During today’s seminar we were given the opportunity to engage with a wide range of web 2 technologies. I felt this was a valuable opportunity as it allowed us as students to experiment with technologies that we could use in the future to engage and support our classes, as now literacy activities are becoming increasingly embedded with ICT (Merchant, 2009).
Having tried out a few different programmes, one of my particular favourites was ‘storybird’. This resource enables you to create your own story or poem as an author, providing you with the illustrations and layout to choose from. I think this is a fantastic resource as by offering children a selection of pictures to choose from, they will spend less time searching the internet for their own illustrations, and more time concentrating on writing their stories. Children can also use the illustrations to help them think of ideas for their storyline, using their imagination to make them more interesting. As it gives you the opportunity to ‘publish’ your book at the end, children will find this very exciting and activities could be created such as a school vote in which pupils vote for their favourite book. This web 2 technology can support learning in the national curriculum (DfE, 2013) as it states that in both Key Stages 1 and 2 pupils should use and adapt the features of a form of writing such as stories and poems. Storybird also provides children with opportunities to practise ‘creating settings, characters and plots’ (DfE, 2013).
Another programme that I feel I will use in my future practice is Tagxedo. This programme enables you to create world clouds, and it is different to ‘wordle’ as it allows you to change the shape of the cloud. This resource could be used to introduce children to new topics and familiarising them with the relevant language.
Despite the literacy enriching benefits of using web 2 technologies such as these, a lot of time would need to be set aside when using them with children, and although the end products would be very satisfying, the process of getting there may be quite stressful. However, as ‘digital literacy is becoming an important entitlement for all young people in an increasingly digital culture’ (Future Lab, 2010. pp. 2) the use of such technologies should be encouraged and I am glad I have been shown such resources to use in my future practice.
DfE (2013) The National Curriculum in England: Framework document [online] at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210969/NC_framework_document_-_FINAL.pdf
Future Lab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum: (Sections 3.1 – 3.4 Digital Literacy in Practice)
Merchant, G. (2009) Literacy in Virtual Worlds in Journal of Research in Reading 3 (1) pp. 38-56
I also used Tagxedo and found that it would be very useful and valuable in the classroom. Cross-curricular links of all sorts could be made, including poems as the layout of the words can be rearranged. I thought it would be a good link to seasons, you could create on for each season and allow the shape to reflect the season. After this, you could print it in A3 and laminate it to display in the classroom. I think one thing to note would be the use of programmes on school software; I encountered a few limitations when trying to access the software at home due to being unwell and was only able to access Wordle and Tagxedo. Even then, the access was limited and I had to update my computer. I think both Wordle and Tagxedo are useful as the children can play around with the colours and themes of the words whilst learning valuable ICT skills. Tagxedo is, arguably, more beneficial in the primary classroom because it allows you to change the shape of the words. The topic of the words can reflect that of the shape, although I do also believe children may need close monitoring and guidance on this once. Personally, despite finding it the most beneficial, I found it challenging to type in a website efficiently to get my 'words' to form a shape.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of using it to create a display for the seasons, the children could come up with all the words that they relate to each of the seasons. It could become a group activity where you assign each table a season to brainstorm words for, or if it was for a whole school display each class could be responsible for a particular season.
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