Evaluation week 12

Specialising and being passionate about ICT, I was very interested in how to use English, as a core subject with technology. I found it most interesting to harness my primary knowledge and apply it to other areas to find if they would work. I am personally in agreement with Merchant (2007) that it is important to integrate current technology into our classroom environment to prepare them for life beyond the classroom.

 

This module has continuously shown me that there are simple ways to introduce technology into the classroom and it is not as daunting as first thought. Yes, teachers need the support and training to be able to do it but even with little training, some successful lessons can be developed and the children can use technology within their lessons. The Future Lab (2010) supports this and suggests that it is the teachers who have the knowledge and understanding that can support children’s use of digital literacy, therefor their training is crucial. I also had not thought about using comics in the classroom. I really liked that it could link back to home and get boys more involved in reading (Dean, 2010)

 

I most enjoyed and felt that I gained most from the practical element of using what we had learnt and bringing it into a school and using our skills with real children. It was very inspiring and amazing to see it being used in schools and the children enjoying it so much. It helped me to build new skills, gain more knowledge and experience as well as confidence in myself and the children.

 

One of the key things I have learnt is that I will need to keep up and constantly learn as technology is always developing. To be able to teacher or be the ICT coordinator the next generation of ‘digital natives’ (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008 and Prensky, 2001) I will have to integrate ICT into my lessons and make it become a regular occurrence in my classroom which Beauchamp (2012) supports.

 

This module has really helped me to grow in confidence especially as at the beginning I felt nervous about the introduction of the new national curriculum (DfE, 2013) but it has really helped me understand how I can use it cross curricular, especially with English. Talking about it with teachers and member of staff I feel more confident that it is a positive change and that it will help bring ICT to a new level within the primary classroom and I look forward to being a part of it.

 

Beauchamp, G (2012) ICT in the Primary School, From Pedagogy to Practise. Essex: Pearsons Education Ltd

 

Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: Sage

 

DFE/QCA (2013) The National Curriculum in England, DFE/QCA

 

Futurelab. (2010) Digital literacy across the curriculum. London: Becta.

 

Merchant, G. (2007) ‘Writing the future in the digital age’ Literacy 41 (3)pp118-128

 

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. Basics Books. New York

 

Prenksy, M (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently? in On the Horizon 9 (6)

Part 2 week 10/11

 

This week we went back to a Shirley Warren primary school in order to work with year one on creating digital books to teach and inform about children’s rights. The right our group chose to focus on was Article 15: Every child has the right to meet with other children and join groups and organisations (UNICEF, online). We stated planning without the children and discussed our expectations of both the children and ourselves as well as the assessment criteria.

 

We found it difficult to set targets based on the success criteria as we did not know the children in our group or any of their previous experiences or work. If we were to do this again we would have asked the teacher for more background knowledge on our children for this would have made the task easier.

 

On meeting the children, we realised that they knew how to use the iPads to a level we needed them too. They understood the concept of how to film, what and who should be in the shot and the concept of making a digital book. It was clear that they were indeed digital natives (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). This saved a lot of time in the beginning for we immediately started coming up with ideas. The group had previously come up with some ideas but we wanted to get the children’s input so they could have a sense of ownership on every level of the project.

 

Working all together we went and filmed our material all over the school. The children were initially nervous about being filmed but as they got used to us and the situation their confidence grew and the came out with some great ideas of how to do things differently. They showed great enthusiasm throughout the project and were very interested when we went back to the ICT sweet and started editing. Using apple TV, we were able to put what we were doing on the big board. This was great as all the children could see what was happening and give their feedback as the process was going on. One issue, as in all classrooms, was time management but considering this the children did very well and were able to keep focused. Unfortunately the children had to leave before the whole editing process was complete so we finished the final touches. One positive of this is that the children didn’t see the finished item so would get to see it next week at the Oscar type event which would be very exciting for them.

 

I have learnt so much from this activity including not underestimating children’s knowledge of technology. I have really enjoyed it and would defiantly conduct a similar activity in my classroom. I would make sure to leave lots of time for planning as without a lot of adult helpers, children would need the time to be creative. I am really looking forward to seeing all the finished products in week 12.

 

 

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008). Born digital : understanding the first generation of digital natives. New York : Basic Books

UNICEF (2012) Children’s rights. [online] available at:https://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publication-pdfs/betterlifeleaflet2012_press.pdf

Multimedia and multi literalise in the primary school (part one) week 9

This week we were lucky enough to be invited to go into a school in Southampton to look at how they used ICT a primary setting and how they were going to adapt to the new national curriculum in that specific area. We also were preparing to work in groups with a class of children the following week on a project focusing on digital literacy, giving us a focus to use what we had learnt during seminars and practical sessions.

 

 Visiting Shirley Warren was a fantastic and very enjoyable experience. They are doing some amazing things in their school with technology and it was great to see it in action. It was very evident that they used technology on a regular basis and we were shown some of the films the children had created using iPads. It was very impressive the range of classes and topics that they were able to use them is as well as the variety of ages. It became apparent that the staff were very passionate about using technology within the classroom which was very refreshing to see as, most of the schools I have personally seen are worried about the cost of the equipment and the training.

 

Planning next week’s task was tricky in the sense that we didn’t know the children that we were going to be working with, thus couldn’t determine what level they are at or how much they know about using iPads. This proved to be a challenge when planning but we worked around it by making sure we had back up plans in case they were too advanced for our students.

 

It was a great experience to use iPads in the classroom, something which I am personally very passionate about, and to get the opportunity to work with the staff members and share knowledge, tips and lesson ideas. I found it very rewarding especially being able to discuss lesson ideas and see what they had done that had worked well as well as learn all about the different apps they have used. In the next session I hope to work closely with the children and learn about what they know and enjoy about using the iPads.

Copyright in schools week 8

 

Copyright is a very common aspect in today’s society, but what does it actually mean?According to Ross and Kinsley (2007) it is the legal protection granted to the creators of a work-piece over a fixed time period. These copyright law occurs whether work has been published or not, both on the internet and on paper. In 1709, it was introduced as a development from common law, this copyright outlines explicit guidelines to follow for the acceptable use of others work. The original law was known as the statue of Anne. (Patterson, 1965).

 

Copyright is a tricky one in schools because it applies to everything. The most common being images that are copyrighted, used in the classroom, whether on displays or powerpoints. Though for a lot of things copyright doesn’t apply to it being used for educational use. This is called the ‘fair use policy’ and was introduced to allow teachers to have access media found online to use within the classroom (Davies, 2012). It is difficult to know especially when using search engines such as google or bing. Though it is not just pictures that are copyrighted, anything that shows skill, judgment or degrees of labour including writings, songs, art and other original things. It is important to check when using something to if it is breaching copyright.

 

It is important to teach children about copyright so they don’t break copyright laws without being aware while using materials for school such as images and quotes from the internet or books. It is also important for them to know because it can help them protect their original work.

There are many websites that schools can find out about copyright and apply for a licence.The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA): http://www.cla.co.uk/ is just one of them but it has a useful print out available.

 

Patterson, L. R. (1965) The Statute of Anne: Copyright Misconstrued, Harvard Journal on Legislation, 3 (1). Harvard Law School: Harvard

 

Davies, G. (2012) General Guidelines on copyright, in Davies, G. (ed.) Information and Communications Technology for Language Teachers (ICT4LT), Slough: Thames Valley University [Online] accessed 9.03.14 at http://www.ict4lt.org/en/en_copyright.htm.

Multimodal texts week 7

 

Walsh, (2010) describes multimodal texts are ‘meaning-making that occurs through reading, viewing, understanding, responding to and producing and interacting with multimedia and digital texts’. It takes a whole range of modes into account including images, words, sounds, video and a variety of texts. Children can experience these through paper and technology thus getting a wider spectrum of understanding using different outputters (Marsh & Hallet, 2008)

 

In this seminar we used and explored multimodal texts including using powerpoint to create a book. I had never thought of using powerpoint for this, instead leaning towards apps such as bookcreator. I was very surprised by the outcome and ease of using it in this manner. I have often seen ready-made interactive books used within a classroom but the idea of making them is an exciting one and I feel that, not just the teacher making and presenting, but giving the children an opportunity to create their own books would really support their writing. East Riding of Yorkshire Council [Online]  back this up by stating that multi-modal texts can be created by both children or teachers and are adaptable to suit learning needs and contexts.

 

 Teachers who are new to working with multimodal texts are often reluctant or scared to use them as they associate these texts with computers, therefor technology and show a lacked confidence in ICT (Anstey and Bull, 2010). Though I feel that these tools were very easy to use and with some training or ever a video showing how to use specific apps or programs, it will hold its own place within the classroom and within lessons.

 

I will defiantly aim to use these tools in my classroom. Because of this session I feel more confident in my ability to use them and to help others. I feel a lot of planning would have to go into using these tools in lessons but I think it would be very beneficial and enjoyable to the class.

 

Anstey, M and Bull, G. (2010) Helping teachers explore multimodal texts. ‘Curriculum and leadership Journal’                     [Online]               available at:http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/helping_teachers_to_explore_multimodal_texts,31522.html?issueID=12141

 

Marsh, J. & Hallet, E. (2008) Desirable Literacies: Approaches to Language and Literacy in the Early Years. London: SAGE

Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age week 6

 

Technology is relied upon in most jobs in some form and within the home. Children are exposed to it a lot of the time. Hudson (2013) suggest that because children have grown up with it they are now ‘digital natives’ a phrase that Palfrey and Gasser (2008) also use, stressing upon the fact that, for children now, this is the norm. Hudson (2013) also then goes on to explain that children spend a lot of time games and that this should also be used as a tool in the new and up to date primary classroom. This could be supported by Marsh and Millard (2006) who, as mentioned in a previous blog post, support the idea of using popular culture in the classroom.

 

Within a secondary school setting children are expected to know how to use certain technologies including the interactive white board. Most primary schools have at least one but often one in every classroom. Using an IWB opens many opportunities for interactivity within the classroom. It creates a situation where children can collaboratively work together to find information and explore answers instead of having to do this separately or in pairs on one computer. They can touch the board, move shapes and objects around and click parts to see what happens. Potter and Darbyshire (2005, p.85) state that interactivity is ‘the function of ICT that enables rapid and dynamic feedback’. These characteristics allow teachers to create problems on the board and the children to get instant feedback. This board are often used in businesses therefore it is very important for children to at least learn the basics to support them in the future.

 

From this assignment and module I fully believe that it is extremely important for teachers to have a good foundation of knowledge to be able to teach ICT and use digital media in the classroom. Teachers should care about digital literacy in this digital age because it is important for children’s futures. As I have discussed, children will be using it both at secondary school and in further life on a regular basis and it is vital that children get taught how to use it properly to give them the best chance in the future.

 

 

Hudson, A. (2013) Angry Birds game fires into the classroom (BBC News Technology)

 

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. Basics Books. New York

 

Potter, F., Darbyshire, C., (2005) ‘Understanding and Teaching the ICT National Curriculum’ London: David Fulton Publishers

 

Millard, E. & Marsh (2001) ‘Sending Minnie the Minx Home: Comics and Reading Choices’ in Cambridge Journal of Education; Vol 31 (1); pp. 25-38. [pdf]

Children in advertising week 5

Advertising has become a part of daily life, whether it is noticed or not. Children see and hear it all the time on TV, billboards, buses and many more. Children have more money to spend now than in previous generations (Gunter, B, Oates C and Blades M, 2005) and more items they want to buy so the consumerist market often targets them directly instead of the parent.

 

Advertising is always going to affect children’s perceptions of themselves, as it does with adults. The key to stopping it going too far is education. Teachers and educators need to teach children about the use and purpose of advertising and the national curriculum backs this up. Maybe if children learnt that they did not need to look a certain way or have a certain toy and that the media were using specific persuasive techniques then maybe it would change their own perception of themselves less.

 

On many occasions I have witnessed the children in my class list what they would like if they won a million pounds or what they want for Christmas. Most of these lists are full of toys, gadgets and games that they had seen advertised on the television that are made to look better than they are. This is a very important topic in which children need to be taught about and in school I have seen children create their own adverts to demonstrate how, using certain techniques, they can persuade someone to buy something that may not be a good product. My group and I have created an example of this. It is important that children don’t see advertising as a negative tool, but as one that needs to be understood, used and harnessed.

 

Though, advertising is not all bad. Kenway and Bullen (2001) believe that advertisements could appeal to children’s wishes and yearnings as it allow children to fantasise about toys they don’t have so they can relate to their peers. I have witnessed this in the playground where children pretend they had the latest toy and battle it out with their friends within the game.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kMHg7wDiJMw

 

Gunter, B. Oates, C. & Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp 1 – 13

Kenway, J., & Bullen, J. (2003). Consuming children: Education-entertainment-advertising. British Educational Research Journal, 29(2), 267-276.

We 2.0 technologies week 4

 

Having used these techniques in a classroom environment I have come to understand their value and the benefits of using them. For example using jigzone.com as a morning task or as an introduction to a topic is very powerful for it gets the children engaged and is very enjoyable as well as flexible to cater for all ages. Wordle.net is also another good way of presenting information is a different way, again I have used this to start topics and letting the children have an educated guess at what the topic was through the words on the wordle.

 

I felt this session was very informative and gave lots of ideas for activities that could be used in the classroom. I would use this in the classroom, not only with children, but with other teachers because I feel that it is a simple and effective way to teacher other teachers so that they can be confident to bring technology into the classroom. Merchant (2009) says that it is a challenging task to introduce new digital literacies into the classroom and I feel this could be an effective way to start.

 

Tagxedo was a most enjoyable digital literacy tool and was most enjoyable to learn about. A lot like Wordle, it has the idea to put all words for a certain topic in one place for whom ever is using it. This would work very well as a word map, for children could use it when specifically specialising in one particular area and it can serve as a reminder. Tagxedo was more interactive than Wordle which made it stand out.

 

There are many web 2.0 technologies out there and, as teachers, we should embrace them by using them in our classrooms. They should not be relied upon, but used with care and purpose to enhance and support children’s learning.

Comics are graphic novels week 3

Does the use of comics and graphic novels (hard copy/electronic versions) within the primary literacy curriculum undermine the values of the classroom or do they offer opportunities for learning?

 

The use of comics and graphic novels in the classroom is not yet a common sight within primary schools. The layout of story boards in such lessons such as literacy or R.E is often seen to assist children with ordering a story, but the use of comic creator websites or apps is still in the early stages. This could be due to the fact that they are not specified in the national curriculum (DfE, 2013) thus overlooked by teachers as a beneficial teaching technique, though on the other hand it does state that children need to be familiar with a wide range of different texts.  Another point of view that Burn & Durran (2007) acknowledge,  is that teachers may not connect comic books or graphic novels with children’s learning or do not have the knowledge or interest to include them in the classroom.

 

Millard and Marsh (2001) discuss the possible concerns surrounding children reading and being influenced by the popular culture within comics and graphic novels, though they do go onto say how both comics are graphic novels may be a source to bridge the gap between home and school literacy thus helping to improve reading and make it more enjoyable. Another positive, as pointed out by Stafford (2011) states that the use of comic books can specifically aid the teaching of direct and indirect speech, as well as assisting sequencing skills, thus helping with the writing process.

 

It has been said that getting children to read is becoming a more difficult process due to the digital age and Dean (2010) suggested that using graphic novels and comics within the classroom can be a popular way to engage children, especially boys in reading. Kress ( 1997) states that pushing the boundaries to new forms of visual literacy has formed a important part of curriculum learning, stressing upon the fact that the use of comics could support the enhancement of learning development and engagement to maintain and enhance current initiatives and interests.  These all point positively to the use of comic books and graphic novels with a classroom environment.

 

 

Burn, A. & Durran, J. (2007) Media Literacy in Schools: Practice Production and Progression. London: Paul Chapman.

 

Dean (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. ‘Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms’ London: SAGE

 

Millard, E. & Marsh (2001) ‘Sending Minnie the Minx Home: Comics and Reading Choices’ in Cambridge Journal of Education; Vol 31 (1); pp. 25-38. [pdf]

 

Stafford, T. (2011) Teaching Visual Literacy in the Primary Classroom. Oxon: David Fulton

 

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/g/graphicnovels/recommendednovels.asp?strReferringChannel=resources&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-621334-64

Childhood in the digital age week 2

 

Surprisingly for myself, I didn’t get the positive response to using technology in the classroom from parents. I specifically spoke to a group of mums who all had children in a year 6 class and I found that they were actually concerned at the amount of technology in the classroom. Although all the parents I spoke to understand the importance of exposing children to the technology around us they felt that often it was too much.  Palfrey, (2008: 186) states that ‘Every year the amount of digital information grows even more rapidly than the year before’. This statement links in with some of the parents comments, who feel that because technology is moving so quickly, it may take precedence over other subjects, though on the other hand they express how much the children enjoy using new technologies in the classroom. In current classroom cultures, writing is seen as the “currency of success” which, in Dean’s (2010) point of view is why it needs to be a main focus. On the other hand, Harrett and Benjamin (2009) express the opinion that maybe educators are asking children to write too much within the classroom even though writing is the main form of assessment.

 

I also spoke to them about using popular culture to interest and inspire children in the classroom. This, they seemed to be more positive towards. A lot of them felt that using popular culture made it more enjoyable for the children to learn and gave learning a real context. They agreed that as long as the popular culture aspect used was in context with the teaching than there was only positive outcomes of this, for example using character such as ‘Dora the Explorer’ in a geography lesson or ‘horrible history’ episodes in a history lesson. Though there are concerns for using popular culture, within the classroom, such as consumerism and other obstacles such as different beliefs and views. Arthur (2005) voices some of these issues as well as brings up the motion of gender within consumer culture. The group of parents I spoke to raised some of these concerns but also said that it was down to the discretion of the teacher of how it was used and portrayed.

 

Arthur, L. (2005) ‘Popular Culture: views of parents and educators’ in Marsh, J. (ed) (2005) Popular Culture, New Media and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood. Oxon: RoutledgeFalmer

 

Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: Sage

 

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. Basics Books. New York

Week 12: Summary of Learning

As an ICT specialist I was most interested in the cross curricular links that could be made between English and ICT and the ways in which I could use my knowledge to expand on these. Children are growing up surrounded by digital technology and many encounter it before they enter formal education and continue to use it outside of school (Futurelab 2010). It therefore makes sense to incorporate digital technology into teaching practices as supported by Merchant (2007) who argues that schools must equip children to become active members of society by ensuring that they are digitally literate.

Dean (2010) suggests that literacy has become more than just the ability to read and write and that there are many areas in which children need to become literate. In my future possible role as an ICT leader I will be more concerned with the digital side of literacy and this module has helped me to build the knowledge, skills and confidence that I will need to ensure that I can deliver this over the whole school curriculum.

There are many ways in which I aspire to do this but I feel that the two which most appeal to me are the use of comics and graphic novels in the classroom and the creation of multimodal texts.

Before the session on comics and graphic novels I had thought of including them in my teaching but had few ideas as to how this could be achieved. Stafford (2009) states that children should be introduced to graphic texts in the same way as other literary texts are. Children need time to explore the texts and learn how to understand and gain meaning from them. Stafford (2009) suggests that after the initial introduction children should experiment with creating their own graphic texts either through use of a pre-prepared frame or by producing their own from a written story. Through this they will be able to learn the presentation skills needed to create a piece of work where the pictures tell as much of the story as the words.

This could then lead nicely into multimodal texts as many of the skills that can be applied to comic production, such as layout and conservation of text can be transferred to multimodal text creation. Multimodal texts also combine many areas of digital literacy such as video production and animation and are an effective way of consolidating learning (QCA/UKLA 2005).

I witnessed this during our visit to Shirley Warren School and, as mentioned in a previous blog, was surprised at the level of digital literacy that the children exhibited.

As a future ICT Leader I will aspire to create an environment in which digital technology as well as literacy is not only used to enhance learning but also viewed as an integral part of preparing the children for their future roles in society.

Dean, G. (2010) ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. [ed] Teaching Media in Primary Schools. London: Sage

Futurelab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum. Available online at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf (accessed 10/04/2014).

Merchant, G. (2007) ‘Writing the future in the digital age’ Literacy 41 (3)pp118-128

Stafford, T. (2009) ‘Teaching Comics’ in Duncan, D. [ed] Teaching children's Literature: Making Stories Work in the Classroom. London: Routledge

UKLA (2005) More Than Words 2: Creating Stories on Page and Screen. London: QCA

 

Week 8: Copyright

The issue of copyright in schools is a difficult one to approach, with the rise of the internet and the amount of material that is freely available copyright infringement is becoming more common. Many who infringe copyright law do not realise that they are doing so and may not actually mean to as most pieces of copyrighted work is free to use if it is for educational or self-study purposes. The most frequent breach of copyright law is the use of images that can be easily searched for and copied from internet search engines such as Google images. It is also due to the fact that some images published on the internet are free from copyright and that the author has given permission for their work to be used freely as long as they are credited as the owner of the work.

It is not only images that are protected by copyright law, any body of work that shows a degree of labour, skill or judgement is deemed to be covered and includes: written work, sound recordings, dramatic pieces and artistic works. However an idea cannot be copyrighted and the piece of work must be published in order for copyright law to apply to it. Within schools this may cause a problem as any work that a teacher produces for use within the classroom will become the intellectual property of the school rather than the teacher as they are working for the school as an employee and are therefore being paid to produce the work for the school.

The following websites will supply licenses for schools and other organisations to use copyrighted material for their benefit for a small fee and can also advise on whether or not the organisation may be in danger of breaching copyright.

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA): http://www.cla.co.uk/
            provide schools with licenses to photocopying and reproduction of electronic and hard copy productions. They also have a fact sheet available for schools to use if they are worried about infringing copyright. http://schools.cla.co.uk/

 Educational Recording Agency (ERA): http://www.era.org.uk/
            operates a licensing scheme for schools that allows them to use protected material from television and radio programmes

The Design and Artists Copyright Society: http://www.dacs.org.uk/
            this organisation will provide licenses to allow schools to use work that has been copyrighted by artists and visual designers

 

Week 10: Second school visit

This week we got to work with the children and create our talking book page. I found it quite an interesting task as we were working with year one children who had previous experience of working with digital technology. This however did not show itself in the way that I was expecting and they had to be guided as to what needed to be done. On the other hand this is no real surprise and isn’t that the teacher’s job? I noticed that even though they may have had minimal experience of the programmes that we were using they were still confident in using the iPads provided. This didn’t surprise me as much as I thought it would as we had been told that most of them have access to an iPad at home.

Working with the children to produce the book was an unforgettable experience but I felt that due to time constraints we were unable to complete the task to a level that I personally would have been happy with. Working with the children we found it hard to keep them on task at times when they were not recording or editing work and more than once a child was found playing a game in the corner while the others worked. This may have been due to the novelty factor of the iPads and being given free rein on them.

If I had the opportunity to work with children again in this way I would be more regimented in what the tasks we had to complete and set goals for the children to aim towards. In this way it would remind them that this is school work and not just a chance to play around with the iPads and friends. I would also have liked to of given them more chance to be involved in the editing and laying out of the page rather than finishing it off ourselves because we ran out of time.

Week 9: First school visit

The use of technology at Shirley Warren School was an interesting experience for me and one that I found very rewarding. The way in which the school integrates digital technology within the curriculum in order to achieve curriculum goals surprised me in its simplicity and witnessing the work that the children produced was an exciting moment. Shirley Warren School not only uses the technology effectively but also in innovative ways. The recording studio was a highlight for me and I would have liked to have seen it in full operation.

The thing that surprised me the most was the way in which all year groups use the technology available and that it is free for the teachers to use in any way that they see fit. This would also present its biggest challenge to me as I would struggle at the moment to find ways of using it as effectively as they have. However I would not shy away from this and would see it as an obstacle to be overcome.

Working with the two teachers, Tom and Jess, was an eye opening experience and the enthusiasm that they had for using digital technology and media was refreshing. However I would like to know whether all of the teachers are this enthusiastic about it or whether they rely on them to deliver the subject content.

I would have liked to have spent some time with the children today and found out their views on the use of digital technology at the school and whether they believe it to be a good thing or just see it as part of their normal schooling. I would also have liked to see what they thought about being at a school that did not use technology as much as they do at Shirley Warren.

Week 7: Multimodal texts

The creation of multimodal texts not only fosters digital literacy but also allows children who are unable to write to create a coherent narrative, whether through animation, video or electronic text. By combining these within a program such as Bookcreator children can produce work of a higher quality than they may otherwise have been able to. This opens up a whole new area of teaching that will allow children to succeed in their education.

This session has shown that the variety of apps available to teachers and children can allow children to create pieces of work that they would otherwise be unable to. It also links to the national curriculum 2014 in allow teachers to deliver lessons that are grounded in ICT usage. Furthermore I feel that by using such apps children will develop their digital literacy and will be more engaged with the lesson and their overall education. However relying too fully on digital technologies to deliver a lesson may have the effect of overshadowing the subject being taught and can turn into a session where children are more interested in creating a multimodal text than they are in learning about the actual subject matter being taught.

It is in finding the balance between the novelty of technology and the learning outcome of the lesson that will decide whether or not using technology is the most useful way of teaching. Personally I feel that teaching with technology is the obvious step forward in pedagogy but not at the expense of traditional teaching methods and once the novelty of using digital technology to create multimodal texts has worn off that the learning and interaction alongside the collaboration that may take place is an undeniable benefit to the children and to future society.

Because of this session I feel more confident in using digital technology with children to create multimodal texts and starting with my next school placement I will try to integrate this style of teaching into my own practice.

Week 6: Futurelab and the importance of childhood digital literacy

Society is becoming increasingly digitised and teachers hold a responsibility to the children that they teach to prepare them for the world that they will eventually inhabit and to help them become active members of society. Digital literacy means enabling children to make critically informed decisions regarding digital media and the way in which it is presented and how they interact with it. By ignoring digital technology educators face the risk of not preparing children to make sense of the world they live in.

Children's access to digital technology has increased over the last decade to the point that it has become central to many children's lives and some schools have failed to change quickly enough to include this within their teaching practices. Most children will encounter digital technology before they start school and already have preconceived ideas and knowledge as to how it operates. However not all children have the same access to digital technology and factors such as class, race, gender and nationality can all effect the amount and type of access that they have. It is for this reason that teachers and schools need to embrace and include digital technology within their teaching practice and foster their pupils’ digital literacy therefore preparing them for a digital future.

As children increasingly encounter digital media outside of school in social and cultural contexts as well as using it to communicate with each other teachers have a responsibility to ensure that they are taught to use it effectively rather than becoming overwhelmed by it. Without guidance from teachers children can practice unsafe use of digital technologies and place themselves in danger. This is yet another reason why it is important for teachers to care about children's digital literacy.

By including digital literacies within their teaching practices teachers are able to build children's knowledge and confidence in the technologies that they are using while also creating a link between their home and school life that will allow children to see the relevance in their education. It can also help to expand children's knowledge of digital media and facilitate them in becoming more active users and creators.

It is said that many of the jobs that the primary aged children of today will have when they are older have yet to be invented and it can also be said that it is fair to assume that many of these jobs will involve digital technology in some form. Therefore it is important that we prepare children as much as possible for the future by teaching them how to be digitally literate while also being safe.

Futurelab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum. Available online at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf (accessed 10/04/2014).

Week 5 - Children and Advertising

Advertising has become common place in our society with more adverts being aimed at children than ever before due to the advent of dedicated children's television channels (Gunter, Oates and Blades 2005). An average child views upwards of 40000 adverts per year while watching television alone and these adverts are responsible for billions of pounds of revenue for the companies that produce them. The adverts that are created specifically for children are designed to be engaging and exciting, portraying products in a way that suggests that owning the product advertised will make their life more fun and that without them they will be missing out on a part of their childhood (Gunter et al 2005).

However not all adverts can be described as such and many popular television programmes are linked to a wide range of products that accompany them. These popular programmes have opened up new markets for retailers and children's television with its associated paraphernalia is aimed at making children want to own the toys and other items that accompany them. However, this is not a new occurrence and children's television and related products have gone hand in hand since they first started to be shown on television.

My four year old daughter is a big fan of Peppa Pig, a children's cartoon that is shown almost continually on children's television. Accompanying the cartoon are a range of toys and play sets along with a magazine and a large range of books, she owns a few of these and is continually asking for more whenever she sees them in the shops, sometimes accompanied by the phrase “but my friend has it” or “I want that one ‘cause I saw it on TV”.

In this respect children should be viewed as consumers as they are aware of products and brands and will pester parents to buy a specific product when another may be equally as good but not marketed as well (Gunter et al 2005). Children are also more susceptible to advertising as they have yet to gain the experience that lets them view advertising critically and are more likely to believe that the claims made in an advert are true.

This is a matter that needs to be addressed in school through direct teaching of advertising through persuasive writing (Burrell and Beard 2010). Teachers need to understand the way that children's advertising works and dissect the adverts by looking at the language and presentational aspects that are used to engage children in the same way that they would teach children to understand and critically evaluate a piece of fictional writing. Also, they need to involve children in creating their own adverts for products so that they can experience the process of writing a piece that persuades people that their product is better than others.

Teachers have a responsibility to prepare children for the world that they are a part of and teaching them critical thinking skills is a positive way to achieve this.

Burrell, A. and Beard, R. (2010) ‘Children's Advertisement Writing’ in Literacy, Volume 44 Number 2 July 2010

Gunter, B. Oates, C. and Blades, M. (2005) Advertising to Children on TV. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Week 4: Web 2.0 in the classroom

Introducing new technologies into a classroom is always going to be challenging and must be done correctly in order for the potential benefits to be fully explored (Merchant 2009). They must be presented in such a way that they are not seen as a new way to produce interesting and innovative bodies of work. Teachers can achieve this by using their knowledge and understanding to inspire children to use digital technologies to create these works. It is also important that teachers provide opportunities that allow children to decide why, when and what technologies they can use to produce work that has an outcome which is not just that of using the technology itself (Futurelab 2010).

The three web 2.0 programs that I have used to create the pieces of work in this blog, like all technology, can provide opportunities for children to achieve this. The programs are: Wordle – a word cloud generator; Tagxedo – a shaped word cloud generator; and Storybird – a book creating program. Of the three, Storybird offers the most opportunities for children to create an original piece of work through its easy to use interface and wide selection of artwork, also its ability to allow teachers to set up a group area in which children can work on assignments could allow children to take ownership of their learning. However, it only allows users to use artwork that is already included and not add their own and could limit the work that teachers can ask children to complete. This means that teachers may have to plan their literacy lessons around the artwork that they can access on the website.

Wordle and Tagxedo are also of limited productivity and I personally see them as presentation tools. The two programs are word cloud generators with Tagxedo offering more choices for customisation. Both are easy to use and produce good looking pieces of work but seem to lack in the creativity department as the user has minimal input in the way in which the words are arranged in the cloud. I can also see that the options it does offer could cause problems as children attempt to get the clouds looking perfect through choice of colour and layout.

In order for digital literacy practices to be effective teachers need to foster children's critical thinking through the creative process, otherwise they may just be seen as another way of reaching an outcome. One way in which this can be achieved is through the use of analysis and reflection in regards to the digital works that children produce. When teachers provide an environment in which children are continuously questioning the choices they are making critically it offers opportunities for children to develop their thinking skills.

This would be the way in which I would use web 2.0 technologies in the classroom, not just as a presentation tool but as a way to engage children in really considering the choices they make within the work that they author.

Futurelab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum. Available online at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf (accessed 10/04/2014).

Merchant, G. (2009) 'Literacy in Virtual Worlds' in Journal of Research in Reading, Vol 32, Issue 1, 2009, pp38-56.


Journal of Research in Reading,

Storybird

Two pages from the book I created using Storybird

Wordclouds

This wordcloud was created using Wordle

This word cloud was created using Tagxedo

Week 12 Formal Blog: Summarise and Reflect On Your Own Significant Learning From This Module

Prior to this module I held negative preconceived thoughts on the entire subject of ICT which mainly stemmed from my own negative experiences in secondary school. This may seem surprising as Palfrey and Gasser (2008) claim that children in current society, and teenagers alike, are born as digital natives due to schooling incorporating ICT lessons. Correspondingly, Byron (2008) states that the majority of the population of children, teenagers and young adults interact with online social networking sites and a large amount of these children have access to laptops, tablets, iPad’s and other technological devices at home. Interestingly, Byron (2008) stipulates that the parents interviewed believed that having access to these devices enhanced childrens development in other areas and allowed them to complete their homework tasks to a high standard. As a result of the modules engagement, and extensive reading from key authors in the field, my eyes have been opened to the benefits of ICT in the classroom. The module has improved both my attitudes and confidence in ICT.

My future role as an English subject leader will, of course, highlight the importance of traditional literacy as Dean (2010) raises parental concerns over children still being taught traditional methods of Literacy. This was also illustrated in my survey from week 1 highlighted parents’ concerns towards their children being taught about popular culture; the survey entailed parents opinions towards teachers using technology to teach Literacy and every parent stated that whilst they can understand the importance of it they also believe that childrens should ‘stick to pen and paper’ and be taught traditional methods of Literacy because they watch telly and engage in technology enough at home. This relates to Lambirth (2003) study into why many teachers and parents do not favour technology in the classroom. Despite this however, as an English subject leader I will also stress the importance of the role of ICT in the primary classroom and how teachers can use it in simple ways to make English lessons interactive by using a range of technology and media. This was effectively demonstrated in a visit to a school where children created a ‘talking book’ on Book Creator, on iPad’s, to inform an audience about Children’s Rights. This lesson used digital literacy and the children were deeply engaged and had fun developing vital ICT skills. As Dean (2010) stipulates children need to become digitally literate to function in current society.

Potter and Darbyshire (2005) state that ICT teaching in the primary school can have two different purposes; ICT lessons can be cross-curricular to develop and enhance another subject as well as being used to develop ICT skills. Potter and Darbyshire (2005) stipulate that the latter of the two requires the children to hold a certain level of ICT skills to access the learning. This relates to the shift in the new National Curriculum (DfE, 2013) which declares that children need to access a variety of technology to develop their ICT skills in a cross-curricular manner. In relation to this, Medwell, Moore, Wray and Griffiths (2012) claim that childrens ICT skills are best developed when teachers integrate them into other areas of the curriculum. In light of this, I will ensure I integrate ICT teaching into the other areas of the curriculum to promote the use of ICT skills in everyday life. As well as this, I will often use a variety of media and apps to create digital books and stories to promote both Literacy and ICT. Interestingly, the module has entirely changed my stance on the teaching of ICT and I now welcome it openly.

Bibliography:

Byron, T. (2008). Safer children in a digital world: the report of the Byron Review: be safe, be aware, have fun. [Online] Available athttp://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7332/1/Final%20Report%20Bookmarked.pdf. (Accessed 06/03/2014)

Dean, G. ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms London: SAGE.

Department for Education (2013) Primary National Curriculum. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum [Accessed 17/1/2014].

Duffy, J. (2006) Extending Knowledge in Practice: Primary ICT. Exeter: Learning Matters LTD

Lambirth, A. (2003) ‘”They get enough of that at home”: Understanding aversion to popular cultures in schools’ Reading 37(1) pp.9-13 (pdf on LN)

Medwell, J., Wray, D., Minns, H., Coates, E., & Griffiths, V. (2012) Primary English Teaching Theory and Practice (6th Edition). London: Learning Matters

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New   York: Basic Books

Potter, F., & Darbyshire, C. (2005) Understanding and Teaching the ICT National Curriculum. London: David Fulton LTD

Stafford, T. (2011) Teaching Visual Literacy in the Primary Classroom Abingdon: Routledge

Wyse, D. & Jones, R. (2008) Teaching English, Language and Literacy Second Edition. Abingdon: Routledge

Week 12: Final School visit and a reflection of learning

Week 12

 Final School visit and a reflection of learning

 Areas where I believe I have developed as a trainee teacher:

• Greater awareness of cross curricular links and hidden curriculum.
• Assessment of digital literacy.
• Adapting to positive changes.
• Confidence with using ICT in the classroom
   

The argument that new technologies and the use of multimedia have an impact on childrens learning, despite not being seen explicitly, has been significant in my development on this module. It is evident that children will inevitably bring their knowledge as a digital native into the classroom. Reflecting upon my session in school has also contributed towards the clarification of the notion. For instance children had created a talking book using various aspects of ICT including advanced technologies and applications; they are also using speaking and listening skills, story language in sound bites on the interactive page, etc. It seems as though the children were learning without even realising it. Petty (2009) highlights that skills are transferable and ‘what the learner does is more important than what the teacher does’ (pp14). The notion of such inadvertent teaching can also be understood in terms of a ‘hidden curriculum’ (Petty, 2009:21). Overall the module has enabled me to see from both theory and practice, that the combination of ICT and English are complementary of each other.

Furthermore, the Computing Progress Tracker, given to us today by the year 1 teacher (See Figure 2.), allows the teacher to place pupils’ names within the three separate areas depending on their level of ICT skills. As part of the session today we had the opportunity to assess pupils’ skills in relation to the work they achieved in the previous session. In hindsight I would have looked the 2014 National curriculum, as well as the APP for speaking and listening prior to the session. This would perhaps have enhanced the focus of the learning objective. However I will use this format as a form of assessment on future practices, and tick off where a pupil is at the moment in their development, what the next steps could be, and how I would endeavor to enable the pupil to progress. The APP grid seen in Figure 2. illstrates my stance on a child's performance in the previous session, where the circled items represent their next steps (2010). If I were to plan another session for this child I would focus on the Assessment Focus 1, trying to elicit their ideas through questioning and allowing them to review, assess and restructure their work.

Additionally, Leu (2000) emphasises that ‘the literacy of yesterday is not the literacy of today, and it will not be the literacy of tomorrow’ (pp744). Leu and Kinzer (2000: 117) also say ‘envisionments take place when teachers, children, and others imagine new possibilities for literacy and learning, transform existing technologies to construct this vision, and then share their work with others’. Subsequently envisonments can’t take place if the teacher hasn’t adapted to the literacy of today and lacks ‘confidence in their own abilities to use digital text’’ (Turbill’s 2001 cited in Turbill, 2003:8). Proir to this module, I lacked confidence in my ability in ICT however I have witnessed the extent to which digital literacy is benefical in the classroom; which has altered my perception. Marsh and Bearne identify endless positive outcomes as a result of digital literacy in the classroom. Including how it tends to encourage pupil motivation, a more sophisticated use of language, extended discourse between pupils and more importantly in encourages pupils to take risks in order to bring their ideas/ writing alive (Marsh and Bearne, 2008: 22-8). In conclusion, first-hand experience and a greater understanding behind the theories of digital literacy have eliminated my fear of using ICT throughout the curriculum. I now hope my enthusiasm to use ICT to extend English teaching and learning is evident and will continue throughout my career as a teacher.  

 

Department for Education (2013) National curriculum in England. Key stages 1 and 2: DfE [online] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239132/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Science.pdf (Accessed 01.04.14)

Leu, D. (2000) Literacy and technology: Deictic consequences for literacy education

in an information age. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. Pearson & R. Barr, (Eds.),

Handbook of reading research: Volume 3. pp. 743-770. Mahwah, NJ: L.Erlbaum Associates.

 

Leu, D., & Kinzer, C. (2000) The convergence of literacy instruction with networked

technologies for information and communication. Vol 35, No 1. pp108-127 :Reading Research Quarterly.

 
Petty, G (2009) Teaching today, a practical guide.  4^th Ed. UK: Nelson Thorns

Turbill, J. (2003) Exploring the potential of the digital language experience approach

in Australian classrooms. Vol 6, No7 (4 June 2007) [Online]

http://www.readingonline.org/international/inter_index.asp?HREF=turbill7/inde

x.html (Accessed 1.04.14)

 

Marsh, J. and Bearne, E. (2008) Moving Literacy on. Leicester: UKLA

 Figure 1. APP for Speaking and Listening

 Figure 2. Computing Progress Tracker