It has been a few weeks since I have posted to the blog and time has flown by in this long and intensive term at school.\u00a0 This post looks at practical issues of repairs, reflects on progress and my endeavours for the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n
Repairs\/Replacement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n To date we have sent one device back to Microsoft due to an issue with\u00a0the touch screen not responding in a small section.\u00a0\u00a0This device was replaced and promptly returned to us in a short time.\u00a0 Another device has a similar issue but hasn’t yet been returned since I didn’t want to leave the pupil concerned without a device at this moment.<\/p>\n With 60 devices being used by pupils it was inevitable that accidental damage was likely to occur.\u00a0 After nearly getting to Christmas without any mishaps the first casualty with a badly cracked screen was reported.\u00a0The device has been sent back to the supplier at the start of December but has yet to be returned after many weeks.\u00a0 There seems to be a bottleneck somewhere in the system which is unfortunate as a delay means a pupil is without a device.\u00a0\u00a0It is been very frustrating for my local authority IT team dealing with the only provider of Surface devices on the national procurement framework.\u00a0 The most recent communication asked for the device to be delivered to them when it was sent in December.\u00a0 Very frustrating that the device doesn’t seem to have got to Microsoft to look at yet.\u00a0 There\u00a0have since been another two\u00a0devices damaged but I am waiting until the repair situation is clear before sending off these other devices.<\/p>\n Reflections<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I would like to report that all the classes using the devices contain pupils that are excelling at their learning, but as always life is much more complicated than that.\u00a0 The results from the prelims have produced the usual reflections on progress by myself and the young people.\u00a0 I do believe that the prelim is useful to give the learners experience of the conditions of the final examination, room, type of questions and challenge of completing to time.\u00a0 So with a mixed bad of results I am reflecting on the learning during the last\u00a03 months:<\/p>\n The most successful learners have taken responsibility for their learning (one might say this was even thus).\u00a0 Most of these are using the Surface in many subjects and like the resources available in OneNote and the ability to access a range of resources.\u00a0 Their use of the technology is a great example of confident individuals and successful learners.<\/p>\n Having the resources electronically has meant that for those that answered electronically I\u00a0was able to provide feedback to them whilst they were revising in OneNote, clarifying\u00a0what they needed to improve.\u00a0 In the past\u00a0this was\u00a0harder\u00a0needing to taken in pupil work and write comments then return jotters or get pupils to self mark work with the risk that they didn’t fully comprehend\u00a0where they\u00a0needed to improve.\u00a0Feedback could\u00a0also be given in the\u00a0final days up to the prelim.\u00a0 There is an ability in OneNote to see what work has been added using the Class notebook add in review student work option.\u00a0 When reviewed the work is marked as read if the pupils add work it then goes back to unread.\u00a0 This process worked well although would have been harder to keep up if all the pupils had been working this way rather than\u00a0only 25 of them.<\/p>\n The ability to provide learning resources in a range of different mediums can be a powerful tool for learning.<\/p>\n Some pupils are distracted by the technology they have to be asked to stop playing games connect to social media or their phones.\u00a0 It is impossible to see all of this action\/inaction as the teacher although I can see the outcome of the learning, check understanding and see progress or otherwise online.<\/p>\n Some pupils reflecting on their poor performance have said that it is due to the method of learning, the Surface and the technology.\u00a0 It is difficult to tell if this is a genuine\u00a0reason or just an excuse and is not something that any of them have really mentioned in class or in conversation with them.\u00a0 Perhaps\u00a0it is the learning regime that particularly requires them to take responsibility for their learning and they’d rather blame the tech or myself rather than themselves?\u00a0 I have been having regular learning conversations discussing strengths, weaknesses, attitude and effort but have found some still lacking the effort or growth mindset approach required.<\/p>\n Some pupils do not know how to revise despite the best attempts of myself and the school.\u00a0 I have often\u00a0reminded them that reading is not sufficient to enhance learning and some\u00a0doing, writing notes, summaries, answering questions is required to check learning.\u00a0\u00a0 I have tried to encourage\u00a0my pupils to use the recommendations of the Learning Scientists (http:\/\/www.learningscientists.org\/<\/a>)\u00a0\u00a0to enhance the effectiveness of their revision.\u00a0 Despite this some pupils haven’t listened or followed this\u00a0advice and some still think just reading is effective, sadly their results show it isn’t.\u00a0 A few of them who have underachieved are putting in the hours if they are true in what they are saying but are obviously not using effective strategies.<\/p>\n Some pupils say they feel better when they are writing the information into their jotters and an electronic jotter for them does not seem to be as effective in their minds.\u00a0 Past the initial first few weeks, I have said to a number that I don’t mind where the work is completed as long as it is carried out.\u00a0 Perhaps in hindsight I should have made more checks and evaluations to ensure\/reassure pupils.<\/p>\n Following some self reflection a few pupils are still saying that they don’t know what\u00a0they should be doing and some think they have had no homework.\u00a0\u00a0This is despite my regular asking for\u00a0them to complete work in their OneNote, I have been able to see who has not completed the work and talk to them, but this has not had a significant effect\u00a0for some on improving their effort or completing work\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition resources have been shared in the OneNote for those that have completed the classwork including extra past paper questions.\u00a0 Is the location of these clear enough?\u00a0 Are the tasks really unclear?\u00a0 I didn’t think so but need to investigate pupils thoughts further.<\/p>\n A few pupils feel that they are not being taught (one of the expected responses at the start of the prototype) and some have commented that they don’t learn by reading information (I would agree, reading only is not enough).\u00a0Usually in class there are a range of tasks and questions to complete after a short period of reading.\u00a0 Sometimes in class there is teacher exposition to the whole class, but there has been more conversations with groups or individual \u00a0of pupils.\u00a0 Although some pupils remain reluctant to ask questions and take part in learning dialogue.<\/p>\n It has been challenging to keep up having the resources ready for the learners, there is so much that I would like to do and not enough time to do this.\u00a0 I have an ideal lesson structure for this type of learning, but have had to compromise as I just don’t have enough time to prepare all the resources I would like to.\u00a0 I do not feel that at any time the resources or teaching have been less effective\u00a0than I have used in the past, but is that true?<\/p>\n Some pupils are working closer to the flipped learning model preparing for class, but many are not and the main reason for this is myself.\u00a0 On reflection perhaps I have not been brave enough to totally flip the learning and leave the pupils accountable for their learning at home.\u00a0 Is now the time to do this?\u00a0 Or do I return to a more traditional learning model?<\/p>\n Reinvigoration <\/strong><\/p>\n This week has seen the latest Angus Teach Meet which had a digital theme.\u00a0 The culmination of a few months of\u00a0 planning it was a great evening with about 50 other teachers listening to 15 other teachers sharing their practice for 5 minutes on a wide range of topics.\u00a0 Despite the pressure of organisation, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and hearing from\u00a0a range of speakers about their\u00a0use of technology to enhance learning.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 The evening was very invigorating and has made me even more determined to find solutions and possibilities to enhance learning experiences and get as many pupils as I can back on the path to success.<\/p>\n Relaxation<\/strong><\/p>\n This long weekend provides an opportunity to get some required relaxation, make this reflection and spend time with the family.\u00a0 A dog walk in the snow to the beach provides space to clear\u00a0the mind.\u00a0 Teaching can be an intense job and I am\u00a0continually conscious of the responsibility to always do the best I can for the learners in\u00a0my care to help them do as well as they can.\u00a0 This often leads me to ask my pupils to give more and say that they deserve their best effort.\u00a0 In the long term I find this produces results but there are always some who fail to give enough or are too scared to.\u00a0So to relaxation with the family, baking cakes, watching TV, taking son and daughter\u00a0to\u00a0football training and\u00a0matches and daughter to cricket tournament.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has been a few weeks since I have posted to the blog and time has flown by in this long and intensive term at school.\u00a0 This post looks at practical issues of repairs, reflects on progress and my endeavours for the weeks ahead. Repairs\/Replacement To date we have sent one device back to Microsoft … Continue reading Repairs, Reflections, Reinvigoration, Relaxation<\/span>