BLOG – 8 Animation (Part 2)

“Digital technology can enrich learning and teaching, help to raise levels of attainment and close the attainment gap” Scottish government (2016, P1). Having worked this week and last week on our Animation task, I can now reflect and say I truly believe that Digital Technology is a wonderful tool and that the statement above by the Scottish Government sums up Digital Technology in schools very well. Today we decided as a group to use an app called Stikbot Studio( please see pictures attached below). This was a slight change from last week, when we had planned to use iStopMotion. On reflection of the change I felt that it was the right decision to make as this app worked very well and was slightly different from what others where using in the class. It also gave our group the chance to try out something new as last week we felt we had used iStopMotion and that our plan may work better with Stikbot. The group and I on reflection of our choice to change felt we had made the right choice as we were extremely happy with our end product.

 

I was interested this week to see what skills would be developed through Animation and if it would enhance learning. I found that communication was one of the main skills to be developed, this task would not have been manageable without the group communicating ideas and delegating roles for the task. Sometimes things did not go the way we planned them to go and without communication it may have ended up in disaster. I can see how this could be difficult for certain groups of children, if the group is full of quiet kids in which no one stands up and starts to delegate roles or if the children are in groups full of people that want to do a certain role. I think on reflection of working in a team to do this task, I would as a teacher possibly give children in the group a role and then rotate the roles, so that they all had a chance to experience the different roles.

 

Listening is another skill which is developed through this task. Working as a group it is important to listen to one another and find out what ideas people have, this will encourage the best outcome for the task at hand. Without listening to each other the task would not be achieved successfully. It is important as a group to respect everyone and to give everyone their chance to speak and by listening it shows we respect that person. This is an important skill for children as it is important throughout life to listen to people. On reflection of the task today I found it hard to listen sometimes as I wanted to get on with the task but I also learnt a lot from my colleagues by listening so I can see how valuable this is for children.

 

Working as team is another skill developed through this task. The task was to work as a team to create an animation and without working together the task would not have been achieved. As a teacher I think it is very important for children to work as a team because when they eventually leave school and work one day, they may need to work as a team. It is important to learn that it is not about you as an individual completing a task but completing it as a group using the skills such as listening and communicating that have been enhanced throughout schools doing tasks such as creating an animation. On reflection of the task today our team worked very well as we all had different strengths and weaknesses and it was a nice mix but as a teacher, I can see how some groups of people may not work well as a team. I would consider mixing certain children, but I also think it is important for children to experience it not working sometimes so it can then highlight to them the importance of working as team.

 

This task was fun and engaging and I found the planning stage exciting, we all had so many ideas and it was great getting to create an animation. However, this task was very time consuming and everyone started to lose focus slightly nearer the end. The task needed tiny movements and loads of photos which after a while started to really drag. On refection of this, I think children would struggle to focus on making an animation using Stickbot Motion. This would be more suitable for children that are interested in creating animation in an after-school club.

 

Throughout this task I have learnt to listen a lot better and that its ok for ideas not to work. It is important for things not to go right sometimes because life does not always go the way we plan, and it is important for kids to know that. As a teacher I think it is ever more important to acknowledge.

 

This Animation task targeted first and second level children for the Curriculum for Excellence. It covered SOC 1-12a “By exploring climate zones around the world, I can compare and describe how climate affects living things. SOC 2-07b “I can describe the physical processes of a natural disaster and discuss its impact on people and the landscape”.

 

Overall, I enjoyed this task and it has developed my expertise using animation programmes. I identified various benefits of using animation in the classroom and I also identified potential problems with using them. I have also learnt a lot about myself working in a group collaboratively and I believe all this knowledge can only make me a better teacher.

 

 

 

References

 

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Teaching and Learning through the use of Digital Technologies: A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. [Online] Available: https://beta-gov-scot/publications/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technologies/[Accessed: 26 February 2019]

 

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