know how they all work, and I know how to manipulate them and what to do if one goes wrong. If I had to live without technology I would struggle, and I would be extremely frustrated.

If I rely on technology as much as I do, throughout every day of my life then why should this change when I enter the teaching profession? Already I can see how ICT is being used in the classroom, to great benefit of the teacher and the children. Plans will be constructed on the computer. Many resources will have had some kind of technological input. Interactive whiteboards will be used to communicate to the class. Monitoring of children's progress will no doubt be recorded on a computer.

This leads me to consider why children are expected to go their whole school days (most of the time) with no contact with technology at all. It is not realistic! The problem with providing children wide access to computers/cameras and other technology is MONEY.

Many schools have brand new computer suites fitted with the latest technology, yet these must still be shared between numerous classes. It is up to us to think of imaginative ways of including technology into every day lessons, without having to make a planned trip to the computer suite. Laptops are more commonly used in classrooms now, as they have the obvious benefit of being transportable. I have also witnessed some KS1 teachers photographing some of the children's work (organising shapes) or filming some role-play (hot-seating) so that the children do not need to spend time writing work up in neat, when they should be focusing on the content not the display.

It is so important to incorporate different forms of ICT into all different subject lessons, to demonstrate to children how technology can help them and enhance their knowledge and understanding of what they are learning.

Am I really a Digital Native?

2008-11-08T11:03:00.004Z

Marc Prensky's Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants argues that 'digital natives' were born into a society of computers and high speed technology. 'Digital immigrants' however, have had to learn to adapt to this use of technology alongside their understanding of the world without it.

Prensky suggests that the thinking processes involved in the understanding of information technology are 'fundamentally different from their predecessors'. Essentially, young people have evolved to have an innate comprehension of how technology works, and are predisposed to working with computers.

In education, the application of the digital natives, digital immigrants theory presents a problem. Currently, most, if not all teachers are digital immigrants whilst the children they are teaching are of course digital natives. Does this mean that teachers are unable to teach their classes about ICT in a challenging and stimulating way? Are teachers too far behind their pupils in their grasp of ICT? Does the introduction of digital native teachers (i.e. Teachers currently in training or recently trained) mean that ICT will be revolutionised in schools?

Photo taken from here

I think the key thing to remember when considering this problem is that of course some children are computer whizzes, however not all families can afford computers and games consoles. Not all children spend hours on end staring at a computer screen. As well as this, i'm sure that many teachers have been thoroughly trained and are more than able to teach children beyond what they already know about computers.

My main concern regarding Prensky's argument is that it focuses on the idea that children (digital natives) should not be made to regress into understanding the world without technology, but adults (digital immigrants) should be made to progress into understanding the world with technology. Although I agree that this is logical, I also worry that children (and some adults) will become too reliant on technology. Most people who work with technology will agree that technology always has the potential to go wrong.This is why I think it is essential that children are always taught an alternative way.

What interests me most about this article is applying it to myself, and others that I know. It amuses me when I consider my family in relation to these ideas. A few years ago my Dad gave my Grandad a computer. We set it up in his dining room and he was taught how to turn it on, and connect to the internet. He used it for a few months to e-mail an old relative in Canada. Of course, he forgot how to turn it on one day and hasn't bothered to try again. My mother cannot grasp how to upload her holiday photos from her digital camera. Every time I go home, we go through it, and she makes notes. Then I get a phone call telling me that she's lost the notes, and can't remember. However, my mother works on a computer for seven hours a day when she is at work. She understands certain elements of technology; those that she is taught and uses frequently enough to remember, yet has no clue as to how these things work. Perhaps this is what Prensky is talking about. Young people have a desire to understand how and why things work in the way they do. This backs up their knowledge with understanding.

I am a digital native. I was born in 1987 and have always been surrounded by computers. As a child I played on our family computer and searched for hours on Encarta Encyclopedia. I played Lemmings with my older brothers and I remember many of the computer games we owned being on computer disks. We had hundreds of them because each game required about seven disks each. My father is a computer genius. I think it is this that has given me the confidence to play around with computers and figure out what to do if something is wrong. However, he is a digital immigrant. How does this fit in with Prensky's argument? There must be a certain amount of digital immigrants who are computer experts, otherwise we couldn't possibly have computers in the first place!

Back to me... I have always been comfortable with technology. I was the first in my family to own a digital camera. I was the first to own a DVD player, an Ipod and a laptop. All of this would suggest that I am a secure digital native. However I have my doubts. Prensky highlights some traits of digital immigrants which illustrate their poor understanding of how technology should be used. One of these is printing out e-mails, or work to edit them by hand. I often print off articles and my own essays to read on paper. I much prefer reading from paper than from a screen. Does this jeopardise my digital native status?

Hello, for the first time.

2008-10-20T11:27:00.000+01:00

Hello, this is my first ever blog... and I don't really know what to write. I'm not particularly sure that I like the idea of anyone being able to read my thoughts. I like my thoughts to be my own. However I'm hoping that this process will enhance my confidence in sharing ideas, and will encourage me to determine exactly what I am thinking. I often talk about my ideas about and opinions of the course with my friends. However I have never put them into writing.

To make this more personal, I have added a picture of my dog Gizmo. He is a little bit odd looking, and quite old... but looking at him makes me happy. This is my favourite photo of him; I took it myself.

Bye for now! Emma

Remember to look at Monty's PGCE Blog regularly.