Week 9- First visit to a local primary school

This blog will reflect on my visit to a local primary school, discussing what impressed me as well as what surprised me and any challenges I came across during my visit.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first visit to the school as it was an effective way of linking the theory we have recently been exploring with practice. The school has adopted a very positive stance towards the use of multimedia technologies and multiliteracies within their curriculum, using it effectively alongside traditional methods of teaching (Higgins, Xiao and Katsipataki, 2012). It is evident having been introduced to this technology by a teacher from the school, and from the guided tour, that the school are using this technology not only to open up windows of opportunity and widen the children’s learning experiences, but also to ‘equip children for the literacy of the future' (Merchant, 2007. pp. 1). Despite its access to all this new and wonderful technology, the school still emphasises the importance it holds over the more traditional methods of teaching literacy, contradicting the notion that digital literacy is replacing and undermining traditional literacies (Merchant, 2007).

At this particular school the teachers promote a very strong belief that ICT can be embedded into all subject areas through cross-curricular links (Future Lab, 2010), thus we were shown a number of examples of art, history and PSHE lessons all using different forms of the technology. This was highly useful to my future practice as I was shown ideas that I would like to try out myself within the classroom; for example ‘Art Attack’.

The multimedia work undertaken within this school promotes the notion that ‘digital technologies are now embedded in our society’ and therefore children should be encouraged to use them (Higgins, Xiao and Katsipataki, 2012, pp.3); clearly something that this school abides by. At this school children are encouraged to use the many different forms of media and technology available to them (Bazalgatte, 2010), as it provides them with variety as well as an interesting and intriguing means for learning. It is argued that there is a need to reconsider the definition of literacy today, expanding further than just the reading and writing of traditional texts (Dean 2010), therefore children should be learning to read and produce a variety of different types of texts both on-screen and off-screen (Medwell, Moore, Wray and Griffiths, 2012). In light of this, the justification for the multimedia work undertaken within the school is clear.

One of the things that surprised me most about the school, other than their pleasant welcome and kind hospitality, was that they had their own radio station facilities. The school often used this as a reward as well as encouragement- particularly for those students who had poor attendance as a means of encouraging them to come to school. Although this would provide the children with fantastic opportunities and experiences (as I myself have never been anywhere near a radio station), this is precisely what scares me about using it with children- that through lack of experience I would not feel confident or able to use it to its full potential. This is not my only concern that has arisen from the visit. Despite the other software we were shown being fantastic for providing children with different ways of engaging with literacy, for example by creating a talking book, I cannot help but feel the prospect of using these technologies in the little time available during school rather daunting. In order to use these types of multimedia with children, teachers have to feel competent to do so, and in order for children to navigate the technology effectively they too will need some basic skills and subject knowledge which may be time consuming to acquire and reinforce. This brings to light a major concern about the use of multimedia literacies being that teachers would require lots of training in order to be capable of using such multimedia in order to have any effective impact on the children’s learning. This has led me to the questions: How competent and capable are the children we will be working with at using these forms of media? And are multiliteracies and multimedia always more effective teaching strategies than traditional literacies, on the basis that they can be considered quite complex and require a lot of processing?

 

Bazelgette, C. (2010) (Ed) Teaching Media in Primary Schools London: Sage

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

FutureLab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum (Sections 3.1-3.4 Digital Literacy in Practice) http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf
 

Higgins, S., Xiao, Z. and Katsipataki, M. (2012) The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning: A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation [online] http://learn2.winchester.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/286045/mod_resource/content/1/Higgins%20et%20al%20Impact%20of%20Digital%20Technology%20on%20Learning.pdf (accessed 21/01/14)

Medwell, J. Moore, G. Wray, D. Griffiths, V. (2012) Primary English Knowledge and Understanding London: Learning Matters (Ch 14 Electronic Texts pp196 – 202)

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