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.
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