A Last Blog?

This (potentially) last blog here aims to focus upon my attitude to blogging as a reflective tool having used it for the last 6 months on the PGCE Primary course.

Overall, I feel my views towards blogging have brightened slightly since my initial apprehensions towards the medium.  Having used this blog sporadically over time, my attentions have been drawn to the plethora of other blogs available.  I can see the appeal of blogging for some groups or individuals, but feel they exist in a niche which are consuquently nothing without an audience.  Due the over-supply of blogs, any voice or opinion expressed is done so at a whisper.  They are easily brushed aside, missed or ignored.

Nevertheless, I would consider blogging in the Primary classroom in the future, providing I could guarantee an audience for my bloggers.  For example, perhaps setting up links with schools in other cities or countries would be a provide a great opportunity to find out about other cultures.  They are also a useful way to improve links between school and home. 

As a tool for reflection, I cannot say I feel the blog has any major advantages over any other medium for recording reflection.  While they cut down on paper and give opportunities to hyperlink, blogging hasn't made me into any more a reflective practitioner than the written reflective journals have in Teaching and Learning.  I feel my reflective skills have improved over the course because we are heavily encouraged to do so and because I feel it is an invaluable exercise which leads to improvement.  I cannot say that blogging has necessarily contributed to this though.

I feel blogging has the potential to be a more useful tool if used in the spirit I presume Monty wished us to use them.  On the course, I gained the most out of my reflections by talking about them with my CTM, Link tutor and friends on the course.  Blogging would become useful in this way if small groups had been established in the beginning, forcing us to read, comment upon and discuss colleague's blogs.  Due to the intense nature of the course, this unfortunately did not happen (probably our fault I know!!!). While this perhaps could be a useful idea to enforce for future trainees, blogging has not been a fruitless exercise for me.  It has made me clarify and consider my ideas in order to reflect with colleagues face-to-face.

SBT1

I have used a lot of ICT in my placement and more importantly, feel I have used it to develop children's learning and understanding.  My tutor commented on how confidently I used the Promethean whiteboard during observed lessons and I feel I have come to grips with it well.

In this blog, I will highlight some ways I have seen and used ICT in my placement.  Perhaps, I will not cover them all as I feel it has become an integral part of my teaching, but I will try to provide links to some of the more interesting uses.

Starting at the beginning, the children are usually welcomed to class by TAMachII - a proto-type TAWT (teaching assistant work-tron) based on the Asimo robot.  Children have their retinas scanned and TAMachII (or Mac-Daddy - as the kids refer to him) asks them a security question in order for them to gain entry to the classroom through voice recognition.  

Following this, every day the teacher chooses a picture to put on the board (seriously) for the children to see when they come in.  Usually he chooses a cartoon or image which he likes, which I started following by choosing interesting images from the cartooning blog Drawn.  However, recently I have used the BBC's photo section to choose a contemporary photo to discuss current affairs with the children.  This is something which the children seem interested in and gives them chance to discuss something not on the curriculum at school.  It is a Year 2 class so obviously I have to be careful of content (and I'm not entirely sure I'm legally allowed to do it) but like everything, if done occasionally and with genuine interest, it can engage the children.

The school subscribes to Educationcity - an online teaching resource which has a range of education games used to support the curriculum.  So far there doesn't seem to be a great choice of activities (I think they are constantly updating though) but the ones I used were bright, engaging and generated a fair amount of laughter.  I would suggest however, that they are not suited or easily adapted to lower ability children.  

The school also used the 2simple software, which I discussed in an earlier blog.  I really liked incorporating this software into lessons.  One example is that children made mini non-fiction books on a chosen animal.  First they researched the animal on the internet and then using 2publish to make their book.  This was made possible by the fact that the school has 6 mini laptops which the children can use.  Combined with 4 PCs and a class size of less then 20, means half the class can work on computers while other can be doing something else.  (Yes I realise I am extremely lucky!)  My only reservation with the 2simple software is that it's perhaps too simple! It works well for younger children and they can design something quickly, but for some of them, the challenge isn't enough.  Also, it doesn't link to the computer's hard drive very well, for example, when I want to save files in other locations, the software doesn't allow it as it saves it in one place so as not to confuse the children.  Of course there are alternative routes to solve the problem but the bigger picture is that I would want children to be able to manage a more complex programme if possible.

I found the Promethean whiteboards very user friendly and adaptable.  There is a good bank of images which I used regularly during lessons.  For example, I used pizza toppings to check children's instructional writing for making pizza by dragging the toppings in the order they stated to check their recipe made sense.  My mentor also showed me a good trick with a 'magic banana' but that's a longer story.

I also really enjoyed using Bee-bots (a bee shaped robot which can be programmed by cursors on top to move in a desire direction), which are lots of fun and can be linked to other subject areas, e.g. using them on a alphabet grid to spell words, or over coins to collect enough money to buy something.

My mentor is the school's ICT co-coordinator, and as I previously mentioned, is very up-to-date with educational ICT.  During my placement he went to the BETT show in London.  This is a exhibition where companies are selling new gizmos to schools.  He recommended a trip if possible in the future and said he had his eyes on a set of MP3 headphones where it's possible to transfer an MP3 on a set of 6 wireless headphones so 6 children could listen to the same recording simultaneously.  Another gadget he got was some MP3 voice recorders shaped like microphones. These have been fun to play with to record some instructions which other children later listened to on the computer and acted out.

One use of ICT that I was particularly fascinated by, was something that my Mentor has been instrumental in co-ordinating is the Birdbox Project.  The school was one of the first to set up a live webcam link to a birdbox on the school's grounds.  This was linked in school to a range of areas on the curriculum and gave students an interest to their surroundings in the New Forest.  One of the most well-remembered facts for the children came from footage of a mother bird removing the poop from the bottom of her chicks and taking it out of the nest.  Aahhh! Bless those sweet children! 

One drawback to having an ICT co-coordinator as a mentor is that he is often off helping other colleagues sort out problems with their ICT! However his enthusiasm for ICT in the classroom is infectious.  Although I overheard other staff complaining that lots of the school's budget is spent on ICT, there are arguments for and against this.  Very briefly, on one hand, having the right ICT could potentially alleviate behavioural problems by grabbing children's attention in forms they are familiar with, like computer games.  On the other, perhaps children need a break from the kinds of media which they are used to in their home lives and be given more physical and socially interactive outlets.  As I stated before, the key lies in balance and adapting resources and teaching for different children. Or they could be made to face the wrath of TAMachII!