I bought a 2 Do It Yourself site licence for our school a couple of BETTs ago now. It's been used with great success in ICT Club and with our pupil editors of our learning platform.
But today started the most exciting experience so far for me.
We have been looking at metres and centimetres in Y3 and today I really wanted to reinforce the 100cm in a metre concept and encourage the children to go into simple fractions of a metre too. It's Christmas Play rehearsal time for us at the moment so our lessons need to cater for the various stresses that brings. Yesterday using strides around the playground as approximate metres (in the rain) was a hit and seemed pretty tricky to follow.
I decided a comparably fun activity would be for the children to create a matching pairs game using metres and centimetres. To demonstrate the idea I created (in about five minutes) a simple game in 2DIY. We played it and then the children made their own paper games to practise.
But during the lesson I realised that the chance for the children to create them in 2DIY next week was the logical next step. When I asked the children for their opinion they were very excited. They had only just calmed down from realising I'd created the game just for them!
I very much look forward to seeing what they create next week - and, of course, sharing it on our learning platform.
Now if my home DIY skills were as good I might have quite a productive weekend...!
Friday, 19 November 2010
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Mood Music
At the end of October I put together an anti-SAD playlist on Spotify. At the same time I decided to subscribe to Spotify premium so that I could listen to said playlist on my iPod.
I wish I had done this years ago. I've long been away that my mood and energy levels are affected by the weather and that as the days grow shorter I really struggle. Having lots of songs that have a strong beat and/or positive associations for me has made all the difference and I don't think I've had a weather/light affected mood issue since I created the playlist.
I have even been known to just put my iPod in my pocket as I walk downstairs in the morning to keep the playlist going. And I'm now up to 52 tracks! I'll share the link here, but to be honest as a playlist it probably only works for me - but I'm sure there are many tracks on here that many others would enjoy.
I feel like I've created my own life sound track!
(The Reall Battle focus behind this post is that as educators we have to be in the right place to be able to do the best for our learners - but that's a whole other post for another day...)
I wish I had done this years ago. I've long been away that my mood and energy levels are affected by the weather and that as the days grow shorter I really struggle. Having lots of songs that have a strong beat and/or positive associations for me has made all the difference and I don't think I've had a weather/light affected mood issue since I created the playlist.
I have even been known to just put my iPod in my pocket as I walk downstairs in the morning to keep the playlist going. And I'm now up to 52 tracks! I'll share the link here, but to be honest as a playlist it probably only works for me - but I'm sure there are many tracks on here that many others would enjoy.
I feel like I've created my own life sound track!
(The Reall Battle focus behind this post is that as educators we have to be in the right place to be able to do the best for our learners - but that's a whole other post for another day...)
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Google Preview
The arrival of the magnifying glasses next to Google search results could have been designed for children. Being able to see a screen shot of the page enables pupils to get a sense of whether the link will be interesting and at a level of text density that is suitable for their reading level.
It is also helpful to see where the search terms appear within that page to speed up the scanning process.
Now if it could just appear on all the computers in school at once rather than a select few, that would be even better!
It will be interesting to see how the LA filtering system copes with the possibility of displaying visually inappropriate pages, but this is part of the e-safety awareness that we need to be teaching our pupils. It will take time to see whether the advantages outweigh the safety concerns. Personally I fee that anything that encourages children not just to accept the first pages that Google lists.
It is also helpful to see where the search terms appear within that page to speed up the scanning process.
Now if it could just appear on all the computers in school at once rather than a select few, that would be even better!
It will be interesting to see how the LA filtering system copes with the possibility of displaying visually inappropriate pages, but this is part of the e-safety awareness that we need to be teaching our pupils. It will take time to see whether the advantages outweigh the safety concerns. Personally I fee that anything that encourages children not just to accept the first pages that Google lists.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Adventures in Home Learning
The battle between home and school.
Now clearly homework shouldn't be a battle for anyone. OK, who am I kidding?!
Improving attitudes to homework throughout our school community has been on my remit for a couple of years now. In that time I've done a lot of reading of books and web articles, talking to children, looking at parent questionnaires and leading staff discussions.
I haven't found THE answer - and if I had then I'd be shocked - and maybe rich... But I think I have found out a lot of useful answers.
1. You will never please everyone
Some of our staff think children should be given lots of homework; some feel that children should be able to enjoy their free time and family lives. Always in questionnaires we have some parents complaining there is too much homework and others too little. Some children enjoy the opportunity to continue their learning and others are just not interested, or too busy, or disorganised.
2. Be clear about the purpose of the task.
I am working within Y3 at the moment. Children take home a task sheet in a folder each week. This term I have taken to explicitly writing the purpose of the task at the top of the sheet. Not only is this helpful for parents, it also ensure that the task I set HAS a valid purpose. If it doesn't, then it shouldn't be sent home.
3. Allow flexibility
Since the purpose is explicit, it now means that children can undertake a different task of their own devising that achieves the same purpose. Sometimes I will set one very structured task with an option of one or more open-ended tasks and let the children choose. It is always made clear whether or not an alternative task is acceptable - and so far this term it always has been.
4. Different children/families like different things
Just because I think an open-ended project is the most exciting form of home learning, doesn't mean it will fit in well with a busy family schedule. This is why I have taken to ALWAYS setting a straightforward structure task as an option each week.
5. Reward don't nag
In the past I have always spent ages chasing up missing homework or sitting in at lunchtime with children who haven't done theirs. This term I haven't really nagged at all. We use house points in my school so I've rewarded children with those as follows:
Bring it in the next day - 3HPS
Bring it in early - 2HPs
Bring it in on time - 1HP
I then award house points for different aspects of their task - ideas, effort, thoughtful presentation, extra tasks - and I'm always explicit as to what they have received each point for.
I have had almost 100% return rate this term. A couple of children who don't have the support have asked if they can do their tasks the lunchtime of the day that they're set with me - which is fine.
6. Give parents enough information to help them support their child
At the end of each task, in Y3 we now have a 'note to parents' paragraph. This gives any useful context to the task, reminds them about speaking with us if there's a problem and reemphasises how long the task should take and the fact that children can spend longer but shouldn't be made to; that the task can be completed in a different way and that use of a computer is always allowed! Interestingly, my colleagues and I have received far fewer queries about home learning this year.
7. Ensure parents are at least seeing their child's task
As a school we set up a home school record sheet that the parents sign each week so we know that at least the child has tried to share it with someone at home. It also includes space for a comment if parents wish to make one. I always initial this when I mark so the parents can see I'm acknowledging their commitment and aways respond to comments - even if it's only an exclamation mark or a 'thanks'.
8. Really focus on the fact it's learning rather than work
Over the past couple of years as a school we have gradually moved away from referring to homework and used home learning. I am much more comfortable with this, after all, continuing learning at home is what we're trying to encourage, and it's a natural thing to do.
I haven't mentioned the use of our Learning Platform, for the simple reason that although we encourage its use for home learning (and it is well used by most of our school community), it's not suitable for blanket policy as not all our families have Internet access and of the families that do, some of our children hardly ever get a look in after parental and older sibling use.
In an ideal world, there would be no 'home learning' or 'school learning', there would just be learning. In making the formalised tasks we set as purposeful and enjoyable as we can, I hope that we are beginning to remind our school community of that fact.
Now clearly homework shouldn't be a battle for anyone. OK, who am I kidding?!
Improving attitudes to homework throughout our school community has been on my remit for a couple of years now. In that time I've done a lot of reading of books and web articles, talking to children, looking at parent questionnaires and leading staff discussions.
I haven't found THE answer - and if I had then I'd be shocked - and maybe rich... But I think I have found out a lot of useful answers.
1. You will never please everyone
Some of our staff think children should be given lots of homework; some feel that children should be able to enjoy their free time and family lives. Always in questionnaires we have some parents complaining there is too much homework and others too little. Some children enjoy the opportunity to continue their learning and others are just not interested, or too busy, or disorganised.
2. Be clear about the purpose of the task.
I am working within Y3 at the moment. Children take home a task sheet in a folder each week. This term I have taken to explicitly writing the purpose of the task at the top of the sheet. Not only is this helpful for parents, it also ensure that the task I set HAS a valid purpose. If it doesn't, then it shouldn't be sent home.
3. Allow flexibility
Since the purpose is explicit, it now means that children can undertake a different task of their own devising that achieves the same purpose. Sometimes I will set one very structured task with an option of one or more open-ended tasks and let the children choose. It is always made clear whether or not an alternative task is acceptable - and so far this term it always has been.
4. Different children/families like different things
Just because I think an open-ended project is the most exciting form of home learning, doesn't mean it will fit in well with a busy family schedule. This is why I have taken to ALWAYS setting a straightforward structure task as an option each week.
5. Reward don't nag
In the past I have always spent ages chasing up missing homework or sitting in at lunchtime with children who haven't done theirs. This term I haven't really nagged at all. We use house points in my school so I've rewarded children with those as follows:
Bring it in the next day - 3HPS
Bring it in early - 2HPs
Bring it in on time - 1HP
I then award house points for different aspects of their task - ideas, effort, thoughtful presentation, extra tasks - and I'm always explicit as to what they have received each point for.
I have had almost 100% return rate this term. A couple of children who don't have the support have asked if they can do their tasks the lunchtime of the day that they're set with me - which is fine.
6. Give parents enough information to help them support their child
At the end of each task, in Y3 we now have a 'note to parents' paragraph. This gives any useful context to the task, reminds them about speaking with us if there's a problem and reemphasises how long the task should take and the fact that children can spend longer but shouldn't be made to; that the task can be completed in a different way and that use of a computer is always allowed! Interestingly, my colleagues and I have received far fewer queries about home learning this year.
7. Ensure parents are at least seeing their child's task
As a school we set up a home school record sheet that the parents sign each week so we know that at least the child has tried to share it with someone at home. It also includes space for a comment if parents wish to make one. I always initial this when I mark so the parents can see I'm acknowledging their commitment and aways respond to comments - even if it's only an exclamation mark or a 'thanks'.
8. Really focus on the fact it's learning rather than work
Over the past couple of years as a school we have gradually moved away from referring to homework and used home learning. I am much more comfortable with this, after all, continuing learning at home is what we're trying to encourage, and it's a natural thing to do.
I haven't mentioned the use of our Learning Platform, for the simple reason that although we encourage its use for home learning (and it is well used by most of our school community), it's not suitable for blanket policy as not all our families have Internet access and of the families that do, some of our children hardly ever get a look in after parental and older sibling use.
In an ideal world, there would be no 'home learning' or 'school learning', there would just be learning. In making the formalised tasks we set as purposeful and enjoyable as we can, I hope that we are beginning to remind our school community of that fact.
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