2.2 Education Systems and Professional Responsibilities – Page 2

ActivInspire Presentations 23/01/2018

Today in Digital Technologies we explored the ActivInspire software as a class and individually by viewing tutorial clips online and working in pairs to create a lesson directed for either an early, first or second level outcome. The online tutorials gave us a virtual experience allowing us to be guided through the software, by giving hints and tips on how to use the software effectively and to maximise the usage of this valuable tool in classrooms as a student teacher and as a qualified practicing teacher in the near future.

ActivInspire software allows for information that requires to be communicated to learners, become multimodal. Multimodality is the term which describes a set or forms of texts to adopt two or more semiotic systems; linguistic, visual, gestural, spatial and audio. Using digital technologies within the classroom allows for information to be communicated to learners in a variety of different, attention grabbing ways and by making texts multimodal, enhances the learners experiences in education whilst keeping in line with technology in society today.

The Scottish Government set out a strategy to implement the use of digital technologies in Scottish education for both learners and educators. The four objectives it is focusing on are:

1. Develop the skills and confidence of educators in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology to support learning and teaching.

2. Improve access to digital technology for all learners.

3. Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery.

4. Empower leaders of change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for teaching and learning.

By using technologies in the classroom, it allows for children to be introduced and immersed in digital technologies that they may otherwise not be encompassed in at home or in other areas of their educational journeys. It is stated by Beauchamp (2012, p.8) that ‘The multimodality of technology is another reason to use it, as it allows teachers to present ideas in a variety of different ways to help pupils understand it.’ By delivering young learners lessons involving multimodal texts it has the capability to further enhance their understanding of lessons across curricular areas such as literacy, numeracy and science amongst others. It also allows for children and young learners to understand that ‘texts’ do not just come in printed form, but instead they come in many shapes and forms and can in fact be multimodal. Further supporting this suggestion, ‘pupils need to be equipped to view language as ‘metamode’ that enables them to access the meanings of a wide variety of texts, images, sounds and information.’ Beauchamp (2012, p.81). The use of ActivInspire today gave us the opportunity to create a lesson for a first level outcome in a Modern Foreign Language lesson.

My partner and I decided we would combine both our ideas and once we completed the online tutorial videos of how to effectively use the ActivInspire software, we proceeded on to the task and got to work on creating our multimodal lesson plan. We made various flip charts which included sound clips, images and interactivity through use of the smart board pens and various tools such as the spotlight and revealer. We created a Spanish lesson which allowed children to work in individually and with peers and allowed for the children to come up to the smart board to write down their answers and ideas.

Using the ActivInspire software excited me as it gave me an insight into a resource that is used widely across Scottish schools and gave me a quick glance into the different tools and aspects that the software has to offer. At first we found the software a great resource as it allowed us to create an extensively interactive lesson that would grab pupils attention and included all of the semiotic systems across the many Flipchart pages we made. When it came on to using different ‘wow’ factors of ActivInspire I personally really enjoyed the fact there were different attention grabbing tools that children would find exciting and would further encourage their investment and interest in the input being given. However, upon near completion of the lesson plan, when using the revealer tool we encountered an issue whereby the revealer would not stay on the Flipchart page we required and instead went onto the other pages and we could not in turn remove it off of the areas we did not need it on. This really frustrated us and put us slightly off course as we invested more time in trying to fix this issue than completing the task in the time given.

Overall, the use of ActivInspire in the two hour time slot we were given really impressed and excited me. I find it really encouraging to see that there are these resources in place for teachers to use whereby enhancing their lessons and I am very eager to use it in my own class as a student and professional educator. I will most definitely be revisiting the online tutorials and spending more time exploring the software in free time to get more familiar with it and also experiment by creating more lessons and sharing resources with peers in order to gain more knowledge and in depth experiences of the ActivInspire software.

References

Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/Digital%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Strategy%20for%20Scotland (First accessed on 23/01/2018)

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice Pearson.

Digital Technology in Scottish Education & Personal Reflection

Upon completion of my first class in Digital Technologies, it has opened my eyes wider and allowed me to discover the real potential and benefits that Digital Technologies have in the Scottish Education system. As a first year student, the thought of using technology in the classroom to me feels natural due to being surrounded by technology along with the ever-changing society we live in, thus keeping in line with modern technology that encompasses us naturally on a daily basis. I feel as being both a parent and a student undertaking a degree programme in primary eduction, contextualising every day situations for young learners is crucial in order to provide like for like examples of everyday living. This can be done throughout various areas of the curriculum including numeracy, literacy, health and wellbeing and science. The importance of using digital technologies throughout education will be explored and analysed along with evidence supporting the cause of using this autonomous learning tool throughout schools for children and young people.

Having accessed and read through the Scottish Government published document ‘Enhancing Learning and Teaching through the use of Digital Technology – A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland’ (2016) it allowed me to gain a greater understanding on the proposals set out by our Government alongside crucial evidence which supports the basis for their strategies. The Scottish Government intends to expand the use of Digital Technologies in educational settings in order to achieve four goals:

To develop the skills and confidence of educators in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology in order to support learning and education; to improve access to digital technology to all learners; Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery and empower leaders of change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for learning and teaching.

These strategies if met, will ultimately benefit Scotland’s children between the ages of three and eighteen. Research has been conducted in order to gain a deeper insight into what beneficiaries really think of their current educational system in regards to digital technology within their classrooms and the results of these were which intrigued and surprised me by far. A Children’s Parliament consultation which seen ninety-two children between the ages of eight and eleven take part provided researchers with an insight into how they believed technology impacted their education. It was concluded that participants stated that the use of Digital Technology makes learning more fun and they would like to see it used more (but not over-used). They also stated that their access to Digital Technology in school was constrained due to a lack of digital equipment and their teachers being limited in skills in relation to the use of Digital Technology. Similarly, a separate consultation conducted by Young Scot which saw 250 children between the ages of eleven and twenty-five participate, gave an outcome of similar stance. They stated that teachers lacked knowledge of how to use the technological equipment they already had and also noted that the resources they do have could be unreliable and misused. However, on a positive note, they also found that Digital Technology was an important learning aid in the classroom, a good tool for revision and provided and interactive learning experience.

Furthermore to the evidence given by our own young Scottish learners, the Independent Literature Review on the impact on digital technology on learning and teaching proposes that there is potential for digital technologies to support and contribute to five educational priorities:

Raising attainment; tackling inequalities and promoting inclusion; improving transitions into employment; enhancing parental engagement and improving the efficiency of the educational system.

From the resources I had access to, to allow me to base my reflection upon it has became highly evident to me that indeed Scottish education needs to crucially implement the proposed strategies in order to give our future generations the best chance to succeed in life. This can be done by meeting their proposed goals of raising attainment, improving employability and learners skillsets along with keeping young people and educators up to date with the technology that surrounds them in the society they are surrounded by. As a prospective teacher I am feeling very encouraged by the plans and strategies outlined in order to give pupils and teachers the best educational results for both parties and look forward to continuing my Digital Technology module by gaining new skills and ideologies that will support me in my own classroom one day.

References

Scottish Government (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government (Online) Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/0050 [Accessed: 09 January 2018]

Reflections on Placement

When I was on placement I learned alot more about my own communication skills and I had lots of opportunities to put what I had learned in the Situated Communications module into practice. I really enjoyed communicating and engaging with the children in the class. While on placement I took small groups for literacy and … Continue reading Reflections on Placement →

When I was on placement I learned alot more about my own communication skills and I had lots of opportunities to put what I had learned in the Situated Communications module into practice.

I really enjoyed communicating and engaging with the children in the class. While on placement I took small groups for literacy and numeracy tasks, worked with children who were struggling with their work, supported children with ASN and took groups of children for art activites. All of these expereinces helped me to develop my communication skills and gave me an understand of how to communicate effectively with a variety of children. From my self and peer evaluations I am able to see what some of communication strengths and weaknesses are. Some of my strengths when working with the children were active listening, speaking clearly and at a good volume, varying my pitch and tone, demonstrating positive body language and showing an interest in the children.

While on placement I had 4 literacy tasks and 4 numeracy tasks to complete. I found it hard to complete all the tasks as I was in a Primary 1 class for the 2 weeks. The Primary 1’s were just starting simple addition and were just starting to learn how to blend sounds together to create words so I found for some of the tasks that the children were not at the acquired level that I needed to observe. My placement tutor sat down with me and we went through the tasks I had to complete. She tried her best to add these elements into lessons and activities for me to observe. For the “Making Maths Relevant” task I planned and carried out my own activity with the chidren.

My two main weaknesses that were highlighted during my placement were behaviour management and communicating effectively with staff and other proffessionals. I found behaviour management difficult as some of the children didn’t see me as an authoritative figure at first. Also 2 children in the class had ASN and often displayed challeging behaviour which some other children in the class joined in with. I could see that I was getting better at behaviour management as my placement progressed as the children were listening to me and showing me respect. I think that behaviour management is a skill that I need to keep working on so that I can become an effective teacher.

My main area requiring progress is communicating effectively with staff and other proffesionals. I have always struggled with talking to people that I don’t know very well. I think this is because I overthink about what to say and how to join in with a conversation. I don’t have much confidence when communicating with people. I was able to communicate well with my placement tutor and with other staff if it was on a one to one basis or only with a few other people. What I really struggled with was communicating in the staff room. When the staff room was full of people I stayed mainly quiet and didn’t really join in with conversations. I felt quite nervous and this was shown through my body language e.g. wringing hands. I know that communicating with staff and other proffesionals is an essential skill that teachers need so I need to really build up my confidence in this area.

To help myself become a more confident and effective communicator I am going to read “Acting lessons for Primary Teachers,” by Tauber, R and Mester C, as this book will hopefully help me to gain the skills to be able to act confident in situations that normally I wouldn’t feel confident in. I will also put myself in more situations that require me to talk to different people and this will help me to gain more confidence with my verbal communication skills.

Placement Reflection

I very much enjoyed my two weeks on placement. It felt very natural to be within a school in a teaching role and I could very much see myself doing this job one day. My school was quite small- 150 pupils approx. and had quite a mixed catchment. Due to this I saw a range of behaviours, which I think is actually beneficial as I saw many different techniques to manage this behaviour throughout the school.

The whole experience really allowed me to see exactly what a large amount of work is done by teachers both before children arrive and also after they leave at the end of the day.

My feedback was all very positive which made me feel much more confident within the classroom setting. The experience also allowed me to see different styles of teaching, and I feel I will take away the ones I liked the best and use them myself.

The teachers and support staff were all very kind and welcoming and made me feel like I was a help by being there rather than an additional bit of work for them. It gave me a real opportunity to interact with a wide age range of children as the Deputy Head Teacher had made us up a timetable so that we had a whole school experience. Despite the fact that I was not in one class for the whole 2 weeks, I feel that I still managed to create some good bonds with the children, and managed to remember most names- an achievement for me! Being in different classes was an advantage because I feel I had a lot of opportunities to be able to fill out my placement tasks. The teachers in the school also seemed more than happy to answer any questions I might have, and shared their lesson plans and general experience with me. Due to this, I feel that this experience really has been invaluable.

Self-Evaluation study task

During this independent study task based on observations, self-evaluation and communication skills, I feel as though I have gained more knowledge on what I wish to be like during my time on placement and as a teacher in future years. After watching the Year 3 teacher who was being observed by Sue Cowley I compared what I had written down with a partner, although we had some of the same content gathered from this video, we also had different things wrote down which the other one of us never picked up on. For example, my praise after watching this teacher was that he had a friendly approach with the children, this meaning they will feel comfortable around him and be able to trust him, along with this they will have a sense of respect for him. However, I felt as though sometimes he never portrayed as much authority as what he should have, due to this sometimes the children were distracted and were never told to participate more or told to stop messing around.

Something that surprised me about this self-study task was that often we fall into a trap of doing and saying things which we think are okay, but when we look back it may have not been the best thing to do at that time. When watching the video on the teacher looking back on a recording of her teaching it made me more aware that often we are unaware of everything that has happened in a day, so often we forget crucial elements. It was interesting to see a teacher recording herself to look back on and I was very surprised this happened, as I personally haven’t seen anything like this before. However, I think it is a great way to look back and reflect.

I feel as though this self-study task has made me more self-aware and has showed me certain aspects I want to take forward and some I should try and avoid when out on placement. For example, how it is nice to be friendly with the pupils, but there also should be a professional barrier too. Overall, watching videos of teachers with their classes makes me excited to start placement to get involved within the practical side of things.

The importance of self-evaluation

After watching the videos and completing the observation checklist myself and Emily discussed what we had both taken from the videos. We had both noted similar points in regards to body language, the teacher had mainly open body language, he got down to the children’s level when speaking to them and sat with them at their tables which seemed to provide a more inclusive and accessible learning experience for the children. We both noted at times he did however appear to close himself for from the children with his body language however we both had a different example of this. I noted that he often put his hand, in a fist, up to his chin which could come across as boredom, Emily noted he sometimes crossed his arms, another sign of closed body language. We both found that he spoke at an adequate volume and pace however at times, as the lady who was assessing him at the end of the video pointed out sometimes standing up in certain situations would gain him more attention form the children so he could start his lesson quicker.

I found the idea of the teacher videoing herself fin the Bill Gates video surprising. However, after listening to her talk about this being her tool of self-reflection I think it is a really great way to self-assess, look at your own body language, voice, tone, every part of your teaching and the engagement of the class in different aspect so you can then reflect and improve on this for future lessons.

I enjoyed this task and as it was a video online I did not find it too difficult however it will be much harder within a classroom setting with children and assessing a peer as everybody wants to give positive feedback however on some occasions constructive feedback is also necessary for your own and your peers own progression in teaching.

I am really looking forward to placement and can’t wait to be back in the school environment and learn from both the children and the teachers/ all the staff in the school. I am a little nervous about all the placement tasks we have to do and ensuring these are all done to a high quality however I am sure there will be plenty of opportunity for observations in all the various areas.